post-impocalypse: a field trip

[farfromgrace]

Vengeance is a Hell that cannot forget the past. Places of violence sometimes waver and reveal their old scars, bullet holes reappearing in fixed tables. It hasn't even forgotten the fall-- white chalk outlines in some of the alleys show bodies bent and crumpled at fatal angles, bodies that if stared at long enough show the pale shadow of wings at their backs. Some of the damned have claimed these angel bodies, hoping for a patron in hell or a weapon against it should they ever stir-- or a favor from Asmodeus, if they bring a waking one to him.

Beyond that, the cramped jumble of a city has the look of a place that belongs in a film noir, the light that's cast from the sky here washes out colors, and at night the fog comes in across the dark water and envelopes the city. So, in opposition to that, the occupied buildings are garish and loud on the inside and with their neon advertisements on the outside, demanding attention and refusing to bow to an environment that seems to want them silenced.

Space suddenly shifts, in a jarring, nauseating way, and you're falling into a landscape that's definitely a city, but not your Tokyo-F.

And land, unceremoniously, in an alley, the portal closing behind you. Nothing special about it, covered in peeling advertisements, full of shadows, littered with broken bottles and crushed cans and other kinds of garbage.

No one seems to have noticed you yet...

Comments

[farfromgrace]

that's a little on the nose, isn't it. not a bad name, though.

i am suri, despite what this one says.

[ she jerks her head at Levi. ]

[dragonheartedgirl]

Sorry. I wasn't trying to be too menacing. But--we have to keep our cover. Our other companion here you haven't met before is Horizon.

[ she gestures to the blond man ]

Are you well? How did this come about?

[farfromgrace]

one whose voice carries far? well met.

as for me, it matters not. i was not afraid. i continue. there is little to speak of, on the account of my welfare.

[backstory]

It matters greatly.

[ That she's still here. Is she alright...? What is she doing...working? In a place such as this. ]

We must help you get out of here. Is it impossible to leave on your own? Have you found friends or allies to help you during your stay here?

[ . . . Frustrated, he glances down. ]

After trying to help you before, we had to flee. I am still frustrated and ashamed that it was all we could manage.

[farfromgrace]

they are not wholly bad here. i found a place to go to ground and it was suggested after a while that it might be more comfortable not lying face-down in a dumpster. i am not a good bartender and i sleep in the back room.

i am just... tired.

[everylast]

While I'm just a stranger to you, I am glad that you've found something of a place of stability.

Is it ... a physical exhaustion, or a mental one?

[farfromgrace]

i have few physical needs.

[ hey kids do you ever: depression ]

they play your program on the televisions now, you know.

[asonoficeandfire]

[depression is a Big Mood]

So you want to stay here?

[farfromgrace]

"want" is a strong word.

but my options are not strictly speaking good.

[backstory]

[ No, can you eat it? Maybe on special occasions

. . . If they are on television here now, that's going to make it harder for them. ]

. . . Most people are loyal to that man in this place, are they not? How do they view most of us on the show? And are you aware of........ are there any others that are here and unhappy with how things are?

There must... surely be those who would like to change things for the better.

[farfromgrace]

most of those here are or began as mortals. like you. they have a strong desire to see ones like themselves rise.

could say there is sympathy, of a kind.

who is "that man," though. there are many.

[everylast]

[ depression is all i do and i'm, honestly, not sure why, yet ]

"To see ones like themselves rise..."

If needed, would our places on the program be a help to us, rather than a hindrance? If our names and our faces are known, would they come to our aid...?

[backstory]

The one responsible for this side. Azzy.

[ He doesn't want to outright name him. ]

. . . We want to defeat that person and those on the other side of hell who are all running this program and using us as experiments for their false heaven or to recruit us here.

[ His brows knit in frustration. ]

But we understand that this also means that we must defeat the one above them.

Miss Suriel...

[ Reaching out to gently take one of her hands between his. ]

We need people who are willing to stand up. And we need your help, and the help of others if we are to do it. It is as Horizon asks... would there be individuals willing to aid us in this venture?

[farfromgrace]

"azzy" makes it sound like he is your cute friend, leviathan.

and it is suri. please.

but perhaps if you made the right appeal. here, there is not so much a feeling of loyalty as a wounded solidarity. there is much power in the hands of mortals.

as for me, there is little i can do. i am no true angel like the one in custody, nor the ones they seek after.

[backstory]

[ SO MUCH OFFENSE...! ]

I would never be his friend...!

[ HE IS AWFUL AND EVIL AND TERRIBLE DXX ]

. . . Miss Suri then.

[ But you're still an angel to him okay. ]

Where is this angel being kept at? And which angels are they seeking after?

[asonoficeandfire]

Can we get them out, somehow?

[farfromgrace]

these things, they do not tell me. i do not think anyone who speaks to me knows, precisely.

but your cute friend has a true angel, as the news here would have it.

i think they are beginning to wonder if there are more.

1/2

[backstory]

[ !1!!! This is Levi bullying...! ]

I will destroy him someday, we are not friends...! Neither is he cute!!

[ HUFFS! ]

2/2

[backstory]

--But if there are more I would like to find them. And I would like for the people here to organize if at all possible.

. . . It is very hard to do that from our side of the television screens, however. Is there anyone here that people would be willing to rally behind? Or anyone on the show that they respect enough to rally behind and follow if they were here?

[ He just frowns. Everything is easier said than done. ]

I don't want to leave this place until we can find more information... or find that angel or others. Neither do I desire to leave you here.

Re: 2/2

[farfromgrace]

[ bullying. ]

well. they don't tell me where anyone important is. but the mortals here appreciate your displays of agency and free will.

and there is no role for me without a way to be restored. i am a bird with clipped wings and a fond memory of flight.

Re: 2/2

[worthathousand]

[ speaking, finally— ]

Birds have beaks and talons too, though.
Surely there is more that you have done in the time since we met than serve drinks to the Damned.

[ momvoice- "is this all you're doing with your life???" ]

Re: 2/2

[farfromgrace]

you vastly overestimate the resources i have at my disposal. it is an imperfect metaphor.

i am no mortal, blessed with free will and the favor of the Most High, nor am i one such as Gabriel, first among the angels, or even Ramiel, the Thunder of God, and who knows even where either of them are.

Re: 2/2

[backstory]

I have faith in your abilities, Miss Suri. But I believe your spirit is still heavy. Please know that we at the very least know you are capable of great things if you put your mind to it. There are still many things I believe you can accomplish that we cannot.

[ Firm about that. ]

. . . Is there a way to try and summon those individuals? What would we need to do in order to draw their attention?

Re: 2/2

[farfromgrace]

were they still extant, they would have made themselves known by now, surely...

Ramiel fell long ago, though, for love. i know not where he went. as for Gabriel... if she is a prisoner, it would be in the City of Lies, where most of the prisoners were taken.

they could be dead, though.
that's always a possibility.

[worthathousand]

......I think I know where Ramiel is now.

[ a pause ] But if prisoners such as Gabriel are in the City of Lies, then we will free them. To refrain from acting is not a luxury we have.

[ there's maybe some implicit judgment there, but she's not making the kind of deliberate eye contact she reserves for when that judgment is, you know, deliberate. ]