[She starts by sending out a few snippets of thought over angel radio, so out of nowhere that they could almost be accidents. It hurts her a little to do it - anything so pure and of Heaven does - but for Michael, she sucks it up. It's mainly to get him to perk his ears up, pay more attention.
Then, a few hours later, a strange thing happens. Wherever Michael is, he'll start hearing a very bad, jumpy "remix" of two different songs- the unfortunate product of two CDs compressing.
If he looks out the window or goes outside, he'll see Raphael standing near the window, looking utterly bored, and a boom box (with what looks like half a VCR sticking out of its side) floating a few feet over her head.]
[He immediately notices, but doesn't respond when nothing concrete comes of it. It does make him wonder what exactly Raphael is trying to get at, because if it required his attention, Raphael would just state whatever it is. There was also the possibility that the hellfire messed with her ability to communicate, though it seemed unlikely.
But when strains of two badly mixed songs start to drift through the window of the decrepit building he is currently wandering through, he starts to consider the possibility that Raphael has been tentatively seeking him out. A strange thing to consider, since she is usually straightforward.
If anything, he's curious, so within a minute of the music playing, he appears in front of Raphael, eyebrow raised.]
You've been spending time with Gabriel.
[Which is another way of saying, "Of all things to rub off on you."]
[The boombox moves a foot to the left and drops out of the air abruptly, crashing into a million pieces. She doesn't react.]
I understand it's an attention-seeking romantic overture.
[All the fucks she gives. Look at them, Michael.]
Coming from me, it serves as an excellent distraction.
[This cunning plan is possibly negated by... telling him. However, it has the benefit of also negating any insubordination overtones it has, since it's hard to do that and also flat out fucking tell him what she's doing.]
[It has been so--too--long since Michael has seen Raphael this way. The memories brought back by this realization ache, and it occurs to him that he missed this.]
There are easier ways to get my attention, Raphael.
[He stays silent, as an acknowledgement of the needed time, and that he is willing to give it to her. He will wait until she is ready to explain exactly why she thought he needed a distraction, even if he's sure he knows the reason.]
[Silence. Thinking. Only Michael knows her well enough to really discern the meanings behind the tiny subtleties in her expression, the changes that most people would miss entirely. She has much to ask him, much to say, but so much of the conversation would boil down to one issue.
One issue, and she can't approach it from below. No, this must be a conversation between equals. She squares her shoulders, preparing herself.]
Brother.
[She takes a shallow breath, glance flickering away for a second in- in actual nervousness, something she hasn't felt in centuries. The quickest second of interruption, small enough for most to miss, and she's meeting his eyes again.]
If you have a problem with something that I've said, I invite you to tell me what it is.
Raphael is not this stupid, unless she is looking to get a reaction, and has enough confidence in his regard for her.
The glance away and the meaning behind it doesn't go unnoticed, and he knows how much it's taking her to do this. He looks at her searchingly, assessing her intentions, and her state--the hints of damage she endured when he tried to help her.]
Tell me about your time here.
[The problem is that there are too many unknowns, something that he intends to rectify.]
[Everything in her wants to quail under that gaze, to retreat away from him with her wings folded against her body and Grace shrinking submissively. It hurts to be this bold in his presence- maybe this is what Lucifer feels to speak to Michael. Maybe.
She doesn't care.
What matters is Michael here, now, hearing her cockiness (insubordination) and plainly unhappy about it, Michael's shoulders tensing restlessly, Michael giving her an order. It squares her shoulders and hardens her gaze a little.]
[Michael can be patient with his siblings, especially one-on-one, and he certainly favored the archangels. But right now? He doesn't have the time for anyone to beat around the bush.]
Start from the beginning.
[There's something easygoing, yet off about the way he replies to her.]
[Yes. Off. She can feel it- he's on the edge, he's considering actions he normally wouldn't, he's in a bad place she hasn't seen in centuries. It makes her cautious.]
I began by trying to kill Castiel, and wasn't using a sword.
[There's something hard-edged about the way she says that. It doesn't make the listener want to know how she was trying.]
I walked into an uneasy peace that my very presence unseated. Apparently I united Lucifer and Castiel in having a common enemy. [So much disdain, ugh.] Yours was the only truly welcome face- Gabriel's was the most surprising to see.
One of Castiel's friends, Hino Rei, inadvertently had a vision of Castiel's and my immediate future that prompted you, myself, and Lucifer to immediate action.
[Considering how many times Castiel has thrown caution to the wind with Raphael, this isn't the most surprising thing. But to react immediately upon arriving in a new world? It was too rash. However, Raphael would not do such a thing without good reason.]
Why?
[He takes note of all the information offered, and looks almost thoughtful as he speaks. It certainly made sense for there to be an alliance - from what he is gathering from this world and his siblings, it seems that one may be essential in leaving this place.]
Our brothers can be quite shortsighted.
[Which is honestly quite characteristic of them. Michael can recognize that there is a time and place for everything, and here, it is clear that they should all cooperate. At least they have learned to recognize this, if the current status quo is any indication.
[Raphael lets the flow of the conversation skip smoothly over his first question, fixating instead on the second. Her gaze intensifies- with, as only he could discern, something steely and faintly horrified.]
[His gaze hardens minutely when she ignores his question. There's a hint of warning in how he says her name, making it quite obvious he expects her to answer this time.]
Raphael.
[A sense of revulsion makes itself known within him. What kind of future had they seen to take such action?
If it was something that would prompt swift action from himself or Raphael back in their world, then in a twisted way, it made sense. Death was not permanent here, so the next step would be to strip Castiel of power to ensure whatever it was would never happen.
But Raphael clearly felt regret, so something had changed.]
[Not just regret. Bald, unbridled disgust. It's a disgusting, twisted thing, to separate an angel from its Grace. They called Anna a more disgusting abomination than even the stains that called themselves demons- and why? Because it wasn't right. An angel belongs with its Grace, anything else is a perversion of God's design.
It may have taken dying and coming back without memories to see it, but the fact that they did that to him at all was repulsive.]
We saw Castiel, moments after killing me, twisted and bloated into an unholy abomination, rise up and declare himself God.
[It still terrifies her a little to remember. Not just the vision, but the infinitely more real memory of Castiel's deadened eyes looking into her, hollow and horrible, of how empty and disturbing he was just to be in the room with, how she knew without knowing that it was no longer her brother. The moments of terror just before she died- she still remembers.
Seeing that creature again, and committing such appalling blasphemy that she wants to flinch even repeating it... they all lost their heads.]
[An angel of any caliber, especially Castiel’s, rising up and defeating an archangel? Unheard of, and yet the confirmation is coming straight from Raphael’s lips. The terror doesn’t go unnoticed, which means there is something more to this, more than just dying. Something he isn’t aware of, that happens between their differing points in time.
The new vessel, the reason why she immediately tried to kill Castiel upon arrival, why the archangels decided to rip out his grace. It is all starting to click in place, and the picture that is being painted? Isn’t a pleasant one.
Castiel had to have drawn the power from somewhere, after all.
In the midst of the incredulity, there is a pain in hearing Raphael’s fate. One he had certainly not foreseen.]
Lucifer spoke to me about what the Winchesters did.
[That they defied everything and averted the Apocalypse, sending both him and Lucifer into the Cage, to burn for eternity.]
What happened after, to lead to that point?
[For Castiel to be driven to commit such unimaginable blasphemy.]
[Finally Raphael breaks their long gaze, looking away from her brother with a distantly cloudy expression.]
Castiel instigated civil war.
[There's an odd bite in her voice, the slightest kernel of a kind of odd hate that she's never felt for anybody- not even Lucifer, as much as she abhors him. Even Lucifer and certainly no other angel has never been worth the effort of the resentment and hate she used to have for Castiel, that comes back in only occasional echoes- like now. Remembering.]
[In contrast, Michael's gaze sharpens on Raphael's face at this bit of news. Castiel and his little humans had succeeded, so there should be no reason. But Michael knows Raphael, well enough to guess that Raphael probably tried to jump start the Apocalypse again.]
How did he manage to make a stand against you?
[He has his guesses as to where Castiel obtained the extra power.]
[She all but spits it- that still disgusts her, even two years later. Souls. The utter perversion of the most perfect of God's creations, how dare he.]
[The confirmation burns with how wrong this is. No angel should ever commit such blasphemy for any reason.]
He's gotten arrogant.
[It's clear there's more to the story.]
But he couldn't have had enough souls to overpower you.
[Obviously Castiel obtained the souls from Hell, because he certainly couldn't have accessed the ones in Heaven. Even with the extra power, Castiel wasn't high ranking enough to equal Raphael.]
[To an ignorant ear, it sounds like a fantastic idea: the untapped wellspring of resources, the hidden realm of energy without the power plays of politics. Why not seek it out? Why not? Raphael, of course, always knew that Purgatory was out there- and that it must have been so well-hidden from them for a very good reason. It was built into the design. She never considered that the Leviathan were still alive or tied to the place at all, but she knew there was a good reason.
To anyone else, it sounds reasonable. To her, it was the last-ditch move of a desperate angel, hasty to end the war and the only serious threat to her. Stupid. Unutterably stupid. She should have known.]
The power of every soul in Purgatory gave him the strength to kill me, and the insanity to declare himself God.
[Pause. The story isn't over, but she must see how he handles this.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
angel radio + action
Then, a few hours later, a strange thing happens. Wherever Michael is, he'll start hearing a very bad, jumpy "remix" of two different songs- the unfortunate product of two CDs compressing.
If he looks out the window or goes outside, he'll see Raphael standing near the window, looking utterly bored, and a boom box (with what looks like half a VCR sticking out of its side) floating a few feet over her head.]
angel radio + action laksdkhehg LMFAO THESE SONGS
But when strains of two badly mixed songs start to drift through the window of the decrepit building he is currently wandering through, he starts to consider the possibility that Raphael has been tentatively seeking him out. A strange thing to consider, since she is usually straightforward.
If anything, he's curious, so within a minute of the music playing, he appears in front of Raphael, eyebrow raised.]
You've been spending time with Gabriel.
[Which is another way of saying, "Of all things to rub off on you."]
action :D :D :D
There was an event.
action
[Because he wants to know what could possibly get Raphael to act in such an uncharacteristic manner.
He glances up at the boom box and then back at her, clearly bemused.]
Is there a reason for this?
action
I understand it's an attention-seeking romantic overture.
[All the fucks she gives. Look at them, Michael.]
Coming from me, it serves as an excellent distraction.
[This cunning plan is possibly negated by... telling him. However, it has the benefit of also negating any insubordination overtones it has, since it's hard to do that and also flat out fucking tell him what she's doing.]
action
Gabriel must be proud. That is, if he hasn't frozen in shock.
[He looks almost thoughtful as he poses the question. This would be a good time to explain why he needs to be distracted.]
Is it?
no subject
[But she feels triumphant. He's smiling! Success.]
no subject
There are easier ways to get my attention, Raphael.
no subject
[Meaning she wanted the time. She needed it.]
no subject
no subject
One issue, and she can't approach it from below. No, this must be a conversation between equals. She squares her shoulders, preparing herself.]
Brother.
[She takes a shallow breath, glance flickering away for a second in- in actual nervousness, something she hasn't felt in centuries. The quickest second of interruption, small enough for most to miss, and she's meeting his eyes again.]
If you have a problem with something that I've said, I invite you to tell me what it is.
no subject
She spoke to him like they are equals.
Raphael is not this stupid, unless she is looking to get a reaction, and has enough confidence in his regard for her.
The glance away and the meaning behind it doesn't go unnoticed, and he knows how much it's taking her to do this. He looks at her searchingly, assessing her intentions, and her state--the hints of damage she endured when he tried to help her.]
Tell me about your time here.
[The problem is that there are too many unknowns, something that he intends to rectify.]
no subject
She doesn't care.
What matters is Michael here, now, hearing her cockiness (insubordination) and plainly unhappy about it, Michael's shoulders tensing restlessly, Michael giving her an order. It squares her shoulders and hardens her gaze a little.]
It has been nearly a year. There is much to say.
no subject
Start from the beginning.
[There's something easygoing, yet off about the way he replies to her.]
no subject
I began by trying to kill Castiel, and wasn't using a sword.
[There's something hard-edged about the way she says that. It doesn't make the listener want to know how she was trying.]
I walked into an uneasy peace that my very presence unseated. Apparently I united Lucifer and Castiel in having a common enemy. [So much disdain, ugh.] Yours was the only truly welcome face- Gabriel's was the most surprising to see.
One of Castiel's friends, Hino Rei, inadvertently had a vision of Castiel's and my immediate future that prompted you, myself, and Lucifer to immediate action.
[She meets his eyes properly at that, intensely.]
You will not like it.
no subject
Why?
[He takes note of all the information offered, and looks almost thoughtful as he speaks. It certainly made sense for there to be an alliance - from what he is gathering from this world and his siblings, it seems that one may be essential in leaving this place.]
Our brothers can be quite shortsighted.
[Which is honestly quite characteristic of them. Michael can recognize that there is a time and place for everything, and here, it is clear that they should all cooperate. At least they have learned to recognize this, if the current status quo is any indication.
He matches the gaze easily.]
Try me.
no subject
We tore out his Grace.
no subject
Raphael.
[A sense of revulsion makes itself known within him. What kind of future had they seen to take such action?
If it was something that would prompt swift action from himself or Raphael back in their world, then in a twisted way, it made sense. Death was not permanent here, so the next step would be to strip Castiel of power to ensure whatever it was would never happen.
But Raphael clearly felt regret, so something had changed.]
What had Rei seen?
no subject
It may have taken dying and coming back without memories to see it, but the fact that they did that to him at all was repulsive.]
We saw Castiel, moments after killing me, twisted and bloated into an unholy abomination, rise up and declare himself God.
[It still terrifies her a little to remember. Not just the vision, but the infinitely more real memory of Castiel's deadened eyes looking into her, hollow and horrible, of how empty and disturbing he was just to be in the room with, how she knew without knowing that it was no longer her brother. The moments of terror just before she died- she still remembers.
Seeing that creature again, and committing such appalling blasphemy that she wants to flinch even repeating it... they all lost their heads.]
no subject
The new vessel, the reason why she immediately tried to kill Castiel upon arrival, why the archangels decided to rip out his grace. It is all starting to click in place, and the picture that is being painted? Isn’t a pleasant one.
Castiel had to have drawn the power from somewhere, after all.
In the midst of the incredulity, there is a pain in hearing Raphael’s fate. One he had certainly not foreseen.]
Lucifer spoke to me about what the Winchesters did.
[That they defied everything and averted the Apocalypse, sending both him and Lucifer into the Cage, to burn for eternity.]
What happened after, to lead to that point?
[For Castiel to be driven to commit such unimaginable blasphemy.]
no subject
Castiel instigated civil war.
[There's an odd bite in her voice, the slightest kernel of a kind of odd hate that she's never felt for anybody- not even Lucifer, as much as she abhors him. Even Lucifer and certainly no other angel has never been worth the effort of the resentment and hate she used to have for Castiel, that comes back in only occasional echoes- like now. Remembering.]
no subject
How did he manage to make a stand against you?
[He has his guesses as to where Castiel obtained the extra power.]
no subject
[She all but spits it- that still disgusts her, even two years later. Souls. The utter perversion of the most perfect of God's creations, how dare he.]
no subject
He's gotten arrogant.
[It's clear there's more to the story.]
But he couldn't have had enough souls to overpower you.
[Obviously Castiel obtained the souls from Hell, because he certainly couldn't have accessed the ones in Heaven. Even with the extra power, Castiel wasn't high ranking enough to equal Raphael.]
no subject
[To an ignorant ear, it sounds like a fantastic idea: the untapped wellspring of resources, the hidden realm of energy without the power plays of politics. Why not seek it out? Why not? Raphael, of course, always knew that Purgatory was out there- and that it must have been so well-hidden from them for a very good reason. It was built into the design. She never considered that the Leviathan were still alive or tied to the place at all, but she knew there was a good reason.
To anyone else, it sounds reasonable. To her, it was the last-ditch move of a desperate angel, hasty to end the war and the only serious threat to her. Stupid. Unutterably stupid. She should have known.]
The power of every soul in Purgatory gave him the strength to kill me, and the insanity to declare himself God.
[Pause. The story isn't over, but she must see how he handles this.]