kore_logs | Blackout, House 11

Entry tags:

Blackout, House 11

Who: Balthazar, Rat and Open!
What: Lights are out. They should build a pillowfort and tell scary stories, right?
When: Day 101
Where: House 11, with possible visits around town by Balthazar, should anyone want that.

All right, so the blackout is, in itself, not terribly alarming. Inconvenient, yes, but provided the weather stays tolerably warm and nothing horrible comes out of the woods to kill them, it's just annoying.

At least in the short term. In the long term, water will need to be boiled and distilled, food storage will have to be tweaked, etc. Balthazar's hoping it won't come to that. Right now, it seems best to treat this as temporary.

On the second day after the lights go out, he's taken the initiative to snag some supplies from the store and junkpiles around town and created a couple makeshift light sources: three candles and an oil lamp in an empty wine bottle. The dim glow is visible from outside the house, a small circle of golden flames. Combine it with a little of the moonshine he's gotten from Ellen and it's almost festive, in a rustic sort of way.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"He should come see his demigod mooning the cameras. Might expunge that little notion from his head." She grins and finishes tidying up before coming over to stand in front of him, feeling like nudging at his feet with hers so that's what she does.

He's as welcome to make himself at home in her room as any of her close friends would be, so it doesn't bother her in the slightest. "Would that be why Brigid almost peed herself over him showing up? He sounds a bit like a bully to me." And Riley did not like bullies. She shrugged a little at the condolence, nudging his foot again and looking down at it. "I wasn't close to them, which was as much my fault as theirs. I've been keeping mostly to myself in here, but that might not be such a good idea. If people are just up and being taken left and right, I don't want to be one of those people."

What she wasn't saying was that she didn't want to disappear and have no one notice.

"It might, which is why we don't want him to see that. He's a lot safer to be around, thinking there might be repercussions on high for his actions here." Balthazar smiles, though, amused by the idea.

He shakes his head at the question, though. "No. Well...partly. She seems to be very religious. Insists on calling me Saint Balthazar, although I've told her it's not necessary. I'm far from saintly, as you well know...but it's kinder to let her have her faith, I think."

In other words, please don't mention the orgy dream to Brigid, okay Riley?

He's quiet a moment, taking her hands loosely. "Raphael's not really a bully. He's very serious, and very powerful. Ultimately, he does what he does because he believes it's Right, with a capital R, and he's not especially tolerant of disrespect, unfortunately. But he can be the gentlest of the archangels. He's the Healer and the Protector of Children. As I've told you, though, the world we come from is...a bit fucked up. Me, Samandriel, and Castiel you can tease and joke with--although Castiel only has about a one in ten chance of getting the joke--but Raphael's different. So is Gabriel."

He shakes his head. "They're my family, and I love them, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't fear them, too."

"Yeah, that's kind of how our little tiff escalated. I wasn't being 'respectful' enough and I don't really go in for the whole 'angels are on high' hooplah. Which is just lucky for you, unless you happen to like all that genuflecting and ass kissing. And no, I'm not kissing your ass. Not even if it hurts."

Would she do that? She just might... But only if her and Brigid ever got to the girl-talk sharing part, and she wasn't holding her breath there.

She looked up when he took her hands, listening and feeling not so much in awe of these mighty angelic beings she should tremble at the thought of, but more or less sorry for him than anything. A hand came up to slide through his hair, trying to comfort him. "You should never be afraid of your family, Balthazar. For them, yeah, constantly, but not of them."

He snorts and smiles. "Angels are just as flawed as any mortal being, but we're also older than most species in existence. I'd rather you treat me like a friend. I just hope I'm not doing you a disservice by presenting myself as more human than I am."

His eyes close at the touch to his hair. It feels good, and he's not ready to think too hard about whether he should let her do this. He needs the comfort, if not for the reason she thinks he does. "Like I said, some things have gone very wrong where I come from. I know none of my brothers wants to hurt the others...but they do. We've been turned into soldiers, and that old chestnut about living by the sword is true. It doesn't have to happen here, though. I want my family, for as long as I can have them."

Sigh. "I just want you to understand I can't protect you from other angels. The chances any of them would actually want to hurt you are small. Just...if it happened, I'd be helpless."

"I don't need you to protect me, Balthazar. You're my friend, not my guardian. If my mouth or my actions get me into trouble, it's up to me to get myself out of it. Not that I think that will happen all that often, but I would hope that your family, jaded though they are, realize that we're all stuck in a crappy situation. If they want to be omnipotent dicks, they need to take that elsewhere. I'll probably avoid most of them as best as I can here, but I can only go so far, you know?"

She ruffed his hair, smiling down at him. "You worry too much. Has anyone told you that? Because if they haven't, I think this is something that should be pointed out. Don't apologize for your family, Balthy. If they're being jerks, they're the ones that need to realize that. It's like me and my brothers. Not that they're horrible or anything, but I wouldn't ever apologize for anything they did because their behavior isn't my fault. Mom sort of drilled that into us, to be responsible for our own actions. We're stronger than humans and we can heal while they can't, so doing irresponsible things around them that they might join in on and get caught up in is something we have to be careful about."

He thinks she's missing his point, but by now he's familiar with her headstrong streak. She'll do what she's going to do--because shifter or not, she operates like any human, and that's how humans work--but at least she has a bit more information to consider.

The thing is, he wasn't apologizing for his family. Not the ones that are here. If it were Uriel going around being smite-happy at the mud-monkeys, or Zachariah complaining about the smell of the place, that might be worth an apology. But Raphael has a right to demand respect, and Gabriel...well, it might actually break Balthazar's little heart if Gabriel stopped being the douchebag troll he always is. And he loves them both.

Riley, though, has somehow slipped under the radar and become extended family to him, and that's frightening. He smiles weakly and head-butts the ruffling hand. "All right, I've said my piece. I reserve the right to an 'I told you so' if you run into trouble with them, but you're right. You're a grown-up."

"Yep, I am. All grown up and stuck in a cage." She sighed, giving one of his curls a tweak before letting his hair go. "But you reserve the right to do the 'I told you so' dance while wearing the 'I told you so' hat and singing the 'I told you so' song if I wind up getting myself in trouble because I didn't listen."

She taps his nose before moving to sit beside him on the bed. "I'm a rebel, Balthy." It was more of a joking statement than the truth. But that followed soon after. "I don't like being told what to do. Especially by people who haven't earned my respect. That kind of authority abuse reminds me of bullies and I don't like that. Maybe they're not bullies. Maybe they're sweet, caring angels and they're just like you and I'll love them to pieces. But I don't know that and until I know them, I'm not just going to blindly follow along like a good little sheep. I eat sheep for breakfast. Literally."

Generally speaking, angels don't like the word 'rebel', but Balthazar understands what she's saying. He's certainly not going to tell her what to do. Not in this instance, probably not ever. When she sits next to him, he smiles and drapes an arm around her fraternally.

"Fair enough. You'll probably get along with Samandriel, at least." And Anna, if she ever returns, although he's beginning to doubt that possibility.

"How many brothers do you have here? I mean, god." She smiles over at him, though, softening what might have come out harshly before she tips her head onto his shoulder, just enjoying this small moment of comfort.

"I guess you have other rounds to make, huh?" She was selfish in that she wanted him to stay there tonight, but she also knew he'd fret over the other people he cared about and she wouldn't want to put him through that.

"Here? Just four. There was Anna, too, but she's gone for now. Maybe forever." There's a brief shadow, genuine grief, but he shakes it off quickly and rests his chin in her hair companionably.

"I do. I can stay a bit longer, though." Not overnight, but longer. "And even when the network's down, I can hear if you call for me."

"Just four, he says. I'd be happy with just one. I bet you'd like Finn," she mused, letting herself snuggle in against his side. She liked having Balthazar here, liked knowing that even in this place someone cared for her.

"I know. That whole angel ESP thing. What if I say your name in my sleep, huh? You going to flutterby over here and make sure I'm okay?" Odd how comforting that weird possibility was.

"Just four, out of hundreds of thousands," he says gently, but squeezes her obligingly. "Is Finn the one you thought would lift up my shirt to look for wings?"

"And I might, but only if you're dreaming that you're calling for me. If you're just having a dream that I'm pulling your tail and you want me to knock it off, it probably won't ping me so strongly."

"Yes, Finn's the one who'd put his head up your shirt to look for actual wings. He's kind of oblivious to personal space. I mean, more so than most shifters."

Her hand found its way to the hem of his shirt and she played with the edge of it, fiddling with it because she could. "You wish you could pull my tail, you brat of a celestial being."

"A lot of angels have the same problem, particularly when they're getting used to being corporeal. I'm sure I'd get over being prodded." Most likely it would just amuse him. "Have you met any of my siblings here, by the way, other than Raphael?"

Chuckling, he tweaks a lock of her hair. "I could pull your tail. I might not escape the nip in retaliation, but I could do it."

"I'm sure you will. And that's when he'll move on to the staring and wondering phase. Good luck with that." She smirked at the thought of Balthazar trying to just enjoy a book or the paper with Finn perched somewhere. Staring at him. "Um, I don't think so? I know you mentioned another one, the friend with the hunter, but I haven't met either of those two yet."

She also wasn't in too much of a rush to do so. Her nose wrinkles at the tweak and she turns to nip at his shoulder in, yes, retaliation. "Only if I have one. Hard to pull what's not there right now."

Or perhaps he'd just stare right back.

"I'm sure you'd get on well with Samandriel, at least. Next time the chance comes up, I'll introduce you." He nods. "And Castiel would be the one I mentioned. He's...unique. We're close, although things have...come up now and again."

Maybe he shouldn't talk about Cas too much. He laughs at the nip, though. "I suppose feeling up your rear would just be indecent."

"Maybe I'd actually like to meet them, as long as they're not as stuffy as the other one." 'The other one' being Raphael.

The nip turns into a look of incredulity. "Balthazar. You're not just going to go around 'feeling up my rear', you pervert. Someone might get the wrong idea."

Balthazar isn't entirely sure Castiel comes across as much less stuffy than Raphael, but Samandriel should still be safe enough.

"Well, that's why I said it would be indecent!" He laughs at her expression. "Don't look at me like that; I'm not going to paw you."

"Damn right you're not." She grumbled, but she was also fighting back a smile. She didn't truly think he would, feeling more of a friendly familial bond with him than anything romantic. "It might break your poor male ego to have your ass handed to you by a girl."

"Oh you think so?" He grins. "Frankly, that sounds like a challenge. Meet me on the field of battle at dawn. We'll settle this with a nice long run."

"Your challenge has been accepted. But really, thanks for stopping by and checking on me. I appreciate it." She leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek before resting hers on his shoulder.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Blackout, House 11

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