kore_logs | for my brother, who keeps me sane

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for my brother, who keeps me sane

Who: Raphael and Gabriel
Where: Gabriel's room in House 11
When: Late night Day 77/obscenely early morning Day 78
What: Raphael is basically a stray cat. At least he doesn't scratch up the doors?

It isn't the first time Raphael's appeared in Gabriel's room when no one else is around, and Gabriel expects (hopes) that it'll be far from the last. Even if the relationship is tense to say the least, too many accusations and apologies still waiting to be made, it's hard to stay away now, after so long apart. Especially with Lucifer still missing, it's a comfort to Gabriel to be reassured every now and then that Raphael's still around. And, well, it has been a while since he's been able to just sit and talk with his brother about nothing at all. Perhaps that in itself is a bad idea - they do have a lot of things to discuss that are actually important, after all - but emotions are for puny humans and if they ignore their problems long enough, they'll go away, right? Right. It's always worked in the past. So, until something happens to actually force them to talk about Feelings, Gabriel at least is perfectly happy to pretend nothing's wrong between them. And the best way to do that is, obviously, to continue his mission to find some candy that Raphael actually likes. So, when Raphael does turn up (and Gabriel will deny forever that he's been sitting there and waiting), he's greeted not with any actual words but with the packet of gummy bears Gabriel lobs at his head.

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"I've lied to them for how long now?"

About quite a lot - starting with God being gone. And so much else. For Raphael it wasn't about opinion, but fact. He loved them but he knew many didn't trust him or did so because they couldn't imagine not trusting the Archangel had the answers.

Raphael smiled faintly, his mouth didn't move much but his eyes crinkled. It wasn't that he didn't feel the smile, he was just being his normally subdued self. He thought those colors best suited to Gabriel, and was pleased that he agreed. "They do make a statement."

"Most of them don't know that."

Or maybe they did, by after Gabriel's time. He wasn't sure - chaos in Heaven had been mentioned to him, though he hadn't really wanted to know the details.

"Just so long as it's not an accurate statement. Can't abide those."

"Castiel has a big mouth. Although Joshua started it."

Raphael wasn't going to lay too much of it out. Later, perhaps, but not right now. There was little point.

"Well no, we can't have that at all."

He snorted. "Pain in the ass, both of them."

It wasn't that he disapproved of rebellion, of course. Outright defiance, as something he'd spent a lot of time thinking about but never quite having the guts to do, was a trait he grudgingly admired. Even in those he didn't otherwise get along with, like Dean. Still, even if in theory it was something he respected, he just had to roll his eyes at the naiveté of people like Castiel who acted on it with no apparent thought for the consequences. Telling Heaven the truth might not have been a bad idea fundamentally, but the chaos that would be bound to ensue - preventing that, in his opinion, was worth a million deceptions.

"Definitely. I'm allergic to them."

"Always have been." But at least he'd been fond of Castiel once.

Raphael disliked chaos within the ranks. He'd seen too many angels break under that weight - Naomi had fixed many - and even more than that, he wanted his family not fighting with each other. Their Father had abandoned them, they shouldn't turn on each other.

"Well walking around with a sucker stuck in your mouth is likely to help."

He shrugged. He couldn't deny it, and didn't want to in any case. He didn't have much of a problem with Joshua, apart from a little jealousy (he was the Messenger, after all, if their Father were rumoured to still be talking to anyone it should be him, or at least one of the other archangels), but Castiel... well, he was still fond of him. He just also found him incredibly frustrating.

"Oh, they make an accurate statement alright." He did try to avoid innuendo, he really did, he just couldn't help himself sometimes. At least Raphael wasn't likely to pick up on some of the subtler ones. "Plus, I stand by what I've said before, they taste great. You just have to... acquire the taste, if you're not used to chemical flavourings."

Part of Raphael's issue with Joshua was also jealousy, which Raphael barely understood beyond a burning "Why is he so special?". Similar to how he felt over Castiel being resurrected, again and again. Here, he was starting to bond with Castiel again, which he liked - but just as often, he wanted to throttle him.

Gabriel hadn't irked him that badly. Ever.

"I do know they can be made without them." Kids loved candy - he liked children. So he'd been watching them for a long time, even if he no longer acted he still watched.

Wanting to throttle Castiel was understandable. Gabriel was pretty sure most people who knew him wanted to throttle him at some point, many of them at least once a week. He just had a way of provoking that kind of emotional response in people.

"Well, they can." They weren't usually sweet enough for Gabriel - he appreciated natural flavours, but that being said, he also appreciated corn syrup and food colourings that dyed his tongue bright blue. "Do you know how? Never had you down as a chef."

"I know how to make some. Caramel is easy, some honey candies, taffy. Older ones. It's not that different from making medicines or teas from plants, and that I know very well." And since they would often need to be sweetened to get children to eat them...

"So you're good for something after all, then." He nudged Raphael with his elbow, just in case he might have thought Gabriel was being serious. "Remind me to keep you around if I ever end up human again. I don't know how I survived all that time without any candy."

"That is good for me, but what about you?" He nudged back, then settled on telekentically loping a gummy bear at him. Try and catch?

"Anna made you eat your vegetables, hm?"

"What kind of big brother makes candy and doesn't share? Don't make me threaten you, Raph."

Raphael wasn't the only one with awesome magic archangel powers, which was why it actually worked when Gabriel tried to catch the gummy bear with his teeth. Which was fortunate since otherwise he'd have ended up looking like a complete tit.

"There wasn't anything that wasn't vegetables. You shoulda seen our kitchen, we had about ten different tins of gross things and no real food. Who the hell just lives off canned peas, seriously? No wonder there was no one in the house when we turned up. Probably went nuts from too many soggy carrot bits." That being said, he did realise that the people living there before had probably had real food, and the tins would have been from the town's supply of rations. But that wouldn't have made such a good rant, and he preferred a bit of a comic rant to actually making sense, any day.

"If you threaten me I won't give you any." Or he'd dump powdered sugar on Gabe's head. Something. But he did catch the gummy bear and Raphael huffed a breath in what might have been a laugh.

"I don't know of anyone who actually likes canned peas. At least it wasn't seaweed?" Gabriel was going to make a truly impressive face at that, Raphael was still to wager, and he craned his neck to watch for it.

"If you don't give me any, I'll have ... ooh, probably the biggest tantrum you ever saw. Don't push me, Raph, I throw a mean wobbler."

Perhaps not as bad as Lucifer was capable of, but it still wasn't to be taken lightly. Gabriel might not have been able or willing to actually harm Raphael, but it didn't mean he couldn't still be the most annoying little brat of a brother in the world. Although that being said, he was already pretty bad - the expression at the mere mention of eating seaweed was proof enough of that: Raphael should be satisfied.

"And they eat that voluntarily." It was lucky they hadn't had to resort to it at any point when he'd been human, given that eve n just talking about it made him look well and truly revolted. "There's no accounting for taste, I suppose."

"Did you threaten to gag me when I threatened something similar?" He knew what kind of tantrum Gabriel was capable of, and he wasn't too worried. He wouldn't push him that far.

And that expression was priceless, beautiful, and he cracks a smile. "Yes, they do. Might have to remind people of that here, at some point." Hopefully they wouldn't end up in that situation again - or if so, with at least one of the archangels there to conjure food for the others, but the rest of the town wouldn't be so lucky.

"We've been over this, haven't we? Not before the second date!"

He did usually avoid sexual jokes with his brothers - or at least with the archangels, since Castiel's confusion was hilarious and Balthazar tended to actually find them amusing (and understanding at all was more than was usual for the angels) - but sometimes he just couldn't pass up the opportunity. It was hamartia, of a kind. A very strange kind.

"Oh, I don't think it'll get that desperate. Folks seem to die off here at a quick enough rate that there'll at least be enough meat." Though perhaps people would prefer seaweed to cannibalism. Presumably Gabriel was joking, but then again, he had spent a lot of time with the pagan gods. "Besides, if the food situation gets really bad, I can lend a hand."

He just wasn't sure if he'd be able to get away with it. Escape attempts had got them punished in the past, and if food shortages were part of their captors' obscure but doubtlessly nefarious plans, providing some might be dangerous. Even if it wasn't, he didn't want to deal with people coming to him for help - he wasn't a vending machine and he didn't intend to be treated like one. So long as there was enough food, he wasn't going to intervene.

"After you shoved me in that volcano in the Cat's Eye? I can if I want." So nyah. Raphael did in fact get some of the jokes, he just normally ignored them.

"If we end up with a Wendigo, you are siccing the Winchester on it. I'm going to sit back and laugh as you try to convince him to believe you." He didn't know if Gabriel was joking or not, not that either would surprise him. "As will I, but only if there is no other option."

And the first person to expect it went without. He'd watched what happened with Castiel and the Winchesters, and he refused to let it happen to him, or any of the others.

He hadn't been expecting Raphael to go along with the joke. The surprise of it was enough to get a laugh out of him.

"I guess you do still owe me for that."

Though honestly, he didn't expect to be paid back, or at least not in kind. Raphael tended to be more thoughtful and less impulsive than Gabriel - his revenge, if it ever came, would no doubt be impressive, but he didn't think it was likely to be violent.

"If we end up with a Wendigo, it can eat him for all I care. It's not exactly gonna go after one of us." If it did they were well-equipped to take care of it themselves. And there weren't that many humans in the Cape about whom Gabriel particularly cared - not so many, at least, that he wouldn't be able to keep an eye on them himselves.

"Oh you guess?" Raphael never really planned on "getting" revenge. Gabriel not being sure was good enough - though if he ever needed a big favor, it might some into play.

"Yes but think of how long it would take him to believe you." He didn't really care if Dean did or not - they were safe and they could take care of those they cared for. It wasn't a big deal, mostly Raphael was just bored.

"Y'know, forgiveness is a virtue. Or something." Not that Gabriel would know - he wasn't big on it. Or, for that matter, on virtues. "You could always just let it go. Be the bigger man."

Wheedling aside, he was confident Raphael wouldn't actually hurt him. With that in mind it might be fun to see what he'd come up with - but on the other hand, Gabriel quite liked his dignity intact.

"I suppose that could be entertaining. It'd do wonders for my reputation for honstty - and that'd fuck with his head, that's for sure. Which is always fun."

"I could. Or you know. I could be myself and throw more gummy bears at you." Simply because it was funny watching Gabriel catch them. And he liked the candy.

Although Raphael wasn't likely to actually hurt Gabriel, no. Maybe just bruise his ego.

"Isn't it? And Castiel couldn't even be bad at us." Which was a win-win, in Raphael's book. Screwing with a Winchester and not undoing the progress with Castiel.

"Can't you be someone else, then?" As if he minded having candy thrown at him. And as if there were really anyone he'd trade Raphael for. "If I get a vote, I'm saying Jessica Alba."

Alas, Gabriel's ego was probably the most easily bruised part of him. Not because he was insecure, admittedly, just because archangels didn't bruise easily. And because for a guy who so enjoyed taking the arrogant down a peg, Gabriel was pretty damn arrogant himself, and it was mostly unfounded.

"I'm sure he'd find a way." He wasn't sure how, but if anyone would find a way it would be Cas.

"I don't know who that is." Fine then, try to catch two at once. Because Raphael didn't want to think about who he'd trade Gabriel for.

To be fair - all the archangels were like that. Arrogant and prickly about it, but at least in Raphael's opinion they had earned it, and he'd defend that. But there were few who could try to take the mickey out of Gabriel without bring Raphael's wraith down on their heads.

"Probably. He keeps surprising me."

"You haven't lived." He rolled his eyes and didn't bother trying to catch. He was generally willing to make a fool of himself for a laugh, but even he had limits of some kind - as it turned out, they were round about at when he began to remind himself of a pet dog.

"He has a way of doing that." Said with fondness and not a little pride, even though being angry at them without an obvious reason wasn't exaclty the most impressive thing Castiel would ever have done. "If it didn't have such catastrophic consequences, guess I'd be proud."

An ineffective attempt to cover up that he was anyway... which was probably a bad thing, but Gabriel didn't have to live with most of those consequences, so he figured he had the luxury to be proud of Castiel's rebelllious nature and ability to consistently manage the impossible. And also to fuck up everyone's shit, something for which Gabriel had something of a soft spot.

"I hear more about people children are interested in." He could say he's busy - it's true, more true than the other statement but why rub salt into wounds? Raphael didn't see the point.

"Courage and intelligence, you know I appreciate them." Which had been why he'd taken to Castiel at all, for all the handful he was. "Anarchy though. I can't." And he wasn't about to back down to Castiel either. Michael he would gladly serve. Gabriel. Working with Gabriel was an ache in his heart he hadn't known how deep he felt, until he had this - and it wasn't something he wanted to give up. Even Lucifer he was willing to work with. But he would never, ever, kneel or surrender to any other angel. He wasn't sure he was willing to kneel to God anymore. Not since Michael was taken, trapped, not since a traitor was raised instead of the loyal being rescued.

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