don't believe what they say

[limped]

WHO: Newt and YOU? Possibly?
WHERE: The Hotel, floor 7 and 8
WHEN: ~Feburary 13th
WARNINGS: Possibly language???
SUMMARY: Settling in and meeting the neighbours


( Feel free to turn this into a lil hotel mingle log, go for it! )



[ Newt wanted somewhere to sleep that was a little less open to those things. The Scorch had been different, there wasn't anywhere to rest that was really all that safe. Here, they could find a building and barricade it up. The blond didn't feel comfortable being too far from the water source, so when they found the Hotel not too far, he was glad for it.

The hunt for whatever it was that guy had been looking for had been a wild goose chase, but Thomas had put the idea of rope in his head, and since then, he's been cutting seat belts out of old decrepit cars and hoarding them. Maybe it looked a little odd, the blond sitting on the ground on the eighth floor in front of a giant hole that goes into a room below him, tying remnants of seat belts together in an odd pattern (if anyone looked closer, they'd see he was making a rope ladder.

Occasionally, he can be heard speaking down to someone in the hole. The door to the eighth floor "room" completely missing. ]

I think we could catch rain water up here, and start a garden.

[ Anyone who happens to come up behind him will be met at spear-point. ]

Comments

OTA to other roof dwellers and visitors

[strangelic]

[ In the early evening, Castiel takes to the rooftop to get a good view of the stars. He's trying to use them to establish the date, which is a little harder than he'd first thought--at least, nailing it down to a specific year. At least it's Earth, perhaps, or perhaps that's not such a good thing. This world, Creation--what had happened to it? And more importantly, was it up to him to fix it? Could he fix it?

He stood balanced right on the tallest part of the roof, where the elevator housing had once been, right on the very edge. Bedraggled still, he looked like a slight wind might knock him over the edge and send him plummeting eight stories, especially with his face turned up toward the emerging stars.

If not for the death surrounding them all, the sky might even be beautiful. ]

[pinner]

Hello.

[It took some work but Athena finally found someone who would bring her by the hotel to pay Jimmy a visit. It takes her some time to find him but she makes her way up to the rooftop eventually and there he is. She goes over to him and moves to stand up on the edge with him.]

Have you figured out the stars here yet?

[strangelic]

You made it.

[ He'd known it was her, of course, from the moment that she came to the hotel, so Castiel doesn't stir away from his perch, except to cast her a worried glance. It's dangerous for her on the edge, and he's still concerned, obviously, that Daryl believes me might put her at risk.

But he'll catch her if she falls. ]

They look like ours, don't they?

[pinner]

I think from the right distance, all stars will look the same.

[It's supposed to be one of those beautiful thoughts like knowing that somewhere out there her creator and only friend are able to be looking up at the same stars she is. She finds that now she doesn't really appreciate thoughts like that. They only make her sad.

She ducks her head and looks down below them. It's an impressive fall from this height.]

We could make a star chart. Just to be sure they are the same stars.

[strangelic]

From the right distance, yes. But if you move closer to the one you must move further away from others. But we can make a star chart...

[ He glances back toward her, letting go of his sight of the stars for a moment: ]

Though I have never made one before. I wouldn't know where to begin. Have you charted the stars before?

[pinner]

I did, a long time ago.

[She smiles and moves to step back off the edge. Her hand reaches for his to grab hold and try to pull him down with her.]

I could show you how to do it. We just need to find the right supplies. Paper and pencils are a good start, but I like to add color.

[strangelic]

Castiel allows his hand to be taken, stepping gracefully down from the wall. His attention is on her now, on what he can feel through his touch, and more. But as he steps down, she talks about paper and pencils, and he muses on the thought. In a city full of rubble, there must be something to write with, and on. ]

The people of Oaxaca collected beetles from the prickly pear cactus to make a dye. If we can't find anything traditional, perhaps we could use that...

[ He bites his lip, frowning. ] --Although it seems unfair to crush so many tiny little lives, just to make a map.

[pinner]

[His remark catches her off guard and she stares up at him with a smile on her face. It's in that moment that she becomes a little smitten with him in the way that girls do when they find a mentor who makes them question everything they've been taught to believe in.]

Things done in the name of science often aren't very fair.

[She likes his idea of using plants to make dyes and files the information away for later.]

I'm not sure there's much use for a star chart anyway. Not once we figure out where we're located based on their positions.

[strangelic]

[ He feels that little rush of affection, and smiles at it, and thinks of Claire. They were about the same age, he thinks, when he saw her last. The memory of her bravery is muddied by the fact that he'd used his father's love for her against him.

He takes a deep breath, then nods quietly, moving to sit down on the edge of the wall instead. ]

You see the familiar, don't you, when you look up there? I do. [ He takes a thoughtful breath. ] I can't touch them, but I can feel them all.

[ Something which will explain itself in time. For now he looks toward her. ] You mentioned Sirius before; the dog star. It's called that because it resides in the constellation of Canis Major, but the constellation is only visible that way for a short period, cosmically speaking, and in a very small region of space. Sirius was not, and will not always be, the brightest star in the constellation, and one of those, a blue giant more than twenty times larger than Earth's sun, is three hundred times further away from us than Sirius.

[ He knows a little about stars. For a long while that was all there was to look at. ]

[pinner]

[She studies him before answering. He knows a lot about the stars and it's impressive.]

I wish I was able to feel them.

[If she had been able to feel them back in Tomorrowland, maybe Frank Walker wouldn't have ended up hating her because she could have shown that she felt anything at all. At least here, she could feel everything. She just didn't understand any of it.]

Where did you learn all that you know about astrology? I haven't ever spoken to anyone with knowledge that rivals yours.

[strangelic]

[ Castiel smiles, just a little bit, watching her with something like affection. They haven't known each other long, but she has an endearing passion, and it's peaceful for him to be able to talk about the stars, about nature, things he loves with enduring spirit, without having to delve into fighting and apocalypses and everything his life has been as a warrior of God. If all angels had been needed for was to watch the stars, he would have been happy, but his path hadn't led that way. Only Meg had made him feel like it was alright to linger on the beautiful, soak himself in Creation like he was a part of it.

But he wasn't a part of it; that was the saddest thing. ]

You can observe anything if you look for long enough. Sometimes my brothers and I would talk about them together. [ And then humanity named them all, sometimes named the same constellation different things, depending on where in the world they stood. Sirius was an example of that. ]

What about you? Who taught you about the stars?

[pinner]

My creator.

[She says it quietly, almost reverently. If she makes it sound convincing enough she wagers he'll assume she means the God that humans worship. Children were supposed to be taught things by him, she thinks.]

Frank Walker taught me other things. Like how to use the stars to find my way. And which stars were brighter in the summer. He told me stories about the stars and made me love them because he did too.

[She becomes very still and quiet after that. She's feeling sad and the urge to cry, but doesn't fully understand why.]

[strangelic]

[ Castiel was indeed about to address the God thing, but when Athena goes quiet, the sadness lifts off her like mist rising off a warm lake in cold air. It's almost directly painful to him, not that he verily knows what to do about it, either; he's not good at comforting, never been taught to do it. So he sits there, and looks at her. ]

You miss him very much.

[ It's obvious, really. ]

[pinner]

Yes, I do.

[Her answer sounds as sad as she's currently feeling but she knows that it's childish to miss someone that hates her. It's also childish to be so sad when faced with the limitless possibilities of the stars out on display. So she tries to correct the mood.]

When I last saw him, he hated me. But I think I love him. He was the only friend I've ever had.

[strangelic]

[ It felt like love, Castiel thought, but why did she seem so unsure? Her uncertainty makes him think of his own relationship with God. Could it be love or hate that his Father had with him? Castiel didn't think he knew, given what he'd been put through; brought back to life, again and again, but for what purpose? Never anything good. That's surely not something someone does to somebody they like.

He appreciates her effort to raise the mood, but it's unnecessary, really. Childishness is so often necessary. ]

Love and hate are so often indecipherable from each other, [ He says, instead. ] I find that the old adage is easier to find direction from--that actions speak much louder than words.