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neotoma. From Once, And Then, a SPN/mythology crossover.
neotoma. From Once, And Then, a SPN/mythology crossover.[Ah, crossing mythologies. So, so much fun. And you bump into some truly fascinating things ...]
"We call it Chaos," Janus murmured softly, his very being the door unto its embrace, his faces watching it with soft understanding. "To Kali, it is the Unmanifest. To Gabriel ... Father. But here, in this place and at this door ... it is Ginnungagap. The Yawning Void." [This ... when I was researching Ginnungagap, there was a note, about how it was very similar to the Greek concept of Chaos. And it kind of is. It doesn't quite mesh directly with the Hindu Unmanifest or the Abrahamic God (they carry more of a connotation of personhood than the Yawning Void or Chaos, though the Unmanifest is complicated in that (and a lot of other) directions). But the basic concept I was going for, here, is the fundament, the wellspring, the Thing Beneath Reality. Also? Janus, as a god, is kind of awesome. Limnality. I love that]
"Raw creation," Kali whispered, falling towards it, tugging the Devil in her wake. "The wellspring. The source." She laughed, turned to her prey. "Fight me there, Morningstar. Fight me over and over, as many times as we may fight and fall, and the world will not fall for it. This Midgard, this Earth, will not be touched. While we fight at the base of creation, our shudders will but gently rock them to sleep." [In the context of the fic, though, Ginnungagap is not a happy prospect for Lucifer. Well. Fighting in raw chaos rarely would be, I suppose]
"No," Lucifer snarled, and wrested himself free. "No! I won't be caged, not by you! I won't play this game!" [I ... I sort of got the impression, between him and Michael, that most of the archangels outside of Gabriel (and even him, to an extent), are mostly just looking for an ending, by this point. It's the caging that horrifies]
"Why not!" Gabriel snapped, sheared past rage by the throbbing memory in his chest, the ache of a brother's blade. [Hate to tell you this, Lucy, but Gabriel's been knocking around Earth in ironic-judgement mode, in the company of pagan gods, for a long time now. If you wanted mercy, you shouldn't have killed him. He takes that somewhat amiss] "So happy to see us play yours, brother! Don't like it when the tables turn?" He grinned, a hard, savage expression, one he'd learned from the god within his breast, one he wore with Loki's black approval. "Well, too bad. That's what Tricksters are for, bro. To make the tables turn. And this time ... This time, Lucy, the trick is most definitely on you ..." [That is, primarily, what Tricksters are for. Elements of chaos, though the level of personal awareness of their role varies from trickster to trickster. Loki, I think, spends most of his story just trying to survive, and playing dangerous games for the sake of them. Gabriel ... Gabriel is somewhat more self-aware, I think]
"Don't do this," Lucifer pleaded, switching suddenly from arrogant archangel to desperate brother, hiding the hate in his eyes under soft supplication, the very prince of lies. [... I was mildly disappointed, in SPN!Lucifer, for how very straightforward and only-bluntly-manipulative he was. Though ... I suppose he possibly had just run out of patience for subtlety, at this stage of the game] Gabriel knew it. With the memory of a blade, he did know it. But oh, how his heart shuddered with that look. How he longed to reach out. "Brother, if you let them do this, she'll kill me!" [Which is not to say he can't still pull it off]
"She will not," the Baron rumbled suddenly. The loa moved forward, his skull gleaming beneath his skin, his essence shining out from the man he rode. The Baron moved forward, and smiled. "You caged Death once," he said, spitting to the side. "Chained him, forced him to take lives before their time. Have to tell you, petit, he be real unhappy with you right now." He grinned, a skull's grin, nodding to Kali. "So I won't be digging no graves this day. Death, he won't be touching you. She may destroy you as many times as she please, tear you to pieces and shovel them through the hole if she want. You'll live. Whatever happens. You'll live." [This ... Lucifer screwed with Death. That ... was not a smart thing to be doing. And the Baron ... I always loved that bit of his mythology, that he can refuse people, not dig their graves, and how it can be a mercy, a boon to someone he likes, who asks the right way, but in the context of zombies and that aspect of Vodun, it can also be a punishment. Plus. I always loved the story of the Soldier and Death. Death is needed, sometimes even preferable]
"Jesus," Dean Winchester said, very quietly, in the background, and Gabriel smiled an old, sad smile. [*smiles ruefully* A little bit of very black humour, here, all things considered]
"No-one ever said mercy had to be kind," he whispered softly, looking into his brother's eyes, seeing, for the first time, the fear in them. "Didn't you remember that, Lucy? He can take, and He can give, but no-one ever said He had to be nice about it. Don't you remember, Lucifer?" [... This is SPN. And even if it wasn't, the Almighty doesn't really do 'nice']
"Let me go," Lucifer asked, very quietly, very softly. "Brother, please. Let me go. I can't be caged again. I won't be caged again. Kill me, if you want, but please ... don't do this. Not this." [That ... was mostly real, I think. That was a genuine plea]
And it was Castiel, soft and puzzled, Castiel who asked, with the quiet, terrible simplicity of thought that made him one of the most dangerous angels Gabriel had ever seen:
"Why not?" [Because Cas is scarier than a Terminator, sometimes, and for much the same reasons. Once he sees a solution, that does what is needed, with as little collateral damage as possible, he does not hesitate. No matter how horrible it is. He doesn't ... seem to even grasp why someone might want him to. He is ... scary, is Cas]
"We call it Chaos," Janus murmured softly, his very being the door unto its embrace, his faces watching it with soft understanding. "To Kali, it is the Unmanifest. To Gabriel ... Father. But here, in this place and at this door ... it is Ginnungagap. The Yawning Void." [This ... when I was researching Ginnungagap, there was a note, about how it was very similar to the Greek concept of Chaos. And it kind of is. It doesn't quite mesh directly with the Hindu Unmanifest or the Abrahamic God (they carry more of a connotation of personhood than the Yawning Void or Chaos, though the Unmanifest is complicated in that (and a lot of other) directions). But the basic concept I was going for, here, is the fundament, the wellspring, the Thing Beneath Reality. Also? Janus, as a god, is kind of awesome. Limnality. I love that]
"Raw creation," Kali whispered, falling towards it, tugging the Devil in her wake. "The wellspring. The source." She laughed, turned to her prey. "Fight me there, Morningstar. Fight me over and over, as many times as we may fight and fall, and the world will not fall for it. This Midgard, this Earth, will not be touched. While we fight at the base of creation, our shudders will but gently rock them to sleep." [In the context of the fic, though, Ginnungagap is not a happy prospect for Lucifer. Well. Fighting in raw chaos rarely would be, I suppose]
"No," Lucifer snarled, and wrested himself free. "No! I won't be caged, not by you! I won't play this game!" [I ... I sort of got the impression, between him and Michael, that most of the archangels outside of Gabriel (and even him, to an extent), are mostly just looking for an ending, by this point. It's the caging that horrifies]
"Why not!" Gabriel snapped, sheared past rage by the throbbing memory in his chest, the ache of a brother's blade. [Hate to tell you this, Lucy, but Gabriel's been knocking around Earth in ironic-judgement mode, in the company of pagan gods, for a long time now. If you wanted mercy, you shouldn't have killed him. He takes that somewhat amiss] "So happy to see us play yours, brother! Don't like it when the tables turn?" He grinned, a hard, savage expression, one he'd learned from the god within his breast, one he wore with Loki's black approval. "Well, too bad. That's what Tricksters are for, bro. To make the tables turn. And this time ... This time, Lucy, the trick is most definitely on you ..." [That is, primarily, what Tricksters are for. Elements of chaos, though the level of personal awareness of their role varies from trickster to trickster. Loki, I think, spends most of his story just trying to survive, and playing dangerous games for the sake of them. Gabriel ... Gabriel is somewhat more self-aware, I think]
"Don't do this," Lucifer pleaded, switching suddenly from arrogant archangel to desperate brother, hiding the hate in his eyes under soft supplication, the very prince of lies. [... I was mildly disappointed, in SPN!Lucifer, for how very straightforward and only-bluntly-manipulative he was. Though ... I suppose he possibly had just run out of patience for subtlety, at this stage of the game] Gabriel knew it. With the memory of a blade, he did know it. But oh, how his heart shuddered with that look. How he longed to reach out. "Brother, if you let them do this, she'll kill me!" [Which is not to say he can't still pull it off]
"She will not," the Baron rumbled suddenly. The loa moved forward, his skull gleaming beneath his skin, his essence shining out from the man he rode. The Baron moved forward, and smiled. "You caged Death once," he said, spitting to the side. "Chained him, forced him to take lives before their time. Have to tell you, petit, he be real unhappy with you right now." He grinned, a skull's grin, nodding to Kali. "So I won't be digging no graves this day. Death, he won't be touching you. She may destroy you as many times as she please, tear you to pieces and shovel them through the hole if she want. You'll live. Whatever happens. You'll live." [This ... Lucifer screwed with Death. That ... was not a smart thing to be doing. And the Baron ... I always loved that bit of his mythology, that he can refuse people, not dig their graves, and how it can be a mercy, a boon to someone he likes, who asks the right way, but in the context of zombies and that aspect of Vodun, it can also be a punishment. Plus. I always loved the story of the Soldier and Death. Death is needed, sometimes even preferable]
"Jesus," Dean Winchester said, very quietly, in the background, and Gabriel smiled an old, sad smile. [*smiles ruefully* A little bit of very black humour, here, all things considered]
"No-one ever said mercy had to be kind," he whispered softly, looking into his brother's eyes, seeing, for the first time, the fear in them. "Didn't you remember that, Lucy? He can take, and He can give, but no-one ever said He had to be nice about it. Don't you remember, Lucifer?" [... This is SPN. And even if it wasn't, the Almighty doesn't really do 'nice']
"Let me go," Lucifer asked, very quietly, very softly. "Brother, please. Let me go. I can't be caged again. I won't be caged again. Kill me, if you want, but please ... don't do this. Not this." [That ... was mostly real, I think. That was a genuine plea]
And it was Castiel, soft and puzzled, Castiel who asked, with the quiet, terrible simplicity of thought that made him one of the most dangerous angels Gabriel had ever seen:
"Why not?" [Because Cas is scarier than a Terminator, sometimes, and for much the same reasons. Once he sees a solution, that does what is needed, with as little collateral damage as possible, he does not hesitate. No matter how horrible it is. He doesn't ... seem to even grasp why someone might want him to. He is ... scary, is Cas]
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