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

"And you're the one who was reaming me out for being an idiot," Gabriel said with a roll of his eyes. "Just because you can doesn't meant you have to if you've got the chance not to. Wasn't that part of the point of your little speech last night?"

The fact that she went at the bread like she was starving only made him smirk. He'd already eaten soggy bread and didn't feel like any more quite yet, so he re-opened the half-empty bag of chocolate chips instead. Dessert was best first.

Re-l tensed. The answer she wanted to give wouldn't come. She didn't have the right words to say it.

"It doesn't matter. Just don't do it again." She gulped down the last of the bread and stood up. She grabbed the blanket and shook it out, getting rid of dust and crumbs before folding it and adding it to her pack, which she swung onto her back.

"Are you still hurt?" she said, looking down at Gabriel.

Dad, she was irritating and demanding and presumptive, and it was kind of hot. It reminded Gabriel of Kali. Not that he let this on; rather, he just rolled his eyes again, tossed a few last chocolate chips in his mouth and rolled the bag back up again.

"Nope, unless you count the fact my body is one giant ache," he said glibly, then forced himself to his feet with a groan, trying to stretch to loosen his muscles. "So we heading across for a bit first, or straight up?"

Re-l mouth may have hung open for the slightest fraction of a second before she remembered to close it, snapping her teeth together and grinding them.

"I want to get to the city," she said, "so unless we run into problems, straight up it is."

She set off without a glance backwards, letting her legs swallow up the distance. She did not look back. If he was determined to follow her, he would have to keep up himself.

She was stiff and tired, and her muscles screamed in protest, but Re-l ignored them. It felt good to be walking, good to be using all of herself. The rocky and barren floor of the ravine disappeared beneath her feet, and the other side loomed closer and closer. Re-l began searching for a route up, and at last she spotted a narrow trail, suitable for little more than animals, veering sharply up the cliff. It was hard, but it looked managable, especially if there were two people for the difficult bits. Reconsidering her previous estimation, Re-l slowed and waited for Gabriel to catch up.

"Do you think you can climb that? If I help you?"

"No arguments here." He was still trying to rub his shoulders into submission as she walked off, but after a moment he hauled up his pack and followed, a little more slowly, but dogged.

He was already peering up at the cliff when she spoke. "I could do that," he agreed, shading his eyes and wincing a little in the sunlight. His head was still a bit tender. His sharp eyes picked out the trouble spots. "Actually, I should be able to construct some climbing tools or handholds. If they only need to last ten minutes or so it won't take much out of me."

And small parts would be infinitely easier than that blasted bridge.

Re-l looked seriously at him. He wasn't in great shape, though the night's sleep had helped a lot.

"If you hurt yourself," Re-l said, "I'm going to feel unfairly responsible, so are you sure you can manage that? Because I can get you up without climbing gear."

She continued to study him, and then quickly raised a hand and dug it into his trapezius muscles, right where she thought the most tension was.

The pressure right there made him yelp, his back instinctively arching as he tried to escape the sudden searing pain. He yanked himself away from her, staggering a little because of his pack, and turned with a scowl fighting a rueful grimace. "Y'know if you wanted to give me a massage, all you had to do was say so."

He rubbed his shoulder, squinting at her soul as if to gauge whether that was to make a point or if she'd actually been trying to help him, then sighed and shook his head. "I can manage it, okay? If I can actually pull my own weight then I'm damn well going to pull it. A few bits and bobs to help us through the rough parts won't put me out."

[ooc: Because I'm horribly forgetful, let's just pretend he's been seeing her general-soul but hasn't needed to comment on it, and they haven't quite met eye-to-eye. Unless you don't mind him having seen a flash or two and just keeping them in mind.]

"Just checking," Re-l said. "I like to anticipate unpleasant surprises."

She let him rub his shoulder, dropping into a crouch to stretch out her own legs.

"Do you want to make the equipment now, or as we go along?"

[OOC: Oops I forgot about that too. Whichever you prefer, but I'll try to set up a moment of intense recollection so he can get a good solid flash later. XD.]

"You'd say the same for the pleasant ones, I'll bet," Gabriel grumbled, rolling his shoulders and glancing back up the path. "As we go. I could make something we don't need and then it'd just be a waste. We'll see how the path goes first."

It also meant that he could gauge how long they needed to last. He'd managed to actually control that, with some of his latest constructs. He'd needed time-delayed fade-aways before; they were useful things. "Who's going first?"

[ooc: I think I'll go with a minor flash of a proxy and the sunlight, since they're not new info he'd want to comment on. Otherwise, sounds good!]

Re-l thought for a moment, seeing the advantages to both, but at last she said "Me. I can test out the ground first."

The trail was widest at the base, and the first hundred metres or so were easy going. Then the first switchback came, and she had to change her angle of movement sharply. They were already quite high, and the ground seemed to yawn up at her, waiting for her to fall. The trail was narrow here, too, narrow enough that she was sliding sideways. She shimmied up the track until it widened out again, and then stopped to catch her breath, looking back to Gabriel.

[ooc: this is the scene I mean, if you want to double check: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItAl1bS2ZTA&t=2m40s]

"Canaries first." Gabriel waved her on ahead before following. Even as 'easy' as the first section was, Gabriel was still puffing by the time they got to the switchback. He'd also pulled his goggles on, because the sun reflecting off the stone had gotten to be a nuisance on his eyes.

He paused and leaned against the cliff as Re-l moved across, grateful for the brief rest, but was already searching for good cracks in the rock. There was no way he was going to manage to get across that narrow a ledge without help; it was just as well he didn't have a thing about heights.

Except that he kind of did. Coming down the cliff on the other side, he'd made the mistake of actually looking down. The realisation that he knew exactly how far it was, and that such a fall would make his human body go splat like that unfaithful dick he'd punished the first time he met the Winchesters in person, had made him shiver.

So he resolutely didn't look down. Instead he picked out three different places in the rock, evenly spaced within reach of each other; then he snapped up a trio of steel rings, embedded in the rock not far over where his head would be, without stopping to overthink it. Simple, effective. He sidled across the edge, pressing himself to the cliff and using the rings to steady himself until he was across, keeping his gaze up.

[ooc: okay, I know it's the last scene and all but it makes me want to watch it already. xD Just wish I had the Internet to dl stuff.]

Re-l watched the rings, waiting for one to vanish or fail, but they held firm.

"That's quite the trick," she said, when he was across. "Though be careful. You'll want to conserve your energy. The next section is going to be tricky.

The trail climbed up steeply from the relatively flat ledge they were on, smooth enough that purchase might be tricky. To make matters worse, it had crumbled away in sections, leaving gaps that had to jumped across. Re-l thought she could make all of them easily except the last.

"How do you want to handle this?" she said. She didn't particularly like handing the initiative to anyone else, but she wasn't the one who could make objects out of thin air. Sometimes you had to concede the advantage. Grudgingly.

[ooc: My evil plan to make people watch Ergo Proxy gains traction. I love every ridiculous mindfucky moment of that show.]

Gabriel shook his head. "Steel's easy in a place like this; metal particles are everywhere in the rock." Still, he hadn't exactly put much into it, not enough to make them last--when he glanced behind, the first ring was already crumbling slowly. He'd timed it just right.

So he was feeling pleased with himself as he examined the track. "Steps might be a bit much," he said regretfully. It was a long path; he could only imagine how much that would take out of him, and this was the wrong time to get hit with another migraine. "But I can ..."

He frowned for a moment and then leaned against the wall to take a look at the soles of his boots. They were worn, grubby as anything, and a quick feel confirmed that the traction had been lost in both. Well, he could solve that. At first he didn't bother with a snap, and instead just laid his hand across the rubber, but when nothing happened he frowned and did it the other way.

This time it worked. Well, damn, that was a tad inconvenient, if his constructs actually relied on the fingersnaps. Used to be he only used 'em because they were annoying, irreverent and just the right kind of pointed showiness. With a shake of his head he slide down the wall to crouch and gestured at Re-l. "Lemme see the bottoms of your shoes; I'll traction 'em up a bit for the trail. The breaks are easy--I just need to make another foot or so of path to stand on. They only need to last a minute, tops."

He was, the archangel realised, going to be making more things in sequence than he ever had before on this trip. He only hoped he could hold out that long, even as small and simple as these things were.

Re-l nodded, set one hand on the wall and turned her foot over, holding the heel up for him to meddle with. When he had repeated the process for the other foot she stood straight again. The extra grip would certainly help, but the path was more impressive still.

"Don't over exert yourself, whatever you do," she said. "I don't know what else we might need that power for. If you think you can't make it, call out to me. I can probably throw you across the two smaller gaps."

She wasn't totally sure that she could. At peak physical strength, certainly, but she was weak from six days of walking. Still, if she had to do it, she would. That was who she was.

Somehow it was that sentence, 'I don't know what else we might need the power for', which stuck in Gabriel's head. It implied that he shouldn't use it for one thing if they could use it for another, rather than simply holding back as much as possible. Choosing what to use it for, instead of using it for anything he needed.

Keeping his power in reserve was a foreign thought. It wasn't something he'd ever needed before. It wasn't something he'd ever considered before. And yet that's what he'd just been doing, wasn't it? Using his constructs sparingly, because his energy was limited. And the reminder of just how powerless he still truly was made a chill run down his spine.

He frowned a little and then snorted to cover his unease at the thought that he might not get all his powers back at all. "Somehow I doubt you could manage to throw this." He motioned to himself mockingly. Sure, he'd lost weight over the past week, they all had, but he was still bulkier than she was. "Especially on this kind of field." The archangel shook his head. "I'll manage. Rock is pretty basic."

"Alright then. We don't have any time to waste. You go first from here, and I'll follow close behind you. If anything goes wrong, I'll be there."

She started climbing, hugging Gabriel's shadow. The new soles on her boots made the trek easier, but it was still arduous, and her calves and thighs were soon burning with the effort. Sweat trickled down the back of her neck and collected on her forehead. Overhead the sun beat down, and the sky was unpleasantly cloudless.

She was distracted enough by the sun that she missed her timing, and stayed slightly too long on the made section of rock. She felt it begin to disappear beneath her feet and jumped, landing awkwardly on the more solid trail.

She picked herself up and brushed herself off, wincing.

"That was stupid," she said quietly.

Gabriel's head was aching before not much longer; the goggles protected him only so much from the sun's glare, and he kept his face down to protect it better. He had to lean on the cliff, panting, but continued doggedly onwards despite the burn in his legs.

When he heard Re-l's feet hit the track he leaned his shoulder against the cliff so he could turn, awkwardly, to look at her. He grinned weakly. "At least I can say for sure your boots aren't going to fail on you as badly as your timing."

Re-l sighed, leaning back against the wall in imitation of him. She could feel her knee stinging beneath her clothes, but that wasn't what worried her. Right now, the look on Gabriel's face was of more concern.

"Using that power really eats at you," she said. "Do you need to take a break?"

She dug her heels into the ground and leant out over the ledge. The ravine spread out before them, the bottom so far away that only the largest streams could be seen gleaming in the sunlight. Judging by the other cliff, they were about halfway up. It was slow work, and for a moment Re-l wondered if they would ever make it to the top.

Truthfully, it was as much the sheer exertion of climbing the trail was that exhausting him as the use of his power. Then again, his head was ringing slightly and he couldn't tell if it was the sun or the fatigue or how ever many steps he'd made to get this far up.

He hesitated for a moment, but then nodded. "That would be nice," he admitted, and this time the exhaustion was plain in his voice. At least the track was wide enough for a sit down, not all that far along; when he made it there he slid down the wall to sit without even taking his pack off.

Re-l dropped down beside him, sliding her legs out.

"It's strange," she said. "With all the power that the city has, with all that they've been able to do to us, it seems ridiculous to make us trek across such a dangerous world alone. They must have airships; why couldn't we just take one of those? What goal could they have in pushing us so hard?"

She couldn't admit to herself how worried she was. They had no idea of the trail ahead, and for all her bravado, she would be totally lost without Gabriel's power.

"Damnit," she said, kicking a loose pebble over the edge and listening to the sound it made as it bounced down.

How could she be so weak? Was it really impossible for a mere human to make any difference in the world? First Vincent, and now this angel; she was always being protected. It infuriated her.

"The Workers are probably just goons," Gabriel said, taking deep gulps of air and blinking rapidly in a futile effort to keep the buzz out of his ears. "As far as they know, maybe the landscape's not that difficult. Or they can't afford a guide, or they think this'll help us remember, or whatever. As far as the Caretaker's concerned, pretty sure he's just playing with our heads.

He stretched out his legs, letting them hang over the edge of the path, and leaned his head back, resisting the urge to close his eyes. If he'd only known what Re-l was thinking, he would have laughed. Humanity was what made all the difference. That was why both the forces of Heaven and Hell used Earth as their medium for war.

Re-l gave herself another five minutes, enjoying the sun on her face and the wind at her back, and then nudged Gabriel with her foot.

"We should keep going," she said. "The sooner we get to the city the better."

She stood up and stretched, feeling her limbs crackle.

"I am due a great deal of pampering when we reach the city," she said, sniffing haughtily. For a moment it was easy to remember the woman inside her who had been the "princess" of Romdeau.

The nudge actually snapped Gabriel awake, and he pushed himself up, blinking the sleep away. "Right," he muttered, wincing a little at the mild throb that had settled into his temples. "If they don't have a fully-staffed five-star hotel waiting for us there, I'm going to smite someone."

At least the rest had helped. Not that Gabriel felt energised, exactly, but he felt better able to keep going.

He wasn't sure how far it was up the track when he snapped up his third stepping-stone and a wave of dizziness swept over him. He swayed, his vision burning white and gravity turning around him, but he simply could not tell which way was up. Or where the edge of the path was.

The sensation made panic stab at him, and he gropped desperately for a handhold in the cliff.

[OOC: Sorry for lack of tagging, real life got suddenly busy. Thank goodness for the weekend. Also I couldn't figure out a way to write this without coercing Gabriel a little, so feel free to counter-write it.]

Re-l followed more closely behind Gabriel than before, nervous that she would miss her timing on the third gap. It was hard work, climbing the steep trail, and she had to concentrate carefully on the placement of her feet, using every bump and dent in the rock to keep her grip. The sun slanted into her eyes at an irritating angle, blinding her to everything but the dull stone under her feet. The angel's back was a dark lump in front of her, and everything else was white.

The third piece of stone appeared with a finger snap, but Re-l hardly had time to notice, because Gabriel had lurched and his fingers were closing half on stone and half on air, reaching out blindly for the wall.

Re-l did the only thing she could think of. She dropped his arm over her shoulder, and, half-carrying him, moved quickly forward. She had no idea how long the stone would last, and it was obvious that he couldn't risk making another.

"How troublesome," Re-l muttered, her breath sliding quickly in and out of her lungs. They were halfway across now, and she had no idea how much longer they had. She pushed onwards, ignoring every twinge of her legs.

They were almost across when Re-l felt the rock shift. Her heart hammered agonisingly in her chest, adrenaline surged through her veins and she threw herself forward, still gripping Gabriel tightly, and let herself slam into the ground. All the air left her lungs in one great rush, and she lay on the mercifully solid rock, totally stunned.

His ears were ringing. Re-l's grip on his shoulder was the only steadying force in the archangel's world right then; he staggered forward to try and help her as best as he could, and had no choice but to trust she'd guide him back onto the track. He could never have imagined that feeling of weightlessness could possibly be so frightening.

Gabriel caught himself half on the cliff but sank immediately to the ground, clutching the stone as if that would stop the world from turning on its axis. He tried to think--how many steps had that been? Third from their rest stop, he couldn't tell how many from the start.

"Hey," he said, breathing hard, shaking his head as if that would clear it. His vision was still white and the sun took care of the rest. "Still with me?" Well, he hadn't heard any screaming or squishing sounds. He reached out, searching for Re-l's shoulder.

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you're fine, no worries! :D