accidental video;

[expunger]

[Gray. The opening shot is all dim gray and dusky, a boring shot of a concrete wall stained with black ash, before too-bright blue-white light knifes through the picture again, causing horrible screaming static for a brief moment. Everything whirls before the PCD lands, now pointed up at a derelict ceiling. From far off, noise can be heard:

Comments

[painhumbles]

[WHY IS IT ALWAYS THE FUCKING WASTES?

Here's Gabriel. Here is Gabriel yanking a fucking flesh-eating rabbit that jumped him as soon as he tracked her down off his arm. He tosses the dead animal aside and stares at her.

...Okay. It's... Obvious he... Should have stuck with the rabbit.]

Three out of four's not so bad...

[HEY, LITTLE DEAD RABBIT. COME BACK HERE SO GABRIEL DOESN'T HAVE TO MAKE WORDS.]

[checkoutpandora]

I stopped caring. [That's not even true- he never did stop. What he did was stop thinking about it, went so far down off the beaten path, he didn't have to look or think about Heaven anymore. The trick is to disassociate yourself from it.

It's easier when family isn't staring you in the face, though. In other words, he's not sure he has answer for this.]

[expunger]

[No, he didn't. Raphael can sense the lie as soon as it passes his lips, but for once does not feel the need to call attention to it. She is too tired and beaten-down to want to.]

Did you intend on ever seeing us again?

[painhumbles]

Not until something changed.

[So no. Not really.]

It's not like I would've been welcomed back anyway.

[expunger]

[That answers her real question. Anything Gabriel has to say on this matter is suited to her needs: dealing with the reality of never, ever seeing your family again.]

Not easily.

[There's something she has to say. It bursts out of her before she can stop it.]

Michael's absence will make me more unstable. I have no idea why I am telling you this, but that Lucifer wouldn't listen. [And she has nobody else.]

[checkoutpandora]

You'll live. [It might sound callous, but it's the truth. She'll get over it and she'll survive and she'll be better for it. That's all there is to it.]