abraxaslogs | (open) ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ʀᴜɴɴɪɴɢ ʙʟɪɴᴅ

[ Well, none of us are quite enjoying the soak as much as we'd hoped to now, are we? ]

Right. Less crowded, I'd assume.

[ Probably not as cozy as the hot springs, but less people to step on him. He might've even found some curious new sea life. Shit, really missed out on that one. Cas makes a mental note to go to Geralt for meditation destination advice in the future.

But since he's here, and Geralt apparently isn't bothered enough to give up on his bath, he may as well stay and catch up. ]

Yes, apologies, I heard about the amnesia. Apparently it's reversed now. [ A tired sigh slumps out of him, and Cas appreciates Geralt making little ceremony of it. What the magic of this world is doing, it's been a fucking hassle to detangle, and a utter mystery in why it's fixated on playing with his memory. ] Perhaps it's angelic physiology that doesn't mesh with the Singularity's magic. Have you experienced any memory lapses of late?

[ Geralt is, in fact, full of advice for meditation destinations. He has a list. He'll share if Castiel asks.

Geralt eyes Castiel, vaguely mystified that the angel's so at ease in soaking wet clothes, but not enough to ask after it. ]

Possibly. No one knows fuck all about the Singularity. [ It's unstable, that much is certain. Tearing rifts into other worlds will do that, if it wasn't already deteriorating on its own. Hard to say.

He shakes his head. He's received memories. Not lost any, though. Wait— ] What do you mean? Reversed?

[ He's assumed, well. That this is Castiel, as Geralt most recently met him. Just returned after yet another disappearance. It's not yet occurred to him Castiel remembers their first introduction, but not their second. ]

[ he's just being efficient, ok?

fuck all knowledge about the singularity is a frustrating truth, one Cas would love to get to the bottom of. he suspects that may take some interaction with someone from Thorne, at this juncture, but that's a problem from another time. ]

Angels are more light waves and energy than corporeal, and we don't always experience time, or space, linearly. It'll be interesting to see how my brothers' memories fare. [ dean informed him about lucifer and michael's presence, though angel radio's been silent. probably just as well, none of them have anything nice to say to each other.

receiving memories, cas has heard about, but none yet with his particular issue. ]

Well, I remember you dragging me bleeding from the street during the last dimming, but none of my conversations last month.

Edited 2022-12-31 20:17 (UTC)

[ Fortunately for Castiel, Dean has both (attempted) to explain the angels, and given Geralt a tome to fill in the remaining blanks. Of which there are many. So he understands when Castiel says brothers—though he does blink when he realizes Castiel used the plural. Who is—?

No. Fuck it. He doesn't need nor want to know. He came here to relax for at least one hour. Perhaps even two.

Geralt takes a drink. A long one. Then he regards Castiel for a moment. The Dimming. Last winter? A concern, that gap, but it's one he already knows can't be solved by a conversation in the hot springs.

Instead, he says, with no small amount of frankness, ] Then you should know I glimpsed your memories once. I saw you rescue Dean from hell.

[ Seems important to mention. ]

[ o h . well, that falls like a boulder into a shallow pool, graceless and messy. Cas shifts uncomfortable next to him, stiffens, glances around like his hunter counterpart might be lurking somewhere to overhear. ]

Did you?

[ it was traumatic, personal, intimate enough the first go around. Dean at his lowest, rended to shreds, dragged through the mud and twisted into something cruel, demonic, and unrecognizable. piecing what was left of him back together after the pit had been an arduous, grueling process. ]

Is Dean aware you've seen it?

[ his immediate concern is for dean's security, emotional or otherwise. not even sam had been able to drag explicit details of that time from him. knowing it's out there, witnessed by one of his closest friends, may be devastating to him. ]

[ Fair question. Geralt only tilts his head—an indication that he understands why Castiel is asking. ]

Yes. Dean's seen...pieces of me, too.

[ Equally buried deep, equally fucked. He leaves it at that. Between spilled memories, shared dreams—they've crossed into each other's minds far too much. By the time he'd told Dean he'd seen the memory, Dean hadn't even flinched. They were well past that point.

Geralt doesn't like it. These forced revelations. But if it had to be anyone, then better it's Dean. If nothing else, they have an understanding. ]

You missed a few things. [ You know. On the chance that wasn't evident. ]

So I see. [ Cas almost chuckles - the war, the bombing, the arrival of his apocalyptically trigger-happy brothers. if anything, dean and geralt trading vulnerability may be some of the good news. ] It must have been a difficult exchange. I'm glad you found trust in each other.

[ trauma bonding, while certainly not the most healthy way to form relationships, has perhaps been the most prominent feature between the extended hunter family back home. makes sense dean continues to forge connection through it here. ]

Thank you, for... keeping Dean's confidence. For being a friend.

[ "looking after him" is really what cas means, but imagines there might be objection to that sentiment, either from geralt or the absent party in question. dean struggles without 'family' present. cas and geralt may not have been close, but he knew dean had formed a bond with him, knew he could be trusted. if anyone's likely to empathize with the harrowing aspects of their lives at home, it's geralt. ]

If I, um, ended up with any of your memories, I apologize, I must have forgotten it now.

[ geralt may be happy to have his business known by one less person, but it strikes cas as rude to just forget information so personal to someone. ]

[ A brief silence passes. He's never been thanked for being anyone's friend before. He has known Castiel longer than some, in a sense, despite their infrequent chats; Castiel was the first he met alongside Dean. He's also more than aware that Castiel is a rarity in terms of not, frankly, being a little fucker over Geralt existing in Dean's general vicinity. As one or two others have.

But it's still different to hear it spoken aloud, without reservation.

The culmination of Geralt's thoughts is condensed into a plain: ] Sure.

[ It's a sincere Sure, though, unlike his others which sometimes pass for Close enough and Arguing is more effort than you're worth. Something genuinely accepting. ]

You didn't. [ However it worked, Geralt was the only one who absorbed Castiel's. ] Probably for the best.

Edited 2023-01-15 11:56 (UTC)

[ cas offers a soft smile, sensing the rare sincerity and grateful for geralt's candor with it all. ]

It isn't often we - Dean, his brother and I - find a companion with, um, equal life experience, that becomes a staple in their lives. [ meaning, doesn't die, or betray them (be betrayed by them), or disappear. ] Dean, in particular, is hesitant to form connections. I believe the time with you has done him well.

[ dean would deny how emotional and needing of a creature he is until kingdom come, but being a hunter and world-saver doesn't change the whole being human condition. cas could lecture him on it for an eternity and it'd be like trying to move a mountain with a sternly worded letter. someone like geralt arriving and fulfilling that for him is a small miracle.

a comfortable silence settles for a time, meditative as the atmosphere sums up to small waves lapping against warmed rocks, steam dancing clouds through the air, cool night air prickling skin. many humans don't fully appreciate the peace in stillness. he's grateful geralt does.

eyes on the open night sky, cas lets the memory in question drown out his thoughts. the call to serve, the gruesome battle through hell, and the brilliant gleaming soul he discovered in the muck and mire of the pit. the agonizing process of rebuilding, reforming a man from a single spark of life, carding through joy and horrific trauma, slotting the pieces back together, every ecstatic and agonizing memory in its place. he eventually picks up where the conversation diverted. ]

How much was it, that you saw of that memory?

[ Trust is difficult. He more than understands. It started professionally—Dean is reliable on a hunt, can manage the desert conditions fine, and that made him easy company—but even Geralt won't deny that they've long become friends. It's rare for Geralt, too. ]

I seldom trust human hunters. [ They call themselves many things: knights, mercenaries, adventurers. Most make him wary. At best, they get in the way, too arrogant to understand their limits. ] He's...different.

[ He leans back, relaxed in the silence. The moon is half-formed, a sliver behind the clouds. In all the realms they could've landed in, he can at least be grateful shares a similar landscape. He's witnessed enough memories of steel and grey stone—and not a patch of grass in sight—to understand he'd not have a clue what to do there.

At the question, he shifts. ] Only the battle. Blood, the usual. I know you retrieved him for a purpose.

[ geralt doesn't seem the type to trust lightly, or freely, so it does carry significant weight to hear him speak so highly of dean. he understands - that's something markedly different about the man, so, preaching to the choir here. ]

Do humans often give you trouble? [ his brow furrows, but it does make sense. humans are usually wary of anything supernatural, most especially hunters. ] When we met, the first thing Dean did was stab me through the heart.

[ after pumping several shotgun rounds into his chest. eyes turn to the sky, watching it with geralt for a time and considering if he ought to expand beyond that. geralt's clearly trusted, and it wouldn't hurt from him to understand more of the story behind it all. where they each come from, what they fought through to get here. what heaven truly means to them. ]

Heaven aimed to use him as a tool. A vessel, for Michael, in an apocalyptic battle to the death. [ he ducks his head, watching the water ripple around his shoulders. even if he feels shame for his part in heaven's play at sacrificing dean and sam for the sake of a story, he'll never regret saving him from hell. ] I wasn't aware at the time.

[ Geralt gives a noncommittal shrug. Perhaps that says enough. The simple answer is yes; the real answer is that he lives amongst the humans, and cares for a not insignificant number of them. The real answer is everyone, everything, on the Continent carries a cruel streak that gleams especially sharp when fear grips them. He did not exactly find compassion waiting on the Witchers' frosty doorsteps when he first arrived. It took a long time for Kaer Morhen to become associated with warmth and home.

It's a waste of time to stay angry over common facets of the world.

He's more interested in Castiel's description of his first meeting with Dean. Can imagine that well. ]

Lucky you've a sturdy heart. [ In more ways than one.

Geralt swirls a finger in the water. Nods. He's received a vague telling of that, though not the particulars. The end of days, prophecies. Concepts with which he's grown intimately familiar.

The regret in Castiel's voice catches his attention. He's learned enough between the angel and Lucifer and Dean, he thinks, to venture a guess as to what transpired: ] You left your realm for his.

[ it's interesting, framed that way. he did abandon all he knew for dean's world, even if the decision hadn't quit been so streamlined. ]

I suppose so, yes.

[ his intention wasn't to leave heaven, it was more of the consequence for going against raphael and the great plan. ] Siding with Dean, meant betraying Heaven. I'd thought releasing the angels from our father's plan, giving them the free will to self-determine, would...

[ would what, enlighten them? show them a better way? bring harmony on heaven and earth? he'd been so naïve, about so many thing. cas sighs, moving on to abandon that train of thought. ]

After a few faction wars and several very poor decisions made on my part, suffice to say, I'm no longer welcome there. [ except if needed for angel reprogramming, apparently, but that's a horror story for another bath time. ]

But in all that time, following Dean has been... I've seen so much, learned and changed so much. He may not always be righteous or correct, but his heart's always in the right place. Since routing that first apocalypse, there's never been a moment I found him undeserving.

I wouldn't trade it.

Edited 2023-04-24 00:53 (UTC)

[ In retrospect, Geralt did not anticipate I started several wars amongst my kind and was exiled from their world to be something he learned about Castiel while soaking in the hot springs, but it's—

Something. He files the knowledge away, and makes a thoughtful sound. ]

Friendships are often forged in unexpected places.

[ It's no different than he and Jaskier. And righteous men don't exist. Only those who believe they are, and Geralt seldom finds anyone more dangerous than such people. He'd met one here, once. They had not gotten along.

There is more to the story, he's certain—things he does not yet understand about Castiel or the environment he was raised in—but it feels like a tale for another time.

He claps Castiel on the shoulder as he rises from the waters. ] Enjoy the peace and quiet while it's yours.

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