Castle/Vigil WIP. Written some time around March 2019.
As an avid reader, the top priority for Miles is to explore the nearby towns or cities that's closest to the barracks. His main goal is to search for a library or at least a bookshop, and a quiet place for him to bask in the sunlight while absorbing the wonders of literature. From fiction to non-fiction, science to religion, and even an occult. There isn't a single genre that he hates, partly due to this personality of being an open-minded person who is interested in learning. It wouldn't be a lie that he is particularly eager on anthropology and the best way for him to understand other people's culture is to learn their language. This has helped him on many different occasions, especially with social situations, because to be fluent in a language is to learn the cultural contexts and queues. Without those, a person would be just reading out a paragraph on 'Language for dummies' series. Jordan calls him an overachiever, but whatever. Better to be knowledgeable and polite than ignorant. To protect someone, you must consider their body and mind all together.
Most of the people in the base know that Miles cares about his American teammates. A few know his preference in men and women, and they have been encouraging Miles to make an acquaintance with his current love interest. The ever so quiet, anti-social and aloof Korean. Chul Kyung has been the shadow in the crowd, and he prefers to stay in the corner or not appear at all.
"I am a little worried, you know what I mean? He hasn't been himself after the broadcast of Panmunjom!" Miles sighs while keeping an eye on the table that SMB are sitting at.
"Just ‘a little worried,’ huh? So are you denying that you have a thing for him? I know he is your type, being all mysterious as the dark side of the moon and shit." Eliza scoffs but doesn't take her eyes off of her phone.
"At least his type is more sophisticated than yours." Jack smirks at his corny insult and shifts away from Eliza before he gets hit, but Jordan locks him in for Eliza to have her way with him.
"Yeah? Probs because I have more balls than any of you. At least I have someone who will back me up." She winks at her older girlfriend and shouts something back in poorly pronounced Spanish.
"What's pahn, uh, pahn something anyway?"
"Goddamn, get yourselves educated. It's where the Korea summit was held. The whole North and South talking about ending the war," Miles suddenly begins to whisper, "and Chul Kyung hasn’t been looking fine after that."
"What’s different? He always looks like he's seen a ghost.” Jordan shrugs.
“The guy is a ghost. Not talking, hovering. That’s why we’ve been telling you to hit him up. Get the guy out of that whole Evanescence phase.” Jack adds in, finally free from his teammates.
“You guys don’t understand. Flirting in Korean is convoluted enough if you don’t want to look like a dick.”
“Why don’t you,” Eliza slams down her phone and forces their attention on her, “tell him that you want to learn his dialect?”
“His what?” Jack asks, slightly bemused.
“North Korean dialect. I’ve heard that they speak a bit differently there. I think it would be a great excuse to get closer to him; showing him how much you care about his country and all.” It takes a few seconds for the men to click. Miles leans closer to give Eliza a tight hug of appreciation and Jack mumbles something along the notion of giving her too much credit.
“Who knew that a redhead could be such a love guru?” Jordan pats on her and smiles approvingly.
“I thought this language nerd would have thought of that already. I guess you boys can’t live without the main leader here.” Her boastful chuckle earns some playful nudges, but she isn’t lying. The idea of learning more about Chul Kyung gives Miles some profound epiphany and newfound courage. The only problem is that he needs to get a hold of the silent walker who tends to slip in and out, and that is a huge challenge itself. It almost looks unachievable until he receives a text message from Grace, which kindly states that Chul Kyung’s secret hideout is a nearby library. She also suggested buying Eliza a carton of beer as a small token of gratitude and added “she certainly didn’t let me know that her favourite brand is Miller Light.”
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Possible stories in the future:
I just had this image of vigil visiting North Korea with Castle while they learn more of the dialect. Vigil insists that they go. Castle wonders why they are going to this thick ass forest and they find skeletal remains of someone, clothes all smudged and fainted. Vigil just drops down, picking the skeletons up and put them in a box
Guess whose skeletons those are - his mother who died in the forest)
Castle offers to help, still confused but vigil asks him to watch their surroundings. Castle feels like he needs to help so he kneels down next to him and sees vigil's face strained, biting his lips but can't stop the tears falling down. Castle finds a rusted ring and just as he was going to pick it up, the police finds them and tells them to move away
Castle stalls the police by saying that they are the surveyors while vigil keeps on digging and collecting the skeletons (there are only a few of them.) Police ask why an American is here and Castle says it's a joint effort from America too, saying that they are directly ordered by the FBI and shows them the ID. One of the police insults Castle by calling him a racial slur in North Korean dialect and vigil snaps when he hears it. He gets up, mugs one in the face and Castle ends up hitting the other one to unconsciousness. Vigil yells at Castle to run but Castle hesitates, looking for the ring. One of the police regains consciousness and fires a bullet on Castle.
Thankfully it's only a graze and vigil is quick enough to sprint back to the rescue. He hits the police again and shouts at Castle to hurry. Castle picks up the ring and shows it to vigil, almost making the scene look like he is proposing to vigil. Vigil halts a little, comes back to his senses and pulls Castle up on his feet. They run to somewhere safe and have people around. And dialogue dialogue comfort hugs dialogues.
