The Perk, Monday afternoon

[scruffnfeathers]

After two days some time spent realizing that the DVDs were actually in the plastic boxes that Tony had loaned him, and not the plastic boxes themselves, and then that, while he had no DVD player on his TV, he did have one that seemed to work perfectly well on his laptop, Castiel had spent his weekend watching Space Battles.

And now he was sitting in the Perk with a cooling cup of coffee and an as yet unnibbled slice of marble pound cake, searching the internet for Space Battles fanfiction.

And wouldn't you know it? People got that wrong, too!

He'd crafted what he felt was a very reasonable and patient letter explaining to one author that the characters were not, in fact, high school students, and that as far as he could tell, the society in which the movies took place wasn't even structured to have a high school, and was currently attempting to translate the response the author had sent him in return. It was clearly written in some kind of code, but seemed to be implying disreputable things about Castiel's mother.

[ooc: Open, doncha know.]

Comments

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell hadn't been trying to peek, really, but he had a coffee, and okay, he was in many ways bored out of his mind. Nevermind that, but Castiel smelled... oddly, drawing in his attention. "Ah, browsing the tinhats, are we?"

... It'd been a few fandoms ago that Mitchell bothered to abuse the internet at all.

[scruffnfeathers]

Castiel looked up and shook his head. "No, the internet."

It totally made sense to Castiel.

[takesaftermom.livejournal.com]

Having gotten a late start to the day, Summer was in the mood for a large cup of coffee. Given the fact that she made terrible coffee, the Perk was the logical choice.

She decided to get a slice of coffee cake with her coffee and offered Castiel a small smile as she decided to pick the seat near the window.

[scruffnfeathers]

Not being much of a smiler, Castiel nodded seriously in return.

[chosehumanity]

"I see you're one of those people who is doggedly literal," Mitchell said, amused, and sank into a chair with his coffee.

[scruffnfeathers]

Castiel frowned. He didn't think he was. "I'm . . . not entirely used to the modern manner of speaking."

[chosehumanity]

"Tinhats. You know, these fans who used to be obsessed about the idea some real life actors were going at it, something like that." He cupped his hands around his coffee. "...Not that I spent a lot of time there. But sometimes you have to have a peek."

[scruffnfeathers]

Castiel titled his head. "And they wear . . . hats of tin?"

He'd never heard of this phenomenon. Of course, his primary fandom was a series of books.

[chosehumanity]

"Prance about the street in them." Oh, Mitchell. He'd feel bad about misleading an angel at some point, probably. "At least, back in my day."

[scruffnfeathers]

Castiel nodded. That had clearly happened while the Garrison had been off being busy with something else. "And which day would that be?"

[chosehumanity]

"You weren't joking about the literal," he said. "Three... four years ago?" Six, Mitchell. "Gorgeous April day."

...yes, now we were mocking the literal.

[scruffnfeathers]

Okay, even Castiel knew that wasn't how one usually interpreted the phrase "back in my day".

"On which members of certain online fan contingents donned tin hats and went prancing in the streets."

[takesaftermom.livejournal.com]

"Something interesting catch your eye?" Summer asked, gesturing to the laptop. Hey, she was curious and she knew all too well how a person could spend hours browsing random sites and not even realize it.

[chosehumanity]

"Well, that's one theory," he said, toasting Castiel with his mug. "I'm Mitchell."

[scruffnfeathers]

"Merely doing some . . . fact checking."

Was it possible that the angel was actually . . . ashamed of his fanfiction addiction?

[scruffnfeathers]

Castiel copied the gesture. With his pound cake. "I am Castiel."

[chosehumanity]

Now that was just adorable.

Mitchell paused. Really, well and truly paused. "From the church?"

[scruffnfeathers]

Castiel nodded. "Yes. You've heard of me?"

[chosehumanity]

Don't worry, Castiel. If he was leaning slightly away from you, it was not because of your body odor, but rather a pragmatic fear of being repelled across the room as soon as he as much as looked at you.

"You've been on the radio," he replied, sipping his coffee again. Warily. "Somehow I pictured you coming attached with a bit more of a chorus."

[scruffnfeathers]

What an odd assumption to make. "The choir goes home at the end of services," he pointed out. "Most people expect me to come with wings."

[chosehumanity]

"Well I wouldn't be flashing those around if I were you, so..."

[takesaftermom.livejournal.com]

"A good way to pass the time," Summer nodded, pausing to sip her coffee. Depending on what those facts were, of course. "I'm Summer," she added, deciding to introduce herself.

[scruffnfeathers]

"They have an unfortunate tendency of blowing out the surrounding electrical grid," Castiel noted. "And possibly blinding people."

[scruffnfeathers]

"It's not the best I've found, but it will do." Castiel's lip curved ever so slightly. "I'm Castiel."

[chosehumanity]

There was a moment of silence. "Yeah," Mitchell said, finally, "You have to know when to bring out that sort of firepower."