[Open] Call Me Little Sunshine

[notoftheblood]

Who: Jack & various
What: catch-all log
Where: The Free cities, other locations will be added to headers.
When: Late November and December
Warnings: n/a, will update as needed!

Comments

Arrival; Free cities (Moved from TDM, feel free to continue)

[notoftheblood]

One moment Miss Butters was saying goodbye, the next Jack found himself pulled from the water. An empty feeling washing over him... He was powerless again. He knew that feeling all too well, but the pain inside of him from the recent return of his soul hurt more than any loss of power.

He's been there, done that. Even in his short years, he has lived a lot of thanks to his family. He listens as he is told what is going on. 'You're important, they're grateful to have you.' This feels familiar, but leaves such a sense of dread.

What about Chuck? What about the Winchesters and Cas?

Still, he follows the orders given in his state of odd shock, making his way to the mess hall at first to eat. Then he takes a wagon to see the city of Cadens. He felt lost again, just as he had started to get back on his feet. He wanted to get home, but he was powerless, at least for a few days. Best to make the most of it.

(Semi Closed) For Jo

[notoftheblood]

He looked slightly unsure as she had asked the easiest question in the world. 'We save people and hunt things' That would be the easy answer, but it wasn't the one he felt he should use.

He had shared his powers with the kids in town, and where did that get him?

Oh, what had he done... He could lament that later, too.

"We fight monsters. I promise, monsters, demons, and even angels are real. It sounds crazy, I know. But it's true." He spoke in that awkward way. His eyes more green than blue today as he looked back up at her. "Something bad was coming... and I need to be there. Not here. " He mad a deal with Billy... he had to.

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo eyes brows hike a little more up in an interesting level of outside-of-body bewilderment as she processes that opposite side of a speech she's given but never once heard in her life directed at her. She'd come in at birth. Sure there must have been a point she didn't know and then did know, but it's so far back it's from before she has solid childhood memories.

"Yeah," Jo says, a little offbeat. Then, she gave a shake of her head.
"That sounds a lot like the kind of place I'm from, too."

The earnestness there really doesn't shake off him, even for the seriousness, does it?

"Sad to say, kid. You're probably stuck for a while. No revolving doors in this place, or I would have hit it a long time ago." People did happen to vanish in the night, but no one could definitively say where they'd gone and if gone was home. Which was fuck all not comforting, too. "Hopefully, your family'll do okay carrying the load for a while."

CW; cosmic self harm mentioned

[notoftheblood]

A look of sadness flashes in his eyes as she speaks. "Sorry..." He apologized, as if he caused monsters in her world too. "Kinda sucks, right?" He couldn't even be a kid. He had to be born a full-grown man just to survive in their world. Furthermore, he knew it was hard on hunters, and she sounded like she at least knew.

He should know better than to be trusting, but he's fallen for it all so many times.

"I just hope Castiel won't be upset..." The name-drop was mostly due to his worry for his father figure. He knew Cas was searching for a way to keep Jack from killing himself for the cause. Even if Billy had come up with the plan, Castiel didn't like it.

"They can, as long as things don't get worse." He finally forced a weak smile in place. "My name's Jack."

Re: CW; cosmic self harm mentioned

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo let that apology fall where it got put out without touching it. Even for all the bad that touches Hunter's lives, and a lot falls under 'the not pretty' carpet pullover act, she doesn't think her life sucks. She does think The Life sucks. There isn't a single thing she'd rather be doing. Anywhere. On any world. In any life.

She'd fought, bled, and sacrificed all she held dear for that truth.
(And she was going to die just like she'd sworn. Doing this job. Not regretting it.)





That name stops her in her tracks. Her eyes narrowed because no, like he couldn't, could he? She gambles on it for broke, because why the fuck not, it won't matter if it doesn't stick at all. "Castiel. Like the Angel Castiel?"

Beat. More pinpointed even. "Like Dean, and Sam, and Cas—Castiel?"

[notoftheblood]

The pretty blonde stopping the way she did, her eyes narrowing. This sent a whirlwind of emotions through Jack. Just hours ago Dean and Sam were telling him to make a wish on the cake that Dean had made. And now here he was, in a strange place talking to a woman...

...Who just said his chosen father's name. For a moment, his face lit up. As if she had just told him he had the winning lotto tickets, or that Chuck had decided to just leave them all alone.

"You know Castiel! And everyone." He was quick on his feet, grinning from ear to ear suddenly. "This is amazing! Are they here?" His powers were locked, he couldn't feel a thing power wise. Yet, it all felt too good to be true. "Yes, exactly them. They are my family." He spoke, a touch of pride in his tone. Even if that will likely crumble again soon. For now, this was everything. All hope rested on the shoulders of this woman. She must be like Jodie, Kaya and Claire.

[tobeclosetohim]

Okay. That's...weird.

It's wholly antithetical for her to even connect this guileless, earnest, awkward kid with the boys. She coughs in something beyond outlandish surprise when the kid—Jack, she didn't miss his having a name—is suddenly pushing up from the table, all sunshine and lollipops smile, and calling them family.

"Uhh.." Jo lets that note drag out there.
"Yeah. I think I'd know if Dean decided to adopt himself a kid."

Maybe. God knows. Dean was doing a zero-for-zero job lately of telling her anything deathly important. But this? This was just insanely ludicrous.

[notoftheblood]

She'd get used to it. Jack had somehow turned out to be both a very sweet and awkward kid, and also the type to dwell and brood in his room when no one's around. One of those sides of him very much came from being raised by the Winchesters. The rest, maybe Dean's goofier moods? Or, Kelly's DNA really came in strong.

Probably uncle Gabriel?

When she drug out the sound, he blinked a bit before giving an awkward smile. "Dean didn't adopt me. Not really." He spoke, "It's complicated. But, we're family." He reassured. Not wanting to drop his life story in the middle of this place. Demons or Angels or anyone could be around.

"What's your name?" He asked with that same earnest look. Like he really cared, and in that moment he did. She was his lifeline to his home. Someone who knew the boys.

[tobeclosetohim]

Right. So basically, a teenager.

Jack's correction sounds a little more on par with some kind of Dean-normal. Not adopted, not really, but still family. That sounds about Dean Winchester's brand of stupid complicated. Jo knew all about being in one of those kinds of boxes, didn't she?

"Jo Harvelle." There's a vague pause between the two names, saying her first name and then attaching her last, even though she doesn't expect he'll recognize it in the slightest. No one around these parts does, and no one possibly ever will. Given that whole being dead thing back where everyone else was merrily living on.

"What year did you come from, Jack?"

[righteously]

( continued from here if you're game? )

You're younger than the Dean I know.

The statement earns a frustrated curse under Dean's breath, and a fleeting eye roll — not directed at Jack so much as at the situation. At reality, at his life, at all of the above. Freaking time travel, he's getting so god damn sick and tired of time travel.

He scrubs a hand over his mouth, over his stubble, reeling himself back in and steeling himself for a whirlwind of oncoming bullshit.

Okay.

"Complicated," he echoes dubiously. "How complicated is complicated? I'm gonna need the scoop now, okay, I can't do another worst case scenario goodbye letter confessional."

The one Claire left behind about how he was a good dad to her after she was gone, after it was well and truly too late, is the first and last time that's ever gonna happen.

I'm always game!

[notoftheblood]

Jack sat there awkwardly. His fingers lacing as he squeezed his own fingers. Trying to not just throw open the carriage door and bolt into the passing woods. There were times he wanted to bail out of the Impala too, but he never had. Sometimes it just never hit him, he was powerful enough to just vanish.

But that was cowardice, and he was raised better than that.

"...Yeah." He spoke as he looked up, those hazel eyes much more blue than normal, they seemed to adjust with the light or colors around him. "Well, let me start with, you, Sam and Cas raised me, my mom died giving birth to me." That seemed smarter than admitting his father yet. That felt important. A sad smile crossing his face. "You taught me to drive... and took me fishing once." His thoughts jumbling, but he felt laying out that Dean had let him drive Baby, even the once, was a sign he knew him.

"My name's Jack Kline, I'm four years old." He spoke honestly, very honestly, his eyes full of hurt as he looked at Dean. "I'm not human. But, you raised me as a hunter." While the truth would set you free, and he hated liars, he really didn't know if he should say more. He didn't want Dean to freak out on him. He never took that well.

[righteously]

Jack's answer is a long, pregnant silence.

Two or three seconds in, Dean blinks. A second later, he blinks again. There's almost certainly a meme with exactly that expression.

"I'm- I'm sorry, what?"

Look, he was expecting a confessional, sure. Expecting a bomb to get dropped. A bomb, singular, one bomb. That was like an entire freakin' London air strike in one go, and he's-

Processing. He's processing. Give him a minute.

Apparently out of all of it, the first thing he feels worthy of incredulously addressing is, "Four?"

Did you say four years old? Because this kid's twenty if he's a friggin' day, so again: what?

[notoftheblood]

Those few seconds of silence were deafening. Jack could feel his anxiety rising. He hadn't felt this way since his early days. When he knew Dean hated him, when he wished so much he had been normal and not what he is so Dean would accept him.

Here he is, feeling like he's back at the start, but with what feels like a lifetime of memories that they no longer share.

"Yeah..." He spoke softly, pushing the thoughts away. "I'm not human." Well, that was an oversimplification. "I'm a nephilim, the world wasn't safe for me to be born normal, I was born this way." Which is probably why Kelly died in childbirth.

The urge to pull the bell to have the carriage stop was rising again. So he went back to squeezing his own fingers. "I help you, Sam and Casteil hunt."

[righteously]

I'm not human — there's a flicker of an expression on his face that reads I got that part; it's wiped away almost immediately at nephilim, replaced once again with pure, unadulterated disbelief.

Eloquently, articulately, and with great enthusiasm:

"What?" Sorry kid, he's a broken record right now, this is just. A lot. He holds up a hand as though to emphasize an extremely important, profound point — and then kindly informs Jack, "We're in a wagon."

...give it a second, he's working up to a full-blown rant, that's just the starting line.

"We're in a wagon in a magical fantasy land desert, and somehow... that is the least insane thing about everything I'm hearing right now. I'm- you're- I-" Emphatic hand gesture. This.

Okay, reel it in, Winchester.

There's a little bit of visible grappling with his composure, a deep inhale, a silent goosfraba with his eyes closed. He opens them, and tries again, more slowly.

"You're- a four-year-old nephilim. Hunter. Toddler. That I'm-" he points to himself. Can't bring himself to say the word raising. In conclusion: "This is a wagon."

What he means is: this is entirely too much information to have come to light in the back of a fucking wagon.

[notoftheblood]

He knows that look. Biting his lip to let Dean work through whatever he wanted to say. He was terrified of Dean hating him again, but this Dean was younger. And he has a feeling, no matter what he says, he has to start back at the start and be patient.

Though today, he doesn't know if he has it in him. Sometimes thing's hurt, and he had to man up. Dean had told him that before, and right now he was trying his best.

"...Is it a wagon?" He spoke as if the sentence didn't fit the moment. Sure, he had thought it is a carriage with no top, but what kind of farm has Jack ever been around? "I'm not a toddler." He made a bit of a face.

Reel it in, Kline. Don't get upset.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything." He more muttered than spoke, looking away from Dean. Looking back to the passing land around them. "Just forget it."

[righteously]

Oh, crap. Well, there comes the guilt almost immediately. It dawns visibly across his features along with a sizable helping of resignation, like he's begrudgingly letting the regret sink in despite how much he'd like to carry on being a dick.

"No- it's- just. Hang on," he sighs, holding up one hand while the other scrubs tiredly at his face. Fingertips press into his eye sockets, then drag down along the stubble of a slightly too long five-o'clock shadow. When he's finished with that, it lifts to gently join the other in a gentle gesture of surrender. "You don't have to apologize, it's good you told me now instead of- pulling a- you know. Us move."

AKA sitting on a deep and impactful truth just because it's a hard pill to swallow, only for it to come up later at the least opportune moment to bite them in the ass.

"I'm just- I'm processing."

He peels his eyes open again, and finally levels Jack with a serious, productive question.

"What year are you from? How far in the future does all this go down?"

[notoftheblood]

Jack was still looking away. Letting blocks fall in place. Realizing just how awkward all of this was. Not just for him, but for those closest to him as well.

He looks back to Dean when he hears that 'No' pass his lips. And just like that he felt the betrayal of hope blooming. Not that he was ever upset at feeling hope. Hope was a good feeling. An amused expression crossed his features. Almost guilty in a way. "I probably would have if we hadn't ended up here." He may not have been born with Winchester Stupid, but he'd certainly grown into it. "It's just weird, you know?"

He asked in that same earnest way. "Take your time, I'm told it's a long ride." He admitted. "It was 2020." He spoke easily, having told the blonde, Jo. Earlier in the day. "I can't tell you how far in the future, I don't know when you are from. I can tell you're younger, though." And that Dean has more beard than stubble at this point. For some reason, that seems odd.

Exploring; A few hours after arrival

[notoftheblood]

The shock and surprise of it all was wearing off. Or he was getting numb to it. That was possible. That was what had happened in Apocalypse world. Which he was in no state to think about with the newfound guilt over the blood on his hands.

Who knew getting one's soul back would hurt so much?

Jack knew he could go explore and learn the new land. Even with his powers all but nerfed for the time being, he didn't find it so bad. He'd been made human once, and it didn't slow him down... until it started killing him anyway. This time he wasn't worried, he had been assured he'd be back to himself, soon.

Walking out into the streets of the free cities in his new clothes. His eyes taking it all in. As much as he wanted to go hide in the dark and feel terrible for what he had done. He had to keep going, this world could need him, and he knew Dean wouldn't give up. So he had to live by WWDD. What would Dean Do?

Cas may have been a better choice, but his mind was made.

[unwings]

Unfortunately, WWDD tends to be Castiel's go-to as well, intentional or otherwise, for better or for worse. Granted, Dean as he is now, here, with the mark, is far from the model citizen, and the source of an on-going conundrum. Things cannot stay the way they are with him, at a pace of rapid deterioration, but there's no fixing it here, let alone back home.

Jack, however, is far afield from all Cas currently knows about his life. His recent attempts at being fatherly with Claire, back home, were disastrous at best - what might he think of a boy he's called son a handful of years from now? We shall see.

While Jack's distracted eyes are taking it all in, a man steering a steam-powered trolley is bounding down the street, assuming Jack will either wake up and move, or has no qualms about being run over. Watching this literal train wreck about to take place, Cas lurches forward at the last moment, snatching the boy by the shoulder of his typical newly summoned robes, and drags him back to the sidewalk in time to be spared with a splash of muddy water against his legs. Still a better deal than pancaked to the road.

"Careful." He tells the boy, looking him over for injury. "The singular Cadens traffic law seems to be - the trolley man stops for no man, woman, livestock, or child."

[notoftheblood]

Dean was the best and worst influence, and yet, it was easier to think and act on WWDD. Dean had survived this long, and he was the best in the hunter game. The mark was something Jack would have to learn about in time, but for now he was just trying to get along.

Which unfortunately meant dealing with his grief and his overwhelming emotions... and arriving in a world where his family no longer knew him. It was these thoughts he was stuck deep in that had left him standing in the worst spot possible. Without his powers he didn't even sense the danger coming his way.

The hand on his shoulder yanking him back pulls Jack from his thoughts, along with a shocked noise pulling from his throat. Nearly losing balance completely, at least the worst he got was his only clothes not a little wet and muddy. His eyes going wide as he realized what had nearly happened.

Just as the voice registered, and he turned his head slowly. "Cas!" He called out, a hopeful tone, all that misery he had been wallowing vanishing as he threw his arms around Castiel. Normally his hugs were slower, more awkward, he should have known better. He's already seen Dean... and yet. This is Castiel. "Thank you! I promise I will pay more attention next time. I am sorry if I worried you." He spoke, that same hopeful tone in place.

[unwings]

This child knows him.

Tension immediately ripples through him. Usually when this happens, it's followed by some angelic equivalent of 'hey fuck you, buddy, you ruined everything and i'm here to stab you', but this boy is full of smiles, and gratitude and— hugs? Oh god, it's true, he's being hugged. Abruptly, Castiel, Angel of the Lord, is dealing with an armful of gleeful late teen/early twenties boy, and his brain short circuits. If nothing else, Cadens never ceases to surprise.

He doesn't just know him, but he knows him as Cas, which generally isn't what angels or enemies refer to him as. And yet, searching the kid's face again, there's nothing familiar to it. Just a bright little core of sunshiny child overly enthused to see him. Not wanting to alarm or upset the kid yet, Cas goes along with it, as best he can. Which isn't great, but it could be argued furrowed brows and a contemplative frown are just standard form for him.

"That's, um, that's alright. I'm just glad you're safe." Still mostly out of his depth with physical affection, Cas gives Jack an awkward shoulder pat, and detangles himself.

He needs to contact Dean. No, not Dean. This is a sweet child who hugs on instinct and knows his name, and Dean isn't in the best of headspaces of late. Sam. This is a Sam situation. If the boy knows him, there's a good chance he knows the Winchesters too, and Cas banks on that, testing out the theory. "Let's go home and talk to Sam. Have you found Sam yet?"

[notoftheblood]

Oh, this child not only knew him, but chose him.

Castiel was his father. Who cared about DNA? Castiel protected his mother, made him feel safe, and was always there for him. Even when he accidentally killed Mary, Castiel never gave up on him.

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you." He spoke, his general awkwardness was always less around Castiel. It was just easier to talk to Cas sometimes. The awkward shoulder pat and Castiel pulling away doesn't really bother him. Finally, he's found something normal. Dean might not remember him, but he thinks Castiel does. That might hurt more later, but for now he just smiles.

"Sam's here too? I hadn't seen Sam yet! Just Dean." A bit of a sad look crossed his face before he nodded. "Yes, let's go see Sam." This day just for so much better.

As well as a day in a strange world where his powers were blocked could be anyway.

[unwings]

"I truly do not." Cas mutters under his breath, hopefully too quite for the peppy boy to hear. Bringing his mood down would feel like kicking a puppy at this point. Well, happy to see him is leagues better than murderous to see him, so he'll take it. He's quick to carry on, already turning back in the direct of Mag's, hand on Jack's shoulder steering him.

"Yes, newly arrived, as I am, though I did spend some time here before." That's another story, but if it'll save him time from having to explain that he doesn't actually recognize this kid, all's the better. "I spent roughly 9 months in this world before returning home for a time."

If he's walking a little fast, that's because he's a terrible liar and he knows it. The boy knows Sam, so this can't be just another person who met the Castiel that was here for the month in between his absence that he just doesn't recognize. He's someone from home - their home - which could mean a lot of things. Usually not great things, but so far, nothing's raising any red flags.

"When did you arrive?"

[notoftheblood]

Oh, he heard it, he did. But he didn't bring attention to it. This was Castiel. He had chosen Castiel, and he would follow him wherever his chosen father lead him. Part of him hoping deep down that everything would be okay.

"Me too, just a few hours ago. I was worried about you..." He admitted, Castiel had been off looking for a way to stop Billy's plan, but he had already spoken to Dean. And part of him worries that Castiel may not be from the same time... but if he is, he hopes it's before Castiel found out.

He doesn't try to move away from Castiel's lead, moving with the ease of someone very comfortable with the angel leading him by the shoulder. "I saw Dean, he looks a lot younger, and he doesn't know me." A touch of sad in his voice before he smiles Castiel's way. "And a woman named Jo, she seems to know Sam, Dean and you too." He was happy about Jo. Even if she didn't know him, she had an air about her like Mary did.

Nope. He's not letting himself think about Mary. This is not the time for a parade of pain.

[unwings]

"Worried? About me?" That stops him. It isn't that Cas has never had anyone concerned for his well-being, Sam and Hannah have said so, and even if Dean rarely voices it, he knows the signs of it. Given his nature, Cas is far from the most fragile of the group. Concern isn't usually warranted.

It's just how Jack puts it out there so open and candidly, disarmingly sincere. The warmth the sentiment inspires feels a touch awkward in him, but appreciated nonetheless. What an endearing kid. Cas finds himself more invested in his arrival being more a blessing than an omen.

"Well, thank you, but I'm, um, I'm fine." Cas flashes a small smile, genuinely touched. "No need to worry."

"Yes, Jo Harvelle, she and her mother operated a roadhouse bar for hunters. Sam and Dean knew and worked with her several years ago, though... circumstance caused a separation." Circumstances like death, but Cas knows better than to air Jo's trauma for all and sundry. But on to that point about Dean looking older... Castiel's vessel doesn't age much (contrary to Misha Collins' mortal obligations), but the stress of the hunting life and all that the Winchesters endure will doubted show on them in years to come. "How old was Dean when you left home?"

The sadness in Jack's voice is telling, and it pangs him. Guilt gnaws at Cas, knowing he'll have to break it to the kid soon that he doesn't remember him either.