Hide and Sneak

From her cover under shadows, Azrael could see the guards of Sanctus patrolling to and fro along and below the walls that surrounded the haven. All the while, the angel just watched, trying to get a good feel for when she could sneak closer without being seen. It was always risky, but so far, Az hadn't been caught. That had to mean something, right? Maybe her luck was finally picking up.

Unlikely.

Regardless, Azrael waited in silence and then...there! A break as all the guards were turned away from where she intended to go. Az hopped up and sprinted forward towards the wall, her back hitting the wall just as some of the guards to her right turned back to where she'd been hiding. So far so good.

Azrael scampered left, switching her vision to the ethereal plane so she could get a better look at the bright blue and red warding glowing along the walls of Sanctus. As far as she'd been able to discover, there were no breaks in the warding. And it wasn't necessarily that she was trying to sneak in - though Heaven knew she'd wanted to on multiple occasions - it was mostly a matter of making sure the people within the walls remained safe.

She continued on, keeping to the shadows, being as silent as possible. Having dealt with a bunch of Croats on her own the day before, she didn't have enough energy to make herself invisible, so stealth was the next best option. And as Az searched along the warding...there it was. A sigil that was starting to fade.

"Typical..." Azrael shook her head. This was the work of a human no doubt, and a human who hadn't been completely sure what they were doing. No matter, she pulled out her angel blade, wondering if her own blood could seal the crack.

Of course...to anyone unfortunate enough to stumble upon her, a woman wielding an angel blade in front of the gates of Sanctus probably looked really suspicious.

It was a really boring day. More so than usual. Aislinn was on guard duty today, and for the most part, she had seen action--especially when All Hallows Eve was approaching. Today, not so much. There wasn't even a single sighting of a Croat or demon. That was a good thing, wasn't it. Yes, but it made things incredibly boring.

As she sat on the edge of the wall, her feet dangling below, she slumped her elbows onto her knees for support as her chin rested in her hands. Taking a deep breath, she sighed, wondering what in the world she could do now. Then she heard it. Something shuffling in the distance, and it wasn't the usual sound of guards walking.

Had there been a shuffle from the guard, she most likely would have heard yelling, right? So it was something up. Despite the fact that this was never a good sign, Aislinn was slightly relieved that something somewhat exciting was happening as she immediately got to her feet, her angel blade in hand.

Then she sensed it.

Immediately, her eyes widened as she could feel the grace of another being in her presence. An angel was among them, and one unfamiliar to her. Narrowing her eyes slightly, she immediately vanished from the spot, making a quick flight around the perimeter of the wall to see what was going on - so fast that no one would have even noticed or heard anything but the flap of wings.

She was in front of a sigil. A stranger to her, she had not even recognized the woman. Then again, she hadn't met most angels, but she was usually at least able to make somewhat of a familiarity with them. This was a different case. Appearing several meters away from the woman, she gripped her angel blade tightly, clearing her throat just loud enough for the woman to hear.

"Excuse me," she said firmly. "What in the world do you think you're doing?"

Azrael was about to pull her blade across her hand when she heard the voice. The angel jumped a bit, spinning around with semi-wide green-blue eyes. How had she missed being sneaked up on? Right...she was weak, and being weak always made Az's senses dull down. Bit of an annoyance, and one that would get her into a lot of trouble someday. If the woman had wanted to attack her, Az would be dead.

And she wasn't just any ol' human either.

Azrael lowered her blade a bit, not wanting to seem like a threat. She wasn't really, not to the humans moving safely behind the gates. But it wasn't like this new woman - or rather angel she didn't recognize - was going to take her word for it. Though why she didn't recognize the other angel was a bit of a mystery. She was the Angel of Death after all, she had a knack for names and recognizing people. All she could figure out was that the other angel was...young. Strangely so. But no, this wasn't the time for being curious, this was the time for getting herself out of another sticky situation.

So what could Az do? Well...the truth was always an option. And in this case, it was probably the best option.

"You see this sigil here?" she suddenly pointed to the fading, cracked sigil with her angel blade. "You get a powerful enough angel or demon to notice this and they'll be able to get in. You should get someone to fix it. Someone who knows how to fix it."

Without another word, Az smiled, sheathing her blade up under the back of her jacket as she began to look around for a means of sneaking away from the wall. Hopefully the angel would let her go.

If only Azrael was that lucky.

The angel turned to face her and Aislinn's eyes immediately widened. The woman she appeared to be looked eerily familiar, but unfamiliar at the same time. Had she maybe seen her in the past? Well... probably not. She didn't really know many angels. And she didn't even know her name. Something seemed strange about her though, that was for sure.

When the angel had immediately spoken about the sigil, saying that someone needed to fix it, Aislinn raised a brow wondering why exactly she would say something like that. Was she an angel for or against humanity? If she was for humanity, she would have assumed she was with a different Haven. If that were true, she would have gotten notice, right?

So this was strange to her. Suspicious even. It could have been one of Michael's spies who is pretending to be good. Unfortunately there were only three options here, had the angel wanted to come inside. She would either have to kill her, bring her in for intensive interrogation, or she would have to send her away.

The woman then sheathed her blade, which was strange to her. Was she leaving? That wasn't normal behavior was it? Stopping for a moment, Aislinn ran a hand over her forehead. She was thoroughly confusing herself. "Wait a second," she stopped her, giving a look of bewilderment. "Why are you even here? What brings you to Sanctus?"

Aislinn was way too trusting, and she knew that. But she was pretty good and figuring out whether an angel was for or against them.

Heading straight back into the treeline was the only option Azrael could think of at that moment. But...well, aside from the angel who had stumbled upon her, the guards all seemed to be back in their places. Which meant Az was all but trapped there until she found another break...or the other angel helped her.

The other was speaking to her again, and Az sighed. Not that it mattered if they chatted for a moment, Azrael had to wait anyway. Besides, talking might help her case.

She brought her green-blue gaze back to the other, crossing her arms over her chest as she sat back in her hip. Sometimes, it was difficult to even tell Azrael was an angel just based on her mannerisms. She'd tricked hunters into thinking she was human before. Not for any malicious purposes, but sometimes it was easier to gank monsters when hunters thought you were one of them. Not that she necessarily liked hiding who she was, but hey, that was Az's entire life. Hiding. Running. Keeping to the shadows. Which was technically what she was doing even then.

"Well first of all, I'm not here for Sanctus. I mean...not to get in at least," she started, then sighed, running a hand through her chocolate-brown curls.

"Look, this is gonna sound kinda weird, but just bear with me. I sorta just...live outside the wall. Ya know, back and forth between different Havens. Mostly Sanctus, since this Haven seems to be a bit of a big deal," she shrugged. "Anyway, I like keeping an eye on humans. Especially those living in the wastelands. But I like keeping an eye on you guys too. So I check the wall every once in awhile and lo and behold, I found a crack in your security system. The end."

Bit of an elaborate story, but Az really was telling the truth.

Call it a gift, but Aislinn was generally very good at telling when people were lying. Every word that came out of this angel's mouth seemed... genuinely truthful. Either that, or she was a very good liar. Trying to hide a bit of the conflict from her expression, she bit her lip and lowered her blade, just staring the woman down intently.

"Do you know of any angels who are loyal to Humanity that you are associated with? Any who are within a Haven?" she felt a singe of guilt form inside of her for being so untrusting, but she couldn't allow an angel to move freely if they were actually spies of Michael or Lucifer.

"Have you even been to Heaven within the past few decades? Or spoken to Michael?" If this angel really was on their side, perhaps it was better to keep her on the inside of the wall. Of course, she wouldn't be forced to stay, but at least that way, she'd be able to move freely between the havens without being questioned like this again.

Perhaps Gabriel knew of her. Or Castiel. Really any angel name would be great at this point, because she'd be able to tell if they were loyal or not. This case was much different. She had never seen this angel before in her life. She did not recognize her at all. "What's your name?"

There was a fleeting look of sadness that crossed Azrael's face when the other started asking her questions, but it was there and gone in an instant. Maybe it had never been there at all. The angel simply hardened her expression slightly before shrugging and sighing. "I'm not associated with any angels in all honesty. Out here or within the walls either," she explained, something in her voice hanging with a certain weight of loneliness she didn't want to get into.

When the other angel brought up that...that name, Az could feel fire licking at her grace. And whether that was a memory of the heat she remembered once radiating off her eldest brother, or some kind of building rage in her blood wasn't clear.

"Look, I haven't been home -- " an intake of shaky breath, " -- been to Heaven in a very long time. Longer than anyone will be able to remember," Azrael responded somewhat cryptically, expression shifting to a mask of unreadability. She just shook her head then, green-blue eyes harsh and vulnerable all at once. "And I'd rather shove my blade into his chest and sign my own death warrant than talk to Michael."

She'd expected the questions. Azrael would have been a fool not to expect some line of inquiry if someone found her sneaking around the gates of Sanctus. But she hadn't anticipated how much the questions would hurt, or how hard she needed to force down memories of heaven when she had been younger and things had been so much simpler with the other angels. But that was a lifetime ago, and Az knew she needed to move on, lest she be dragged under by her own ghosts. Besides, she'd already voiced her contempt towards the oldest Archangel. There was no going back now.

And then there it was, the question she'd anticipated the hardest, and now gave a tiny, fake, smile to. She waited a moment then uncrossed her arms, giving a quirky little bow. "I go by Azrael," she straightened up. "And I could ask you the same thing."

Taking in the answers carefully, Aislinn analyzed the angel carefully, trying to catch any glimmer of dishonesty in her eyes, though the mention of Michael did seem to cause her to react with a bit of a hardened expression. Her reaction to the question and her answer gave her much more relief. Good, at least she wasn't one of the enemies.

Still, it wasn't going to be easy to convince anyone within the Haven that she was good, especially since she apparently didn't know any angels who could back her up. Sighing, she eased up and took a step back and lowered her weapon. "Alright, I believe you." she took a deep sigh.

The past several decades put a lot of stress on her. For someone who was just getting into the whole angel business, it wasn't exactly easy to have so much responsibility dropped on you at once. Every action she made could effect any given event that were to happen to Sanctus. But the woman's name was Azrael, and while she had never heard that name over the angel radio in the past, she knew that she was not lying.

"I'm Aislinn," she finally replied. "I'm sorry for coming off so harsh, we just really need to make sure that everyone we come across isn't trying to break in and get to Mary." Especially now, more than ever. Now that she was the active prophet, more demons and angels would be looking for her--or the Human Tablet.
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OOC: I'm so sorry that it took me so long to reply to this! Everything has been so hectic, but now that I've gotten most of this stuff under control I feel comfortable posting in all my threads again. ^^

The other angel was rather trusting, something Azrael didn't come across much these days. And while it made her somewhat suspicious, she was grateful the line of questioning seemed to have dipped off duh to her answers. Not like Az had lied or anything, but there was no telling how the others would react these days. Half the angels Azrael came across were loyal to one of her two eldest brothers, and the conflicts that arose when she declared her independence never ended well. For the others at least.

"Thank you," Az said after a moment, glad that she no longer had an angel blade pointed in her direction. Not that she wouldn't have done the same thing if she was in the other's position. Regardless, she relaxed a bit, tilting her head a bit as the angel named Aislinn continued speaking. Especially when the name of the prophet came up.

In general, talking about prophets was a sore spot for Azrael. But like any angel, she was programmed to know who the current prophet was, even if she didn't know where they were. Honestly, she hadn't even been sure Mary was in Sanctus at all, but Az wasn't surprised. "You get someone noticing this faded sigil and they might just try to do that."

Silence fell between the two again, though there was one question that was still majorly bugging Azrael. She wasn't sure if Aislinn would be forthcoming, but it was worth a shot. "How...many angels live in Sanctus? Just out of curiosity."
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[OOC] Don't even worry about it dear, I've been pretty busy myself. Never fret about taking your time with a reply :3

Seeing the bit of relief that glimmered in the angel's eyes, Aislinn nodded to her response and directed her attention to the wall, her eyes fixating on the sigil that had an obvious fade to it. Yes, that was definitely going to require attention, though neither of them would be able to work on it directly themselves. 

"We're going to have to have our witches work on that. The wall has an enchantment to keep anything supernatural out, and if we touch it, we might hurt ourselves. Only certain people are able to really mess with it without hurting themselves," she explained. Sanctus, as well as the other havens, had a very strict and tedious way of handling outsiders. 

No one was allowed in, and the witches who worked for the city made sure of it by enchanting the wall to keep all "bad" Supernatural beings out, with the exception of strangers who enter through the main doors. They also were able to decide which Supernatural beings were allowed to enter the city with special passage.

When Azrael had then asked how many angels were residing within the city, Aislinn raised an eyebrow slightly. Sure it could have been a genuine question, but had this angel really been a spy and Aislinn was to give an accurate estimation of how many were around, it would be pretty bad for them. "I'm not really sure," she finally murmured. "Honestly it depends. And a lot of angels will bounce between Havens to supervise all of them.

She nodded. Azrael had never tried to touch the wall -- she would have been rash to do so with all the sigils -- but she'd seen other creatures try and fail miserably. At least a few minor supernatural creatures had been nearly killed by the enchantments on the walls, but it was mostly just a quick jolt of pain for anyone else who tried. Even as a titled angel, Az wasn't prideful enough to try her luck. Besides, if she wanted into Sanctus, going through the main entrance was as good a way to get in as any, even if the process was somewhat slow for non-humans (from what she'd heard).

It did make the anger wonder what other supernatural beings lurked in the Haven. Angels for sure, and apparently witches, but what else? Vampires? Ghosts? Even demons? Just more questions piling themselves up in Azrael's mind, and she was having a hard time not getting ahead of herself and asking.

Besides, Aislinn was speaking again, and her answer to Azrael's question confirmed that the other angel wasn't so quick to give away potentially important information. Az didn't blame her though. In the same position, she probably would have done the same. But the question wasn't a total loss, at least now she knew the angels moved back and forth. Not that there was much she could do with that information, especially while she remained on the outside of the walls.

"At least you guys have a system worked out. Out in the Wastelands, it's nothing but survival of the fittest," Az grinned a bit, though there was a certain amount of wariness in her eyes. There was always wariness in the Angel of Death's eyes. "But...I have to admit, it's nice to hear about angels working alongside humans. It's a helluva way to get some collaboration going, but at least the end of the world was good for one thing," she shrugged, hoping that wasn't too bold.

She glanced back towards the walls then, unable to help herself from wondering what living inside the walls would be like. But Azrael was used to being a loner, even before all the chaos. Not to mention she didn't know how well angels accepted her species. She looked back to Aislinn, sighing a bit as she ran a hand through her hair. "I...guess I should go. I don't wanna keep you from whatever duties you have. Besides, I don't belong here. I don't wanna get in trouble. Or get you in trouble."