Still stuck in limbo (The meek with a dash of Silus)

Thick black storm clouds swelled on the distant horizon, coloring the day dark from the beginning. Not that he cared too much about a few clouds, the rain would fall and they would be gone eventually. Soft glowing silver eyes focused upon them for a moment, considering the cloud as the sand crunched beneath their feet. Giving the wind conditions, this storm would reach land within the span of ten, maybe fifteen minutes at the maximum and he preferred to stay out of anything that lead to him getting drenched. Michael was dressed in what one would consider usual fashion if they knew him, though as one zealous angel put it via flavor text, he looked like a Hollister model. ”What a pain in the ass.” Michael groaned,  letting the cigarette settle into the corner of his mouth as small luminescent grey flames would dance along his index finger, eager to catch tobacco and various chemicals within its grasp.

A small trail of curling grey smoke issued from it, fading away into the humid air. Michael turned his attention from the oncoming storm to what looked to be a lighthouse, a short male standing a good four inches shorter than him. They were dressed in a pair of designer-ish blue jeans with simple t-shirt and a leather jacket over that, soft blue eyes regarding him with suspicion. That wasn’t exactly a new feeling, but then again just seeing them recovered to quickly was nice enough. Granted he had someone to thank for that, but that was neither here nor there. ”What’s with the look Jordan? Don’t have to shoot me the evil eye every time we meet.” He said with a smirk, sauntering over to the male with hands buried into his pockets. Without even asking, Michael could tell they always would feel a certain discomfort around him.

”I’m...just actually surprised you’re going through with this.” They admitted, looking up at him with that same understandable suspicion, but then again he expected this.

”Guess I surprised someone then.” he shrugged, blowing a small cloud of smoke through his nostrils as it would fade into nothingness. He looked from Jordan to the lighthouse, considering it for a few more moments. ”So I doubt I can just...walk up and  be like Hey, I want to join your angelic organization. Can I have an application? Unless that is how it works, then that makes things so much easier.”

”I didn’t really have to do much as far as applying went. Guess I got a...good recommendation or whatever.” Which would make sense, considering part of the leadership but he wouldn’t make any leaps yet.

”Makes sense.” Michael said with a small nod, letting Jordan lead the way considering they were likely more well known and probably liked among these people. Honestly, it was rather difficult to actually hate the little guy, and being a little bundle of negative emotions was the only reason Hyperion could really do it. After a few minutes of walking they would reach what looked to be some manner of doorman/doorwoman, which Jordan waved to and said one of those angel names.

”Hey I have someone interested in joining.” He said, jerking a finger back towards Michael who offered a small friendly wave. ”So...can I get someone qualified in dealing with that?” His words seemed to drip some manner of uncontrolled niceness, or maybe it was that aura he constantly put off that made people perceive it that way.

Regardless, it kinda made him sick.

The Lighthouse was dark, dreary to be honest. Seraphim just lost two of it's best members in the same month. It was quite the blow, the entirety of the group shaking to it's very foundations. The Progenitor had worried them, The threats of Hades and what their accredited leader would become had entirely overtaken their faith in him. His brother's unveil to he nothing more than a homicidal manipulator was something they didn't quite expect either...though he did. But to lose their beloved gatekeeper as well. They were no longer safe without Gadreel there, at least not AS safe.

Silence and dark colors decorated the doors where the members used to live, the funeral pyres for the "angels" had been held to signify their death within the group. Many continued to hope that The Seraph would return, and Gadreel would turn up. Sadly, his body wasn't found, and the only thing to be seen was the wreckage of his fading family around him. All he cared about, reduced to scrap and ashes. Silus was starting to have bags under his eyes to be honest. He was an eleven year old running ALL of Seraphim now. He had to give up most of the things he liked, including his antics with Prodigy. Though returning to Prodigy was his primary goal, he was relentlessly searching for someone to leave in charge of the Heroes for Hire.

Of course he got a lot of newcomers vying for positions, but nothing quite stung Silus like when he heard of a certain someone coming to be part of this group. Actually, he wasn't sure if Jordan knew he was running the group...or if he was in it any more than a simple name-drop. They never did anything together in the grounds. They never really interacted, then again Silus was off busy doing things with Ryan or trying to battle Eldritch horrors like Samhain who drop Austyn into a portal to a different layer of reality. But the most Eldritch horror was still not as confusing as the application he saw before him.

Michael Atterrius.... Here..... in the lighthouse....

Jordan made the announcement and everyone just looked to one and other. Everyone either knew who Michael was, or they simply didn't give a damn. It wasn't the warmest first impression to say the least. Finally one of the young men stepped up and crossed their arms. They appeared to be roughly their age with tan skin, slightly narrowed eyes with an earring dangling on their ear.

"Why?" He asked before giving a small snort. This guy wasn't typically confrontational. He was a dark haired surfer kid that hated shirts and absolutely loved to laugh and take nothing seriously, but here he was, Samiael and Abaddon both standing and folding their arms as they looked upon Michael.

Jordan felt the gloom that hung over the lighthouse like a sickening fog, something that likely Michael felt but they didn’t give any visible sign of that. Jordan, well they looked rather nervous if nothing else. Perhaps they were second guessing this little endeavor that he was supporting. Not that he could be blamed, considering that these people likely did not have the highest view of him. The awkward little guy shuffled, looking around as Michael took a few steps forward to take any eyes off of him and onto him. He took the lit cigarette into his hand after drawing in a deep drag, curling his fingers around the spent stick and crushing it thoroughly. Yet when he opened his hand, the only thing that remained was a smear of ash on his hands. ”Talk about a reputation that precedes you.” He muttered releasing a cloud of smoke from his nostrils as one of them stepped forward, questioning his intention to join.

Jordan seemed to tense when he felt the flat of a palm softly nudging him back. Maybe Michael felt his unease or maybe he just knew him well enough by now. ”You want to know why? Why I’m interested in joining or do you just want to know why?” He inquired, looking at the male with hands bow casually buried into his pockets. It was obvious by the two standing behind them that he was not exactly welcome here, but then again not as if he really cared too much about their opinions. There wasn’t much that he cared about these days actually. He could tell from their look that they were younger than him actually, but not like Michael would go about being ageist, considering that everyone here was likely older than him.

”Well this is a hero group, I was hoping to join, improve myself and Jordan pointed me in this direction.” He said with a shrug, making notice of the fact that Jordan appeared to recognize them. ”So here I am.” He let his eyes lock with the tan males, making note of something that felt familiar but he couldn’t put a finger on it. They reminded him of Jordan for some reason, perhaps facial features or something else. ”So are we all going to stand here, leer at me? Because while I like people staring at me, we probably all have better things to do.”

"I figured I'd just harass you until you either left or went to figure out why your pet dragon left you." He said as his eyes fixated on Michael's a wry smile playing across his face. The bastard was mischievious and somehow managed to note how Jordan went "missing" or rather "soul-searching" this past month. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and pulled on the beanie as he pressed his index and middle finger together, giving the pilot's salute off as he backed up and sat back down in his chair, leaning back as his boots kicked up and he rested his hands on his stomach, patting the white wife-beater shirt.

"I think he ran off to join a group. Started wearing a flanel and a douche bag beanie, trying to act like a tough guy to hide his daddy issues. Must uh...must be all the rave now. Mike said as he used his index finger to point at the other guy and motioning over him. The guy jumped up with a slightly irritated look on his face when someone intervened.

"Stappit Sammy...Don't mess with my brother. Treat him the way you'd treat me...let him through." A little voice chirped up for a moment before everyone turned to see the little hoodied hero standing there with his hands burried in his pockets, dark circles undr his eyes and a small half-assed smile. He turned around and started to walk on towards the office.

"Okay, sure thing boss." He said as he turned back to face Michael. His hands came up and he took ahold of Michael's head, pulling him forward and planting a kiss right on him before letting him go. "His orders, not mine." He said before pushing him back and looking to Jordan with a smirk. Samiel and his ususal trouble.

Silus waited for Michael in the office but really idn't do much but lay his head down on the stacks of paperwork, letting out a little yawn as he shifted around. "Whazzup?" He let out a little sigh as his eyes closed and he folded his arms on the desk, laying his cheek on it as a pillow of sorts.

Jordan grimaced, expecting  some manner of conflict to arise and yet Silus arrived before that could happen. Michael wasn’t exactly expecting the wording, but then again one could always expect Silus to be...well Silus. His eyes moved from his younger brother back to Samiel, who seemed to glare at hm almost, followed by..well the unexpected. ”Haven’t even been here for five minutes, and already i’m popular.” Mike hummed, chuckling to himself as he let his eyes follow the male before moving to Jordan. ”Sorry little guy, guess version 2.0 likes me more.” He patted the seemingly confused Jordan on the head, then walked off to Silus’  office while Jordan would trail off after Samiel.

The sight that greeted him was the male laying their head down on a stack of papers, looking pretty worn out if nothing else. With a grimace he sat down, crossing his legs and finding that he was actually at a loss for words for what amounted to a second. Normally he had something to say and yet here he sat not having anything. The strains of running a group appeared to be taking their tolls on him, but then again he was only a child after all. ”Just the typical day it looks like.” He sighed,  leaning forward and resting his elbows on his legs.

”But you...probably already know why i’m here. I did send in an application, unless good ole Sammy got their way and tossed it out.” Michael noted, giving a small smile as he moved into a reclining position. ”I was hoping to make myself a part of this group. Unless today isn’t a good day, then I can always come by later or whatever.” His mind was already scanning over the little desk for that application. He could’ve pushed the envelope but in this circumstance that would have gotten him nothing, so Michael could afford to be a little patient.

Besides, the little beanied bastard had to go and jab at a sore spot, so that was a thing.

"Uhm...yeah. I got it. Honestly thought it was just something Jor-I uh...I mean something that Gabriel put you up to..." Silus said for a moment as he began to look over papers, his eyes darting over them quickly, barely enough time for any information to process, even at superhuman levels. Finally he pulled out Michael's application and blinked at it, looking the questions over.

Spoiler:

"Just uh...figured he put you up to it because you didn't actually answer....any of the uh....questions." He said as he looked sheepishly to his older brother before placing the document before him. He honestly was half wondering what excuses his brother would throw at him, but he was even more interested on how his brother, a rather intelligent person, had no freaking clue how much their father had changed. Silus mused on this for a moment and quickly took back the application before making a small addition to it.

"Well here...if you're serious about applying then ya gotta at least fill this out." He said handing over the modified application alongside a rather nice ball-point pen.

Spoiler:

Silus would watch intently to see his reaction to both pictures of their father, waiting to see if he registered both as being him, or only the latter as being Sean. This was actually the most informative question he'd ever asked....

Something that Jordan had put him up to. Honestly, he was actually pretty suspicious about the whole thing which felt somewhat odd for the whole good half but then again they were still part of him after all. He would let Silus dig about for his application, wondering if everything was filled out right only to find out that….well that his application was blank. Michael blinked a couple of times, visibly confused by that statement. ”You’re joking right?” he said, snatching the document up and looking it over. It was blank alright, not a dingle word written and or typed on it aside from what was already on it. ”That’s weird….I swear I filled the damn thing out.” Michael huffed, reclining in his seat, letting Silus take back the application. Maybe Jordan was messing with him afterall, or maybe someone else was altogether. There were plenty of people who would want to mess with him, or worse even.

Luckily it appeared that he had another chance to fill out said application, which was good enough for him. So Michael would take the pen as well as the application, reading over the questions before going about filling in the answers. Jordan likely had to answer and part of him expected they gave more...obviously heroic answers, but then again he was just hoping his wouldn’t have him kicked out immediately and or killed.

Spoiler:

Michael paused at the last question, looking to Silus as if he was curious why that was in there. ”You’re joking….right?” Michael spun the paper around, jabbing the pin on the right picture, and twisting it to make a small black dot. ”That’s our dad, the other….I have no idea at all.” He said, sliding the application back to Silus, and waiting for them to read it, or waving him off to not actually get to it ever.