snowblindrpg | [log] Event: Howl [open]

[log] Event: Howl [open]

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

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[ Castiel follows suit, almost without thinking. ]

Each culture, language, region, and generation flags intentional insincerity in different, intricate ways. It is as fascinating as it is disrespectful and tiring.

The creature we're pursuing has started to move left, relative to myself.

[Well, that's interesting. He switches to Spanish. As he looks up and lets his eyes track left. This is so incredibly stupid. He hates broken physics.]

Don't you have an infinite amount of time on your hands? It sounds to me like someone's just lazy.

[And back to English.]

We're about to have a gravity shift soon. Get ready to catch yourself.

[Because there's no way that's not going to happen given their orientation at the moment, relative to the creature.]

[ Again, Castiel switches to match. His Spanish bears a heavy and very old Andalusian accent, courtesy of his teacher. If he'd known he'd have occasion to use it again he would have made an effort to pick up a more contemporary dialect. ]

That isn't how it works. I had other duties to which I had to attend. Would you prefer that the Heavenly Host spend all of its time updating our understanding of the ever-shifting ocean of information you call language?

[ And once more, he follows suit. ]

Fluency is enough.

I would actually. Makes communication easier when you understand the subtleties of language. I mean, unless the Heavenly Host are appearing to chicks. Then good luck understanding anything.

[They're about five feet from the wall when the gravity shifts, and their left becomes down. House lets go of Castiel to catch himself, grunting when he impacts.]

[ Thanks to the Earthly company he'd been keeping prior to winding up in Norfinbury, Castiel was already aware that 'chick' is 21st century slang for 'woman,' but even with that he's having a hard time understanding what House is getting at. He's about to point out that almost no human languages are gender segregated and those that are don't have especially more or less complicated variants for women, but then House lets go of him and the moment passes.

Castiel manages the transition a little more gracefully, using the sound of House hitting the wall-floor to work out how far away it is and prepare himself to land on his feet. ]

It's moving away from us, but slowly. We should hurry. [ He points. ] Is there a direct path in that direction?

[House picks himself up. The creature is now on the left wall compared to them, if he has his orientations right. There is a staircase in front of them.]

Point to it again, and I'll tell you, poindexter. I can't see it.

[ Castiel hesitates, trying to figure out if that was more sarcasm. The nickname would imply that that's the case, wouldn't it? But he's not sure what else there is to do here, so after a moment's pause he does point, again. ]

It's there. I don't think it's noticed us yet.

Oh, goodie. We get to sneak up on the thing I can't see.

[That's muttered to himself as House grabs Castiel's shoulder again and starts shoving him along, up the stairs.]

We'll probably have another gravity shift to the left at some point. Be prepared.

[And while they walk...]

So, if you're an 'angel of the Lord,' where's your halo? See, I was dating this chick who had a halo hanging from the corner of her four-post bed. I knew it wasn't mine, but I saw if I can use it for the weekend or a one-night stand. Never went over well. Just nagging and nagging with 'shut the door, baby, don't say a word.'

[ There's another long moment of silence as Castiel tries to puzzle through the latter half of what House just said. More references? Is he speaking in tongues? He just doesn't know. ]

If you could see it and she could remove it from her person, it was probably a fake. I don't underst- [ He cuts off abruptly as a realization strikes him. Castiel didn't recognize the figure at first, not being used to perceiving them with only mortal sight to rely on instead of his full array of senses, but now that they're closer it's unmistakable. ]

Stop. [ His voice is a low hiss, suddenly concerned about being overheard despite the distance. ] This is someone I know.

[House does stop, but his tone is emphatic when he replies.]

No, it's not. It looks like someone you know. Doesn't make it them.

How would you know? [ Castiel snaps his answer, and it's the most openly agitated he's been since he got here. Anna had been the first person he'd thought to look for on his arrival - his sister and former commander who he'd turned in turned in for betraying Heaven before realizing she'd been right all along. Or thinking that's what he'd realized. He's still very unsure of how to feel about... anything, really. But the point is she's someone he wants very badly to see again, to speak to. ]

Edited 2017-03-04 23:01 (UTC)

[House is completely unfazed by the snap, but he does file it away for future needling purposes.]

Well, we got a couple of options.

A) I've been here a hell of a lot longer than you and seen it before.
B) I'm lying so you'll just get over it and go and kill you buddy.
Or C) I wanna murder you and I figure sending you toward your brethren'll work real well for that.

Care to take a guess?

Edited 2017-03-05 00:55 (UTC)

[ Castiel actually turns around - whole body, not just looking over his shoulder - to glare at House for a moment before returning to the task at hand and looking back at the thing wearing Anna's form. ]

If you're wrong about this, I will kill you next. [ Not that he's certain how he would know before it proved too late, either for Anna or - more likely - for himself. ] How many obstacles lie between us? She - it is... [ He pauses, remembering the systems of measurement. American accent, 21st century dialect. ] Ninety yards away, directly ahead.

[Castiel can't see the look House gives him, but the even just the silence from him is unimpressed. It's easier to be unimpressed when the guy doesn't know who he is.]

It's just the stairs. We've got about ten more up, there's a landing, then another set leading down. Sounds like Sis is on the other side. We'll let her reach us on the landing. Unless you wanna tackle something down a flight of stairs.

[House isn't going to let him, whether Cas wants to or not. The sense that he should be the one to protect the Prophet is too strong. It's irritating.]

How many heads does it have? And how high up is the mouth. One of us is gonna have to distract it while the other one grabs the light.

[ Castiel nods along because however loathe he is to admit it, House is right. If he tries to fight this impostor on uneven ground that he can't even see in the first place, he's more likely to hurt himself than actually accomplish anything. ]

It has four faces, all eight feet above the ground. They look in all directions - once we are no longer blocked from its sight by an obstacle, there will be no hiding from it. Only one mouth has the light at a time, but it passes it between each one in sequence.

[House swears under his breath.]

Any chance you angel kids got a crotch I can kick that'll bring it down to our level?

No. We have no such obvious weaknesses. [ Or, for that matter, legs. At least not in the traditional sense. ] If you distract it, I could climb its back. Or we could lure it back to the shift in gravity. Standing at an angle to it would put us at the right height.

[He weighs the options. They don't have much time to deliberate.]

How good a climber are you?

[That's really the only salient point here.]

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[log] Event: Howl [open]

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