[log] Event: Howl [open]

[snowblindmods]

Characters: everyone
Location: The sort of location M.C. Escher wishes he'd thought up.
Date: nights 211 & 212
Summary: I hunt for you with bloody feet across the hallow'd ground
Warnings: potential for violence, death, and psychological horror; please note in subject lines if any specific warnings come up!

like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins
I want to find you tear out all your tenderness

Comments

[devoutish]

Yeah. I'm gonna lead you. Can you be touched?

[Hey, if he's an angel, there might be protocol or something.]

[godsspeed]

Yes, that would be helpful. [ For a moment he looks as if he's going to try to walk towards Alfie, to meet him halfway, but he thinks better of it. The ground here doesn't feel right. Instead he waits, holds out a hand in the direction of his voice. ]

I know what I'm here to do, but I'm going to need your help.

[devoutish]

I can't see the creatures.

[So he's going to need Castiel's help there, too.]

We've got the same goal, here. We'll work together.

[He stops in front of him, taking his hand.]

[godsspeed]

[ Good, that saves him the trouble of having to explain. It does raise the question of who told Alfie all of this and brought him here, but that can wait until later.

Castiel takes Alfie's hand and stops, casting about one more time before raising his other hand and pointing. ]

There. One of them is waiting a short way from here. [ Or at least he thinks it's a short way. It's difficult to tell with no frame of reference, and what Castiel also doesn't realize is that he's pointing directly at a wall. Or floor, or ceiling. Whatever it is, it's a very solid structure that Alfie can't see through. ]

[devoutish]

Right, yeah. There's a ledge in the way; it can't see it. We'll need to stay to the right. To the left, it tapers off into nothing.

[And in contrast, it rises to dizzying heights on the right.]

We're a bit sideways ourselves, at the moment. Can you feel that, without your sight?

[godsspeed]

I was oriented this way when I woke up here. It's likely any other direction will feel "sideways" to me. [ Which sounds like it will be inconvenient, but Alfie seems to be coping, at least. If that's the case, then he can cope as well. ]

Go, I will follow and inform you when we draw close.

[devoutish]

Mm. Well-- you'll adjust.

[Hopefully.

Alfie carefully and slowly leads Castiel along and down the wall, until (from his point of view) they're mostly upright. Unless Castiel protests, he'll keep going, walking towards the creature but staying safely hidden behind the barrier of the wall-ceiling.]

How close are we now?

[godsspeed]

[ He does, thankfully. The dual sensation of being on the ground and sideways at the same time is unnerving, but he's experienced far stranger in the span of his long life. He listens closely to Alfie's footsteps and makes sure he places his feet carefully where they fell. It's slow going, but as they draw nearer he begins to hurry, a sense of urgency overtaking him.

The bright creature is close enough now for him to make it out in detail, and his eyes go wide in recognition and confusion. He doesn't hear Alfie's question, but the way he's staring at something - someone? - just on the other side of the wall is answer enough. ]

Zachariah?

[ It certainly looks like him; the six feathered wings denoting his rank, the leonine face he was always so proud of facing forward while the other three swivel about and gaze at his surroundings, the frankly unnecessary ostentation surrounding his holy grace. But that can't be right, this is something he's been ordered to hunt, to kill if necessary, to steal the light from its mouth. Heaven wouldn't order him to kill a superior officer - more likely it would order Zachariah to find and eliminate him. So, his orders, all of this? A trick? Some game? Or is the being before him merely some pretender?

He doesn't know. It terrifies him that he doesn't know, and he's effectively frozen in place as he tries to work things through in his mind. ]

[devoutish]

It's not him.

[Alfie can't see a thing, but he doesn't need to. He's very familiar with anomalies that take familiar forms, and these particular anomalies being invisible to him doesn't change that.

He tightens his grip on Castiel's arm.]

Don't go any closer. Get your bearings first.

[godsspeed]

[ Alfie is right to hold onto him - he very much does almost go running to - confront? Question? Speak to? - his commander, but the certainty Alfie speaks with draws him up short. Keeping his voice down this time, he says; ]

This is still a part of Norfinbury. [ It would explain the inconsistencies with how his orders were received. Throwing him into a situation unarmed and without backup was unusual, but not unprecedented, especially for someone whose loyalties and competence needed testing. However, if Heaven truly had been willing and able to find him again, and entrust him with a mission of any importance, its first priority would have been to debrief him, if only to inform him of the possible consequences of failure. ]

The mission, then - taking the lights from these... impostors. Is that still real?

[devoutish]

Yeah.

[That's his immediate, automatic answer, but he has to stop and amend it.]

It feels real. I'm convinced it's real, in my head. But Norfinbury has its tricks.

[He runs his free hand down his face, needing to stop and get his own bearings for a moment.]

I can't say what'll happen if we decide not to listen.

[godsspeed]

[ Castiel hesitates, the sense of security having an immediate objective again gave him lost. This is another of this plane's tricks? And it or something like it has happened before?

It's a lot to take in, and he has a lot of questions, but now isn't a good time to ask them. Regardless of whether or not anything else is true, there's still a beast here stalking the halls and wearing the faces of an angel. It must be dealt with. ]

I don't like this, but it seems wisest to obey, for now. Where does this barrier end? If I can surprise him - it, I can take the light from its mouth. [ Easier said than done when it's literally ringed with eyes, but it's the best chance he has. He'll just have to move quickly. ]