smaller patch of fading sky [ open ]

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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.

| Day 1: Calm

| Day 2: Animals

| Day 3: Sandstorm

| Day 4: Mansion

| Day 5: Thomp

| Days 6&7: Long way

Comments

[inequal]

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."

[delightme]

"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.

[inequal]

"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?"

[delightme]

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.

[inequal]

"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."

[delightme]

"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."

[inequal]

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."

[delightme]

"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."

[inequal]

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?"

[delightme]

"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.