Scheming and Socializing at Ravenclaw Bar ((SPN crew, and see note))

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

((This one's open to pretty much anyone, but Yukimura and Lee are particularly invited to come around before or after Bobby and the boys show up.))

---

Castiel had finally gotten around to investigating the bar in Ravenclaw tower, and found the place to his liking. He could sit quietly and watch people come and go if he wanted to, socialize if he liked (which he hadn't yet ventured to do, but he was working up to it,) and he could drink as much as he wanted of whatever he liked.

He'd been trying not to abuse the privilege. Getting roaring drunk, he'd been assured, did little to improve his disposition. Though Dean had made some puzzling allusions to marijuana that frankly stumped him, as he hadn't tried the stuff. Yet.

This afternoon, though, he was here for a purpose, waiting for Bobby to arrive so that they could set in motion their plan to exact retribution upon the Winchester boys for the events their prank war had set in motion the night of the Yule party.

Practical jokes were still unfamiliar territory to the angel. But he was cautiously optimistic that the plan was both appropriate and effective; Bobby had devised the spells, and he had thought of the delivery system.

Whether it would be funny, on the other hand...well, that he really wasn't qualified to judge. He was fairly sure, though, that Dean and Sam would not be laughing.

Comments

[junkyard-hunter.livejournal.com]

It hadn’t taken long for Bobby to hear the news. John Winchester was back from the dead and at Hogwarts. He and the boys had finally reconciled. Or at least as close to reconciling as they were ever going to get. They’d always be butting heads to some degree.

Bobby was happy for them, all three of them. But he had gotten used to thinking of Sam and Dean as his own. He had no right to, they weren’t his kids, but he had grown to love those two idjits. How many times had he slipped and called one of them ‘son’? Now that John was back, he felt a little adrift. His sudden death and the reason he had died had left a tremendous hole in the lives of both boys. Now he was back to fill it, to be their father like he should have been all along.

Now he wasn’t dense enough to think that he suddenly didn’t have a place in their lives, but it was going to be different. And Bobby wasn’t sure if he liked the idea.

He knew damn well he was being a selfish old fool, but he had earned that right. It had been a damnably awful year, one full of more terror, heartache and pain than he had ever thought possible. And no matter how hard it all got, family stuck together through it.

Bobby pushed the thoughts from his mind. He had plans to meet Cas and work out their retribution. Maybe a little friendly revenge on those two idjits and a couple of beers would help clear his head. He picked up the spells and a delivery system he thought would work best and headed over to Ravenclaw.

"Don't drink these," he said without preamble, setting a pair of six-packs on the table. "I figure it's a good way to get em both at the same time."

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

Cas nodded, setting a couple of empties out of the way. "Hello, Bobby. Have a seat." Several noteworthy things had happened since he had last spoken with the man, and he was interested in Bobby's take on John Winchester's appearance especially. "How have you been?"

Sam wore his heart openly on his face, and even Dean's habitual snark couldn't completely conceal the tiredness around his eyes, but Bobby was more difficult to read. Castiel couldn't remember seeing the man look genuinely happy (not for more than fleeting instances, at least) and so it wasn't easy to guess how he was getting by without intruding further into his thoughts than seemed polite.

As for the angel, he'd been doing better since getting some sleep (http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_hocus/1985091.html#cutid1) and (ironically) since his encounter with Death. (http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_hocus/1988032.html?thread=112248768#t112248768) Though he wouldn't go so far as to say all his issues were resolved, he was coping.

[junkyard-hunter.livejournal.com]

Bobby shrugged noncomittally and picked up one of the non-hexed bottles of beer, twisting it open. He took a long draw from the bottle and sighed.

It’s not that he wasn’t one to ever talk about his feelings, but Bobby had learned early in the fight to keep his hidden. He had to be the one to hold it together for Sam and Dean. He was the one who had looked after the two boys as they mourned and tried to come to terms with what had happened after John’s death. And when the angel joined their little family and experienced his own crises and struggled with mortality, Bobby was the one to hold it together for all three of them.

It was hard, but they were the ones out there on the front, they were the ones suffering, the ones being hurt and damn near killed most weeks. But someone had to be the center and keep it all from coming to pieces. He had to keep the yard together, do the research and offer the coffee, greasy food and gruff encouragement whenever they swung through.

“I’m damned glad to put the last year behind us,” he finally said. Without a crisis looming on the horizion, it had been more difficult to keep his feelings under wraps. He felt useless and he hated it. “And I’m damned glad you and the boys are here and in one piece.”

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

Castiel nodded. "I concur," he said. "It's been good for all of us to be here." He hadn't forgotten what might be waiting for them when they returned home, but dealing with whatever happened could only be easier for the respite. "Having Adam and now John here must be complicated for Dean and Sam right now, but I'm sure that will work out for the best as well," he added innocently, completely oblivious to any mixed feelings Bobby might have on the subject.

[junkyard-hunter.livejournal.com]

"Mm. Yeah, we're all due a damned break."

Bobby shrugged, "Maybe. Adam'll be fine once the kid gets his head on straight. John, I don't know. Maybe he'll finally be a decent father to those two boys. He tried, I know he did, but.. sometimes his damned obsession was all he could see." He tilted the bottle back before continuing. "But they're a family again, that's what's important."

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

"We've all had our obsessions," Cas said, thinking of his own single-minded pursuit of God before it had been soundly rebuffed.

At the hunter's last remark, he cocked his head slightly, catching the shift in the man's diction and not quite sure he understood it (or liked it.) "'They?'" he repeated, opening a beer of his own. "A few days ago it was 'we.' That's changed?"

[junkyard-hunter.livejournal.com]

"No, that ain't what I mean, Cas." Bobby thought for a moment, figuring he had better pick his words with a little more care.

"When John needed help, he'd bring the boys by and I'd look after 'em when they were kids. After he died, I stepped in and did my damndest to take care of Sam and Dean. I guess somewhere along the line, I started thinkin of them as my own sons. Now that John is back, he'll be able to do what he never could before and be their father. They ain't gonna need me to look after them like I have. That don't mean that we're not still family. It's just.. different."

Bobby drained his beer, unaccustomed to talking so much about himself in one go.

[elegantsamurai.livejournal.com]

Yukimura didn't often go to the Ravenclaw bar as he enjoyed the companionship of the bar staff at the Slytherin bar and it was closer to his room, but every so often, being alone, or slightly more alone but still not in his room, was something he wanted. And, he knew it worried Kuronue when he drank in the room. He slipped into the bar, looking around to see who was around before selecting a bottle of sake. He walked up to Castiel. "You look like you're waiting for someone? Would you care for company?" he asked, gesturing to the seat nearest the angel, his tone friendly. There'd been a time he would have been flirtatious, but certain events still had him cautious about flirting with newcomers as quickly as he had.

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

Castiel glanced up and smiled slightly, gesturing to the chair. "Of course. Yukimura, correct?" He remembered the man well from his sorting, and had spent more than a few odd moments contemplating the rather sticky questions he had posed. If he hadn't come looking for Yukimura with an answer yet, it was mainly because it seemed to keep changing every time he considered the question.

Philosophical quandaries aside, he in no way objected to the man's company. "I am supposed to meet with a friend, but I arrived early. Please, join me."

[elegantsamurai.livejournal.com]

A smile curved his lips. "Yes, Yukimura. I am pleased you remember me," he laughed, taking the seat. "I must apologize for asking such difficult questions. Would you care for a drink?" he asked, holding up the bottle. It was a fairly good sake. He had better in his private stash in his room, but those, Kuronue insisted on tasting first even though that one was gone.

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

"They were difficult," Cas acknowledged, "but worth the asking."

He looked at the bottle. "Sake?" He vaguely remembered there being a few like it in the specialty section of the liquor store he'd ransacked, but everything had been blurring together by that point, and he couldn't for the life of him remember what the stuff tasted like (or what kind of kick it had.) "I'd be pleased to try it, thank you."

[elegantsamurai.livejournal.com]

"Yes, sake, the drink of the gods," he laughed as he poured them both a drink. "I find it very pleasing, at least," he amended, still amused. He handed Castiel a cup.

He sipped his and sighed, leaning back. "I have found that those who cannot ask or think of the difficult questions are often not worth the time to ask the simple ones. Though, it is usually more common to begin with the simple questions, isn't it?"

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

Cas smelled the rice wine curiously, then took a cautious sip. "Oh. It's strong," he said after a moment, and tried a little more. "I like it," he decided.

"Usually. Though the ones that sound simple often aren't." Dean was particularly good at coming up with those. "But in the spirit of simple questions, where are you from?"

[drunkexguardian.livejournal.com]

((Tag whenever--no rush!))

Lee was remarkably good at just kind of... being places. It came in handy sometimes, like when she wanted to make a big entrance. Or when she wanted to avoid them--suddenly being noticed in a corner and making three people jump a little was a lot quieter than kicking down a door, stomping across the floor (hovering across--she couldn't even stomp properly if she was in cloak mode) and facing everyone down.

And she wasn't big on big entrances when she was at the Ravenclaw bar. Stay in a dark corner and get drunk in a burgundy pile, that was more her thing. Nobody interrupted her binges asking for help here. Nobody much interrupted her at all.

It was nice, in an avoidant way. She downed some more dark beer, concentrating on the taste and not much else.

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

Castiel was notorious for interrupting people at all manner of pursuits, and he'd lately been practicing the fine art of sitting in a corner and not being noticed himself. Lee, clearly, was a master of the craft. It was some time before he even realized she was in the room.

Once he had, he left her to it for a time, content to keep her in his peripheral awareness and let her drown her sorrows as she saw fit. At some point, though, he came to a decision, and there was a brief flickering about him as he zapped off to his own room and returned to his place in the space between two heartbeats with the item he'd retrieved.

He got up a moment later and ambled over to Lee's corner, prepared to back off if she wasn't in a mood for company. He did owe her a thank-you, however, and he also thought it would only be fair to offer...

"Hello, Lee," he greeted her, hefting the six-pack she'd sent him at Christmas. "My apologies if I'm disturbing you. But I thought maybe you'd like to share this with me."

[drunkexguardian.livejournal.com]

"You," Lee said, in a less accusatory manner than normal. "So you found it after all. Pull up a seat." She swept one arm in a grandiose indication of a free space, not quite unbalancing herself in the process. "And you brought refills! Great. I hate flagging down the house elves. Little fuckers are busy enough." She only had the one mug in front of her, mostly drained of beer, but during the time she'd been moping occupied it had been refilled more times than she'd bothered to count.

She polished off the last of it, leaned forward and rested her head on one hand. Beneath the shadow of her hood, her face smooshed against her fist. "And I don't think they like bringing refills too much, either. I don't know if it's the booze itself or just me. I try to be nice to 'em, but I think they're scared of me anyway."

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

"You do give an impression of...formidability," Cas said, taking the seat opposite and setting the beer down between them. "I try not to bother them too much, either. It doesn't seem appropriate, somehow." His sole purpose for existence, for years beyond count, had been to serve as the instrument of another's will. Even if that was arguably behind him, it felt all wrong to be waited on by others, especially since it was usually a trivial effort to find what little he needed himself.

"Are we celebrating an occasion," he asked after a moment, claiming one of the beers, "or just toasting the inevitable descent of the Universe into entropy?" That look of sodden resignation was all too unfortunately familiar, though given their last conversation, she undoubtedly had a lot more practice at that too.

[drunkexguardian.livejournal.com]

She grunted. "I'm a raging bitch, thank you for noticing. It's nice to be appreciated." She sniffed, staring after one house elf. "I tried talking with them for a while. Fucking depressing. They've got a raw deal and they're so goddamned happy about it. Ask one what it'd do if you set it free and it about shits itself."

She swiped one of the beers without asking, opened it, and resumed drinking. "Celebrating? Fuck no. This is a normal... what the fuck time of day is it. Don't tell me. I know this one. Anyway, this is my fucking vacation. Hogwarts is the one place I can go to that isn't Bete Noir now, and... and I needed somewhere new to drink." Her son had taken up her old booth in Furor's, she'd heard, and she couldn't face him. Not now. So, Ravenclaw it was. "The old place was getting kind of stale." She glanced away from her drink back up at Castiel. "How 'bout you? Any particular reason, or just seeing the sights?"

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

Following her gaze, Castiel shrugged fractionally. "I suppose it's a matter of perspective. I was content enough to follow orders without question, at one time. Maybe whatever it will take to break them out of that mindset just hasn't happened yet." Part of him almost envied the elves. The transition from that uncomplicated life of servitude had been rough, to say the very least, and he wouldn't deny he sometimes missed the old days.

He shook his head at her question. "I was sorted into Ravenclaw house. I've been waiting for some friends and watching people come and go. It's an interesting place, this Hogwarts. I always knew there were planes of existence beyond my experience, but I never realized how many, or how much sentient life they contained."

Lee didn't strike him as a raging bitch at the moment. She just looked desperately unhappy and very, very drunk. Which, he'd come to know, was a much less enjoyable state when experienced alone. "Do you have friends here?"

[fantastic-nine.livejournal.com]

The Doctor was in an especially good mood. He was in Ravenclaw to look around and see who might have arrived, or left, while he had been away in Barcelona with Rose. The fellow in the trenchcoat caught his attention right away. Time curved around him oddly, and there was an immense amount of power and light around him.

He dropped down into the seat next to Castiel with a grin. "Hullo. I'm the Doctor."

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

Slightly startled, Cas blinked at the man. "Castiel. I thought I'd already met the resident Doctor." At least this one wasn't circling like a carrion bird and pointing any strange contraptions at him.

[fantastic-nine.livejournal.com]

The Doctor flapped his hand, "Taller fellow? Bowtie, mad hair? That's me. Well, a future version of me. Regeneration actually. It's all a bit dodgy, considering there are two of us in the same timeline. But the universe hasn't imploded yet," he said cheerfully.

"Are you a new arrival or a recent return?"

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

"Relatively new." Regenerating doctors. More time-related strangeness, check. He hadn't actually run into his own past self on his trip back to the 70's, for which he was grateful, but 'dodgy' described the concept pretty effectively. "I'm still learning my way around the place. Have you been here long?"

[fantastic-nine.livejournal.com]

"Recently returned myself. And it's fantastic, isn't it? Timelines and universes converging in some grand nexus point, absolutely brilliant." The Doctor plucked a random bottle from the bar and helped himself to a drink before offering one to Castiel. He regarded him with vision not of the normal spectrum.

"Rather shiny, aren't you? But you're not an alien. Mind if I ask what you are? It isn't often I meet someone new."

[nerdofthelord.livejournal.com]

"It has been interesting," Cas agreed, accepting. "I'm an angel. Of the Earthly, Abrahamic variety." He'd run into enough bizarre variations on themes around here that specificity was beginning to seem prudent. "You're clearly not a standard-issue mortal, either. An alien, then?"