12833/Nerd Alert

Nerd Alert
Date of Scene:	13 March 2021
Location:	Red Hook Shopping Mall, Red Hook
Synopsis:	Jean-Paul Valley and Willow cross paths at a mini-con and manage to avoid witch-burning.
Cast of Characters:	Azrael, Willow Rosenberg

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Azrael has posed:
The Mall has been promiting a mini-con for the local geek set, with vendors set up in the mezzanine and signings in multiple locations and venues within the mall itself, along with a lot of the stores pitching in to offer sales and try to encourage people to come in. What used to be niche has become big business and everybody wants to cash in.

Jean-Paul Valley is poking around the table carefully, clad in baggy jeans, a slouching red hoodie and sneakers. He has a large backpack that has necessities if things should get...complicated, but he really hopes they don't. He doesn't need Azrael coming out here, he really doesn't. His blonde hair is grown long enough to reach his shoulder, momentarily tucked back into a ponytail as he looks at some of the vintage swords at a table run by a woman with a chain mail bikini top and more piercings than JPV had imagined possible. He looks mildly intimidated.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Now, Willow didn't use a sword.. but she had friends who did!

(She was in a outfit that is reminiscent of the 60's.)

She was picturing Buffy using the sword. And then she giggles. This sword was very pretty - not for hacking and slashing, at least not the kind that Buffy does. Still, it was pretty.. she kinda liked it. But not all that was shown were 'pretty'. Those ones made her peer. Especially one that was set aside from the others.

Azrael has posed:
Azrael likes some of the pretty ones, too. He lifts one, "Isn't this a replica of the Princess Bride sword?" he asks. He glances over at Willow and vaguely waves it at her, "Hello! My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!" he says.

Then he remembers that his father was actually murdered and it takes a little of the fun out of it. The angel in his head hisses its rage for a moment and he closes his eyes, swallowing that bile and setting the garish blade aside, "Sorry, didn't mean to be weird," he says.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"Liar! Liar!" Willow tries do a reasonable Carol Kane, and fails. She laughs. "I'm Willow. You know, like the tree. You like old movies?"

A pause.. "Why? You seem perfectly normal to me?"

Azrael has posed:
Azrael grins, "I love old movies," he says. "Willow's a pretty cool name. I'm Jean-Paul, although I usually go by JP or just Paul," he says. He peers at her for a moment, "If I seem very normal to you, that means you're another weirdo. We must be in the right place," he says.

Someone walks by in a Star Trek costume and gives them a Vulcan salute as he scoots his way through.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow quickly returns the salute, then turns back to Jean-Paul. "Actually who you are matters in some situations." For example, your true name always carries some extra magic. Not that she intends on telling him. "What do you prefer? I'm usually Willow. Unless I am comfortable with you, then I'm Wills. I suppose I shouldn't have told you that.. Oops?"

She nods though. "The other thing better than things like The Princess Bride, is the cheesiest horror."

Azrael has posed:
Azrael smiles, "Uh, Paul is fine. That's what my Dad used to call me," he says. There's that pesky memory again. "I haven't heard it in a while, it's actually kind of nice. I'll look forward to maybe calling you Wills someday if I ever reach the elite level of friendship. Is that a tier on your Patreon?" he says, then realizes maybe he should get one, but he's not sure what he'd get one for, since most of his programming projects end up getting derailed because he goes insane for a few weeks at a time.

"Cheesy horror can be good, although I can't always handle the goriest stuff." Because it makes him want to turn into an avenging angel and rip the monster apart, but he can't really say that. "I like the really old Universal Monster stuff a lot."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"Patreon!" Willow giggles. "Who has time? Anyways, the stuff I'm interested in doesn't really interest the normal crowd." She explains, "I'm into theoretical maths, and computer sciences. Don't worry, I'm used to it. People have been blanking me out for a long time."

Of course she blushes a tiny bit over Wills. "You'll know when you can use it."

Azrael has posed:
Azrael grins, "Computer science is totally my jam. I've been working on a new app in my spare time. Well, I don't have a job right now, so it's all spare time, but I have a little bit of money saved up so it's not too bad to explore my options a bit. When I can focus. I don't tend to do well at staying on task," he says.

He spots a spiked flail among the medieval style weapons and has a momentary flashback to one of the monks of the Order of St. Dumas swinging one at his face, the sense-memory making him duck his head and then shake it off for a moment.

"Sorry," he apologizes again.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"Really?" Willow perks up. "What kind of app? I kinda like encryption myself." For this week..

She doesn't know why he keeps apologizing, but she nods. "The weapons here are mostly fake." To which Willow earns a scowl by the booth owner. "My friends use real ones." She leaves it at that.. unless he wants to explain it.

Azrael has posed:
Azrael nods, "Encryption's something of a specialty of mine actually. I've been incorporating some medieval encryption systems and modernizing them into current day code, but it requires me to adapt the language and getting a direct figure to figure transcription of pre-feudal Angle and Celtic and applying them to current code is, welllll, let's just say I need a lot of caffeine those nights."

"They do?" he asks. "Do they work at medieval times or are they superheroes?"

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"Cooool!" He has her whole attention. "I really have.." And there Willow stops and thinks. "Well, I haven't really chosen a specialized field in encryption." Except in magic. "I'm thinking something more recent than that."

Willow blinks when he mentions superheroes. "Well.. the superheroes don't need then.. I think.. And the rest of them, well, I wouldn't call us superheroes? Maybe?"

Azrael has posed:
Azrael nods, "Yeah, it's sometimes a...fine line," he says. He wouldn't call Azrael a hero. Azrael was a force, a monster, angel of death and vengeance, the fist of St. Dumas, the beating heart of the wrath of an unvanquished God, who dwells in flame and shadow and rises to...

He shakes his head again, rattling himself and looking away as the cant in his head almost overwhelms him, the stirring of wings deep in his soul. "Azrael," he whispers to himself, barely audible, and then snaps his blue eyes up. "I have a background in, um...medieval things. And it's good that you have...friends. Friends are good. Yes."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"Azreal?" Willow says it a tiny bit louder than him. "The Angel of Death. The name literally means Whom God Helps. In the Jewish faith he is the embodiment of evil, but is not usually evil himself. He has a form that holds the number of eyes and tongues for all the people in time, and he will be the last to die, recording and erasing all the births and deaths respectively."

Azrael has posed:
Azrael stumbles back for a moment and stares at her, "Are you...are you part of the Order? Don't invoke him, not here, I don't...I don't want to hurt anyone. Please," he says. His hand drifts towards the weapons for a moment, but he snatches it back, as if they would burn him. He's afraid, palpably, even as the part of him that doesn't know fear burns deep within his soul.

"I won't go back. You can't make me."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow *blinks*.. Not the reaction she meant to evoke. "Let's go.. somewhere." Anywhere but here. And she offers to thread her arm with his.

Azrael has posed:
Part of him wants to run, of course, run away and hide his face. But not in the mask, if he put on the mask, he would become Azrael, the angel knew that, put that thought in his head and so instead he takes her arm and says, "Okay."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow takes his arm and puts her hand on his hand.

"I don't know what you are afraid of, but I'm not going to leave you alone." At least until he calms down. "I think you may call me Wills now."

She wanders around until she finds a out of the way coffee shop and finds a nook to sit in. "Coffee? I'm buying."

Azrael has posed:
Jean-Paul takes a seat, pulling down his hoodie and shaking out his hair, golden locks framing his face for a moment, "Um. Yeah, okay. Black is fine. Sometimes the bitter is good, shocks the system, keeps me...me," he says, whatever that means, even as his hand drums a bit along the faux-wood of the table with a flickering, rapid-fire beat.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow purchases an espresso for him, and a regular coffee - with cream! - for herself. And two danish. She brings them to the table, and sits. "Do you want to explain?"

Azrael has posed:
Azrael flicks his eyes to the side, "I...don't know if I should. I don't want to put you in danger, I...there's just...I have another...there's another side of me, on the inside. It's not normal, it's...like an angel. Maybe a real one. I don't know. But it's very, very angry and it likes to hurt people. I mostly make sure it hurts bad people, when it does, but I don't...the Order is still hunting me. I wouldn't want you to be attacked because of me. They like their secrets," he says, all of it coming rushed out quickly before he takes a deep sip of his drink.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"You'd like Buffy," Willow finally speaks. "She.. well she's this.. She kills monsters." She finally gets out. "She is not evil, but she doesn't feel sorry for them when she kills him. But she doesn't kill, say.. a robber."

"Really Paul. This is what I live for. Especially the darker side of mysticism. I'm the resident witch! Well, real witch." After all she was a pagan witch as well.

Azrael has posed:
BURN THE WITCH! BURN THE WITCH!

It hits him hard in the mind, his cortex screaming as Azrael tries to take his body, seizing him. HIs hand comes down on the table and almost breaks through it, leaving cracks in the faux-wood panel as he reaches out and grapples his own wrist, holding the hand down as a war breaks out within him, "Witchessssssssss musssssssssssst burnnnnnnnnnnnn," he chokes out in a voice that is not his own, gutteral and fierce until he finally sh udders and lowers his face, panting for breath.

"No, Azrael. No. You can't have her. No," he whispers, "I'm...I'm sorry." he says again.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"Pa..ul??" Willow isn't sure of who's in control of his body. And that crack looks impressive. If she weren't so close to being hit, she would be applauding, and probably feeling a little bit jealous!

Azrael has posed:
Azrael breathes heavily, through his nose, calming slowly and stilling himself, "Yeah, I'm...I'm still me. It's okay, I...normally, unless I'm threatened or there's blood spilled or something, he's not too hard to keep down, it's just...he has some very medieval ideas about things like...witches," he says. He takes another long drink, gulping down his coffee and then pushing his hair back, tucking it behind his ears, "Sorry again. I won't let him hurt you," he says. He wishes he sounded more sure about that, but he does his best.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"I could have said magic user?" Willow isn't really certain it would make a difference. "Just I don't have to explain if they think I'm a witch. Most people accept pagan witches as normal. I've even got some sage in my satchel. Truth!"

Azrael has posed:
Azrael shakes his head, "He wouldn't care if you did real magic or pretend, it's all...he's like...you know the Crusades? Like the real Crusades, back in the day, where they'd charge into foreign lands and burn anyone who didn't believe in the Catholic church? Well, Azrael is like...that, only he's, like, extra fanatical and he believes not in orthodox Catholicism but an extremely narrow-minded and specific heresy of Catholicism that the real Church tried to stamp out so it went into hiding and made super assassins that thought they were angels by brainwashing kids from birth and making them into impossible to control killers...killers like...y'know, me. Him. Us."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"Weird, because, you know who, started out as a Judeo lore. Well, he's really from Isam and why do I keep talking and the things that make you nervous.." Willow is terribly embarrassed. "Sorry."

Azrael has posed:
Azrael grins and shakes his head, "No, no, it's fine, I know it's all...messed up. The Order, they're...nuts. But they know how to mess up your head, mess it up really good. I was grown in an inhuman womb and nurtured on...on hormones and...and genetic engineering and violence and hate and fire...I was meant to kill the wicked and destroy the enemies of the Order, only know I'm an enemy of the Order, so the angel in me is very...confused. And angry. So god damn angry," he whispers.

"I don't mean to infodump on you, it's all...it's a LOT. I know. Like a lot a lot.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow sits there until it looks like Paul is listening to her. Really listening.

"You grew up - like *that* - and *still* have some resistance? Paul, do you know how brave you are? And how strong you are?!"

"You make me pale in comparison to you. Really."

Azrael has posed:
Azrael can't help but blush a bit and look away, "I mean, I...I didn't do it on my own, I had help, I...my dad tried to help me escape, he did, it's just...they killed him and I couldn't hide anymore. And they made me remember what I was. What he was," he says. "I really...I really did just come down here to try and waste a few hours remembering when I could just have fun and not worry about...this stuff. But I guess I don't get that anymore. And I"m sure you're very brave, too. Magic must be...very hard. I don't know anything about it."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"Me?" Willow shakes her head. "Not really."

What he says resonates with her. "Tell me more about the apps that are working on?" After all, he wanted a break from the Order. What better thing has she to offer than his app! Besides she's really quite interested in it to boot