noteful | Birthday Party for Laura/X-23

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Birthday Party for Laura/X-23

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.

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"No. He is not."

Castiel thinks.

"At least not that I am aware of."

If he is, he is not the sort that can sniff out individual people.

X tilts her head, leaning forward a little.

"You do not smell right. For that."

Beat.

"Most people know. You do not get angry? Or upset?"

That tends to be a trigger for a lot of people.

Castiel surreptitiously sniffs.

He still can't smell anything. Except the garlic in the bread and the pasta sauce, wafting from the buffet table.

"Why would I get angry? Or upset?" he asks.

"Sometimes people do," she says.

Carefully.

"They lose control. Of their power."

Castiel turns this over, eyebrows drawn together, thinking.

"You feel that I should be upset if my vessel were a mutant?" he asks carefully.

"It would not matter to me," he adds.

"No. But it is how people know. That they are a mutant."

"Your vessel has already undergone puberty."

"Some time ago, yes."

Castiel smiles wryly.

"The last time I walked Earth in a vessel, this man would already be considered quite old."

"Oh."

X considers this.

"Logan is very old, too."

"How old is Logan?"

Older than X. That is all Castiel knows.

"He is more than one hundred."

Beat.

"I do not know how much."

And X is just like him.

"Very old for a mortal," Castiel observed.

"That is because he is a mutant?"

"Because of his healing factor."

Beat.

"Like mine."

"Then you will likely live to be quite old as well."

He looks at X curiously.

"That is a good thing?"

Most people like to postpone their mortality as long as possible.

Most people.

X shrugs.

"I do not mind."

There isn't much point, is there?

"Angels do not die?"

"We can," Castiel says.

"We do not age and die in the way people do, but we can be killed. Many of my brothers died in the field when Lucifer led his rebellion."

The heavenly equivalent of the Great War.

"You remember," X says.

It isn't a question.

"But it is okay now?"

"I was there."

"It was a very long time ago."

Castiel frowns at the question. He's not quite sure how to answer.

"It is okay for now."

As good as it ever gets on Earth. And it may not stay that way. But it is okay for now.

"Okay," X says.

She is only a little hesitant.

"That is good."

"It is," he agrees.

As long as there are people willing to hold evil back, things will be okay.

So Castiel hopes.

"Celebrating the continuation of life is good as well," he adds. "Such as...birthday parties."

Embracing the good, in Castiel's opinion, is just as helpful as fighting the bad.

X studies him quietly, just for a couple seconds.

"I do not know."

Beat.

"I have not done it before."

"But it is good? So far?"

It doesn't seem to disagree with her, at any rate.

"Yes," X says.

She sounds fairly certain.

And--

"I like having friends."

Castiel smiles.

"Having friends is a very good thing."

Angels do not form friendships, per se. Not the way people define friendship. And Castiel still isn't quite sure that he has the right to claim such a relationship with the people he has met in Milliways.

But he watches. And he knows how important friends are.

"You have them?"

X is curious.

"Friends. Here. Or at home."

Raguel seemed to. Maybe X will ask a demon, next.

Castiel opens his mouth to reply.

Then closes it.

And opens it again.

And closes it.

"I am not sure," he says, finally.

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