Does it trouble your mind the way you trouble mine? [closed]

[peacefulexplorer]

Navigating his way to Seth's building without assistance makes Daniel prouder than he has any right to be, but it's just nice to know he's able to adapt and learn his way around. It gives him a sense of accomplishment to contrast with the drifting downward trajectory it feels like his life's taken as of late.

The optimism lasts about as long as it takes for Daniel to find the apartment door. Then he briefly loses his nerve and has to take a minute (or two, or three, certainly no more than four and no, he has absolutely not been counting) to collect all his thoughts into one place and automatically begin assembling a preamble before scrapping the idea almost immediately.

He is not going to start with a formal introduction. That would be ridiculous.

And he's not nervous. Just a shade agitated, maybe. Well within reason. It's just the issue of he and Seth spending a disproportionate amount of time walking around in each others' heads, something that definitely warrants a conversation of some sort. Possibly involving alcohol, and Daniel isn't typically one to make that suggestion lightly.

He's done hesitating. Daniel takes a quick breath and knocks before he can change his mind.

Comments

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel has been aware of a fourth person in the apartment building since they arrived the day before, and he's very interested in who it could be. He doesn't know Seth to have many visitors, much less overnight ones. It's almost his duty, he thinks, to go and say hello to the new person and check up on Seth.

Seth had said he'd like Gabriel to bring him breakfast.

When he gets downstairs, Gabriel is fairly sure that both Seth and Guest are still asleep, so he doesn't bother with knocking. Instead, he opens the door and walks in, materializing plates of waffles as he goes. The guest in question looks a bit ridiculous trying to fit on Seth's couch. Gabriel isn't sure what he was expecting in Seth's new companion, but 'tall muscular guy' was probably not at the top of the list. Both him and Seth are still clothed and not very cuddly, so he doubts that there's anything sexual here (at least at the moment), but he'd be surprised if there was given how prickly Seth was about his possible bisexuality the last time they talked about it.

As the pair begin to wake, Gabriel starts talking. "Morning. I brought food. Well, I'm sort of still bringing it." This, he illustrates by placing another plate of waffles onto the table, followed by three steaming cups of coffee. "Hey, Chippendale," he says, addressing the newcomer, "you like waffles?"

[peacefulexplorer]

It always takes Daniel a good twenty minutes to thirty minutes to become cognizant in the mornings, longer if he has no ready access to coffee. He needs to devote most of his brainpower into registering the tonal presence of another person, and then sitting up and then - realizing that the person who's been talking isn't actually Seth.

"Nnnnh," Daniel manages by way of a startled grunt, reflexes kicking in at the same time the leftover Ascended senses go off in every back part of his skull. There is something seriously different here about this - person, whoever he is, but at the moment his scrambled brain can't place what. He sits bolt upright, masterfully avoids getting tangled in the blanket that he definitely doesn't remember being there before, and tries to process everything at once. Semi-successfully.

This time he forms words. Well. One word.

"What," says Daniel.

[powerdealer]

Seth jerks awake at the sound of Gabe walking in, though it takes several moments before he really becomes aware of what's going on. Oh, it's just Gabe making breakfast, that's alright then. Give him a moment, he can deal with that. Breakfast sounds great, actually, he thinks as he pushes himself up, running his hands down his face and groaning a little.

...Chippendale?

Oh. Daniel's still here, right. It's probably a good thing he's not quite conscious enough to connect that nickname with a mental image, because he'd have trouble forming words then. Well, he already does, really. He also has trouble remembering exactly when he moved from the couch to the bed, and having apparently given Daniel a blanket.

"Hi," he says finally, slowly reaching the point where he can form words or maybe even sentences. He hopes Daniel isn't too freaked out by his neighbour randomly waltzing in, though at the moment it seems like he might be.

[has_a_horn]

"Do you like Waffles," he repeats to Seth's guest, this time slower and with more enunciation. "I could whip up some eggs and bacon if that doesn't hit the spot. Here, I'll just-" The table is definitely set up. There's coffee, waffles with a selection of syrups, and a separate plate each for both Seth and his guest that has eggs, bacon and hash-browns. "There's coffee, too."

He picks up his own cup of coffee and takes a sip before addressing Seth, an eyebrow raised in amusement. "Late night?"

hover text :D

[peacefulexplorer]

Daniel's instincts for self-preservation might be nigh nonexistent but his analytical intuitions are, as always, the first thing to load on his presets. The unexpected someone has set everything on alert including, most distractingly, Daniel's usually latent post-Ascension faculties.

And then he just casually - shifts reality, perfectly cheerful about it, seemingly unhostile. But there's also the vaguely charged air surrounding him, the same sort of heavy jangling presence that Daniel once picked up on the man that he would eventually learn (he realizes with no small amount of distress) was the real, honest-to-literal-god Lucifer. And while Seth seems to be perfectly at ease with this man, Daniel is - not. There are too many similarities here, too much that goes in chilling parallel with what Daniel picked up off the Devil. The actual real Devil.

He tenses, on sharp alert for once, and does the first thing he can think of, which is throw up - as silly as it sounds - a linguistic defense.

"אתה כוכב הבוקר הֵילֵל?," he asks slowly, shoulders taut.

[powerdealer]

"Yeah, a bit," he answers, getting to his feet and shambling over towards the kitchen. At least he doesn't need to get dressed, though he runs a hand through his hair a couple times to smooth out whatever bedhair he might have.

He's about to make introductions, put Daniel at ease about the man just randomly waltzing in his apartment, and maybe berate Gabe about magicking in food in front of a guest before even catching his name or whether or not he knows what the Rift is. Seth could've brought in a regular, non-Rift person, it is theoretically possible, and it would've been more than a little awkward trying to explain.

But all of this has to be put on hold for a moment, because Daniel looks very distressed, and then he starts talking in... You know what, Seth doesn't even know what that's supposed to be. He just stops midway through the room, looking at them in confusion.

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel's gaze slides away from Seth just about when the other guy asks if he's Lucifer, though why he does it in Hebrew he has no idea. Whatever the reason, the guy definitely looks tense, now that he's had time to wake up and take in his surroundings.

He just takes another sip of his coffee, then shakes his head. "Nah. And if I was, I wouldn't be able to get in with that ward on the door." He looks a little closer at Mr. Chippendale, feeling him out with his mind. There's definitely something a little extra there. Something not quite human, but Gabriel wouldn't be able to say if it's a rift power or something that was there to begin with. He's definitely a riftie. There's no missing that particular signature.

He leans forward, offering his hand for a shake. "The name's Gabriel. And before you ask, yes, the archangel and no, I don't plan on doing any smiting any time soon. I take it you met my brother?" That would explain the question, but if that's true it's surprising that he's still alive.

[peacefulexplorer]

It takes Daniel a few vowel sounds before he can articulate again.

Well, that opens up a fresh myriad of emotions, the most dominant being relief - he's had enough of literal Devils to last him a good long while. And here comes the secondary onset of confusion.

"Sorry, I just." Just what? Daniel knows how exceptionally foolish the idea of warding away the Devil with nothing more than a rough line of Hebrew must have sounded but he'd had zero ideas. "Yeah. He, uh. He didn't like me much."

The oblique mention of Lucifer provokes an involuntary shiver but he can see the way Seth is staring at him, in that confusion just barely bordering on horror that Daniel might do something tremendously stupid, so he forces himself to try and disregard the weird tingle in the air and stop looking like he's expecting to be struck with Egyptian Plagues two through six. He's met Ra for gods' sake; if he can adjust to the "gods are real" theorem then it's just a matter of extending the logic to angels. If one can call that logic.

"Daniel," he says faintly, accepting the hand, and the skin contact just makes the odd sensation more pronounced. He does his best to ignore it. Seth doesn't seem at all perturbed by the literal archangel Gabriel, he is going to have to take a minute to get used to that one sitting in his apartment, apparently bearing breakfast. Daniel's going to have assume this is a normal thing. But hey, now Seth's ambiguous references to a "celestial friend" make a lot more sense. "Uh. Sorry."

[powerdealer]

Seth is very relieved when that immediately deescalates, because he is not up to playing mediator this early, barely after he's even opened his eyes. He starts to put the pieces together once Gabe answers (in English, thank God - perhaps literally) and mentions the ward and everything. Well, at least he doesn't need to do those introductions after all, and they both have the sense to be friendly once that's been cleared up.

He realises slowly that this must be one of his Ascended things again, managing to notice so quickly that Gabe isn't human. And it maybe would've been nice if Gabriel had given notice of his arrival, so Seth could've given Daniel proper warning, but, oh well. As long as they're fine now. To be honest, Gabe and Daniel meeting makes him a little nervous for reasons he can't quite identify, but he's going to go ahead and push those feelings down.

"Gabe lives upstairs," he fills in, and he's just going to go ahead and sit down, because the smell is starting to really distract him. "Daniel came through not long ago. Lucy sent him my way, uh, a week ago." And yes, Daniel already knows where he lives and has spent the night here - it's been an intense week.

And then he's going to have to take a minute to bask in the delicious taste of coffee, and he makes an appreciative mmm sound as he takes a long sip that's just a little too hot, but wonderfully so. He knows caffeine can't possibly work that quickly, but he already feels a bit more awake.

[has_a_horn]

"Literal upstairs. This isn't a 'talk to the man upstairs' situation." He smiles and sits down at the opposite corner from Seth, then pushes a chair out with his foot for Daniel. He wants to be able to look at both of them at the same time, and making them sit next to each other solves that problem nicely.

He stumbles for a second on why Lucy would want to send Daniel to Seth, but it's probably power related. Daniel definitely has something up his sleeve. "Did the rift give you any interesting new skills?"

[peacefulexplorer]

Daniel stumbles a little on his way to the chair but gets himself sitting down with minimal damage to his person; a notable feat, seeing as he couldn't stop staring the entire time. Distantly, absurdly, he registers that this is actually pretty rude and quickly transfers his stare to Seth, who still doesn't seem all that surprised by the presence of a heavenly soldier in his apartment. Then to the table. Then back to - the archangel Gabriel.

"I can make paperclips," he says numbly. Then he realizes that that is the most inane possible way to put it. "Um. Office supplies. It's, uh. Not very interesting."

One day he'll remember how to string together sentences that are comprised of more than five words. The ability to form words soon rushes back in full force, along with Daniel's typical fascination with new things.

"You're really him." He still sounds stunned but also faintly pleased, because he's met about every god on the pantheon but he's probably the first from his universe to make first contact with an angel. There's no way the Ancients count. "That's, that's incredible. I'm sorry, just. Wow."

[powerdealer]

Seth's not very surprised or confused by Gabe's presence, no, but he is rather amused at Daniel's reaction to it. Poor guy, he hasn't even had his coffee yet.

"Was this the kind of impressed you were hoping for?" he asks Gabe with a smile, gesturing to Daniel with a nod as he starts in on the hash browns. This morning is already shaping up to be quite a nice one, little Lucifer-related hiccup aside, with friends and good food.

[has_a_horn]

"See, you couldn't give me a little a' that? This is perfect." He grins at Daniel, taking in the spectacle. "Don't tell him who else I was. I wanna save that for later so I get it twice over." That, and who knows if the reaction he'll get to 'Loki' is the same reaction he's getting to 'Gabriel'. Sometimes being Loki can be more interesting, but less comforting for people, and he'd like Daniel to relax long enough to actually eat something.

He pulls his plate of waffles over and starts covering them in strawberry syrup. "Yes, I'm really me," he finally answers Daniel, "And I'd be happy to answer any angelic questions. What are you, an academic? Don't get many people flinging Hebrew at me these days."

[peacefulexplorer]

"Archaeologist. Er, linguist. Both." He's stopped outright ogling at least, and is now watching him curiously with his head to one side. Wow, this is different. In Daniel's experience, most claims of divinity are followed by interplanetary conflict, ethical degradation, and lots and lots of really big guns. This guy seems, in stunning contrast, well. There's not really another word for it. He seems nice.

The static of whatever weird aura there is surrounding him makes more sense and the "angel" thing implies a much greater age that belies the physical appearance but all the same...wow. Archangel Gabriel. The archangel Gabriel.

"Sorry." Yet another apology, this one accompanied by a faint, fascinated, sheepish smile. "I'm just, I'm, I'm used to meeting gods but they're never really gods, they're just, just empty claims. I've, well. Never really had a brush with the literal." Godlike beings maybe, but there would have to be more interference on the lower planes for the higher-plane races to make that sort of claim. This is - different. An angel, taking the shape of someone flesh-and-blood. That's what Daniel assumes, anyhow. No spectral manifestation could interact with the physical world like Gabriel - he is still not used to thinking that - does with apparent ease.

[powerdealer]

Seth smiles and shakes his head with amusement, focusing on his food while Daniel gets his fanboying on. Oh, Hebrew, yes, that makes sense. And he finds he wouldn't mind being there when Daniel finds out about the Loki thing, because Gabe's right, it is pretty amusing. Seth is just... going to not-so-subtly move the cup of coffee intended for Daniel a bit closer to him, so he can start getting his caffeine fix, since he seems far too distracted to think about such things right now.

"How's your head?" he asks Daniel when there's a pause in the nerding. He's managed to avoid getting a hangover himself, the only thing wrong with his head just caused by recently waking up. But with Daniel's lower tolerance, he might have a bit of it that he hasn't gotten around to acknowledging yet.

[has_a_horn]

"Angel. Not a God. Well-" He cocks his head to the side for a moment. There was the whole Loki thing, but maybe it's better to think of that as an angel masquerading as a god rather than an angel becoming a god for a short amount of time. "Yeah, not a God."

He watches with amusement as Seth scoots the cup of coffee closer to Daniel, who still seems to be having trouble with the whole idea of breakfast as a whole in the face of meeting an archangel. It's kind of interesting, actually, how concerned Seth seems to be about Daniel. If he didn't know any better, he'd think Seth has a crush.

"I could help with that, if you want." He wiggles the fingers of his left hand, then stuffs some waffle into his mouth with the other. His mouth still full, he adds, "healing powers."

[peacefulexplorer]

Daniel finally registers the presence of coffee thanks to Seth's nudging, and he picks it up to sip in a fluid, habitual motion. It is - good. He can't tell if this is due to having just woken up or whether angelically manifested coffee has its own unique properties or -

And Seth asked him a question. Right.

"Um, doing okay." Honestly, he hadn't been paying much attention to his own biology due to the abrupt presence of an archangel in the immediate vicinity because that is incredible. Upon pause and careful consideration, he determines little more than a dull ache that can probably be attributed to an until recent lack of caffeine. Seth's anti-hangover water tactics have served their purpose well, he supposes. "Pretty good, considering."

Considering the amount of caffeinated alcohol he probably shouldn't have consumed last night? Seth was probably even worse off; Daniel has a dim recollection of someone falling asleep on top of him, as it were, though that might have a little more to do with the dream.

Oh god. The dream. He is going to - not think about that. Besides, he has the benefit of an entirely much more interesting distraction in the form of a very tangible celestial being that's apparently serving him breakfast. He leans forward, brow furrowed with eager, analytical intent.

"Okay, so healing powers," he ticks off with one finger. Now that he's been given the window, the intellectual floodgates have been opened. "And then this," he makes a spiraling gesture with his free hand to indicate the breakfast-laden table, " which is, I'm guessing, object manifestation? Or, or is it more of a transmutation? Not illusory, is it? And you're, you're obviously not a spectral manifestation, you wouldn't be able to interact on a physical plane otherwise."

[powerdealer]

Seth having a crush on Daniel? Ridiculous. Inconceivable.

"See why Gabe's a useful friend to have?" Seth comments with a smile in response to the offer of healing powers. Though Seth may have been keeping an eye on him lately to make sure he doesn't go expending all his angelic mojo and stopping himself from healing, but based on how he just flaunted this breakfast, he's going to assume things are mostly back to normal. And he nods in satisfaction at Daniel's lack of hangover.

He's just going to let Daniel do his thing. Seth's completely forgotten about the dream for the present moment, which perhaps isn't surprising given the wealth of distractions. Though it mostly involves listening to Daniel ramble, and eating. Both of those are things he enjoys doing however, so why not. And he's glad Gabe seems okay with indulging Daniel's curiosity, and that Daniel wasn't put off by Gabe waltzing in unannounced and -- handing out nicknames.

Seth chokes a little bit on his coffee, seemingly unrelated to what Daniel is talking about. The nickname Gabriel had given Daniel had finally connected in his mind, giving Seth an actual mental image.

"Sorry, go on," he mutters, staring at his eggs while he tries to ignore the sensation of his ears turning just a little hotter.

[has_a_horn]

"Object manifestation, yes." He's actually quite pleased about that one. His original powers have been coming back ever since he finished recovering. Just the other night he discovered that he can actually make things again, and he had no idea how much he missed it. "Don't be so certain about the illusion thing, though. It could be an illusion and you might still think it's real. You'd eat your entire breakfast then wonder why you were still hungry after. I could be sitting upstairs right now. It's just a few extra nudges to your brain to make you think I'm moving around things that aren't really moving."

He cuts off when Seth coughs, then continues to watch as- is he blushing? He can't immediately tie a reason to it, but he's thinking that this whole 'crush' idea might have a little more weight than it did a few moments ago.

"...but I'm not. I'm definitely here. And the food." That would be a hint to actually eat something, Daniel. It'd be a shame if it went to waste.

The blushing definitely is a thing that he needs to explore further, but there's not much point in just asking Seth about it. If there was something, he'd just lie. He has a better idea. "You need to tell me though," he asks Daniel, "is it true that linguists are better with their tongues?"

[peacefulexplorer]

He'd like to think he could tell if any of this were actually illusory, but Daniel's honestly not sure. His experience with dreams and having difficulty picking the reality out of them suggests a probable 'no' in that regard, post-Ascension perks - if one can call them that - notwithstanding.

Assured of the food's reality and able to finally take a hint, Daniel draws the plate nearest to him and starts eating, finding the quality to be in line with that of the much-appreciated coffee.

He chews thoughtfully while Gabriel launches his next question.

"Wish that were the case," he admits with a shake of his head, "but my diphthongs are really kind of lacking. Hence why my German and Mandarin are much, much rougher than I would like. But expanding one's area of study means more variation, less individualized aptitude, so." He shrugs, and resumes eating. The pitfalls of over-extending himself into twenty-three languages.

[powerdealer]

Seth is actually doing a pretty good job at banishing that mental image from his mind and actually focusing on the conversation, even if appears to be a lot more attentive to his food just at the moment, because he definitely notices Gabe looking at him, and eye contact just now is going to make everything worse, he is sure of it. He's just going to keep looking at his breakfast for a while.

And then of course he goes ahead and says that. If one weren't paying attention, it might seem like Seth didn't even notice, because he is doing a pretty good job at containing himself at the moment, but he does go very still for a few moments. Daniel doesn't even seem to notice, which is probably for the best. He's not used to Gabe's rather impressive skill at making anything sound dirty. And that one was pretty obvious. Or is it just a coincidence and he's thinking too much? Or is Gabe just messing with him, but without thinking anything is really behind it, just being dirty for his own amusement? The latter seems more likely.

Seth is just going to stubbornly pretend like everything's normal and change the subject, clearing his throat a bit and finally looking up, though avoiding Gabe's eye. "By the way, if you hadn't guessed by now, the giant illusion Godzilla was Gabe's doing," he points out to Daniel, managing to sound decently casual.

[has_a_horn]

Well, that's definitely had an effect on Seth, though disappointingly, not as much of an effect on Daniel, who seems the type to easily miss incredibly obvious innuendo. Maybe he just wasn't expecting a come on from an archangel.

He's never seen Seth's ears so red. He's surprised that Daniel hasn't noticed the blush, but he seems to be more interested in his breakfast at the moment. Maybe that's for the best. It'l give him more time to see if he can suss out Seth's feelings a little more.

He's about to clarify what he meant with the tongue comment when Seth cuts in. "Oh come onnn, do we have to keep bringing up the Godzilla thing? You had an amazing time." He turns to Daniel, and leans back in his chair, holding out a hand as if setting the scene. "You should have seen him. On top of a roof battling the great snarling beast, his chest oiled and glistening as he shot arrow after arrow. He avenged my death. It was very sweet."

[peacefulexplorer]

"Wait, that was you?" By now he's heard very limited versions of the account from multiple parties but has been sorely lacking on any kind of details extending beyond "there was a Godzilla".

The admission speedily informs him that, first of all, the archangel Gabriel's powers for illusion, possibly object manifestation, are astronomical. That large a construct with that wide a radius of effect with that convincing a reality is an incredible feat, and he's regarding it more or less as just another fun Friday night. Secondly, it alerts Daniel to the startling fact that the archangel Gabriel has a very active sense of humor.

"You...made Godzilla?" He doesn't know whether to laugh or be confused or astounded and he's pretty sure his face settles on a bizarre mix of all three. "Like a complete, city-wide illusion? That's incredible. I mean -" He shoots Seth a glance, but he doesn't seem very impressed. Maybe regular exposure to this sort of thing normalizes it for him, but for Daniel it's all very, very new and equally exciting. "- uh. Just...because?"

[powerdealer]

Gabe might've finally gotten to hear Seth admit that he did have a pretty good time with Godzilla, or at least in the way that it's made a great story, and it's easier to laugh when looking back at it. But then Gabe continues with that description of Seth, and he can't help but shoot his friend a very pointed Look. A 'why are you doing this?' look, mixed with astonishment at just how ridiculous Gabe can be. It sounds like something you'd imagine being in of those cheesy romance novels you see at the supermarket.

He might've started worrying that Gabe was actually flirting with Daniel just out of legitimate interest - a thought which surprisingly makes Seth feel a little queasy in a way he doesn't think has anything to do with last night's drinking - but no, he is definitely messing with Seth. Has Daniel yet realised this was the Gabe who Peter and him were talking about offering threesomes?

And he'd correct Gabe in his description of the scene, except Daniel seems to have breezed right by it and just gotten stuck on the 'Godzilla' bit. Thankfully. ...Probably. It does kind of tell him that Daniel takes very little interest in or notice of Seth, uh, 'glistening'. However, that description is probably going to stick with Seth a while and just embarrass him on regular occasions, he's sure, even if none of the other present parties seem even slightly bothered by it.