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[forestcrap]

After the hole is sealed and Ninurta's done away with, your entire party is bippity bopped to the other side of the forest. If there were stragglers that got separated, you're all in one place again. If you lost gear, weapons, phones, whatever, it's back on your person, functional again. If you lost any organs you're on your own though. No but basically you've been bewitched to safety out of the forest and the evil noises have stopped, you're homefree, homies. There's a crow perched on a rundown fence post along the road watching you with beady little eyes before it takes off back into the forest.

The map takes you to a rundown little bed and breakfast not but a fifteen minute walk out that looks like it was abandoned a while ago. No foul play, just closed for business, the economy is rough when you're located next to a haunted forest. Feel free to avail yourself of its beds, there's no room service but least you don't have to pay.

[Mission: get your bearings, make sure all your shits there, do a headcount, follow the road. call dibs on a room. rest up]

Comments

[sawedoff]

[99 problems cas]

Maybe she'll take Hook and August with her and they can start up a Backstabbing Asshats R Us.

[inenochian]

[ shakes his head and crosses his arms over his chest, obstinate. there's a lot of crap he has to put up with, but he doesn't have to like it. ]

You're a much more patient man than you used to be, Dean. I find it impressive.

[sawedoff]

Man it's like anything else, you drown in the booze you're gonna build up a tolerance, you drown in the bull crap, you're gonna sink or swim.

[shrugs like, you know, it's not an age thing because he's not old but it's an age thing. besides, the levels of bullshit he's had to deal with here are pretty much on par or higher than anything sam ever dished out. gotta put up with it to babysit it.]

[inenochian]

[ drops his chin, a surprised laugh making a way out of his mouth like a soap bubble popping. ]

That was...colorful.

[ pushes away from the wall and unfolds his arms. once again, dean's talked him down from a wrathful bitchfit. ]

You had three hours' sleep last night. I doubt sleeping through the rest of this morning will affect you negatively.

[sawedoff]

[now why couldn't he do that in canon]

Three hours'll keep me going for days. [shrugs it off in his best naah tone. even tho he's tired and will probably crash face first on the first mattress-esque surface he comes across after they settle.] What about you? Stella got her groove back?

[inenochian]

Who is Stella?

[ asks more because it's expected of him; he's getting to a point where he can at least extrapolate dean's intended meaning from the situational context. ]

[sawedoff]

[gives him a dry look of i'm not explaining it before testing a stair to make sure it's not gonna fuckin cave in from disuse]

Well it's no Hilton Head but rooms are cheap.

[turns to shrug at him before sliding a hand up the dusty banister and taking up to claim a room]

[inenochian]

[ listens to the commotion in the common room for a few moments more, mostly some good natured squabbling between daniel and bo, though nick is clearly being teased by hel for the cardboardy role he played in saving everyone, too. ]

[ supposes that their new arrival will behave for at least as long as it takes them all to lower their guards, and he can afford a few hours to himself before they get moving and he's back to scouting ahead. ]

[ matches dean's bootprints in the dust on the steps. ]

[sawedoff]

[goes through the hallway of doors, pushing them open as he goes to find one that's non-occupado. totally bagling some routines here. i bet morrigans like boiling rabbits in lamb blood or something in there. holds a hand up like his bad and closes door again. cardboards all the cardboards.]

[shoulders a door open at the end of the hall after he learns how to knock and tags himself an unclaimed room. they're super dinky with the bare necessities, but the mattress is on a bed frame and that's ritzy enough for him. glances over his shoulder at him still trailing along like a lost dog and raises eyebrows in question]

You know I'm down with bunking up when we gotta but I'm not seeing the need here.

[holds a hand out at the doors across the hall like, an entire b&b full of free rooms]

[inenochian]

[ wide-eyes him and his raised eyebrows. ]

Am I uninvited, now that there isn't..."a need"?

[ there's no point in me claiming a room of my own to sit in by myself. might as well do that in the common room downstairs. ]

[ holds one hand up in acquiescence, taking a step back toward the threshold. ]

[sawedoff]

[shuffles weirdly in doorway like he doesn't know how to approach the issue. he's never had to really invite him or uninvite him he just kinda comes and goes as he pleases, he's only really ever had to kick him out when he's about to hit the hay so he supposes. as long as there's ground rules.]

I mean you can hang your boots up if you just wanna... [you know. hang out. whatever. no sleep watching. points at him emphatically. he shouldn't have to say it] And no slumber parties.

[inenochian]

I promise to vacate the premises once you fall asleep, Dean.
[ probably go scout ahead for the next stop on the map. ]

[ much more enthused now that he's gotten his way, even if it was manipulative of him, he explores his options for hanging up his boots. there's no chair, but there's actually a wide windowsill with a threadbare cushion that seems to serve the same purpose. there's no bath, but there is a washstand and he supposes that they must have passed beyond the borders of technological progress. ]

[sawedoff]

[you're a douche]

[follows him in shaking his head and kicks the door shut behind him, leaving his bag on the floor by the bed and dropping down to the mattress to untie his boots and peel them off. sits back after nabbing a bottle of beer he tucked away in his bag and looks over to him with a worry of his lip like he just realized the awkward reality of having a room to themselves after everything that's happened. even if it's covered in 10 layers of dust and he can hear the entire party of 15+ chatting away downstairs]

[weird beer opening silence]

[inenochian]

[ takes place on perch. wornout old windowseat. ]

[ watches dean's winding-down routine until the distraction of settling in is gone. he knows he'll receive a fussy rebuttal if he's caught still watching once dean's still, worst-case scenario an early ejection from the room, and he's just getting comfortable. ]

[ listening to the weird beer opening silence. ]

[sawedoff]

[waits another couple beats until the silence gets past awkward into seriously what the fuck territory]

--Say something.

[opens his hands in front of him in a tiny gesture of frustration, except the one hand has a beer in it so it becomes the gesture tool like a teachers stick thing or something. it's a talk to me, but impatient style. there goes his you've gotten more patient award.]

[inenochian]

[ takes that as his permission to look up from the smudged corner of window he wiped clean. ]

Something? About what, Dean.

[ drags a fingertip through the grime on the glass, idle movement, but he adds in enochian sigils and wards for protection. ]

I'm not trying to "freak you out," but it seems like you have something you want to say.

[sawedoff]

[toys with the rim of the bottle and sucks on a tooth in that working himself up to it way before looking up to him again at his doodling]

I don't know, man.

[takes a drank before setting it aside on rickety little dust table and getting up to wander over to the washbasin in his socks which is a really weird feeling in a hotel room. just kind of leans against the edge of it with both hands instead of doing anything though]

Doesn't it bother you? I know it was all some BS trick but going out like that, ghost fertilizer, yeah that's one thing, and you know me I ain't gonna cry about it when it's my time, but it's always for Sam or- worst case with Sam, I can't. Just leave him on his own.

[dem feelings. it just bothered him more than he'd like to admit, the prospect of kicking the bucket way out in bumfuck nowheresville way the hell away from him and everything. not how it's supposed to go.]

[inenochian]

You got him home, Dean.

[ half-turns away from the window, finding Dean in his new position by the washstand. seeing him so affected is difficult, and cas knows that what he wants to do is cross the room and offer comfort. he also knows that dean wouldn't accept it. ]

You got him home, and you'll do the same yourself. All of Heaven and Hell haven't been able to separate you from your brother, not for long. Death Himself returned Sam's soul to your side. [ he scrawls three little symbols into the one untouched pane of glass, ג ז י. ] Gam zeh ya'avor. ...This too shall pass.

[ folds his hands and puts the window at his back. ]

And yes. It bothered me. I've left too much undone, made mistakes I need to rectify. If nothing else, I need to return and try and make amends. But...what bothered me most was being unable to save you. Unable to haul you out of the cold earth and raise you up.

[sawedoff]

[turns against the rickety stand to lean his butt up against it and tap his heel against the floor quietly while he talks cus that was a lot of words for a taciturn guy, only looking up to him when he says some shit in what is that hebrew with confused eyebrows until he explains and gets a little nod]

[there's that hesitation like he wants to say more about it, about how he doesn't even know if he did the right thing sending sam back because he really thought he was going to figure something out by now, you know, bust them out of here from the other side. but now he's just alone over there either way, so what was better, keeping him here where he knows he can keep him safe or sending him packing on his own? the longer it goes on the more he second guesses his decision. he knows sam would be pissed as hell about it, especially since he didn't have any say in it. but. there's nothing cas can do about it, and he's grateful he keeps going for the distraction. even if he was making weighty internal discussion faces for most of it.]

--S'not your fault. Dude, don't beat yourself up over it. Place just has it bad for makin you limp. [moves a hand off the table to wave it at him] Least you're all shiny and new car-smell fresh again.

[inenochian]

[ winces, ever so slightly, when dean insists on using that euphemism. the suggestion of impotence didn't used to bother him much, and he can't exactly reason out why it's more uncomfortable now than it had been before. he shifts on the windowseat, hands on his thighs, and clears his throat before he looks up again. because of all the talking, not any other reason. ]

I'm relieved to be at full strength again, yes.

[sawedoff]

[looks away and scratches at the side of his face absently like he hasn't completely moved on from the emotions but he'll latch onto whatever else comes his way in the meantime]

Well enjoy it while you can. Smoke it while you got it and all that.

[given tumba's track record of unangeling him he means. you know, go prance with the bees or cloudhop or sing naked in the rain or whatever angels do in their freetime while they're not trying to start apocalypses or matchmaking]

[inenochian]

[ already doing what he does in his free time. ]

[ not completely moved on from the emotions either. after all, there's a fairly large elephant in the room with them still, even after discussing the moose standing next to it. ]

I don't find smoking enjoyable...or attractive, but if I'm to believe what advertisements tell me, it's supposed to be "sexy."

[sawedoff]

[gives him a weird look as he pushes off the edge of the stand and loosens up his posture a little to shuffle in a circle, testing the water and blowing out a sigh when it just squeaks dryly in answer]

Yeah if you're from the 50s and so were poodle skirts.

[jim carrey hands at sink after he smacks the tap once. work. who would have thought an abandoned b&b wouldn't have running water.]

[inenochian]

I was pleased to learn it wasn't one of your preferred vices.

[ unfolds himself from the windowseat and crosses the room while dean's back is turned to him. reaches his arm out underneath dean's gesturing to angeltap the faucet, which groans and rattles ominously before spitting out lukewarm water into the waiting pitcher. ]

[sawedoff]

[jerks his elbow up out of the way when he goes in for the faucet until he realizes that's what he was going for and kind of simmers down with an awkward huff]

...Thanks.

[for the jhorror water. that's not traumatizing. reaches over to turn it off after it's already spat out half a sinkful and does another aborted doubletake at him before leaning over to run his hand through it. make sure there's no floating haunted lady hair in it or some shit.]