No Event | BYOA

[iustiviri]

Being here long enough one learns the ins and outs of how this weird, fucked up place works. The people it brings in and the people it takes away just as keenly, as if they were never here in the first place. Just like hearing about Sam being in this place yet he'd never run into him. Ran into all sorts of people in a large place like this, and

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[noturvessel]

Ben followed after Dean, keeping pace with him fairly easily as they made their way down the staircase. More than willing to follow along after Dean for the moment. When it came to Dean, that was often his response, except on those few times they'd clashed, usually over Dean being so set on Ben being normal. Here at least, there wasn't quite the same level of responsibility - Ben was already pretty far off the plan for normal. He carried a gun loaded with iron rounds, and had a few capsules of salt in his pocket for emergencies. It wouldn't do much, but it could buy a few seconds, and sometimes that made a difference.

He followed Dean into the room and stared as he looked around.

"Wow. This place is actually.. really nice."

Then he grinned, wide smile, a bright glint in his eyes at the mention of soda. He'd been living the zombie apocalypse the past couple of weeks and they hadn't exactly had cans of coke stashed in with the canned rations. Excuse his manners, but he was already grabbing himself a soda, looking to Dean.

"I haven't had soda in weeks. You want one too?"

[iustiviri]

Plopping himself down onto the edge of the bed, he bent over to begin unlacing his shoes though looked up at the question. "Sure, I'll take one." Though sadly he wouldn't be able to mix his jack with it, for now at least. Tugging off his shoes he tossed them to the side. "Really? That bad in college?" He asked, grinning a little as he stood to head over and take the proffered soda, then grabbed an energy bar from the cabinet, something to tide him over until he decided what to make for dinner.

Moving back over to the bed, he sat back against the headboard and popped the tab on the can, taking a few gulps from it, then tore open the energy bar and took a bite. "So, what sort of courses are you taking?" Dean asked, still under the assumption the kid was in college.

[noturvessel]

He watched Dean as he took the soda Ben held up in offering, grabbing an energy bar and then moving over to the bed. He shrugged as he popped open his own can, it hissed faintly and he took a sip. Sweet and carbonated an it spilled sweetly against the back of his throat. Oh, the simple pleasures in life. He eyed Dean, and he decided he had to tell him. He couldn't lie to him. A bit of evasiveness when they'd been standing in the hallway was one thing. Now...

He carefully moved to the edge of the bed, looking like he wasn't exactly sure how well Dean was going to take this. Which he wasn't. After the Apocalypse, Dean had been pretty set on keeping Ben away from anything remotely related to Hunting.

"I'm not in college. I've been.. hunting things."

Bottom lip between his teeth, watching Dean carefully. He really, really hoped Dean wasn't too upset at him. Hell, he'd tried to be normal, he really had. Trying to do what Dean wanted, maybe become a doctor or something and save people that way. Then end of junior year in high school there'd been a dare, some kids that were supposed to stay overnight at the 'haunted' place just barely on the edge of the next town. No one had wanted to listen when he'd said that if it was supposed to be haunted maybe they should stay the hell away.

He'd gone to 'make sure no one chickened out', but he'd gone prepared. And it had been ghosts, of course. He'd managed to get everyone out alive, salted and burned the body, and told his mother nothing had happened. Lisa didn't remember that these things were real, didn't remember being possessed. He'd promised Castiel he wouldn't tell her.

He was going to hold that thought on mentioning alternate universes just yet until he figured out how pissed Dean was.

[iustiviri]

Dean was halfway through a bite of his energy bar when Ben told him. He paused, finished chewing and swallowed, then simply looked at the kid in surprise. A well of guilt rushed through him knowing this and he could tell just by looking at the kid that he wasn't lying about this and he knew exactly to which hunting Ben was referring to. Of course he would feel as if it were his fault, that he brought them into this gruesome world.

"Aw, Ben. Goddammit." Dean muttered, setting both his soda and the rest of he bar on his bed as he ran his hands over his face and through his hair. He didn't sound angry, in the least but perhaps disappointed -- though more in himself than Ben. Because it wasn't Ben's fault he was dragged into this. It was his. If he hadn't wanted to go to Cicero, none of this would have happened. Sure, there'd been a freak death or two but that hadn't meant there was anything on there level.

There had been, of course, but neither had known it until they'd gotten there and stared to investigate. To which his first idea had been to see Lisa, which introduced him tot he kid when he'd been younger. And that's all it took apparently, just meeting him. "I'm sorry, kid. I really am. This sort life... it's not something I would ever want for you, for either of you."

[noturvessel]

"It's not your fault. I mean, you tried to keep me out of this stuff. Wasn't really that bad until the angels and crap."

He looked at Dean, feeling a little awkward. He didn't want Dean to feel bad about it, like it was his fault. It wasn't like he could say it was roses and dandelions. It was hard work, he'd been hurt, he'd watched people die, he'd watched people die because he wasn't Dean and didn't know enough to save them. That hurt more than anything else, really.

"It just happened, and I felt like I had to keep saving people. It's not your fault, Dean. 'Sides, we would have been changeling food without you, anyway."

[iustiviri]

Logically he knew that was true, that there had been a case there and if they hadn't looked further into the killings they wouldn't have found it. But the only reason he'd gone there anyway was to hook up with Lisa. Well, before he knew she had a kid. Not that having a kid still didn't make her hot or anything. Whoa, wait, angels?

"Angels? How the hell do you know about them?" Dean asked, sitting up some as that had definitely gotten his attention. "Do you mean Cas? Or the other douchebag angels?" Because if the kid knew who Cas was... Jesus, he didn't think he wanted to know what the kid got himself mixed up in.

[noturvessel]

"Cause they think I'm special. Some bloodline of Abel or something. I dunno. It's mostly the douchebags. I haven't seen Cas in years."

Really, Ben being a hunter might actually be in his favor, all things considered. Otherwise he wouldn't have known as much, wouldn't have understood just how bad it was when they showed up asking for his agreement into some shitty plan to save the world. He took another drink of his soda, running a hand through his hair.

Ben was messed up in some pretty sucky crap. He just.. He just wanted to keep his mother out of it. Try and save the world, but Lisa had been through so much and she didn't remember anymore. She thought he was road tripping, seeing the country, probably thought he'd settle down some day.

[iustiviri]

His brows furrowed at the mention of bloodlines and after a moment it dawned on him. "You're a vessel." He breathed out, hand coming up to run over his face. "Jesus, kid. What a shitty hand to be dealt, huh?" Dean said with a soft, bitter laugh, shaking his head. To think that Ben was one of the vessels for Michael. He knew that's who it was for, otherwise the douchewads up high wouldn't bother with him until he was needed.

"Whatever they offer you, don't say yes. It ain't worth it." Though it puzzled him why Cas would be lurking around Ben in the first place. It wasn't like Cas needed the kid for anything, maybe to make sure he was safe. Damn what a day it was turning out to be.

[noturvessel]

"Angelic sock puppet, yeah. They make it sound all pretty, but doesn't sound much different from demons, really."

He shook his head, a flutter

"Of course, their sales pitch could use some work. Throwing me from one fucked up world after another just makes me want to find a way to stab them in the face."

He frowned, taking a pointed drink off of his soda. He was worried, of course. Worried about his mother that no longe knew anything about any of this. Didn't remember when Dean Winchester had walked into their life, just knew that Ben had never warmed to anyone she'd dated. He knew she was serious with the guy she was living with now, and he seemed nice enough. But no one else would ever be Dean.

"I don't plan on saying yes. They're dicks. Fuck 'em all."

[iustiviri]

"Heh, pretty much yeah. They definitely won't be getting a sales bonus this year," he said, amused a little yet pleased that Ben didn't seem keen on giving in. Dean knew how hard it could be, how tempting it was when they pushed the right buttons. But any world, even one riddled with demons, was better than the world of nothing that they wanted.

"What does your mom think about this? Does she even know about the whole vessel thing?" Dean asked, after giving the question some thought himself. "That why you left home?" Which he could understand, he could, really. He knew what it was like to want to keep everyone safe, even if they never really were.

"Hey, c'mon. Cas ain't so bad."

[noturvessel]

"She doesn't know -- anything, really. She thinks I'm road tripping across the country trying to find my calling or some crap... She doesn't remember any of it."

The second part was said softer, a thinning of his lips as he looked down at the comforter, trying to order his thoughts. It was something he didn't want to really talk about. Because he didn't really want to have to explain about getting kidnapped by demons. It wasn't Dean's fault, not really. He knew that Dean wouldn't see it that way. He knew that he wouldn't see it that way, so expecting anything less would be hypocritical. Didn't mean that he didn't want Dean to accept that demons were sick, evil creatures and what they did had really no reflection on him.

"Cas is alright, I guess. Only really met him twice."

[iustiviri]

"She doesn't remember?" It certainly wasn't often for people to purposefully forget something of that nature, especially given if it were something traumatic, but Lisa had seemed fine when he left her last. She'd known that there were /things/ out there and that hunting them down was his job. So it didn't really figure for him that she'd simply forget. Dean could tell there was something else there, that the kid wasn't telling him everything, but for the moment he let it go.

He could tell Ben didn't want to talk about it, so he dropped the subject, of his mother at least. "You know you coulda just told me, right off." He then shrugged and picked up his soda and energy bar, going back to munching on it and taking sips from the can every now and then. "Eh, yeah he can be an elusive little bastard." Dean said, lips twitching a little in amusement.

"So, how'd you get into hunting anyway, and for how long?"

[noturvessel]

"I thought you might be mad about it."

Ben admitted, a sheepish look, a slow blink of his lashes.

"It's been about two years. These kids I knew thought it'd be great fun to make these other kids stay overnight at this house that was supposed to be haunted. No one listened when I said to leave it the hell alone, so I went along, brought a bag with containers of salt, iron rods, that sort of thing. Managed to get them out alive, salted and burned the ghost. After that... I dunno. I couldn't look back."

He sighed and took a drink off of his soda. This was nice. Talking to Dean, seeing him again. He smiled, kicking off his shoes. One of the angels had once said that hunting was in his blood. Ben had taken to it remarkably well, all things considered -- still alive, afterall.

[iustiviri]

"Well, I'm certainly not happy about it, that's for sure. But once you're in, you're in." Dean said with a little shrug. There was no helping it anymore. What's done was done, and now that Ben had a taste of hunting, it was hard to go back. Ben seemed to take to it rather well, from what he remembered of the kid, even as young as he'd been back then, he'd show remarkable adaptability for it.

"Heh, kids'll be that way. Good thing you went in prepared. You've got a good head on your shoulders there, Ben. Not a lot of kids would do what you did, back when you were younger and now." Dean complimented, feeling the kid deserved it as he knew all too well how little perks there were that went with the job.

"If it's something you really want to keep doing, I think you'll wind up being a pretty awesome hunter."

[noturvessel]

Ben grinned at the compliment, bright eyes and with a faint flush of happiness at the idea that Dean not only wasn't angry at him, but seemed at least a little bit pleased with how he'd handled himself. The praise warmed his heart; it had been so long since he'd heard it. And this was something he'd never expected to hear it over. The Dean he'd known had been so insistent that he live a normal life. He finished his soda, setting it off to the side as he toed out of his shoes.

"I did try to be normal. It just, didn't work out. Got my GED and a cheap car and I do what I can, you know? I, uh, I wanna be better. Can't save everyone."

Was his hero-worship showing? He could tell Dean didn't know him as well as he'd known Dean, so he was trying to be circumspect, here.

[iustiviri]

"Yeah, normal isn't really in a hunter's vocab, or anyone who's hand a tangle with the supernatural shit we deal with. But good for you, that GED'll come in handy someday down the road." Not that he'd ever needed his, but Ben was still young enough, could still make something of himself if he wanted, but he had a feeling that like himself he'd be leading the hunter's life for a good long while.

"Better, huh? Well we can work on that." It would be great to have something else to focus on for awhile, not being able to find a way out was starting to drive him up the wall. He needed another distraction and teaching Ben the ins and outs of hunting would be a good one.

And really, he liked the kid.