Breaking Down the Barrier

[nevermindtherunning]

Who: Everyone
Where: outside, the western embankments
When: Day 75
What: Please review this OOC post. How the Doctor loses friends and alienate people. Or he learns he isn't a god and nearly causes everything to explode.

The meeting hadn't quite gone exactly as the Doctor had planned, the comments from Donna especially disheartened him. However, none of that stopped his drive to get everyone out of Kore. Sharon was back, but he hadn't even said more than a couple sentences to her, as he fixed the last adjustments to his generator.

He and Jubilee had been working tirelessly the day after the meeting and she finally had to excuse herself from him for sleep. Right, humans needed sleep, didn't they? The Doctor couldn't remember the last time he had, which probably wasn't a good thing. But it didn't matter, given in an hour or two he'll be back in that sexy blue box of a TARDIS far, far away from here.

The last hour had been spent with him at the kitchen table staring at the generator, trying to possibly think if there were any last few adjustments. Finally jumping up to his feet, he hugged the generator close to him, hoisting it up and leaving the house. Managing to activate his wristwatch, opening the comm, he spoke up, "Hello! Doctor here... It's time to go home!"

Just west of house 19, there was a small open area, perfect for this. He glanced back towards the woods, briefly wondering how Dilandau was doing with the distraction plan before crouching down and setting up the generator. It was time.

Comments

[tryingitall]

Once the fire begins in earnest, Balthazar abandons the bear-chasing without a second thought. Something must have gone wrong, terribly wrong. Unaware that Castiel is working on the fires, his first thought is of the humans in the Cape, particularly of the Prophet Chuck, who might just be innocently writing away in their attic with no clear idea of the danger.

And what would Raphael say if he let the Prophet asphyxiate in a fire? Nothing good, that's for damn sure.

He's actually in the middle of a split-second flash of flight when the barrier rips. For a moment, he can feel his trueform blazing right through the flesh of his poor vessel, all flames and eyes. And those eyes see both Heaven and Earth: storms on the sea, men getting mowed down by gunfire on a beach, a ship called Titanic and the passengers on it he grew to know, people he had to save and then kill again.

Ouch is an understatement. Knocked clear out of the sub-space flight, he hits the ground hard enough to send up a fountain of dust, like a meteor making impact. The crater is shallow, but the angel within lies still for a moment, alive but dazed and in pain.

[servingmichael]

He'd been hanging back a bit - but ready as soon as he saw the barrier open to snatch his siblings and make a run for it, at least until he saw Balthazar.

For an instant he flat out can't move, can't react, and that's panic educing enough. But as soon as he can move, he is. Straight to his brother's side, kneeling over him and putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Balthazar?"

[tryingitall]

Balthazar looks conscious, but he seems unable to get up. He does flinch at the touch, surprised, then reaches unsteadily for the archangel's wrist. "Raphael? I can't see. I can't see anything...!"

His vessel's eyes are wide open, temporarily blinded by either injury or the twist in spacetime. His trueform's eyes, by contrast, are sealed shut.

It's to his credit that there's more confusion than panic in his voice, but there's a little of both.

"Is the place still on fire? Do we need to move?"

[servingmichael]

Raphael lets him take his wrist, and slides his other arm under Balthazar's back to bodily lift him closer.

"Castiel is dealing with the fire. I have you, and for now, we needn't move." He attempted to heal whatever this was...but didn't see a change. Nor did he know what could have CAUSED it.

[tryingitall]

There may be mild bruising from his landing, and of course Raphael's efforts fix that instantly. The blindness, especially in his trueform, seems to be some kind of strange quantum state, as if that part of him is balanced between existence and non-existence. The ripping of the barrier is the most likely cause. Possibly the only possible cause.

Balthazar tenses at the contact, surprised and disoriented, but the sound of the archangel's voice tells him what's happening. And it's strangely reassuring to be embraced. "There were people in the woods. Brigid and Rat, at least. Rat's safe, but I don't know about the girl; I lost track of her."

He takes a deep, shaky breath, unnerved by the utter lack of visual input. It's downright claustrophobic after a lifetime of watching everything. But it's temporary. It has to be temporary. "I'm fine. I'll be fine."

[servingmichael]

"I'll look for her soon." His priority was his brother, even if he liked the girl. He shifts Balthazar around to pull him to his feet and keep him steady and keeping him close. "Hold onto me."

This has to backlash from the barrier, Raphael doesn't know of anything that could do this. That also frightens him, but he can't show it, not now. "You will. But we need to move now."

[tryingitall]

Balthazar's not sure he wants to get to his feet right now, but holding onto Raphael is an easier direction to follow. He clings, and he'll be embarrassed about it later, but he's decidedly unsteady getting up. It's not strength he's lacking so much as proprioception, though, so as long as he's got Raphael to steady him, he'll manage.

"A-all right. Where are we going?" He has no choice but to trust his brother right now, but somehow that trust seems to be coming easy.

[servingmichael]

Raphael holds onto him securely. "I have you. I have you. Listen for me. For joints creaking, for fabric moving." Angels my not go blind, but some prophets did. This he could coach.

"Home, I'm going to take you home." How easy it is, to call House 11 home. Even if it's not, strictly speaking, his.

[tryingitall]

"Joints creaking? Raphael, your vessel can't be more than forty." It's a weak joke. He can, in fact, hear the rustle of fabric and the quiet shift of muscle and bone. It's something to focus on, at least.

"Yes. That was...I was going to check on Chuck. Home is good. Thank you." Balthazar's calming quickly now that someone else is in charge.

[servingmichael]

"Donnie's thirty-four. He also amassed some wear and tear due to being a mechanic." He knows it's a joke, but responds flatly enough that he might, just might, be missing to tone on purpose. Just might be seeing how far he can push it.

"Ok. I'm going to take you to the living room. Anna will be there too." He was glad she was back, for many reasons - Fallen or not, she had proven she would provide care for her siblings. And he needed that right now.

[tryingitall]

Balthazar's too dazed to push the joke right now. Maybe next time.

"Thank you," he repeats, taking a breath. After a second's thought, he adds: "I'm getting the impression this escape plan didn't work."

[servingmichael]

He'd be more reassured if Balthazar did push the joke. Instead he pats Balthazar's back, lightly. "You're welcome." There's a very definite sound of teeth grinding together to an instance. "No, it worked. Someone made it out."

[tryingitall]

"Someone, but only one someone?" That's...disappointing. Somehow, he didn't expect that of the Doctor. "Well. I admit, I didn't have a lot of hope for success. At least most of the place is still standing."

"...most of the place is still standing, right?"

[servingmichael]

"I only saw one...vehicle or something." He didn't know what phone boxes where. "Small shed looking thing."

Raphael glanced around, checking over the damage. "Castiel is putting the fires out."

[tryingitall]

"Hmm." He's not sure what else to say. They'll have to take stock once the smoke clears. "That should help. I don't know, maybe I should have spoken up against the whole business. But it might not have made a difference."

[servingmichael]

"Castiel will manage. Michael would be faster," Michael could just snuff it all out in an instant, "but Castiel will be all right. Now let's get you home."

He doesn't ask, just carries Balthazar with him as he flies, landing in the living room, near to a comfortable chair.

[tryingitall]

"Naturally an archangel would be faster," he murmurs, not really thinking about what he's saying. He wonders what the hell Gabriel's up to, but decides not to voice the thought. It's enough that the crisis is being stabilized.

He doesn't protest the flight, nor would he have expected Raphael to ask permission. He clings a bit as they land, swaying, but once he's ensconced in a chair, he seems to recover. "I'm going to be fine," he reiterates, whether Raphael's likely to believe him or not.

[servingmichael]

"Michael's better with fire than of us." All things considered, it's not sharp, but it is firm. It's unlikely that many of the angels would take a human being a smartass about God, Raphael wouldn't take it from anyone about Michael.

He keeps Balthazar steady, not minding the clinging. "You'll be fine yes." He's heal or Raphael would rope Gabriel into making someone pay until whoever decided caging angels was a bad idea, and they could leave. Then he'd fix it himself.

[tryingitall]

Fortunately, Balthazar's not trying to be smart, just rambling a bit. "I never knew him well. I suppose I never knew any of you that well."

Leaning back in the chair, he rubs his face. "Did I land on any vital structures? The last thing we need is me crashing through someone's roof."

[servingmichael]

"Michael, Lucifer, myself, Gabriel. Fire, ice, air, water. We were each given a field, even if others are also talented with them." Michael also was better with heat than the rest, Raphael lightning - it was just a part of their field. "There are others, but those are special." Like Michael being The Viceroy, Lucifer being The Lightbringer, Raphael being The Healer, and Gabriel being The Justice - there had always been weight on the archangels far passed their places in The Host's hierarchy. They had all simply accepted it. It was part of what made Anna's and Metatron's (and others') abandonments chaff so badly - they didn't have any idea how heavy, how hard, it was to be an angel. And some of that weight, that tiredness, bleeds through his tone.

"You were on the ground, don't worry. I think I took a small tree out, I'll go back and check later." He wasn't too concerned at the moment. Things could be repaired, he was more concerned for his siblings first - and honest the people here. He'd deal with them soon.

[tryingitall]

"Ah. I'm sure we'll get by with one less tree." Probably several less trees, really, but he's going to try not to think about that just now.

"Raphael. Thank you. But I'll be fine now. Go do what you need to do. I won't leave the house until I can see again."

[servingmichael]

"I'm sure. The fire will do other damage, but then again, nature heals." Sometimes even, an explosion of growth. He was interested in seeing the result.

"Call one of us if you have need." He lightly touched his brother's arm for reassurance, then spread his wings as he withdrew and flew out.