#dean would have LOOOOOOVED that!!!

[rennerator]

kkkkkk Oh My!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE This is MAGNIFICENT!!!!! SOOO SOOO GOOD!!!!! S2 GORGEOUS, BEAUTIFUL, FUNNY!!! And look at Misha's face there!!!! AWWWWWWW, CUUUUUTE!!!!! :D SOO HANDSOME!!!!! HAPPINESS!!! Oh Misha, you KNOW that Dean would LOOOOOVE that scene there! Having Cas there, in the Impala and DRIVING? OH MY!!! It would be a DREAM COME TRUE for Dean!!!! He might even get jealous of the magazine there! XD And, ALSO, pretty sure that the action would MOST LIKELY move to the backseats there!!! ;) But, SERIOUSLY, THIS IS LOVELY!!!! Made me SO SOOOO HAPPY here!!!!! I LOVE THIS SO SOO VERY MUCH!!! Thank YOU SO SOOO MUCH for sharing this with us!!!! You are AMAZING!!!! :) <3

…don’t tell Dean.

[honeydukesheroine]

For your writer asks (because I'm nosy, too - I loooooove to read writers on writing!)

14) Is there something you wish readers would pick up on more in your stories?

18) Are there emotions that come to you easily while writing? Or ones that are difficult for you to describe?

Thanks for the ask @fizzyginfizz!

14) Is there something you wish readers would pick up on more in your stories?

Hm, easy answer is I wouldn't expect readers to pick up on certain things right now! But particularly in the last 5 chapters I've been pushing some themes and foreshadowing now that I've got an outline for my Ginny POV story for Deathly Hallows. I'd never presume that someone would read my works twice! But in the future (once I get to the DH story), if they did, they'd find some cool nuggets. Truly, in the end, I do it because it's just fun for me to play with the execution :) Also in the last 5-6 chapters, I've come up with little tricks for myself to help fuel inspiration. These I'd never expect anyone to pick up on. Maybe they do, and I'm not as clever as I think? Idk. Like for instance, in my last chapter. I wanted to run with the "glowing hand" idea and use it to contrast Ginny's reactions to Harry vs. Dean and her personal battle vulnerability overall. So, I made Ginny's left hand the warm/Harry hand. And then later her right is the one stretched out the window, gets cold, and is warmed by the left hand. Then I imagined Dean was holding her right hand, making her feel cold, stiff, and fragile - mirroring her changing view of him. Just something I did in my mind to make myself feel more *creative* and craft elements of the chapter. And in Hermione's last chapter, she's holding Jane Eyre and there are a few motifs from that novel sprinkled throughout (burning sheets, porridge, "emotional home", etc.) that I felt fit the scenario and character. But those are just for me and I'd never expect people to actually pick that up! And you might've seen when you beta'd for me, but I also imagine the Gryffindor Quidditch team like individuals from a "royal court" which helps me frame how I might make them interact (but not in an obvious way). Ginny = warrior princess, Demelza = lady in waiting, etc etc... Just silliness because I'm not terribly creative on my own.

18) Are there emotions that come to you easily while writing? Or ones that are difficult for you to describe?

Humor is so tough for me! Knowing how to craft a funny situation or exchange can take me quite a while. My day to day humor is very inside-jokey and dry. So it's a challenge to make humor that I think a wide audience might find funny. So that's why I admire your writing! Because you do have a good balance of comedy and depth. Come easily? Ah, the morally grey comes easily (what does that say about me? 🫣). I need to keep myself in check with the darker, more angsty side of things.

[explainslowly]

Unironically using "no kissing on the mouth" in fics is stupid, however it would be funny if you did it correctly

I think Dean would blurt it out in a moment of panic when things get too real during a "guys helping each other out" type of hookup with Cas because he has seen that movie a lot of times (internally justifying it to himself as being into Julia Roberts, but really it's just that he would loooooove to be Pygmalioned, he would love it so much)

Bonus: if post Metatron pop-culture download, Cas would defo ask "are you quoting a movie, Dean?" and Dean would have to pretend he never heard of Pretty Woman

[dean-winchester-is-a-warrior]

Hiiiii !!! 👋 I'm here to try and give you some inspiration as you asked !! (I didn't pick the angstiest prompts because it didn't match well with the other prompts and you would have broken my heart but let me know if you want me to pick more angsty prompts!)

So ! I made 3 pack of inspiration, I always loooooove to read about Dean but if you're inspired by someone else, real or fictional, follow your desire 😊 :

First proposition : 2 “i believe you.” (fluff), 41 “call me that again.” (smut), 44 “can’t you listen for one second?” (angst)

Second proposition : 21 “you remembered?” (fluff), 38 “as beautiful as you look, all i want to do is rip that dress off right now.” (smut), 4 “don’t lie to me.” (angst)

Third proposition : 34 “i just wanted to make you laugh.” (fluff), 50 “i thought your laugh was the prettiest sound in the world. i was wrong, it's your moans.” (smut), 24 “you deserve better.” (angst)

Happy writing !!!

OMG!! You are the BEST, Eva!! Thank you so much for these! They've sparked a lot of ideas, and I can't wait to write them! I love these combinations! I have an idea that would involve a 3 part drabble series that would include all 3, but I'm not sure yet if that will work. If not, I'll just write 3 separate drabbles. But I'll have to wait and see how the muse strikes! 😊

Thanks again, beautiful - I so appreciate it! ❤️

[rennerator]

Oh My!!!!! Oh Cas... This is SOO COOL!!!! SOOOO BEAUTIFUL!!!!! But, in a way, SO TRAGIC TOO!!! It has SUCH AN IMPORTANT and STRONG MEANING!!! (at least for me) Cause, it feels to me like Cas sees himself as just a "toy" a "weapon" a "doll" that would do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING for his LOVED ONE(s) (in this specific case Dean), but, I ALSO FEEL like, at the same that he seems himself as ONLY THAT too... Like, he is NOT "allowed" to have things, because he is not "like them"... That is WHY, I WANT Cas to HEAR, not ONLY in "speeches but in ACTIONS too", ONE OF THE REASONS WHY I want SO SOOO MUCH for someone to go there and SAVE him from the Empty, he ALSO deserves to HAVE THAT!!! To HEAR that he is LOVED and that he MATTERS and to be SHOWN all THAT TOO!!!! Sorry for all that!!! I got a little too into it!!! XD But, OH MY, I LOOOOOOVE THIS!!!!! I LOVE THIS SO SOOO F* MUCH!!!!!! SOOO GORGEOUS, SOOO EMOTIONAL!!! SOOO STRONG!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE Thank YOU!!! THANK YOU SO SOOO MUCH for this!!! You are INCREDIBLE!!!! :) <3

[emometalhead]

duvet, toasted, december for the ask 💖🖤

Hi!!!! Thanks so much for asking!! 😁

duvet— what fictional character would you want to spend a day with and why?

I have two answers of varying seriousness lol.

1.) Robin Buckley from Stranger Things. She's fun, hot, and I think our personalities would mesh well. Plus, I want to kiss her.

2.) Dean Winchester from Supernatural. That man needs to talk out all of his feelings! I always yell that at my screen when I watch the show lol. If I could meet Dean, I would get him to talk. I don't believe monsters are real irl, or have any interest in them. I just want to help this man be less emotionally repressed 😭.

toasted— what is your favorite type of cuisine and what dishes do you like?

I loooooove Italian food. I'm a big pasta and pizza fan. Also, every Italian dessert tastes like heaven. Tiramisu and gelato my beloveds.

I also am required to talk about Polish food. My favorites are barszcz, naleśniki, and gołąbki!!

december—describe your favorite movie or tv show in a few words, or in a nutshell

Cartoon, spanning several decades, comedy, family-centric plots, quotable (The Simpsons)

[slashermary]

just cried to ccr…i have become my father :/

[ragnarssons]

Everytime I watch Swan Song I cry like a bitch. Because I KNOW it was supposed to be the end of the show. Not “dum dum duuum Sam is back!” more like, Sam is freaking dead forever tortured by Lucifer and you have to live with it and Dean went to live his dumb apple pie life with a character you met once and you’re supposed to be okay with it. As a Sam!Girl, I would have NEVER been able to handle this ending. My baby deserves better than this, they BOTH deserve better than this (don’t get me wrong, Swan Song is an amazing episode). Idc if it’s optimistic or doesn’t suit most of the fandom, I want the show to end with Sam and Dean, BOTH alive, TOGETHER (”against the world” as said in Fanfiction). Seems simple enough, tbh!

[rennerator]

I wonder how they would do it! Probably would be like how Bobby and Jack appeared there in the last episode of Season 1, right? But, the thing is, would Cas and Dean "interact" there? It seems like, no. I wonder if maybe then it would have been a "tease" for Season 2, or something like that! But, if I am not mistaken, Berens has said that they would do the Season as having an "ending" without things "left in the open" or something like that. BUT, I LOOOOOOVE that Misha is, YET AGAIN, showing HOW MUCH he cares about Cas and wants RESOLUTION for his character!!!! I hope that the "fans" that were being AWFUL and DISGUSTING and HATING on Misha for "not WANTING" to be Cas anymore or for NOT CARING about Cas and the Show, ARE EATING THEIR WORDS NOW!!!!! Thank YOU MISHA, THANK YOU!!!! S2 Thank YOU for FIGHTING FOR CAS and for wanting GOOD and MEANINGFUL RESOLUTION for Cas!!!! I LOOOOOVE The Winchesters and I AM still SO SAD that we didn't get a Season 2 and onwards!!! But, again, they WANTED Cas THERE, and they would have made a little cameo with him, why couldn't they make a LITTLE NOD to him then in the Finale there, when they knew they wouldn't have Cas in it anymore? They didn't have Sam in it, BUT, they made SURE to have him been mention and have IMPORTANCE related to the plot of the show! I wish they could have put just a LITTLE nod to Cas there. Like I said before, it could have been just a dressing choice, a PHRASE CHOICE, a LITTLE PAINT IN THE WALL... I would EVEN take Baby's plate as a NOD to Cas, IF someone in it had brought attention to it! Anyways, I am rambling... I LOOOOOOOOVE that question there!!!! YES YEEEES YEEEES!!!!! Thank YOU SO SOOOO MUCH for asking that question there!!! And, THANK YOU MISHA, for that answer there!!! I gotta say, maybe I am just too naive and too trusting, but I do BELIEVE that they wanted to do more with Cas, maybe for the next seasons and all that... But, like I said before, it is just weird that they didn't try to just put a little nod/importance to Cas there even more knowing that it could have been the finale of the show... I have to be honest here, me as a fan of the show and a fan of Cas, I felt hurt and excluded there when there were mentions and nods to Jack, Bobby and Sam but NONE for Cas in the Season 1 Finale... Let's HOPE HERE for the anime sequel! \o/ XD I have to say, THIS MADE ME HAPPY!!!! Hearing Misha say ALL the things that WE, Misha and Cas fans having been saying ALL ALONG, IS a very good feeling!!! Again, I am hoping here that ALL of the "fans" that were dismissing Misha and being HORRIBLE to him and saying how he didn't want to be Cas anymore and didn't CARE about Cas or the fans are EATING THEIR WORDS now and being ASHAMED for HOW VILLE they were to him!!! Thank YOU SO SOOO MUCH for sharing this with us!!!! You are AMAZING!!!! :) <3 Also, I WROTE SOO MUCH but forgot to talk about HOW PERFECT that answer from Misha is!!! YES, MISHA, YEEEEEESSSS!!! I am ALSO on the train for Cas still being in The Empty and seeing him being RESCUED!!!! I would like Dean to rescue him? OF F* COURSE, but if "not possible", AT LEAST, let us have SOMEONE rescuing Cas there and it BEING SHOWN!!

The Winchesters were going to have Castiel on(they knew his popularity), but only for ratings and only for a one off moment while avoiding anything from before. They were gonna do to Cas what they did with the other characters from og spn, just have Cas on for a couple of scenes and say a few lines. Seems like Misha was like "naw" and went to Jensen letting him know if his show was gonna have Cas, they're not doing some cameo and avoiding canon moments from spn. Misha wasn't doing it that way and it seems Jensen agreed(had no choice, really) when Misha went to him about it. They talked that out and agreed more would be needed for Cas. As it should be.

[rawiswhore]

Shawn Michaels x Fem Reader- "Problem"

I've created this female professional wrestling original character that lives rent free in my head, and my wrestling original character's gimmick was a slut/nymphomaniac.

However, I've wondered if she should play this Dean Yeagle's Mandy bimbo-type character, or play a "Three's Company"-esque jiggle TV character.

Then again, the Attitude era was about shock value and sexual content, and went on during the same time "South Park" was at the height of its popularity (and a running gag on "South Park" was that Cartman's mom is a slut), and was going on during the same time "The Jerry Springer Show" and Howard Stern (which invited porn stars, nymphomaniacs, sluts, strippers and hookers), Lil' Kim and Foxy Brown (who started the trend of sexually explicit female rappers) and "Sex and the City" were all at the heights of their popularity.

______________________________________________________________

One of the most iconic, notorious moments in professional wrestling history was on a "Monday Night Raw" episode that had aired on September 15th, 1997, where Shawn Michaels strutted to the ring wearing these tight black biker shorts that showed off a huge, massive bulge in his crotch area.

That bulge was a sock stuffed down his bike shorts to show off the outline of his penis, and when he stood in the ring, he eventually jumped up and down and kept pointing to his huge bulge, eventually to lay on the ring on his back and thrust and hump the air while his hands motioned and pointed at his crotch.

That moment caused a lot of controversy even back then---so much so Shawn Michaels was fined for it.

However, when Vince McMahon saw that moment, he soon stated that the World Wrestling Federation needed more attitude and that aforementioned Shawn Michaels moment is stated to have started the Attitude era.

When Vince McMahon saw that moment, he said the WWF needed more edgy content, and that's what lead to the Attitude era.

Even though you were happy about the WWF becoming edgier and more adult oriented, especially considering you felt like you weren't really being yourself in the WWF in 1996 and 1997, there was a problem you had related to the WWF becoming edgier you had to address to.

But not to Vince McMahon.

Shortly after that "Monday Night Raw" episode where Shawn Michaels kept pointing to his bulge while wearing biker shorts and Vince McMahon said the WWF needed more "attitude", you stood with Shawn backstage and talked with him.

You weren't talking with him during a "Monday Night Raw" or "Shotgun Saturday Night" episode or even a pay-per-view, and your discussion wasn't filmed and broadcast on television for people to see.

"I looooooved that moment when you put a sock down your shorts to make it seem like you have a boner" you confessed to Shawn with a naughty smile on your face, your eyes looking into his eyes, standing close to Shawn until your chest was touching and nudging his chest.

Your confession made Shawn sheepishly chuckle and smile.  

"I knew you would" Shawn said with a smile.

"Vince McMahon said that he wants the WWF to have more 'attitude'" you mentioned, your fingers crooking like quotation marks when you said the word "attitude". "And I'm okay with that, in fact, I'm happy about it"

"Me too" Shawn agreed, nodding his head. "I wanted the WWF to be...edgier before you even joined the company"

Before you probably even started watching the WWF.

Shawn paused his sentence a little while to think of a word to describe what he wanted the WWF to be like, and he decided on "edgier".

"Seeing you with that fake boner bulging through your shorts" you mentioned, your index finger running up and down his chest as your mouth smiled and your eyes looked at his crotch. "Y'know how female wrestling valets flirt with opponents to distract them?"

Shawn nodded his head.

Of course he knows that

"I'd love to suck on and lick your cock covered by your tights in the ring as a distraction" you confessed, your eyes scrolling up to his eyes to look into them, you put emphasis on the word "love" when you confessed that and placed your hand on his chest. "Especially considering the WWF now wants an edgier direction"

Shawn's eyes grew wide and his eyebrows raised when he heard that you'd love to suck his penis covered by his tights.

"But...there's a problem" you argued, although not sounding angry, your mouth pouting and your voice sounding less sexier than before. "Hunter and I sometimes help you out and join you in the ring, and I can't really probably suck your cock if you were Hunter's opponent since I'm Hunter's valet"

Shawn nodded his head, agreeing with you.

"And you'd probably get fined a lot of money like I did recently" Shawn added.

"Fuck those people who fined you!" you exclaimed with an angry, disgusted look on your face and in the tone of your voice.

Shawn nodded his head, raising one of his hands to give you a high five, to which your hand collided into his hand and gave him a high five, although you didn't hit his hand too hard.

Eventually, you couldn't suck on Shawn's dick as a distraction if he was Hunter's opponent since he as well as you were members of D Generation X.

"Even though I love being Hunter Hearst Helmsley's valet and all" you mentioned, your face and your voice looking and sounding calmer. "Not only would I love to distract Hunter, but since Hunter does the pedigree, where he, y'know, put's someone's head in between his thighs and holds their arms, I'd love it if in a wrestling match Hunter spanked my ass when he's about to do a pedigree on me"

"I know you'd love Hunter spanking you in a pedigree" Shawn brought up with his head slowly nodding.

"I don't have to wrestle against Hunter" you explained. "I can just be a valet for someone else and try to distract Hunter, and then Hunter will pull me into the ring, put my head in between his thighs and then spank my ass"

"I understand" Shawn replied. "Would you try to suck on Hunter's dick if it was covered by his tights in a pedigree?"

"Hell yeah!" you stated, although not sounding so angry.

"A lot of wrestlers' tights and singlets are all sweaty from all that wrestling" Shawn mentioned. "You'd be tasting nasty, salty crotch sweat on their tights and singlets"

"I know" you admitted, pouting your lip. "Plus, I'd be tasting the fabric of their tights and singlets, which isn't a pleasant taste, I'll just have to pretend it doesn't taste nasty"

"I bet the WWF is going to make you play what you're really like backstage" Shawn referred, referring to how you're a very sexually promiscuous slut and nymphomaniac behind the scenes backstage and when the cameras aren't rolling.

"Oh, without a doubt"  you said. "Even if the WWF didn't make me play that, I'd come up with that idea for a gimmick, like how Stone Cold came up with his redneck gimmick"

"And how Razor Ramon's Tony Montana character was Scott Hall's own idea" Shawn added.

Even though you eventually and unfortunately couldn't suck on and even lick Shawn Michaels' and Triple H's penises covered by their tights in the ring due to you being a member of D Generation X (as well as being the Sunny to their Bodydonnas and Stacy Keibler to their Dudley Boyz), you playing a promiscuous, slutty nymphomaniac came true.

And even sucking and licking male wrestlers' private parts as a distraction in the ring came true next year by the time the WWF changed its logo to that scratch logo and its name to "WWF Attitude".

In fact, sucking on a male wrestler's penis covered by his tights or singlet was your signature distraction, like how Stacy Keibler's signature distraction is turning around, grabbing her skirt, lifting it up and showing off her ass cheeks, and Debra's signature distraction is opening her top up and showing off her puppies (and I don't mean baby dogs), albeit her breasts are covered by a bra.

However, on a "Monday Night Raw" episode broadcast and aired on television in August of 1998, during one of those "coming up next" vignettes where the guitar riff to Slam Jam's "We're All Together Now", you were backstage in the locker room sucking on Triple H's penis covered by his jockstrap.

At the beginning of 1998, you, Shawn and Triple H did this photoshoot for a magazine, where you were squatting in between those 2 and sucking and licking their dicks covered by their tights.

[diminuel]

Every once in a while I pop over to your tumblr to see what adorableness you've cooked up this month! I (belatedly) saw you were taking prompts a few days ago. I adore your naga!verse, and me being me, if you feel up to it, would loooooove to see a pop of naga Sam! (But I totally get if that's not your spin right now.) Anywho, I love your stuff and it always makes me smile!

;w; Thank you!

It's funny because the last time I asked for ideas to draw I thought "Dean's alright to draw, but Sam? So hard. Sam's impossible to draw. Unless you're quickreaver I guess" *gigglesnort* I mean, logically the Sam focused artists/ those who have Sam ships are gonna be much better at Sam art than I am. Even though I started SPN as a Sam girl haha)

I'll definitely have to draw Naga!Sam ♥

[eevvvaa]

Sorry for answering only now ! 😱

I actually reaaaaaally loved how you chose to make the reader a FBI agent because YES when you really think about it, those guys are looked for by the while country ! Between bank robbery and the way everywhere they go there are dead people, Sam and Dean should have never been left alone, the FBI must have always looked for them ! So it's so interesting that she followed both of them through the years, tracking them down with Viktor 👮‍♂️

I think you did an amazing job at the whole criminal/cops vibe and how she was a real threat at first (until she fell in love with him 😏) and I loved how she analyzed him, making him aware of his coping mechanisms and all, it was very interesting ! And I'm amazed how you managed to write those things so well, I was really into it and felt like I was analyzing him with her !

Ahah yeah, I can see why you feel like he needs someone tough that would argue with him when he's doing stupid things again 🙈 but this little baby also needs cuddles and comfort 🥺 but I truly like their relationship and how quickly he's been head over heels for her ! And she's got a kid, of course he would fall in love with her, his daddy side came back to life !

Wow. So once again, you put so much time and energy in this story ! I love that you did "researches" for it ! And it didn't feel forced at all, I love where you picked up their story and how you created another ending for them (wayyyyy much better than the original one, of course !)

Yes and that's also why I love her ! She can protect herself but it's not too much either, you know ? They have similarities and I love how they managed to meet in the middle 🥰

Ahahah "treat hunting as a hobby, like golf" 😂😂 Oh my god, really ?! He's gonna be REAL FBI ?! No, don't tell me ! I mean.. no ! But how will they manage to do so ?! I guess I'll have to read, then 😏😉

Ahah but we loooooove drama, so 👍 I can't wait to continue reading this series, definitely hyped me again !

I loved this director's cut ! 😚🖤

Hey ! Can I have the director's commentary on Don't Blame Me and maybe how you got the idea ? :) (I absolutely need to continue this series, so feel free to tease me all you want !)

Hi sweetie 😊 Thank you so much for the ask! It was so fun to think about the beginnings of this story again 🥰

I got the idea for DBM in early 2021 while doing a Supernatural rewatch. I always found the storyline around Henriksen and the FBI hilarious and thought the perspective of an agent who treated them as serial killers so interesting. I always loved crime shows and true crime documentaries and really wanted to do a story along those lines! Secondly, it was inspired by that shapeshifter therapy episode with Jack and Dean’s attitude throughout. That’s when I really wanted to expand on the whole psychologist idea and thought it’d be so fun if a therapist was living locked with them in the bunker. I knew Dean wouldn’t be amused, so I figured the best way was to have the reader just observe and then offer “innocent” side commentary that would drive him a little nuts until she eventually wears him down. I always thought he needed someone super stubborn, who wouldn’t take no for an answer or put up with his bullshit 😂

My goal was just to give both boys a happy ending they deserve, but I didn’t want it to feel forced. I wanted it to be a natural development. So I rewatched the whole show and took down notes of everything Dean said he either felt towards the hunting life or wanted for his future. The reader’s main job was then to correct some misguided notions and basically show him there’s another way 😉 I also made her a mom on purpose to draw parallels to Lisa and why (in my opinion) it didn’t work out between them.

That’s why I figured an FBI profiler would be the perfect occupation for the reader character. She can handle herself in dangerous situations and even has an itch to constantly help people, albeit she’s risking her life, and she also has the mental skills to navigate everything Dean may throw at her. I really liked the idea that both of them would be giving something up that made them comfortable in their respective lives. The reader was supposed to love her job until she realized she loved Dean even more and was willing to sacrifice her career for him ❤️☺️

And lastly, after Chuck and with Jack/Cas/Rowena in charge, I figured it’d be a good moment for the brothers to (half-)retire. There are no more big bads, only a few monsters around. They could easily have normal jobs and do something they really wanna do and treat hunting as a weekend hobby like golf 😅 For Sam, I always saw him getting his law degree (about damn time!). And for Dean, well, there might be a badge in his future… 🤓

I know exactly what the last chapter will be, and I’m so excited for it! But before that, we still have a lot of drama ahead of us 😈 There’s one big storyline still coming up for season 3, and I can’t wait to write it 😁🖤

[orphicnatural]

Rating Exorcisms and Spells on Supernatural as if I am Grading Them on Their Latin

Basically, this is just a review of some Latin incantations on the show.

Disclaimer: Latin is a hard language. I’ve been studying it for 6 years and I am by no means an expert, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. That being said I do have a background in Latin and Linguistics so I do have a good idea of how the language works. I’ll include the Latin, my translation, and then my opinion on each incantation.

Here’s some general background information about the structure of Latin for any of those who are interested:

Latin typically is a Subject-Object-Verb language (as opposed to English which is a SVO language) but it does have free word order so the words can be rearranged into any order

Nouns and Adjectives decline in terms of case, number, and gender (aka each noun/adjective has 10* forms)

Verbs are conjugated with person, number, tense, and mood (aka each verb has 120+* forms)

word choice is important because of the relatively limited lexicon so many words hold several meanings that depend on context

1. Shortened Exorcism

"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica, ergo draco maledicte, ut ecclesiam tuam secura, tibi facias libertate servire, te rogamus, audi nos!"

We exorcize you, all foul spirits, all satanic powers, all hellish enemy attacks, all legions, all congregations and devilish sects, therefore the evil serpent, in order to make you serve liberty in your secure church, we ask you, hear us!

The classic (shortened) exorcism that appears a few times throughout the show. Generally a good message for an exorcism it makes sense. Technically all of ‘omnis... diabolica’  should all be in the accusative case (not the nominative) to agree with te ‘you’, and the number (sg/pl) is inconsistent so a few points off. Good use of the vocative for draco maledicte, though! The purpose clause at the end of the exorcism is a little clunky, but they did use the proper ut + subjunctive structure. Extra point for being a legitimate exorcism but minus a point for being Medieval Latin bc I’m a hater.

6/10

2. Rowena’s Curses in 10x16

Torture and a violent death, torturing

Now this first one just doesn’t quite make sense: it is not a complete sentence so I am confused by the use of the participle at the end and it’s case. It does seem to be effective though, Olivette sure is getting tortured.

2/10

Your fate is a journey without end towards nothing. 

I like this one! For some reason all captions/scripts write iter sine as one word not sure why? Only thing I would change is use nihil for ‘nothing’ instead of nullum (lit. ‘no things’). (Could also put est at the end of the sentence but that’s more of a style choice.) Not sure how this incantation turns someone into a hamster specifically but a solid curse nonetheless!

 8/10

3. Belphegor’s Spell

Spirits of hell, souls having risen from the infernal pit i confine you within the boundaries

Solid translation for someone who is not familiar with the language. Since hell is singular, inferorum should instead be inferni. I would have either used an ablative absolute (which we don’t have in English) or a relative clause in the first part making it animi inferorum spirito [ex] abysso surrecti ‘sptirits of hell, having been risen from the pit…’ or animi infernorum cui spiritus abyssi surrecti ‘spirtis of hell whose souls have been raised from the pit’. Also I would use a different verb than defigo, maybe something more like coherceo/conpesco. 

7/10

4. Dean Summoning Death

I call upon you now, Death.  I enchant you in my power, now and forever.

Pretty baller summoning spell if you ask me. Personally, it added to the experience to know what exactly Dean was doing before the spell worked. Since this is a direct invocation of Death, Mortem should be in the vocative (Mors). Nice use of the idiomatic in aeternum for ‘forever’. 

9.5/10

5. Sam’s Warding Spell

Bind together these powerful warding sigils. Renew them. Strengthen them. Save us all.

This actually reads like real Latin; Latin looooooves using pronouns (has, eas). It’s all in the imperative (mood used for commands): sounds good, very direct. Extra points for being the first correct classical pronunciation of the Latin <v> in the whole show (<v> makes a /w/ sound in Latin)! Excellent Job Samwitch! (apparently Jared took Latin in high school so good job buddy)

11/10

all screencaps from here and all captions and translations by me

special thanks to @casisalamp for making sure this all made sense :)

[emotionallyits2009]

2, 10, 18 and 30!

2. What is the worst episode (excluding bugs and the last two episodes)?

i’m going to limit myself to kripke era here because i have not watched large chunks of s6-s15 and have pretty much only seen the good episodes from those seasons. and the answer is fresh blood. gordon’s whole storyline is horrifically racist and ending by turning him into an actual monster as defined by the show so they can kill him without regrets is cruel and disgusting to watch.

10. Baby!Jack or canon!Jack?

so in fanon i loooooove baby jack art and headcanons i think they are very cute and fun. but i think canon!jack is more interesting and has more narrative potential. first of all it’s very fun to explain to my non-spn friends “yeah they’re raising the son of lucifer together and he’s a very special boy with powers and he’s three years old but also an adult man.” second of all it’s interesting that he’s a kid and an adult at the same time! he had to grow up fast because he was in danger but growing up fast puts him more at risk from the winchesters (well, dean), his supposed allies, because dean will take any excuse to label him as a monster and it’s easier to do that to an adult than a child. also the possibilities of post-canon if they’d actually delivered on the free will and not having to live up to your destinies themes...what do you do when you’re a superpowered adult toddler and you don’t have to save the world anymore? high school???

18. Ideally, what season would have Dean and Cas gotten together?

s13 when cas comes back from the empty 🥺 in my ideal world he would have been gone for longer and dean has to help get him back (i’m taking inspiration from all the 15x18 fixits i’ve read) and the season conflict is about dean reconciling with jack and forgiving him while cas is still dead. and then they get cas back and they get together either ambiguously or unambiguously and the show ends <3

30. What destiel fic are you currently reading/wanting to read?

i am currently reading On Labor and really enjoying it! but i am getting a little tired of fics where Dean Has Issues and would love some more cas-centric stuff so i’d like to try teaching poetry to fish next. i’ve just had too many library books out recently to read long!fic.

[alipeeps]

New tag game: Post pictures of your first ever (fictional/celeb) crush to the latest one and tag five others to continue the game

Thanks to @minmoyu for tagging me and ooof, are you sure you’re ready for this?!! :D I have been around/in fandom for a loooooong time and at first I thought, okay, no way I can list all my crushes, there have been SO many and we’ll be here all day but then as I started compiling a list I found I was having fun reminiscing and decided, what the heck, yeah, let’s do em all... or at least all I can remember! :D

There have absolutely for sure been other more minor crushes and passing fancies along the way, but these are the big ones that I remember (and that, in more recent years, I can track by going through my posted fanfics on AO3 and even *shudder* FFNET and seeing which shows I was into enough to want to write fic about the characters).

[Quick note: with rare exceptions, for actors I am listing them by the character they played rather than just the actor. Whilst there are actors that I like in multiple roles (and conversely, characters who on paper I would normally be into but are played by actors who do nothing for me, and hence the character generally does nothing for me either), for the most part it is the character I really have the crush on.]

I’m going to put this under a readmore cos it has gotten ridiculously long:

So... without further ado:

1. MORTEN HARKET from a-ha - OKay so, dating myself badly here but... I had the *biggest* crush on Morten Harket when I was a teenager. Pretty much the entirety of my side of the bedroom I shared with my sister was covered in posters of a-ha, and Morten in particular. I even had a heart-shaped Morten Harket pillow! :D I loved a-ha’s music (still do!) and I wanted to go see them in concert when I was 14 but my parents wouldn’t let me (*sob*). I did finally get to see them in concert in the early 2000s and they were BRILLIANT live (and Morten was still very very pretty)! 

2. RICHARD DEAN ANDERSON as MACGYVER - MacGyver is the first tv character I remember being really into and having a crush on, to the extent that I would record episodes of the show off the tv (onto VHS tape - yes, I am *that* old!) so that I could rewatch them (especially the ones where he got hurt - yeah, I was a whumper even then! :D)

3. KEIFER SUTHERLAND - One of my rare exceptions. I think I first saw him in Lost Boys (and loved him in that film) but it was his role as Doc Scurlock in Young Guns that really made me fall for both the character and him. I definitely remember seeking out any and all films he was in and buying any magazine he was interviewed in (and knowing far more facts about him than was probably healthy! :D) and even drawing a fanart portrait of him. :)

4. KYLE MACLACHLAN as SPECIAL AGENT DALE COOPER - I remember hearing about Twin Peaks before it started airing in the UK and it sounded so different and interesting... I watched it from the very first episode and very quickly developed a crush on Coop.  

5. BRENT SPINER as DATA - I think ST: TNG had been airing for a while before I stumbled across it but I quickly became hooked and Data was my favourite character right from the start. I definitely remember at one point buying an (unofficial) episode guide book so that I could look up which episodes were good Data-focused ones (especially ones where he got hurt! :D) so I could go out and buy the videos that had those episodes on (at the time the show was available to buy on VHS-tape with 2 episodes on each tape).

6. DAVID DUCHOVNY as FOX MULDER - Another show that I heard the buzz about and started watching right from the start and, like so many others, I immediately developed a crush on the snarky, enigmatic, troubled FBI agent with the weird name. The X-Files was the first show I ever tried writing (one, never-finished) fanfic for.

7. PAUL GROSS as BENTON FRASER - Man, Due South was such a good show! It was so quirky and clever and funny and Benton Fraser, with his huge heart and his serious demeanour and his gorgeous blue eyes, was just so darn attractive! He also got whumped a fair bit too! :D Due South was also the show that introduced me to the music of Sarah McLachlan (I was enough of a fan that I bought the show soundtrack on CD).

8. HUGH LAURIE as DR GREGORY HOUSE - This was a bit of an odd one for me because I had grown up knowing Hugh Laurie solely as a comedian/comic actor, known mostly for playing buffoons and genial idiots. And suddenly here he was with stubble, an American accent, and a limp, and he was hawt AF! :D It caused quite the feedback loop in my brain for a while which pretty much went “Wow, House is hot.... but it’s Hugh Laurie... but he’s hot... but it’s HUGH LAURIE!!1!��

I *loved* House (the first few seasons, at least) and oof a character with persistent pain (and a self-destructive streak a mile wide!) was a whumper’s dream. House was the first show for which I wrote - and published online - completed fanfics.

8. JOE FLANIGAN as JOHN SHEPPARD - Stargate Atlantis was my first proper online fandom, the first show I prolifically and repeatedly wrote fanfic for, and the first time I ever met in person an actor I was a big fan of (and while the show was still airing, to boot!). It was also my first introduction to the online community of whumpers! A bunch of us from the Shep Whump thread on Gateworld heard that Joe was going to be at a convention in London and we decided to book hotel rooms and meet up and go to the convention together and it was AWESOME! I can still remember seeing Joe *in person* for the first time and just,,,, struggling to believe he was actually here, in person, in front of me! He was super super lovely and humble too and took time to chat to everyone at the signing table and I clearly remember my brain just pretty much fritzing out during the photo session and being intensely aware of the sensation of Joe’s hand on my shoulder....

It was also super lovely to meet fellow fans, and online friends, in person for the first time and we had so much fun, and it kickstarted me going to lots of other conventions, including specific Stargate/SGA ones where I got to know lots of other lovely fans and online friends. I’ve met Joe about 4 or 5 times in total now and he’s been lovely every time.

9. PAUL BLACKTHORNE as HARRY DRESDEN - Gosh I loved the shortlived tv adaptation of The Dresden Files. I loved the fantasy aspect, the stories, the humour, and I especially loved Harry Dresden and how often he got whumped! :D 

10. DAVID TENNANT as THE 10TH DOCTOR - I had watched the Christopher Ecclestone revival of Doctor Who and enjoyed it well enough but I can clearly remember watching David Tennant’s first episode as The Doctor - on Christmas Day, at my brother-in-law’s house - and being aware, as I watched it that... ooookay, yes, I’m in trouble here... I like him... I like him a lot... :D I mean, I’m sure the fact that he got whumped so thoroughly in his very first episode had nothing to do with how quickly I fell for him... right? :)

11. ALEX O’LAUGHLIN as MICK ST JOHN - Another show that ended far too soon and just as it was getting *seriously* good. But also a prime example of my point about having a crush on the character not the actor. I looooooved Alex as Mick St John... and yet in Hawaii 5.0 he pretty much does nothing for me (the character is too stoic and the whump often too unrealistically glossed over). Anyway, in Moonlight he was my favourite kind of character - angsty, brooding, dangerous AF when he needed to be... and essentially immortal so you could whump the heck out of him and he’d recover so you could whump him again! :D

12. SIMON BAKER as PATRICK JANE - There is so much to love about Patrick Jane... his smarts, his sass, his angst... and Simon is a rare “against type” blonde crush for me (you may have noticed by now that most of my crushes follow a similar physical aesthetic - tall, slim/wiry, and dark-haired) and again here I think my crush is almost all to do with the character rather than the actor.

12. BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH as SHERLOCK HOLMES - I’m almost ashamed to admit it, given the clusterfuck that both the show and its fandom became, but in the earlier seasons I had quite the crush on Benedict’s Sherlock (and okay, a little bit on Benedict himself - I did definitely enjoy some of his other roles too). It helps that I was already a huge fan of the Sherlock Holmes character (I’ve read all the stories and novels multiple times and was a big fan of the Granada adaptation starring Jeremy Brett - whose Holmes would definitely count as one of my more minor/passing crushes) already. Benedict is another crush that I have met in person, at a (actually, the first!) Sherlock convention and he was lovely in person - very genuine, very articulate and thoughtful.

13. TOM MISON as ICHABOD CRANE - I was excited for Sleepy Hollow as soon as I heard about it and I was SUCH a fan for the first couple of seasons (before TPTB completely destroyed it and it inevitably got cancelled (I didn’t even watch the last season and a half)) and Tom’s Ichabod (and his amazing chemistry with Nicole’s Abbie) was a large part of why. I also quickly became a big fan of Tom himself as he came across as so witty and self-deprecating and *fun* in all the behind the scenes/convention clips etc. I was lucky enough to also meet Tom at a convention and he genuinely is that witty and charming and lovely.

14. TOM WISDOM as ARCHANGEL MICHAEL - I think Dominion was possibly the first show that I got sucked into by seeing whumpy gifsets on tumblr! :D It was such a great show and also to date the most immersive, welcoming, cast-and-crew-interactive fandom I have ever been in. The cast and crew regularly live-tweeted the episodes, and interacted with fans on Twitter, and it was SO much fun. And Tom’s Michael was my favourite character right from the start - seemingly aloof but so much going on under the surface... and some really nice whump, especially in season 2! I was heartbroken when it was cancelled after only 2 seasons (and just as the plot was getting *really* interesting).

15. OLIVER JACKSON-COHEN as LUCAS - I was hooked on Emerald City right from the first episode. It was visually stunning, so atmospheric, and really intruiging. I love love loved Adria Arjona’s Dorothy (ngl, I had a bit of a crush on her too) and she and Lucas together were just... *chef’s kiss*. I mean... what an introduction to a character... she finds him crucified, bleeding, his wrists tied with barbed wire, and amnesiac.... and the whump only gets better and better from there on in! Like the entire first two episodes are just... Lucas whump! :D And his devotion to her... Emerald City was honestly the first show where I really got into a ship. I was *invested* in Dorcas, dammit! Aaaand sadly another excellent show that never made it past its first season.

16. JASON RALPH as QUENTIN COLDWATER - Another show that I watched right from the start, was heavily invested in.... and that the writers absolutely tanked and destroyed in later seasons. *cries* Quentin was such a brilliant viewpoint character for the show and I loved his awkwardness, and his angst, and his enthusiasm, and his adorable floppy hair... and how often he got whumped! 

17. COLIN MORGAN - I fell for Colin in Merlin (which I stumbled upon late, long after it had finished airing, and hence was able to binge-watch the entire 5 seasons!) and liked him enough to seek out his other works, such as The Fall, and Humans, and The Living and the Dead, and he was brilliant (and very pretty) in all of them... and his characters also seem to get whumped quite a lot! :D 

18. MATT LANTER as WYATT LOGAN - Wyatt was another of my favourite archetypes... absolutely badass and competent... but also tortured and angsty and capable of intense devotion. Another show that I watched because of whumpy gifs on tumblr and the second ever show where I actually got invested in a ship - Lyatt all the way, baby!! :D - aaaaaand yet another show cancelled before its time.

19. NOCTIS LUCIS CAELUM from FINAL FANTASY XV - my very first video game crush! I was recommended to play FFXV by fellow whumpers on the whumpshire discord because it was whumpy... and they were not wrong and I loved the game and I absolutely adored Noctis. FFXV is one of very very VERY few video games that I have actually played right through to the end. And possibly the only video game that has ever affected me to such an extent... I became so invested in the characters and their world and I actually found the last couple of chapters really hard to play because it was actually upsetting me emotionally. I had to take a break for a couple of weeks before I could go back and finish it!

20. CONNOR from DETROIT BECOME HUMAN - and from there I jumped straight into another video game crush! DBH was another game recommended to me for its whump potential and I, and many others, immediately fell in love with the quirky, sassy, self-sacrificing (if you play the game right!) “android sent by Cyberlife”. The game itself is really good too... although, I have tried to play through all the different endings to the story but have never yet managed to make myself play the machine Connor storyline.... I want to complete all the story branches... but I also just want Hank and Connor to be friends and to be happy! :D

21. ZHU YILONG - Ahhh... the beginning of the asian drama arc of my fandom life! I first came across Zhu Yilong after getting sucked into watching Guardian because of pretty (and whumpy) gifs on tumblr... and I’ve never looked back. He is one of the rare entries where I am pretty much guaranteed to like him in pretty much anything he does and my crush extends beyond Shen Wei, or his other characters, and into reblogging his fashion shoot photos, and keeping up with news of his work in general. He’s just... so darn pretty! And also so... blur! :D And the behind the scenes stuff and interviews of him with Bai Yu, during the Guardian era, just made me fall for him all the more. He’s also ridiculously talented - not only a fantastic actor, but a really good singer (I love his singing voice), he plays guitar and piano, and he can paint too!!

He’s also pretty much what made me start learning Chinese... because after Guardian I went seeking his other dramas to watch... only to find that many of them are only partially, or not at all, subbed. So I thought... why not try learning Chinese and then I’ll be able to watch his other shows? :D

21. JI CHANG WOOK - My first kdrama crush, and what a good one to start with! Healer was the first drama I ever watched and can you blame me for falling for JCW... especially when I followed up Healer with The K2?! I’ve liked him in pretty much everything I’ve watched him in. Although I do wish he would go back to doing more action-based shows as he is sooo good at them... but he seems to prefer the romcom genre these days, which is something I am nottt always a fan of tbh.

22. JAKE HSU as MENG SHAO FEI - Yet another show that I got sucked into by tumblr - and also one with a great, fun fandom through which I met lots of lovely people who I still follow/am mutuals with to this day. I just *adored* Jake’s character in History and I also loved the ship - Tang Fan and Meng Shaofei were awesome and adorable together and I was totally invested in both the ship and the gangster/cop/what happened years ago story happening alongside the ship. And Jake is just all kinds of cute.

23. XIAO ZHAN - Aaaand we are pretty much up to current day now... where The Untamed took over my life in the summer of 2019 and has yet to let me go. Xiao Zhan is another disgustingly talented human being - a fantastic singer and a really good actor, and also an artist - and he also just comes across as a genuinely sweet and charming person, and a very thoughful and earnest one too. And lbr he is ridiculously pretty, and his smile is just pure sunshine. 

24. LEE DONG WOOK as LEE YEON - The most recent entry to the charts.... a Korean actor I was aware of but whose work I hadn’t watched and whose looks didn’t particularly seem to grab me... until I watched Tale of the Nine Tailed and fell head over heels for Lee Yeon (and daaayum does red hair suit LDW!!) and very quickly began to find LDW’s looks very appealing (and oh my, does Lee Yeon whump well!!). And yes, I have now started watching Goblin. :D

Phew! Aaaand we are done! I’ll admit, I did think of a few more as I was compiling this list but I decided to categorise them as more “minor” crushes and not include them... otherwise we really could be here all day!!

I’m going to tag: @sarah-yyy​, @arlothia​, @howdydowdy​, @thepromiseweheldforlife​ and @the-wandering-whumper​!

[isolavirtuosa]

Maybe 1-5

[fanfiction] Dean/Castiel

Canon Compliant Coda

One minute I was sitting on the porch, having a beer with Bobby, and the next I was standing in the bunker next to an equally confused-looking Sam.

Parts 1-5

- 1 -

  One minute I was sitting on the porch, having a beer with Bobby, and the next I was standing in the bunker next to an equally confused-looking Sam.

“What the hell, Sammy,” I grumbled, staring at the once-familiar wall of the dungeon in front of us.

“I have no idea,” Sam said, brows furrowing.

“Dad?”

We both whirled around, my hand going for a gun that was long since gone.

“Dean?” Sam said, but the tone was all wrong.  That wasn’t how he said my name.

“Dad?” the man repeated.  He was tall, with brown hair that was longer than it needed to be, and it was obvious enough even for those of us who had no idea what was going on.

“This is Junior?” I asked Sam’s back as he was already moving to wrap his son in a hug.

The hug went on for a lot longer than I thought was necessary, and then my brother was turning around and gesturing to me with a warm smile.  “This is your Uncle Dean.”

“Hey,” Dean Junior said, his eyes a little wide.

Apparently my reputation preceded me.  “Hey yourself,” I responded, swaggering over to him.

I was suddenly wrapped in a very tight hug.

“Um, I guess you’re a hugger,” I said, patting his back awkwardly for a moment before finally just giving in to hugging my only nephew.

Sam was grinning like an idiot.

“I can’t believe you’re both here,” Dean breathed as he pulled away.  “I mean, it worked.”

“Um, what exactly is it that worked?” Sam asked.

“Castiel’s spell,” he said, like that explained perfectly why my brother and I had been ripped out of heaven and brought back to earth.

“Wait, Cass is-” I started to say, even as Castiel was slipping out of the shadows.

“Hello, Sam,” he said, nodding at my brother.  He paused, looking at me meaningfully.  “Dean.”

“Cass!” Sam said, and then there was even more unnecessary hugging.  He squeezed Castiel tightly, and when he let him go, he turned an expectant glance on me.

I stared pointedly at the wall.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why we’ve brought you here,” Castiel began to say.

“What’s up with you two?” Sam asked, gesturing between us.

“Nothing,” I said, which was swallowed up by Castiel’s very loud declaration that, “Dean is uncomfortable about my homosexual feelings towards him.”

“Wait, what?” Sam said, squinting at me.

“Cass, you know that’s not true,” I ground out, annoyed.

“Angels have sexual preferences?” Dean asked, scratching at his stubble.  “I kind of thought you were all asexual.”

“We mostly lack human desires,” Castiel agreed.  “Of course, some angels have-”

“Nobody needs a lesson on the sexual exploits of angels,” I interrupted him.

“I think I might,” Dean said, looking genuinely perplexed.  “I mean, all these years, and I never once…  But I guess now that I’ve heard it out loud, it’s starting to…  Yeah, I mean, Castiel talks about you a lot.  A lot a lot.  And he gets this soft expression on his face, and-”

“‘All these years?’” I repeated slowly, feeling my face harden even more.  “You’ve been helping Junior out for years?” I asked Castiel angrily.

“Other Dean needed my help-”

“Great, Cass, just great, so glad you could be there for him,” I said.  “Can we just move on to the part where you explain why the hell we’re here, and then get us back to fucking heaven where we belong?”

Castiel breathed out heavily, his lower lip sticking out slightly.

It was a ridiculous expression that looked completely out of place on his face, and I wanted to tell him so, but…

“You were not exaggerating,” Dean marveled to Sam, still staring at me in awe.

I was starting to wonder what exactly my brother had told my namesake about me.  “I need a beer,” I decided, throwing the dungeon door open and making my way towards the kitchen.

“Wow, look what the cat dragged in.”

At first the woman sitting with her boots kicked up on the table was unrecognizable.  Her gray hair flowed around her face in curls, wrinkles etched across a face with surprisingly youthful-looking blue eyes.

“…Claire…?” I asked incredulously.

She grinned at me.

“How are you still alive?” I asked, still trying to process this elderly woman as the young girl I’d last seen.

“Some of us are actually good at hunting,” she said with a smirk and a twinkle in her eyes.

I didn’t know what to do with that.  “I need a beer,” I decided, disappearing into the kitchen.

“Grab one for me!” Claire called after me.

“Can elderly people drink?” I replied, digging through the fridge and pulling out two tall bottles which were hopefully beer, the brand name unrecognizable to me.

“We can drink Dean Winchester under the table!” she called, a laugh in her voice.

I returned with the bottles, and Claire accepted hers, taking a long drink.

“That hits the spot after a long day of raising assholes from the dead,” she declared.

I sat next to her, running my fingers over the names etched into the table.  There were more now, covering the table from end-to-end.

“We decided the table had a nice nostalgic vibe to it,” she said, before nodding her head around the room.  “Updated everything else from the prehistoric nonsense you had in here before, though.”

There were screens and flashing lights everywhere.  It seemed pretty fucking awful to me, but hopefully whatever fool’s errand had brought us back here would be over and done with quickly.

Claire finished her beer, letting the empty bottle hit the table with a loud clink.  “I guess that’s an okay start, but you’re gonna need to keep ‘em comin’.”

“Slow down, grandma, I don’t want to have to pick you up off of the floor.”

She snorted.  “How the fuck old do you think I am?”

“I don’t know, a hundred?”

She laughed even harder.  “Oh, god, you are precious.  I am the picture of youth and vitality.  You like music from the freaking 1970s and dress like an elderly lumberjack.”

I touched my flannel shirt self-consciously.

“And Jimmy certainly made a choice with that body,” she said, looking me up and down, and grinning madly.

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked irritably.  “…and also, ‘Jimmy’?”

“That’s just my nickname for Castiel,” she said, ignoring the rest of my question.  “It’s an inside joke, and there’s pretty much no one left alive who gets it anymore.”

“So you two have gotten close?”

“Well, I mean, we’re not having constant crises that require heavenly intervention like back in the Winchester days, but yeah, Jimmy’s always here to bail us out when things get rough.”

“Fucking fantastic,” I said, downing the rest of my beer.

“Oh my god, you really are mad,” she marveled at me.

“What am I mad about?” I asked, rolling my eyes.

“That Jimmy looooooves you,” she swooned at me.

“You know what, you’re right,” I said, standing up.  “You’re not elderly at all, you’re twelve.”

“Takes one to know one,” Claire cackled at my retreating back as I took the glass bottles back to the kitchen.

There was a loud bustling back in the other room, signaling that the others had finally come up to join us.

Everyone stared at me expectantly as I came back into the room.  I looked at them blankly, handing Claire another beer and opening my own.

“So, did Claire fill you in about Temeluchus…?” Sam asked.

“Who in the what now?” I asked, taking a drink and specifically not looking at Castiel.

“And how the Michael sword and the Lucifer sword are the only way to seal him…?” Sam asked.

“That sounds like a pain in the ass.”

“They need our blood-” Sam continued.

“You know, I really don’t need the details,” I said.  “Tell me what to do, we save the world, we go back.  Right?”

“Right,” Castiel confirmed.

“Okay then,” I said.  “Let’s save the world.”

 - 2 -

  They put us in the guest room that night.

“Being alive is weird,” I decided, studying the back of my hand.  “You gotta piss and shit and sleep…”

“And alcohol actually gets you drunk?” Sam suggested from the twin bed next to mine.

“Well, that part’s not so bad,” I said, letting my hand drop to my stomach.  “I could get into that part.”

“Maybe if you pray to Jack, he’ll let you get drunk in heaven, too.”

“Don’t need to be drunk in heaven.”

Sam sighed.  “It’s weird for me, too, you know.  To be back here.”

“I was never here.”

I heard him breathe in sharply at that, almost like a flinch of pain.

“And that’s okay,” I continued.  “I did my part, then my story was over.”

“We always felt you with us.”

“…Sammy, that is some new agey bullcrap.”

“It doesn’t make it less true.”

“So Cass helped you on cases.”

“That’s a bit of a non-sequitur.”

“Is it?” I asked, mostly because I didn’t know what a non-sequitur was.

“Well, I guess we were talking about our feelings, and then you brought up Cass, so actually, no, I do see where you’re coming from,” Sam decided.

“We were not talking about our feelings,” I said, offended.

“Of course not,” Sam replied in that patronizing way of his.  “Manly men don’t have feelings.”

“Damn straight.”

“So about your best friend Cass…”

“Did you want us to braid each other’s hair and exchange friendship bracelets?” I grumbled.

“I was thinking about more maybe just actually having a conversation…?” Sam suggested.  “Seriously, Dean, what is going on between you two?”

“Nothing,” I muttered.

“Oh, yeah, sure, okay.”

The smart play would be to not respond to Sam’s sarcasm, and just let the conversation die.

Sam sighed loudly.

I ignored him.

He sighed again.

I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep.

There was the sound of movement from Sam’s bed, which was the only warning I got before something crashed into my chest.

The smart play would be to just hold the pillow hostage and continue to ignore him.

Unfortunately, Sam knew that I could never possibly ignore such an obvious affront.

I threw the pillow back at him as hard as possible.

He was sitting up now, and caught it with a grunt.  “Dean, is this really…  I mean, you’re not actually bothered that Cass has feelings for you, right?”

“Of course I don’t care,” I growled, but I could already feel the anger dissipating.  Somehow I’d gotten better at letting go of things.  “I mean, of course I care.  About Cass.  About… whatever.  Feelings and shit.  I just… he dropped that bomb at me, and then he left.”

“He didn’t really leave so much as die…”

“He didn’t come back, Sammy.”

“He’s right here, Dean.  In the next room.”

“Oh, yeah, sure.  He’s here on earth.  He’s helping Junior.  He’s bonding with Claire.  He was even freaking helping you on cases before you moved on.”

Sam put his pillow down and seemed to lean forward, straining to see me in the dark.  “Dean, what are you saying?  Have you not seen Cass since he was taken by the Empty?”

“You just figured that out?”

“Wait, not even once?”

“He came once.”

“Okay…?”

“A little after you moved on,” I said, lying back down.  I closed my eyes again.

“…and did something happen?” Sam prodded me when I didn’t go on.

“Hello, Dean.”

My head was under the Impala’s hood, and his sudden appearance startled me so much I shot up and banged my head.  “Shit!  Ow!”

“I, uh… apologies…” Castiel trailed off, looking at me uncertainly.

“It’s fine, you just surprised me,” I said, straightening up and taking my hand from my aching head.  “You’re… here.”

“Yes, that is where I am,” he agreed.

I stared at him.

He stared back.

It felt like just yesterday that I’d last seen him, yet it felt like a hundred years ago.

Time moved differently in heaven.

“You look well,” Castiel finally said, breaking the silence.

“Being dead does that for a guy,” I said, trying to be glib.  Trying to break up the tension.

“It’s certainly true that a human can choose their favored appearance in heaven,” he said.

We weren’t saying anything that mattered.

“Dean, are you angry with me?” he asked, easily picking up on my frustration.

“Why would I be angry with you?” I replied, shaking my head.

“I’ve made you uncomfortable,” he said, his head bowed slightly.

“Kinda, yeah,” I agreed.

“I’ll go.”

“What the hell, Cass.”

He forced a smile at me.  “I didn’t mean to bother you.”

“You’re not bothering me,” I said, the anger rising in my voice.

“It’s okay, I understand.”

“What exactly is it that you understand, because I don’t get you at all right now.”

He looked at me.

“Cass,” I said looking back.  I felt like something I hadn’t even realized was missing was suddenly right in front of me, but I couldn’t reach it.

“This isn’t how it usually goes,” he said after a pause.

“How what goes?”

“Us,” he said, gesturing between us.

“Then stop being so damn awkward.”

“I could say the same to you.”

“How am I being awkward?”

“Well, usually after I sacrifice myself for you, you say something like, ‘Cass, you are not dead, I am very pleased’, followed by a customary embrace in which you try not to show me your emotional face by making the embrace unnaturally long in order to get control of yourself.”

I tried to protest that, but all I could do was open and close my mouth like a fish.

“I understand if physical proximity is… no longer appropriate,” he continued.

“For Christ’s sake, can we just forget about what you said and go back to normal?” I asked irritably.

Cass’s expression hardened.  “No, Dean, we will not forget about what I said.”

I sighed.  “That’s not what I meant.”

“Isn’t it though?”

“Whatever, Cass,” I said, turning my back on him and going back under the hood.  We both needed to take a step back or this was just going to keep on getting stupider.

And then he fucking left.

“Dean?” Sam prodded me.

“Just Cass being Cass,” I said, waving it off.  “He makes stupid assumptions about things.”

“Does he?” Sam asked.

“Yes,” I growled at him.

“So you’re not being a homophobic dick about him telling you that he loves you?”

“You know me better than that,” I complained.

“I know you well enough to know that feelings make you uncomfortable,” he said.  “Especially things you have no experience with.”

I clicked my tongue in annoyance.

“Cass said these bodies will only stay bonded to our souls for three days,” he said.  “All I’m saying is that maybe before we go back to heaven, you should figure your shit out.”

“Maybe you should figure your shit out,” I grumbled back at him.

“My shit is very figured, thanks.”

I rolled my eyes, but it was true.  My little brother had it together.  “Junior seems competent.”

“Yeah, he can hold his own,” Sam said, and I could hear the beaming dad-pride in his voice.

“I’m glad I could finally meet him,” I said, continuing down this little rabbit hole so we didn’t have to talk about me anymore.

“Me, too.”

“Hey, Claire got old, though, huh?”

“Dean, we all got old,” he scoffed at me.

“Yeah, but…” I started to say, hesitating.  “Claire just… always reminded me a lot of me, you know?  Didn’t know if she would…”

“She changed a lot after Kaia came back,” Sam put in quickly.  We never lingered too long over that kind of talk, no matter how much heaven had chilled us out.

“Did she?”

“Yeah,” he said.  “Started hunting smarter.  Hunting less.  Making time for a life.”

“Good for her,” I said softly.  She’d figured it out before it was too late.

We were both quiet with our own thoughts after that, and eventually I remembered how to sleep.

 - 3 -

  “Hell no,” I said emphatically.

“Dean, no one uses gas-powered cars anymore,” Sam said, rolling his eyes at me.

We all stood in the garage, staring at the monstrosity that these hunters dared to call a ‘car’.  It was some froufrou, electric-powered nonsense, and there was no way I was getting in that thing.

“Impala or I walk.”

“The Impala hasn’t run in twenty years,” Dean Junior said.

“What did you do to my baby?” I asked, mortified.

“It’s a fucking old car, Grandpa,” Claire taunted me.  “They break down.”

While Claire and I stood there arguing, everyone else climbed into the monstrosity, with Junior and Sam in the front and the angel in the back.

“Looks like they’re leaving without you,” Claire said unhelpfully.

I clenched my jaw.

“You coming, Uncle Dean?” Junior asked, leaning out the window and giving me a shit-eating grin worthy of the Winchester name.

“Move over, chuckles, I’m driving,” I growled, stomping over to them.

“It’s a self-driving car, Dean,” Sam said, showing exactly where his son got that damn grin.

“Then I call shotgun,” I said, glaring at the two of them.

“Sorry, rules are rules, and Dad already called shotgun,” Dean said with a shrug.

I looked at them.

I looked at Castiel sitting in the back.

I looked back at them.

I focused on Sam.

He shrugged, unable to stop giving me that grin.

I sighed loudly.

“I can teleport there,” Castiel said, looking like some kicked puppy.

“Cass, no,” Sam said immediately, at the same time as Dean protested, “we need your help with the spell before we get there.”

And I looked like the jackass again.  “It’s fine,” I said, opening the door and getting in beside Castiel.

“Have fun, boys,” Claire said, waving to us as the car started to move out of the garage.

Castiel sat ramrod straight next to me, eyes forward.

I wanted things to be right between us again, I just had no idea where to start, and it certainly wasn’t going to happen with Nosy and Nosier sitting in the front.  “Do these joke machines have tunes?” I asked instead.

Sam groaned, slumping back against his seat, while Dean looked over his shoulder to give me a huge grin.  “I’ve got the perfect playlist.”

The familiar guitar riff of Ramble On suddenly filled the car.

“Sammy, Sammy, Sammy!” I said, hitting the back of Sam’s seat excitedly.  “Is your son a Zeppelin fan?!”

“Don’t remind me,” Sam said, and I could feel his eye roll even though I was behind him.

“Dad had all your old tapes in the Impala,” Dean said, drumming his fingers against the console.  “We used to just drive and drive, listening to them on repeat.”

For some reason, that put a lump in my throat.

“Of course, then he would plug his phone in and make us listen to old crap like Deathcab For Cutie…” Dean continued.

I cracked up.  “Did he follow it up with some Celine Dion?”

“That was his freaking wedding song,” Dean said, making me laugh harder.

“So hilarious,” Sam grumbled.  “…The Power of Love is a damn good song,” he added under his breath.

“Looks like Junior is more Winchester than Sammy,” I said, patting my nephew on the shoulder and feeling pleased.

The next hour passed very pleasantly with me and Dean belting out classic rock while Sam pretended that he hated it.

At some point I glanced over at Cass, and he was looking at me softly, smiling like a creep.  He immediately looked away when he realized he’d been caught.

I continued singing, but I bumped my knee lightly against his.

He looked surprised, but then he smiled again, so I figure that was a good enough olive branch for the time being.

Of course, the longer we drove, the harder it was to ignore how fucking weird the world had gotten.

“You can’t even enjoy the road anymore,” I complained, watching as we passed an endless line of self-driving cars in yet another underground tunnel.  “The open air, your hand on the wheel…”

“As you did not typically allow others to drive, I don’t think we really experienced any difference in the transition to driver-less,” Castiel said, speaking for the first time.

“Ha,” Sam said.

Cass glanced nervously at me, like he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to make jokes anymore.

“Shut up, smartass,” I said, smacking him in the arm.

He looked relieved, but that kind of pissed me off.  Why did he think he had to walk on eggshells with me?  Why couldn’t he just be normal?  Was I really so awful to him?

“How about we stop and get some food?” I suggested, ready for a change of scenery.

That also turned out to be a terrible idea.

“Why are the burgers not made of meat?” I asked Sam, low and threatening.

“It’s better for the environment,” he explained.  “And for your health.”

“Samuel,” I said, my voice getting lower.  “I will have my meat.”

“Having a tofu burger just this once won’t kill you.”

“Yes, I think it will,” I said, jabbing my finger into his ridiculously broad chest.

“Dean, we need to meet Mellie and Rowena tonight, so we don’t really have time for this,” Sam tried to explain to me logically.

“I already rode around in your abomination of a vehicle all day, and now you’re telling me that I need to eat a… t-to…” I tried to get the word out, but it stuck in my throat.

“I’ll go pick up the food since none of you have any money,” Dean said, getting out of the car and moving towards the so-called burger joint.

“You bring me a real burger, kid, you hear me?” I called after him.

“I’m older than you, Uncle Dean!” he called back.

Sam followed after him, laughing.

“What the fuck does that have to do with anything?” I grumbled, getting back inside the vehicle.  “I’ve lived longer than the brat, even if my body is… however old it is.”

“Thirty-nine,” Castiel said.

“That’s oddly specific.”

“Yes, well I had to choose which template of you two to form,” he said.  “I thought the time we spent fathering Jack together when he was a baby was nice, so I went with those bodies.”

“When Jack was a baby…”

“Yes, before he lost his soul,” Castiel said.

“You are so… you,” I decided.

“Yes, that is who I am.”

“You were… happy then?”

“Yes, very,” Castiel said.  “I was able to become a father and raise my son with his other two fathers.”

“I don’t think that’s how biology works.”

“How would you know?” he scoffed at me.

My jaw dropped and all I could do was stare at him, wide-eyed.  “Are you calling me stupid?”

“A little bit, yes.”

“Asshole,” I said, but I was smiling anyway.

Castiel looked pleased with himself, which made me feel… something I didn’t want to think about.

“So baby grows up and you leave the other two fathers behind?” I asked, deciding to pick a fight instead.  “No, wait, it was only the one father that you cut out of your life.”

“Dean,” he said, sounding weary.

“Oh, no, Cass, it’s totally cool that you decided to move on with your life and never talk to me again.”

“Dean Winchester, I did no such thing,” he said, his tone starting to get angrier.  “You are the one who didn’t want me around.”

“And how exactly did you arrive at that conclusion?” I asked him incredulously.

“You didn’t pray to me.”

“I’m sorry, what?” I asked.  “I didn’t know that I had to pray to the holy and powerful angel of the Lord Castiel to get him to deign to come and see me.”

“Prayer has never been like that between us,” he said, frowning.  “It’s our way of communicating long distance.  I treasure the prayers you send to me.”

“So that’s why you didn’t answer me all those times,” I grumbled shittily.

“If anyone can understand putting duty over matters of the heart…”

“So it was your duty to take care of Sammy and Junior… and Claire… and who the fuck knows who else… but not me?”

“Yes, Dean, that is correct,” Castiel said, blue eyes lasering into mine.  He opened his mouth to say something else, when the door to the car flew open.

“I’ve got burgers,” Dean Junior declared, getting into the car and tossing a paper bag to Castiel.

It bounced off his chest and slid to the floor.

Cass did not react.

“Uh, am I interrupting something?” Dean asked, looking between us leerily.

“No,” I said, at the same time that Castiel said, “yes.”

“You two were actually talking?” Sam asked, sliding into his own seat and passing me a bag.

“No,” I grumbled, digging through the bag and pulling out my burger.

“Yes,” Castiel said contrarily, still ignoring his food on the floor.

I unwrapped my burger and took a big bite.  I chewed thoughtfully.  There was something… different…  I looked at Sam in horror as a flash lit up the backseat.  My eyes shifted to Dean, who was looking pointedly forward as the car pulled out from the rest stop.  “Dean Junior.”

“Yes, Uncle Dean?”

“Dean Junior, you and I haven’t known each other long.”

“Less than a day,” he agreed.

“Less than a day,” I said.  “And in that day, I haven’t asked for much, have I?”

“Well, you wanted to ride around in a busted gas guzzler-”

“Dean Junior, I haven’t asked for much,” I repeated.  “As you may know, I died about fifty years ago, for about the… two hundredth and final time, after sacrificing my life to save the world so many goddamn times.”

“Dad did mention that, yeah.”

“So many goddamn times,” I repeated.  “And yet, I am a simple man.”

Cass snorted at that.

“Some might even say you are a meat man,” Sam put in.

Cass flat out chortled at that.

“Interesting that you mention that, Sam,” I said.  “Interesting that you mention my know predilection for meat products, when you have schemed here with your son to bring me this faux meat bullshit.”

“Yeah, okay, but the look on your face,” Sam explained, holding up Dean’s holophone and showing the picture of my mortified-looking face as I held the offending ‘burger’ away from me.

“Dean Junior, tell me the truth,” I said, eyes boring into my namesake’s.  “Were you talked into this by your embarrassingly uncreative father who knows nothing of true pranks and hijinks?”

“I was,” he said solemnly.  “Dad promised it would be hilarious.”

“And was it hilarious?” I asked.

“I mean, you just made this whole ridiculous speech, so I’m going to have to say yes?”

“Oh, Dean Junior,” I said, shaking my head.  “You know nothing.”

“I’m pretty sure everyone thought it was hilarious, Dean,” Sam put in, gesturing between Castiel and Dean, who did in fact look like they thought it was hilarious.

“Simpletons,” I said, shaking my head.  “I have been gone too long.  But don’t worry.  You will remember.”

Sam was looking at me like I was crazy.

“Now where is my goddamn burger?” I asked, shoving the tofu burger back in its bag and throwing it at Sam.

“On the floor,” he said, nodding his head towards Castiel’s bag.

“Jackass,” I grumbled, picking the bag up.

“Like Cass would have eaten it,” Sam said with a shrug.

“Molecules,” Castiel agreed.

I unwrapped it and took a big bite, only to see that damn flash in my face again.  “You motherfucker,” I said, throwing the tofu burger at Sam’s head and sticking the landing.

“Childish much?” Sam said, grinning like a loon.

“My revenge will be all-consuming,” I said, slumping back in my seat and crossing my arms over my chest.  “All-consuming.”

“Mm-hm,” Sam said, flipping through the pictures on the phone and laughing to himself.

 - 4 -

  “Dean.”

I woke up with a start, breathing in through my nose sharply.  My head rested against something hard and unyielding, but somehow familiar and warm.

I was drooling on Cass’s trenchcoat.

“If you do not mind,” he said, looking at me uncomfortably and holding his body stiffly, trying to keep himself as far away from me as possible.

“Shit,” I muttered, shooting back up to a sitting position.  “What, am I that repulsive to you?”

“Dean, you were drooling.”

“And you loved every second of it.”

Castiel looked startled, then frowned.

I groused and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.  “We almost there?”

“About an hour out,” Sam said from the front.  “Maybe a little less if traffic is light.”

“Great,” I said, staring out the window at the endless tunnels.  The future sucked.

We finally pulled into our seedy motel, which was a lot shinier and more electronic than I remembered seedy motels being, and then there was Mellie, standing out in the parking lot with a cock to her hip and a grin on her face.

“Hey, boys,” she said, waving us over.

“Mellie,” Dean Junior said, giving her a quick hug.

“Sam Winchester, is that you?” she asked, looking my brother up and down in amusement.

“It’s me,” Sam said, holding his arms out to her.

“Damn, my mom never told me how hot you were when you were younger,” she said, throwing her arms around him enthusiastically.

“Er…” he trailed off, patting Mellie’s back awkwardly.

“That must be difficult for Sam’s ego, as he has always believed himself to be hot,” Castiel murmured.

I cracked up, turning to grin at him.

Cass gave me a pleased look.

I forgot how much he was pissing me off for a moment and slung my arm around his shoulder, leaning in close to his ear.  “So who the hell is this chick again?”

“Mellie Hanscom,” Cas explained.

“No shit?  She’s Donna’s kid?”

“Perhaps in human years she would be considered an adult female.”

“I got that, Cass, thank you,” I said, patting his chest as I pushed away and moved towards the other three.  “Hey there, Mellie,” I said, giving her my best Dean Winchester smoulder.

“Hi,” she said, smiling back before turning to Sam.  “So this is your little brother?”

Sam’s lips twitched into a smile.  “My older brother, yeah.”

“Oh,” Mellie said with a slight frown.  “I thought he’d be taller.”

“Is this Shit on Dean Day?” I asked no one in particular.

“You sounded taller in my mom’s stories,” she clarified.

“He has always been this short,” Sam said helpfully.

“Everyone besides the Jolly Green Giant here is shorter than me,” I said incredulously.

“Why is Dad green…?” Dean asked, rubbing his stubble and looking genuinely perplexed.

“I don’t get it,” Mellie agreed.

“Dean, they don’t understand your references, either,” Castiel commented, pleased.

“Everyone knows who the freakin’ Jolly Green Giant is!” I said, exasperated.

“Yes, the large green man in a leaf toga who makes canned corn,” he said, nodding his head thoughtfully.

Everyone had their laugh at my expense and then we finally got down to business.

“We summon Rowena, she does the Rite of Blood, and that starts preparing your bodies for the final ritual,” Mellie explained as she wrote a sigil on the door in her blood.

“Just tell me where to stand,” I said, not really thinking too much about all the blood and the letting of it in preparation to remove mine.

“Anywhere’s fine,” Mellie said, smiling at me cheerfully as she wiped her hands clean on a motel towel.

“We ready?” Dean asked.  When he received an affirmative, he started chanting in Latin.

“This is so boring,” I commented to Sam after about five minutes of it.

“This used to be our lives,” Sam said, giving me a rueful smile.

“Was it?” I asked, shaking my head.  “Man, I cannot wait to get back home.”

“Yeah…” Sam said.  “It’s been good to see Dean, though.  To have you two meet.”

“He’ll be with us before you know it,” I said with a shrug.

“That should sound ominous, but it’s weirdly comforting,” he said, scrunching up his face in confusion.

“Hello, boys.”

We both looked back towards the door where Rowena now stood in all her hellish glory.

“Mellie, Wee Dean, lovely of you to orchestrate this reunion,” she said, passing by them and pinching Dean on the cheek before slapping Mellie on the butt.

“I don’t understand any of these relationships…” I said.

“My, Samuel, this is certainly an improvement over the dour old man bit you had going on before,” Rowena hummed, squeezing Sam’s bicep.  “Now what say you we start this rite so I can get back to ruling my kingdom?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said, shooting her a salute.

“Castiel, will you be joining us or remain sulking in the corner?” she asked, flashing him a bright smile.

“I will remain in the corner.”

Rowena chuckled at that, and suddenly she was pinning me down with her sharp gaze.  “Dean Winchester, it seems the rumors that you’ve been acting a right twat might be true.”

“Why is it always my fault?” I asked with a scowl.  “What, ’cause Cass is an angel?  Well, news flash, angels are dicks.”

“You certainly won’t broker any argument from me there,” Rowena said.  “But the real question is, how much of the angel’s dick have you seen?”

I just about spontaneously combusted.

“Rowena!” Sam cried, scandalized.

Mellie looked between us all with a fascinated look on her face.  “Wait, are Castiel and Dean a couple?!”

“No, we are not a friggin’ couple!” I snapped.  “I’m not gay!  Jesus.”

“Ah, that’s too bad,” Rowena said shaking her head.  “You two really are adorable together.  You know, my Fergus always was a bit sweet on you…  You seem to give off a very seductive aura that screams, ‘I’m the picture of toxic masculinity but also I’d like you to take me to bed and pull me apart slow-’”

“C-crowley was what now?” I asked, mortified.

“Ah, yes, he told me about the triplets,” Rowena said with a grin.

I clenched my jaw.  “We do not talk about the triplets.”

“You know, I’m not gay either,” Castiel put in from his corner.

Everyone turned to look at him.

“Angels have no gender,” he explained.  “We have taken to equating ourselves with the gender of our frequently used vessels in order to accommodate your human languages which require such explanation, but Enochian has no gender-specific pronouns.  I myself have always used vessels of either gender.”

Dean proceeded to make a series of incomprehensible noises.

Cass burst out laughing.

I stared between them, confused about a lot of things, but most specifically about what had just come out of my nephew’s mouth.

“Enochian,” Sam explained, shaking his head.

“Wait, Junior can speak Enochian?!”

Sam shrugged, clearly jealous that his progeny had accomplished something he never even dreamed possible.

“He’s very good,” Castiel said with a proud smile.  “If only he could free himself of his human form and speak through his light.”

“If only,” Dean agreed.

“Well, this is all very amusing and all, but time is precious,” Rowena said, gracing us all with a threatening smile.

“Let the bloodletting begin,” I said, holding out my wrists to her, more than happy to change the subject.

“Dean, dear, we’re doing a Rite of Blood, not a bloodletting,” she explained.  “Unless that’s what you’re into?”

“I am into whatever you are into, Rowena,” I said, upping the charm.

“Oh, I did miss you a teeny weeny bit,” she said, shooting me a flirty smile back, then shoving me backwards on the bed.

“Okay,” I said, going with it.

“Lie back and enjoy the ride, boys,” she said, then started chanting in Latin.

Sam’s weight landed next to me, and suddenly the room was buzzing with energy.

I started to feel like I was drunk, looking at all the pretty colors swirling over our heads.  The ceiling seemed to be getting closer and closer, and when I tilted my head to the side, I realized we were now floating off the bed.  I felt completely serene.

And then we crashed back onto the cheap motel bed, the mattress squeaking loudly in protest.

“And we’re done,” Rowena said, clapping her hands together.  “Boys, it’s been lovely,” she said, leaning into our vision.  “Samuel, stay strapping,” she said, patting his chest.  “Dean… well, you’ll figure it out, dear.”

“Huh?” I said, still woozy from the ritual.

Rowena just smiled and disappeared from my line of sight, saying her goodbyes to the others.

“Did it work?” Sam asked, trying to sit up only to flop right back down on the bed.

“Rowena said it did, so that’s good enough for me,” Dean said, coming to sit next to his father.  “You okay?”

“Yeah, just…” Sam trailed off.

“High?” I suggested.

Sam nodded at me, a goofy smile on his face.  “High,” he agreed.

Dean and Mellie exchanged concerned looks.

“It’s a known side effect of the Rite of Blood,” Castiel explained.  “We should just let them sleep it off.”

Dean helped Castiel move Sam to the other bed, Sam laughing the whole way.

I caressed the comforter gently, rolling the texture between my fingers.

“Here you go,” Cass said, tugging off my boots and helping me into bed.

“Mm, thanks,” I hummed, rubbing my cheek against the pillow.

“Are you okay?” he asked softly.  “Do you need liquid replenishment?”

“Nah, I’m okay,” I said, looking into his eyes for a moment and getting lost.

“I’ll watch over you tonight, if that’s all right with you,” he said, eyes taking on a questioning look.

“Okay,” I said, closing my eyes.  “My own freakin’ guardian angel.”

“Yes, your own freakin’ guardian angel,” Cass agreed, and then I was out like a light.

 - 5 -

  Sam and I sat in the back of the car together the next morning, sunglasses on and blankets wrapped around our shoulders.

“What the fuck did Rowena do to us?” I grumbled.

“She… activated our blood?” Sam said slowly, flinching at the sound of his own voice.

“And why the hell would blood ever have to be activated?”

“Something about… the ritual where they extract our blood to bind Temeluchus to the earth…?” he trailed off.

The front door of the car opened and Castiel slid in, leaning over the seat and putting a cup of hot coffee in my hands.

I felt myself smiling at him, and the smile was immediately returned.

He passed another cup to Sam, then faced forward again.

Dean slid in on the other side and started the car.

Mellie came over to us and the windows all rolled down.

“Great seeing you all,” she said, “but I need to haul ass back to Sioux Falls and get to work.”

Dean and Castiel gave her a proper goodbye while Sam and I mumbled something that might have sounded like human language, and then we were off.

I slept most of the morning despite the copious amounts of coffee I’d consumed, and slowly I started to feel like a human being again.  “Where are we going again?” I finally asked when I was ready to rejoin society.

“Lawrence,” Dean said.

“Of course,” I said.  “Back to Kansas.”

“Says the guy who will literally cross state lines just to pick up a damn pie,” Sam mumbled.

“I just don’t see why we couldn’t have summoned Rowena to the bunker,” I said with a shrug.  “Seems like this whole mission could go a lot smoother if we didn’t waste time floating around in these tin cans, getting high on blood rites…”

“I’m sorry, I would not have missed that for all the world,” Dean said with a snort.

Sam and I exchanged A Look.

“What does that mean?” Sam asked.

“It means you two were funny as shit last night,” Dean explained, and yet it explained nothing at all.

“We went to bed right after the ritual,” I said, Sam nodding his agreement.

“Oh, we tried to put you two to bed,” Dean said with a laugh.

“It was not successful,” Castiel agreed.  “You know, now that I think of it, memory loss is also one of the side effects of the ritual.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Sam asked, looking between them nervously.

I just nodded my head, showing my support for Sam’s confusion.

“So you really don’t remember ordering room service?” Dean asked, giving us an amused look.

“Motels have room service in the future?” I asked, squinting at Sam.

He just shrugged.

“And then you had a race down the hall on the room service carts?” Dean continued.

“Oh, that sounds like us,” I said, relieved that we had just behaved like children and not actually done anything detrimentally stupid.

“I’m sorry, is it?” Dean asked with a laugh.  “I mean, my dad is such an… old man.”

“That is also true,” I agreed.  “Sammy certainly has the longest, thickest imaginable stick up his ass, but he occasionally knows how to pull it out and let his hair down.”

“Beautiful imagery, Dean,” Sam said.  “Who knew you had the sensitive soul of a poet?”

“I am a man of many talents.”

“So you also are accustomed to dancing on bars?” Dean asked, looking intrigued.

“I’m sorry, what?” Sam said again, as I nodded my agreement with him.

“Bars?  Dancing on them?”

“Isn’t that usually a thing that chicks do?” I asked, scratching at my stubble.

“And also something that the Winchester brothers apparently do,” Castiel contributed helpfully.

“I have never in my life danced on a bar,” I stated firmly.

Dean held up his phone, showing us both an image of what looked horrifyingly like me and Sammy, shaking our asses on a bar.

At least we were surrounded by a crowd of adoring-looking females.

“Listen, what happens during the Rite of Blood stays in the Rite of Blood,” I said.

“And your mother never needs to see that,” Sam added.

“Oh, I sent her the video.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“She showed it to all her friends in the nursing home.”

“…”

“The video is very funny,” Castiel put in, helping as usual.

Sam and I proceeded to stew in silence.

Apparently the next step in the ritual to bind the Angel Whatever-His-Name-Was involved another spell performed simultaneously on the north and south sides of the hospital where Sam and I were born.

“I thought we would be going to the cemetery, why the hospital?” Sam asked as we pulled into the parking lot.

“Because this is the power spot of Lawrence,” Castiel explained.  “It is where Mary pushed you both from her uterus, setting destiny into mo-”

“Dude, please do not ever talk about my mother’s uterus again,” I interrupted him, aghast.

“Yes, but Dean, it was a monumental event that only Mary, with her well-formed uterus, could-”

“What the hell did I just say.”

“‘Please do not ever talk about my mother’s uterus again,’” he repeated in a very disturbingly accurate impression of me.

“And yet you keep talking about it.”

“I do not think that Mary would take offense.”

“I take offense, Cass.”

Castiel suddenly disappeared.

“Uh, we kinda need him for the spell,” Dean said.

“Why do you have to pick a fight with him over everything?” Sam asked.

“Why am I always the bad guy?!” I demanded.

Castiel suddenly reappeared in the front seat.  “I talked to Mary, and she was not offended.”

“You what?” I asked.

“She seemed a little annoyed with you, though, Dean.”

“For what possible reason would my mother be annoyed with me?!”

“Don’t we need to begin the spell?” he asked, changing the subject like the asshole he was.

“We should get in position,” Dean agreed.

“Dean and I will take the south,” Sam chimed in quickly.

“That wouldn’t make sense,” Castiel said with a frown.  “One of you needs to be at the north.”

“No, my son Dean,” Sam clarified.

“Ah, you meant Other Dean.”

Dean Junior rolled his eyes but smiled.  “Come on, Dad,” he said, opening the door.

“Wait, what if I want to go with Junior?” I protested.

“Father-son bonding time,” Sam said, scrambling out of his side of the car, and he and Dean took off at a much faster walking pace than necessary.

“Do you really just call Junior ‘Other Dean’?” I asked, giving Cass a weird look.

“Of course,” he said, his brows scrunching in confusion.  “You are Dean.  He is not you.”

“You don’t think it’s just a little bit insulting to be called ‘Other’?”

“You call that same man who is older than you ‘Junior.’”

“I was born first.”

“Yes.  You are the original.  He is the Other Dean.”

“Weirdo,” I said, getting out of the car.  I wasn’t smiling because of Cass.

I caught him giving me that soft look of his again, his own mouth curving in a smile.

I ignored it and moved towards the north of the hospital.

Castiel drew up beside me, and when we’d reached a little grassy area that he deemed the correct spot, we started setting up the candles and drawing sigils.

When I was seated in the middle of the candles, I used Cass’s phone to message Sam.  “They’re almost ready,” I informed him.

“Good,” he said, shifting from side-to-side and scoping out the area.  The only light came leaking out from behind the curtained windows of the hospital, clouds covering up any light from the sky.  “Dean?”

“Yeah?” I asked.

“…are we still fighting?”

I looked at him.

His brows were drawn together and his lips were pushed out, and I couldn’t help but marvel that this dope was an angel.

“Do you still think that I’m angry with you because I’m uncomfortable about your feelings?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Then yeah, we’re still fighting.”

“Dean, I don’t understand.”

“Do you need me to draw you a friggin’ road map?”

“That would be helpful, yes.”

The phone buzzed.

“Ten seconds,” I said, and Castiel straightened up, ready to start.

We both counted down, and then I started lighting the candles and Castiel started chanting.  The wind picked up, but somehow the flames stayed lit, growing stronger and taller.  Everything seemed to be going according to plan.

Then a demon appeared and punched Castiel in the face.