RETURN

[heavenonthemind]

Who: Survivors of the Port!
Where: Everywhere on the Barge!
What: Naked time. And PTSD.
When: Various times during the day.
Warnings: Potential mentions of gore, character death, and nudity

Comments

TEAM MINIVAN

[painhumbles]

Murphy wouldn't leave, which was bad enough on its own, but did she really have to use her kung-fu on him when it actually hurt? Luckily for the both of them, the fact that she was trying to avoid hitting him in his infected area and some general limb finagling that can't accurately be described.... They managed to both land in the safehouse and get teleported back to the Barge.

....Into the CES.

Rather, a lake in the CES.

Gabriel immediately grabs onto Murphy in case she's disoriented or something and begins swimming upwards, breaking the surface of the water with a gasp. The first thing he notices is the fact that his angel radio is working again, which means DEAR GOD, FRODO, THE ARCHANGEL IS ALIVE.

The second thing he notices is that he's clinging to Murphy.

Who is naked.

On closer examination.... So is he.

...Huh.

TEAM MINIVAN

[notarrowette]

Cissie is completely disoriented by the sudden transport back to the Barge; the only thing more disorienting is that then she's dumped into a large body of water. She swallows about half the lake and flails, making the mistake of instinctively trying to swim with both arms. Landing in water at least makes a better landing than anything else would have, but it's still more pressure on her broken arm than she wants. She makes her way to the surface, sputtering and coughing.

She keeps herself afloat by kicking and shoves her hair out of her eyes, looking around for the others... which is about when she notices that she is naked.

If she could duck all the way underwater without drowning, she totally would.

TEAM MINIVAN

[bythe_books]

Sam, meanwhile, is mildly concussed from the slab of concrete the big ugly bloke had thrown at him. Luckily, the water wakes him up some, and he sputters and flails for a moment, before regaining his senses.

Well.

Sort of. Kind of. His head's spinning and he's sure he's got a knot the size of an egg. The water, at least, fends off the desire to fall down and sleep.

He looks around at the others, his vision spotty for a moment, and he rubs at his eyes. "Are we-- is this..." Looking down now. "Why are we naked? What the hell is going on here?"

[whateverthemess]

Murphy takes a second to wheeze the water out of her lungs, treading water despite the rapidly returning pain in her leg. She stares at Gabriel, torn between confusion and the fact that he's naked and they're in a lake which is not the barge and he is naked and Harry might be stuck back on that crapshack world or a zombie and they're both naked and this sucks.

So, of course, she starts laughing. Because sometimes you hit a certain point and there's nothing else left to do. She just treads water and laughs until the slightly hysterical edge turns into a mostly hysterical whole. "Where the hell are we. Where the hell are we, and where are our clothes.She pushes away from Gabriel and strikes out toward Sam, trying to ignore the fact that they are now naked in the middle of the woods God only knows where. "Relax, Tyler. I don't trust you not to drown yourself right now

[painhumbles]

Gabriel tries not to let his but why is the naked Murphy gone expression show too much, mostly because he's started laughing himself, albeit for different reasons. He vanishes in a flash and reappears on a dock some forty yards away, now clothed in swimming trunks (the rest of the team can appreciate their good fortune that they have bathing suits, although only Cissie will find hers unoffensive to life). He spins around on his heels and lets out a whoop. "Daddy's home!" He shouts victoriously.

And then proceeds to cannonball his way back into the water, appearing by the rest of the team. Since Murphy is occupied with Sam, he grabs Cissie gives her an excitable hug (careful of her injured arm), forgetting for a moment that he's not the hugging type.

"I'm back. I'm back. I never thought I'd be so happy to see this beautiful clunker again," he continues, letting go of Cissie and floating a little on his back. "Guys, I gotta tell you... That is the last time I ask for a vacation, but we did it. We friggin' did it." He barks another

[notarrowette]

Cissie is so grateful for the bathing suit, Gabriel. It's not until he is back in the water and hugging her that she realizes what it all means, but as soon as she does, she's laughing with him and hugging him back as best she can. The glee, it is contagious. She's still concerned over Sam and Murphy's injuries and of course Harry, but they're alive and back on the Barge and Gabriel's an angel again. She beams at them and is really just too happy to do much besides giggle at Gabriel. "I think I'm going to sleep for a week."

[bythe_books]

Sam, meanwhile, is just sort of semi-consciously lolling around on Murphy. He did fight it at first, with a brief and valiant struggle and a lot of "Oi!"s and "Hang on!"s, but eventually he realized that she was doing what he would've done in the situation. His eyes flutter closed for a moment, then he forces them open again and throws a dazed look around at the others.

They're all in swimsuits now. He's in a swimsuit now.

"This is a... weird thing to hallucinate," he murmurs, his head falling back again. Gabriel's words only serve to further confuse him. "What-- what're you on about? We're in a lake, not the Barge. God... That big... tank of a bloke must've gotten your head, too."

The concussion totally dulled his detective skills.

[whateverthemess]

Murphy gives up on kicking when Gabriel's having his little moment of self-congratulation, the dull exhaustion of surprise sinking in as she floats with Sam half on top of her.

"...You're shitting me." And then she starts laughing again, though this time with a lot less mania and a lot more sincerity. She'll notice what she's wearing in a minute. Right now, though, she's just hugging Sam around the chest and crowing, "Don't you fall asleep, you crazy bastard!"

She strikes out for the shore with fresh energy, the adrenaline-accompanied surge of glee a welcome change to the constant state of tension she's been in for the past four days. She knows she's going to crash and crash hard soon enough, but for now--for this brief, brief moment before she remembers all the things that are still wrong and all the possible emergencies left to deal with--she's riding the crest of success.

[painhumbles]

Gabriel halts any attempt Murphy might have to reach the shore by poofing in between her and Sam and squeezing Sam's face in his hands. "Saaaaam. You're not in a coma, bucko. You're right back on the USS Shithole and what a shithole it is." He releases Sam's face and grabs Cissie by her good arm and drags her over. "Kiddo, you're a star. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

"Murphy." He salutes her. "It was a privilege and an honor serving under you, although I'd really like to try that in a less life or death situation next time, you know what I mean?" He waggles his eyebrows at her and then winks.

[notarrowette]

Cissie lets out a surprised squeak when Gabriel hauls her over by the arm and decides that trying to tread water is hard enough with one good arm without being dragged all over. So congrats, Gabe, you've got yourself a passenger. Cissie drapes her good arm over his shoulders because even as happy as she is, she's tired. But she can't stop smiling. Her face is going to start hurting.

She's giggling, but manages, "Maaaaybe we should get him out of the water and up to the infirmary."

[whateverthemess]

Murphy just lets herself float, looking up at the CES's artificial blue sky. Her euphoria is ebbing just a bit--she still has to take care of them, see that Sam gets medical attention.

See if Harry's in the infirmary or his room or if she has to change her deal to get him back.

"Mojo-man. Shore." She's definitely sounding more level, at least. The breeze is still incredibly chilly, which makes her wonder what exactly Gabriel snapped her into. She feels spandex, feels straps. At least there's something there. "Or you will be very under me. And we'll see how long it takes to drown an angel."

[painhumbles]

Gabriel rolls his eyes, still grinning like a madman. "You're the boss," he says, before snapping. How he can snap properly when his fingers are wet is a mystery. He just can.

Once everyone's on the shore, he stretches his arms over his head and checks out his bite mark, which is already starting to heal. Satisfied with that, he turns to meet Murphy's serious face with one of utter sulk. "C'mon. Can't we just revel in the moment a little? We got out alive. Dresden's probably holed up in the infirmary, wondering what took us so long. ...And Sam's.... Well, Sam. I'm sure he'll stand up to a concussion. Won'tcha, big guy?" He pats Sam on the back.

[bythe_books]

The hug jolts him awake, and at Gabriel's reassurance, he can't help but laugh a little, grinning. It actually comes across as somewhat unhinged, but come on, Sam's not all here at the best of times.

"God, I never thought I'd be happy to see this place again. Or." He looks around the CES. "Y'know. The place outside of this impossible bubble of-- of--" He waves a hand. WHATEVER. When Cissie mentions the infirmary, he points at her. "This girl-- she-- she's got the best idea. Listen to her."

Once they reach the shore, Sam gets on his feet, staggering a little. "Don't see why not. Stood up to a coma, after all," he mutters.