#my bonus hot take is that dean did not have concrete dreams outside of hunting

[eldestdaughterdeans]

a lot of significance is placed (rightfully) on what the shapeshifter says as/about dean in 1x06 skin—the implied jealousy and resentment, but especially "sooner or later, everybody's going to leave me." oof.

but also relevant i think is some of what the shapeshifter says as dean/about himself to becky. particularly "maybe this thing was born human but was different. hideous and hated. until he learned to become someone else."

and what is dean winchester if not a consummate performer. a people pleaser. a shapeshifter of sorts. papering over the tender parts of himself that he considers hideous and fundamentally unlovable. the parallels go both ways.