7489/The Voice of an Angel

The Voice of an Angel
Date of Scene:	15 May 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Castiel visits Bucky unannounced and learns not only more about what it means to be human, but about himself.
Cast of Characters:	Winter Soldier, Castiel

---

Winter Soldier has posed:
Buck is sick. Buck never gets sick. But Asgardian mead is virulent enough to take out both him and Steve with one big bottle.....and most over the counter remedies won't even dent that hangover. It's like trying to take out a Sherman tank using a balloon animal. He's made his way back to the Triskelion, and to the dark, cool sanctuary of his rooms.

Lili is lying on her bed in the living room, dozing. Buck's on his own bed, wearing t-shirt and sleep shorts. He's lying on some kind of gel cold pack, and he has an old fashioned rubber ice bag held to his head. What's visible of his face is an awful gray-green color....and on the nightstand is a bottle of ginger ale, and a glass of something that must be full of electrolytes, by its neon color.

Castiel has posed:
Castiel had spent a goodly portion of the evening in St. Agnes church contemplating his lot in life - literally - and in a very bitter fashion. There was a lump of *feeling* in the pit of his chest that he couldn't dismiss nor define and it was leaving him not only annoyed, but distressed.

He was also, by this point, convinced that Hayal had been sent to both punish him, and hasten his decision to apologie. Neither of which sat well with the angel.

Eventually, though, it isn't enough to sit in the quiet presence of the Lord - especially when the Lord wasn't speaking to him. What Castiel needed was an ear. Someone to talk to. Someone who wouldn't snark, or need a whole line of explanation he wasn't willing to give yet, which ruled out Sam. Someone who, for lack of a better word, was a friend.

Cue: Castiel *arriving* in Bucky's rooms without so much as a hello, how are you, or a may I come in, the angel locating Bucky and immediately launching into a distressed rail of words:

"I do not understand. He just shows up - wings all intact like he he hasn't been punished and then he opens his mouth and *sings*."

No, Castiel doesn't explain why singing has prompted this little tirade and visit, but clearly it has upset him.

Winter Soldier has posed:
It jolts Bucky, that appearance. Enough so that the ice bag's discarded in favor of an ugly little automatic that he apparently stores somewhere *in* his bed, even as he gives a startled cry that has Lili racing in. One of those side holsters, maybe.

But he doesn't shoot the angel, just peers at him in utter bewilderment. "Cas," he says, and his voice is gravelly, face pale, sweat at his temples. "What the everliving fuck are you talking about? And what're you doing here? You scared me, I coulda shot you." Satisfied he's not going to have to fight the angel, he safes the gun, vanishes it back over the side of the bed that's tucked against the wall.

Castiel has posed:
"You did not," Castiel says with mind boggling and irritating patience, regarding the gun with little concern. "It would have been unpleasant, but I assure you the damage would have been repairable."

Which doesn't address at all that he'd jsut *popped* in, or that there would be things he'd have a much harder time healing if he treated everything with this casual manner, or the fact that Bucky appeared to sleep with a gun.

Cas nods to Lili. "Good dog," he mutters in a manner that makes it clear he's only just learned this is appropriate language for dealing with canine (and likely feline) companions and is making the effort while also not totally understanding the protocol. "You look unwell," he notes of Bucky, moving forward with direct intent, and surprising speed to Bucky's side. "Let me help you."

Winter Soldier has posed:
"I lost a fight with both a big jug of Asgardian mead and then Steven Rogers," Buck says, drily. "I haven't had a hangover like this since Hitler was still in power....and I haven't had a fight with Steve since 1944. Remember, though, don't just show up in a human's private rooms like that unless it's an emergency. That was kinna a shock, even if we get along" He squints at the angel. "....can you cure hangovers?"

Castiel has posed:
"This is an emergency!" Castiel protests, laying his hands on Bucky and beginning the healing. If nothing else, he'd like his conversational partner not to look like he's about to shuffle off this mortal coil, even if it's unlikely a hangover is going to do it. "You do not understand. He is tormenting me." Little H he there. Not Cas' usual intonation for the Lord. "And now there is a lump in my chest that I am unfamiliar with. I have tried all the healing and it will not leave. I want to do .. something.. but I do not know what it is."

Winter Soldier has posed:
How many people touch him, outside the context of a lab or the training mat? Not many at all. So Buck's a little awkward.....and then the hangover's gone, and he's lying back with a sigh. God, that feels so much better. "Thanks," he says, closing his eyes. "Who's tormenting you, Cas? And how?" He looks over as if he might see the lump. As if existential distress were something that manifested physically, like an alien. But then, Cas is an angel. Who knows what weirdness happens with him?

Castiel has posed:
"Hayal," Cas answers, his hands lingering moments longer than necessary as the angel wars within himself about checking Bucky out more thoroughly and tinkinering with anything he found. Instead, he decides against it, and starts to pace the room. One hand shoved in a trench coat pocket, the other gesturing in a manner that is, for the angel, rather empathic and voluble given his usual contained wont.

"He's a solider. One of many. Nameless. And he's been sent to torment me. Since meeting him my thoughts have become unsettled, and now this lump."

The angel touches his free hand, and his pocketed one against his breastbone, making for an awkward portrait of flesh and fabric pulling in all directions.

"Make it stop."

Winter Soldier has posed:
Tentatively, Buck sits up. Lili gives him a very thorough sniffing - the change in chemistry brought on by the cessation of pain and nausea meets with her approval, by the way her tail waves. Buck wipes at his face with a palm, listening....and as it sinks in, he scowls.

"You talkin' about a demon, Cas? I mean, those guys are out to get you alla time, right?" He levers himself up off the bed, and gently lays his human hand on the angel's sternum. AS if he could diagnose anything with an ordinary human, let alone an angel. "Does it hurt? You in pain?"

Castiel has posed:
"Of course it hurts!" Castiel bites out, shoving his free hand into the other coat pocket, standing in place and giving Bucky a stare that suggests Cas wonders if the man is stupid. Didn't he just say it hurt?

"He's not a demon. Or not wholy," Cas tries to explain. "He isn't rightly anything anymore. Not unless.." Unless what? Castiel didn't have answers to that, and that also bothered him. If Hayal was nothing, didn't that also mean Castiel was nothing as well? It was clear Hayal still had some of his angelic powers, so even that didn't negate the thought that Castiel no longer existed in the ranks and rolls of the Choir - that he hadn't just stopped hearing them or hearing them from afar, but had ceased to have existed for them.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"What does the pain feel like?" No swelling or fever heat - Cas has said this body is human, so presumably it's at least somewhat subject to human illnesses, even now. The blue eyes search the angel's face, and his brow is still furrowed with worry. "No? What is this guy, then? I'm confused, Castiel."

And conscious that they're having this conversation in that spartan bedroom - utterly bare of decoration, save for a cloth tapestry on the wall, printed with a star map in pale gray-white ink. "C'mon. Let's go sit in the living room. You want a drink? I've only got soda, juice, and water." The idea of booze ever again makes him pull a face.

Castiel has posed:
The question puzzles Castiel. What, exactly, does the pain feel like?

After pondering some, he offers, "It feels like, like there is something in my chest that wants to get out. All heavy and hurting. My head and my eyes feel all wrong too, and I want to hit something, only I do not want to hit something."

AGain, he demands, "Make it go away!"

Winter Soldier has posed:
"Are you sad, or are you angry? Or kinna both? Cas, I don't know how. Humans are terrible at dealing with their own pain without making things worse. If what you're talking about is a physical injury....well, you heal that, or we go see the doc. IF it's emotional pain or magical....man, I dunno," The Soldier shuffles for the kitchen, after snagging glass and bottle. He intends to use those up, at least. "I think what you're describing sounds like a kind of sadness, to me. This guy...was he out to hurt you? Attacking you? Or did it just happen?"

Castiel has posed:
Castiel has to admit, reluctantly, "I do not know. I do not think he was deliberate?" Then in the next second, near angry, "But how could he not know? I told him about the Choir, and still he sang! He sang.."

Cas's shoulders slump, and the angel shakes his head. "I can not hear them most days. Most days it is silence. And when I do hear them, it is distant, and they do not hear me. There are walls between us. This body - this vessel - even if it were not a thing destroyed and tempered by the excesses it once indulged in, I will never be able to sing those notes while I wear it, and I can not go back. Not while you are all still but pawns."

And, because both vessel and angel agree that this has been all too much, Castiel sits down.

Winter Soldier has posed:
He's claimed the room's armchair, let Cas take the sofa. All plain as can be. Nothing in the living room that reflects his tastes at all, other than a lone bookcase with a few books on its shelves. Buck's not self-conscious at all about being in the equivalent of pajamas - Cas reads as male, after all. "It sounds to me like this guy reminded you of your old home. What you miss - I guess Heaven is a place of song, isn't it?" The idea makes him wistful. He'll never see it - death was just dark and nothing, for him. "Maybe what you're feeling is homesickness. It's a special kind of sadness."

Castiel has posed:
"It's all song. The Choir has sung since the day the Lord created .. everything. We have praised it and glorified it in all the ways that there are since the dawn of time, and I have lost it."

There's a profound sense of exactly that sadness that Buck mentions about Castiel. It being equally clear the angel has never experienced this before. At least not like this. Not for himself. Certainly not so deeply.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"I'm sorry," Buck says....and his sympathy is genuine. "That's a special pain, yeah. I've had it a lot. I still kind of do, because the world that was home to me, it's gone. The physical places are still there, but I lost a human lifetime to my enemies. So it's all different. But you're still you, in there, Castiel. I know you've got a human shell on, but you won't forever, right? And Heaven is still where it was. You'll get back."

Castiel has posed:
"How?" Castiel asks. "How can I ever return. You are nothing more than disposable. Your lives are so short as to be insignificant. And when you are gone, there will be another crop of you to fill your places. You are nothing but Legion and unecessary in the eyes of my brethren. How can I ever go back?"

Going back would mean apologizing for saving one - just one - human who was destined to perish and be damned. It was a ridiculous act of defiance, but one the angel can't see his way to undo. The reason for it hadn't changed.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"So what?" His tone is blunt. "Yeah, we're like flies. We breed like 'em, we take over. So you made a mistake. You guys aren't allowed to make 'em, not ever? So you been down here slummin' with us - tell 'em you were wrong and go home. Isn't pride the thing that gets you all fucked over the worst?" He does know a version or two of the Morningstar's story.

Castiel has posed:
Bucky's question gets a perplexed look. "We do not make mistakes. We act upon the Lord's Will. I do not understand the question. By refusing His Will, I have turned away from the Lord, and it is only by his.."

The rhetoric falls flat, for once, upon the angel's ears, and he stops himself. Saying, instead, "The tale of Lucifer is not just for you. It was for us. That we would all know what happens to those who believe to knwo better than Him. To step outside His Will and seek our own. There is no forgiveness for that. It is not a mistake. We are not allowed."

Winter Soldier has posed:
"Doesn't he forgive? You guys can't repent, not like us?" Buck's increasingly unhappy at this thought. "He gave you will enough to choose - you made a decision, even if it wasn't the one you were supposed to." Lili comes over to lay a chewbone in his lap, helpfully.

Castiel has posed:
"No!" Castiel says emphatically. "We do not have Will of our own. Do you not understand? You of all His creatures were gifted that. We are nothing but his Will made manifest. To fall from that is to fall from Grace, and it is unforgiveable. That He has allowed that I might grovel my way back into His Graces is already an allowance, but I will never be truly forgiven. This will always be part of who I am. I will always be this much removed from Him and His Grace."

He doesn't understand how the man doesn't get it. Hayal would have understood. Hayal would not need this discussion.

The bone, dropped into his lap, draws the angel from his lament, to stare at it. "I do not need a bone?" Looking to Bucky. "She has given me a bone?"

Winter Soldier has posed:
Lili wags her tail, hopefully, looking up into the angel's face. Bucky grins, crooked, though the blue eyes are sad. "Welcome to humanity, Cas," he says, and his voice is gentle. "By that argument....if angels don't get free will, and humans do....and you making a decision that requires free will, you're human. And humans are capable of redemption. I mean, you're the one who's been around God more'n I have, but ....I thought love and forgiveness was infinite. I mean, doesn't even Lucifer get redeemed at the end of the story?"

Castiel has posed:
Castiel does not reach for the bone, but he does pat Lili's head, and in his own gruff way tries to reassure her. "Your kindness is appreciated," he tells her, awkwardly patting. "I think the bone is better if you have it."

Her offering is considered, and then with grave respect, offered back.

"I do not understand? You are saying I am human?" Castiel puzzles over the statement. "I am still able to - that is, I have not lost all my Grace. Or what I might do with it. How can I be both?" Missing, for the moment what the comparison actually means. "Lucifier may yet be redeemed? The story is not over. Time has not ended, and the Morningstar still dwells in his palace, shunning the Lord. We have mourned him for millenia."

Winter Soldier has posed:
He scratches lazily at his scalp, considering. Rumpled with sleep - has Cas ever seen Buck with his hair down, before? Likely not. "I'm saying you're human enough. You did a thing you say only humans can do. You might be something new, somewhere between. Just like I'm not really either James Barnes or the Soldier - I'm who and what I am now."

Lili accepts the bone, eyes going squinty with pleasure. She grunts around it, groaning pleasure the way dogs do.

Castiel has posed:
Unbidden, Castiel's lips turn into a semblance of a smile at Lili's antics. Bones, it would seem, are a good thing, and she would like them all to know her pleasure.

"Perhaps?" The angel allows grudgingly. "But if I am neither, then what am I? What is it that I am to do?" He is unaware, again, of the comparisons between himself and Hayal - how they both occupy a space between, his own pain (he's acknowledged that's what it is now) an echoe of the other's, but totally consuming him to the point where he's not ready to see that they are more similar than different. That, and he's still caught upon the belief that perhaps the other has been sent to torment him out of his indecision. To force the issue.

"You are a good man," Castiel tells Bucky. "You are not Divine, or Damned, but I can sense that of you. You humans, you bear your history like a garment, so many of you happier to wallow in the shame of the things than to see where that journey has taken you. I have seen you, James Barnes, inside and out, and you are not wanting."

Winter Soldier has posed:
That makes his features tighten, lips pinching. He looks down - for once, that New Yorker's flippancy, so often used as a shield, has failed him. Lili, ever empathic, turns around to bring him the bone. Apparently this is a magic bone that wards off guilt and unhappiness. Nevermind that it's made of well chewed polymer.

"I don't know about that," he says, slowly, when he's got command of himself. "I don't know that I ever was - I can't even blame that on HYDRA, not if I'm honest." A shrug from him, heavy. "But.....I mean, either I kill myself, and you say that that is unforgivable, or I go on. And if I go on, what's there to do but the best I can?"

Castiel has posed:
Castiel, however, is certain. An angel of the Lord. One meant both to obey, and to judge - perhaps not as the Lord would, but certainly as an agent of the Lord...

"I have been a warrior my entire life," Castiel says, the gravel of his voice a soft utterance that carries only between them. "I can not count how many I have killed. Demons, to be certain, but your kind as well. And not all were innocent. The Wrath of the Lord has been mighty, and often raised against humans merely for standing innocently between Himself and His undying hatred of the Dark. If you are nothing but less than, then what does that leave me? You say I am redeemable. If I, one never meant to stumble in the eyes of the Lord, am to be considered such, then you, one who was not only given free will, but His only Son sent to save, can not be redeemed, then it is truly all for naught. We are nothing all but playthings. I do not choose to believe that."

Bucky is given a deep, and piercing look. "I have /seen/ you James Barnes. You are not wanting." The words repeated more softly than before, but also more emphaticically, if only in the force of will thrown behind them from the angel himself.

Winter Soldier has posed:
His eyes close for a long moment....and he's tensed in discomfort, as if he wanted to argue. Even rise and strike the angel - some vestige of Winter's instincts, perhaps, to attack those trying to help him. Lili, confidingly, sets the bone on his leg. Then she bustles off to her toy box - she does have one, a little bone-shaped plastic chest, its lid on the floor beside it - and rummages. What she comes out with...is a little plush cactus, complete with smiling face. This she gravely presents to Castiel, as perhaps being more suitable.

Buck takes the bone in his metal hand....and then, absurdly, he starts to chuckle. "Man, I'm a jackass. Here's an actual angel of God telling me that forgiveness is extended and salvation is real, an' I'm tryin'a argue with him. Sheesh. My ma always said I'm as stubborn as they come."

Castiel has posed:
Castiel tilts his head at a crooked angel, the blue of his eyes filled with mirth - a welcome change from the pain and sorrow they bore when he arrived, "You are an ass. But you are a likeable ass." He shrugs as if to dismiss the matter, his trenchcoat tugging awkwardly at his shoulders before settling back, leaving the angel in his own awkward silence.

Redemption was for the soul. Only humans had a soul. Angels had Grace, and he had squandered a portion of his for the life of a human who didn't quite yet appreciate what he'd done.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"Oh, thanks. I hear that a lot, not least from Steve," Buck says, grinning. "Be careful, you'll end up friends with a human. I dunno, if it's all as amazing as you tell me, I bet there's room on the bus for you. You didn't come here just 'cause you wanted to see me in my pjs, and theology may not be my strong point, but...."

Castiel has posed:
"I came," Castiel begins, but he'd already said it all. The desperate litany had already fallen from his tongue and culminated with a furry head in his lap, bearing a bone. "I did not know what to do. You are, as you say, the closest thing to a friend I have. I felt a pain and I needed to talk."

Now there's a huge step for the angel, even if he'd not admit it. A friend, pain, and a need to talk? Bucky might be right - CAstiel might almost be human under that trench coat.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"You poor bastard. I should ship you to Steve. Have you ever met Steve? He's the best friend anyone can have who isn't actually a dog. I dunno if you know Michael, but I bet he has a particular thing for Steven Rogers," Buck passes a hand over his chin. He hasn't shaved yet - there's the rasp of stubble. "Did t alking help the pain?" he asks, after a beat.

Castiel has posed:
"Michael has a stick up his ass the size of Manhattan," Castiel grumbles. "Perhaps it is better I do not meet your STeve." Certain that if Michael would like Steve, Steve would not like Castiel, and more importantly, Castiel was unlikely to like STeve.

Then again, Bucky liked him.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Buck snickers. "Steve can be pretty....upright. But he's not that bad. You'd like Steve. Everyone who isn't actually evil likes Steve." James Barnes, possibly a little biased on that front.

Castiel has posed:
"Mmm," Cas grunts. "Then perhaps."

Not that CAstiel is worried he might be evil. Most he's found himself saltier than the average Archangel, and well, generally those Michael would find upstanding and role models were rather the sort the angel found himself most irritated by. Almost ironic for an angel of the Lord.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"In fact, I think you met him. AT the bar. Big blond guy...." Barnes leans his head against the back of the chair, as Lili comes over to check on Castiel again. Like she's the hostess.

Castiel has posed:
Cas laughs outright. "Him? The 'now boys not here' guy? Smelled like apple pie and old spice? That's your STeve?" For some reason the angel is innordinately amused.

The angel leans down to inform Lili, "I wasn't going to hurt that demon. We were just trying to assess one another. Your Bucky's friend could have gotten himself hurt."

Winter Soldier has posed:
"That guy," Buck affirms. The idea of Steve smellign like apple pie and Old Spice makes him laugh. "Only times I ever smelled him, he didn't smell like that. But that was after weeks in a foxhole in the middle of winter, and nobody smells good then."

Lili reaches up to lick Castiel on the cheek. Sure, sure, you weren't.

Castiel has posed:
Castiel clearly has not been licked before by the manner in which he stiffens.

"Is she tasting me?" Not certain if the canine is about to chew upon him, or what. "Why is she tasting me?"

Adding, "I have not yet decided about your friend. His heart was in the right place." Not being able to fault Steve for stepping in, or for being concerned about others. "Maybe there would have been a fight," he admits. "I am to believe you work with that demon?"

Winter Soldier has posed:
"That's a gesture of affection and reassurance. Pups do that to their mothers....and by extensions, humans that they like. She's not trying to feed on you or anything, she won't bite," He's amused, and not really succeeding in suppressing his smile.

"Steve's a good guy. The demon....that's Hellboy. And he's a huge argument for you being able to be forgiven. Because he was created a demon....and he's chosen not to serve evil. He's up here, with us, fighting the good fight. If he can choose, you can choose....and I guess, in a way, he's a step towards being human."

Castiel has posed:
There's a moment of sudden understanding in the angel's eyes, the blue softening as he gets it - gets the licks. "She is - it is how you humans make me feel when I offer my protection. I wish to see you safe and happy." Lili given a very serious look, "I will trust you to look after my friend James Barnes. I think he needs the licks more than I do, but I accept them."

In truth few have offered him such simple (human?) offers of affection and their effect upon him is telling, the angel slipping into a relaxed state that is both blissful and awkward at once. As though he's really not sure what he's to do with himself - the guardian role normally being his.

He listens, though, to Hellboy's story, and in truth, he could tell a few of his own about moments where he has chosen to accept the words of a demon against the Divine path he should take. "So you are saying I should apologize."

May might be singularly proud of that moment if she knew of it.

Winter Soldier has posed:
He snorts. "Trust me, she's got plenty of licks for everyone...and I get my share." Lili wags her tail, barks one, and licks Castiel again. A glance back at Bucky, as if for a cue, but the human doesn't give one.

"I guess we would kinna seem like a pet to you. And maybe....yeah. I don't think anyone's as locked into a role as we were originally told."

Castiel has posed:
"A pet?" Castiel asks quizically. "I am trying not to think of you as a pet."

Now he frowns, because he can't say for certain that isnt' happening. Is it how he sees the humans in his life - the ones he's taken a particular interest in? He doesn't know.

"How.. how would I know if I am doing that. Treating you like a pet?" Because he already gets that's both not appropriate,a nd also not what he'd intended, even if there is only so much dropping of the angelic haughtiness he is able to manage still. He is still not that far gone from His Presence - unlike Hayal - and much of that remains, his stay amongst humanity not yet humbling him past all edges of that.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Barnes's lips thin out. This might very well veer into really awkward territory, if he's not careful. "Just....be sure you aren't trying to make our decisions for us. I think that's what you need to be wary of, most of all. I'll take your advice and listen to your reasons, but it's up to me ultimately, isn't it?"

Castiel has posed:
There's the crux of it, isn't it? Castiel nodding, and narrowing in on the complexities and subtleties of that. "If I had not stepped in, Dean would be Damned.." Castiel would also not be here as he was, and this conversation would be moot. "It is hard to watch you make mistakes. And harder to know when it is wrong to step in."

He'd tried, though, only watching Dean from afar, his gaze only on the most dire of circumstance. Leaving the elder Winchester brother to fend for himself unless he called, or were about to die. Castiel refused to let those under his care die - not when he could prevent it.

"You are saying I am to let you exercise your will and accept you regardless of the outcome."

Winter Soldier has posed:
"I'm not saying you can't stop me if I'm about to run off a cliff," he hedges, lifting his hands in placation. "Or tell me if i'm doing something dumb. But Lili here....she's not a person." Then he's running a hand through his hair. "I'm not sure I'm good advice on this. Maybe I should send you to Steve."

Castiel has posed:
Bucky is given a suspicious look, "You think your Steve would be better advice?"

He's nto saying no, he's just not sure that they'd gotten off on the right foot he and Steve, and that the man would appreciate being asked to counsel the angel in the ways of being human.

"You are human, why would you not be good advice?"

Winter Soldier has posed:
"Steve has a much more developed moral compass than I do," He's apparently serious. "He's the best human I know. I...." Buck slumps down in his seat. "I dunno, Cas. I just don't know if an assassin's a good guide to human life. I'm used to taking it, not living it, so much."

Castiel has posed:
There's a shake of head from the angel, "I do not think a moral compass is what is needed.." He looks to say more, but the earnestness of his friend, and the stength of his conviction sways the angel enough to say, "I will meet him if you wish. But I think you sell yourself short. If you were less than I thought, I do not think you would be worried in this way."

Castiel considers, "I have killed at the hands of the Lord, without thought, and only because I was bidden. If you are nothing, then I am nothing. Maybe it is only that the way to figure it out is as you said, to let someone learn. To stop them if they are going to fall off a cliff. To listen when they need an ear. To treat them like they are beings, not objects."

With a gruffly fond look to Lili, "And to protect those who can not protect themselves as if their lives were our own."

Winter Soldier has posed:
Winter Soldier grins. "You sound like Steve," he insists. "And believe me, that's high praise, it really is. You killed.....well, that's what you were made for. I dunno what I was made for specifically, other than maybe making sure Steve didn't run off a cliff."

Castiel has posed:
"Most humans," CAstiel says simply, "Were made to be themselves. To create of the free will they were given a prayer and praise to the Lord. It is almost impossible to fail at that."

Of course there were ways, but that was a whole other conversation and set of distinctions to go over.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"YEah, I know plenty who do," His tone is dry. "Alla time. I might be a little bit cynical, I'm afraid. You feel better now, Castiel?" Maybe that's another act of redemption - reassuring a doubting angel.

Castiel has posed:
"How can you fail when you are not done your journey?" Castiel seems truly confused. He can nod, though. "I am feeling much better. The lump is not so big and my eyes do not feel wrong anymore. The unexplained is gone."

He's not 100% better, but he's better enough.

Winter Soldier has posed:
That's enough to have Bucky rising from his seat. He beckons the angel over to him. "C'mere, buddy."

What he wants, apparently, is to give Castiel a hug.

Castiel has posed:
LIkely a good thing Castiel hasn't figured out what is coming, for he heads over to tht beckon and is taken up in that hug. To his credit, he figures out soon enough (like before the hug is over) that he's supposed to return it, his arms perched awkwardly about the other man like he's afraid he might break himself or Bucky, only relaxing into the thing moments before he's released. Realizing then that he's feeling another strangeness - this time a warmth in the same spot the lump had been, and a lightness. And oddly, that same odd feeling in his eyes.

He doesn't tell Bucky though, turning quickly, and covering with a gruff, "I should leave. You were going to sleep." Or die. Something like. Bucky had been mightily hung over. And Buck may also recognize that faltering break of voice within Castiel's gravel that would be an emotional moment in another.

Winter Soldier has posed:
The hug is gentle. "See. You're human enough, physically, to like the contact. Took me a long time to get back to...to being used to people enough to tolerate it." Steve's been working on that.

"I was lying there with a hangover. Now I'm much better, thanks, so I might be able to actually sleep," he says, with laughter in his voice

Castiel has posed:
"You sleep," the angel tells him, before reluctantly admitting, "The hug was good. I could.. like those." And because he is who he is, and he has been more human this single solitary meeting than his entire sojourn on earth, Castiel disappears, needing to consider what he has learned, and how to use it.

That, and how to find Hayal and discuss with the other away from those who might make such discussions... awkward.