Catch-all Tunnel Log

[servingmichael]

Who: Raphael and Open
When: Day 121
Where: The tunnels
What: Failing all over the place
Notes: If you want something specific, just let me know.

Stane, some other warning, and then Gabriel had disappeared - Raphael hadn't wasted time in going to Michael and pointing out they needed to go - if it was an escape, then they could retrieve Gabriel.

They just hadn't know the tunnels bore complications.

Comments

[venatical]

"Maybe I got a feeling," he snaps back, still thoroughly unimpressed and uninterested in Raphael's attempts to... Wait, is he trying to comfort Dean?

He huffs and glances around them, then lowers his voice.

"And maybe I don't like being trapped down here with you and a few of your brothers." Dean's really trying not to run into Michael or Lucifer, and Raphael better appreciate the hell out of that.

[servingmichael]

"I have a feeling we aren't going to like what we find on the other side." He didn't think it was a way out - but it might be. Or a better chance to find one. "But, it's possible I saw some of what they do, if those dreams were memories, and in that case they wouldn't traps us here to kill us." Assuming they wanted to experiment on what was left, assuming Maggie's nightmare was memory.

Funny how not being confrontational backed Raphael down, if only a little. Still, some of the haughtiness in the set of his jaw eases.

"My brothers are occupied." Michael with leading, Lucifer with pitching a tantrum. But he'd rather Dean stay away from all of his siblings. "And being trapped down here isn't something we appreciate either." Especially Samandriel.

[venatical]

Unless they've decided to be done with this batch; who knows. Dean isn't going to let go of the idea that this could be it for everyone until they get out of here, and it's mostly because that's his stubborn, survivalist, un-hopeful way of thinking, but it's also a manifestation of how scared he is that not just him, but everyone here he cares about won't get out of these tunnels alive.

"Yeah, I'd like to keep it that way, so long as they aren't occupied with me."

Dean's worried about Cas. And Alfie. The other angels, meh.

Since they're both checking some of their bravado, Dean wonders if this should maybe be the time that he says the T-word for what Raphael did for Sam.

"I heard you patched Sam up." ...he'll work up to the T-word.

[servingmichael]

There's far easier ways to get rid of them, given they can wipe the memories of archangels - and that alone is what has Raphael convinced they aren't meant to die down here.

"I'd suggest not drawing attention to yourself then." Which would probably work for here, even if he can't vouch that Lucifer will leave Sam alone.

"No, I didn't. Shored him up, more like it." And more than once. "What's happening to Sam isn't a simple fix." And he's was rather pissed off about that. Things which he couldn't heal he took as a direct insult.

[venatical]

"So I've heard."

Dean's frowning now; he'd thought Raphael had managed to fix him, but "shoring him up" sounds just like building another wall in his head, and that went so well the first time. Even if Cas hadn't broken it, it was doomed to collapse anyway, or so Death said.

"Does that mean what you did can be undone?"

[servingmichael]

Raphael smoothed his fingers over his cuffs - one is getting a bit frayed down here, as he thinks over how to phase his words. "There's a product I can't recall the name of, an epoxy which can be used to repair very small cracks in glass. It's commonly used to repair windshields. But if the cracks are very large, it won't work. Make something more serviceable, keep it from getting worse, but ultimately, you have to replace the windshield." Donnie had been a mechanic, and Raphael trusted Dean to know what he was talking about, even if Raphael didn't fully understand it.

"What I did wasn't dissimilar. I did heal some of the damage, but it's extensive, beyond...any angel's ability to heal completely." That was a lie, but it sat fairly easily in Raphael's mouth, if just a little uneasily. "What's happening to Sam is progressive, it will keep getting worse until it kills him. But I can - and did - heal some of it. He'll get worse, yes. It's not something which is being 'undone' just slowed down. What I am trying to do is keep pushing it back, until I'm pushing it back faster than it can progress, then I should be able to heal it entirely." And at this point, it was a matter of pride and stubbornness. He would heal this because he was The Healer. Period.

[venatical]

"Uh-huh." He gets what Raphael is saying, but Dean's skeptical because it's Sam's head, and Sam's head has been through a lot lately.

"Can this backfire on him? When the wall fell that kept out his memories of the Cage..." Dean trails off, hoping Raphael can fill in the rest on his own without needing Dean to finish. He wouldn't actually be willing to talk about Sam's problems like that with Raphael if he didn't, by now, really believe he was trying to help, so that's something.

[servingmichael]

"It won't 'backfire' but without occasional touch ups, he'll decline again." Had already, in fact - Sam's cycles of good and bad days were, in part, due to Raphael's repeated patching him up. "I'm proud of what Sam tried to do Dean. I wouldn't harm him because of it, and I don't want him to suffer for it. A sacrifice needs to be important and freely given, but it needed be cruel. Sam gave of himself. I'm not going to abandon his health over whatever is in the past." Because he hadn't been lying when he said he had unending mercy - he did. And mercy was a large part of why he was doing this, not forgiveness.

[venatical]

Raphael being nice is so weird and Dean doesn't like it, even when it's benefitting him. Supposedly benefiting him and his brother. He's been able to detect a lot of bullshit and hot air over the years from angels, and he believes Raphael here, but he thinks maybe that only twists around his opinion of him even more. He's into duty and sacrifice, yeah, but would he have stopped his brother if it had been him about to kill himself for the world? No, because that was the apocalypse and he was pissed they stopped it.

Dean's just trying to deal with the sour taste in his mouth that always comes up when he has to partner up with people he thinks are douchebags. Maybe one day he'll get to the level with Raphael that he's at with Meg.

That was a joke, by the way.

"If something starts to go wrong, let me know." Because he doesn't trust Sam to tell him, actually.

[servingmichael]

Once, Raphael had been known as the quiet, but kind, archangel, the one who comforted and took care of his younger siblings when they were upset, the one how you could turn to if you needed a quiet place to rest. Once, he'd known - well if not intuitively - how to be nice, how to care and take care of others.

Those days were distant now, and yet not - the change had only really began after Lucifer's Fall, and compared to the length of time since his creation, humans were still very new. Here, without the pressure of Heaven, Earth, everything in Creation weighing on him...it's easier to slide backwards into that. To reconnect.

But that doesn't mean he would have stopped Sam from closing the Gates of Hell. Had Sam still be waffling on it, Raphael would have been encouraging it, just comforting and providing strength while here. Not because of the Apocalypse but because closing the Gates of Hell was the righteous thing to do.

"If something starts to go wrong, I will tell Sam first. And I will give him time to tell you. But if he doesn't, I will tell you. Although it's likely I'd tell Castiel first." Because how ever much he didn't like it, Castiel had claimed the Winchesters as his, and that played into his decisions.