hh_mirror | Trickster, Angel, and all around troublemaker ((Application, Gabriel, SPN canon))

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Trickster, Angel, and all around troublemaker ((Application, Gabriel, SPN canon))

Voices were heard in the Sorting Room well in advance of their arrival.
“.. c’mon. I’m alive again, we should celebrate. You, me, a bottle of tequila, white sandy beaches..”

The woman laughed lightly, “Sorry sweetie. I’m spoken for.”

Gabriel, renegade archangel and Trickster extraordinaire touched down in the Sorting Room. He looked marginally impressed. “Really? Now you’ve gotta spill. Who’s the guy that managed to sweep you off your feet?”

“Bye Gabriel. I’d say behave, but you and I both know better. See ya around.”

He examined his pocket, pulling out what looked suspiciously like a can of diet orange soda. Relieved that the illusion was still in place, Gabriel tucked it away again. With a snap of his fingers, he summoned up a candy bar before sauntering over to the table where the dictaquill hovered expectantly.

State your name.

“I’ve gone by so many names,” he said, casually amused by the floating feather. “Loki, Anansi, Coyote, they’re all equally good. Trickster if you want to cover all of your lore-oriented bases.”

When it began to write Gabriel, he snapped his fingers. The quill crossed out the name, but it was still visible. “Hang on. Witness protection, remember? Not that name.” He frowned. Something was out there countering his not-inconsiderable power. It was odd, but he’d let it go for the moment.

“Fine. Gabriel,” he relented with an aggrieved sigh. Better to let it pass than summon up enough power to alert the tattered remains of his very estranged family where he was.

1. What is your favorite cheese? Why is it your favorite?
“Cheese? You’re bringing me back from the dead to ask about cheese? Okay, I’ll play along. Those little fried cheese sticks. Dipped in maple syrup. Oh, or chocolate. I’ve gotta hand it to those mortals, show them a deep fryer and they’ll drop damn near anything in it.” He had a notoriously sweet tooth and anything that involved copious amounts of sugar he’d get behind.

2. Who would you kill first, Barney or Carrottop?
“Kill them? Okay, granted they should both be taken out, but you should at least take the time to make it a really imaginative death. Have fun with it. Hot air balloon falling from the sky, smooshing them into paste? Send them scuba diving during shark week and stick a steak in their pants?”

3. What time is it where you are?
Gabriel made an exaggerated show of checking his very blank wrist. “Last I looked it was counting down to the Apocalypse. Since we’re still standing and I’m reading this charming little questionnaire, I’m assuming someone hit the snooze bar on the whole brotherly throw down?”

4. If you were Albus Dumbledore returned from the dead, which member of the Order of the Phoenix would you sexually harass? How would you harass them? If you are Albus Dumbledore, please answer as if you were Sirius Black.

He gave the application an affronted look. “Harass? Look, if you have to harass them, you’re obviously not doing it right. Now granted, having been recently returned from the dead, I wouldn’t mind some soft female company,” an immediately another blonde manifests and curls herself around his arm. “I can appreciate the need for a little companionship.” He winked. “But get your own.”

5. If you are pushing to be in:
A. Slytherin - please state the clever, witty name of the bar in which you bartend, in the dark.

“The Mystery Spot.” Now that had been a good time. Okay, it took nearly a year before the message got through Sam Winchester’s impossibly thick skull, but it had been an entertaining challenge finding new ways to kill Dean every day. He was particularly proud of the one that involved the marching band and the duck..

B. Gryffindor – Debate whether Harry should ultimately end up married to Fred or George. Use examples from a variety of world mythologies to bolster your argument.
“Married? Oh hell no. Getting that attached to anyone is an incredibly bad idea. Keep it simple and look out for your own keister. But to play along, I’ll say, the one on the left?”

C. Ravenclaw – You guys are supposed to be smart. Explain why my desk is inundated with paperwork at all times, even though I’m constantly disposing of it.
Gabriel smirked, “Probably because you aren’t employing the right help?” With one snap, a curvaceous blonde in a skimpy secretarial outfit appeared on his arm. “Or just bypass the paperwork entirely and set your desk on fire?”

D. Hufflepuff – Prove you are not useless.
His smirk widened into a larger, even more confident grin. “I’ve been kicking around Creation since Dad snapped his fingers and brought the whole mess to light. Since I took a, ah, leave of absence from home, I started roaming this little blue ball as one of a hundred different Tricksters. Had a lot of laughs and a lot of fun.”

From out of his pocket, he produced that same orange soda can and smirked. Only now it was a gleaming silver sword. “Oh yeah, I’m also an archangel. Not exactly useless.”

6. Offer a bribe to the members of this community so that they will not squib you. Items used in bribery do not necessarily have to belong to the person offering the bribe. Do not threaten us rather than offering a bribe. A threat indicates you either don't really want to be here, or don't have enough sense to answer the question properly. The hat will automatically squib you, regardless of other votes, if you do.

He grinned easily. “I’m sure we can come to some sort of arrangement. So long as you don’t let the family know where I am, we’re good.” It didn’t help that he could already sense at least one or two of his celestial brethren kicking around the castle. Hopefully he could maintain a safe enough distance and not get dragged into the fight again. Once was enough.
“ And like I said before, I’ve been around awhile. So let’s talk.”

*OOC*~
I have read the [info]hogwarts_hocus faq, and understand it is a crazy, cracktastic sorting community and RPG. -Loki
I have read the [info]hogwarts_hocus rules and agree to abide by each and every one of them. -Trickster
I agree to be a good sport and not get my knickers in a bunch. -Coyote
One day, marmalade will rule the world. -Anansi

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Castiel turned to look curiously at one of the women and then the other, gently disengaged his arms from their grasp, and thereafter ignored them both.

Leave it to Gabriel to open the conversation by getting straight to the most painful and complicated point imaginable.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," he said, buying a little time to frame his reply to the archangel's implicit questions. "It's good to see you again." Which was the truth, as far as it went. Though he and Gabriel had had some major differences, Castiel had taken no pleasure in his death. Gabriel had met his end honorably, in defense of their Father's favored creations, as befitted a warrior of the Host. In Castiel's eyes, that earned him the respect so many of their siblings had forfeited by their actions, yet continued to demand.

"I was restored, yes," he confirmed. At greater than his prior strength, as well, though he was fairly sure Gabriel still outclassed him by a significant margin. "The message was received. Lucifer is once again confined to his prison."

There he ground to a halt, avoiding Gabriel's gaze, more than reluctant to complete the picture. He had a feeling his elder brother would not take the news of Michael's loss well.

Gabriel shrugged as Castiel shook off the women. With an exaggerated sigh, he waved his arm and they vanished. Most of the younger Host were wound a little too tightly for their own good.

“Looks like we were both restored, lil bro,” Gabriel said, looking down at himself thoughtfully. “But it wasn’t Dad. Weird.”

Speaking of which.. there was an odd thrumming of power coming off his younger brother. Power that wasn’t Celestial, but it was ancient and resonated somewhere down in his bones. He cocked his head at Castiel and came closer, peering intently at him. Personal space was never a concept angels were good with and they stood nearly nose to nose.

“Oh, you found some kind of power boost. What did you..” he held his hand over Castiel’s chest, homing in on the power that was housed in an ordinary looking silver ankh on a delicate silver chain that resided in his pocket.

“I told you chuckleheads to get the Horseman’s ring, not try anything as hairbrained as getting her sigil. And how in the hell did you pull that one off?”

Cas kept his opinion to himself on the matter of who'd brought him back, and turned slightly, angling to place a bit more distance between the archangel and the hidden talisman, though he gave no ground overall. "It's a long story. And has nothing to do with the Apocalypse.

"We did get the ring, Gabriel. There is much that you should hear, but this may not be the appropriate venue." It was family business, and anyone could wander into the Sorting Room and overhear.

Also, all things considered, he'd rather find someplace more removed from the castle population to break the news, just in case Gabriel took it really badly.

"Always with the cloak and dagger stuff," he muttered. But he couldn't fault Castiel's caution. There were some things that were better left unheard by mortal ears, especially when it came to family. He was relatively certain that should their Father ever decide to surface, he might not be too pleased with his Children airing out their celestial dirty laundry.

Never mind the fact that they wouldn't have to if he'd just show up.

"All right fine." He raised his hand and gave a snap of his fingers. If he was going to hear lousy news, may as well hear it--

In the same damned room. There wasn't any holy fire, he would have sensed it. But something was keeping him contained. Gabriel really, really didn't like being contained.

Cas sighed. "It will have to wait. Until the Sorting Hat has placed you in one of the Houses, you're bound to this room. And before you ask, I don't know how it's done or any way around it." He was also a bit stymied as to how to go about obtaining that information. The Hat kept its own counsel, and the occasional rampaging terrorbear aside, its power over this place seemed absolute.

"Try to contain your displeasure, brother," he added. "The wait is a harmless formality, and all who dwell here have endured it." Granted, many of them weren't especially pleased about it. "Neither Heaven nor Hell holds sway in this place, and it isn't possible to die here."

There was a choking roil of power as the archangel stalked around the room. He really, really didn't like being bound to any one location. It was risky, dangerous.. and there wasn't a damned thing he could do about it.

With a resigned sigh, he pulled the power back. Gabriel manifested up a pair of comfortable overstuffed chairs and flopped down into one. He could always wait it out, he certainly had the time. And the idea that Heaven didn't hold any sway did have it's appeal.

"All right, little bro, you're the expert here," he allowed. "So no Heaven, no Hell. Which leaves us exactly where? I've never heard of a Hogwarts and I'm pretty sure I've covered all of Creation since I left home."

'Expert' might be overstating the case, but Castiel took the chair opposite, leaning forward a bit, and shared what he did know.

"It seems Creation is bigger than we realized," he said. "This place is some sort of interdimensional nexus. It draws in entities from many planes of existence and many points in their respective histories. The only authority I'm aware of is a capricious entity which appears in the shape of a hat." He checked a sigh, knowing very well how ridiculous that sounded, though it also occurred to him that such a thing might appeal to Gabriel's somewhat unique sense of humor.

"Whether the hat chooses those who are brought here is unclear, but it is tasked with assigning houses based on how we answer the questions put to us, and it occasionally interferes in the business of the occupants for its own amusement." If Gabriel was inclined to complain about that, well...angels were no great believers in karma, either, but every now and again Cas thought there just might be something to the idea.

"The castle proper was once a school of magical instruction, from what I'm told. Now it serves as a dwelling place for those who've been gathered. We are left largely to our own devices, except when the hat," he grimaced slightly, "gets one of its 'ideas.'"

He paused fractionally. "While I wouldn't call it an ideal situation, I would venture to say it is preferable to being dead." Among other far more unpleasant alternatives.

As his younger brother explained, Gabriel summoned up a six back of beer between them. It wasn’t his drink of choice, but the mortal hunters seemed to favor it. He also had the distinct feeling that he was going to need to be drunk. Well, maybe not need, but it would make the whole situation a hell of a lot more bearable.

“A nexus, huh? I’ve heard of them, but never thought they were actually out there.” There were things out there that tickled at the edges of his power, but for the most part, Gabriel had ignored them over the millenia. If he got too curious and started exploring, it would have blown the cover he worked so hard on.

Castiel may not have known his brother well, but his suspicion that the entire situation would appeal to his sense of humor wasn’t far off the mark. Once he finished with his narrative, Gabriel sat back and laughed. It was all so supremely ridiculous, he couldn’t help but laugh. A good, long belly laugh, the kind he hadn’t had since.. well since he’d left home.

“Yeah, lil bro. It’s better than being dead.” There was also a certain amount of indignity to dying skewered on your own sword, but he wasn’t about to volunteer that little bit of information.

“But I’ve gotta admit,” he grinned wolfishly, “that smile of hers makes a guy want to think about dying all over again. That’s one thing that Dad absolutely got right.”

Castiel smiled quietly at the archangel's laughter. He could remember, very distantly, the sound of that laugh (or, well, its multidimensional equivalent) echoing through the streets of the Heavenly city, carefree and infectious.

In his most recent memory, the place had been somber, slightly foreboding, and very, very quiet.

At the reference to Death, Castiel carefully schooled his expression. "I agree." He paused a beat. "But then again, I've done so."

It was no more fun the second time than the first. And if one's own sword was undignified, exploding messily all over friends and allies was hardly an improvement.

Edited 2011-04-04 03:08 (UTC)

There was a time, well before he left home, that Gabriel remembered when the rest of the Host laughed with him. It grieved him deeply when he began to notice that his brothers and sisters forgot how to laugh. While Castiel didn’t exactly laugh with him, he was a little gratified to see his brother smile. It was an encouraging start.

He raised an eyebrow at the revelation. Given the fight that his little brother was getting involved in when he died, it didn’t take much for Gabriel to surmise how Castiel met his end. “Lucifer, huh? Sucks.”

The curiosity was going to drive him to distraction. He wanted to know what had happened, and how those two mortal goobers managed to stuff Lucifer back into his prison. But his younger brother was right; this wasn’t exactly the right place to start hashing over a few millenia of family dysfunction.

Instead, he looked around, "So what do you do around here once you get let out?"

Cas just nodded. He'd explain all of that when the time was right.

"Keeping occupied is not too difficult. There are two bars, an extensive library, the kitchens, the greenhouses, the Forbidden Forest and its creatures, and there is usually someone or other pursuing their own interests in the Great Hall or elsewhere on the grounds. The nominal instructors here do occasionally hold a class for the curious. The town of Hogsmeade is also nearby...there's a candy shop there you would probably find interesting." He decided it might be better not to mention the joke shops. Gabriel would probably find those on his own soon enough without his hurrying things along.

"There is also a very odd, non-Euclidean tower on the premises, filled with strange beasts, traps and items of arcane interest, but I don't recommend it as a casual diversion." Maybe an archangel would be equal to DETHTOWER's twisted influences, but he'd really prefer not to find out the hard way.

Edited 2011-04-04 22:38 (UTC)

He gave Castiel a long, measuring look. The second he was free of this room, he intended to collar his little brother and get the whole story. While he didn't know him well, he could tell there was plenty he was holding back on, and Gabriel imagined that none of it was good. Because his family just didn't do happy endings.

It'd be so much easier if he didn't care, he reflected. But he did. Despite all the bluster and false bravado, he cared. And Gabriel wished like hell he didn't.

His eyes lit up at the mention of the shop. Like the Trickster demigod persona he had adopted, he did have a wicked sweet tooth. "Sounds like plenty to keep us occupied, even if it doesn't make a lot of sense. Non-Euclidean, huh? Those things always give me a headache. But hey, could be fun," he said with a wink.

"Yes. And the penguins are entertaining," Cas conceded. "But I found the acidic tentacle monster disagreeable."

He sat back in the chair, regarding Gabriel resignedly. Perhaps it wouldn't be too bad, having his much-older brother around. Gabriel could make an insufferable (and dangerous) nuisance of himself, but he was a far cry from the sort of problem any of the other archangels would have posed.

And despite the human (and other) companionship he'd found, first at home and then here, there were moments when he'd been all too keenly aware of his total isolation from his other, first family. The prospect of the company of another angel, even one as capricious as Gabriel, was not without a certain appeal.

Gabriel felt the smallest pang of regret as he sat there, watching his far too somber brother and the resignation in his eyes. He could remember the days when his brethren weren’t nearly as careworn or so guarded around their own family. Yes, even back then they fought and argued, but at least they were open about it, damnit.

Which is exactly why he couldn't help himself. With a surprised squawk, an impossibly fluffy pengin chick appeared in Castiel's lap.

But it was nice to have family around that wasn’t constantly looking to pick a fight. He had spent millenia on Earth and while mortals were good for a laugh, he did miss the company of other angels. Maybe, if he kept at it, he could even remind his brother how to smile. Or, Dad help them both, laugh. Okay, he’d settle for a chuckle. One minor miracle at a time.

He grinned easily and removed what would have appeared to anyone else as an orange soda can from his jacket. Castiel however, would easily be able to see through the illusion for what it was. The gleaming silver sword of an archangel. “Lions and tigers and bears, oh my. Sounds like it might be fun.”

Glad to see that not all of his kin had lost their sense of adventure.

Cas blinked, tilting his head at the tiny creature with a thoroughly dumbfounded expression. The penguin seemed equally befuddled, and nearly tottered off his lap before he thought to catch hold of it carefully with both hands, holding it awkwardly and aiming a somewhat helpless look at his brother. "What...?"

The lions, tigers and bears remark flew almost completely over his head, as his attention was still fixed on his new...pet?...and probably would be for a while yet.

But he did give the archangel's blade an apprehensive look when it caught his eye; the last several times he had seen one of those in any hands other than his own, they'd been aimed at critical parts of his anatomy. "You might not find it as disconcerting as most," he allowed. It had bothered him somewhat, that tower, but not as badly as it had his human friends.

The apprehension was not lost on him. "Relax, Cas. I left home because I didn't want to fight my family. I still don't," he added somewhat somberly. The blade disappeared back into his jacket without further comment.

His smile returned at the expression on his brother's face. He looked like he had just been smacked in the face with a fish.

.. speaking of which.

A small metal bucket full of mackerel appeared at their feet. The little penguin squawked again, flapping it's small wings eagerly.

"He's probably hungry."

Looking from Gabriel, to the penguin, to the bucket, Cas leaned over and picked up one of the fish, examining it curiously for a moment. It seemed a bit large for such a small bird to handle, so he broke off a small piece of its flesh and cautiously offered it, snatching his hand back as the baby bird snapped it eagerly from his fingers, bolted it down and squawked for more. "It's very...demanding."

One corner of his mouth turned upward slightly, and he carried on patiently dismantling the fish, feeding it to the tiny penguin bit by bit.

While Castiel was preoccupied with feeding the small grey ball of fuzz in his lap, Gabriel sat back and watched them both. If someone were to look very closely, they might see a slight softening around his very jaded, cynical eyes as a full little penguin chick curled up in his brother’s hands and fell asleep.

It was one thing he deeply regretted when he left home. Seeing Michael and Lucifer tearing at each other’s throats wounded him on a level he couldn’t even begin to frame into words. But he still loved them, fiercely. And he loved the rest of his family, the extended Host just as much, even if he didn’t know them all quite as well.

Maybe he could make up for some of that lost time here.

Or at the very least, harass the hell out of the Winchesters for fun.

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Trickster, Angel, and all around troublemaker ((Application, Gabriel, SPN canon))

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