☥ 009 ; open } { and you say change your ways, i really don't think that i could

[sitherequietly]

[Backdated to yesterday because I fail.]

A year ago today, a strange man appeared in the middle of Chicago and promptly disappeared.

A year is a long time. Compared to the six thousand years he’s been watching the earth, it may seem like a blink of an eye, but when you’re living it-when you’re on that Earth, interacting with the people around

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[ohshiny_tomatos]

Parker isn't a princess anymore. She got rid of the glass slipper and the dress, and her hair is back in it's usual pony tail. She's back in comfortable, light clothing to make moving around simpler, and overall she just looks like Parker again. Aside from the tiara on her head. It still makes her feel special, okay? It's going to be there for a long time.

She's in her tree today. She missed her tree. There were trees in Arlaedia, but they weren't like the trees in Grant Park. She doesn't know why these trees mean something special and comforting to her, but they do. Almost as much as laying in an air vent. Almost.

So she's in her tree, relaxing. With her tiara on her head. And she sees Cas appear. A grin lights up her face and she jumps from the tree to sprint over to him and Gabriel. She isn't aware that he's been gone too, she just knows she hasn't seen him in a long time.

[sitherequietly]

Castiel is aware of Parker's presence, but it isn't until she's running at him that he sees her. He returns the smile on her face, staying where he is as she gets closer and closer.

"Hello, Parker."

[ohshiny_tomatos]

She plops down and sits beside him. "What're you doing?" She asks. She peers at the dog and tentatively reaches out to pet him.

She also decides to see if Gabriel will talk to her. Where she has just come from, the animals talk. "Can you understand me? Speak."

[sitherequietly]

"I can understand you perfectly," Castiel frowns, unsure as to what Parker is getting at. "I always have."

Gabriel, on the other hand, just sniffs her hand.

[lil_nellie]

Ever since emerging from her seclusion, Nellie has been calmly making her way around the city and all of her familiar places. She's doing a lot of quiet walking and quiet sitting. Right now that quiet sitting has her in Grant Park. She's on a bench across the way from where Castiel appears, and she isn't looking his way when he does. She's gazing up at a couple of birds flapping around the tree tops instead, and it's had her entranced for quite awhile.

Something makes her look away though, and that's when she spots the familiar form sitting on another bench. A smile slowly spreads onto her lips and she waves before getting up and making her way over. Before she actually reaches Cas, she falls to her knees to meet Gabriel and love on him a bit. How could she not? As she's scratching his ears and telling him how happy she is to see him, she tips her head to Cas with a wide smile.

"Hey there stranger."

[sitherequietly]

He smiles. He is smiling before she even speaks, but it's good to see that Nellie is happy and healthy. He hasn't seen her in some time, and while he knew that she is still in Chicago, he hasn't seen her. It had been disconcerting.

"Hello, Nellie," he says with a nod. "How are you?"

[lil_nellie]

She is happy to see Cas, too. Very happy to see him. She hasn't seen him in awhile either, and knowing he's around always brings a certain comfort to her.

She nods at his question. "I'm good, how're you? Haven't seen you in awhile."

[sitherequietly]

"I did some traveling," he says. "I needed to get out of the city for a little while, and this world could use some exploring."

[omnomnomface]

"OH MY GOD THAT IS THE CUTEST EFFING PUPPY ON THE WHOLE DAMN PLANET."

And there's a behemoth demon on her hands and knees, all up in that puppy's grill with pets and scritches. And then she's going to notice that the puppy has an owner.

"He is SO CUTE, oh my god," she half-squeals. "Does he have a name or something?"

[sitherequietly]

Castiel does not know what to do with all that personality. He's never met anyone with that much personality, so for right now, he's just going to stare. Stare a lot, and then answer her question.

"Gabriel," he sighs. "His name is Gabriel."

[omnomnomface]

"Gaaaabriel," Trin half-squeals in excitement. "AUGH he's so cute. Seriously. I had a dog once, but she got hit by a truck and well, there wasn't much left to take home once we found her but man I loved her I loved her I loved her."

Yeah. Talking about one's dead dog with a current dog owner is a brilliant way to start a conversation, Trin.

"Where'd you get him?" she peers up at him between her bangs, which she then blows out of her face. She's basically on her stomach in front of him, scritching Gabriel like it's her job.

[sitherequietly]

Gabriel is so fond of all this attention that he's getting today. He bumps his hand up against hers to keep getting the scritches, while Castiel just listens to the ramble of words that are coming out of this girl's mouth.

"I was 'rifted'," he explains, watching her curiously. "And he came back with me when I returned to Chicago."

[enoughtocarry]

And then there was a Sam.

He's got a cup of coffee in one hand and a notebook in the other. He'd been on his way to the library, ostensibly to do some research as all Sam Winchesters are wont to do, when an angel of the lord reappears on a bench he's passing by.

Almost as if Sam is supposed to see him.

"Castiel."

[sitherequietly]

The one person Castiel felt bad about leaving behind was Sam. He knows the brother's bond better than anyone, but given their rocky start Castiel knows that is probably best he wasn't here. Sam needs time to adjust on his own, and hopefully not make the same mistakes that he had in their world.

When he hears his name, he looks up and gives the younger man a small smile. "Hello, Sam." He's not sure what to say after that, but it feels right for right now.

[enoughtocarry]

It's been hard. Sam has a lot of feelings, and he doesn't always know where to put them, and he doesn't have Dean's ability to just shove them down all the time and pretend they aren't there. Thankfully, the company he's been keeping this time around is infinitely preferable to the one he kept in Castiel's timeline.

"What've you been up to?" he asks, as unsure as Castiel is about how to proceed. And he probably doesn't realize how close Dean and Castiel are--were. How they were friends. Sam just knows there's a gaping hole.

[sitherequietly]

Castiel would be happy to hear that he's found someone better than Ruby. Ruby was really a poor life choice on Sam's part as far as Castiel is concerned, and he doesn't think that things need to get worse for Sam here.

"I have been doing some traveling," he replies simply. "I needed some time away from Chicago."

[archangelet]

Tay's still finding her feet in this Chicago that's not quite home. She's dried out from the flood and she still hasn't spoken face-to-face with Martha, and she doesn't have a gun and she's mostly been avoiding Xander because she feels like things are just a little off-balance, and he's the only person she knows who she thinks would be able to tell.

...okay, the fact that when she starts getting upset, a little raincloud spontaneously appears above her head isn't helping, but it's less that she's upset most of the time and more that she's just... at a loss. At home, she'd have Buffy, and El, and Malek. Her friends, her job, even the stresses of her family showing up on her doorstep. Here... here she's a ghost, for all intents and purposes.

Today, she's wandering through the park, hoping for something to need a beatdown and not holding her breath. She notices Gabriel as she passes Castiel's bench and smiles faintly. "Hey, pup."

[sitherequietly]

Castiel tends to feel like an outcast wherever he goes, so he sympathizes with the feeling. In the end, though, he just turns and watches as Gabriel wanders over to sniff at her, getting himself acquainted with the new person. She isn't someone Castiel has seen before, but she doesn't seem dangerous, so he lets Gabriel explore, watching carefully from a distance.

[archangelet]

Tay scratches Gabriel behind the ears, and "rough-houses" with him gently, batting at him and getting him excited - even Tay can't not smile when she's playing with an adorable puppy!

"What's his name?" she asks Castiel as she crouches there, grinning and letting Gabriel gnaw lightly on one of her fingers.

[sitherequietly]

Gabriel is easily excitable too, so that works out for her! He's more than happy to rough-house around as Castiel ... does not do these things. He's really too stoic for his own good.

"Gabriel," Castiel replies. "His name is Gabriel."