8105/A Friend of a Friend of a Friend

A Friend of a Friend of a Friend
Date of Scene:	30 June 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Karen Page calls on 'Proginoskes' to tell him about Bucky. Castiel? Isn't happy.
Cast of Characters:	Karen Page, Castiel

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Karen Page has posed:
As soon as she could politely manage, Karen parted ways with Steve and Elektra by citing that she still had work to do. It was completely true, but not why she broke away from them so quickly.

Even after he left, Karen had continued worrying about James. If he did truly heal faster than the average schlub, how badly was he hurt really to still be needing a leg brace and a cane? This and countless other unanswered (or unanswerable) questions have been circling in her head since the dark-haired super soldier left the diner.

Wait. Does his drinking buddy with the trenchcoat know what happened? She'd almost bet money he doesn't. But shit, how to find him. She raced back to Josie's, but GrumpyColombo wasn't there. Shit. Where else can she look? Really, the only place she can think of is where she ran into the angel NOT with Bucky around... and met Pigeon. It's as good a chance as any.

Rushing about still more, she gets to Central Park and walks briskly toward the fountain where she'd first seen the winged man. "Please be here, please be here.... damnit, how the hell do I get in touch with someone that likely doesn't even own a phone?" She sits on the edge of the fountain with her phone in hand.

Castiel has posed:
Castiel was.. okay. He was pouting. He'd been pouting in the church. He'd been pouting ever since. Not all of it had to do with Hayal. Some of it had to do with Agent May, and the Triskelion. And.. some of it had to do with the matter that Castiel was learning this new facet of humanity and was finding it, well, if not pleasant, at least interesting enough to wallow some. At least with this emotion.

Truth be told? He still wasn't closer to understanding what any of this meant, or how to manage these feelings of his, and this particular one seemed to fit.

It didn't help that as he'd sat here in the park (where he'd first met Hayal as it happens) he'd garnered a small, and growing, flock of pigeons who seemed to think he was going to provide for them. He'd tried shooing them away to no avail. One bold specimin had fluttered into the air at the angel's crumbled words and arm flailing of 'go away' and parked on the back rail, sidling over to the angel, and was now pecking at the collar of his trench coat.

"I am told you make a tasty dinner," he mutters.

~Coo. Coo. Coo.~ the pigeon returns placcidly, and continues to peck.

Karen Page has posed:
With a sigh, Karen stares at her phone, muttering softly to herself. "What the hell was I thinking? That he'd hear me if I said 'Hey, Proginoskes, I need your help'? She huffs. She really doubts it could ever be that easy.

She stands and paces a bit, still wanting to track the angel down, but at a complete loss as to how to do so.

Castiel has posed:
Okay, that was just irritating. Castiel didn't *remember* adding her to his list, and yet, there it was, The Call.

Mind you, being irritated was one of Castiel's favourite things.. and rising from the bench does actually sent the pigeons scattering to the four winds. Even his collar pecking pigeon takes flight, heading towards better pickings, leaving the angel to *poof* from where he is, to where the annoying little blonde was. Other than she wasn't 'little' (at 5'10" Karen was rather taller than your average girl), and her hair really should have been red (it was not).

Only to find himself on the other side of the very fountain he'd been sitting watching. "You couldn't walk around and say hello?" Pale blue eyes narrow down upon the woman, unkempt brows furrowing at her. "This is not some sort of joke, is it?"

May, and the boys, might be surprised at that rejoinder, Cas having upgraded from his usual confrontational approach to something approaching conversational, and broaching polite.

Karen Page has posed:
Karen is in the middle of turning to pace the other direction when Castiel just appears behind her and starts complaining, and her reaction? Likely reasonable.

She screams in surprise.

"Holy shit, Prog, warn a person next time." She takes a moment to try and settle her racing heart, then realizes what he was saying. "Wait, you were just on the other side of the fountain?" She sighs, her shoulders slumping briefly. "I'm sorry. I didn't even think to look. And, not a joke, I promise. You know your drinking buddy from Josie's? Mr. Nobody with the hair and the dog?" She gestures vaguely as she tries to explain.

Castiel has posed:
Castiel alerts at the scream, but when it's found to just be him that's caused the fuss, he goes back to shoving his hands into his pockets and giving Karen a scowl. "Warn you? You called me." His head tilts in a quizzical manner until she asks about the fountain.

"I was enjoying a bench until I was being eaten by a pigeon." Okay, even he suddenly sees the slight amusement in that. A pigeon? Eating a full grown man, let alone him? "I do not understand what looking as to do with anything. You called my name. I came. I would come regardless of where you were."

Or, at least he was bound to that now. Then again, he /had/ heard her call - not from the other side of the fountain, but in the rather more mystical way. It wasn't something he was certain should have happened given he didn't recall passing that favour onto her, and yet? Here he was, confirming it.

"Mr. Moody?" Sam is the first name that pops into The angel's head. Except Sam does not have a dog. "You mean James Barnes. My friend." That word feels funny in his mouth. Funny, but right. "What about James BArnes?"

Karen Page has posed:
"He's... wait." Karen didn't think it was possible, but the angel is making less and less sense. "You heard that past the fountain? And even though I called you Proginoskes?" She has to stop and mentally process Castiel's words, putting her hands on either side of her face as she does so.

"Okay, let me start over. I came here hoping to find you, because our friend James got hurt working, and I wasn't sure if you'd heard about it yet. That's why I was looking for you."

Castiel has posed:
Ah. Non-believer. Or close enough.

"I'm an Angel of the Lord," Castiel explains patiently. Even somewhat gently. "I could hear you wherever you were if you're under my protection. Or if I were looking for you. At least I was an Angel of the Lord. Haven't lost my ability to do that yet."

The angel rolls his eyes heavenward, as if expecting a clap of thunder and a bolt of lightning to declare a new absence in his life.

Of Bucky, Castiel is concerned. "Hurt? Working?" And clearly the man had not deigned to call upon him. Or perhaps he didn't know that he could. Agent May knew. Why hadn't she called upon him? Then it occurs to Castiel that perhaps this, too, was part of his pnishment for that day in the Triskelion...

Castiel is half a second short of popping out of here and into the Trisk when he stops himself.

"Maybe you should tell me more."

Karen Page has posed:
Okay, he's said that before, but Karen didn't have any tangible proof that he was being honest about it... well, she's got some kind of proof now. "Holy shit, you're serious about that." She really shouldn't be as shocked as she is, considering she just had dinner with a super soldier born in the nineteen twenties, and her boss is completely blind but can still cross an unfamiliar dark room more easily than she can.

"Oh, right, yeah. He didn't say much at all, but I know that's just how he is. He had a leg brace on and was using a cane, and I know I don't know him all that well, but I think I can tell when a person is in pain and just not admitting it."

Castiel has posed:
Again with that head tilt. "Why would I lie about being an Angel of the Choir?" His familiarity with all the myriad of reasons humans lie might be at his fingertips, but being who and what he is, it has rarely occurred to him to tell a falsehood. Not without good reason, and even then they were not his purview. "I am what I say I am. I could show you.." Other than the last time he'd done that, things hadn't gone so well. Besides, hadn't she seen and hear Hayal?

Castiel truly did not understand.

He's saved pondering it overmuch, though, by word of Bucky's injury. "No," Castiel agrees. "He would not say. He is more apt to deny there is anything the matter the worse the injury may be." It was almost a litmus test of the man, the degree to which he tried to cover illness or injury an indication of how desperately he likely needed intervention.

Then again, there were those damnable rules in place. Rules which were now interferring, and while Castiel did not have overmuch trouble with ignoring rules - especially when necessary - he was loathe to break down his relationship with Agent May and the denizens of the Triskelion even further.

"This is not good news."

Karen Page has posed:
Oh great, now Proginoskes is worried too. Karen glances down at her phone and... "Oh, hey, I have his cell phone number. Maybe you can ask him if he's okay with you stopping by to visit?" And then if he says he's not, stop by anyway.

She watches the angel, her own concern still very clear in her expression.

Castiel has posed:
"I will.." And that's when it hits Castiel that Agent May has his phone. Suddenly this talk has gone from needs to talk to Agent May to needs to talk to Agent May now. "I am afraid that I will have to go and check in on this another way."

No, it hasn't occured to him that they could just use Karen's phone. Then again, that doesn't change the fact that the uncomfortable talk needed to happen. Castiel didn't look forward to the eating of crow that was going to entail.

Karen Page has posed:
"Oh. Okay. You'll let me know what you find out?" Karen starts rummaging in her bag before brandishing a slightly bent up stack of post-it notes and a pen. "Here's my phone number, so you can call or text me if you want." She quickly jots her information on the paper in a rushed and slightly stilted hand, then offers the note to the angel. "I'm sorry you weren't told sooner, Proginoskes."

Castiel has posed:
"It wasn't your fault," Castiel reassures Karen as he takes the jotted number and balls his fast around it, showing that hand into a pocket. Then as abruptly as he's appeared beside her at the fountain, the angel is gone - presumably to check up on Bucky. Which finds him appearing outside the Triskelion and about to storm the castle so to speak.