Owner Pose
Cael Becker     Things are unusually quiet in New York City these days - even in Brooklyn, which isn't under a mandatory evacuation order. My residents had still thought it best to flee, and many businesses are closed - decreasing the traffic dramatically - so for once, the sound of a single motorcycle pulling up might be noticeable.
    Cael takes the stairs up to her flat, jogging at a casual pace, with her hands in the pocket of her jacket. She doesn't announce herself as she lets herself in - her helmet hanging from one arm, and her blonde and rainbow-hued hair sticking out from under a beanie pulled down over her head.
Johnny Blaze Too quiet.

Johnny didn't like this, but when an invasion force of incredible proportions is attacking the city, it can make sense that the only noises one could hear are explosions in the distance or weird chants of latin. But, irregardless, it can be far, far more unsettling when you can't even hear the regular traffic noises anymore as New York turned into the population of a town overnight. Yet, when Cael walks into the apartment, She would see Johnny there, apparently making himself some food.

*sniff*

Pasta, by the smell of it. Spaghetti?
Cael Becker     "Oh, uh... hey," Cael remarks by way of greeting - as she hears the sounds in the kitchen, and smells the sound of cooking. Has to be Sara's friend, right? After all - who would break into an apartment and then just help themselves to the spaghetti?
    ...well. Weirder things have happened.
    "Thanks for looking after the place while we're away," she calls - as she hangs her helmet on a hook near the door. "Hope there hasn't been any trouble?" See? She knows how to be polite. She's trying //very hard// to be polite. After all Sara has done for her - after all she's put the woman through - the least she can do is try to be nice to a guy she doesn't particularly like.
    Besides, staying in the apartment while they're away //is// doing them as much as favor as they're doing for him.
    Her gloves are pulled off as well, tucked in over the belt that helps cinch her leather riding pants to her waist, and her beanie is pulled off as well - her fingers running through the colorful locks to settle them back into place.
Johnny Blaze Unless it's an angel with a sudden key to the apartment, Johnny doesn't have muc hof a reason to be alarmed. Though, further investigation as to Johnny's 'workspace' in the kitchen one will easily notice a sawed-off shotgun resting on the counter. He is more than prepared to handle someone who walked in at the wrong place and the wrong time, it would appear.

Or maybe that's just the message he wanted to deliver to uninvited guests, when it turns out to be Cael walking through the door? He gives a bit of a smile to her and gives a nod. "Hey, Cael. How's it going?" He questions her with a bit of a chuckle. "Nah, there wasn't any trouble. Sara dropped by last night with groceries, but that's about it." He nods softly.

He's largely just being a sitter for the apartment.
Cael Becker     "Like shit - which is better'n I expected, honestly," Cael remarks in a dry tone. "But I'm surviving. Glad things have been going well, here. You've - uh, been going into Manhattan?" she asks. "How're things there? And at Grand Central?" she asks.
Johnny Blaze "Yeah, that's usually the general gist of it, isn't it? Seems to be going around. Shitty time means shitty feelings, but...well." Johnny lifts his head to look at her. "We're alive, arn't we?" He tells her with a small smile. "But happy to hear you're doing okay, all in all." JOhnny shrugs then, though he seems to be incredibly amused for a moment at her question.

"Shitty, to be honest. We're not losing, but we're not gaining ground either. The angels have been quiet, and I've been trying to go in for survivors, or...really, anyone who didn't get smart and get the hell out of dodge."
Cael Becker     There's something sad, and tense in Cael's smile - but she doesn't clarify for Johnny. She doesn't need to tell //everyone// she encounters all of her issues. "I'm glad someone's doing that work. Wish I could be more help but- ...that'll be a little while, I think." She reaches her hand down, as if she expects something to be there - but Bear can't come when her when she's on her bike, so she left the mutt back at the Triskelion. Lifting her hand, she shoves it into the pocket of her jacket instead. "As long as you've all got each others' backs - we'll find our way through this. I mean, we have to. What other choice have we got?"
Johnny Blaze JOhnny notices the sadness in Cael's smile, how tensely she thins her lips into a line. Johnny seems to stop cooking for a moment, as he clears his throat and looks at Cael. "You want to tell me what's been goin' on?" He questions her with a curious tone in his voice. It's not something that suggests a lighter response is requested. But, it would appear that Johnny keeps his full attention on Cael, crossing his arms a little bit.

"Yeah, that makes sense. We all find our way eventually. If we don't? Well, then we all die." JOhnny chuckles. "But yeah, we'll find our way. Even you. You just haven't found it yet."
Cael Becker     "I know the way," Cael says a bit cooly. "The way is hard, but I know it." Her gaze drops down and away for a few moments, her jaw tightening before she's finally able to offer a response.
    "Look - I don't know if Sara told you anything - she probably didn't tell you much, though. This asshole who's threatening to reset our reality, and unmake us all? He kidnapped me, got into my head, tortured me, and made me want it. I'm only alive at all because Sara and Jon and a few others arrived a few moments before he would have killed me. Five minutes later, and I would have been dead," she says flatly.
    "So yeah. I'm having some trouble with all of this, and with the fact that people can still worship the 'loving God' that's behind all this... death, and cruelty."
Johnny Blaze Johnny hums a moment, even as her jaw tightens and her gaze seems to lower. Yet even as she speaks of Sara telling him anything, he looks at her. "Mhm." Johnny replies to simply showcase that he's listening. Though Johnny seems to look calm and collected, even as she seems to strike not at Michael, but at God - or rather, the Presence - themselves.

"You're blame is misguided. You assume one person's identity with another, and believe the Presence to be ultimately responsible for Michael's actions rather than Michael himself." Johnny tells Cael with a bit of a frown. "Bitterness is a poison, Cael. It will eat you alive from the inside out until you're a husk, like me."

Johnny frowns then. "I'm sorry for what happened to you, I am. I don't even know all the details, the darkness, the lessons learned or not learned, the pain that healed or scarred, I don't know. But the sins of the creation can't be put on the sins of the creator. If you are tortured by the son, do you blame the father or the mother? If you are hurt by the Father, do you blame the Son? Michael is an Archangel. Do you blame Uriel? Or Raphael? Or Lucifer?"

Johnny seems to pause for a moment. "Forgive me, I don't mean to lecture. But I get why you don't like me, especially for my beliefs. But...you are part of a club, so many....-so many- people have gone through what you have. Either by an angel's hand or a demons. Michael is sick and diseased, and like all diseases, he needs to be put down."
Cael Becker     The tension in Cael's form only increases - her shoulders going stiff, and her hands tightening in her pockets. Anger flashes in her eyes before she replies through gritted teeth. "See? This is why we can't fuckin' talk. I told Sara I'd try to play nice, but-" She lets out a sound of anger and frustration, moving away from Johnny, and moving towards the nearby couch to kick at it, trying to work out some of the pent up energy.
    "Your 'loving God' sits up there on his throne, while his 'son' - his supposed right hand, from what I've been told - prepares to destroy all of reality. //He does nothing.// How can you worship a God who cares so little? What the //fuck// has he done to earn your love? And you think //I'm// the one who's misguided? Fuck! //Fuck that//!" she shoots back, pacing the room in frustration.
    She should leave. She should just get what she came for - and leave, before she says or does worse.
    "You want to know what he did to me? He got in my head, filled me with love, and warmth, and acceptance - and I nailed //myself// to a fucking cross to try to earn that love. Your God needs to clean up his fucking mess, //that's// what I think," she insists - glaring at Johnny, then turning to stalk away from him.
    She shouldn't be talking about this. She shouldn't be talking about this without Bear.
    Fuck.
Johnny Blaze "Just because it doesn't look like it doesn't mean its not happening."

Is all Johnny replies on the act of God seemingly doing nothing. "We can't expect God to magically fix all of our problems or solve every issue. Otherwise, that defeats the entire purpose of free will. And believe me, from someone who burns every single second of every single day, who sees all the sins and evils of mankind on a regular, minute-by-minute basis..." Johnny goes silent as she begins to explode at him.

Johnny frowns. "He gave me my soul back. After all the horrible things I've done, after all the sins I've committed and people I've sent straight into the arms of the most sadistic hell lord in the lake of fire." Johnny frowns then. "He's earned my love by letting me breathe for even another minute." He looks at Cael then, lowering his head as he crosses his arms.

He doesn't apologize for what he's said. "Michael's going to burn...and so am I." Is all he says as she begins to stalk away from him.
Cael Becker     "There's a difference between expecting him to fix the problems caused by mortals, or- or even natural disasters, or... //whatever,//" Cael manages to bite out. "But this is how own //servant// threatening to destroy all of reality - so no! I don't think it's too much to expect God to clean up his own fuckin' mess," she points out bluntly, still stalking around the room.
    She needs her pup - she needs Bear, and she knows it, as she tightens and loosens her hands in her pockets, balling them up into fists, and then forcing them to relax again. She takes deep breaths in and lets them out slowly, trying to regather some semblance of control.
    "I don't mean to be like this. I don't," she finally manages. "I think your love of your God is... misguided. From what I see - he does nothing. One of his angels might have saved you - but he didn't. Raphael helped me for... a time. But God has done nothing for me - and I'm allowed to hate him."
Johnny Blaze "Yeah, it's easy to think that way."

Johnny shrugs then, crossing his arms. "Everything would be God's mess." Johnny tells Cael then, and he looks as if he might say something else. Though as she tells him that she thinks his love for God is misguided. "No. It's not." he tells her. "I wasn't saved. Nobody cared about street trash from a carnival. No friends came to comfort me or try to help relieve me of the pain. No angel came and saw me, Raphael didn't spare me my pain, and Michael didn't find me. The only thing that talked to me was the demon within, one that tortured me every second of every day. Mentaly, emotionally, physically, spiritually. " Johnny tels her. "No one saved me. The only thing that did was a hope that there would be something better after the long night was finally...finally over."

He keeps his arms firmly crossed. "Because if we believe in nothing, then nothing is where we'll go, and we'll be from nothing...making us nothing in the process." Johnny frowns then as he stands up straight. "You can do, say, and believe whatever you want. I don't hate God. I hate Michael, and he'll pay for his sins." He doesn't comment on what God may or may not have done for Cael, since it would likely fall on deaf ears, especially now when tensions seem very...high.

and Johnny seems to go back to cooking then without another word.
Cael Becker     "No. No, not everything," Cael grits out. "You... are not listening. You are deaf //and// blind here. If I put on my SHIELD tac gear, my SHIELD badge, take a SHIELD issued weapon and start shooting people in Times Square claiming I was sent by Chief Peggy Carter to restore order - you know how's fucking problem that is? //SHIELD and Peggy Carter's// - not the civilians I'm mowing down," she insists. "God is on the hook for Michael's shit. Claiming he's not is just... idiotic. And believe me, I will take //nothing// - I'll take oblivion or anything to do with- ugh."
    She shakes her head and starts towards her room. "I should just get my shit."
Johnny Blaze "Hatred only responds with hatred."

Johnny replies. "You try to associate something that's -not human- with human instincts. You al me blind and deaf, but at the end of the day, the one punished is going to be the one who pulled the trigger-. Suggesting anyone else would be punished is, as you say, idiotic, because they're going down for their own actions. God might be the one Michael answers to, but -Michael- is going down for it. And when a being, who has the power to make and unmake the entire existence of the multiverse with a -thought-, hell no he's not going to get involved directly. Peggy can't turn the balance upside down by being there. He can. His involvement would most certainly destroy all of us with that kind of power. So he's using us. And if we win, against someone with insurmountable power that I don't think you or I can even -begin- to understand the vastness of, then I'll consider that a miracle indeed." Johnny tells Cael then.

"Don't. It's your apartment. Eat Spaghetti, get what you need. It's your place, and I need to get back out there." Johnny replies then. "Take care of yourself, Cael." He grabs his jacket, which looks like its been torn to shred with bladed weaponry, and he starts to head out of the apartment.

There's still an invasion, after all...and this conversation is likely better had with cooler heads.
Cael Becker     Cael lets out a snort, as she pauses with her hand on her door. "Now that's some bullshit. I'm not saying punish God for Michael's actions. I'm saying //God needs to respond//. If I take the full force of the Triskelion, and start shooting up New York City, and threatening nuclear holocaust - and Peggy does nothing? That's bullshit. And you making up some idiotic nonsense about God being unable to call his own people back- bull fucking shit," she answers.
    It's then that she opens the door to her room, and slams it shut. "AND I DON'T WANT YOUR FUCKING SPAGHETTI."
    Okay. The last bit was childish, but-