Family Reunion; Take 2 [closed to Castiel]

[angel_awol]

Well, this was it. Castiel's Willness Center. Home of yoga and hot cups of tea and probably fung shui too. It was the sort of place Gabriel would only go to if he had a very good reason, like burning the whole lot down

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[c_a_s_t_i_e_l]

Before finding here, Cas had tried the actual church in the village, but even though his good friend, the Prophet Chuck Shurley, had worked there as a librarian he still didn't feel very comfortable at the place. He didn't belong there, and it didn't make him feel closer to Heaven or God or his siblings... no, actually the place had made him feel worse. And so, he stopped going and had gone in search of new things. That's when he met Kerai at the Wellness Center. He still missed her, and he missed Chuck too, of course. Actually, the two of them had been a couple, but that was a story for a different day.

Castiel spent a good amount of time here even when there was no one visiting. At the moment, however, there was quite a group and most of them were young women. The yoga class he'd been teaching had ended (Cas found he was very good at yoga- his vessel was quite flexible), and some of his students were exiting the building while others made their way over to the saunas or the meditation rooms.

Cas had been pouring himself some tea and grabbed the little honey-bee shaped pot of honey he kept when Gabe entered the room. Now, Anna had visited a few times when they were an item, but otherwise no other family member bothered to stop by. Balthazar found the place boring and he didn't like the smell. He liked to call Cas a hippie in his choice of work uniform- comfortable linen clothes and sandals. His hair was mussed up from yoga exercises too, and the place smelled of different herbal and floral scents so one could see where Balthy was coming from. Of course Lucifer wouldn't be caught dead in a place like this either. Needless to say he was a little shocked to see Gabriel here.

"Oh... hi." Cas blinked and set his things down as he took a few steps over to greet his brother. "Come in, welcome. What can I do for you?" Be warned Gabe, he has some wards and sigils put up and hidden out of sight. Most of them are gone now as many were for demons... which had become a little inconvenient since he was now dating one.

[angel_awol]

Gabriel did think the place was odd. Odd, smelly and yes, Balthazar was right. It was perfect for hippies. All they needed now were some posters about the goodness of organic granola and- ah, there was one on the wall over there. Perfect.

But he had good enough manners not to mention it. Well, perhaps saying he had good manners wasn't quite true, because as he crossed the space towards Castiel, he didn't bother lowering his voice to keep his conversation private. "There's these two girls. Really hot. Seriously one has the biggest jugs I've seen since that Temple for Kali's sister in West Bengal..."

He reached Castiel, a troubled expression on his face. He really wasn't troubled. He was winding Castiel up, but even if he said so himself, he was a great actor.

"Anyway, I can only bang one of them. They're like BBF's so I'm thinking maybe I can convince both of them to join me in a hot tub, but I don't want to push my luck. Your thoughts?"

Castiel would have no opinion. He probably wouldn't be impressed, but Gabriel had needed something to break the ice and that was as good as he could come up with.

[c_a_s_t_i_e_l]

Some of the yoga girls looked offended by what they heard while others didn't seem to really care either way. One actually gave Gabriel a wink and brushed by him. Cas looked a bit embarrassed, but tried to deal with this in a professional manner.

"Relationship advice is better sought over at the Temple of Aphrodite."

[angel_awol]

He returned the wink, raising his hand to the side of his head, miming a phone as she walked away. "Call me, hot stuff! I'll show you a new way to do the Supta Konasana!"

Then he turned back to his brother, grinning. "Come on Cas, one of them might be your future sister-in-law. Did I mention they're both Space Cops?" His eyebrows wriggles suggestively, and then he took the cup Castiel was absently holding, and took a swallow. Clearly it wasn't to his tastes, judging by the face he pulled, but he doesn't give it back.

"I wasn't actually asking your opinion about girls. No offense, but I think Anna would probably know more about that subject than you would." He glanced around, "As would that table, and that floor lamp."

He gestured Castiel towards some chairs, settling down. "I wanted to see where you... worked. Does Meg know about you getting hot and sweaty with a lot of young ladies?"

[c_a_s_t_i_e_l]

People actually coming here for yoga was sort of a new development. There were other places in the village to go, but he supposed these people must like the environment (though to be honest many of them just thought the instructor was good eye-candy, but Cas was not aware of that).

Of course Cas has a habit of ignoring and brushing off parts of what some people say. It probably stems back thousands of years with having to deal with older siblings like Gabriel. He doesn't give Gabe's speech of him knowing nothing about women another thought. "Meg doesn't care." Cas shrugged a shoulder and then eyed his tea cup Gabe had taken. It was green tea, organic, and had no sugar in it yet.

"Space Cops? Wait... you're not talking about Yuri and Kei are you? I was trying to fix Balthazar up with Kei." And Yuri seemed much too sweet and innocent and, well, smart... he had thought about getting her to meet Sam, but the last time he had tried to set Sam up with someone it didn't work out because Ruby had been here.

[angel_awol]

Gabriel raises an eyebrow. "You were listening to me. Good." He said, "You know if you pulled that with Lucifer or Michael, they'd toast you, right?" Well, maybe not, but they didn't like to be ignored. They were big tantrum throwing babies, but they were his family, so he could say it.

"Meg doesn't care?" He made a low, whistling noise. "They all say that. Kali said she didn't care when I hung round with Aphrodite back home. But she did. Oh boy, did she care." He grinned slightly sadly at the memory, and then snapped, a whole heap of sugar dissolving into the green tea.

Gabriel nods, those are exactly the space cops he means. "She's a nice kid. She could tie Balthazar in knots." No doubt about it, she was tough. Both of them were, he was certain about that. "Their cat is something else though. Never seen anyone better on DDR."

[c_a_s_t_i_e_l]

Cas blinked. "What are you talking about? The only way Lucifer and I are both surviving here is that we ignore each other half the time." Cas pretends that Luci doesn't exist and that his girlfriend isn't working for him because apparently Castiel isn't strong enough to keep her protected... her words, not his. Lucifer... well, he's not sure if Luci ignores him, but he does ignore when Cas starts getting angry with him about Anna or Meg or the Winchesters.

"No, why would Meg care? We're not dating and yoga does not have to be a sexual experience." He frowned. Aww man, and now Gabe is ruining his drink and taking his friends.

"Mughi said he'd show me what that was the next time we go out for Mexican food."

[angel_awol]

Gabriel gave his brother a long look. "So is she your girlfriend or isn't she? Because you told me she was. Sounds like you don't know if you're coming or going."

He rolls his eyes, snapping his fingers again and creating a big, full-to-the-brim mug of green tea, the sort with the leaves at the bottom and everything. The sort that is so healthy Castiel is sure to like it. "You should have got yourself a cup too if you wanted one."

"Trust me Cas, if he challenges you, you will loose. No matter how good you are." He warns, and it's honest-to-Dad. Gabe was never a DDR champion, but for a laugh he took on the cat. Those extra legs just blew him out of the water though. "But he's good for a few laughs."

Then he stopped. He stopped dead, the sparkle of his eyes dimming. He tried to pretend nothing was wrong, but it was impossible. "Luci is here?"

[c_a_s_t_i_e_l]

"I hadn't gotten a chance to offer you tea-... you know what, it's fine." He shrugged and happily sipped at some of the tea. Once there was a little space, he put some honey in. "Want some? I collected it myself. Bernie helped." The dog did nothing, actually. Upon hearing his name, Bernie made his way into the room with a toy. One of the guests of the Center must have been playing with him somewhere (cute dog: likely another reason people had started coming).

"I'm technically not allowed to use the word 'girlfriend' in her presence." She refused it and didn't like it. Meg just wanted everyone to know they were fucking and that's it. Cas knew otherwise.

"I think Mughi knows I'll be terrible at it. I'm pretty sure he's seen my dancing." Hey, it was at the Holiday Ball, and only because Cas had had a few too many drinks.

Cas had been trying to keep conversation, but now that Gabriel looked, well, a little shocked to say the least, he looked worried. How come Gabe hadn't sensed him? "I didn't tell you he was here? He knows you're here... he's from very very far in the future."

[angel_awol]

"Alright, think of it as one of the many nice things I've done for you. I got you tea. You gotta admit, I'm not usually so thoughtful." But now there's a dog and Gabriel is putting down his cup and calling for him, a bone-shaped treat suddenly in his hand.

"Uh huh." Gabriel says, looking up from the puppy to Castiel's earnest face. "You really like her, don't you?" He asked, not teasing. He knew he'd asked before but he still asked. It was just weird to see Cas all grown up and dating.

"I think he can probably sense it." Gabriel said, leaning back in his chair. "Cats can see weird things. It's just how they are." He'd been certain the Siberian tiger Kali had kept could see his true form anyway- it had always watched him, looked slightly to his right, as if, somehow, he was looking at one of Gabriel's other faces.

But that was a creepy thought.

Gabriel shook his head. "I'm blocking him out." He said, closing his eyes. "I'm not here, he's not here, it's all good."

[c_a_s_t_i_e_l]

Many animals could sense things like that, and Bernie was one of them. He couldn't see their true forms (cats probably could, though Cas has never tested that theory), but he knew Anna was different than she used to be- now she was like Cas. And this guy was too! Oh, he liked this guy. Bernie barked happily, little tail wagging, and went for the treat.

It usually took him a while to warm up to beings that weren't just human, but he liked Gabe for some reason.

Cas was about to say that, yes, he did like Meg a lot, maybe even loved her, but even he knew he shouldn't use the word 'love' if she refused to even say that they were actually dating. But, he did. He was ridiculously in love with her, especially after the time his vessel turned female.

But then Gabe said he was going to just pretend like everything was fine and that Lucifer wasn't here and, well, that didn't seem very... healthy.

"Oh... okay...? And how long do you think that is going to last?"

[angel_awol]

Easy explanation for it. Gabriel liked dogs. He didn't mind other animals but dogs were one of his favourites. Along with platypus. They were pretty great too. Gabriel was letting the dog take the treat from his hand at that moment, before scratching the back of Bernie's head and murmuring Whos a handsome boy, huh? Is it you? Yes it's you. Good boy.

Dogs were probably the best animals. Dad should have entrusted the world to there. There would certainly have been more trees around.

Gabriel wanted Castle to drop the conversation. That was clear from the way he winced and paid even more attention to the dog, talking to him in a silly voice rather that face the things Castiel was saying. But he could see the look on his baby brother's face without even looking.

"It'd last a hellva lot longer if you just dropped it Cassandra. Do you think I want to think about it? Do you think it makes me feel warm and happy Inside?"

[c_a_s_t_i_e_l]

Well, he supposed he should give Gabriel some time. After all, when he showed up out of nowhere, he tried to hide from Balthazar for a while. He gave his brother time once he knew Cas was around... and, somehow, Cas was lucky enough that Balthazar still spoke to him. He was pretty sure Balthy still didn't forgive him (and likely never would), but at least they were on speaking terms.

Cas went quiet and Bernie chowed down his treat, super excited about having a new friend. Bernie grabbed the toy he'd been dragging and barked, raising his head to show it to Gabe.

"Bernie likes playing fetch and tug-of-war and he knows a lot of good tricks. He mastered 'play dead' recently-" As soon as Cas said the words, the little doxie was rolling onto his back. "But he does it all the time without me asking and expects treats for it."

Cas reached on the counter and grabbed from a small bowl of treats, passing one over to the little brown dog. As many tricks as Bernie knew, though, he was a pretty stubborn thing.

[angel_awol]

You have no idea Castiel. You're the one that stabbed Balthazar. We're you ever even all that close? Gabriel had loved Lucifer, planned pranks with him and played in creation when it was still new and then everything had literally gone to hell. Maybe Gabriel shouldn't expect Castiel to understand.

"Never met a dog who didn't like tug of war." Gabriel smiles, ready to play. Tug of war with a dog sounds much more fun then talking about Castiel's chosen topic.

But then he mentions play dead and it is the last nail in the coffin, if you'll forgive the pun.

"Alright. Alright. Do you want to talk about it? We'll talk. Let's discuss being stabbed by your older brother."

[c_a_s_t_i_e_l]

Cas was closest to Balthazar and Anna than he was with any other angels. He has more memories of times with them than most others- well, he has the most memories of spending time with Anna, his superior, but that was because Balthazar had gone missing- assumed dead. He doesn't have many memories since the dawn of creation, but he remembers enough. They were all in the same garrison way back when and he had betrayed them both. He hadn't killed Anna, but he still felt responsible for her death.

"I- you know, maybe we shouldn't. We don't have to."

[angel_awol]

Gabriel would have looked a lot more unimpressed if it was not for the little dog, who was now back to getting his ears scratched and stroked. It was impossible to be annoyed when there was a cute dog to play with. But even so, Gabriel wasn't all that happy. Did Castiel like to talk about the times he had died? No? Well he'd been important enough to bring back. No one gave two hoots about Gabriel.

"We'll drop the subject." He said, deflating slightly and leaning down, to rub at Bernie's tummy. "It's not exactly all pleasant memory for me, okay? He didn't even look sorry. Not for a second."