.oo1 / video + action

[heavenonearth]

Who: Castiel (the cool one),
Broadcast: Fleetwide.
Action: The Marsiva
When: January 20th, late morning.

[ waking up confused isn't necessarily anything particularly new for castiel, but generally speaking in that case he's usually hungover, and when the fog clears he's in his bed, somewhere safe and familiar, not somewhere, well - like this. immediately he's alert and awake, feeling under his pillow for a knife that isn't there, sharp, instinctual panic burgeoning in his gut, but he controls it. you better bet he's got no idea he's being watched, too.

it's peaceful. this place reminds him of heaven, with its clean, sleek design and cool, quiet atmosphere, but he doesn't trust it any more than he trusts heaven. tense and wary, one hand flies immediately to his throat, then he's pulling it back to look at is as if he's expecting to see something there, but it's clean, and when he tugs up his shirt there's no blood there either, no bullet holes, no gaping wounds, only the same old scars. castiel stands, runs both hands through his unkempt hair, and eases in a steadying breath. he's a rangy looking thing, with a lean, hungry look about him, overgrown scruff and hair but hey - at least he's clean. cleaner than he's been in a long while. and someone did him the service of mending the long worn holes in his jeans and canvas jacket so that's.. nice. i guess.

all right, inventory first. his knife and handgun are both missing, naturally, but that doesn't mean he has to be happy about it. sitting again on the edge of his bunk, in his pockets he finds a mostly full pack of cigarettes with two joints stuffed in with them, a blue plastic bic lighter, a half bottle of pills, a two month old supply list, creased and folded, and a bottlecap. not too much of use when it comes to keeping yourself alive. exhaling in a puff of air, he stuffs it all back into his pockets, even the list and the bottlecap, and gets to his feet again. might as well pick around, right?

and by pick around i mean find the cafeteria almost instantly and gawp in awe at all of the food. ]

.. you're kidding me.

[ when you live in a world where things like toilet paper are scarce treasures, you really learn to appreciate food. there is zero hesitation before cas is all but diving at it like a man starved, picking at everything indiscriminately, eating and drinking and eating some more. he doesn't sit, only hovers near the counters like a buzzard over roadkill, and you'd better bet he's filling his pockets, too, with everything and anything he can fit.

all right, so maybe this isn't so bad. he should probably be wary of the food and all, but it's far too late for that. feel free to stumble across him/interrupt him at any point, he has no idea he's on candid camera. ]

Comments

[child_of_bhaal]

Not yet. I'm keeping an eye out.

Oh. I'm so rude. I'm Syeira.

[heavenonearth]

[ cas chuckles, low and soft, grinding the heel of his hand into one eye. ]

Don't worry about it. [ not like he's any better. ] It's a pleasure. Call me Cas.

[child_of_bhaal]

[He's nice. She likes him.]

Well met, Cas. I'm sorry it's under such circumstances.

[heavenonearth]

Yeah. [ for real. he blows out a huff with enough kick to ruffle the messy hair that falls over his forehead. ] Could be worse, I suppose. At least the food is good.

[child_of_bhaal]

[She makes a face.]

Maybe the stuff we get off planets and waystations.

[heavenonearth]

Oh yeah?

[ he doesn't get it. the food on the marsiva is pretty great. he hasn't experienced the... protein paste yet. sounds appetizing. because right now he's tugging a nice fresh chocolate chip cookie out of his pocket and snapping off a big bite. ]

I'm not complaining.

[child_of_bhaal]

It's less nice on the actual ships you'll get put on. They give us goo to eat.

[Yuck.]

[heavenonearth]

Goo?

[child_of_bhaal]

Goo. Like paste and gel, instead of actual solid food.

[She has never trusted it. Ever.]

[heavenonearth]

[ damn, girl. castiel can't help but pull a face, which is saying something, because he's used to eating shitty food. but gel paste sounds pretty gross even for him. ]

Sounds, uh. Appetizing.

[child_of_bhaal]

{Right?! It's disgusting. And suspicious.]

Oh so much. We try to keep stocked on normal food as much as possible. But that all depends on the places we stop.

[heavenonearth]

Yeah, I can imagine.

[ he's already unloading some of the food from his pockets to take some inventory here, because if this is going to be fleeting, you'd better bet he's going to pack away as much as possible. ]

So. What's your story?

[ good segue. ]

[child_of_bhaal]

Well I'm a bard by trade, so I have many.

[Cheeky.]

What would you like to hear about?

[heavenonearth]

Anything, go crazy.

[ he drops the receiver onto the rumpled blanket to free up both hands, but he's still listening. ]

I mean, we're here for entertainment, right? So they have to have chosen you for a reason.

[child_of_bhaal]

[Oh it's very probably they chose her for a really really specific reason. She just...hasn't advertised it. Even though she really should.]

Well, I was adopted sometime when I was very young, and grew up in a library fortress with a bunch of old scholarly men, and only one playmate. I spent my formative years studying, or avoiding studying. Riveted yet?

[She's joking, there's clearly more. She's just being a tiny pain to tease him. And she doesn't look very old, so when she refers to her formative years, that can't have been very long ago.]

[heavenonearth]

[ truth be told, castiel is not one to tie looks in to age - i mean look at him, he's absolutely incredibly ancient and he looks, what? 35? technically this isn't even what he actually looks like. or.. it wasn't. it's -

okay whatever, looks can be deceiving is all. but sure, he's probably still going to assume she's relatively young until otherwise noted. he grins, though, eyes down while a bag of potato chips crackles. ]

I'm hanging on every word.

[child_of_bhaal]

[She laughs shortly. Yes, she definitely already likes him.]

My, well you're easy to please. Well, anyway, you can only read about places and people so much before you need to see it for yourself. But I wasn't ever allowed to leave. Candlekeep, my home, was a magical fortress. Once you were outside its walls, you had to have a rare book as passage to get back in.

So I was stuck there. Until the day two very poor assassins got inside and tried to kill me.

[There's an interesting part for you Cas.]

[heavenonearth]

[ she's sure honest, isn't she? but that's all right, he likes it. he likes listening, too, and her story is interesting enough, and definitely getting better.

you can be sure he cocks a brow and glances back toward the feed again. ]

Assassins, huh? Just what did you do to deserve that?

[child_of_bhaal]

I was born.

[She says it so simply, like it's just the way it is. Because, yeah. That's her life. People want her dead, or worse, because she was born.]

Anyway, they didn't succeed obviously, but Candlekeep wasn't safe anymore. Gorion, my guardian, took me away that night. We probably should have left sooner...

[The story is getting less and less light hearted by the moment. But she does a valiant job of keeping her tone even, at the very least. Inside, she's overwhelmed with guilt, but she's got a good facade of neutrality that she works very hard to maintain.]

We were ambushed on the road. [She fidgets with a strand of her hair, eyes distant, remembering. Give me your ward.] Gorion ordered me to run, and I did. I hid in the woods all night. I came back to his body in the morning.

[heavenonearth]

[ she might be keeping up an even front, but it's clear enough when the excitement begins to drain away into something flatter, and cas thinks for a moment that maybe he's asked a little too much, but then she wouldn't offer it if she didn't want to.

everyone's got a story, and the longer he's been alive, the more he's learned that most of those stories are sad ones, painful ones. all of them are now, where he's from. happiness is a luxury no one can afford anymore, as far as he's concerned, and cas has done everything in his power to drown the hell out of all that pain these past five years and yet here he is, still feeling sorry for her. still feeling empathetic.

he's got the grace at least to turn his full attention back to her, to not fiddle around with cookies while she's spilling her life story, and somewhere along the line he picked up the receiver again and leaned back against the wall of his bunk. ]

I'm sorry to hear it. [ he says, genuinely. ] You did the right thing though, running. Seems it saved your life.

[child_of_bhaal]

[She focus' back in on him, smiles a small, close lipped smile.]

I suppose so. Maybe I could have saved him if I'd stayed though. I'll always wonder about that.

[She takes a deep breath, and mentally shakes off the melancholy. No one wants to hear about poor sad sack Syeira. She puts on a positive face, because that's better than being sorry for herself.]

But I avenged him, saved my own reputation, and stopped a war, all in one go. So it ended better than it could have.

[heavenonearth]

[ he thinks to tell her not to go down that path - all that regret and guilt over something you can't change.. it's a waste. but he's a big fat hypocrite and he knows it. couldn't take his own advice on that one to save his own life.

she seems well-adjusted about it enough though, so he'll just have to take it as a win. ]

Sounds like a win in my book, then. You've led a busy life.

[child_of_bhaal]

[Well adjusted in that she bottles up everything she feels about it and tries not to be a bother to people, yeah. Very healthy. She has no mental or emotional issues whatsoever. >_> ]

Well, I've had busy two years. Everything before that was rather dull.

[But moving along!]

So, I think I've shared enough that I get to turn the tables. It's only fair don't you think?

[heavenonearth]

[ well all right he wouldn't go THAT far. no one doesn't have those issues, that's for sure. no one he knows, at least.

and he reeeeally should have seen this coming, huh? the table turning, and all that. cas laughs a little nervously, raking a hand back through his wild hair. ]

Ah, you don't want to hear about me, I'm no fun.

[child_of_bhaal]

Now I don't believe that for an instant.

[She starts playful, but the look turns gentle and kind.]

But you don't have to tell me anything you don't want. I'd just like to get to know you. You look very interesting to me.