#spn + djinn dreams

[shallowseeker]

Shal, I hope you are feeling better! I wanted to add something to your Silvia-Amara meta if you don't mind me putting something into the mix as a long shot. Carmen from the djinn dream in What is and Should Never Be looks a lot like both of them. That seems like something!

Thank you. I'm feeling some better, but veeery sore and sleepless for the pain. (On the flipside, I can breathe better and already have more energy.)

This is so iiiiiiiinteresting, thank you!

I'll be honest...I had to go back to remind myself what Carmen even looked like. But yes! Carmen from the El Sol ad! Carmen the nurse! (I always thought she was a nod to one of Dean's psychosexual fixations, too; that is, films with hot men who dance like Swayze (Carmen 1983). I mean, hello Antonio Gades.

Plus, you know his thing for Spanish soap operas... ("Mi amor! Mi amor! Por favor despierta!" Poor Ricardo.)

And Dean's love for soaps from 7x03 The Girl Next-door. (Yes, the "My love, my love, please wake up!" one.)

//

Ahem. Anyway. Back to our Carmen. *points* Oh, my God. Yeah, it's El Sol, but it's also the specter of the beach. I am choking on my own spit here.

There's definitely something analogous in Sylvia (from season 15's Gimme Shelter) being an idealized something that Connor maybe thought he wanted, felt comfort going after, or tried to make himself want.

For that matter, I think there's something parallel here in how Amara views her love for Dean, too. Amara's view of Dean is idealized, draped in always-or-never statements, and impersonal. Meanwhile, the Dean of season 11 has grown immensely since the djinn dream in season 2. His conceptualization of love has become less romanticized:

DEAN: I can’t explain it, but to call it desire or love…it’s not that.

Carmen was an ideal, and Amara was perhaps the network's ideal, but Sylvia is actually not quite as one-to-one to either of them here. Sylvia was a real relationship with Connor, even if was perhaps a tragic childhood misstep for Connor while he was trying to figure himself out.

Of course, Carmen Porter's own words come back to haunt the Dean & Amara and Dean & Carmen relationships. Even our idealized romantic relationships falter, and they too become as baggage-ridden as our family, and our family is imperfect.

CARMEN: Well, you don't really spend a lot of time together. I mean, I just think you don't know each other all that well.

In early days, Dean's conceptualization of Carmen is adorably immature, like a teenager's dream: someone who accepts my eating habits n' idiosyncrasies, listens to me, and loves me. Someone who is "respectable" and stable. (In season 2, Dean is still, like Amara, dealing with the core wound of his nursery.)

Sylvia and Connor seemed to know each other quite well and were "a couple." He genuinely loved her, in his own way. Their connection just wasn't exactly what Sylvia thought it was, or wanted it to be. She became angry with Connor and called him a LIAR, and then she murdered him.

Dean has carried healthy relationships with dark-eyed beauties as well, like Lisa Braeden and "I-thought-we-had-a-connection" Risa from season 5's The End.

Hmmm. Okay, yes. I think your point is a good point. And it has branching points, too. There's a lot tangled up in here! Season 15's Sylvia Jones has some uncomfortable similarities to season 5's Risa, especially.

//

(REF: Here's the recent stuff about Sylvia and Amara-Silvia stuff and more Amara failing to recognize romantic love and Chuck setting Amara up for disappointment.)

[vesperscas]

DEANCAS⏤ MAKING A GARDEN/ COMING HOME

to love and to be loved is to rest, howelljenkins // andrew garfield's search for the sublime, gq magazine // snow and dirty rain, richard siken // oxygen, mary oliver // i can hear the world going on outside, sue zhao // tombstone, 13x6 script // andrea del sarto, robert browning

[anevermadebed]

to admit to a dean girl crime. i just had to look up whether or not sam was even in an episode. 

but im actually not crazy bc in s4 and s5 dean keeps getting sent places. he goes to endverse and back in time. he gets pulled into the green room. like sam does have his demon blood arc but he just isnt given more interesting settings to work with. 

[mittensmorgul]

from a chat with scylla9726, because the universe is NOT giving me enough time to type my thoughts out coherently this week, and I’m way behind on rewatch notes for the Winchesters already... 

(slightly edited for coherency and to make it a readable format)

i was hoping to get out my thoughts about djinn at least before tonight's episode, and I am definitely not gonna have the time now it's incredibly frustrating! but I'll be livewatching tonight!

scylla9726 Oh i can remember djinn are a big deal in your meta usually. Just so you know, I’m incredibly frustrated that I can’t read yours thoughts. scylla9726 Hope you can get the time someday. I’ve read some meta linking to the mother ship and it’s so delightful

mittensmorgul yeah, and these djinn, which everyone very casually is like "oh yes, this is what all djinn are like" but these djinn? are NOTHING like spn original djinn. they're... bafflingly... completely different in how they operate and I think that's a MAJOR clue as to what is actually big-picture happening, but I can't puzzle out how yet :'D

scylla9726 You’re talking about the monster at the beginning of the episode ? Because Ava’s son can be explained be the fact that he’s half human. I’m not sure I understand. He’s the same one or not ?

mittensmorgul just how djinns functioned as a baseline in our universe, they had to have access to their victim. they kidnap people and keep them in a warehouse. they don't just "invade dreams" of random people still walking around town, you know? yet this political candidate was like... experiencing djinn hallucinations when he was asleep in his office, still functioning.

scylla9726 Yes. But Ada s son different somehow. I can’t remember if he the one who killed in the cold open

mittensmorgul original djinn (and even the "bastard offshoot" djinn) literally needed physical contact with their victims

scylla9726 Yea it was bizarre

mittensmorgul and EVERYONE-- mary, ada, carlos, lata-- they were all like "yeah, this is how djinn work" and i was like... no the heck it is not? and it feels so intentional! like we're supposed to be going wait... why are djinn able to do this?

scylla9726 Ooooh i understand. In their world it airs sense to them but for us it’s strange. You’re right

mittensmorgul it's much closer to the boosted power that AU!Michael was able to give the djinn to affect people in reality, than it was to original djinn of any variety

scylla9726 So… alternate reality maybe ?

mittensmorgul i sincerely hope it's not, and don't really think it's an alternate reality. I think either the akrida are actually creating some sort of instability

mittensmorgul heck i might just copy paste these messages to just put it out there and I have a whole long essay with references etc. to explain this, but I haven't had time to write it ;_; mittensmorgul or if it is an alternate reality, it's somehow meshing with original spn reality because of the akrida, and it's up to dean telling the story to untangle truth from the akrida warping

scylla9726

The fact that they’re pulling uncommon monster. It remind me of something from spn ? mittensmorgul yeah, the "monsters not where they're supposed to be/acting weird" is very s6

[not-quite-girl-nor-quite-boy]

So, alright everyone. This is an early kinda fic for me. I first wrote this a long long long time ago but I decided, eh why the hell not. So yeah hear you are, apologies in advanced for my shitty spelling, grammar, and my abysmal paragraphing. Anyway have fun <3

This is a djinn fic for cass, it is strong destiel and very whumpy, don’t like don’t read (though I hope you all do both :)

Have fun <3

dean drove conflicted, on one hand it was a freaking djinn, he hated this godforsaken creatures and after what they did to him? Well that's where the profound sense of joy found him, he was begging, to kill one, absolutely ecstatic at the chance to get his pound of flesh. Sam sat next to him in shotgun, researching the lore and Cass sat in the back looking at the sky, fascinated by the myriad of stars dotting the sky, he had always thought they were beautiful, all of space, gods greatest creation, second only to humans.

When they arrived they entered silently, Sam headed up the group and Dean tailed Cass trying to make sure he was safe. Cass hadn't been as blind as dean thought to his little protective measures, he would follow him, push him out of the way of knives, getting himself hurt in the process despite them not being able to hurt Cass. He was starting to get sick of it. He felt like dean didn't trust him, like he thought Cass was incapable. They hurried inside, prioritising speed as well as stealth, and flooded the halls, they checked several rooms before they finally came to a room, at least ten victims were hanging there pale and weak, suspended from handcuffs attached to hooks on the ceiling. Sam and dean began rounding up and unhooking the victims from their places on the roof. Cass stared around the corner trying to find the djinn the others had forgotten about so quickly. He began walking, grateful to be loose of deans shadow. He walked into an office type room, the only sound, the quiet, echoing tap of his shoes against the mouldy wooden floor. He heard his name, dean was calling him from the vic's room, he finally noticed he was gone. Cass turned around to see the tattooed pale skin of the djinn.

"DEAN!" He screamed, the djinns rough calloused fingers pushing against his forehead. Cass felt the poison rushing through his veins like a bullet train, feeling his muscles weaken and his limbs weigh more and more. He took one glance and saw dean rushing through up to the doorway.

"dean..." He mumbled before dizzily collapsing into a heap on the floor, the djinn leaned down and he vanished with Cass, disappeared into a fog, gone.

"NOOO!!!" Dean called as he ran over to where Cass was. Sam ran in through the door.

"what happened?" He asked truly befuddled *(idky I wanted everyone to know I was English here lol)*

"it took Cass! This is why. This is exactly why I tried to take care of -" he cut himself off from the mumbling that followed the initial sentence.

"ok, well I read something in the lore about djinns liking caves and how they moved into buildings to fit in with modern society." Sam explained his voiced laced with remarkably condescending concern.

"so why are we standing here? We have to go!" They darted to the car and started speeding towards Cass.

Cass POV~ dream world~

Cass woke up, he looked around confused, he looked down at himself, he wasn't wearing the clothes he was wearing before, he was wearing loose flannel trousers, and a led zeppelin shirt that looked like Deans. He tried to think, think back to the last thing he remembered, he was dropped by a djinn, he shot up. He looked around for dean, he looked at him, happily surprised.

"Cass hey!"

"where am I, really, out there?" He said, in no mood for the lie's friendliness.

"what- out there? You mean, the djinn? We were worried you wouldn't wake up, that was almost two days ago Cass."

"wha- I, I don't. Dean I don't understand."

"hey, hey, its ok," he sat next to him on the bed, he put a hand to his forehead. Cass looked up at his hand in confusion. "your fever is still pretty high, but You'll be ok. Its ok if you are confused. I'm here."

"since when do djinn's cause-"

"are you tired?" Dean asked cutting him off. Suddenly a wave of dizzyness and exhaustion flooded over him like a tidal wave. He saw his vision blur and himself weaken. He nodded, suddenly subdued and relaxed by dean’s presence not afraid of him, not worrying about the stranger, of the dream world, or dying. Dean hopped in the bed and snuggled into Cass, much to his confusion, Cass looked at him but passed out before he could verbalise any of the myriad of questions floating wavily through his head.

~real world~

He weakly opened his eyes in the real world. He looked around, he saw the djinn,

"where am I?" He mumbled weakly.

"it doesn't matter now."

"what are, what is happening?" The djinn ignored him blatantly.

"what are you? Usually I need several people at a time but you? You're delicious, you have power I have never seen before."

"i am an angel of the Lord. How did you injure me?" He said suddenly noticing the dripping coming from his leg, it splashed slowly dripping into a bucket under his feet.

"pointy, silver thing in your sleeve. I'd best keep my eye out for you lot."

castiel fed him a look of rage and disgust.

"sleep now," he said quietly the blue flame sparking on his fingertips as he reached out and caressed his forehead. He tried to pull away but despite his struggle the flame claims his mind, sending him into a deep slumber.

~dream world~

cass woke up still in deans arms but calmer than before, he leaned into Dean. He felt strange, he looked at dean something was off, he tried to cling on to the memory the djinn but it felt like going up the stairs in the dark and you don't know if there is another step at the top. He tried to clear the smog inhabiting his mind to no avail. He looked at dean, smiling, his closed eyed hiding the forest green emeralds he called eyes. His dark blond hair mixed in with twirls of brown. Hid adorable freckles lightly dotting his tanned face. He slowly opened his eyes looking straight into Castiel's blue ones. He smiled lightly.

"good morning," he said sleepily. "how are you feeling?"

"fine." Cass replied sleepily.

"damn I always hated djinns." He said, his hand on Castiel's forhead. "you're still quite warm. Try to get some more sleep, huh?" Cass looked at him confused.

"I- dean i don't sleep, I'm an angel." Dean looked at him confused.

"i know that cassy, but you're sick, the djinn poisoned you and it weakened your vessel's immune system." Cass knitted his eyebrows, his eyes closed before he could say anything he felt himself shivering, shaking even under the covers. Dean took off his shirt and slipped in with him, taking him into his arms gently Cass nuzzled himself against Dean, trying to absorb his warmth.

~real world~

he felt himself bleeding out, he felt the weakness replacing the blood that he lost, his body was emptying but it was refilled, replenished by his overwhelming sense of tiredness and fear. He was going to die here.

~dream world~

he woke up, he looked at dean's naked torso, he traced the antipossesion tattoo with him finger and he padded his handprint from when he pulled him from hell. Dean woke up to Castiel's hand on his shoulder.

"are you alright?" Cass just smiled at him.

"yeah, i am."

"you're alot cooler now. You feeling better?" Dean asked.

"loads." Cass replied blissful.

"good. You seem happy."

"just content, I feel peaceful." Cass said.

"good. Come on ill fix us some grub." Dean said taking cass' hand and leading him out of the room. He walked with him, unflinchingly, without question. He sat him down in the kitchen while dean started making some eggs, and bacon. He was humming his favourite songs while he cooked and Cass just looked at him smitten. He set down the plate in front of him, he looked at it, then him confused.

"I don't eat dean." Dean looked at him confused.

"just try some Cass." He said with a fake smile, obviously worried about him.

Cass hesitantly ate a small mouthful and smiled, it was delicious, no more molecules just food! It was wonderful, Castiel's smile told dean all he needed to know.

"see I knew you'd love it." Dean said. Cass positively beemed, he ate the whole plate graciously. And requested another. Dean smiled at him and offered it up.

"you really sapped you're strength with that flu didn't you?"

"yeah, I - I guess so." Cass said inhaling the food on his plate.

"so, what are we gonna do today?"

"do we have a case?" Cass asked.

"baby, no you just relearned how to stand ok, we are gonna take the day off." Cass looks at him fazed.

"you... Ok?"

"'baby'?"

"yeah? And..."

"just, that's only for the ca- nevermind."

"...ok... So today?"

"um I... I don't know, what do you wanna do?"

"how about we watch some tv, cuddle up on the couch, popcorn. Horror movies, then maybe you'll understand some references?"

"ok then."

they walked over to the sofa where dean sat, one arms extened. Cass sat on the opposite end of the sofa, confused as to why dean was sitting so openly. Dean looked at him confused, he patted the chair next to him, which Cass looked at confused. He reached over to Cass and slid him across the sofa into his arms, Cass snuggled into Deans chest, it felt right, he always had wanted to, but he assumed it would make dean uncomfortable, he comfortably huddled into dean. While he turned on a horror film called 'carrie', apparently it was a classic. At the end Cass buried his head into dean who paniked and peeled Cass away so the could figure out what's wrong.

"hey, hey, hey, what's wrong?"

"its-its- I- the blood." Cass was in hysterics. He was an angel Of the Lord and as he had once explained to Dean he was gods warrior. He that had seen his fair share of blood spilled and he truly did not wish to see another drop.

"its ok, its ok, don't worry, its not real, its just a film, i got you." Cass sniffled and gasped.

"r-re-really?"

"yeah, cassy, its not real i got you."

"oh-ok."

"do you wanna do something else? What would make you feel safer?"

"no, lets watch more, you make me feel safe." Dean smiled at him, pleased at the comfort he brought him as he switched on something slightly less scary.

~real world~

the boys pulled up, speeding to the cave so helpfully supplied by everyone’s favourite red headed witch. She seemingly had taken a shine to Castiel, or maybe he was a required pawn in a future plot, but either way she was adamant for his safe return.

They hurried inside but stopped short when they saw him.

The djinn stood there gently caressing his forehead with a delicate, yet aggressive blue flame dancing from its fingertips to the angels brow. They cornered and killed the bastard that hurt their friend but not without a few near misses. When they got back over to him the noticed Castiel's condition worsening, his life dripping, pouring out of him, he was pale and tired, his body was weak and breaking. Dean ran over to him, wrapping his arms around him in an effort to take the strain off his arms and wrists where he was tied, suspended off the ceiling. Sam reached up and cut the restraints causing him to fall entirely onto dean who caught him graciously. He adjusted the way he was holding him so he had one arm under his and one under his knees. He carried him into the car, as Sam fished the key out of his pocket without exchanging a word. Once inside dean layed Cass down in the back,his head in deans lap, that is when dean identified the liquid oozing put of him. He clamped down on the wound hard, expecting Cass to resist or struggle. dean was worried when he elicited no such reaction.

Cass was in terrible condition, he was bleeding out and would if he wasn't already poisoned to sleep, he would have long since passed out.

when they arrived home at the bunker several hours later, dean carried cas to a bed while Sam busted out the African dream root and the suture kit for his leg.

he returned holding a mug and a small box. Sam passed it to dean who downed the whole thing while Sam got started on the stitches.

~dream world~

dean honestly had no idea what to expect, he hadnt really given it much thought, he just knew his friend was in trouble and he had to help him. He was shocked when he found himself in the library of the bunker, he walked into the hall relieved and confused when he found it to be the same bunker he lived in, he was at home.

He walked towards the kitchen hearing the humming of his favourite songs, he wondered towards the doing curious. He peered into the room and saw himself cooking over a pan of food and castiel looking at him dreamily. Dream dean turned to face cas who had a big sloppy smile on his face. He handed him a plate of food and they kissed as he put it down in front of him. Dean was shocked.

"Cass…" he said from the doorway. Cass looked over and saw dean, he was immensely confused.

"Dean, what- what is happening?" Cass asked looking back and forth between the two. The real dean answered.

"I'm sorry Cass, I'm sorry but this isn't real. You were kidnapped by a djinn and it was poisoning you but you need to wake up. You need to kill yourself."

"what - I- i don't understand." Cass said looking worryingly close to a breakdown.

"Cass its ok. Sam and i will be there when you wake up. Out there, in the real world. This isn't real, and deep down somewhere you know it." Suddenly the false reality constructed in his mind came metaphorically crashing down around Cass. He remembered the djinn, the bleeding out, the cave. But he didn't want to leave, why would he? He was happy here, he was loved.

"no, you know now, you wont even be my friend, everything will be different, just-just let me be happy, please."

"no Cass, I love you too, I want this."

"I don't need your pity dean, stop lying."

"I'm not!"

"whatever. Please, just let me stay. I'm happy."

"what about me and Sam?"

"you'll be better without me, all I do is screw up."

"no Cass please, you have to come with me."

"no dean." He started to walk away.

"then I'm sorry." Cass turned around, looking at dean. Dean plunged a triangular blade deep into Castiel's heart. Cass looked down in awe, dean killed him?!

he fell to the floor. In a heap. As he did in the real world too. He was in a pile, a mound crumpled on the ground. He instinctively reach for his chest. It was gone, it wasn't real. He looked to dean, who just stood from his chair.

"YOU DIDNT GET YOUR WAY SO YOU KILLED ME?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?"

"Cass we need you!"

"Yeah, people often think that about their pets."

"Cass you aren't a pet, you are out friend. Our family."

"you always kill your family when they are finally happy?!"

"Cass-"

"I don't want to hear it." He vanished.

Dean threw up his hands in frustration.

"dude, what happened?" Sam asked absolutely confused out of his mind.

"well, summary, Castiel's greatest wish was us to be together." Dean said with vigour expecting a dramatic reaction from Sam who usually loved gossip like a nine year old girl.

"and..." Sam asked blankly, still confused.

"and? What, Cass loves me and music is just how the government controls our minds? What more do you want?"

"well I just mean, its kinda obvious. Everyone knows, hell bobby knows, did you not?"

"no I did not Sammy!" Dean snapped.

"oh well, sorry man. How do you feel about him."

"well, honestly-" dean was cut off by a major crashing sound from the other room. Sam and dean ran through the halls and around the corner to the source of the noise, guns drawn out in front of them.

Cass POV

he flew over the sky leaving wispy whilte trails of cloud in his wake as he tore through the pockets dotting the sky. He then realised the rapid tiredness overcoming him, he saw himself lowering towards earth without his consent. He felt himself passing out, he didn't like it but he had to get safe, at home. He summoned all his remaining strength and with a single beat of his wings appeared back in the bunker, where he collapsed and passed out finally.

3rd person POV.

dean darted over to Castile's unconscious body crumpled in a he's on the war room floor.

"CASS?" He checked his pulse at rapid speed. It was weak but there. He checked on his now secured leg wound.

"damnit Cass you shouldn't have left, you were bleeding to death like an hour ago, and we have no idea what djinn venom does to angels." He mumbled to himself. He carefully picked up the wounded angel and carried him into the bedroom. He left him on the bed, tucking him in with the covers.

"its ok Cass. I love you. I'll be here when you wake up. I'll explain." Dean whispered to him quietly.

"I love you too." Cass mumbled in his tired delirious state. Dean smiled at him and tucked him in, he laid down next to him hugging him tight and keeping him safe.

A/N: Sorry if the ending is shit but yeah it was written originally years ago and I barely tweaked it to make it make sense tbh. Also I have no idea about djinn lore and do not know if caves are where they frequent, I just needed a setting :).

Despite its age I hope you all had fun <3

[boywifesammy]

spn fic rec fest - 6

AUGUST 16 - case fics AUGUST 19 - outsider pov

as before, i've tagged authors that have their tumblr public on their ao3. if you'd like me to remove the @, just lmk. @spnficrecfest for more info on the event.

Case fics

The Hottest Blue by submariner (@submarinerwrites) Dean/Sam, 14k, E

A ghoul hunt drags up painful memories of Jess for Sam. this is one of my fav case fics!! everything is amazing from the story to the characterization to the smut. it really delves into sams grief after jess and how it affects his romance & sex life, its explored very well in a realistic way!!

A Love That Lasts by bloodwrites (@bloodwritesfic) Dean/Sam, 4k, E

Sam & Dean are hit by a love spell on a milk run for Rowena. love spell fics are my guilty pleasure and this one had that perfect combo of feverish need and tentative fear… the smut is really intimate and it captures the vibe of late seasons samdean very well!!

A Fever Dream by brokenlittleboy Dean/Sam, 33k, E

Reverse!Djinn dream fic where Sam’s perfect world is one where he has Dean. this fic is a wonderful take on djinn!Sam because it plays well into storylines with hallucifer where he’s manipulated into questioning himself/the world around him. the whump after sam wakes up is also wonderful, i love well written disability plots! the twist of sam finding out that it isnt real is soooo painful, BUT the happy ending makes up for it!!

Outsider POV

Man at the Crossroads by BlindSwandive (@blindswandive) Dean/Sam, 4k, T

"Cordelia (paralegal) needs to know who the hell this leather jacket-wearing, cheap cigarette-smoking rough trade is. And just why his rolling into town is shaking up her normally so-calm boss, lawyer Sam Winchester." this is one of this fics thats a self-contained little novel in a oneshot. the writing is amazing and the character development of cordelia in such a short span of time is really well done. i also have SUCH a thing for prim&proper sammy losing his composure and going feral with dean ;)

Tomorrow's Headline by ohagony (@ohagony) Dean/Sam, 5k, E

Sam and Dean stroll into a town and tell everyone they’re brothers. Nobody buys it. INCEST KINK YUMMY MEAL!!!! i love the snarky little interactions between the boys here & the writing&voices of the side characters is delightful. cute & short while still being super engaging.

Scumbag Fuck (But I Swear That He's Not) by TeleportingAspen Dean/Sam, 3k, T [underage]

“Sam Winchester is caught with a young omega and no brother. Turns out it looks really bad when your brother/mate is suddenly twelve.” victor henriksen pov !!!! my favourite outsider pov character other than bobby. i LOVED the detail in this about them realizing that young!dean had all of the same scars as dean <3 sooo dark and horrifying! poor victor haha

[pollsnatural]

1) Question for everyone (i.e. spn fans): How do you think djinn dream would look like for Dean in later seasons? (not a poll)

[mad-as-a-box-of-frogs]

I was determined to save my baby. I didn't want [Tony] to get that hunger that possessed Ali. I made decisions. There was a chance he wouldn't inherit his father's powers or urges, so yes, I hid the truth. When he turned 17, the djinn marks started to show, and I couldn't explain those away. And then one night, he walked right into my dream, and he saw everything, including the fact that he terrified me.

Ada Monroe in Legends of a Mind (1x05): Best of SPN WIN Gals and Nonbinary Pals [22/?]

[shallowseeker]

It's like a bullet to the heart every time....

everything we ever wanted

ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER via @spnscripthunt

[crackers4jenn]

Fic Masterlist - Supernatural (Dean/Cas)

CANON-ADJACENT

TITLE: down the road (WIP)

SUMMARY: Set immediately after the s7 finale, when Dean and Cas get sucked into Purgatory. They stick together to fight their way back out, running into some old friends along the way... and some old enemies. (Or, Brokeback Purgatory 1.0. Dean and Cas work through their issues in monsterland.)

TITLE: every inch of my life

SUMMARY: Post-season 15, in a version where Dean doesn't die and Cas is back from the Empty. Gabriel shows up with some mischief in mind, hurtling them through classic porn tropes.

TITLE: one more time (WIP)

SUMMARY: Set during the s15 divorce arc. What if Cas got captured by a djinn. What if he experienced his moment of ‘true happiness’ while caught in its dream, and it summoned the Empty. What if Dean saved Cas from the djinn, only to have a portal of black goo open up in front of them?

TITLE: lapse and fall again

SUMMARY: A post-finale fix-it fic where Dean doesn't die. Instead, he pulls Cas out of the Empty. Eventually, after the reunion, there's romance and a road trip, but not specifically in that order.

TITLE: like a tidal wave I'll make a mess

SUMMARY: 5 Times Dean and Cas Get Mistaken for a Couple (and 1 Time They Actually Are)

TITLE: and I will pull my whole heart up to the surface

SUMMARY: 15x20 fix-it fic. Heaven feels perfect, until suddenly it doesn't.

TITLE: here's a map, here's a shovel, here's my achilles heel

SUMMARY: Post-15x19. Turns out, Dean doesn't have to ask to get Cas back.

TITLE: sink

SUMMARY: "Where to?" A 9.06 coda.

TITLE: dry and blown like dust

SUMMARY: They worry first about angel doings and once-dormant plagues and monster illnesses from cursed objects around the bunker, but Sam WebMD's Cas' symptoms and diagnoses him with: the flu. Set in s9.

TITLE: Mr & Mr Winchester

SUMMARY: "No pet names, I popped the damn question, and you're the girl." (Or, Dean and Castiel: fake-married. Set in a hypothetical s9.)

TITLE: lights down low

SUMMARY: When Dean comes to, it's with a fuzzy, head-pounding disorientation. He's on his back, on the ground, that much he immediately knows, where there's an overgrown lawn cushioning what must've been one hell of a landing. (Or, my excuse to do a canon-compliant Dean/Cas rom-com.)

TITLE: the morning when it's clear

SUMMARY: Post-8.02 Purgatory fic. When it all goes to shit, and obviously it does, it feels like the world is splintering open. That's probably because it is.

✨

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE

TITLE: 99 problems (and a stitch ain't one) (WIP)

SUMMARY: Dean gets a job at a craft store to woo and date ladies, but his plans backfire because his boss is the v. annoying but v. dreamy Castiel, who might be the actual temptation.

TITLE: Wedding Guy

SUMMARY: Cas slips Dean his number at a wedding, and a friendship/relationship takes off from there.

TITLE: on higher grounds

SUMMARY: (based off a tumblr post) charity collector cas who has a spot outside dean’s favourite book store in town and who always looks so cold despite the huge scarf he wears so dean takes to bringing him hot chocolate every day and cas gets this little smile every time he sees dean coming down the street

TITLE: a way not steep

SUMMARY: Dean's twenty-six and his roommate's a guy who cries during E.T.

TITLE: like only a best friend could

SUMMARY: They're both 18 now and Cas is going off to college and Dean's. Well, Dean's probably headed for a fun future of 'would you like fries with that?' and sometimes it scares him so much he thinks about running away too. Like their dads.

✨

CROSSOVER/FUSION

TITLE: Filming Jesus

FANDOMS: Community, Supernatural

SUMMARY: God is not here, Dean. (Or, Jeff and Annie meet Dean and Castiel. Set during Community s3 and SPN s5.)

TITLE: 11 characters that never were the slayer

FANDOMS: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, The Office, Community, Glee, Parks & Rec, Gilmore Girls, etc etc.

[reignof-fyre]

I'm back on my spn obsession bullshit and it just occurred to me that Dean's happy djinn dream included his (abusive) father being dead, his mum alive and happy, his brother a successful lawyer and engaged to Jess, and dean is...an alcoholic with a hot gf. HIS HAPPIEST FANTASY IS EVERYONE BUT HIMSELF TRULY HAPPY AND I -

[jasontoddspussy]

there's a creature in spn, a djinn, who poisons its victims and the victims will then hallucinate/fever dream a reality where one of their deepest wishes have come true believing its real while in reality the djinn feeds off of their blood

i can imagine this happening to jay who's dream is abt being basically monster tims sex toy

and when the bats finally find him hes a mess bcs he's been hanging and slowly drained of blood for days while having orgasms and he's whimpering and saying tims name over and over again

[misguidedasgardian]

From the Ashes (III)

III. Doctor's In

MASTERLIST

Summary: Sometimes, the worst monsters are real people 

Warnings: Supernatural (and all that comes with it), monsters of all kinds, pyrokinesis, cursing, murder, impersonating of law enforcers, guns, knifes, guts, hearts, eyeballs, frankenstein doc, might miss some warnings

Wordcount: 2,9 k

Notes: Let’s kept this party going, like SPN, this will be like short chapters, with plot of course, and a story that progresses along.

“You still keep that?”, asked Dean, you giggled

“Of course I do”, you had a map, a big map, those for tourist, of all the united states, in it, you were marking the places you had been, because, as hunters, you should never “repeat the treat”, meaning, after posing for federal agents, or policemen, or anything, you shouldn’t really come back. You marked Denver with a big X

“What did you see?”, he asked gently, you looked at were John had gone, to the bathroom, you were at the local diner

“Uh?”, you asked looking back at him, “when?”

“When that Djinn got you”, he said again

“It was a dream”, you said seriously

“(y/n), you mumbled “mom” when you were waking up”, he said, you looked back at him, it had been a beautiful dream

“My mom was alive”, you said, “I went to Stanford to study architecture, I met Sam, he finished school and married Jess, you had studied too, went to USF and studied mechanical engineering”, you said quickly, he frowned, “I got married and had twin girls”

“Really?”, he asked, you nodded, he chuckled, “what a trip”, he smiled, “who’s Jess?”

“Sammy’s girlfriend”, you giggled

“He has a girlfriend?”, he asked, amazed, you nodded

“Who has a girlfriend?”, asked John 

“The guy we are after”, he said simply

“He should be 120 years old”, John said weirdly, you and Dean shared concerned looks

“He was into younger women”, you said quickly. he didn’t buy it

“I appreciate you’re back”, he started, and you resisted the urge to roll your eyes, “but I need you to focus, both of you”, he said severely, and you really appreciated that he didn’t include any “but” or “ifs”, “I understand it’s hard to come back…”

“Yes, Ser”, you said firmly, even Dean seemed surprised, “I’m sorry”, he nodded, more pleased

“What did you see, Ser?”, Dean asked, John looked at him, and then at you

“When?”, he asked

“When those Djinns got you”, he asked, you knew he was dying to know

“Focus on the right things, Dean”, he said severely

“(y/n) told me”, he said, as he was a little kid

“Anyways”, he said, “let’s check in, and then we’ll gather the info”

“People showing up dead with missing body parts, right?”, you asked, grabbing the paper clipping over the table, “are we sure this isn’t just a gang for organ trafficking?”, you asked gently

“Yes, but… the stitches… they are using silk, that is a way old method to stitch those”, muttered John, you nodded

“Great”, you mumbled. 

“Let’s wait until we are in the motel”, muttered John looking around, you both nodded, you put the clipping away

“Yes Ser”, you said at the same time.

This motel in particular was… nicer, one room with two twin beds, it was comfortable.

“Oh look, we have a kitchen!”, you admired 

“Nice”, said Dean without caring, you dropped the two bags filled with weapons on the bed, Dean and John got ready, they started getting dressed in suits

“Why can’t I go?”, you asked Dean

“Because you can’t keep a straight face, you are always smiling and giggling”, he mocked, “and you look 20”, you rolled your eyes

“I’m 22”

“Exactly, besides, the trope of Seasoned agent and his apprentice never gets old”, he said with a smirk, they both looked handsome in suits. You walked towards Dean, and helped him, arranging his tie that was crooked, he kept looking at you

“You never told me”, he teased

“What?”, you asked him

“Who was the guy you married in your dream”

“You still on that?”, you mocked, trying to hide how nervous you were, he kept smirking at you, “some guy I met on the trip”

“Uh, that important uh?”, he asked

“Not really, he was handsome though, and it was a dream you know”

“I know when you are lying”, he teased.

“Idjit”, you chuckled

“We need you to give us some intel”, said John, you barely nodded

“Yes, I’ll do”, you said quickly, setting up your computer on the table, “but you do know I can lift 1.000 pounds, right?”, you asked, very seriously

“Yeah, yeah, sure”, mocked Dean, but then he stopped and looked right back at you, “how do you know how much you bench?”, he asked

“I like to go to gyms and freak gym rats out”, you said simply

“I need you to check on the places the people had been snatched from”, said John, giving you a list

“Great”, you said happily, you did like this part, the investigation, like you were detectives

As they left to start their investigation, you prepared a small pack and left too. 

You had seen so many cities, each time though you couldn’t possibly learn the layout of another one, but you did, you always learned them, and soon you managed to wander around and always come back to the motel.

Parks, that was a favorite spot for beasts, vampires, werewolves and ghouls to snatch their victims. 

A guy who used to run everyday by the park got snatched two days ago.

You looked around, not knowing what you were really looking for, something… 

You wouldn’t tell this to John, or Dean, not even Sam when he was with you… and of course you didn’t know what humans perceived or saw or heard… but in comparison to the boys, you noticed you could… sense everything more clearly, you had really acute instincts… 

So you walked a path through a more distant part of the park almost through the woods 

The hair in the backs of your head were standing up, all your senses seemed heightened, you entered a subspace in your head of maximum alert even though you weren’t really scared, if was like you were on the hunt… even though you didn’t really hunted for anything 

The police should have been looking around, so you were being childish to think they would left anything unchecked, but still.

You found nothing.

All of that for nothing, you took the path back to the city, more frustrated than anything, it was childish to think you were going to crack this thing alone, and also, you should get used to the idea that it was going to take a while to adjust back…

“Mama!”, screamed a small child, his mother was with him, “I don’t wanna go down there”, he said, grabbing onto her hand

“Why?”

“There is a man in the woods! Frankenstein!”, he cried

“Last time I let you watch those movies with your cousins!”, she said angrily. You looked back at the forest, but there was nothing there.

The sun was already setting, so you started walking back to the motel, you stopped by a store, to buy some food, now that you had a kitchen in the room, you found some steaks, you bought beer, and buy a lot of snacks, you sensed it was going to be a long night to try and figure this out. You wanted to do something nice for them, so you used your credit card with your fake name

“You are such a nice girl”, said the old woman who was minding the register

“Thank you”, you whispered softly, a bit embarrassed

“You take care alright? there is a bad man out there”, she warned, you found it odd

“What do you mean?”, you asked 

“You take care”, she muttered, you nodded

“Thank you”, you said quickly, grabbing your things. This was a strange town.

You drank beer while you cooked the stakes and made some sides to go with them, John and Dean entered shortly after.

Dean whistled

“I’m so glad to have you back!”, he said happily, kissing your cheek, “I can get used to this”

“Well… don’t”, you said with a giggle. “How did it go?”, you asked

“It was… pretty disgusting”, John, as usual, didn’t say anything but he seems pleased, “we’ll discuss it after dinner doll I don’t want to spoil it”

“I actually saw a couple of things”, you said, “I was walking at the park and… I heard this kid say that he didn’t want to go to the woods, that Frankeinstein was there”

“That could be anything”, said Dean as he help you put the plates a the table

“I felt this weird vibe”, you explained, but they shook it off

“This is so fucking good”, moaned Dean as he ate, “it’s been a while since I’ve eaten a home cooked meal”, he said happily, finishing his food

“Thanks”, muttered JOhn, you only smiled, being glad that you did this for them

After dinner with beers in hand, you started discussing the important things

“We found maggots on the inside of a guy’s wound”, you wanted to throw up the good meal you put together

“Even if that’s disgusting… it is a clue”, you said quickly, taking out the things you researched, “Like the silk used to sew the wounds shut, is a really ancient method, doctors I used to do it like this on the late 1800s”, you said firmly, “so this… doesn’t look human to me”, they shared concerned looks

“A victim is missing its liver, the other, one eye, the one with the worms, and another’s lungs”

“It seems so random though”, you said, “usually is one part for monsters, this thing… is taking parts then trying to patch them up? it’s weird”, you said 

“Agreed”. said Dean.

“Do we have a pattern? like the victims? are they connected?”, you asked.

“They all seemed to be young and healthy”

You spend most part of the night making theories until you finally fall asleep. Since John found you, you bunked with Dean, it wasn’t odd, so you both took one of the beds. You ran hot at night, so Dean was always happy to keep you near when it was cold outside. 

“I’m gonna do make some rounds”, announced John surprisingly, you both looked at him

“We can go with you Sir”, Dean said quickly

“You stay and rest, so you both can go tomorrow”, hes aid firmly, and you knew, with that voice, he didn’t any discussions

He didn’t do you any favors, if he would have wanted you to go, he would have said so, you both understood it, so he left, leaving you both alone

“It’s weird”, you said

“What is?”, he asked back

“You don’t want to hit the bars or anything?”, you asked

“Not really, I’m beat”, he said, accommodating himself ready to sleep, you followed suit soon after.

But something woke you up in the middle of the night, you turned around to see Dean comfortably tucked in, you were sleeping in shorts almost on top of the bed, it was hilarious

John wasn’t back yet.

It was four in the morning.

You got up and dressed, left a note for Dean that you were going to make a few rounds too, and left. You put on your most comfortable boots, you were going on foot.

You were trying to come to a balance, before you left for your trip,John would be so cautious with you, sometimes as far as leaving you in the motel instead of taking you. You’d think you’d be his secret weapon, the muscle of your little group, but the truth is, you weren’t. He was very protective of you, sometimes you even considered he was fearful of you, of what you could do.

And then, when you found yourself alone, you really tested your own limits, and pushed them too, you discovered more things about yourself when you were alone, because you weren’t being pressured constantly. You were so afraid before that you’d hurt somebody, you could see the fear in the Winchester’s too. But you started hunting alone, and even though sometimes you messed up, you got the job done.

Now you believed you needed to adjust back to John, and he needed to adjust to the fact, that you weren’t that little girl anymore, you were a supernatural being, that had total control over her body, and what some may call your “powers”, it was a bit grinding to call them that, the fact that you could burn people to a crisp, not age, and have super strength, but still.

You walked back to the park, something kept calling you there.

You saw the Impala parked by the entrance, and your stomach sank

You ran through that park, all of it, in seconds, it was empty, the night was chilly, and you didn’t know what to do. You took the same road towards the woods. You couldn’t see much, but the moon still lit up the way, and besides, as stated, you had more capabilities than the regular human. You followed the path until it was no longer one, you were in the middle of the woods, this was bananas. You soon heard the noise of a creek, a river.

“JOHN!”, you called, not caring for the consequences, you wished for a wendigo or something, you really wanted to have a good fight, fist to fist.

But no such luck.

You wished so badly you could fly

You could though.

You found a run down cabin in the middle of nowhere, as you stood in front of it… you started catching a disgusting smell, not fresh, but… hits that something recent had been going on. 

You entered quietly, on guard. This might be hunted but you really believe it was not a ghost what you were hunting.

You had a knife on you, you held it tight in your hand, and you uncovered your other from your gloves.

John grunted against his restraints, against the leather this maniac had placed in his mouth. To look so old and disgusted this man had strength, that was for certain.

“I prefer to go younger”, he whispered, “but you have strong arms”, he purred, John fought some more, as the doctor prepared his amputation knife. 

He ripped his shirt off, to be able to see. This man’s face was… twisted, he had cut many pieces of many people and stuck them to himself, to replace parts he had lost himself. He was held up in the basement of an abandoned house, and John was dizzy from the chloroform this monster had used on him, the entire room smell of death, old antiseptic, and the metallic reek of blood.

He stopped before the rusty knife could touch his skin, and the doc looked beyond

“You brought a friend I hear”, he purred, “I sense a strong heart on that one”, John moved even more

He was checking the park, as he remembered what he had said, he came from behind, drugging him, he gave him a fight, but at the end, the chloroform did its trick, the next thing he knew, he was tied to this lunatic’s medical bed.

But he stopped, looking surprise, a thin line of blood dripping from his mouth, and John noticed a blade coming out of his chest where his heart should be

The doctor dropped to the floor and there you were.

With a pull you freed John

“I think this is the worst, so, the best moment to scold you and say, you shouldn’t go out there alone”, you said, angrily, you were the best weapon at his arsenal, and he didn’t use you.

You often wondered that if was because he was scared of you, or didn’t trust you, you didn't know what you preferred 

“Thanks, I was in a bind doll”, the second time he called you that, he had never called you that before. He was weak, he almost dropped to the floor, and there you were, ready to grab him

“We need to get out of here”, , you said quickly, we can come back tomorrow. He wanted to fight it, but he understood he couldn’t, so he let you help him get out of the basement and out of that nightmare cabin.

That… things… was dead 

“He said he had the cure for immortality”, John muttered

“Is that something you are interested in, John?”, you asked almost mockingly, as you started walking through the woods

“How did you find me so quickly?”, he asked, his legs seemed to come out of their stupor, 

“I’ve changed in the past two years John”, you said quickly.

You should have come back, you should have burned that palace to the ground.

But you didn’t, you wanted to get out of there, you didn’t want to set it on fire because the authorities were going to find it, and even though that was going to give a certain peace to the victim’s families, you couldn’t risk all that medieval equipment, and him, coming out to the light, you figured if you came back tomorrow, things could be more clearer 

John had seemed to understand what you meant that night, he seemed to believe he underestimated you, he did. 

But it all went to shit when you returned the next morning, and everything was gone.He was gone. 

You failed.

Sorry if the one before came out a little weird, I'm so nervous I feel like I'm loosing my touch, nobody is reading me anymore, anyways, if you are reading this, it means that you did! love you ❤️

taglist

@deans-spinster-witch

[spngirlpolls]

featuring all the ladies you guys yelled at me for not including on the first poll (there are only TWELVE answer spots it’s not my FAULT)

[mittensmorgul]

Okay, I have a lot of thoughts i’ve been rotating for a while now, and even if I don’t have a coherent overarching meta composed in my head yet, I feel I need to at least record some of these thoughts for future reference. Buckle up. It’s a lot.

I’ll start with a few overarching themes and points that cover the entire series, and then move into the specifics of the most recent episode, the PENULTIMATE episode lol, 1.12. gonna just bullet point these for ease of reference purposes:

-a ridiculous percentage of the series has dealt with monsters/entities with their own little pocket dimensions. yes, this was a thing the original series touched on occasionally-- djinn dream universes created entirely inside someone’s mind, gabriel’s eternal tuesday time loop, gabriel’s weirdo tv land, the soul eater nest in 11.16, and even chuck’s bar at the end of the universe from 11.20. Or like... the entire concept of alternate universes introduced in 6.15 The French Mistake that may or may not have been a construct by Balthazar... up to interpretation... and the final seasons wrangling of several specific alternate universes

so far in The Winchesters we have, by episode:

(under a cut because this got long lol)

*eta: since it’s been pointed out to me that not everyone’s managed to memorize all the spn prime episodes by number, here’s the Mittens Decoder Page on the superwiki by episode number: http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/Category:Episodes

1.01 the Loup Garou and the Monster Trap Box (which can only be recharged by things that are “not of this earth”, specifically they will learn it’s a transporter device that sends creatures trapped by it back to whatever world’s item has “charged” the box) they were searching for, hidden in a secret chamber for years.

1.02 La Tunda, who lures victims into her little pocket dimension trap via roots pulling them underground. she can only be killed by being stabbed with a piece of her own wood/body

1.03 the Bori Baba who lures victims into a pocket dimension trap via a burlap sack. he can only be destroyed (and his captives freed) by them willingly relinquishing/destroying the beloved thing he lured them with.

1.04 Mars Neto who lures victims into a pocket dimension trap and makes them relive trauma and fight him. Could only be defeated/rendered mortal when the amphora containing his power was shattered.

1.05 djinn... but these are slightly different than any of the djinn we know from original canon. they can form a link directly into someone else’s mind and control them out in the real world, not just in a pocket universe trap... it turns victims’ own minds into the trap

1.06 a vengeful spirit of a POSSESSED VAMPIRE of an entirely new variety, who broke free of a trap where he’d been locked for decades, because his friends felt helpless against his growing darkness/involvement with dark magic that was twisting who he was. Lata had to force him to confront that and confess, and the possessing spirit chooses to leave John in an act of doing the right thing.

1.07 straight-up Akrida-- the monsters apparently from an alternate universe trying to invade our world to devour it all (reminiscent of the tentacle monsters Sam and Dean found trapped in a different MoL capitulum clubhouse and accidentally released in 12.17, but bugs instead of tentacles...). They are our overarching Big Bad, who bridge the gap between pocket dimension and possession/mind control that surrounds so many of the themes of the series. but this episode explores them in more depth (right down to the underground lair where the queen was trapped). I feel the need to mention it somewhere, but the akrida used radio waves as a lure for all the bizarre monsters our core four have been dealing with all season, connecting the akrida directly to every other specific monster we’ve seen them confront. Episode literally called “Reflections” which leads me into:

1.08 Loki/Gabriel? Who I already mentioned above as a creator of pocket dimensions and messing with minds in original canon. And for some reason at the end of the episode, he’s trapped inside a mirror, a bit of lore we’ve never seen connected to Loki or Gabriel leaving me to wonder how trapped he actually is... A reflection, as it were.

1.09 vampires... but more the sort we already know from spn prime canon. except the whole mission around them involves a PROPHECY unwittingly stamped onto John’s hand. We’re reminded that prophecy can’t be avoided, BUT you can control some of the circumstances AROUND the prophecy. Context matters, and tiny glimpses of things aren’t representative of the whole truth. (4.18 anyone...)

1.10 A very Magnus-coded (who if you remember created his own little pocket universe to live in with his monster zoo and collection of supernatural relics) disgraced MoL who lies about his identity, his past, and his motives for returning to the clubhouse now. Literally wants to transfer his and his wife’s consciousnesses into John and Mary’s bodies to get back the life the Akrida had stolen from them and he felt they were owed... with no self-awareness that this actually made HIM the monster in this case. 

1.11 the Shadow Spirits generated by Maggie’s magical bracelet that both showed the wearer the truth about hidden motivations AND could also become a trap. Carlos and Lata are pulled into a shadowy trap (not just in their minds! they are no longer physically in the house! they were pulled bodily into some sort of pocket universe BY A SHADOW (you know, the proper term for the Empty Entity in spn prime canon?). Where their only hope for escape was Lata confessing her deep, dark hidden secret to Carlos. She was terrified that he would reject her if he knew the truth about her, that Carlos would be ashamed of her, but he reconfirmed that he loves her unconditionally, and nothing will ever change that.

She’d felt guilt and responsibility for the actions of others for so long, but Carlos helped her see the whole picture again, that it was not her fault, that she’d been helpless to circumstance and wasn’t at fault for her father’s bad actions-- even to the point where they led to the death of an innocent woman.

But the other function of this bracelet, used on Betty to show her the TRUTH of the akrida-possessed people finally gave US a look at how akrida possession works. It’s not just the little spikes in the neck doing the controlling through chemicals or whatever, they seem to function like some sort of weird antenna that connects them via mysterious green tentacles of light up into the sky. Where do they go? I thought the akrida queen was buried underground, not in the sky? Who or what is pulling those poisonous green strings?

aside to mention lata found the bracelet hidden in A CAN OF RAT POISON, along with a tasty treat that carlos devoured. the rat poison packaging was just a decoy to keep anyone else from accidentally finding Maggie’s bracelet (and her stash of tasty treats lol)

1.12 LIMBO’S HOUSE OF HAPPY. a fucking CARNIVAL TENT of a pocket universe, run by a literal clown who made a deal with a witch to create a perfect place where he would never feel sad again. (somebody PLEASE tell me this feels like 15.20... from the rando pie festival where Dean STILL doesn’t get to eat pie and has it smashed in his face instead, and then gets hung on a rusty nail after fighting off some vampire clowns/mimes and sent to a weirdo version of Heaven where he can apparently never worry about anything again? freaking dystopian, ffs... but also... very much a thematic summary of the entire metanarrative plot of the Winchesters as a whole...)

I’m gonna spend the rest of this post absolutely yelling about this last one. While watching, my brain just kept lighting up with references to past canon.

A CLOWN named LIMBO.

Of course, when we think about clowns in Supernatural, we always think of Sam’s lifelong fear of them. Apparently connected to the fact that Dean used to leave him at Plucky Pennywhistle’s as a kid, but also... almost every reference to clowns in canon prime are connected either to Azazel or to Lucifer himself.

My very first thought about LIMBO the CLOWN was 11.10 The Devil in the Details. Rowena being the one to magically assemble the “stage cage” where they’d summoned Lucifer to question him about Sam’s visions and dealing with the Darkness, and Rowena appearing in this episode (even if in an entirely different plot arc, she’s still ~there~) feels very relevant.

But we’d known that Sam’s visions in s11 were foreshadowing a return of Lucifer and possibly a trip to the cage. But... Clowns Specifically were used to foreshadow this. In 11.07 Plush, Sam was trapped IN AN ELEVATOR with a murderous clown, and the overhead shot as Sam frees the man in the clown suit from possession... looks like cage bars (screencaps from HotN):

Remember, this was TWO EPISODES before Crowley leads Sam and Rowena INTO LIMBO in 11.09. LIMBO. Where Sam’s worst nightmare becomes reality and he’s literally trapped IN A FAKE CAGE, IN LIMBO, WITH THE ULTIMATE CLOWN:

(screenshot from the superwiki page for 11.09)

LIMBO is where Cas says yes to possession by Lucifer, and right after this kills Rowena for her trouble, after she confesses that she’s the only one who knows the spell to force him back into the actual cage.

From 11.09:

Crowley: We are in the furthest reaches of Hell, Limbo, where I send unruly souls for timeout. Sam: This is where I meet with Lucifer? Crowley: What it lacks in ambience it makes up for in security. They come to an empty cage. Rowena paints sigils on the cage, while the thunderstorm continues to rage. Crowley: Makes your flesh crawl, doesn’t it Moose? I get it. I’m the King of this place. It’s still not my cup of tea. Sam: I don’t know, Crowley. I’d say it suits you. Dark. Empty. Crowley: Fascinating; the utter contempt, when I’m in the midst of saving the Winchester’s bacon, again. Sam: The point of this is to save everyone’s bacon, including yours. Let’s just hope she knows what she’s doing. This cell won't hold crap if the warding is not right. Rowena: Don’t you worry about me, Samuel. I’m a professional. Crowley: Are you certain you can do this without actually opening the Cage? Rowena: We are about to find out, aren’t we.

Rowena BELIEVED Lucifer would become her protector, bring her peace, security, power. But it was all a lie. And in this episode, she seeks out Ada under the pretense of talking to the specific demon Ada had trapped in a bonsai tree, looking for information about her son...

Let’s detour through some other clown references from spn, just for funsies. The cold open victim in this episode was the only one who could see the magical tent, and his friend saw and heard nothing of it (he didn’t have the magic ticket). It called back to the children in 2.02 Everybody Loves a Clown. They were the only ones who could see the Rakshasa clown, who used those children to gain entry to their homes to devour their parents.

There’s also the ghost of John Wayne Gacy in 14.13, an episode where Dean’s wish to reunite his family is fulfilled, even for a brief moment. (the ghost will return in 14.20 when Chuck cracks Hell open). But specifically this clown is tied directly to John and Mary reuniting before John chooses to go back to his own time to save everyone else and restore the timeline. John will only vaguely remember the events as some sort of pleasant dream. It comes with a side of Dean accepting his life, not WANTING to change it because everything he’s endured has combined to make him the person he’s become. GROWTH DOT GIF.

(and in 15.01 the clown ghost nearly gets sam, again...)

Which brings me back to the Akrida. Our mind-controlling, possessing archvillain of this entire narrative. Whose goal seems to revolve around being freed from a sort of cage to run riot across creation. They have apparently shifted reality, all because Dean knocked over some first mysterious domino and unleashing the chain of events he’s been recounting through the entire series.

Was that inciting incident going back in time to deliver the note to John? Was it giving John the key to the MoL clubhouse that sparked not only what appears to be a massive change in the timeline from what we’d known from spn prime, but possibly also GENERATED the akrida as a monster specifically that creates these sorts of pocket dimensions to devour?

Also, brief aside to mention DEANNA. Like, the entire early part of the season revolved around Mary concerned about Samuel being “missing.” And yet, we also learned that Deanna had disappeared to points unknown. She hadn’t been seen by anyone in MONTHS, was last assumed to be hunting with some group in Michigan (? I think? top of my head reference), and yet NOBODY has showed the same concern for her whereabouts as they collectively did for Samuel. It’s almost like they all have some sort of weird amnesia about her at this point. They just... aren’t concerned about her at all, and haven’t even mentioned her in weeks. Which makes me think she’s at the center of all of this. I would be 100% unsurprised if she’s the one possessed by the Akrida queen at this point. because otherwise, WHERE TF IS SHE. But also, WHY TF IS NOBODY ELSE SEEMINGLY CONCERNED ABOUT HER AT ALL?! It’s WEIRD.

I am generally losing my mind over all of this, and don’t know what Big Secret will be revealed in the finale, but hooBOY I am prepared to scream about it for weeks. This is all just stashed here for my own future reference purposes, and I’m sure I’ll come back and add more things as I think of them, but heck this will have to suffice for now :’D

[zmediaoutlet]

okay first of all. Lovee the takes on each character/ship dynamic. second this one is kind of a given so I completely get it if you don't really have any opinions at all about them but I was wondering what your thoughts are on Sam/Jess. Obviously most people just think about them in the existing dynamic of the show but idk! Personally I find their dynamic to be really interesting in the context of what Jess is representative of to Sam. Especially in that time of his life. So I guess it's more of a question of if Sam/Jess is interesting to you, what makes it so and your thoughts on that.

As a backup question to that, thoughts on Dean/Jess? Dean/Jess/Sam?

eyyyy continuing the wine party into post-workout saturday morning tea party --

sam/jess:

to be honest friend, I'm falling into the "most people" category here because my real opinion about Jess is that she... basically isn't a person. And I love that for her, sincerely. Some characters really are tools in a story to spin in forward, and I am soooooo tired to death of all the carrying on about "fridging" and whatnot. Some characters are characters and some characters are narrative tools and, yes, bad luck to the angry ladies out there, spn is a show built on super classic-traditional bones about men who are getting revenge for the dead wife and what they learn along the way. That's good and fine. I'm into it.

with that aside, and given that she is a tool, I just -- don't... care about her. Like I thought about writing a fic one time as a demonstrative exercise called "Five Personalities Jessica Moore Could Have Had," because she's such a blank-slate (again, correctly!) in her like five minutes of screen time. We can't even count the djinn dream of Jess, because that was a pretty vision dreamed up by Dean to hurt himself worse, lol.

but as you say, her being representative of something to Sam is legit interesting -- he didn't fully engage in the relationship, he was gonna marry her without telling her the truth -- like a gay man desperately hitching himself to a nice wife in some misguided attempt to "fix" it. Like if he just tried hard enough he would be someone other than who he is. Which is the whole Sam-at-Stanford story, really. And it's an important part of his story -- the hero has to go away from home and return to it with a better sense of who he is -- but it makes Jessica entirely figural and metaphorical instead of being, again, a person. Like when Sam says in whatever late season ep that he "still thinks about Jess," I'm left going... really? Because even by late in the first season he's reoriented into the family revenge story, not specifically the for her revenge story. But if we reorient that to "I still think about the life I could have had" -- that, I believe. And she'd be part of that. Whatever her actual personality was. Apparently she made cookies. How... fridged wife of her.

WITH all that said, what I'm most interested in with stories that circle around Jess are stories that completely ruin that relationship, haha, because the whole point of it in the larger frame-story of Supernatural is that it has to end so Sam can get back to his real life. So -- if it's an AU where Sam for some reason stays at Stanford and they do get married, I'm only interested if their marriage kinda sucks and they get divorced by year five. (e.g. maybe, like his mother, he pretended he could be 'normal' but he keeps sneaking out on hunts after all, and Jessica thinks he's cheating, and they end up dead bedroomed, etc etc.) Or, if it's set during Stanford, I'd go for an almost horror-story dramatic irony fic where she's introduced to this tall hot guy by her smiling blond classmate Brady and we can see fate rearing up to grab her by the neck, and she feels almost compelled to stay, and she doesn't know why when Sam keeps obviously not telling her things but she forcibly dismisses it from her mind and goes he'll tell me someday. And then it's November 2nd. :)

Dean/Jess similarly I guess I'd only be interested in from a symbolic sense -- Dean attempting to get closer to Sam any way he can in the period of not-talking. I have no interest in Jess living -- her job is to die -- so it'd have to be still at Stanford, and it'd be a really tight window to make it work in a way that wouldn't screw up everyone because Dean isn't a piece of shit and Jess (being a figural Nice Girl who Dies) can't be a cheater. Maybe in the very early Sam and her have only gone on like one date but they're not an 'item' yet, Dean sees her at the bar after Sam leaves and decides he'll take her for a spin...? Eh, that's too mean. So, I guess not for me. And I never like ot3s so the other one is not for me either. But if you can make it terrible and Jess dies at the end anyway, maybe!