.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]

[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.

[heavenonearth]

[ a low chuckle rolls in his throat, his smile lopsided, tugging at his mouth. cas has always been honest, upfront. and he's still honest, but maybe not quite so upfront. because his story - it's not a win, it's not a happy ending, certainly not a fun story to hear.

a moment's hesitation, then he reaches into his pocket for the pack of cigarettes and his lighter, thumbs the end of a joint thoughtfully for a moment before passing it over for a cigarette instead. ]

Well, that's very kind of you to say. But who knows, I could be some strange weirdo, and you could regret asking me anything at all.

[child_of_bhaal]

[She grins, amused and charmed.]

After having the king of the shark people make advances on me, and then playing guessing games with two rhyming mephits, my bar for weird is exceptionally high.

[heavenonearth]

.. king of the shark people?

[ cas's eyebrows shoot up even as he's lifting to the cigarette to his mouth and lighting it with two quick puffs. ]

For having only two interesting years to spend out of your otherwise apparently considerably boring life, you certainly didn't waste your time. But that's, uh, good to know.

[child_of_bhaal]

They're called Sahuagin [She pronounces it sah-HWAH-gin], and they look more fish-like than shark-like, but they worship Sekolah, the Shark God, so they consider themselves a shark race. And seeing as they eat pretty much everyone for any reason, it's usually best to not argue such a petty point.

And it was weird. Really really weird, and unsettling. Like he couldn't quite decide if he was thinking about eating me alive or... [She blushes a little, because well, the other option could also be termed eating her alive.] I guess fate decided I needed to make up for lost time and threw everything at me it could think of. Serves me right for complaining, I guess.

[heavenonearth]

Mm. What is it they say? Be careful what you wish for, right?

[ her stories are so fantastical that he can't help but wonder if she's simply making them up for entertainment's sake. fish people? .. all right, cas has admittedly seen some strange things, some bizarre monsters, some crazy gods. no shark gods, though. exhaling in a plume of smoke, he squints. ]

.. just where did you say you were from?

[ she didn't say, he knows, but humor him here. ]

[child_of_bhaal]

[She knows she didn't, so she's going to give him the whole thing. Because he asked for it, right?]

The Prime Material Plane, specifically the planet Toril, on the continent of Faerun, originally from the Sword Coast, I am most lately of the nation of Amn, specifically the city-state of Athkatla, which just so happens to be the capital.

[She can't even say it all with a straight face.]

I doubt you've heard of any of it. I seem to be the only one Atroma is interested in from my world, so far.

[heavenonearth]

[ .. that's a mouthful, to be sure, and judging by the look on her face, she knows it. ]

Can't say I've heard of it.

[ but she knows that, of course, hadn't expected him to even before she voiced it. still, even though cas knows full well that the cosmos is vast, that it's rife with planets and life it's still difficult to get his head around, sometimes. god had always been specifically interested in earth, or at least that's what the angels were led to believe. for all he knows, this planet of hers may exist in another dimension entirely.

considering it theoretically, and actually hearing about it, meeting someone from another world entirely - not simply an alternate timeline or reality - is really something else. he gestures with one hand. ]

But the only one, hm? I told you you were special.

[child_of_bhaal]

[She raises a brow, smile turning wry.]

Special? Is that a nice way of saying "extraordinarily unlucky"?

[heavenonearth]

[ he barks a laugh, takes another drag. ]

Yeah, that's definitely one way of putting it.

[child_of_bhaal]

[She laughs with him. She likes making people laugh.]

So I see you've neatly steered the conversation away from yourself. Am I only allowed to know your name and that you're very hungry and like to smoke those rolled up parchment things? Can't you spare a few small details? Your favorite color maybe?

[heavenonearth]

You don't miss a trick, do you?

[ but he's considering it. she's been very honest, and there are some things he has no real reason to hide, and well, it's not very fair of him to have asked her questions that he isn't willing to answer himself. somehow, after everything, he still cares about people.

so he rests his head back again, lifting his eyes like he's thinking, and without lowering them to the camera again he takes another long drag. ]

Green. I'm fond of green, and blue. I'm from Earth. Or, well, most recently, at least. Heaven, before that.

[child_of_bhaal]

Green is a very good color.

[It's her favorite too.]

I've heard of Earth, and before being brought here too. But it's in a different Material Plane. Very far out in the cosmos.

Can I ask what Heaven is?

[heavenonearth]

Heaven is..

[ well, this isn't a conversation he's ever had before, that's for sure. he's certainly never met anyone who didn't understand the concept of heaven. a crease appears in his brow, thoughtful. ]

It's where human souls go when they die, assuming they have performed well in life and are judged to be worthy.

[child_of_bhaal]

Ohh, an afterlife.

[That sounds really nice.

Hang on a second.]

But you said you were there before Earth?

[heavenonearth]

Mmm. I'm an angel of God.

[ it feels like an eternity since he's said that. just voicing it is.. odd, and a bit painful, but cas shrugs through it, waves a hand casually through all the smoke. ]

Or, well, I used to be. Not anymore, really.

[child_of_bhaal]

You're a Celestial? Neat.

[Yeah, that's right. She's intrigued but not stunned or awed. She also believes him.]

What god did you serve under?