14 [Video]

[ofthursday]

[The feed crackles on in the Darkness, the usual growls and other eerie noises of night at Siren's Port conspicuously absent in the area. It takes a moment for Castiel's image to become clear on the screen, almost melding out of the dark, expression smoothly neutral except for the faint hint of a smirk that looks completely out of place on his usually serious face.

His eyes are dark in the dim lighting, endless and like staring into an abyss, and even across the electronic feed the sense of wrongness is readily apparent.]

So I find myself here once more.

[His voice is soft, calm, almost uncaring, as if showing up in the Port again is a curiosity and nothing more. Then he smiles.]

It seems a good place to begin.

Comments

[Voice]

[moveslikestrider]

You're back. ...gonna sound dumb here, but begin what?

[Voice]

[ofthursday]

My work.

[It's gentle, explanatory, despite being anything but.]

[Reaction]

[integrity]

[Crowley feels it before the feed begins.

The darkness causes him to bolt upward, the bedroom door slamming shut. Sigils burn into the walls, the paint burning away as Crowley snaps his fingers. The Hellhounds immediately press themselves into the floor, Growley's fur rippling -- and it is only once Crowley is barricaded that he takes the time to sit on his (their) bed and stare at the NV.

Of course life could never be simple and easy. Of course Eve would show up and Castiel would return as this bastardized thing. Everything Crowley swore would never happen, in front of him. And for a moment, Crowley could only stare before he threw the NV against his wall so hard that it cracked.]

[Video]

[integrity]

[But when he appears on video, he is seated in a chair, completely calm and collected, a glass of scotch in hand.]

Someone had too much for dinner.

video

[therightchoice]

[ He does not like the look of your usually stupid face, mister. ]

What are you doing now?

video

[ofthursday]

What's right.

[There's no trace of the usual hesitancy and fear he had when talking to Jesse before.]

audio;

[aslandish]

[ Waves crash in the background, the only sound to be heard before a voice finally speaks. ]

You will not succeed.

[ It's a tone rarely used, a feral sort of rumble tainting every word.

The Lion is displeased. ]

audio;

[ofthursday]

You all take action when it's necessary. That is all I'm doing.

[He states it like it's obvious fact, no tone or concern behind it. An explanation, not a justification, because he doesn't have to justify himself to anyone anymore.]

video

[matri]

Oh. Now this is interesting. Little Castiel isn't so little any more, is he?

video ; private

[integrity]

I hope we are of the understanding that should you raise one furry claw against him, I am going to torture you and your children until you scream for euthanasia.

video; after dark

[returnsmagic]

To begin what path?

video; after dark

[ofthursday]

One to a better world, in which there is justice and punishment and reward.

[Where people who believe aren't abandoned to their cruel fates, while those that sin and harm others pay for it.]

reaction;

[paterelohim]

[The first hint that something is wrong is the moment Chuck feels Castiel's arrival - sits up in his chair, grinning already - followed in a split-second by the arrival of what feels like a hundred thousand million of His children. All of them at once in a flash-typhoon in the shallows of His senses, filling an emptiness that He's forgotten even exists here, in this place without the Purgatory and ghosts of home. At first He wants to panic, but the suddenness and sheer volume is confusing: how many monsters or people can the Core pull at once? The baseball field can't exactly be full of a thousand confused vampires or demons or whatever (he doesn't actually know, since His senses are so intentionally dulled. It just feels like His creations).

So He checks the old-fashioned way for self-important or confused self-announcements on his NV, and his heart almost stops.

No. No no no no no no no. This can't be happening. The dead eyes, smoothly soft tone, the horrible fucking little smirk that makes all his skin crawl at once until he has to suppress a gag- fuck. It's the version of Castiel from his visions of home, the one he saw slaughtering the angels. The very sight of it (and the promise of trouble and heartache it brings) ignites an old instinct to flee, to run and run until He can't see this town or its problems anymore and make someone smaller and weaker than Him deal with it. It almost undoes a year and a half of progress in an instant.

For a minute, he almost does. Or tries, at least. He almost unplugs from the network, goes somewhere too skeevy for anyone to look, and holes up with a pallet of Twinkies and a barrel of vodka until someone else takes care of this. It'd be better than staying here and watching the little angel destroy everything under his own name while drawing from profane power. He doesn't want to stick around and watch this disappointment of a Messiah figure fuck over everything and remind them all of how pointless this whole stupid dimension is.

It's Vonnegut the hellhound nosing worriedly around the corner that snaps him out of it. That reminds Chuck that no, he can't do that.

Maybe he can be talked down. Maybe... someone who knows him, who knows how to reach him- maybe this world's version of Crowley, who's lived with Cas and seen so much and knows things the demon could never know at home and has apparently gone gay with him, maybe he could talk him down. Maybe Chuck can, too. Helping in a simple way- a way only a real friend could. A human way.

The thought is compelling enough to make him drag a hand over his beard, pull himself together, and work up the stones to reply.]

video/sorry about War and Peace up there;

[paterelohim]

[He actually manages to look halfway put together and normal. Wowser.]

Cas..?

[video]

[forzare]

It's like went for "poster child of really fucking creepy" and succeeded.

[ HE DOESN'T LIKE YOUR STEPFORD SMILER NONSENSE, SIR ]

[video]

[ofthursday]

You have nothing to fear, unless you are burdened with sin.

[Are you~?]

Audio

[bestseller]

Seems like everyone disappears at one point or another.

[He hasn't. Knock on wood.]

No one really ever leaves this place. [His tone is almost ominous, but really, he's just joking around.]

Audio

[ofthursday]

I've left before, and found myself here again. Perhaps it's where I'm meant to be, for now.

[He can do his work here so easily, after all. Cleanse this place and then move onto the next.]

Video

[servingmichael]

Castiel.

[Studying you so hard right now.]

Video/private;

[paterelohim]

No.

[uberboned]

[AND THERE IS ONLY ONE REACTION TO ANY OF THIS.]

Nope.

[Private]

[integrity]

[ -- oh, he actually approves of your existence.]

Meet the Leviathan.

I would keep your mouth shut.

[audio]

[failedparenting]

Huh, didn't even know you were gone.

[Always classy, that John guy.]

[audio]

[ofthursday]

That is unsurprising. You rarely notice anything that doesn't directly involve you.

[Godstiel has an attitude, though his tone doesn't change at all.]

[ video ]

[hostage]

Uh... Welcome back?

[ video ]

[ofthursday]

You are the first to extend the sentiment.

[Point for you, Jesse.]

video;

[upstairsbrain]

[ Just because no one tells Sam what's going on doesn't mean he's an idiot. He can tell the difference in the angel, if only slightly. And he frowns, on edge, though he doesn't quite show it in his reaction. ]

Cas. [ And he attempts a bit of a smile, unknowing that the last time Castiel saw him at home, he'd tried to literally stab the guy in the back. ] Hey, welcome back. ... You okay?

video;

[ofthursday]

Hello, Sam.

[His eerie smile is even, not at all genuine but not quite approaching unkind either.]

Everything is fine.

[He's going to make it so.]

Private

[that_is_asecret]

Welcome back, Mr. Castiel. It seems you've brought some company.

Private

[ofthursday]

[He tilts his head, just a little.]

So I have.

[He's more interested in how he knows.]

voice;

[bratziska]

You left, but you returned?

[ Taking this moment to twist into her own interests... ]

voice;

[ofthursday]

Yes, as I have before.

audio;

[mulletrock]

Cas?

I was worried sick, man.

Are you okay?

audio;

[ofthursday]

[That actually gives him pause, just a moment. He remembers last time he saw Dean, what he'd said, everything that had happened between him, and he knows this Dean isn't there yet. That really doesn't matter, overall--he's still the same person--but to hear that he was worried...

No. He may or may not have been, but it doesn't matter, because when it comes down to it he knows Dean won't stand with him when he needs it. His words are hollow and irrelevant.]

I'm fine. Better than before.

[He answers evenly, but distantly.]

[video]

[swedge]

[She might not have known Cas well enough to be able to see something was off about him, but she knew him enough to know that this was still creepy as hell.]

Uh? Cas? You okay?

[video]

[ofthursday]

I'm fine, Jo. And everything will be better now.

[He's still rocking the creepy.]

[Video]

[possessing]

[Meg joins the crowd of people feeling Cas's new groove before he pops up on the feed. It's not hard to, something that wrong sends ripples. Meg avoided this mess well enough the first time, but she's pretty sure this time she wont be so lucky. Confined spaces and all that.]

Well, look what the core dragged in.

[She pauses and gives the feed a once over.]

If you don't mind my asking, what are you up to now.

[Video]

[ofthursday]

Meg.

[The demon gets a small, unpleasant smirk.]

I'm doing what my Father wouldn't.

voice

[freeholding]

[From everything John has heard around the Island, no one is supposed to be stronger than the Darkness. That does not happen is local wisdom is correct. Welcome to Defcon 3.]

Black eyes, take warning?

voice

[ofthursday]

[He isn't necessarily stronger than the Darkness, but... He's sort of wiped out every monster in a several block radius of himself. Close enough, right?]

An adage that is appropriate in my world.

video;

[servingfather]

[Because this is obviously the smartest thing in the world to do. He remembered hearing about this the last time he was around. Castiel has gone and swallowed up Purgatory and all of the beasties God locked away, he killed Raphael while hopped up on soul juice. It means that he can be killed as well but it's certainly not stopping him from having a conversation.]

It looks as though someone has been meddling in things that ought not have been meddled with. [Hiding? No he's not hiding. Why would he do that?]

*action

[servingmichael]

[Glad you are feeling brave bro, cause little brother? Just found out about the Leviathans and some how he still doesn't know that this is what killed him, or that he died at all.

Still he's rattled enough, given he's already been injured once, to go straight to the only place that he feels is completely safe.

So wherever Michael it, Raphael flies to him, literally crashing into his back, sword clutched tightly in his hand, though tucked to avoid either one of them.

He's not leaving and you can't make him.]

Michael.