Gabriel - Video - 02

[hung_garian]

You can all quit freaking out over The Box now. After painstaking investigation, I can reveal that it contains - a cat. It's simultaneously alive and dead. Hence all the funny scratches - if you ever tried getting your feline friend into a carrier, you'll know what I mean. Claws are not fun, kids, no matter what Whitesnake say. And that goes double for the undead kitty kind. Unhygienic on top of painful, double ouch.

[Needless to say, Gabriel is bored. Also needless to say (hopefully), none of that was true.]

So since that's all sorted out, who likes the idea of celebratory drinks? Sure, we might not technically have a bar, but where there's life there's booze, as my dear old gran used to say. Well, before she got packed off to rehab, anyway.

[He grimaces, despite not even having a grandmother.]

Anyway. Takers? Ladies, don't be shy. Doctor Barrett, that means you too, awful drinking habits notwithstanding.

Comments

[hung_garian]

Well, here's hoping He doesn't disappoint you. I don't wanna have to actually think about this shit.

[Not that it's required much thought so far - it's been a while since he's had to read Norse runes, but it's like riding a bicycle, really. A weird, spiky bicycle with no punctuation, inconsistent letter forms and terrible spelling, but a bicycle nonetheless.]

As for the beers, knock yourself out. Probably best not to literally do it, though, cause I can't promise not to graffiti your face. Maybe in code.

[theshield_agent]

Who? God? I don't hold my breath for favors there. No offense, but I'm not exactly a religious man. I've seen more proof of gods than God.

[He laughs a little.]

And I don't know if you've noticed, but I work with a bunch of overgrown children. I don't sleep with anyone else in the room anymore and it's half their faults. You'd have to drug me.

[hung_garian]

Buddy, I'm not about to take offense. I'm a god without a capital myself. Far as I'm concerned, Jehovah or whatever the kids are calling Him these days can go screw Himself.

[He gestures at the bottle.]

Who's to say I haven't drugged you?

[theshield_agent]

[A refreshing, yet surreal take on that. Alright, as long as Phil isn't going to offend him. It's not that he's an atheist so much as he doesn't care. If the gods he's met are any indication, it's one giant crap shoot, anyway.]

You're a god. Would you really have to resort to drugging me? Don't get me wrong. It's not that I trust you or think you can't threaten me. It's just that I have a hand gun with limited ammo and a few good men. I'm not dumb enough to think I have a shot if you really wanted to take me out.

[Besides that, he's already living on borrowed time and he didn't exactly leave that hand gun at home, either.]

[hung_garian]

[He laughs, picks up the notebook and goes back to examining it. He's not really sure what he's looking for, but hey. Maybe if he looks at it long enough something will jump out.]

Damn straight. 'Course, most of the people who think like that don't come over for beers. Not that I'm complaining, it makes a nice change from cowering or running for the hills.

[theshield_agent]

I'm not really the cowering type, to be honest.

[He takes another drink. One of the many lessons he'd learned from Rogers, who he's more than a little worried about right now. Where is he?]

Supposedly that's about to get me killed, but I guess that's life. It's worth it.

[hung_garian]

Is it? Just for the sake of flipping off some asshole who's gotten too big for his boots? Sounds like a waste to me.

[He makes a face, and starts writing out the runes again backwards. It'll kill some time, if nothing else.]

Besides, being killed is actually the opposite of life. JSYK.

[theshield_agent]

If I buy them the time they need to get their act together and save everyone, then it was worth it. Being killed is a risk you assume with my job.

[Not that that means he wants to die. He's not thrilled. He knows they take risks, but the idea of actually dying and not just accepting it as a remote possibility doesn't thrill him at all.]

Besides, knowing my future and changing it if I get home is bound to fuck things up, right?

[hung_garian]

Yup. It'd be like dividing by zero. You'd be sucked into a black hole, if you're lucky. If you're not, the universe'll implode.

[He doesn't look up. The subject's a little too close to home.]

On the bright side, guess you got into Valhalla. Congrats. Hope you're not vegetarian.

[theshield_agent]

It doesn't have bligesnipes, does it? Because Thor described them to me once and I'm not so sure I want to see one in person.

[And then his face sobers a little.]

Would I be able to see Thor there?

[hung_garian]

Never heard of 'em, but if it's fun to kill, it's probably there.

[He does look up at that and then, after a moment, he shrugs.]

If he decides to pay a visit, I don't see why not.

[Except that, of course, Valhalla didn't exist in the way humans thought. That darn Judeo-Christian monopoly on the afterlife.]

Guess you're a bigger fan of him than you are of Loki, then?

[theshield_agent]

I guess you could say that. Thor's sort of a... friend, I guess. He's at least friendly. Loki's about to kill me, so, yeah, not his biggest fan at the moment.

[He wonders if Thor is really this different back on this Loki's world. For all he knows, the Thor from his world could be some terrible tyrant or something.]

What's your brother like back where you're from?

[hung_garian]

My-- what brother?

[That gets his full attention, as well as an expression somewhere between shock and suspicion. If Phil's somehow known who he is this whole time and just waited until now to bring it up...]

[theshield_agent]

[For a second there, Phil just looks at him.]

Thor. You know... long hair, giant hammer... [He pantomimes out both with his free hand.] Likes to mess up towns in New Mexico...

[hung_garian]

Thor's not my brother. Trust me, I'd remember growing up with that bearded nutcase getting his sticky hands all over my Lego.

[theshield_agent]

[Right... because Loki was adopted in his world, but that wouldn't necessarily be true in other worlds.]

In my world, you were adopted by Thor's parents. Or something. Is that how that works? Your whole... thing is really complex. I was never huge on mythology until the two of you fell on our heads. Honestly, I thought little green men were more of a threat. Turns out you're about equal, but I think the green men are taller than you.

[hung_garian]

[He casually flips him the bird, a lot more relaxed now that the momentary panic over the brother question is over.]

I am pretty complicated. Like the Avril Lavigne song. I think it makes me engimatic and interesting, what d'you reckon?

[theshield_agent]

[Phil takes another drink, grinning back.]

You're definitely enigmatic. Could be a lot worse, though. I prefer enigmatic to psychotic and you really don't seem psychotic, so I'll take it. Can't promise I won't try to figure you out, though. You make yourself interesting, you can be too surprised when people are interested.

[hung_garian]

I could be psychotic.

[He almost sounds hurt. He's probably not.]

But so long as you don't mean in the Nickelback sense of figuring folks out, I don't think I can complain about that.

[theshield_agent]

I'll take my chances. Is that a TV show or a... gang or something?

[hung_garian]

They're a band. Well... allegedly, anyway.

[theshield_agent]

The only time I know anything kids are into is when my niece forces it on me.

[He gives a pained look.]

I've seen more than my fair share of Jersey Shore.

[hung_garian]

Look at it this way, at least when you're dead you'll never have to see it again. Think of it as a mercy killing.

[theshield_agent]

You make an excellent point. I assume those kids are going to some weird part of Hell designed just for them.

[hung_garian]

We can but hope.

[He finishes off his beer, and sets the empty bottle down on the page he'd been 'decoding'.]

If this is a code, buddy, good work whoever made it. Fuck if I can find anything in this.