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Aaron is just concluding a bar mitzvah study session with a young man. He has a way with kids, talking to them like peers until it's time to spill some wisdom. He's playful. Doesn't take himself too seriously. But after the kid has been reunited with his parents, Aaron slides a hand into his pocket and offers a contented wave with a big easy grin on his face. "Happy Hannukah!"
When they're all shuffled out, Aaron gives the watch on his beefy wrist a glance, rumbles at the hour, and starts to lumber towards the kitchen to see if anyone left some rugelach or bagels in there.
It's not like Gabriel is suddenly magically there or anything, he's just easy to overlook in a mundane sense of things. He walks up to Aaron with a stride reserved for those with no fear. "Rabbi Cohen?" he asks, trying to get Aaron's attention while also confirming that it's him. "I need to speak with you. It's rather important."
Aaron flips the switch from grumbly hungry bear Jew to affable rabbi in the time it takes him to spin about at his name, a big smile on his face. He realizes too late he has gone with the wrong initial reaction to whatever are the needs of the individual that just spoke his name. His eyebrows remain up and lifted as the grin slowly slackens from his face.
"Uh." A beat. "Okay."
Don't stare at the dybbuk. Don't stare at the dybbuk. No one mention the dybbuk. He turns back around with still wide eyes and starts walking towards his office. He should have a plan by the time he gets there, surely.
Gabriel puts his hands into his hoodie pockets. It's a cold day and the chill of the grave doesn't exactly keep you warm. His outfit is as non-descript as the rest of him, no logo on the hoodie and plain blue jeans.
"Thank you for taking the time out of your day. And as a warning, I'm going to say some things that you probably won't believe, but I have proof of it."
Aaron circles around the desk to the shittiest office coffee pot in the world and pours himself therefore the best cup of black coffee he can make. He offers a cup out to Gabriel, sets out the creamers and sugars and such if he accepts, and in either case takes a cup of his own to his chair.
The chair lets the room know it was not in any way designed to constrain this man or his proportions. He takes a sip of his coffee to stall for time, channeling the idea of whatever the opposite of looking at the dybbuk is into his mind. Still not looking, though.
"You're welcome, I'm happy to help."
Rather than try to convince Gabriel through reassurance, he lets Gabriel convince himself through the reason he's already following, here. Then come the three most rabbinical words in his book, "Okay. Convince me."
Gabriel has the floor.
"Not only am I dead, but I am a spirit of vengeance." He says, giving the statement a moment to breathe. "It is my job to kill Nazis. I am not going to give you my name now because I do not want you to be associated with me if you don't want to be. I am a killer and I am letting you know this, but I will escape if you try to call the police on me. As far as proof, I can provide much, but I think this will be the most direct."
He stands in the middle of the room, making sure to be a decent distance from bookshelves and other ephemera. With a faint sound like a lock clicking, the world behind him seems to ice over. Like frost on a window, except on nothing but air. This fragile glasslike ice takes the form of two brilliant wings that refract light in an aurora of color.
"I am a spirit of vengeance."
It may come as a surprise that when Gabriel says the word vengeance, Aaron's gaze goes immediately to the face of the dybbuk, his ruddy face going first pale, then red. "Nakkam!"
With a sudden rush of preternatural adrenaline and unfathomable inner power, Aaron rises from his chair like a titan. He was a big man before he became a Perfected Adept. Now, he can be truly terrifying to look upon at times. And as he steps back from his desk defensively, there comes a crackle of energy in the air as a blazing hammer of fire erupts in his right hand, guttering with hunger.
"And I am Magen Yis'rael." He points the hammer at the dybbuk. "That is a dybbuk." And then at Gabriel. "And nakkam is forbidden."
There is a sound of shattering glass as Aaron triggers Gabe's Geist's ban casts out the dybbuk. Gabriel's wings rapidly melt, leaving him frostbitten on the arms. "I wish you had not done that." It's not a threat, it's a genuine (albeit affectless) request. "It will make getting out of here much harder if you try to kill me. But before I leave, I request you think about yourself, Rabbi. You nearly went to jail for felony assault. This is why I sought you out. I figured you of all Rabbis would understand."
"It is forbidden, kava, not because of what it does to the enemies of our people but because of what it does to us." He takes another cautionary step back, fixing the spirit with a warning look. I have your number now. We are not finished. But his focus fixes instead on the one he can help.
"We will outlive them. But only if we remain true to what we are. I hit that officer to protect my friend," Aaron all but begs of the man, his baritone voice heavy with sudden unrealized shame. "I seek justice, kava. Kol Tzedek. Tzedek, tzedek, shall you pursue. I love mercy."
His head shakes slowly, "Don't do this. Please.."
"It is too late for me to not." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out an ornate wedding ring. "The bastard who took this was going to give it to his great-grandson. It was not his to give. It is not mine to give either, but Esther Shamir has no surviving descendants, so I shall entrust it with you if you are willing to take it."
"After you make your decision, I shall leave. If you try to stop me, you will succeed. I cannot use my powers against you, Rabbi. But not even death itself will dissuade me from my mission."
"It is never too late to turn to light. Never, kava." Loving mercy wins out over other concerns tonight, however. The flaming hammer consumes itself slowly, guttering away into oil smoke. Aaron gathers up his chair carefully and calmly, defiantly takes his seat.
"Baruch dayan ha-emet." Aaron creaks his seat forward slowly to accept the ring, then leans back in his chair again.
His eyes shift to the dybbuk, then to Gabriel, then finally to his desk. His jaw sets and he finally just growls, "Run."
And with that, Gabriel puts his hands back into his hoodie and walks off.
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