video;

[strangelic]

[ Castiel is backlit by several lanterns, and is clearly at the bar. And has a glass of something in his hand. He's trying to look more confident than he feels, when he pasted on a big white smile for the camera.

A weird smile, but he doesn't do it very often. You're supposed to smile when you invite people to a party. ]

While the lights are out, you are all invited to congregate at the bar for uh...for drinks and games, and, um, so that you don't have to be alone.

[ That's all. The log is here! Come and play drinking games with your Murdercave friends! ]

Comments

video;

[enchangement]

Games with cards and boards and pieces. Games with counting.

video;

[strangelic]

Board games! [ He nods. ] Some people were talking about making some. Maybe they'll bring them along.

And dice games, as well. I'm excited to find out how to play.

video; forever

[enchangement]

What have you played before?

[strangelic]

Um... Twister, and poker, and snap, and solitaire, go fish, and old maid. Lots of card games. I think I'd like charades, but I don't know any of the answers.

[ No, he'd be awful at it. ]

Hide and seek, as well. None of those are board games.

[enchangement]

Twister? Poker, yes, no Go? Go is good. Chess is good. But they require pieces and time.

Make your own charades. Something you know. Act it out. Let others guess, it'll be fun.

Hide and seek is universal. What's your name?

[strangelic]

I haven't played "Go", but I understand the rules of chess. We don't have any pieces.

[ He nods at the last bit, however. ] Castiel. What's yours?

[enchangement]

Could make them. Carve them maybe. From wood, from soap, from stone.

River. [ A smile. ] Your name sounds old.

[strangelic]

Yours is very beautiful. Nature names are my favorite.

[ He tilts his head. ] I am old. As old as the water and the earth and all things above it.

[enchangement]

She's learning to like it.

[ River breaks into a smile. ]

To be grown up is beyond imagining, nevermind to grow before the Earth-that-was. Are there others?

[strangelic]

One other, his name is Lucifer; it means "the morning star".

There were more at home, tens of thousands of us, but less now. [ He killed lots of them himself, their wings burned into the battlegrounds of Heaven. But he doesn't say that, even if it flickers in the guilt behind his eyes. ]

[enchangement]

The one that shines or the one that maims?

[ Sorry, Castiel, she's only read the bible once, and she tried to correct it all. ]

Sorry. It echoes with loneliness. Are there people here? People of yours?>

[strangelic]

I suppose you could say that he's both, but this one is kinder. I think you'd like him.

[ He tips his head in the slightest nod. ] Sam and Dean and Jo, and a demon--not a friend. You could say that they were mine. And you?

[enchangement]

Simon, her brother. [ It's said with fond exasperation. ] He's a doctor.

There are others. New additions to hopefulness? But Simon is the only one from home.

[strangelic]

Then I'll meet him, if he comes to the clinic. I'm a healer.

[ Magic hands!!! Simon is gonna love that. ]

New additions, yes. New friends. [ He leans in slightly. ] You'll make some here as well, but home is special.

[enchangement]

He will go to the clinic. [ She has no doubts about that. ] Recognition should be immediate. Genius. Sometimes stuffy. Probably worried about everyone.

[ Because that's the better description than talking about his clothes or his looks. ]

New family, too. [ She grins and wraps her arms around herself. ] It's good. A terrible place, but good. Do you miss the stars too?

[strangelic]

I see. He'll make friends as well, in that case.

[ And that was the most important thing. ]

I miss the bees more than the stars.

[enchangement]

Sometimes it's hard for him.

Oh.

But.

Pollinators. How are we eating?

[strangelic]

That's what I wondered too.

The gods make the flowers grow, and the fruits. The fruit is new. I miss the bees, and the butterflies, and the hum of happy mosquitoes.

[enchangement]

Bloodsuckers with wings.

[ Said with no malice whatsoever, but still. Bees and butterflies and mosquitoes. She wonders if they wouldn't thrive here. Or if the gods don't understand what they are. ]

Someday we'll return to what was.

[strangelic]

They said that it's too many lives. Beyond their power. Which is comforting--don't you think so?

Maybe it will. Maybe we don't want it to.