#very much castiel coded

[grayewalss]

Sorry, but

"quick quick, tell me something awful

like you are a poet trapped inside the body

of a finance guy"

is very much Castiel and Dean coded imo

[cthulhum]

does anyone realize how crazy it is to have the actor of a mostly headcanoned queer ship say the fans were never crazy and they were right all along after 10+ years of everyone just absolutely going nuts over the said queerbaited ship

[aleriya-darling]

today, this amazing post came across my Twitter tl

Castiel loves all creatures, he would absolutely do this 😆

I also stand behind what I responded with:

[theshippirate22]

I have a theory

listen up bitches (gender neutral) (affectionate) i’ve been cooking this for an incredibly long time and i’m very very excited to share it but it is gonna be long so i’m putting it under a cut

my theory is that there has been a new set of archetypes created by popular m/m media either in canon or coding and i would love if it was more widely recognized by a distinct name so here we go:

I present to you: The Mirrorball x Running Up That Hill Boyfriends™️ Theory

i need to preface this by saying that i am absolutely not an english major or expert but i have done so much analysis that i’m 98% positive i’m on to something here

so usually mlm ships- at least in my experience- get boiled down into typical Grumpy x Sunshine, Golden Retriever x Black Cat, or like. Babygirl x Badass. and i hate that because those are like really watered down hetero romance stereotypes and i think queer people deserve to get our own archetypes instead of trying to force queer characters into prepaid boxes but that’s a story for another day so:

basically, all content with widely accepted mlm ships (even if they are more in coding than in canon) has this pattern with the ship that fits into Mirrorball x Running Up That Hill

(name pending- open to suggestions)

Boyfriend No.1 of course is the epitome of Mirrorball by Taylor Swift (i know, i know. bear with me here). He’s constantly trying to prove himself and his worth and usually he’s driven to hide or overcome 1-3 specific and intense insecurities/character flaws. He often has innate loyalty to a system or person who has repeatedly abused/neglected/abandoned him and thinks that this treatment is a result of his own character rather than a reflection of the abuser. In relation to the plot and audience, this is the “more dangerous” of the two because he’s so desperate to hold onto the status quo that he’ll often act in a way that makes things more difficult for himself, often by leaving Boyfriend No. 2, sacrificing himself, or doing “the wrong thing.” He also commonly has an older male figure that is breathing down his neck constantly, haunting his perceived inadequacies, and fueling his self-loathing. He’s constantly mischaracterized because he’s either boiled down to “the silly one” or a visage of his trauma and the people that relate to love these characters are usually extremely sad people. Usually this character is also the “mean girl” of the couple.

Examples of the Mirrorball boyfriend: Dean Winchester, Aziraphale, Stede Bonnet, Lucius Spriggs, Sherlock Holmes, Eddie Munson, Mike Wheeler, Prince Rupert, etc.

Boyfriend No. 2 then, is the Running Up That Hill Boyfriend, based of course, on the song by the same name by the perfect Kate Bush. He’s the one that’s seen The Horrors™️ and gained a layer of cynicism that Mirrorball doesn’t have. He was once loyal to something that used/hurt him but he rejected it and used his newfound freedom to restructure his entire personality and reach his much higher potential. Usually, he has passed so far from having a few insecurities to perceiving himself as utterly worthless and unlovable but he’s so convinced that it doesn’t even haunt him, he just goes with it and usually comes off looking overly-confident or cocky. This is The Bitch (affectionate)™️. There’s probably a scene of him covered in blood. This is The Girls’ favorite blorbo and ultimate whump. He tends to be really good with kids and he’s the kind of character that would and often has to CLAW a life out for himself by his fingernails.

Examples of the Running Up That Hill Boyfriend: Castiel, Crowley, Ed Teach, Black Pete, John Watson, Steve Harrington, Will Byers, Prince Amir, etc.

unfortunately i haven’t seen a lot of popular queer stuff so if you can think of other mlm or mlm shaped characters that fit into these archetypes please please please tell me

i’m specifically curious about:

-Hannigram (Hannibal)

-Buddy (911) (@criminally-obsessed if you would mind weighing in but obviously no pressure)

-Lokius (Loki) (@henderdads same thing)

-Any of the marauders but specifically WolfStar

-Stucky (MCU)

-RWRB (i’m so sorry i don’t remember the guys’ names)

-Nick and Charlie (Heartstopper)

-What We Do In the Shadows has one I think?

-literally anyone else please and thank you 🙏🙏 love you all

if you want like explicit examples of each piece for a character lmk for sure because i could talk about this all day long

[destielnoirbang]

Code of Silence

By FriendofCarlotta | @friendofcarlotta Art by Rezal | @rezal-art

Coming to Ao3 on 12/13/2024

Rated E | 57,000 words | Graphic Descriptions of Violence

Hollywood, 1955: LAPD Officer Dean Winchester doesn’t mind throwing a punch or fudging the evidence if it means getting wife beaters and cold-blooded criminals behind bars. That approach doesn’t sit too well with his younger brother and colleague Sam, who’s been making enemies at the LAPD with his straight-laced, by-the-book philosophy. Between trying to keep up with the job and looking out for his brother, Dean doesn’t have much time for happiness. Not until he meets Castiel, a handsome escort who is everything Dean never knew he wanted. Unfortunately, Castiel is also caught up in a criminal conspiracy that reaches far into the LAPD itself. To expose the department’s corruption and save Castiel, Dean and Sam will have to put aside their differences — and reckon with a dark secret in their family’s past.

[Keep reading for a sneak preview!]

When he drew level, he chanced a glance over at the other man, who turned when he sensed that he’d become a subject of scrutiny.

Dean’s breath stopped in his throat. The man’s jaw was sharp as a word spoken in anger, his skin pale and clean-shaven. Long, graceful fingers played idly with one of the free Funtime Liquors matchbooks as he waited. His eyes promised mischief and mysteries. Dean wouldn’t have been surprised to learn the man had just stepped out of a movie screen.

Too late, he realized he was staring, and then only because the man’s plump lips had twitched slightly on one side.

Dean cleared his throat. “Merry Christmas,” he said.

“Merry Christmas to you too, officer,” the man returned.

Dean flinched, feeling caught out. Whoever the man was, he was clearly smart if plainclothes didn’t fool him. “That obvious?” he asked.

When Dean chanced another glance at the man, he was still looking back, humor glinting in his eyes. “It’s practically stamped on your forehead.”

Maybe Dean ought to have taken that for the dismissal it likely was, but the bit of humor in the man’s gaze felt almost akin to a smile. Most men wouldn’t smile at someone they wanted gone.

“Haven’t I seen you in a movie?” Dean tried.

The man dropped his head with a low, rough chuckle. Dean fought down a surge of embarrassment. A handsome man in a well-cut suit, five blocks from Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, where all the most glamorous Hollywood premieres took place? It wasn’t too outrageous a guess.

Dean was about to tell the man “never mind” when he caught Dean’s eyes again and said, “It’s unlikely. Unless you happened to pay very close attention to Youth Number 3 in the opening scene of It Came From Saturn's Rings.”

“You were in that?” Dean asked eagerly. This time, there was no fighting the heat on his face. He had a great weakness for science fiction movies, and he remembered seeing a screening of It Came From Saturn's Rings on opening night some three years back. Even working in Hollywood for as long as he had, he’d never stopped being a little starry-eyed about anybody who’d graced the silver screen.

His question got him an interesting reaction: the man’s head tipped to the side, his eyes narrowing, the better to study Dean. For the first time, he seemed to put some actual stock in their conversation. “You’ve seen it?”

“Yeah,” Dean confirmed, embarrassingly pleased to have found this patch of common ground between them. “It was good.”

It hadn’t been anything special, in truth, but the man was smiling in earnest now, one side of those plush lips curving up, and Dean thought he’d do just about anything to keep that smile going.

[badass-queer-couples-battle]

Propaganda:

For Joongdok: "Well first of all Yoo Joonghyuk has a whole arc that is transfem coded as hell (has a power/technique that can technically only be used by women but somehow he can also use it, for a time he even turns into a woman to wield it and it's. Actually just let me get the quote "The ines of the face had changed but it was clearly Yoo Joonghyuk. No, it was even more than before.") that just kinda happens,, and doesn't get brought up again but anyway. Second of all just look at them. You see the vision. Also a bonus observation is that these two often get shipped in a poly ship with Han Sooyoung and whenever I see people make a "regular couple, yaoi couple, yuri couple, I see no difference love is love" meme with them the combination of which pair among these three is which of the categories is always different"

Note: This submission also mentions Han Sooyoung, but I decided to count this polyship submission as guy yuri as well.

"They love each other, they pretend they don't care for each other but all their actions prove they care too much, if you remove someone from the trio then the resulting duo is extremely dysfunctional, as evidenced by more than a million words of canon. Is it technically guy yuri? Well, Han Sooyoung is a woman, but in a way she's one of the guys. Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk are men, but the text heavily hints that Yoo Joonghyuk is a trans woman who's just too busy and stressed out to transition yet, and Kim Dokja has just never thought about his own gender a single day in his life. They made the world for each other, they went back in time countless times and waged countless wars for each other, they wrote and read and lived a story, their story, for each other and that's what saved them all. The way Han Sooyoung writes Yoo Joonghyuk's story to save Kim Dokja and loses herself in the process, the way Yoo Joonghyuk voluntarily lives the story to the point of losing himself too and even forgetting why he originally decided to do it, the way Kim Dokja read Han Sooyoung's story which was Yoo Joonghyuk's life and that's how he found himself, they all took so much from each other and gave so much of themselves to each other, this is all very yuri."

"they're so yuri you have no idea. they have every staple of a yuri ship. unwavering devotion. waiting dozens or thousands of years for each other. dooming themselves and the world for each other. so much yearning. i also see them genderbent a lot (including inn canon in the case of yjh) and they're right both of these people are women. i genuinely can't even see them strictly as men at this point they're just yjh and kdj and they are yuri do you understand."

"they're so yuri. the abscense of yuri is the presence of yuri etc etc. these two guys are all ABOUT abscenses. also one of them is a part time woman. the other guy is a guy but like in the same way a square is a rectangle. anyway they're so guyyuri to me. bonus points also because they have a mutual girlfriend and when she's present they're girlyaoi but that's not relevant to this specifically"

For Destiel: "There’s got something wrong with her(complementary)"

[love-byers]

Hi!! I binge-read some of your byler analysis, along with other users', and I can't help but STILL feel on the fence about hoping for byler endgame. I guess I just don't want to get my hopes super high only for them to be crushed by whatever CGI fest the düff3rs got in store to "go out with a bang" (while, obvs, sticking to the status quo and what they think the GA wants to see). I've seen so many intelligent people write media criticism pieces and analysis in support of the ship, but I still dread that the writers cry plausible deniability on all the clues they DID lay, that the people behind the N*f1ix social media accs confess that they've willingly posted queerbait to boost their engagement and thus get a bigger paycheck (I wouldn't blame them if they did, obvs; besides, it still means that some higher-up approved those misleading posts) and, worst of all, that this whole thing may end up blowing up negatively like the JohnLock conspiracy or the Voltron shenanigans or, y'know, the Supernatural fandom after Castiel's introduction and up until that lame ass final season. In your opinion, what makes byler different? Is there real hope for a satisfying mlm relationship from a show made by het men that capitalizes on 80s nerd culture nostalgia?

Sorry for coming off so jaded: I do wish for a byler ending, but it's been hard to keep my hopes aflame against these worries :c

i think everyone has some amount of doubt, which is totally understandable.

lgbt representation has come a long way, but a lot of us fans who are a bit older grew up consuming media that either had no representation or shitty representation. we sought ourselves in the media we loved and never found it, and corporations exploited that. nowadays there's way more representation that isn't left up to interpretation or censored, but a lot of the time that's in shows that are about romance and drama, high school a lot of the time. which is great, but stranger things is a sci fi show with romantic sub plots. it's easy for queer characters to end up being left out of a show like ST, but they haven't been at all.

one of the big messages of ST is embracing weirdness and being different. loving whatever it is you love, unashamed. when a character strays from being their true self or pushes away the things they love, there are consequences for the character. they become less likable to the audience. the entire theme of s4 is living in the truth, not hiding things, embracing love, being misunderstood simply because you're different. all of that is very queer coded. and it happens to be the season where will's love for mike fully comes into light.

there has been so much thought put into stranger things. the duffers have said there are no coincidences. they put thought into everything, thats why it takes so long to make a season, because they care so much. there are endless details i could point out not related to romance. they've also said they've been set on the ending for a while and will not be changing it to please people. i believe they said some people might not like the ending, but they don't care because they're making the story THEY want. which so far has uplifted queer people and promoted being different. so some antis may call be stupid for trusting them, but im choosing to. i believe they'll do these characters justice.

and my favorite quote from them is "The best plot twists don't make the audience say "wow I never saw that coming!", it makes you say "I should have seen that coming."

as a writer and a creative writing major, i definitely look up to the writers of ST. they are all incredibly talented and i hope one day i can put this much thought and love into a project. and, as a writer, i cannot see them throwing mike and will's relationship down the drain.

so, what makes byler different? there's very few shows where this much thought is put into everything. its not debatable that they do that, they've said it and its evident if you watch the show. so i refuse to believe all of these things between mike and will are just coincidences or accidents. there's just no possible way. i definitely had a klance phase and i can confidently say voltron writing is nowhere near the level of ST, and neither is supernatural. supernatural is one of those shows that has a lot of seasons and has gone all over the place in terms of writing and plot. the duffers have known the ending to this story since season 1. and unlike those shows with lots of seasons, ST only has 5. it won't be dragged on and beaten like a dead horse like some shows.

you don't have to completely eliminate your doubt. even i have doubt even after all i've said and posted. there is simply no way to confirm what'll happen before s5 releases, and they want it that way. just hold on until s5 friend

[kerryweaverlesbian]

Hey I read your Becky/Ambriel foc recently and was wondering how you go about writing the voices of characters who aren't in shows a lot. I feel Becky does have a distinct voice (which you nailed) but for Ambriel (and other characters you have written) did you just watch over her scenes or do you just go for it?

Like there's fandoms I've been in for 2 years and I wouldn't feel able to wrote the main characters' voices right.

Like ultimately when it comes to femslash (and all fic but especially femslash) it's better to write it bad than not at all but I would still appreciate knowing how you go about if that's okay to ask

I love talking about the writing process!! This got long and it's a big scattered mess of thoughts <3 it's hard to pin down a process because all of these thoughts and the actual writing of the piece happen concurrently so, chicken, egg, you know.

First of all, worrying about voice should really be an editing job, not a "writing the first draft" concern, in my opinion. Dean can sound like "good lord, why, is that my old chum Castiel? I do believe it is! Come, come, old chap, let us break burgers together and I shall tell thee of my frankly untenable week" and Cas can reply "bet" and you can put in square brackets [FIX THIS] and keep on trucking. I know this is hard to do. I too will pause on tricky sentences. Square brackets are my best friend. [Add Dean-ism] [insert joke] [reference that means "uh oh!]. But! To actually answer!

A particular character's voice is (unforch) something you can only fully develop through writing more of them and figuring out who they are to you. I used to be very stilted trying to figure out Cas’s voice, and then I wrote a lot of him and read a lot of other people's thoughts about him and thought about his actions in canon and now he's the easiest person for me to write!

What's more important than the surface level character-isms, is that they have depth and are consistent. Does the content of what they're saying make sense with the life they've led. Like, I don't think that my take on Meg really sounds all that much like canon Meg for example. But she is consistent within the fics I put her in, and shares enough snark with canon Meg that it works, AND she has motivations, reactions and ideas that are different to the other characters in the fic. It's like a cheat code, if two characters have different reactions to one event, that makes it come off like they have different voices.

Some other cheat codes: have one of them make a ton of references, and the other speak plainly (dean and sam core! but you can do that for most duos); have them make references to different things (tv vs classic literature, sci-fi vs fantasy); have one of them tell sillyjokes and the other tell dry jokes (destiel core...). Contrasts makes characters seem more separate.

For voice, I'll only rewatch if I don't remember how they said anything at all or if I remember they had a particularly distinctive way of speaking. If I needed to put Gabriel in a scene, I'd probably watch his episodes again. I've found if I do watch an episode to remind myself it can psyche me out of actually writing anything for them—Ava for example, I'm intimidating myself out of writing her at the moment lol.

For establishing a (deeper) character, you first need the basics:

Ambriel, helpfully, fits some basic tropes. Office worker. Apathetic. Angel in the vein of Castiel, Hannah and Anna (which is to say, autistic). I have a LOT of practice writing Castiel, and Ambriel is like Castiel didn't have his drive to help people or love of humanity. She is therefore: straightforward (angel), mildly bored (office worker) and her biggest want is for nothing to change for her (apathetic).

It's then how you build on the collection of tropes that makes them a Character. You figure out how to explain some of the above traits/situations they're in. What is her history? (She went to earth and didn't like it) Who is around her? (Kaisiel, whom she resists making a real connection with due to her apathy) Why is she apathetic? (It's repressed fear of punishment).

Something that really, really helps with unique characterisation for me is a little silly. Give them a niche interest. Something not mentioned in the source material at all, or is only briefly mentioned. Castiel is into the same sitcoms as me (and taxidermy). Ambriel is into data storage. Ava is into collecting small furniture.

And then go, why are they into this?

Castiel bc he loves to experience hunanity at a safe distance (and he likes to rummage).

Ambriel because it's within the scope of her job so is 'safe', which she takes pride in (and which I advanced from "pushing a button" because I thought that was stupid and bad world building 💙).

Ava wants to feel a sense of control in a world that is very much out of her control.

This not only gives you better insight into them as a character, it also makes them YOURS. that's not the cw's Ambriel, that's mine, she's into data storage, so it doesn't matter if she's off-model because no one will know, because she's mine.

As with Castiel's love of tv, you can also do this with canon interests, just hone in on specifically what it is and specifically why they like it. Dean doesn't like "music" he likes rock because it makes him feel powerful and affirms his masculinity and has a connection to his family being together. Charlie doesn't like "fantasy" she likes Lord Of The Rings and The Wizard of Oz because she values escapism and rooting for the little guy (these are also interests of Sam's!).

Plus - making it more niche and specific makes it SEEM like they have this rich inner life and history even if you don't bother to figure out why.

1) "Geraldine sighed and took the dog for a walk" vs

2) "Geraldine sighed, saved her game and took the dog for a walk" vs

3) "Geraldine sighed, saved her game of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon X, and took the dog for a walk."

Now!! Actually! 2 and 3 are where "voice" can come in. Is the POV character someone who doesn't care or know much about video games? Then 2 is the one for them. Does the POV character care a lot about being accurate, know Geraldine well enough to know what she's playing, and/or are knowledgeable about video games? Option 3! Or, bonus option 4, perhaps they're disdainful of video games/annoyed with Geraldine: "Geraldine sighed, saved her little game with the pretend animals, and finally took our very real and very whiny dog for a walk".

So!! We have a character. How do we make her distinct from the other characters in the fic? Build them concurrently!

Ambriel is apathetic about community THEREFORE Becky is desperate for it (and can't hold onto it). Becky is over-verbose, so Ambriel keeps it short (and is misunderstood as a result). Ambriel believes deep down that she doesn't matter, so Becky deep down believes that she (both herself and Ambriel) is special and important and deserves worship.

So. I think you were expecting this but. think about their motivations and then just start writing them and it'll work out.

okay I gotta go make dinner. does this help???? MWAH

[deancaspinefest]

Super Double Bus

Author: MBQ | Artist: girlinthemirrorbluenight

Posting on Wednesday April 3

Castiel Novak's first quarter at UIC had been carefully planned and scheduled out. He had his list of "Re-Entry" classes neatly checked off and had already gotten the academic calendar figured out. He thought he was properly prepared and debriefed for his first freshman outing to the Navy Pier with far too many baby-faced eighteen-year olds, but he'd indulge them. Being a few years older and with some junior college already on his transcripts, he was pretty confident he could handle any curveball these toddlers could throw. But a boyfriend-shaped Dean Winchester quickly proves to be a problem that is rapidly demanding a solution.

Keep reading for a sneak preview!

A notification popping up with a chime interrupted his reverie and he was informed that the party bus had arrived. Or rather: “Votre bus discothèque le super double vous attend. Veuillez appuyer sur ok pour envoyer votre réponse.” Castiel could hear the words like wet jewels rolling around his tongue in his head even if he didn’t quite understand what was being said--yet. He picked out the decipherable cognates and tapped OK on the pop up.

The party had rolled to his door and there was no way out of it.

Outside, the disco bus was a sleek black bus with so much neon Cas squinted in its general direction. The neon wasn’t the garish palette of seedy bars in Atlantic City or the strip malls of southern California. It was a purple-blue palette and looked very modern indeed. His marketing eye picked up all the attention to detail and gauged who their target demo was. He approved of it from a market sense. It still was the last way he felt like spending his first jet lagged night in Paris after a hellish flight. He vaguely wondered what the middle aged lady was doing and almost wished he had followed up on that. He didn’t see a ring on her weathered hand, but that wasn’t a deterrent. Just another obstacle. She wasn’t unattractive and she seemed mellow enough. It would have been enough to get his dad off his ass and maybe he’d have some companionship that wasn’t drunk twenty somethings with their damn selfies, ring lights and perpetual photo sessions. He groaned and clicked a quick, uninspired pic of the disco bus as it rolled to a stop in front of his hotel. He had a second thought that he could have made a montage or reel with the arrival that would have kept him occupied for the most of the evening, but the opportunity had passed.

He pulled up his QR code and held it to the infrared scanner that flared in his blood shot eyes as the doors whooshed open. He considered having a drink. It might take some of the sleep deprived, irritated-at-his-Chuck edge off. It had been a while since he wanted to drink. In fact, his drink with Dean on the rooftop bar had been his last. He had successfully avoided the house parties of his dorm and Dean’s GC knew not to extend him an invite. But tonight he actually felt like drinking. He loosened his blue tie and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt. Maybe a little bit.

(continue reading on Ao3 on Wednesday April 3)

[quietwingsinthesky]

hey bug,

what do you think of

Gayest Supernatural Character, Quarter-Finals

drama and who do you believe is the truest queerest character in supernatural?

i think all spn polls drama is nonsense. it's fun until people start being actual assholes about stuff, and a poll like 'gayest spn characters' does make the worst elements of the fandom get overly aggressive trying to prove their claim to the queerest blorbo. a lot of people here have attached an unhealthy amount of their own identity to their favorite characters (and specifically, to a very narrow perception of said favorite characters) that leads to them lashing out when they feel that character disrespected, as it feels like a slight against them, personally. deeply strange and uncomfortable behavior when we should all just be talking about how crowley kisses men on screen for fun.

anyway, 'truest queerest character of supernatural' is a bit of a mixed bag because there's two options here. which character is the queerest textually, as in, was allowed to be openly queer and express queer love the longest and most often. and which character's subtextual narrative was most reflective of queerness, which is what a lot of people are arguing about the most. because you can't really argue about the first one. like. the only queer character who got to be queer, openly and constantly and for multiple seasons, make out with multiple women on screen, and not be treated like her sexuality is a joke is charlie bradbury. and we can talk about how well or poorly she's written as a character, but in supernatural, she is like a fucking lesbian beacon. and she's still bare fucking minimum in a cast whose other notable queers consist of 1) joke characters we are meant to mock for the fact that they are queer, 2) one-off characters who either die or in the case of later seasons where killing off gay people instantly because slightly less okay, do not get to express a lot of their queerness on screen before being shunted off to never scare the largely cishet audience again, or 3) villains. just like. villains. i know we love this about them, i know we're all gay little freaks here on the lucifer stan blog who enjoy that he's Like That about sam. but the fact that a lot of the villains on supernatural are queer-coded if not just openly queer is. :/ not great, folks.

and now we get to what my answer is for number 2) most subtextually queer. because like. it isn't charlie. charlie's queerness is not a part of her journey in any way. which is, kind of refreshing? but also very evidently the result of the writers not actually knowing how to integrate a lesbian into their story other than like. let her kiss women. charlie is written about as deep as a puddle 90% of the time, and that's the real crime we should talk about with her at the end of the day. getting distracted. anyway. for subtextual queerness. i mean, for me, it's sam. quite obviously, it's sam. sam the othered, sam the defiled, sam the broken and never pure. sam in his struggles trying to connect to a religion and a god who rejects him. sam who is and always will be the devil himself even when he proves that he can overcome him. sam who cannot win, no matter how quiet he makes himself and how much he acquiesces to the demands of the patriarchal family structure he's been slotted into.

hm. sam who knows he's dying, and sam who refuses to take a chance at life if it means burying everything about himself he's tried to construct and rising again as someone new.

i don't think you can honestly argue that sam's story doesn't resonate queerly. and i know this because most of the arguments i've seen against it have been "well, but sam (or sometimes "jared") feels too straight to be queer in any way". to which the only response can be THEY'RE ALL STRAIGHT. ALL OF THEM. THERE ARE NO QUEER MAIN CHARACTERS ON SUPERNATURAL. and yes, i am intentionally including castiel in there, for the people who argue his status as a main character. no. i don't think a love confession -> death pipeline is particularly compelling as a queer narrative, least of all because his potential queerness has always been treated like a joke or a reason to emasculate him, and to actually explore what it means that castiel loves dean winchester would take a much better show than supernatural could ever be. and it still wouldn't be a show that makes people happy, if it was honest, because it'd be a show about the slow and steady decline of one broken man constantly proven right about his paranoia and his abuse and his control issues, and one broken angel who has set him up as a god because he never really learned what free will was, just learned that following dean winchester means he has it.

[angelsdean]

we do not talk abt cas possessing claire in the rapture enough. like i wonder what cas said to her pre-possession. i wonder if he gave her the same promise he gave jimmy, that he could protect her family, that he would save them. so she says yes and cas does his best but then jimmy is dying. jimmy is dying and cas is saying "you served heaven well" and is about to let him die instead of healing and saving him. he's going to let jimmy die and keep claire as his vessel. but then jimmy offers himself up, completely, unconditionally (and was this, perhaps, a strategic move by castiel all along? i think so. he IS a soldier and military strategist. the apocalypse is coming. he needs a committed vessel, one with no strings, one who won't try to expel him.)

so then cas relinquishes claire, takes jimmy, and proceeds to not think abt the novaks for many years. actively ignores claire's prayers. it's no wonder claire is so angry with him when they meet again (though i think she could've been angrier). and YET. she forgives him and she grows to care for him and love him, even. (and how dean-coded is that. so much heart ! so much forgiveness !)

but i still think the possession should've been brought up again. claire, angry at castiel for lying. feeling like she was just a pawn in heaven's game. feeling like it's her fault her father got taken away a second time. claire describing what it was like to have all that power. that chained to a comet feeling. she could've easily saved jimmy, but cas had other plans. and i love cas, but there's so denying early seasons cas was colder, more ruthless, still under heaven's thumb and doing what needed to be done at times. as claire says, "The Castiel I met? He was crappy. Like super stuck-up and a dick." and as cas elaborates, "Before, I was very self-assured. I was convinced I was on this righteous path. Now I realize that there is no righteous path."

i don't really have a conclusion to this post lol i just think we should've gotten a scene where claire is just screaming and crying "you promised me!!! you promised me you'd protect my family. you said you could save them and now they're all dead!!"

[shallowseeker]

You know a headcanon that I personally don't vibe with?

The term Righteous Man being a positive thing.

So much of Dean's journey for me is about him struggling with his sense of code/law. In a sense, I think of him going through a lot of the same struggles Cas goes through as a lifelong soldier. It's this interesting interplay between cultural morals vs loyalties, nihilism vs meaning, fate and pre-determinism vs a genuine hope for the future etc. etc. etc.

SAM: I just… I mean, I thought (the angels) they’d be righteous. DEAN: (wry laugh) Well, they are righteous, I mean, that’s kinda the problem. Of course there’s nothing more dangerous...

4x07

///

CASTIEL: Yes, well, um… Before, I was very self-assured. I was convinced I was on this righteous path. Now I realize that there is no righteous path. It’s just people trying to do their best in a world where it’s far too easy to do your worst.

10x09

[sky-is-the-limit]

I saw that someone broke the bucktommy situation down in spn terms and I want to expand on that a bit further so that hopefully you can understand how deeply frustrating this whole situation is for buddie shippers.

So not just did a third of the destiel girls jump ship, they immediately started actively hating and destiel and calling anyone who is still a destiel girlie delusional and denying any possibility that castiel is anything other than straight, and like a third of your favorite destiel blogs and fic writers just completely abanonded destiel and completely rebranded for this new ship and started writing only for them. like some of the most passionate destiel shippers immediately left simply because they got dean being bisexual and that's enough for them and they never actually cared about destiel or how queer coded castiel is, they just wanted to see dean kiss a man and as long as dean stays with this new man they are 100% certain to have that. so they cling to this nothing ship with this bland ass character and come at destiel shippers for actually wanting a ship with substance and history between characters who actually have chemistry. and now that the destiel shippers are pointing out hints that point towards castiel being gay and destiel being endgame the new shippers are completely denying any possibility of it and are proving that they never gave a shit about castiel as a character or his struggle as a clearly gay man. they just wanted dean to be bi and kiss a man.

oh and also a bunch of new people joined the fandom after bi dean became canon and they simply don't watch any of the previous seasons because they don't actually care about the show, and then they start speaking about dean and cas as characters as if they know them at all when they have clearly never seen most of the show.

like i cannot express enough how nothing of a ship bucktommy is. almost everything about them is either made up by tommy's actor in paid cameos, or just fanon. they had very few scenes this season, only had two very uninteresting kisses, their chemistry is just really lacking and the vibe is kind of off. and i'm not saying that you can't like a ship that is mostly fanon, i know people base ships off less than this and i genuinely don't care, but it's weird to then completely discount a ship that has been brewing for 6 seasons and pretend that the people who have been following that ship for years are just crazy.

The more yall explain it in spn terms, the more I get sucked into it and I'm not complaining.

Yeah, I understand the frustration because I know I wouldn't even be able to handle Dean, towards the end of spn, dating anyone other than Cas, especially after all they've been through.

But making people feel crazy for it, especially when one is canonically bi, is insane.

What I said on that as an outsider, is that it'd be cool for once to watch the writers/producers take the most loved/popular ship between two queer*coded characters and make it canon.

The dynamics are also different when it comes to a new character being introduced as a love interest and a main character that a large part of the fandom ships with the other main character.

Now I don't know much about Bucktommy as a ship as I've only watched their kiss scene but I understand the frustration of Buddie stans.

I'd lose my fucking marbles if Dean came out towards the end, only to end up with a newly introduced character and not Cas 😭 and as a Cas girl having to watch people shit on him and Destiel just because Dean came out, nah. People would riot outside the CW offices.

Anyway, I'll keep watching the random s6 episodes they show on tv and hopefully that will make me watch the entire thing!!

Yall are making me want to read Buddie fics, stop it before I open a new ao3 tab

[mellowwillowy]

hi!! i have a some questions abt the lore or whatever u want to call it!!

whats the relationship between yulian and eve or eve and reader

is there more facts abt A-01

also whats A-01's real name if she has one

ALSO LIVE LAUGH LOVE A-01 <3333 >:)

I shall officially nominate you as A-01's first follower *simba pose*

Old art warning

𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰

Yulian (Adam), Eve, and Reader are the three main subjects of a project called 'Project Eden' led by 3 exceptional scientists.

Diederich, Diana, Castiel (Scientists)

Adam, Eve, and 'Reader' are referred to as '𝙰𝚕𝚙𝚑𝚊' while Yulian and A-01 are referred to as '𝙱𝚎𝚝𝚊'.

Yulian/Adam, A-01, Eve

About this Alpha-Beta in a nutshell: Take Alpha as the original good while Beta is just a replica of Alpha, most Beta's appearance is strongly based on their Alpha's.

Yulian and Eve don't have that much of a history since the childhood timeline is supposed to be Adam and Eve. Due to one thing and another, Eve is set to fall in love with Adam no matter what the condition is but Adam's setting is still unknown. Eve and 'Reader' had a rather bad history because, in a nutshell (w/o spoiler because I'm delusional that one day I will write something for this), 'Reader' was married to Yulian (who is literally Adam's copy-paste) when Eve is set to love Adam no matter what the condition is? Oooh, sounds like Eve is about to push Reader down the stairs to death and make Yulian trials Eve for this first-degree murder ^^

A-01 is 'Reader's' Beta (Well, she might not actually take Reader's appearance since this Y/N based lol). A-01 only has one goal in her life and that is to pay back tenfold of what 'Reader' had done to her. A-01 reconciled with herself and accepted that Reader is Reader and not 'Reader' tho (yayyy).

A-01 doesn't have a name as she is only named after codes by the scientist. But here are some of the names she used: Aoi, Seong-Min, (spoiler), Acquillina (Counterpart Appearance), and so on. The rest are not so important as the most important is the name she used in the main story. It's confusing! It's a story I modified from all the stories I've had in mind since I was a middle schooler, you get the drill! A story that lacks any interesting shits! There is a lot of modification for everyone but they still stay true to their original lore, only a few additions and reductions!

Here is a treat for burdening your brain in trying to read everything.

A-01:

Alright, pretty little anon. Oh, I'm sure your brain couldn't contain this disastrous literary of a 13-year-old but your interest flatters me. I am considered as one of the 4 important protagonists to each respective story. Back then, I was written in a story that is so dumb that you will cough out blood from just reading the prologue, shameless! (Shakes Head) But now, I am given a new role and that is to take the role of an antagonist in the story of, urgh, 'lovebirds'.

I'm sure you will love every moment of my appearance, after all, I take the 'Mommy' role very seriously, child of man, you people never fail to fascinate me with such names.

In short, I am here to hunt down the protagonist, or should I say, 'Reader'. Let's just say I hold an immaculate grudge toward 'Reader', so much that I just want to rip apart their skull open and devastate their little husband.

Name? I can't tell you that. But in a much more light-hearted setting, I am often called Aoi, adorable no? Oh, and should you ever wander too far in this 'library' for just a speck of my information, I'd suggest you give up. The Master of the Theatre and Master of the Archive are not kind enough to write an encyclopedia of me so just send me a letter and I'll be kind enough to spare you some of my time to have a chat with you.

- 𝑨𝒐𝒊

[crstormzy]

castiel headcannons | my candy love

ok so i have this really annoying habit of inviting fictional characters to live in my head rent free for god knows how long. specially when they are assholes. specially when they're the type of assholes i'm really fond of. specially when they're castiel veilmont.

i also have the even more annoying habit of making extremes out of these characters in my head, but oh well... it be like that sometimes.

anyways, it's 3am where i live and i cannot sleep so here's some of the extremes i've taken castiel to during the last few years i've been obsessed with him:

so, first things first, my man is a genius. i'm not talking the einstein kinda genius, but more of a mozart or michelangelo or something like that. he likes art and he understands it and he is so good at it. like, otherworldly good.

he has an awesome vocal range, but he can rock the higher register. and he can also rock the growls so that makes for an interesting combination.

i don't care what others say, i just know castiel can cook. and i'm not talking instant noodles or frozen pizza either, i'm telling you my man can cook. call it perks of living almost alone from a young age, but he is a really great chef (and a really great lover, so be ready for a lot of breakfast treats if you're dating him).

although he is a singer (and a pretty good one at that), castiel just loves bad karaoke nights. like, all out awful singing: out of rhythm, out of breath, out of tune. he's paid to be a good singer all other nights of the year, so he definitely seizes the opportunity to just be a shitty one for a while.

songwriter is coded into his dna. like, waking in the middle of the night, genius ideas, music out of everything type of songwriter. dude writes like he's running out of time.

his lyrics are so deep, always with beautiful metaphors and the kind of thing that just guts you every. fucking. time.

or they're just vulgar nonsense. there's literally no in between.

can sleep anywhere. tour bus? yeah, sleeping. library table? long gone. the most uncomfortable chair in existence? catch him going. his bed, though? forget it. after midnight his brain simply starts running a mile a minute.

not. a. morning. person.

no, seriously. he hates mornings with a passion, specially during hsl. probably because he's always going to sleep horribly late, but he hates having to wake early for anything at all. the only exception is if he's really really really excited about something.

he can hold his liquor, but he hardly ever drinks enough for it to be necessary because he doesn't like the idea of losing control of himself.

stopped smoking somewhere after high school. he was never really dependant on nicotine and after a while (specially after crowstorm) he just stopped altogether. the sensation was nice and all, but kinda of not worth it anymore.

was bullied into becoming crowstorm's vocalist.

also hates instagram with a passion. shows up once every three months, posts a single story (after his manager grilled him for weeks to make any appearance at all) and promptly vanishes again.

would get rid of his phone if he could but, since he can't, he just isn't much of a user.

castiel please stop telling paparazzi to fuck off please for the love of god the press team is begging you stop trying to rip their cameras out of their hands please please

can be very polite and well mannered when he wants to (but he never does)

my boy is a charmer. like, literally everyone falls for him. and then he opens his mouth and just manages to be the biggest asshole ever.

(he claims it's also part of his charm)

lots of people speculate about how many plastic surgeries he's had. partly because he's very pretty, but mainly because of the nose and the eyes. no one believes his nose wasn't bought, and lots of people think he wears contacts.

(in truth he is terrified of plastic surgery, but, ironically, if he wasn't his nose would probably be top of the list of things he would wanna change)

anyways i could spend literal days talking with how much time i've spent with him inside this silly little brain of mine. these are some of the headcannons i could think of on spot but god knows i have so many more...

[flowerbritts]

So, I'm going to be the one that makes the post on Payneland and parallels to other couples/relationships, aren't I?

Sigh...I guess here we go. Spoilers, obviously. So if you haven't watched Dead Boy Detectives, go watch it and return to this post!

Believe it or not, there is more than one relationship to which I can compare the Edwin/Charles dynamic.

These couples include Destiel (Supernatural), Malec (Shadowhunters), and Solangelo (PJO).

So let's start with the Charles parallels.

We are introduced in Episodes 3 & 4 to the fact that Charles went through some serious physical abuse. His father had high expectations for him, and when he didn't match those expectations, he took his anger out on Charles. This gives reason as to why Charles's anger comes out in the form of protection because he was never protected from that abuse, and he doesn't want anyone else to experience the same type of hurt he did.

Not only does this remind me of Dean Winchester, but of Magnus Bane. Both were raised by men who were quite angry and abusive in their own ways. Yet these characters are known for their care and love of other people. Dean's entire job is saving people, Magnus' job is helping people with his magic abilities, and we already know Charles's job of helping ghosts solve their mysteries to cross over. All these characters wish to be better (while holding themselves to very high standards) and care more for everyone else than themselves.

So where do the Edwin parallels come into these pairings?

When Edwin was alive, we see that he was a loner, often ridiculed and ostracized by his peers for being a 'Mary Anne'. This puts us into the discussion of how and why it takes a cat king and a crow to help him figure out his sexuality; he merely doesn't realize his feelings because they were never needed during both his time alive and in hell. I'm going to assume that he didn't keep up with politics and popular culture once he got out, so he really was just unaware of what society became, and that's why Niko had to tell him.

This very much fits my comparison to Castiel, his brethren looking down on him because he had 'too much heart'; he began to care more heavily once he was introduced to Dean, but everyone believed he 'came off the line with a crack in his chassis'. I've always thought this was heavily queer-coded. Edwin and Castiel have the similarities of being adorably clueless when it comes to human modern-day communication and needing help in navigating relationships. The comparison I'll make to Alec is that he was also raised in quite a hostile environment. He was forgotten, and looked at as a second choice to his brother Jace before Magnus took notice of him. Alec is another character who goes through a self-discovery journey in which he's adamant that he doesn't need a relationship or feelings to do what needs to be done; he rather be all work.

Now let's get to Solangelo parallels.

Edwin and Nico are both placed out of time, stuck in places for decades until the world has changed around them so drastically they don't recognize it anymore. They both go to Hell/Tartarus and have to find their own ways out. They are both ultimately kind even though they have been hurt by the world, again ostracized and seen as outsiders. They do what must be done to save that which they care about most and, ultimately, torture themselves over their feelings.

Charles and Will are the blinding light that leads their respective partner out of the darkness in more ways than one. They make the choice to stick around their person even though Edwin/Nico thinks they are better off on their own, but Charles/Will pushes to stay with them, not out of duty but because they want to. They try to get their partners out of their comfort zone and remind them to not take everything so seriously all the time.

Now the Hell parallels. One partner always goes to Hell, and the other follows; it does not always perfectly align but stay with me.

Dean goes to Hell, and Castiel fetches him and brings him back to Earth, but Castiel is the one who is more changed by the experience. "When Castiel first laid a hand on you in Hell, he was lost." This could also parallel Edwin and Charles meeting for the first time. Castiel and Charles both choose to stay with the person who changed/was kind to them.

Again, the parallels don't perfectly align with Malec but Edwin goes to hell, as Magnus goes to Edom, albeit Magnus goes willingly, he can’t escape. Charles follows, as does Alec. And neither leave without their other half.

Same with Solangelo, Nico goes into Tartarus, and Will follows because he isn't going to let Nico experience it by himself for a second time.

My point to this post is that these are common tropes that go along the lines of 'Do not go where I can not follow'. Both people in the relationship are so devoted to each other that they are broken when they are apart and are willing to go to the ends of the earth to get them back.

If there are any other parallels/things I missed, please add to this post!