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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Good idea," Gabriel agreed, far more sanguine than he felt. A day's walk had proven that he really wasn't in the condition of most of the others, a fact he regarded with envy and disconcert. He added innocently a moment later, "And if all else fails, we can always throw that twitchy guy to them."

He was joking. Mostly. There were a few people here he suspected he might have enjoyed pranking, but he couldn't say for sure whether they were ones he'd use as bait.

And right now it didn't matter. He hefted his rifle and stepped a bit closer to the Doctor. The archangel didn't particularly want to go hand-to-hand, since it wasn't his speciality anyway (speciality being, of course, a relative thing), but particularly given his current body. And the little old man was funny, besides. Gabriel didn't particularly want him to be eaten; who else would he have some stimulating and ungrudging conversation with?

One brow quirked, the Doctor squinted at Gabriel, not entirely sure if that was a joke or not. He hoped it was, and the humour did seem to fit the man's personality. With a shake of his head, his gaze scanned the area for any sign of the beast, while also making sure others were aware of the situation.

When a cat appeared, and was quickly shot down by someone, the Doctor almost relaxed. But there were more. Of course it couldn't be that easy. Eyes wide, the Doctor grabbed Gabriel's arm and backed away from where the cats were coming, stopping himself as he realized there could be more in any direction. Pack hunters tended to circle their prey, didn't they? "Are you any good with that thing?" he asked the man, somehow managing a hint of snark rather than fear.

"Ow," Gabriel muttered in response to the Doctor's grip, but he stepped around the old man and nudged him back toward the group. At least that way they knew their backs were covered by the others already in combat and protected by stone on one side. Rather, Gabriel scanned their rear, and sure enough, he caught shadows among and atop the rocks.

"Please," Gabriel said with a snort. "It's just a matter of physics." He'd never really fired guns before, not often, but physics, astrophysics, time, space--they'd been his bitches for the better part of two thousand years. Even without his angelic senses, it wasn't all that difficult to know where to aim. Basic physics was elementary compared to the rest.

With earsplitting yowls the cats leapt down from the boulders. The first three he downed by clean shots to their heads and chests, sending them tumbling end over end. There was only one problem. With the gun on his back, just one piece in a greater whole of weight, he hadn't noticed how heavy it was on its own. Holding it aloft toward the far-too-many cats leaping down from above, using a body which was emphatically not in shape? Gabriel noticed it, all right.

His arms shook, his wrist twinged, and his next shot skimmed the fur on one of the cat's backs. He had enough time to curse before it landed and leapt for him in one smooth motion.

Many thoughts ran through the Doctor's head - whether he should have taken a gun, if he'd have even been of use if he had, the fact that they were stun and wondering how long the cats would stay down, and, of course, the safety of the group. While Gabriel took up defence, the Doctor scanned the others, assessing the situation. Even with only stun, the cats would surely get frightened off if their companions kept falling, wouldn't they?

His gaze fell back to Gabriel in time to spot the leaping beast, but not soon enough to do more than attempt to tug the man back, and the Doctor wasn't exactly strong.

Gabriel was already throwing himself back, but the extra force helped, even if it did make his boots slip in the sand. With another, Enochian, curse the archangel hit the ground, deliberately yanking the Doctor down with him.

The cat overshot them but landed with envious grace and turned on its own length. Gabriel rolled over and braced his arms on the ground, and this time the cat went down from a charge fired at point-blank range.

Of course, that diverted his attention from the rest of the cats now behind him ...

Finding himself flat on the ground wasn't entirely unwanted, though it was certainly unexpected, the Doctor gasping for breath after having the wind knocked out of him. He barely spotted the beast leap over them, lifting his head in time to watch it fall with the shot. Well, that was one less beast.

He struggled to his knees and peered towards where the thing had come from. Two more approached, and he made a grab at Gabriel to get his attention, since he had the weapon, though he wasn't sure the man could take them both out in time with their speed, one of them already preparing to leap.

There was no way. Gabriel rolled over and levelled the gun again, still from the ground, but this time he had to support its weight himself all over again and his position was twice as awkward. Physics was hard to use when one's body didn't want to cooperate like one remembered it used to.

The second shot hit the second cat on the leg, making it stumble and slowing it, but the first completely missed the one pouncing.

"Shit!" Gabriel swung the gun up to block the cat's claws and tried to roll away at once. The blow against the rifle jarred his arms and he almost dropped it entirely; the cat took advantage of the fumble and its claws raked down the archangel's arm. Gabriel bit back a cry of pain to swear, with feeling, at the feline instead.

The Doctor watched in horror, not sure what to do. He mentally went through all the items he had on his person, and none of them were suitable for such a situation, but Gabriel's gun was right there...

He made a grab for the rifle, shifted his position and braced the thing against his shoulder, then fired. The shot hit the beast square in the side, and the Doctor turned and fired towards the other cat. The first missed, but the second caught the thing in the chest, good enough to down it.

Lowering the gun, he lifted his hand to rub at his shoulder, silently cursing his age.

The appearance of the Doctor beside them caught Gabriel's eye and the archangel tried to shift, to shove the gun toward the older man. The motion made the cat lurch and hiss, its ears flattened, and Gabriel eyed the sharp claws bearing down on him, but he felt the weapon being yanked away. The cat's paw shot out toward the Doctor and Gabriel grabbed wildly to deflect it, his arms shaking something fierce, about to buckle.

Next moment there was a flash and the feline went limp, collapsing on him. Gabriel coughed at the sudden weight, though luckily that last-minute reach for the Doctor had shift its weight so it was ... sort of ... to the side.

That didn't mean he could breathe. "Tell me--that's all," he croaked. He couldn't see past the cat's bulk and his legs were going numb already. And his arms? Forget his arms. They could just go lie in the sand somewhere. He'd never known the meaning of the word 'exhaustion' before this moment.

The Doctor took a look around. Whatever cats remained weren't in their imediate vicinity, at least, and he appreciated that, since he wasn't exactly suited for shooting things, and doubted Gabriel would be up to more of that immediately.

"Well enough," he muttered, letting the rifle fall from his hand to the sand as he scooted closer to Gabriel, giving that cat a shove to try and disloge it. With his shoulder aching, it was a difficult thing to achieve without help, and he dug his feet and knees into the sand to push at the thing with his other shoulder.

The cat gave--just a little. Gabriel watched its, well, face, suddenly worried it was going to wake up while they were trying to get it off him. He bucked his wrist to slide his knife into his palm and raised it for a killing blow, and then hesitated.

It was a cat. It was doing what it was made to do. And as ridiculously large and ferocious and whatever else, it wasn't a threat right at this moment. And it wasn't his habit to slaughter helpless beings. "Dad friggin' damn it, I'm getting too sentimental," he grumbled, sheathing the knife again and propping himself up on his elbow to try and help the Doctor roll it off him instead.

And again it shifted, rolling a little, and then settled again, big and limp and damned heavy.

He was not suited for heavy labour! The Doctor shoved with all his might, worried about the cat waking up almost as much as Gabriel was (he didn't have the thing's teeth in his face). When it seemed unlikely the thing would budge any further, he shifted and nudged Gabriel. "If you roll towards it, it should move further." He did pull the rifle closer, keeping it within reach just in case it was needed.

It was hard to move at all, given the cat was lying on his hips, but with a grunt Gabriel tried to obey the direction. To do so he had to brace himself better, and he glanced down to find a better purchase on the ground--and then up again, to find one on the cat.

Which was when he saw the one slinking down from a rock, moving swiftly across the ground, ready to pounce. His eyes widened. "Shit."

He wasn't thinking. It wasn't a thinking thing; it was instinct. He just needed a weapon, now, and then the gun was in his hands and he was firing a volley at the ninja cat. It went down in a sprawl just as it made to leap on the Doctor.

He hadn't seen the cat sneaking up on them, distracted as he was with trying to free Gabriel. And as he'd only just moved the gun, having it jump into Gabriel's hand was rather unexpected, the Doctor's eyes going wide as he watched the man shoot the beast that had been about to leap at him.

He stared at the felled beast for a moment, shook his head, and scanned the area for more of the creatures. He made no comment on the trick; there were more important things to worry about than how Gabriel had managed it, but he'd certainly keep it in mind to ask about later. The Doctor took the gun from Gabriel's hand and kept an eye on their surroundings, just in case any more of the cats tried to creep up on them. Hopefully his friend could free himself, otherwise they were in a bit of a bind.

It was only after Gabriel's awareness caught up and the Doctor took the gun back that Gabriel actually realised what he'd done. He stared down at his hands for a moment and then shook his head slightly. Couldn't be. Could it?

Gingerly he laid his hand on the cat's shoulder. Then he shook his head with a snort. Since when did being hesitant ever fix anything? "Idiot."

Fingersnapping had always worked well for him, though it wasn't something that quite fit telekinesis all the time. Either way, the archangel snapped his fingers with a little jerk, as if to drag the cat off him. He intended to fling the feline around a bit, but wasn't surprised at all when it, instead, rolled limply and half-heartedly in the direction he had indicated, as if flying through the air was just too much trouble.

Either way, it meant his legs were free. And numb. Walking was going to take a little while.

"Neat trick you got there," Cabanela commented boisterously, finally jumping into the action, stun gun raised at the cat. He wasn't sure if he had just missed him shoving the cat, but it certainly looked like he had done that just thinking about it. Now if only Cabanela could shoot bullets or something with his mind. That would be great, and useful!

He aimed the guy at the animal, one eye glancing up at Gabriel. "You okay?" he asked, not about to pull the gun away in case the cat decided to make another attempt at an attack.

The Doctor almost missed that, but the snapping caught his attention and his gaze returned to Gabriel to watch the stunt, one brow arched high. It took a moment, but he managed to glance around again, keeping an eye on their surroundings for other beasts.

When Cabanela arrived instead, gun in hand, the Doctor lowered his own gun (well, Gabriel's) and looked up at him. The trick had been unexpected, and it had him wondering if the archangel was getting his abilities back. Perhaps the Cave dampened the abilities of those dwelling within and leaving allowed them to return? Interesting.

"The beast managed to get his arm, there," he answered for Gabriel, nodding towards where the cat had clawed him. Ignoring his shoulder, which still ached from firing the rifle earlier, the Doctor moved over to inspect what damage the beast caused, glad for another body, or, more importantly, another pair of eyes, which meant less chance of beasts creeping up on them unseen.

"Oh, I'm just peachy," Gabriel said, his tone genuinely upbeat. Telekinesis. Maybe it wasn't Grace, but he still had something left. Not a coincidence. He sat up properly, groaning a little at the way his legs prickled, and finally re-registered the throbbing pain in his arm. He glanced up at Cabanela and smirked. "I'd offer to teach it to ya, but pretty sure you can't afford my price."

The archangel found the place where the cat had shredded his sleeve and swallowed hard with a grimace. Blood didn't normally bother him. Not even his vessel's blood tended to bother him. Except this wasn't his vessel's, it was his. And it did kinda bother him. Just not enough to stop him from trying to rip away the rest of the sleeve. "How're you doing over there, Doc?"

"We should give that a look-see once the coast is clear," Cabanela said aloud, both to the Doctor and to Gabriel. Hopefully the medical kits would have enough to keep him from getting some sort of horrible infection before they could arrive at the city, though Cabanela honestly didn't trust them enough to expect for anyone in the city to care about the poor pilgrims who had apparently been dreaming for centuries.

"You can keep the cat tossing, I'm more of a dancing man myself," he said, winking.

"I'm fine," the Doctor answered, shrugging off his discomfort. "Nothing these old bones can't handle, hmm?" So far, at any rate. He just hoped he didn't have to test whether or not he could regenerate during this little adventure. It was doubtful the cats would be the last of their concerns during the trip.

The old man pushed himself to his feet, still weilding Gabriel's rifle as he scanned the area. Things seemed to be settling down, unless the beasts were just waiting for a second go. He eyed the bodies of the cats around them with a frown, having no idea how long they'd stay down. "Best we should be somewhere else when they wake, I think."

"Experienced bones!" Gabriel gestured in the air with a finger. "I like that. Usually people complain they get too fragile." He would have liked to claim the same, but after having had a cat land on him without too much injury, that might ring a bit false.

He tried to move his feet and sucked in air sharply at the sudden, intense stabs of pain in his legs as the bloodflow returned. Pins and needles? New experience. "Ooow. I'd ask you to teach me a few steps, Mr Astaire, but I think my lower half is objecting."

The archangel winced, trying to move his legs gingerly, but gave up at the prickling and the semi-numbness and, well, pain. Ow ow ow. "No arguments here, Doc."

"Let's get going then," Cabanela agreed, moving to offer to help Gabriel. "You able to walk on your own?" he asked. He wasn't going to stay around to see what would happen, instead, wanting to get as far away from the area as possible.

"Oh, I could complain if I wished. There are more important things at hand than how much I ache, however." His back was none too pleased with the workout, and his shoulder still ached, but he would much rather focus on dealing with the situation than dwelling on pains. That would only slow him down.

With a mild smirk, the Doctor offered Gabriel an arm. "Come now, let's get you up and moving, now. We'll have plenty of time to discuss how much we ache once we're away from here and getting those scratches tended." He nodded towards Cabanela. "I think you'd be better at keeping an eye out than I, hmm? My eyes aren't as good as they once were."

Gabriel glanced between the two and laughed. "Well, look at me; aren't I popular?"

He chose to go with the dancing-man's help, since the Doctor was, well, physically old and looked about done in. Gabriel kinda knew how he felt. The archangel took Cabanela's hand and tried to hoist himself up, but the moment he tried to move his legs they seared with pain and he gasped, going very still.

"Ugh ... I don't want to know if this is normal or not," he said with a wince, moving his feet very, very carefully. The jabbing sensation was less intense this time, but his legs still prickled wildly and painfully as he used Cabanela to haul himself upright. The odd thing was that the feeling eased once he put his weight on his feet, even if they still felt tender in a weird sort of way.

"'Course," Cabanela said brightly, nodding at the Doctor. He was beginning to remind him of the Professor-- he would probably say the same thing. But he frowned as soon as he saw how much pain Gabriel was in. Of course he knew that it was going to be bad, and this was a very wrong situation to be in for someone to be injured. What if those cats came back, or even worse, what if there was something else lurking just beyond their sight.

"What do you mean?" he asked, trying to quickly think of something to lighten the mood. "I dooon't think that havin' your legs torn up is a normal feeling, baby. But that's just me."

smaller patch of fading sky [ open ]

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i'd like a minor injury and/or opportunity for some telekinesis, if you're amenable?

I'm up for whatever!

woot!

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