Sobering Up (Gabe/Moonie)

It was nice to spend the evening drinking for a bit, even though Gabe didn't necessarily know what he was going to do once the night began. OR maybe he did know? Maybe that's what scared him the most, what he was actually capable of once he put his mind to it.  "Tch..." Gabe's door was a crack open as he sat by the side of it, unable to move an inch for a while.  A tipsy slumber was soon to follow, and home invasion was unlikely, but could happen.  All he had in his head was the number of situations he found himself in over the supernatural. Now he was in charge of people, could he do it? 

It goes without saying that Gabe felt like it was something  he had to do, without any failures whatsoever.  He would keep all of his cards close enough, until the time he has to use them.  However, sitting on his phone would hear made for somewhat of an awkward situation, butt calling selenus, only to estranged breathing.

After Selenus had finished obtaining the relaxation he needed in the ALPE camping grounds, he left the woods and returned to the main sector of Endymion City. The nocturnal streets of Sunlake Palms were next to empty, as per usual, but that didn't incite Selenus to be any less careful with his presence than he ever was (well, nowadays anyways. Day 1 doesn't count.). He snuck around the streets, making his way back to the Allaway residence in time before Trinity's parents were set to return. His sneaky antics would be interrupted, however, by a noticable beeping sound that only he himself could hear, as it was a product of nothing but his internal OS. Gabe had called him. Huh. Selenus had simply assumed that after that fateful morning's... "incident", Gabe would have wanted nothing to do with the nearly-traitorous robotic wolf. Regardless, fearing that he would worsen the situation between him and his friend and new temporary leader, Selenus hid in a bush, switched his voice modulator to the "system only" setting, and answered the call.

"......." Just silence for a while as Gabe reached into his back pocket slowly and took out the phone. He stared at it for a little while longer, glossy eyes recognizing the name. "Oh... Selenus... you called?" Gabe didn't know that Selenus called, or better yet, that he called Selenus. But they were here now, and Gabe figured that they should speak anyway. "About what happened earlier....  you want to talkabout it? Even though it seemed like everything is cleared up, if there is anything weighing you down over that altercation, feel free to come over and talk... *Gag*" Gabe covered his mouth quickly, trying to hold it down. " in person. Come over and talk....yea..

Selenus listened intently to the words that arrived from the other side of the call, but no matter from which way Selenus looked at it, it seemed as if Gabe had either been forced to inhale lethal amounts of novocaine, or he had had a run-in with Soju or an alcohol of similar potency. He took a deep mental breath so as to not allow laughter to escape his grip. "Umm.... Gabe, you called me. Is this a prank call? Look if you're still upset over what happenned and wanted to take it out on me by wasting my time, fine, I deserve it, but you should know that using this line for something like this is extremely perilous and reckless." If his creeping suspicion was indeed what was happening, then Selenus already regretted endorsing Gabe as person in charge of the team.

"Huh?" Gabe blinked a few times as his consciousness slowly started to come back to him. Not immediately, but enough to take a gander at what was occurring right now. "Oh, you're right, probably shouldn't be talking on this........Sorry...."  That was all Gabe could say.  "It was an accident... to be honest with you.........." Though, something else was on Gabe's mind. "Knowing that you might be facing some unspeakable horrors, danger lurking, life flashing before your eyes.... ever felt like you needed tp take the edge off when you knew what to expect a few hours from now? Or maybe that's too complicated? So..how about this...?" Gabe would take in a deep breath. "Can robots get drunk? Or is that assessment too comical?"

"..." Selenus would not have the heart to grace those questions with an honest response. He couldn't help but wonder if he had played some part in driving the magician to drink (though even if he gelt guilty, he still felt dissappointed in Gabe. He understood that humans (like all intelligent creatures) needed to get rid of stress, but forgetting them was just another way of running away from them, he felt.) "Where are you? I'm coming to keep you under control. The last thing I want is you getting shitfaced and self-snitching us out." That'd be an ironic end to their dream: Tatsui's dreams shattered, Selenus's hopes of reunion destroyed, and Trinity's goal of leaving her mark on the world before she died... all thrown down the sink because Gabe couldn't help but torture his own liver.

"I don't need to be controlled, I just wanted to talk. So what? I have a few drinks and you don't trust me all of a sudden? I can necessarily say that the day started with pleasantries and grace,  if you recall. I'm dealing with it in my own way, but that doesn't serve as my substitute for neglecting my responsibilities. "Gabe was starting to sound more like himself, so maybe that was a good thing. He didn't need anyone to be here right now, he wanted to be alone. Harsher realizations of life only serve as a wake-up call. "That government demon, do you think it was a coincidence that it showed up the way that it did? I envy you, you might have the processing capabilities to take on the situations as they come, but taking the edge off of any probable mishaps or possible traitors in the midst is just what is is, coping with the thought. One of my many ways to do so include drinking, i don't know if it's the same for advanced machines.

"...I'm not about to discuss that information over radio. Utmost caution, remember? We can talk about it at length when we're alone, but over long-range communication we can never be sure of that." They had definitely talked about this during the morning meeting, catastrophic as that went. "You envy me?" Selenus let out a slight chuckle. "That's a first. What about me is enviable?" He couldn't help but sigh at Gabe's elaboration, his tail curling up around his leg as a form of immediate anxiety removal. A nervous tick, if you will. "You don't think I have trouble coping?" The suggestion angered him, but he wouldn't let it show. Gabe didn't know, after all, so he couldn't fault him for it. "Gabe, it's literally impossible for me to forget anything. Everything I've ever done, been told of or witnessed is engraved in data inside me, which means that every single mistake I've ever done is going to haunt me 'til the day I stop functioning. I can't cope, I just have to accept and move on or be forever stuck in the past; there's no other option for me. And trust me, there's a lot of things that I've done that I'm not exactly proud of... like this morning's incident, for instance. You have it much better, if you don't like something you did, you can pretend like it never happened, and if you're having trouble you can even intoxicate yourself to smooth out the process. I can't do that..."

Gabe was quiet for a moment, listening to what Moonie had to say about Gabe’s sudden analysis. In a sense, it seemed as if Gabe angered the robot, which is something he seems to successfully do in the case of others for some strange reason. He wondered why, but maybe it’s all linked in the approach? ” Sorry, I shouldn’t have come off so strongly about what you said. I didn’t fully understand the weight of the situation. Not being able to forget, having to face your past and present mistakes to move on the future. It sounded to Gabe like a blessing and a curse.

“Everything had both an upside and a down side. You might not be able to drink it away, but you can probably move on better than most. IF that is your situation, then it’s possible that you are capable of growing more in the sense of bonding with others and finding yourself.”

Gabe sounded like he truly believed that. ” Letting sleeping dogs die, it sounds so hurtful when people simply pretend and forget. Don’t get me wrong because I said that, closure isn’t a guarantee and never should be treated as such. You’re just less likely to waste time by lying to yourself, it’s something that most human beings will do, simply because they can. Emotional luxuries don’t save anyone Selenus, that’s what I’ve…come to learn.

Selenus remained silent for a few seconds after Gabe had finished speaking his mind. Not because he wanted to spite him or because he was too afraid to talk back, but because he had nothing to say to that. What does one say to something like that? It was a little bit humbling to think that Gabe apparently still thought highly of Selenus after what had gone down this morning, but more than anything it was extremely guilt-inducing, which wasn’t at all helping his lack of ability to forget in question. After a few seconds of silence, Selenus would finally find the way to speak up. “Well… I suppose there’s not much I could say to deny that.” The wolven robot admitted as he climbed a few small steps and…

*DING DONG*

Unbeknownst to Gabe, Selenus had been heading towards Gabe’s home during this entire call. Hearing the doorbell resonate not only from the inside of the house, but from the call as well made Selenus sure that Gabe was indeed home. He DID notice that he’d left his door open by a crack, but it would’ve been rude to simply barge in. “I’m not here to keep you under control.” He reassured him. “I just feel these kinds of conversations are better had in person.”

If there was something that caught Gabe off guard, it was the sudden ring of the doorbell. "Hm? Hold on a second, looks like i have some company..." Gabe then ended the call for a moment as he went off to the door in order to see who it was, which was Selenus himself. The door was also cracked open a bit, Gabe realizing his mistake and being rather thankful that it was a friend than a foe. "Come in." Gabe would say as he lifted the door, allowing Selenus inside. After that, Gabe would close the door, locking it promptly before plopping on the couch.

"If i knew i was going to have company, i would of cleaned up a little. I mean, the house is in good shape, there are just some rooms i don't use often that started to collect some dust.

”No, no, it’s fine. I came in uninvited, so it would be rude of me to even expect the house to be orderly. Not that I assume you to be normally disorderly, I just… well, you get the point.” With a sheepish laugh, Selenus would step into Gabe’s home and look around. It was homely, to say the least, but he felt like he shouldn’t have expected much less. Gabriel was a bookstore owner, after all. ”Still, thank you for having me. I’m surprised you can tolerate me after what… well, after what happened… no, what I did this morning. I wanted to formally apologize since the moment after it happened, but I didn’t want to chase after you and make you feel like you were in any more danger than you already were.” Selenus’s words had an air of sincerity around them, as if they’d taken off a costume after a long, long day of pretending.

"Friends fight, that's all I can really say about that. We had a disagreement, there was a misunderstanding. All i can really comment on was the fact that for one, no one got hurt. And two..... we are here now, conversing like adults. Results are the only thing that matters when it comes to altercations, as well as the follow-up. I learned that from... the older people in my life. " Gabe then went to get a cup of water. After he did, he would sit down in a nearby couch. "We are here now, and weaponized to each other. With this, the only to move is forward from here on. Selenus, my friend. i hold nothing against you. Why should i treat you any differently from those this would occurred with if it was anyone else? Because you're different?"

Gabe shook his head and took a big gulp of his water. "Of course not.."

Selenus paced around for a bit, simply enjoying the aesthetics of Gabriel’s home. He was no interior designer, to be sure, but… there was still some sense of satisfaction that came to Selenus from the design of the house (though to be fair, all houses in Sunlake Palms were homely and accommodating). “Right” Was the only thing that Selenus would comment as Gabriel listed off what he had to say about the earlier incident and where they stood now as friends and teammates. The lack of further commentary wasn’t an end result of disinterest or lack of opinion, it was, simply put, because Selenus felt the exact same way. He was just glad that Gabe was understanding enough to see things in a fair and objective manner.

An awkward silence would plague the two terrorists for a bit, and eventually Selenus would speak up. “So, you wanted to talk about the demons?” An uncomfortable subject for the robot dog, but one that needed to be addressed nonetheless. “Have you got any theories about what we saw last night?”

"Theories about what we saw? Which, the fact that there was some kind of human demon hybrid that appeared in the dungeon?" Gabe would think about it for a moment as he pushed up his glasses. "I'm not too sure, if i'm being honest with you. It could be a brand new way of the government using the demons to their advantage. Well, crossing demon genes into humans physiology. Yes, that sounds quite like a Sci-Fi film, but it's the only thing I can think of for now. " And in other news. " Well, if as a human being, i was able to see demons before. What i'm curious about is what we aren't able to see them anymore without being a persona user? That's what i'm curious about.