caveofsapphires | smaller patch of fading sky [ open ]

smaller patch of fading sky [ open ]

WHO: EVERYONE. All PCs thus far will be in this log, through active tagging or implication.
WHAT: THRILLS. SPILLS. Hiking trip toward the Diamond City.
WHERE: The Overworld.
WHEN: Forward-dated to May 1st (Tuesday) through May 7th (Monday).
WARNINGS: May contain violence or other mentions of physical harm. This is not summer camp.
NOTES: More information can be found on the OOC post here. Please read it!

Gathered in the morning haze, Sleepers were brought to the mouth of the Cave with plenty of supplies and equipment. Compasses that would point them toward the City. Backpacks full of clothes and food, medical kits, tents and even weapons. Stun rifles and knives — to fight off any unwanted company, they said. ("Watch out for their bite," Ryan had commented. "Those fuckers are downright feral.") The straight and narrow path would get them there in six days if they kept a good clip. They were sent off just like that. Refusals to leave were met with a wall of guard force officers blocking the entrance back into the cave city. No way to go but forward, unless someone was particularly stalwart about remaining.

From the exterminator's station near the mouth, leaving the Cave was as simple as a short hike upward into the fresh air of the Overworld. Dust and an uncomfortable sort of heat pervaded the atmosphere, light winds stirring up the sand and teasing the meager bits of vegetation that had grown. No matter what direction you looked... it was all wasteland, cracked ground and desolate emptiness. Jutting up from scarred ground were boulders and small spires made entirely of glass and patches of stone; instead of reflecting the harsh sunlight, they seemed to absorb it and only add to the muted loneliness of the atmosphere. As far as the eye could see, there was no life to be found.

With no other option, the Sleepers eventually made their way onward.

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"Or not, if we don't prefer," Liam commented. He had fallen somewhat behind the pack while trying to dig out not only the sunscreen provided, but also the duster and goggles he'd seen along the way. Neither were particularly cumbersome or even very out of place considering their surroundings, but... goggles. Nobody ever looked good in goggles. At best you could manage to look inoffensive.

Still. Better than burning out one's retinas or drying your eyes out with sand.

While he never truly let Ken out of his sight, Liam felt the need to check out the rest of their group and get a better idea of what sort of fellows they were being forced to travel with for the next week. He didn't like the feeling of exposure it left him with — not to the elements, but to all these people who could notice him whenever they wanted. Right now, he just had to pretend only the people he chose to speak with could tell he was there at all. Easier to adjust that way.

"Hope you've found the sunblock by now, mate."

Despite his limited time spent as a full human, Balthazar managed to get the hang of taking care of the body that was now permanently his pretty quickly. He knew stepping out in the sweltering heat of the deserted landscape would probably leave his vessel (body, it's a body now) redder than a lobster.

"It was actually the first thing I thought of," and it truthfully was. He hadn't really pulled on anything besides that, partly because he knew having less things on would leave him less likely to overheat, but mostly because he didn't think anything else would be necessary for the time being. The only other thing he had bothered with was the knife, which felt incredibly familiar in his hand despite it not being anything close to an angel sword. That had been put somewhere he could reach with ease. "I'm vaguely surprised they gave us all of these things."

Liam tipped his head, shifting the hood over it to compliment the goggles. He knew quite well that it was better to stay covered than leave skin exposed to the sun, no matter how uncomfortable it got or what sunscreen you had available. (Besides, the jacket breathed well enough that he wasn't sweating like a pig already.) With the amount of water they had been given, he figured it would last them the estimated trip to the City, assuming they actually made it there... The weight of the supplies was bothersome and annoying now, but he wasn't one to complain about things like that.

"You'd think they were actually worried about us." He shook his head in mock amazement. "Does make you wonder, though, doesn't it?"

"You can't even begin to fathom the things this place makes me wonder." The statement is light, almost said in humor. Still, there was a truth to the words, even if Balthazar belied none of that. Although he was certain the same could be said of any of these poor bastards traveling with him. "If they wanted us to go back to their little city so badly, why not transport us there safely? Why this whole production?" Considering the landscape alone could kill them off, it seemed like an exercise in futility and mismanaged time.

If that didn't tip off people to the fact that something was terribly off about everything, then there was obviously no hope for them. "A powerful, omniscient overlord sets his experiments free to roam a dangerous land, despite all the time and effort he's put into them. Deja vu." Balthazar chuckles, despite himself.

Shaking his head and lifting his hands in a shrug, Liam replied, "With what transport?" It wasn't that he agreed with the Workers—that was the last thing he wanted to do—but it at least made... a slight portion of sense in Liam's eyes. He sighed dramatically. "Far be it from me to try and make sense of their operations."

After a moment, he turned and looked at Balthazar directly. "Déjà vu? Don't tell me something like this has happened to you before," Liam commented incredulously, Balthazar's true meaning gliding over his head. It wasn't exactly the first comparison Liam himself would have made.

"They can get us here, but they can't build a car?" Yes, it was true, like all angels, Balthazar wasn't as up to speed on human technology as he should have been, considering he had been on Earth for quite some time. Still, though, even taking into account that the Sleepers had all just come from a cave, he knew the technology there was far more advanced than it should have been. The Caretaker could spy on their every move, but they couldn't fix up something to transport people in?

But Liam was right; trying to make sense it of all would just give him a headache. Something he needed just about as much as he needed to have a punch in the gut. "I suppose it doesn't matter now, seeing as we're out here already," he began again. "But as far as my sudden feeling of familiarity? Well, it wasn't exactly like this, but the idea was the same. Tomato, tomahto."

Liam sighed, rolling his eyes behind the tinted lenses of the goggles. "Who the hell knows. I'm sure they have some excuse up their arse why we're walking, I just dunno if I actually care.

"Feel like sharing?" he asked. Gesturing out toward the wasteland, Liam tilted his head pointedly. "We've got time for plenty for stories over the next week."

"I suppose if you know anything about The Bible, there won't be much to share. As flawed and filled with outrageous ideas as that book is, some of it did happen to be right. Miraculously." They all remembered when humans started scurrying around the Earth and how amazing it was that the fleshy, weak creatures managed to survive their Father's planet. Despite wild animals, harsh landscapes, and unforgiving weather, humans managed to thrive. This Pilgrimage reminded him of those times, except he was positive his Father had nothing to do with it.

"That so?" hummed Liam, contemplative more than dismissive. Despite all of his time on earth as a supernatural being after his death, chasing the truths of life had never entirely interested him so much as learning to continue living in the moment.

He tilted his head to consider Balthazar more closely. "How do you know that?"

This gave Balthazar pause. He could answer truthfully, say he was 'an angel of the Lord,' as some of his more serious brothers would say, and be done with it. Deal with the fallout, whatever it may be. His acquaintance probably wouldn't even believe him. Or he could come up with a lie. What to do, what to do...

Fuck it. "I'm an angel." Was, anyway.

"Huh." Liam turned that over in his head for a few moments, going silent as he let that one sink in. There was really nothing he could do to deny the claim. Up until he had died, he'd never encountered any other type of being, who was to say that angels didn't have their own exclusive club where ghosts were not privy to? Considering Liam's own predicament, he wasn't ready to throw such a claim out as preposterous.

Hemming and hawing quietly, head tilting back and forth, he finally admitted, "Never met one of those before. Imagined they'd be... taller, grander, gotta say."

"We are," he said immediately. Funny that this one would say 'taller,' of all things. Most humans thought angels looked...well...human. "Well, that is to say, I was." Grander was a childish way of looking at it. All of his brothers and sisters were grand, even the smallest cherub, but that was such an understatement. Unfortunately, the human language hadn't been able to come up with a proper word to describe an angel. "It's complicated to explain in one go."

Heights were a fairly noticeable value of impressiveness to a man who was hovering somewhere below average. It was just the first thing that came to mind for him. "You shrunk?" he asked, brows going up and lips quirking in twisted amusement. "Like I said, if there's one thing we've got right now — it's time."

"I was forced to. You see, angels can't just gallivant around with the rest of humanity. Our true forms would burn out your eyes, at the very least." Balthazar had always found it vaguely confusing that their Father had told them to love and cherish the humans, yet the very sight of an angel would make a human's insides burst like a balloon. Love the things I have created, but don't touch. "When an angel comes to walk among you, so to speak, they must shove themselves inside a willing vessel. This," he said, gesturing to his physical body, "Is mine. Otherwise I could be as tall as...the Empire State building."

Liam let out a low whistle. "Takes a bit more than just ducking to get you through a doorway, I see," he commented in something of a tease. There was very little disbelief in his tone; the concept itself was sound. Whether he actually and completely bought that Balthazar himself was what he claimed was hard to tell. "Seems like a form like that would be useful in getting where they want us to go quickly. It would take—what, seven steps? Eight?"

"Walking? Please." When he thinks about it, maybe he should've did a little more of that in this body. It probably would've made this trip look a little less daunting. The farthest he walked was from one bar to the next. "I would have just flown there." Whether Liam believed him or not, he really didn't care. It felt kind of nice to reminisce.

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