caveofsapphires | 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.

And on the fourth day, Elena was just about ready to curl up somewhere and cry. Sure, she'd been on the cheerleading squad, but that kind of fitness was nothing in comparison to this arduous journey. Maybe she should have waited for the next trip, but this was too much progress to pass up.

It did soothe her doubts just the slightest bit when, on the second day, she broke into a jog and ended up a good ten meters ahead of where she was supposed to be. It came and went, but still, there was so much relief that she hadn't been putting her faith on the wrong reality. Because if her supernatural speed was coming back, that had to mean something, right?

She looked around the small group of people who had come along, her tired brain picking out the few that she recognized. Elena only just barely registered Gabriel's comment, and sat down heavily next to him. "I know we're all dying here-" She pause to take a deep breath, "-but I don't see your dad here."

"You're assuming that's the only time he's going to show up," Gabriel told her archly, barely glancing around, still scanning their surroundings for whatever was making that noise. "He's right now enjoying a roadtrip, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to run into him in the middle of nowhere."

Then he tilted his head and snapped his fingers idly several times. (The sand at his feet, in quick succession, turned yellow and red and blue, before the colours faded entirely as if the final hue had dissolved into the ground.) "'Course, I'd be surprised just to run into him, period."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Elena announced, after a lengthy pause. Which was the truth. She'd been semi-joking, assuming that he was either going crazy or delirious from the journey.

Elena watched his finger snapping magic with interest. The last couple of days had been a series of revelations for her, with people she'd previously assumed to be human doing some very humanly impossible things. The idea that there was more than just witches and werewolves and vampires out there shouldn't have surprised her, honestly, but somehow, it did. Not that she knew what exactly anyone was yet, but there were definitely supernatural forces at hand here.

"Neat power," she remarked, cupping some of the previously colourful sand in her hands. "What else can you do?"

"Good," was the archangel's prompt answer. "I need to keep you on your toes, don't I?" He glanced down at the sand, and though he was wearing a smile it was rueful, twisted, as if her admiration was the wrong response.

"You mean now or before we got kidnapped?" he asked sardonically. With another snap the sand in her hands became a miniature sandcastle. "It's just creating constructs. Still working up to getting them to stick." The sandcastle crumbled. The most he'd managed so far was a few hours, but he wasn't bothering to put energy into maintaining such trivial constructs as these. Mostly it was just a comfort to be able to build them at all.

"Both," Elena answered, letting the sand slip through her fingers back onto the ground. The expression on his face gave her slight pause. Was she not supposed to compliment his little show of magic? Having the power to create things... sounded more useful than what little vampy abilities she had, that she couldn't even control.

She shrugged. "Even so, it's still pretty impressive. More than what I can do." Then, with an equally grim smile, "And I think you meant 'wake up', Sylvester."

"It's pathetic," he corrected, staring down at the sand sifting through her fingers with his eyes narrowed. "It's not even a fraction of what I should be able to do."

But it was still a comfort, even as it was a reminder as well. It was better than before.

He smirked, then, and gave a full-bodied shrug. "Hey, if they can hear me over the cat-screams, the sandstorm and that--" he jerked his head to the side to indicate the distance thud-- "then they'd deserve to catch me at it."

"You really want to go through all of that again?" Elena asked skeptically, crossing her arms. She could probably count herself lucky that she had yet to have any form of memory 'return' to her. Though that reprieve probably wouldn't last long; not since they were heading straight for the city.

She used her foot to swipe the small pile of sand in front of her until the ground was smooth again. "You can control it," she finally said, turning her eyes away from the sand to look at him. "That's already better than most of us."

He smiled grimly and a little dangerously, his amber eyes hard and cold. All of a sudden he did not look much like a jokester at all. "I was terrible at playing their game to begin with. I'm not going to play it on top of everything else they threw us into by shoving us into this oven."

Besides, if there was any point when they were going to be out of range, it was now. He looked away, more dismissive than evasive. "Comparing me to you is like comparing humans to dogs, nuclear warheads to tanks or a galaxy to a sun. The difference between us isn't what matters."

The abrupt change in his expression sent a chill up Elena's spine. If he had never seemed dangerous before, he sure as hell did right now. It was all she could do to keep herself from flinching away, but she managed to keep her gaze steady.

His next words did nothing to reassure her. "Meaning..."

"If you can't get a meaning out of that, then I'm disappointed in you, really I am," Gabriel said sardonically, laying a hand over his heart without turning to look at her again. Sure, she might not even be human herself, but what did it matter? An archangel was a different league even to an ordinary angel.

To, what, a werewolf? A vampire? Even something like a god, there was no contest. Archangels were absolute ... when they had full access to their Grace.

"Give me a break, I'm not only physically exhausted you know," Elena said, maybe more sharply than she intended.

His condescending tone of voice was grating on her already short nerves, and the fear from just moments ago had all but disappeared. Damon would've probably called her bravado 'idiotic lack of preservation for her own life', but after days of traveling and being stuck in a godforsaken desert, Elena was pretty fed up.

Maybe he'd put her out of her misery, she thought sardonically.

With a sigh Gabriel glanced over at her, and his eyes were still sharp, but this time old. Very old. Ancient. "It doesn't matter, okay? Just suffice to say that there's no damned comparison and my being able to paint a feet or so of sand is pathetic. And if they think my not having access to all my powers means I'm going to keep playing their game when they send us out alone, they're stupid."

They weren't stupid. Probably they knew full well that any power regain would come with abuses. Unless they weren't expecting a regain at all, in which case it would be more prudent to keep them under wraps, but Gabriel had had enough of prudence.

smaller patch of fading sky [ open ]

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