we rock at dawn on the front line

[venatical]

Who: Dean Winchester, Charlie Bradbury, Fortescue, Meg, Cas.
When: Aroundish Day 108/109/pre-earthquake Day 110?
Where: Around the woods
What: Dean going hunting with some of his favorite ladies and Cas!
Warnings: Of the hunting and shooting things variety.

With them not knowing how long this blackout's going to hang around, Dean wants to make sure people will have meat for a while, which means preserving it, which means having some on hand to preserve. He also still likes his fresh meat, okay, so he's looking out for some of that to serve up and eat now before everyone gets sick of the preserved stuff. There's also somewhere in the back of his mind the knowledge that he can up and vanish tomorrow, or get dragged down by a sea monster apparently, or maybe one day he finally pisses Raphael off too much. He wants to make sure there are people around who know how to take care of everyone else.

Considering who he's taking out hunting lately, maybe he also wants to make sure they can take care of themselves. Well, Charlie and Fortescue for sure. Meg is... Meg. And maybe, when he was looking up how to preserve and cure meat, he started thinking about all the salt it'll take, and so he wants to give Meg some fresher, salt-free options, at least while the ammo lasts.

Whatever.

Each person will find Dean waiting where he asked them to meet, just outside the woods, where he's checking on his shotgun.

Comments

[foundacause]

Meg doesn't exactly need hunting lessons from one Dean Winchester, she's been surviving quite fine by herself for centuries; and she doesn't exactly need to eat - that doesn't mean that she's not going to go hunting for fresh meat with one of her two favourite Winchesters. A hunter and a demon alone in the woods - what could possibly go wrong? Besides, it makes a nice change for her not to be the one being hunted.

And she gets to spend time with one of her favourite Winchesters... oh wait, she mentioned that part already.

"Dean, Dean, Dean. You need someone to hold your hand in the big scary woods?" She smirks, but really, it's good-natured ribbing.

[venatical]

He knows she doesn't need help hunting, which leaves Dean having to awkwardly admit that he maybe wanted to go hunting with her in the first place. Ugh, gross, but whatever. They've been living together for two solid months, and they've just learned how to live with each other and the weirdass state of affairs. Maybe Ellen and Jo will get there. Maybe.

"Yeah, you see any good candidates?" Zing! Totally a burn. He grins up at her and then nods toward the woods.

"C'mon, you ready? You got a gun or can you..." He wiggles his fingers. "Demon us up a dead deer. Or a turkey; you know, I think I saw some in there."

[foundacause]

Play nice, Dean. Or Meg will feed you to the mechanical bears. And in this place who knows if the Winchesters have Death tucked away in their back pockets like they do back home. She can easily lie to the angel and pretend she did everything she could to try and save his precious pet Winchester and no one would know any different because she would lie and Dean would be dead.

"Sorry. All the crazy Winchester fangirls must be going some other wood."

She rolls his eyes at him. Does she look like the kind of girl to carry a gun? Where's the satisfaction in shooting Bambi? Much more fun to tear Bambi's spine out. "I'm ready. You think you can keep up with me?"

[venatical]

She'd lie and Dean would be dead and she'd be down one person who would pull her out of a demon trap. So good luck with that, sunshine.

There's plenty of satisfaction to be had in shooting Bambi -- he doesn't quite mean it like that, but anyway, he does appreciate hunting actual animals, even if he's honestly kind of rusty. It's just been so long, and that's kind of why he justifies going out so much. Of course, the alternative is hanging around town, and that's becoming increasingly uncomfortable.

"I think I can handle myself." Hunting is more than just shooting the thing after all. He nods and then starts for the woods, expecting that she'll follow.

"You know this is about being stealthy and quiet, right?" He grins at her over his shoulder. "Do you think you can manage that?"

[foundacause]

"Does that mean we don't get to share all our cutesy little feelings with each other along the way and make friendship bracelets out of twigs and leaves?" Oh, She will give as good as she gets. Maybe it's one of the reasons that whatever this thing between them is works so well.

She reaches for her angel blade, curling her fingers around the hilt though really, she will mostly be relying on her very own demon powers. She's been on such good behaviour that it'll be nice to let loose a little.

"I thought this jolly little jaunt through the woods was our chance to talk all about you and your boyfriend." Ha. Take that, Dean.

[venatical]

That does take him out of their verbal sparring match for a minute because he isn't really read to like, talk about that in words with anyone other than Charlie. That includes Cas. Maybe he isn't doing the best job of this thing, but he thinks he's doing the best he can until he gets used to the idea that maybe one day Meg might call him and Cas boyfriends and it'd actually be accurate.

"Wouldn't that be awkward since he's your boyfriend too?" He doesn't quite know what's going on with Meg and Cas, but he has an idea of how Cas works, and he weirdly knows how Meg feels because she blurted it out to him. Still weird.

[foundacause]

Be real, Dean. It's been on the cards ever since Cas pulled Dean out of Hell. Dean just seems a bit slow on the uptake. Dude - angel in a gorgeous meatsuit; quit wasting time and hit that while you still can. Idiot. Does Meg need to sit him down and have the gay talk? She has no shame. She will do it.

She shrugs at his question. "I thought we'd been over this. He was your boyfriend first." It's a complex situation, but not particularly awkward as far as Meg's concerned. One thing is clear - Dean will always be Cas's number one.

[intraining]

Charlie doesn't want to think about what might happen if Dean did decide to disappear tomorrow. With as many friends and as many people here that she's getting to know, Dean is Dean. Dean's the only reason she's somewhat sane in a place like this. And her wanting to learn how to hunt to help him out on his escapades? Definitely not her preparing for him not being there.

He's always gonna be there. He has to always be there. And that's that (sorry Dean, did you think you had a choice in this?).

So on the specified day at the specified time Charlie gets ready and heads out to the woods. Dean mentioned her coming along on his hunting trips, and Charlie couldn't really resist the urge for more sibling bonding, but at the same time, she's kind of awful at fishing (it comes with getting too distracted by the person fishing with you) so maybe hunting would leave her with something more...useful, to give to the cape.

She sees him from a bit ways off, throwing up a vulcan salute when he's close enough to see. "What's on the list for my Jedi training today, Master Dean?"

[venatical]

If Dean had a choice, he'd either bring Charlie with him or find her somewhere safe to be, which is what she deserves. He's sorry she's gotten mixed up in this monster shit, but he is glad to have her in his life, maybe even to have her in his hunter family, when usually that's the last thing he'd wish on anyone. If anything ever happens to her, he'll never forgive himself, but that's par for the course anyway.

"Learning how to hit a moving target that's not made of pixels." He grins at her, and he's... really glad he's doing this, not just for survival reasons. Things are so weird with Cas and Sam and Meg; he needs to clear his head with someone who it's... easy to be around.

"The real thing's nothing like Oregon Trail." Totally played that in school. Nailed it.

[intraining]

She can be perfectly safe as long as he stays right here and stays not dead. Or they all go back home and he lets her come back to his super secret batcave and they can all live there together. She's got some great posters to throw up on a few of those walls, anyway.

"Target practice? Please. You know I'm a master at firearms." And by that of course she means she's got great aim when it comes to shooting things that aren't imminently murderous. But hey, details. "But hey, worst comes to worst, I've always got an extra stash of salted meat."

Eh? Eh? Charlie's just gonna gonna grin at that joke, Dean, because that was funny.

[venatical]

Dean's following along until she gets to the joke, and he wants to get it; he wants to get the joke so badly, so much that he stops and tries to figure it out, squinting up at the trees. Finally, though, he has to give up, and he looks down at her, uncertain.

"Sorry, all I got's penis jokes on that one, and I'm pretty sure that's not what you mean. Or if it is, wouldn't it be like... silicone?"

[intraining]

See, Dean, things were going so well. So incredibly well. Until you go and make a comment like that and Charlie's face drops.

"Literally the most opposite of what I meant." And now her face screws up into the most disgusted look she can manage. "No. Jesus Christ on a cracker no. I rescind your joke rights. I taught you better than that."

It's right about that moment that Charlie just walks on over to him, takes the gun he'd been holding and looks at him with possibly the most judgmental look. "Really." And then she shakes her head, staring off into the woods.

[venatical]

"What!"

Hey, he really tried, okay! He jogs after her and slows once he catches up, and he's eyeing his gun, but he won't snatch it back from her. Yet. He does know that she knows how to handle those things, but he just always feels safest when he's the most armed human in the room. Or woods.

"You say salty meat, my mind goes dick jokes. I'm sorry. Love me, love my dirty mind."

[happytobleed]

Castiel hasn't been sure what to do with himself. He's taken to wandering around the town, looking for ways he can help. There's been a sinking feeling for a while now that if things continue the way they've been, he'll be effectively human before long and he'd like to learn what to do about that so that he won't become a burden on Dean.

When he catches sight of Dean walking into the woods with purpose, he can't help following after him, though.

At first, he stalks after him from afar, but he walks just a little faster than Dean is and before long, Dean can likely hear the snapping of branches behind him as Castiel comes into a close range.

[venatical]

Dean feels like there's something after him, but that's not an uncommon feeling around here in general, so he mentally flags that feeling and sets it aside until it starts to be something he ought to worry about. Once that feeling becomes the sound of branches snapping behind him, he starts to get worried. Casually, he stops, pulls out his water, and tries to spot what's behind him without being obvious about it.

When he sees who it is, he drops all pretense and rolls his eyes, turning all the way around.

"This is a good way to get a paranoid guy carrying a shotgun to shoot you. You can't say hi?"

[happytobleed]

"Hello, Dean." There. He said it.

With a small smile, he trudges the rest of the way to Dean's side. "You wouldn't shoot me." He says it with the certainty that he would use to say that humans breath oxygen or that God exists.

"What are you doing out here?"

[venatical]

He rolls his eyes because Cas is such a creeper, and he really doesn't want it to have gotten to the point where it's almost amusing because it isn't funny! Because that's legitimately creepy. He definitely needs to cut it out and just say hi like a normal person. If Dean's fighting a smile, he just is glad to see him, that's all.

He turns around and starts walking again, assuming Cas will keep pace with him.

"Hunting." Even though ammunition might be low, he likes going through the motions of hunting, regardless. It gives him something to focus on that actually gets him somewhere, unlike figuring out how to get out of this place.

"And I wouldn't shoot you, but I didn't know that was you, did I?" When he glances over his shoulder, he can't hide his half of a smile. Dammit.

"I swear I'm gonna make you wear a bell one of these days."

[happytobleed]

Of course Castiel will keep pace with him. What else would he do?

He follows Dean's movements, careful to be quiet once Dean tell him why they're out there.

"I could still make it not ring." He almost smirks. That's right, Dean, he's learned a lot about how to make a joke.

Otherwise, he keeps his voice low, watching Dean. He knows he might have to do this eventually and he'd rather learn from Dean than rely on him.

[venatical]

The sad thing is he has learned a lot, and this is as far as he's gotten. Dean smiles over at him. The last thing he wants is for things to be weird between them now, and he hasn't decided yet if they are. They're still what they always were, not much feels all that different, except for the part where he smiles more. He can't seem to get that under control.

"So a bunch of bells, then." He elbows Cas gently.

"Or maybe you can learn to use your words and stop being so creepy."

[blackmagus]

Fortescue's been training to hunt things since she was sixteen, but never woodland critters. Hunting, as a sport, has all but fallen out of style, with the exception of historical hunts with hounds. And she's certainly taken no part in any of that. Her mother, most likely, would have laughed at the idea of her oldest daughter one day having to scrounge in the woods for her food. But that's what things have come down to. The woods, or the water.

She brings her gun, as she brings it everywhere out of pure paranoia. But she doesn't plan on using it. Magic, Fortescue is certain, will provide the killing tool that she needs, and it doesn't require bullets.

"Good morning, love," she greets Dean, as she draws close. Jazz is perched on her shoulders, eyes wide and ears swiveling toward everything around them.

[venatical]

"Hey," Dean says before looking up, and then his eyes land on Jazz. His mouth opens slightly, and he starts to point to the cat, but then he stops halfway through. His face freezes, and then his eyes squint, and then... he sneezes hard.

"Friend of yours?" he asks as he recovers, sniffing, though he's still eyeing the cat. Great. He really hopes Cas doesn't get any ideas over something like this.

[blackmagus]

"A good friend of mine," Fortescue agrees, mouth curved into a sympathetic smile at the sneeze. "Are you allergic?"

It would figure, though it's not something she can help. She remembers the barrier incident, and how it had severed her connection to Jazz. She's only sending him away if there's no other alternative. Those days of complete agony that had followed were worse than some of her war experiences, all in all.

Jazz peers intently back at Dean, as if sizing him up — in that imperious and very feline way.

[venatical]

Dean sniffles his response, with a grumbly kind of glare to go along with it, but she's not his brother or a stranger he'd really feel okay bossing around. And after that whole thing with those witches' familiars, he's in a position to be mildly more capable of hanging around with an animal. Though maybe it'd help if this cat could turn into a person.

"I'm not really a pet kind of guy." Sam was fond of dogs, but Dean can barely stand them now, at least in dog form. He sizes up the cat right back.

"Is it a regular cat, or does it... Um... Turn into a person or anything?" Valid question in his experience. Apparently.

[blackmagus]

She arches an eyebrow at the question, though not very far. There are magic users in her world, Divinities, who can assume animal shape, but it's a rare gift. And a dangerous one.

"Jazz isn't a regular cat," Fortescue acknowledges, as normal people probably don't bring cats on hunts, "but no, he can't turn into a person. That would be a trick in a half."

The magus turns her head slightly to look at the cat in question. "It would be best for you to hang back, mm? But not too far, out here."

His green eyes shift from her, to Dean, before gracefully leaping off her shoulders. They have twenty yards to work with, and the intelligent feline's well-practiced in keeping within that distance.

[venatical]

"Just checking. This witch I knew, his girlfriend was a dog. Or a lady who was also a dog. A lady-dog. There was a cat-guy, too. I was allergic to him." This awkward spewing of information brought to you by the fact that Dean is still weirded out by the idea of witches' familiars, and still hasn't really figured out what he thinks of them. Are they people who are sometimes animals or animals who are sometimes people? If you bang one, is that bestiality? No one would answer his questions!

"Sorry about that. Sam's more the animal guy than me. Cas, too. He'd be all over that thing probably."

Ick.