un: ut malum pluvia | audio

[somebadnews]

[ Five is at the dining car, drinking coffee and writing on various napkins, as he's inclined to do when a time anomaly fucks with his ability to relax for more than a day. There's no denying he has more energy than he has in a long time — which means he's generally been harassing the staff, who have called him 'young man' one too many times and keep refusing to add whiskey to his coffee. He hasn't ended that war yet; they'll regret forcing him to get regular sleep.

Frustrated after he's crossed out yet another equation, he finally does something he rarely does: addresses the network. ]

I couldn't care less about a wedding, but there's obviously more going on here besides stealing dreams and sealing away powers to keep the train running smoothly. [ And no, he isn't letting that slide either. ] I spoke to the conductor, and didn't get a damn thing out of him. He's obsessed with the wellbeing of the train and wasn't concerned about Prassenze going missing that first night, which I can only assume he doesn't remember happening.

[ If he'd known that day would be effectively erased, he could have taken advantage. He's been going over his conversation with the conductor more times than he cares to count, and he's decided that he went far too easy on him. ]

He mentioned that we have 'old-issue' tickets, along with most of the wedding party, meaning at least a few of them are frequent travelers who have renewed their tickets over a long period of time. No bodies are missing from the train, because apparently they can track us, by our dreams or otherwise. There were no acts of violence, nothing came through the open window, and there's nothing that would explain why the bride keeps changing forms or what caused a time loop that only we could perceive. [ Which doesn't make sense. That's not how time loops work. ] Logic would say that she's the one behind the anomaly, but enough people were against the wedding that there could be other suspects who are lying about not remembering the first two weddings.

[ He's one cup of coffee away from taking his paranoia too far, but in his opinion they're not taking this seriously enough. They should be grateful that he's at least opening it up to theories. ]

Who here has been in a time loop before, show of hands? Who knows that messing with time is dangerous? Even something as innocent as rewinding a wedding. [ He would know. ] We survived an apocalypse. I don't have to tell you that our odds were not in our favor. Let's keep that streak going, and stop the next one before it gets that close, shall we?

Comments

[somebadnews]

[ ...Unexpected response to a rhetorical question. Although he appreciates the healthy respect for how difficult it is to manipulate time. He's the best at it and even he fucks it up whenever he tries to move beyond a few minutes. ]

I'm going to need you to elaborate on that.

[cholesterol]

Long-lost angel in witness protection pretended he was a Trickster god. He trapped my brother Sam in a time loop to teach him a lesson. Trapped us both in fake TV shows to - can't even remember why, now.

( Maybe to reveal himself. It was a long time ago. )

The apocalypse was nigh. ( He pauses. ) I've also been sent forward and backward through time.

[somebadnews]

[ Five has to sit with what he just offloaded for a full minute. There's a reason time travel often goes hand in hand with an apocalypse, both as the cause and the prevention. He restrains himself from giving a lecture until he has more information. ]

Was. You averted the apocalypse?

[cholesterol]

( Go on. Lecture him. It'll end great for the both of you. )

Which time?

( He also brought the apocalypse on more times than he can count. )

The time traveling didn't save the world. It showed me things. The future, the past. Fell into the past one time.

( It's a thing that's happened. )

You talk of apocalypses like Tuesdays.

[somebadnews]

[ The lecture could still be coming, but he's doing a good job of sounding like a guy these things just happen to. Which is odd. ]

Apparently I'm not the only one. [ Never mind that it happened (or will, according to his sister) three times in a month for him. ] How did you fall into the past?

[cholesterol]

I tackled a god.

( He takes a beat. )

Chronos. He had a serious case of rat pack envy.

[somebadnews]

[ That's the second mention of a god, which... is honestly new for him, even if he is technically best friends with the Devil. ]

Named after the Ancient Greek god, or are they real in your world?

[cholesterol]

They're real. Everything under your bed, every story, my brother and I hunted them.

( It's an oversimplification, very early seasons Sam and Dean when their biggest worry was finding their father alive. )

I stumbled upon Chronos. I wasn't after him. Ended up in the 1920's.

[somebadnews]

Hunted. [ That has messy written all over it, especially if he didn't know what he was doing. ]

So what? You just stumbled your way through time fighting gods and saving the world?

[cholesterol]

( Please assume he's an amateur at it. It will go well for everyone involved. )

Once. I stumbled into Chronos and his portal to 1920. Cases, we find and we work. And yeah, it's easy to stumble upon a case, too. Gods come out of the woodwork all the time.

[somebadnews]

[ Jury is still out if it's better or worse if it was intentional. ]

Cases, as in that's how you and your brother made your living? Does that mean you had clients?

[cholesterol]

We don't get paid, but we save people.

( Saved. Some people. Not all people. Don't get him started on Huntercorp or his and Sam's doppelgangers roaming around the world. )

[somebadnews]

[ ...That is a better motivation, and it changes his tone slightly, but he still can't help but prod. Speaking as one man who killed countless innocent and guilty alike in order to save billions. ]

Saved the world, you said. Or did you just delay it a while?