006/Audio/Late Day 79

[tryingitall]

I've had a thought, Kore--because I do that, occasionally, when I'm not too busy drinking. We've had a lot of new arrivals turn up injured lately, and also a number of re-arrivals with nasty wounds. What about a few of us volunteering as a quick-response group for these occasions? A welcoming committee for the bruised and bleeding, as it were.

I don't know whether the infirmary is equipped for overnight stays, so someone will have to inform me. I'm afraid to go look. If not, maybe some sort of temporary shelter would be appropriate, as well.

...

...And on a completely unrelated note, could the person who's been painting murals of birds around town pretty please come forward? I want to shake your hand.

Comments

[tryingitall]

Information is always useful! Even at my most obnoxious, I can't claim to be omniscient. Well, I could, but no one would believe me.

Shall we meet at the bar, or do you prefer somewhere else?

[primogen_vampirate]

The docks. I have little patience for being around drunkards.

[tryingitall]

We're never going to be good friends, are we? [He chuckles softly.]

Right. I'll be there in five minutes. Just hear me out before you boot me into the water.

[primogen_vampirate]

Of course. I'm nothing if not courteous.

[Action]

[tryingitall]

[He cuts the feed and leaves a note for his housemates before taking flight. As she already knows he's an angel, he sees no reason to land short of his destination and walk, so he touches down by the waterside, with no attempt to be subtle.]

Doctor Barrett.

[primogen_vampirate]

[Mina arrives by foot, wearing a sharp three-piece suit, a fedora pulled down to a jaunty angle over one eye. She has a ring on every finger and one earring. A bit cartoonish, perhaps, but it's a look that suits her just fine.

Balthazar's angelic senses might also pick up something in her aura. She's more than just a simple vampire. There's something ancient inside of her, something older than old. A very powerful, dangerous Fae presence.]

Good evening, darling.

[tryingitall]

[He's not sure what the extra spiritual oomph signifies, not at first glance, but he can tell it's old. His first thought is maybe it's part of why she's so sensitive to disrespect. The oldest beings he knows are the archangels, and they're prickly as hell.

He gives a slight bow, looking her over thoughtfully.]

So, we've gotten off on the wrong foot, clearly, and I don't know that there's any way to remedy that. For what it's worth, I might not even be keen on the idea of a medical system now, either, if Cas hadn't turned up wounded like that and then vanished on me.

Angels have healing abilities, but mine are limited, and I'm dreading the day my siblings who are better at it get ripped away home or tucked into some facility for experimentation.

[primogen_vampirate]

Ah yes. Castiel. Stubborn as hell, that one. Refused to be treated, actually. Which seems to be an ongoing problem with a lot of the people here at the Kore.

[She considers mentioning the time he showed up naked in her kitchen. But no. Despite her bruised ego, she actually has a soft spot for Castiel, the little idiot that he is.]

[tryingitall]

[Balthazar smiles fondly, looking at the ground.] You've got his number. He wouldn't let me come help, either, so don't take that personally.

It's possible that a number of us come from situations where we can't trust most of those around us. The Heaven I come from, for example, was fractured. Falling apart. I won't bore you with the details.

There are a number of secrets in this town.

[primogen_vampirate]

I noticed that. And the scientists running this circus seem particularly fond of nabbing people from your world.

[She glances up at the sky a moment.]

Heaven is fractured. Seems appropriate somehow.

You'll forgive me, my dear. The church has never had a place for me.

[tryingitall]

They do. I like the company, but it's rather ominous. [He follows her gaze up to the unfamiliar sky overhead, and sighs almost inaudibly.]

No offense taken, truly. A human I came to love and respect once said the same thing to me. It took me a while to understand. Of course, the Church and the Host are different things, but they're linked, and there's no unlinking them. A lot of us here, from my world, are runaways from Heaven.

[primogen_vampirate]

Really? Find that rather hard to believe.

[That Raphael? Not a fun bloke.]

I suppose I could see it for Castiel. Bit of a nutter.

[tryingitall]

Which part's hard to believe? That I like the company or that a lot of us are runaways? Castiel counts as the latter, although I have yet to see him do something he didn't believe was for the greater good, even in leaving Heaven.

[Raphael, he has to concede, isn't exactly the fun type. But he's still family.]

[primogen_vampirate]

The part about the runaways, I think. Seems rather contradictory.

[tryingitall]

Mm. Well, technically, the punishment for desertion is death. Here, though, we seem to have a second chance, or at least a brief respite. It's been over two years since I left Heaven.

[primogen_vampirate]

And, if I may ask, what did you--and the others--do that warranted this desertion?

Or should I ask what was done to you?

[tryingitall]

It's not my place to explain for the others.

[He's quiet for a moment, studying the stars again. At length he answers with a question:] Do you have family, Doctor Barrett? Here or anywhere else. Brothers? Sisters?

[primogen_vampirate]

[The transition surprises her somewhat. Her eyebrows pucker for a moment and she scowls.

But there's no harm in answering honestly, is there?]

No. I've been quite on my own since I was...oh...thirteen.

[tryingitall]

That makes it harder to explain. [Slowly he wanders over to one of the pylons and half-sits on the edge, one foot touching the ground.]

All of the Host call one another brother or sister. We're made to care about one another. Unfortunately, we're also made to fight. After a while, I noticed we were doing a lot of fighting amongst ourselves. Killing one another.

The grand plan of Creation, according to the orders that filtered down from the archangels--from God, or so we thought--was for an end to the fighting on the earth. No one seemed to have a good plan to end the conflict in Heaven. The best answer anyone could give me was that once Michael had defeated Lucifer for good, there would be no more to argue about. The more of us died, though, the less I believed that.

I decided if the plan was to watch my siblings kill each other until either dissension was stamped out or there was no one left to dissent, then fuck it.

[primogen_vampirate]

Sounds a bit like Kindred politics, actually.

[She moves to an adjacent pylon, perching herself on it.]

The difference being that most of us have come to view each other as enemies, rather than blood.

[For a moment, she's silent, contemplating it all.]

When I was two years old, I had a brother named Mark who died. It was common back then for children to die. My mother dressed me him in his clothes and started to call me Mark and scammed a lot of money out of my paternal grandmother because of it. I suppose, you might say my view on family is somewhat...demented.

But soldiers? Politics? Generals who don't know what the hell they're doing? That much I can understand.

[tryingitall]

As far as I can tell, on my world vampires are quite cliquish. There are nests and covens and the like, but no overarching hierarchical structure. But I haven't known many.

[He listens to her story with an expression somewhere between sympathy and curiosity. For all that he's attached to his own family, he hasn't had much experience with the way humans grow up. Even an odd example is intriguing. He nods at her conclusion.]

Angels are soldiers with a biological imperative to obey. By the time circumstances push us to the point where we can't or won't obey any longer...

[Shrug.] Perhaps it's a kind of psychological break that makes us run, or a change in what makes us what we are. Castiel and I certainly mucked things up.

I've never done much of anything useful on my own. Trying to care for the people here, angels and otherwise, is a small thing and possibly quite futile, but I don't know what else to do.

[primogen_vampirate]

Understandable. At least in the case of Castiel.

[She folds her arms.]

But what about the others? Raphael? Lucifer? I don't know Catholicism well, but I know it well enough.

[tryingitall]

[He gives a small, uncertain grimace.] Lucifer was the first to Fall. He doesn't like humans, and frankly I wouldn't trust him to be friendly with any human-shaped creature, vampires included.

Raphael, on the other hand, hasn't run away, but I'm not sure that means he's not broken. He does approve of physicians, though.

[primogen_vampirate]

My life is complete. I've the approval of an arch-angel.

[She glances up at the sky a moment.]

It's strange to think that characters from the stories I heard as a child are more real than paper.

[tryingitall]

[Balthazar laughs softly.] I didn't necessarily mean that. But truly, it's better to have his approval than not. Archangels are fierce. They're terrifying when they're angry.

[Sobering, he nods.] Maybe everything is real somewhere, at some point in time. But we may not exist in the world you come from. I have no way to know that.