Scheming and Socializing at Ravenclaw Bar ((SPN crew, and see note))

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

((This one's open to pretty much anyone, but Yukimura and Lee are particularly invited to come around before or after Bobby and the boys show up.))

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Castiel had finally gotten around to investigating the bar in Ravenclaw tower, and found the place to his liking. He could sit quietly and watch people come and go if he wanted to, socialize if he liked (which he hadn't yet ventured to do, but he was working up to it,) and he could drink as much as he wanted of whatever he liked.

He'd been trying not to abuse the privilege. Getting roaring drunk, he'd been assured, did little to improve his disposition. Though Dean had made some puzzling allusions to marijuana that frankly stumped him, as he hadn't tried the stuff. Yet.

This afternoon, though, he was here for a purpose, waiting for Bobby to arrive so that they could set in motion their plan to exact retribution upon the Winchester boys for the events their prank war had set in motion the night of the Yule party.

Practical jokes were still unfamiliar territory to the angel. But he was cautiously optimistic that the plan was both appropriate and effective; Bobby had devised the spells, and he had thought of the delivery system.

Whether it would be funny, on the other hand...well, that he really wasn't qualified to judge. He was fairly sure, though, that Dean and Sam would not be laughing.

Comments

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

"Recorded differently? Why?" Cas asked. Not that he was unfamiliar with the practice. While genuine prophecies might be completely true at the time of their revelation, that didn't mean that everything the prophets said or wrote made it into the permanent record wholly intact or was never tampered with afterward. To say nothing of false prophecies or problems introduced by lingual shifts and translation. He assumed the same must apply to historical accounts as well as theological works.

[elegantsamurai.livejournal.com]

"Ah, now that is more complicated," Yukimura laughed. "What I remember is Nobunaga attempting to resurrect himself, hanyou, humans infected by youkai, rampaging through the land, and battles for the rule of Japan. What will be remembered of that time is the establishment of the Tokugawa regime." He managed to keep most of his dislike of the Tokugawa out of his voice.

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

Cas thought about that for a moment. "History belongs to the victors," he said, nodding. "I think I understand. I'm not familiar with the words hanyou or youkai, though. Are they some form of supernatural phenomena?" He wouldn't have guessed even that much, if Yukimura hadn't also mentioned the attempted self-resurrection.

[elegantsamurai.livejournal.com]

"A demon gate fell from the sky, infecting many with youkai spirits. I believe you may call them demons or apparitions? The timeline had been distorted and it was given to those of us who traveled together unwillingly to correct it." He shrugged. "We will, I am told. I was brought here before the final battle, but one of my Jyuuyuushii has told me," he said, some fondness in his voice. "Because things were corrected, what I remember isn't recorded."

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I see." Though he'd done some time traveling himself (and had not enjoyed it one bit,) wholesale restructuring of timelines was a little outside Castiel's experience. But as for the rest... "You fought these youkai spirits?" That certainly fell within the realm of the familiar.

[elegantsamurai.livejournal.com]

"Of course," Yukimura replied with obvious relish. "How could I not? They would have taken over all of Japan and then the rest of the world. I had intended to rule Japan myself. How could I do that if hanyou were running all over?" he laughed.

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

It was an interesting motivation for taking up the hunt, though one that was completely and utterly alien to the angel. "I have some friends who would probably like to compare notes with you," he said. "They fight ghosts and demons as..." He paused, considering. "As a calling. But you speak in the past tense. Your intentions changed?"

[elegantsamurai.livejournal.com]

Yukimura laughed. "No, but while I come from just before we completed our task, my Jyuuyuushii comes from after and told me that we completed our task. It would be disrespectful to the effort he took to find me to talk as though it were unfinished, wouldn't it? And, I know the history books do not record me ruling Japan, but when I return, I will still try because, as I am told, I will not recall what has happened here." That thought drew a frown. He didn't want to forget what had happened here and prayed to every god that he would remember, if not immediately, then after his death that he could find Kuronue again. Though, his relationship with Sasuke would be...what would happen with that when they returned? His heart wanted to remain here as long as possible to enjoy the love he'd found here, but he knew his duty would pull him back some day.

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

"Is that how it always works? We'll eventually return to the same time and place we remember leaving, as if nothing ever happened?" Cas looked down at his drink, troubled. His own situation hadn't been so horrible, though the tasks that lay ahead of him were daunting, to say the least. Dean, Bobby and John Winchester would likely be all right. But Sam, Adam? They had nothing to look forward to but an eternity in the Pit.

And like Yukimura, some of the things that had happened since he'd come here, Castiel really didn't want to forget.

"I think I have an answer for you," he said abruptly, the sombering thoughts bringing him back by a roundabout path to their conversation at his Sorting. (http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_hocus/1978123.html?thread=111990795#t111990795) "No, if certain premises prove false, they cannot be discarded without consequence. There have already been consequences."

[elegantsamurai.livejournal.com]

Yukimura raised an eyebrow and took a sip of his sake before replying, "Then, what shall you do? Shall you continue to follow a path or do you seek a new loyalty?" he asked.

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

"I've already found a new loyalty," the angel said. "Or it found me." He'd followed Dean literally to the brink of the mouth of Hell and to his own death, for no better reason than because Dean didn't want his brother to die alone, and Castiel could hardly let Dean face such a fate either. "I'm just not sure yet whether it's something entirely different, or an unfamiliar facet of the old one.

"I'd like to believe that the path I'm following now is one that pleases my God, and that he still cares more about his Creation than recent events suggest. A few of the things that have happened give me some hope that he might. But I just don't know." He fell silent, eyes distant.

[elegantsamurai.livejournal.com]

Yukimura poured them more sake, looking into his drink as he spoke. "Sometimes, a leader is forced to take actions that, to his followers, seems betrayal, is actually a way to achieve the best results possible and meet the ultimate goal."

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

"I'm aware. It's just difficult to imagine how permitting the situation to deteriorate to the degree that it has could be leading toward something better. But I haven't written it off as impossible." Unlikely, maybe. "In the meantime, I can only follow the dictates of my own conscience. Which I'm sorry to say has been woefully underdeveloped for lack of use, until recently."

He regarded Yukimura somberly. "But am I right in thinking you speak from personal experience?"

[elegantsamurai.livejournal.com]

Yukimura laughed. "You are perceptive," he admitted. "My closest shinobi is here and yet, at the time when I arrived from where I was, he believed I was deceiving him, that I had betrayed him. It was only after the events that will take place when I return, which is before he left..." He waved his hand a little. "That is confusing, isn't it? He is from a time later than I am from, you see? At the time I came here, he believed, I needed him to believe, that I had betrayed him. When he came, the truth had been revealed."

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

It did take a bit of sorting out, but Cas nodded cautiously after a moment. "What did he do," he asked, "once he knew the truth?"

[elegantsamurai.livejournal.com]

"It took some time, but he has forgiven me, once he understood why I had to act the way that I did. It took a little longer for him to not be angry with me," he laughed.

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

"Do you think he would have done the same," the angel carried on, not quite able to mask the uncertainty in his eyes, "if it had not been given to him to understand the reason?" His own Creator was notorious for keeping his own counsel and for tolerating no judgement against himself, no matter how well-justified it might seem to his creations.

[elegantsamurai.livejournal.com]

Yukimura frowned, tilting his head as he thought about the question. "I had to deride him before the enemy to be accepted. There wasn't time when we met again to explain anything; he had my actions to go off of, he's told me." He took a sip of his sake. "He was angry at me when he arrived, partially for that, partially for not telling him I was here. He didn't like when I told him I didn't know how to get word to him and it took awhile for him to forgive me that." He sighed, looking at his drink. "I would hope, eventually, he would." His fondness for Sasuke crept into his voice a little.