Cas nodded at Adam, not quite sure what the point was, but he was at least observant enough to discern that the young man was trying to be helpful.

He froze for a second when Claire reached toward him, and flushed as he saw what she'd just found. "Um. Thank you." He took the feather carefully from her fingers and stuck it into a pocket, hoping she wouldn't ask where it had come from. But at least it had given him an idea, and he promptly seized onto and ran with it. "I must have...picked it up...at the Yule party. You were there, I believe? Did you have a good time?"

Only then did he glance around and realize that all his friends had left him to sink or swim. He shot Dean a betrayed look over Claire's shoulder before fixing his attention on the conversation again.