[Video]

[maddest]

I'm setting up communal clotheslines here, for anyone whose bedding is waterlogged. Bring as much strong wire or string as you can if you can find it.

We work best when we aid one another.

[x,y]

Comments

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

You could. Just- hold your hand over my mouth and nose until the rasping stops for good.

[thelightbringer]

Well, for one thing, if I did kill you I'd want a little flare to it.

And for another, you'd come right back. Body and all.

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

I think I'd reset, though. To seeing, breathing-

I need to sit down.

[thelightbringer]

It's possible. I suppose we'll find out, one way or another.

[He finds them a boulder hanging over the river.]

Those are your plans for living here?

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

Tell me something better?

[thelightbringer]

When Rhode was here...I told her to see it as an opportunity. We could do things here that we would never get the chance to try at home. We could perfect things we couldn't practice otherwise.

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

That's far more hopeful than I thought I'd get from you.

[Catching his breath.]

[thelightbringer]

[He's quiet for a moment.]

Rhode made me naive again, I suppose. It felt like a second chance, having her welcome me as openly as she did.

When Gabriel came...that was a second chance. I've tried, as much as I can, to find a way to reach my goals while keeping him close to me. It's not going to work. I know that. My brothers will never join me, and I can't pretend to be what they are.

But even temporary things are worth having.

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

Lucifer, you need to follow your own advice.

[He tells him, with all sincerity.]

[thelightbringer]

You don't think I am?

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

Hear me out.

You see Adstringendum as a chance, a place to explore new hobbies.

[thelightbringer]

[He nods. It's more than that, but that is the day to day and largest part of it.]

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

Then permit yourself to set your goals aside until you leave. If that's what has you fighting with your brothers and sisters- just let yourself live here with them. Make this space a safe one for your family.

You're an immortal, aren't you? The end of the world can wait until you get home.

[thelightbringer]

Do you want to know something only Rei knows?

[He doesn't wait for Break to answer; he can't, if he does there's not a chance he'll say it.]

Back home, the real reason I follow the script is so that I can find Michael. So that I could tell him I want to give it all up and leave the war if he will go with me.

He says 'no'.

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

The Michael we saved?

[Heart aching for him quietly.]

[thelightbringer]

Yes. Which means at home, I have three months or so to believe in him. And then the war goes on.

But here...where I know what he'll do the moment we're free--

I was the one who suggested a truce among my siblings. I don't know if I regret it or not. With Gabriel, certainly not. But you've seen how he is. No truce was needed. He wants peace.

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

I like him. He's got such a sense of humour on him.

[Smiling.]

Can I tell you something privately?

[thelightbringer]

I'll try not to gossip.

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

Gabriel made me more nervous than you, Michael, and Raphael combined.

[thelightbringer]

[That actually startles him.]

Why?

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

I know I can hold my own with the rest of you. You're all- deliberate, quiet, graceful. I can startle, impress, or horrify you in terms with my humanity, wit and facility.

But Gabriel- Gabriel is fast. And we have enough in common that I doubt I'm anything particularly new to him. I get the impression he knows humanity a little better than the rest of you.

[thelightbringer]

He does. In fact, he's spent the past two thousand years living in various forms. He ran away from heaven and hijacked a god's body, just to live among you.

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

Mm, see? Nerve wracking.

[thelightbringer]

He shouldn't be. You've lived with an even older human. And unlike him, Gabriel doesn't want the world to end.

[mister-hatter.livejournal.com]

That went astonishingly well for me.