Birthday Party for Laura/X-23

[noteful]

It's a pretty low-key party, all things considered, and not significantly different than the one Parker or Meg would have thrown in a dorm room for a friend at home, not-exactly-traditional menu not withstanding.

There's music, low enough to talk over (and maybe with a little more folk in the mix than one expects to find a party). Balloons and streamers in purple and blue and red. A place to leave presents. People to meet or catch up with.

And, most importantly, a chance to wish X-23 (or Laura) a very happy birthday.

Comments

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[thursdays_angel]

"I went a number of places."

"There is work to do the world over."

"And," he adds, "I have watched many places that I have not walked."

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[noteful]

"That makes sense."

She smiles.

"And now you're here. And there are balloons. And root beer floats."

New corners all the time.

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[thursdays_angel]

"One of the stranger corners of Creation I have visited," Castiel admits.

He suspects that his Father had been having a whimsical sort of day when he created Milliways.

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[noteful]

"I think I'd be a little . . . perplexed, if that weren't the case. That this is one of the stranger corners of Creation."

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[thursdays_angel]

Castiel nods.

"And yet, the more often I visit it, the more I can see the purpose it serves."

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[noteful]

Meg looks around at the people celebrating Laura's birthday.

And then nods.

"I think . . . I can see that."

At least, she thinks she can see the purpose it serves for her.

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[thursdays_angel]

"It...."

Castiel ponders how to put what he is thinking into words.

"It provides a wider perspective. Even for angels."

"It allows people to experience things that would otherwise be impossible. And learn to accept them."

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[noteful]

"Yes," Meg says. "And to . . . to ask questions about . . . about things that you didn't even know you needed to be questioning.

"Like . . . like what's normal and what's strange."

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[thursdays_angel]

"You found a great deal that was strange?"

There were, at the end of the day, few things that Castiel found strange beyond being curiosities.

But he has something of a head start on Meg.

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[noteful]

"Yes," says Meg.

Because, if she's being honest, oh, yes.

"But . . . I meant more that I found that my strange was someone else's normal, and vice versa."

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[thursdays_angel]

Castiel smiles slightly.

"Perhaps we are all sent here to learn things."

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[noteful]

"Perhaps."

She smiles.

"I like that better, as an explanation, than just sometimes there's a bar where the library should be."

In that it's less random and more rational.

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[thursdays_angel]

"Things happen for reasons."

Nothing is truly random or coincidence.

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[noteful]

". . . some things, or all things?"

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[thursdays_angel]

"All things."

"Of course."

Admittedly, he may be a bit biased.

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[noteful]

Meg takes a long moment to consider this.

(Not as long as Castiel took to consider the balloon, but long enough.)

"That . . . that seems to be . . ."

She pauses again.

". . . asking a lot, maybe."

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[thursdays_angel]

And Castiel waits just as patiently as Meg waited while he had examined the balloon.

"Asking a lot to believe?"

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[noteful]

"No, more like . . . more like asking a lot of things. That everything happens for a reason. That there's no random coincidence or . . . I don't know that I'm explaining this well."

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[thursdays_angel]

"That is all right."

Castiel tilts his head.

"The Universe was created, by and large, to work in cooperation with itself. Much in the way individual cells and strands of acids make up a human body."

"Most events....they are as good as random to most people. It is only when viewed from a distance, sometimes over hundreds of years, that patterns form."

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[noteful]

Meg frowns, slightly, trying to follow that.

"There's special providence in the fall of a sparrow?" she asks, finally.

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[thursdays_angel]

"You could say that."

"Has a seemingly random event ever had an impact on your life? One that would seem of little importance, that may not even have happened to you directly?"

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[noteful]

"Yes. Of course."

Profound impact, really. In many ways.

"But I don't know that it necessarily follows that every seemingly random event has an impact."

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[thursdays_angel]

"Many serve simply to hold the fabric of reality together. Some act only as catalysts for others."

"I believe your scientists even have a term for it. Chaos Theory?"

"Something to do with butterflies."

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[noteful]

Meg, frankly, looks a little skeptical.

(The theory is around, of course, but it hasn't gone quite mainstream in 1988.)

". . . butterflies?"

Re: Mingle with the other guests

[thursdays_angel]

"Even more humble than sparrows."

The enigmatic air comes with the wings.