Rachel & Gabriel [backdated]

[x-velocidad.livejournal.com]

Rachel and Gabriel have their first real conversation since the apocalypse/rapture/M-Day, and they decide to fly the coop.

If there was one thing that cigarettes don't mix well with, it would be the gallons of gas she had in her arms. But Rachel merely crinkled her nose as she passed the only other occupant in the garage who, judging by the overflowing ashtray by his foot, seemed intent on smoking his weight in nicotine. Unceremoniously dropping her loot to the floor about five feet away, she produced a funnel from what seemed like nowhere (her waistband) before popping the cap to her newest baby -- a totaled rescue from the scrapyard for sure, but a Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet was a Volkswagen Golf Cabriole -- and started to fill her up.

"Bit early for your, innit?" She asked nonchalantly, propping the bottle up with a single arm as she leaned against the car. "Night still young and all that."

"Guess so." Gabriel exhaled smoke as he watched Rachel jostle the gas canister. "Don't have any plans, though. Maybe wine and Netflix. With all the new kids and everything, it's all kind of crazy."

As his cigarette burned out, he continued watching her, still not quite sure what to make of the woman standing in front of him. She'd seemed all... normal when she'd gotten back, but still. She was older now, and that was enough to make Gabriel question whether it was her or another version of her, even though she'd greeted him with enough familiarity that he thought she was probably the same.

"Besides," he jammed the end of the cigarette into the ashtray, "I've got a headache."

"I'll bet. What with all the fresh air you've been inhaling." She needed to turn down the sassy-o-metre. She knew that. Especially since he looked like he was about to either kill someone or keel over. Or something. Dude looked moody. Giving the base of the now empty canister a few hard thumps for good measure, she capped it and grabbed a second one. "If that's all that's bugging you, I can get you some OJ and advil."

"Only two cigs worth of this pile is mine," Gabriel countered, glancing down at the ashtray. He nudged it gently with his foot, pushing it away from him slightly. "And I went for a run this morning, so..." He shrugged. "Whatever. I'll be okay. I'm just, you know." Unsure of a real explanation, he shrugged once more. "Thinking."

Rachel pulled a face, a cross between a grimace and a sympathetic wince. Headache-inducing thoughts sucked. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Eh," Gabriel was torn. He did, but he didn't know if he could. "The universe just kind of sucks sometimes, you know?"

"You mean like the way the universe just kind of implodes sometimes?"

Gabriel exhaled a breath he didn't know he'd been holding in. "God, yes." He waited to see if the world would fall apart. It didn't. "And how you see ghosts everywhere, and how it's shockingly hard to get over your boyfriend dying when there's a twice-his-age version wandering the halls, making out with one of your best friends."

"Oh, fuck," she winced again, hiding the reactive blanch she made by capping and tossing both empty canisters into the corner of the garage. Someone would probably yell at her for that later. Popping the trunk, she dumped the remainder of her haul in and slammed the trunk lid shut with some measure of satisfaction. "Believe me when I say that I completely understand? First time I saw... mine, I couldn't run away fast enough." And now she was not even sure if there was a Korvus running around. "I'm surprised you're still here."

"Me too," Gabriel said wryly, "but no idea where else I'd go, so... here we are." He reached down, grabbing a bottle of Coke from next to the ashtray. "At least there are some constants. Water is wet. Sky is blue. Cigarettes are too expensive." He opened the soda, holding the bottle away from him just in case it fizzed over, then looked up from the drink to the car. "Going somewhere?"

"Yes," Rachel said, slowly dragging the word out the way someone does when wrangling thoughts in one's head. "I'm still here because what's left of the people I love have all decided to plant their collective asses here. But sometimes I like to go somewhere called 'anywhere but here'. You wanna come along?"

She had pulled a rag from her pocket and was wiping her hands down with it, leaving black streaks on the already stained fabric. "I usually pick a direction at random and start driving. Couple of weeks ago, I drove till I was almost out of gas and found an amazing B&B with the best brunch ever near Atlanta. Last weekend, I went into the city and contributed to peak hour congestion. Boring stuff like that."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow as he sipped the Coke. "You just... go? That's..." He just shrugged, unsure what adjective he was really looking for. "Yeah," he said slowly, the word drawn out long enough to start with trepidation and end with confidence. "Okay. Let's go. Jobs can wait, right? Nothing keeping me here. Been a while since I've, like, traveled." He looked at the car, then back at her, then at the car again. "No Texas, though."

Well, Rachel did not have a job, but sure. Why not? "You can pick the direction," she reassured him instead. "Need me to give you time to grab stuff?" She had an overnight bag in the back seat and money in a trust fund. (Thank you, Doug.)

"Nah." Gabriel stood. "Clothes on my back, wallet in my pocket. I'll figure it out as we go." He was avoiding inside, and all the people in it. That much was obvious. "I mean, 's half the fun."

"You got it, mate," she nodded with a cheerful grin, jerking her chin at the car in invitation. "Whenever you're ready. And while I don't encourage it, bring along the soda can if you want to keep smoking."