5727/They're All Too Human

They're All Too Human
Date of Scene:	06 November 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Castiel, Vision

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Castiel has posed:
Castiel didn't actually believe churches held any particular advantage when it came to being in the presence of the Divine. He knew better than that. Of course, he had a distinct advantage that humans didn't, being past of The Choir, and still in possession of a goodly amount of his Grace.

Still, they were quaint little places to visit, these testaments to the human need to find God. To bask in the presence of the Divine. To tell themselves that they were more than merely human, and reassure that they held a place in the fabric of the universe.

He sits at the back, in his crumpled trench coat, and regards the sacristy. The glowing red light at the altar wasn't a lit candle anymore, long ago automated for both ease and safety reasons, but it didn't really bother him. All it was was a symbol. Most things were.

There had been a mass earlier. And before that, confession had been heard. Now the church was merely empty.

Vision has posed:
Vision had watched, from high above, floating on the currents as evening mass released for the evening. Watched as the faithful, mostly mutants though a fair number of humans and (by his scans a handful of aliens as well) left the safe confines of their church but not their faith to return to the darker, more dangerous world beyond. A world that see them as outcasts.. He waited, regadring the old loving maintained structure as the the faculty cleaned then more or less left for private evening victuals before he allowed gravity to take it's hold and pull him down...

And through the wall he passed, like a spirit, not being repelled by the sanctified stone. But how could someone who had no soul be a spirit? Did he even THINK about souls anymore? He didn't even know why he was /here/. Only that...

He had no place else to go.

Castiel has posed:
Of course the church isn't empty! Whatever it was that Vision thought he'd find within, after waiting for the faithful to trudge out after mass, he was wrong. Though the being who sat in the last pew on the left hand side of center wasn't quite your normal human - and that wasn't in the 'oh my gosh he's a mutant' way either.

Not that Vision knows that yet.

And Castiel, even if Vision doesn't have a soul, still recognizes that he's no longer alone. It irritates him and sets the hair at the back of his neck to prickling upwards, but it's a minor irritation, along the lines of 'can't a man find anywhere quiet to think?' sort of irritation, not really the kind you wrote home to mother about.

"If you're going to be annoying," he rumbles quietly, in some deference to the place that they are, "You may as well make yourself comfortable and stop with the hovering."

Not that Castiel has turned to look to see if Vision is, indeed, truly hovering in the literal sense, or merely the figurative.

Vision has posed:
Vision was just floating there in silence, not a word passing his lips, staring at the effigy of Jesus on the cross... The lights of the city beyond the windows illuminating the stained glass, depicting visages of not-quite humans worshiping god.. Lepers. The Deformed. Mutants. The 'demons' all lovely and beautiful and almost completely human. No. More than human.

So it is actually a surprise when he hears someone speak to him. His sensores had not picked up anything. Nary a strange sound or energy or other telltale sign. The synthazoid slowly turns, effortless, on the air and stares though the dimness at the pew far behind him.. a brow raised.

"We do not know how we would be annoying as we were silent, unlike yourself." he intones emotionlessly. "Perhaps it is /you/ who is potenrtially the 'annoying' one."

Castiel has posed:
There's a short, rumbled bark of laughter from the angel. "If I'd wanted a pedantic conversation, I'd have stayed home with tall, blonde, and likes to hear himself talk."

Castiel still hasn't bothered to *look* Vision's way (though odds are it wouldn't phase him anyway).

"Besides, I was here first."

Vision has posed:
Vision levitates downwards, until his feet softly press against the cold stone floor. But his cape still billows as if filled with some unseen wind, an almost living thing that flares and coils behind him. He regards the stranger through the dark, /visually/ seeing him, /hearing/ him... But not quite registering him with his more.. esoteric senses.. A conundrum that makes the synthetic man, perhaps, a bit way.

"Perhaps you should have." he states, his strangely resonant yet melodic monotone permeating the room with almost no echo. "That is not for me to decide, however. As for who was here first... Does it truly matter?" he asks. "This is a house that is supposedly open to all, is it not?"

Castiel has posed:
"Of course it doesn't matter who was here first," Castiel mutters in his gravelly tones. "But it does send most people packing without having to carry on ridiculous conversations."

Castiel turns, now, and looks at his 'companion'.

"Oh," he grunts, shoulders rising and falling in a simple line that tightens the trench coat along his shoulders before letting it relax into its perpetual crumple once more. "I suppose that explains everything. Though what you think you'll find here, I don't know. Still. Not like you can't find the Lord anywhere, if you were looking for him. Which you aren't."

Vision has posed:
Vision cants his head ever so slightly, his expression cool, his pupiless eyes alit on the trenchcoated individual with very very faint curiosity. "Why would I look for an entity that either doesn't exist or, worse, doesn't care if his creations exist?" he asks. He turns around to look at the altar and the cross once more. "We find the concept of blind faith, beilief in something that can never be proven, something organics spend too much time devoting themelves to rather then heeding the /lessons/ of the fictional morality plays presented by religion."

Castiel has posed:
All of that elicits a snort from Castiel. "Doesn't exist? I'd beg to differ. Pretty sure I didn't see myself from His presence and out of the Choir by an entity that doesn't exist."

Though that isn't all Vision has made note of. He's also said: or, worse, doesn't care if his creations exist.

It's entirely possible this is just oversight, but the synthoid might be able to tell it's avoidance and omission. Deliberate in all its facets and forms. Anything but oversight.

Vision has posed:
The corner's of the synthetic's lips quirk downwards, almost imperceptably, as he registers the confidence (amid the sarcasm) which the man speaks.

"You speak as if you are one of 'The Chior', or were, thus you are either delusional by infering you were of the 'Host' or...." he isn't sure what else the implications can be.

We have spent time among 'Gods' and what some would call The Divine. You do not appear to be such."

Castiel has posed:
There's another of those trench coat tugging shrugs from the man. "Was. Was one of the Choir. That's what that bit about seeing myself out was. Got thrown out for interfering in humanity. Seems His worship didn't think my poking my nose in the affairs of the Winchester boys was acceptable. Offered a choice of grovelling, or throwing in my lot."

He grunts, as though his sitting here in the back church pew explained which he'd chosen.

Vision has posed:
Vision really... has no clue about what the guy is talking about. He doesn't know 'The Winchester Boys' and any quick online search reveals dozens (if not hundred) f possible permeations so.. It's null and void for now.

"If youtruly were a divine being fo some sort, and this is not the rantingsof a meentally disturbed individual, then you have just proven my point. If a supreme being actually cared about his creations would he not utilize all his tools.. his servators.. to /help/ human kind. If not overtly then subtly? WOuld it not be your /function/ to, as you put it, 'poke your nose' into the business of mortals?" he asks.

"Thus one has to wonder why any being would worship such a being, their ultimate parent, if they were going to be ignored. What is the point of /creating/ humanity, if one is not going to shepherd their creation?"

Castiel has posed:
Castiel's nostrils flare as he inhales upon Vision's words, and exhales upon his own thoughts on the matter.

"Can't say I said He cared. Truth is, humans have always been pawns. Part of the eternal tally. Dispensible and expendable. I don't think caring enters into it. Wasn't ever a slight. It was just never what they were."

Castiel frowns as he admits that.

"Not sure why you care. You aren't one of them. Your soul was never in danger of being a chip in the cosmic poker game."

His gaze falls upon the altar as he grows silent, his features troubled. Finally, "I was a Warrior of the Lord. Our function isn't to care about humanity. Not as individual beings. I took back a death I shouldn't have."

Vision has posed:
If The Vision is disturbed, or actually fully believes, by these admissions then he gives no ourward sign of it. He stands their with a cool almost unemotional sereneness.. or perhaps that is just a show. SOmething is there, deep inside of him, that any living being empathic enouigh (and we do not mean psychic empathy) to note that is some sort of pain.. anger.. HE covers it well.. extrememly well.. But (unknown to him) Castiel is a TRUE angelic being, cast out or not, and most likely experienced enough to notice.

"We do not worry for our sould because we do not /have/ a soul." he says.. And he says that with perhaps.. anger? Not at the fact he doesn't has one, but that Castriel might think he HAS one? "And I know humans are pawns. To the universe. To nature. To themselves. I was intially created to destroy HUmaity. To Eradicate them from existance. I did not wish to, though" he says, though there is something in his tone that almost says he is second thinking that decision.

Castiel has posed:
That grabs the angel's attention, Castiel turning to regard Vision more firmly, and with concerted interest. "Created to destroy humanity. And now you're bugging me about the morality of a god who doesn't care about the existence of his worshippers? The very essence of His Divine instilled down to singular drops encased in fleshy tombs until they rejoin with His Presence."

There's a certain biting anger to how the man says it. As though he were both disturbed by the apathy of the Lord, and also angry with himself for making such a judgement. Torn, even.

Vision has posed:
Vision almost seems to shrug and regards the 'angel' with the same amount of fervor (whichis to say not much) as he was before. "I am not 'bugging' you about the morality of an unloving diety. I am just stating facts. Just as I was being honest as to the reason for my own creation." he says honestly.

"If humanity trully is a distillation of some sort of divinity, then it explains why some humans can be so cruel to one another."

Castiel has posed:
Castiel snorts. "Do you hear yourself? You might not have a soul, boy, but you are struggling with the same questions every human on earth has ever pondered." Not to mention himself, when it came right down to it.

"Humans are nothing more than reflections of their Source. Call it Divine, or Yaweh, or God, it's all the same. You said it yourself, He doesn't care. So why do you expect more of humanity?"

Vision has posed:
Vision is still for a moment.. then stares the angel directly in the eyes. "We expect more because we know humanity is not a homogeonous whole. We know that some humans, many himans, have surproased their 'divine' programming. Like /we/ did." he tells him, his voice low and firm. "If we, without a soul, could surpass our programming, then they should as well. But they are not given the chance. Every day humans, good humans, ones with potential are stripped of their free will by the cruel. Their futures taken away from them through pain, intimidation, theft and a hundred other reasons. These good are weak because they care and that is not right. Careing, love, should NOT be a weakness. So I shall be their strength. I have no soul to endanger. I shall take their burden and punish those who cause them pain so that they can be caring and know love, not be denied it."

Castiel has posed:
The angry synthoid is regarded calmly by Castiel. He might be angry over matters with the Lord, but that anger does not permeate thorughout his being. At least not in his regard of Vision. "Seems a funny way to get across your message that not caring isn't good."

Vision has posed:
Vision narrows his eyes. "As funny as flooding the Earth? If you truly are an angel, how many people did you watch drown? How many were not truly unsavable?"

Castiel has posed:
"All of them," Castiel says calmly. "All that the Bible says, and a handful besides. Critical mass to procreate a species with viable genetic diversity. No more. No less."

He's utterly deadpan in his delivery of the facts.

"I was here long before the earth was, boy. You can't actually fathom what evil really is. You think what you see here is evil? You think that apathy is evil? There is worse than that. And we're not talking what He did. We're talking what you're proposing. Kinda ironic, don't you think?"

Of course, Castiel hadn't questioned his own actions for millenia.

Vision has posed:
Vision cants his head again, regarding the angel. "YOu think I cannot contemplate evil?" he asks. "I could go on about how my Creator was the personification of evil. Not some vague concept lauded by phillosphers and religious academics. But do you know what real evil is? Having your future torn from you. Having your future not just erased from existance but never having existed in the first place. Yet /knowing/ every detail of what happened. Knowing every/thing/."

Castiel has posed:
"Didn't say you couldn't contemplate it. I just find it ironic you're bitching about the lack of not sure what in humans while doing the same thing they are. Seems to me if you're asking them to rise above their souls, and be less of the Divine, and more human, being human hasn't got anything to do with the soul within. Figured your point was being human was what you did, not what you are."

The rest Cas just peers at the synthoid like he's maybe got a screw loose or two. Or, barring that, is some sort of prophet (which is nearly the same thing as it happens). "Of course that's real evil. Why do you think I brought that boy back from the dead and stopped his brother from selling his soul? The only way any of this changes is if we step in and change it. But you don't see me smiting every Tom, Dick, and Jane I see, do you?"

Vision has posed:
Vision suddenly clenches his fists.. Oh ys, he is confused, despite how calm his tone has been. Inside his mind is a mess.. Unable to contain the paradox of two lives.. Thinking one way one moment, then another path of thought the next. HE Wants to care, he does care, yet caring causes pain, but he wants people to be able to care without pain, wants to unburden them of suffering yet cause suffering to thise who case suffring over and over and around and through and...

Outwardly he shows none of this, until he balleed his fists and his face becomes colder.. uglier. "But you want to. We are not stupid...." he says slowly.. wait.. We? "Perhaps this is what humans call fate... We.. are beginning to understand now. We are...."

Castiel has posed:
"Want to? Hell no. If I wanted to, I'd still be in the Choir. Don't you get it? I could have everything if I'd just grovelled. Begged to be allowed back in His presence." He shakes his head, his chin tilting up towards the altar at the front of the church. "Fate is when you don't rise above. Fate is just a story someone tells you that you think you have to believe. Truth is, Fate is what you make of your life. Everything costs. Doing the right thing? If it didn't hurt sometimes, it would be easy."