One unenthusiastic video under sea [13/??? artefacts collected]

[sadfreezingbrit_archive]

[ Philip's face is looking perfectly normal (if a little crabby in the strictly mood-related sense of the word). Shoulders, arms, no problem there. His chest, not currently covered by any sort of clothing, is looking just a tad more blueish and... transparent than it should.

Opacity only decreases from there, making Phil entirely light blue and see-through below his stomach. Below the waist it looks like he's been torn and tattered, his body segueing into a thick bundle of thin tentacles where his legs should be.

Or in other words: Philip, now with roughly 65% more this. ]

How is that even--

[ The blue tentacles whirl around as Philip turns and spins nervously in front of his algae-encrusted mirror, placing his hands behind his back to confirm that there is indeed nothing whatsoever between the front and the back of his body.

He spins a few more times before letting himself drift onto his mattress with resignation. ]

...I want my organs back.

Comments

[sadfreezingbrit.livejournal.com]

[ Philip shrugs and gives Dean a lopsided grin. Things sort of generally stopped making sense to him a few months ago. It's occasionally liberating, but mostly it's just very, very exhausting. ]

It's... [ He doesn't want to say plausible. ] possible, at the very least.

I left in 2001.

...What about you?

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

[Holy crap, did Phil just smile? That has to be a first. Dean mentally marks this down as a minor victory in his "making better friends" tally list.]

2007. Damn, you haven't seen Lindsay Lohan go to rehab three times yet, have you? [He purses his lips, thinking and ticking things off on one hand.] Uh...lemme see, what's happened...lead singer of Boston died. Britney Spears shaved her head. Oh, and Dumbledore is actually gay. [Dean nods, smiling crookedly.]

Life's the same. You guys are still kicking our asses at socce- Football, whatever. I'd tell you to worry about global warming, but Al Gore's full of shit and the Apocalypse that's coming is probably worse.

[sadfreezingbrit.livejournal.com]

[ Philip listens with wide eyes, slightly overwhelmed by Dean's trivia attack. He gives Dean a pleading ONE ITEM AT A TIME look. ]

...I have no idea who Lindsay Lohan is.

[ Okay, then... Britney Spears is some singer whose hair is probably the one thing Philip cares even less for than her music. Dumbledore is... a character from those Harry Potter books, right? Never read them himself, but... that's sort of nice to know. ]

I want to ask about Brad Delp, but I should probably focus on the Apocalypse here, right?

[ He frowns. ] ...Are you serious about that?

[ It doesn't even sound particularly sceptical. At this point the end of the world is only a minor step up. ]

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

[It's probably for the better that Philip has no clue who Lindsay Lohan is. Dean doesn't keep up with the news unless he really cares (i.e, when Brad Delp died), but the tabloids and newspapers are the best places to look for weird deaths to investigate.]

Delp committed suicide, man. Carbon monoxide poisoning in his bathroom. Pretty gruesome.

[Dean sighs. It's like all his favorite bands are dying out. He knew it was going to happen eventually, but it's still a punch in the stomach when a legend moves on.

Sometimes Dean wishes he could do the same.]

And what, 'bout the Apocalypse? I'm not screwin' with you, Phil. S'gonna happen. And it's my fa-

[Dean stops short. He frowns a little, remembering what Castiel told him about the End of Days. A sudden wave of guilt washes over him, and Dean's expression tightens.]

...it's my fault.

[He's glad he doesn't have to worry about remembering any of this when he goes back. It would make things infinitely worse, to recall what he left behind.]

[sadfreezingbrit.livejournal.com]

[ Philip cared enough about Boston to know the name of their lead singer, so that piece of news is far from happy for him too. Yet he's a good deal away from being as invested as Dean, not to mention that there's a slightly more important subject on the table. ]

Your fault.

[ Okay, now there is some scepticism. So much in fact, Philip has to bite back the urge to ask whether Dean fumbled with the red button that said DO NOT PUSH. ]

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

My fault.

[He repeats simply, and then belatedly realizes that he ought to elaborate. Breaking eye contact and tilting his head back to look at the ceiling, Dean takes another deep breath, exhaling a burst of bubbles and water before continuing.]

...Castiel told me. The Apocalypse started 'cause there were like...sixty-something seals that needed to be broken to raise Lucifer out of Hell. Things like, I dunno, twelve schoolkids being gunned down, or a species of animal suddenly going extinct. None of 'em would work unless the first one was knocked out of the way.

[Oh, here comes the best part!]

I break it. The first seal.

[sadfreezingbrit.livejournal.com]

[ Right. Right, uhm... let Philip gather his thoughts for a moment before he attempts a reply. ]

...So at some point you--

[ No. Wait. Wait a minute.

Is that just him or does that statement not sound like anything past-tensy at all? ]

You didn't break it yet? But... you will. In the future?

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

Yeah.

[Dean looks at Philip curiously, before remembering that hardly anyone knows wher- Or rather, when, Cas is from.] Cas is from my future. Y'know how people can come from different times? S'like that. It's, uh...lemme see...

[Dean counts off on his fingers.] ...2008, 2009...2009. That's it, year of the Apocalypse. End of Days. [He quiets a little.]

...but I break it when I'm in Hell.

1/2

[sadfreezingbrit.livejournal.com]

[ Paranoia is a symptom of the disease and sometimes it doesn't even take Clarence to make it emerge. Certain subjects tend to trigger a... slightly jaded, slightly warped reaction from Philip. ]

Ohh, I see. [ /SARCASM DRIP ]

So an angel appears and tells you that he is from the future and knows that you, after you died, somehow became responsible for the Apocalypse.

Of course. It makes perfect sense now.

[ Newsflash: He still doesn't care for Castiel all that much, can you tell?

He especially doesn't care for him when it sounds like he's pulling some horror story out of thin air, just to make feel Dean terrible. ]

2/2

[sadfreezingbrit.livejournal.com]

[ At the same time he realises that Dean is obviously concerned about this, so the least he can do is not dismiss the idea entirely, even though it's clear that he still takes it with a mountain of salt. ]

Do you... do you have any reason to believe what he's saying?

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

[Kurt implied something similar. Maybe Dean is putting too much faith in Castiel. Which is an interesting thought, considering that Dean rarely has faith in anything these days. Clinging to one of the few ties he has to his own world and his own life, Dean is almost willing to believe anything for the contact.]

Well-

[Phil has brought up a valid point, and Dean quiets a little. He did, however, hear something similar from Jo.]

He's not the only one to tell me. A girl from my world's around here - And when you die you don't just disappear, man. You know when people want to describe the worst possible thing, they say it’s like Hell? There’s a reason for that. Hell, is like...Well, it’s like Hell. Even for demons. It’s a prison, made of bone, and flesh, and blood, and fear. It's what breaks me, and I break the seal.

[sadfreezingbrit.livejournal.com]

{ I'm sorry, could you repeat that with just a little more drama? I don't think it was stagy enough yet. }

[ Philip nods. He can't say he's passionately convinced, but it seems that Dean has little doubt, so he will simply have to suspend his own disbelief.

Not that it does much good in helping him understand the situation... ]

...How?

If... if you don't mind my asking.

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

[Dean doesn't make a habit out of quoting demons, but according to some lady who looks like she belongs on the set of Star Trek, the mansion steals memories. In an attempt to keep them all in his head, he's been wracking his brains for the shit that stands out the most.

Anticipating Hell is one of them.]

I don't really know the specifics. [He answers frankly, picking at some kelp on the floor.] There's some...prophecy about it. "The first seal shall be broken when a righteous man sheds blood in Hell. As he breaks, so shall it break."

[Clearly Dean does not believe in his supposed "righteousness". ]

I don't even know what that means, man. I don't even know what they're gonna do to me down there, and Cas won't tell me even though he's the one that found me and pulled me out.

[Dean's frustration is evident as he punches the sandy ground at his side.] I mean, is it listening to Mariah Carey on a loop? Is it torture? I deserve to know what the fuck I did, right?

[He looks at Phil imploringly.]

[sadfreezingbrit.livejournal.com]

[ Perched precariously on Philip's tongue is a snide remark about how conveniently that future angel was able to reveal just enough to rattle Dean with a glimpse of a majorly unsettling idea, but not enough to soften the blow of its implications with a little clarification.

Philip bites his lip. Not what Dean needs right now. ]

Sometimes...

[ He shifts a little and briefly becomes aware of his present form and the absurdity it lends to their profound conversation. ]

There are some questions that... that are better left unanswered.

[ He's speaking from experience. Bitter, dog-chased, spider-attacked, rockworm-assaulted and virus-infected experience. ]

...But I'd want to know too.

[ Experience which has apparently taught him nothing. ]

He shouldn't keep you in the dark... about your own future. Not here, not when... not when it doesn't even change anything.

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

I know, right?!

[Dean huffs, shaking his head. It's not fair. He was sick and tired of hiding shit from Sam back home, and he's tired now of other people hiding things from him. Especially when there's no point. He won't even know when he goes back, whenever that is, so what's the harm?

The problem is that Dean knows exactly what "the harm" is.

The way that Castiel was acting, the way he so cleverly avoided answering the question...something was very wrong. Dean did something very wrong, and yeah, he'll admit that he has the tendency to beat himself up over stuff. With good reason. He's done a lot of things worth brooding over. He'd start drinking again, more than he already does.]

...I just... [He sighs wearily. It's not often he opens up like this.] ...I wish I had a purpose here, man. I used to. I can't protect anyone here - I can't do my job. I'm antsy all the damn time, like I hafta move, and my skills are gettin' rusty.

[The frown deepens, and Dean's shoulders hunch a little.]

...I miss my brother.

[sadfreezingbrit.livejournal.com]

[ A short laugh. ] Dean, are you even paying attention to the things running around here? I almost got shot by space invaders and from what I hear that still counts as a slow day.

The events are dangerous, not all of the people here are friendly neighbourhood material and okay, so apparently death is more of a minor inconvenience, but I doubt anyone actually enjoys it.

There's the neighbourhood watch and I heard--

[ Let him pause for a moment. ]

...Maybe it's not what you normally do, but... [ You just made Philip's life infinitely more bearable, so don't act like you're a useless piece of trash GDI. ] but don't say you don't have a purpose here.

[ Philip takes a deep breath. Okay, so much for the necessity of ranting at Dean's can't protect anyone nonsense.

But then again, maybe he doesn't want to protect just anyone. ]

...Your brother could still show up too, you know. I heard people from the same dimension often do.

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

[Dean doesn't really want to talk about the space invaders incident, because he spent the entire time hiding under his bed with a bottle of Jack Daniels. Planes are bad, but spaceships are infinitely worse - Not that Captain Kirk wasn't freaking awesome or anything, but heights? In things that could break? Hell no.

And okay, so Phil was suggesting that he push his efforts towards helping people here. Dean wishes he could, really, but events are unstoppable, the Red Queen is impossible to get to, and he's just a pawn on a chessboard. Or maybe one of those little cars in the game of LIFE.]

I know. [He mumbles without much heart behind the words, pursing his lips.] He's the only family I got left. I've looked after him my whole damn life, and-

[Dean quiets.] ...didn't meant to bitch. Sorry, man. But thanks, y'know? Maybe he'll show up here. You'd like 'im.

[He's certain that people who like to read and can bitchface well will get along together.]

[sadfreezingbrit.livejournal.com]

[ Philip is 0k with bitching. ]

No, it's-- It's not a problem, really.

[ Hey, just because the events can't be stopped doesn't mean there won't be people who require protection from their effects. Professional zombie killer, anyone?

Still, Philip can tell that Dean's not particularly convinced. ]

You... you already helped me.

{ Wait, uh... did I miss somethin' here? Because if you're that hot on absolution then maybe you should see a professional or at least somebody who sets the bar for bad behaviour just a little higher than destroying the whole world. }

...Anyway, I--

I hope you see your brother again soon.

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

[Having Sam here would be both a blessing and a curse. For one, Dean probably wouldn't get a Sam from his own time. Still...he misses his brother more than he lets on. Sam is the only family he's got left, and as the big brother Dean has the responsibility to look after his little brother.

Even if his little brother is taller than Bigfoot.

Falling back on his usual way of dealing with things (Read: poking fun at people), Dean cracks a grin and teases with a good-natured tone.]

Aw, I helped you? That's sweet. Next time we can drink tea with our pinkies out, too.

[They wouldn't have such a functioning relationship if he didn't garner a bitchface every so often. Dean stretches his arms above his head and claps Philip on the shoulder.] Thanks for the talk, dude. [No, seriously. He's really grateful. Don't let the arrogance fool you.]

Maybe sometime when we're not re-enacting The Little Mermaid we can go shooting again. We gotta get your aim flawless.

1/2

[sadfreezingbrit.livejournal.com]

[ Dean's earned that glare. Oh boy, did he ever earn it. ]

2/2

[sadfreezingbrit.livejournal.com]

[ It might still take Philip some time to get used to the inappropriate and ill-mannered mocking the good-natured teasing, but with the bitchface part covered he has no problem letting it go.

And more shooting lessons? Sounds very appealing. So let's wrap it up! ]

...Sure. Yeah, that'd be great.

[ Philip looks around, slowly... drifting upwards or whatever the jellyfish equivalent of getting to his feet is. ]

I'll, uh-- I think I'll stay here for a bit, see if I can... find some more books on [ Gesture towards tentacles. ] this.

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

[Cue the glower in 3...2...1...There it is. How reassuringly predictable. Dean nods and watches Phil float for a second before scratching the back of his neck and drifting up himself, glancing at his shark book and considering all the useless knowledge he'll gain from it and never apply to real life again.

He holds onto it anyway.]

See you 'round, then.

[With a little mock salute, Dean turns tail and decides to swim back to his room. With any luck, on the way back, he can scare the ever-loving crap out of someone by impersonating JAWS.]