It's The End Of The World As We Know It, And I DON'T Feel Fine

[lifehappened]

The Apocalypse. Here and in full swing. Cities are mostly ruined, Croatoan-infected people infesting most of the formerly heavily-populated areas. Familiar enough. Just with one tiny hitch.

Dean said 'yes', not Sam. Leaving Sam to organize everyone he can find to keep them alive and to fight back. Resulting in Castiel following him instead, since Dean may as well not exist anymore, given Michael won't be handing him back anytime soon from wherever he's disappeared to. And Lucifer? Not in great shape, given he's in the wrong meatsuit and won't be getting the correct one.

((This is an open post to play with this idea I randomly had. It's for any combo of characters, doesn't necessarily have to all involve mine.))

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[badpuns]

By the time Dean said yes, Balthazar had already long since skipped out on Heaven with a good chunk of its arsenal tucked away safely where no one would find it. It wouldn't stop Michael from ripping the planet apart, trying to find Lucifer, but it certainly would slow him down a bit. Sometimes he wonders if Michael is looking for Lucifer, or if he's caught on that the weapons aren't destroyed, just missing, and if some of the mess they're left with is his fault. Nah. Probably not.

Regardless, it isn't as though he can just pop back in upstairs, so he does the only thing that makes sense to him, and goes looking for Castiel. Really, at the end of the world, there's nowhere else he'd rather be. So he joins up with Sam's camp, and actually makes himself at least somewhat useful. Keeping Castiel safe is his main goal, but sometimes doing that means helping the rest of the group too. And truthfully, when it comes down to the two brothers, he objects less to Sam than he does to Dean.

[lifehappened]

If Balthazar ever tells him how much he objects to who, Castiel would have to wonder why a bit. Not that he's particularly happy with Dean either. He Fell, chose the side of the Winchesters, only for Dean to throw it away with his 'yes'. Leaving him and Sam to work out how to handle each other without Dean in the mix.

Castiel's sitting on the front porch--such as it is--of his cabin, watching a small group of people work on something he can't quite make out when he hears Balthazar's approach, glancing over at him. "Sam need anything, or have you been cut loose for the moment?"

[badpuns]

Exactly Balthazar's reasoning. Dean gets the help of an angel, he fails to recognize the sacrifices made for his benefit, and the benefit of the rest of humanity, and throws it away with both hands. Sam stands and fights for survival, and refuses to give in. As far as he's concerned, both brothers have all the intelligence of a capuchin, and none of the charm, but what Dean has done is tantamount to betrayal.

He joins Castiel on the porch, and leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he watches the group working together on... Whatever it is that's supposed to be. Something useful, hopefully. "I believe we've both been sidelined for the moment. Until something comes up, at any rate."

[lifehappened]

Castiel can't help letting a snort slip out. "I've been sidelined for months. Nothing new, there."

Not that he blames Sam. He is fairly useless at this point. No powers, unless one counts what Dean dubbed 'angel radio'--not that there's usually anything for him to hear these days--, an addiction to some of the medicines they've scrounged up, and a general lack of sobriety. Even if he's relatively clear-headed for the moment.

"I think they're trying to fix something," he says after a moment, nodding towards the group.

[badpuns]

"Yes, well, out of the whole camp, we're the ones who know Michael - and Lucifer, for that matter - best. Only a matter of time before Sam asks us both to step up, I'm sure."

Survival for both of them seems to be good enough motivation to keep Balthazar more sober than he's been since his initial fall. One of them has to be the level headed one. He likes to think Castiel will get there eventually too. Maybe some day, after he realizes that even without their powers, they can find ways to be useful.

His attention focuses on what the group is working on for a moment. "Looks like something mechanical? I'm not sure what it's supposed to be, though."

[lifehappened]

"Note that I'm here, not over there with them," Castiel points out slightly dryly, choosing to ignore the commentary on Michael and Lucifer. He would rather not get into his stash just yet, today.

"Parts to keep things working are getting harder to find. If they can't work out how to fix whatever it is, they may need to give up and use it as spare parts." Assuming it had anything useful that could be used elsewhere.

[badpuns]

"Well, the company's much better over here. I don't blame you," Balthazar grins, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

He shrugs as Castiel mentions it's getting harder and harder to find parts. Supplies are getting harder to scavenge in general, without going too close to city centres. "It just means we may have to start travelling a bit further."

[lifehappened]

Castiel just shakes his head with a smile at the comment on the company. "Or find someplace to move to that hasn't been picked over. At least, not too badly."

He knows their resources are strained. Too many people, not enough new things coming in. Which would have made him still being an angel helpful. No need for him to eat, allowing the food to all go to other people, at the very least.

[badpuns]

It's another option, and perhaps one they might have to look at. He's not sure how thrilled Sam would be at the idea - they're already pretty well settled where they are.

"All right. Where would you want to go? If you could go anywhere at all?"

[lifehappened]

'Home' isn't a useful answer, so Castiel discards it almost immediately.

"I can't say I have anything too specific in mind," he says after a moment with a slight shrug. "Nothing like, say, the Tower of London."

Which he imagines is probably occupied. It was a formidable fortress in its day, and can be again.

"I'll go for more general. Someplace with farmland, since we're going to need to grow our food on a bigger scale than what's already being done." They need more things than tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. Along with the handful of other things people have been trying to produce in the garden areas of the camp.

[badpuns]

"Well, London's a bit far off, too. Something a bit closer to home might work, though."

Balthazar hums thoughtfully. A farm is an attractive prospect. Somewhere they could learn to all be self-sufficient and not depend on scavenging supplies quite as much. It would have to be big, though - big enough to house them all and secure, or just plain isolated, enough to keep the infected out.

It might be a good task to keep them both occupied. Keeping Castiel occupied might help with those feelings of being useless.

"Let's go find a farm, then, shall we?"

[lifehappened]

"I know. It was just an example of a specific location," Castiel says with another minuscule shrug.

"Think Sam has any good maps we can use so we can get an idea of where a good place to look would be?" He would rather not go haring off without knowing where he was going. Not these days.

[strippernameserendipity]

The problem with being in charge of a warehouse full of madcap was that the job didn't end when the world did. Especially when she had the unpleasant discovery that whatever it was the virus did, it let the infected Croatoans smash through her well-warded house like it was nothing. The only safe haven Claudia had now was the Warehouse, and trying to live in there was not going to work because, well, one can't live on an endless supply of cookies. They still had lines of communication, though, thanks to certain things like the Farnsworths and other Artifacts.

It was just that using the collection as an arsenal was not an easy thing to do, especially since both sides would want whatever gave the surviving humans any edge. And she tried to keep an eye on the few remaining rogue angels like Cas and company. She still had Loki for company and protection, although she hadn't seen much of Gabriel. It worried her, but there were a lot of big problems, and she hoped he hadn't tried to do anything that would get him killed. Again.

In the end, it was just a Caretaker, a whole lot of really kick-ass Artifacts that might ruin anyone's day, and a mystical guardian beast, eking out a living with everyone else. Oh, and trying to keep Pandora's box and Hope locked up nice and safe for everyone.

[lifehappened]

Castiel doesn't have any better idea what happened to his brother than Claudia does. Not that he's going to bother worrying about him. As an archangel, Gabriel has a lot more power at his disposal to ensure his survival than pretty much anyone else. If anyone can survive, it's him.

He peers over Claudia's shoulder to see what she was up to. "What are you doing?"

It's not like he was needed for anything pressing at the moment. Sam will send for him if he was required, he's sure.

[strippernameserendipity]

Claudia shrugged a little, pulling a few objects out of her backpack as she unhooked Loki's lead to let him bound around. "Little of this, little of that. Besides, can't I worry about you?"

It hadn't escaped anyone that Cas spent most of his time in a bottle, but it didn't mean she liked it. "I keep moving, as best I can, but, well, I found some things you might enjoy. And keep out of trouble. Raiding the attic and all that."

She didn't exactly come out and say that she borrowed a lot from the Warehouse, but hey, those things that could be used to safeguard what was left seemed worth the price. And these were more on the lines of distractions, anyways. Timothy Leary's glasses, some pagan liquors of various vintages. "I found a case of absinthe in the elephant from the Moulin Rouge, but I suspect you'd be seeing things for a month or more if you tried it."

[lifehappened]

A good amount of the time that bottle was actually a bottle of pills, but Castiel isn't going to argue the point. It's true enough.

"Depending on what I see, it could be worth it," Castiel says with a contemplative look. Of course, he'd be more useless than usual, but no one really expects him to do much, anyway. Just sometimes weigh in on things if he has some bit of knowledge that would be useful.

He doesn't need to not be seeing things for that. Just be able to focus.

[strippernameserendipity]

"I can get wanting to try to forget or escape, but there's still people who give a damn, Cas," she said, holding out the offerings. "There's still hope. Besides, the fur-monster would totally miss you."

As if he'd been expecting that as a cue, Loki bounds over to do his best to slobber on the angel of doom and gloom. Maybe it would get him to smile, or at least do something that wasn't depressing just to look at. She liked the angel, at least he had personality and humanity.

[lifehappened]

"You make it sound like instead of seeing potentially interesting things, I would die," Castiel points out, accepting what she gives him to examine them, giving her a questioning look about the glasses.

He's not doing anything more than hold them until he knows what to expect. Then Loki's getting involved and he has to set everything down to avoid any of it getting dropped. Losing any of it would be a tragedy.

[strippernameserendipity]

"Dr. Timothy Leary did psychological experiments involving LSD," Claudia explained, as concisely as anyone really could. "They usually go away if you remove them, but the chemical alterations to brain chemistry can be...problematic over the long run. Not sure how that would work out for you."

But it was potentially less damaging, in the long run. She wondered if he'd be able to destroy his liver or whatever systems with all he was doing, since he didn't really have the kind of oomph to do much these days. Still, she couldn't help covering the snort of laughter that almost escaped as he tried to juggle giant dog and presents.

"Absinthe is toxic, technically. And I'd hate to find out you got a little too mortal with everything. Not to mention explaining that to Sam. He carries too much. We all do." She knew she did, and she wasn't even really in this fight, not the same way as Sam or Cas. Claudia was just an archangel's whatever-they-were, and even that hadn't really survived. She hadn't seen Gabe in ages.

[lifehappened]

Considering that if he manages to take damage, he takes just as long as a human to heal, it would likely have the same effect on him as a human.

"Noted," he says, settling where Loki could lick him to his heart's content. "Speaking of Sam, he ask for help with anything? Or is he doing the stoic thing?"

[strippernameserendipity]

Claudia sighed, running a hand through her hair. "He's...Sam. Doesn't really want to ask for anything he wouldn't give himself, even that argument is total bullshit," she said. "I'm pretty sure he worries that if I get involved, sooner or later things will get exposed to, uh, both sides. Switzerland, I'm not, but staying out of things won't last. Best I can do is give folks things that might help. Or at least not hurt."

And artifacts were almost a nuclear option in a lot of cases. The Warehouse was doing what it could to expand to meet the needs of the current crisis, but it wasn't made for this. She couldn't keep releasing dangerous artifacts without consequences, either. "There are days when I think about grabbing the Minoan Trident and doing what H.G. almost did. At least if the world's in a supervolcanic winter nobody's going to be eating each other for long."

[lifehappened]

"That's because even more of us would be dead than there already are," Castiel points out. "Including everyone in this camp. Let's not do Lucifer's work for him."

He isn't ready to die just yet, even if he seems like it some days.

[strippernameserendipity]

"Yeah, I know. Never was one for killing them all, especially since God doesn't actually do the sorting to begin with," she said, trying for a bit of gallows humor. "And if I kick it, the old girl probably won't find anyone to replace me with. Not after what happened to Claire."

Without a Caretaker, the life of the Warehouse would most likely drain away along with the protections. And that would be an end to things, most likely.

"So I do the odd delivery, move around, and mostly keep my head down. I know the guy with Dean would know what I am if he bothered to look into things, but so far...well, you're the only guy with ties above who is clued in that I spend any time talking to."

[getsinsideyou]

Being in charge was never something that Sam asked for. Never really wanted. But that was the last thing that he was going to say to anyone that he didn't trust without question. The one person who that honor was long gone and wasn't going to come back. Even if they did walk through the gate, Sam knew it wasn't going to be the same. Dean was the one that knew more about survival like this. Paid more attention to their father. Was more the solider that should have been there with them. If he had been there they wouldn't have ended up in that situation.

Sam wasn't about to go turning his back. He'd found them a place. Got things organised. Made sure things went smooth. As smoothly as they could. Supply runs were getting trickier. Other survivors fewer that they came across to join them.

Packing a few things into a bag, Sam was preparing for one of those supply runs. Maybe even get some new information on what was happening out there as well. That was a sore subject, Cas was still there. Throwing the bag on his shoulder he headed out of his cabin. The others coming with him would be waiting.

[lifehappened]

Unfortunately, what Sam wants and what he gets are rarely the same. At least he had manged to hang onto Castiel to help make things easier. At least, until Castiel's powers went down more and more until they drained away entirely. He isn't even useful for what Dean dubbed 'angel radio' anymore, because none of the angels were talking where he could hear.


Castiel had felt obligated to volunteer to come along and was surprised when Sam actually took the offer this time. Normally he tells him no, he's got this and to just sit tight. Despite the surprise, Castiel's ready and waiting with a bag of his own; just needing to be told which jeep to hop into. "Ready to go?"