Day 56: Bus 2

[razing_phoenix]

It was hard for Guy to believe that a farfetched idea of his might actually work out in the end, seeing how rare that was in this place. Still, he had found the leather and had been allowed to buy it, which meant that the toughest part at this point would be finding tools to work with and also blocking out enough time to work on making the sheath.

Comments

[poorexample]

The day had been long, and Castiel was still attempting to decide on how productive it had turned out to be. He had spoken to his brother and cleared some things up with him; he had found someone else who believed in the Apocalypse; he had at least started to get through to Dean. But the visit to the sheriff's office had been a complete failure. The people there were either trained to reveal nothing or they were truly as clueless as they had acted. Either way, Castiel had not acquired much in the way of information and his five dollars had remained unspent

[quarter_english]

There was no way out of the search, and even if there had been, L had nothing to hide.

He resented the physical intrusion on principle, more than for any other reason. His inclination, which had become habit through years of being indulged, was to be touched by others as little as possible. Searches and the other trappings of security theater were profoundly annoying in the context of frequent travel, but that travel was a choice, a necessary part of his work; on that basis, he could grudgingly tolerate those encroachments. The major difference now was that hadn't chosen this imprisonment and restriction at all, and the pat-downs seemed excessive in relation to a brief bus trip, although entirely in character for what he had seen of Aguilar so far. A show of cooperation was the best way to handle it. Still....

He indulged his irritation by fixing the soldier with an intent, aggressively patient stare through the brief ordeal, as if to say, I'm bored with this. This behavior was impertinent enough to provide some private amusement,

[poorexample]

Being joined by someone was inevitable in such a cramped space, and so Castiel accepted the approach of this patient who he had spoken to two days back. They had not discussed much in their first conversation, which also meant it hadn't classified as useful for him, but perhaps this time would be better. And if not, then at least the man was soft-spoken enough that it would be a simple ride back

[quarter_english]

L felt a flicker of annoyance. He was reminded of Edgar's behavior at lunch: neglecting to elaborate in a way that was close to deflecting the question, then changing the topic, so that the focus shifted to L's productivity. Because most people liked to talk about themselves, if given the opportunity, it was the kind of tactic that would have a good chance of success under most circumstances. However, L was an exception to that particular rule. His response would be almost the same now as it had been a few hours earlier: noncommittal

[poorexample]

It seemed that they hadn't had the chance to exchange names during their last conversation. Castiel's name hadn't once been treated as familiar by anyone he'd met here, even if he'd taken care to not share it freely over the bulletin when possible. Still, there was no reason to keep it to himself. "Castiel," he replied, not much for the title, though it was possible the other man would drop the "mister" now that he had a name

[quarter_english]

"That's an interesting name." L kept his tone neutral, as if this were a throwaway line. "Where are you from?"

L's first guess would have been that it was French, but he'd never heard of the name in use in France; prior to the early 1990s, any unusual name would have required bureaucratic approval that was difficult to get. There was also a possibility that 'Castiel' was ultimately of Hebrew origin, like a number of other names with the same suffix... but those were common in many parts of the world. It didn't tell him much, except to suggest eccentricity on the part of Castiel's parents, or, if it was something he had chosen for himself, on Castiel's own.

"Yes, maybe next time. What precisely did you say in the Sheriff's Office?" Given Castiel's general behavior, L suspected that there probably hadn't been too much finesse to his question. Even if it hadn't been blunt, though, it still seemed unlikely that anyone in Doyleton would have told him much.

[poorexample]

This was the first time that someone had asked about his name in such a direct way. If anything, people remained silent or simply gave off the impression that they found it odd, and that had been acceptable to him. At this point, though, it was difficult to know what to say. This man did not seem the sort to believe something vague, and yet Castiel had no other options.

"Far away," he said after a pause, realizing that it would only make the man more suspicious. However, even then the man wouldn't know what to suspect, so that was the best that he could hope for