Red Fish Mingle

[mortalcoil]

Who: The crew and (many) visitors of the Red Fish!
Broadcast: Nope
Action: Aboard the SS Red Fish
When: Nebulously after the Great Winter Soldier Violence Spree of '16

[it was bound to happen sometime. all three captains of the SS Red Fish are hauled back home in various stages of medical distress, and things have been a little weird since then.

one of these things is the super soldier with the busted metal arm that is brought in to be kept locked up in Coil's lab for a while. turns out those restraints he'd had installed did come in handy. that's a thing.

so, whether you're here to check on one of the various ailing people here, gawk at the guy chained up in the dungeon lab, or are just trying to live your life in relative peace and sanity, come on in!]

Comments

[heavenonearth]

[ cas awakes like a bolt.

that's, uh, well, kind of literal. anyone currently milling about on the red fish this quiet early morningish time (for however much one can really track time while floating aimlessly in space) will be subjected to the ear-piercing whine of electric white noise, and a blinding white flash that fills the entirety of the ship for a good three to four seconds. it's fast, but violent, the sound and light both fearsome and pure in the same breath, and when the phenomenon passes, it leaves behind a humming energy, and a living scent like ozone and electricity, and it hangs in the air like a veil, all but tangible.

cas doesn't really remember falling asleep. he doesn't remember much of anything. fancy clothes and glowing moths, that.. polluted moon, right? it all feels distant, like an old memory, but in fact it's been all blackness since the moment he shut his eyes and didn't open them again. he didn't dream, doesn't think he even thought, like he was suspended, frozen in time and space. there was no going home, like sam had. no returning somewhere familiar. he only hung in the void, without consciousness and without sentience, until this very moment.

it's been a long time since he's felt so whole.

eyes wide and heart hammering against his ribs, cas sits up like a shot, breath rattling in his lungs, his body veritably buzzing with an energy that is at once so foreign and so familiar. shocked speechless, he lifts his hands and stares uselessly into his palms. ]

[collegedropout]

[HOLY FUCKING FUCK.

Okay, Sam kind of almost loses it at the familiar feeling of light, of sound, of angel. He should know better than to lose his breath and let his heart beat wildly like it is, because it's not Lucifer's light; he would know Lucifer's light. Jesus. But that was an angel, which is freaking him out still because... aren't you supposed to be primarily human? That's concerning, Cas. Really concerning.

But he doesn't want someone else to get splattered first if that wasn't you, so he's quick to investigate.

And he finds... Uhhh...

Well.

He stands awkwardly in the doorway, a bit disheveled by the surprise.]

.......

Cas?

[heavenonearth]

[ yeah sorry sam, for all this angelic snoring or something, didn't mean to surprise you, brush.

.. but from the look of it, cas is just as surprised as the rest of you red fishians, and when he lifts his eyes to sam's face his mouth drops open like he's going to speak, but damn if he just can't find the words. so he shuts it, opens it again, shuts it, like a stupid flopping fish. ]

Uh.

Hey, Sam.

[collegedropout]

[You always throw him scary surprises, my dude. It's cool it's cool.

He looks a bit more relieved, stepping forward.]

I, uh. That was some light. Was all of that still, you know.

[He motions to Cas.]

Still here?

[Are you mojo'd back up???]

[heavenonearth]

[ all part and parcel with being an angel bruh, life isn't usually, uh, boring.

anyway, cas is just as puzzled about all of this as you, sammy, doesn't really know up from down just yet, but there's one easy way to find out, right? ]

.. well.

[ sitting a little further forward, cas lifts one lazy hand and flicks it toward the little table beside the bed, bunching up the energy inside of him and concentrating it, and for all the damned years it's been since he's done anything like this it still feels so easy, so simple and natural a thing to push that little table a couple inches away like it's caught in a stiff breeze. ]

.. guess so.

[collegedropout]

[Well I'll be fucked, look at that. He steps into the room a bit more, as if being any closer will reveal to him Castiel's angelic glow or something. It's just — not something he expected, especially with how stingy the Atroma are in giving anything decent.

Other than, y'know, stupid sponsorships.

He feels surprisingly pleased with this, because... you know. This could mean not worrying about Cas drowning in vomit on a bender. He never had to worry about angelified Cas for that. Granted, he had a hell of a lot of other stuff he worried about for the other Castiel, too. So.]

I'm betting you're feeling like a million bucks now.

[heavenonearth]

[ hey sometimes those sponsorships are fun!!

but no, no angelic glow, just cas looking the same as usual, the energy humming under his skin silent and invisible to sam's senses though it's real enough, bright and strong and so powerful that he's almost forgotten how to control it, how to keep it in.

but it's his, so he'll never really forget. ]

Heh, understatement of the century, I think, but yeah. It feels..

[ he flexes his fingers, glancing down into his palms. ]

.. great.

[kickingand]

[ Dean is more than well acquainted with this particular noise.

It's the first time he's clapped his hands against his ears because of it for what feels like a millennia, the angelic ripchord of a screech pelting the Red Fish with its enormity. It immediately strikes a chord in him, a remembrance of a moment in a gas station in the middle of nowhere, a time where things had been different, where he'd been someone else, someone who was broken in freshly scorched ways. But that's of utterly no importance now, because Dean is practically falling off of his bed in the urgency to react, to do something, to find the source of the eminence that he already's intimately familiar with.

At least he can be thankful that his head is mostly on straight for the time being. He's done no better, functioning no easier, but he's running before he can stop himself to the dim resonance of the light coming from Cas' room, booking his way on over because there's an utter absurdity in this that he can't quite fathom yet. Because what it means can't be true, can it? It could mean a million and one things and yet the likelihood that it means a specific one is ridiculous.

... Stranger things have happened, he supposes. The inexplicable is their goddamn life, and yet he's still in a rush because if it means Cas is awake then really, what else does it matter?

Slamming to a halt in front of Cas' room, Dean does the best he can manage for the time being, which is to stare, watching the now awakened Cas curiously, as if he might evaporate on the spot, go up in flames, do something cataclysmically terrifying. He doesn't know. But he's watching because Cas has been down for the count for damn near two months now and Dean has long since run out of words for what that exactly means to him. But maybe that doesn't matter either when Cas is staring at himself as if he's come back to a body he lost forever ago to the minefield of their lives. ]

[heavenonearth]

[ cas hadn't exactly been entirely conscious for the flash and the shriek of white noise, but given dean's sudden tumble into his bunk, and the flabberghasted look on his face, he's guessing that it must've happened. it only makes sense, right? the power of his grace is coursing through his body like an electric current lighting him up, and it's.. strange that it feels more unnatural than it does normal, like it's something foreign and clumsy and not at all usual, even if it feels familiar, and sweet, like a breath of fresh air after living in a suffocating cave for too long.

cas swallows thickly, glances up toward dean with a cocked brow and.. can think of nothing at all to say. ]

Um.

[ okay, good start. ]

Mornin'.

[ nailed it. ]

[kickingand]

[ Fuck You.

Why is that the first thing that comes to mind? Dean isn't entirely sure, but he swallows it back and stares for a good long while, coming to terms with his weeks worth of absolute terror (sleepless nights, drunkenness, paranoia) that Cas wouldn't be waking up again, not ever. That this would be the end of things, for good this time despite what Castiel had told him about being here, and he'd somehow have to watch him go, this time inches from his face. The cold hard facts of what he'd done would be there watching, wasting away, and now Cas is simply awake. And thrumming.

And god it's a good sight to see.

Dean doesn't realize he's holding his breath until seconds later and his shoulders collapse a little as Cas finally speaks, offers the smallest of greetings and its the best Dean can do to keep staring, inspecting what's in front of him as if he hasn't been to Cas' bedside a million times over while he's been down for the count, like he's seeing him for the first time again. Trying to brush aside his fears is a near possibility but Dean's buckling down - trying his hardest - trying to hold tight to what's left of his desperately stony expression. ]

It's been weeks.

[ You were gone. The hurt is somewhere there, but Dean stands taller, stiffly, uncomfortable. ]

You okay?

[heavenonearth]

[ cas has no way of knowing how long it's been, though he remembers when sam slept, that it was weeks before he rose, and judging by dean's face, he can only assume it's been the same for him. honestly, if not for dean's clear concern and voicing how long it's been, cas might not have realized that he'd been sleeping for any longer than is usual, might not have realized that it's been any longer than a single night. ]

Yeah. Yeah, I'm..

[ trailing off again, cas glances back down to his hands again, before he's turning enough to throw his legs over the side of the bed, still slow, still unsure like he doesn't know what's going on, or where he is, or what could be happening. ]

I'm fine.

[ a beat, and he flexes his fingers back and forth, then lifts his eyes to dean again. ]

Better than fine, I think.

[kickingand]

[ Dean is a myriad of things he wants to shake out of Cas, as if throwing his frustrations at him will fix the hours and days and weeks of endless inward hysteria stating that this would be the end. But Dean knows it's not Cas' fault, not in the slightest, and so he shuts his trap, keeps it to himself because it's the only thing he knows how to do.

Instead, he watches, curiously enough, because something has gone on here. Something that hasn't yet fully risen to the surface but has everything to do with the ear-splitting angelic noise that rose from... Cas himself? He's not entirely sure, but he's still familiar with it, knows what it means when an angel has set foot into existence and there's only one of those around here, which means--

Well, it means the obvious. Even if it's hardly obvious at all.

Still hovering, however, entirely unsure of what to do with himself despite the overwhelming urge to throw himself on Cas just to make sure he's whole and here and not dissolving on the spot, Dean just watches Cas inspect himself and tries to come up with something to say. Something that might be clarifying, might provide an answer to the question that's still lingering in the air. ]

Mean what I think you mean?

[ Because that's kind of a huge thing, monumental even, and Dean doesn't quite know what to do with it. ]

[heavenonearth]

[ he's not really surprised by dean's restraint, he's long since stopped being the hugging type even if cas still remembers what a warm, touchy sort of guy he used to be, how he was always finding reasons to clap cas on the shoulder, or nudge him playfully. but hey, it's the thought that counts, right? or something like that.

at any rate, cas climbs up to his feet and finds that he's unsteady, his legs like jelly and he stumbles briefly, but soon catches himself and exhales hard, grinning. ]

I think so.

[ but, you know, just to be sure - time to flex his muscles a little. cas lifts a hand, and flicks his fingers, tightening up the energy in his core and honing it like a blade, and damn it's so simple, like riding a bike. the door behind dean snaps neatly shut.

cas looks shocked, for a moment, before he whoops loudly, all but hopping up into the air with excitement. ]

Hot damn. I think I'm back, baby.

[mortalcoil]

[he's first wondering if he's actually awake... and then, right after that, is hit with a distant pang of terror that he has died. the horror of light and the feeling of something monumental looming feels strangely familiar. had this been what it was like when he'd died before? he can't quite remember.

it's only when the agony of sitting up on the medical bed wracks through his chest that he realizes he really is awake and exactly where he expects to be--alive and on his own ship, still crippled and struggling to heal.

but that realization doesn't clear the fear away. that feeling of purity still grates against every nerve he has; the raw worldstuff lingering in the air gets stuck in his battered lungs when he breathes. it makes his skin crawl. if he'd ever tried to imagine what something completely opposed to the dark teachings in his head and in his blood would feel like, this would be it.

so, even though he's still grievously wounded, he manages to crawl out of bed and onto his feet. lightheaded and reeling, he creeps his way through the halls of the ship until he reaches the doorway of Cas' room and peers inside.]

[heavenonearth]

[ given the din of noise at his waking, cas isn't surprised that he's attracting visitors here - it's only a matter of time before the whole of the red fish comes running, he thinks, but ah well. he's more concerned with figuring out what the hell happened than he is about startling people; at least no one was around to get their eyeballs burned out of their skull. that's a plus.

he spies coil there, though, peering around the corner, so he cocks a brow and drops his hands into his lap. ]

Hey. Uh.. sorry about the noise.

[mortalcoil]

[he's still battered and hurting bad, but... that light continues to take precedence over everything else. when something manages to strike a chord that deep in him--past all of the mortal, normal, human things--it kind of takes him over. both out of horror and fascination.

he'd never really liked Cas much, but he hadn't had a reason to think much of anything about him either. that has all very much changed now, though. his face is absolute caution as he lifts a hand to point at Cas and then draw a question mark in the air.]

[heavenonearth]

[ cas can only offer a loose shrug of his shoulders in reply. ]

I don't know, man. Got my mojo back, though I've.. got no idea how, or why, but hey, I'm not complaining.

[ how can he? being whole again, it feels so damned good, like all the parts of himself that have been hollow and missing are restored, full again, complete in ways he'd hardly known he could be. he feels almost giddy for it.

but those injuries - they definitely don't escape his notice. cas steps forward slowly, offering one hand forward, palm out. ]

I can, uh.. help you with all that, if you want. You look like shit, kiddo.

[mortalcoil]

[every little motion hurts (which tends to happen when your chest cavity has been recently dented in), and he's still got one hand leaning on the doorway for stability, but he still manages a relatively quick step shuffling backward. the wariness is written all over his face.

that little light-show might have felt awe-inspiring or nice to most people aboard the ship, but he is a definite exception. the kid is looking at Cas like a monster, instead of some kind of... holy derelict.

he doesn't really have the strength for it, but the silent prayer to a few very old gods still draws a little bit of energy into his core. it's something potent and corrupt, but it's quiet. not enough to actually do anything with if it came down to it, but it's a defensive reflex that at least makes him feel a little bit better.

forgive him. after the last week or so, he's a little on edge.]

[heavenonearth]

[ to be perfectly honest, coil's reaction isn't all that new or unexpected - angels have been terrifying humans since the dawn of mankind. fear not, and all that; holy or not, angels are not the gentle creatures that modern humans seem to expect, they are warriors, fierce and terrifyingly strong, and cas has been met with wariness and outright abject horror more times than he can count.

so really, he's not affronted, nor too terribly surprised, and he drops his hands and even takes a step back for good measure. ]

Hey, look, I won't do it if you don't want me to, but there's no reason to go around looking like death, either. Might as well take advantage of this juice of mine while it lasts, you know?

[child_of_bhaal]

[She has not been privy to what angelic power actually feels like, since Cas is the first celestial she's ever met. So getting blinded by not just overwhelming light, but light that feels like there's power behind it, that deafens her a few moments as it sustains, makes her react instinctively. She puts her back to the nearest wall, draws her knife and uses her other arm to block her vitals. She doesn't try to attack anything, but she's prepared in case this is meant as a way to disorient before an ambush.

Then then light fades, and she's seeing spots across her vision, but that's all. Everything seems to be unharmed around her, even if there's a residual hum of energy in the air, that makes the hairs on her arms stand on end. But that means little, until she sees for herself that everyone is safe. And she's past quota with people on the ship she needs to check in on.

It's Cas she goes to first. She's hoping he's safe and sound, unruffled in his bed. That the books she's been bringing in and reading to him are still in their piles against the walls, where no one will trip on them. She's not expecting him to be awake. Hopes yes, always, but not expects. So when she gets there and sees him sitting on his bed, she's about as dumbfounded as he is for a moment.

And and instant later it clicks in place, and she's half rushing across the small space to throw herself at him in a hug.]

You're awake!

[heavenonearth]

[ when he sees it's sye coming around the corner, he really should expect the leaping hug, but he's still a little too addled, a little too disoriented to prepare himself for it.

so when she's all but throwing herself onto him, he's so not ready for it, nearly tumbles back onto the rumpled bed entirely - but then he's laughing, one of those good, eye-crinkling laughs, and reminding himself to return the hug, to clap a hand gently between her shoulderblades. ]

Looks that way. Was I, uh.. out awhile?

[child_of_bhaal]

More than a month! Nearly two.

[It does her spirit good to hear his voice, see him up and moving. But that light. She can't sit here with him, much as she'd rather, until she finds out everything is all right. Though remembering it gives her a thought. She pulls back enough to look at him, concerned eyes sweeping him over.]

There was a light, bright and blinding, full of power. It filled the ship. Did it wake you? Are you hurt at all?

[heavenonearth]

[ she doesn't let go just yet, and that's fine, cas doesn't mind, contact after all that blackness feels nice, anyway, but when she's going on again about the light, he narrows his eyes thoughtfully. ]

Oh. Oh!

[ grinning a little sheepishly, cas chuckles. ]

No, uh, I'm not hurt. That was me.

[child_of_bhaal]

[Sorry that doesn't quite process for her.]

That was you doing what exactly?

[heavenonearth]

Uh, well.

[ it's a little funny, to explain. cas frowns thoughtfully, and pulls back, gesturing vaguely with his hands. ]

Me.. coming back. I, uh, got my mojo back, seems like.