“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m sensing that you don’t want to talk about it.”
Claire shrugs at the assumption, but it’s followed by a tiny nod. She sighs as she sits down on the edge of her bed, in the process picking up the fluffy grumpy cat that Castiel knows all too well.
And Castiel understands, because how can he not? He’s never been much of a talker himself, and even though he’s getting better at sharing his thoughts and emotions, he still has a lot to learn. As has Claire, and truth be told he’s just glad to have a chance to visit her, seeing with his own two eyes that she’s still in one piece and at least has a family now. There’s Jody, and Donna, and Alex, and Patience… They’re all looking out for each other.
Claire’s doing well, all things considered, and whatever sadness is hiding in her eyes, Castiel knows that there’s no point in pushing her.
Glancing around Claire’s room, Castiel looks for a way to change the subject, but Claire surprises him before he can even come up with anything.
“There was a girl,” she blurts out, avoiding eye contact. “Her name was Kaia. I promised that I would protect her but then… In the end I couldn’t. I just couldn’t, and I lost her. Let’s leave it at that.”
“Ah…” Castiel finds himself saying; Claire still doesn’t look at him, instead fumbling with her grumpy cat plushy. “And this girl, she was your friend?”
“Yeah…”
A long silence.
“I’m sorry,” Castiel offers eventually. “No matter how long you exist, losing a friend will never get any easier.”
Claire blinks up at him, and Castiel swears that tears are about to fall from her watery blue eyes. He reaches out to briefly squeeze her shoulder, shooting her a sympathetic smile before turning around to leave the room and give her some space, because she obviously needs it. However he’s stopped just as he’s about to close the door behind him.
“Wait!” Claire exclaims, then pauses, but continues once Castiel glances over his shoulder and tilts his head at her. “She eh… She wasn’t just my friend. She was… she was my friend like Dean is your friend.”
And oh. Oh. Another beat of silence.
“You were in love with her,” Castiel states, not asks.
Claire shrugs again, but her eyes say it all.
And Castiel remembers. Remembers all of the times that he’s lost Dean, but also remembers all of the times that he’s found him again. A story isn’t over until it’s truly over, by now, at least that much he knows.
“We’ll get her back,” Castiel says, firmly, determinedly. “I’ll help you, if you want me to.”
Claire says nothing, but drops the plushy and gets up to firmly hug Castiel. Castiel tentatively hugs her back, already knowing that this is one promise that he will make sure to keep, no matter what.
They both aren’t talkers. But when it comes to this, they now seem to speak the same language, even if it’s without words.
(about this post)
hey, no, that stuff is totally cool if the reader hasn’t learned the character’s names yet, or its use is very occasional. it only irks me when we know the dark haired-man is (for example) named Cas, or the boy with the green eyes is Dean.
here are some examples to clarify…
–
this is totally fine:
“Hey,” the green-eyed man rasped through the smoke. “Name’s Dean. What’s yours?”
The fellow with the dark, glitter-strewn hair turned his eyes to the floor, and he smiled. “Castiel.”
-
this is also totally fine:
“Dean, why are you such a pig?” Castiel demanded, slamming a spoon down on the table in front of Dean.
The green-eyed swine looked up from his bowl of slop and oinked.
-
perfectly acceptable but could be clearer:
“I’m not going in there again,” Dean said, folding his arms and looking towards the donut stall, away from his friend. His brown hair ruffled in the slight breeze, and for a moment, Castiel caught a whiff of the other man’s cologne.
-
probably going to get on my nerves a little, but it’s okay if there’s a good reason (like so):
“I’m calling the cops if you don’t shut up, Dean,” hissed the shorter man.
The taller man huffed and turned up the radio’s volume. “I’m sorry, Cas, what was that? Can’t hear you!”
Castiel stomped up onto the verandah, and immediately found himself staring eye-to-eye with his neighbour. They were the same height in bare feet.
-
absolutely no please don’t (unless it’s crack):
“I love you, Cas,” said the green-eyed rocket scientist, placing his hand against his viewscreen.
“Dean,” cried the older man tragically, in his gravelly voice. He put his hand on his screen too, mirroring the younger man’s handprint. “Dean, I– I–”
There was no time left because the countdown hit zero. The crying rocket scientist pressed the button, and suddenly the rocket containing the blue-eyed man zoomed off into space.
–
I hope this highlighted the difference between using those basic descriptors sparingly in an acceptable context and over-using them in an unnecessary context.
the space those words take up would be better used describing little details (sight/smell/touch/emotion/character motivation) which your characters experience at that precise moment. those add a hell of a lot more to a reader’s sense of immersion than descriptors they’ve read a hundred times in the story already.
it’s important to remember that it’s absolutely okay to use your character’s names as many times as you need to to avoid confusion with someone else. names kind of blur into the background of in a reader’s mind, so using a name where necessary doesn’t bother people the same way as using words like “tremendous” or “splendid” five times on one page.
stories with multiple same-gender pronouns can potentially be confusing, but they don’t need to be. there’s no limit to the ways you can refer to everyone without using only their eye colour, height, occupation, age, hair colour - whatever. any sentence can be split or rearranged to avoid wording dilemmas, too. sometimes it’s easier to start a sentence over if you’re stuck.
tl;dr – using basic descriptors is fine so long as:
- it’s not done every other sentence
- there’s a logical reason for not using their name
- the characters are recognisable by more than just that one descriptor.
feel free to use these as prompts if something inspired you. (tag me?)