2 - Down at Ellen's place

Dean was grateful, oh so grateful about that trip finally reaching an end that not even Jo and Charlie behaving like the annoying quasi-little-sisters they were to him and Sam could get him into a bad mood.
Yes, after at least another couple of weeks of incessant walking and sleeping sometimes in an Inn, sometimes under the stars (times in which Bobby kept on complaining how his back wasn't like it used to be), they had managed to get to the town where Ellen had his own Inn. Seeing the old, washed out 'Harvelle's' writing on that familiar building filled Dean with a weird nostalgia, and some degree of relief. He turned to smile at his companions. "Well, not to offend any of you, but I can't wait to talk to someone else as well", he joked.

"Not to offend any of you, but I can't see your faces anymore," Bobby chuckled as well. He rode all the way to the inn, and stepped down, to take his horse to the stables, where he was greeted by a high-pitched scream.
"Oh dear Lord, Ursus! Knock next time, or I'll take you for an actual bear and shoot!" Charlie sighed heavily, then beamed, and rushed towards the grumpy man to hug him.
Then she went for Sam, and then she froze, seeing Cas so close to Dean. "Wow. I thought you liked them busty, Norway," she gently teased him.

Dean snorted, and rolled her eyes at that comment. Which was... already a bit weird. He would have gotten offended, usually! "You didn't change. You still think you're a bucket of fun, don't you!", he said with a large smile, before getting her into a crushing hug. When he finally released her, he got on with introducing Castiel to her, presenting him as 'someone needing shelter'. "We call him Alaskan", he completed, turning to Castiel. "And this is Charlie. The little sister I wish I'll never have, or had. Unfortunately, she's here."

Castiel offered a small smile to Charlie, and shook her hand. "Nice meeting you, Charlie."
"Pleasure is mine," Charlie replied with a grin. "So, another hunter, eh. He too?" she asked, turning to Horknath. "... Woah. You're tall," was the first thing that came out of her mouth.

Dean snickered. He knew that Charlie would have found Horknath interesting. "He's Sus. He's Alaskan's friend, and decided to travel with us, to make sure he would have ended in good hands." He sighed. "Which I doubt he'll think, now that he saw who lives here."

Horknath awkwardly offered Charlie his hand, shifting on his feet a bit. "I'm here just... temporarily", he said, feeling embarrassed. As always, when a woman was standing so close to him.

"Oh. Well, welcome anyway!" Charlie kept on smiling, then frowned slightly. "Hold on." She stepped closer to him, and whispered, "Wouldn't your true name sound something like Hognas?" She was totally misremembering it.

Horknath raised a brow. And instinctively leaned back, because all that sudden closeness made him feel even more self-conscious. "It's... it's Horknath", he answered, a bit dumbfounded. Well, after all it was okay for him if his real name was out and around. Not like there were so many more half-orcs going around, anyway! "Why?", he asked then, suspiciously.

"Oh, right, sorry!" Charlie beamed again. "Ellen's got three letters waiting for you. I suppose whoever wrote them knew you were coming!

Horknath blinked. "For... me?" He seemed to think really hard over who could have possibly found him all the way there - and who could have possibly wanted to write to him, period! He had seemingly momentarily forgotten that he had a soulmate, and maybe she was wondering how he was doing.

"-alright, what's with all this ruckus? Charlie, I swear to God, if it's another one of your weird friends I-" An older woman appeared out of the back of the house, hands on her hips in a threathening manner and a rifle draped over her shoulders. When she caught sight of who was there, though, she stopped on her tracks, and her smile got way less menacing. "Well, I guess it is some of your weird friends, in some respect. I guess I can deal with these ones, though." Ellen started walking again towards them, to greet them.

Bobby let out a smile. "Hello, Ellen. I sure hope you got my letter. Because last time I slept in the sable, my back got blocked for an entire day." He went to greet her merrily. Which was rare, to be honest. But they were such old friends!

Charlie squinted a bit. "Speaking of the letter, didn't you say there would be like, four of you, Ursus? Because I'm afraid we only kept three rooms free for you."

"I got your letter, and I kept three rooms for you", Ellen replied, greeting Bobby exactly like the old friend he was. "But if you wish, that spot in the stables is still free. I bet the horses would be happy to have some company", she laughed.

Dean raised a brow, though. "Why would you write that, when we clearly are five? I mean - Sus is kind of difficult to miss, and Alaskan is permanently stuck on my horse! ... no offense, Sus", he added quickly, even though Horknath rarely if ever got offended by anyone's comments regarding his height and bulk.

"A-ha," Bobby replied flatly to Ellen, before he turned towards Dean, arching a brow. And then epiphany hit him. "Oh. I wrote that letter when I wasn't sure yet if Sus was sticking along with us, when we were in such a hurry," he sighed. "Oh, well. You boys will share one, he said, gesturing vaguely to them.

Upon discussing room organization, they soon realized that there was only one big bed, that they had to keep for Horknath. Which left only one solution.
Charlie looked up at Dean. "So are you sharing a room with your brother or your girlfriend?"
Castiel blinked and looked around. Norway had a girlfriend here, really? ... Also why was that news making him on edge?

"A-ha", Dean replied to her, in the exact same way Bobby had replied to Ellen. "Very funny. Say, why don't you get on with your career as a comedian and take off to the big city? I'm sure the big bucks are just waiting for you!" He rolled his eyes. "Well, Sam has taken the very, very annoying habit to read until very late in the night. And like Hell I am going to withstand that, now that I have a choice. I'll share with Alaskan - at least he just lies down in his own bed and just stares at the ceiling!"

Ellen shook her head and simply gestured to all of them to follow her ("If you have to argue, do it inside. I'm not going to get pneumonia to hear your complaints!"), where she started preparing beers and drinks for her new guests. He slid a glass of whiskey to Bobby, and sat in front of him. "So. How'd the trip go?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Unlike Alaskan I'm not used to being an insomniac, I need to get myself busy reading so I can manage to sleep!"

Bobby sighed, and threw a glance at the boys, after thanking Ellen for the drink. "Mostly good, I suppose. Could have been worse. We ran into the Anubis, and are still alive to tell the tale."

"Well, excuse me, you could at least have the decency of reading in the main room or something, since I happen not to be an insomniac, and I need at least five hours of sleep if I wanna function!", Dean argued.
While those two were all busy having their brotherly quarrel, Horknath quietly asked Charlie for those letters she talked about, so that he could see them. He was curious!

Ellen's eyes widened. "... well now, that's not a story you hear all that often", she muttered, getting a beer for herself too. "But I did hear that one is a bit... different, if you want, from your usual big boss demon. At least, that's what other hunters say, I wouldn't know." She studied his expression, before adding, "Then I guess you heard about the rogue angel?"

"Oh, right!" Charlie went to fetxh the three letters addressed to him. They all had the same handwriting on them, for they were Carleen's responses to the letters he wrote to her during their trip. "You can go in the lobby that leads to the bedrooms if you want a bit of privacy," she told him with a smile.

Bobby nodded. "Actually, that's the reason why thr Anubis showed up. From what I get, demons are also looking for that angel on behalf of Heaven, but they have no clue as to why... D'you hear anything else about it?"

Horknath nodded to Charlie - he liked to have privacy when he was reading - and walked off to sit in the lobby, away from the bar. He admired the closed letters - Carleen had such a neat, elegant handwriting. He envied it a bit. His own letters looked like something a bunch of chickens pretending to know how to write would put together! He took abdeep breath, opened up the first with a knife, and started reading.

Ellen sighed. "Not much more than what you already know, I'm afraid, aside from the fact that apparently this angel mostly chooses female vessels. We don't even know his name. At this round, they were really careful about what to spread and what not." She made a meaningful pause, and stared at Bobby for a second. "The fact that there's a reward on his head is enough for a lot of rogues to stop asking questions about it."

Carleen's free letter was a bit awkwardly structured. She seemed genuinely happy to talk to him, even if she didn't know what to say. It was short; she mostly wished him a safe trip. The second and third ones followed letters she had gotten from him though, in which she was more enthusiastic. She talked a bit about her everyday life as well. In the third letter, she told him her father had come back from his trip, and that he was looking forward to meeting "that stranger you keep telling me about".

Bobby nodded, and remained thoughtful. "Actually... Over our trip, I came to some conclusions." He threw a glance at Castiel, and lowered his voice. Good thing he and Ellen had sat down a bit away from the others. "Our friend Alaskan here is actively looked for by angels, because of his soulmate. I'm starting to think his soulmate is that rogue angels we heard about."

Horknath had a bit of difficulties, keeping his own dorkish, happy smiles all for himself. Even through her letters, Carleen really sounded... glad, to talk to be able to hear from him. And to talk to him as well. He did... kind of get worried, when she mentioned how her father wanted to know him. Then again, he probably knew what to expect, given that Carleen's mark was written with orcish letters, but... He scoffed, and got up from his chair as he folded away the letters carefully, and pocketed them. He needed some paper and something to write with! He walked up to Charlie again, not wanting to annoy Ellen. "Um... do you have some... paper? I need to write back", he asked, fidgeting a bit.

Ellen threw a brief glance to Castiel, and frowned. "You... could be right", she agreed in a whisper. "He seems so distressed, though. I wonder... what if this rogue angel escaped to kill his soulmate, then? Maybe that's what our boy is hiding from. If the public executions have taught us something in that regard, we know that's likely to be the reason." Yes - there had been a couple of public cases of angels tied to human soulmates, who had preferred to murder them rather than losing their place in Hevaen.

Charlie smiled back at Horknath. "Sure, lover-boy. I'll show you your room too, it might be better for you to write there." She went to fetch some paper, a quill and some ink in the supplies, and then lead Horknath to his room, showing him around the place a bit on their way there.

"Might be. Although... not all angels are like that with their human soulmates." Yes, he did know John and Mary had given Dean an alias as soon as the Enocchian mark had appeared on his wrist. But still, the boy was more than thirty now, and no angel linked to him had appeared to them. He sighed. "This whole story is messed up anyway," he sighed, slowly massaging his now faded mark on his own hand.

Horknath thanked Charlie - a blush creeping on his cheeks at how she had just defined him - and followed her, clearly impatient to get his letter going and to write. It was almost cute to witness this giant of a man all giddy like a puppy, or a kid at Christmas. "Thanks", he said again, gratefully accepting the supplies she had picked up for him.

Ellen let out a small, joyless laugh. "And you tell me that like it's some sort of news?" She raised her arm, resting her cheek on her palm. Her faded mark peeked from the hem of her shirt's sleeve. "This system isn't kind, to people like us. That's why we are here", she said, a bit more gently.

"No probs!" She smiled at him a bit more while she handed him his bedroom keys, right after opening it for him. "You'll find me either in the living room, on the training ground or at the stables, if you need anything. Like. Taking your letter to the post office, for example," she gently teased him.

Bobby held back a breathless, joyless chuckle as well. Then raised his glass for a toast. "To the unfortunate fools we are."

"Y-yeah. Will do", Horknath answered with a sheepish smile. He waved at her, thanked her once again, and then ssat down on the - too small - chair that was in his room, not worrying about how ominously it creaked under his weight as he laid ink and paper on the desk and started writing back. "Dear Carleen, ..." He wrote a lot, actually, about their last patch of road, the meeting with Ellen - he thanked her for her letters, answered to her questions and asked some new ones himself, putting all his enthisiasm into it.

Ellen laughed. "I'll drink to us being fools, you old grump", she said shaking her head, a more genuine smile on her lips as she turned to look at the boys. Well, in a way, her boys as well. Their boys, if we want! "But not to us being unfortunate." She raised her glass to Bobby, and drank down her beer.

Aww cute!!

Bobby shared her smile, and drank from his glass in one go as well. Actually, being at Ellen's finally allowed them to let all of that pressure go a bit. So much that on the evening, and under the effects of the spell toning down his angel nature to the minimum, Castiel drank quite a lot, thinking he would still handle it.
He handled it quite well, actually. But he let out more genuine smiles in one evening that he had during the whole trip. And sat really close to Dean.

Dean drank just as much, and even though he could handle his alcohol better than Castiel, he was still clearly more relaxed and laid back than the usual. It could have been the place, it could be he was surrounded by people he knew with no threat hanging above their heads - for now, at least. But to not worry about the distant future was something that came easily with the job -, it could be the alcohol too. And maybe, Castiel was included in those reasons that made him laugh harder, joke more, and lean closer to Castiel himself.