01 [ video / action ]

[familyremains]

Who: Dean doing the OTA thing
Broadcast: fleetwide video
Action: anybody on the Marsiva
When: 1/27 - 1/29


a; (acting alone)

[ The video cuts in accidentally (are accidents ever accidental?) to Dean using a plastic knife of all things to pry a panel, about four feet in each direction, off the wall in front of him. It takes some jimmying, but after a couple seconds, it pops right off, and Dean catches it before it falls more than an inch or so open. He looks around quickly as he slides the panel aside (got to work fast with cameras on and no easy way to disable them), but when he looks to what the panel was covering, his head jerks back in surprise. Then he crouches in close to get a better look. ]

...Really?

[ Behind the panel is a network of machinery, all interwoven, some of it whirring quietly as it moves together like... like nothing Dean's ever seen. He stares at it, his expression as openly mystified as he feels before he slides the panel back on and snaps it back into place. He stands, loose-limbed and completely clueless as to what the hell he's supposed to do with that. ]

Oh, this is way above my pay grade.

[ Seriously. Where are the air ducts? The red and green wires? The, you know, normal wall stuff? Dean thought he could figure this spaceship thing out, but damn it, Shatner and Ford never prepared him for this level of sci-fi weirdness. ]



b; (the buddy system)

[ In the cafeteria sometime later, Dean is scouting out anybody who looks like they could throw a decent punch. Why? To fight them, of course.

Now, he's not going to go right up to somebody and just sock 'em one. Come on, he's not stupid. No, he's going to try to antagonize them into punching him, instead.

Look, alright, it's worked before. ...Except the other guy ended up dead. It's a long story. Anyway.

You can find Dean staring at you if you're the kind of type who looks rough and tumble and easily angered. Or you might find him eyeing up the big burly-looking guy in the corner in a completely no-homo kind of way. You might also observe his fine table manners, as while he's doing his "sizing up" of the room, he's also shoving food in his face and chewing with his mouth open, because damn, you get hungry after puking as much as he has in the past two days.

Or you might find Dean getting the crap beaten out of him by someone twice his size (which is saying a lot; he's not a small guy). You might want to help him, if you're the helpful kind of person, because the non-existent authorities sure aren't going to step in, and somebody should. Or you might find him after nobody did step in to help him because, let's be real, he deserves the black eye and busted lip and bruised kidney he gets. Just don't expect him to apologize if he got any blood on you. A little blood's not going to kill you, and everybody knows a blood splatter always makes for good TV. ]

Comments

video okay, since this is the marsiva?

[familyremains]

[ The voice is so familiar that, still with his bloodied head down, nursing the wounds (and his pride), Dean almost answers instinctively. In fact, he's got his mouth open for the "Hi, Cas" and everything when he finally lifts his head. But then he gets a good look at Castiel and does a double-take, staring.

Wasn't he... Like a couple of hours ago, he was...? ]

Cas, did you, uh... Did you shower?

[ And shave, and find a new trench coat, and... Yeah, time travel's seeming more likely here. And Dean can't believe he's thinking it. That time travel is the more likely option. What a joke. ]

yes oops this is what I get for tagging while tired

[ofthursday]

[Castiel is still getting used to the whole issue of there being another version of himself here, so it takes a moment before he places why Dean would be asking.]

No. There are two versions of myself here.

[No fanfare in his explanation, as usual, and back to more important topics--]

Are you alright?

i didn't see anything, you're good

[familyremains]

[ Dean squeezes his eyes shut real hard and thinks... maybe he misheard. But no, playing it back in his head, he definitely heard right. And leave it to Cas to be casual about something like that. ]

There are two of you?

[ Great. Because it's not enough of a full time job keeping track of one of them. ]

So you're an angel? You're from 2015?

[ Dean has to ask because he's figuring out quick that you just never know with this place. The kind of curveballs he's getting thrown now makes even the crap Zachariah used to pull on them look tame. ]

<3!

[ofthursday]

There are. The other version of myself seems to be from an alternate timeline.

[A pretty terrible one, not that their timeline is much better. The one Castiel altered after returning from Adstringendum is going pretty well, at least.]

I am, yes. What do you last remember?

[Because it sounds like they might actually be close in time, except for the Adstringendum thing which he'll just hold off mentioning for the moment.]

[familyremains]

"Seems to be." Yeah, Cas, I'd say so.

[ Oh, he knows about the Adstr... the other place. He just thought that this Cas and the other were... Well, now who knows what he knows? Dean's head is all screwed up, and he's not assuming anything about either of them. ]

Last I remember was...

[ Cas's face bloody in the mirror. Begging Death to kill him. Sam. Killing Death instead. The Mark of Cain coming off his arm, and then... ]

Darkness. The Darkness, which is nothing good, from what Death was saying.

[ Or what Sam was saying, but Dean's not getting into that until he knows where Cas stands, anyway. ]

What about you? Are you alright?

[ofthursday]

There were some other possibilities.

[Gosh, Dean.

But Dean is spared any further lecturing explanations from a know-it-all angel by that response, because... What? Castiel just stares at the feed for a moment, tilting his head slightly to the side.]

...The Darkness.

[What. An explanation would be awesome here because surely Dean's confused about something and The Darkness isn't actually their next issue.

He's too focused on this topic to bother answering Dean's questions either, though it's out of distraction rather than purposefully ignoring them.]

[familyremains]

[ Well, he must be alright if he's completely ignoring Dean's questions. Good old Cas. ]

Yeah Cas, the Darkness. The thing the Mark of Cain was locking up, apparently. The thing we just let loose. Heard of it? Because if you know what it is and how to put it back in the box, I'm all ears.

[ It doesn't look like the Darkness is here in outer space, or at least not in the way it was back home. But the more information Dean can get before going back to face it, the better, he figures. Can't be too prepared for something like that, whatever it was. ]

[ofthursday]

[Sorry Dean he's taking a moment to process this.]

You must be from a point in time further along than I am.

[Which is clearly the thing to focus on, and not... Any of the rest of that, because what the hell. But the distraction doesn't last long and he returns his attention to the issue.]

I know what The Darkness is, but little beyond the stories of how it was locked away. It is related to the Mark of Cain?

[familyremains]

[ So Cas doesn't know anything about it. That's not good news. But it also means there's no point in worrying about it here, if there's nothing any of them can do about it. And the less they talk about the Mark of Cain, the better Dean will feel. But before he gets Cas off of it, there's something he can't not talk about. Or that face will never stop haunting him in the mirror. ]

Yeah. It is.

...Look, about that. I, uh...

[ Dean swallows hard and drops his head. He really wishes he could do this in person, talk to Cas and actually see him, but... He's not getting off this ship any time soon, and it's not something he can stand to wait. Especially when anything could happen to either of them. He's not a "put it off to tomorrow" kind of guy. So he sucks it up, lifts his head and gets it over with. ]

I don't know if you even remember, if it's even happened yet... But the last time I saw you... Cas, I almost killed you.

To do what I did to you, and to that kid... You were right to try to stop me. I was wrong, Cas. ...And god help me, I knew it. There was... I mean, I couldn't stop myself, but I knew it... I'd wake up, or I'd look in the mirror and...

[ He got offtrack, frustrated, so he clears his throat, wets his lips, and reins it in, looking at Cas steady again. ]

Anyway. I just... want to thank you. For being there for me. For... saying what you said, for risking yourself. I owe you.

[ofthursday]

[That is... Not what Castiel is expecting out of Dean in the slightest, for many reasons. The main one, of course, is that Castiel hasn't been through the experience Dean is talking about; he has so many questions, but he's more struck by the sincerity of Dean's apology, and that he apparently feels incredibly guilty about it whatever it is that occurred.

His voice is soft when he responds, staring intently at Dean through the video feed.]

I don't remember. It has not happened for me.

[And won't, but that's a too complicated story to get into now.]

But it's... You owe nothing, Dean. Whatever the situation, it is forgiven.

[He's sure he'd feel the same way if he'd been through whatever it was, and even if he didn't, he remembers very distinctly what happened while under Naomi's control in the crypt. Dean wouldn't owe him; they'd be even.]

[familyremains]

[ Before he started saying it, he knew this Cas was probably different, that the odds weren't great that he was the same Castiel from the same time as Dean, just because Sam, and Crowley, and that other Cas were all different, so why would Cas be the same? But he needed to say it. Even if it means less and feels self-indulgent saying it to a Cas who never experienced it. Even if his forgiveness doesn't help, isn't something Dean deserves, as much as he wants to hear it.

He looks down and nods, jaw tense, throat tight. ]

Yeah.

[ Then he swallows it down and looks up again. ]

So you're, uh... You're from the past? What year?

[ He thinks about not asking, wonders about the whole Back-to-the-Future, "shouldn't know too much" line, but then decides it's bullcrap and asks what he's thinking anyway. ]

You still got your wings?

[ofthursday]

It is 2015.

[He answers the question a little idly, watching Dean's expressions more than paying attention to responding to questions. The question about his wings, though, draws his attention and gives him pause.]

Technically yes, but they do not work. But I recently regained my grace from Metatron.

[Who will hopefully be getting to experience his turn at just how fun it is to be human when you're all alone and abandoned in some city you don't know.]

[familyremains]

Metadouche, huh? Alright, so we're not that far off.

[ In a way it's a relief, knowing Castiel's been through all the same crap Dean thinks he has, barring a couple months Dean would rather forget about, anyway. Cas's wings are crispy, but he's got his grace, got his memories, got his sanity, isn't teaming up with any kings of Hell. Could be a lot worse.

On the other hand, it would've been nice if he were just a couple years younger and his wings still worked. Trapped on a space reality TV show, especially, being able to zap all over creation and through time would've been a nice easily solution. Too bad nothing's ever easy for them. ]

I'm guessing there'sno way for you to get me off this Marsiva ship, is there?