Application for Castiel from Supernatural (End of Season 5)

[nerdofthelord]

((Application approved by the Winchesters and Bobby! *Waves paperwork stamped APPROVED*))

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"I mean it, Dean. What would you rather have? Peace--or freedom?"

It was a disheartening way to say good-bye.  But Castiel, his recent 'upgrade' nothwithstanding, was tired of shouldering the responsibility that should rightfully have been borne by the

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[nerdofthelord]

Castiel raised his eyebrows slightly, but his reply was calm (and a good bit more respectful than the woman's greeting had been.) "I assume that means I'm not the only angel you've met here."

At one time he might have taken offense, but he had learned the hard way that 'sanctimonious pieces of shit' was all too accurate of many of his kin--possibly giving some of them too much credit. (As for Cas himself, well...he was trying.)

He took a cautious step closer to the woman, studying her carefully. At first glance, he might have taken her for an angel herself; the energy that played about her, though faint, felt familiar. And the Fallen he had known (had actually been, briefly, for practical purposes) bore little remaining trace of the divine about them. On closer inspection, though, there was something distinctly off about her that he couldn't put a name to.

Yet another faction he hadn't known about, or was she something entirely unrelated?

"I haven't encountered anything quite like you before," he admitted, still inspecting her with detached curiosity. "Would it be unreasonable to ask who it is that's insulting me?"

[drunkexguardian]

"Some days it's like you can't turn a corner without getting their bubbly good graces all over your shoes," she snarled. Metaphorically speaking; she went around as usual barefoot but for cloth wraps, and so long as there was nothing more substantial between her skin and the ground she hovered off of it like one magnet repelled by another.

She crossed her arms in front of her, not stepping back. Let him gawk. Everybody point and laugh at Lee, kicked out for not following the rules. "Lee," she said, giving the name she'd been going by here for over two decades.

[nerdofthelord]

If she was an angelic being of some sort, she was a very odd one, but he could appreciate Lee's blunt honesty after dealing for so long with the backstabbing insurrectionists he had once called brothers. "Castiel," he replied, and after a moment's hesitation, stuck his hand out rather awkwardly. "I'm...not very bubbly," he offered.

[drunkexguardian]

Yeah, that sounded properly angelic. She didn't think she'd met him before--at least, no version of him that was him. Some of the other angels here were sure as shit different than the ones she'd been created with, and with the fucked-up dimensional shit this place was capable of...

Just because she might not have met him didn't mean she had to be nice to him. She frequently wasn't.

She stared at his hand coldly. "I don't shake," she told him. "I may be a bitch, but I'm not a fucking dog. So. Castiel. You ever met an angel called Malachi?"

((Some small spoilers for the series in link, nothing more than what you'd get from posting back and forth with her for a while XD ))

[nerdofthelord]

He blinked once and thrust his hands into his coat pockets, wondering if he'd gotten the gesture wrong somehow. "No," he said. "Do you know one named Zachariah?"

((Same deal with that link :) ))

[drunkexguardian]

That one was definitely not familiar. At least, not in the sense of the old days--she'd met several Zachariahs, Zachs, Zaks, and all kinds of variations on the name among humans. "Nope." Her hands went from crossed forbiddingly across her chest to planted forbiddingly on her hips, though; questionably less threatening. Possibly. If he hadn't hung around with Malachi, he wasn't scraping the bottom of the barrel as far as scum went, in her opinion.

"So you've killed other angels?"

[nerdofthelord]

"Yes," he said evenly. "Several, all of whom attacked me first. One who murdered several in our garrison." His gaze slid away from her. He wasn't especially proud of the necessity. "I didn't enjoy it. But it was kill or be killed."

Then he glanced up again, raising his eyebrows slightly. "And as my friend Dean would say, they were a bunch of dicks."

[drunkexguardian]

Lee grunted, looking down. She had killed one angel--former angel, Raziel had been cast out like her, though his time away from God had driven him insane--before, and he had begged her to do it. Even so, she hadn't been able to bring herself to do it until he had lunged for her.

She snorted, though. "Got that right."

[nerdofthelord]

"Unfortunately, it seems to be an epidemic among my brothers." Cas just wished he had figured that out much sooner.

He hesitated to ask, but once the question occured to him it was difficult not to voice it. The problems back home could be traced back to one root cause, as far as he was concerned. "Where you come from. Is...does God still rule in Heaven?"

[drunkexguardian]

That took her by surprise. Sobered her, even. It was hard to get Lee truly flustered, and she recovered quickly, but for a bare second her angry bravado froze as she tried to determine how the fuck she was supposed to interpret that on his end.

"Depends on what you mean by rule," she said, all busy bitterness again. "He's been trying to retire. Permanently. You know, heavenly suicide. Except--" She snorted another bitter laugh. "Except nobody'll let him. Big fuckin' joke's on him this time. But yeah, power's still at the top, if really pissed off about it."

She hesitated, a cold little lump settling itself down in the pit of her stomach. "So. How about where you're from?"

[nerdofthelord]

That one caught Cas off-guard, in turn. Dean had told him of Azrael's prediction, but despite his own issues with his Creator, the notion of God dying was so foreign to him that he hadn't yet managed to wrap his brain around it. That He might actually seek out His own end...

It took him a moment to find his voice and answer. "He has retired. Not...like that. He handed the reins over to Michael and left." Hearing something of Lee's bitterness echoed in his own voice, he tried (with mixed success) to force it back to its usual tones of calm detachment. "According to the only angel He still talks to, what becomes of Creation is no longer His concern. Though he intervenes for individuals on occasion, when--" He hesitated, reluctant to actually say what he'd been thinking aloud. "When it amuses him."

[drunkexguardian]

To hell with Heaven. Give me back my son.

But remember... it's only because I love you so much... that I could punish you this severely.

"Isn't that the fucking truth," she spat. "Bunch of puppets on fucking strings, that's what we are--what all of Creation is. No matter what version, sounds like." Cut the strings, tie some of them up in new, twisty ways. Make 'em dance to different music. She needed a drink.

[nerdofthelord]

Cas listened wearily, empathizing, but unable to match her wrath for wrath. His own anger had been mostly spent by way of a massive bender, and what was left he'd taken out on Dean a little later on. He couldn't muster up that kind of venom now; more a sort of disgusted resignation.

"I don't know. If he's a puppetmaster, he's relegated himself to a minor role. Michael and his cronies were the ones who manipulated and used everyone in sight." He leaned his shoulder against a nearby wall, regarding Lee bleakly. "What happened to you? You're not an angel, but not mortal either. Did they cut you off?" Though restored now, he certainly knew what that felt like.

[drunkexguardian]

Lee's fury intensified. Lightning crackled from her eyes, though she regained control of it before it went any further, shutting them firmly. "Shit." She exhaled noisily. "Suddenly I see why it'd be useful to have a damn wand here. Wards would be peachy right about now."

Okay. Count to ten. She had some modicum of self-control. "I used to be a guardian," she muttered. "I broke the rules. I got kicked out." Not so much kicked as thrown, wings burning, into a crater in the goddamned desert, but the figure of speech stood. "And I'm still here."

[nerdofthelord]

What was that phrase he'd heard the boys use? "Been there, done that." He could have used a drink himself, contemplating the memory. "They tried to brainwash me first. Then they just exploded me. Twice. God keeps bringing me back--or I have to assume it's God, I don't know who else would have the power--and every time he does, he changes the rules." He waved a hand, falling almost into a singsong cadence. "I lose power, I gain power, I become human, I'm an angel again. If I'm lucky, I don't land headfirst and comatose in a pile of freshly-caught shrimp."

He smiled ruefully, not trying to turn the conversation into a contest of one-upsmanship; it was just good to be able to speak of these things to somebody else who'd been there. Even if he couldn't seem to avoid pissing her off. "But I'm still here, too."

[drunkexguardian]

"Pile of shrimp, huh? Gross. Waking up naked in a crater hurt like a bitch, but at least there wasn't anything squishy under me."

She cracked a slight smile. Seriously, shrimp? "Can't say I've ever exploded, either. Had people try to blow me up, but it wasn't so much divine intervention as it was regular dipshits."

Human to angel to human... she'd been offered the chance twice. Once it had been Malachi fucking with her, trying to throw her off balance. Once it had been the real deal. The boss, in the... not flesh, as it were, but present as her son had burned and died... making the offer. She'd given it up in exchange for Jude's life.

Some bargain. Her son wouldn't even look at her now. She wasn't so sure she wanted to look at him, either; it hurt too much.

"I got old for a while," she offered. Not pissed off now, just... kind of thoughtful. "Wrinkles and everything. It was interesting. Kind of sucked first thing in the morning and in cold weather, though. And hot flashes can go fuck themselves."