anewlanguage | video; spam

[Cain has flour on his cheek, and he's in the kitchen, taking a break.] Y'know, worldwide there's room for comfort food after a real shitty day. I'm takin' requests.

Me, I always went for pierogis. Stayed in Poland just long enough to learn how to make 'em. [And to kill a diplomat. But. You know.] Kid seemed to like 'em pretty well, too. Pretty sure tastes change, though...

Anyway, give 'em here, give me all your requests.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

surfaceshine

Point Riddick at me if he has any questions or concerns. I expect you two'll get on alright though.

[Dean's relieved and confused about that, anyway, but he's not going to question it right now. For the man represented by the file in Dean's safe, he's shown remarkably little tendency towards causing the kind of trouble the Barge is used to seeing.]

Crew? What crew? [It's genuine confusion, though his saturating, unaimed annoyance makes it sharp as well.]

From:

anewlanguage

The crew. We're the crew, Dean, all of us keepin' things moving on the ship. God knows the Admiral isn't, nine times out of ten.

From:

surfaceshine

Look around and ask for yourself.

How do you think the crew's holding up?

From:

anewlanguage

Half of you are pissed off, but I couldn't really say, Warden. [He keeps to himself.]

From:

surfaceshine

Half the world is pissed off at any given time. Not news.

[That is pretty much the point Dean was making.]

From:

anewlanguage

Half the world doesn't get thrown from Wonderland to Silent Hill.

From:

surfaceshine

[It's still fresh enough that bringing up Silent Hill is enough to either knock Dean off his hardass routine, or fire him up.

Looks like this time it's the latter.]

And yet they still find things to be pissed off about. You should look into that.

Maybe you'll find someone to drink with.

From:

anewlanguage

[Cain makes a thoughtful face, as if that might be a really good idea.]

Fuck you.

[or not.]

From:

surfaceshine

[Well that didn't help with the firing up.]

No, fuck you. I know people've said this to you before - hell, I've said this to you before, you just don't give a flying fuck, and fine, whatever, don't care if that's what helps you sleep at night.

But don't pull this nostalgic, backwards bullshit, either, if that's the goddamn case. You say you care about Cass? You think you love her?

Love her how she wants to be fucking loved. Your method hasn't been working for years. Time to try something new, jackass.

From:

anewlanguage

You think you read a file and know what the hell it was like? You think you can talk to just her and know what it was like? She was a kid when she left! She doesn't even remember it all!

And you? You weren't there. I'm trying something different. She wants to be fucking left alone, and I would, God help me if I wasn't stuck on this goddamn boat I would! I was in solitary to keep away from her!

You're my Warden, you're not my goddamn therapist. You're not hers either.

[He wishes he was stupid enough to throw out all the progress they've made, but he's not. Even right now when he's so livid and lost, there's part of him that insists on not pushing past a point he can't return from.

Then again, he's pretty sure Dean could put up a hell of a fight, could break some bones if it came down to it. Dean's no idiot, he knows how to handle himself.]

From:

surfaceshine

[Dean wouldn't get into a fistfight with Cain, if he got the choice. He isn't an idiot, and he'd put up a helluva fight if it came down to that, but Cain is just like a wendigo or rawhead: close with him, fist to fist, and Dean knows he's dinner.

That's not the point. The point is Dean has never backed down from this kind of fight and he doesn't intend to start now, lingering guilt or not.]

You think just because you're older than I am, because you've killed all these people and done all these things that you know square one about me? Fuck you. I'm not your therapist, or hers - I'm your goddamn warden, I'm her goddamn friend, and that means I don't have to be concerned about your feelings.

She doesn't want to be left alone. She wants you to stop being such a self-absorbed, whiny asshole for long enough to figure out how to fucking be a normal person. She wants to be someone's daughter, for chrissakes, not someone's experiment.

[He's yelling now, temper running hot.]

From:

anewlanguage

[And just like that he's yelling, too, for the first time in over a year. There's been anger and guilt boiling away under the surface, but it's never come to the surface. Until now.]

She is someone's daughter! She's Batman's, she's Barbara's! I don't mean anything to her but a fist and a gun, and you don't know the first thing about turning that around! When's the last time you abused your child, Dean?

From:

surfaceshine

[Good. It's a reaction Dean knows exactly what to do with, in a way he didn't when it was his own father. Dean doesn't feel anything for Cain like he did for John.

He can hit back just as hard, and not feel even remotely guilty because he loves the asshole no matter what.]

They're not her parents you fucking deadbeat jerkoff - you are, you're the only one she's got, and for some reason unknown to anyone and everything decent under the fucking sun, that still matters to her!

If you'd shut your mouth and actually listen for once instead of wallowing and drinking and feeling sorry for yourself, I'd tell you what it's like to know that your own father, the only one you fucking have in the world, the one you'd do anything to please for even a moment, cares less about being your fucking father than he does getting the hell out of your life any way he fucking can, right wrong or indifferent!

When's the last time you listened to your daughter, Cain?

[He wouldn't, actually; the only reason he's saying as much now is because his mouth has run off with him, that and the swell of choking anger that's been living in his gut for two years now, untouched, unacknowledged, undiminished.]

From:

anewlanguage

What the hell do you know about what she wants? [it's too bad, really, that Cain sees so much of Dean's pain in what's being said that he almost doesn't hear the words.]

Where do you get the idea that when she says she's building a life without me, that means she wants me in it? You think cause she wants me to change she'll ever want me near her? You're fucking delusional if you think there's anyone out there who knows her better than I do, especially you.

She chose Bruce and she chose Barbara. You go ask them who she belongs with, and then you ask her if she disagrees.

From:

surfaceshine

I asked her!

[Dean hasn't been this angry since he came to the Barge, he hasn't yelled this much since before Sam needed a deal, hasn't wanted to punch someone for just being in his face as badly as he wants to go at Cain right now. If they weren't separated by a network and several levels of ship, he'd have done it already, and screw the consequences.

He doesn't know because he asked Cass; he doesn't have to. He already knows. He hates it and he already knows and there's nothing further he can do here because Cain isn't even listening.]

You're unbelievable. Fuck you. Fuck you. And you can forget about the whiskey, you're not touching a goddamn drop until you figure out how to stand on your own two feet without help from a bottle. Fuck.

[There's nothing more to say; unless Cain can come up with something pretty spectacular, Dean is cutting the feed.]

From:

anewlanguage

[Well that gets his attention.]

No. No, fuck you. What the hell is wrong with you? You argue with me about my kid and because I don't automatically agree with you, I get punished?

[No, nothing spectacular. Just a really pissed off elite assassin. Slash-alcoholic.]

I put up with a lot, especially from you because every now and then you know what you're talking about. But go ahead, start throwing your weight around at me and we'll see where it gets you.