And the Boats Drift On [Open to All]

[applesaucemod]

The water is calm, and the night sky is filled with stars. The only light is natural: a patchy, bioluminescent glow coming from the water below, and the bright swath of the Milky Way above. It's not much, but it's more than enough to see by.

The dreamers will find themselves sitting in their own little rowboats, each stocked with two oars, a length of rope, some cushions, and a little picnic basket full of snacks. There is no visible shoreline, but it won't take the dreamers long to realize theirs are not the only boats in this shallow sea. Anything stirring in the water, be it fish or paddle, causes phosphorescent plankton to glow a bright blue, so there isn't really anywhere to hide.

Feel free to paddle around and visit the other dreamers, perhaps tying your boats together and sharing your snacks in an impromptu picnic. Or you could go for a swim - the bioluminescence makes it difficult to see the bottom, but it's not too terribly deep, so the risk of drowning is all but nonexistent. This setting, unlike the last one, isn't actively out to kill you. Or you could simply lie back and look at the stars.



[ooc: Same drill as always, folks. All are welcome, regardless of whether or not your character is in the game. Characters may remember or forget dream shenanigans at the player's discretion.]

Comments

[has_a_horn]

"The same. Like the last time I saw him." He takes her hand in his and threads their fingers together, seeking a little more comfort.

"He's not in New York. I would know." If any of his family ever make it though the rift, their presence would be like a beacon. Impossible to ignore. Logically, he knows that it would be a terrible thing for Lucifer to appear in this universe, but there's still a part of him that wants to be near his family- no matter what.

He sets his glass aside and runs the freed hand over his face. "He doesn't know anything. He's still tumbling around in the cage with Michael." Or, at least, that's what he said was the case. "Lucifer."

[theoldgirl]

She reacts to his request for comfort quickly, brushing a thumb over his hand and warmth and sympathy against his mind. As conflicted as he feels about his family, it's not difficult for her to understand that meeting one of them but still being alone in this universe would be troubling and disappointing.

The rest of what he says doesn't make as much sense to her; she's not sure what cage he is referring to, or what 'tumbling around' in it entails. "I know very little about your brothers," she reminds him gently, wondering if he might feel a little more inclined to talk about his family than usual now. Going by the literature, Lucifer doesn't seem like a pleasant individual, but she's never put much stock in those vague sources, and he's the one who taught Gabriel illusions, so there must have been affection there. "I'm sorry he had no news of your kind, though."

[has_a_horn]

"Mm." He hums in answer, but her nudge has reminded him how little she really knows about his family beyond the biblical stories. He's still reluctant to explain everything. It's a very long and very complicated history, but he can give her some context.

"He tried to kill me, the last time we met. He an Michael were going to go for the final showdown...jump start an apocalypse, destroy the Earth..." For a while he thought maybe he should let them. He'd gotten so tired of the fighting and the mess and living. It felt like an inevitable conclusion. "The usual."

But he didn't want to see either of them dead, and he didn't want to see the Earth burn away in the crossfire between them. His only choice was to see that they got locked in the Cage. "I couldn't kill my brothers. So I gave out the info that'd get 'em both locked away in hell for good."

[theoldgirl]

Well. That certainly makes a few things clearer, like his sometimes low opinion of his family and why he is so slow to trust. She frowns as she hears his explanation, concerned and a little horrified, and her mind thrums with sympathy. It sounds like he made the right decision, as hard as it must have been to lock away his brothers forever. Better that than kill his own kind.

"I am glad you were able to save the Earth without sacrificing them," she says after a moment, a little distantly, but still stroking his hand. "How did the rest of your family feel about this?"

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel shrugs. "The other archangels were already dead in one way or another..." They had been his real family. The ones he'd known the longest and loved the most, and there's an ache of loss there older than the recent shock. "And after good ol' Luci tried to shank me, I went off the radar so..." He trails off and listens for a moment. "So I never knew what they'd've said."

He looks down at the TARDIS and raises his eyebrows. He needs to quickly give her this information, because Johnny is in trouble. "A friend needs a rescue. I'm bringing him here. I'd appreciate radio silence on the angels thing."

In the next moment, Johnny is sitting at the foot of the bed.

[johnny_truant]

Johnny whips around violently, tension snapping back, abruptly freed from the weight and pressure of his latest tormenter. He's - on a bed? No, still a boat. A bed in a boat. His flailing causes it to rock a bit as he turns to see, mercifully, Gabriel, and not just Gabriel but the TARDIS as well, sitting close to him, holding his hand in fact. What? What?

Doesn't matter, he's so overcome with fucking relief to see them both.

"Oh thank god," he says, his voice choked and trembling, as he scrambles towards them, desperate for contact. "Gabriel."

[theoldgirl]

The TARDIS is a little startled by the interruption, one moment sharing Gabriel's grief at the loss of his family, the next sensing his attention abruptly drawn to something in the distance. But she has time enough to raise her eyebrows at him in return, feeling it rather unnecessary to remind her not to give away his secrets to anyone, even an apparent friend.

Of course, when Johnny appears, she goes from startled to outright shocked in a second. They're friends, too? And oh no, he needed rescuing again? Even in a dream that isn't strictly his, it isn't hard to feel his mind still racing with panic and the aftereffects of pain, and that quickly overshadows all confusion.

After staring at him in bewilderment for a moment, she sits up straight and reaches out for him with her free hand, concern washing over her. "John! What happened to you?"

[has_a_horn]

As Johnny crawls up next to the him, Gabriel wraps an arm around him and looks him over. He seems physically alright, but it'll take a while before all of that panic washes away. "You're okay now. Good job remembering to call me this time." He means it. He'd like Johnny to be able to reach him when he really needs him, and this definitely looks like it applies.

He looks askance at the TARDIS when she calls him by name, (well, John, which sounds a bit weird to his ears.) curious about how they know each other, but he'll wait til Johnny is settled before he asks about that.

[johnny_truant]

Johnny presses immediately into Gabriel's hug, clutching at his shirt for a moment before reaching out to meet the TARDIS' hand. There's residual pain and panic still, but he's safe here with the two of them, and he can feel his heart rate and his breathing slowing, bit by bit. Eventually, once he feels like he can actually talk, he shifts back a bit, eyes downcast as though he's ashamed (and on some level he is, of course). He wishes he could just swallow it all up and never think about it again, but it'll always haunt him just like everything else, and anyway, they might be able to help him better if they know. He draws a breath and closes his eyes against their inevitable reactions.

"Two things," he says, spilling it out in a single, monotone presentation. "First, Zagreus attacks me, we fall in the water and he holds me under until I drown." He grimaces slightly. "I woke up and then... I guess I fell back asleep, and then, fucking immediately, this redheaded psycho woman shows up, I have no idea who she was, but..."

He gives an involuntary little shudder, the pain still etched into his skin. Just finish, finish the damn recap and then you can work on blotting it out. "She tried to make me tell her... my story? I don't know," he mumbles. "I don't even know what that means, but... when I told her I didn't want to, she... she hurt me."

He curls inward slightly and leans back against Gabriel, breathing out slowly. "And then I called you, and that's all."

[theoldgirl]

Johnny's still frantic motions are making the boat rock enough that the TARDIS stiffens a little, gripping Gabriel's hand more tightly. But she is too focused on the boy's distress to object, and she listens to his recount with rising anger and disgust. She'd known about Zagreus, but the details are outrageous and she feels bitterly hateful of it, of him. And apparently now there's someone else out there who callously hurts others at the slightest provocation, just what everyone needed.

As always she wants to comfort Johnny, to soothe his anxieties and help him recover, but he seems a little more drawn to Gabriel. She doesn't exactly mind, though she is still a little confused and rather curious about that, and she can't help probing at Gabriel's feelings for him a bit. At the same time, she squeezes Johnny's hand reassuringly and then lets go so he can settle in with them more comfortably.

[has_a_horn]

After the TARDIS squeezes his hand, the boat settles back to normal quickly. He's reminded that she doesn't enjoy the motion, so things should stay fairly level and gentle from now on, even if Johnny decides to move around again.

He feels the TARDIS looking a little closer at his feelings, and does nothing to hide from her. At the moment, the most she'll find lies in his concern for Johnny and his frustration at him getting hurt again while he wasn't around to help.

He rubs at Johnny's back, hoping to comfort him while he wonders who this other person is, if not Zagreus. It seems like Johnny can't catch a break. "You're safe here."

[johnny_truant]

Johnny nods, and shifts around nearer the TARDIS, sitting cross-legged before them, wanting to be close to both of them if he can. The more he manages to calm down, feeling relieved and protected, the more his nerves are replaced with intense curiosity about what he's just stumbled into. He really had no idea they knew each other, arguably the two most important people he's met so far. He's happy he can see them both at the same time, though he feels a little awkward too, like he's interrupting.

He draws a couple deep breaths and lets them out slowly, gradually calming himself down. He's fine now. Everything is okay.

"I'm really glad to see you both," he murmurs, pulling away slightly to glance between them. "So, uh." He smiles faintly, not sure how to ask this. "Hhhow do you two know each other?"

[theoldgirl]

It's interesting and heartening to see that Gabriel feels much the same about the boy as she does. She can't help him in the waking world, so it's reassuring to know that Gabriel is looking out for him too. Not that that stopped him from getting hurt once again, she thinks and shares in Gabriel's frustration. Sensing Johnny's need for contact and wanting to comfort him as he calms down, she opens her free hand to release a large blue morpho butterfly. It flaps over to Johnny and settles on his arm while she smiles at his question.

"We met here five months ago. We are... very important to each other." She glances at Gabriel to see if he'd like to elaborate. Although she likes his Enochian word for what they mean to each other, she can't translate it accurately enough for it to make sense to Johnny.

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel smiles at the butterfly, then shifts his gaze over to the TARDIS to smile at her instead. Just by the way he's looking at her, it would be clear to anyone that what she said is true, but he's more than willing to elaborate. "She decided to introduce herself by dropping into one of my dreams. We got along, so it grew from there." After they managed to finally trust each other. The recent lapse in that trust had hurt him more than he cares to say.

It's strange to him that all of this has happened over a span of months. For as deeply as he feels for her, and for as much has happened between them, it seems like it should have taken longer. He dips his head to kiss her cheek. "And wow did it grow."

He looks back to Johnny, gauging his reaction to this. "The amazing sex doesn't hurt the situation. Like, really good sex."

[johnny_truant]

Johnny startles slightly when the TARDIS sends him a butterfly, only because he doesn't expect it. He smiles warmly when it alights on his arm, gazing at it for a moment as its wings fold open and closed gradually, then glances at the TARDIS with a grateful smile. He still remembers the first time he saw her butterfly room, or the warped approximation of it, how desperate he'd been to help, and how helpless he really was. He'd felt that intense protective desire before, maybe only once before, to take care of a weakened creature, but never on that scale, thousands of them all around him, and tied inextricably to a being he holds in such high regard. That she would give him a little reminder of that now, almost like it's a secret they share, makes him feel such an immense swell of affection, it's nearly overwhelming. There's absolutely no analogue for this in any of his life experience so far.

And that whole internal revelation comes before Gabe elaborates, and when he does, Johnny feels like the floor has dropped out from under him.

He stares at them with momentarily unmasked emotion, a mix of emotions really, shock and fascination and - what, jealousy? Eagerness? Something he can't quite pin down. He recovers quick enough, covering it with a lopsided grin, a bit amusement and a bit disbelief.

"No shit," he says. "I'm just trying to picture this. God and timeship."

Jokes aside, holy shit, they've fucking had sex. He wants details to an improper, embarrassing degree, but he's afraid to ask for them. He's afraid, too, to let it become clear (or clearer) how much they both mean to him.

[theoldgirl]

Not even that kiss can stop her from giving Gabriel a fondly exasperated roll of her eyes for that additional remark, not out of any sense that it might be private, of course, but because she'll never understand why he chooses to brag about that of all things. Though she's far more interested in Johnny's reaction and watches him curiously.

Just like his pain and terror earlier, it's easy now to get an idea of his affection and surprise despite not being in his mind proper. It makes her smile, glad to have helped change his mood so completely. Besides, having apparently rather impressed him with their relationship is a bit amusing. God and timeship indeed. It's clear Gabriel doesn't explicitly mistrust the boy, so he probably mostly just enjoys the reverence the title affords him. She's not going to comment on it, but that doesn't mean she can resist a mocking mental prod at Gabriel, a sort of metaphysical really now?.

Anyway, now it's time to satisfy her curiosity too. "And how come you two know each other?"

[has_a_horn]

At the mental prod from the TARDIS, he raises an eyebrow at her. Not telling Johnny that he's an angel in a completely reasonable precaution, as far as he's concerned, especially given how interested Zagreus is in the guy.

"I assume you two met in the dreaming? I met Johnny during the whole...Godzilla thing." He waves a hand, brushing away the importance of talking about Godzilla or the events of that day. "And he agreed to come live in my building." He smiles down at the TARDIS, then shift his glance back to Johnny. "I helped him discover his latent bisexuality."

[johnny_truant]

Johnny blushes, laughs awkwardly, and averts his eyes, picking at his shoes. "Yep," he confirms, eloquently.

He glances over at the TARDIS, feeling especially shy with the two of them together like this. "I, uh, met her in the park, actually," he murmurs. "But I can only really be around her here. In the dreaming, I mean. If I get too close to her, uh, physical form, it... hurts."

Why does he feel so embarrassed to explain this? He wraps an arm around himself, hand clasping at the opposite shoulder, curling inward. "It's because of what I can do, I think."

[theoldgirl]

The TARDIS has no idea what Gabriel is talking about when he explains how he met Johnny, even though she can sense that he is expecting her to know. Now her curiosity is definitely piqued, besides simply wanting to know how their paths crossed and what attracted Gabriel's attention to the boy. So she prods a little further into his mind, neither expecting nor finding any resistance as she seeks out the memory associated with it and... oh. That.

At the realization, there's a brief fissure of bitterness running through her mind and then she withdraws from the overly close contact somewhat coolly. She's never asked Gabriel about the panic he caused with his large-scale illusion, and she's not about to do it now, because in the end all it would cause is another futile fight. But she can't quite ignore how furious and betrayed she'd felt when Daine told her what he was doing.

And Johnny was caught up in it, probably as terrified as the other humans? Suddenly she's not feeling all that reassured by Gabriel's interest in the boy anymore. She doesn't know how many human friends he actually has, but she does know how he treats Peter, and how upset Daine was with him, and, well, there's Topher. Once again she is faced with the deeply unnerving and bleak feeling of loving someone she doesn't trust as much as she needs to, and she can't help asserting her concern and protectiveness of Johnny a little more sharply.

Speaking of which, his mood has apparently taken a downturn as well. The inscrutable expression with which she's been regarding Gabriel softens as soon as she looks back over to Johnny, and the blue butterfly flutters a few circles around him as though worrying he might have forgotten about it, before finally alighting in his hair. "You called it polarization," she adds gently. "And you never let it stop you from being kind to me." This is the most important point to her, it's what makes him special in her eyes.

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel looks over at the TARDIS sharply as her mood abruptly shifts. He doesn't want to look worried in front of Johnny, so he keeps his expression as it was, but he nudges back at her mind gently. He's not sure at all what has suddenly created a shift in her mood. Is it that he's involved with Johnny? That doesn't make much sense. Or that Gabriel had met him with the aid of his illusions? That guess is probably closer to the truth, but he doesn't have much time to consider it.

As Johnny explains how he'd met the TARDIS and how it had been a problem, his attention shifts back to him. Of course Johnny would be effected by the TARDIS that way. Even if it's terrible, it makes sense, and Gabriel feels sorry for him that he won't ever be able to explore the TARDIS outside of the dreaming.

"Johnny is very kind." He echoes the sentiment, then scoots away from the TARDIS a little on the bed, clearing a space between them. He's reluctant to lose his contact with her, but given her mood he's not sure how much she wants him near her.

He untangles his hand from hers and scoots down until he's lying with only his head resting on the pillows at the head of the bed. He taps Johnny's leg with his foot and gestures with his hand for Johnny to come lie between them. "Come on, have a snuggle. You look lonely over there." After a moment, he tips his head back to look at the TARDIS, still searching and a bit confused. "Maybe the TARDIS will join us. Big cuddle party."

[johnny_truant]

Johnny smiles up at the butterfly as it circles around him and then lands in his hair, casting a grateful look at the TARDIS. His own alleged kindness is negligible, as far as he's concerned - it's these two who've been kind to him, reaching out to help him so often, when they really don't have to.

When Gabriel echoes the sentiment, he feels his blush worsen (god) and he looks down again, just in time for Gabe to prod him gently and offer invitation to join them.

For a moment, he's convinced none of this is really happening. He's still in LA, still choking on insomnia and creeping insanity, making shit up about generous, well-to-do deus ex machina "friends" who emerge from nowhere to fix his entire fucked up life, turning him into a well-oiled machine of successful living, as fake as that fucking song, laughing humorless at the readers who fell for it because he doesn't know anyone like that, no one gives a goddamn shit about him.

But this is happening, sort of, in their heads anyway, real enough to let it change him; and as nervous as he is to let either of them know the depth of his feelings, there is nowhere he would rather be right now. What a terrifyingly vulnerable thing to think.

"Okay," he says softly, and he shifts forward, nestling between them, hoping they don't notice his heart pounding.

[theoldgirl]

For the moment she ignores Gabriel's questioning confusion, preferring to focus on Johnny. At least she seems to have managed to cheer him up, and he is obviously just so glad to be here with them. With both of them, she has to concede. Clearly Gabriel has been exceptionally good to him and there's no denying that he does genuinely care about the boy, just as much as she does.

And he doesn't even understand why she's upset. Even as he makes room for Johnny he's still nudging at her, a little lost, a little anxious. Knowing how futile it is to be angry with him, and not wanting to sour the atmosphere for Johnny's sake, she gives a mental sigh and prods back. It has an air of resignation at first, but the cuddling and Johnny's enjoyment of it are quite nice, so she allows herself to be entreated. Once Johnny has gotten comfortable, she scoots down a little as well, nudging her arm around his shoulders until she can entangle her fingers in Gabriel's hair. There, peaceful companionship is much better for everyone than disconcerting mistrust, she supposes.