bigapplesauce | the cure for what ails ya [open]

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Current Music: October 2nd

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the cure for what ails ya [open]

(slight sickness related grossness in the following)

He wakes up sore, and not in a fun way. He groans, and every muscle in his body protests as he swings his legs around the edge of the bed and sits up. What the hell is this? He stomach feels wrong and his head is pounding like he's got the worst hangover imaginable. Actually, worse than imaginable because when he attempts to heal himself, nothing happens.

There's something on his face- he lifts a hand and "Ughh-" that's definitely snot on his face. There is snot where it definitely should not be. At least when he goes to wipe it away, it disappears.

Whatever this is, he clearly needs help. A moment later, he arrives lying face down on Johnny's bed.

He groans. "Johnny, I've been cursed. Probly the rift. You need to-" He waves a hand vaguely then coughs, and for a moment he feels like he might just keep coughing forever, but it passes. "-call Aziraphale. He needs to come'n do something." He's ill. Surely this is what it feels like to be deathly ill, and if Aziraphale can't heal him, maybe he can reverse whatever curse the rift or whoever has put on him.

(He'll be with Johnny for a while, but later he'll be up at his place again, likely flopped in bed. Anyone is free to visit then)

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After the disaster of that memorably atypical morning, she has made it her personal business to stay inside. She cannot expect Johnny to hold her hand every time she leaves the building, particularly since she has not seen much of him since the day of her arrival, with the exception of passing one another in the halls and exchanging the odd polite nod or hello. She is having too much difficulty realigning herself, she thinks. Once her mind is hers as she knows it, she may remember what it is to be part of the world again. The Drift is strange.

All the same, she finds herself tentatively approaching the door of her archangel landlord and knocking twice with trepidation. She has a vague idea of what she would like to ask, regarding the nature of the building and the surrounding area, but finds herself immediately wishing she had not bothered.

The knock wakes him up and Gabriel takes a moment to reorient himself. Mako is at the door. He doesn't know what she wants, but he knows that he's not in any shape to go greet her.

"Johnny," he says, loud enough to get him to come back to the bedroom if he's in the apartment. But he doesn't. He waits another moment. The door doesn't open and Johnny definitely isn't back yet. Why isn't Johnny back yet? It seems like he's been gone for hours. He groans and pushes himself up from the bed, steps over Aziraphale (and Scout sleeping on Aziraphale's back) then stumbles over to the door frame.

The front door is all the way at the other end of the apartment. It might as well be millions of miles away. With a wave of his hand, he lets the door unlock and swing open. Next, he considers the distance to the couch before slowly sliding to sit on the floor instead.

He groans. "Do you know where Johnny is?"

Edited 2015-09-07 05:04 (UTC)

She does not know Gabe very well, nor has she known him for very long, but the short stretch of time before she gets any response does not seem to be what she would call characteristic for him. The door opens with a click and swings to accommodate her, apparently on its own, in what must count for some implicit invitation by archangel standards. She tentatively enters.

And Gabe is on the floor.

Aziraphale is on the floor.

And a dog is asleep on Aziraphale's back.

Mako doesn't really know where to begin.

"I thought he was out?" she says, head to one side. Having answered his question and run out of sufficient distractions from the haphazard state of Gabe's floor, Mako hurries on, brow furrowed. "Why is Aziraphale on your floor?"

He looks over his shoulder when she mentions Aziraphale. "Oh he's-" He waves a hand haphazardly, then immediately regrets the motion. He sets the hand down and rests his head back against the door frame to look up at Mako. "He's sleeping. He's okay." He takes a deep breath, then lets it out slowly.

"Johnny left." He pouts, and his brow furrows. He's so tired, why is that happening? "The rift cursed me and then he left and he was supposed to come back but he's still gone." This is terrible. What if Johnny decided to make him go through this on his own? Or worse, what if Johnny got into trouble and he needs him? If he can't heal Aziraphale right now, could he heal Johnny if he needed it?

His frown deepens. Maybe he should test it out on a human. He reaches out to Mako. "Here lemme try ta heal you. In case." He doesn't think to explain what he means.

"The Rift cursed you?" She edges forward cautiously. He certainly seems less energetic compared to their first meeting; paler, clammy, moving as if every action is a massive, insurmountable effort.

"Heal me of what?" She starts edging back, one hand raised as if to ward him off. "I'm not sick."

But Gabe is, it strikes her. He is sick, exhibiting all the symptoms typical of the common flu.

"Are you?" Her tone falls somewhere between disbelief and concern. She does not have the most refined grasp on the concept of angels, but it was her general understanding that they do not inexplicably fall ill.

"No shit, Sherlock. What tipped you off." He huffs out an exasperated sigh that turns into a hacking cough. By the time it subsides, he feels like he might cry.

"Go find Johnny." He abandons leaning against the door frame in favor of lying back of the floor. Lying down is better. Not much better, but better. The only thing is, lying here is uncomfortable. He thinks fondly of his bed, but disregards the idea of moving immediately. Not possible. "But bring me a pillow first. Pillow. Then Johnny."

She sinks slowly into a crouch opposite him, eyeing him carefully. It makes sense that someone as powerful as him would be unused to mortal inconveniences like the flu, and would not be the most adept at handling it. She would not go so far as to call it a curse, but maybe for someone like him, who has probably dealt in actual curses, it may as well be.

"Do you want help getting up?" she offers. While Aziraphale may be comfortable enough on the floor, he is also asleep. "Your bed is not that far away."

Gabriel groans. The thought of moving again so soon is almost unbearable. "No. That's too far." He coughs once, and turns his head away from Mako in case he has to cough more. How can she not understand how he feels right now? Hasn't she been sick before?

He pouts and attempts to rest his head on one of his arms. "I just want Johnny and a pillow. If you can't give me either of those go away."

"I can call Johnny," she says as she rises and retrieves one of the pillows from his bed. "But I don't know where he is. I just thought he went out." She heard him leaving the building earlier and had not thought to question something so routine, but it must have been in search of some in-home remedies.

She hands it to him and bites the inside of her cheek to hold back a smile. Distantly amusing as Gabe's plight might be, he clearly is in a lot of discomfort, and she doubts her landlord would take kindly to her laughing at him.

She digs her phone from her pocket and scrolls through the woefully short list of contacts. "Do you have anything like tea or soup?" Even once she knows when Johnny might be back, she does not feel fully comfortable just leaving while Gabe is so openly miserable.

Gabriel takes the pillow and settles it under his head, finally. He's still uncomfortable in so many ways. It's probably impossible for him to actually be comfortable right now, but at least he has a pillow. He takes a breath and closes his eyes. Mako will call Johnny, that's good.

The next question confuses him, and it takes him a moment to process before he answers. "Tea. Cabinet." He doesn't bother gesturing to the kitchen. She can figure out which one if she wants tea. The request for soup is even stranger. "Who eats soup?"

Edited 2015-09-07 08:15 (UTC)

"It helps to drink some if you're sick," she explains as she rummages through the kitchen cupboards. It's possible he does not actually need to eat, so tea might be the better choice. The least she can do is test the sorts of remedies she would try in his position and hope one of them sticks.

Most everything in the cabinet seems to be caffeinated, which is not heavily conducive to clearing one's sinuses, but further investigation uncovers honey and lemon juice. That will have to be sufficient.

She hits the call button and waits for the water to heat.

Edited 2015-09-07 17:27 (UTC)

Daniel's departure obviously wasn't intentional, but there's nothing much Johnny can do about it, and he won't pretend it doesn't make his life a little bit easier. He sighs and picks up the pace a bit to get to Gabe's building, letting himself in and heading up the stairs. His phone starts buzzing in his pocket - probably Gabe wondering where the heck he is - so he shifts his groceries to one hand and digs it out.

It's Mako, oddly enough. He glances toward her apartment as he gets up to their floor, but she probably wouldn't be calling him if she were in. He keeps moving up to Gabe's, answering the call and lifting the phone to his ear.

"Hey," he says, reaching Gabe's door and shouldering it open. "What's-"

Oh. Mako's... here. Probably calling him at Gabe's behest.

And Gabe is on the floor now.

Excellent.

"I was gone for like twenty minutes, tops," he says, immediately shutting off the phone and sliding it back into his pocket. He sets his bags down on the coffee table and moves over to Gabe. Either Mako just happened to come up at the wrong moment or Gabe was desperate enough to call for her help - either way, poor Mako - but he'll see to her in a second. "Come on, you big baby, get up."

Gabriel opens his eyes when he hears Johnny's voice, and it's a relief when he comes close enough to sense him again.

"Johnny, you were gone for hours." Reluctantly, he lets Johnny help him up and, after a moment to steady himself, he nods toward the couch. If things are going to be happening out here, he doesn't want to be stuck in the bedroom by himself. "I was worried you got hurt and Mako wouldn't let me see if I can still heal humans." He pauses halfway to the couch and leans heavily against Johnny. "Then she wanted me to eat soup."

"Oh my god," says Johnny, halfway between exasperation and amusement, as he aims to steer Gabe into the bedroom. He stalls out both at Gabe's silent request for the couch, and at the sight of the other presence on the floor by the bed.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," he says. "I see Aziraphale was super helpful."

Scout lifts his head, his tail wagging gently like he wants to come over and greet Johnny, but ultimately he seems unwilling to forsake his apparently very comfortable spot on the unconscious angel's back.

"Jesus, can't let you outta my sight for a minute," he says lightly, helping Gabe to the couch, setting him up with a pillow and a blanket. "I'm fine, see? Just went to get some stuff for you, like I said. Mako's right about the soup. That's why I got some." He reaches into his bag and pulls out a can of chicken noodle, waggling it at him. "Look, whatever this is, I think it's safe to assume it's just folks like you and the argyle avenger in there who are being affected. That means you're gonna have to take the advice of us lowly humans today. We know how to deal with the flu, all right? Just sit tight, let us help you."

He turns away, giving Mako a look as he heads into the kitchen. "Thank god you're here," he mutters. "Sorry about all this. I mean, I could... probably use an extra pair of hands, if..." He shrugs. This is not exactly prime hang-out material, but she's here, and she's already heating water. That's a good sign, right?

He lays out his purchases on the counter: soup, cayenne, ginger root, and NyQuil. "Last resort," he says softly, pointing to the latter. "What're you making?"

She's intensely relieved when Johnny answers, and even more so when he enters not a minute after and confirms what she's been speculating; symptoms as inconvenient as a sore throat and a fever levered upon beings unaccustomed to coping with such things would take them off guard. Whatever concern she had been steadily nursing dissolves upon contact with Johnny's good-natured levity. Clearly he has been dealing with this sort of occurrence - and Gabe - for much longer than she has.

She bites her lip and turns to the kitchen counter in an attempt to stifle her amusement.

"I was going to make tea," she says, surveying Gabe's selection beneath a furrowed brow. "Though honey with lemon might be better. Everything he has is caffeinated." And while Aziraphale's untidy sprawl over the floor may not be very helpful, it certainly would be the right idea in terms of getting rest.

Gabriel balks a little about the blanket, and he's extremely unenthused about the idea of eating anything, but he is glad to be off of the floor and onto a softer surface. He snorts a laugh at argyle avenger, then curls up on his side as Johnny wanders off back to Mako and the kitchen.

"I don't want soup," he says, though probably not loud enough to be heard at the other side of the room.

"Mm." Johnny nods at her assessment, gets her a mug and the bottle of lemon juice they have mostly for drink mixing. "Yeah, that'll be good. We can sprinkle a little of this in there, too. Clear out the sinuses." He unearths a cheese grater, meaning to start on the ginger, then changes his mind and pulls out a pot and a can opener. Soup's more important.

"How you been?" he asks Mako conversationally, like this isn't totally weird.

Johnny, for his part, seems to have adjusted to the situation nicely. It's helpful to have another human around, and she smiles slightly as she sets the water heating.

"It's been an interesting day," she says, completely truthfully. "I take it this isn't normal."

Not if Gabe's reaction is any indicator.

"Does he usually not eat?" she asks with a faint frown.

Gabriel lies with his head half-covered by the blanket. He can't seem to regulate his own internal temperature, which is extremely annoying. That, and he can't decide whether he's hot or cold. A moment later, he pushes the blanket down to his waist.

He frowns at Mako's question. He may be all the way on the other side of the room, but he doesn't appreciate being talked about like he's not here at all. Maybe she just thinks he can't hear her.

Well, he can solve that. He raises his voice loud enough to be heard. "He eats plenty, thank you." Sure, most of what he eats isn't really enough to construct a food pyramid, but it's still food.

"Plenty of candy," Johnny adds, raising his voice right back at him. He empties the can of soup into the pot and then turns to Gabe, gesturing at him with a wooden spoon. "Be nice to Mako. She doesn't have to be here."

He starts the soup on a low heat and gives it an occasional stir.

"You can't have candy right now," he says. "Sugar'll make you feel way worse. Trust me."

She looks between them uncertainly. She had not meant for Gabe to overhear, though perhaps she should have accounted for angelic hearing, assuming that is not malfunctioning as well.

Maybe she does not have to be here, but she doubts Johnny would like to handle Gabe's affliction on his own, so she aliquots a fair amount of lemon juice and honey into the mug.

"Is honey good for now?" She adds the water and stirs as she carries the steaming mug to Gabe.

Gabriel pushes himself up with some effort as Mako comes closer. He does feel thirsty now, and anything honey flavored sounds good.

He hums in agreement and reaches out for the mug. Though instead of drinking it right away he just hunches over it and feels the warmth of it through the mug.

He thinks, how did this happen? Logically he knows that the rift can pull any strings it wants to, but somehow he had still thought he'd be above something like this. For something like him to be reduced to this state is just inconceivable in some way. He should be exempt from fevers and coughs and runny noses. He's an angel. Surely that's one of the major benefits.

"I was a God, y'know" he says after a moment, still staring into the mug but not drinking from it. His vision blurs. Softly, he continues, "People used to leave me jars of honey. Offerings. I liked that."

Johnny softens a little when he hears that. He leaves the soup for now and steps over to the couch and squats down beside him, resting a hand on his sweaty forehead. He's never seen Gabe like this before, it's weird, and weirdly comforting. Like they're on the same level for once.

"You want me to start leaving jars of honey around the house?" he asks with a little smile. "Though I guess we could say I've offered you plenty at this point."

Is that weird to say in front of Mako? Probably. Whatever. She'll have to get used to them one way or another.

He was a god, but he also said he was an angel. Mako may not be well-versed in Christian theology, but it's her basic understanding that the two are not the same thing. He says it wistfully while Johnny with the air of a private joke, and she isn't sure if she might be missing something personal.

Instead she wordlessly lets him accept the mug and offers a small smile.

"It should pass in a few days," she says. An inelegant shift of subject, but she already feels as though she is interrupting.

He leans into the coolness of the hand on his forehead and sighs.

"Yes," Gabriel says to Johnny, intoning the word with far more seriousness than he'd intended. He knows that Johnny is joking with him, he doesn't miss the innuendo, but at the same time- yes. Johnny has offered him so much that he doesn't really deserve.

That, and he really would like it if he brought him jars of honey.

Mako's voice pulls him up and away from Johnny's hand, but it takes him a moment to process what she's actually said.

"Days. A few?" He cringes. A few days of this seems like too much. One day of this is too much. He groans and, in quick succession, teleports the drink to the coffee table, then tips over onto his side and buries his face in his pillow.

It takes him a few moments before he remembers that he's supposed to be maintaining a persona here. Now that Johnny is back, things seem less dire, more manageable. Johnny may know how much of the usual persona is bullshit, but Mako certainly doesn't. He's done a lot of damage here, he knows, but maybe it can be salvaged.

"Thanks," he mumbles into the pillow, then he turns his head enough to look at her. "Good to know. Dying for a week max. Ugh."

"An'-" he he sniffs inelegantly, then reaches out to clasp Johnny on the shoulder, which ends of more as a weak slap to the chest and then his hand clinging to the front of Johnny's shirt. "You don't have to stay now, Blue. We'll go paint the town neon later, you'll see."

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