[IC Inbox | Meadowlark]

[lifetothefullest]

@lance.sweets | ■ ▲ ◌ ▼

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[unwings]

I do. I was accomplice.

[ at least, that's how castiel's framed it in his head, and good luck taking the guilt from him. it's nearly as much of a task as it is to wrestle responsibility from dean. as far as cas sees it, he'd been there, watched it happen, knew he could've intervened and chose not to. that makes him an accomplice.

lance is focusing his efforts on helping the city, which is kind of him so soon after recovering from a cruel death. a productive redirection, maybe, and certainly more than cas is doing sitting around the apartment, waiting for dean to finally wander home. knowing dean, not likely to occur any time soon. perhaps cas can funnel some of his penance into helping. ]

The apartment. I only woke here hours ago. Do you need another pair of hands?

[lifetothefullest]

[He won't argue the first part just yet; maybe he will in person, but for now he'll just focus on the rest of what Castiel said.]

If you're feeling up for it, more people are always helpful. I'm here.

[He sends along a map marker; Lance is out in the city a mile or two from Red Wings, near a residential area. Those are the places where people are waking up, of course, and then wandering out onto the streets.]

[unwings]

[ cas pulls up the marker and contemplates it for a few minutes, eyes casting around the otherwise empty apartment. ]

Thank you. There's little else to do here but wait.

[ for sam to return, for dean to answer he's fucking texts. better for him to be out doing something worthwhile. ]

I'll see you shortly.

[lifetothefullest]

Be careful out in the city, people are unpredictable at the moment. See you soon.

[He doesn't stray too far from the location he gave Castiel while waiting, though he does stay active; he's at the point of exhaustion where if he stops moving for too long he's concerned he might fall asleep standing up, and he doesn't want that for many obvious reasons.

So whenever Castiel finds him he'll probably be pacing around, watching the LEDs in his sneakers light up with his steps, though he's keeping enough attention on his surroundings that he'll know when someone approaches.]

[unwings]

[ when cas paces his way up, his eyes go to lance's sneakers first, head tilting with the token confused furrow forming between his brows. ]

Festive.

[ he comments before bringing his eyes up to the man's face. nice shoes. don't understand the fashion statement here, but he rarely does, so cas passes it up. ]

How are you, Lance?

[lifetothefullest]

[That look is a little dubious, but Lance'll take the 'festive' comment as a compliment.]

Thanks.

[He even manages a faint smile, stopping his pacing and turning to fully look at Castiel.]

I'm okay. I mean, everything sucks, but that's pretty normal.

[It isn't a total deflection, but he also doesn't want to go into too much explanation about how he's feeling; he doesn't even know, really. And Castiel surely has enough to worry about anyway.]

What about you? Did you just get back?

[unwings]

[ cas gives a polite smile and nods, like it was actually supposed to be a compliment. sure, lance, whatever makes you happy, booboo. live your best light up sneaker life.

his gaze turns outward, skimming the area around them and taking in the state of things. ]

Our typical scale of Suck seems like it used to be lower.

[ is it just him? or maybe the 40 years of human civilian life? ]

A couple hours ago. [ his attention wanders back to lance, ] And you? How long have you been awake?

[lifetothefullest]

[The way Castiel puts it prompts what's almost a laugh, because he's not wrong. The Suck levels did used to be lower.

The answer's pretty much what's expected, and the question earns a small shrug that's more helpless than dismissive.]

I'm not totally sure. I was one of the first back.

[Of anyone, Displaced or native citizen. It had been so incredibly quiet at first, and he's completely lost track of time since then.]

[unwings]

[ his laughter earns a slight tilt of castiel's head, but by now he's used to humans finding amusement with his speech pattern. it's nice, earning a surprise smile in such uncertain times, though. a flicker of one touches cas's features for a second.

hearing he was one of the first back, meaning one of the first to die, does sober it, castiel's eyes ducking to the ground, watching lance's exciting shoes rather than his face for a beat. he's holding in another apology that wants to come out, but cas swallows back against it. ]

It must have been confusing, returning alone.

[ it's with hesitance that he adds on - ] Did, um. Did Dean seek you out yet?

[lifetothefullest]

[It had been... Weird, he supposes, is an okay term for it. Confusing is fair too, and disorienting; trying to reconcile two different lifetimes in a world that was basically empty was not the easiest thing to do. But he had experience most people don't, due to Hadriel, and so although an unpleasant experience that he doesn't want to dwell on it also wasn't as bad for him as it might've been for others.

He's ready to reassure Castiel that it wasn't so bad, and hopefully allay some of his concern, when Castiel asks the question. It's a simple enough subject for Lance to discuss, but he knows it might be much less so for Castiel, especially knowing what Dean's plan was for when Castiel came back.]

Yeah, we've met up. Have you had a chance to talk to him yet?