Not Until We Are Lost

Eventually, Piotr decided that enough socializing had gone on. People knew that their friends and loved ones were here with them, and that was a good thing. They could catch up further later, however. If he didn't interrupt, the meeting would go on far longer than anybody wanted it to. He'd provided some snacks, but no actual food. There would be a need for actual food at some point.

He cleared his throat to get the attention of everybody present.

"We are all here right now for the same purpose." Piotr's voice wasn't loud, but it was demanding. His accent cut through everything else easily. The edges of it were sharp, the middles heavy. He wouldn't, couldn't be ignored. "All of us were brought to this place, world or dimension, and we have all been seeking answers since we woke up. It is time to share what we have found."

He smiled a little at Mary, at Cas, then at Rob, still not giving up his position.

"I will do this in the most orderly manner that I can, so we can get the information and compare notes as needed."

Piotr turned to Castiel, who had spoken up first.

Piotr was anxious to get everything rolling. While putting the meeting off had given extra time to round up others who might need to be in on it, it meant a delay of information that he wasn't truly comfortable with. He'd managed to play it off with everybody that he'd encountered, making as if this wasn't as big a deal as it really was to him. Inside, Piotr had been twitchy. Anything could happen at any time. They were all dealing with the unknown. There were too many variables, the risk was far too high. Lingering only swayed things away from their favor.

It was very domestic, the way he readied for the guests. He didn't let Max lift a finger. It was the only way he could keep himself from stewing, really. To move, work. Put plates together. Ready beverages. Create a spread that Martha Stewart would have been proud of.

He even dressed up.

Black suit, crisp white shirt, black tie, shiny black shoes, hair combed impeccably, guns tucked away in their holsters under his arms and hidden carefully by the jacket of his expensive outfit. Not a lick of metal showing anywhere to give him away, and that was more a throwback to the long nights of watching a mark than anything else. Piotr didn't have any good reason for it now, but it felt right.

When there was nothing left to do, he leaned against the arm of the couch and worried his lip between his teeth. There wasn't a watch to check on his wrist, so he glanced every few minutes at the clock on the wall, ticking away in its hideous orange and purple motif, strange detached bunny ears the hands, a mangled face grinning behind them. It was disturbing at best, though Piotr didn't really see the image, just the minutes.

The doorbell rang and he opened it, taking up the entire doorway. He smiled at the first guests and stood aside to allow them in. He made motions toward the table of snacks and directed them toward the kitchen for drinks. Every single newcomer got the same treatment. Max still not allowed to do anything that might have taken even an iota of the control out of the Russian's hands. They weren't military people, those who were showing up, they weren't highly trained like he was, but he would be damned if he wasn't in command of everything.

There were so many faces that he didn't recognize, and still no sign of the one that he was still seeking. Rayne was not with any of the others that showed up. Piotr couldn't help the worry he felt for his charge. The strange woman who he'd met in Malden, what felt like a hundred years ago now. He didn't ask after her, knowing that if any of these people knew her, she would have been here. He'd been careful to set the time of the meeting right after sunset to accommodate her and any others that might be like her. If she was here, by some strange chance, and had not been informed of the meeting, and hadn't come looking for him, if she had, in fact, decided to keep herself secret, then she had a reason for it, and it wasn't Piotr's place to draw attention to her. The hope of that was beyond slim, however, and he knew it. She wasn't here, he just had to admit it.

He let everybody mingle for almost an hour, to make sure that all the people that had been told had a change to show up. That and it was obvious that some of them had been looking for each other for a while, and they were just now discovering one another. He couldn't bring himself to break that up. He knew how he would have felt if he'd found his friend. He wouldn't have been able to focus on anything else but making sure that she was alright.

Finally, he stood in the center of the living room, his eyes skating over the seating, knowing that there wasn't enough for everybody and regretting it, and cleared his throat to get the attention of the assembled.

"We are all here right now for the same purpose." Piotr's voice wasn't loud, but it was demanding. His accent cut through everything else easily. The edges of it were sharp, the middles heavy. He wouldn't, couldn't be ignored. "All of us were brought to this place, world or dimension, and we have all been seeking answers since we woke up. It is time to share what we have found."

He smiled a little at Mary, at Cas, then at Rob, still not giving up his position.

Jo wasn't sure how long she'd been on planet Easter/Halloween, or whatever the hell it was actually called, but she knew that she was getting frustrated. There were people she'd been looking for and so far the only ones she'd found were Mary and Phae. She was relieved to have found both, but there were still other people she was worried about.

As such, she'd spent the last few days wandering the town and looking for some sign of the Impala or Johnny's motorcycle. She hadn't gotten to the point of knocking on doors on the street they were on, but she was close. The trouble was that she didn't know what else or who else might be lurking behind those doors.

She was also starting to get a sense for the things that were lurking outside after dark. She had yet to venture out after the sun set simply because she needed to get her bearings, but she was getting antsy at not finding Dean yet and so she really wanted to shoot things.

Which was why she wandered outside at night with a large knife in hand and a shotgun full of salt rounds.

Dean drove out of the development where the house was and out onto the main stretch of... wherever this town was. He was looking for major landmarks, and anything familiar at all--including people he knew, just walking around.

Still, they didn't get far into the drive before Dean's stomach was gurgling. He didn't really want to put off the search, but food? With him? It couldn't wait.

Dean pulled into the lot of the Friendly's as it came up on his right. At least that was something sort of familiar. He parked the car, and with a sigh, turned to explain all of what was going to happen in there to Sympathy.

"Alright. I'm really hungry, and that's... gonna get in the way of trying to do what we wanna do. So we're gonna go in there and get some food and then go back to looking around."

He looked at her, eyes searching hers. This was going to be a lot for her. "It might be loud in there, but it's just a place that serves food, and we'll go as quick as we can."

Dean gave her a quick nod, got out of the car, closed the driver's side door, and waited for her right at the door of the restaurant. Part of him wanted to walk around the back and see if there was a big blue box there.

His eye stung.

Dean blinked. And then he blinked again.

He realized that there was something in his eye. Something that was doing the stinging. His hand went to his eye, to rub at it in that stupid reflexive way that never did anything but drive the cause of the pain further into the eye. Soap.

It was soap.

And now that he had a second to breathe, Dean realized he was naked. And wet.

The water was warm. He was standing in a shower, in a bathtub with one of those sliding glass doors instead of a curtain.

And standing not a few inches from him was a woman with dark hair and shampoo on her head.

Dean almost slipped taking a step backward. His eyes grew wide, and his eyebrows drew together.

"Holy shit!"

He managed that step back now, without falling.

The drive to Electric City had been long, but mostly uneventful. As far as Winchester road trips went, this one went down without anyone losing a soul, or dying, or returning from the dead, or making any deals with anything.

It was nice. Dean might never admit that out loud, but it was nice.

He hadn't done much since arriving; he'd been scoping out the place on a low-level, keeping in touch with Bobby. Looking for tips on the werewolf kid and that multi-colored slayer chick. So far, no dice.

Jo'd gotten interesting information, though. She'd told him all about her meeting with Simon, what his theories were.

And she'd told him all about his daughter being blackout drunk and carried back to her motel room by a guy he'd seen back in York.

Jo's feathers were ruffled, and honestly, so were Dean's. She might not be born yet, technically speaking, but Mary was his kid. He didn't know this guy. And he figured if most people were the betting kind, they'd bet he'd grow into the kind of father that had a shotgun and shovel and a facial twitch.

He'd done his best to remind Jo that Mary was--currently-- a grown woman. And then, a day later, he'd gone over to the motel room to see her. Find out more about this guy.

He knocked and waited, hands tucked into his jacket pockets.

Jo was getting really sick of waking up with the sense that something wasn't right. That was twice now that she'd had her mind hijacked and woken up days or weeks later. Dean and Mary had done something to make sure that it wouldn't happen again, so she didn't know why she felt out of sorts upon waking. She especially didn't know why since she'd woken up in the motel room that she'd been sharing with Dean for the last few months.

Her hand reached up to touch the amulet that she wore at all times now. She still hadn't gotten over the fact that her daughter from the future had been integral in saving her, or that her other future daughter was missing. That was a lot to deal with, and Jo was just as desperate as Dean and Mary to find a way to get Ellen back.

The sunlight filtering through the room window really threw her off. She didn't think she'd taken a nap in the middle of the day, though she supposed that explained why Dean wasn't here. Then again, it felt like they were ships passing in the night, even if they were sharing a motel room. Things had been weird. Not that she could blame him, considering everything that had come their way.

Jo jotted a quick note, just because she didn't want him to have to wonder if she disappeared without saying a word. Then she dressed and stepped out into the later afternoon sunlight. She was itching to get back to pounding the pavement and searching for answers. They had to be out there. People didn't just vanish... did they? She started walking in the direction of the town, still wishing that she'd had the chance to get herself a vehicle. She was really sick of hoofing it everywhere or having to depend on her boyfriend for a ride.

Dean had taken to breakfast at Friendly's. The one he'd taken Ellen to, that time. The one he'd been to many times since. It wasn't like York had a lot going for it, but even a chain greasy spoon was better than most of the roadside crap.

Today he had his coffee at the counter, where they served the ice cream sundaes. He was waiting on eggs that would probably, given a little time, stop his heart. There'd been some weird whirring noise earlier that he wanted to check out, but for now, that'd have to wait. He thought it was some kind of car issue anyway. He could give the jerk who was grinding those gears a jump after he addressed his growling stomach.

The teenage-ish waitress behind the counter poured a coffee for the only other person in here just now, who looked maybe a little over her age, maybe one of the college kids. Dean gave the guy a nod.

He had a newspaper in front of him, and he was still following leads for the disappearances.

Jo. Ellen. Harry....

.... Sam.

A Winchester did not just take losing family well. Ever. He'd been on the phone to Bobby more than the old man liked, and now and then he screamed for Cas.

Still.