When Dean came back with the cards, Maggie had sort of explained to him how to play. It was pretty simple, but it's always better for any of us to learn on hand.
"You guys understand the rules?" Maggie asked after she was finished explaining. Everyone nodded and she dealt out the cards.
Sometime later, Dean threw his cards down in frustration. "I give up, this game is stupid!"
"Calm down, Dean, it's your first time playing, you are bound to suck." Maggie taunted him. She had taken an early lead, earning over one hundred points in the first round. Right now she had over three hundred, Sam and I were tied at two-fifty, and Dean was in last place with negative fifty points.
"I would calm down if you didn't go out every other turn!" I was about to say something to Dean to try to calm him down, but I figured it wouldn't do any good. I sucked too, and I'd be pissed if I was at negative fifty.
A little while later, Bobby and John had come back, and "blessed" our tattoos. Bobby said that now a demon would not be able to penetrate our vessels. After the ritual, Sam and Dean went and put shirts on. When they came back, we played another round of cards, except this time, I was negative, and Dean was in the lead. You can almost guess that he bragged about it. Just as Maggie was about to try and come up with something sly, John walked in.
"Boys, I'm going off on a hunt, I'll be back in a few months." Dean stood up and faced him.
"You're going alone?" His voice was filled with disbelief.
"It's safer if I go alone," John stated, simply.
"So you're just gonna leave us here?" Sam stood from his chair and faced his father. "I thought we were doing this thing together, as a family."
"We are, but this hunt is just too dangerous." John turned and walked into the next room gathering a few items he'd need for the hunt.
"Well what are you hunting? We can help. I mean come on, Dad, we're stronger as a family."
Maggie and I sat there, feeling pretty awkward. It was almost assumed that Sam and John were gonna have at it. Dean stood, shuffling the cards over and over as he looked down at them. He always listened to John, even if it didn't feel right. He knew that Sam would have gotten back-handed as a kid, but now he wasn't sure what would happen if John got mad enough.
"Sam, I'm going alone, that's the end of it." John walked out of the room. Sam shook his head lightly, and crossed his arms. He sat back down with a huff next to Maggie. Maggie looked pretty tense, as if he were giving off a really violent vibe.
"Sammy, Dad knows what he's doing…" Dean said.
"I know, Dean… something just doesn't feel right though," Sam replied.
"What? Dad used to go out all the time on his own when we were kids. I would know, I had to babysit your ass."
With a roll of the eyes, Sam uncrossed his arms, and leaned down on the table. "We gotta follow him… I have a gut feeling, Dean. I just know something's going on."
Dean looked at me, and I shrugged. "You do what you gotta do, guys," I said.
"We just got here, Sam. C'mon. We need to take a break once in a while or else we'll go crazy," Dean said.
"I think we're a little past crazy…" Sam said. "I mean, come on, we dig up graves and talk to dead people for a living…"
"I'm gonna go for a walk, anyone wanna come with?" Maggie said getting up from the chair and looking at me. I knew that was cue for "come with me or I'll kill you."
I gave Dean a kiss on the cheek, and scooted passed him, following Maggie out the door. As soon as we got outside she let a cigarette. "Sorry the air in there was way too tense for me."
"That's okay, I know what you mean… I really think Sammy may be on to something though…" I said.
"Are you suggesting we track John Winchester? Are you crazy! He would catch on and either not know it's us and we'd walk into some elaborate booby trap that kills us, or he'd catch on, know it's us and rip us a new ass hole. Either way I don't want to be there. Besides, you know I hate traveling."
"I never said we had to go… Sam and Dean are better at being stealthy than we are—or you are—apparently!"
"Hey! Just because that ONE time my phone went off, and that other time when I got bored and started playing Tetris, got us both caught, doesn't mean I'm not stealthy. It just means I'm easily distracted, and I never denied that! I can be stealthy if I want to. In fact I can be so stealthy ninja's don't even know I'm coming!"
"What—there is NO SUCH THING as Ninjas! And Djinn don't count!"
"Tell that to the ninjas deep in Japan's mountains whose dojo's have never been found!" Maggie pushed my arm in a playful way.
"If they've never been found, Mags, then how the hell do you know they exist exactly?"
"Well, aside from the mysterious assassinations of corrupt people in power, they say if you travel into the mountains and listen carefully you can hear the distant echo's of the ninja's training. You know, like weapons clanging, the sound of people getting gutted, that kind of stuff."
"Oh yeah, that's stealthy! You're not supposed to hear a Ninja AT ALL… ANYWAY, I think Sam and Dean should go."
"Yea, to be honest I don't care at all. If they want to go, then by all means, let them take off in the moonlight after their dear old dad." She dropped her cigarette and stomped it out, and walked inside in the direction of the stairs. She was most likely going to her room to play games or something.
Okay then… I thought to myself. We went back inside, and did our usually night routine; few drinks, and some TV. Bobby and Dean were talking about John, and why he was so thick headed, while Sam and I went through some old pictures from our half-assed holidays.