His critical expression didn't go unnoticed. Rose pouted. Castiel was Dean's friend, so she supposed she couldn't be surprised. "I'm doin' my best, mate," the blonde argued, pulling herself to her feet. "'s not like I'm gonna jus' leave ya."

Though bound, the man was clearly trying to tell her something. Rose attempted to make out the words. Unfortunately, the rusted metal across his lips made it nearly impossible. O-something... C-something... she decided to follow his gaze, instead. The path of her dark eyes matched his, and then- "Ah!" There, sticking out of the untamed grass, was a metal spout. She ran to investigate.

"Oil can!" Rose exclaimed, picking up the precious tool. She turned to show Castiel, but it was clear that he'd seen the thing there the whole time. Another frown. "...Ya mean they left this 'ere, righ' in front o' ya t' look at?" She shook her head in disbelief. "Bloody torture, tha' is."

Ever the Companion, Rose briskly returned to Castiel's side. She supposed that his mouth was the best place to start. Standing on her tiptoes, she found the heavy clasp behind his head. "Don' struggle or anythin'," she requested gently. "This'll be easier if ya ain't rattlin' around." She tilted the can forward. Its contents seeped into the mobile parts of the clasp, as well as over the super-rusty spots. If the mechanism was stuck, extra moisture could maybe allow her to break it with force. Rose listened to the forest around them while working. Whoever had done this to Castiel could still be around. She had no idea where they were or what they were dealing with.

When satisfied, she struck the clasp a few times with the bottom of her palm. The metal protested for a moment, before finally swinging open with a crack. "There!" she smiled broadly. Castiel was free to speak- or, more likely, just breathe properly for a few moments.

Castiel calmed down a little when Rose assured him that she wasn't going to leave him stuck there like that. It was bad enough being held where he was, but the oil can sitting right in front of him was some sort of torture.

As she approached to help him, he took her advice and stood as still as possible. There was a soft grunt of discomfort as she worked the clasp, and once it was open and the first piece was removed he gasped for breath and sighed deeply.

"Thank you."

"Anytime- Castiel, righ'?" she smiled. She stepped back to look him in the eyes. It would take a bit of time, but Rose could free him... as long as the oil didn't run out.

"Arms next," she nodded. Given that the poor guy was stuck trusting her, Rose thought it helpful to narrate her actions. Besides, she always felt more comfortable when dentists and the like did the same for her. "Jus' gonna take a look." She crouched down to inspect Castiel's left wrist. "'ey, good! Th' rust 'ere ain't so bad." The blonde went to work. Trying to be conservative with the oil, she sighed. There was so much metal. Hopefully, the captive was patient.

As she poured, Rose's mind drifted. She pictured The Doctor's barren room. Maybe he'd been dragged to this place, too, but- no, no. The room had been lifeless. Rose bit her bottom lip, forcing herself to focus. Castiel needed her optimism.

The clasp opened, and Rose clapped triumphantly. "Rotate your wrist a li'l," she encouraged. "You're probably cramped up, yea?"

Castiel looked down, watching her work on the wrist clasp. If he did have a quality to his name, it was patience. He could wait if necessary and do so without uttering a word. Sometimes that silence could make others feel nervous though, but he could never quite figure out when things went from just quiet to uncomfortable. Humans were not easy to read, even when the answers were written on their faces.

His wrist was moved at the instruction and he did find the limb to be sore. A slight wince and once he was free enough, he raised his arm slightly to have a look. Yeah, this has not been a pleasant experience at all. And since he was now stuck in a new strange place, he needed to be at his best, just in case.

Some rusty chain fell to the ground as Castiel shifted. A crouched Rose gathered it out of the way, grateful to see progress. She paused to consider her next move. The man before her was being oddly quiet, and she couldn't understand why. Had Rose's own mouth been locked up- even for a short period- there would be no shutting her up.

Giving the oil can a shake, the girl stood. Her free hand tugged at some loosened links near Castiel's shoulder. "Sorry," she said quietly, unsure if she was hurting him.

The silence was weird. "Soooo, mate," Rose managed, "D'ya know 'ow this 'appened, or didja arrive this way?"

Brooke and Max had been following the yellow brick road - literally - for a little ways now. She hadn't really been feeling up to chatting, so the conversation was pretty lacking, but it helped her hear Rose's voice. "I think I hear someone," she said to Max, glancing around briefly.

"Hello?" she called out, just like she had done before. The voice sounded familiar, especially with that accent, but she didn't want to be calling out Rose's name on the off chance that it wasn't her. "Is there someone there?"

Max nodded. "Yeah, I hear it too," he muttered. He scanned the area to make sure there weren't any ninjas or the like around, like he had assumed earlier. It took a moment, but he was quick and satisfied that there weren't any.

"We're here to rescue you!" he called. Then, he paused. "Kind of." Another pause. "Okay, not really, but misery loves company, right?"

Rose heard people approaching just as Castiel's other arm became free. Worried, she spun around to face whatever was there. The words "rescue you" were clear, though, and the female sounded like Brooke. Rose let out a relieved sigh. "Oi!" she cried, waving an arm, "Over 'ere!"

The blonde quickly turned to Castiel. She had really wanted to talk to him more in private. Without much warning, she leaned in close to his face. If she was lucky, she could clear up a thing or two before the others arrived. Whispering so only he could hear, she explained rapidly, "Listen. I know abou' the Winchesters. Sam tol' me wha' they are, wha' they do for a livin', an' I know you know 'em, so I, I mean ya don' 'ave t-" She could hear footsteps, and quickly silenced herself.

Rose stepped a few paces toward the voices. They had to be nearby, but the thick trees made it hard to tell. "Whatcha!" she yelled. "Tha' you, Brooke??"


Edited 2010-08-17 11:38 am (UTC)

Castiel wasn't one who normally chatted much, but others did sometimes feel awkward because of his natural silence on occasion. Even if he were unable to talk for awhile, that didn't mean he'd start chatting it up now. Instead, he frowned to himself and once an arm was free, he started helping pry the clasps off of him.

"There was a book and I.. just got stuck like this." Nothing really came before it that he could remember.

Hearing others coming did make the angel concerned, since he didn't know if those people would be friendly or not. And then Rose imparted her information, which only made Castiel look a bit surprised. He said nothing on the matter though and worked at freeing his legs as the pair came down the yellow brick road.

"Yeah, it's me, Rose," Brooke called out, then glanced over at Max. She gave him a weird look at his last sentence, then shook her head a little. After pushing aside some of the tree branches as best she could, Brooke started moving further into the forest, following the direction she thought Rose's voice was coming from.

"You know," she said to Max, "I really hate nature. If I'm going to be stuck outside like this, I demand a cabin complete with running water and doors to keep bugs out."

Castiel puzzled Rose. He was unnaturally quiet. Trying not to take it personally, she blamed the growing pile of rusted metal. The bloke had been shackled up in a foreign place, without ever seeing his captors. He absolutely had the right to be traumatized. However, Rose had expected her confession to get a bigger reaction.

Her self-consciousness started looming over her. Maybe she was uninteresting. Ugly. Maybe Sam didn't like her at all and had told everyone else everything first. Where was Sam? Buffy? Norrington? Maybe they were dead. Maybe Rose was stuck here, while everyone else was dead! Maybe-

The girl paused. This wasn't right. Ever since she'd landed in the forest, it was like everything was... scaring her. She was usually much braver, and considerably more rational. Her free hand moved to bury itself in her hair. Rose hadn't noticed it, but her blonde locks were longer, shaggy, and ratted out. Awful! "Castiel, why didn' ya tell me I 'ad a bloody mane? I look like some type o'-"

Lion. She looked to Castiel, still standing in a heap of metal. No, more than metal. Tin. They were a lion and a tin man, standing in a forest, surrounded by the sounds of monkeys, tigers, and bears. Oh my.

"Brooke!" She yelled, figuring it out for herself. "Brooke, Brooke!!" Rose rushed over to Castiel, who still had a few more clasps about his feet. "We're gettin' out o' this mess," she said, dropping low to finish freeing him. "Now."

Max gave Brooke an equally odd look before nodding very seriously. "You," he said, "are entirely missing the point. But I wish you luck with that."

While Brooke and Rose were reunited, Max observed the situation. It was all very peculiar, but if he was remembering the story correctly, it really wasn't. There were four of them, and they all at least somewhat visually fit the roles: the Tin Man, Lion, Dorothy, and, of course, the Scarecrow - unless he was leaving someone else out. He frowned as he thought about it.

Finally, he said, "This is everyone, right? Or have you guys seen anyone else? I'm Max, by the way."

Castiel stepped out of the last remnants that were keeping him in place. At least he wasn't personally made of metal, and his personality didn't have the charm of Jack Haley from the film, but he might fit the bill in a pinch.

"Sorry?" Is all he could manage to say when Rose wasn't pleased that he hadn't pointed out her interesting hairstyle. He wasn't sure what was going on here, but after the last bout of dreams, he wasn't surprised to think the house had done it to them again.

All he wondered now was if Sam and Dean were around here somewhere or in some kind of trouble.

"I'm Castiel."

"Brooke," she said, skipping over the It's nice to meet you, Castiel bit. She wanted to get out of here, not sit around and chat with people.

As she worked out the second braid in her hair, Brooke glanced around the forest. "Did they have angry trees in the book, too, or was that just the movie?" If they had it in the book, then she was going to want to get back to the path as soon as possible because getting pelted with apples didn't sound like her idea of a good time.

But they did look delicious.

Without waiting for an answer, she moved over to one of the trees and picked an apple off the closest branch. Her free hand continued to fluff out her hair as she bit into the fruit.

"You're welcome?" Rose muttered under her breath, unacknowledged as Castiel stepped away. She secured the oil can in her belt loop. Everything was worth saving for later.

At Max's introduction, she smiled, extending a cordial hand. "I'm Rose." She quickly ran through the characters in her head. "Yea, this should be everyone, unless someone gets t'be Toto!" Rose thought of Dean, and smirked. Brilliant.

As Brooke took an apple from above her head, the forest seemed to tremble with discontent. Were the trees moving, or were winged monkeys assembling just out of view? The blonde tried not to be intimidated. She assured herself that the fear in her chest was the Lion's, and not her own.

"Can we get goin'?" Rose asked. "I'm sure we 'ave a Wicked Witch t' melt, yea?" She wasn't thinking about the Wizard, or the Emerald City, or even the sparkling shoes Brooke wore on her feet. No, there was surely a villain to kill, just like last time.

"Yeah, no, I don't actually see any dogs here, so we should be -" Max cut himself off suddenly, and his expression went very sad at his mention of a dog. He had a dog. Back - wherever they were. And his dog was fluffy and adorable and missed him probably, and that was just utterly depressing.

But then he found himself distracted by Brooke's decision to steal fruit from the trees. He couldn't actually remember what happened at this part, but he found himself shaking his head fiercely. "Yeah, we should go. I feel like this really isn't a good idea."

He took a few steps across the yellow bricks. "So basically, all we have to do is find the Wizard and melt the Witch and we should be good, right? Unless...!" Max's eyes widened and he snapped his fingers. He had a hunch.

Rose followed the others until her feet hit a surface much harder than grass and dirt. She looked down, and saw brilliant, yellow bricks. Despite being the last one to notice the iconic road, the blonde grinned. Her mum had once read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a childhood bedtime story. Sure, they were trapped, but this was-

"Amazin'! I'm definitely skippin'," she said, unaware of Brooke's rule against it. Trying to make the best of things, Rose grabbed Castiel's arm. Not waiting for his permission, she more or less dragged him down the path, mimicking the footwork of the film.

Castiel wasn't sure what everyone was talking about. He wasn't familiar with any stories, but the others seemed to have some idea about what to do. "There is a witch? Are you going to set her on fire?" How else would someone melt?

And a wizard, too? "Are we setting the wizard on fire?" Because a wizard could be up to no good as well.

Before he could ask more, he found his arm grabbed and lurched forward after Rose. Why was she doing that! It wasn't very effective when it came to walking, and he wasn't aware of any traditions when it came to yellow bricks. She might have skipped, but he continuously stumbled after her.

Brooke had followed them all back to the road, munching into her apple when Rose decided she was going to start skipping. Despite her best efforts to not skip, Brooke found herself tossing the apple aside and linking arms with Max.

"We're soaking the witch with water, actually," she said to Castiel as she glanced over at Max. Instead of just taking off like Rose had, she was waiting for her skipping partner to agree as well.

"And the wizard's supposed to help us get out of here. At least, that's what happened in the movie."

Max was actually glad about this development in favor of skipping. Of course he had been planning on keeping up oh-so-professional airs about this, but really? He didn't think you could have this story without some skipping.

"Let's do this," he said, and he started down the path.

But, unfortunately, he didn't keep it up for very long when he spotted something in the sky. He tossed it off as a bird, but then it kept coming. And he saw that it was a bit too big to be a bird. He frowned, looking at it closer.

A - monkey?

"Guys?" Max tried.

And then he did remember the flying monkeys, just as his foot caught on a badly-placed brick and he went tumbling to the ground.

"Holy mother of pearl," he yelled. Maybe if he somehow rolled into the grass, they wouldn't see him.

At the sound of monkeys screeching, Rose's unkempt mane of hair stood on end. Oh no. Her grip on Castiel's arm fell loose. Before she could speak, though, the sky around the group went dark.

The air was instantly aflutter with fur and feathers. Rose looked up. The noise was deafening. Winged primates swooped and dipped chaotically, the image of mayhem. If the apes belonged to an army, their organization tactics were indecipherable.

She was entranced. Just like a feline, Rose turned her head back and forth, watching one creature, then another, then another. Several moments of distraction passed before she could snap out of it. The girl- not lion- shook her head sharply, and covered her ears. Despite this, Rose could feel the familiar fear of the character creeping in.

The Wicked Witch of the West knew they were here.

"I think this is the par' where we run!!"

"Is the water really hot?" Because Castiel still didn't understand how they were supposed to melt a witch with water. Unless the water was hot enough to boil the witch, in which case, it might not melt her so much as create a really disgusting mess.

The logistics would have to wait until later. With the swarm approaching, he stared at the sky and knit his brow. A frown began to crease his face. Were they to run? Where exactly should they run to?

Brooke remembered what happened in this part of the movie, so she didn't waste any time; instead of standing there staring at the sky full of monkeys, she took off running. Of course, her brilliant idea to try to escape only succeeded in her getting further away from everyone before one of the monkeys swooped down and grabbed her by the arms.

Internally, she was cursing herself. Externally, she was trying to get the monkey off her as she screamed for helped. "You guys can't let them take me," she yelled, because she knew exactly what would happen to her. And just because the movie ended happily didn't mean that the book did.

Suddenly, she found herself regretting not caring more about English.

Max was vaguely aware of what was going on around him, especially of Brooke's screaming, and he knew that he should do something - but what? What did the Scarecrow do?

Oh, right. Be brainless and stuff. Cool.

But either way, Max found himself scrambling to his feet and running headfirst into the swarm - which probably wasn't the best idea, but what else was there to do, exactly? Besides, it gave the others a chance to hear some loud swears coming from his mouth as the monkeys attached themselves to him. Some of those words might not have actually existed.

Monkey claws sank into Rose's arm, and she joined her companions in screaming. Another ape dove down to grab at her side, followed by another. "Three o' ya??" she protested, swatting frantically at her tormentors. "I may be a lion, but I ain't FAT! This is bloody unnecessary!"

Her arm (paw?) connected with one of the little monsters, batting it to the side. In this moment of clarity, Rose could see Brooke being hoisted into the air. "Dorothy!" she cried, falling into character. Suddenly, the blonde could feel her own feet being lifted from the ground. "No!!"

Rose remembered this part of the story. She knew where Dorothy was headed, but couldn't recall the fate of the Cowardly Lion. Was she going to be tortured? Put into a zoo? An oven? Panic set in. "Brooke, Brooke!" she cried, hoping to be heard. "Don' let th' Witch near your shoes! Uh, uh, there's this hourglass tha', um, OH!! If there's a crystal ball, it'll show ya 'ome! Call Sam!!"

Rose had very little faith in Brooke, to be honest. The younger girl didn't believe in aliens or ghosts or anything supernatural, and now they had to trust her to conquer a living book. Rose wished she were Dorothy, instead.

She opened her mouth to call out again, but one of the monkeys' feet became tangled in her hair. The ape flailed, screeching and tugging at her gnarled locks. The other creatures struggled to hold onto the lion. Again overcome with cowardice, Rose screamed and kicked about. The mess of monkeys ascended clumsily into the sky with their prisoner.