[Locked to angelofawesome]

[cattygabriel]

Continued from here.


Gabriel rolled his eyes. "While you're probably the only being in Creation that actually enjoys being insulted, I really don't like those bizarre nicknames and you know that."

The Banana Leaf was instantly distinguishable from the surroundings shops, and Gabriel breathed in deeply, smiling, as the smell of spices and incense brought back memories of India and the Middle East. He pulled away from Michael, going over to the maitre'd and requesting a table for two.

The inside of the restaurant was red. The walls and tablecloths were deep red, with dark brown tables and chairs and crimson curtains. There were gold wall ornaments and statues of Hindu gods, and a few paintings depicting scenes from Hindu mythology, and soft golden lighting. Gabriel raised an eyebrow as he noticed that while there were a few family-sized tables, the majority of the tables were cosy little affairs for two, and that there were quite a few dating couples. He wondered who Ms Hodges came here with.

He looked up at the Nataraja wall ornament above their table. Sooner or later, Michael is going to comment on his arms. There were some things you just knew.

The waiter brought them a menu, and Gabriel glanced over it as he sat down. "I think you might like Kashmiri naan," he commented to Michael.  "How about we order a few different dishes so you can try them out?"



And to Michael-mun, I'm very sorry that I won't be able to respond for three weeks after Friday, or possibly Saturday. Just thought I should start this before I forget or get distracted by the pile of revision waiting for me. <3

Comments

[angelofawesome.livejournal.com]

"Well you can't dislike them," Michael countered. "I mean, how can you? Some of them are downright creative. You have no idea how proud of myself I was when I thought of Sally Frownface."

Michael didn't even notice when Gabriel left him, too busy as he was staring around in utter awe at all the red. And all the stuff! As the Second of the Judeo-Christian God he hadn't had much experience with other gods, but made a mental note to tell Father how cool He would look with a whole bunch of arms.

Which is what he told Gabriel when they finally sat down.

"Oh, sure, sounds good. Wouldn't Father look awesome with a whole bunch of arms?"


It's okay, I understand <3 Good luck on your exams m'dear!!!

[cattygabriel]

Gabriel blinked. "Sorry, what? How is 'Sally Frownface' even remotely related to me?"

He shook his head, passing Michael the menu and wondering why he'd agreed to this in the first place. "Father doesn't need a whole bunch of arms. To the Hindus, it was symbolic of their power. Like Durga, who had a thousand arms, or Kali, who had fifty heads if I remember correctly. Would you ask Him to manifest more heads as well? I doubt He would wish to appear scary."


*sigh* Michael and Gabriel insist on distracting me; I must say they add some spice to the Cold War, though. I'm going to miss talking to you. <3 Thank you!

[angelofawesome.livejournal.com]

Michael grinned. "Oh, no relation. It just sounds like you." He stared the menu blankly, deciding to look up at Gabriel instead of the menu, which made more sense. "And well, maybe if He had a whole bunch of arms, the Hindus would think he was more awesome. Although I think if He had a whole bunch of arms, heads and legs that I would be out of a job, heh. No need to smite stuff if they're too scared to attack!"

[cattygabriel]

Gabriel sighed, rubbing his temples.

"Actually, the Hindus would probably accept Him regardless. Their philosophy was... interesting. It's amazingly tolerant. Of course, humans being humans, there's arguments and fighting among the religious leaders, but ideally speaking, they are very tolerant and accepting of other religions."

He opened his own menu. "Rest assured, you'd still find something to do that would allow you to display as much competence and logic as a pigeon. An especially woolly-headed one at that."

The waiter brought two glasses of water and asked if they had decided on their drinks. Gabriel glanced up at Michael. "Would you like to try mango lassi?"

[angelofawesome.livejournal.com]

"Oh, cool," Michael admitted. "It always irks me a bit that humanity's got this thing about separation, you know what I mean? They argue over everything. Meanwhile, Father may have said that no one could worship anyone over Him, but he never said 'go kill anyone who doesn't,' or any of that. Ugh. People suck."

He ignored the odd glance given to him by the waiter even as he didn't dignify Gabriel's insult with a response.

"Hey, you're in charge here Gabe," Michael surrendered, "Go ahead and order. It's easier than you trying to explain every dish and drink to me."

[cattygabriel]

"I know," Gabriel sighed. "But they can display grace too."

He skimmed the menu. "Hmm. I hope you're hungry." He turned to the waiter. "Two mango lassis, Kashmiri naan with palak paneer, two chapattis with potato podimas, one mutton briyani set meal, oh, and a masala thosai. We'll order dessert later." He glanced at the waiter's name tag; if his name was anything to go by, he spoke Tamil. "Nandri," he smiled.

The delighted waiter bowed slightly, grinning, as he responded in heavily accented English that he would bring them their drinks straightaway.

As he hurried away, Gabriel smiled at Michael. "It's amazing how happy people are when you speak their language. I think you'd like Kashmiri naan; it's basically plain naan, this large flat bread you eat with curry, but with raisins and bits of crystallised fruits, usually cherries, in it. I liked this particular curry that came with it, which was little cubes of cottage cheese in spinach."

[angelofawesome.livejournal.com]

"I haven't seen much grace really," Michael murmured, "And yeah, I'm starving. Usually am. High metabolism, at least when I'm in a human body like this." Then Gabriel spouted a whole bunch of gibberish and Michael took a good look around the restaurant again. This was all so cool.

"That sounds great," Michael said, trying to keep the mildly horrified tone out of his voice (crystallised fruits? huh?) "And y'know what, I can't wait until we get on our world tour. Where are we starting first?"

[cattygabriel]

"Maybe you're not looking hard enough." Gabriel looked at Michael. "Do you know what crystallised fruits are? You seem a bit wary."

The waiters brought them two tall glasses full of a thick, golden orange drink with ground pistachio nuts sprinkled on top and straws sticking out. Gabriel thanked him and took a sip of his lassi. "Mm. Delicious. I haven't had Indian mangoes in such a long time. I suppose the restaurant imports them."

He shrugged. "I don't know. Do you have any preferences? Perhaps we could go where it all started. You know, the African continent."

[angelofawesome.livejournal.com]

"Maybe. But hey, that's what the tour is for," Michael replied. "And, uh, no. It doesn't sound edible though."

Michael sniffed the drink suspiciously before taking a sip. "Mm. It's weird. But weird in a good way." He drank some more. "I have a feeling it's going to be a lot of that for awhile. You know, weird in a good way. And yeah, starting off at the beginning sounds good. Just... can we avoid Israel? I feel guilty whenever I go there." He sipped his lassi some more. Weird, but tasty. No complaints here.

[cattygabriel]

Gabriel laughed at that. "They're just fruits preserved in sugar syrup, then with even more sugar added. Perfectly edible."

"You just described most of Earth. Weird but in a good way."He took another sip of lassi, and looked up, curiously. "Why would you feel guilty? I mean, I understand if you'd rather not talk about it, but I'm afraid I don't follow you." He knew Michael was the advocate of Israel, and the history of Israel was... problematic. But that was the fault of humans, not Michael.

The waiter appeared again, with the masala thosai. It was a thosai or large, flat, very thin pancake-like item, rolled up loosely like a scroll, and in the middle was a savoury yellow filling made from mashed potatoes sauteed with onions and spices. On the side of the plate were three small bowls of sambar, or a golden curry made from lentils, a thick red paste, spicy tomato chutney, and a light green paste, spicy coconut chutney. Gabriel smiled, unwrapping the wet serviette provided and carefully wiping his hands as he explained all this to Michael. "You eat with your hands, by the way, so I hope you're not wondering why they forgot to serve cutlery."

[angelofawesome.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Epic fail on my part XD I forgot it was my turn!]

"Wow," said Michael in awe. "Fruit, in sugar, plus sugar? That sounds like a dish I would make up. Except trade 'fruit' with 'chocolate.' Mmm, chocolate. Ooo, can we go for ice cream after dinner?"

He winced when Gabriel asked him about Israel. "It's not that, you know, I did anything wrong... ish... It's just that, well, you know I'm their Patron, but you also know how often they get screwed over, and while it's not my fault, they do kinda... look at me like, hey Michael why aren't you fixing our problems? And I just have to look back down and say, sucks to be you guys. It's kinda awkward."

The food was placed out in front of them and Michael stared at it before poking the thosai. "Awesome," he said, lifting it and eating it. "And yummy."

[cattygabriel]

Gabriel was reminded of why he enjoyed Michael's company, despite the annoyances. With Michael, he simply couldn't help but laugh freely. And he was so enthusiastic about everything, it was impossible to ever stay angry at him for long.

"Alright."

He touched Michael's hand, squeezing gently. "It's not your fault. We can't solve their problems for them. He is testing them, and He wants them to fix their own problems. It's not your fault," he repeated.

And then again, there were the, admittedly rare, times when he hoped noone saw him with Michael. He hurriedly pulled the thosai back, putting it on the plate carefully so that the filling didn't fall out. "That's not how you eat it!"

He tore a bit of thosai off the edge, deftly picking out a piece of masala potato from the middle with it and wrapping it around the potato, before dipping it in the spicy red tomato chutney and holding it out. "Here. I warn you, it's spicy. It took me some getting used to, at first."

He could have offered the much less spicy sambar, but he rather wanted to see Michael's reaction to the fiery dip.

[angelofawesome.livejournal.com]

"What are you laughing at?" Michael asked with a grin, trying his best to sound offended. But it was hard when Gabriel sounded all amused. "I might forgive you for laughing at me after I get some ice cream."

Michael smiled at Gabriel. "Yeah, I know. They do it to themselves. But still, avoidance is good, if you don't mind."

Michael gaped when Gabriel stole his food. "Oh come on, that's just stupid. It was perfectly tasty that way, why does it need to be ripped up?"

He took it in his mouth and both of his eyebrows shot up. "Ow," he said aloud. "Yummy, but ow." His ears turned red and his body felt warm, but the first thing he did was take another piece and dip it in the chutney. "Owwww."

[cattygabriel]

Gabriel shrugged, still smiling. "Alright. So we'll avoid Israel and Central America?"

He rolled his eyes. "Because it is large, it's bad manners, and if you don't hold it properly the filling will fall out of it and probably splash into the curry or your drink, and I'll have to pretend I don't know you."

He pressed his lips together to keep from laughing again at Michael's flushed face, but it was hard. "If it's that spicy, you could try the coconut chutney instead, although it's quite spicy too, or the sambar." He helped himself to a piece too, savouring the taste of the spicy red chutney.

[angelofawesome.livejournal.com]

"Sounds peachy to me!"

Michael frowned. "You know I'm not really with it on 'manners,'" he reminded him. After all, when one is the Second, typically no one cares if one doesn't use the right fork or drinks out of the carton. "And you had me at the losing filling part. Filling is important. And," he said sternly, dipping another piece in the hot stuff, "this is fine. I kinda like it. Clears my sinuses. Is there anything spicier?"

I cannot believe you just asked that, said Michael's inner voice of reason.

[cattygabriel]

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. He knew quite well that this was the spiciest thing Michael had ever eaten, and yet the Warrior was asking for more. A small, rather unangelic smirk appeared.

The waiter approached with their chappatti and Kashmiri naan, and Gabriel turned to him. "Excuse me, my friend here would like to try the spiciest thing available in this restaurant."

The waiter grinned, setting the plates down. "How spicy, sir? Usually we don't serve this here, but at home sometimes we keep a plate of green chillies next to the food to bite into."

Gabriel grinned back, glancing at Michael and trying to fight down his laughter. He'd accidentally bitten into a green chilli once. It had been centuries ago, but the memory was still rather vivid. "That will be perfect. Could you bring us some? Thank you."

As the waiter nodded, still grinning, and went away, Gabriel turned to Michael, amused at the look on his face. "This is Kashmiri naan. Help yourself, I think you'll like it." He tore off a bit of the round flat grilled bread, embedded with raisins and bits of crystallised cherries and apricots, and dipped in the palak paneer, or spinach curry with cubes of cottage cheese, and tasted it. "Mm. Delicious."

*EPIC FAIL ON MY PART*

[angelofawesome.livejournal.com]

Why did you ask for more? asked Michael's inner reasonable voice.

Michael glared defiantly at the waiter, daring him to bring this green pepper to him. He was the Seraph Archangel Michael and he would not be defeated by a... vegetable? Plant. Definitely a plant.

In the meantime, he watched Gabriel eat the stuff and mimicked him. "Yummy," he said as he chewed. "Weird. So weird." And quite cooling for his mouth. "But yummy. This was a good idea."

Shall I ignore the borked HTML? ;)

[cattygabriel]

Gabriel laughed again. "I expect your tongue feels better. Palak paneer is generally quite cooling.

The waiter reappeared with their mutton briyani and a small dish of bright green chillies, which he set in front of Michael with a grin. "Shall I refill his lassi? Free of charge. He might need it."

"Oh, no, I'll pay for the refill, but that's very kind of you. Thank you," Gabriel thanked him. He inhaled the smell of the briyani, smiling. It had been a long time since he'd had the long-grained rice cooked with spices, and he could smell the ghee and saffron and coriander, among other spices, along with the delicious scent of the spicy mutton.

He gestured to the chillies. "Well, Michael?"

Please do. I fail at HTML xD

[angelofawesome.livejournal.com]

"Oh quit smirking at me," Michael snapped at the waiter. In defiance of the expectant smiles, he grabbed a green chili and ate it.

Michael has been a warrior since before there were wars to fight in. He's been stabbed, smashed, mangled, beaten to within an inch of his life, and otherwise brutally maimed. Countless millennia of dealing with pain (by otherwise pretending it did not exist) led him to have enough self-control that he sat there and chewed on that evil thing without showing a single sign that he was in agony.

This is by far the most painful thing I have ever done, he thought to himself, Dear Merciful Lord in Heaven, please let me die right here and now so that I no longer have to eat this monstrosity that You either had no hand in or You made as a joke.

NO DICE, MICHAEL. AND ACTUALLY I LIKE SPICY FOODS. TRY SIPPING THE LASSI, IT MIGHT HELP.

I can't. It hurts too much to even think about doing something like moving. Oh my mouth. My poor, poor mouth. What did it ever do to deserve this? This is horrible. This is the worst thing ever. The Apocalypse needs to happen so that these things are gone forever.

*CHUCKLE* NEXT TIME TRY THE NAGA JOLOKIA.

Michael wanted to tell Gabriel that it wasn't that bad, but that would have involved moving.

*is laughing maniacally in the library*

[cattygabriel]

Gabriel was impressed; Michael didn't seem to be in pain. In fact, that was the only sign that he was in pain - if he had truly not been affected, he might have made a big deal of it. He watched the Warrior stoically chewing through the green chilli, his own lips twitching, laughter and worry vying inside him.

He couldn't stop a short laugh from escaping, but as Michael continued to do a rather impressive statue impersonation, worry took over, and he stood and went to Michael's side.

"Are you alright?" He took Michael's glass of lassi, holding the straw to his friend's lips. "Try sipping on this."

Re: *is laughing maniacally in the library*

[angelofawesome.livejournal.com]

Michael did try sipping on the proffered lassi, but he might as well have not drank anything given that he couldn't taste anything.

Evil. True, pure evil. Satan, Beelzebub, Belial, Azazel, Asmodeus, Samael - none of them, even all of them combined, did not compare to this horror of a "fruit."

*snortgiggle*

[cattygabriel]

Gabriel was worried, now, and he also felt rather guilty. Michael still didn't seem capable of speech and there was no indication that the lassi had helped at all.

He touched Michael's lips lightly, sending a gentle burst of healing power to soothe the burning sensation, thankful that the waiter had disappeared to get iced water.

"Better?" he asked softly. "I'm sorry. But it is your own fault, you know."

[angelofawesome.livejournal.com]

Michael blinked repeatedly, clearing the tears* from his blue eyes. He healed his tongue the rest of the way. "Yeah, that helped, thanks. And that wasn't that bad. And hey, the lassi tastes really good!"








* THE INVOLUNTARY TEARS, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

(start a new thread after this? <3 )

[cattygabriel]

Gabriel grinned, pulling his hand away and offering Michael a handkerchief. "Wasn't that bad, indeed. I think you've earned your ice cream later."

He seated himself again. "I must say I'm impressed; I wasn't nearly as stoic when I accidentally bit into one of those a long time ago."

The waiter reappeared with more iced water, which he set before Michael. "Is sir feeling better?"

"Well, at least he's capable of speech again," Gabriel commented, now trying to hold back laughter. "Thank you very much for your assistance. Well, Michael, the rest of the food is here, and if you feel it isn't spicy enough, there are still a few more chillies there that you can bite into to add some spice."