#not-another-parable

cas has been lingering by the doorway, just... watching her. there's something utterly unreadable to his blank white gaze-- then she mentions her 'darling dearest', and he pulls such a face that it shatters the moment entirely.

he'd suspected somehow that this might be where the conversation would head- largely because he knows full well that if you gathered all the occupants of the office into one room, closed your eyes, span around a bit, and pointed your finger at a random person, chances are that they would wind up being someone rex had pursued at least some kind of romantic relationship with.

chances are that person would not be particularly ‘wonderful’, either.

but if he knows one thing about mary, it's that she knows that.

> what a shame. me, yknow, now, i might bite.

he volunteers instead, and, with that (and the knowledge there was no such thing as ‘undercooked’, when it came to his tastes), cas approaches the desk. his own footsteps are silent, utterly so, and though he seems causal enough about the action, he's making no effort to hide the fact he's balancing on the balls of his feet like a rabbit about to run.

but he sits- quite dutifully- on his allocated seat, and after a second or two, pulls a cookie from the plate.

> i hope that was okay to do. i mean, i'm taking it that this isn't exactly a decorative platter of baked goods.

> then again, i have run into weirder concepts. like some of the people your darling dearest surrounds himself with.

"Oh, hi! You must be Cas! Oh, I've heard so much about you--" She quickly adjusted to extend a hand to him, not-so-subtly showing off the golden ring around her finger. "I'm Mary Belle. I'm not sure if you've heard of me, but I'm so very happy to finally meet you! May I come in?"

Before he could answer, she already began taking a few small steps forward, creeping inside. -@not-another-parable

for a man with a specific eptitude for foresight, cas had not particularly seen any of this coming. the thing was-- his office, as it was so succinctly put, had only been, well, his, for all of somewhere between two days and half an hour, and it had only really been claimed as his under the assumption it was vacant.

but finding a vacant office was surprisingly hard around here, and at the sudden presence of a visitor, that was kind of what he'd presumed the matter would be about. he'd thought this would be more of an 'oh, is this YOUR office room i'm standing in?' kind of a confrontation- and finding himself faced instead faced by a strange smiling lady with an armful of snacks- a strange, smiling lady with an armful of snacks who was not only here for him but knew him by name, even- was quite effectively not what he had prepared for.

> i, uh--

cas pulls himself together a little, and straightens himself where hes been leaning against the doorframe, but it's a change thats not quite in-time enough for him to actually take her hand (though he does, more by instinct than judgment, note the ring.)

> sure. sure, yeah, you can- you can come in, i guess. totally.

deciding this was probably definitely a situation in which mary belle knew what she was doing far more than he did, cas dutifully shifts out of the doorway to grant her entrance.

> i'm almost flattered you've heard about me, though i'm afraid whoever your source is has told me absolutely nothing about you, so i can't exactly... return the sentiment, as it were.