Blackout, House 11

[tryingitall]

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.

Comments

[servingmichael]

Do they?

[ He doesn't actually know, fashion isn't his strong point. ]

...at least he's better than Luke? Though John had...gumption.

[hung_garian]

Absolutely. You'd be at least 135% more attractive if you switched your tie out for a red one. C'mon, bro - would I lie to you?

[Well, yes, but he's probably not bored enough to lie about fashion advice.]

I liked Luke. John was kinda depressing - oh, but I tell you what, I liked Daniel. Daniel was great.

[servingmichael]

I-I don't know.

[ It's not an accusation, more a confused unsure tone. Gabriel likes his pranks after all, and Raphael remembers more than once ending up covered in something that left Michael or Lucifer - or both - torn laughing at him, yelling at Gabriel, and trying to figure out how to clean up, and often ending in them doing all three at once. Most of the time, Raphael ended up laughing too. ]

Remember when he squeezed the wineskin so tightly the top came apart and he ended up with parchment stained with wine?

[ That was hilarious. ]

Daniel was. I still go to see him sometimes.

[hung_garian]

O ye of little faith.

[Deeply amused, of course. He'd be surprised - and probably disappointed - if Raphael did trust him to tell the truth. He so rarely does it that that would be beyond just naive.]

He was useless, wasn't he? [A fond smile.] Dad sure has a way of picking his prophets. Or maybe that's just the only way there is to deal with the stress, I don't know.

[It's probably the latter. He grimaces.]

But hey. Tell Daniel I said hi when you get home, alright? It's been a while.

[servingmichael]

Do you think so?

[ Gabriel was entirely correct, of course.

But he did trust Gabriel to tell the truth about somethings. ]

He was. [ Raphael was no less fond. ] It's unfair, I know.

[ He'd said as much to Balthazar, after all. ]

I will.

[ He doesn't answer the rest, because yes, it has. ]

[hung_garian]

[He smiles and shakes his head.]

Well, life has never been fair. And at least Chuck's got you to watch his back, huh?

[He gestures at the supplies Raphael's left for him.]

[servingmichael]

He does.

[ Raphael shrugs a little. ]

Not quite as fun as chasing demons away, or monsters, but probably more useful.

[ Chuck had been kept pretty safe, until he outed himself to Lilith. ]

[hung_garian]

Better for his liver, sure.

[Not that couldn't be fixed up right as rain by the angels on Chuck's shoulder as well, but ideally it wouldn't get to the point where that was necessary.]

[servingmichael]

Beyond a doubt. Do you know if he ever got his typewriter working?

[ Raphael would patch him up, of course, but he'd prefer to not have to. ]

[hung_garian]

Well, it sounds like he did. Either that or he's taken up tapdancing - I never exactly checked.

[servingmichael]

At least he isn't unicycling up there.

I think he'd win the prophet talent show though.

[hung_garian]

Given the competition, that's not so impressive.

[servingmichael]

Just having one that won't trip over his feet is a pleasant surprise. You should have seen him against the ghosts.

[ Raphael wouldn't have let Chuck get hurt - but that had been enjoyable to watch. ]

[hung_garian]

Ghosts?

[He makes a face, because that's his default reaction to just about everything, but he seems intrigued nonetheless.]

Sounds like somebody's been spending a little too much time with the Brothers Dim. Some of their bad luck must be rubbing off on him. How did he do, on a scale of horror movie victim number three - after the black guy and the dumb blonde, obviously - to Peter Venkman?

[servingmichael]

Mhmm. Three of them.

[ Raphael had been poised to step in, so he had been watching closely. ]

There was a...convention? For his books. He kept everyone locked up in a hall while the Winchesters and a couple others hunted the ghosts. A manager opened the door, breaking the salt line. Chuck grabbed a stand and beat the ghosts off, slammed the door shut. Demanded someone salt the door and told them no one was leaving. It was surprising, really. More Joshua than Elijah.

[hung_garian]

[He snorts, amused - it's nearly a laugh.]

Didn't think he had it in him. I think about 60% of the words he's said to me have been 'um' or 'sorry'.

[servingmichael]

I didn't either. I was sure I was going to have to step in.

[ He was proud of that, in Chuck. ]

At least he's stop near crying with me? Although I think Donnie helps that.

[hung_garian]

Maybe you should have. You coulda had a whole convention converted.

[Or not - knowing their type, they probably would've just picked holes in the whole thing.]

Well, if I was a drunk human, I'd be pretty freaked out too if some dumbass angel started talking to me in their true form. [After all, the way they really look isn't exactly reassuring to humans.] Donnie there might not exactly be matronly, but at least he's humanoid. And good-looking, that probably helps too.

[servingmichael]

This was after the Seals were broken. He wasn't my sole responsibility. Besides, the Winchesters were there.

[ Really he probably would have just terrorized everyone. ]

I wasn't really talking to him. He was fool enough to rush into a room with Lilith. [ ...that was probably worse really. ]

Is he?

[ How attractive Donnie was wasn't something he had ever thought about. ]

[hung_garian]

Well, maybe he's more like Gelert than Courage the Cowardly Dog after all.

[Not that he expects either reference to be understood.]

Of course he is. Haven't you looked in a mirror lately?

[servingmichael]

[ Yep, that's a headcock and a confused blink. ]

Never mind.

But no, I haven't. It's not something I've thought about.

[hung_garian]

No, imagine it's not.

[He rolls his eyes, but it's fond.]

If I were you, I'd just trust in my expertise, not try to put too much thought into it. You might pull a muscle or something.

[servingmichael]

What?

[ He knows it's fond but he doesn't really see why it's important at all anyway. ]

In some things, I do trust you.

[ Explicitly, but only in some things. ]

[hung_garian]

You always did have a way with words.

[Well, maybe it's not some grand gesture, but it's still touching - he's well aware he doesn't really deserve Raphael's trust at all, not after everything he's done. Having it anyway, if only in some things, means a lot to him... hence the sarcasm. Feelings? What feelings?]

[servingmichael]

That's a joke?

[ It's a slight headtilt, and a soft lift of one corner of his mouth. He's pretty sure Gabriel is teasing him, though not unkindly. What he's not sure of is wither or not Gabriel is trying to remind him of Gabriel's place. ]