029- (Voice) HIS BARGE TROLL CROWN IS BEING COMPROMISED. GTFO.

[uberboned]

Okay! So, uh... What now? Huh? The Admiral's just decided to stop announcing his bad driving? Like we're not gonna notice when this crap goes pearshaped? Seriously? Oh hey! Raise your hand if you think something's gone wrong with the Barge. Oh wait.

And if one more person says it's temporal interference, I will punt them.

Why do I have a feeling this is just gonna somehow end in blood and tears? Oh right. Because it's the Barge. That's how it always ends with this place. Hate to break it to you, newbies, but you just tapped into the Good Ship Unclaimed Baggage. Get out while you can.

Comments

[viceroyofheaven.livejournal.com]

Is this the part where you say I have to go through you to get to him?

Because I should warn you, our grasp on molecular structure being as nuanced as it is, that's quite literally possible. I can't promise it would be really comfortable for you, however.

[whateverthemess.livejournal.com]

I'm used to the idea of things being able to tear through me without a whole lot of effort.

But yeah. For what it's worth, you will.

[viceroyofheaven.livejournal.com]

Your dramatics are a little lost on me.

I won't waste any more time arguing with you. If you have goodbyes to say to him, you might want to do them now.

[whateverthemess.livejournal.com]

He's not leaving.

[viceroyofheaven.livejournal.com]

Self-delusion won't affect the outcome.

[whateverthemess.livejournal.com]

...Okay.

[This is so dumb this is so dumb this is SO DUMB.] Then take me out, take him home, and stop talking.

[viceroyofheaven.livejournal.com]

Is that what you expect from me? A royal smiting?

It is not your time, Karrin Murphy. When that day does come, I'll be waiting to escort your soul.

[whateverthemess.livejournal.com]

...Right.

...And Gabriel? What about him?

[viceroyofheaven.livejournal.com]

I'll try to let him retain enough dignity to come of his own volition, but if he refuses to listen to reason, I've no choice.

[whateverthemess.livejournal.com]

That's a load of bullshit.

[viceroyofheaven.livejournal.com]

Alright then: I have a choice.

And I choose not to leave him here.

[whateverthemess.livejournal.com]

He wants. To be here. Doesn't that mean anything to you?

[viceroyofheaven.livejournal.com]

What he wants is to duck his responsibilities. He's hiding out. And avoiding.

Angels. Don't. Avoid things. He has to wake up and remember what and who he is.

[whateverthemess.livejournal.com]

Fine. He has to. That's up to him, not you.

[viceroyofheaven.livejournal.com]

He can't do it alone. He needs assistance.

We're his family. And in Heaven, things will be... clearer for him.

[whateverthemess.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know what families are like. I know how clearly they help you see everything you're not doing for them.

...You're going to force him to have faith? People, human strangers, get a choice in what they believe, but you're not going to give that to your own brother? A person believes in something, has faith, real faith in something, because they're given a choice and maybe in spite of the evidence, they say 'Yes. I invest myself in this.' You can't make him have faith. Even... If he is an angel. You can't make him believe. Or it's not real. And he won't be the person you wanted to save any more.

[viceroyofheaven.livejournal.com]

We can't strong arm his beliefs, you're right.

But if he won't stand with us, he's rebelling against us. It's not a middle ground where he can skulk in the bushes. And I know him - his heart's stubborn as a mule, but it's not because he bleeds rebellion. He's nursing wounds, Karrin, that won't heal properly if he's left to his own devices.

We all suffered those wounds.

He's not the only one who lost brothers.

[whateverthemess.livejournal.com]

You're going to lose another if you don't leave him alone. The people who cut you to pieces aren't the ones to help put you back together again.

[viceroyofheaven.livejournal.com]

We weren't butchering our family. You assign us motives that are far off the course. We were doing God's will. Protecting Heaven, mankind, each other.

If you think all those things expendable enough to prompt us to hold our hands against our brothers, then you are capable of greater and more terrible things than the Host.

[whateverthemess.livejournal.com]

I never said you butchered them. I said cut to pieces--hurt. But that's kind of par for the course with family, isn't it.

And whatever humans are capable of... you're not impressing me, either.

[viceroyofheaven.livejournal.com]

I meant it literally and figuratively.

And I am not concerned with impressing you. If I was, this would be an entirely different sort of conversation. In fact, it would hardly be a conversation at all.

[whateverthemess.livejournal.com]

...Yeah. I'm not surprised at that, either.

You know, of the two of you? He's more like I hoped angels would be. You probably don't care, but for all that humanity looks up to your kind... I hope that means something to you.

[viceroyofheaven.livejournal.com]

Man's expectations for angels are twisted by their own distorted renderings of scripture over the course of time and tides. It's neither surprising nor disappointing news that we don't assume your stereotypes.

Our service is to Him, and to Humanity, whatever else you may think. What they think of me personally - what you, Karrin Murphy think of Michael the archangel, doesn't mean anything to me.

It's what you think of God, whom we do our part to reflect, that I'm concerned with.

[whateverthemess.livejournal.com]

If our expectations of angels are twisted, does that mean our expectation of God is twisted as well? If you're a reflection of him, and I'm disappointed at what I'm seeing, then how am I supposed to feel about Him?

You're bullying your brother. You're trying to take him away from somewhere he chose to be so that he can be what you think he's supposed to. And you... Serve the God that I believe in. The one that I thought gave me a choice in how to live my life, and yet it seems like you're saying angels, his first children, aren't allowed that.

I don't know what I think.

[viceroyofheaven.livejournal.com]

We place our trust in him, Karrin, and therein lies our choice. We could choose doubt in its place, and I'm sure you're aware of where that road leads an angel.

We give of ourselves to His will, because that's what we believe in. That's what we exist for. It is, to be honest, what all creatures exist for, but mankind is just as freely given the choice to embrace that legacy or to doubt it, and reject it - the same as us angels. The difference is that our orders are relayed to us directly - man's internally. It's what conscience is.

Gabriel is fighting those orders - fighting what you would call his conscience, knocking it off kilter however he can with distractions. But it will devour him from the inside out. It tolls much louder in the soul of an angel, you see. There's more clarity to it, because we are closer to Him. It's a gift, but if he wishes to fight it, he turns it into his own curse.

As for the nature of God, He is all things - what you see in me, and what you do not. He's dark and light, the very balanced nature of all. It would follow then that there would be a part of you disappointed in His reality that was equivalent to your satisfaction with the same. He is the First and the Last, the Alpha and Omega, et cetera et cetera et cetera.

I won't be taking Gabriel by force, not this time. But he will see the light. Because I have faith in him. And he won't disappoint.