The Yarn and the Doll

Oh. He hadn't meant to do that. Dumbfounded, Jazariel stared at her arm, unsure what to do with it. He hadn't meant to tear it off of her... he'd only meant to pull her away from harm. His eyes moved away from the sundered arm to Doll, who was backing away from him. The angel's head cocked to the side; why was she doing that? Did she think — no, she wasn't stupid enough to think —

Yeah, she definitely was.

Doll bolted at that moment. With a curse Jazariel ran after her, not grabbing her basket but keeping the arm in his hand. He followed her outside and sighed deeply at the sight of her beginning to climb up a tree. Well, what was he supposed to do now?

He waited at the base, looking up at her with a vaguely amused look on his face. "Doll, come on, come down," he said. "I'm sorry, I thought you were going to hurt yourself, I was only trying to help. It's my job to help you."

Jazariel folded his arms over his chest as he gazed up at her. If he so pleased he probably could have flew up to her in moments and took her from the branch, but that might result in more of a struggle and more broken limbs. "It was an accident, Doll," he said calmly. "I didn't think your arm was gonna pull off." His voice had become somewhat monotone.

Again, mention of the bad man.

As she leaned forward, Jazariel opened his arms out, hoping it might entice her to jump. "Yes, my job," he responded. "But you can only know if you come down from there. I'll catch you."

He winked.

Jazariel fought off the intense temptation to roll his eyes. Was an apology not enough, even if it wasn't entirely sincere? "I'm sorry, Doll," he said, putting a little more emotion into it in the hopes of appeasing her.

Even without that somewhat more genuine apology, it seemed that she had given into his bargain. Jazariel held his arms out, catching her easily in his arms. She didn't weigh too much, but given her short stature against his larger build it was to be expected. Jazariel didn't place her on the ground however and held her bridal style against him, with one of his arms under her knees and the other supporting her shoulders.

"Take your arm so I don't have to hold it while I hold you?" he asked, though it was more of a firm suggestion than a simple inquiry if she wanted to. He began to walk back toward the school, intent on not letting her out of his hold so she couldn't run away again.

"Now what is it exactly you want to know, hrm?"

"Your basket is perfectly fine," Jazariel assured. Who would steal a sewing basket? No one in their right mind, unless they happened to be a senile eighty year old woman, of which he was quite certain there were few or none that lived here. "And no-can-do, I'm quite comfortable with you like this." He gave her a cheeky wink. A smirk pulled at his lips and he chuckled, wondering if she would become annoyed enough to squirm.

"I'm precisely like a guardian," he answered. "A guardian angel if you want me to be precise." Jazariel grinned. "It's my job to protect you in general; I was born into this. My hair is white simply because it is, I'm tall because that's the way it is, and no, I'm not overly strong. I'm actually rather weak. You'll find out my powers in time and yes, everyone here does have one."

He laughed.

"If it isn't, then I'll buy you a new one," Jazariel assured her. Of course, he thought it was nothing more than a simple basket, and didn't realize Doll might have been attached to it. He laughed good-naturedly when she asked about her own comfort and shook his head. "It doesn't matter," he said. "But if you're that uncomfortable I could always drop you."

Jazariel sighed softly, brown eyes gazing down at her as she emphasized each question with a poke. "It's my job because it was assigned to me," he said. He was unwilling to go into details, about how Zukrel had done things illegally to give him a second chance. "And I'm weak because I did something bad." That was as deep into it as he was willing to go.

She poked the chain then, causing his muscles to tense somewhat. "That's my necklace," he said. "You can look at it, but be careful, and don't yank at it it too hard. It's what gives me my powers."