caveofsapphires | Today is the first day of the rest of your lives [ opening post ]

Today is the first day of the rest of your lives [ opening post ]

WHO: EVERYONE. NPCs will be around to actively engage if you so desire.
WHAT: Sleepers wake and begin to figure out just what, exactly, they are supposed to do with themselves. tl;dr: REACTION POST for new characters to get out and mingle.
WHERE: Everywhere. Mostly the living quarters, but really: anywhere you want.
WHEN: The first week, April 1st through April 7th.
WARNINGS: Travis Touchdown (Ryan LeCourt) has quite a mouth on him.
NOTES: This is a serious game, guys. WE’RE SUPER SRS HERE. ~~This may be a lie.~~

Shimmering blue blanketed the underground city as the light reflected off the sapphires in the ceiling. It cast its eerie glow, almost mimicking the effect of light on water without the sort of freeing peace one might feel with the soft ocean waves. Figuring out how deep down the city was located was near impossible when the air was obviously heated to something approaching comfortable, and nothing seemed to echo too far past the quiet hum of the city.

Workers made their way down the street, every one with a Sleeper in tow. Something that would have been unheard of only a few days ago, now more likely than one would think. They intended to start slow, but considering how many others were still in cryo, this was a laidback pace.

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"Well, of course I'm not." Gabriel lifted an eyebrow and grinned. "I've already got kids, and none of them look like you." Sort of. So to speak. Adopted kids, anyway, from when he started borrowing Loki's name. Hey, he was a shapeshifter; who was gonna know?

... Aside from Kali. And all the gods she told. Who were now dead, so it didn't matter much.

He pursed his lips and hummed a little as if in thought, but then the next moment shrugged. "Doesn't ring a bell. So you're believing this old shtick, are you?"

Elena's brows furrowed slightly at his complete disregard for the warning earlier on the network before smoothing themselves out. If that was how he wanted to play, it was none of her business if he got caught.

"I wouldn't let them hear you say that, if I were you," she warned. There was a brief moment of silence as Elena figured out how to phrase her words. She never had been very good at this 'cloak and dagger' routine that Damon was so fond of. She tried to channel his cockiness and 'I know something you don't' aura. "I heard they don't like it when people can't accept that this is reality."

There. A word of caution, and just enough vagueness leaning towards 'no' that it should answer his question of whether she believed this 'old shtick' or not. If he was able to decipher it, anyway.

They'd have to do a lot better than this before they got him to play along. He'd just broken out of his habits of a ... well, not an angel's lifetime, but two thousand years. He wasn't going to be stuffed inside someone else's life again so easily.

"But where would be the fun if I didn't?" he asked with a grin. "Boundaries are my favourite places. You figure out how to push them and where without anyone seeing."

And if someone appeared at his door, he'd know for certain they were spying. Besides, what could they do to him? He was still an angel. Okay, powerless and trapped in his meatsuit, but still an angel, and an archangel at that. He was either already dead or Dad wouldn't let him die again in some warped reality. Right? (He felt a pang of doubt he didn't show.)

Gabriel laughed at the way her clumsy attempt to convey her thoughts, waving a hand. "Oh, please, don't strain yourself. I get your point."

He left vague exactly which point was made.

Elena's cheeks grew warm with embarrassment (a sensation that was nearly foreign at this point) as he pointed out her hesitance, before her eyes narrowed. If he was cocky enough to 'push' the boundaries, then he was dangerous.

But also useful.

If he pushed hard enough, maybe she'd have a firsthand account of what happened to people who couldn't put aside their dreams as just that; dreams. Elena felt a surge of guilt at the very idea; a guilt that she brushed off after a mere moment of hesitation. She did frown slightly, because mere days ago, she wouldn't have even given a second thought. Did this mean her emotions were coming back? It did make sense, now that she was human again.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Elena muttered with a small sigh. "What do you plan to do then?"

"I say many things," Gabriel told her, "but I can't guarantee that'll be one of them." Especially if he needed someone to blame. What, he couldn't keep a checklist to point fingers at? If he was gonna prank someone he may as well keep his options open. Throwing them to the wolves might the only means he had.

"I think I'm going to learn to bake a cake," Gabriel said thoughtfully, and gave her a wink that was playful, but not really flirtatious. "Suggestions for the shape?"

He may not know how to bake a cake, or anything for that matter, but he had the confidence of someone who knew what he was doing. Or someone who always had a backup plan for his backup plans. Ugh. The worst kind of paranoid and cockiness, because it was near impossible to get a straight answer out of them.

"What happened to 'come back in a thousand years'?" Elena said, with an equally playful but not really flirtatious smile. Because God forbid he called her jailbait again.

She thought for a moment. "How about a star?"

"Covering my ass," Gabriel said promptly. "It might just take me that long to get it right."

Then he had to laugh, a bit bitterly yet with some genuine humour. Stars, eh? He could think of a lot of stars, most of which he didn't want to have to think about at all. Though c'mon, that one over Bethlehem had been a masterpiece. "Nnope. Try another. I'd have to make it sparkle and that just ruins the icing."

"Well then... you could try making a simple round, edible one, before you try anything complicated," she suggested with a raise of the eyebrow, placing slight emphasis on 'edible'.

Somehow, she didn't think he would get very many customers for a beautiful cake, if it was disgusting to eat. Though what did she know about making cakes? She could make a mean chili, but baking was never her strong suit.

"But that's boring," Gabriel protested. "Who wants a round cake? All cakes are round. Except when they're square. Which is equally boring, by the way."

He grinned and motioned with his hands, one on top of the other. "Besides, more layers means more icing."

"You know, I'm pretty sure the most important part of a cake isn't the icing," Elena couldn't help but quip. Sure, that was the prettiest part, but a cake was still a cake, icing or not.

"If I say triangle, are you going to think that's boring too?" she asked, propping her chin up on her hand as she rested her elbow on the bakery table.

"It's not? Which books have you been reading?" Gabriel asked with a lift of his eyebrows. The best thing of anything was the sweetest part; everyone knew that.

"Hmm." He stroked his chin exaggeratedly. "Technically speaking, it is only half a square, but that's only if I go the boring, lazy route. Triangle it is!"

"Speaking from experience?" she offered. Though admittedly, she didn't have the greatest of experiences with baking. Mom always had to supervise her in the kitchen. If you wanted chili though, Elena was definitely the girl to go to. "Do you have a recipe or something?"

"I'd hate to have had your experience," Gabriel told her, and then smiled sunnily. "Nope."

In point of fact, they did--several of them--and there were more in the library or the database or whatever, but the recipes hadn't really helped Gabriel so far. Besides, experimentation was more fun. It just ... took longer.

Especially when you couldn't snap away the mess.

Her eyebrows went high.

"You're going to try to learn how to make a cake," she said slowly, just to make sure she had it right. "Without any kind of recipe or directions."

This couldn't possibly end well.

"Already tried it," he told her drolly, "and I figured I couldn't make things any worse than if I just gave it a go on my own. The icing's the easy part."

So far he'd managed to keep himself going by making the icing and snacking on it while he waited for the cakes to, inevitably, burn. No one could say he wasn't doing work, because he was. Just very slowly and with sugary perks.

"It's just sugar, butter and milk," Elena said with a shrug. "I don't think anyone can screw up icing."

She unfolded her legs and stood up from the cafe table, grabbing her backpack on the way up. "I've got some other things to do today, so I should probably be going. I'll let you get back to your ... experimenting."

"Lucky for me; it keeps me supplied. Otherwise I'd have to resort to the chocolate chips again, and I think my co-slave might be on to me there." He waggled his eyebrows and straightened up with a stretch.

"If you don't value your life, or at least your taste buds, I'm sure I'll see you again." Besides, there weren't many other places which offered things other than rations.

"What can I say, I'm a risk taker. That, and this place isn't exactly big." Elena said nonchalantly, with a smile. "If you need me, you can find me in the library between nine and three."

She gave him a quick wave on her way out the door. "See you around, Sylvester."

And the last thing she would have heard before the doors closed was a grumbled, "They couldn't have picked a better name?"

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Today is the first day of the rest of your lives [ opening post ]

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