The Graveyard | Early Afternoon | Monday | January 4

[therewaslife]

Bod, being the curious sort he was, hadn't been able to stay away from the local graveyard for long. The day was cold (as days in winter tended to go) and Bod had his coat (heavy; his mother would be proud) before arriving on the island wrapped tight around him.

Graveyards weren't ever going to be the busiest places in any town so Bod wasn't surprised to find this graveyard appearing empty. Bod knew, though, that there were people here. At one time, he'd be able to see them and talk to them but that was no longer the case. Nonetheless, Bod knew they were there. Were they watching him right now? Talking about him? Had his name made it across the ocean? Bod left those questions unanswered.

He crouched down in front of one gravestone, hand reaching out to touch the cold stone, letting the chill seep into his fingers. The words here weren't Latin and he read them easily, committed them to memory. It was odd to feel like a stranger in a place similar to the one he'd called home for so long.

But, that's what he was. A stranger. That was all right, though. Bod knew it was. He smiled and moved to another grave, reading quietly.

[open, sure!]

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[scruffnfeathers]

The day was cold enough that Castiel noticed on slightly more than an academic level -- though he still wore the same rumpled suit and trench coat he wore every hour of every day. He stepped out into the graveyard to check how the Cat was faring in the cold -- only to have the Cat immediately bolt past him into the church. She had taken to doing that lately, and Castiel was fairly certain that in approximately twenty minutes, she would be demanding to go back out into the cold again.

Really. Cats.

He set out for a walk through the graveyard anyway, nodding to Bod as he passed. "Good day."

[therewaslife]

Having not expected (though Bod would learn to expected the unexpected in this town soon enough) to see anyone else in this area, a small thrill went through him at the possibility that he was hearing a ghost again.

It went away quickly though, extinguished when he heard the footfalls of the other man. He turned, knees sinking into the cold earth and gave Castiel a nod as well.

"Hullo." He looked older than anyone else he'd met so Bod guessed teacher. Or townsperson. "I didn't realize anyone else was here."

[scruffnfeathers]

"Nor I. This graveyard has not often been visited since I've arrived." He nodded to the stone in front of Bod. "A friend of yours?"

[therewaslife]

"No." Bod stood, shaking his head as he did. He gave one last look to the words chiseled into the stone before turning towards Castiel. "I was just visiting, I suppose. Reading. I'm new. I don't know if I can say I really have any friends yet."

[scruffnfeathers]

"I suspect you'll find some soon enough. Likely without realizing you were doing so." Castiel smiled faintly. "I am Castiel. I run the local church."

[therewaslife]

"That'd be ideal." From what he'd learned already, Bod could see that happening. There seemed to be a great deal of open mindedness and understanding that he hadn't encountered very often. "Hullo, Castiel. I'm Bod."

He'd considered saying his entire name but decided against it. Hardly anyone tended to use that anyway. And here, people weren't used to it. While Castiel didn't seem to confuse easily, others might.

"I just arrived on Saturday," he added. "Were you at the picnic?"

[scruffnfeathers]

Castiel shook his head. "I don't generally join large gatherings. I find mankind somewhat bewildering at times, and I suspect an event such as the picnic would only exacerbate that."

[therewaslife]

"Bewildering?" Bod couldn't really argue with that despite questioning the word. He tended to lean on the curious side of things despite being part of the mankind group himself. He still felt a little out of place at times.

"Has something happened to make you think that?" asked Bod, making an attempt to satisfy that curiosity. He figured he could spend time wondering or he could ask.

[scruffnfeathers]

"Only that I had been away from the earth for quite some time, and a great deal has changed." He sighed. "Not that I always understood the motivations of man in the first place."

[therewaslife]

Castiel's manner of speaking snagged more of Bod's curiosity. The way he spoke sounded similar to how Elena had sounded when speaking of Midgar except in seemingly broader terms.

"If you weren't here, were you on another world?" asked Bod, understanding that he'd been here once but had left. "It doesn't sound like a vacation."

[scruffnfeathers]

"I was in Heaven," Castiel said, then realized he'd possibly forgotten to share a fairly vital bit of information for this conversation. "I'm an angel of the Lord."

[therewaslife]

Bod's eyes widened slightly and he found himself unable to reply immediately. Unexpected, indeed, though this was on a rather larger scale than running into someone in a graveyard.

"I suppose you've seen enough to be able to judge mankind's actions," he finally said, one corner of his mouth ticking up into a smile. "What would an angel be doing here? I would think you'd have more important things to do."

[scruffnfeathers]

"I . . . honestly have no idea." Castiel sighed. "I was in the process of averting the apocalypse when I simply . . . found myself here. I have so far been unable to return to my world. I fear the worst has happened."

[therewaslife]

"Oh." Cataclysmic apocalypses made everything else seem insignificant at the moment. "That sounds difficult."

That was surely an understatement but giving out sentimental platitudes for something he knew nothing about didn't seem right.

"You're talking about another version of this world, right?" asked Bod. "I would think the destruction of Heaven would be a little...more fatal."

[scruffnfeathers]

"Oh yes. Heaven is eternal." Well, that's what they told him, anyway. "The apocalypse is more of a . . . territorial battle. Whether Heaven or Hell expands into the Earthly realm. Unfortunately, the human race tends to end up dominating the list of casualties."

[therewaslife]

Bod's head tilted, considering Castiel's words. There was a foolish question on this tip of his tongue, one he knew couldn't be true but wanted to be asked anyway.

Bod bit his tongue to prevent it from happening.

"I didn't realize this world was such a valuable commodity." Then again, he hadn't really been paying that much attention to it. "I've never met an angel before. You're my first."

[scruffnfeathers]

"I'm many people's first. Though there is another angel on the island. He and I are . . . very dissimilar. I believe he's from another world entirely."

[therewaslife]

"Yeah, that's one of the things I'm learning quickly. Almost no one is from the same world. I met someone from a completely different place the other day." he said, laughing a little. In a way, he felt like he'd struck gold, picking a school that was completely unexpected in various surprising ways. It would help prevent boredom at the very least.

"What stops you from going home?" wondered Bod. "I didn't think travel was prevented once you arrived here."

[scruffnfeathers]

"I'm not certain. I have manged to visit a number of different places, I've simply been entirely unable to make contact with or visit the world I originated from."

[therewaslife]

"Huh." It did sound like Castiel was right and that something had happened there. Physical travel to your home didn't tend to just stop working unless something was blocking it.

"My home is still there but I can't go back." He'd wanted to stay but Silas had explained, Bod had listened, and he'd left. "Not for awhile, at least. It still must be hard not to know though."

[scruffnfeathers]

"Quite. I've done my best to be . . . adaptable, however. Why can you not return to your own home?"

[therewaslife]

"I'm pretty sure I have to die first." It was blunt, Bod knew, but it was the truth. He wasn't like Silas so he knew he couldn't return like that. "I grew up in a graveyard. Bigger than this but similar. It's why I'm here today."

[scruffnfeathers]

Castiel nodded. He'd never heard of a human being raised in a graveyard, but he'd long since stopped expecting things on the island to happen in a way he had heard of. "As far as I know, that makes you unique on this island."

[therewaslife]

"That's what I'm hearing." He barely smiled but it was there, just touching his eyes. "It was a lark, coming here today. I thought maybe something would flicker but it's not. It's still nice here. It's quiet."

[scruffnfeathers]

"At the moment, yes. It's possible that it's not always so." When the Cat was hunting, if nothing else.

[therewaslife]

"I think that's possible of all graveyards." The one he'd come from had it's loud days, after all. "Do you come through here often? It seems a sort of strange place to take walks for most people. Not for you, though, considering what you are."

Angels were the type that could walk where they wanted and when they wanted. They'd seen worse than a small graveyard, he was sure.

[scruffnfeathers]

Quite a bit worse, yes. "I come by on occasion. More so since I've been adopted by a cat who's been living here. I find it's frequently a good place for contemplation."

[therewaslife]

"A cat?" Bod looked around, not having seen a cat since he'd arrived. "I guess I wasn't alone. I've never heard of a cat taking to a graveyard. Does he have a name?"

[scruffnfeathers]

"Her name is Angelbane." Castiel paused. "I didn't name her."

[therewaslife]

Bod gave a slight nod, eyes glancing around the graveyard like the cat might appear at the calling of her name. There were plenty of places to hide, not all of them evident to the human eye.

"It's an unusual name," he replied, turning his attention back to Castiel. "The previous owner named her, I assume?"

[scruffnfeathers]

"I don't know who her previous owner might be. She was named by a . . . friend of mine."

[therewaslife]

"Possibly one of these people," said Bod, reaching to skim his fingers against the top of a grave. "She outlived her owner but doesn't know where to go."

It was far fetched at best but still a possibility. Apparently, this island made everything a possibility. Once he'd accepted that fact, it was easy to keep himself from becoming too shocked by the things he'd heard.

"Is she your first pet?" he asked. "Or just the most recent?"

[scruffnfeathers]

"First. It . . . took some time for them to convince me she was my pet."

[therewaslife]

"It took some time to convince you because it was your first pet and you weren't sure how it worked?" Bod wondered, not really understanding the ins and outs of pet ownership himself. "Or was it something else?"

[scruffnfeathers]

"I am . . . uncomfortable with expressing ownership of another being."

[therewaslife]

"Oh." Admittedly, Bod didn't know a lot about angels other than what he'd gleaned from the pages of several books. Castiel, he'd gathered, was a little different than the halo wearing angels that played harps in the random television commercial he'd seen.

The laws of ownership were one of those things that he didn't really understand. "Even if she adopted you first? It seems she made that choice for you."

[scruffnfeathers]

"So I've been told. Though that would more make me her angel than her my cat."

[therewaslife]

"Well, it does sound like it solves the ownership dilemma that you face," Bod said, slight grin crossing his face briefly. "You don't claim ownership and she does except she doesn't out and out say it."

[scruffnfeathers]

"I'm hoping, eventually, for something of a mutually beneficial relationship."