application for damned_institute

[impudentsongbird]

Name/Handle: Pur
Age: 25
Gender: Female
Timezone: Anywhere between GMT+8 to GMT+10. I’m a traveller.
Personal LJ: purple_drake; it’s mostly for fic-writing, but I have PMs enabled and it’s fine for OOC contact.
E-Mail: purplejabberwocky@gmail.com
AIM/other: AIM: scalesong; plurk: purple_drake. Preferred contact for plotting is PMs or email, though I don’t mind adding new people to plurk if I know there’s going to be regular contact. AIM is a less secure form of contact just because I can’t say when I’m going to be actively at my computer for long periods of time.
Is English your primary language?: One and only.

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Series: A standalone modern myth-fantasy called The Book of Joby by Mark Ferrari.
Series' Medium: Novel.

Character: The Archangel Gabriel. He frequently goes by ‘Gabe’, and has at least once used the pseudonym ‘Joseph’.
Age: No specific actual age is given in the book, but according to the timeline he’s sixty-five million years at the most. Dinosaurs pre-date angels, apparently. He’s younger than Michael and Lucifer, though, since both call him ‘little brother’. He also looks youthful; Gypsy says Gabe looks a bit older than him and Gypsy is twenty at that time. So let’s call Gabe twenty-three.
Sex/Gender: Gabriel’s chosen human appearance is male. Mentally, he most likely leans toward being asexual.
Canon Role: Supporting character. God’s companion, the Messenger, mediator for God and Lucifer’s wager, and generally speaking one of Joby’s call-upon aides.
"Real" Name: Noah Davies. In the lore of the Latter-Day Saints, Gabriel had two identities; one, the Archangel, angelic, and the other human, the Noah of the Ark variety. The name Noah isn’t used at all in Book of Joby canon, but it has the potential to feed into his ‘delusion’.
How long have you roleplayed your character, if at all?: A few weeks.

Where have you roleplayed in general and/or with this specific character?: I have roleplayed in Digital Dive, Mayfield, Sky of Diamonds, Bete Noire and Distant Skies; I still do currently play at Bete Noire (over two years) and Distant Skies (six months). I’ve only played this version of Gabriel on dear_mun.

Are you personally familiar with your character's canon?: Yes. The canon is a standalone 600-page book with no corresponding medium-canon (no film, etc) or supplemental material. I’ve read the book twice and am in the process of reading it a third time; it’s easily accessible for canon-reviewing.

Please give us a personal history of your character's life and explain to us in detail how they grow and develop over the course of their canon: Gabriel’s world is essentially a reflection of the real world; it’s set modern-day, with the same global threats (such as nuclear war) except that, apparently, a great deal of humanity’s negative history has some demonic influence behind it. Little is known about Gabriel’s past pre-canon save the obvious generalities: in the distant past Lucifer waged war on Heaven, along with a number of his siblings, and they were all thrown down and became demons. Gabriel was present at this time; precisely how he took part is unknown.

However, some of the Fallen repented at the last moment, and instead of Falling to Hell they Fell to Earth instead. There they lived for many years as ‘ancients’. Over time, watching the humans they loved die of age, they one by one requested God to make them mortal, so that they might live full years and then die as well, and be returned to His embrace as normal mortal souls. God fulfilled this request, but the descendants of these redeemed angels lived on—becoming the peoples of magic in myth and lore. Merlin is one of those descendants.

Given the relationship Gabe has with God and some comments from other characters (at one point Raphael, in particular, is surprised when God hasn’t seen Gabe in a while), it’s fairly clear that Gabriel is His most constant companion. Gabriel began the book in the company of God, being shown a sunrise in a café just on the ocean. He was present when Lucifer appeared to challenge God to a wager—that ‘same stupid bet’, that God’s chosen champion will renounce God and perform great wickedness. In this instance, the wager had the whole of Creation as the stake; if Lucifer won, God would destroy all Creation and remake it according to Lucifer’s specifications. God suggested Gabriel as the arbiter. Although Gabe did, at first, begin to ask what God’s thinking was, God interrupted him and Gabriel submitted, apologizing for his transgression almost at once. Even after God apologized in return for cutting him off and explains Himself—‘what if you’d made that ass think things over?’—Gabriel still resisted the urge to doubt God’s intent and simply dismissed his fears.

This is Gabriel’s beginning in canon: as an unquestioning companion, loving humanity and Earth as much as God did, but without feeling the need to question God in the least.

Soon after that, Gabriel witnessed the beginning of the wager between God and Lucifer, their terms, and pronounced them immutable even for God Himself. Among these terms was that God would be unable to pass any kind of judgment relating to the wager and that God commanded all beings in His service not to interfere unless directly asked for aid by the champion. The champion was a young boy named Joby, and Lucifer’s task was to corrupt him, without killing him, before his fortieth year. Unknown to either Lucifer or Gabriel was the fact that Joby was actually King Arthur reincarnated—along with Lancelot in his best friend Benjamin and Guinevere in their mutual best friend Laura.

Thereafter Gabriel spent a great deal of time merely watching Joby, feeling constrained by the terms of the wager and worried about the potential end result. Though he did, many times, wonder at God’s intent, the terms of the wager prevented God from speaking of it even those rare times when Gabriel got up the courage to ask. A great deal of time passed in which Lucifer and his demons did their work very well. They (along with Gabe) discovered who Joby had been in his past life and destroyed his second childhood, turning the intelligent, creative boy into a man forced into the binding life of mediocrity; one in which he could seem to do nothing right.

Several times, however, Gabe was spurred to make his presence known in small ways. When Joby’s mother Miriam grieved her dead father, Gabriel gave her some of his affection and faith to ease her pain. When Joby threw away one of his most prized possessions, a book of Arthurian tales given to him by Miriam’s father, Gabriel was torn between his desire to rescue the book and his fear of interfering. Ultimately, he chose to retrieve the book (though it was already gone, taken by Merlin, who was Miriam’s father and not dead at all).

Despite the small nature of these interferences, they mark points when Gabriel tentatively reached out on his own merits. God’s inability to make comment on any aspect of the wager included giving orders to the angels as well, and His flippancy over that fact only caused Gabriel to begin to doubt for the very first time in his existence. He was as afraid of the doubt itself as for the result of the wager.

Finally Lucifer’s orchestration resulted in the death of a close friend of Joby’s, a homeless young man named Gypsy, in a riot on the streets of Berkeley. Gypsy’s death by police officers nearly spurred Joby into doing something reckless as a result of blind rage; it was only by the interference of Merlin (under the guise of an old woman) which kept Joby from winning Lucifer’s wager for him. Fortunately for Merlin, Joby’s demonic guardians didn’t see through his disguise.

But Gabriel did, and so did God, and once more the angel struggled with demanding answers God couldn’t give. Merlin’s actions had reminded him that, previously, actions driven by love had never been a sin in Heaven, regardless of command. As far as Gabe could see, it came down to two things: God no longer loved Creation, or He had somehow gone in over His head. Gabriel point-blank could not believe the first, so therefore the second had to be true; and if it was, then Gabriel would do anything to help Him, regardless of the cost to Gabriel himself.

Thus it was that when Joby wished for a sign to escape Berkeley, Gabriel posed as a young roadtripper heading up the coast to a town called Taubolt, the location of one of Joby’s childhood holidays. Unknown to Joby, Taubolt was the small village on the coast guarding one of the remnants of Eden, the location of the Holy Grail, and one of the few remaining safe havens for magic. It was guarded by the Archangel Michael under the guise of a man named Jake.

Gabriel delivered Joby safely into Michael’s care in person, successfully getting Joby out from under the watchful eye of Hell. However, this was clear interference of the sort the wager prohibited; Joby’s wish was a wish only, not a direct call for aid to Gabriel. Moreover, it was directly disobedient of God’s command.

Michael was horrified. He pointed out that all angels who had disobeyed their Lord had become damned, just as Lucifer and his fellow demons had. The redeemed angels had not become so only by virtue of the fact that they, at the last moment, ultimately obeyed God. Despite his terror at the idea of damnation, Gabriel insisted he had done the only thing he could. If he needed to disobey God to help God, so be it.

It wasn’t all that long before Lucifer discovered Gabriel’s deception. The wager was saved only by dint of the facts that, firstly, if Gabriel was dismissed as arbiter the wager would have to be absolved; and secondly, as God pointed out, the wager did not demand that all the beings in God’s command obey His command. This was not much comfort for Gabriel, since disobedience surely meant damnation, and in any case he had clearly cast God’s integrity into question. Moreover, he had cast his trust of God into question.

Shaken, uncertain, questioning himself, Gabriel willingly exiled himself from God’s presence and wandered America instead (the book does not go into detail as to where he went). He was hounded by Lucifer’s demons, all of whom exacerbated his fears. By the time he thought to protect himself from Hell’s forces by returning to Taubolt, where the demons could not enter thanks to the presence of the Grail, Gabriel was already half-mad with despair. There, his fear of Michael’s reception prevented him from entering the town proper and drove him further into his depression.

In an attempt to escape these feelings Gabriel took the form of a mountain-lion so he could use the lion’s instincts as a cover for his own. He lurked the edges of Taubolt’s territory, freed from his tormenters but already so deep into the darkness of his despair and the bestial nature of the mountain-lion’s instincts that he registered as demonic on Taubolt’s wards. Eventually he was discovered by one of the town’s magical residents—Swami, a young psychic and empath with whom he connected on a mental level. That contact jolted Gabriel back into having some semblance of free thought and revealed to Swami that Gabriel and the man Swami knew as Jake were both Archangels. Swami went immediately to ‘Jake’ with what he had experienced, whereupon the two of them, and Merlin, returned to Gabriel to draw him out of his entrapment.

Merlin and Michael used Swami’s psyche as a fulcrum so they could enter Gabriel’s mind to draw him back (canon doesn’t go into detail about how this was accomplished). It was a great risk for Swami to take and, while Gabriel felt ashamed at having Fallen so far, Merlin pointed out that ‘few have had the courage to return from such a state’ (paraphrased). Though comforted by Michael and Merlin’s acceptance, and grateful to Swami beyond words, Gabriel only felt that his almost-Falling was one more act for which he needed to redeem himself. He needed some time to come to terms with the struggle and horror of such despair, and with his own turbulent emotions regarding the wager and God’s intent for all of them. Since he felt he no longer had the right to cast judgment on anything to do with the wager, he put himself under Michael’s command by requesting leave to help guard and care for the remnant of Eden which Taubolt kept hidden. Michael acquiesced.

From there, Gabriel remained one step apart from the main spiritual and metaphysical battle occurring in Taubolt proper. The town, once a peaceful paradise rooted in tradition and trust, had been strangled by law and red-tape. In spite of that, Joby’s hurts had slowly healed and he found there his old childhood friend Laura. Laura had a son, Arthur, who was Mordred’s reincarnation and, unknown to either Joby or Arthur, Joby’s son. Ben had also arrived in town.

Not long after Gabriel’s rehabilitation, Joby and Ben finally discovered not only the town’s magical roots—but also the presence of the Holy Grail powering its wards. That would be the last time anyone saw the Grail for some time to come. One of Lucifer’s human lackeys set fire to the church in which it was kept, killing its bodyguard, its guardian, and Ben. The Grail itself vanished. Michael, needing to remain where he was, ordered Gabriel to seek it out; for wherever the Grail went, the descendants of the redeemed angels would have to follow or risk being discovered by the world at large. Without its presence, Lucifer’s demons were able to enter the town.

In spite of his recent trauma, Gabriel was still very much on the side of aiding Taubolt and Joby in whatever indirect fashion possible. He submitted to Michael’s command and left the Garden Coast, taking Swami with him to keep the teen safe given what he knew from Gabriel’s mind. From there, the pair of them searched for the Grail.

Canon doesn’t go into detail regarding their travels. Gabriel watched over Swami, protected him as he would a brother and remained out of contact with Michael so as to avoid Lucifer’s attention. Eventually the Archangel heard God call for him for the first time in many years, and Gabriel left Swami in the protection of some wards to go to Him.

On a metaphysical plane Gabriel met with Michael escorting Joby after death, but didn’t stop to linger; his Master called. When he came to the Lord’s presence it was to find the wager had, at last, been resolved. Lucifer had lost through the simple matter of losing his temper and violating one of the most basic conditions: that Joby’s life would not be lost. (Granted, Lucifer had essentially lost already; Joby had already been pushed to the brink and refused the temptation of evil.)

Of course, as God said, ‘dead doesn’t mean dead’, so Joby’s life didn’t stay lost for long, but even so Lucifer’s action was a violation of the wager’s rules. God sent Ben, as Lancelot, to send Joby, having remembered his time as Arthur, back into the living world; and then He sent Michael to bring Joby and Merlin to Him in the Garden so the six of them could talk. Or rather, so God, Joby, Merlin and the Archangels could talk and Lucifer could sulk.

There God explained the wager to Joby in full. Though Lucifer had lost, he nevertheless demanded the souls of Michael, Merlin and Gabriel, all of whom had, in the end, violated God’s command to aid Joby unasked. Merlin, in his guises of random helpers, ensured that Joby might have some semblance of guidance. Michael, who had at the last overcome his fear of sharing Gabriel’s fate to protect the town by fighting the demons directly. And Gabriel, who had willingly and knowingly delivered Joby to the place where he could find the will to turn aside from Lucifer.

It was then that God pointed out another deeply-hidden loophole in the wager’s terms: that though it might have been His command for the beings in His service not to aid Joby directly, it was His Will that they should do so, even at risk of damnation. It was His final point to make to Lucifer, who claimed that the core of Creation was rotted through: that Creation’s core was so soundly built with love that even at risk to themselves His angels would disobey Him out of love for it. And He was right.

This revelation affected Gabriel in a way he’d never felt before. ‘Relief’ was too tame a word. ‘Confusion’ didn’t quite cover it either. Either way, Gabriel and the others clearly weren’t going to be damned, and although Gabriel wasn’t, at first, sure how to handle this, he accepted it by the sheer virtue of relief. At first.

Things began to settle. Although Taubolt had been destroyed, the Garden Coast, that remnant of Eden, had been preserved and Joby returned there to be with Laura, Arthur and his family from Taubolt. Gabriel returned to being God’s companion, but with a difference—he was now not only aware of his own capacity for free thought, but of the value God placed in it even in His angels.

Even still, Gabriel had a long lifetime of obedience to overcome, and although he tentatively tendered his own suggestions to God, the trickiness God utilized during the wager was still somewhat beyond him. There was still one question Gabriel wanted an answer to, and now he felt free to ask it: would God have really destroyed Creation if Lucifer had won? God’s answer: yes, He would have, but since ‘all of Creation’ included Lucifer himself, there was nothing stopping God from bringing everything right back the way it was once it became clear Lucifer wasn’t around to give orders as per the wager’s terms. Dead, after all, didn’t mean dead.

That was Gabriel’s last doubt and made it truly clear that, whatever God had commanded during the wager, He put the love of His Creation above anything else. It also helped solidify Gabriel’s assuredness in speaking out and making his own suggestions or feelings known to God directly. Of course, Lucifer didn’t see it that way. Even at the end of the book he was still wanting to chat to God—right before God and Gabe left the baseball game they were attending to go visit Prague to escape him, anyway.

What point in time are you taking your character from when he/she appears at Landel's and why?: Gabriel will be from a point just after the end of the book, once the wager has been resolved and God has confided in Gabe that extra little loophole Lucifer overlooked. Gabriel won’t have been in God’s company at the time, but at this point Gabriel is well-aware of the value God places on free will and, while still struggling with the concept of thinking for himself and not being actively submissive to Him, understands that God would not have abandoned him and the rest of Creation for the sake of defeating Lucifer. That is, Gabe’s faith has been compounded and he has experience with God’s tests for His own angels.

Thus Gabe will react to his new situation as a combination of possibilities: A) he has been kidnapped by Lucifer and subject to yet another form of demonic harassment; B) God has allowed this to happen because He now expects Gabriel to handle affairs in his own way, under his own will; C) that it is, quite possibly, a mission of which God has been unable to inform him. I chose this canon-point as compared to either pre-canon or inter-canon because canon makes it entirely clear that angels subjected to extreme despair become damned; that is, they become literal demonic beings or cease to exist in a fashion in which they once did. Since Gabe demonstrates a propensity for this, I felt bringing him in from a canon-point where his faith and awareness in his own sense of will are strongest would minimize the possibility that he would become unplayable—while still leaving open the fact that he will struggle with damnation.

This means that Gabe will generally view his circumstances as an opportunity to aid as many of those in Landel’s Institute as he possibly can, in whatever fashion he possibly can. Canonmates are extremely unlikely, but should they appear, depending on who they are, he would have several reactions: A) if it’s an angel, he would regard them as welcome reinforcements; B) a demon, he would regard as either an extra tormenter or a punished unfortunate of Hell; C) one of the humans, he would be shocked and consternated, particularly if it was Joby or one of his family (because such an appearance would ostensibly break the terms of the wager). The last case would affect him the most strongly and he would regard them as his responsibility.

Please give us a detailed description of your character's personality: Gabriel is loving, joyful, gentle, empathic, resolute, anxious, impulsive, somewhat self-centered and occasionally petty. Of course, all that is contained within one very important element: Gabriel isn’t human, and despite his most common appearance, the book makes no pretence of him being human. The biggest, most obvious way in which this is displayed is the manner in which Gabe doesn’t question his Master, which is a general angelic trait. He simply accepts what God says as true. Moreover, because he has always known God’s love and Presence, he can’t understand some human propensities; when Joby begs forgiveness, Gabriel is unsettled and confused as to why he’s begging for forgiveness he doesn’t need, and why he doesn’t just simply ask the angels for help. Likewise, he sometimes takes things too literally; although God frequently tells Gabe not to let Lucifer ‘get his goat’, Gabriel is usually anxious or rattled enough to not understand his meaning. The tier of existence in which Gabe lives is far broader than any merely physical one.

That being said, the book also highly implies that Gabriel is the most human of all the non-humans in the novel. Lucifer and his demons frequently show off their metaphysical states and the illusions of their human appearances; even Michael is seen in his true winged form near the end of the novel. In contrast, everything we see from Gabe is him taking on appearances which he enjoys or which allowed him to best able interact with the world around him—whether that be interacting with people or with the environment. Even Gypsy, once he has died and is on the metaphysical plane himself, sees Gabe only as the young man he casts himself to be in the physical world.

And this is where we can step into Gabriel as being himself, rather than as an angel. The book essentially states that Earth and humans are God’s favored Creations; it’s not exactly surprising that God’s most constant companion would be the one who is potentially the most like them and can appreciate them best in the same fashion humans do. Which is not to say that the other angels don’t love Earth and humanity, because they do; but unlike Michael, whose position in Taubolt seems more objective and watchful despite his interacting with the townsfolk under a pseudonym, Gabriel seems to enjoy experiencing far more. He goes to coffeeshops to watch the sunrise, he feeds the birds as a hobo, he watches baseball games live at the stadium. When Miriam is grieving in the cemetery, he offers her his faith and love. When Joby is at the police station after Gypsy’s death, Gabriel quite literally makes himself a part of the building, and then the city, in order to experience everything about it that makes it what it is, because he’s afraid he’s about to lose it. Gabriel’s way of loving Creation isn’t just a matter of standing back and watching it; he immerses himself in it and empathizes with it.

Although the majority of the book focuses on the ways in which Lucifer can deconstruct and twist people, even other angels, it’s pretty clear Gabriel doesn’t just love Creation but finds joy in just about all of it. The fact that he makes himself part of a police station—including a jail—indicates that he finds meaning and pleasure even in things you’d think are ugly. Another time, he and God pose as hobos specifically to feed birds—as opposed to just showing up in their usual clothes. In the beginning of the book, when God shows him a sunrise, Gabriel says that he could ‘watch just this one a thousand times over’. Just the fact that Gabe continues, over and over, to experience life in the manner he does—not as something under glass, but something by which he can be surprised again and again—indicates how much pleasure he takes out of it, even those things which are entirely mundane or even unclean.

Of course, that is not to say that Gabe goes about all this with a wild, reckless abandon. He’s a rather soft-spoken being, as content with inactivity as with activity. When Miriam needs comfort, he gives it to her in the most subtle of ways, in the shape of a butterfly, without drawing attention to his presence. In fact his shapes are frequently small or fragile—in canon he’s been a moth, a butterfly, a cat and a pigeon. They’re all shapes which let him observe without forcing his presence on the world. When Gypsy dies, Gabriel introduces himself as ‘Gabe’ rather than the more formal and intimidating ‘Gabriel’. Swami is the person with whom he interacts most outside of his direct family, and Gabriel treats him like a younger brother: he blesses him with a kiss on the forehead in gratitude for what Swami did to save him; when Swami is terrified by the loss of the Grail, Gabriel ‘sweeps him into his embrace’ and continues to hold him while he finishes his conversation with Michael; after they left to find the Grail and Swami is woken by nightmares, Gabriel hold him until he feels less afraid.

All of the above instances also display just how empathic Gabriel is, which is possibly the biggest indicator that he’s the most human of the angels. He offers comfort to Miriam for no other reason than he can. He rarely leaves Joby’s side, even though Joby isn’t aware of his presence, just because Gabriel can’t bear to be away just in case Joby might need him. He’s visibly and frequently anguished by his lack of ability to help, to the point of almost literal hand-wringing; in fact, a great deal of the time, he almost seems to experience Joby’s pain day-to-day. This, again, is a throwback to how he expresses his love for humanity—by feeling the same things they do, for better or worse. This trait even extends, to a certain degree, to enemies. When Lucifer sends Williamson, a damned human soul, to give Gabriel a message intended for God, Gabriel says of Williamson that he was ‘trembling so much with fright, I was tempted to take his hand and help him find his mommy’.

Gabriel’s empathy just doesn’t stop at sharing the pain and joy of others, however; he’s quite open about sharing his as well. The only exception in this instance is at the time of his self-exile, when he consciously struggles not to weep in front of God and Lucifer; given his and Lucifer’s relationship, this was most likely because he didn’t want to give Lucifer more reason to be gleeful than he already was. In all other instances, such as with Swami, or when arguing with Michael over his choice to disobey God’s command, or even when just rescued from damnation, Gabriel has no problem with showing what he feels, whether his pain or his love.

This all being said, Gabriel is no pushover. Far from it, in fact; his love and empathy for God and for Creation is what gives him his strength. Although not a person instinctively given to confrontation (unlike Lucifer, who is constantly confronting God with perceived slights, or Michael, who is an acknowledged warrior) Gabriel is not wilting flower. In fact, in his very first scene with Lucifer, Gabriel returns barb for barb, giving taunts as good as he gets. It’s only when God intervenes and requests they stop fighting that he curbs his impulse to goad Lucifer back. On later occasions, particularly when Lucifer casts aspersions on God’s integrity, Gabriel becomes indignant on His behalf. Other instances in which Gabriel shows his strength of will include the fact that he stands by Joby throughout Joby’s horrible life, witnessing it all, despite how painful it is; the fact that Gabriel risks damnation out of love for God and Joby, regardless of the perceived cost to himself; the fact that, when Michael calls him back from the brink of damnation, Gabriel manages to pull himself back from the precipice. His life of observation does mean he is quite used to watching the trials and tribulations of humanity, particular since he is implied to have been the arbiter for God and Lucifer’s bets many times in the past; as their witness, he likely watched those wagers play out fully. Similarly, although Lucifer is the devil, Gabriel shows no fear of him—just a great deal of coldness, frustration and sass.

However, Gabriel does have a tendency toward anxiety which crosses into a propensity for overreaction. Lucifer is one of the people who knows how to get under his skin the most; God regularly chides Gabriel for letting Lucifer ‘get his goat’. Often, Gabriel reacts to Lucifer’s taunting God rather than himself, though there have been times when Lucifer has taken Gabriel by surprise in general and gotten a reaction. Then there are those times when, watching the wager play out, God suggests playing cards or games in attempts to distract Gabriel from his worry; it never works, because Gabriel works himself into such a state that he simply can’t shake his fears away enough to indulge even his Master. When Lucifer discovers Gabriel ‘cheating’, even though God is clearly on Gabriel’s side and holds no anger toward the Archangel at all, Gabriel suggests his own exile from God’s presence; after exiling himself, Lucifer’s demons find it very easy to play on Gabriel’s fears to drive him further into depression. Then Gabriel is so convinced that Michael would judge him harshly that he felt unable to go to Taubolt to ask for help, even though Michael was clearly as afraid for him as angry at him at their last meeting. And then again, after Gabriel had returned from the brink of damnation, rather than attempting to make amends by directly aiding Merlin and Joby, Gabriel chooses to withdraw under the weight of his perceived faults. Of course, the security of his faith in God otherwise protected Gabriel from this downward spiral—it was only when Gabriel had cause to doubt so strongly, and then shifted that doubt to himself, that he truly began to submit to despair.

As an extension of his anxiety and even that tendency to overreact, Gabe is also sometimes impulsive. Usually, this is in a matter of thought; he reacts to things rather than think them through properly. When Lucifer, as a spider, sneaks up on Gabe and God as moths, and Lucifer taunts them about how lucky it was he didn’t try to eat them, Gabe’s immediate response is that Lucifer would have found his head bitten off by a praying mantis in return. This despite the fact that God clearly knew Lucifer was there. Of course, Gabe’s biggest impulse comes in the form of helping Joby in spite of God’s order; although Gabriel has no definite answers about the how and the why of God’s motives, he is nevertheless spurred to act, no matter the consequences. Likewise, he is impulsive in his conversation with Michael, asserting he did the right thing, and in his self-exile from God’s presence. Sometimes, knowing just isn’t enough for him—he just has to act on the instincts of which he’s still not quite aware.

That sort of unawareness is a throwback to his angelic state—that is, the fact that he’s never truly had to think for himself. Once it becomes clear God is doing something which puts Creation at risk, Gabriel is disorientated, to say the least, due to the burden God puts on him as arbiter for a wager in which Gabriel can’t ask advice. It also reveals a streak of self-centeredness; when God confirms that he’s actually going through with the wager, one of Gabriel’s first thoughts is ‘what about me?’ It’s a thought he has several times over the course of the book; although he is, obviously, worried about Creation as a whole, there are also moments in which Gabe feels personally betrayed by the thought that God might abandon him. This is in contrast to Michael, who, when he discovers that the whole of Creation is at stake, is concerned for Creation, for his brothers, and not as much for himself specifically. Essentially, Gabe has ‘youngest brother’ syndrome; since Lucifer’s Fall, he’s been the favorite, so once God is unable to give Gabe His full attention, Gabe does feel slighted. His most prominent reaction to this is to be somewhat passive-aggressive—mostly to God Himself, while trying to figure out just what God is thinking. It’s still not something he’s shaken by the end of the book; when God admits He would have ponied up had He lost, Gabe does feel hurt by the fact that God would unmake him. (Of course, God then whaps him one for not having enough faith, and then again for the fact that Gabe immediately goes to apologize for doubting Him, so the idea of being unmade ceases to be an issue; it doesn’t, however, erase the fact Gabe still takes his position somewhat for granted.)

Finally, Gabe does have the capacity to be petty to those whom he feels are deserving. Namely Lucifer, since he’s the opponent with whom Gabriel interacts the most, but presumably this extends to other members of Hell as well (those who aren’t terrified of him, anyway). Mostly this is showcased in the taunts Gabriel regularly exchanges with Lucifer—often in reaction to Lucifer’s own remarks, yes, but sometimes just because Gabe wants to needle him. After Gabe disobeys God’s command, his security in himself spirals too quickly for him to feel he has the high ground enough to taunt anyone; however, after the wager is over, in the epilogue, he does go back to sassing Lucifer with God behind Lucifer’s back.

Please give us a physical description of your character: Gabriel, in his human form, is described as ‘youthful’; having ‘beautiful copper features’, ‘liquid brown eyes’ and ‘curly locks so black one might have looked for stars among them’ (quote unquote from canon). Generally speaking, he’s described as being … well, angelically beautiful. Basically, he’s gorgeous. Of particular note is his killer smile. When Gypsy sees him, his description runs thus: ‘In fact, he was the most beautiful person Gypsy had ever seen. In that smile, Gypsy found everything he’d ever wished for in a friend, a brother, a parent, even a lover.’

In bearing Gabriel is gentle and sincerely caring—the sort who gives his attention as if you’re the one thing that matters most in the world in that particular moment, and means it. (See: Gypsy’s description of his smile.) He seems amazingly youthful, enough so that there’s a certain degree of innocence about him. Looking deeper will reveal that it’s the sort of innocence which comes to someone who is so powerful or self-assured in their faith that they have no reason to have endured hardship. That being said, there is a certain amount of added groundedness to his bearing now, in the fashion of someone still learning, still finding their way, but with confidence they can make it because they have all the support they need.

He is, in general, an extremely casual dresser; he goes barefoot fairly frequently and has no issues with dressing down, even to the point of looking like a hobo. (Or, well, being a hobo.) Of course, this only adds to his air of quiet self-assurance—he doesn’t much care about strict rules, societal or not, and isn’t worried about showing it.

In his animal shapes Gabriel tends to be coloured darkly. As a moth, he was dark-brown. As a mountain-lion, he was described as having black fur so dark that he looked more like a panther. As a cat, he was tortoise-shell, but with ‘strange dark eyes’.

What kinds of otherwordly abilities does your character have, if any?: Gabriel is an Archangel. In canon, he has demonstrated the following abilities:

* Shapechanging. This is not so much the ability to actively change his shape as wear a different piece of ‘clothing’ as an illusion; his true appearance is metaphysical, and he garbs himself in whatever form he desires at a time. It is, however, entirely possibly for him to become locked into a shape; after he began to Fall, he lost himself in the instincts of a mountain lion and almost became permanently trapped as a demonic giant kitty.

* Invisibility. Angels can keep themselves from being seen by mundane humans and even humans of power, such as the descendants of the Fallen. This seems to be a matter of inhabiting a plane slightly to the side of the ‘normal’ dimension, into which most cannot see.

* Item creation. When Gabriel takes Joby to Taubolt, he creates a vehicle out of nowhere in which to ride.

* Flight/teleportation. Gabriel is capable of near-instantaneous travel; assumedly it involves flight, though we never see Gabriel’s wings. (That being said, angels in Book of Joby canon do apparently have wings, because we see Michael’s.)

* Mind-reading. All angels can read minds. As a specific example, Gabriel connects with Swami on a mental level, and is later drawn out of his lion-shape by the same method. As a more general example, at the end of the book Raphael reads Joby’s mind without permission just because he can, even though it’s ‘supposed to be polite’ not to do so.

* Empathy. Different from mind-reading because, in canon, rather than feeling out someone’s emotions, Gabe explicitly sends his to them. In this case, he does it to Miriam, Joby’s mother, when she’s visiting her father’s grave; Gabriel passes on his faith in God and his care for her to help ease her unhappiness. Presumably this can happen the opposite way too, though it’s hardly necessary given his mind-reading ability.

* Soul-ferrying. Gabriel meets Gypsy’s soul when Gypsy is killed, and takes him up to Heaven.

* Immortality. Less a power, more a state of being. Gabriel does not age, fall ill or unconscious, require food, water or oxygen, and though it’s clear that metaphysical beings can die, it only happens when it’s a being of equal or greater power doing the killing. As an Archangel, it’s unlikely there are many who could do such damage to him.

* Heightened physical attributes. Strength, speed etc aren’t an issue for him.

* He can hear prayers. When Joby wished for a sign to leave Berkeley, Gabriel was aware of it, even though he can’t have been with Joby at the time (given the presence of Lucifer’s demons).

* Extrasensory skills. Angels can, apparently, sense demons or damned souls, because Williamson is frightened of that fact when Joby hitchhikes with Gabriel (though Williamson didn’t know for certain Gabriel was actually an angel, let alone Gabriel, he felt the coincidence was a little too much and wondered why the angel, if it was one, hadn’t ejected him from the car given it had to have known he was there).

* Warding. In the same example as above, Williamson couldn’t tell Gabriel was Gabriel even despite having met him before and the fact that Gabe was using his standard human appearance.

* Blessing. When Swami was exhausted in the process of saving Gabe from himself, Gabe blessed him with a kiss on the forehead. Swami described it as having so much energy he couldn’t help but stand, and felt he could almost fly. Whether or not this blessing can actively heal physical injuries isn’t stated, but I’m going to say not, since healing is traditionally Michael or Raphael’s domain and not Gabriel’s.

I assume Gabriel also possesses the following abilities, due to either implications in canon or theological lore, or a combination thereof:

* Smiting. In this canon this takes the form of being able to use magic as an offensive form—ie, described as ‘metaphysical lights and energy’. Though Gabriel himself never uses this power, nearly all his metaphysical siblings do; therefore, it’s safe to assume that Gabriel, also, is capable of offensive magic, though he refrains from its use.

* A comprehensive knowledge of languages. In theological lore Gabriel is the angel of communication and is known as a linguist. The Book of Joby seems to draw from such lore: ie, in BOJ Gabriel is quite obviously God’s companion and is rarely out of his presence except when he exiles himself; in theological lore Gabriel is said to ‘sit at the left hand of God’, and was only out of God’s presence when he was, depending on your source, either delayed by a demon or temporarily banished, both for twenty-one days. Given the canon’s recognition of this part of Gabriel’s lore, I feel it’s safe to assume Gabriel has the gift of languages as well, and therefore knows all the languages which exist in his version of Earth.

* Power in his voice, including singing. This is for two reasons: firstly, Lucifer pointedly describes Gabriel as a ‘songbird’, which implies part of his purpose is in music. Secondly, Gabriel is the Messenger, and one can safely assume a messenger’s voice is among the most important of his tools. The canon neither makes use of his voice as a source of power nor puts him in any circumstance where he has reason to use it; that being said, it’s possible it’s something he simply chooses not to use due to the effects it has. However, other characters, most notably Merlin, do show an ability to use power in their voice (in Merlin’s case, by telling stories), which suggests it would be possible for Gabriel as well. Thus, I think that Gabriel’s vocal power would be in the form of command and evocation: the ability to infuse his voice with power to lend a certain physical weight to his words and make them difficult to disobey; to use his voice to distract, embolden, enrage, terrify or otherwise affect a person’s emotional and mental state, to differing scales depending on his intent.

If present, how do you plan to tweak these powers to make your character appropriately hindered in the setting of Landel's?: The most obvious thing is that Gabe will be subject to all the same biological requirements as a human. Otherwise, as follows:

* Shapechanging. This power will remain less of an actual change and more of a very solid cloak, and will be limited to the shapes of: mountain-lion, moth, rabbit and stork. He will be able to use each shape once per night-shift, for a maximum of ten tags. Injuries sustained while in another shape will carry to his human body.

* Empathy. Gabe can either feel someone else’s emotions or lend them his own, both to limited extents. The most he would be able to glean from the former would be strong emotions attached to something representative of the cause, and this would require direct hand-to-skin contact. Contact through clothing would result in a vague emotion, without an attached cause. Alternately, he can offer his emotions to others, either to ease their own heartache or (though this will not happen often, if at all) make them feel unbalanced. This talent will be activated, usable only when he’s in his human form. Overuse or backlash (ie, if Gabe is unprepared for feeling a strong emotion or is sustaining contact) will result in a headache and (subject to severity) either Gabriel being influenced by whatever strong emotion he was reading for the rest of the night or finding it more difficult to feel the emotion he gave away for the same length of time.

* Blessing. Once a day, Gabriel can bless a person and thus renew their energy and morale; though he cannot heal any injuries, he would basically give them the mental fortitude to resist their effects. This stacks with his shapeshifting ability; if he’s shapeshifted too much in one day, his Blessing will be significantly lessened.

Does your character have any non-otherworldly abilities/training that surpass the norm?: Gabriel is Gabriel, the patron saint of communication. He has a comprehensive knowledge of all the languages, either spoken in the past or which are spoken in the present, which exist in his version of Earth. That is, he knows everything from long-dead languages to current ones; he does not know languages which are fictional unless they happen to be often-used. So while he knows Old Norse and Modern Greek, he cannot speak any of the languages inferred in, say, Animorphs; and while he does know fictional languages which are extremely well-known (ie, Sindarin or Klingon) he does not know any more than what already exists in his world (that is, he will not be fluent in either Sindarin or Klingon beyond what vocabulary and syntax is already present in the real world, of which his world is a reflection). That being said, he’s exceedingly good at picking up new languages.

He has the general breadth of knowledge which a metaphysical being of his age should. Knowledge of Christianity, the state of the universe, etc. As an angel, he also has a fantastic degree of focus; Ferrari says: ‘… not to say that angels are easily entertained, only that they find more meaning in the least fragment of shell or surf-polished glass than the most appreciative mortal mind might draw from a Russian novel or a week at the Grand Canyon.’ This, after Michael spent three days just sitting and watching the interaction between shore, ocean and sky. So Gabe is … really, really focused and patient, to an inhuman degree.

He’s a singer. I’m nerfing any actual magic in it, but he still has a ‘stop and stare, turn and look, listen spellbound, holy cow’ sort of voice. Angelic and all that. By extension, he is also exceptionally good at mimicry.

Finally, Gabriel is very strong and quick for his height/weight, though no longer beyond the bounds of what might be possible realistically speaking. He still doesn’t really know how to throw a punch or fight hand-to-hand, but he does know how to use swords and spears, and is quite skilled at them. He’s better at the latter than the former; according to theological lore, Gabriel’s weapon of choice is a spear. I don’t think it’s something he tends to use very often in Book of Joby canon, however, so while he is very skilled when compared to an average fighter due to his age and experience, fighting isn’t actually one of his talents. As well, his inexperience with a mortal body will mean he’d need some time to adjust for it in a battle.

What do you see your character doing in the scope of the game and how do you plan to use the setting of Landel's Institute to develop them and affect their psychology in a unique, interesting way?: Gabriel is loving, gentle, and at heart a helper; there’s a reason he was the first angel to disobey God’s command not to interfere with Joby’s test. His main concern would be helping the inmates—not just in terms of escape, but in terms of their mental and physical health. Actually, unless he has reason to believe someone is completely damned, he will in general be concerned for the life and beauty of all beings in the Institute, and see it as his duty to protect their mental health. This includes the staff—he may well assume they’re pawns, unless they demonstrate clear signs of being damned souls themselves.

Of course, Gabe himself is new to this ‘free will’ thing and being in a situation where he is cut off (for whatever reason) from God and his brothers means that he will be totally reliant on the other characters, no matter how faithful he is. It will force him to assess how he reacts to things more closely than he did in canon because he will be aware of the nature of himself as a free-thinking being, as opposed to in canon where he believed he was on the road to damnation for being disobedient. How he handles this is one of the things I’d like to play out.

In addition, Book of Joby angels become demonic if subject to a severe enough state of despair. Not much is said in canon about Gabriel’s struggle with it, and given the circumstances of the time (wherein Gabriel legitimately believed he had failed his Master), I’m really drawn by the prospect of being able to play into the struggle of faith versus despair now that Gabriel is actually thinking for himself to a greater degree. His faith in God will keep Gabe from becoming unplayable, but at the same time his position as self-appointed caretaker of the Institute means he’ll have to handle some pretty rough things, psychologically speaking, without being able to discuss them with God or his brothers.

Given that this RP takes place in an unsettling and outright horrific environment, how do you justify your character as being appropriate in both body and mind for this kind of setting?: Gabriel is very old and has seen a lot of bad stuff, albeit nearly always from the perspective of observer. He’s quite aware of what humanity is capable. In terms of his body, well, it’s not exactly his to begin with, even though it’s the body he seems to wear the most; either way, playing him as subject to human biological necessities will just be fun. He’d probably find it an utterly fascinating experience.

Third-Person Sample: It was, Gabriel supposed, not entirely surprising that Lucifer should seek him out. After all, ever since the wager’s end Lucifer had been more tenacious than ever in trying to pin the Creator down to talk to him. What on Earth there was to talk about, Gabriel wasn’t sure; Lucifer had lost cleanly, and he surely couldn’t be ready to make another bet again so soon.

Then again, Lucifer always wanted to talk after he lost. And on those two occasions that he had won. But it was the losses that made him particularly driven to find their Lord, and God had sort-of gone into hiding. Gabriel knew where He was, of course. It still filled him with a glow of satisfaction that God had actually chosen one of his hesitantly tendered suggestions as a place to lay low for a while.

Even before the war in Heaven, Gabriel and Lucifer hadn’t really got on. Lucifer called him a Teacher’s pet even that far back, and as far as Gabriel was concerned Lucifer needed to be taken down a few pegs; if God wasn’t going to do it, well, Gabriel couldn’t help but approve of Michael doing so. He’d tried to love his wayward older brother. He really had. In some ways, he had succeeded. But Lucifer wasn’t even remotely the same being as he had been, no longer possessed those traits Gabriel had actually found worthy of admiration, and had made it very clear that he considered Gabriel beneath him.

All of which meant that, even though it shouldn’t have been surprising for Lucifer to seek him out after some months of being utterly unable to find God, it was.

“Still pottering around in the garbage, Gabriel?”

Gabriel resisted the urge to turn around. Lucifer didn’t need the encouragement, and in any case the child before him was looking past him, her shoulders drawn in and her eyes wide. Probably Lucifer reminded her of a particularly stern teacher.

“Found one!” Grinning, the Archangel straightened up from where his arm had been elbow-deep in a hole in the sand, offering his hand to the little girl. She blinked, tore her gaze from his brother behind him, and her mouth curved into an ‘o’ of delight. With a laugh Gabriel pressed the nickel-sized shark’s tooth into her hand; the sheer brilliance of her smile made his chest ache with the joy of it, and he could only beam back.

Her name was Evy. Lucifer probably wouldn’t appreciate that little tidbit, and Gabriel made a note to himself not to let him find out, just in case the devil decided to be petty.

Of course, Lucifer never did appreciate being ignored, either.

“Really, Gabriel,” he sneered. “Must you? Of all our little family, one might think you’re the worst of the lot. Wallowing in a sewer like this.” Gabriel didn’t need to turn around to imagine the way his brother’s lip was curling, the fact that he was probably brushing off his suit as though Gabriel’s appearance might rub off on his own.

The Archangel didn’t reply, but Evy’s attention was drifting again.

“Come on,” he said to her, and gave her a smile. “You should always fill in a hole after you’re done with it.” So saying, he rose up on his knees, half-sunk in the wet sand, and put his hands against the mound of equally wet sand to start pushing it into the opening. After a moment’s hesitation, Evy gathered her confidence and followed suit with a focus that indicated she was trying, very hard, to ignore Lucifer just as he was.

“Of course, you’d never get in trouble with our dear Father, would you,” Lucifer said bitterly. “You’re His new favorite. He made that perfectly clear when He let you off the hook just recently. Don’t think I’m forgetting so easily, little brother.”

Gabriel just managed not to wince, but when Evy peered worriedly up at him through her bangs he gave her a rueful smile. “I’m sorry,” he said, “but I think I should take care of this.” He jerked his head over his shoulder as if Lucifer was an afterthought that really wasn’t worth Gabriel’s time but ought to be handled anyway, and felt a thrill of satisfaction at the strangled sound of outrage from behind him. “I’ll come back soon, okay?”

“Okay,” Evy agreed hesitantly, but then grinned. “I’ll make a sandcastle.”

With a laugh Gabriel pushed himself to his feet, waved to her parents (who were sitting on their picnic blanket about fifteen feet away, watching with a clear mix of amusement and uncertainty) and started to turn, pausing at the sight of the ocean. The sun was out today, and its light glittered on the ceaselessly shifting waves. The water gleamed blue and green, and met with the clouds on the horizon in such a way that it almost seemed as if the sea had been spun into fabric.

Only absently did Gabriel brush off his knees and hands—the latter onto his blue T-shirt, wet in patches from the surf—and try to shake off the sand clinging to his arm from reaching into the hole. The salty breeze tousled his hair; he took a deep breath of it, enjoying the coolness which kept off the heat (not that he had to worry about getting burned), and wriggled his toes in the sand as the foamy surf washed over them. Behind him, Evy squealed as the water got in the way of her sandcastle-making.

Beautiful. Gabriel’s chest expanded with the warmth of joy as he finally turned toward Lucifer. The other angel was, naturally, dressed to the nines in a suit, shiny black shoes and a cane, his hair neatly combed and gelled. Gabriel gave him a dazzling smile. “I’m sorry, Lucifer, I didn’t see you there. May I help you?”

Lucifer’s wordless, red-faced glare of mixed disgust and fury was, Gabriel felt, well worth the slight pettiness.

First-Person Sample: [This message is written in a beautiful flowing copperplate.]

Dear Lord,

I confess

I must admit to some

[There’s a cluster of dots, as if he’s been tapping the page while in search of a word before choosing another line of thinking entirely, franker and less studied.]

I’m not sure what’s just happened to me. I feel that if You had been able to warn me prior to my arrival here, You would have. As You didn’t, I must assume that something has kept You from being able to do so.

Unless You chose not to. If I may be frank Frankly, my Lord, if that is so then I feel it is rather cruel of You to allow me to be brought into a place like this with no forewarning, so soon after the completion of Your wager.

[There follows a deeply indented dot, again as if in thought—but with focus this time.]

… But no less cruel than the burden placed upon Joby. If he can withstand it, in possession of even less understanding than I, then I owe it to You to at least try.

Until my purpose here is complete, my Lord, You have my everlasting faith.

Gabe

[Then, at the bottom of the page:]

Lucifer. If you’re reading this, brother, and I have no doubt you are, rest assured that I will not be so easily swayed to despair this time.

Gabriel

---

My character is from a completely text-based medium, with no corresponding imagery. That being said, I’ve chosen Darren Criss as a PB for him based on looks and on bearing, compared to Gabriel’s description in the book. In particular, the appearance in this photograph is nearest as far as length of hair and styling goes.



Completely optional question for first-time applicants: How did you find out about this RP and why are you interested in playing in it?: I can’t even remember; it’s been so long that I’ve been aware of the game’s existence. I’m interested in playing here because of the potential for psychological exploration, using horror as a basis. As far as this particular character is concerned, such a basis is extremely relevant given the propensity of angels to turn demonic under the influence of despair. Basically, it sounds fun.