#i swear i tried to look up the process for name changes in illinois but it all seemed really complicated and idk i got confused

[hersweetrevenge]

[this is pretty much an au, based on me just forgetting that cunningham is joan's married name, and treating it as her maiden name.]

thinking about corey finding out the name on his birth certificate doesn't exactly match his name now.

when corey was born he was given his dad's surname -- fitzgerald. when wally left, he and joan divorced and joan changed both her name and corey's to her maiden name -- cunningham. in order to wipe as much of wally from corey's life as possible, joan also changes his middle name from wallace to john, the masculine form of her own name.

corey doesn't find out about this for a very, very long time. he was too young to remember his dad "dying", let alone any name changes, and as far as he knows he's been corey john cunningham all his life. one day, while he's snooping around, he finds a manila envelop full of documents. he sifts through them and finds a birth certificate, his birth certificate, only... that isn't his name on it. it says corey, sure, and that's his birthday, and yeah he was born in haddonfield, but that is not his name.

only, it must be, because who else could it be. corey wallace fitzgerald, born on april 18th 1998 at haddonfield memorial hospital. father's name, wallace fitzgerald. mother's maiden name, joan cunningham.

further through the pile of yellowed papers, he finds paperwork about name changes. now that is his name. his snooping is cut short by joan getting home, he just knows she rushed her errands so he wouldn't be home alone for too long, so he stuffs the papers back in their envelope and creeps back to his room.

that night he lies awake and thinks about it. momma lied to him, is still lying to him about who he is. he knows it's just a name, but he wonders about what things could of been like if his dad never died. he wonders what corey fitzgerald would have been like. he wishes so badly that that was him, that there was even that small degree of separation that a different name would give him from joan.

[bippityboppitybibuck]

Scarred Bark, Broken Heart

15x18 coda/alternate ending of sorts || WC 2580, also read on AO3 here

MCD, depressed Dean, (Tree!Cas ???), brief mention of suicidal tendencies, open but hopeful ending, part one of a two part series, Canon divergence

Dean doesn't know what made him decide on the tree. They didn’t have a body to burn, not this time. They didn’t have a six-foot hole to dig and he felt odd putting a marker over unmarred earth. So when he stumbled upon a tree in the woods surrounding the bunker, one with a beehive tucked nine feet up he didn’t even realize he had popped out his pocket knife and started carving until the first three letters were written in the wet bark.

His throat burned as he worked. The same knife sliced skin wide so that protection could be painted onto a door that was never going to hold. Cas was always ready to bleed for him, always ready to do whatever he needed to keep him safe.

Tears threatened to ruin his work by blocking his field of view but each time he tilted his head to the sky and tried to breathe through it.

The squared-off letters seem to mock him once he finishes, if Cas’d been here the letters would have been beautiful, a burst of power and it could have been script etched into the wood. Instead, it's his blocky ugly writing.

Something hideous rears its head in his chest, and staring at the letters, staring at the name. He always deserved more than Dean could give him, than this world could give him. He deserves more than a scar in some bark in a forest hardly anyone treks into. He deserves more than to die without knowing—to die thinking he wasn’t loved.

Dean doesn't look to the sky as his eyes fill again. Sam always said he needed to let himself feel. That ignoring your trauma isn't the same as dealing with it. But he worries that if he gives into it fully he’ll never resurface. Drowned in his own mind with the pain and regret, the fear and the sadness that washes in like the tide when his guard drops.

So he doesn’t let himself sink, he treads as best he can, hearing Bobby’s gruff voice in his head just like when he was a kid, ‘keep your ears above water son, that’s the only way to make sure you stay alive out there’, it’s like Bobby knew exactly why he needed that information. Like he knew it wasn't about swimming.

He’s not sure how long he spends looking at the carving, or when the wind picks up and shakes shivers through his body. He’s not sure when the tears dry and the wracking sobs take over.

Cas looked at peace when it came for him, and it ruins him to know that. To know that loving him brought him to the one moment of true happiness. Loving a worthless, broken, fucked up killer—no. No, Cas said he wasn’t a killer, he wasn’t a monster or a tool to be used and thrown aside, and yet he killed another hadn’t he? Killed him by doing nothing at all because that's what happens, that’s his legacy, people get close to him and they get killed. They always get killed.

Dean’s not sure when he heads inside again, or how he finds himself at the tree almost every day, week in and week out.

For the longest time he can do nothing but look, words that fight to break free, stay trapped behind the years of burying what he always felt, stay tapped behind the last dam he has standing in his soul the soul Cas saved—a good lot that did. He knows the dam won’t hold forever and all he can do is imagine the damage when it does finally break.

He doesn't always go alone either. Sam takes trips to the tree by himself sometimes but mostly he goes when Dean does. Jack trails after him every once in a while too but they usually let him go alone.

The first snow of the season begins to fall as he stands at the tree, the beehive long since gone dormant, its occupants burrowing in for their months-long sleep. And God how Dean envies their ability to escape reality for longer than it takes to sleep off a hangover.

It’s early for the first snow, weeks too soon but the world has been colder since—well since.

It’s been a while since he last talked while he visited, the dam broke finally or rather the levels grew too high on one side and it began to leak. Still, back then he hadn’t said much of anything.

He tries to talk now, he tries to do the same as what he did at his father's grave all those years ago trapped in a djinn dream, trapped in a world that seemed so perfect until he peeled back its layers. Kinda just like the one he actually lived in.

“Ca-s,” his voice breaks before he manages to speak the single syllable. No one is around to notice though, no matter how much he wishes he was speaking to a person instead of an unfeeling unrelenting piece of wood. Still though, it's easier to talk when no one is there to hear it, he doesn't have to hold as much back.

“Cas, I-,” Dean lets out a rough hum as he collects himself. This speech is going to be different. He can feel it, the emotions within him seem to grow choppy, spilling over the dam wall more and more and he just knows that whatever happens, he won’t be returning to the bunker whole.

“I keep thinking, y’know, back to that night you walked into that barn in Illinois, you told me that good things do happen, and I mean it’s not like I expected you to, but you didn’t believe me when I told you that nothing good happens to me. I don’t know if in the time from then to no—I don’t know if you ever figured out that I was right or not but I think that the one good thing that happened to me was the worst thing to happen to me too.” Dean stares at his name, willing it to actually be him. The cold bites at his fingers and his nose. His toes grow cold in his boots but he doesn’t move to leave he barely even feels it anyways.

“When Chuck told us that you were the one who never listened,” he chokes out a broken laugh, “it honestly made perfect sense, you did always say that it was our story, that we were the thing that was real in a world of manufactured realities. And when he said it I swear it was like I was standing in that ratty kitchen, minutes before Lucifer rose, minutes before you di—died for the first time. And I thought as Chuck went on and on how maybe I wasn’t dreaming it up, maybe it wasn't Chuck’s doing, and I was going to try to talk to you about it, after a shit ton of booze mind you.” He’s quiet for a long time, the snow begins to blanket the space around him and he thinks about how he’ll never get to brush snow off of the lapel of Cas’ stupid trench coat.

Just the thought starts a domino effect, his mind rushing through everything he wanted and everything he’ll never get now and it’s so overwhelming it sends him to his knees. Of course, because he clearly will never be able to catch a break all it does is remind him of the last time they were in purgatory together, the fear and heartbreak that shook him to his core, the devastation of Cas brushing off what he wanted to say because fuck it was so much more than his prayer.

“You beat me to it though, and then—well we both know what happened next.” His fingers are ice when they wipe the tears from his eyes. They jolt him, a shock to his system.

“You never gave me a chance to respond, didn’t even give me a damn moment to process any of it. And you’re a selfish son of a bitch for that because that wasn’t fair, that wasn’t—. I needed you to stay, I needed you to hear it too. I won’t ever be able to stay mad at you because I never have been, not for any of the shit you pulled in the past. But that? That was a new low.” He sniffles from the cold or from his tears he doesn't know but he does it all the same.

“Y’know if you were here right now you’d tell me to go inside because humans catch colds so easily and you don’t know how fucking much I need to hear that now Cas.” His heart plummets in his chest again. He feels sick all over again so he clenches his jaw to keep from heading too far down that road.

“I remember the first time you got sick, god you were a nightmare the entire time and I dealt with Sam getting sick every year since I was old enough to open kids cold medicine,” Dean laughs thickly, tears lodged in his throat. The strain of holding it all back shreds at the muscle and it screams with every breath he manages to shake into his lungs.

“I remember everything Cas, all of it, every fight, every drink, every goddamn time we looked at each other. And yet I can’t recall a fucking thing because I thought I had more time. After everything we’d gone through, I still thought we would have more time. It's all broken and jumbled and set to static and I can’t handle it because it's crystal clear and as muddy as anything because I thought I’d be able to make more, replace what got muddled. I thought you had more time.”

He shuffles around and presses his back against the trunk of the tree. His ass is uncomfortable as hell what with the roots and the wet cold earth below him but his knees appreciate the switch.

“I’m having a hard time this time because a part of me thinks just like it did after the whole leviathan fiasco. I swear you’re going to come back, that this is all a mix-up, that if I wait just a little longer, hold on a little longer, put my gun down just one more night that you’ll be back. But it’s been weeks Cas and nothing’s changed. I wake up and I go to sleep in a world that doesn’t have you in it and I was always okay before because you were just there even if I didn’t have you like I wanted I still got to see you, watch you, lo—be with you. But now it’s all empty, and no matter how ironically appropriate that is given the dumbass move you made a year and a half ago, I’m hanging on by a thread man. And Sam doesn't know how to help, even with all his dead girlfriends as experience to draw from.” He’s quiet for a long time, chewing on his lip, flexing his fingers together as he just sits.

“He says I need to stop making jokes to cover it all up but that's all I know how to do. I mean you can’t mourn your mom if you have a baby brother to take care of so you joke. You can’t talk about what the internet says is PTSD because there are monsters to hunt and people to save so you joke. You can’t let yourself be vulnerable because that means death so you joke. You can't tell your best friend what you need to so you joke. You hide behind something safe because no one wants you to show what's really there.” Dean's mind is a mess right now, jumping from one point to another, skipping ahead and falling behind. He has so much he wants to say and it’s like he’s trying to say it all at once.

He can almost hear Cas’ voice admonishing him for thinking that he didn't have a support system, that he didn't have people who loved him and wanted him to be okay and it strips him raw. Because it’s only been a few months, how could he already be forgetting his voice, or which way he tilted his head when he didn’t understand some random human action, which foot he started with when he stood up from a chair, if he liked smooth or crunchy peanut butter better even if it was all molecules to him, what his arms felt like wrapped around him, how he sighed when Dean was being an idiot, what his smiles looked like as he sat at their kitchen table talking with Jack.

How was he already forgetting all of the little things that made him fall for the fallen angel, heaven's most loved, heaven's most corrupted.

His chest is cracked so wide every part of him falls inside, his very soul falls into the pit, tumbles down and down and down because there are a million things that he and Cas will never get to do but there are a billion things Cas will never do again.

Sure Cas’ll never learn to dance but he’ll never smile again. He’ll never have the chance to memorize the words to the songs Dean showed him but he’ll never feel the sun on his skin again. Or laugh or cry or sleep in late. He’s never going to make another milk run, be it a monster hunt or an actual milk run. He’ll never watch another bee documentary or hug his son again.

Cas lived hundreds of millions of years and yet there was so much he left unfinished, he’s been around for eons and yet he still died too soon.

It takes him a moment to remember that even if Cas had been around since the Cambrian explosion in reality he’d only experienced humanity for eleven years. And all of it was spent fighting, shouldn't he get a fucking chance to just live for a fucking second. Let himself relax, shake the weight off his shoulders, just be finally?

Dean turns and looks from his position at Cas' name, the angle is atrocious so he can barely see the etchings.

There are a billion things he’ll never do again, a million things he’ll never get to experience. And for someone who's given all that Cas has given to this world, that just won’t do.

“You told me love drove me, you said that I fought for everything because of love, that I taught you how to and fuck Cas I don’t know how that's possible. But I’ve fought for nearly forty years because of love and there's no way in hell I am stopping that now. I’m going to fight for you, I’ll fight Chuck for you, I’ll fight against the anger that still lives inside me and dammit I’ll fight to get you back because no fucking way am I losing you forever after that speech. If love drives me Cas then you, you…” Dean takes a deep breath. “Happiness is in just saying it, but I can’t tell a piece of wood, so I’ll wait until you are back, because I will get you back. I don’t care what it takes. You need to hear it, you deserve to hear it. You deserve to know.”

I’m working on a rewritten ending for Supernatural that is set after this little alt ending to 15x18 because the actual ending... left a lot to be desired. Turns out spite was in fact enough to get me writing again! So that’s good right??

[hollowempire]

Illinois Headcannons

just Illy in general:

-he owns a trailer and an old, beat-up pick up truck. It helps him get around and also gives him a place to live.

-He has a german shepherd named Geo that waits for him in his trailer or sometimes joins him on adventures if it’s not too dangerous. He’s very helpful.

-His hands are rough, but at the same time they’re still nice to touch

-he used to have a wife (or a at least a gf he loved very much and wanted to be with forever) that died due to a work related cause

-after that he took on many partners, both romantic or just work partners, who all died or left because of work

-He blames himself for these deaths and has nightmares

-This pain sometimes manifests itself as nail biting when he’s not sleeping, perhaps because of the stress these losses caused him or as some may suggest, a punishment for letting that happen to his partners. He doesn’t do it much, though, mostly on bad days.

-eventually just gave up and stayed single/worked alone

-he calls people “kid” to distance himself from any sort of relationship—work, friendship, romantic—basically saying “I don’t need anyone, they’re not competent enough to help me or be in a relationship with me”

-as he said, he’s “married to the job”. He doesn’t do much other than work, never taking any time to explore any other hobbies he might have been interested in

-If he’s not actually exploring he’s researching and finding new places to go

-Likely doesn’t actually work with any organization. He probably makes profit off of what he finds illegally. He wanted to actually go to school and have it be his actual job, but that didn’t work out

-likes to make jokes a lot, will also laugh awkwardly. Especially in serious situations. That’s just how he’s learned to cope and doesn’t realize other people aren’t like that

-He never swears, not even in a situation you’d think it might be necessary. He just doesn’t see a point.

-Also very rarely yells

-He hates nicknames unless he’s called them by a friend

x reader:

-Y/n always calls him “Illy” which he complained about in the beginning but did like it, though he claimed he stopped ranting about nicknames being for friends and not assistants because he couldn’t be bothered. He really just liked them.

-Illinois is very touch starved

-he does have sexual contact but it’s all no attachments. He’s gone as soon as it’s over and never thinks about the person again. It’s been a while since he’s had any affection at all.

-One day y/n hugs him out of relief when she sees him emerge from from the cave unharmed after telling her to wait bc it might be dangerous

-his first thought is to push her off bc ‘hey we’re not friends associates don’t hug’

-before he can tell her to get off he realizes it’s actually pretty nice

-then how much he missed this kind of touching hits him and he MELTS because it’s been so long since he’s experienced any kind of affection and it feels so good

-also most of his previous assistants just wanted to get in his pants so having someone that cares about him was a good change too

-he just holds her so tightly and buries his head in the crook of her neck which sort of confuses y/n but she just accepts it

-After this they’re more comfortable with each other

-he does begin to call her his friend

-this doesn’t even have to turn romantic

-but if you wanted it to...

-Illinois has made out with girls, but again only in a sexual situation

-so after an adventure one time he and y/n were sitting outside the RV in front of a fire

-They’re sitting in the same chair with a blanket wrapped around them

-They’re both pretty tired, so they’re just silent while enjoying the warmth provided from both the fire and their bodies.

-Y/n looks at Illinois with a smile, his face mirroring theirs, and she just. kisses him absentmindedly.

-Illinois, totally forgetting that kissing doesn’t have to lead to sex, pushes her off and stands up

-“You were just trying to get in my pants the whole time, weren’t you?” he accuses.

-Y/n stands up, brushes her self off, and slowly approaches his while trying to explain that she likes him and sex isn’t her primary focus

-It takes him a moment to process what she said

-Y/n asks if she can kiss him again and he nods

-When she does he totally melts again.

-It takes him a while to get used to showing affection and being in a relationship again

-Tries not to get attached to quickly but it’s not long before he realizes he fell in love quite a while ago and let’s himself go all out with the relationship

-he’s an amazing boyfriend

(If there’s anything you’d like me to elaborate on or anything you’re wondering about him, send me an ask and I’ll likely have an answer)

[ectoplasmicbutton]

Ghostly Mysteries- Chapter 1

The sun shines down upon the forest of a small town, the birds sing happily and peaceful silence ruffles through the air. Soft footsteps of creatures known and unknown press through the grass and undergrowth, happily hidden away from curious eyes.

A loud groan interrupts the peace of the forest, followed by stomping feet as a set of twins push their way through the shrubbery.

“Blenngggghhhh... Dipper! How much longer do we have to stay out here? It’s hot!” The girl, Mable, complained to her brother, her pink dolphin sweater drenched in sweat.

Her brother, known as Dipper, didn’t even look up from the journal he was holding, “Well, maybe if you didn’t wear three-inch thick sweaters everyday in the middle of summer, you wouldn’t be so hot.”

Mable glared at the back of his head, “They’re not three inches! They’re 2.67, thank you very much. Besides, these are my summer edition sweaters! My sumweaters, if you will.”

“Your sumweaters are going to give you heat stroke.”

“Well, if you keep that attitude up it might just happen!”

“It won’t be a karma thing, Mabel,” Dipper retorts, finally looking from the journal to his sister, “Besides, I know theres something out here. I saw it!”

Mabel rolls her eyes, “I’m not sayin’ you didn’t see anything, but we see something everyday! It’s probably just gnomes or somethin’.” Nevertheless, she takes off her sweater and ties it around her waist, knowing they’re not going to be leaving the heat anytime soon.

Dipper turns back to his journal and ducks under a fallen tree, “Yeah but... I know this is different. I can feel it.” He flips slowly through the old pages of the book as Mable opts to go over the log instead of following her brother’s steps of going underneath.

Dipper heads deeper into the forest, pushing away more branches and leaves as he does so. He’s so focused on his journal that he fails to process Mable’s sharp gasp and small tap. It’s only when she starts furiously poking his arm that he looks up and glares.

“Wha-?!” His mouth is covered and he notices the look on his sisters face, expression softening and following the line her finger made towards a lump of... something next to a tree. Mable removes her hand as the twins slowly approach.

The closer they get, the more they can see. A head of black hair, blue jeans, a white t-shirt, pale skin... but something isn’t right. Dipper strains his eyes until the figure shifts, visibly contorting in pain even as it seems asleep. That’s when Dipper and Mable get a proper look at him.

The figure is a human boy, probably a teenager, and he was covered in blood.

————————————

Needless to say, Danny Fenton was absolutely not having a good week so far.

Sure, it started fine; school was out and he was spending time with his friends at the mall before, naturally, his ghost sense went off. It turned out to just be the box ghost, so he told his friends to keep going, that he‘s going to be fine, that they should have fun and he’ll join them in a bit.

That was two days ago.

Now, he was helping his giant, on-the-run-from-the-ghost-police dog friend, Wulf, with being on the run from the ghost police. Wulf had met up with him after he had trapped the box ghost in his “cruel cylindrical container”, explaining (rather slowly so Danny could understand) that Walker had found them. Of course, what Wulf had failed to explain was that Walker and his endless army of guards were two minutes behind Wulf, and had appeared through the last portal that he had opened.

Without the time to tell his friends, Danny climbed onto Wulf’s back as he sliced a new portal to the Ghost Zone into existence. They leaped through, followed by the Warden and a handful of the guards. They’d been jumping in and out of portals to get away, but around the seventh one, a guard had gotten lucky and thrown a spear, which had landed its mark.

Into Danny’s side.

White, blinding pain hit Danny as the spear sunk into his skin. Ectoplasm, with a tint of blood, erupted from the wound and soaked through the rubbery material of his hazmat suit. Wulf, who had seen what happened, slashed a portal into existence and quickly dived through. Danny’s vision was gaining spots, but he fought to stay awake. Wulf was landing in a forest, speaking in fast Esperanto with only a few words that Danny had heard and understood. He blinked for what he thought was a moment, but when he opened his eyes again he was on the floor and surrounded by grass. Wulf was leaning over him, ghostly black fur blocking out the blinding sun. He looked concerned, speaking in the few English he knew, “Stay here, be back. Stay quiet.”

It took everything Danny had to not let out a scream when Wulf tried, and failed, to take the spear out carefully. The dog-like ghost had then set Danny against a nearby tree, telling him again to “stay here” before launching off into the sky and opening a portal to lure the guards away from Danny.

The last thing Danny saw was the portal closing.

The last thing Danny felt was dread.

—————————

Dipper didn’t know what to make of the bloodied teenager they had decided to drag back to their home. It was questionable, sure, and sketchy, no doubt, but he looked like he needed help! Besides, questioning him when he woke up probably wouldn’t hurt, right?

They had found that the blood came from a wound on his right side, which was deep and, judging from the clean edges, looked like it was cut by some sort of blade (all thanks to the hours Dipper spent reading mystery novels). Mabel didn’t see a problem with using her sweater as something to help stop the bleeding, so thats what they did. Dipper grabbed his left arm, Mabel on his right, and they started their trek back to the Mystery Shack carrying a stabbed stranger they found in the woods with a pink dolphin sweater tied on his waist.

When they finally arrived (Mabel kicking the door open and shouting “medic!”), Soos took one look at them before dropping his broom and making all three of the current tourists leave the building. Wendy, who was definitely NOT napping by the register, leapt into action, “What happened?!” She asked, alarmed by the sight of the body.

“We don’t know!”

“It wasn’t us, I swear!”

Wendy disappeared into the kitchen to get the first aid kit while the twins set the teen on the table Soos had cleared off. The movement must’ve finally jostled the teen into stirring awake, because thats exactly what happened. His eyes fluttered open, slowly and squinting at the light, but they were open nonetheless.

Suddenly, he shot up. No one in the room expected any movement from him in his current state, so they all leaped away. It appeared that he also regretted the movement, seeing as the teens whole body contorted and he let out a silent yell. He fell back to the table, glaring at everyone in the room.

“Where am I?” He questioned, a hand on his wound.

Dipper stepped up, “You’re in the Mystery Shack. We brought you back because you were hurt in the woods! Well, I mean you’re still hurt and not much has changed but you’re awake now so-“

He was interrupted by Wendy entering the room again with a large first aid kit. She saw that the boy was awake, so she tried to appear as calm as possible as to not startle him, “Hey, so like you’re hurt and we can try to answer all your questions while I clean you up. What’s your name?”

The teen glanced at everyone in the room,

“You tell me all of yours first.” His voice was raspy, but light.

The redhead nodded, “Fair enough. I’m Wendy, this is Soos-“ The janitor waved, looking slightly pale from the sight of blood but still trying to appear as friendly as possible. “-Mable-“ “Hi! You’re wearing my sumweater!” “-and Dipper.”

The younger boy tipped his hat with what he hoped was a friendly manner, but one could never be sure.

“If you see an old man around here demanding for money, thats Grunkle Stan,” Wendy explained, gathering things from the first aid kit, “I’m going to lift up your shirt a bit to clean out your wound, if thats alright?”

When the teen gave a small nod, Wendy immediately got to work. He sat calmly, wincing only once or twice even when Wendy put the rubbing alcohol on to clean it.

“Wow Wendy,” Mable exclaimed, “I didn’t know you were a doctor!”

“My mom taught me this kinda stuff when I was little. We were always active little kids, y’know?”

“Hey,” Dipper cut in, “you never gave us your name.”

The teen looked away from the ceiling and to the group he saw around the table, “Uh-Danny. My name is Danny Fenton. Do you mind telling me where I am again?”

“The Mystery Shack,” Dipper responded, “It’s in Gravity Falls, Oregon.

The boy-Danny-bit his lip. He seemed stressed.

“Where are you from, Danny?” Mable asked.

If there was one thing Danny could do, it was string up a lie on the spot, “I’m from Amity Park, Illinois. We decided to take a road trip, we must’ve passed through here.” Technically, it wasn’t ALL a lie. They (being Danny and Wulf) decide to go on a trip through multiple places, it just wasn’t by choice.

“Okay, and how did you get that?” Dipper asked, pointing to the wound that Wendy was now bandaging up.

Danny glanced at him, then to the bandages, “I fell. Hit a sharp rock, then hit my head on something... next thing I know, I’m here.”

Even as Mable, Soos, and Wendy continued making small conversation with the teenager on the table, Dipper could tell something wasn’t right. He was lying. He was hiding something, and Dipper was going to get to the bottom of it.————————

end chapt 1!

[girls-are-weird]

oh boy. so there’s a pandemic happening outside my door, and on top of that, i have to finish a second draft of a journal paper i have to submit for publication at some point during this month. so what am i doing? editing images for a captain planet fancast at two in the freaking morning. because why not, amirite?

in all honesty, this probably came about because it’s a new decade, and my brain can’t process that the oft-announced and re-announced captain planet movie is still in development hell after, well, decades. you’d think, considering that climate change is basically a sword of damocles on top of the planet, that they’d get moving on this one right quick, but nooooooo. so i’m just doing my part to nudge things along a bit. not that any of the producers of the movie are actually reading this. (hi, leonardo dicaprio! so sorry i laughed during the climax of titanic. it wasn’t you, i promise.)

off the top, i have to note some important details:

in my head, in this movie, the planeteers would be new adults, rather than teenagers, and i have cast them as such. this is because in hindsight, the “child soldier” aspect of it all sort of bothers me. yes, i know this is a cartoon for kids so it makes sense that the main characters are kids themselves, but i’m an adult now and looking back on it with adult sensibilities has... well, not changed my appreciation of the show, but certainly a few things do give me pause. so if i’m casting 20-somethings in these roles, don’t think it’s just good ol’ dawson casting; i actually mean them to be in their early 20s (except for ma-ti, who would be in his late teens).

ideally, i wanted the actors who play the planeteers, at least, to be up-and-comers. as a result, i haven’t really seen a lot of their work (or any of it, in some cases), but i’ve checked for their work’s reception online and also looked at the odd youtube clip here or there, and i think they’re all talented enough to bring something special to each role.

i tried to keep close to the characters’ origins from the show, but of course, some of them are a bit vague, while others are super specific, and all of that paired with the fact that hollywood just isn’t particularly great at giving opportunity to young actors of color means that in some cases, i just had to work with what i had-- which was mostly looks and personality. i tried my best, i swear!

all of that said... *puts on her casting director hat* let’s do this!

1. shameik moore (24) as kwame

for kwame, i wanted someone who had a spark in him, but could also be serious and solid and observant when needed. i’ve only seen shameik moore in the netflix christmas romcom let it snow, and i really liked him in it, but i also like that he’s already carried critically acclaimed movies in dope and spider-man: into the spiderverse. sounds to me like he’d be a good choice for the leader of our favorite group of eco-kiddos. he’s not african-- rather from the united states, with jamaican ancestry-- but i think there’s a kind of wisdom behind his eyes that i came to associate with kwame as soon as his name came to mind.

2. brandon butler (23) as wheeler

i chose brandon as wheeler because of his smile. and it frustrates me to no end that i couldn’t find a decent-sized picture of him smiling to use in this edit, but do yourself a favor and google him-- that smile is wheeler for days. he’s most known for his roles in the netflix series 13 reasons why and trinkets, neither of which i have seen, but they’re big enough that he at least has something of a name. he’s from the US, though not from NY (illinois, i believe?), and his hair is not red-- more of a darkish sandy blonde, looks like-- but hell, if people accept KJ apa’s godawful dye job for riverdale, i don’t see why a decent hairstylist couldn’t do a 1000x better job turning brandon into a natural-looking ginger. i just tried it real quick with photoshop and i think it worked out pretty well.

3. liza arzamasova (25) as linka

liza is a russian actress who’s worked mainly on russian productions. i actually don’t even know if she speaks english, as all the videos i could find of her were russian-only, and i don’t think i’ve seen any of her stuff, but for some reason the moment i saw a picture of her i felt like i’ve seen her somewhere before? i don’t know, but she just screams linka to me, regardless. she’s actually not a natural blonde-- her hair’s more like milk-chocolate brown... so pretty, honestly, i love it-- but that’s something a quick dye job will fix. just from my half-assed try with photoshop i can tell she’d look great as a blonde.

4. paris berelc (21) as gi

paris is half-filipina, though born in the united states, and her credits include a bunch of disney channel shows and movies, as well as netflix’s tall girl and alexa & katie, the latter of which she’s the lead in. (i swear i’m not just picking people off netflix, it’s just that’s where all the young, upcoming folks seem to be.) i haven’t seen her in anything either, but from what i gather from clips and interviews, she seems like an energetic, whip-smart girl with all the sass in the world, and i love me that for gi.

5. xolo maridueña (18) as ma-ti

note to self: never google “south american actors” again, because the world (and the internet) just assumes you mean any random hispanic or latino actor like nationalities are all interchangeable. anyway, xolo at least has some south american in him, as he’s part ecuadorian, though he was born in the united states. he’s a really cool kid, funny, and really sweet, too. i know him mainly from youtube premium’s karate kid spin-off cobra kai, and i love that absolute trashbag of a show until my dying breath, but i also just really like xolo and think he’s super talented. i think he’d be great to play ma-ti as we know him from the show but maybe also give him a bit more of a distinct personality, not to mention it’d be fantastic if he got to explore a bit more of the darker side of ma-ti’s powers.

6. aishwarya rai bachchan (46) as gaia

while i had to use google-fu to come up with age-appropriate fan casting options for the planeteers, i didn’t even have to think twice about gaia because aishwarya rai has been who i’ve pictured as my live-action gaia for at least a good two decades by now. she just has that “mother earth” vibe to her, doesn’t she? that gaze that makes her look like she can see through your soul. i should also note that while with the younger cast i had some trouble finding pictures to use in these edits that i felt actually embodied the characters, with aishwarya rai i had the opposite problem-- i couldn’t choose! because let’s be real, this woman looks bloody gorgeous in every single picture and it’s just absolutely unfair how beautiful she is. a goddess, indeed.

7. omid abtahi (40) as captain planet

confession: i don’t... actually think this movie... necessitates the presence of captain planet as a character. yes, i just said that i don’t think captain planet needs to be present in a captain planet movie. BUT i just think cap is a very particular type of superhero, you know? i know we’re all now used to random weirdos flying around in spandex saving people, but i think cap is particularly kitschy and deus-ex-machina-y even among the superhero genre, and they could oh-so-very-easily go terribly, terribly wrong with him. so i’m not at all opposed to them making cap more of a... concept... than an actual character. if it gives the planeteers more of a chance to carry the movie, i’m okay with it.

that said, if i HAVE to choose someone to play the role, i would go with omid abtahi straight away. i swear, he’s so underrated, and it pains me that he’s not getting all the roles in everything ever. plus, he’s part of the hunger games family, even if just for a little while, and for that i’ll always be willing to throw him a bone.

(i briefly considered riz ahmed as well, as i love him so freaking much, too, but i think he would look a bit young beside aishwarya rai. so i’m sticking with omid.)

and... that’s that, i guess! i don’t really want to do the villains since they’re all so ridiculous, but i will state for the record that i would like for the movie, if it ever gets made before i die, to make them less cartoonish, but rather more intimidating.

oh, and the theme song better come back in some form. that’s non-negotiable.

hope you liked this! feel free to let me know what you think via comments, replies, or my ask box! and now... bed.

[deadlykittenkaywriting]

Tanzanite

SPN Rare Ship CC: Round 12 | @deadlyangelkay vs. @blue-reveries  Prompt: Tanzanite Ship: Meanstiel (Meg/Dean/Cas) Word Count: 1220 Tags/Warnings: all tags, warnings here Summary: Polyamory AO3 Link

Being in a poly relationship is hard work. Even harder when you add in three different thought processes. Three very different personalities. Even three different egos. As with most things in life, the harder the work, the better the reward. In this case, the ability to keep the peace and harmony is far more rewarding.

Dean’s not dumb. He’s heard the whisperings. He’s seen the disdain in others eyes when the three of them go out. He knows that Castiel and Meg feel the stares too. Yes, it put a strain on their relationship at first. Dean hates judgemental douche bags, especially if said douche bag hurts someone he cares about.

Meg didn’t really care. If anything it fueled her into being more physical in her affections in public.

But Castiel… Poor Castiel couldn’t handle the strain at first. He had the biggest heart of the three of them. He loved both Dean and Meg equally. Wanted to be with the both of them, but felt like the stigma from outside sources and the bickering between his two loves was tearing him in half. Much to Meg and Dean’s surprise, Castiel even left them, tired of it all. Six months into their relationship, a simple note on the counter placed by his phone.

The note simply said that until Dean and Meg had learned to ‘stow their crap’ he would be at this his brother’s house and will return when he felt it was time.

The first week since Castiel left, they had spent that time at each other’s throats. Meg blamed Dean for his inability to talk like an adult about his feelings. His need to drown in whiskey when he was angry, frustrated or upset. Dean turned around and lashed at her, calling her every name that would make not only his mother but his aunt Ellen both roll in their graves.

Week two was the silent treatment. Their king sized bed had a huge gaping hole in the middle where Castiel was meant to be, while Dean and Meg lie on their sides, their backs to each other.

Week three, the dam broke, so to speak. Dean had come home to find Meg on the shower floor, sobbing as the icy water assaulted her. Her eye makeup left black streaks down her face as she tried to shield herself with one of Castiel’s dress shirts. Dean shut the water off and joinder her on the floor. He pulled her to him and held her until her sobs were just silent shakes of her small body.

Week four and five they had come to an agreement. No more acting as if they were the mistresses to their own relationship to Castiel. Their priority was Castiel’s happiness. They spent the time getting to know each other more intimately and not sexually as they both agreed that they would rather have Castiel with them for that. Instead, they had intimate conversations while eating or laying in bed.

Who knew they both shared a love for Metallica?

Their dynamic had changed noticeably to other as well. They no longer appeared at odds with each other or just as if they were acquaintances. It was clear that there was a friendship forming and that they were getting closer. Dean’s brother, Sam, had even commented on the harmonious feel surrounding the two.

By the sixth week, Castiel came home. He came home unexpectedly to find his two loves on the couch. Dean’s head in Meg’s lap and she gently scratched her nails along his scalp. When Castiel opened his mouth to comment on the sight before him - as Dean and Meg had hardly touched each other, ever - Meg held her finger to her lips. A small smile was hidden behind her finger. She leaned her head back, welcoming the gentle yet loving kiss Castiel bestowed upon her and watched him with amused eyes as he moved to sit on the coffee table across from them.

He couldn’t help the fond smile on his face as he took in the sight in front of him. Both his loves were dressed for bed. Dean in his standard red and black flannel pants, wearing Castiel’s Illinois State University shirt. Meg was wearing Dean’s Metallica shirt and most likely nothing else beneath as she liked to ‘breathe’ at night.

Castiel gave her a pointed look at the shirt, he knew for a fact that was one of Dean’s favorites and he was surprised to see it on Meg.

She just shrugged. “Apparently, I’m worthy of it because I can name more than three of their songs,” she explained softly.

Castiel chuckled, reaching out to touch Dean. the back of his fingers gently brushes against the apple of Dean’s cheeks. Dean hums at the contact and nuzzles his face into Meg’s thigh.

“I see you’re getting along, now.”

Meg smiles at that and looks down at Dean, her fingers still carding their way through his short hair. “Yeah, he’s not so bad. I guess we can keep him.” she jokes.

Castiel playfully shoves Meg’s other leg making her snicker. “How long has he been out?”

“Fell asleep during Doctor Sexy. Like five minutes into the newest episode. Apparently, Adler was riding his ass hard today and he nearly quit.” Castiel gaped at her. “What?” she asked.

“He told you that?”

She scoffs and rolls her eyes. “Yeah. In fact, did you know that he is in the running for a junior partner? I have no idea what the hell he does at Sandover, but you should have been here last week, Clarence. Crowley and Cain think he’s the best candidate for the position and it was like Dean was on cloud nine.”

Castiel just looked at her in wonder. His plan had worked. The two people he loved the most were able to get to know each other without him acting as a mediator. He wondered just how well they got to know each other while he was gone and found himself asking that very same question out loud.

Meg shook her head. “We didn’t. The most we did was cuddle at night. Neither one of us were in the mood without you with us.”

“Wouldn’t be the same without you, Sunshine.” Dean’s voice was thick with sleep and Castiel looked down to see half-lidded, green eyes looking up at him. Dean gave him a small smile. “Welcome home, Cas. We missed you.”

Castiel smiled at Dean, moving to give him a soft kiss, much like the one he had given Meg. “I missed you both as well. What do you say to us going to bed?”

Dean nodded, slowly pushing himself up off Meg.

“You two are like old men. I swear.” Meg teased, getting up and moving past the two men, only to squeak in surprise when Dean slaps her ass.

“You love it, Masters.”

Castiel waited for the snarky, insult like comment that was bound to follow but was pleasantly surprised when she stuck her tongue out at Dean then winked.

“You comin’ Cas?” Dean asked as he stood up. Castiel only nodded and followed them both to the bedroom.

That night was the first night in which the three went to sleep as one loving unit and Castiel could feel it through his soul.