here lies kevin tran

[vates]

Who: Kevin Tran and YOU.
Where: The Oregon Trail obviously.
When: All during the event.
Rating: PG probably.
Summary: Kevin only makes it to Day 2 before he breaks his leg, which rapidly gets infected, leading to his death on Day 3. And after he dies? What else does he have to do except heckle and critique everyone else?
The Story:

Day 1: Kevin spends the first part of the day grappling with the weird nostalgia that is being plunked down in apparently Oregon Trail Town, combined with the fear that they're about to go and live out, he guesses, the Oregon Trail. How screwed are they? And how many pounds of food is it per person again? How do you even prevent dysentery? Do they sell bottled water anywhere?

Day 2: They have to cross a river, and Kevin votes to caulk the wagon and float it across, all the way, thouh the guide is tempting, honestly. He never did it that way in the game because he has some self-respect, but maybe that's different in person.

Even though Kevin survives the river crossing, he manages to trip and break his leg, and it promptly gets infected. The infection's actually moving pretty quickly, and by the end of the day, he's not just in pain; he's shivering with a fever and chills and not able to keep any liquids down.

Days 3-5: Overcome with infection, Kevin passes away soon into the third day, and mostly he's just really freaking annoyed. At least he has some experience at being a ghost, and he figures out the new rules of ghostdom so he can visit his friends and survey (and critique) their attempts at traversing the trail. Actually, being a ghost is pretty fun. It's sort of like playing the game, except he doesn't have to make any actual choices and he just gets to heckle people to their face instead of to the computer screen. Though it does suck watching people actually get dysentery.

Comments

[vates]

"I..." Kevin looks around, as that hadn't occurred to him at all. "I don't think so. I haven't played that game in years."

If he's going to get an event, he feels like it should be more... relevant to his life, but then that also sounds kind of terrifying and painful, so maybe he shouldn't hope for that at all.

Cas's condition is really worrying him, and he really shouldn't waste the water, but he gets a cloth just damp enough that he can wipe at Cas's forehead.

"I died from an infection, too. Not this one. I broke my leg, and it got really messed up."

[freewill]

Even if Kevin hasn't played the game in years, it's still a part of his memory and therefore valid as far as Wonderland is concerned. Granted, it does seem more likely that it would pull something more recent (and extraordinary), given what Kevin's been through in the past few years.

It doesn't particularly matter whose event it is, the fact is that they're here now and they'll have to endure this until Wonderland decides it's over.

Castiel suspects he might be following Kevin's heels, that he won't be too long for this world given the immense amount of pain that he's in. Dean thinks he's exaggerating, and Castiel doesn't have a good measure for human levels of pain, but it certainly doesn't feel good.

It's bizarre to have a ghost tending to him, but Castiel closes his eyes in a moment of relief when the cloth hits his forehead. "Condolences," he gets out despite the pain. "Would this be your first death within Wonderland?" Not counting what happened before, which is something they've already discussed.

lmao i forgot he was a ghost, OOPS

[vates]

Kevin has some practice at making himself solid, but he can't keep it up forever. It'd been worth it to try to give Cas some comfort, though. He's not sure his company's even helping, but maybe it's keeping his mind off the fact that his body is rebelling against him.

"Yeah. It's not so bad, really. This is a good kind of ghost to be."

He might be trying to peptalk Cas into dying. Maybe a little. He just looks so miserable, and Kevin is fairly certain that nothing bad will happen to him once his suffering does actually end.

"What about you?"

LMAO it's fine

[freewill]

A good kind of ghost to be. That's a loaded statement, because Kevin has the experience necessary to cast an opinion. The other type of ghost he's been is a vengeful spirit, and while Castiel will never have an idea of what that's like, he has heard accounts.

It sounds horrific, to slowly lose control of yourself, to be consumed in anger and hate until you harm those you once held dear.

Kevin's question assumes that Castiel's going to die, which is likely a fair assumption at this point. Dean's been worrying himself into a frenzy ever since Castiel fell ill, even if he does a decent job of hiding it. But it might be for the best if he just let go.

"This will be my first," he says definitively. "I do have some experience from before Wonderland, however." Quite a lot of it.

[vates]

Kevin had really just meant to ask if he'd died before in Wonderland; he didn't mean to imply anything, and doesn't notice that he has. Being a ghost wasn't so bad. Well, it just was what it was; it was better than being dead, or being dragged down to Hell since he couldn't get into Heaven. Frustrating at first, and lonely, but then he figured out a kind of existence he could (un)live with. Sometimes, the quiet was nice.

Those are the moments he chooses to remember, most of the time.

He remembers the first time he'd met Cas, then, when he was leaving that hospital.

"I remember when we met. You were pretty out of it, then."

[freewill]

Being a ghost may not seem so bad up until the soul corruption starts, until it drives the spirit out of their mind with the need for vengeance. Anyone who lingers behind after death instead of ending up in either Heaven or Hell will eventually feel the effects, and Castiel wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy, let alone Kevin Tran.

It's been a long time since Castiel's thought about that stretch where he hadn't been in his right mind. It's something he's put behind him and he tries not to dwell on it -- in fact, he actively blocks it out.

But he hasn't forgotten, necessarily. All of those memories are fuzzy, however, as his mind had been such a confused jumble at the time.

Castiel nods slowly. "I had taken on Sam's Hell damage, and it runs ragged even an angel's mind. I managed to heal myself of it eventually, but it took time." He's not sure he ever explained it to Kevin, but better late than never.

[vates]

Kevin was learning a lot of new things when they first met that it probably would've gone right over his head, but it's interesting hearing about it now. The lives that Sam and Dean lead are kind of mindboggling to him, that Sam needed Cas to take on hell damage. What a concept. And what would Kevin have done, if he could go back, when the trials failed and Kevin had slightly more of a choice? He could've walked out and invented a new life for himself. What would that have even looked like?

"Probably more time than this is going to take." It's a weak attempt to help console him; it doesn't change the fact that Cas is dying miserably right now, after all, no matter how long it is or isn't going to take for him to get better.

"You'll be back to normal soon enough."

[freewill]

Castiel's able to identify Kevin's words as an attempt at reassurance, and it's something he can appreciate in theory if nothing else. It's true that this is only a temporary change. Wonderland may be able to take his power away like it's nothing, but it always gives it back.

He would rather not think too hard on the possibility that someday it won't.

"This has happened to me a number of times before, here in Wonderland," he admits. Another spike of pain shoots through his stomach and Castiel groans as he sets a hand over his tender abdomen. "It should only last a few more days."

Kevin doesn't need to be here, keeping him company and taking his mind off of the pain. Castiel blinks blearily at him. "I... appreciate your presence here," he mumbles.

[vates]

It's hard watching anyone suffer like this, and Kevin's not sure he entirely trusts Dean or Sam to sit by his bedside for too long, at least that's been his experience. They're good for a bit, but they get busy with other things. What's Kevin got going on that he can't sit here with Cas and keep him from being alone while the others are away?

"Do you want me to tell you stories? I'd try to read, but I'm not sure if I could find a book. Or hold one for that long." But Kevin can at least tell him something, right? There's plenty of movie plots, or like, fairy tales or something that he could tell him, just to give him something else to think about if he can't fall asleep.

[freewill]

It's not as if Castiel blames Dean and Sam for being distracted with other matters. Now that he's out of commission, they'll need to put even more effort into ensuring that the wagon will make it all the way to their destination. Maybe if the situation had been different, they would have at least traded off watching him, but Castiel doesn't particularly like being fussed over.

It's better this way.

Castiel can barely remember the last time that anyone had offered to tell him a story. It had been a long, long time ago, when he had still been young (for an angel) and one of his siblings had related to him various tales from before his creation.

It may only be that he's feeling particularly vulnerable now that he's human and sick and dying, but he does experience some nostalgia at that memory. He's silent for longer than he should be, but eventually turns his attention back to Kevin's transparent form. "What did you have in mind?"

[vates]

He can't tell if he's upset Cas or made something too awkward, or maybe Cas just managed to fall asleep or something, but then he finally responds. Okay, so hopefully Kevin's not pouring too much awkwardness onto whatever kind of friendship they've managed to form by now. It's funny, but he feels like he's on the shakiest ground with the people he knows from back home. Maybe he just needed some other friends to balance himself out.

"Um... Well, I could tell you some fairy tales if you don't know any. Or... Star Trek? The one with the whales?"

[freewill]

Fairy tales have existed for so long that Castiel has picked up on most of the over the years, although they've taken many different incarnations throughout the generations. He doesn't have much need to hear them again, especially when something else is offered.

Star Trek. Castiel squints for a moment, because he's also heard of Star Wars, but he assumes there's some kind of difference. This is the first mention he's heard of whales, though, and he's not sure what the large sea creatures would have to do with space.

He's curious enough that he nods, even if it's almost imperceptible. "That one. Go ahead."