Day 60: Patient Library (Third Shift)

[poorexample]

After handling two conversations that had been difficult for completely different reasons, Castiel had to admit that he felt weary. It was not a sensation that was new to him; between Izaya showing far too much interest in his kind and Ruby simply being who she was, some peace and quiet was what he craved

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[spandexorgtfo]

A "free range shift". It sounded so pleasant, but really, it was nothing more than what happened at a later point in the day, except now with brown bag lunches.

Well. At least he had been spared the horror of pizza for once. As much as he tried, Kratos could never fully get all of the tomato off; there would always be a hint, even the faintest hint, of the thing, and then he would hone in on it and soon, that would be all that he could taste. Truly irritating.

Normally, he might have headed outside because of the fresh air, but it had been storming last night, which meant that the recreational field would probably still be soggy and dismal, even if the sun was shining nicely. Kratos had no intention of running in soggy grass if he could help it, and so he chose the next best alternative: the library.

It had not been long since he had last walked through the library, perhaps only a few days or so, but in truth, he stopped by rarely. Most of his time, if not spent eating, was devoted to catching up on lost sleep or attempting to maintain some semblance of an exercise routine, with the occasional shower thrown in here or there. Even so, he could still vividly remember the last book he had picked up in this room; its title had left a remarkable impression upon him. He had not had much time to peruse it before he had been distracted by some conversation or another, and so he decided that now might be a good time to pick up where he had left off.

Some hunting was involved, but finally, Kratos had in his hands once again The Divine Comedy by a certain Dante. He walked to the back of the library, seeking to find someplace where he would definitely not be disturbed, only to find Castiel already at the table there, focused intently on something he was scribbling down in his journal. Normally, he might have immediately turned to find another seat, but Castiel was someone he knew, and more importantly, someone he knew that would not disturb him on a whim. They were both soldiers, not particularly given to small talk or conversation for its own sake.

"Hello." He slid into the seat across from the other man and placed his lunch underneath his chair before setting the book down on the table gently and flipping it open. "I hope you don't mind."

[poorexample]

Castiel was still only halfway through his account when someone walked up to him. He glanced up at the sound of footsteps echoing through the mainly empty room, though he could also hear voices from near the entrance. It was still quiet enough for him to work without much distraction, particularly because the one who had come to join him was Kratos.

While they had conversed a few times already, Castiel was certain that the man would be willing to let him be until he was finished with his work. In fact, Kratos even seemed to have a book with him, which meant that he was likely planning to keep to himself as well.

Castiel shook his head in response and he might have left it at that, had he not seen the title of the volume that Kratos had picked out.

"Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso," he recited, remembering Dante's work with the fondness of someone who knew how inaccurate it was. "You realize it's only a work of fiction."

That was the only clue he gave before glancing back down to his journal. "I won't be very good company until I've finished this." With that, he put pen to paper once more. At least Kratos was someone he could share it with once it was completed.

[spandexorgtfo]

He was in the middle of reading the first few lines (--What was this forest savage, rough, and stern, Which in the very thought renews the fear...) when Castiel made some comment about the whole thing being a work of fiction. Kratos looked up just in time to see the other look back down and continue writing, daily dose of literary enlightenment delivered.

"I see," he said, although it wasn't clear which statement he had intended it for. A few more seconds passed as he watched Castiel work, the question of what it was that merited such effort springing to mind out of habit, before he too returned to the thing in front of him, now with the other man's comments ringing in his head.

A work of fiction...well, it wasn't as if he had ever expected otherwise. Mortals venturing into the realm of the dead, divine, or demonic before their time was the stuff of legend and lore, unless you happened to possess a certain demonic book that, as far as he knew, was still languishing somewhere in the annals of the university library in Sybak. But it was always interesting to see what people wrote of a world that they did not understand, yet thoroughly believed in. He had done it himself, once upon a time, albeit with the knowledge that nearly every stitch of the story he was presenting was false.

[poorexample]

The response was clipped, but that was what Castiel had expected. He left Kratos to absorb Dante's words while he wrote down his own. His were not meant to be anything but straightforward, however. There was no art in them. Angels weren't meant to be creative in the first place; they were simply supposed to carry out tasks. While he had moved past that in many ways, he wasn't at the point where he was making poetry out of the things he'd witnessed.

A few more minutes passed in silence while he finished off the report. Once it was done, he set his pen down and read it through, searching for any spots that might be unclear or inaccurate. There were none.

"When you're done, I have something to share with you," he said, nodding down to the note. "My hope is to pass this information on to as many people as I can. I saw something of importance last night." With any luck, Kratos would be able to copy the words down rather than taking the whole note with him. Castiel would rather hold onto the original for the ease of being able to pass it along to whoever he met who he thought should know of it.

[spandexorgtfo]

So far, this Inferno was proving to be nothing more than an unfortunate walk through someone's menagerie, although he had only made it through the first few lines, and it was difficult to imagine that an entire epic poem would be devoted to that sort of topic while still aspiring to such a lofty title. There was probably something symbolic about this opening scene, but unfortunately, he had never been very good at analyzing literature or anything that wasn't a military report of some kind. Call it a preference for reality.

He looked up again as Castiel addressed him, apparently finished with whatever thing he had been writing. Kratos frowned as he pulled the note in closer with a hand and read through its contents carefully. The man from breakfast, Damon, had also crossed paths with this Harrington, although, if he was framing the chain of events properly, his conversation with the man had been held after this particular episode.

There were two intriguing things about the note, one of which was Harrington's/Prescott's fire-based powers, and the other of which was the..."Something devastating," Kratos murmured as he reread the line. And this set-up was their idea of a counter measure? His head suddenly filled with unpleasant thoughts of being deployed on a foreign battlefield, pressed into service for a conflict that he did not support or even fully understand.

Such, though, was the occasional nature of a soldier's life.

He glanced at Castiel and said, "I hope you don't mind if I borrow this," as he appropriated the other's pen and began copying the note down on his lunch bag, the only free piece of paper he happened to have on him. The note was long, but fortunately, Kratos' writing was the cramped sort of chicken scratch that, while messy and generally indecipherable, allowed for speed.

"I did hear something similar to this earlier today, although with not nearly as many details," he remarked as he continued to write. "I will pass this information along if I can."

[orz sorry for the repost ;A; I caught an error...]

[poorexample]

As Kratos repeated two of the words from the note, Castiel frowned even as he nodded in response. That didn't offer them much detail, and it could be such a large variety of things that it was difficult to even know where to start guessing. More than that, everyone would likely have a different idea of what it might be. His first thought had been Michael and Lucifer laying waste to the land, but Kratos wasn't likely to think of that.

"They didn't explain it beyond that," he said as he handed over the pen, watching with interest as Kratos started to copy the note down. On the side of his lunch bag didn't seem like the best place to keep something so important, but it would have to do. Castiel would have given the man one of the sheets from his journal had he only asked, but that hardly seemed to matter now.

He hadn't expected to be told that this wasn't the first Kratos had heard of this event. Castiel raised an eyebrow without fully realizing that he was doing so. "I see. As it says there, two others were with me. Perhaps it was one of them." Soma, at least, had mentioned that she was going to try and subtly pass the word along.

"I appreciate you passing it along." For it to spread from the minds of three to so many more was his ultimate goal. Perhaps it would mean more to someone else than it had to him, and with any luck that would come back to him.

[spandexorgtfo]

"I doubt it," Kratos said without looking up as he continued to write. "The man I spoke to said that he met Harrington and his friend on the patio outside as they were making their escape." He did wonder who those two others were, but it hardly mattered now that he'd been informed.

He finished the note off and handed the pen back with a quiet "Thank you" before carefully ripping the appropriate piece off of the bag and folding it away in his pants pocket. "It's the least I can do, since the responsibility of its dissemination is now partly mine to bear." And it was an easy task to do, passing a note around.

Kratos looked askance at Inferno and realized that he would not be getting much farther on it today. There were too many other questions that he wanted to ask, and a lunch to eat now that he had mangled its container--and he would rather not get crumbs all throughout the pages. He picked up the sandwich with a sigh and began to unwrap it.

"What did you do after they escaped?" If they had been holding Castiel and the others in some room on, say, the third floor, perhaps he had managed to catch a glimpse of what was up there. "I assume your original mission was aborted," he added with a faint smile.

[poorexample]

While Castiel wasn't aware of the exact location of the patio, it hardly seemed relevant. It was clear that the two rebels had run into more patients on their way out, which meant that there was another piece to the puzzle. It was very possible that they had given them the same information, and yet Castiel realized that it might be worth looking into further if he found the opportunity. "What is the name of the man you spoke to?" He felt that he deserved to know that much after sharing his information with Kratos.

He watched as the note was put away, wondering if Kratos would be able to keep it safe. He seemed to be taking it seriously, if his comment about assuming responsibility was anything to judge by. Castiel nodded, glad to see that he had made the right choice in choosing Kratos as the first one to read what he'd written.

Then it was his turn to be questioned, however, though he was reluctant to admit that he hadn't accomplished much even in the aftermath of such an intriguing event. "We left the conference room and then made an effort to travel as far as we could, to see if we could find the edge of that barrier. The night ended before we managed to locate it." In a case like this, it was probably best to keep Gabriel's involvement out of it. His brother likely didn't appreciate the fact that two more people were now aware of what he was capable of.

[spandexorgtfo]

"Daemon." The man hadn't seemed reluctant at all to give out his name, and so Kratos had no qualms about saying it baldly. After all, it would probably be beneficial for the two to meet and compile their respective accounts, for the sake of continuity.

He listened carefully as Castiel gave his brief summary of the rest of his night. Unfortunately, it was about as sparse and disappointing as his own had been, but it didn't sound as if he'd been so thoroughly distracted by hordes of monsters appearing with nearly every step he took.

..."Hordes" was probably a gross exaggeration, but after having to battle his way down a mere hallway, it had certainly felt accurate.

"The barrier's perimeter was that large? Surprising." It must have taken a ridiculous amount of power, too, although perhaps this world had more efficient generators than his. "I would have assumed that Aguilar would have sought to confine us to as manageable an area as possible."

[poorexample]

Daemon. It was far too similar to "demon" for his tastes, and Castiel almost flinched in response. It wouldn't have affected him so much if he hadn't just had a very unpleasant conversation with Ruby. It made him wary to track this Daemon down, but he realized that some humans named their children foolish things without realizing the meaning behind it. Either way, he nodded in thanks.

Kratos made a good point. Why had the barrier extended so far? Why had access to the town even been possible? Gabriel may have been able to push further through the sheer power of his Grace alone, but Castiel hadn't felt any resistance when they'd traveled. Strange.

"I don't have a good answer," he admitted. "Maybe he had only a limited control on its range." Castiel still didn't know what sort of magic had made that barrier possible in the first place, but whatever it was had to be extremely potent.

"Did you encounter anything strange yourself, last night?" Castiel went on to ask. He realized that Kratos' experience could hardly compare to his own, but that didn't mean that nothing of interest had happened to the man.

[spandexorgtfo]

No good answer: the universal response to almost any question regarding the mechanics of this place. To be honest, it was frustrating to always conclude that he was only speculating, or that there was the possibility of something. Kratos preferred his facts to be as they were: facts, unassailable and concrete. But, it was no fault of Castiel's that he lacked a definite answer; it was just the nature of this place to restrict information.

"Perhaps the strangest was the inordinate amount of monsters I encountered that seemed more intent than usual on disemboweling me," he replied dryly, his expression betraying just a hint of his frustration. "I didn't see as many others being similarly assailed, so I assumed it was because of the return of my usual level of power."

He shrugged. "They were annoying, so I survived the night unscathed, but persistent enough to frustrate my progress."

[poorexample]

Despite the fact that Castiel had spent at least some amount of times in the halls, he hadn't been attacked himself. Kratos' theory was that the creatures had been drawn to his power, but if that was the case then Castiel should have been swarmed. He didn't know what manner of strength Kratos had, but he could easily conclude that it didn't compare to his own.

In fact, maybe his Grace had actually managed to repel the creatures. In that case, at least he had managed to keep the two females patients with him safe by his very presence.

That was all assumption, though, and more than that, it was a moot point now that the night had ended and they had been reduced to their previous states. Either way, it seemed clear that Kratos hadn't encountered much of interest.

"I'm glad I was able to provide something of use, then," he said as he pulled the journal back and shut it.

[spandexorgtfo]

To be honest, he was unsure as to how the monsters had managed to track him down specifically, but it was possible, always possible that the mana had been simply leaking out and coloring that sixth sense through which that sort of thing could be noted. He had far more power than any human should or could ever rightly have; in the twin worlds, it would not have been as noticeable since his surroundings would have swallowed the excess up, even in the declining world. Here, though, it might have been pooling invisibly at his feet for all he knew, rolling off of him in waves as he walked down the halls, and yet he would not have cared because he had power--

Kratos tore his thoughts away from something that was no longer there. "Indeed," he said mildly. "It would have been unfortunate to have remained in the dark." Almost like salt in an open wound.

He might have said more, but at that point, the nurses were coming by to collect them for the next shift, and so he scooped up the remnants of his half-eaten lunch along with the book and nodded to Castiel before departing. "Thank you again."