Jess is in the bathhouse, but she's not in the bathhouse. It's more of a let's-see-what's-in-this-building adventure than a let's-get-naked-in-the-hot-tub adventure. So far, anyway. The first couple of days were fun, but since then it hasn't taken a lot of convincing to get her out of these clothes.
"Whoa, hey," she says when a wave of water comes splashing up on her fully clothed self. She thought the pool was empty, but apparently someone was just lurking like a creeper. Except... "Castiel?"
Castiel nearly slips back under the water before managing to get one heavy leg underneath him. Water trickles down his chin as he gags, the reflex to breathe hitting him square in the chest.
He swivels his head around at the voice and spends several moments baffled as to how he has arrived back in heaven. "Jessica Moore," he coughs, her face familiar through his knowledge of the Winchester history. "You know my vessel. That is not possible."
"Let's worry what is and isn't possible later," she says. Ordinarily she'd strip off any unnecessary clothing before reaching into the water to help him, but that just takes a ridiculous amount of time these days; it's more of an all or nothing proposition. She just hopes it doesn't drag her down under. "Breathe first, questions later. Are you all right?"
"I am...human," he decides, watching as the inky trails float off his skin, leaving behind no wounds. "Is this your heaven? I don't know why I have come to your heaven and I don't know why it looks like a communal bathhouse. Why are you here?" he demands, heeding at least one of her commands and taking another breath.
"My heaven is definitely not a Turkish bathhouse," says Jess. "Dean's, maybe..." But all jokes aside, this isn't anybody's heaven, and she doesn't want anyone drowning in it on her watch. "We should get you on dry land. Or at least on dry tile, for the time being."
"Then who's heaven are we in?" he asks, awkwardly pushing up and out of the bath. He slips and lands hard on his hip and wonders once again how humans put up with such useless bodies.
"Who have you seen here? Have any other angels come through?"
"You're not in heaven," says Jess, wringing out her own layers now that she's more or less confident he's not going to drown. "Don't worry, you're not in the other place either. I'm pretty sure. We're all just...someplace else. Are you looking for someone? Dean? Sam?"
While they're here, she knows they're not going to be the same people he remembers, and he's not going to be the same person they remember, and she knows from first-hand experience just how much that changes things.
"They're both here?" he asks, slipping back down onto one knee as his head whips up. "You are certain they are alive? Did they get pulled through ahead of me? I am afraid there could be something in pursuit and we must find them immediately."
It does not make sense for Jessica to be alive and where they are, but the list of things that make sense to Castiel has grown short as of late.
"They're alive, and they've been here for a long time," she says. "Whatever danger they, or you, were in, it's not really important here. Important to your well-being, I mean, not important to you." Obviously it was going to be important to him. "There's a lot you don't understand right now, I know, but...actually, I don't have anything really comforting to say. Except that you're not in immediate danger, and you can trust me."
Castiel is struck by the thought that she not be aware of her death or that the effects of living as a spirit have driven her insane.
"I apologize if this is not something you know," he starts, trying to look as soothing and capable as he can, dripping all manner of substances onto the floor. "But you are dead. For a while now. I feel confident that you made it to heaven, if that is a comfort."
"I managed to avoid that, actually," says Jess, a little dryly. Avoid it here, anyway; all bets are off if she ever makes it back. Train all she likes, she knows managing to survive is going to be a long shot. She knows she didn't in the worlds that Sam and Dean and everyone they ever knew came from. "But thank you. That is a comfort. Now...there must be towels around here somewhere."
"But souls should be in Heaven or in Hell," he insists, following after her. "Unless you are haunting this place in which case I would be willing to perform a ritual to send you to the afterlife, although you may find it unpleasant. But if you do not mind I will wait until you can find Sam or Dean."
"Oh wow, no, no unpleasant rituals to send me to a better place," says Jess quickly, without even looking back at him. "I'm not a ghost and we're not in the afterlife. Probably." Now finding Dean or Sam, that's definitely already at the top of her to-do list.
"It didn't happen," says Jess. "Seriously. That's not just denial; this place snatched me up before it happened." Not entirely, though. She was on that ceiling long enough that it will always haunt her. "Just like it snatched you up from...wherever you were before this." Somewhere he-and Sam and Dean-were in grave danger, from the sounds of it. Not that that was an uncommon occurrence. "There's a lot to tell but seriously, you're going to want this towel first. It's cold out there, and we can't stay in here forever."
That seems...very unlikely. But she is very firm and Castiel does not wish to make her relive the horror.
He takes the towel and presses it against his wet front, watching it become quickly soaked and not feeling much warmer. "We can go now," he says, looking for the exit. "I will follow you to them. I am not bothered by cold."
That may not be entirely true, but he's an angel. He has felt worse.
"Whoa, hey," she says when a wave of water comes splashing up on her fully clothed self. She thought the pool was empty, but apparently someone was just lurking like a creeper. Except... "Castiel?"
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He swivels his head around at the voice and spends several moments baffled as to how he has arrived back in heaven. "Jessica Moore," he coughs, her face familiar through his knowledge of the Winchester history. "You know my vessel. That is not possible."
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"Who have you seen here? Have any other angels come through?"
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While they're here, she knows they're not going to be the same people he remembers, and he's not going to be the same person they remember, and she knows from first-hand experience just how much that changes things.
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It does not make sense for Jessica to be alive and where they are, but the list of things that make sense to Castiel has grown short as of late.
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"I apologize if this is not something you know," he starts, trying to look as soothing and capable as he can, dripping all manner of substances onto the floor. "But you are dead. For a while now. I feel confident that you made it to heaven, if that is a comfort."
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"Do you remember what happened to you? It was very tragic, I am sorry. I would assume if you do not, Sam or Dean would have informed you."
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He takes the towel and presses it against his wet front, watching it become quickly soaked and not feeling much warmer. "We can go now," he says, looking for the exit. "I will follow you to them. I am not bothered by cold."
That may not be entirely true, but he's an angel. He has felt worse.
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