[log] double meetup bonanza [closed]

[mrcreamsicles]

Characters: Davesprite, Karkat, and the Cat, plus Steph and then Ecks and Castiel
Location: Building 263, then building 254.
Date: Day 246, midday then evening.
Summary: A bird, a crab, and a cat play courier to a super hero and a quilt person. Also, an angel is there.
Warnings: Discussion of/allusion to anomaly murders.

263: A small office building. It's the sort that looks like it should attach to some larger facility, but whatever it might have connected to is long gone. It's two stories: the first contains a small lobby area, a waiting room, and an area for secretaries. Going upstairs reveals a small honeycomb of eerily empty cubicles. There are desks and chairs in each one, but nothing on any desk or placed on any of the cubicle walls. There's one small one-person office in the back that's similarly empty, and two public bathrooms that work, though the water runs cold. On the wall by the desk in the one-person office, a drawing that says "I love you, Daddy!" has been adhered with cat stickers. "ALPHONSE ELRIC, DAY TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY TWO. IF YOU NEED ANY ASSISTANCE, PLEASE CALL @LELRIC." has been written on a wall.

254: This skyscraper is half-ruined: the top of it has clearly collapsed. Still, it's large enough to work as a landmark, what's left seems stable enough, and the doors still work. Going inside reveals a fairly standard-looking lobby. The marble floors were probably pretty once, but are now dusty and cracked. Any signage indicating what this building was for is long-gone, and instead graffiti speaking of the prophet and eye symbols dot the walls.

The elevator shaft and the door to the stairs both open, but there's no elevator car, so it's best to take the stairs. Most of the doors here are ruined, crushed by rubble and debris and impassable, though there wouldn't be anything of use in crushed floors anyway. The top floor, however, is intact, and stepping in reveals what was probably once a floor for offices, though now everything is empty. There is a symbol of the prophet drawn in red paint on the floor by the door, and then a line that can be followed in one of three directions. Each one leads to one of the three skybridges in this building.

Comments

[quadrangle]

[Sincerity like that from a total stranger is honestly sort of fucking weird, but Castiel hasn't struck him as dangerous yet. So it's... probably okay?]

I did, yeah. But it was... I don't know, we got a few things wrong.

[He attempts a nonchalant shrug, not quite making eye contact.]

And we had to keep observing it from outside after that? We were supposed to travel to it, but shit got in the way.

[godsspeed]

It's to be expected. [ He says it understandingly, but doesn't specify whether he means anyone would make mistakes in making a universe or that obviously a bunch of mortals would make mistakes trying to recreate God's work. Some time ago it would've been the latter without question, but now even he isn't sure. ]

And I'm sorry you weren't able to engage with it as you were intended. What happened? Did something else intervene?

[quadrangle]

["To be expected," like that excuses it. Karkat grimaces, but fortunately, answering the rest gives him something new to focus on.]

Something intervened, yeah. The human accidentally created an unbeatable boss, and because fucking paradox space, it was able to teleport where we were and fuck everything up.

[He shrugs like this is a perfectly normal sentence to hear or even say. What can you do, right?]

It wasn't really their fault, but I got pissed off at them for it anyway.

[godsspeed]

[ That's absolutely a coherent statement that most people will understand, yes. Castiel just watches him carefully in total silence as he goes over the words in his head before asking; ]

What was it the boss of?

[quadrangle]

[... Is Castiel just slow or does he not get how video games work. Okay, it's probably the latter, but still, what.]

The game? Sgrub, or I guess Sburb since it was the human session.

[godsspeed]

[ Castiel barely understands how videos work, much less the interactive ones. He does nod at Karkat's explanation, though, something seeming to click into place. ]

So it was the enemy commander, and after defeating the humans it turned its sights to you and your allies.

[quadrangle]

["Enemy commander." Karkat scratches his head but shrugs in reluctant agreement.]

Something like that? It didn't defeat them, though, or I guess it didn't. Our connection got cut off shortly before that, but they obviously lived.

[... Uh. In a manner of speaking. He's not sure if he should go into more game mechanics with the difficulty Castiel had already, but that'll do for now.]

[godsspeed]

Defeat doesn't always mean death. [ Sometimes it means enslavement. Sometimes it means humiliation and being buried in a hole for thousands upon thousands of years. ]

I understand, though. I think. [ Most likely. ]

... Do you think your universe would have fared better, if you had been there to tend to it as you were meant to? Or was it better off without its 'gods' interference?

[quadrangle]

[Well, he can't really argue with that. Still, he shrugs.]

Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. I mean, I'd like to think it would be better, but it's hard to say. We were just—uh, thirteen human years old anyway, so we might have fucked up even more if we'd actually been in charge. It's nice to think we wouldn't, though.

[godsspeed]

[ Castiel mulls over that answer for a while, expression unreadable. He's not sure what he was expecting from Karkat, or what he wanted, or even how he feels now. But it seems significant, so he mentally files it away as such. ]

Depending on who you ask, that's thirteen human years older than God was when He created the universe I once watched over.

[quadrangle]

[That pause is a little concerning, but Karkat lets it go without comment, spending the time instead watching Castiel curiously. He doesn't get this guy at all, what the hell.]

So he was basically a wiggler? Baby. Whatever the fuck you would call it.

[godsspeed]

Well, He's also a timeless and immortal being that doesn't experience infant and juvenile stages like some organic beings do. So, not really.

[ It doesn't occur to him that this possibly takes away any comfort there might have been to be found in his previous statement. ]

[quadrangle]

[He's not sure if it does or doesn't, honestly. Mostly, he's just confused.]

How does he experience life, then?

[godsspeed]

Honestly? I don't know. He has no beginning or end. [ Or so they say, at least. It's what Castiel believes, but even among his siblings there's some disagreement about whether their Father came to be or just always was. ]

I can't imagine it. What it must be like to be present for everything.

[quadrangle]

[Well, that sounds like a load of bullshit. Then again, Sgrub is sort of the same, so who knows, maybe time loops are involved. Or something.]

[Either way, Karkat is giving Castiel a highly skeptical look right about now.]

Sounds like a lot to handle, yeah. Is that why he created everything?

[godsspeed]

[ That's a look he's more than accustomed to, at least. The question has him fidget uncomfortably, though, subtly shifting his weight from foot to foot. ]

I don't know. I never had the chance to ask Him.

Why was it that you chose to create a new universe?

[quadrangle]

[Finally, an easy question!]

Because there was no way back to our universe and we thought we could revive our species by winning?

[godsspeed]

Oh. [ Well, at least it wasn't trying to seize power and become true gods themselves. Castiel would've disapproved of that. ] My condolences.

Were you right?

[quadrangle]

[Nnnnot entirely, but anyway.]

No. We weren't.

[He says it perhaps too bluntly, then sighs.]

We got screwed over on that front, but I guess that was how it was supposed so go. Maybe they got to do it in the alpha timeline, I don't know.

[godsspeed]

The alpha timeline. That's the version of your universe where everything went as intended? And all other paths lead to doom.

[quadrangle]

Basically, yeah. And doomed versions of people just have to wait around until they're erased from existence. Davesprite already told you about that, right?

[godsspeed]

He did. It seems like a harsh way to run a timestream. [ Not that he's sure exactly how alternate timelines work in his reality. Time travel was not generally one of his duties, and the theory behind its workings was on a fairly need-to-know basis. For all he knows it could be much the same. ]

Do you believe yourself to have come from a doomed timeline, then?

[quadrangle]

[The fuck is this question.]

I don't believe I'm from a doomed timeline, I know I'm from one. And I don't really want to talk about how I know that, either.

[He'd feel worse about shutting down that particular line of conversation if it didn't involve him dying horribly. Just saying. Apart from that—]

What other stuff does your god do? Or you do, since I haven't asked. You're an angel, right?

[godsspeed]

Oh. I'm sorry. [ Tact has never been particularly high on the list of things Castiel is good at, but he knows how to back off when told, at least. ]

I am. My duties were primarily protecting my Father's creation from forces that would seek to unbalance it. Demons. Other, lesser gods. I was also tasked with ensuring that events unfolded as He foresaw they would at the beginning of time.

'My' God created many universes, including the one I watched over. [ And here Castiel hesitates slightly, a slight uncertainty creeping in. ] He intervenes in each where he deems it necessary.

[quadrangle]

[The apology helps to smooth over more than a few ruffled feelings, and Karkat shrugs, effectively dismissing it. Castiel may not be especially good with people or teenaged trolls in particular, but he's... you know, tolerable. A little.]

What's the difference between angels and demons where you come from? And did your god make the lesser gods too, or did they just kind of turn up?

[He'd ask about the rest too, but there's only so much Castiel can answer at once. It can wait.]