multiversallogs | A stranger I've just met, a woman who I hardly know at all and should forget [CLOSED]

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A stranger I've just met, a woman who I hardly know at all and should forget [CLOSED]

Who: Mina and Castiel
What: Either a date or an exercise in poor decision-making
Where: A pub
When: The end of monster week (back-dated)
Notes: None
Warnings: None yet

Mina made it a point to arrive at the pub earlier, after doing a cursory job of tidying up a bit. She had managed to wash most of the blood off of her, but she was hardly as put-together as she usually liked. The sleeves of her purple button-down were rolled up, her collar unbuttoned, her tie untied. Normally, she liked to be meticulous with her appearance (perhaps due to so many years of having to hide certain parts of her body) but the onslaught outside had set Mina's priorities, if nothing else. Quite frankly, she hated the idea of leaving her first aid station, but she had to feed and meeting with Castiel gave her a reasonable alibi. Fortunately, she had found a few volunteers to mind the shop.

After quickly scanning the room, and making sure that she had arrived first, Mina sidled up to the bar, ordering herself a drink. She took whatever it was that passed for blood around here, having it mixed with copious amounts of alcohol to mask the smell and the texture. She'd call it a 'Bloody Mary' or something. Extra virgin. Although that would apparently offend the Hellsing people.

Taking a sip, she sat down, resting her elbows on the bar, watching the door. What new surprises lay in store tonight, she wondered. Castiel clearly had some kind of agenda. No man ever called her beautiful without having some kind of agenda. Furthermore, she wondered what he was. If he came from 2014, or whatever, and remembered the 20's, he was something other than Human. But what? He hadn't recognized her subtle hint about the Mekhet, so clearly not a Kindred.

If nothing else, it would be interesting...

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Cas stretched out his back in the chair for a moment, disregarding conversation. "Hunters... one is surly and the other is an intellectual."

"Hunters?" Well, that sounded potentially hazardous to her health. "I'm guessing, if they have an angel looking out for them, that they're not out on the African savannah hunting big game."

She ran her finger around the rim of her glass, watching Castiel. And now for the big question. "What do they hunt?"

"The supernatural, mostly, things that prey on humans routinely," Castiel drained his glass again and made a satisfied sound. "Which isn't lions and things of that nature."

Damn it.

Mina couldn't help but sigh a little bit. After the recent goings on in Chicago, she was getting used to being knocked down a peg or two on the food chain, but things were bordering on the absurd now, here in Baedal. It seemed like everyone she met was either supernatural (and capable of hurting her) or hunting after the supernatural. And not at all the way she used to hunt after certain supernatural things.

No rest for the wicked, she supposed.

"In my time," she murmured, "the only people who were so obsessed with the supernatural were the very rich and eccentric or the penniless and superstitious. I'm having a hard time adjusting to all of this supernatural...display."

"You should see the heads turn when I tell them of my roots," he responded in slight trying to cheer her up or divert the conversation from something so depressing. "Co-existence, the balance, it's present in all things."

"Now that is something Anne would say," she said, perking up a little bit.

She supposed Anne was a safe subject. Mina didn't have to mention the vampire parts of the story. "Anne was my mentor. A remarkable woman. After my husband died, she took me under her wing." There was a particular smile Mina always reserved for talking about Anne. It was surprisingly genuine, distant, pleasant. Quite unlike her typical, hardened demeanor. "She used to tell me that balance was the purpose of all living things. For every evil created, the forces governing our lives created a force of good."

And so it was with the Kindred. For every Centurion, there were ten Valkyrien Amazons. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to do nearly as much good as they hoped.

Cas drummed his fingers against the wood surface of the table between them, glass now empty and his stomach already full.

"I don't have much else to believe in but that, even if the balance was not... reassembled where I'm from." The corners of his mouth quirked up a touch. "Perhaps it's just... foolish hope that this place could offer something so lost to the wind in my own realm."

Interesting.

"You know," Mina said gently, "when I left Chicago...things were...getting a little bit out of control." Understatement, but no matter. "I felt as if the balance in my life had been ripped away from me. And then I found myself here."

She recalled a conversation she had had on the network. The Welsh gentleman, trying to look for some common thread, explaining the reason why they, of all people, had been chosen to come to this place. He was looking for physical commonalities; what they were doing, who they were with, what they were wearing. All of that nonsense. But this commonality felt more emotional.

"Do you think we've been brought here to get a second chance?" she asked. "The opportunity to find what we lost?" Mina had lost so much.

He's no stranger to fate and her wicked ways, he's been down the path of righteousness and was knocked from that pedestal without so much as a warning. There was wealth to be had in Baedal, people he never thought he'd see again living among its threshold in unison and a people fighting against adversity. He supposed that in the long run having faith wouldn't do him harm, even if it wasn't the faith of his father that he'd lost so long ago.

"It's a possibility," a simple statement. Nothing more. This was in the eye of the beholder, that much was certain.

Mina frowned, suddenly feeling a bit foolish. "Listen to me," she muttered. "I sound like a child." She rolled her eyes. "I suppose, when faced with a stressful situation, we all tend to revert to..." To what? Children? No. Mortals? Well, some more than others. She shrugged. "...something."

"Well, I try not to judge," Cas started off on slowing his fingers tapping on the wood surface to a slow unheard lull. "Perception tends to differ between person to person."

"True," Mina said, watching the way his hand seemed to be in a constant state of motion. "When I was a medical student, we used to discuss the theory that everyone perceived color differently. What I see as red, for example, you might perceive as my understanding of blue. And if you were able to possess my body and look at the world through my eyes, you would not be able to comprehend the colors. Everything would look distorted to you."

Mina was good with Dominate, but she had never quite advanced to the highest levels of the discipline. They allowed one to possess the body of a mortal. For years, she had toyed around with the idea of studying it, if only to explore the theory for herself. In the end, she always chose Cruac magic over Dominate. It was more useful and flexible. Still, her curiosity could never be completely ignored.

He smiles, dips his chin into his chest, and gives her a thoughtful glance. "You see, that's what makes humanity beautiful. Life beautiful. Those intricacies."

"You seem to be limiting that statement to Humans," Mina said, flagging down the barkeep for another refill for the two of them. "Why have limits? They're so limiting." She shrugged a little bit. "You fail to incorporate yourself into that kind of statement."

This man, she thought, would make an excellent member of the Circle of the Crone. Not that Mina planned to Embrace him or anything (she had never actually sired a childe before), but she saw, in him, all of the qualities of a Crone. He had, it seemed, a reverence for life and an understanding of balance. Anne would be quite fascinated by him. And Mina had no doubt that Grace would certainly approve of him.

Strange that she should be thinking of such things, especially when she was so far removed from the chain of command. Theoretically, at least, she could sire anyone she wanted. Not that the Hellsing people would let her get away with mass embraces. Not that she even approved of such things.

His hand has been still for a while now and after a moment of silence he pulls a bottle of prescription pills out of his pocket, breaks a tab in half, and swallows it with saliva.

"I don't know......" he trails off for only a moment. "Force of habit, I guess."

Mina raised an eyebrow, glancing at the bottle of pills. Now that was interesting. "Pardon me for asking," she said, "but what does a former angel need with prescription pills?"

Her reaction doesn't surprise him, in fact he turns to her with a token look of curiosity before actually replying. "I said I'm all but human," he inhales. "This just helps with that but part."

Maybe it had been too long since Mina had been turned. She knew that mortal life was filled with pain. But this was taking that quite literally. "If you're ailing, you should let me examine you sometime. I'm quite good at what I do." True, she used magic to help enhance her abilities, but who cared? "I've been thinking of opening a clinic out here. I just don't know that I have the resources to run a one-man operation just yet."

He'll acknowledge her expertise, event that she's not human so more experience might go with it but he was still a stubborn creature and fickle with pride.

"It's not that kind of problem."

"It's not that kind of problem," Mina repeated carefully, giving the barkeep a light smile as he refilled her drink. "Well, I'll admit, I'm not trained in angelic medicine, but I would love to learn more. Really, hematology is a limited field."

She lifted her chin toward him. It was a challenge, but not hostile.

"I'm just too big," he said with a vapid expression and an irate sort of look. "My true form is the size of the Chrysler building," a sigh. "It helps with the stretching some, so does the absinthe, I don't feel at home in this skin."

Of all the things he might have said, that wasn't so bad. Mina sort of understood it, on some level. She nodded slightly. She actually knew a thing or two about adjusting to a new body. The only difference was that she rather liked her new form, far more than her old one. "Those sound like sadly temporary fixes," she commented, taking a sip of her drink. Vaguely, she wondered what an angel's blood tasted like. Did they have any blood? She would have to try to make him blush later.

"I wonder if there could be a more permanent solution. No one should spend an eternity uncomfortable." She set down her glass, reaching out and lightly touching his arm. She was curious to see what his skin felt like. In her head, there was some kind of picture of one an enormous balloon, helium straining against the rubber. "Maybe some kind of spell to toughen out your skin?"

"I appreciate that you're trying to help," he stole a glance at the hand on his arm but did nothing to move it. The comfort of a touch was nice, it's why he had so many orgies. Sin and decadence. Things to get him off of discomfort and malignancy. "But it's more spiritual than physical. Some things just can't be fixed."

Mina pulled her hand back. "Forgive me," she said. "As a doctor," not to mention a vampire and a sorceress, "I find it difficult to accept that something can't be fixed. Which is not to say I take you for a liar. Just a matter of my nature."

She decided to let the subject drop. For now. But honestly, she was fairly certain she would spend the next couple of mornings lying awake, thinking about it, dreaming up elaborate and highly illogical solutions to his problem. And it wouldn't be just an intellectual exercise. She genuinely liked Castiel. What was not to like? He was a soldier, supernatural, and appreciated the finer points of balancing life and death. Not to mention the fact that he was handsome.

"So if you've been alive since the beginning of time," she said, changing the subject, "tell me about your favorite period of history."

"I spent much of my life in the Garrison," Cas said with a tone of nonchalance. "My experiences with humanity didn't begin until the 21st century, everything else was merely observation."

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