#i had music i had beef jerky i had my mom and brother what more do you need bro

[kiriluvbot]

NO ONE ASKED BUT IM HERE TO SUPPLY ANYWAY!

sero hanta headcanons for the soul

- asexual, pan-romantic!

- uses they/he pronouns (didn’t know they could have different pronouns until he met tokoyami, and they spent their entire first year having a crisis over it)

- i know it’s old and overused but this kid is a hufflepuff, through and through

- CHILD OF APHRODITE. i take no criticism.

- a heartthrob among his entire grade, not just class A, but B as well, and the general course, and the business course,, AND the support course. everyone loves sero hanta.

- a natural charmer but is literally not aware that they make everyone within a 400 meter radius of them swoon

- until kaminari tells him in their second year. homie. youre fucking hot. and mina says, use it to your advantage. SO HE DOES.

- third year sero hanta is a force to be reckoned with, let me tell you. using their charm along with their natural ability to just. Befriend anyone (including a brick WALL tbh) to get his way. they get their way, they Know Everything. everyone knows his name by the time he graduates.

- The Older Sibling friend. not quite the mom friend or even the dad friend, but the older sibling. he’s a constant source of comfort and dependability among his class, but theyre also an agent of chaos that likes to cause problems On Purpose just to see what’ll happen. they never get caught being the instigator tho. no one can ever catch him.

- likes to watch aforementioned chaos from the sidelines. a mediator and an excellent negotiator. keeps his friends (cough, bakugo) from murdering each other or other people (cough, monoma)

- i like to think he’s the eldest child with two or three younger sisters and maybe a baby brother. their parents divorced right before sero started high school, and he and his siblings live with their mom. she’s a real lovely lady.

- since he’s the eldest, he kinda knows how to take care of people. sick people, sad people, hungry people. they can read and understand people really well if they really matter to him.

- most of the time there’s just wii music in their head tho

- they weren’t super great at prioritizing themselves/taking care of themselves when he first moved in to the dorms, but with time and help from his friends, they keep getting better at it

- sero gets his looks from his dad and his attitude from his mother. again, i imagine she’s a real lovely lady.

- their love language is physical touch! with so many younger siblings and his natural Eldest Sibling Vibe, it’s only natural for him to be super cuddly and affectionate!

- while it may not be their love language, sero also probably really likes spending quality time with his friends. they like going out, they like being loud and having a blast, but the kid also wouldn’t mind sitting in his room with his friends in silence while everyone did their own individual thing.

- the kind of person that sleeps with one pillow only and one blanket only

- probably runs warm, kicks off the blanket in the summer time. either sleeps on his back stretched out like a starfish or curled into themselves like a baby. no in between.

- has a pair of underwear they call their “lucky underwear” and it’s just a pair with spider-man’s face as the pattern.

- the kid does not have regular chairs in his dorm. it’s bean bags or the floor, man.

- they also have a hammock . i’ve seen this repeating trope in every single fic i’ve ever read

- keeps a stash of snacks in his room! but it’s a trade system. kaminari gets m&ms for cheek kisses, kirishima gets beef jerky for his most rib crushing hug, and todoroki gets gummy worms if he shares his manga.

- has led lights that are connected to his speaker and changes color every time a song changes

- has only three playlists. only three.

- they’re titled, respectively: “u yearning bastard,,” “monch monch”, “for pissing bkg off”

- he still listens to the jonas brothers, lots of big time rush, but also fleetwood mac and abba. frank ocean, lorde,,,, but also. they know every word to both mama mia soundtracks.

- absolutely adores horror + romance movies and not much else

- he tries getting into star wars for kirishima’s sake but he literally cannot keep up with the plot for shit.

- can quote the entirety of the notebook with mina (it infuriates bakugo to no end when those two ask to watch it for the fifth time in a week)

- has never tried an energy drink in their life, absolutely refuses to because caffeine makes him Shake and he hates the feeling

- drinks a lot of tea tho! with momo and todoroki!

- favorite snack is oranges. this kid always has oranges.

- aside from satou and bakugo, sero is probably one of the best cooks in their class

- resident pretty boy. did i mention everyone loves them? seriously. he even has the ever so stoic shouto todoroki pining after him.

- had a huge growth spurt the summer after second year began. it pissed off all their friends because he finally passed 6’ while the others were still stuck at 5’9 or below.

- by graduation, sero reached 6’3, and bakugo was still mad, because bakugo never passed 5’10.

- really grew into himself by the end of high school, finally learning how they wanted to express themselves with his clothing style, hair and *clenches fist* piercings

- started painting his nails the summer before their third year and hasnt stopped

- glorious, curly mullet. bejeweled hair pins. jean jackets and platform docs. piercings all the way up his ears. a nose ring and a smiley. (if you don’t know what a smiley is, i beg you to search it up. it’s the cutest fucking thing i’ve ever seen in my life and i want one so bad)

- ochaco is the one who cuts sero’s hair in third year.

- he got most of his piercings alongside bakugo or kaminari, but when they went to get the nose ring, they’d gone with iida and midoriya. and when he got the smiley, he went with todoroki, who squeezed his hand when the needle went through, even if todoroki wasn’t the one getting pierced.

- one time he and denki shaved their legs and arms and Everything to see if it would make them “more aerodynamic” ( “haha dont u mean /sero/dynamic?” “shut up”)

- strangely flexible. everywhere. it makes shouji shiver and jirou gag. it makes todoroki stare with wide, disbelieving eyes.

- really bad handwriting. like. what the fuck.

- that doesn’t stop them from writing cards for each of his friends for their birthdays, for christmas. it doesn’t stop them from writing letters to todoroki (even if he ended up shredding them and throwing them away after they were finished so no one would ever find them. he wanted to ask bakugo to incinerate them, just to be safe, but they didn’t want bakugo, or anyone else, that he had written love letters to shouto todoroki.)

(....not until after they confessed and finally started dating in their third year.)

- finger guns. unironically.

- is a surprisingly good dancer and a passable singer!!!!!!!!

- sings in the shower. also dances in the shower, but one time they fell and hit the wall connecting his and todoroki’s room, and todoroki thought he might’ve died. came to his door and didn’t bother knocking to check and see if they were alright. sero didn’t dance in the shower for a long time after that.

- his favorite color is yellow, but they also really, really like red.

- doesn’t have a fucking phone case on their phone.

- earbuds falling apart but he just keeps putting more tape over them because they really don’t wanna buy new ones (kirishima bought him a pair for christmas because he didn’t want sero to get electrocuted from broken earbuds. sero ensured him he would likely not get electrocuted just from some earbuds, but took the gift anyway)

- smell checks their clothes like a HEATHEN

- is in love with shouto todoroki.

that’s all :) sero hanta is my number one best boy and i love them dearly.

[kyber-kisses]

Through A Mothers Eyes (Part 4)

Dean Winchester x Reader

Wanna start from the beginning? Here is the masterlist!

Warnings: slow burn, idiots to lovers, mutual pining, more best friend banter and crack. THEY ARE IDIOTS.

Summary:Mary meets an old friend of the Winchesters and apparently she’s the only one who can see the very obvious feelings the reader and Dean have for each other.

A/N: This series is always so much fine to write, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and please tell me what you thought!

“Seriously, Dean. Why do you insist on doing this every damn time?”

There was a pause from the hunter across from you.“ . . . I’m gonna pretend you didn’t just say that.” Dean breathed from over the hood of the impala, glancing up at you momentarily.

Dunking your sponge back into the bucket, you slapped it across the window of the passenger door, scrubbing away the dust. You didn’t have a problem with helping Dean wash the car, you just didn’t understand why he had to wash it before every fucking hunt.

“It’s-“ you paused to look over at the clock on the wall of the bunkers garage. “Not even nine in the morning.”

“You offered to help.”

“I know- I just didn’t realize you wanted it done so soon.”

Dean looked up again, pausing his work to glare at you. “We’re leaving in a few hours for that case in Kentucky. When else were we gonna do it?”

You hummed a response that sounded a lot like an I don’t know before dropping your sponge back into the bucket and grabbing the hose. Twisting the nozzle, you aimed it at your bare feet to test the water pressure.

You were beginning to grow bored. You needed to spice things up.

“Hey, can you hand me that towe—“ the Winchester never got to finish his sentence before a solid jet of water hit him in the face. Your sudden attack coming out of nowhere when he looked up. A second later he was blinking water from his eyes and sending you a silent and irritated glare as he wiped his face. “Seriously? What are you, Fiv-“

Another jet of water to the face, this time unfortunately Deans mouth was open, resulting in him spitting out a generous amount when you stopped. They were quick spurts, your finger only squeezing the trigger for a fraction of a second- but they still managed to soak him. His black t-shirt clinging to his skin.

“Y/-”

Ptsssss

“You little-”

Ptsssss

“Im gonna-”

Ptsssss

Dean shot you another look, this time pursing his wet lips as he waited to see wether or not you would hit him again. “Bitch.”

“Slut.”

The hunter raised his eyebrows, leaning back slightly in mock surprise.

“What? Have you not seen those shorts you’re wearing?” You eyes going down to his denim shorts.

“Okay first of all, free bunker.” He raised a soapy finger . “And second, my legs look great in them. You wish you were me.”

“They sure do.” You nodded . . . proceeding then to squeeze the trigger once more and hit him in the face with another stream of water. “Whore.”

This time Dean reeled back, thoroughly annoyed by the water and wiping his face with the back of his hand as your grinned. “Fucking bitch-“ he fired back, pulling his arm back. Before you could even register what he was doing, a wet sponge smacked into your forehead with a hefty thwap, your head being knocked back by the force.

Games. It was always dumb games like this with you two.

You were stunned momentarily as the sponge hit the floor, and then you started to laugh. The sound bubbling up through you throat and successfully catching Dean off guard. He wasn’t expecting you to laugh. Not at all.

“Y/N?”

He shouldn’t have let his guard down because like a switch being flicked, you stopped laughing, raised the hose and sprayed him again.

“Dammit Y/N!” Dean snapped, spinning on his heel to find his own water bucket. A moment later he was picking it up and throwing its soapy contents over the hood of the car and right into you, successfully soaking you in one go. You stumbled back, sputtering- wiping suds from your eyes as you looked down at the clothes you were wearing, the cloth now stuck to your body.

There was a moment of silence as the both of you registered what had just happened, and then Dean chuckled, you following suit a moment later until the both of you were laughing hysterically, too occupied to notice the two people standing in the doorway of the bunkers garage.

“Are- are they ever not weird?” Mary tried, arms crossed as she watched the two of you continue to spiral into fits of hysteria.

“Mom.” Sam began, clamping a reassuring hand over her shoulder. “They share one brain cell between the two of them. Weird and dumb is all they know.”

*. *. *. *. * . *.

An hour later, your duffels were packed and laying on the war room table as you finished off a late breakfast, Mary seated across from you, nose deep in her laptop. Besides you, Sams feet were kicked up on the table as he flipped through a lore book.

It was much qiuter than it had been an hour ago to say the least. You now had dry clothes on, your hair still damp from Deans bucket of soapy water. It was only a moment later that Dean walked in with his bags slung around his shoulders. “Alright! Who’s ready for a family hunting trip?” He declared, dropping his bags down next to yours.

“What?”

“Hunting trip?”

The older Winchesters shoulders dropped as he looked over at his brother and mother. “Seriously? You'd have thought the bags would have given it away.” He gestured towards the table.

Swinging his feet to the ground, Sam set down his book. “What kind of case?”

“Vahmps-“ you mumbled through a mouthful of scrambled egg, pausing to swallow a second later and clear your throat. “Vamps. Small rural Kentucky town. Shouldn’t be too big of a deal.”

“You guys wanna join?”

Sam opened his mouth to respond but was stopped short when Mary suddenly butted in. “No!” She took a deep breath. “No. You go without us. Sam and I have a case to work a few towns over anyways-“

“We do?” He whispered, clearly taken off guard by his mothers words, but fortunately going unnoticed by you and Dean.

“We do!”

Dean ever so slightly titled his head is surprise. “You guys need help?”

“No!no you guys go deal with those vamps. Sam and I will be fine.” Mary nodded, giving you both a bright smile. Maybe this was exactly what you and Dean needed. Time together.

At this point you had stood up, slinging your bags over your shoulders right along side Dean, your plate still balanced in your hand and ready to be dropped off in the kitchen on your way out.

The two of you shared a confused look before shrugging and heading towards the hallway that led to the garage. “Okayyyyy. See you guys later then.” Dean began, sending his mom one more confused look over his shoulder before turning the corner after you.

Once Sam knew the two of you were out of earshot he spun on his heel to look at Mary. “What the hell?”

“Just trust me.”

“We’re gonna find them dead in a field somewhere.”

“Sam, I doubt that.” Mary sighed, closing her laptop. “Those two seem to work well together. They’ll be fine.”

“. . . Uh huh. I mean, they do work great together, I’ve seen them, but also. . . They’re idiots.”

“Maybe so.”

*. *. *. *. *. *.

The drive from Lebanon to Madisonville Kentucky was shorter than most of your drives for hunts. The seven hours from the bunker to there was easy. You provided the snacks and Dean had provided the music, the two of you falling into your usual hunting routine the moment the wheels of the impala hit the asphalt.

Feet pressed into the glove box, you balanced a bag of beef jerky of your knees, fiddling with the volume dials as you chewed- pausing only to hand Dean a piece when he extended his palm.

“You’re mom was acting really weird when we left.” You began, glancing up from your snack, Deans eyes focused on the road. No answer. “Dean!”

Your shout successfully knocked him out of the zone as his head whipped around to look at you. “What?”

“Dude, you were in the zone. What the hell were you thinking about?”

Not that he would ever admit it out loud or anything, but he had been thinking about you. Why? He had no clue. But for the past hour his mind had been pulling him back to that incident in the garage that resulted in you soaking wet with your clothes clinging to your skin. Why was he think about that? He shouldn't have been thinking about that---

“Dean!”

“Quit shouting damn it!” He sent you another glare before letting out a sigh.”Sorry, What were you saying?”

“I was trying to say that your mom was acting really weird when we left.”

“Don’t mind her. That’s just mom being mom.” Dean sighed, eyes glancing through the side window before flicking on his turn signal and pulling Baby into the parking lot of the motel. “She’s not bothering you, is she?”

“No! No of course not.” You shook your head before lowering your knees and tossing the bag onto the seat. “I was just surprised that neither of them wanted to join us.”

“She said they found a case, so-“ Dean shrugged again as he turned off the car once in a parking spot. “You wanna go get the key or do you wanna unload the bags.”

Propping your sunglasses up on your head, you swung open the passenger door. “I’ll unload.”

And just like that Dean was leaving you at the trunk of the impala as he went to go retrieve the key to your motel room. When he came back you were leaning against the hood, all four duffels slung over your shoulders.

“Room 14.” He held up the silver key as he stepped down in front of you. “You need help?”

“Nuh uh.”

“Fine. Suit yourself.”

Pushing yourself off the mat black hood you followed Dean down the row of bright yellow doors, the numbers on each having rusted from weather and age.You liked going on hunts with just Dean. Sam wasn't there to complain about your taste in music or hog shotgun. Plus, it was much more fun to hang out with your best friend when its just the two of you.

You maybe got halfway towards the door before you stopped and let out a huff as you attempted to re-adjust the straps, Dena stopping when he realized you weren’t next to him.

“Seriously?”

“Shut the fuck up.”

The hunter grinned before backpedaling and taking two of the bags. “You know you could just ask for help, right?” He mused, the two of you continuing your walk once situated.

“Yeah, but I don’t like doing that.”

“Oh I know, little miss I’ll stitch up my stab wound by myself.”

“Would you rather have had me bleed out on the bunker floor as I waited for you to get home?”

“. . . Well.” Dean paused as he set his bags on the ground to unlock the door, acting as if he was contemplating it. “If you had done that at least I would be rid of you.”

“Oh yeah, I’d definitely like to see you survive this world without me.” You quipped, stepping into the room as he swung open the door for you.

“I’d be thriving.”

“I’m sure you would.”

Dean flicked on the lights behind you before shutting the door. The familiar sight of old wallpaper and even older flooring meeting your eyes. It wasn’t until your bags had been piled onto the linoleum flooring once more that both of you saw the one slight issue it had.

 “Classic.” You sighed, nodding you head. “Just classic.”

SPN Taglist: (Still Open)

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[slashhack]

Leatherface (Thomas Hewitt) X Reader: Spring Break

anonymous: May I get a Thomas Brown Hewitt first meeting reader who doesn’t see him as dumb or scary and shows him kindness in small ways. (Perhaps she is on a road trip and gets stranded?)

(Note: Sorry for the ridiculously long wait! Hope this lives up to your expectations! And sorry about the word count... I just couldn’t stop writing, lol.)

“Are we almost there?”

Ash tightens her grip on the wheel, gritting her teeth. “We’re about twenty minutes closer since the last time you asked, but no, Damien, we are not ‘almost there.’”

“God, we’ve been driving forever!” Damien says, sighing heavily. His on again-off again (currently on again) girlfriend, Katelyn, nods emphatically in agreement.

“When are we gonna stop? I’m hungry, and I have to pee,” Katelyn whines.

Ash’s eye twitches. Next to her, in the passenger’s seat, Frankie fiddles with the road map. She seems unaware of the fact that Ash is contemplating driving into a tree to shut Katelyn and Damien up (in a way that doesn’t involve them subjecting the rest of you to gross make-out noises).

“Do we have any water?” You ask. Unfortunately, rather than diffuse the mounting tension, all your question does is shift Ash’s ire to you.

“No, we don’t,” Ash replies tightly. “Which wouldn’t be the case if someone had stocked up before we started, like they were supposed to.”

You sink a little lower in your seat.

Frankie reaches out to place a soothing hand on Ash’s knee. “Deep breaths, babe. There’s gotta be a gas station or a rest stop or something somewhere around here. We can stop in, grab some stuff, and get right back on the road.”

“Wouldn’t have to if everyone had just done their part in the first fucking place,” Ash mutters.

Damien snorts, barely attempting to disguise it as a cough. Katelyn outright laughs.

Needless to say, your spring break road trip with your dorm-mates is not going well. The past few hours have seen growing friction between all of you, and you’re almost certain that - despite the fact that one of the goals you’d made for this trip was to form positive relationships with the others - the rest of the group may or may not be planning on stranding you in the middle of nowhere.

(Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration. Sure, they may not seem to like you all that much, but they're not evil. They wouldn't leave you out in the middle of Texas with no way to get home.

...Right?)

At the first rest stop you find, you volunteer to get out and get coffee and breakfast bars for everyone (except Katelyn, who hates coffee). When you’re handing Ash hers, you lose your footing, and about a quarter of the fresh-brewed coffee sloshes onto her lap. Ash swears a blue streak, insulting you in pretty much every possible way. Frankie gives you a sympathetic look as she mops up the spill and consoles her girlfriend, but doesn’t say anything.

When Damien busts out his radio and asks what music everybody wants to hear, you tentatively offer a suggestion, and he ignores you. You repeat yourself, thinking that it’s possible he just didn’t hear you, and he rolls his eyes.

“I heard you, I just don’t wanna listen to some dumb bullshit.” He grins. “My radio, my right to veto garbage tunes, dude.”

Katelyn laughs. “Ooh, put on K-OKLA!”

Damien smiles crookedly and extends the antenna. “Anything for my girl.”

You decide to take a nap.

(At this point, anything is better than this.)

A good while later, after the stash of granola bars and beef jerky has dwindled down to nothing, you finally reach what appears to be a tiny general store in Travis County. You once again volunteer to go on a supply run. (You’re only mildly disappointed when nobody offers to come with you, or even to help you pay.)

The wooden door creaks as you enter, and when you cross the threshold you aren’t surprised to find a homey interior, complete with photographs and a taxidermied buck’s head mounted on the wall. There’s a woman with cat eye glasses smoking at the counter, so you approach with a shy smile.

“Um, do you have anything that comes in wrappers or is resealable?”

The woman takes a thoughtful drag from her cigarette before saying, “I got some jerky I can wrap up for ya.”

You nod, digging out the remainder of the money you had allotted to the trip. “That would be great. How much is that?”

Praying that what you’ve purchased is enough and having nearly depleted your funds, you step outside, plastic bag in hand. “Hey guys, I got some-”

The bag of jerky slips out of your hand.

The van is gone. In its place, you find your suitcase, laying in the dirt. Dumbstruck, you walk toward it.

You can't believe they ditched you. You thought they were better than that. You thought…

You aren't sure what you thought.

They're probably long gone, and now you’re stuck in the middle of nowhere. You don’t have a car, you have barely any money, and you certainly don’t have any idea what the hell you’re supposed to do.

Behind you, the door to the shop creaks open.

“What’s the matter, sweetheart?” It’s the woman from the shop.

Blinking hard, you say, “My friends left me.”

A gentle hand is placed on your back. “They left ya?” There’s a pause. Perhaps the woman sees your suitcase, because she says, softly, “Oh.”

You take a shuddering breath, and then bend down to pick up the bag. You turn to the woman.

“Is there anywhere I could stay in town?” Remembering the alarmingly small amount of money in your possession, you add, “...For really, really cheap?”

The woman shakes her head. “Ain’t much around for miles.” She hesitates. “But…”

Your breath catches. “But what?”

“Well…” The woman puts a hand on her hip, and with the other hand she adjusts her glasses. “I s’pose you’re welcome to stay with my family and me for the night. Just for the night, now,” she says pointedly. “Then tomorrow we can have the sheriff drive you to the next town over.”

You feel a fresh wave of emotion crash over you, and almost collapse under the weight of your relief.

“Thank you, thank you so much,” you say. Then you laugh. “Gosh, I don’t even know your name, and you’re being so kind to me…”

The woman smiles gently at you - the first time you can recall her smiling. “My name’s Luda Mae, dear.”

You offer your name in return, thanking Luda Mae again for her kindness.

Against all odds, it appears that your horrid luck is taking a turn for the better.

Luda Mae has two sons. She tells you about them as you help her close up shop and on the trip to her home - first about her eldest son, who sounds curmudgeonly and abrasive, but well-meaning when it comes down to it, and then about her younger son, Thomas. From the second she begins speaking about him, it’s obvious that she adores Thomas; you tell her so, and she nods.

“I love my boy with all my heart,” she says firmly. “Thomas has seen so much pain, all his life… Lord knows my Thomas has earned a little love.”

Luda Mae also tells you about her brother, Monty. She doesn’t have much to say about him, other than that he’s in a wheelchair and that you aren’t to let him bother you.

“You’re a guest, and we treat our guests with respect. If he starts actin’ up, you just let me know,” she gives you a little pat on the arm.

You smile bashfully. “I will.”

When you finally make it to Luda Mae’s family home, you’re curious, but not shocked; you’re a big believer in not judging people based on their appearances, after all. Why would a little old lady, running a mom-and-pop general store, living in a plantation style manor with her family throw you for a loop?

Entering the house, you immediately see an old man in a wheelchair - Monty, you presume - sitting in the living room watching television. He looks up at the sound of the opening door, doing a double-take when he spots you.

“Who the hell’re you? What’re you doin’ in here?” He makes to wheel himself around.

“Now, Monty, don’t you start none,” Luda Mae says. “This here’s a guest of ours. Stayin’ with us for the night, that’s all.”

“What for?”

Luda Mae looks at you, nodding as though to give you encouragement. Taking that as a cue, you say, “My dorm-mates - we were on a road trip, and I got out to buy some food for everyone. By the time I left the store, they were gone. I found my suitcase laying on the ground outside.”

Monty is silent for a moment, as though he’s mulling over your situation. Finally, he shakes his head and turns back to the television, muttering, “Hoyt ain’t gon’ like it…”

Luda Mae scoffs, putting her hands on her hips. “Don’t matter none what Hoyt likes, this is my house, and he ain’t too old yet to listen to his mama.”

Monty doesn’t have a response to that.

You feel your respect for Luda Mae growing more and more by the second.

Luda Mae gives you a brief tour of the house after showing you the guest room, in which you’ll be staying for the night. She walks you through the kitchen, points out a couple of different bathrooms, and tells you where her room is - “just in case of you findin’ yourself needin’ somethin’.” She also, strangely, makes a point to tell you to avoid the basement. You’re curious, but you don’t want to be rude, so you don’t ask why. You do ask if her sons live with her.

“They do. Hoyt’s the sheriff, so he ain’t gonna be home for a while, but Thomas is probably down in the basement. Doin’ what, I couldn’t tell ya, but he just about lives down there.”

Well, that answers your unspoken question, then.

“Don’t you worry,” She continues, “you’ll be meetin’ Thomas and Hoyt. Wanna make sure they know you’re a guest - ‘specially Thomas. He’s a little bit protective.”

Once again not wanting to risk seeming rude, you nod as though you understand. (In truth, you’ve got even more questions now, but you’re not going to interrogate this nice woman in her own home. After all, if there was really a problem with you staying, you’re pretty sure she wouldn’t have invited you.)

Luda Mae is in the middle of asking how you feel about stew when you hear what sounds like a sliding metal door being opened. She gets a slightly nervous look on her face; she lifts a hand to her mouth and says, “Oh, that’ll be Thomas.” She glances at you for a moment before calling, “Thomas! C’mere a second, I got somebody for ya to meet!”

You hear footsteps coming towards you from the direction of the basement. They’re fairly heavy - Thomas must be a sizeable man.

After a brief pause, a figure - a very tall figure - comes to loom in the doorway.

Luda Mae clicks her tongue, putting a hand on her hip. “Don’t be shy, now. C’mon in here.”

Thomas’ shoulders rise and sink slowly in what you suspect to be an inaudible sigh, but he obeys, stepping further into the room. Now, you have a clear view of him.

He’s easily around six and a half feet tall, with long, wavy dark hair that reaches his shoulders. Curiously, he’s also wearing a strange leather muzzle-like contraption that encompasses much of his face; it shows his eyes and mouth, but covers his nose, ears, and most of his skin, and the straps come up over his ears, meeting over the top of his head.

Smiling and giving a little wave, you say, “Hello,” and tell him your name.

You think he gives a short incline of his head, but he doesn’t reply. He looks you over, and you can feel yourself starting to shrink under his silent gaze.

Luda Mae puts a hand on your shoulder. “Don’t worry none. Thomas just ain’t a talker; don’t take it personal,” she gives you a reassuring little pat, and you relax again.

Luda Mae’s attention drifts to the clock on the wall, and she does a double-take. “Good gracious me, is that the time? I best get supper goin’. Stew is all right, you said?”

“Oh, yes, ma’am!” You say, nodding. “Stew is more than all right with me.”

“Good, good,” Luda Mae turns to Thomas and says, “Sweetheart, you mind keepin’ our guest company ‘til Hoyt gets back? Don’t want him to think we got trespassers.”

Thomas gives a single, slow incline of his head.

Luda Mae seems pleased. As she goes to leave, she pats you on the shoulder and says, “I’ll leave y’all be, then. Don’t you worry; you’re in good hands.”

As his mother rushes off to the kitchen, Thomas gives you an unreadable look, surveying you once again. Apparently satisfied with whatever he sees, he turns around and begins to walk off. You assume that you’re supposed to follow him, so you do.

Thomas leads you outside, and the two of you walk for a bit, toward a small garage which stands separate from the house. When he reaches the entrance, Thomas stops, looking back at you over his shoulder for a moment.

It dawns on you, after a moment, what he wants.

“You want me to wait here?”

Thomas nods.

You smile. “All right, then.”

Thomas goes into the garage. You hear the sounds of metal scraping and what you presume to be things getting moved around. You’re beyond curious as to what’s going on, but you resist the urge to crane your neck and try to see. Thomas asked you to stay back for a reason, after all.

After a few minutes, the sounds stop, and Thomas returns, a sack hefted over his shoulder. He gestures with his head for you to resume following him, and you do so without argument.

“Where are we going?” You ask without thinking. Thomas gives you a look out the corner of his eye, and you feel warmth rise in your cheeks. “Sorry.”

You’ve never encountered someone who can’t speak before. You wonder what it must be like, not being able to verbally communicate. You imagine it must be very difficult.

The two of you walk for a good while longer before reaching a fence that you assume marks the edge of the Hewitts’ property. Thomas grunts, swinging the bag off his shoulder and opening it.

He walks a couple of feet along the fence before pulling out - to your surprise - a bear trap, which he places on the ground, kneeling down to set it.

“Is there… Is there any way I could help?” You ask, startling yourself. Thomas seems to be nearly as caught off guard as you; he glances at you, his brows furrowed. After a moment (during which you consider rescinding the offer, just out of embarrassment), Thomas nods shortly. He picks up the burlap sack and holds it out to you. You accept it, surprised when its weight nearly topples you; Thomas had been carrying it so effortlessly, you hadn’t realised how heavy it must be.

You’re not sure how long you spend following Thomas around the property, setting new traps, checking old traps, and sometimes just stopping to look out over the vast space, but you do know that by the time the bag is empty, your feet are starting to hurt. After the bag is empty and you’ve covered every square inch of the Hewitts’ land, Thomas leads you back to the garage, once more indicating for you to wait outside as he takes the sack from you and goes in.

As you wait for Thomas to return, a sheriff’s car pulls up to the house. A man in a sheriff’s uniform, with bushy eyebrows and light, silvery stubble, gets out. When he sees you leaning up against the outside of the garage, he immediately starts toward you. Taking a moment to recall what you know about Luda Mae’s eldest son, Hoyt, you realise that this must be him.

You smile, waving a bit. To your confusion (and discomfort), this seems to cause Hoyt’s expression to sour considerably. He’s yelling as soon as he’s within earshot of you: “What the hell’re you doin’ on my property?”

You shrink back against the wall, your eyes widening. “I-I…”

“Get the hell outta here,” Hoyt shouts, advancing on you quickly. “You’re trespassin’ on private property! You don’t get outta here right now, I got a right to shoot ya!”

“P-Please, no! I’m not- I swear I’m not trespassing, I, I-”

Hoyt makes a grab for your forearm with one hand, the other lifting up, and you stiffen, squeezing your eyes shut, preparing yourself for a blow.

Only it never comes.

Opening your eyes, you suddenly find something - or rather, someone - obscuring your field of vision. Thomas.

“Tommy? What the hell’s goin’ on here,” Hoyt growls. “We got trespassers?”

Thomas shakes his head firmly. He reaches back and tugs you forward to stand next to him, placing a heavy hand on your shoulder.

You can see, now, that Hoyt looks bewildered.

Thomas nudges you, and you realise now is your chance to explain yourself.

“I-I,” you pause, take a deep breath, and then continue with as much conviction as you can muster. “I’m not a trespasser, I’m a guest. L-Luda Mae invited me to stay for the night after my… my dorm-mates abandoned me.”

Hoyt doesn’t seem convinced, but just as he opens his mouth, Luda Mae’s voice floats across the yard from the backdoor: “Supper’s ready! Y’all come on!”

“Comin’, Mama!” Hoyt calls back reluctantly. To you, he says, “We’ll just see about that, won’t we, now?” With that, he stalks off toward the house.

You watch him go until the door closes behind him. When it does, you let loose a shaky breath, lifting a hand to your mouth.

Thomas is still standing next to you. His hand is still resting on your shoulder, the strangely familiar weight helping you stay grounded.

“Thank you, Thomas,” you say softly, almost timidly. “Thank you for protecting me. That was…” You sigh. “...That was really scary.”

Thomas seems unsure how to respond. He nods, his eyes avoiding your face.

He doesn’t remove the hand from you shoulder. You find that you don’t really mind.

You reach up hesitantly, placing your hand on top of his and giving it a gentle squeeze.

“Let’s go inside,” you say.

Thomas nods again, and the two of you set off for the house.

You almost swear that you see the faintest hint of a blush on what little you can see of his face.

[inquisitorhotpants]

Support Your Local Writer! :D

So I’m going to be making a job change. There aren’t opportunities for extra money in it like there is for my job now, and so I’m going to take that extra free time and really get down to doing some fun stuff with my Patreon. 

Patreons aren’t really fun without patrons, though! I’d love to have you! 

There are still 8 days left in February to hit the goal of 28 patrons, at which point I’ll publish a bonus fic and Krys’ playlists from January and February (and if we meet it in the eight days, I’ll throw in March’s, as well). 

Along with Press Releases, I’m planning on doing some exclusive SWTOR stuff over there, as well, so stay tuned for that, too.  :D

If you’re not familiar with Press Releases, have an excerpt here under the cut.

Tuesday Afternoon

Krys Adler hates gas stations.

No, that’s not quite accurate.

She loathes them.

They’re gross. They always smell weird. Why are the floors always sticky? But it feels like she’s been in that too-small rental car forever and she’s absolutely dying for some beef jerky, so she’s going to suck up her dislike for the five minutes it’s going to take to run into this place somewhere in Ohio - Cleveland? She doesn’t know, she quit paying attention to any sign that didn’t say Erie, PA - and get a pack.

Ignoring the voice of her health-conscious roommate Jen echoing in her head, Krys barrels through the door and rounds the end of an aisle, eyes already focused on the colorful yet barren display, idly wondering if the absolutely mouthwatering man standing near it is going her way.  Not that it matters - her leisurely cross-country drive is only leisurely because it’s planned within an inch of its life - but oh lord, the things she’d do to that man if she had the time. He’s got thick black hair, a strong jaw, broad shoulders. Style is a little too preppy for her usual taste, but he -

He’s got the last pack of jerky in his hand.

Oh, hell no.

“Look, Mister Too Hot to be Real,” she snaps as she reaches him, “you need to put that jerky down, because I am not stopping at another gas station today and that’s the last pack here. I’ve been in my car too long and I need that jerky. Drop it right into my hand here.”  She stares up, way up - she knows she’s short, but holy hell, did his parents feed him Miracle-Gro as a child? - and opens her hand, her hazel eyes narrowed.  “Drop it,” she reiterates, not unlike one would tell a particularly disobedient puppy to relinquish a tennis ball.

To her annoyance, all he does is raise an eyebrow, utterly unfazed by her outburst.  “It’s generally polite to introduce yourself before demanding a complete stranger hand over a likely sub-par dried beef snack, you know.”

Krys heaves the world’s most put-upon, petulant sigh, determined to ignore that this marvelous specimen of humanity even has a sexy voice, a baritone with aspirations of being a bass.  “I’m Krys. And you are? Besides the world’s best looking jerky thief?”

The corner of his mouth twitches.  “I’m Max, and I’m not a thief. It’s hardly my fault you’re slow.” He dangles the jerky out of her reach, green eyes drifting from her floof of curly crimson hair and Butane Jane t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, to her bared tattoo-covered arms, ratty jeans, and bright pink Docs. “You’re so … tiny. It’s kind of cute. You’re practically pocket-sized.”

Short jokes are not the way to Krys’ heart, and she scowls even harder. “Pal, if you think I won’t kick you in the shin to get that jerky, you are very, very wrong.”

He calls her bluff with a smirk that leaves Krys torn between wanting to pelt him with Twinkies and wanting to convince him to get a hotel room with her, strolling past her toward the clerk. She sweeps back out the door, very much in a snit, and is almost to her rental car when she feels a hand on her shoulder.

“All right, all right, jerky fiend,” he says with a chuckle when she turns. “Here.” He holds the package out, grin crinkling the corners of his eyes, then pulls it back. “Would this act of pure altruism net me a thank you in the form of your number?”

It’s ridiculous to give it to him. He’s never going to call. She knows this.

She holds out her hand and makes an impatient come on gesture. “Well? Give me your phone.”

Max pats one back pocket, then the other, extracting a swank-looking phone. Once he’s unlocked it, he hands it over, looking not at all sure if she’s going to put her number in it or toss it into the bushes. Or into the road. Her thumbs fly over the display, her phone rings; she taps his phone and hands it back.  “There. Not that it matters, we’re probably from opposite sides of the country. But you did give me my jerky, so I suppose this is fair.”

He takes the phone, slides it back into his pocket. “Drive safe, hothead.”

“You too, snack thief.” She tosses her own phone through the open driver side window, then gets into the Versa. Music blares from the speakers when she turns the car on, and she gives him a mocking salute before reversing and pulling out of the parking lot, headed back toward the freeway.

Tuesday Night

“So you’re telling me you were menaced in a gas station for a pack of questionable supposed beef sticks?”

Adriana, Max’s older sister, is making no effort to hide her amusement at the entire situation, and Max glares at the phone’s reflection in the mirror as he fingercombs leave-in conditioner through his hair.  “I was hardly menaced, Adri. Might I remind you that this woman was -”

Fierce. Obnoxious. Gorgeous. Not that he’s giving his sister any more ammunition than she’s already crafting out of this bit of nothing. He’s almost grateful when Adriana interrupts him.

“Tiny, yes. Among other things you just couldn’t help but notice about her.”  Adriana’s smirk comes through loud and clear.  He might have mentioned her hair. And her tattoos. And her eyes. “To be fair, little brother, most people are tiny to you. But she did threaten to kick you in the shins. For shitty snacks.” A pause.  “And your response was to buy them?”

Max leans toward the mirror, turning his head this way and that, taking mental tally of the silver starting to appear at his temples. “Well, what would you have done?”

“I wouldn’t have been buying overprocessed sticks of death at a gas station, first of all.”

“Death sticks,” he snorts.  “It’s just jerky. Don’t be such a snob, Adri.”

“Says the man who drinks Corona, of all things. Of course you don’t have any standards.”

Max swipes the phone off the bathroom counter and carries it out into the main room, setting it on the desk next to the open laptop.  “You don’t have to drink it. No one’s making you.”

“Good thing, too.”  Adriana clucks her tongue. “Our family couldn’t handle the shame of two of us drinking that terrible beer. You know Mom’s considered cutting you out of her -” Max’s text notification goes off, loud in the quiet hotel room, followed by a slightly stunned silence.  “Max. Are you texting?  You never text. Ever.” Confusion weaves through Adriana’s incredulousness. The entire family knows that if Max could uninstall the texting capability on his phone, he would.  “Who are you -”

Max closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose, offering a silent prayer that his sister won’t put two and two together.

A small gasp from the direction of the cell phone speaker tells him that no deity in the universe deigned to answer his hasty plea.  “You’re texting her! The Gas Station Menace!” Adriana exclaims. “You are, aren’t you? No, you don’t have to tell me, your silence tells me everything. You - “

Time to end this before it gets even more out of hand. “I have to go, Adriana. Work calls.”

“You bought her that jerky to get her number! I knew something about that was fishy; I know you don’t ever, ever eat in that damn car of yours.”  Adriana chortles. “No way were you buying that for you. You smooth bastard.”

Just when he thinks his sister has reached peak obnoxiousness, the notification goes off again, and it takes all of his willpower to not simply lower his face into his palms and wait for something else to catch Adriana’s attention.

“Multiple texts!” Adriana sounds like she can hardly contain herself.  “I’ll let you get back to your no doubt torrid gas station affair, little brother. Remember not to text anything you don’t want on the news.”

“I’m going now, Adri.”

“And don’t do anything I wouldn’t -”

“Goodbye, Adriana.” Max jabs at the screen harder than necessary, then looks at his laptop, telling himself that of course he’s not going to answer those texts right away, that would be silly.

He picks up the phone, taps the notification.

It’s good to hear you got through the rest of your day without making anyone cry over Ho-Hos, that’s for sure, Tiny. I’m proud of you.  How was your drive?

[shirtlesssammy]

9x06: Heaven Can’t Wait

Guys, we’ve made it. This is hands down Boris’s favorite episode. I watch it as comfort food and I love every second of it. It’s also really gay, guys. I can never give this episode justice in this recap, but I love it so, so much.

Then:

How can anyone turn this face out of their home?

Now:

In Rexford, ID, in a secluded home, a distressed man is on the phone with a suicide hotline. The woman on the line is pleading with the man to listen to her and save his own life. He cuts the line, pulls his gun, and sees an old photo of what we can only assume is his mother and himself as a small child, and he stops, dropping the gun. He hears a noise. Another man appears and obliterates the man into a fine mist of pink goo.

Hello, Steve.

Cas is a Gas ‘n Sip attendant named Steve now. He’s wearing an adorable purple striped shirt and monitoring the locals on how to be human. He almost succeeds. #givesteveahighfive2k13 The newspaper man might not see how special and cool Steve is, but Nora, Steve’s boss, does. She’s late but knows that Steve is an overachieving gas station attendant. She wonders out loud, “Where have you been all my life?” And so begins the double story told this episode. Is he really a super attractive, responsible man this single mom has been waiting for or is he a super attractive, responsible employee this gas station manager has been looking for her whole life? “You’re not like the other sales associates. There’s something different about you.” He’s either gay or a former angel, amirite? Cas insists that he’s a completely regular human.

Cas then looks at the day’s newspaper: another unexplained disappearance.

Another reason I love this episode is because everyone is in it! At the bunker, Kevin lets Sam and Dean know that he just translated the angel tablet into doodles Elamite. The language is dead though. They need someone to translate it. Sam jumps right to research! SWOON. Dean is literally saved by the bell when his phone rings. It’s Cas. 

He’s got a case, but he’s busy dealing with “The Big O Slush”. I SEE YOU SET DESIGN. Dean asks Cas how they want to do this, and Cas spills his slurpee everywhere.

Then he hangs up on Dean.

Dean takes off with barely a goodbye to Kevin and Sam. He doesn’t like research anyway.

Back in Rexford, Cas is busy trying to fix his halo. BRB, weeping.

Nora confronts him with a toothbrush and sleeping bag in the back of the store. Yeah, Steve pretends that he’s not living at the Gas ‘n Sip and tells Nora he’s been staying to work on inventory. MY HEART. “I wanted to be thorough with inventory, so I worked late last week, and taking a nap here was easier than going back home to my bed. Which I-I have, of course – a bed...and a home.” MY HEART.

File in Pain Library:

And now a story told two ways.

First time viewer Boris:

Nora asks Steve out on a date.

Subsequent viewer Boris:

I’m a monster to think she was asking her very responsible (but attractive!) subordinate employee out on a date. She’s asking this nice, responsible, gay man she trusts implicitly to babysit her child so she can go on a date!

Nora, dense humans and former angels do not understand subtle human conversation. (God, I’ve never identified more with Cas than when watching this scene.) Spell. It. Out. For. Him. Poor Cas doesn’t get it, and just wants to be human SO bad. He takes it as an invite for a date and accepts. Yay! Honest to God, before this moment, I very much doubt Cas has even thought about Nora as someone to have romantic feelings for.

Dean, meanwhile, shows up at the cold open crime scene. The sheriff shows him around the pink goo, all the while mentioning the other victims and how sad they all were.

He then checks in with Sam and Kevin, ALL THE WHILE STARING AT CAS WORKING AT THE GAS ‘N SIP. Like, holy hell, dude. I know you have a lot of angst for kicking him out of your home because you have a lot of angst for allowing an angel to possess your brother, but take it down a notch (please don’t).  Dean suggests they ask Crowley (currently chained up in their dungeon) to help with the translations. Dean tells Sam about the case and Sam wonders if he should be there. Dean stutters his way through a shut down.

Cue Dean’s Theme Music, all weepy and melodic.

That boy is pining something bad. (Yeah, sorry, I just can’t read this episode any other way. Dean misses Cas, and Cas misses Dean. And Cas is pissed that Dean kicked him out of the bunker, but is so happy to see Dean, but so sad about being human. And there’s angst and a case to solve and fan fic gaps and trope after trope of goodness. SIGH.)

Cut to a very upset girl talking to her friend on her cell. Her boyfriend just broke up with her in front of everyone. She’s upset enough to admit to her friend, hyperbolically, “I could just die.” The man from the cold open appears and says, “I can help with that.” And turns her into a spray of pink goo.  

At the Gas ‘n Sip, Steve is hard at work.

Dean arrives, asking for “some beef jerky and a pack of menthols.” (Is this canon that Dean smokes? Ugh. I hope he’s just being a doofus here.) Dean over compensates for his dickish move of kicking Cas out of the bunker (by being more of a dick and insulting Cas’s chosen career.). Cas acts like a jilted lover. Cas tells Dean, “When I fell to earth, I didn't just lose my powers. I – I had nothing.” CRYING NOISE. Ya know, even without his powers, he had a home, and family and then he was kicked out of that as well. Now he’s making his way on his own. He’s SO proud of himself.

At the bunker, Sam asks Crowley for a translation. He refuses. Sam accuses Abaddon of being scarier than Crowley, so Crowley crumples up a piece of paper to show Sam who’s really boss. Lol.

Dean continues to push Cas to help him on the hunt.

Cas is having none of it. He’s got to stock the shelves, and clean up the mess a patron left in the bathroom (blarf, just bail Cas, it’s not worth it.) (Sidenote: Cas mentioning how he failed at being an angel, ugh. I’m so glad for his self-worth arc in season 13.)

Nora’s interruption about the bathroom cleanup is so interesting. She confirms their “date” in front of Dean, but she doesn’t even ask who he is and why he’s been hanging out with Steve this whole time. Second viewing Boris’s MIND IS BLOWN. She doesn’t need an introduction because she (thinks she) knows exactly who he is. She confirms the evening’s plans because there’s nothing to hide when just confirming her babysitter for the night.

Dean shows his jealousy over Cas’s “date”, but he gets a call that there’s been another death. Cas reluctantly agrees to come along, but not before cleaning the bathroom. Lol.

At the scene of the crime, a very professionally dressed FBI and Steve the Gas ‘n Sip attendant arrive to investigate. While Cas looks on in shock and horror, Dean interviews the girl’s friend on the other end of the phone. “'Kind of bummed'?” “Like more bummed than when she got a "C" on a quiz, and... less bummed than when her parents split up. 'Kind of ... bummed.'” Lolol. Dean then looks for Cas and can’t find him. ALERT THE POLICE. Oh, he was just leaning against the Impala.

For Science:

Cas knows exactly what happened here.

For Science:

It seems that this is the work of the Rit Zien, a special angel that killed other angels past saving in Heaven. That’s their job. Seek out the pain filled angels and kill them. Only now on Earth, they can’t distinguish between real pain and normal human emotions.

Sidenote, I just paused my video and thought you would also like the view:

Dean insists they have to stop the rogue angel. Cas doesn’t think he’ll be any help. Dean doesn’t agree but accepts Cas’s wish to not get involved. He tells him to go on the date with Nora. But first, Cas needs a ride.

*Fan Fiction Gap #1*

While Cas is off living his normal life YAAAS QUEEN LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE, Sam confronts Crowley. Crowley offers to translate the Elamite as long as he gets a phone call. Kevin tries to convince Sam that this is a no good, very bad idea but they move forward anyway. Honestly, if Kevin were in charge this would be a much more boring show – but also with at least a couple fewer apocalypses.

Back with the Dean & Cas romcom, Dean drops Cas off at his date, then notices his unfortunate attire. (Somehow it's dark now? Did they go get some food?) He convinces Cas to take off his Gas 'n' Sip best and undo a button on his collar. (Boris: Tony Manero. Lol. No words. Just links. I mean, John Badham started directing Supernatural in season 9. Pfft. And “I can’t let you do this.” Really Dean? And that once over? Really Dean?) This is all fine and I'm not reading into this AT ALL.

Dean gives Cas his fifty cent guide to wooing women and sends him off on his date. All squealing innuendo aside, this is an incredibly sweet and sad moment. Dean has a tendency to try to save people from the hunting life. Sending Cas off on his date is more than just bro-bonding. It's Dean's way of protecting human Castiel. May he live far from the wars of Heaven, in the company of someone normal. (Boris: He wants Cas to succeed and be happy in the world--it’s just sad that he doesn’t recognize that Cas is happiest around him.)

Cas, that Casanova, snips a rose and waves Dean away so he can make his move. (Boris: Does Dean really watch his Disney Princess friend prick his finger on a rose thorn?) Unfortunately, once Cas gets inside he finds out that he's been asked over to babysit while his boss heads out on a date. Cas sulkily buttons up his collar again.

Crowley meets with Sam and Kevin, and demands Kevin's blood in exchange for the information. He then proceeds to have an embarrassingly bureaucratic exchange with Hell's switchboard as he waits to be connected with Abaddon.

Meanwhile, Castiel's surprise babysitting gig is going super awesome. And by “super awesome” I mean terrible because baby Tanya starts to cry uncontrollably. Cas picks her up and snuggles her as he sings Joey Scarbury's “Believe it or not” - the theme song for the The Greatest American Hero. (Boris: Ah, at some point during his many channel surfing moments Cas stumbled upon --or Dean showed him--The Greatest American Hero, and I kind of want to curl up into a ball for Cas right now. He’s thinking about that magical suit, about how it could make him fly again and give him his super strength back.) Reader, you may be pleased to know that while Cas can do many things, he cannot sing. It does briefly assuage baby Tanya and he tries to set her down. Tanya's not having any of that shit and starts crying immediately.

Dean gets a call from the Sheriff on one of the crime scenes. It turns out the wife died, but the husband is still out running around somewhere.

Cas has a heart to heart with Tanya. “Nobody told you. Nobody explained. You're just shoved out kicking and screaming into this human without any idea why any of it feels the way it feels. Or why this confusion which feels like it's a hair's breadth from terror or pain. You know, just when you think you do understand it'll turn out that you're wrong. You didn't understand anything at all.” Cas notices that Tanya's a bit feverish.

At the police station, Dean goes over the missing man's case file and finds a picture of the annoying truck which tried to park him in outside of Cas's babysitting gig. He races off.

Cas opens the door to bring feverish Tanya to the hospital and sees the missing man. It's Ephram, an angel. Ephram tells Cas that he's come to wash the planet clean of suffering and he's at baby Tanya's house to...take care of Cas. Oh, Cas! (Boris: Cas is suffering as a human so much that the Rit Zien wants to kill him. Don’t touch me.)

In the comic relief portion of the episode, Crowley's still on hold with Hell (and Sam is getting antsy). Abaddon finally connects to Crowley, blood bubbling on the tabletop.

At the house, Cas grabs the rose from his failed wooing attempt and bloodies up his palm while Ephram monologues about how Castiel's pain allowed him to find him. “Earth can be a hard place but these humans, they can do better. They're just doing the best they can.” Ephram is entirely unimpressed by this argument. He used to admire Cas but now Cas is playing such a small game as to be essentially unnoticed on the scale of Heaven. While Ephram smugly talks about Cas, Castiel tries to draw an angel banishing sigil on the double doors. Ephram catches him and breaks his wrist.

Abaddon tells Crowley she's taking souls early, destroying Crowley's contracts. Crowley's getting pissed. He chews her out about her method of controlling Hell and she tells him that she's dismantling everything. When the phone call ends, Crowley demands the translations. “I keep my agreements,” he says, still nettled by Abaddon's destruction of his carefully crafted soul agreements. He reads it and finds that the spell Metatron did was irreversible. Angels running around Earth is the new world order.

Ephram asks Cas if he intends to live as an angel or a man? Speaking of men, Dean barrels into the house, angel blade at the ready, only to get chucked across the room.

Ephram starts to super zap Castiel when Dean slides his angel blade over to Cas, who kills Ephram with one quick strike.

Later, Cas leaves Nora’s house (with everything put to rights, body disposed of, and Tylenol administered for Tanya's fever) and Nora tells him that, the part of him “that cares so much. That's what makes [him] special.” TRUTH. (Boris: Nora’s continued appreciation of Steve warms me to no end.)

Sam's cleaning up from the phone call when he notices that a syringe is missing. He walks in to find Crowley injecting himself with human blood...

The next morning (cough fan fiction gap cough) Dean drops Cas off at the Gas 'n Sip. He apologies for telling Cas to leave, but that he's proud of what Cas has done with his life.

Cas worries, thinking he should help the angels. “You're human now. It's not your problem anymore.” (Boris: Dean’s speech at the end of this episode is kind of like the first part in a trilogy. He continues it in 11x23, and well, the final part has yet to be seen. He’s proud of Cas. He’s family. He’s like a brother. He means more to Dean that he’s able to voice. I hate you show.) 

Cas heads inside to open up the store, turning to a news story that talks about the massive meteor fall – a.k.a. the angels falling. He stares outside contemplatively.

What are quotes? Baby don’t quote me, don’t quote me no more:

Oh, well, hello to you too, Cas.

You're not like the other sales associates.

We're not keeping him chained up for the one liners.

This is Cas, in case you forgot, he’s not exactly Chatty Cathy.

You’re special.

Good day, ma’am, and good luck!

Wow. So you went from fighting … heavenly battles to nuking taquitos?

You’re the best.

And you’re a hunter in training, remember?

But as what, Castiel? As an angel? or a man?

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive! 

[katana-no-neko]

#34 & #62

34: Who/what was your last dream about?

Hmm… I rarely remember my dreams, just lemme think back…

Oh yeah, a couple weeks ago, I dreamed that opening scene of the first episode of Friends where they’re kinda introducing the characters, they’re all hanging out at the coffee house, but with my IRL friends in their places. It’s actually a recurring dream and I think it means I watch too much Friends.

62: What makes you happy?

A summer breeze through soft, green grass. Dandelions. The sounds of a babbling brook or a water fountain. Bare feet digging their toes in the soft mud of the creek at my grandpa’s farm. Helicopter seeds. The four deer that hang out behind my building at night. The colors of a deep sunset. The night sky on a clear evening.

My grandma’s chili. Going to her house to eat it and spending time with my family watching whatever sitcom my grandparents have been watching.  Playing board games with my family and friends. Opening a good bar of dark chocolate and getting that first whiff of the rich flavor that awaits. When someone buys a treat specially because they knew you liked it. Bonfires and s’mores.

Having one of my great grandma’s scotcharoos at every family or church event because she makes them for every single one. Playing the white elephant gift exchange with other relatives even though we all end up with crap we don’t want except for the two people that managed to snag alcohol or beef jerky or candy.

My cats - Ninja, the sweet and soft fattie that’s kind of a dick to other cats but lovely to every person ever; Siz, the orange stripey asshat that Mom wouldn’t let me name Kyo; and Nixi, the black-and-white little lady that was temporarily named Mootah but didn’t have near the personality to fill that name. 

Watching anime with my mom. Obsessing over Nalu. Getting praise for the things I’ve created, be it fanfiction, artwork, or what-have-you. Listening to music and doing nothing at all. The satisfaction of beating a boss or figuring out a puzzle after the longest time of being stuck on it. Watching Jack and Mark and Pewds freak out at stuff. The excitement of seeing a long-left fanfiction get updated. The comforting feeling of watching a sitcom or movie for the umpteenth time. Watching a Ghibli or Disney movie and getting caught up in the absolute magic even after the hundredth viewing. Buying a new piece of merch and being able to yell about how awesome it is.

Impromptu Disney karaoke. Singing in the car with friends. The joy of finding a new song to add to the playlist. Hearing a song you love and bursting out into singing no matter how tone-deaf you are.

Playing Barbies and My Little Pony with my little sisters. Getting construction-paper cards covered with scribbles and oblong hearts and whatever stickers they had laying around.

Playing video games with one group of my little brothers and my dad. Trading Pokemon cards with the brothers even though I’ve stopped caring as much for a couple years now. Beating my youngest in that group of brothers at Smash Brothers and wiping the smug look off his face. Having in-depth conversations about games we like that make us seem like maybe we spend too much time on screens.

Talking to my almost-same-aged sister about anything and everything when she’s actually online for once. Having her tease me about corn because I live in the midwest.

Reacting to my stepmom’s random Facebook tags of pickle popsicles because she knows I love pickles. Seeing a fresh jar of pickled okra and a big tub of Nutella in the fridge and cupboard every time I visit for the summer because she knows I love those, too.

Coloring and playing with stickers with another chunk of my little brothers. Watching one of them suck at Mario but get so excited because he managed to get past the piranha plant in the first level of Mario Bros. 3. Watching the other one walk right off a cliff and say “Uh-oh!” 

Playing Dr. Mario with my mom because she’s been obsessed with that game since we got the NES Classic for Christmas. Watching her get frustrated at me when I beat her and then force me to play again so she can win and then have her frustrated if I purposefully lose because I’m sick of playing.

Seeing my stepdad pose whatever new action figure he’s gotten last on his shelf that doesn’t seem like it can hold a single one more.

My irl friends’ group chat, where I can yell about whatever anime thing is going on that nobody understands. The memes we share. The comfort of having a group of people who care about me gathered in one place where we can share our grievances, excitement, and despair.

Seeing my Tumblr friends appear on my dash. Being tagged in some mundane post or tag game. Having random conversations in the notes of a post. Using asks to be weird and fun with each other.

Having something to be happy about.

[writinanon]

Country Skies

With the help of @wafflii I have fallen into another AU. Expect another chapter of Reverberations and possibly Covenants soon. I want to find the right creepy atmosphere music for Covenants before I delve deeper into it. Also I’m not very good with timelines and there’s a bit of confusion for FC5′s timeline so I’m just going to wing it.

Stella belongs to me but Tammy belongs to @wafflii she’s a sweet heart.

  The tender age of 10 was the last time that Stella saw her Dad. He’d just come home with burns on his face and had trouble adjusting. Her mother couldn’t handle it and filed for divorce. An incident with him having night terrors had been all she needed to gain sole custody of Stella. They talked on the phone for a while, her Dad calling almost every night but it slowed to a week, two weeks, a month, once in a few months, and then finally on her 13th birthday was the last call he made to her. Stella had been crushed, had wondered if something was wrong, he didn’t sound well. Her mother wouldn’t let her go and see him. A small part of her hated her mother for that. Stella would never forgive her for completely cutting her Dad out of her life or for forcing another man into it. She never called James ‘Dad’ or ‘Father’ she always called him James. He never really seemed bothered by it but it bothered her mother and they had many fights about it.

  Stella hadn’t thought much of her Dad for a while now, she’d tried to find him, still tried around Father’s Day and his birthday, but she had a life now and couldn’t spend all of it chasing Jacob Seed. She transferred into the Sheriff’s Department of Hope County because they needed a new Anthropologist to figure out if bone remains were human or animal, and once properly identified if they were Native American and for her to go through the proper channels. She was 23 and while she was still working on her master’s degree she had all the necessary skills to identify bones and knew the proper channels to connect to in case it was a disturbed Native American grave site. She was given the title of Junior Deputy Sheriff, which she felt was a little much, Deputy Sheriff would have been fine. She vaguely recalled hearing about a Joseph Seed running a cult but it hadn’t come up in the last few months. Until today. Today a US Marshal had shown up with an arrest warrant for Joseph Seed. And since Stella had no experience running the radio Nancy would be staying back and she would be going with them to arrest him. The Sheriff looked contrite. Stella didn’t really understand why until she walked into the church. Her eyes had scanned over the congregation, looking for weapons, before she skimmed over Joseph Seed. He was shirtless and had many tattoos and what looked like words carved into his skin. But she almost froze in shock. Just behind him to the left was her Dad. His face didn’t hold any recognition.

 “Rook.” The Sheriff said and she glanced at him before looking over at Joseph Seed. His face was determined and he didn’t know who she was either. Why would he? They had never met even though she knew all about Joe and Johnny. Her Uncles that her Dad wanted to find again. She placed the handcuffs on him. She was duty bound, it was her job to arrest him.

  Jacob couldn’t shake that he knew the young Deputy that had handcuffed Joseph. Her eyes had been on him the whole time and he swore he knew them and her face. John was grumbling about her escape from baptism as he looked through the files.

 “Ah here she is. Junior Deputy Stella Jean Rook.” Jacob felt like he had been hit with a brick and he snapped his attention to his youngest brother.

 “Jean.” He stressed the French pronunciation. Because he had wanted to name her after little Johnny but didn’t want to name her Jane. John looked up confused. “It’s supposed to be pronounced like it’s French. Her mom had a thing for French.” He lied easily.

 “Brother?” Joseph asked carefully, looking between him and the photo of the young Deputy, piecing it together.

 “She was born November 15th, 1994. Hell, of a snow storm that day. She was born Stella Jean Seed.” He looked at the picture of her, smiling brightly labeled as Sinner. His daughter was a Deputy Sheriff. His daughter had come to arrest his little brother. His Little Star was Public Enemy Number One against Eden’s Gate. He recalled her eyes back in the church. They hadn’t left him once, until the Sheriff called to her. She looked so shocked and afraid, worried about him.

 “I’m a horrible uncle.” John said and looked crushed. Faith patted his back lightly.

 “Joseph was going to let her die in the helicopter so I think that makes you even.” Jacob rubbed his face reminding himself that not even he had known exactly who she was. He looked back down at her picture. Ellie was doing well for herself. He’d have to pull any remaining information out of that Deputy that his Hunters had snatched up. Staci Pratt.

  Stella huffed and settled into the bushes as she heard a heavy vehicle coming her way. She had stopped a few of the Reaping Trucks now. After checking on Rae-Rae and finding her dead and Boomer alone Dutch had let her think over what she was going to do. She wasn’t sure, she didn’t know what to do. Should she free her companions? Wouldn’t her family think she’s siding with them? Should she side with her Family? She missed her Dad so much. Boomer nudged her side and whined softly. She ran a hand down his back.

 “Thanks boy.” She smiled faintly. Now was not the time to get distracted. She took aim and blew out the front tires of the truck. The Peggies scrambled, calling for bliss bullets but she took them down with a few well-placed kneecap shots and shoulder hits. Once she was finished she opened the truck only to find one frightened looking woman there.

 “Please I wanna go home!” She cried, tear tracks of makeup down her face.

 “Okay. I’ll take you home. Where is home?”

 “You aren’t with them?” The shock and suspicion in her eyes made Stella want to cringe but she stepped up and offered her a hand.

 “Deputy Stella Rook.” She introduced herself. “I’m with the Sheriff’s department.” The woman blinked before launching herself at Stella and hugging her tightly.

 “I thought I was gonna die.” She was rambling about how they would probably have hidden her body and Stella patted her back awkwardly before helping her down out of the truck. The woman was a little over half a foot shorter than her. “Thank you for saving me.”

 “Don’t worry about it.” Stella rubbed the back of her neck and smiled a little more genuinely as they headed down the road. Missing the Peggie recording her escorting her latest rescue. “So, it’s a little dangerous to run around on your own, mind if I walk you home?”

 “Yes, please.” She clung a bit and Stella nodded, patted her head and slipped free of the warm gentle grasp. “Sorry. Oh, right I’m Tamara Zoey Barnes.” The pair shook hands and headed toward Tamara’s house.

  Stella took refuge with Dutch, still afraid to face the people of Hope County knowing her family was causing them so much grief. He shook his head and clicked his tongue at her, treating her small scrapes as she handed over more information and stolen weaponry. Boomer gave a happy bark as she tossed him a scrap of beef jerky.

 “Well kid I gotta say you’re makin’ ‘em scared of grabbing people down here that’s for sure.” He looked at the few Reaping movements that had thinned out considerably. Stella smiled a bit and looked at the map. Her eyes stuck to the top of it. The Whitetail Mountains were her Dad’s Domain. So far, she had slunk around on the fringes of Holland Valley and the Henbane River. Dutch knew about her family, he hadn’t turned her over to them because she told him she wasn’t like them. And she wasn’t. She didn’t want to be part of a Doomsday Cult. But she missed her Dad and she remembered all the stories of her Uncles that he would tell. She didn’t remember him ever mentioning an aunt but maybe she came later? She looked younger than John. Her radio crackled to life and both stilled.

 “Hello Stella!” John sounded cheerful as ever. “I have that new friend of yours, the raven haired one, and we’re going to baptize her! If you’d like to join us for a do over you know where we’ll be.” Usually John tried to talk to her about sins and about how only family understood the plight of duty. He always tried to coax her out and to try and get her to come and see his ranch. She frowned as she tried to remember anyone that had black hair and then she realized he was talking about the girl she’d rescued a few days prior.

  Tammy looked around at the men with guns around her. All she had wanted was to come home from studying, maybe relax for once since she hadn’t been able to afford this trip in a few years. The tall man with intense blue eyes was staring at her with a weird smile on his face. They were standing next to the Henbane and he had been talking about sin and washing things away and honestly Tammy was too freaked out to pay much attention. He had apparently asked her a question though and she blinked at him.

 “What?” He chuckled and waved his hand over the river.

 “I was asking if you’d like to be baptized and begin atonement? No time like the present to pull out all those nasty pervasive sins.”

 “What sins? I don’t have any sins! What are you talking about?”

 “Everyone has sins, even my darling Deputy Niece could stand to atone.” He scanned the horizon as he said this, looking for someone. Tammy hoped it wasn’t that girl that had saved her the other day. “I’m sure you aren’t nearly as aggressive in your sins…” A somewhat familiar dog snatched a gun out of one of the men’s hands. Then two of them were taken down with arrows to the chest.

 “I don’t have any sins I haven’t even had sex.” She muttered still shocked. This caused the man to turn and look at her sharply and allowed the dog to make off and distract more of the men. The man was suddenly pushed away from Tammy and a hand took hold of hers.

 “Run.” It was the girl from the other day and she was half leading half dragging her away while she whistled and the dog came to run along side them. The redhead threw something over her shoulder that caused an explosion and blocked anyone from pursuing them further. They made it to a pick-up truck and the girl shoved her inside, followed by the dog, before climbing into the driver’s seat and peeling out driving off the main road and onto the back roads swiftly. “Gotta get tree coverage, John’s got air support.” She muttered more to herself and Tammy gripped the door handle tightly. To think all she’d wanted to do was come home.

  Stella managed to get them to Rae-Rae’s Farm. She had cleaned up most of the blood and herded the woman so she didn’t see the fresh graves. Boomer settled in his bed that she’d dragged into the living room, sleeping on the couch felt more respectful rather than taking over the bedroom. For the most part that girl, Barnes, didn’t look too beat up. A stray bruise or two but mostly unharmed. Her Uncle hadn’t intended to hurt her much she was just the quickest way to get Stella into the open. John and Joseph seemed to think that she was lost because she’d been told lies about them. They urged her to ‘come home’ and be back wither family. She would probably be struggling with it more, if her Dad was the one delivering those messages.

 “Thanks for saving me. Again.” Barnes said and Stella shrugged. The woman grabbed her in a hug again. “No, I mean it that guy was so weird, and he kept talking about sins and looked at me funny when I said I couldn’t have sins because I’m a virgin and…” She got lost in a tangent and Stella patted at her shoulders to try and calm her down.

 “Don’t mention it.” She said and got her settled on the couch. They’d go see Dutch in the morning. Maybe he could shed some light on things. For both of them.

[my-insanity-is-irrelevant]

The same to you - all of them 🎃

200: My crush’s name is: Ryan, Eli, Claire, several others I cant name for complicated reasons 

199: I was born in: 1997/a hospital 

198: I am really: Intense weather in my calmness or excitement 

197: My cellphone company is: T-Mobile

196: My eye color is: Light green

195: My shoe size is: 9 1/2 wide (i usually have to do like a 11 for high heals)

194: My ring size is: ??????? probably big I have chubby fingers

193: My height is: 5′ 6″

192: I am allergic to: nothing unless you count idiocy 

191: My 1st car was: A blue 2007 Ford Focus and I LOVED her

190: My 1st job was: A server for Cheddar’s Casual Cafe 

189: Last book you read: How to Ruin Everything by George Watsky 10/10

188: My bed is: A king with lots o’ pillows and blankets and is very comfy

187: My pet: 2 cats, 5 kittens, 6 dogs, 2 snakes, 1 bearded dragon, 1 leopard gecko, 4 turtles, 1 bullfrog tadpole, and bunches of fish

186: My best friend: is a boy i met a month ago because i have intimacy issues

185: My favorite shampoo is: Dead Sea’s Argon oil shampoo is so good to my poor dry curls

184: Xbox or ps3: I use an Xbox to watch Netflix but I don’t play video games

183: Piggy banks are: Cute decorations but go unused

182: In my pockets: $2, some lint, a rubber band, and something weird i took out of my dog’s mouth earlier

181: On my calendar: I have nothing written in it but it has cool pictures of bears

180: Marriage is: Cool because of the financial benefits but other than that unnecessary to prove one’s love. I want a wedding though because I want a pretty dress

179: Spongebob can: Make me hate my life a 3am

178: My mom: Died of breast cancer and smoked a lot of pot

177: The last three songs I bought were? I can’t remember ever paying for music but the last three i listened to are: Cherry Wine by Hozier, Strong As An Oak by Watsky, and San Cristobal by Mal Blum

176: Last YouTube video watched: A slam poem by Neil Hilborn called Liminality

175: How many cousins do you have? I have no clue? At least 10 on each side, but i’m sure there’s way more than that

174: Do you have any siblings? 2 older brothers, 2 older sisters, ans one younger sister 

173: Are your parents divorced? They were never married

172: Are you taller than your mom? Nope! She was like 5′10′

171: Do you play an instrument? I can play hot cross buns on the recorder and thats the best i can do

170: What did you do yesterday? I slept and ate beef jerky[ I Believe In ]169: Love at first sight: No, but i do believe in lust and infatuation at first site. I think  love takes time to grow.

168: Luck: Yes like, as in karma

167: Fate: Catch me in the right mood and i do

166: Yourself: NOOOOOPE

165: Aliens: Yes

164: Heaven: No

163: Hell: Yes, it’s called Texas

162: God: Naaaaah

161: Horoscopes: I think they’re accurate generalizations

160: Soul mates: Yeah but not like the traditional; kind of way, i think we have lots of people we’re meant to be with in various ways

159: Ghosts: Yes and No i go back and forth

158: Gay Marriage: 100%

157: War:0%

156: Orbs: Idk what this is talking about but sure, ill root for them

155: Magic: No, Im a science gal[ This or That ]154: Hugs or Kisses: Hugs

153: Drunk or High: High, drinking gives me a tummy ache

152: Phone or Online: Online

151: Red heads or Black haired: Red heads

150: Blondes or Brunettes: Brunettes

149: Hot or cold: Cold

148: Summer or winter: Winter

147: Autumn or Spring: Autumn

146: Chocolate or vanilla: Vanilla

145: Night or Day: Night

144: Oranges or Apples: Apples

143: Curly or Straight hair: Curly

142: McDonalds or Burger King: Mcdonald’s

141: White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate: White Chocolate is the key to my heart

140: Mac or PC: PC

139: Flip flops or high heels: HIgh heels even though i cant walk in them

138: Ugly and rich OR sweet and poor: Sweet and poor

137: Coke or Pepsi: Coke

136: Hillary or Obama: Obama

135: Burried or cremated: Cremated, the idea of rotting creeps me out

134: Singing or Dancing: Dancing but im bad at both

133: Coach or Chanel: Idgaf

132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks: ??????

131: Small town or Big city: Big city

130: Wal-Mart or Target: Wal-Mart

129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler: I hate Adam Sandler

128: Manicure or Pedicure: Manicure

127: East Coast or West Coast: West Coast

126: Your Birthday or Christmas: Christmas all the waaaaaay

125: Chocolate or Flowers: Flowers, preferably potted

124: Disney or Six Flags: Disney i’m scared of roller coasters

123: Yankees or Red Sox: I dont sports[ Here’s What I Think About ]122: War: Its stupid and bad and i hate violence 

121: George W. Bush: Okay, looook, i dig his paintings, okay???

120: Gay Marriage: gimme that shit i want that shit

119: The presidential election: I could be down for violence against trump

118: Abortion: everyone should have safe access to abortions, they save lives

117: MySpace: I never had one? Does it still exist? I may make one for fun? 

116: Reality TV: i dont ever watch it, i avoid it like the plauge

115: Parents: Mine were grade A shit

114: Back stabbers: What goes around comes around

113: Ebay: I use Amazon

112: Facebook: Its filled with my racist family, i avoid it 

111: Work: I watch my niece and nephew (twins) and i love it

110: My Neighbors: I don’t interact with them ever

109: Gas Prices: why so expensive pls give me break

108: Designer Clothes: catch me in wal-mart clothes i bough 4 years ago

107: College: I want but cant afford halp

106: Sports: no

105: My family: I love them but they fkn annoy the shit out of me with their political views

104: The future: stop.[ Last time I ]103: Hugged someone: My niece yesterday

102: Last time you ate: I am eating a bowl of mac n’ cheese right now

101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile: I saw my sister’s in-laws last week and i loooooove them! I made slime with the kids

100: Cried in front of someone: When i found out my ex was cheating on me like two months ago

99: Went to a movie theater: Went on a date with a cute boi like a month ago and w saw Baby Driver it was so good

98: Took a vacation: The only vacation ive ever took in my life was with my ex and his family to Florida last summer

97: Swam in a pool: Less than a week ago

96: Changed a diaper: Yesterday, i change them for a living

95: Got my nails done:last summer

94: Went to a wedding: My oldest sister got married last week!

93: Broke a bone: when i was like 3????

92: Got a peircing: two weeks ago i got my nipples done

91: Broke the law: this morning when i got high

90: Texted: Im texting cute bbs  right now[ MISC ]89: Who makes you laugh the most: My boi Ryan who is a fkn idiot i love him

88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is: I already left home and only miss having someone else cook and clean because my roomates are hopeless

87: The last movie I saw: The Last Five Years

86: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most: When i can move far north and start a loving and respectful communist sex cult

85: The thing im not looking forward to: Getting up for work at 5 in the morning

84: People call me: lame

83: The most difficult thing to do is: exist

82: I have gotten a speeding ticket: i sure haven’t i’m Safe

81: My zodiac sign is: Libra

80: The first person i talked to today was: Ryan

79: First time you had a crush: i liked a boy named Antonio in second grade

78: The one person who i can’t hide things from: no one? 

77: Last time someone said something you were thinking: Ryan last night when we said a stupid Ricks and Morty quote at the same time

76: Right now I am talking to: my cat Beatrice 

75: What are you going to do when you grow up: probably cry a lot

74: I have/will get a job: working with kids!

73: Tomorrow: I will be very tired

72: Today: I am very tired

71: Next Summer: I will be very hot

70: Next Weekend: Im going to tie ppl up with rope

69: I have these pets: see 187

68: The worst sound in the world: A baby crying because they’re hurt or sad

67: The person that makes me cry the most is: my ex inbox me for his url so you can tell him hes a meanie

66: People that make you happy: My nieces and nephews and also my bff

65: Last time I cried: last night because the damn dog was so cute

64: My friends are: amazing and deserve the world

63: My computer is: slow and bad but i still love her

62: My School: was down the road from a prison, which my mom was in years ago

61: My Car: is old and smells like my mom’s cigarettes 

60: I lose all respect for people who: are racist, homophobic, sexist, trans-phobic, Islamophobic, anti-semetic, ect. 

59: The movie I cried at was: the beginning of Guardians of the Galaxy

58: Your hair color is: Auburn

57: TV shows you watch: Game of Thrones, Criminal Minds, Sense 8

56: Favorite web site: tumblr.com

55: Your dream vacation: stargazing in Alaska 

54: The worst pain I was ever in was: when i fucked up my siatic nerve in a car wreck in January 

53: How do you like your steak cooked: medium-well

52: My room is: cold and messy and covered in kittens

51: My favorite celebrity is: Harry Styles

50: Where would you like to be: on a beach in Iceland with a person playing a ukulele 

49: Do you want children: Only if i have more than one long term partner living with me 

48: Ever been in love: Yes 

47: Who’s your best friend: see 186 its Ryan

46: More guy friends or girl friends: no

45: One thing that makes you feel great is: when my cat comes to me and just lays where shes barely touching me 

44: One person that you wish you could see right now: My best friend from high school who committed suicide 

43: Do you have a 5 year plan: no

42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die: no

41: Have you pre-named your children: I want to name my kid Coraline but id also like to do something not defined by a single gender?

40: Last person I got mad at: My sister because she left the dogs inside all day while i was at work even though shes a stay at home mom and so the poor things had accidents and no one was happy

39: I would like to move to: Canada

38: I wish I was a professional: mom[ My Favorites ]37: Candy: white chocolate truffles 

36: Vehicle: vintage beatles 

35: President: Alexander Hamilton

34: State visited: Florida

33: Cellphone provider: ?????

32: Athlete: ?????

31: Actor: Nat Wolf

30: Actress: Maise willams

29: Singer: Radical Face/Hozier

28: Band: Bad Books

27: Clothing store: Wal-mart

26: Grocery store: Joe-V’s Smart Shop

25: TV show: Game of Thrones

24: Movie: Swiss Army Man

23: Website: see 56

22: Animal:  Monitors 

21: Theme park: i dont do theme parks

20: Holiday: Halloween

19: Sport to watch: does Yuri on Ice count?

18: Sport to play: no

17: Magazine: i don’t read magazines but i heard Teen Vogue is doing wonders

16: Book: The Kite Runner

15: Day of the week: Wednesday’s Child is Full of Woe

14: Beach: wherever i was in Florida 

13: Concert attended: Warped Tour 2015 there was a band called Onwards ect. it was so good

12: Thing to cook: homemade flour tortillas 

11: Food: Cheese enchiladas

10: Restaurant: This cute little place named Marianne’s thats down the road from my house she makes the best tamales 

9: Radio station: 94.5 The Buzz

8: Yankee candle scent: Clean Linen 

7: Perfume: i dont

6: Flower: Lilies 

5: Color: pink

4: Talk show host: Steve Harvey

3: Comedian: John Mulaney

2: Dog breed: Pit Bulls

1: Did you answer all these truthfully? 100%

[bruceroseman-blog]

Go East  Old Man

Get Your Kicks… WAIT, What?

Check engine light, oh NOOOOOOO!!!

Not four hours into my trip across America and my check engine light lights up and I thought I was cooked, goosed, stuck, wrenched, and fried. How was I going to go 2,800 more miles with some unknown engine problem on day one?

Fortunately, I had purchased roadside assistance from AARP – yes, I’m over 50 and yes I’m a card-carrying member (mostly for the free donuts!), but the light never came back on and my Ford purred across the country with no further issues. Whew, what an auspicious start!

Losing the California Dream

It was the ultimate reverse commute, California to Pennsylvania, in Ford no less! How American.

Indeed, can it get more classic than that?

What a way to add another notch to my bucket list.  And, isn’t it a rite of passage for every American to cross the country in a car?

It had been over three years since I added anything to my list so why not do something epic. I had to try it at least once!

For many years I scorned such a trip as I never really idolized cars or road trips and preferred trains, planes and boats.  Perhaps it was the 60,000+ miles of Ubering I logged a year and a half earlier in and around San Francisco Bay Area and my love of shows like American Pickers that changed my mind. In any event, I was ready for a new adventure.

Easier Than I Thought

It wasn’t too easy to leave my home of nearly 30 years and give up the California dream, but it wasn’t too hard either. I was getting priced out of the area anyway, thanks to high tech firms, making my beautiful corner of the world totally unaffordable!

Besides, I was in-between jobs, if you know what I mean.

I felt as if I had overstayed my time and all that was left was the gut-wrenching feeling that I wasn’t growing or going anywhere and the time had long passed to get a move on. Nothing was left for me in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Get Your Kicks on Route 66 (Sort of)

So, with a reliable car, bought originally to ride-share spoiled Millennials around the Bay Area, I again sold everything I owned, in a record 72 hours, except for that car and what I had come back to California with three years earlier, from my stint working on cruise ships just three suitcases. (See Life At Sea)

When you’re not encumbered by family or a job, it’s always a whole lot easier!

All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia

I had bought a plane ticket to Philly earlier this summer that was supposed to be a plain old, long overdue visit to my sister, brother-in-law, nephew and cousins until it morphed into a very welcoming plea to return to my roots. The love and open arms of my extended family awakened the possibility that I could leave the solitude of the West Coast and find more than I ever had in California.

With the help of AirBnB and the only friends I’ll miss in Northern California,  I saved enough to make the trip. And on Saturday, Oct. 14th, 2017(I purposely avoided a departure on Friday the 13th), five weeks after my visit, I jumped into my car, left northern California and drove south to Barstow, CA. to connect with Interstate 40/Route 66 and head east.

Good Morning America!

Most days I started out early, hours before the sunrise, up and out of my motel room before 5:00 AM, every day and in every time zone (Look, mom, no jetlag!)

Driving in the dark, trying to get at least a couple hundred miles behind me before the sun rose, happily listening to an audiobook, treated to the amazing spectacle of Venus rising with the diminishing crescent moon soon to follow.

It was my favorite time of the day when the sky lightened, turning from black to purple, to pink, as the desert spread out before me in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, paralleling the old Route 66 doing 75 mph on Interstate 40.  

The sky so big, the scenery so grand I wanted to capture every moment and photograph it all, but the road compelled me to drive and drive and drive.

In fact, I only stopped a few times every day at places like Painted Desert Indian Center to capture a taste of it for my friends watching my progress on social media and get a free piece of petrified wood. 

Or, to buy a keychain or postcard in every state at some unnamed truck stop where I saw too many Duck Dynasty clad gentleman for my comfort.

If only I had purchased a GoPro camera to mount on the dash and continually shoot photos at intervals (should have, could have, would have… -sigh-), but I was watching my budget and ever diminishing savings. It was my only regret, not stopping and seeing more!

Plans be Dammed!

Originally, I had mapped out dozens of interesting places to stop, but as I mentioned above, money or the lack of it severely curtailed my options. And, with the suggestion of a friend who had made the trip several times in her life, I just winged it with only a rough plan to make it to certain cities and landmarks like Albuquerque where I had to pick up new lenses for my sunglasses that weren’t ready when I left. (Thank you Costco Optical in Santa Cruz!)

But I still had a few places I had to see, like Meteor Crater in Arizona, that corner in Winslow, Az., an interesting museum here and there along the way, Mike and Frank’s shop in Nashville and a very cool stop along the Bourbon Trail in Kentucky. If only I had more money to spare! Next time. Next time!

At least I didn’t get any speeding tickets, although I did get a warning from a nice highway patrolman in Arizona at 5:15 AM, who happened to have relatives in the Philadelphia area – small world!

Deserts, Farms and Truck Stops

Ah, the ever-changing landscape of Middle America, the mornings in Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Kentucky as fog lingered to the fields around me whiffing above in tendrils with the wind, passing truck, after truck, after truck, after truck.

The Waffle House in Arkansas with the super friendly staff and deliciously inexpensive $5 pecan waffle, eggs and coffee, the nearly empty Bluegrass Parkway where I cried listening to Tom Petty’s “Face in the Crowd.”

The early afternoons as the roads cleared and miles passed. Timeless.

My only thought as to where to stop, sleep and eat as the miles crept on and on and on…

Sleep Anxiety

The only real anxiety, besides the check engine light on the first day, was finding a place to stop for the night to sleep.  I brought a tent, sleeping bag, and other camping gear, but I never really felt like roughing it in the end and preferred a good bed, some cable TV, somewhat reliable Internet and real sleep.

As much as I love to star gaze, it wasn’t a big enough drawl to just relaxing in a clean motel – well, at least 3/4th of them as I’d rather not think about that one night in a $29 dive in Oklahoma or the marginally OK motel in downtown Flagstaff. (At least the Flagstaff motel was close to the Flagstaff Brewing Company with live music and great beer).

11 States of Mind (12 Including NJ)

In the end, it took less time than I thought, just seven days and 3,140 total miles. It didn’t rain a drop and except for a very tight spot on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, sandwiched between a big rig truck and a retaining construction wall at 75mph, I had nothing that scared me or came close to an accident.  I was lucky!

The last day, however, was the toughest, as no matter how much coffee I drank or how loud I played Bruce Springsteen – what else would you play as you as entered Pennsylvania? --, I could not stop yawning as fatigue finally crept in.  I stopped every hour, sometimes less as I got closer to Philly on that last day.

And I knew I was close when I could pick up KYW New Radio 1060 (If you’re from Philly, you know the jingle).  And then, suddenly I arrived, driving into the ally of my sister’s house – her and her husband waiting to record the momentous event. Somehow it felt sad, a bit underwhelmed, but joyous as I had made it safely with my car intact.  And it was over.

Now What?

Sitting in the guest room of my sister’s house in Northeast Philadelphia writing this, I begin the first day of the rest of my life and ponder my future at 55.

Should I get a New Jersey real estate certificate and make “big $$$” as my cousin says, teach English in South Korea and run the risk of getting nuked, go back to PR, or get back on the road?

I won’t bore you anymore, but ask: Any suggestions?

Epilog: Don’t Fly The Unfriendly Skies!

Suffice it to say, I’d highly recommend taking at least one trip across America in a car. Your whole perspective will change as this is HUGE, boundless country with so much to see. One can’t possibly imagine.

And, oh yeah, take plenty of snack food (I took two bags of homemade beef jerky) plenty of good music and several audio books – unless you like being distracted changing channels and searching for something to hear.

Drive safely!