Without Any Warning [John/Norah]

[Norah Byron]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=valign,top][atrb=style, background: url(http://i54.tinypic.com/ynqmx.jpg) center bottom no-repeat; outline: 1px solid #514b47; width: 500px; height: 600px; padding: 0px;, bTable] Three sounds in rapid succession: - A female voice groaning, "Goddamnit, Cas!" - A knock at the motel room door - The sound of retching. Upon investigation it turned out to be a skinny redhead in a very short grey dress and very tall silver heels leaning one hand against a pillar in the motel corridor and doubled over a trash can, struggling not to puke. After a minute or ninety seconds she seemed to be sure that she wasn't going to lose the contents of her stomach and she straightened up and pressed the back of one shaking hand against her mouth, trying to regain her composure. "I really, really, really hate teleporting," she informed John from behind her hand, but then a moment later she lowered it and managed a smile. "Sorry about that. Hi. My name's Norah, I'm a friend of your sons'. Castiel wanted me to talk to you a bit because he, uh," a short, quiet laugh, "doesn't exactly have great people skills. I wasn't expecting him to teleport me out of my dressing room with no notice," she glared around her at the empty air, sure somehow that the angel would hear her, "but there you go." Another smile up at John, this time wider and brighter, more like her usual expressions. "So...hi. Can I come in?" She sort of spread her hands and added, "One weapon, I've got a silver knife but please don't make me show it to you out here in the corridor? I really don't want people assuming I'm a hooker." Location: Buckaroo Motel, Memphis TN Music: Plain Gold Ring - Lorica (via Kimbra) Outfit: A very short grey dress and very tall pewter-colored heels. Notes: Castiel's kind of oblivious about social niceties like 'warning'.

[John Winchester]

He was still disoriented, John was still having trouble figuring which way was up after having been teleported around like a sack of bones. God he missed his truck. Pressing his hand to his forehead the man willed the dizziness away, if there was one thing he was sure he'd never ever get used to, it was the teleporting the angels did. He was all for it, it had gotten him off the rack and out of hell, but jesus did it fucking suck, especially wen they just popped in and went hey, lets go and took off without waiting for a response. The man was quite happily getting a burger when the angel decided that he needed to be at the motel and that was that.

The man opened the door quickly, looking at the petite girl in front of him, goodness she was pretty but what was doing here? Suspicion was a bitch, and he had a hand resting on the butt of his gun. Running the other hand through his messy hair John straightened up, giving his attention to the pretty red head, "Trust me doll, I know what you mean," Yes John totally shared her sentiment and he returned the smile with a crooked one of his own, still a little wary of her, but if she knew the angels she must be good. Giving her a nod he relaxed a little, "Please come on in," Opening the door farther to let her in.

"Norah right? Pleasure to meet you, I'm John, though you probably knew that already," He shut the door behind her, making sure the salt line he had laid down hadn't been scuffed up or broken in any way, quickly turning back to look at her, still a tad on the suspicious side, "So you said you know my sons?" John visibly softened at the mention of his kids, "How are they? I haven't gotten in contact with them yet, don't know how to explain this to them," John looked a tad bit ashamed of it, but he wasn't looking forward to the moment were they had to talk through everything that had happened, but that didn't mean that he wasn't worrying about them.

WHERE: Motel in Memphis
MUSIC: Back in Black -AC/DC
WEARING: Some plaid and jeans
NOTES: hehe its got that new character smell xD

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[Norah Byron]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=valign,top][atrb=style, background: url(http://i54.tinypic.com/ynqmx.jpg) center bottom no-repeat; outline: 1px solid #514b47; width: 500px; height: 600px; padding: 0px;, bTable] Norah smiled at John as she stepped inside, and there was a quick check-around that if he were watching her he would see argued a certain familiarity with hunters--specifically hunters. Her eyes went to the salt line, up to the spot on the ceiling where a devil's trap would be if there were one, over to John's gun, then checked the rest of the room for more weaponry, all with a quick, confident sweep of her eyes. As soon as that was done her attention was back on John and she was saying, "It's nice to meet you too, I've heard..." her smile went higher on one side, distinctly mischievous, "very little about you. Dean doesn't talk about anything remotely emotional unless he's angry or drunk, and Sam kind of gets woeful and clams up. But, um, you breed really handsome kids?" She laughed at her own attempts to make a completely unconventional social situation fit conventional conversational tactics and just gave up on that whole line of approach. Instead she went over and leaned against the edge of the cheap round pressboard table under the window that every motel in America seems to have, bracing her hands against the edge and crossing her ankles in a gesture that was enticing only because Norah kind of tended to forget when it was time to turn off the stage presence. "Dean and Sam are friends of mine, I count them as good friends. Sam's actually traveling with us right now, and Dean's pulled my dumb self out of trouble more than once." "But," all cheerful, like she was trying to find the up-side of this whole situation, "if you're worried about the back-from-the-dead thing weirding them out, don't even stress about it. Ressurrection is kind of the big new fad lately, corpses popping up right and left, just as healthy as ever." She grinned broadly at John. "So hey, I'm sure that's a huge relief and does not at all frustrate and confuse you, right?" Location: Buckaroo Motel, Memphis TN Music: Plain Gold Ring - Lorica Outfit: A very short grey dress and very tall pewter-colored heels. Notes: She can't help it, she's already starting to see the funny.

[John Winchester]

He shook his head, the smile on his face turning into something more of a sad one as she spoke, a sigh escaping him as he rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah that sounds like my boys," John let out a humorless chuckle at the thought, "Dean's always been a little too much like me and Sam, he just never had a chance," God he always wondered how the boys would ave turned out if he had never dragged him into this, those god damn what if's would be the next death of him, John was sure of that. John couldn't help a genuine laugh at her next words though, "Well thanks doll, their mother did most of the work though,"

Quit possibly the strangest thing he'd been told in the last twelve hours, but he'd take the compliment and go along with trying to steer the conversation in a somewhat different direction. Anything that didn't strike such a particularly raw nerve, John was a little touchy when it came to how his sons behaved, feeling like it was a reflection on how he had raised them and he doubted that he had done a good job really.

He watched her move, wondering what she did for a living and how she had come to know his boys so well, there was this air about her that lead him to believe she had some sort of run in with hunters, the way that she had checked for the devils trap on the ceiling for instance, but he was sure that a hunter she was not....too delicate maybe, "Glad to hear Sam's got some sort of watchful eye on him, and it's good that Dean hasn't forgotten what I taught him," He had heard about the bigger exploited of the boys, but the smaller details were lost to the sounds of screaming and chains rattling. John shuttered at the thought, quickly pulling his mind from the images he was trying so hard to forget.

"Wait....they are?" Shit, what sort of mess was going on up here now that they the dead were popping back up, "What's going on exactly, do you know? The angels didn't say much aside from 'come with us' and hell if I was going to stop to ask question," Now that his soul wasn't in immediate mortal danger though, the questions were popping up dozens at a time. The man took a deep breath to gather his thoughts, trying to weed through the questions for the next important one, ".....Maybe a little confused and frustrated here, but let's chalk that up to the fact that I've been dead for a while now. Who else is back?" He had heard mentions of names here and there, sitting on the edge of his bed he ran a hand down his face, turning to look at her.

WHERE: Motel in Memphis
MUSIC: Back in Black -AC/DC
WEARING: Some plaid and jeans
NOTES:confused, frustrated, and good looking

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[Norah Byron]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=valign,top][atrb=style, background: url(http://i54.tinypic.com/ynqmx.jpg) center bottom no-repeat; outline: 1px solid #514b47; width: 500px; height: 600px; padding: 0px;, bTable] "Oh," she smiled a little wider and gave John a long look up and down that was half-teasing and half-real, "I think you contributed a few good alleles to the gene pool. But it's very gentlemanly of you to give away all the credit." She laughed and gestured to the chair beside the table, "Mind if I sit down? You would not believe how godawful uncomfortable these shoes are." A little more seriously, she told him, "Well first and foremost Sam is back, which I figure you already know from what you've said so far. Also Jo Harvelle, who I've never met but Dean and Sam seem very close to her. Bobby Singer died briefly but was resurrected almost immediately. A woman named Ruby who everybody gets very evasive when I ask about but who is, um, very attached to Sam. And Nichole, who..." she pursed her lips, clearly searching for how to say something. "Actually, how about we talk about Nichole a little later, when we're past the broad strokes and into the details?" The smile didn't disappear entirely but it definitely had gone smaller and sadder as she asked, "Do you have a bottle in here somewhere? Because you may want it. There's a lot going on, angels and demons and a second apocalypse--I personally hadn't been aware that there was a first one--and events stretching the boundaries of logical coincidence because Fate keeps having 'nexus points'. Archangels are suddenly crawling out of the woodwork, everybody is talking very solemnly about when and if the Horsemen are going to show back up, and your family seems to be right at the center of it." Location: Buckaroo Motel, Memphis TN Music: Plain Gold Ring - Lorica Outfit: A very short grey dress and very tall pewter-colored heels. Notes: As if it would ever be easy.

[John Winchester]

"Girl, you keep going like that and you're gonna make me blush," John said with a bit of a chuckle, shaking his head at the petite redhead. He was starting to like the girl already, no wonder his boys were friends with her, Winchesters never could say no to a pretty lady with a silver tongue, "Oh sorry, were are my manners?" He nodded, "Please sit, make yourself comfortable, those shoes, they're pretty but they look like they hurt like hell, don't know how you women put up with those sort of things," John was more of a sturdy pair of steel tipped work boots sort of guy himself, made kicking a demon's ribs in much easier.

The man nodded as he listened to her break it down for him, yes he had heard about what had happened to Sam, the demons were buzzing about it, "Jo? She's a good girl, always was, her dad was a hunter, so was her momma," Every time he thought of the Harvelles he got that pang in his stomach, John was sure he would never get over what had happened to poor William that night. It was his fault after all and there wasn't anything he could do to ever make that right. At least Jo was ok, "Really, that old goat is still kicking around? I think I'm gonna have to pay him a visit one of these days," John was talking more to himself really, trying to figure out how to go about meeting the man without getting shot, "Sure, that'll work," John raised a brow, wondering what was up with that Nichole, whoever she was.

Scrubbing his face tiredly with his hands he nodded and quietly got up, opening a drawer in a small end table beside the bed and pulled out a small bottle of jack. Oh yeah, listening to that shit storm she listed made him want a drink right then and there and she hadn't even gotten into the details. Screwing open the bottle he took a good long swing and grimaced slightly at the burn that made it's way down his throat, "For as long as those boys have been alive it's like there's been a shadow hangin' round the family, I wonder if any of this could ever have been prevented," John hung his head, running his free hand through his hair, Jesus he was tired, "Alright," He tried to shake the weary sadness from his voice, looking up at her with clear brown eyes, "Tell me whatever you can about this new apocalypse,"

WHERE: Motel in Memphis
MUSIC: Back in Black -AC/DC
WEARING: Some plaid and jeans
NOTES:He's broody, can you blame him though?

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[Norah Byron]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=valign,top][atrb=style, background: url(http://i54.tinypic.com/ynqmx.jpg) center bottom no-repeat; outline: 1px solid #514b47; width: 500px; height: 600px; padding: 0px;, bTable] Norah sat down in the chair and toed off her shoes before crossing those very long, very bare legs. As soon as John had taken his drink she held her hand out for the bottle and said, "As near as I can tell, it started practically the moment that the last apocalypse was over, with a small cadre of angels combining their power to lift Sam up out of the Pit and return him to life. But there was a problem, he didn't come back right..." She told him all of it, all she knew of the major events in the supernatural world and the lives of the Winchesters (funny how much overlap there was) in the past two years. She told him about Sam being soulless for almost a year, and the massive effort it had taken to return his soul to his body. She told him about the wall in Sam's mind and the way it was slowly breaking down. Told him things that even Sam didn't know but that she'd bullied out of Castiel and Sariel when she figured out how bad both angels were at telling lies or dealing with it when you forced the Socratic principles down their throats. She told him about Dean demanding that Castiel bring back Jo and Ellen, and how he had eventually 'challenged God' to get Jo back, Jo and one other he didn't even know was coming. She told him about Parkers Crossroads and the croatoan outbreak and how widely-spread a population of hunters and creatures it had brought together, people who never should have ended up in the same town at the same time, all drawn in by seeming coincidence for the 'nexus' event. She told him about how suddenly there were angels everywhere, revealing themselves to people and working openly toward some ill-understood goal. About monster and demon attacks getting worse, about chasing around the country finding evidence of demonic magic left behind but no clues what was being done. And eventually she told him about his sons. About how angry and closed-off Dean was, talking only to Jo and Nichole, how he'd picked up Lisa's son somehow and was traveling around with him but wasn't really in contact with anybody else, not even Sam. About how wounded and fragile Sam was, with those memories always screaming away behind the wall that was crumbling already, about the seizures and the memory lapses and the way that no matter how hard he fought--and his son was fighting hard--he seemed to be losing the war against the torments he had endured in the Cage. Along the way and almost incidentally she ended up telling John a fair bit about herself and her brothers and the band, about the caravan of hunters and monsters they'd built up and the way they kept finding themselves drawn into events larger than they could truly understand, all the while playing gigs on college campuses and taking in as many of the lost and needing as their tour budget would allow. How they'd ended up just adopting Sam, who reminded Norah so very much of Luke and who she adored with the same half-helpless protective love. But eventually she wound down, and at the end of all that she took the bottle back from John and took another swallow, then set it firmly back into his hand. "And that," she said wearily, "brings us around to needing to talk about Nichole. Which Castiel really ought to be the one to do, but apparently he's being a coward." Location: Buckaroo Motel, Memphis TN Music: Plain Gold Ring - Lorica Outfit: A very short grey dress and bare feet. Notes: Is too much. I will sum up.

[John Winchester]

John took another good long swing of the bottle before he handed it to her. Just the look that seemed to pass by her face made him believe that he was going to need more alcohol then the half of jack that was left in the bottle by the end of this. But he would worry about getting completely and totally wasted after he heard all of this, John already had that horrible feeling brewing in the pit of his gut. And just the way that she started the story was enough to give him a coronary, what the hell had happened to his poor boys?

Sammy, his poor little Sammy, what the hell had happened to his little boy? Yes Sam was a grown man, and they hadn't seen eye to eye in years, but at the end of the day no matter what, Sam was still his little boy. How could someone even live without a soul? What sort of trouble could that cause? John wasn't even aware that a human could live and function with out their soul, was he even human without it? John didn't even want to dwell on that question, not that he had the chance, everything just kept snowballing the more she talked. He almost wanted to ask her to stop, but just because he didn't hear about didn't mean that it had never happened.

The man felt a lump growing in his throat, one that didn't seem to want to go away, even the alcohol didn't help it, "You mean to tell me Dean just left me in hell for the sake of a girl?" He would rather have the blond then his dad, had John really been that bad of a father to the boy? It left a bitter taste in his mouth and he quickly downed more of the liquor, deciding not to deal with the pang of guilt and underlying stab of betrayal. Pissing a fit about something that had since been done wasn't going to gt him anywhere aside from making him look like he had grown lady parts while in hell which sure as hell hadn't been the case. He would deal with the feelings later with a good mix of alcohol and pretty women.

Even with that thought in mind it didn't help the slight stinging sensation at the corners of his eyes when he heard about the state of his kids. The boys would probably argue the fact, but he loved them both, he was just never good at showing the emotions, it was the way his father had raised him after all. Taking another swig of the drink he made sure that she wasn't looking and pressed his thumb and pointer fingers to his eyes to rid himself of that stinging feeling. How could this have happened? John wished he could have done something to help, he felt awful for not having been there for his boys during all of this.

Taking a deep breath and shaking his head he composed himself quickly, "I don't care who tells me as long as someone does," John scrubbed at his face wearily, taking back the bottle again and having another drink, "Can't really be any worse then everything else I've heard tonight can it?" That was his failed attempt at humor for the night, just listening to her story had tired him. The man felt like his head was ready to explode and he almost wished it would, was his family cursed? He couldn't help but notice how much crap seemed to revolve around his family.

WHERE: Motel in Memphis
MUSIC: Back in Black -AC/DC
WEARING: Some plaid and jeans
NOTES:He just wants to sink back into the ground now

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[Norah Byron]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=valign,top][atrb=style, background: url(http://i54.tinypic.com/ynqmx.jpg) center bottom no-repeat; outline: 1px solid #514b47; width: 500px; height: 600px; padding: 0px;, bTable] She reached across the table and laid her hand on the back of his, trying for comfort even though she maybe didn't have the right to it. "John, it's not--" she shook her head, squeezed his hand gently. "I don't know what Dean's reasoning was at the time. I haven't heard the story from him, only from Castiel, and he's not the best at, you know, emotional nuancing. I know you--" she caught herself, ran her fingertips down the back of her hand and withdrew because she didn't really have the right to pet and comfort this man the way she did his son, "I've been told that you were in Hell, that things were even uglier for you than they do for some other people. I don't know what that was like and won't pretend to. But your boys have had it rough, and they've survived it. And they've got people looking out for them, trying to be there for them. Much as they'll let us." Stealing another nip of the Jack, Norah laughed shakily. "Oh, you think it can't be worse. But it's possible you're wrong." She slid the bottle back to him and took a deep breath before saying, "Now first, I really, really, really hope that Castiel is going to take care of helping you remember this, because otherwise you're going to think that I'm just randomly nuts. But Nichole's name is Nichole Winchester, and she's your daughter." Watching John anxiously for any sign that he was remembering these things, that the angel or angels were giving him back the memories that had been stolen, Norah laid it out the best she understood it. "When Mary Winchester got pregnant for the second time, it was with fraternal twins. One boy, you named him Samuel for Mary's father, and one girl, you named her Nichole. And your family lived a good life, a happy one, until the yellow-eyed demon snuck into the nursery when Sam and Nichole were six months old. Mary found him, you know that part, and there was a fire. But it wasn't just Mary who died in the fire, Baby Nichole did as well." Her voice was getting quieter as she told the story, her eyes locked on his and again she reached across the table for his hand. "You got out to the lawn. You saw Dean holding Sam, but Dean was only little, he wasn't big enough to carry both babies at once. You started to go back into the house, but it would have been a death sentence, there was no way you would survive, and by the time you went to try the baby was already dying. And so some of the angels, I don't know which ones, went into your mind and the minds of those around you and they...deleted Nichole. To keep you from killing yourself running into a burning building, and to make sure that your grief was, I guess, the sort that was directed rather than crippling. They thought that losing a child would drive you mad, or (worse, to their point of view) cause you to take the boys and settle down somewhere, try to protect them from the same fate their sister had suffered. They wanted you hunting, they wanted you on the road, and so they stole your daughter from you to get it." "She went to heaven." It was important to Norah that John know that, especially given how recently he had returned. "Until a few months ago, when Dean 'challenged God,'" that was still a story that confused Norah, it didn't logically track for her. But then, she'd never been good at religion. "At the same time that Jo Harvelle was returned, so was Nichole. Aged 27, the same as Sam, and imbued with some powers beyond that of humans. She calls herself a 'half-angel', but nobody including her seems to be entirely sure what that means. She's traveling with Dean, but she and Sam, um, don't get along very well. She's yours, though. Your daughter. And I'm so, so sorry for what was done to all of you." Location: Buckaroo Motel, Memphis TN Music: Plain Gold Ring - Lorica Outfit: A very short grey dress and bare feet. Notes: It sounds so crazy when you say it all out loud.

[John Winchester]

The man had to admit, it was a little strange that she would take the moment to comfort him given the fact that they had just met and all, but he wasn't exactly in a rush to pull away. As a matter of fact John just sat as still as he had been the entire time she had been filling him on all that he had missed, rather thankful for the contact actually even if he didn't move or say anything on the matter. John just didn't know how to show very much emotion, even if it was something like gratitude, he was just always so cut off from his emotions.

He managed to give her a weak sort of smile, figuring it was the least he could do after all that she was doing for him, "Yeah Hell was no picnic, I've managed to really piss off a looooot of demons over the years," A very weak chuckle accompanied his words as he tried to cover up the slight twitch the mention of hell had caused and he took a longer sip of the jack, trying to hide the way he's hands had started to shake, "It's good to know that my boys aren't alone, I know they can be quite the handful though," Understatement, but he couldn't blame them when he was the same way.

John squinted his eyes at her, "Your right doll, I think your nuts," He went through every memory he had before the yellow eyed demon, and as far as he could remember there were just a pair of boys in his life. He was sure that he had been there for every birth Mary had gone through, "No, are you sure you have the right Winchester here? I was there when Sam was born, excuse the language, but only one kid popped out of my wife that evening," How would he forget another kid? Even when it came to Adam he had tried his best upon finding out the boy was alive and he hadn't even wanted another child but he loved the kid all the same so how could he ever forget having a daughter?

"That.....that can't be right, it just can't," He had three kids, not four, just three, but the story was too intricate for her to be making everything up. Still, he didn't want to believe that he had lost his supposed only daughter as well, it just couldn't be the truth, "No, just....no, girl who told you all this?" John was attempting to keep the bite out of his tone but this was definitely more then he had bargained for, and honest he thought that his head was ready to explode upon hearing this. John cradled his head in his hands as she spoke, shaking his head a little every now and then, "How the hell can this be possible?" John muttered quietly shaking his head, "You're serious aren't you?" He asked her quietly, still trying to wrap his head around the revelation, why would she lie about it? Why would anyone lie about something like that? Still, it just didn't seem possible.

WHERE: Motel in Memphis
MUSIC: Back in Black -AC/DC
WEARING: Some plaid and jeans
NOTES:blowing his poor mind

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[Norah Byron]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=valign,top][atrb=style, background: url(http://i53.tinypic.com/2r3bmu1.jpg) center bottom no-repeat; outline: 1px solid #384214; width: 500px; height: 601px; padding: 0px;, bTable] Norah looked pained at John's denial and tilted her head back, staring upward as she muttered, "Castiel, if you're going to make me do this part you could at least give me a little backup with the memories." But then she returned her attention to John and said, "And despite that I was just this second talking to the ceiling? I'm not crazy. I almost wish I was, it would make life easier for you if these were deranged ramblings of some obsessed ex-girlfriend or something." She wanted to reach out and pat the back of his hand again. Actually what she wanted to do was to slide over and perch on the arm of his chair and wrap her arms around him the way she would Luke or Mickey or Sam or Abiel, any of the men in her world who worked so hard and suffered so unfairly for the sake of strangers. What she let herself do, though, was smile at him and nudge the bottle over closer to his elbow. "I was told the story first by Bishop, a very dear friend of mine who is close to Nichole. But then later I heard it from Nichole herself, and from Castiel and Dean. When Castiel and Nichole told Dean the truth they restored his stolen memories, let him remember that Nichole was his sister. I'd thought, hoped, that Castiel would do the same for you as I told you the story, but apparently not." "I don't know how it's possible," she said seriously. "I don't know all of why she was taken or why she was returned, what part she has to play in all this. But I know that she's real, and I know that she's your girl and that she was stolen from you in the worst way imaginable." [style=padding: 0px 10px; font-size: smaller;] Location: Outfit: A very short grey dress and bare feet. Music: Rock me to Sleep - Jill Sobule Notes: She so wants to cuddle him. [/style]

[John Winchester]

"That really would," And god he wished it was because he could deal with an obsessive ex girlfriend, he had dealt with one before, or at least, one that thought she was. They had slept together a few times, he would admit that, but when she started talking about meeting families and such and he restated that it was all physical, the woman had shown herself to be a nut job. John could deal with insane women rambling, but he could not deal with the potential truth that the pretty red head was bringing him today. Too much too soon, is what he would blame his weakness with dealing with the situation on, but it could have been a separate conversation years from now and he still would have trouble handling it.

"Are we sure she's not lying, or that the angels aren't the liars then?" He sounded rather....small, weary and run down with the information he had been given. Angels had shown themselves to do anything to get people just where they wanted them. John felt his shoulders sag and he gratefully took a good long swing of the bottle that had been nudged a little closer to him, god he had to admit she had hit the nail on the head when she told him to get himself something to drink because he was probably going to need it. John wanted to think that this wasn't all some elaborate scheme but at the same time he sort of did, because he could deal with something like a scheme, he would simply shoot every angel that he came across if that was the problem.

But she looked sincere, and he had learned a few thing about her in the time that she had spent telling him what he had missed, and he felt that from what he knew of her, that she wouldn't tell him a lie like that. But he wished that it, "I don't-" He stopped short, not even able to figure out how to finish that sentence. Instead he took anther swallow of the bottle and straightened his shoulders, "Is there anything else I should know?" John asked warily, scared to find out that there was something else he needed to know on top of that. In reality he wanted to just change the subject to something, anything else because he did not feel like breaking down right now. No that would be something done quietly and in private, so he put on his game face and shoved the issue to the side for right now.

WHERE: Motel in Memphis
MUSIC: Back in Black -AC/DC
WEARING: Some plaid and jeans
NOTES:totally ready to change the subject, he's burying stuff now

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[Norah Byron]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=valign,top][atrb=style, background: url(http://i53.tinypic.com/2r3bmu1.jpg) center bottom no-repeat; outline: 1px solid #384214; width: 500px; height: 601px; padding: 0px;, bTable] A silent sigh, Norah could see John retreating but she decfided not to chase him right now. She'd already practically hammered him with things he didn't want to know. (Things, her rebellious mind kept reminding her, that weren't her responsibility to tell in the first place. That Castiel, the coward, should have been the one to tell this man. And yet even as she thought it, she couldn't make herself be wholly sorry that it was her. He needed, deserved, a kind hand today.) And so she let him change the subject, let him shove away the high emotion and recover a bit. "Nothing else that's nearly so important. I can tell you where they are, how to find them when you're ready. I told you Sam is with me, with us, the band. Settled in Vegas for the next few weeks, at the New York New York casino. Dean's in Michigan right now, heading up toward the Canada border. He doesn't know I keep tabs on him, but I do." A soft wisp of a smile. "I keep tabs on all of them, best I can. Dean and Jo, the Amherst twins, Abiel Bell and Bishop, Zee Kerrick, every hunter that comes into my ken for a while and then drifts away again. I get their phone numbers and email addresses, I make sure they know where I am so that they can come to me if they're hurt or need to go to ground for a while. And I track them, the best it's possible, and send others after them if I know that they're in trouble." This was the first time she'd ever admitted this to anybody. Her brothers knew it, because they knew her, but not even Bishop or Abiel suspected just how thorough Norah's little web was, just how quickly she could get in touch with every hunter or creature who they'd ever sheltered. They were her boys (and girls, the few there'd been), they'd been under her protection once and she didn't let go of that. And, because she understood what that meant rather better than most people would think, the smile she gave John was more than a little sad as she said, "They come to me damaged and guarded and so angry, so sure that they don't need anything but the job and the feel of a gun in their palm. And I am what they need me to be. Mother, sister, symbol. Helpless little girl who needs taking care of, safe place to run to when they need to hide. I hear their secrets and pet their hair and when they cry I never tell a soul. They all need it, one way or another. And I give it to them, the best I can, because who else do they have to turn to?" She bit her lip in sudden self-consciousness, dropped her eyes because that was a lot to admit to someone. But she'd felt like she owed John that. She was nothing to him, just a stranger who knew too much about his life and his world and who'd been sent to him like a telegram to deliver bad news. She had an intimacy with him that she hadn't earned simply by being the one who was telling him about his sons and daughter, and it had felt important that she give something back. Give him something private of hers to even the scales. Forcing a better, brighter smile Norah asked, "Do you want to come back to Vegas with me tonight? Castiel promised to get me back, we could bully him into sending you, too. You could see Sam, be somewhere stable for Dean to come back to, and frankly the accomodations are better." She grinned and glanced around the cheap motel room. "You don't have to if you're not sure you're ready. But you're welcome if you'd like. I'll even take you out tonight, once our stomachs settle from the teleportation, and feed you a steak and get you very drunk in hopes of you getting a decent night's sleep." [style=padding: 0px 10px; font-size: smaller;] Location: Outfit: A very short grey dress and bare feet. Music: Rock me to Sleep - Jill Sobule Notes: Oh yeah, he's adopted. [/style]

[John Winchester]

John couldn't help the bit of a smile that crept up to his face. No doubt Dean would probably have a few things to say about having tabs kept on him, the boy liked to think that he could fall off the radar whenever he wanted. Of course it wasn't like he was ever going to tell his son that after he finally came clean to the fact that he wasn't still dead. And after they went through the temper tantrum his eldest would no doubt throw upon finding out that he wasn't the first to know that John had come back from hell. Yes John wanted very badly to see his boys again, but he was not in a rush to deal with that just yet.

"It's a hard life, even if we all pretend that it doesn't bother us," He frowned slightly, oh if only he could do everything over again, if only, it was that sort of thinking that had the man ready to scream though, "You do somethin' amazing for everyone then doll, bet ya don't even get much of a thanks though do ya?" Thats just the way hunters were, too hard headed and wrapped up in themselves and the darkness they dealt with to really see the good things that were around him and the little red headed singer definitely seemed to be a good thing for everyone that met her. Even him and even with the very heavy and messy news that she had brought with her.

Having finished the last of the Jack, John slowly stood, feeling his old knees crack a bit with a sigh and rested a hand on her shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze and a bit of a pat before going for another bottle that he kept stored away in his duffel bag. The contact really wasn't much by most people's standards but the old hunter was definitely not 'most people' by any standard, and it was quite possibly the only way he knew to show any sort of affection to anyone that wasn't part of his immediate family. The man sat back down with the small bottle of bacardi and quickly cracked it open, having a swing of the drink and offering her the bottle.

John chewed at the inside of his cheek as he thought on the offer, an old habit reserved for the most nervous of moments. He wanted to see his kids, but he hadn't been on the best of grounds with Sammy in the longest of times that he didn't know how the boy would react to seeing him. At the same time though, his boy seemed to be in such a sorry state that he couldn't even pretend to turn his cheek on the matter, "Yeah I think maybe I'll take ya up on the offer, should go see how my boy is doin' myself I think. Would only be right," That and he was just plain worried, even if it didn't show, he was always worried about his little Sammy, "Let me get my duffel," He said with a tired smile in her direction, "You're a good girl Norah," John added as something of an afterthought, meaning it with something much like fatherly affection.

WHERE: Motel in Memphis
MUSIC: Back in Black -AC/DC
WEARING: Some plaid and jeans
NOTES: he's so fatherly deep down

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[Norah Byron]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=valign,top][atrb=style, background: url(http://i53.tinypic.com/2r3bmu1.jpg) center bottom no-repeat; outline: 1px solid #384214; width: 500px; height: 601px; padding: 0px;, bTable] "I'm not really interested in thanks," she smiled and reached across the table for the rum, took a good nip out of the bottle. "I do it because..." she trailed off and bit her lip again, then laughed. "Do you know, I have no idea why I do it? Why it seems so important to me? It just does. From when I first met Abiel and Bishop, worked out what they do and why. As soon as they told me I wondered who looked after them, while they were out there protecting the world from what's evil and bestial and wrong. The answer seemed to be 'nobody', so..." she shrugged easily. "I decided that was me." She watched him move around the room and pack his things, didn't offer to help if only because he clearly had a system, a lot of skill and practice at packing down a room and getting things where they belonged with a precision more military and disciplined than many of the hunters she'd known. When he seemed to have it all in hand, she slipped her shoes back on and stood up, smiled at him, reached out and touched his shoulder. "We'll get you settled into a room of your own, get you your own space. I know you want to deal with Sam and your other kids, but you've got to deal with yourself too. You may want to ignore that you just came back from four years in Hell, but I think we both already know that I'm not going to let it drop so easily." She kept her hand on his upper arm as she looked up at the ceiling (something she'd picked up from Sam and Dean both) and said, "All right, Castiel. I've done your dirty work. Take us back to Vegas, please? In my suite, if you don't mind?" It would be just like Cas to drop them in the middle of Fremont Street or something because he didn't think it mattered. The angel didn't show himself, but the world lurched around them and suddenly the two of them were standing in the middle of an overdecorated hotel suite that was identifiable as Norah's largely because of the row of five instrument cases leaning against the wall next to the sofa. As soon as the world stopped spinning, Norah immediately dropped down to sit on the arm of one of the chairs and made an extremely unladylike gagging sound, though she managed not to puke. "Oh God I hate that so much," she gasped. [style=padding: 0px 10px; font-size: smaller;] Location: Outfit: A very short grey dress and bare feet. Music: Rock me to Sleep - Jill Sobule Notes: Home sweet casino [/style]