1- Squirrel and Moose

"Sure, alright!" Dean walked out and to the front of the shop, with a happy smirk on his face - well, for as far as he was concerned, he had been basically forgiven! Ok, almost forgiven. He flopped down at his brother's side, his brain already in the gutter, thinking about that night that was about to come? "So, what did I miss?", he asked in a whisper, raising a brow at the sight of Castiel cleaning up shattred glass.

Horknath felt kind of silly, standing there while other people cleaned up the mess he himself had done. He accepted the cloth Castiel had offered to him, embarrassedly cleaning himself up a bit as he tried his best to at least stand out of the way and to mumble some apologies.

"The... half orc broke a cup of coffee. They're cleaning. I think we've been mistaken about them," Sam admitted, while massaging his neck. "They seem like normal friends."

Carleen looked at what was going on with concern, and walked over to Horknath. "Did you hurt yourself? Are you alright?"

Dean shook his head. "Does that mean they're just weird and that's it? An half-orc and someone who maybe just wants a spell to make vegetables grow in his garden?" The thought itself sounded so utterly ridiculous to him, he almost wanted to laugh. Because that was such a strange pair, c'mon!

"I-I'm ok", Horknath answered, now even more embarrassed - his ears were starting to feel as if they were on fire. "I'm sorry about the cup. It's just, my grip is a bit strong and I- maybe I can pay for it?" He couldn't buy a wristband, but maybe a small cup he could!

"Maybe," Sam said, just shrugging. "Maybe Ursus got worked up over nothing. That half-orc seems to kind of even have anger fits."

"Don't worry. I wanted to get rid of those cups anyway." Carleen smiled fondly at him. "Give me your wrist, I'll tie your now wristband for you."

"Hm. Yeah", Dean agreed. He still sounded a bit wary, though. "We'd still better keep an eye on them. Just to make sure, you know. The man told me before they were going to leave town as soon as they were done buying supplies."

"A-alright." Horknath hesitantly stopped holding his wrist covered with his hand, and offered it to Carleen. He felt like he would have never stopped getting surprised about just how jarring the difference between one of his hands and a regular human's was - confronted with hers, his hands were so big!

"Do you still think there's something suspicious about them?" Sam asked, observing Castiel intensely.
Meanwhile, Bobby entered the shop a bit hastily, and looked for his boys. When he caught Dean's eyes, he worded out "angels" silently, trying to gesture for them to get out of the shop with him as soon as possible.

Carleen should have resisted the curiosity to get a peek at Horknath's wrist, but she just couldn't. In the end... She just smiled, while covering Horknath's soulmark with his new wristband, and closed it. "It just occurred to me, sir Horknath. You never asked me for my name," she whispered to him. "Perhaps did you know it already?"

"I don't know. That guy, he seemed to be hiding something. He was acting really nervous, and-" Dean's eyes caught Bobby's, and he paled a bit when he managed to read his lips and gestures. He elbowed Sam, whispering to him to follow up, and quietly made his way towards the exit of the shop. "We're going out for a sec, Carleen!", he said out loud, hoping the woman would hear even if she was busy now.
He worriedly made his way to Bobby. "Angels? What the- how did they find us?"

Horknath tilted his head, looking confused. "I... no, I don't think I do..." He felt a bit self conscious. Was she reproaching him? Was it common etiquette to address a shopkeeper by given name? Damn it, he had never know that!

Carleen looked at the boys coming out promptly, and squinted. "We... might need to talk about this later. You two should leave. Use the backdoor, and come back here in a few days. I think there is an angel squad outside."
Castiel instantly paled out, and shared an alarmed look with Horknath. "Do you know the fastest way to the forest?"

"I'm not sure they're here for us but quick, let's get on our horses and the hell out of there before they spot us," Bobby cursed. He actually turned around, but froze, and gestured for Sam and Dean to hide with him in an alley.
"...It's not just regular angels," Sam whispered, worried. "That's an archangel here," he said, pointing at Raphael.

Horknath paled as well. With fear, but his hands were kind of trembling with rage too. He brought a hand up to his bandaged eye, and took a deep breath to force his anger to just dwell down. "Yes, if we pass behind this building we can take a secondary street, run and reach the nearby woods instead of the fields, where we would be easier targets. I... I don't know if we can outrun them, though", he answered quickly, worriedly looking at Carleen. "Won't you end up in some troubles, if you make us go away?"

Dean cursed. "Fuck. They really must be after someone way more important than us, if an Archangel deigned himself to lift his ass from the chair", he whispered, trying to get a look even by the place where they were hiding. "What are they looking for? Nothing has happened in this town, we've been here for days!"

"I'll handle myself. Save yourselves first, and-" She laid her hand on Horknath's left wrist, hesitantly. "... Please come back on another day."
Castiel, in the meantime, was already going towards the back of the shop, since he knew, just knew those angels were out for him.

"Well. Either Mr. Feathers over there needs some repairing to his fancy jacket, or this might have something to do with our two odd fellas," Bobby gritted his teeth. Indeed, Raphael and his followers were walking towards Carleen's shop now.

Horknath felt a pang of guilt. He didn't want to leave that kind woman in the claws of people that really couldn't care less about how they got their informations - but he saw Castiel hurrying away, and he couldn't really leave him either. He glanced back at Carleen, and nodded at her. "Thank you", he said, sounding terribly serious even to himself as he quickly followed his friend towards the secondary exit.

"Shit." Dean gritted his teeth. "What do we do? Carleen is in there, and if she gets in trouble by trying to defend her customers or something-" He bit his lip. They were finding themselves in such a tight spot, and so suddenly! He barely had the time to think before he was trying to move, almost standing and wanting to walk out of his hiding spot. He would have, if no one stopped him!

Carleen looked at Horknath and Castiel go, but then collected herself, and cleaned up the shop a little bit before the angels came in. Fortunately for her, Raphael didn't insist too much. But that- the hunters couldn't know about it for sure.

Bobby prevented Dean from throwing himself into trouble. "Look. The half-orc and his friend came out from the back door. I think miss Carleen should handle things just fine. We'd better follow them. If angels have a bone to pick with them, there might be something fishy about them after all."

Horknath guided Castiel quickly in a row of secondary, deserted small streets, finally breaking out of town and straight into a path that led them in the woods. He took a deep breath, then glanced at Castiel. "I hope that woman won't have problems because of us", was the first thing he said, sounding worried.

Dean grunted, clenching his teeth. He pointed at Bobby. "Alright. But if anyone hurts her, I will go after them myself!" This said, he knew better than to disagree with the older man. He was almost always right. So he did follow him, and the odd couple, for the whole weird zigzag path they took.

Castiel nodded. "I... hope so." Especially because it would have been 200% his fault. "But... I sense- I mean I have the feeling somebody followed us," he whispered, looking over his shoulder.

"You wouldn't be wrong about that," Sam answered, showing up with Dean in front of them. Bobby had remained behind, too busy wheezing in a street and cursing about 'idjits' and being 'too old for this shit'.

Horknath inmediately assumed a defensive stance, shooing Castiel behind him. "You again!", he barked, trying to look a bit menacing as he was taller and larger than both Sam and Dean. "Are you having a race with your colleagues from the Government? Who catches the orc gets a pay rise?"

Dean reacted just as much aggressively. "Hey, don't compare us to those bastards!", he answered out loud. "It will be your fault if someone hurts anybody in that tailor shop! Why are they looking for you, eh? Who did you kill!"

"They're looking for me," Castiel intervened. "Not because I killed someone, but-" He took a deep breath, and yet took a step forward, even withholding Sam and Dean's glares. "It's because of the person I'm linked to. I didn't do anything wrong."

Dean blinked. Staring at them both for a couple of seconds as he tried to think why angels would care about who a human beingwas tied to. "... are you tied to each other or - are you tied to someone really upstairs who wants you killed", he blurted out in the end, a bit embarrassed.

Horknath choked. "We're NOT soulmates!", he stuttered, feeling himself starting to get red. "And if we were, there would be nothing wrong with it anyway! He is tied to someone too high up, and I already had to save him from starvation because angels were hunting him down in the forest!"

"... Hold on. Just who are you tied up to?" Sam asked Castiel, who stared right back at him, with no intent on answering him precisely whatsoever.

"I'm tied to someone human. But the angels are looking for that person. By extension, they're looking for me." He looked grim. "Are you intending on turning me in?"

Horknath was waiting for an answer as well, still tense.

Dean glanced at Sam, first. Then at Castiel. He stared at him for a minute, in silence, frowning. In the end, he lowered his hands, getting them away from his weapons. "If that's the case, no. Besides, as rogues, we don't really get along with our 'colleagues from the Government', as you maybe know", he added, mimicking Horknath's tone.

Castiel sighed with relief. "Rogue hunters. I should have known." He even let out a small smile, and relaxed as well.

"But you can't hide forever from the official hunters. Or angels. Or even archangels, for that matter," Sam pointed out. He turned to Dean again. "We should bring him to Ellen."

"To Ellen?", Dean asked, sounding a bit unsure. "... well, fine. But we gotta ask Ursus first - he won't let just anyone come along with us just cause. Especially if this anyone has hunters, angels and freakin' Archangels tailing him!"

Horknath relaxed as well at Castiel's side, once he understood that they weren't into an immediate danger. "Hey, wait a second. Where do you want to bring him again?" He felt that maybe those two were forgetting that he was still around as well!

"If anyone could keep him safe, that's her, Norway," Sam pointed out, holding his brother's gaze for a moment. Then he turned to Horknath. "Ellen is just her alias, but she's a friend of ours. A sort of retired rogue hunter. She shelters people like your friend, and hides them from angels. But it's true that it's quite far from here."

Castiel hesitated, yet- "Maybe I should go. And avoid to bring you further trouble, Horknath," he told his friend, looking at him.

"... yeah, I guess you're right", Dean muttered, looking away. He was trying to see if he could catch sight of Ursus, since he hadn't been able to run along with them. Well, true, to keep up with their rhythm was getting increasingly difficult. "I've told that old man to just retire for just about years, he never listens!", he muttered, shaking his head.

Horknath shook his head, clearly not convinced about letting his new friend go off on his own with some rogue hunters! "If you really want to go to this 'Ellen' gal, fine. But I'm not having you go alone with people you barely even know!"

"Start showing some respect to your elders," Bobby grunted, finally joining them, with a somewhat shallow breath. "You boys ran like the devil was tailing you." He eyed Horknath and Castiel a bit curiously. "What did I miss?"

Castiel frowned slightly, looking back at his friend. "Horknath, you shouldn't offer to leave your home because of me." Now, he did feel really bad about going. Horknath had helped him a great deal and, well, he was probably the first friend he had made in centuries. He couldn't bear the idea of ruining his life.

Dean rolled his eyes. "It's not our fault if your lungs aren't like they used to be a hundred years ago", he joked, throwing him a small grin. He explained the situation, and what they had found out about the presence of angels in that town. "So apparently they are looking for him. He's tied to a human that is very, very important or whatever, and they are looking for both." He crossed his arms. "Alces suggested to bring him to Ellen."

Horknath shook his head. "You don't understand, Emmanuel. They could find us here, in this city. My house is probably the first place where they looked", he whispered, sounding bitter. "I don't even know if it is still standing, by now." He was honestly scared of going back. What if they were waiting by his door? He scratched his eyepatch, the phantom pain of his eye being ripped off haunting him, like always when he heard anything about angels.