𝐼𝑛 𝐻𝑒𝑙𝑙, 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑦 ( open )

[righteously]

Who: Dean Winchester & Open.
When: April 1 - early May.
Where: Aquila; Cadens; The Horizon;
What: Demon shenanigans part 1 — featuring hobo'ing through the Horizon, hiding out in Aquila, and then returning to the Free Cities.
Warnings: Rated R for sexual content, demonic violence, psychological abuse, and suicidal ideation.

𝐻𝑒𝑙𝑙'𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑠, 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠-𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑠, 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑠 𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑠
𝐼𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛'𝑡 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑡, 𝑓𝑙𝑖𝑟𝑡, 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑠𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑡, 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑡, ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑒
𝐴𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑠, 𝑖𝑛 𝐻𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑦
𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑔𝑜 𝑛𝑜 𝑓𝑢𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟
𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑑 𝑜𝑓, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑔𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑟
𝑃𝑢𝑠ℎ, 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑣𝑒, 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑢𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑
𝑂ℎ 𝐿𝑜𝑟𝑑, 𝐼 𝑎𝑖𝑛'𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢
𝑀𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒'𝑠 𝑎 𝑏𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟
𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟
𝐵𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑘𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑦 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟
𝑂ℎ 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑒, 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼'𝑚 𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑎 𝑑𝑜

Comments

he has! he grilled at it on 4th of july

[righteously]

( Julie's club? Is exactly his scene right now. It's a risk, he knows, considering her proximity to Geralt — but the more time passes, the more summoned that spot him, the less he's starting to care about keeping the cat in the bag. He's bored, there's an inky black instinct in him that craves chaos, that craves indulgence, that craves the kind of depravity that's hard to find in this medieval magical setting.

Julie's club comes close.

He's dressed differently than his usual Horizon attire of flannel and jeans. Now, he wears something a little more fitting of the setting — a three-piece suit, but lacking a tie, and with the top button undone. A little more ruffled, like somebody you'd see doing coke off a mirror in a five star motel bar.

He doesn't seem upset to see her. In fact, his lips quirk up on one side, and he offers a hand out to her — an offer to dance. )

Same as everybody else.

( With a pointed nod at the NPCs currently ignoring their presence. )

Having a good time.

[princessvegas]

[ Julie has never seen Dean in nice clothing. That's the part that she's hung up on, even more than his supposed death. It's just jarring, like seeing your fifth grade teacher on a date -- unexpected. And she is smart enough to know that something is going on here, but she can't really tell what.

(If he would like to do cocaine, there are copious amounts of it being passed around the club. There always are.)

Her head tilts with lingering confusion, but she takes his hand. Almost like an instinct, something automatic. In the back of her head, unbidden, there's a flicker, an awakening. She doesn't realize it. ]

Okay, but you haven't been talkin' to anyone. [ Far be it from Julie to judge the act of sinking into hedonism to block out a near-death experience. But it's still a courtesy to make sure people know it was near-death. ] You're all right?

[righteously]

( She takes his hand; he reels her in swiftly and confidently, tucking one of her hands in his shoulders and settling the other nice and low on her waist. The music playing now ain't hardly a slow dancing song, but he eases them into a lazy rhythm regardless. It's a little jarring, the contrast between what they're doing and the music that's playing. Unsettling, intimate. )

Better, now. ( He tilts his head, considering. Nods it at her. ) I'm talking to you, aren't I? Who gives a shit about anybody else?

[princessvegas]

[ His attitude, the way he moves her -- there's a moment where she's terribly deer-in-the-headlights about it all. She doesn't resist in any way, just falls into step with him. As she looks up at him, still with a hint of confusion and suspicion, there's also something else reflecting in her eyes. The same something that made her follow a dream across states, that once made her so easy for someone else to enthrall.

With her gaze still fixed on his face, it's not rocket science to see that part begin to overpower the sensible part. Long dormant black sludge that Flagg left behind and she buried now rises back up, surges forth from the tiny locked box she'd put it in. Swallows everything in its path.

And it's so innate that she can't tell what's happening. Exactly like before. ]

Okay. [ She blinks, her brow just slightly furrowed. There's not much to gain by pushing, she feels. If he's hiding after whatever happened to him, then she doesn't want to spook him back out of the Horizon. ] So then what've you been doin' for the past month?

[righteously]

( Something clicks. He can feel it, he can feel it with that dark otherworldly sense he didn't have as a human. There is a part of him, a piece of his blackened coree, that hell-bound growth like a cancer, that can sense something falling into place. Maybe this is how demons corrupt souls. Maybe they target-lock onto temptation, maybe it's a sixth sense.

It's satisfying. He wants it.

He wants to fuck her, he wants to burn her, but reluctantly acknowledges the former is probably easier to accomplish with fewer unpleasant consequences than the latter.

He twirls her smoothly, a slow and fluid spin. Settles again with a hand low on her back, grazing impropriety, flirting with the edges and lines. The implication's there, it's heavy, he's doing nothing to hide it. )

Would you believe me if I said swimming, mostly? It's great cardio. Does wonders for your heart.

( A contemplative beat, and then he leans in conspiratorially, to gently whisper just above her ear. ) You really wanna know where I was?

Underwater. Dark. For miles. For weeks. The monster that took me... dragged me so far down, so deep, I couldn't even see light anymore. And I drowned. Again. And again. And again. Until finally, I tore myself off of its teeth, and let the currents wash me up on the beach like driftwoood. That's where I've been.

[princessvegas]

[ Julie has never known what it was that made her fall so hard before, get so sucked into his orbit. Why others were able to wake up from Flagg's hypnotism and she never did. She reckons she must be broken somehow inside, because even the witch hadn't ever tried to reach her. Maybe she's a magnet for this kind of demonic energy. Weak to it.

Whatever it is, it seems to wash over her like a wave on the shore, and by the time she's spinning back to his arms, any wariness she'd had is gone. Yes, something is different here and she can tell, but it just doesn't seem like a real problem.

She looks at him like she's hanging on his every word. He leans so close that she can feel his breath against her ear, and she can't catch the gasp that accompanies her full-body shiver. ]

How did you stay alive? [ No suspicion in her voice at all anymore. Just rapt attention. (The way she used to listen to Flagg's stories.) Without thinking, she presses close. ] I thought you're human.

[righteously]

I was.

( He agrees, pulling away slightly — not far. No longer murmuring in her ear, but still hovering a little too close, their faces just a handful of inches apart. Sharing breath, sharing air.

He was human when he went into the water, or at least close enough to one. When you factor in the Mark, the wings, the powers, maybe not quite as human as his father would be comfortable with, but close enough. What walked out of the water, on the other hand... )

Now... well, let's just say I'm something a little more fun.

( The way his eyes flash black probably means something different to her than it would to Jo, or anyone from Dean's world. They look, if anything, alarmingly reminiscent to the way Geralt's did that day in the cave. He'll let her draw her own conclusions. )

[princessvegas]

[ The expression that crosses her face is a truly strange mishmash of emotions. The fact of the matter is that black eyes like that actually do a precedent in her world -- Flagg could send messages through people, against their will, and their eyes would turn dark like pitch as his voice came through them. At least, that was what she'd heard.

But on the other hand, she has, unintentionally, somewhat conditioned herself like Pavlov's dog, thanks to Geralt's ability. Those eyes no longer trigger her danger instincts. How could they? And Dean's voice remains the same.

Uncertainty and arousal wrestle in her gaze. ]

Are you... Dean?

[righteously]

( He seems to consider the question for a moment, then shrugs one playful shoulder. )

Basically.

( When it suits him — like now, when it's more likely to get him laid. Everyone else but Nadine has been largely getting the same yarn spun at them: Dean is dead. He's somebody else.

Keeping the name's just easier. The idea of the man is gone.

He dips in as though he means to whisper into her ear again, but this time, it's to gently press his lips to her neck right below it. There, he mumbles into her skin. )

I'm whoever you want me to be, sweetheart.

[princessvegas]

[ Despite what an outside observer to this conversation might believe, Julie is not a complete idiot. Something is off here; she knows that these answers don't make sense, that even near-death experiences (or actual death) don't change people so deeply, so quickly.

They don't give people eyes like empty, gaping maws.

But something inside her has always been weak for the wrong choice. Drawn to the worst decision like a moth to the brightest flame. Absolutely hypnotized by it.

Without thinking, her hand goes to the back of his head, fingers curling in his short hair. Electricity prickles across her skin and raises her hair on end. The club lights flash, the music changes.

She inhales sharply and lets her head drop to the other side, neck bared. Where she still has one hand on his arm, she digs into his bicep with her nails.

The sludge fills her mind again, makes her feel dark and heavy and pliant. This is good. This is right. ]

[righteously]

( That's all the green light he needs. He has been granted permission to cross the threshold, he's been given access that he intends to take full advantage of. The bodies around them are an inconsequential blur. The music sets a tempo he's happy to meet.

He tastes the sweat on her neck. Explores the shape of her shoulder blades with his fingertips. Finds the curve of her ribs, and then the hollow of her hips, and then the shape of her ass — all on their trajectory toward thighs, so he can grip and lift her like she weighs less than a god damn feather.

He lifts her, but doesn't seem to have any intentions on putting her down just yet. He wants her legs around his waist. He wants her face just a little over his, so he can angle his chin up and offer his lips as an invitation. )

[princessvegas]

[ There's no hesitation in her movements. Now that he's no longer talking, the weight of simply going along with it carries her easily. No questions, no thinking. That was how she lived for months and months on end, and falling back into that headspace is like sinking into a featherbed.

She practically hops into his arms, legs wrapped tightly around him. While some kind of docility has clearly been triggered in her mind, she hasn't been rendered passive; her hand slides from his arm to his face, her fingers spanning his cheek, and she kisses him like she might well devour him.

The pulse of the music seems to grow dim in her ears, fades to the background as the sound of her own blood rushes in her ears. ]