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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"That only leads to more questions," Re-l said. "Why create human bodies in the shape and memory of people from other worlds? Why create me, and not just Masa? There are a thousand questions, and all the answers are in the city."

Re-l stood up and brushed the sand from her coat.

"Speaking of which, we'd better keep moving. You have people to find, and I have a city to get to."

She swung her pack on her back and waited for him to get up.

Gabriel raised a finger. "I said human bodies are relatively easy to engineer. Human souls? Forget it. Can't be manufactured. It would be easier for them to just build a body and then yank a soul in from somewhere else, even another universe, than trying to build a working human soul."

The memories, now, that was more difficult. Could they be manufactured? At the detail he'd been seeing, it was unlikely. But they could've been ... edited. Belonged to anyone, then appropriated for them.

The archangel capped off his canteen, slid his arms into the pack's straps and stood up with all of it at once, groaning a little. "Right. I have a couple of brothers I'm sure are overdue for being heckled."

"I'm not sure I have a soul," Re-l said. "Maybe our universes differ on that point. I certainly have a will, but it's an embodied one. I'm my body, my body is me." She considered trying to explain the cogito to him, or Swan, or Doppelganger, or even Amnesia, but then decided it was all futile. There was no way for her to put across those experiences in words.

The trek did not get any easier, even when they rejoined the trail, and they were still several hours, at best, behind the main group. Re-l let herself fall once more into the half-dazed rhythm of walking, her thoughts blurring into the horizon itself. The wind echoed around her, making its own kind of silence.

"If you're human, you have a soul," Gabriel said simply. "Even if you're not human, chances are you still have a soul." Even the supernatural beasties had had souls. They just hadn't gone to Heaven or Hell.

And he was halfway sure he'd been seeing hers. But he decided not to tell her that. It probably wouldn't go over well.

Gabriel kept his head down as he walked, a few paces behind and panting. He kept the blanket over his head; it was hot as anything, but it cut down on the wind and sun. In time, though, he looked up to see the sand baking with heat-mirages. "We should stop for a while," he croaked. "Find some shade."

Walking in this heat was lunacy.

Re-l shrugged.

"Suit yourself. I can't see a soul, or touch it, or even know that it's there. It's not a truth that matters to me."

It really was oppressively hot now, and though Re-l didn't want to lose any more time, she had to concede that walking further in the heat was likely to kill them both.

There was a large pile of rocks nearby, spilt in some disaster who knew how many years previously. Re-l thought she could see the shadow of an ancient building in their shape, but then it shimmered and faded and her certainty vanished.

There was an overhang on one side, small but providing just enough shade to keep them cool. Re-l slid into it, scooting over as much as she could. Her legs stuck out a little, but she ignored that.

The shade was extremely pleasant after the pitiless sun, and without even thinking about it Re-l leant her head back and closed her eyes, letting her breathing become deeper and slower.

Gabriel opened his mouth to answer, then closed it again. What could he say? 'I know for sure you have a soul because I'm pretty sure I can see it? I used to be able to see them all the time?'

Yeah, that'd go over well.

He dropped to his knees and crawled under the overhang, pulling his legs in as much as he could. "I always wondered what Hell was like," he muttered, pulling the blanket off his shoulders and rolling them. His face felt tender; he touched his cheeks with a wince. Definitely too much sun. But when he went rifling through his pack it was to find that his sunscreen must have dropped out or been left behind during the sandstorm, because it sure as Hell wasn't in his pack.

The archangel turned to Re-l to ask where hers was, saw she had fallen asleep, and huffed. Well, okay then. Instead he leaned over to check her pack's side-pockets in case hers was easily accessible.

Re-l felt him reach across and her hand whipped out catching his wrist. She didn't open her eyes.

"Ask," she said.

She let him go and opened her eyes a little.

"And I don't see what this place has to do with Hell. It's just hot, not painful or scary."

"Figured you were asleep," Gabriel said lightly, covering his surprise. "Gonna need your suncreen. Mine decided to jump ship."

Then he snorted. "Hell is hot. Deserts have got to be a sneak-peek, and what we're walking into? Willing to be it could be classed as a sub-category."

Re-l reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle.

"Suncream. Don't use too much."

She shut her eyes again, enjoying the darkness.

"That doesn't sound so bad," she said. "Heat is unpleasant, but you can endure it. I always imagined Hell being cold. Cold and lonely."

"And here I was going to use it as lubricant." He took it, squeezed some into his hand and handed it back. With the long sleeves and long pants, it was mostly his hands, face and neck which were the problem; he wouldn't need too much for that.

"It's hard to endure never-ending flames," Gabriel pointed out. As hard as it would be to endure the freezing cold, really.

"I suppose it might be," Re-l allowed. "If I ever have to worry about it, I will."

She'd never particularly thought about the afterlife. She'd always assumed she'd just end.

A breeze, quiet and gentle, swept into their hiding place and Re-l's hair fluttered against her cheek.

"Not exactly much you can do to worry about it until after you're already dead," Gabriel muttered, rubbing the last of the sunscreen into his cheek. The breeze made him sigh and lift his head to it. "Now that feels good. Too bad I can't bottle it and take it with me."

"It's remarkable how quickly we start missing the comforts of an easy life," Re-l said. "Even though I've been in much worse situations, right now I can't help wishing I was in a real house, with a real bed and a real bath."

She shifted slightly, and her head dropped onto her shoulder.

"While I'm wishing for the impossible, is there anything you'd like?"

His family, together and alive and not fighting. Dad, actually paying attention and showing He hadn't abandoned them. Lucifer, playful and clever and not trying to gut the planet. Michael, strong and firm but gentle, and no longer bitter with an urge to smite. The Earth, saved, but with Gabriel there to see it. No Hell. No fighting. Just peace, on Earth and in Heaven, and without the destruction of humanity to have it.

"A banana daiquiri," the archangel without missing a beat. "It's a meal and a drink, all in one!"

Re-l clicked her fingers lazily.

"It would be nice if I could actually make one appear," she said, not even bothering to open her eyes and check if one had. "I take it it's some kind of alcohol?"

She didn't have much experience with alcohol herself, and she'd never had a drink with a ridiculous name like that.

Somehow, thinking about comfort made the present situation even less bearable. Re-l opened her eyes to look at the sun. It was still too high for them to continue, no doubt about that.

"Of course. If I thought I'd be able to make one off-the-cuff, I'd whip one up for you," Gabriel said, rubbing his fingers together. He didn't dare snap them, since they'd probably make something appear. then he sighed and shrugged a little with a rueful twist of his mouth. "Buuut I'd need some time to figure out the consistency."

The archangel closed his eyes. No point in looking outside; all they'd see would be heat mirages. Maybe he could get a bit more of a nap himself.

"No. That would be stupid. Tiring yourself out for an indulgent drink would be completely impractical in our current situation. You would be much better off sleeping and trying to recover your energy."

Re-l took her own advice, not drifting completely away from the world - she was too worried about danger for that, after the cats and the storm - but allowing the silence of the desert to fill her up and relax her.

Gabriel only huffed without opening his eyes. "I have some sense, thanks, Mother."

Even though he could have really used a drink. His brothers were probably going nuts about the lack of it. Likewise, Gabriel wasn't able to drop off completely--it was too hot, too open for that--but he quickly fell into a doze, his breathing even.

"I'm nobody's mother," Re-l said, but the cool breeze drained away her irritation. She let her breath slow even further, and soon she was fast asleep.

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