Monday: Figurative Language

[nevcolleil.livejournal.com]

Good morning, dears :D I'm nevcolleil, and I'll be your guest host this week. Today is Monday and your prompt for the day is figurative language.
Sayings, expressions, comparisons... (And, if you can dig the Language Arts lingo, metaphors and similes. Heck, throw in some kennings if the fancy strikes you!)

Examples:

Any, any, "I didn't mean it literally!"
Chuck/White Collar, Chuck/Neal, like a cat on a hot tin roof
Angel, Wes +or/ Illyria, You should never speak metaphorically to an ancient god king... and this is why.

Just don't forget the rules:
♥ No more than five "live" prompts at any time.
♥ No more than three prompts from a specific fandom.
♥ No spoilers in your prompts until at least a week after release/air/publication date. If your fill is spoilerly, mark it obviously as such.
♥ Respect our codemonkey overlords, and format your prompts in the way that is pleasing to them (See Above Examples)
♥ Have fun! ;)

Comments

A Snowball's Chance, Part 2

[hobnailedboots.livejournal.com]

Sam was explaining how, now they knew that the thing luring men to their deaths was a kelpie, the only way they'd be able to discover its identity was by breaking its glamour.

Bobby broke in, saying that the lore was hardly helpful as kelpies were normally only found in Scotland. "All this strange monster behaviour is putting my hackles up," he said. "Regardless, Sam thinks that if we use a modified hex bag that'll stop all magic in the surrounding area then the kelpie should revert to its natural form."

"So all we'd have to do is find the hot chick that turns into a horse, and kill it?"

"Yeah."

"Cas, what do you think?" asked Dean. "That sound good to you?"

"Easy as pie," said Castiel.

The corner of Dean's mouth lifted. Castiel used to think it a fond smile, and it was, but it was fond in the way Sam was fond of puppies. In the way that god was fond of humans.

When Castiel thought about falling, he always thought he'd be Dean's equal.

A Snowball's Chance, Part 3

[hobnailedboots.livejournal.com]

Castiel found that he rather liked libraries: small, community libraries, where children went when it was cold outside but they didn't want to be at home; university libraries, filled with the scent of desperation and coffee; and museum libraries, shelves stocked with flaking history.

Something about libraries reminded Castiel that humanity was worth saving, and that the other angels were wrong.

Libraries were his drug.

~

Castiel had learned much from humans. In the years since he'd met Dean it had become easier to understand him, to make it through the muddled syntax and colloquialisms. He'd never get the whole way there, but Castiel privately thought that Dean's constant references to popular culture were, more often than not, not understood by Sam either.

Watching the television helped.

~

He still did not understand why pie was easy, but once he had faith that it was so he found he could repeat the sentiment with little difficulty.

Re: A Snowball's Chance, Part 4/4

[hobnailedboots.livejournal.com]

"Have you realised that it's only you, yet?"

Castiel shifted in his seat. "You are not supposed to be here. They think you're dead. If they see you--"

"I know, sweet cheeks. This is between us. Sam and Dean are sleeping like logs, believe me."

He couldn't suppress the moment of confusion from showing on his face - logs don't sleep - but Crowley did not appear to notice. Instead, he walked to Bobby's desk, leaned over it, and retrieved from the uppermost drawer a half-empty bottle of whiskey.

"Why are you here?" asked Castiel. "To drink?"

"No," said Crowley. "I'm just checking in. How's the immersion in metaphor going?"

He raised his eyebrows. For the king of hell, Castiel thought him rather too jolly.

"I've not quite drowned," he said.

Crowley nodded. "And have you realised it's only you?"

"I do not understand," he said. "Is that an image or a saying? Is it a proverb? A song lyric?"

Evidently immersion had been intended to lull him into a false sense of security.

"No."

Crowley put the bottle down without taking a swig. "Look at you: all this effort to seem almost-human, trying to be like Dean. As if he cares. Have you ever thought that maybe it's not angelic - this inability to take things anything other than literally? Maybe it's the way you were made."

If there's one thing Castiel learned since being on earth, it's that people don't have to act the way they were intended. "I'm not stupid," he said.

"You're not listening. Look at Zachariah. Hell, look at Lucifer himself. They throw clichés about like confetti. It's you. It's only you."

Crowley was staring at him with an unusual sort of intensity. Once again, Castiel shifted in his chair. He felt as though he should be offended by what Crowley is saying, but something about the way he said it made it an observation, rather than a criticism.

"I'm not stupid," he said again, for lack of anything else.

"No," said Crowley. "No, you're not stupid. And I bet after a few more nights reading dictionaries you'd be able to shoot the shit with the best of them."

Why you would wish to discharge a firearm into faeces, and why that was at all related to idle conversation, Castiel would never know. Crowley grinned. Castiel thought of the expression 'smiled like a wolf', and decided it was appropriate.

"See?" Crowley took a step forward. "Every time someone uses a figure of speech, there'll always be that moment, no matter how small, when you're adrift."

"So I shouldn't try and understand? Why does the way in which I conduct myself matter to you?"

"It doesn't," said Crowley, and as though to make the point he turned away, back to the whiskey. "It's interesting, that's all. The king of the crossroads, master of the get-out clause - if I do say so myself - and an angel who'll take everyone at their word. Who'd have thought it?"

Re: A Snowball's Chance, Part 4/4

[hobnailedboots.livejournal.com]

Um. So, past tense failure *by what Crowley was saying.

Also, for some reason LJ deleted the end bit.

~

Three days later, when he kisses him, it feels like burning.

Re: A Snowball's Chance, Part 2

[nevcolleil.livejournal.com]

I love this whole thing... Cas's struggle with language, the Cas/Crowley dynamic, and the Dean/Cas UST. For some reason, these lines in particular strike me as particularly lovely and touching.

In the way that god was fond of humans.

When Castiel thought about falling, he always thought he'd be Dean's equal.

Re: A Snowball's Chance, Part 2

[hobnailedboots.livejournal.com]

Thank you!