kore_logs | I had a dream but I called it a plan

Roughly an hour in, Raphael is still coming back from the woods, and has only just cleaned his clothing of dirt and debris from the air. We'll just consider that a lesson mostly learned.

He looks over at Raphael - he's taller than Gabriel, in this form, but still shorter than Lucifer. "I believe my invitation was loss in the mail, not that it seems to have made a difference." He knows angels can be resurrected - his current thorn in his side as an example. That doesn't make it less odd to see Gabriel again.

"Gatecrashing, huh? You rebel, you."

If his hands weren't stuck in his pockets, he'd be fidgeting. What can you even say after so long a time? Well, probably most people would be able to think of something appropriate, but this is Gabriel: appropriate's not his area of expertise.

"You been filled in on the deets of our little field trip?"

"I heard it was what all the cool angels where doing these days." He doesn't know what else to say either.

'I morned your death.'
'How dare you leave us!'
'Heaven was too quiet without you.'

All came to mind. Raphael keeps watching Gabriel, wondering when it was he'd learned to stand still. Raphael had always found it easy, something grounding about being still and quiet.

"I haven't yet, no."

"If all the cool angels jumped off a bridge, wouldja do that too? Guess Mikey never gave you guys the peer pressure talk."

Honestly, he'd never learned. Still hasn't. He's already beginning to shift his weight from foot to foot, increasingly quickly. That's probably because of Raphael watching him, though - there's something unnerving about it, mostly because he's still not sure whether he should be running away or not. Still, it was (almost) a decent show of not being horrendously nervous, while it lasted.

"Long story short, we got dragged here and we're stuck here. Without TV, which blows. The douchenozzles responsible are on the other side of the barrier, I guess, and trying to escape? Kinda pisses them off. In a 'setting the weird-ass hybrid hounds of Hades on us then drugging us' way, which was fun. Aaaaand they sometimes like to kidnap people and then give them back either semi-functional or not at all. And Lucy's here - guess you probably noticed that - but he's agreed not to go on any rampages unless provoked, so, uh, if you could avoid provoking him, that'd be grand."

He's been counting these off on his fingers (which have finally made their escape from his pockets), but now his hands have nothing to do, so naturally the fidgeting starts up. Wow, has the zip on his jacket always been this fun to mess with? Neat. At least he manages to do it without breaking eye contact, because that would be a little too obvious even for him, even if he isn't exactly the most stoic angel ever.

"Uh -- any questions, class?"

"No, we didn't. Resisting peer pressure has worked out so well for the few of you who tried, we decided to stomp those impulses out." Well. There goes not bringing that up. His jaw tics - he's trying, he truly is, to not fight. He's not sure how he'll manage when he's faced with Lucifer and he's certain he'll fail with Castiel, but he is trying.

"I noticed the barrier. I can't figure out what it is." He glanced over towards the horizon. "Lucifer doesn't always define provocation as the rest of us do, Gabriel."

He watched Gabriel fidget, not saying anything for a moment. "When is everyone from? That would be helpful." He really only meant the angels.

"Worked alright for me. Say what you like about the pagans, but they definitely know how to have fun."

Which probably wasn't quite what Raphael had meant, but Gabriel was being as flippant as possible. It beat being serious, at any rate - he didn't want to fight either.

"They're from all over the timeline. Anna's before getting dragged back upstairs," and no, he didn't sound pointedly ticked off about that, not at all, "Castiel and Dean Winchester are waaaay in the future, I'm from the last moment possible, and Lucifer-- well, I'm not sure when he's from. Didn't really ask. He's from later than I am, anyway, and judging by the lack of total vengeful destruction, before getting locked back in his box."

Not that Gabriel was actually sure how much of that Raphael would understand. Not much, he hoped, because that might be serious discussion material as well, and he really, really hated those.

"How about you? You feeling more Back to the Future Part I or II?"

"From my view it didn't." It's simply stated, as much as anything stated from an archangel was simple. Whether he meant Gabriel's death or his absence in Heaven however was debatable.

"Luckily for everyone, where Anna is concerned." Raphael wasn't about to voice his own responsibility in what had happened to Anna, it still tugged in a way that felt all too much like guilt. "Lucifer still has Nick, not Sam?" That was important, at least to Raphael. Though if the hard tick in his jaw was anything to go by, it wasn't a subject he wanted to discuss.

"I-" Donnie didn't know those movies, or at least not well enough for Raphael to understand the reference. "I'm from after Lucifer. It's been a few weeks since." Well. "Since they caged them both."

"No, I suppose it might not." He assumes Raphael's referring to his absence - he's not aware yet that Raphael's attitude to obedience is at all different to Michael's. It's safe, he thinks, to believe duty will be his measuring stick for worth, and that's one thing Gabriel lacks in spades.

"He's still blonde bombshell rather than boring brunette, yeah. Good for him. Sam Winchester's got a stick jammed so far up his ass it's practically coming out of his mouth, no one deserves to have to share a head with him."

As for Raphael's timeline, that gets a nod. Sympathetic, as far as a nod can be - he knows enough to be certain that Raphael and Michael have been a package deal for too long to separate safely, and being the last archangel standing wouldn't be easy even for someone well-adjusted.

"Left you on cleanup duty, huh?"

He's long defaulted to following the letter of the law since he couldn't follow the spirit of it. Even now, his measure is changing - but Lucifer wasn't the only angel who measured another's worth in their loyalty to their brothers.

"Sam Winchester is more trouble than he is worth." Both were, which didn't mean Raphael wasn't willing to revisit some of that trouble back onto them. He's really rather enjoy doing just that.

"No, they didn't." He wasn't going to let it rest where it was.

"Much more, considering how hard it might be to get your hands on him when he's not actually here."

Not that he objects at all to Sam-bothering, or Dean-bothering at that. Winchester-bothering in general is something of a hobby of his. It's one of the few things he can agree with most of his siblings on, even if he's not always willing to take it as far as some of them might.

"Yeah? Can't see them not leaving a mess, but then, I'm kind of a pessimist. Managed not to make too much of a nuisance of themselves, then?"

Which is a less-tactless way of asking whether they'd been alright. When he'd discussed it with Castiel, the minor issue of whether the world was safe had taken priority. Only just, though, and making sure that Michael and Lucifer were alright was a very close second. Raphael third, since he was still wilfully being 'naive' enough to think Raphael wouldn't be as affected by the Apocalypse as the older two.

"Who knows? He could show up."

It would probably be very bad for the fragile truce if he did - Raphael was angry and wasn't likely to listen to reason, no matter who it came from.

"They are both inside Lucifer's Cage, Gabriel. They didn't leave a mess behind them." That didn't mean there wasn't a mess, there was. A loaming war, Raphael unwilling to let go of his brother. There was a mess - but he didn't blame them for it.

"He was here before, so I'm sure he could. Might find his way back from wherever he's skipped off to, but I didn't see a trail of breadcrumbs, so fingers crossed he won't."

In all honesty, Gabriel was willing to make an exception for Winchesters. He understood perfectly well how infuriationg they could be. Castiel and Anna might be less willing, but he was sure he could talk them down.

"There was a mess last time I looked. But hey, so long as there's a world left to be in such a state, I guess we can't really complain."

Raphael merely shrugs. "There's only two ways he's of any use to me." Willing or not - Castiel wasn't the only angel who knew how to hide someone.

"I can, and I am." It's sharp. He doesn't understand Gabriel's attitude - big shock there, how he can be so accepting of what happens. Of what he helps to make happen.

"Sure - as a rug or as a coathanger. Or maybe a stepladder. I'm not arguing, Raph, I'm not exactly a fan of his."

Perhaps if it wasn't an archangel he'd be less inclined to agree, but as far as he's concerned, pretty much anything his brothers want they're welcome to take. For near enough anything less than the Apocalypse, they have a free pass.

"Well, yeah, I suppose you can," he hadn't really thought that one through, "but, c'mon, am I seriously the only one here who doesn't want the planet going up in smoke? Seems like kind of a waste."

"I doubt any of us are, Castiel aside." The younger of the angels seemed to blame the Winchesters for taking Castiel away from the Host. Raphael did as well, on a lessor level.

There was a special bond the archangels had, one he was unsure of the lengths to, when it came to the two eldest. It made Raphael uneasy to think about. And left him confused as to why, when he was still angry with Gabriel for leaving, why he found solace in the company of his younger brother.

"Michael and I wouldn't have allowed the planet to go up in smoke Gabriel."

He just 'hm'ed at the mention of Castiel - he was well aware that the relationship between Raphael and Castiel was far from friendly, and their family had enough disputes going on without him managing to get their enmity reignited too.

"Not intentionally. But you can't make an omelette without breaking a few continents, right? And that's if Michael had won, if he'd been-- well, if he'd lost..."

'If Michael had been killed' was still not a prospect he was willing to confront that directly. It was only because he knew that neither Michael nor Lucifer was dead that he was comfortable discussing the possibility.

"It's not our first Apocalypse Gabriel. The Earth is beautiful, yes, and I understand you are attached to the humans but what state are we leaving them in now Gabriel? All of that suffering, that pain, for what? The few good people who don't feel it?" That was Raphael's reasoning, rationalization, for the deaths he knew they would cause - it wasn't born of hatred of humanity, but of wanting to end their suffering.

"Lucifer wouldn't toast the planet. Kill the humans, yes. Then the demons, but he wouldn't have destroyed the planet. We looked." Well. Sent Zachariah. Same thing.

"The planet's not my primary concern."

Bunny rabbits and fjords were nice, sure, but they weren't anywhere near as interesting as humans. But then, he'd got the impression that among the angels there was only a minority who found them that engaging. Even in the lower ranks and those who didn't know enough to be bitter, any love for the humans seemed to be only out of duty.

"Suffering's part of life, Raph. And they deal with it a hell of a lot better than we do-- they're not like us; they're made for it. And I mean that in the least sadistic way possible, FYI."

But that was a complicated philosophical debate that he really didn't want to get into. He'd rather argue about the nature of suffering than about the old family disputes, but then again, he'd rather not argue at all.

"Look-- whatever. It doesn't matter. I'm not going to try to change your mind about anything, not right now, I just need to know that you won't start anything here, okay? Michael's fuck knows where and Lucifer's agreed to a truce, so, well, it won't do anyone any good to have all-out angelic war going on, right? Or even all-out angelic bickering."

A grimace, which was probably meant to be a smile, and might even have looked like one if you turned your head and squinted just so.

"C'mon, just-- even just for now, yeah? No fighting?"

"Not from what I have seen." It's bitter, yes, but it's disappointed as well, not malice or even really disgust. Raphael was one of the few who did actually love humanity - he was just very upset with all of them.

"My fighting Lucifer would end about as well as it would for you. I don't plan on trading blows with him." But angelic bickering he couldn't rule out, not with Lucifer, not with Castiel. He couldn't even rule out violence with Castiel.

"I'm not interested in fighting, Gabriel." He had a war back home to deal with. He didn't want it here.

"Good. Good, neither am I."

He hadn't particularly thought that Raphael would be, or at least not just for fighting's sake, but it was worth making sure. Of course, it wasn't necessarily all that reassuring - of the three of them, let alone the other angels, none of them seemed particuarly eager to fight, but he was sure that wouldn't stop them, especially once something happened to push Lucifer into attacking the humans. That, he was pretty certain, was a matter of 'when', not 'if', but hey. He could hope.

"With a bit of luck, that might even be enough. Try to stay out of trouble, yeah?"

"You wouldn't be." There's no bite in it - the Messenger had other roles than fighting. Like Raphael, they supported. Their two eldest brothers where the ones meant to fight.

"I'm not usually the one who gets into trouble." There's just a slight twist to it - something almost teasing, but it's very faint.

Well, he can't argue with that. With either of those, though he can't tell whether or not Raphael means to sound the way he does. Whether it's just wishful thinking, even.

"No, but I do it on purpose." A wry little grin - his teasing, at least, is anything but subtle, even if it's not always easy to tell how much he means it. "I'll see you around, Raphael."

"You almost always did." Even if when he was younger, when they were both younger, Raphael had believed it to always be on purpose.

"You will Gabriel, yes."

I had a dream but I called it a plan

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject