[video; ACTION]

[shifting]

Hey - [Sam looks very busy! He's in his office at Merlotte's, gathering up files, folders...] - wanted to let everybody know to come down to Merlotte's tonight, we've got a few stand-up comics hired for the night show and some drink specials. I won't be there though, I've got to meet with some people about gettin' a loan, but I've got someone I used to work with at Club 24 coverin' for me tonight. She's real sweet, so I want ya'll to make her feel welcome, okay? - And don't think this means you can act up in the club; I'll still be back to kick ya'll in the ass tomorrow if you do.

[he grabs his keys, waves at the NV and sets it face-down on his desk. There's a muffled conversation, and soon after a woman picks the NV up and smirks]

...Hey there. I'm Sandra - I'll be watchin' the bar for Sam tonight. Hope to see you all in.



((APRIL FOOLS - with a little help from the devil, Sam's in touch with his feminine side tonight and plans to troll you all. You can respond to this like a post or start an action thread in the club!))

Comments

[ofthursday]

Whether or not he knew how much of friends we were, he still knew we were. I think not to kill my friends regardless of closeness is simple enough to abide by.

[He's not buying it at all, anyway. He's entirely sure Erik knew he and Crowley were good friends.]

[thelightbringer]

[Lucifer snorts softly and takes a swig] Yeah. For Dean Winchester, you wouldn't torture someone for a cure, right? Nah. Not you. You don't understand desperation at all, right?

[ofthursday]

[Castiel's glare darkens and he downs the rest of his glass in a go so he doesn't have to answer. He knows Dean--and Sam--are his huge weaknesses, and he knows what he'll do to protect one of them. But that doesn't matter in this.]

I wouldn't expect to be forgiven and protected.

[thelightbringer]

Look, Castiel. I don't blame you for being angry. If you--if anyone--touched any of the people I'm invested in, I'd kill you all before you had the chance to explain. But then, that probably won't happen because I make sure that the people I've taken in are protected. Even against each other.

[He looks at him somberly. Then refills his glass.] If you had bothered to get to know Erik, you would have seen that thing with Crowley coming with plenty of time to stop it. I'm telling you, one angel to another, don't be so naive. Get to know people. Their secrets. The things they'll never tell anyone else. It's the only way you can predict them.

[ofthursday]

[Castiel just stares at him suspiciously at the understanding, but his fingers tighten around the glass almost to the point of cracking it. He's angry and frustrated and hurt, and the alcohol isn't helping him keep any control over his emotions.

He vaguely realizes he should stop drinking, because two glasses is enough if it's the stuff for angels; he just doesn't realize he's already gone over the edge.

And he knows what Lucifer is saying is true. He'd made the mistake at home, with the Winchesters, and then here, with Erik. He'd been foolish to put his trust in someone, and he normally wouldn't have, but he'd thought...

Well, it doesn't matter. He hates it but Lucifer's right; people will turn on you. But even people he knew as well as the Winchesters had so, and he hadn't been able to stop it.]

They're not always predictable.

[It's a mumble into the glass he he takes another drink, even though he knows he shouldn't.]

[thelightbringer]

They are if you know how to think like them. [Lucifer, at least, knows what he's talking about there. Everything up until the very end had gone exactly as he'd planned, and precisely as he'd said it would.] Just because you care about someone doesn't mean you can't prepare yourself for their betrayals.

[ofthursday]

[He's tired of preparing for betrayals. They're all that ever happen to him; he's been stabbed in the back--or more recently, the chest--so many times.]

How?

[He finally asks, swaying on his feet slightly and not noticing.]

[thelightbringer]

You have to pay attention to how they see you. Not how you want to be seen.

Do you know what makes a relationship, any relationship, happy? It's acting on what you believe the other person feels. Or thinks. Or wants. And it's never really true.

Put that aside, look at the truth. It's ugly, and it's painful, but it's the only way you can have your relationship and keep them from casting you aside.

[ofthursday]

[Looking at the truth is painful, because he'd come to realize what it is recently, at least regarding the Winchesters; he's a resource. He's there to do whatever he's asked and nothing else, to be the Winchesters' power and backup, to solve their problems.

But that's not fair, at the same time; he wants to believe they care about him at the same time. He'd seen the pages about Sam that Chuck had showed him; he remembers other times, if few and far between, when he hadn't been expected to simply serve a purpose and nothing else. But he wants to believe that. Does that mean he's blinding himself?

He's too drunk to follow everything through, to consider all his memories, to try to look at things objectively. Instead he takes another drink, gaze shifting to the ground.]

So what, it is a game of manipulation?

[thelightbringer]

[Lucifer exhales through his nose and takes a drink and doesn't answer for a while.]

It sounds so bleak when you put it that way. But I'll tell you something, if I had known in heaven what I know now...? If I had known then how to truly work people? Michael would never have laid a hand on me. So you tell me what's better, Castiel. Working with the truth, or living in denial?

[ofthursday]

What's the point?

[His tone is bitter, now.]

If your relationships are fake, then what are you fighting for?

[thelightbringer]

They're not fake, that's the point. I'm seeing the truth and I'm choosing to work with it. What's the alternative, Castiel? Know the truth and ignore it so I can pretend things are perfect?

[ofthursday]

No, it's just... Strategy.

[Cold facts and logic and things angels deal with really well. But Castiel wants the emotional part now that he's learned the value of it, and taking everything down to cause and effect seems to ruin that.]

[thelightbringer]

[Lucifer has mastered the art of having both. Well, he's trying, anyway. And right now his life is going swell.]

Strategy so that you can have honest, real relationships.

[ofthursday]

[Castiel just shakes his head slowly, then finishes off his glass. That's three, of extremely strong liquor, and he's gone from totally sober to completely hammered in less than an hour.]

Based on trying to out... Out...

[Something. Maneuver, he realizes belatedly, but doesn't bother to finish the sentence.

Oh. Oh. He's drunk.

He suddenly feels very stupid.]

[thelightbringer]

[And Lucifer is having to smother peals of laughter in his own drink.]

Now why couldn't you be like this all the time?

[ofthursday]

I'm drunk.

[It's said half in wonderment and half accusatorially as he looks at his brother, swaying some more.]

I shouldn't be. Even on the... On the stuff for angels. What is it?

[thelightbringer]

This is for angels. And it's watered down. [He looks at Castiel wonderingly.]

[ofthursday]

[Castiel states blearily back.]

No it isn't. I wouldn't be this drunk.

[It was just three glasses okay; even the angel stuff wouldn't hit him this hard, especially watered down. The normal angel stuff, anyway.]

[thelightbringer]

Maybe your tolerance is down, then. This is what I drink with Michael.

[ofthursday]

[Were Castiel not completely smashed, he might've figured out that there must be different strengths of angel alcohol just as there is for regular alcohol. But he is, and so he doesn't; instead he tries to take a step to keep walking alongside Lucifer and trips over his own feet, ending up on the ground and extremely confused.]

[thelightbringer]

[Lucifer laughs, and laughs, but reaches down and helps Castiel up.]

Need a ride?

[ofthursday]

[He accepts the help mostly because he's too drunk to remember to refuse it, swaying a few steps to grab onto his brother's shoulder and use his hold to keep himself upright. At the same time, he's suddenly angry.]

This isn't funny, Lucifer.

[thelightbringer]

Oh, it really is. Imagine if I was the one flat on my face. Come on.

[Supporting him, and leading him to a cafe.]

[ofthursday]

You did this on... You knew this would happen.

[As quickly as it had come his anger dies away to almost petulance, and he doesn't pull away from Lucifer helping lead him to the cafe.]