1- Squirrel and Moose

Horknath nodded. "Yeah, you can't keep that dirty piece of cloth there", he answered, looking around. He remembered there being a tailor's shop somewhere... "Well, bookshop's there", he said immediately, pointing to it. After all, he was someone who bought books as well. He had at least five, back at his place. "Ah, there's the tailor. Where do you want to go first?" He looked around, feeling nervous as people that passed by stared at him.

"The bookstore. It will probably require us more time to look around. I'm not looking for a particular wristband actually. I just need it to cover my mark and be neatly made, so I can wash proceed to my ablutions with it on if needed." Castiel looked up to Horknath. He seemed completely oblivious to the way people were staring at them.

Horknath nodded. Well, there was a book he wanted to buy himself - but he mostly really wanted to buy spices and some soap. "It's better if I come with you", he repeated with a nod. "After we're done with your shopping, we'll go get some stuff I need." He was afraid of staying alone among humans as well, to be honest...

Castiel nodded, and observed Horknath for a little bit. "You're nervous. Are you going to be okay?"
Meanwhile, on the other side of the street, Bobby was looking outside the window of their hotel's restaurant, sipping his coffee. And frowning slightly. "A man and a half-orc. Now that's a peculiar duo. And a peculiar attitude they have."

"If we stick together, I'll be fine." Horknath looked away as a woman fretted to walk far from the two of them, dragging her kid with her. "I... don't really like to stay around people longer than necessary." He sighed. "I don't know if you noticed, but people really don't. Want me here."
Dean raised an eyebrow. "An half-orc? In the middle of a city?" He sipped his coffee, frowning. "I thought at least those were extinct."

Castiel looked around, with curiosity. But he just shrugged that thought off, in the end. "If you don't like it, let's make it quick," he suggested, while entering the bookshop.

"Half-orcs? Yes. No one's brave enough to go near to one of the last remaining orc tribes, safe for the hunters who sold their soul to an angel," Bobby whispered. "I'm just afraid that, as welcoming as people are to us in this area, they might be a bit too offensive with those strangers and trigger an accident. Maybe we should keep an eye on them from afar."

"Thank you", Horknath murmured, head hung low as he followed Castiel inside the bookshop. He struggled a bit to fit in the doorframe, and still felt mostly ashamed throughout the whole bookshop trip. Well it was his fault if they had to cut it short!

Dean shook his head. "I think it's dangerous, for another reason. A provoked half-orc is an angry one - and those tend to be deadly. You know how fast everything gets over their heads!"

Castiel had to take a bit of time to look for his book, because he was looking for something very specific, a witch spell book that took most of his money, and a suspicious glare from the bookseller.

Bobby stared at Dean for five seconds straight, and then leaned in to smack his head. "That man is no more deadly than you are, Norway. I'll watch over them. You boys better be here or at the tailor shop when I'm done." He stood up and gathered his things to go outside.

Before the shop keeper could squint more at Castiel and ask uncomfortable questions about that one book he was buying, Horknath - unknowingly - managed to get his attention by clumsily knocking down a small exposer, and all the books on it. He stammered and apologized while the man rushed to save the books, making all sorts of distressed sounds. When the half orc managed to get out from the bookshop he was all red, utterly embarrassed and had managed to get his book for free ("Just get out, you big dumb orc!").

Dean let out an 'Ouch!', and rubbed against the sore spot on his head. He glared at Bobby. "Hey, that was totally uncalled for!", he protested, grumbling loudly. "Whatever. Sam? How do we move?", he said, already getting up from his chair.

Castiel looked at Horknath once they were pushed outside of the store. "Is everything alright?" He didn't fully get what had happened, or just why they were thrown out like this. He hadn't been among humans for a while, and didn't get their prejudices towards orcs yet.

Sam shrugged and got up as well. "It's true that we haven't checked on Miss Carleen's work for a little while. Are you sure you feel like confronting her again?" he smiled to Dean. He had noticed his brother had begun to act a bit awkward around their tailor.

"... yeah", Horknath finally muttered after some seconds. He tucked the book away in his sack, careful not to ruin it. "It's... 's fine. We just need to do another couple of runs anyway, right?" Truth be told, he always tried to stay around in cities the least possible, but he didn't want to rush Castiel. It didn't seem fair! He tried to change topic, trying to peek at what his human friend was holding. "What did you buy?"

Dean scratched his chin, looking annoyed as he glanced away from his brother's knowing smile. "I think I can 'confront' just about anybody", he declared pointedly. "Let's go."

"A spell book," Castiel replied. "I need to master concealing spells. To... remain unseen." He couldn't possibly use angel magic without risking to be discovered by actual witches, humans, or, worse: hunters.

"Alright, but tell me: what happened? You don't usually act that way around a woman like that," Sam asked him with a smile. "Did she do something to you? You know she was just taking measurements, right?"

Horknath let out an "Aah", and nodded. "I see. Seems like a good idea. Be careful with that stuff, though - I wouldn't want the forest I live in to take fire because of that... weird mumbo-jumbo written in there." Witches tended to make him feel nervous, even more than regular human beings. After all, they were able to bend the laws of that nature he knew so well with such ease!

"... dude, are you seriously asking me if she touched me in inappropriate places?" Dean chuckled, unable to hide just how fun he found that. He left some money on the table, and put on his coat. "Let's be honest, you know that it would make me nothing else than happy if that was the case! No, it's just... you know, I am not used to see the same attractive lady for more than a couple days in a row. We're here since a week."

Castiel held back a smile. "Don't worry. I'll be careful. I don't intend on becoming a full-accomplished witch anyway." He pushed the door of Carleen's shop, and walked in, making the front bell ring. No one was there yet, but they heard a faint "I'm coming!" from the back room.

"..." Sam held back a chuckle, bewildered. "I'm sorry- what? Are you telling me you don't know how to act around her because you've slept together and you wish to move on? Really?" He arched a brow, while putting his own coat back on.

Horknath told himself he definitely didn't need to touch anything - he didn't want to get kicked out of this one shop too! He folded his arms on his chest, and simply started looking around. Admired by the beauty of some materials, and bit alarmed by the lack of prices, but well. Not like they needed full new outfits! A simple band made of some nicer cloth wouldn't certainly cost that much.

"Oh, shut up Alces", Dean grumbled as he started to walk towards the door of their Inn, stomping out to hide his embarrassment. He didn't want to admit just how much Sam was right - and he wasn't used to have to do with women as sure of themselves as Carleen!

Carleen finally stepped into the main room, and paused when she saw them. Well. When she saw Horknath. She had heard of an 'orc' sometimes coming by into town, but her father always found an excuse to keep her in the back room whenever that happened. She didn't blame him. She knew her mother and him knew about her own mark, written in orcish dialect, that she was to hide forever. She had tried to convince herself anyway that this one orc coming by had nothing of interest, and was definitely not linked to her.
But when she caught sight of Horknath, she was left speechless, to the point she did not realize right away how she felt about that sudden encounter: hopeful.

Sam rolled his eyes. He'd never understand his brother. Carleen was a fun woman. Too bold to his own tastes, but- he sighed. "I'll never get you," he just told him, while going towards the tailor shop. "...Eh, Ursus is not far. D'you think the orc and his friend went inside?"

On his side, Horknath wasn't as hopeful as Carleen was. To him, the name he had on his wrist was just yet another human name, and humans were so many. Besides, which poor soul deserved to be paired off with an outcast like him? Nobody, that's who! He turned around and caught a glimpse of that woman, staring at the two of them. A woman. His brain suddenly remembered him that for some reason he should flush and hastily look away, which he did, seeing as this particular one was really pretty.

Dean glanced at his back. Catching sight of Bobby, he nodded briefly at him, and then turned to Sam. "I'm guessing so, yeah. Should we get in anyway, or should we wait in case anything happens?"

Carleen cleared her throat. "Good morning, gentlemen. How may I help you?" She distractedly played with a strand of her hair, trying not to stare at Horknath so much. Thankfully, Castiel stepped forward, and told her about his need for a new wristband. She quickly showed him her stock, even though she couldn't help but throw curious glances at Horknath, from time to time.

"Let's get inside. It would look suspicious if Ursus and us were to spy on them from outside. And they might get nervous, with three hunters obviously watching them." Sam walked forward, to enter the shop as well.

Horknath did try hard not to glance at Carleen again - he knew how much someone like him staring to a pretty lady could look menacing -, but he did look back sometimes. Just to turn quickly as soon as he saw her looking back. He feigned interest in some of the cloths, so that he had an excuse to stand there like a big awkward lug and not move around with the risk of knocking everything down.

Dean nodded in agreement and followed Sam inside the shop, finding a... honestly weird atmosphere. Everything felt kind of tense, and a bit awkward for some reason. He threw a brief glance at Horknath, then tried to get Carleen's attention with a wave.

Carleen held back some smiles when her eyes met Horknath. She was actually about to leave Castiel some time to choose his wrist band and talk to him, when Dean and his brother entered the shop. Her own attitude changed completely. She held back a smirk, and straightened up, crossing her arms. "Oh. Hello, Mr. Elkhound. Alces. I suppose you're here to look at your coats?"

Horknath's ears twitched when the bell rang, signaling some clients coming in. When he turned slightly to distractedly look at them, he felt his somewhat-sleeping nervousness arise once again.
Hunters. What now?

Dean grinned, trying his best to look confident. But to anyone knowing him, he definitely didn't look close to his usual cocky self. "You guessed right", he answered, walking towards her. "But, well, I see you are busy right now. We can wait."

Sam politely nodded in Horknath's direction when he looked at them. He tried to act nonchalant, and definitely not as if he were keeping an eye on him.

"I have indeed these two gentlemen to take care of before you. You might... sit on the couch. I'll have someone bring you coffee, if you wish." Carleen stared at Dean for a little while, with her arms crossed, arching a brow. Then she sighed, and turned to Horknath. "Did you need something as well, mister-?"
She had decided to go for him since Cas was keeping his back turned to the two hunters, nervousness nagging at him since he had caught a glimpse of them. There were only two options in this: one, they were linked to an angel who might have sent them to scout around for him. Second, they were rogue hunters who hated angels.

Horknath didn't nod back at Sam, merely for a lack of habit. He simply looked away from him, and kept his gaze insistently focused on whatever fine cloth he had in front of him, to show those two that he wasn't looking for troubles. He however got distracted when he heard Carleen speaking up to someone, and turned, to see who she was talking to. Well, not to those two men, they had gone sitting. And Castiel was looking for his stuff. He turned again. Nobody at the door. He glanced at the woman again, and hesitantly pointed towards himself, raising an eyebrow questioningly. Him? 'Mister'? Not possible!

"Yes, coffee. Thank you." Dean shrugged and sat down on the couch, as nonchalantly as possible as he still kept an eye on both those two weird customers. Well, the man didn't look that odd, mind you. It was just his company that made him look out of place. He sighed, relaxing a bit when Carleen stopped scrutinizing him.

Carleen held back a chuckle. "It's alright, I won't pressure you for a name if you don't feel like it. Did you wish to buy something as well, or is this just your friend?"

Sam kept his eyes on Castiel for a little while, though. After some time, he discretely bumped his foot against Dean's, and gesture for him to look at the book Castiel was holding under his arm. The witch spellbook.

Horknath's face, of course, flushed hard. He stammered a bit, and then he finally gruffly answered to Carleen. "My name is Horknath, son of Grom. I-I'm just... here for my friend", he said, nodding towards Castiel. "I don't have enough to buy anything here." He kept his gaze low, on his own feet.

Dean first glanced at Sam, then concentrated back on Castiel once again. He did notice the book, indeed, and squinted. It was a beginner's spellbook - at least judging by the title, which he had heard of already. "Do you think he might be someone training to become a warlock?", he whispered quietly to his brother. "Maybe the orc is his bodyguard."