WELCOME

[CHUCK SHURLEY]

Sam and Dean walked into the bar and sat down....things had been so distant between them lately that neither one of them were sure what to say to one another. Ever since Dean went to Hell and back, Sam was unsure of himself. ...

Chuck put his pen down for a minute and frowned. He wasn’t so sure he liked it, but he could work with it. Chuck was a writer. All he did, day and night was write. He loved it, but he hated the visions that came along with it. The visions were sometimes painful and they were painful enough for him to drink. Why was he the prophet of the Lord he had no freaken idea, all he knew was he liked to write.

Of course Sam and Dean HAD told him to stop publishing, but even so, he continued his stories. They HAD to be finished. He looked at his pen and started again.

Sam and Dean drove the Impala and headed North. They were heading towards a vampires nest.... vampires, what were vampires doing in the apocalypse? No one seemed to know for sure, but Sam and Dean had an idea....

He crumpled up the paper. Crap. It was crap. Why couldn’t he come up with something better? This was Sam and Dean’s LIVES. He knew now more then ever, now that he realized the characters were in fact....real, that he had to

Chuck frowned and picked up the phone. He as going to have fun tonight whether it killed him or not. He looked at the phone and then hung up. Hell, maybe he SHOULD go out for a change? Meet up with his fans? He wasn’t even sure anymore.

He looked around the room as he heard something. Was it an angel? Even though Zachariah was gone, Chuck knew that there were still angels out there who followed him, he frowned and looked around. He started putting salt up on the door just in case.

He looked at himself in a mirror and sighed. Before he was just a writer, ONLY a writer, and now.... now he was a Prophet and had an archangel protecting him. He knew that the demons wouldn’t get him, but stilll...if it WAS a demon he wanted to be prepared.

He went to the door with a bat in his hand, “Who’s there!?” he asked as he heard a loud bang. “Show yourself and fight like a man!” he said.


(ooc_ Wasn't sure where to put this.... I'm hoping this is okay. Its in the present but at Chuck's house)

[EDRA OGUNLANA]

Becky Rosen was a talkative drunk, especially post-coital. Sweet, but gobby. She’d tracked Edra down through what seemed like a scary network of connections online and paid the Shape-shifter to play her dream-boy for the night; some gigantic redneck with shaggy brown hair and a weirdly familiar tattoo on his chest. She’d gone to such lengths to describe this boy over her phone calls. But suddenly faced with the full package sat on her couch looking mildly amused, she’d gotten a bit nervous. The nerves made her reach for the vodka and then she’d gotten a bit smashed. Turned out the guy was a character from some book series she was obsessed with. Edra had shown a spark of interest as she was a bit of a geek herself, which seemed to put Becky at ease and made her light up with a very appealing grin. Then she’d handed her a book called ‘Supernatural’ and asked, sheepishly, “Is it like this for you?”

Edra instantly recognised the cover. It was a story called “Skin”. She had a copy herself. Only the back cover was torn off and the pages were warped from rain and god-only-knew what else. She’d found the book just after being chased out Las Vegas when she’d spent the night in a derelict library. Her copy of that book had become one of the few objects Edra always kept with her now. She imagined when most people felt miserable they just listened to Radiohead or Celine Dion or something, but Edra would read the Shape-shifter’s soliloquy in ‘Skin’ and feel reassured somehow.

One thing led to another and eventually she’d started talking about the writer. Watching Edra (who by that point was naked but still managing to look like a humungous redneck man-child while leaning out of the girl’s bedroom window to smoke), Becky had wittered on about her epic (possibly bullshit) affair with the ‘real’ Carver Edlund which had deteriorated into slurred name calling. The Shape-shifter was intrigued though. She’d always wondered how a human could have written something that ended up speaking so much to her. Becky managed to scrawl an address and phone number down before passing out.

Two weeks later, Edra realised she’d be passing through Iowa and thought she’d make a detour to ‘Kripke's Hollow’. She phoned ahead but no one answered. Assuming no one was home, she couldn’t resist sneaking around to try peering through the windows. The garden was an overgrown jungle though, and her super-stealthy stalker-fan prowl was interrupted by her bag catching on something that was possibly a bicycle frame in a past life. It tipped over with a clatter.

“Who’s there!?”

“Bugger!” she frowned, looking back at what had caused the noise. “Bugger, bugger, bugger…”

“Show yourself and fight like a man!”

Not a great first impression. She hurried back to the front porch in an attempt not to look so much like a thief who’d been casing the joint. “Sorry!” she chirped through the front door. “I can fight you like a woman; if that’s what you’re into.” She had her weather-beaten copy of ‘Skin’ in her hands, clutching it nervously. “Please don’t call the fuzz! …I’m a friend of Becky’s, just looking for Carver, err, I mean Chuck…”

[CHUCK SHURLEY]

Chuck wasn’t sure what to expect. He knew that someone was out there, but was it another one of his characters? He was giving up on the thoughts he was having rather quickly. He was sick and tired of being visited by strange creatures.

He thought he heard more noises and then suddenly they stopped. Then he heard a voice call out his name.

He frowned. Friend of Becky’s? This was another fan then. Why did his fans have to appear as spooky as his characters? He didn’t get it. He finally opened the door when she said she was looking for Chuck and he realized that it may have been a stupid move.

“I’m Chuck,” he said a bit nervously, “What was it you wanted anyway? Thought you were a demon or...or worse,” he said with a sigh.

He looked around, there was no archangel there so she couldn’t have been anything but human.

“Did you need me to sign your book or something?” he asked not really feeling into that this morning, but still...he would do it, because well...that was his thing. Most people expected that of him.

Chuck raised his eyebrows at her, “If your a friend of Becky’s, where is she?” he asked.

He hadn’t expected Becky to come, but he knew that Becky still was a fan of his even after their weird relationship. Chuck had respected Becky too much. She didn’t deserve someone as messed up as he was.

“What is it you wanted anyway?” he asked her again.

[EDRA OGUNLANA]

“I’m Chuck,” he said a bit nervously, “What was it you wanted anyway? Thought you were a demon or...or worse,” he said with a sigh.

The shape-shifter stood with her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. There were so many things she had been planning to say, but when the writer wearily compared her unexpected presence to a demon, it completely threw her. He didn’t sound like he was talking about characters, or stalkers. Actual on-his-doorstep demons… that he apparently planned to take on with a baseball bat and what she noticed was a line of salt across the threshold when she looked down. This was the kind of stuff most regular folk weren’t supposed to even know about. It maybe went a little way to explaining the uncanny accuracies in his writing and it took a monumental effort of will not to let her face completely light up with glee.

“Did you need me to sign your book or something?”

Edra realised with sudden dismay that she hadn’t said a word since he’d opened the door. “Oh… yeah…” The book though remained clutched in her hands as she unconsciously began to twist it. Her brain was still having a bit of trouble processing that this was THE Carver Edlund. “Becky thought you wouldn’t mind if I dropped by…”

Chuck raised his eyebrows at her, “If you’re a friend of Becky’s, where is she?” he asked.

“Oh, she didn’t come with me, she gave me your address like, two weeks ago.” Edra shuffled uncomfortably under what seemed like the combined weight of distrust and disappointment. “I think she misses you though…” She offered. Otherwise the poor little twinkie wouldn’t be hanging about with freaks like me… her internal voice echoed.

“What is it you wanted anyway?” he asked her again.

“Err… The autograph would be nice, if you’re offering.” She finally held up the tattered and warped paperback with a hopeful smile. “Oh, wait, shit…” As an afterthought she rummaged in her coat pocket and produced a small biro to go with it. “If you could put ‘to Eddie’ because, y’know, that’s me.” It felt pretty cheeky, even by Edra’s own standards. But then again, screw it! How many times was she going to get this chance?

“I didn’t realise it was a series until Becky told me. See, the back cover’s torn off on my copy and that’s where they list all the other titles, right? I promise I’ll read the others though, honestly, but this book…” she jabbed an olive green painted fingernail earnestly towards the cover for emphasis, “this book is bloody awesome. I found it in a shagged-out old library and it, like, literally saved my life… Well… almost literally. Long story. But the fact that you wrote this book makes me feel like I owe you something… Seriously, anything!”

The thought of how this human could write so vividly about the shape-shifter mindset still fascinated Edra. At least, she assumed Chuck was human. He could be a Ghoul for all she cared really. She nibbled at her lower lip, watching him with a slightly awed curiosity. “You get a lot of demons ‘round here?” Her foot nudged at the line of salt that looked like it had been sprinkled in haste. “I could maybe help you with that…” She tried not to sound too keen as she offered the writer another, slightly more subdued smile.

[CHUCK SHURLEY]

“Becky?” Chuck did a double take when the shape shifter mentioned Becky. He frowned a bit at her, “How do you know Becky?” he asked. He wasn’t so sure he believed her either. Was this for real? Up until a little while ago, Chuck didn’t believe ANYTHING he was into was real anymore. Still....he needed to figure out why she would mention Becky’s name. It terrified him. He still cared for her....a little.

“I haven’t spoken to Becky in a while...is she alright?” he asked her. “She misses me?” he asked when she mentioned that.

Chuck had too much respect for Becky. He couldn’t go out with her, not here, not now. It was too....odd. The relationship that is.

As she asked for the autograph he nodded and gave it to her. “To Eddie?” he asked, “Okay, sure you got it....” he said. “I don’t usually do this at my house you know, you can come to a convention or something...” Chuck said nervously.

He didn’t like strangers walking up to his door, and Becky knew that, why now of all places was she giving this girl his address? Something wasn’t right here. “Uh, thanks for the compliments...” he said rubbing the back of his neck. “You don’t owe me anything, I just....enjoy writing,” he said sheepishly.

Would she believe that? Probably not, he thought. Whatever, it usually worked for fans.

“Demons?” he asked, “Wait a second.....why are you asking about demons? They aren’t...real,” he said in a squeaky voice. Was this for real? Chuck made sure to be on his guard. He had to be.