[ 01 | Video ]

[alldamned]

Well, now. Think I finally got the hang of this thing.

[He gives the camera an easy smile as he settles in, seated in the room he's claimed for himself with his feet up on the table, legs crossed. Perfectly at home, despite the cold and potentially sterile environment. Sure beats Purgatory, anyway.]

Wonderin' if there's anyone I can talk to about gettin' some grub in this place. Not tryin' to be a princess or anything, but I've got some special dietary needs. Would sure appreciate anyone who could lend a hand.

[That said--]

Now. [His smile fades just a little bit, gaze growing just a touch more serious. Somber never quite fit him, but this will do.] I hear some of you have been to a little place called Purgatory. Y'all should give me a ring, when you've got the time. We may just have some friends in common.

[Translation: Dean, get on the horn now.]

Comments

[ video ]

[foundacause]

[ Oh hey there, vampire. Meet the resident demon! ]

Purgatory, huh? Never been, but I hear it's quite the vacation spot.

[ A shrug. ] I hope you're not looking to eat newborn babies - we're all out. Maybe you can find some puppy dogs instead? [ Meg! No! No baby eating or puppy eating. ]

[ video ]

[alldamned]

Oh, yeah. All kinds of scenic.

[The perfect getaway, if earth's no good for you anymore.]

Don't worry. I don't like my food quite so squirmy.

[ video ]

[foundacause]

I had some friends spend a time there. Bastards never sent me a postcard. Not that I would've got it if they did - I was kinda taking a vacation of my own with the King of Hell.

[ By which she means she was his prisoner and he tortured her. Good times. ]

So, if babies aren't your thing... what is?

[ video ]

[alldamned]

Mail service there ain't all it's cracked up to be, anyway. Just woulda gotten lost.

[But hey, about those friends.]

These friends of yours got names?

[ video ]

[lost_my_shoe]

[ Woah. People weren't wrong about this place liking people from Sam's world. It just keeps on bringing in old faces.

Some are a more welcome sight than others. Benny is one of them. ]

Woah. Benny. When did you get here?

[ video ]

[alldamned]

[Well, well. If it isn't Winchester the younger. Benny is all smiles for Sam when his face pops up on the feed, and his words come as slow and easy as they ever have.]

Couple days past. Been findin' my way, with a little help. I'd say it's good t'see you, Sam, but I gotta ask first-- still wanna kill me?

[Just seems to him like they should get that out of the way.]

[ video ]

[lost_my_shoe]

I try to make it a thing not to kill my allies - especially those willing to sacrifice themselves for me - unless they give me a reason to.

[ He feels pretty bad about the whole mess. And he's pretty sure Dean doesn't believe that Benny willingly stayed behind to buy Sam and Bobby time. ]

Sorry I was kind of a jerk before.

[ video ]

[alldamned]

So we're allies now.

[Hmm. He likes the sound of that. Much better than where they'd stood beforehand.]

'Bout time you caught up. [Nice of you to have finally gotten on the same page, Sam.] Hey, now. You were just stickin' to what you know.

[He's nothing if not understanding, really.]

How you been?

[video]

[happytobleed]

[ Castiel isn't exactly excited to see Benny, though it's more a reflection of how he feels about his own behavior in and around the time he spent in Purgatory than anything more specifically personal to Benny.

With Dean not remembering him and his own recent trip home, he's left feeling more than a little like he's never managed to stop failing Dean. Benny isn't a welcome reminder and Castiel almost doesn't bother responding at all, except if Dean can't remember Castiel, maybe he won't remember Benny, either. ]

Something is wrong with Dean's memory.

[video]

[alldamned]

Not exactly the kind of news I was hopin' to be met with.

[Huh. Dean with a fault memory. No matter what's missing, that's problematic.

He may not be Castiel's biggest friend, but seeing as Dean's his only friend in the world these days? He can set that aside.]

What's goin' on around here, huh?

[video]

[happytobleed]

Dean and I have been here for a long time. Sometimes we go home with no memories of this place, but when we return here, we always remember it. We were stuck in a town for several months, but now we're here in this science building.

[ He frowns. Really, dealing with Benny isn't particularly helping his mood. ]

When did you get here?

[video]

[alldamned]

Sounds screwy to me.

[A vast understatement, but he doesn't have much patience for Castiel, either -- and peppering the angel with questions he'll only answer painfully literally seem like a waste of time.]

Few days ago. Been getting my bearings.

[blackmagus]

You're not allergic to gluten, are you?

[Fortescue will just take this opportunity to be glad that she doesn't have any major allergies. The cafeteria would be a nightmare. She's got a half-smile, half-smirk for Benny, though, lame joke or not.]

[alldamned]

[Benny can't say he's not glad to see his guide from his first day here -- she was all kinds of helpful, as well as a number of other things it would probably be ungentlemanly of him to mention.]

Not quite, darlin', though I hear that's all the rage these days. It's funny, the kinds of things that change over the span of fifty years.

[More than he'd ever thought possible, really.]

Figure there's no use hidin' it so long as we're in close quarters. Ain't gonna stay a secret for long. I need blood.

[blackmagus]

[Back home, gluten allergies and intolerance are a thing of the past. She remembers mentions from when she was a teen, before the War, but genetic technology had taken care of any lingering problems, and the food process had been altered. Just like that, gluten allergies had come and gone. And there are all sorts of shots to treat other allergies that arise as a person grows, as long as you're a citizen of America or Imperium.]

Oh, I certainly don't mind being in close quarters.

[Like she's going to pass up a perfectly good chance to flirt.

Blood, though. She hadn't seen that one coming. Fortescue raises an eyebrow, looking surprised for only a second or two. This place has a way of throwing fast balls. You have to get used to it.]

Blood, mm? How much are we talking about?

[alldamned]

Yeah, didn't think you would.

[He cracks a smile, though it fades as the conversation turns slightly more serious. Probably shouldn't be grinning too broadly while talking about blood, after all. Tends to put people on edge. Generally frowned upon.]

Depends. I can get by without it every day, but it's gotta be steady. Bag or two at a time? [If he's being conservative.] I'm guessin' they're not about to let me out of here to pay a late-night visit to the local blood bank, are they.

[Rude.]

[brainsqueeze]

I've been advised to be careful about what's in the kitchen.

[ Which would no doubt be even worse for 'special dietary needs'. She hadn't asked Bruce to elaborate on what was wrong in the kitchen, she was just keeping some distance ]

[alldamned]

That whole place just smells all kinds of wrong.

[He's been advised, too, but his nose definitely sealed the deal for him on that one. Half the things in there, he wouldn't even dream of touching, if his current diet didn't render most of it useless to him, anyway.]

[brainsqueeze]

You'll probably be able to know what not to touch easier.

[ If the heightened smell part was true. Although she hasn't exactly figured out his 'special needs'. What are vampires for $200? ]

[seraphique]

There's some sort of kitchen here, though I would be wary as to what you eat in it.

[Christine had only ventured there a few times, herself. The hallways keep changing on her and getting her lost - it's not such an easy task to find it, so she's pretty hungry herself.

She's a bit curious on the Purgatory bit, but she hopes he's being metaphorical.]

What sort of thing are you looking for?

[alldamned]

So I'm told. Nothin' in there smells right, anyway.

[If he still ate, he'd probably be off food for a week or more after coming into contact with some of what's kept in there.]

Ticklish sort of item, but I know I can't just go around askin' for help and not tellin' people.

[He exhales slowly, raising an eyebrow.]

I need blood. Blood bags if at all possible. I hear tell there's a clinic here somewhere, gonna have to go see if there's any stored there. Else I might be out of luck.

[seraphique]

[She's not sure what he means by 'ticklish' at first, but he says the word and her eyes widen, a bit of horror behind them. Certainly he doesn't mean to actually have blood as a meal...]

Blood? What possible reason would you need blood?!

video, private

[venatical]

[ This? This is a face he recognizes, and he's relieved to see him. Being told Cas is his friend is one thing, but Dean doesn't feel that connection; he feels something, though, and he can't tell what that is, if it's something like a phantom limb where he almost but doesn't quite get there.

Benny, though; seeing his face calms Dean and also reminds him of saying goodbye, of sending him back to that place with half a mind that he wouldn't see him again, and he didn't. It's not like he was surprised, but it still hurt, and it ached, too; it hurt that Benny didn't come back, but he knew why, understood why, and that was a different kind of ache. ]

Benny. It's... It's good to see you, man.

video, private

[alldamned]

'Bout time you turned up.

[Dean is met with a smile; doesn't matter how tearful their last goodbye was, doesn't matter that Dean had been the one to separate Benny's head from his shoulders. He'd welcomed the escape. He knew how to be in Purgatory. He might have thanked Dean for the ticket back if it didn't seem so damn grim. It was one of those situations where black and white didn't really seem to play a part.

Most situations seemed that way lately.]

Been askin' all over for you. Good to see you, too, brother.

[He's been told that Dean's not himself, that something's not right, but he doesn't broach that yet. That's no way to say hello.]

[venatical]

In the flesh.

[ Remember that time Benny was in Dean's flesh? Anyway.

Dean does remember turning around and seeing Benny whole again once they got topside, how relieved he was, how sorry he was to leave him behind though he knew it was their only option at the time. What options do they have now? Sam won't like it, but honestly, Dean wants Sam to get over it. This place isn't like home; it isn't like Dean can tell Benny to stop calling and walk away. What the hell are they going to do? Not look at each other in the hallway? This place isn't big enough for those kinds of divisions.

And honestly? That's a relief. Black and white isn't so black and white anymore; it's harder to tell the bad guys from the good, and Dean just wants to hold onto the friends he manages to find out there. ]

I thought you were supposed to show up sooner, too. [ That's as direct as he's going to get in asking about what happened back in Purgatory, mostly because he already knows, at least the motivations, what Benny might've been feeling. It's his way of saying it's okay, but also... it'd hurt when Benny had stayed. ]