Day 51: Lunch

[sanguinario]

Edward was glad to wake up to a period of respite. While he had been conscious during breakfast, he'd requested to remain in his room for extra "sleep", which had consisted waiting until the room was vacated to ingest the vial of Venom's blood. The vampire had lost his chance last night, but that might have been for the better; this way he wasn't

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[poorexample]

There was a certain irony in the fact that Sam and Dean refused to believe that he was an angel when at least one of them had trusted the word of a demon at one point or another. It wasn't that Castiel could necessarily hold a grudge, however. This whole situation was too odd and disorienting for anyone to believe more than they had to. As an angel, he was used to accepting things on faith, but even he had lately learned to tread more carefully. Caution was required when you no longer had the powers of the divine on your side

[affictitious]

Though Gabriel had only been alive less than twenty-four hours (for the second time), he'd learned some things.

1. He was not enjoying this whole pseudo-human thing.
2. Sam Winchester was still a dick.
3. He had no idea, time-wise, where he was.
4. The probability of him finding out who the hell had brought him back to life was quickly dropping to zero.

And that was about it. Despite being an absolute master at hiding masking his deep, inner torment, it was getting harder to keep a smile on a face and a wordless holy hymn singing in his heart. The last thing an archangel liked was being controlled - simply because, since Lucifer's Fall, they hadn't been. It was just an absent Father, two sides, and no authority figure to shake a very large and prominent finger at them as He sent down some good ol' fashioned vengence. Now it was crazy guy versus a random collection of humans (and, apparently, demi-gods), that same crazy guy being the proverbial authority figure, and

[poorexample]

The taste of the hamburger wasn't something that he tired of, even after a few bites had already been taken. Castiel knew that it was all due to his vessel; even though Jimmy was no longer present, his physical cravings were clearly still intact, and now he was victim to them. Considering that he now needed to feed, however, this seemed to work in his favor. At least he had been provided with something that this body enjoyed.

In fact, he was so taken in by his meal that he did not notice someone approaching until a jarring voice struck him like a smack in the face. However, it was a voice that he knew, and it was a voice that was speaking his name. Castiel allowed the hamburger to slip from his hands as he stared up at none other than the messenger of God

[affictitious]

Oh goody, it was him. And to think the situation could have been so awkward if he'd been talking to the poor schmuck that was Castiel's meatsuit. It was hard to tell who was who anymore.

Another annoyance. Well. They were just piling up on him.

Clapping his hands together once, he laughed in the face of Castiel's anger. Either he was still stuck in the past - an interesting concept, considering angels shouldn't be so easily misplaced in time - or... well, there wasn't any chance that the news hadn't traveled the globe and above it. Archangel deaths? Pretty big goddamn deal. Even to an angel in the middle of rebelling. "I was waiting for that - just the sort of accusations I deserve! I'm just surprised Sam wasn't as adamant about them as you are, bro

[poorexample]

As always, Gabriel found everything funny. Castiel couldn't see what was amusing about this, but he still picked up some interesting information from his brother's words. Most importantly was that the arch-angel had already come across Sam and had probably confused him even more than he had during the earlier meal

[affictitious]

Oh, that was rich. Castiel couldn't just... let him enjoy making fun of him without bringing up his sore spot. The grin slowly dripped away from the archangel's face as he set his hands back down on the table; family matters tended to drive away his sense of humor pretty damn fast. As suspicious as he was of his family, Gabriel sincerely doubted either Michael or Lucifer would have done something like this... and they were the only ones powerful enough to take two angels and toss them into an insane asylum.

Except for himself. Before the psuedo-human thing (which Lucifer and Michael couldn't do. He knew that. It wasn't a guessing game there. It was fact

[poorexample]

No answers? Then Castiel didn't see much of a reason to talk with Gabriel any further. On the other hand, there weren't many open chairs left (and if he left, his brother would undoubtedly follow him), and more than that, at this point the arch-angel was the only one who actually knew him for who and what he was. He knew far more than the Winchesters even did (from his time, that is), and the two of them had a solid chance of working through how this had happened to them and how to get out of it

[affictitious]

The archangel leaned back in his chair with that answer, considering it. Even if his little brother was definitely considered a short bus angel, it was kind of hard to imagine not knowing one was dead. It was kind of... a big deal, the Grace exploding and all. That was the only way you could off an angel. Then again, he wasn't exactly stalking his every brother's move (not this brother, at least), so maybe he'd taken the Anna route and ripped his Grace out.

Again, it was hard to tell. Everyone looked human, felt human to him.

"I dunno how you eat this slop," he said finally, dropping the burger onto the table, half-eaten. Sure, he was kind of digging the free food bit, but he could have just as easily made his own and be eating what he was craving. Which was a three layer German chocolate cake, thanks to that Donna kid. "Look, I know you're easily confused with just about everything human, but dying is kind of explicit. It's not a maybe acitivity. How do you not know?"

Of course, he didn't care one way or another. Nope. That was

[poorexample]

When Gabriel dropped the half-eaten (if that) burger as if it was a piece of trash, Castiel couldn't help frowning. While he had four others (not counting the one that he'd just finished), it seemed like a waste to do that. He didn't know if his hunger was going to require him to go and get another one to replace the one his brother had mutilated, but he was certain that time would tell

[affictitious]

Twice. Twice. That was totally unfair. That was like... buying the one million, two thousand and three hundred forty-seventh kid the new pair of jeans and making them hand-me-ups. Of course, it might have been fair in the vein that Gabriel was a lot better at not dying than his gruffer brother, but... seriously. Who the hell was going around and just. Reviving angels? If he hadn't been offed by one of his own brothers, he might have gone with the belief that maybe Lucifer or Michael was doing it. Just to fuck with The Host, maybe. Maybe to bring more soldiers to each respective side. Even being as close to them as he used to be, it was hard to know what exactly they were planning. Being away for a few generations tended to do that.

You know? He didn't care, either. This was him, all far-removed and everything. And loving it.

Err. Far removed after the whole... interfering with Lucifer trying to kill his ex-girlfriend thing.

Besides, thrifty didn't exactly describe Michael, who Gabriel could see doing this more than Lucifer. He was

[poorexample]

As much as Castiel felt the need to argue back against Gabriel about who was behind this, in the end he knew better. Arguing for the sake of arguing would get them nowhere, even if it did seem to be something that human siblings were prone to do, if Sam and Dean were a faithful example. In the end, neither of them were human and they didn't need to behave as such. Gabriel was far better at it than he was, but his sense of superiority still set him apart. Not like Anna. She'd been...

"You may be right, but if not them, then who? Who else could possess this amount of power?" Castiel had been willing to accept that he'd depowered himself with that sigil, but Gabriel? An archangel could not be crippled so easily. It made perfect sense to him that another archangel would be the only one capable of such a feat, which meant one of those two. Raphael, perhaps, but he had not been making himself known for some time now. Trapped still

[affictitious]

Gabriel was quite sure they knew exactly who had that kind of power - and then some - and while he quite had his reasons for shying away from the idea, he was surprised Castiel wasn't already to coming to the conclusion. The Great God Search had apparently fallen flat on its ass; if that assumption was true, he wouldn't be surprised in the least. So that meant the Big G was still just as good at pissing on His first children as he always had. His only answer to the inquiry was a shrug of his shoulders. He'd said he didn't have answers, and that was the truth.

So maybe he shouldn't expect everyone to just believe everything that came out of his mouth. Didn't mean everything was a lie.

Though as thrilling as his current conversation was, Gabriel couldn't help but be distracted by a voice rising over the murmur of the crowd. And in its center

[poorexample]

That wasn't much of a response, but Castiel got the sense that instead of keeping information from him, his brother was simply ignorant. For once they seemed to be on the same level, both in terms of their powers and their knowledge. It was strange, but he would have preferred that there was the normal imbalance. At least that would have meant that one of them would have had the answers.

The fact that Gabriel was just as limited as he was deeply unsettled him, though he did his best to push that thought aside. Dwelling on how dire their situation was wouldn't do a thing to fix it.

In a way, the distraction was helpful, as he'd been at a loss for what else to say. He watched the patient - who looked as if he would easily tower over even Sam - pick himself up onto the table and give a speech. It was the sort of dogged determination that he had seen in Dean more than once. Dean was the sort of person who wanted to do things his way regardless of how impractical it was, and he would fight for that ideal until the very end. It was

[affictitious]

"You're not getting me here," he started, but was distracted again - the hospital team wasn't wasting any time, surrounding the unshaven giant with a few giants of their own. Oh, no; the kid had actually made a beeline for them. Lunch and a show? He wouldn't miss this for the world!

Which was why he laughed when the blond's plan didn't exactly go like he'd probably drawn it out. Now, that was one thing he did like about humans; even in hopeless situations, they tried. Maybe he'd had good intentions, though you couldn't exactly trust anyone's words around here. But... execution got a 5. Was he really moronic enough to think he'd go through all the guards alone? Brawn was his, sure, but brawn didn't solve many problems on its own.

It also showed exactly why there weren't any wild riots going on. As much as he didn't like to recognize it, the crazy doctor had a good scheme going. Low power, if any at all, distributed sparingly through the populace and just enough freedom to keep some sort of dashed hopes up. Though he wasn't believing

[poorexample]

The rebelling patient continued to act as Dean would; his next move was to suddenly go barreling toward some of the staff members, clearly looking for a fight. Dean would have done the same, would have fought tooth and nail until he was forced into unconsciousness, either by blunt force to the head or some sort of drug. Here they seemed to prefer the latter method, as it gave them the illusion of being a help rather than a threat.

It was all easy enough to understand in those terms. Castiel had been controlled by a superior force before. He had not necessarily been high in the rankings back in Heaven, but he had at least had a place. Now he was wayward, and he knew it, but he had yet to feel regret. Sometimes he thought he felt the starting of it, and he'd obviously felt the sharp knife of betrayal when Dean Winchester had turned around and spit in his face even after all he'd sacrificed, but

[affictitious]

Hiding was such a technical term. It wasn't really hiding. It was... strategic information withholding. Now that anyone would believe an archangel was walking the hallways, but he could really go without being known as that one guy with the crazy brother... despite already being that one guy with the crazy brother