1- Squirrel and Moose

Dean snorted. "Nah. I guess it's just another one of your... quirks. You do have a lot of those, though. It's been two weeks and you still keep amazing me!" Was that a compliment? Who knows. "At least I'll never get bored!", he laughed then.

"... I'm ok", Horknath grumbled in a totally unconvincing way. Being someone who had many difficulties in lying, hiding his discomfort was a tad bit difficult, especially to someone as observing as Sam!

Castiel pondered over the thought for a moment. And then finally let out a small, genuine smile. Perhaps the first one since he had taken this vessel. He didn't say anything. He just gently squeezed himself closer to Dean.

"... You know, I highly doubt Norway truly was her type. I mean. On our second day they were on a last-name basis," Sam told Horknath. Yes. He had high doubts now.

Dean faked another complaint, but he was definitely joking. It didn't really take any longer for them to finally get back at the Inn, where he dismounted from his horse and lent a hand to Castiel, to help him down again. He had kind of taken the habit to do that as well, even though it still embarrassed him a bit to have to help a grown-ass man by holding his hand.

"... well, that is kind of their own business, isn't it", Horknath observed, trying not to sound bitter. He somewhat managed, still sounding a bit grumpy. "They're both consenting adults, and I barely know her. Not that much about him, either."

Castiel climbed down using Dean's help, and nodded thankfully to him.
Bobby preceded him to the inn's reception, as usual, ordered three bedrooms, each with a hot bath to be delivered within the hour, and threw a set of keys at Sam.

Sam who smiled kindly, but did not comment any more on the "Carleen + Dean" subject for now. "So. Since Ursus fled to take his own bath, here's what we thought. Sus definitely shouldn't share the water given the amount of blood he has to wash off. I'll take the second turn after Ursus. Also, Norway, you've been snoring lately, so..." He threw a set of keys at Dean. "I think I'll switch rooms for tonight."

Dean grabbed the keys mid-air, and raised a brow at Sam. "Yeah, sure. Said the one that keeps reading until the sun is raising in the morning!" He laughed. Then he squinted at him. "... wait a second. You're actually serious?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "C'mon! We've always shared a room! I thought we were brothers!"

Horknath simply thanked Sam for the keys, and he too fled to go take his own bath. After all, he indeed needed to wash himself as soon as possible!

Sam held back a laugh. "Well. I need to breathe too, sometimes. "Besides, from the little I've heard, you and Alaskan seemed to have plans for the night. And I'm sick of getting woken up when you finally decide to come crash into your bed." He waved at the both of them. "See you tomorrow morning!"

Castiel looked at Dean for a little while, through that exchange. "... So you snore," he merely stated, flatly.

Dean just stared at Sam with his mouth open while he looked at him go away, as if he had just been betrayed in the most unforgivable way ever accounted in human history. He did kind of feel like that. Then he turned to Castiel, blinking. "... I don't snore! He's making that up", he defended himself, crossing his arms on his chest and huffing. "I've never snored once in my entire lifetime!"

"Every living being snores once in a while," Castiel replied, tilting his head. "It happens naturally when your breathing canals are obstructed. Like when you sleep on your back, for example." Yeah, no. Castiel was definitely too literal.

"Oh, stop that", Dean replied, feeling a bit flustered. He quickly started to climb the stairs, gesturing for Castiel to follow him. Well, he sure hoped at least that traitorous brother of his had the decency to take a bedroom with separated beds!

Thankfully, yes, they had single beds. But they did have to share a bath. The big bucket stood in a separate room, over a small fire to be kept hot. Castiel eyed it, and looked at Dean. "I suppose you wish to proceed to your ablutions right away."

Dean rolled his eyes at the word 'ablutions'. "Yeah, if you don't mind. I will, uh, 'proceed' first", he said, with a hint of laughter in his voice as he went for the separate room. "I won't take long, if it can make you feel better. Just... be mindful of not sitting on the bed with your dirty clothes", he reminded Castiel on a second thought.

"... Oh. You're right." Castiel was about to sit down indeed, but he stopped halfway and straightened up. In fact, he would still be awkwardly standing in the room when Dean came out of the bathroom.

Dean did manage to keep his promise of being quick - he came out of the bathroom after he just took the time to wipe away all the blood and wash himself a bit, with his pants on and his shirt swung over the shoulder. the only thing he had on his torso was his wristband, secured around his soulmate name. Without a shirt, however, part of some scars could be seen coming from under the tissue. He was busy drying up his hair when he spotted Castiel standing in the room, rigid like a piece of wood and with the same comfortable expression of a priest in the middle of a prostitutes' rodeo. "... you know you could just... put down a towel and sit on that, right", Dean asked after staring at him for a bit, arching a brow with an amused smile.

"I would have gotten the towel dirty too, I suppose," Castiel replied, after an uncomfortable silence. He did notice some of Dean's scars, though. Especially some on his soulmark, seen from under the cloth. He didn't question it. Everyone had their own secrets. He did stare a bit though, before he grabbed his own towel. "Are you done with the bathroom?"

"Yeah", Dean answered, not noticing Castiel's staring. Or rather, choosing not to address it. If the other man had decided to be so sensible as not to ask about those particular ones, why should he bring the topic up? "Take your time. I'll get dressed, and then we can go downstairs for a bit. See if there are some chickens to pluck at the poker table", he smiled, elbowing him as he passed by.

Castiel nodded, and went to take a bath. He did take a bit longer than Dean though. When he came out, he had washed his coat a bit as well, and already wore his pants back. He walked into the room topless though, to fish for a clean shirt in his bag. It was probably the first time someone else than Horknath might realize he was actually more built that he seemed with his clothes on.

Dean was tying up his shoes when he heard Castiel coming back into the room, and instinctively raised his eyes to look at him. He blinked. Yes, seeing how he was actually buolt was kind of a surprise, honestly! "Well. You're not really the shrimp-y dude you look like when you're all cocooned in your big clothes then", he observed. "Just how many surprises are you witholding from us, I wonder."

Castiel blinked, and looked at Dean with a dumbfounded expression. "... I don't know. Is there anything I should have told you about me, such as my physical attributes?" Now this was all very confusing to him. Why did Dean even get surprised!

Dean snorted. "I just meant that when you're all dressed up with your coat, nobody could tell you are built... well, like that", he said, suddenly a bit embarrassed about the topic as he gestured towards Castiel's physique. "That coat is definitely bigger than it needs to be. You should probably get a new one or something, it can't be comfortable!"

"Oh". Castiel put his shirt on, and pondered over a thought for a moment. "It's true that it's a bit big. It gets a bit difficult to move in in when we hunt sometimes. But your friend was kind enough to offer it to me for free. I couldn't just dispose of it." He had turned to Dean to talk to him, and was now buttoning his shirt up.

Dean's eyes fell briefly on Castiel's fingers, working on the buttons. Then they trailed over the patch of naked torso he could see underneath, and he licked his lips. Weird, they had gone a bit dry for some unknown reason. He shook his head though, snapping out of his sudden trance. "Yeah, guess you're right", he muttered, finally finishing to tie up his shoelaces. He got on his feet, stretching his arms. "Tell me when you're ready to go."

Castiel nodded, and put his shoes back on again. "I am ready. Are you going to teach me poker during, or after dinner?" He knew Dean never skipped a meal. Even if he missed one during a hunt, he would usually make up for it afterwards.

"After", Dean answered immediately, his stomach perking up at the mention of dinner. Yeah, he always made it a point to listen to his stomach. "We should try to call for the others befoe getting down. Maybe they'd want dinner too, and... well, I don't know about Sus or Ursus honestly, but Alces might want to join us if we get into a poker game!"

Castiel nodded. They then went to fetch the others for dinner, and poker. And Castiel would learn the game, sitting between Bobby and Dean. He was making comments out loud about each of their games, pissing Bobby so much that they attracted some gamblers' attention. The men smirked and offered to play a game against Castiel, who remained awfully silent for a while, and concerned, while looking at his cards. Eventually, he looked at Dean, when time got to revealing his hand. "I think I've lost." Said the one who had completed a flush - quite a high score!

Dean had honestly gotten kind of worried when those people had challenged Castiel to a game - he was still learning, after all, and on the other side he couldn't just say 'no'. They would have taken it as a demonstration of weakness! But either their companion really was great at skill-learning, or he was just infuriatingly lucky, they had that round in their pockets. He knew it, when he saw Castiel's hand, and smirked at him. "Really? Because I actually think", he started, taking a hold of Castiel's wrists and making him lower the cards, "that you just owned some people's ass!"