flameandpassion | 61 [Text]

[Uh-huh. He's heard that before. But she does make a good point, there; they can't fly and their powers are limited while within the ring.]

Yes. Alright.

[Still not big on this idea; he hates being trapped, but he does trust her. And it would be important and useful if it did work.]

[Oh, come on, Cas, she's hiding you in her house like some freakish angelic Anne Frank. If that is not dedication and loyalty, she doesn't know what is.

She does brighten, though, at the agreement, before she gestures for him to follow her out of the room.]

Come on, we can try it out back. And I promise, I won't hurt you, and if it works, the minute you want to be let out, I'll break the circle.

[Toushirou really wanted to watch. But Castiel is obviously very not happy with this plan. So Toushirou will have to deal with sitting out on this one. She doesn't want to make poor Cas any more irritable than he already is.]

[Yeah and that she's proven it is why he's agreeing in the first place. 8| He drifts after her, still clearly displeased, but offering no argument. At least until she keeps reassuring him and he bristles, though he's not even certain why.]

I'm not afraid of you.

[Rei glances towards him with half a grin before she starts down the stairs to go outside.]

I'm not afraid of you, either. What's your point?

[Don't be silly, Cas. She's just making absolutely sure you know that she won't let you burn. Fear of her has nothing to do with it.]

[Hmph. He continues after her, just generally irritable, though her response had placated him for the most part.]

How do you intend on going about this without drawing a circle with the oil first? What is the fire going to burn?

I'm Mars, Cas. I am fire.

[She pushes open the doors to go outside, almost incredulous with the question.]

It doesn't need anything to burn -- it just burns. I can create a ring of fire and maintain it without oil or wood.

Mars is a cold planet, you know.

[There's a flicker in that comment of the previous teasing attitude that had prompted ALL THE SHEEP to appear in Rei's yard.]

But alright. As long as you have control of it.

Shut up.

[There isn't any actual irritation in her tone, though, and she murmurs the necessary words to herself to immerse herself in fire, to become Sailor Mars. Once it's done, she turns to him with arched eyebrows.]

Stand still and don't move. Tell me when you're ready.

[He just watches her transform then plants his feet and straightens up, suddenly all angel, watching her calmly.]

Make your attempt.

[She's still, for a long moment, before she closes her eyes in thought. The goal was to trap Castiel, but it wasn't just that -- for this to be effective, it would have to be quick -- lightning fast -- to trap as soon as possible.

And then, Mars' eyes snap open.]

Burning Mandala.

[It's hissed to herself -- and she twists her arms in a wide arc, creating ten seals of fire, before she pushes her arms forward, quickly, to send them twisting around Castiel in a circle, bringing them down to rest along the ground, careful to give him enough room to make sure he wouldn't be touched.

She then straightens, before her eyes widen slightly, and she curls her fingers into fists to keep the fire steady.]

You're strong.

[It's murmured absently.]

[He continues watching, tense and ready despite his calm appearance simply on instinct. He did trust Rei, and he'd hold still and test out her trap, but that didn't mean he wasn't ready to fly in an instant.

Still, part of him is distracted by the technique itself, fascinated by how her powers work. He watches the Mandala--it's fast but not so fast that he wouldn't be able to avoid it if he chose, if only because he knew it was coming--and as it settles into place around him he feels the restriction of the effect that holy fire creates. His wings pin down and his strength dampens, not that he had much usable at the moment anyway, and he can tell it's working.]

It has a similar effect.

[It doesn't hurt him but it's uncomfortable and claustrophobic, and the simile of trapping a bird in a cage is accurate. He wants to try breaking it, to see if her holy fire was weaker than the kind from his world, but he doesn't have the strength for it while healing. He makes a note that he'll want to attempt it later; it would be important to know if, with enough effort, it could be escaped in a way his world's couldn't.]

So it works.

[She's breathless -- part of it is the effort she's putting into maintaining the ring of fire. Mars has trapped and ensnared things before with her Mandala, but keeping an angel at bay and maintaining a circle was something that required a lot more effort than simply binding together a youma with the flames. But part of it is excitement. Finally. A way to combat the enemy -- and even better, a way to combat the enemy without spilling a drop of blood.

If this works on all angels, it could work on Lucifer. On Raphael. Mars could successfully break up the fighting by simply keeping them away from one another long enough for the other party to escape. And her Temple was hidden from the angels now -- which protected Usagi and the other senshi from harm at the involvement.

It was a perfect way to keep the madness at bay.]

If I wanted... I could turn this into a column of fire -- and trap the person completely.

[But Mars lowers her arms abruptly and the fire vanishes, leaving not a trace behind that it was even there, so Castiel could be free again, exhaling slowly.

-- before she grins.]

Let's try it on Gabriel next.

[He nods slightly in confirmation at her statement, watching her, unsure if the effort she seems to be putting forth was normal or something that might be of concern. He's distracted, however, by her comment about extending the fire.]

What you are doing is sufficient. I will want to test breaking it at a later point, when I have recovered further, but it seems effective as is.

[He's relieved when the fire drops out, and her comment earns what's close to an amused look. Not quite, but close.]

He would not appreciate that.

Edited 2011-06-18 08:43 (UTC)

Testing it is fine -- I want to try it again, anyway, to perfect it, because it's not as strong as I want it to be. And I don't usually use my fire to trap people, and that can be worked on later.

[Mars waves a gloved hand before she closes her eyes to let her transformation melt away, becoming Rei again. There is little point in remaining transformed -- she won't try to trap Castiel again. She has her proof.

But when she opens her eyes, the grin is still there. Triumph.]

But the fact that it works at all is pretty cool.

[Stoke her ego, Castiel.]

Edited 2011-06-18 09:19 (UTC)

It would have the element of surprise, at least, even if you were unable to maintain it for long.

[Castiel doesn't really do flattery. 8| However he will pay compliments as observations.]

Yes. And it's something that could be of great use in an emergency.

[It's lucky Rei has a high enough opinion of herself to turn most anything into a compliment, if she wants.]

Element of surprise is right -- they're probably too arrogant to think someone could pull it off without the oil.

[It's not meant to be a criticism -- even if it sort of comes out that way. But Rei doesn't really stand for the angelic 'I am superior and you are inferior' attitude. It rubs her the wrong way -- especially since Rei has fought against some of the strongest beings in her universe -- and won.

But her pride aside, it's a good point all the same.]

[He isn't bothered; the point's indeed very valid.]

It will be easier than drawing a circle and attempting to lure the angel into the center of it without letting them know what you're doing.

[Which was often easier than expected, but usually because the angel wasn't looking down. If they thought to, a ring of Holy Oil was a bit obvious.]

Awesome.

[She looks satisfied, with that statement. And she knows Toushirou will feel a lot better with her friendships with the angels now that she has a way to trap them.

Not that she would ever trap Gabriel, Anna, or Castiel in a circle, but that didn't particularly matter to the shinigami, so. What really mattered was being able to trap Lucifer long enough to escape alive, without assistance, should he ever decide to cash in on that rain check to kill her.

Which brings her to her next point.

Which Castiel is not going to like.]

You can't go meet with all of them by yourself, Cas. On Saturday.

[It might also be a great help during events, should something happen to alter their personalities as it had soon after Castiel had arrived.

She's right, he doesn't really like the comment. And he's going to argue.]

Though Lucifer knows about the meeting, he doesn't know when it's occurring. I haven't told Anna or Gabriel. Unless Raphael brings Michael, it will be just us.

[He's not sure if he'd be more or less safe with Michael there, but ultimately it doesn't matter.]

I'll be fine. Either she'll kill me or she won't, and unless I intend to hide forever, this is my best opportunity to call a truce.

[Rei watches him, listening, but she's shaking her head before he's finished speaking.]

None of the angels know you're going? And I'm guessing you didn't tell Dean, either.

[So it's just her.]

Cas, that's suicide. You said she would kill you the first opportunity she had -- and there isn't a better opportunity than this. You still haven't recovered from your last fight with her. And once you release the souls, you won't be as powerful -- you think that she's going to just let you go? Do you really think she's going to listen to you when you say you want a truce?

[She slides her hands into her pockets with a scowl.]

I'm not going to let you walk into your execution.

I didn't. He'd want to come with me.

[Which wasn't about to happen, just as Rei wasn't going to go with him either, if he had any say in it. And injured or not he was still an angel and he could evade her if he needed to.]

There will always be an opportunity. I can't defeat her; if she decides to kill me, then she will, with or without the souls and whether or not I'm fully recovered. None of that makes any difference. It's a calculated risk and a strategic decision.

[He's being realistic, not suicidal, as far as he's concerned. There's just a high risk of dying involved.]

Your presence will not help.

[Great. So the only person who knew that Castiel was about to walk into a bonafide angelic trap was Rei. Who was also the only person in Adstringendum, that she knew of, that could trap an angel long enough to not die.

It was stupid not to have her go, as an insurance policy. The other angels wouldn't think anything was off -- none of them knew that Rei could control holy fire except perhaps Lucifer and even he didn't know what she could do with it. Having her not go wasn't calculated or strategic, it was dumb.

And even if she couldn't be the one to go, why not Gabriel or Anna or any other angel that could actually assist Castiel? And not telling Dean didn't sit well with her, either.

She closes her eyes for a moment, to count to ten -- because losing her temper on Castiel wasn't going to help. But the more she counts to herself, the more frustrated she becomes, until she finally snaps:]

Nothing about this mess is calculated or strategic, Cas! It's stupid. This entire plan is stupid. There's no way that Raphael will just let you walk away when she has a shot to kill you -- you said that yourself. There are some things worth dying for and this isn't it.

You know how badly it hurt when Anna died. Do you really want to throw your life away when there's a way out and give other people the same pain?

[Now he's getting frustrated, back to his previous bad mood once more. The situation unnerves him, and he feels trapped and he's afraid, but it makes sense to him. This is his best chance; if he does what Raphael wants, gives in, lays low, and generally does nothing to draw negative attention to himself then he might get away with the archangel being present in the city without any further harm.

If not, and she decides to kill him, it's no different than what would happen as soon as he left the safety of the wards anyway. He already feels terribly claustrophobic after only a little less than a week of being confined to one building.

True, Rei could protect him long enough to get away if they had to, but then what? They would be right back to where they were before, only Rei would have an even bigger target on her than she already did. Everything lead back in a loop. There was no way out but to risk that Raphael would do as she'd claimed, and lay down her sword as a show of good faith.]

It isn't stupid, Rei. I know what I'm doing. What do you expect me to do; stay here forever?

[He feels vague offense at her words, though he isn't sure exactly which aspect is causing it. He's not trying to get himself killed, and he knew what was worth dying for and what wasn't. He'd laid down his life knowingly twice for it.]

There is no way out other than this. And if she kills me, I'll simply come back, again. Eventually, she will get bored, at the least.

[If it would prevent him from dying, then the answer is ultimately yes -- but Rei holds her tongue, because if she were in Castiel's position, she would have made it two days before sneaking out to handle things her way. She looks like she wants to argue, but she can't, which only makes her more frustrated and annoyed.

It isn't his fault. It's the entire situation. There is no way out without something terrible happening to someone and the angels are so volatile and unpredictable that even Rei has difficulty tracking their timelines. The Animus want no part of it, either -- Rei's vision of Castiel's safety had been changed as soon as Raphael arrived and she had had no time to tell him.

She felt just as trapped and scared as he did, but for entirely different reasons.

Rei curses underneath her breath and crosses her arms over her chest.]

I'm tired of watching my friends die when I could do something about it.

[It's an abrupt confession -- and she closes her eyes, frustrated, to try and get a grip and focus.]

[Castiel watches her intently, able to see thoughts and emotions on her face but unable to identify any of them, despite that he was making an attempt. He does, however, understand the cursing and crossing of arms.

Her statement strikes him a bit, and he understands it; he'd seen so much death, not just at Adstringendum but elsewhere, of both friends and his own family. But he was jaded to it, after so long, and here especially it was something that had less impact. Knowing you'll come back after death made it still a terrifying, painful prospect, but with no permanency. So he could be a little less serious about it, at least when it came to his own life.]

Then don't watch.

[He doesn't meant for it to be so cold as it sounds, but it's simply how he's viewing the situation. If it happens, it's going to happen. And he didn't want Rei there anyway. He had another point to make, also.]

I could have done something about Anna, too. I respected when you told me not to do it.

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