Tha sin mar bhàs.

[hollystrike]

Who: Katie and you!
Broadcast: Yes!
Action: Planetside
When: Now-ish

[Amusement Park]

[So this is where she goes when she wants time to think, apparently.  The bunker is a place she won't enter; between the heavy aftermath of a mass death and the understandably stricken reactions of its visitors, the atmosphere is far too toxic.  But it doesn't mean she isn't grieving.  The deaths could not be helped and are god knows how far in the past, but the fact that these people have been forgotten - not acknowledged even by this automated town, let alone the rest of space - is something that sits very poorly.  She can't even change anything about the town to reflect its population's final days.

She's walking the rollercoaster tracks, very high up, thinking over the issue.  Don't ask how she got up that high.  And don't worry if you should be using the rollercoaster at the time; she can avoid you.  Might give you a bit of a scare, though, sorry.

Eventually, she puts a call through to Sam.]

[Outside of town]

[As far as she can go before she suspects (or hopes) she's outside the range of the city's replication science so her work isn't scrubbed.  She's not too far from the bunker; it would be pointless if she were too far away from it. 

She finds a rock face smooth enough, and between a thick blade and Kirito's lightsaber she carves a memorial.  Maybe nobody will ever see it, but if any other visitors come to this place, they should know what happened.  It's worth the extra headache.]

[And Broadcast]

I've decided to quit making dreamcatchers and move on to voodoo dolls instead.  It's more fun.  So if you'd like to take one before I end up throwing them all out, feel free.

[Just so you know.  Totally honest, as usual.  Less cheerful than normal.

If anyone wants her she'll be curled up in her office with Licorice on her lap.  She's so tired of these planets.]

Comments

[hollystrike]

[Smart angel. She smiles ruefully.]

...Lucifer put a mark on my arm because he and I were the best of friends and plotting to do horrible things to Sam with a drill from heaven.

[Have fun with that. She can hopefully iron out translation kinks if he doesn't kneejerk get pissed.]

[angelofthevored]

[At least it's not filled to bursting with pop culture references he has no hope of parsing out.]

Drill...? [So some other weapon of Heaven? Obviously she and Lucifer were at odds, and though he has no doubts that Lucifer was likely plotting horrible things for Sam, she wasn't a part of it. Trying to protect him? What kind of weapon could Lucifer have had, that would cause her to accept a mark as binding as this one?]

[hollystrike]

Do you know of a woman called Naomi?

[In this case, a drill is exactly it. She knows Cas' history with the drill to some extent, thanks to playing ceiling cat in a cabin a long time ago.]

[angelofthevored]

[More than the memory of her face looming over his, or the pain of her boring into his mind, Castiel recalls the high-pitched whir of his very essence being torn apart as she roots through his memories for what to rip out.]

How did Lucifer- [No, it doesn't matter in the end how he'd gotten hold of such a device. What matters more is what he'd planned to do with it.] He was going to manipulate Sam, and you stopped him.

[hollystrike]

[Katie winces, one hand half lifting to an ear for a moment. It's the same shrill sound she heard with Rosie, which tells her a great deal.

She's not sure how Lucifer had the drill. It might have been as simple as Naomi was there-- god knows there were enough of you angels around at one point.]

Something like that. [In a sense, it's true. Lucifer attacked Rosie, but it was all an attack on Sam in the end, targetting his friends.] I asked him very nicely not to do it any more. He agreed out of the goodness of his heart.

[She offered him a bargain and he took it. Such is life.]

[angelofthevored]

[Cas's eyes flick to her ear, back to her face. After a moment of contemplation he holds out a hand, palm-up.] Let me see. [It's sort of a request, in that he doesn't just grab for her, but he doesn't want to ask just in case her acquiescing to his request counts as speaking plain.]

[hollystrike]

[She hesitates. She's not sure what he's going to do, and she doesn't want to accidentally negate the bargain she made. That way lies trouble. But in the end, she holds out her arm to him.

Assuming that's what he wants, of course. She could be misreading him, with the way his look at her skittered about.]

[angelofthevored]

[The care with which he handles her arm is calculated, not particularly gentle but measured in every touch. He passes a hand over the mark, not quite touching; feeling out the edges of it, like a seamstress checking a stitch.]

...I can't unravel this right now, [Cas says regretfully, and lets her go.] But there are...spells. Incantations. I'll look into it.

[hollystrike]

[Katie appreciates it. She also won't let him remove it, but given his chances of finding what he needs are low, that's not an argument she needs to have. So she smiles.]

Did you know it means hell hounds can't see me? Crowley was very put about about it.

[angelofthevored]

I imagine so. [DON'T TELL HIM THAT!!! He's still gonna search!!!!!] Though I'm sure what he wants from you is much greater than the perks it allows.

[hollystrike]

I would tell you what he wants, but that would be telling. [Obviously. Katie pls. But she hesitates.]

If I told you I made part of our bargain that he wasn't to ever use our agreement against Sam, would that relieve you?

[angelofthevored]

[Tilts head] I would be relieved for Sam, of course, but I would still be concerned for you.

[hollystrike]

[Aw, Cas. Given you like... once didn't talk to her for weeks on end about the whole Hallucifer thing, that's pretty nice. Especially given you don't remember her.]

Oh, well. What a pity I can't tell you that.

...tell me, how long has it been since Sam got very sick in your world?

[angelofthevored]

[YEAH.....thank goodness for the perspective life experiences bring, right

And maybe he has some sympathy for someone who made a deal with the devil because they couldn't see any better solution. Maybe he can both appreciate and pity the position she had to be in to make that decision, having been there himself.]

You mean when he tried to close the gates of Hell. [Because Sam's been sick quite a few times, but that was the worst. Unless she means when he was hallucinating to death in a mental institution. ...there have been a lot of instances.] A few years. He was possessed and largely healed by Gadreel, though he was eventually forced out.

[hollystrike]

[Mmm yeah she heard about that. Unlike Cas, she has seen absolutely nothing redeeming in Dean. But then again, she's also only met him once.]

Is a few years a very long time to an angel?

[angelofthevored]

[LMFOAFOSDF.........g o d ]

It wasn't in the past. But back then I would spend millenia doing nothing worth mentioning, so...I suppose it's all subjective.

[hollystrike]

I shall assume that not doing nothing suits you greatly, then.

[angelofthevored]

...it's complicated, [Cas says eventually, not really sure where to go with it. For the longest time whatever Heaven wanted from him was what suited him.] Why are you asking about Sam's illness? Is he unwell? [Aside from the whole refusing to sleep and eat thing he does with...irritating regularity]

[hollystrike]

No more than usual. [She can't really explain that he's a lot... more relaxed? That's not the right word, but... since she saw him in Adstring. But she knows he was from around the same time as Sam getting sick back then, so.]

I suppose I'm just marking how long it's been for you since I saw you last.

[angelofthevored]

Oh. The me who was here before. [Well whatever, that totally doesn't bother him or anything] A few years then. Probably a lot has happened.

[hollystrike]

[Well, you're different. Not so much, but a little softer and less pinched in the face.]

If you spend any amount of time with Sam, I imagine it has.

[angelofthevored]

Yeah...he and his brother do have a habit of making things exciting. [Occasionally awful.]

[hollystrike]

So I've noticed. You need to teach them to relax more.

[angelofthevored]

...I am not the best person for that. [UNDERSTATEMENT.]

[hollystrike]

Perhaps you should learn to be. I could help with that, if you like.