Well this life can be such a devil

[originalchump]

Who: Gadreel Gale Shurley and YOU!
Where: The Shurley Bros residence, the animal shelter, and probably some bar
When: Oct 24-28
Rating: TBD, PG to start
Summary: Gale Shurley isn't exactly pleased with his life, but he's about to find out it could be a lot worse.
The Story:

Oct 24th-26th
The evening of the 24th happens like most of his evenings do. Once he has an awkward dinner with his son, he cracks a diet soda and tries to relax for a little while before he heads to sleep. This time, however, he makes a special effort to try and flag down Caston for a conversation.

Waking up on the 25th, for Gale Shurley, feels a lot like waking up from some sort of coma. He feels a little more alive, less like the mindless zombie he was yesterday. He resolves that he's going to try to mend things with at least one of his older brothers, and a recent drop-off at the clinic gives him the perfect opportunity. He heads over to Luke's place once he's finished his shift, the large snake coiled around his arms. When he returns home, he has more questions than he has answers.

The 26th is a more difficult day at work than he's had in years. A young girl comes in with a kitten too young to have left its mother, a weak thing that will obviously not survive. The girl looks at him with wide, bright eyes ... and when he takes the kitten in his hands, the creature lets out a sigh of relief. It calms, and it looks -- stronger. Despite his first instincts, the kitten improves throughout the day. This phenomenon repeats itself several times, and Gale swears he catches the image of wings in his shadow more times than he can count. More disturbing, however, is the blood that he feels is drenching his hands...the images of his hand on his son's face in a touch that is far from gentle.

It's easy enough that night to key in a text message to Damien. He needs a drink, and a friend who isn't going to be too judgemental of him. Damien's never really been the sort to think badly of anyone, even if it's because he thinks he has no room to judge.

Oct 27th
The images of him taking the life of his son have become too much to bear. Instead of heading to work, Gale heads to a quiet spot in town to grab a cup of coffee and think ... but he eventually sends a text to Daniel, asking him to meet him at the diner.

The boy deserved the truth, didn't he?

Comments

[vates]

Daniel listens, though sometimes he has to pinch himself to see if this is real, only to remember that it isn't real for him or Gale; it's real for Kevin and Gadreel, and in their world, wherever that is, there can be an angel with this much bizarre history, and an asshole like Metatron. He does appreciate someone sitting down and explaining things in detail to him, though, without really making any kind of exception for him because they think he can't handle it or doesn't need to know.

"He told -- " Maybe he shouldn't involve Castiel -- Caston's? -- name; he's not sure how much Gadreel knows, or Gale knows, or who even knows what anymore, but he does remember a weird phone call as Kevin, and scouring angel tablets for information on angel trials.

"He told lies to other people, about how they could fix things if they just did as he said. I guess that's his M.O."

And no, it isn't an excuse. The explanation is nice, but Kevin was still innocent, Daniel thinks. Kevin mostly only cared about getting the angels back into Heaven because it mattered to the others, and what else did he have?

But he isn't Kevin, and as tempting as it might be, he doesn't really want to fight Kevin's battles, not when he has his own to work through, like how he looks at the man who's supposed to be his father, and he sees a killer.

"And so what does all this make us now?"

[originalchump]

Gadreel, from what Gale understands, had always thought that the humans were more capable than some of his brothers and sisters wanted to think. He cared about humanity and their well-being, and it was that soft spot that had led to him letting his fallen brother through the gates of Eden.

While it's a comfort to hear that others were tricked (his mind tics him that it might've been Castiel, who he can only assume is Caston), it only makes him angrier. Gadreel might have learned to calm his frustrations, but Gale is still struggling with as much. He balls his fists up at his sides, and it takes him several minutes before he can relax them again.

"I don't think I can answer that for you." There's the part of him that knows he isn't qualified to offer the boy advice, but he still feels the sort of confusing fatherly affection to the young man in front of him that makes him want to try.

"I care about you," he tries to assure Daniel, "but I would not want to cause you hardship. I will leave you be or try to help you, as you wish."

[vates]

The trouble is that Daniel doesn't know what he wants. He's not even sure Kevin would've rejected Gadreel outright; he doesn't think Kevin would want to spend a lot of time with him, but overall it just seems like Kevin's used up most of his hate reserves. Daniel has a lot of room for anger still, though; it isn't as if anyone's come along and messed up his life with the same regularity as Kevin's though.

The thing is that he'd been getting used to having a father. It's better than having no one, or just his cousin and his family.

"I don't know what I want," he says finally, and then folds his arms over his chest, looking away. He wishes he could have a better answer than that.

"I think... For you and I, this is about the both of us." His and Gale's relationship is different from Kevin and Gadreel. There's some room here for both of them to move forward together.

"So what do you want?"