App for abaxrpg
player information.
name: Gabe (I know, I know - it’s a coincidence, honest!)
are you over 18?: I'm 17, actually :\ It’s over 3, at least? I think it says in the rules that there’s no minimum age limit, but I appreciate that I may nevertheless be too young. If so, never fear, I’ll be back to bug you again in a month’s time~ (unless you ban me)
personal lj: I… don’t actually have one that I use, I'm afraid. This one'll do, if it's for contact purposes.
email/msn/aim/plurk/etc: My AIM and Plurk are both Schlafsuchtig, but the best way to get hold of me is probably PMing hung_garian.
characters in abax: None.
in character information.
series: Supernatural (the TV series).
name: Gabriel (though he also goes by Loki and The Trickster).
sex: Male.
age: Slightly older than the Earth, probably, what with the whole archangel thing and all. Let’s say about six billion? He’s very old, in any case.
race: Archangel.
height: 172 cm, so nearly five foot eight.
weight: Uh... I’d guess about 75 kg, but I have no idea, to be honest. I am informed by the internet that this is 165 lb.
canon point: From 5.19, after getting stabbed through the heart by his darling big brother.
previous cr: If it’s okay, I’d like to take through his development and CR from a_facility. Essentially, his personality’s not changed much: he’s a little more cautious, as a result of having had his powers limited and not being top dog any more. Due to that, he’s also been unable to prevent either himself or others from being killed (a common occurrence in that game) or ‘terminated’ (the in-game explanation for the characters being there is that they are clones to be experimented on; when a character is dropped, the ‘test subject’ is sent off to be 'terminated' - that is, incinerated, though whether this is true or just a rumour is unclear). This, and the alarming frequency with which either he or people he grudgingly cares about die, has led to a fairly defeatist attitude. He’s also a little twitchy about unexpected physical contact, thanks to some bad experiences with being tortured. In terms of CR, here is a link to his CR chart. The only relevant CR, really, is with Ryoji (exiledarcana, who has also apped to Abax) and Castiel (an alternate version of whom is here already).
history: Hark! a link!
Alternatively, here is a version I wrote, which is more detailed but also, well, long. If the link's sufficient, you can basically just skip this.
In The Beginning, before the earth and the humans, God created the angels. Gabriel was one of the only four angels to have seen Him, and sees Him as a Father in a more literal sense than it's usually meant, referring to Him as "Dad". Everything was fine and Heaven was one big happy family, until God created the "new baby", that is, the humans. The family fell apart, and God left, and so did Gabriel, disillusioned as he was with Heaven and indeed with God Himself.
He didn't have the guts to actually Fall and become a human, like Anna, or a demon, like the Grigori, so he simply hid in the guise of a Pagan Trickster god - Loki, to be precise. As he was able to fool the Pagan gods into believing he really was Loki, he presumably either took Loki as a vessel - probably during the period when Loki was chained to a rock and having venom dripped on him as punishment for his misdeeds - or invented the character of ‘Loki’ himself. I’m going with the latter to avoid the complications of potentially Loki being hanging around in his head too.
He hung out on Earth for thousands of years, dishing out humorously ironic punishments to those he felt were deserving. These punishments varied in severity depending on the crime: an unnecessarily cruel animal researcher was mauled by an alligator, and a man with serious anger management issues who beat his wife - "you wouldn't like him when he's angry", Dean remarks when he recognises the Trickser's MO - was killed by the Incredible Hulk. However, a frat boy who was simply an egotistic, narrow-minded jerk who revelled in humiliating the new members was kidnapped by aliens, probed and forced to slow dance to ‘Lady in Red’, but mostly unharmed - he’s sometimes excessive in his punishments, but does understand the word ‘moderation’ to some extent, at least.
Then Sam and Dean Winchester came along, and ruined his peaceful little life away from Heaven and Hell. In 'Mystery Spot', his second appearance, he tried to stop the Apocalypse by teaching Sam a lesson before he could start it. However, his lesson didn't work. It was too subtle, and Gabriel was too vague about the consequences of Sam not letting Dean go. Had he come out and told them the truth about the Apocalypse, and his identity, he could perhaps have stopped it - but he was too scared to do so, because that would mean being dragged back into it all, and having to choose a side.
The next we see of him is in 'Changing Channels' in which he tries to convince them to accept their roles and just get the Apocalypse over with - now that it can't be stopped, he just wants it to end as soon as possible. His angelic siblings are dying, and even though he's abandoned them, it hurts. He's bitter that he could have done something to stop it in ‘Mystery Spot’, but chickened out.
The Winchesters find out his true identity, and Dean accuses him of being simply too scared to stand up to his brothers. Gabriel's expression suggests that this is the unpleasant truth, and even after being freed from the Burning Ring of Fire, he remains standing in the abandoned warehouse, soaked to the bone and lost in thought.
In 'Hammer of the Gods', he shows up again, this time in defense of Sam, Dean and his Pagan family, in the guise of Loki. He reveals that he and Kali "had a thing", and implies that it was only a fling - however, when we see him attempt to talk her out of fighting Lucifer, it's obvious that he genuinely cares about her. She reveals that she has known his true identity for a while, and uses his blood to bind her to him "now and forever", stopping him from escaping. She takes his sword and appears to kill him with it, and explains to her fellow gods and goddesses that they can use it to kill Lucifer and avert the Judeo-Christian Apocalypse.
However, it soon turns out that Gabriel is still alive and kicking in the backseat of the Winchesters' car. He explains that the sword is a fake and that now would be a good time to run away.
Dean informs him that the gods plan to use the fake against Lucifer - it won't work, as it's a fake, and Lucifer will slaughter them. Gabriel protests that he doesn't care, as "they just stabbed [him] in the friggin' heart!". Dean calls his bluff, saying that Gabriel still cares about them - and while Gabriel doesn't really reply, it's clear from his expression that it's the truth. As Dean continues trying to persuade him to help them (Dean and Sam) kill Lucifer, he turns uncharacteristically serious, and protests that he can't kill his brother.
Dean asks "Can't or won't?" to which Gabriel, tellingly, doesn't reply.
Dean gets out of the car and goes back inside, leaving Gabriel to think this over in the back of the car, visibly conflicted. Gabriel comes to the decision that he can't just let his 'new' family die, and makes a video will. In this, he gives the Winchesters knowledge that might enable them to stop the Apocalypse, and admits to Dean that yes, he was scared to fight his brothers, but that he isn't any more: "This is me, standing up."
He also tells them "If you're watching this, I'm dead", despite the fact that he has the advantage of surprise, and a better chance against Lucifer than most, which implies that he does not intend to survive the battle. His plan seems to be to allow the Winchesters and surviving gods (only Kali, as it turns out) to escape, and to stall Lucifer for as long as possible.
During the fight he hesitates until Lucifer realises his plan (which is, by Gabriel's standards, ridiculously simple and half-hearted), thus allowing Lucifer to kill him. His failure to attack until it’s obviously too late suggests that he never intended to kill Lucifer at all, especially since had he just stabbed him straight out or while they were talking, he’d probably have been successful.
personality: The polite way to put it is 'morally challenged'. Unlike the traditional angels seen in cheesy films and on cards, or even the righteous warrior of Heaven, Gabriel is basically a massive jerk. Though he does, as the Angel of Justice, punish the deserving, he probably shouldn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as he does. He's constantly snarky, sarcastic and obnoxious, with no respect for anyone, and a good way to describe his personality is with the Seven Deadly Sins:
Pride: He's probably one of the most arrogant people you could ever meet. He's cocky and confident - perhaps not wrongly so, either. As an archangel, a Pagan god, and one of the most powerful beings in existence, he has a right to be.
However, it's his pride that's his downfall - if he can be fooled into believing his plan is working, he'll let his guard down. This has invariably been why each of his failed plans has, well, failed. He can’t stand losing his superiority - in situations where he’s without his powers, he’s clearly strained. He becomes a lot more serious, and is blatantly uneasy.
On the other hand, he appreciates a good trick at his own expense, as seen when Dean tricked him in Tall Tales, almost as much as one at anyone else’s, so perhaps there’s hope for him yet.
Gluttony: He's known for his love of wine, women and song, but more notably, he's addicted to sugar. No, really - he's close to never without some kind of glucose, and it's generally how people see through his disguises. Just look for the guy eating pancakes drowned in syrup, and you have your Trickster.
Lust: If he ever gets lonely - and as a lone wolf formerly from a very big not-so-happy heavenly family, you can bet he does - he just magics up some Playboy-lookalikes to keep him company. His Last Will and Testament is left in the form of a porno DVD, Casa Erotica 13.
Wrath: He has quite a temper on him. Though he's usually belligerently good-natured, if someone presses his buttons (namely, mentioning his family or calling him out on being a coward), he will snap, and it will not be pretty.
Sloth: Despite Milton's portrayal of him as chief of the angelic guards, Supernatural's Gabriel is pretty lazy. He avoids combat and confrontation whenever possible, preferring to manipulate events from behind the scenes. In his first ‘fight’ scene, he just sits back with his feet up, eating a candy bar, while using illusions and constructs to fight off his attackers.
Envy: He’s definitely motivated by this in his focus on Sam and Dean. In his first appearance he deliberately tries to drive them apart, though there would be easier ways to prevent them from finding him out. In his second appearance, he repeatedly kills Dean, and seriously traumatises Sam as a result.
It’s my view that he does this because he’s envious of their closeness. It reminds him of the family of angels that he left, and his previously close relationship with them - especially with Michael and Lucifer. In ‘Tall Tales’, he’s a little annoyed that they have all that he wants but take it for granted. In ‘Mystery Spot’ it’s worse, because Sam’s desperation to save Dean is a huge reminder of two things: 1) that Sam and Dean care about each other far more than his brothers do these days; and 2) that as a result of Sam and Dean’s relationship, he’s going to have to watch Michael and/or Lucifer die, just as Sam has to watch it happen to Dean - but for him, unlike for Sam, there’s no-one he can just beg to bring them back and put everything right. Well, except his Dad, but Daddy just doesn’t seem to care.
Of course, to ruin my comparison, he's not really a victim of Avarice - why would he be, when he can have anything he wants with a snap of his fingers? But hey - six out of seven ain't bad.
Mostly unmentioned so far, he's also a coward, though he covers it up well with sarcasm and bravado, and is called on this by Dean. He "skipped out of Heaven" because he couldn't bear to watch his brothers fight, rather than intervening. He then stayed hidden for thousands of years, rather than risk returning, because he was afraid to stand up to his brothers.
Despite this cowardice, he's also very loyal. He left Heaven because he loved both Michael and Lucifer too much to take sides, or to watch them hurt each other. He'll deny caring about either his old angelic family or his new Pagan one - he does outright in 5.19: "I don't... care..." - but if it came to it, he would do near enough anything for them.
This loyalty's pretty hard to shake, too. Even after everything Lucifer's done, he tells him that he still loves him, and tells Dean that he'd be unable to kill him. This also applies to his new Pagan family - even after they have attempted to kill him in cold blood, he still cares about them. He's a bit like a kicked puppy, in that respect - earn his loyalty and you've got it forever, whatever else you do to him.
abilities/powers: Best described as godlike, probably. Like all angels in the Supernatural-verse, he can teleport instantaneously by flight. He can also teleport others. This flight does use wings, but he tends to keep them hidden. It’s not clear whether they’re on a different plane of reality or what, but the point is one can’t see them unless he chooses to show them. Or unless he dies, in which case one can see their ashes on the floor, but that’s not quite the same thing.
He frequently makes use of his ability to manipulate reality - he can magic up with a snap of his fingers anything from a candy bar to a whole new reality, for example when he zaps Sam and Dean Winchester into 'TV Land', made up of his own versions of various television shows. He often avoids death by creating replicas of himself, which seem to share his powers. As per Abax regulations, he’ll have to cut down on this - well, maybe he won’t have to, but after a few lollipops that turn out to be (and worse, taste) healthy, I rather think he’d want to. Aaand he can shapeshift - I presume Abax wouldn’t affect that, but feel free to correct me!
He can manipulate not only reality but also time, for example in 'Mystery Spot', where he first induces a time-loop, and later in the episode rewinds time by around six months. He wouldn’t be doing this much, either, mostly because it’d be complicated OOC.
Judging by the powers of angels of lower rank, such as Zachariah, he can change humans' biological make up at will - for example, removing lungs or inducing stomach cancer, and of course replacing the lungs and curing the cancer. It is implied by Michael's powers and by his own actions in 'Mystery Spot' that he can also bring humans back to life at will.
He can speed up his vessel's healing rate exponentially, as seen when he is stabbed through the heart with a wooden stake but recovers by the next morning at the latest - the healing is probably immediate, judging by other angels’ reactions to otherwise fatal wounds. He doesn't need food, water or sleep to maintain his vessel, though unlike many angels he seems to indulge in them anyway.
He's extremely physically strong, as shown when he shoves a taller, fitter man up against a wall one-handed and shrugs off his arm with no apparent effort. He's also telekinetically strong - at a point very shortly after that from which he is taken, he easily throws Lucifer across a room.
His plans, for example when he influences Sam and Dean to argue rather than paying attention to him, or when he only sends a replica of himself to confront them, show that he’s fairly intelligent, or at least just cunning. On the other hand, Kali for one sees through his plans pretty quickly, so in this field at least he isn’t ridiculously powerful.
On the flip side, he does have a few major weaknesses. If he can be encircled in a ring of holy fire (made by burning holy oil), he’s trapped there and apparently can’t use his powers, except to undo his own work, since he was able to undo the reality shift and Balthazar was able to release a soul he’d claimed. If he were to try to step out of the circle, his vessel would be destroyed. If a Molotov cocktail of it were thrown at him, he would be banished, at least temporarily and it’d be very, very painful - he might die, depending on whether Michael’s survival was just because he was special or whether it was an archangel thing. Certain Enochian sigils can also banish him.
One of the only weapons capable of actually killing an archangel is an archangel's blade, but as it happens there aren't very many of those in circulation - as you may have deduced, each archangel owns one, but that’s it. Since he won’t have it when he arrives at Abax, it’s unlikely to be much of a threat.
Er, that's quite a lot of text. So, for quick reference, his main abilities are:
instantaneous teleportation (flight), manipulation of space and time, shapeshifting, super-fast healing, immortality, near-invulnerability, telekinesis and super-strength. Hopefully I didn't leave anything out there. |D
first person sample:
[The video, refreshingly - or not - starts with a long-suffering sigh rather than a demand to know what the hell is going on here. The angle of the image is altered, following this promising beginning, to show a man wearing an ‘I ♥ Abax’ t-shirt, which appears to be a size too big. He does not look impressed.]
Sooo. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, huh? I gotta say, coming round in a morgue? Not the best first impression ever, but I suppose I’ve woken up in worse places. At least I’m not hungover this time.
[There’s a brief pause, which he spends on switching from nonplussed to an expression best described as mild annoyance.]
I’m going on the assumption this isn’t home sweet testing lab, judging by the lack of S&M-themed accessories, but feel free to tell me otherwise - maybe the interns just developed fashion sense, you never know. Or, y’know, just telling me what’s going on in general would do. Consider it your good deed for the day, I guess. Over and out.
[He performs a salute - sub-standard to put it mildly - winks into the camera, making sure to lean in for a close-up (his flair for the hammy never lets him down) and ends the feed in an unnecessary buzz of static.]
third person sample:
Having finished recording the video, Gabriel tossed the phone over into a corner - sure, it’d suck if he broke it, but in his experience with places like this, communicators tended to be pretty much invulnerable. Sighing again, he propped up his feet, ankles crossed, on the headboard of the frankly rather austere bed - it looked like something out of a 1950s hospital or a school dormitory, all metal and springs, but after what had happened with his attempts to make his own clothes, he wasn’t going to risk trying to change it. He lay back, staring at the ceiling. As ceilings went, it wasn’t fascinating. There weren’t even any dubious stains - well, there was one, but that was from where he’d tossed the mouthwash that he’d somehow accidentally created instead of a daiquiri. He wasn’t sure how that had happened, but it was apparently the norm here, which was just absolutely perfect. Almost made him miss the Facility, really - the glaring institutional whiteness of the place’s decor hadn’t been any more interesting, but at least he’d been able to distract himself from that with alcohol. Call it an unhealthy coping mechanism, but it was better than trying to distract himself with mouthwash, which was distracting, yes, but not in quite the way he’d been going for.
Lacking any kind of distraction that he’d actually have appreciated, he couldn’t help passing the time waiting for a response by contemplating how much trouble he was in this time. He tried not to, he really did, but that just made it more difficult, and eventually he had to give in. Besides, the chances that it’d be any worse than either the Facility or his own world had to be quite low. The Facility had been torture - quite literally - and, well, he was dead at home. Or at least, he was fairly certain he was. Plausibly this was the enigmatic and dubiously-existent afterlife for angels, but this felt like a beginning, not an end. And he didn’t mean that in a clichéd, ‘my gut tells me’ way - he meant it as, well, probably as a result of having watched too many movies. They didn’t end with people waking up in hospital and emerging, scantily-clad, into abandoned cities with no real explanation; that would be bizarre, and would have made ‘28 Days Later’ a very different movie. Besides which, he hadn’t recognised either of the people who’d been in the morgue with him, and even if he didn’t really know all of the other angels, he knew their names and their Graces - he’d have recognised them if this really was his afterlife.
That was rather a relief, in fact - not that this wasn’t his afterlife, which would’ve been far more straightforward and marginally less indicative of future torment than having ended up in another of these strange pocket universes, even if this one was significantly less restrictive than the last he’d been to. He wasn’t naïve enough to think that just because the cage was gilded he’d enjoy it - call him a pessimist, but he was expecting, if not the worst, then the very unpleasant. No, the relief was that as far as he could tell, there weren’t any of his siblings here. There was a hint of something like an angel’s Grace, but it wasn’t nearly strong enough to be more than just a suggestion, and strangely tarnished - even Lucifer had resembled an angel more than whatever this was did - curiouser and curiouser; the chances of it being anything from his world, let alone one of his siblings, were minimal at best. He was planning to investigate (from afar, of course), but as far as he could tell, there was no-one here that he was going to automatically give a damn about. And that indifference, as he’d learnt both at the Facility and back home, was generally the key to not dying in numerous and painful ways. So that was one positive, at least. It didn’t really outweigh the negatives - in fact, it was really more of a neutral than a positive, but he’d take what he could get. Besides, sooner or later someone’d be bound to text him, right? He knew he’d picked on the newbies relentlessly - he’d prefer to be trolled than alone. He stopped that train of thought quickly, and rephrased it so that it sounded a little less pathetic - he’d rather be trolled than left wondering whether there was anyone else around.
It didn’t sound much better to him, to be honest. Growling at himself - mentally, not out loud, just in case the stupid thing was recording him - he pushed himself up off the bed, and strolled over to the corner where he’d thrown the phone. He glanced at the screen - no new messages. Of course. He slipped it into his pocket and returned to sit on the bed and sulk.
(I can also link to RP samples from other games if you’d like!)
case no: I don't have any preference.