(Untitled)

[thursdays_angel]

You should show me some respect. I dragged you out of Hell. I can throw you back in.It’s not literal thunder and lightning that heralds Castiel’s arrival in Milliways this evening, but one can almost smell ozone and feel the quiver in the air as he passes. And there’s something in his expression that hints that one might be wise to stay out of his

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[changeinasnap]

The feeling that clobbers him on the back of the head is some weird, unidentifiable mix: like an itch on the back of his neck combined with a mosquito humming in his ear.

(Which, okay, is better than the other swarm of noise he's been hearing on a certain band lately. There's only so many times a guy can put up with a chorus of Dean Winchester is Saved before he wants to go out and either get smashed or smash a few faces in, you know?)

Still, it's enough to get the hairs on the back of his neck crested up, and enough to get him to turn around to throw a quick glance over his shoulder.

Oh.

Oh, hell no.

[thursdays_angel]

Castiel is so agitated that he nearly misses it. That feeling. The one that signals that one of his own kind is nearby.

A feeling that is somewhat out of place in Milliways.

Castiel stops, looking for its source.

He finds it. And his eyes widen.

[changeinasnap]

Yeah, and that note of recognition, tiny as it might be? Means it's way too late for him to run.

Son of a bitch. He let his guard down; he didn't think, after colliding head-on with that other version of his eldest brother, that he'd have to worry about anything more than that; he actually took Coyote at face value when she started rattling off names --

Speaking of. His name. He can't quite get the scope of it beyond the vessel he's wearing, but he figures it'll come to him pretty soon.

Flattening a hand on the bartop, he slides down to his feet, turning to face his brother in full.

[thursdays_angel]

Castiel, on the other hand, knows who this is.

Castiel is just a foot soldier. Gabriel had been something more.

"You."

If anything, the sight of the other angel fans the flames of anger a bit higher.

[changeinasnap]

In spite of himself, he smiles, just a little.

"Me," he agrees. He digs a little deeper into memory, into what's contained by that human shape, and -- aha. There.

"Heya, Castiel. What's a guy like you doing in a place like this?"

[thursdays_angel]

If Castiel were human, this is the point where he would probably walk up to his prodigal brother and punch him in the face. Rank or no rank.

But, as on edge as he is, Castiel is not human. And it is not his first instinct to indulge in fisticuffs with other angels as a means of venting his feelings.

"I might ask you the same thing. Gabriel."

First Anna. Now Gabriel. Milliways, it seems, is a haven for the deserters.

Is his Father trying to tell him something, ordering him here?

[changeinasnap]

Conversational -- well, conversational except for the clear tension that's still drawing up his shoulders -- "I was enjoying a drink and the view. You know how hard it is to get a good chocolate milkshake in Ohio?"

Beat.

"Okay, it ain't that hard, but the view?" He whistles. "You cannot beat that."

[thursdays_angel]

The tension does not register with Castiel. Why would it? Gabriel the deserter is still Gabriel. An angel who would have nothing to fear from the likes of Castiel.

Of course, his awe only extends a short way. Castiel practically bites off the words as he replies.

"No. I have no idea how to acquire a milkshake in Ohio."

And what is it with Ohio?

"Do you have any idea," Castiel waves a hand back toward the door, "what is happening out there?"

[changeinasnap]

"Ohhh, yeah." The humor vanishes. "I've got an idea. Not like any of you mooks can shut up about it for more than five seconds, huh?"

Seriously, does he have any idea how hard it is to get a good nap with the hallelujahs ringing in his ears?

[thursdays_angel]

"You care that little for your family."

Castiel is a bit torn between habitual courtesy toward a superior, and sheer outrage at an angel who long ago left his post.

Clearly, at the moment, outrage is winning by a mile.

[changeinasnap]

"Oh, please."

And that lashes out sharp as a blade as he chances a step forward. If Castiel was going to drag him out of here, he would've done it by now; that goes way of a long ways toward reassurance.

"I've done this dance before, I know how it's gonna end. You're all going to jump in headfirst without seeing the little warning sign that the pool's two feet deep, and then you'll come crying to me about how come I didn't tell you when your necks get snapped. There's a whole lot of difference between not caring and not suffering a crowd of morons who can't learn from their mistakes."

[thursdays_angel]

Castiel automatically backs up a step when Gabriel advances on him.

Gabriel isn't like Anna, after all. He did not fall, as she did. As far as he knows, Gabriel is still fully in command of his power. And that power is going to outmatch his.

But he's also not ready, nor is he in the mood, to back off from the argument.

"And you would, what? Have us give up the battle and...go drink milkshakes in Ohio while Lucifer takes the world for himself?"

[OOC: I'm having so much fun, but can I beg slowtime? I want to be awake to enjoy it. :)]

[changeinasnap]

He stares. "You think this is a battle?"

And barks out an incredulous laugh.

"Hoooo boy are you gonna be in for a shock when the real damage gets underway, little brother. And once it does? See how much you wanna give up and go get a milkshake or twenty."

[thursdays_angel]

"I do not care for ice cream."

It might sound like he's being dryly sarcastic. He's not -- Castiel has had a run in with the substance during his lessons in Milliways.

"And we will bring Lilith's campaign to a halt before the 'real damage' as you call it begins."

Unbidden, Castiel's mind flashes across a fresh memory of Lilith on the mountaintop, slicing her sword through one of Castiel's brothers. He impatiently shoves it aside.

"Some of us still remember our duty."

[changeinasnap]

(The point is that we need you. Why are you leaving?

You don't need me.)

His jaw tightens. "Yeah," he said acidly. "See, the thing is? I didn't forget. I just picked what I thought was worth more."

[thursdays_angel]

As Castiel stares at his brother, the raw anger he arrived with starts to be tempered by something else.

Disappointment.

Gabriel had been one of God's finest. Castiel remembers how confused he had been when he had vanished. A pale shade of the confusion he'd felt when Anna Fell, but he does remember it.

"And what could be worth more than protecting our Father's Creation?"