#-over something he did. and because there are no consequences and Jack is actually rather frustrated; he allows himself the luxery of-

[catboy-archaeologist]

I, for one, cannot BELIEVE that I've not found a Single Windows of Opportunity fic about Teal'c and Jack double teaming the daylights out of daniel, it seems so obvious to me

[7nuh]

WAS IT 'CASUAL' WHEN...? — TWST 1ST YEARS

Headcanons on the 'casual' things you do with him that made him wish that there was something more between you.

CW 𓂃 sfw, gn!reader, reader is implied to fit in Deuce's clothes in his part, pining

CHARAS 𓂃 Ace Trappola, Deuce Spade, Jack Howl, Epel Felmier, and Sebek Zigvolt

AN 𓂃 mostly* edited now 😎👍

ACE TRAPPOLA — you slept in the same bed?

Ramshackle isn't exactly known for having the best facilities or furniture, and that is a fact Ace has to make peace with whenever he gets kicked out by Riddle. It's always a little too chilly at night and the floors still creak beneath his feet. Even with a makeover, half of the beds are broken and that stiff couch downstairs is your next best bet at getting some semblance of sleep.

You insisted you really didn't mind sharing a bed at all and Ace took you up on your offer. In his words, "if you say so then!" Just create an invisible partition down the middle and the two of you should be fine. Sure, yeah, that'll be infinitely more comfortable than the couch, and Ace absolutely agrees. He repeats the thought to himself over and over again— this is supposedly the better alternative, isn't it?

Yeah, totally. He tries to convince himself that it's really not a big deal for him to be inches away from you at night and feel your warmth spreading through the sheets. God, you'd think he's a weirdo if you woke up and caught him staring right now, but he could always twist it into a dumb joke about your sleeping face looking like an ogre. Consequently, he would have to watch your face twist in annoyance and pretend he wasn't watching every rise and fall of your chest. He would rather lose his magic entirely than admit the ugly truth and make himself vulnerable to you.

Ace does realize he's being embarrassingly sappy and romantic, and he's disgusted at himself for these thoughts, but he can't help it. He can't change the fact your lips look so soft and your eyelashes are so pretty. This is freaking him out so much more than it should. Does this really mean nothing to you? Do really only see him as a friend? Fine, then the two of you are just friends sharing a bed then!

It's really nothing! Ace was the one who joked about it months ago, after all. But things (and his feelings) have changed and he cannot ignore that. Back then it wouldn't have been such a big deal, but now it is and he cannot calm his heart down no matter how hard he tries.

You're right there. It's not the first time he had to share a bed with someone but it's different now because it's you. He did the math and the two of you are only 10 inches apart. Ace almost reaches for you in his weakest moment until he remembers that the two of you are supposedly just two friends sharing a bed. You're doing him a favor by sheltering him for the night, that's all.

Ace retracts his hand right away at the very last second. He might have as well taken the goddamn couch (lest either of you wake up in each other's arms).

DEUCE SPADE — he lent his clothes?

You came here with next to nothing. You had exactly one change of clothes and pocket lint for change, so Deuce, being the righteous and honorable student that he is, decided to lend you some of his clothes for the meantime. It's what a good friend would do! It's a temporary arrangement that would last only until Crowley spares enough change for you to buy another set of uniforms.

But this arrangement drags on for so long even when you have a functional closet and multiple sets of better-fitting clothes. Deuce never really noticed until recently that a third of your (albeit very limited) wardrobe actually belongs to him. But whenever you tug on his sleeves for his latest sweater, he doesn't have the heart to tell you no.

When he went home during break, his mom even noticed that certain sweaters and shirts had gone missing. "I left them at the college," he tells her as to not worry her. It's technically the truth— it's back with you in the college (and you're probably wearing them right now; the mental image is enough to fluster him all of the sudden when it never did before). He has to get them back eventually since those clothes are his. He's sure you wouldn't mind? Right?

Simply asking for them back is the difficult part for Deuce. You're there in front of him wearing one of his older shirts that fit snugly around your figure and he's at a loss for words. It's worn down and outright hideous as hell but the very first thought that comes to mind is that you look good in it.

Ah, yeah. You walk around campus on non-school days wearing his clothes 1/3rd of the time and nobody else knows that those jackets and shirts and sweaters and button-ups are all his. You make even the ugliest ones look good, or maybe it's because you're the wearer and you always looked good to him? Do his eyes need to be checked...? Deuce is tortured by these thoughts while merrily go about your day. You're laughing at something stupid that Grim said and he can't hear anything else. There's a fight in the courtyard but he can't see anything else. There's a midterm tomorrow but he can't think of anything else. You're too distracting.

When you finally do remember to return a shirt or two, Deuce tells you there's really no need to return them. He insists that they're better off with you, but you laugh and remind him that you're no longer the same pathetic charity case you were at the start of the year.

The truth is, your scent still lingers on recently returned shirts. It's the closest he'll get to being skin-to-skin with you, and Deuce is supposed to ignore that but he cannot. Or maybe he's the only one making this weird for the two of you because it doesn't seem to bother you in the slightest (and he's bothered by that).

But when Deuce looks at the recently returned shirts in his hands, he hopes he has a chance. He hopes you think of him as much as he thinks of you. He hopes the odds of him not actually liking you after all make your guts churn and set butterflies in your chest at the same time. He hopes he isn't the only one yearning for used shirts, lingering scents, and ghost touches. But at the same time, you've only ever asked these kinds of favors from him... Deuce doesn't want to assume anything, but a blush creeps upon his cheeks all the same and he continues to hope for more.

JACK HOWL — you played with his ears and tail?

Beastmen weren't a thing back in your world, so seeing them regularly made you morbidly curious about their animalistic features. Jack was easily the best candidate to satisfy your intrusive thoughts because just who else could you ask about this? Leona wasn't exactly an option and Ruggie might rope you into some scheme of his. And Jack owed you a favor, after all, so this is what you decided to ask of him.

Jack's ears twitched— did he hear you correctly? His face scrunches up in confusion because you barely knew each other for you to be asking something like this. How could you ask something so personal from him? It's in your innocently eager expression that he realizes what's going on... you just didn't know. Fine, it should mean nothing to you and thus he agrees to let you pet his tail and ears for five seconds. Maximum.

It's supposed to be a one time thing but he finds him involuntarily offering up his tail whenever you look him like that. He's not even sure how it got to this point. After all, there are romantic connotations of having your tail petted by someone else and... nevermind. Ruggie and Leona have started simultaneously teasing him over it the very moment they caught wind of this peculiar arrangement. It doesn't help that Jack's tail is particularly sensitive and reactive, but he keeps a straight face no matter how much it embarrasses him.

Jack doesn't understand why you're so fascinated by his tail and ears because there are so many others just like him. However, he supposes it's not an entirely terrible feeling, though, to have your fingers absentmindedly rake across his tail and hair as the two of you study. It's relaxing, even, but he won't tell you that. Jack will never tell you that it gives him goosebumps all over and makes him shiver whenever you play with his tail. Or that he's begun wondering what it would be like to have your hands elsewhere, or for him to touch you in similar ways in return.

He doesn't understand why he craves your company but doesn't question it either. All he knows is that your hands are so soft and gentle and that he likes the way the corner of your eyes crinkle when you smile in satisfaction. And when you hum a soft tune as the gap between the two of you closes, he wonders if he's the only one feeling this tension.

"Again?" Jack huffs. The pretext of this being a silly favor has been long forgotten. He should probably tell you soon that you shouldn't be doing this, but you just look so pleased with yourself when the two of settle down in a lesser-known corner of the library. The routine persists, the cycle continues. Hours later, the both of you have gone through multiple bags of chips, two movies on his laptop, and his tail is now comfortably curled around your abdomen as you read a book and he tends to his beloved cactus.

Again? Jack silently asks himself whenever he sees your face in a crowd. Could the two of you spend hours in a comfortable silence while the unsaid implications haunt him? He's started to ask himself— were you just playing dumb at this point or just plain stupid? Or what if you had known all along and the two of you were just dancing around it?

EPEL FELMIER — you kissed him?

Epel eventually learns to use the way others perceive him to his advantage; there's strength in appearing to be weak and striking when the iron is hot. Still, he couldn't help but wish to be seen for his talents and strength instead of his beauty at the first glance. The first assumption everyone makes of him, for god's sake, is that he's a fragile little thing from a rich family, and, quite frankly, he's sick of it.

So he's secretly delighted when none of his charms worked on you and you yank him by the ear for even attempting. A few curse words and rough shoves later, both of you are on the floor, grappling and wrestling against each other. The two of you are laughing so hard and swearing so loudly that you'll probably wake up the rest of Pomefiore at this rate, but neither of you care. It's just the two of you right now grasping at each other like your life depended on it.

It's a nice change of pace to be openly exchanging insults instead of restraining himself. He enjoys the comfortable rhythm the two of you share— from all the brawls and the bantering and the hugs and to the kisses on the cheek. Yes, kisses. They started as simple thank you's after a few favors here and there, and just one of them is enough to make a mess out of Epel for weeks. Better yet, you only seem to be showering him with more and more of your attention and he relishes in it.

Ah, things are finally working out for him! He found someone he could confide in and he's sure that there's a spark between the two of you. By the end of the year, he might have someone to bring home and brag about to his relatives—

All the momentum halts when he sees you across the hall granting the rest of your friends the same levels of affection. From all the brawls to the bantering to the hugs and the kisses, none of those were ever solely his to take delight upon. It doesn't matter that he opened up to you about all his fears and insecurities because he was never special. You were just the kind of person who got along and felt comfortable with everyone around you, but Epel hates that he has no one to blame but himself. He willingly walked your warmth but it was never his to take.

It finally dawns upon him that you have never seen him in a romantic light and that was why you were so comfortable around him. In retrospect, the bond you two shared was more sibling-like than anything— and believe him when he says he's incredibly grateful that the two of you were that close —but it doesn't make it hurt any less to know that your affections never carried any romantic intentions after he had pinned for you for so long.

Even when he takes a step back, you're cruel in a roundabout way by continuing to be so kind and loving towards him. How was Epel supposed to make sense of your relationship after realizing he misunderstood you...?

And he also hates to admit this, but his self-confidence takes a huge blow from this. Epel genuinely thought he could be loved for who he was based on the time you spent together. It gnaws at him and eats him alive to finally know the truth, and sometimes he wishes he never found out at all.

SEBEK ZIGVOLT — you wrote him love letters?

So, Sebek asked (demanded) to be penpals...

It's all because Lilia told him it would be a good exercise of diplomacy, he insisted. As the young master's bodyguard, he will have to be as courteous as possible even in unpleasant company. He also rationalized, admittedly partly because of you, that forging bonds with magicless humans may be a worthwhile endeavor after all! It's all rather suspicious (and you suspect his real intentions have something to do with your friendship with Malleus), but Sebek has never been one to lie about his intentions. If anything, the popular opinion was that he's a little too honest and should learn a thing or two about holding back.

There's something very unconventional in sending handwritten letters in this day and age of modern technology, but also something very romantic and fantastical— much like the many fictional knights he had read about. It helps a lot that he's not directly confronted by the fact you are very much a magicless human who shouldn't be in NRC whenever he spills out his heart's contents unto multiple pages. It was a way for him to release his frustrations, celebrate his achievements, and talk about the dull, little things thats happened in his day-to-day life to someone who listened.

And listen you did. Turns out, when you're not subjected to his 1000 decibel shouting, Sebek is a rather earnest guy who worked hard and acknowledged others who also worked equally as hard no matter their disposition. To say the least, you understand why Lilia found it so entertaining to tease him.

It completely flies over his head that you had been flirting with him for months through these letters. Your everyday interactions with each other had been completely normal, so how was he supposed to notice?! It takes multiple rereads and many late-night discussions with the other Diasomnia dormers to decode and understand all the double entendres and hidden 'i love you's' in each and every letter. It was so needlessly difficult, but Lilia laughs in his face and pats him at the back for a job well-done.

"There's no way," he thinks to himself late at night and finds himself doubting Lilia's claims for once. But when Sebek steals a glance in your direction and you smile back in return, he's never felt weaker in his knees. You're absolutely and undeniably magic-less... but somehow you had casted a spell that made his chest tighten and shut him up. He hadn't even realized how much time he was spending with you and thinking about you when he wasn't.

Except nothing has changed in-person. You're acting like you hadn't meticulously hidden your affections for him in those letters, and he was starting to seriously doubt all of it. Yeah, were you event smart enough to pull off all that? As some magic-less human?

Actually... Sebek realizes that you are capable of outsmarting him after getting to know you much better through those letters. He's never been one to deny where credit it was due. Now, Sebek's just deeply ashamed that he failed to accurately assess your character before making judgements based on superficial traits. He knows better than anyone that you're witty, charming, brave, kind, beautiful, ambitious—

Oh no.

Oh no.

Sebek simply explodes on the spot once he realizes that he had been oblivious to his own feelings for you too. He had thoroughly examined every aspect of this conundrum except from within. Quite embarrassing from an esteemed knight of the prince of nocturnal fae to be this slow, really.

[katrinasis]

happy 413 homestuck number day etc etc now look. the interesting thing about spades slick is that he alone out of all the versions of jack noir managed to develop emotionally beyond “born to kill universe is a fuck 19383727 kids dead” and “if i just murder enough people maybe i can satiate my hatred for all creation and utter boredom with reality.” now im not saying slick isn’t a ultra violent mass murderer because he is. the difference is slick has actual purpose in life beyond wanting to mindlessly kill people for the shits and giggles— he made a fucking city! he partook in creation despite the fact that he’s supposed to be diametrically opposed to it! he’s got a crew to run and needlessly complex heists to plan! spade slick avoids bec noir’s ennui and eventual exhaustion by actually doing something with his life, by actually working towards something productive rather than just trying to subsist off the temporary catharsis of mass murder forever. he is the most actualized jack noir in the sense that he is the only on to go beyond his base instincts and actually create something of value for once.

and the tragedy is that it’s all for nothing. every true spades slick scholar knows the line “nothing left to lose, or live for” but i think it’s worth unpacking what this actually implies— that being, slick is actively trying to end his life in cascade rather than just wanting to settle his score with sn0wman and not caring about the consequences. everything he has ever done has just been part of an LE-typical long con to get all his friends killed, get him into the exile vault, get him to doc scratch, and eventually put him into a position where he has absolutely nothing left and into a headspace where he thinks he might as well be dead anyway. he did literally everything he could have done right as part of the game— helped the players, rebuilt society, aided creation— and yet in the end was still fucked over harder than anyone has ever been fucked over before or since. sorry slick you’re going to be replaced with the version of you with no emotional development at all. sorry slick. but after all, who would ever mourn a jack noir?

tl;dr spades slick is the most tragic character in all of homestuck. WV is a close second but only because he was a grown ass man and a traumatized war veteran and then the narrative decided to make him davekat’s dog

[spotlightlowlife]

Jack Skelton is everything a Haz/Boss leading character could be

In Jack we have a have someone who decides he has work to do outside of his world. Sound familiar? He is in a position of power so he can get to work on his plans that nobody gets immediately. Sound familiar

Jack is charming, enthusiastic, nice enough and well loved, but on the flip side he is entitled, ignorant and very unpredictable. We see him go from someone bored and gloomy that nobody can get through to to having to overexcited, overbearing, tunnel visioned, toxic positive while threatening and determined to have his way once inspiration hit. Again, nobody could get through to him.

Did this harm him likability? Not really.

Accountability

Jack Skeleton from The Nightmare Before Christmas has his own thing going on but noticed something else he would rather be doing, something he knew nothing about, only had a kind of idea of how to execute it and would have to rope others on board. Again, sound familiar?

Take all above that describes Jack. Jack decides he will set aside being the pumpkin king and will be Santa instead, he's not going to simply phase Christmas into his culture, he's going to replace Santa on his own turf and who cares what Santa has to say about this, but at the same time he means Santa no harm, but at the same time he summon Santa by kidnap.

Jack listens to nobody and instantly gets to work making his vision happen. He achieves his goal of replacing Santa and handing out gifts that the people of his community would like, but the backlash is instant and a whole lot of heat is what he responded to.

We get a twisted moral compass from someone not of our world whose world was well established in a short time. Jack is allowed to be friendly and not set out to cause trouble yet be dense and entirely in the wrong with nobody else to blame as he brings trouble upon himself.

Blitzø reminds his scorned and petty ex that they live in hell, but what does this really mean, they're from there?

Casual murder is fine and anything goes, yet it all happens in a flash with extras, we never get enough time with moral greyness but decency and an understanding of it that we the audience are used to in the everyday is a default from characters who were never human? We know nothing of their culture.

HH Charlie is surrounded by former humans yet the tone is the same as HB, 'humanity' could be influential but who knows? Charlie knows what good is but we know nothing of her culture.

Anyway.

Blitzø also starts up a business that involves going into another world. Blitzø also directly screws over others, the humans he carries out hits on and if Charlie had anything about her, Charlie and the sinners she is trying to help. There hazbin no consequences for Blitzø's line of work or for crossing into territory he shouldn't which in this case was guarded.

There's no threat presented by those Blitzø slayed even though they have easy access to him. We are to assume business is going well even though the foundation is hardship and sacrifice, what could have been a major change of the book portal being replaced by the crystal portal has so far made no difference and again it's been long enough. Forget the tragic fire he accidentally caused being tackled with 'sorry but', the only 'accountability' of Blitzø's that actually matters is Stolas's upset

which is entirely not his fault.

Stolas was allowed to exploit his power and position to get what he wanted from Blitzø, allowed to be rude and dismissive to Millie and Moxxie and allowed to roughly handle 'little' imps, but upon catching some feeling the tables turn and his coercion and snotty actions are a thing of the past, not because he realized them on his own or because he got called out.

Charlie is just there. Good by default because she has done nothing wrong by doing nothing. Her toxic positivity doesn't come with a hint of malice or anyone submitting easily because of who she is, something she could take advantage of for the sake of her goal, Charlie also wants to see happiness, has tunnel vision and a lack of empathy but in her case it makes no difference because it's harmless and she wouldn't do anything that wasn't nice even accidentally as dense as she is. Her goal got nowhere.

Lucifer leads, supposedly, and that's that. He can have fun hobbies, be bored or 'depressed', have a child in a recent age for some reason and be revealed to have acess to heaven, but it all makes no difference to anything.

Other characters

Jack is central to everything and everyone has some involvement in his idea, a.k.a the plot

The nervy mayor needs his input

Sally, she crushes on him but is noting but rational, sensible and compassionate with an empathy unusual for the apparently inhuman townspeople, but she has a fun amount of toxic positivity about her too, choosing to spike prof Finkelstein and sneak out as he sleeps rather than disobey and speak up. Jack never listens to her

Santa who he crosses who realizes the lunacy in this new setting and who is decent, Sally, he's rightfully upset at all that happens but gets back to work clearing up Jack's mess and shows himself to be the bigger and better person by still showing kindness in wishing them all happy holidays

Lock, Shock and Barrel who double cross him, a trio of horrible little children who he clearly has some history with, as much as they taunt and lie to his face they hold a little fear of him, but their preference to Oogie surpasses that

Oogie, an infamous rival who is quick to jump in his throne and finds his new interest ridiculous

Blitzø

Loona seems to be comfortable and well looked after, there's no sign of her struggling since adoption despite their social class and Blitzø's drastic efforts to get the business going

Millie and Moxxie, Millie said they were behind on bills that one time and Moxxie criticized Blitzø's spending decision in the pilot

Charlie

Angledust is the character she hopes will show heaven that sinners can reform, he shows no interest in her, she barely interacts with him, doesn't tell him he's doing anything wrong and stays out of his business, he isn't interested her work or heaven

Vaggie who I needed to explicitly hear was her girlfriend. Same lack of interest in anything Charlie stands for. The angel backstory made no difference to any part of the main story or 20 different subplots

Setting

HH/HB the demon and undead filled seven rings of hell while NBC a small Halloween themed town inhabited by the undead and random others.

Nightmare's town is small enough for everyone to casually wonder around, know each other and get involved. The scenery is quaint, Victorian looking which is a particularly macabre time in history and go to for modern day gothic culture, there are cobbles, big iron gates and a very spacious cemetery. Organisation wise we see many creatives dispite the town being so modest, it gives the impression that this is a town the community built.

HH/HB is set in an entire big world which is fine, but we don't get to see much scenery of where the characters currently are, most of what we see looks typical of what we have in this modern world of cities being central, this is the case outside the district just for sinners. There isn't much community, we have a cannibal area but this may be the only thing the people there have in common and it's unclear if they're residents or not? Otherwise the setting isn't Blitzø's office or Charlie's big old hotel which we have had no look around.

Hierarchy

Jack lives in a small world, a little town that runs itself where his fame makes him somebody standout and important, he is famous and loved but also central to their whole economy. In this world Halloween is their leading holiday and each day after is a lead up to the next, celebrating Halloween is a collective purpose. Jack is 'The pumpkin king', the main attraction of the Halloween festival who puts on a show and is celebrated by everyone, Halloween and its star being the only thing that have is why the mayor's constantly at his side and why he has engineers and all sorts who can get a job done on call. Because this is just a little town that runs itself, he can be the most famous person around, a leader, a casual on the street or someone others wish to screw over.

HH/HB gives us a large world with whole pyramid system that is near impossible to scale, since those at the top consist of fallen angels, humans who existed when hell was becoming a thing and cherry picking of who makes it into heaven who for all we know sit at a pyramid too? Towards the middle in society are former humans who like the angels have no lifespan and believe that they can level up, head towards the bottom are those that were born in hell, poverty is a default, (somehow we have crime in hell?) imps dependent on hustle and thuggery to get by and hellhounds who are also kept like pets having just as few opportunities, get old and die.

Take all this information and apply it to our leading characters.

Charlie the princess of hell, daughter of this worlds creator gets walked over in her show not because people are taking advantage of her but because she doesn't matter. She can walk around and nobody knows who she is and when they find out, what difference does it make, she's as insignificant as her dad, yet the spinoff cleaned itself up a little and told us that there is order and in exile you're fair game, so does this not contradict their shitty treatment?

Blitzø, a lonely imp who lives somewhere where crossing paths with royalty is easy no matter how destitute you are, is the big bad who holds a position of power because the prince who caught him stealing and cornered him into sex caught some feelings down the line. Said prince is in temporary exile and slumming it with an imp, but other characters at the top casual hang out with and date at the bottom, no issue at all with these power scale relationships or sharing in what the powerful have.

Power structure and the power it offers, poverty, snobbery and ignorance were established but are widely ignored for the sake of making certain characters more likeable. Has it affected their popularity? Most probably.

[scoobydoodean]

billie Did say killing chuck and amara would be fatal for jack. but like. okay. there's a weird thing where they don't seem to like. even Ask if jack can come back after he explodes, or if he'll be sent to the empty or something? like when dean chooses to sacrifice himself to take out amara, the understanding is that he'll still go to heaven. im not saying it's good to just assume death isn't a big deal but it's a little confusing how the narrative seems to treat it as final for jack.

Context

To be clear, I'm not saying that Dean or anyone else knew the consequences would be nothing happening to Jack at all (they very much both thought he would die) but that the ultimate lack of consequences after Jack explodes besides everything Chuck wanted to happen happening (TFW missing their chance to kill him, Chuck absorbing Amara, and thwarting Billie) kind of lends to the notion that this was all part of his plan and that perhaps he actually wanted Jack to be revived (as does him excluding Jack when he kills everyone but Jack, Sam, and Dean one episode later).

As for Jack or Dean or anyone going to heaven... I think the afterlife has rather negative connotations across the board in Supernatural. Heaven is referred to as a false paradise in 4.22, and that's further built on in 5.16 and when we see Bobby in the afterlife in 10.17. But I also don't think family sacrifice is that out of left field for Dean because it's been something he's repeatedly been expected to accept throughout the show's entire run with very few exceptions. From my perspective, it's Sam's principles that have changed (by 14.12) as far as family sacrifice. I also think Sam plays increasingly fast and loose with the lives of strangers over this same period (though that actually started even earlier).

[raayllum]

Do you think the terrible thing that's been foreshadowed that Callum might do is use dark magic to get Runaan and Rayla's parents out of the coins? I can see some conflict brewing with how they might be freed from the coins, and perhaps Callum would do it if he felt he had one last gift he could give Rayla before he leaves the group out of fear...or something like that. sorry these are random ponderings and not fully formed

So it’s been confirmed in interviews that 1) the only dark magic can undo the coins and 2) Jack De Sena had teased, when all we knew was Callum was poking around the mirror, that he may be tempted to do Dark Magic again.

J: Yeah, I think that—that is a key aspect of Callum that will be tested is he, he has such a—there’s, it’s such a positive aspect to him via intense search for knowledge, but also like the flipside is yeah, he’s a completionist, he wants to learn everything, he wants to figure out all of this magic stuff, he wants to just discover each of these arcanums and will he, you know, be tempted to keep—to learn a little bit more about dark magic, which we’ve already seen him—

T: Dabble in?

J: Never want to touch again, but can he resist just knowledge for knowledge’s sake?

It’s also worth noting that 1) Callum didn’t want to do dark magic in S2 either, but did it out of desperation to help/save Rayla, and 2) this may be what’s believed about the coins rather than their actual reality. After all, everyone but Callum thought there were only two paths he could take: a regular ‘powerless’ human or a dark mage, and yet he chose a third path and connected to primal magic outright. 

This is something I’ve gone back and forth on because I can see precedent for a few different avenues, so let’s loosely talk about each of ‘em, yeah?

1) Callum does dark magic to free the Moon fam. 

This has thematic precedence due to 1) Callum inheriting Viren’s previous roles and problems, exemplified by Callum having Viren’s status as High Mage and brother to the king, 2) inheriting the mirror, and 3) Callum has always been the most connected to plot lines regarding Rayla’s family/parents. The bulk of this is in S3 when Ezran is not a party who can provide support because he’s not physically there (3x03, 3x04) but the rest of it (1x05, 3x08) are episodes where Ezran is there and could provide support, but the writing is choosing to prioritizing Callum’s role in affairs. 

In 1x05, Callum is the one who eagerly asks about her parents and then supports her on the shoreline, leading to their “This is a journey of redemption” and “We’re in this together.” Then in 3x08 he’s the one who rejects her repeating ‘having’ to make up for her parents’ perceived mistakes and is the one who learns the truth, delivering the news to her. In TTM, Callum’s primary goal isn’t to give Rayla closure about Viren, but instead focuses on him wanting to help her grieve her family/parents in a healthy way so that she can move on and start to heal. 

Rayla is the one who’s obsessing over Viren as well, but it’s an aspect of her trauma she isn’t letting Callum see, so he focuses on the one she lets him. But it is part of what leads to their complicated misunderstandings of priorities in TTM and to her leaving in the first place. As well as showing Rayla’s selflessness: she agrees to the Portal plan in spite of her reservations about lying because she’s worried about the threat Viren poses to the world, whereas Callum is more focused on his immediate circle (her in this case) and doesn’t have the same reservations. 

Additionally, there is symbolic foreshadowing of Callum doing dark magic specifically in Book 5: Ocean, as his use of dark magic was tethered to a drowning motif / the Ocean. 

Subset 1: It works

If it worked, there would have to some kind of terrible consequence / price to pay for Callum engaging in Dark Magic. Not a sickness perhaps (they don’t want to re-tread too much territory) but possibly what lets Aaravos dig his claws in. This would likely have to happier earlier on in the season (within the first 1-5 episodes) but could play into something interesting of Callum and Rayla being forced into the roles they didn’t want: a human dark mage under Aaravos’ control and an assassin bound to kill a human prince (especially considering how important the Eyes were for Rayla’s decision to spare Marcos: “He looked up at me and I could see the fear in his eyes” and of course, Aaravos’ possession blocked out Callum’s eyes as both black and white). 

It could also mean Runaan and co. helping Rayla get Callum back, but would mean Callum would be mostly MIA while Runaan is drastically changing his opinion on the kid (or that they have minimal on-screen time together). It also isn’t clear how this would allow Callum to help Rayla deal with some of her self worth issues, leaving the bulk of it up to her parents. And while they have a part to play, I think Callum absolutely does too, mostly because he always has.

I think this path is the most unlikely given that the coins weren’t sealed with dark magic ingredients, either, but specifically with Viren’s staff, and S4 heartily implies that only the staff can do certain spells (hence why Claudia has to retrieve it in the first place; she can’t use anything else). 

Thus, Callum and co. would either have to find a powerful enough alternative or steal the staff back in order to use it. We also know there’s a 4th person in the coins who wouldn’t be released at this time and that Rayla is going to likewise struggle with what to do with the coins. 

Now, Claudia has basically handed her the next thing to be obsessed about. Some of the questions going into Season 5 for Rayla is how does she balance what she now has against the growth and progress she thinks she made in the last two years. Is this more important, or is Callum or whatever else that’s going on in the world more important? She’ll struggle with that.

I could far more see a mini arc where she doesn’t initially tell Callum about them because she’s trying to make up her own mind, for example. Freeing the mage fam successfully through dark magic would also be almost a sort of thematic regression, but that’s not necessarily a negative thing; both Callum and Rayla have emotionally regressed in S4 in some key ways, and are clawing themselves out of the pit. This could be a way to reaffirm that.

Subset 2: It doesn’t work

This is the more likely of the two scenarios to me, as it allows for the consequences without reward, giving everything a very suitably tragic flair. It also provides more time/space for other things to be happening concurrently as well as, because you’re not trying to develop everyone else’s currently changing dynamics while also integrating 3+ new people into the team. It also means that presumably, when the mage fam are successfully freed, it 1) won’t be with dark magic (or Callum’s use of it) and 2) all four people will be freed from the coins at the same time, which makes more sense to me than having two separate releases, particularly since the stakes for freeing them are so high. 

It also means it still gives Viren a way to make amends (whether with knowledge or magic use or what) if/when he switches sides and joins the heroes, etc. It provides more processing time for both Callum and Rayla about how they feel about being able to even attempt this and just more room in general. It would give them time to reconcile / have more of their shit out of the way before bringing in Runaan, who has always been an accordingly difficult topic. 

An elven bow. Callum picked it up. His stomach lurched. It was the weapon that killed his father. The weapon of someone Rayla had loved. Several feelings—too many feelings—collided at once. BANG!

I also don’t really think Callum seeing Runaan’s and Rayla’s similarities are necessary for them to reconcile, as he always understood why Rayla was doing what she did, he just struggled with accepting it for a bunch of good and various reasons. I also think that Ocean has to resolve the majority of Rayla’s self worth issues with S6 + Runaan letting her then teach it to him in a lot of ways, rather than them both stumbling through the fuckery in the dark together.

Either way, this would play into the “Rayla (literal or as a motivation) as Callum’s destruction and salvation” motif with the destroying happening first followed by the salvation. This could mean extending the possession plot line into S6 with Rayla breaking through it then. 

However, there is the second main route, which is:

2) Freeing the moon fam isn’t a Focus in S5

We see even in season four that post-possession, Callum’s primary concern remains Aaravos and stopping Claudia from freeing him. While they do not have the map from Rex Igneous with his location, that only means they need to find a way to do so (which may have cropped up in Tales of Xadia). Given that S5 will likely end with Aaravos being freed at some point and the kids know Claudia is actively working towards it, is unlikely - but not impossible - for them to change directions.

[ After all, all they know is that seemingly for the past two years Claudia has been attempting to free Aaravos, not that she’s three weeks away from a deadline (unless Soren head his dad and Claudia discussing it, but probably not). They have a reason to be Massively Concerned, but not a sense of running out of time explicitly. Callum could also want to deal with the coins as he fears he won’t be able to help once he gets possessed again, which is the stance my fic on the subject uses. That, and a lot can happen in two weeks, but you know what I’m getting at ] 

Either way, I think we could get a 3-ep arc about Rayla deciding what to do about the coins / who to tell before she tells Callum and they figure out a plan, swearing that once they’ve stopped Claudia, they’ll tend to the coins together and still providing some room for character/relationship development, showing that trust being renewed, etc. Then she sticks with the boys, as I think it’s unlikely (although again, not impossible, particularly with Callum’s “You have to go get that dagger” attitude from 1x07) for her to go off on her own to save her family, especially after everything, and as a non mage, Rayla wouldn’t even know where to start. She also has to be around for whenever the possession plotline rears its head, so.

After all, most of the symbolism for Callum doing dark magic for the coins could be 1) revamped to him or Viren inheriting that job, 2) if Callum connects to the Moon arcanum and given the similarities between the coins and the mirrors being very Moon-magic-y, that could do the trick, and 3) dark magic and the Key is also associated with Aaravos. It would also make sense for Callum to be hunting down more information about dark magic / Aaravos to try to prevent himself from being used as a tool, only to inadvertently make it more likely / allow it to happen on a greater scale in the first place. Very Greek tragedy

While Runaan is associated with the Lotus pond, it’s mostly because Rayla and her shame/grief/guilt are associated with water, for all of her issues, but primarily her Fear / reflection, as well as her drowning pattern from Bloodmoon Huntress and Through The Moon (in which Runaan and Callum save her, respectively). 

The first time Callum called Rayla heroic / brave was when she overcame her fear of water in order to save Bait in 1x05. It would make sense with, as much as Rayla is battered down after two years of failing at everything she set out to do / leaving the drake in 4x05 in a moral opposition to all her previous behaviour, that Ocean would be when we get to learn more in depth about what she’s ben through as well as see her come back to herself, stronger than ever before. Someone who believes she can save her family / Callum and someone who does so successfully, reaffirmed in early S6 with her family in this scenario. 

The key thing here is that Callum is worried about doing terrible things under Aaravos’ control, which he differentiates from hurting people that he loves; those are two separate, but interrelated fears. This means his greatest fears are 1) being under Aaravos’ control / being forced to help him and 2) hurting the people around him. Thus, these are two fears that can be placed in opposition if someone he loves (like Rayla) was put in danger and forced his hand into helping to free Aaravos (for a very similar reason as Claudia’s current motivation, I might add). 

All of this being a long winded way of saying this plot structure would likely lead to Rayla saving and then destroying Callum in some manner, which fits slightly better with the end of the season (since Callum and co., bar none, do have to fail in stopping Aaravos with some kind of price they are not willing to pay). 

TLDR

Each (dark magic working, not working, or it not being a main focus) all have interesting avenues and thematic precedent. I currently lean towards it not working and/or not being the main focus of the season, but I could be 100% wrong and very pleased by it. Either way I am going to cry a lot, Rayla is going to cry a lot, and shit is absolutely going to hit the fan with the possession plot line <3

[rubsjuice]

The Mayor Rant

no need to say it twice my friend

This is my unadultered rant on the character of Wayward Vagabond, The Mayor, and how he was robbed by everyone who ever had creative control over him

Okay, so let me start with a simple "Who is WV". WV, the Mayor. He was a simple farmer in Skaia, he's seen the horrific consequences of monarchy and war and he thinks he and his friends could do a better job at organizing society. He has a very black and white (pun intended) way of thinking and he often punishes himself for silly thoughts. Remember when he calls himself stupid over and over and hits himself over the head for thinking of a silly thing to do?

Over the course of homestuck, he develops a set of traits that we can very easily consider PTSD after he sees Jack Noir slaughter countless brothers-in-arms without regard for shell color, shape or alignment; he has night terrors about it, and very specifically about becoming just the same if he ever puts the ring of whatever four-fold to transform into a powerful beast to hunt down Jack Noir for it. He's afraid of becoming just the same as the people he swore to destroy, and this is so. important. for his characterization. He's a kind, gentle, and stern leader who isn't afraid of gathering troops or guerilla fighting of course, but he shies away from mindless violence and death, and he'd rather not send troops to be slaughtered like they're nothing. This is the Mayor. A man with simple roots, a dream, and overwhelming trauma.

(ngl same)

So what did Hussie do with this incredible backstory and development, a couple thousand pages down the line? When WV was stuck in the meteor with a bunch of teenagers and confused out of his fucking mind?

He turned him into davekat's little pet

Like seriously the flaunderization of WV is something no other character experiences in the entirety of the webomic, how the fuck do you go from "revolutionary democratic leader" to "two teen's bug puppy"? Dave flat out talks to and about WV as if he was a pet, or at the very least a creature with less sapience than he does

Karkat sorta has a conversation with him? But it's mostly framed as a joke, so the narrative wasn't treating him seriously anyway

That's a really big problem, because if the narrative doesn't treat him like a person, the fans don't have any incentive to do so either. I've seen more fanart that treats him like he's an irrational animal than I've seen art treating him as the real complex character that he is. I've seen humanstuck AU fanfics that write him as davekat's old golden retriever. I can tell whether an artist treats WV seriously or not by looking at how they draw him (it's always something in the eyes). Paired with the fact that a lot of his "silly behaviors" are either symptoms of mental illness or externalizations of neurodivergence, it all gives me a very sour taste in my mouth.

After all that and Collide, WV gets his happy ending, building a town and community in Earth C

Or did he?

I present to you: the credits

In which is established the existence of a, and I quote "carapacian kingdom" in Earth C

Based on my exposé you probably figured out that WV would be at the very least be reticent about naming anything in the new world a "kingdom" even if post-canon implies it's not actually a kingdom, what matters here is the presentation; as someone who believes strongly in the representative democratic system, the way things are worded would be incredibly important to WV, so why would they think that's acceptable at all for him?

The credits showing Callie and Roxy as like the leaders also boiled my blood a little bit because of how chess racist roxy is i mean really those guys raised her from infancy and she thinks they're lesser than her, never bothered to learn their language and thinks they're helpless without her bringing them pumpkins like ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS

All that just left me with the unwishful thinking that Earth C was a paradise for trolls and humans but if you weren't one or the other you were treated with indifference because you were just "a silly salamander" or "a little chess guy"

And I know that the epilogues and Homestuck 2 explicitly made the credits not canon, but they follow the same baselines and the same attitude about the aliens that we can call "game constructs", so really how non-canon could it be

I was blissfully thinking about ways to explore that when the bonus updates dropped, and in one of them there's a long block of purple prose basically outlining the authors' perfect democratic system (which kind of really sucks if you know anything about politics besides twitter buzz words but that's besides the point) and attributing that "marvelous feat of democracy" to WV as if he would ever think separating representation by race was a good idea

He's been part of a race war before! he knows how things like that start!!

And in the end they even write some bullshit about WV thinking "ooooh maybe it won't work out i'm scared of it happening oooo" because deep down they know they're full of shit and they know this is a disservice to the character but they don't care about it enough to make something decent. He might be a simple farmer but he's not incompetent

Anyway, this doesn't really matter at all anymore because of intricate twitter drama i don't have time nor energy to type out, i'm just really really passionate about this guy

This was WV, he lived, he served cunt, died twice and was grossly mischaracterized in two completely different directions by anyone who had any creative liberty over him

[kirain]

I started playing rdr2 but stopped because like idk but I can't seem to get over the fact that all the women are prostitutes and they don't really have any important roles. Like what's Abigail do? Ooh she's a mother who's always mad? What do the other women do? Oooh they sleep with the gang. What's Sadie do? Oooh she becomes a badly written femme fetale who suddenly becomes a flawless killer. The women are just so badly represented.

I get the feeling you didn't play the game naturally or see any random encounters, because none of what you said is true. There's a lot to unpack here, so let's start with the "all the women are prostitutes" comment.

First of all, none of the women are prostitutes, a fact that deeply irritates Micah. During a coach robbery where he rides with Arthur and Bill, he even says, “Why the hell do we need a gaggle of girls who won’t even fuck you if you put a gun to their head? Is it too much to ask considering they get a piece of every damn dollar I bring in?” Poor baby. He even tries to proposition all of the women (Grimshaw included), but they all insult him and send him running with his tail between his legs. It’s hilarious and I love it. Arthur also responds to Micah with, “Everyone does their share. I don’t see you lifting a finger around camp.”

Now a bit about the girls:

Mary-Beth was a skilled pickpocket, but she ended up being caught by a group of her victims. She mentions this during a conversation with Arthur, where she points out how hard it was for women who came from nothing, and the inequality of it all. RDR2 actually regularly highlights how difficult frontier/outlaw life was for women back then, often pulling zero punches. While fleeing her pursuers, Mary-Beth luckily ran into Hosea, who helped her escape and welcomed her to the gang. You can see Dutch lusting after her a few times, because he's an old pervert, but she always shuns his advances. She was never a prostitute and she was actually underage when she joined.

Tilly was a child outlaw and a member of the Forman gang from the age of twelve. She ended up killing the leader's cousin because he [as is heavily implied] tried to rape her. She was around sixteen at the time and tried to return to her mother after the ordeal, but she unfortunately passed away while Tilly was running with the Formans. Out of options, she eventually joined the van der Linde gang after Dutch saved her from some unspecified trouble. You can find most of this out during one of my favourite side missions, where she gets kidnapped by Anthony Foreman in retaliation for killing his cousin. With Grimshaw’s help, you can rescue Tilly and put an end to it once and for all. She was never a prostitute and was also underage when taken in.

Susan Grimshaw was one of the original members of the gang and one of Dutch's first lovers. They parted amicably and both fell in love with other people (Dutch with Annabelle, and Susan with a doctor who sadly ended up dying), but she stayed with the gang because of their mutual respect for each other. She later became the arbiter of the camp and a kind of surrogate mother to Arthur, John, and the other girls. She was never a prostitute, but rather a rough-and-tumble outlaw.

Karen is a little more complicated. Overall, she was a scam artist (Hosea even called her an “actress”) who sometimes lured men into brothels, then stole from them or picked their brains for leads. That doesn't necessarily mean she was a prostitute; however, it just means she used sex as a manipulation tactic. Out of all the women in the group, she was the freest and most unconventional. She also stood on guard duty and participated in heists. The only man she ever slept with in game was Sean, and his death absolutely devastated her. If you talk to her or observe her interactions, you also discover she’s a raging alcoholic suffering from some very deep-seated issues. She likely did have to do things she wasn’t proud of in order to survive, but in my opinion that makes her one of the most realistic members of the group. She was never described as a prostitute.

Molly was an aristocrat who left her family to be with Dutch. His abusive treatment eventually led her to suffer an identity crisis, where she ended up hysterical and heartbroken. Her story is sad, but she was never a prostitute. If anything, Molly is the best example we have that Dutch views people as items, not human beings.

Abigail is the only prostitute in the game, but by the events of RDR2 she's an ex-prostitute. To say she's nothing more than "a mother who's always mad", I feel, does her character a great disservice. First of all, she left that profession behind to raise her son, to give him a decent chance in life. Unlike John, she stepped up immediately to become a responsible adult. I don't think people realise how impressive that is because, one, she could've easily abandoned Jack at the roadside (which was common back then), two, she could've induced an abortion, and three, she was quite young when she had him; around nineteen years old.

You say the women are "poorly represented", but they're stronger, smarter, and more mature than most of the men. A few of them even become self-sufficient in the turn of the century, something dear old Dutch couldn't even do/accept. Abigail in particular helps Sadie mourn her husband and the two grow very close. Their interactions are both grounded and heartwarming, with Abigail telling Sadie she’ll suffer the loss of her husband, but that it’ll get better if she keeps on living. She takes care of her, and Sadie later returns that kindness. These women are so full of quirks and humour and personality, I don’t know how you missed it.

As for Sadie ... where do I even begin? Badly written? Femme fatale? Flawless killer? Sadie is one of the best written characters. She's not flawless, she's exceptionally flawed, temperamental, and traumatised. It's never expressly stated, but it's implied at several points throughout the game that she was repeatedly assaulted while the O'Driscolls kept her captive. At first, she's petrified and miserable, to the point that all she does is cry and express suicidal ideation. Then, she gets angry. Very angry. Having nothing left to live for, her home and husband torn from her grasp, she throws herself headfirst into danger, which almost gets her killed on a number of occasions.

She's not a "flawless killer", she's a messy killer. She's not an expert death-dealer, and that's made evident from the start -- but she was a hunter who shared the workload with her husband, so it's not as if her skills just magically appeared. You do see how much it weighs on her, however, near the end of chapter six. If you help her kill the rest of the O'Driscolls, she laments what she's become because she thinks her husband would be horrified. She’s extremely complex and struggles between mourning and moving on.

I also can't help but laugh at the "femme fatale" accusation, because Sadie actually defeminises herself, which is understandable considering the hell she’s suffered. She even wears men's clothing, which wasn't illegal [anymore] back then, but it was openly frowned upon. Femme fatales use their beauty and sexuality to their advantage, ensnaring men with their feminine wiles. Sadie never does that and fights side-by-side with the boys. Interestingly enough, that's partially why Calamity Jane, an actual historical figure, garnered so much attention, because of how she behaved/dressed. It’s pretty clear to me that Rockstar might’ve used her as inspiration for Sadie. This was a real woman who lived from 1852 to 1903.

In addition, Sadie plays one of the most important roles, yet she does so without falling into the category of a Mary-Sue. She saves the gang and moves them to a new location when the Pinkertons attack Shady Belle. She hatches the plan that frees John from prison. She helps Arthur rescue Abigail after she gets kidnapped. She tracks down Micah and puts an end to his reign of terror. But most of what she does she accomplishes with a partner--Arthur or John--both of whom she respects immensely. No one, not even Arthur, does everything alone, and when they do there’s usually negative consequences. It's the camaraderie and shared experiences that make these characters successful, and aside from Charles and Hosea, I’d even argue that the women are more well-rounded and fleshed out than the men.

I gather from for comments that you didn't finish the game, so I hate to spoil it, but I kind of have to if you walked away with this mindset. The women of RDR2 are a force to be reckoned with.

[tuesdayisfordancing]

Picard 3.3 thoughts part two:

“He’s not ‘Dad’.” “He’s a good man.” Relevance, William? Kid hadn’t said he wasn’t (though he will procede to lol) just pointed out that some guy you meet when you’re 23 isn’t automatically your dad because of genetics. (Also aw he said please.)

That being said Riker is pretty cute here overall. And Jack’s understated wtf face when he says “I spent 2 decades watching you get cooked up before you were born” is great. What a thing to say about a guy’s parents.

“Bigger the legend the more disappointing the reality” this is about WESLEY and I’m not wrong.

Um. Did they add the DNA line after seeing all the jokes about the accent being genetic or? I’m gonna be honest it would have been better by my lights to ignore this rather than call attention to it, but I’m sure some people prefer a slightly awkward explanation to none.

Oh my god I was right he literally did say “ugh no thanks” to the whole concept of having a dad. I thought based on the delivery of “I never had one” that I was wishful thinking. This is amazing. Oh man I gotta rewatch the first two episodes with the knowledge that Jack knows exactly who this dipshit is.

Holy shit Picard you PHENOMENAL JACKASS??? Literally changed his fucking mind about whether he should have protected Jack upon learning that Jack knew who he was and hadn’t wanted to meet him??? What the absolute everloving fuck????? !!!!!!

“I think it might be time you called me Number 1” was good

Raffi and Whorf are very cute but I’m having trouble getting properly invested because I just. Don’t we should be starting from a place of her being isolated and miserable to begin with!

Mixed feelings about Beverly being a better doctor because she doesn’t over rely on fancy new tech. I mean, I like it mostly but. Hm something bugging me and I can’t put my finger on what.

Beverly completely ignoring the CMO’s hypothetically being in charge is fantastic though because it’s both a strength (in this case she was needed!) and also an arrogance that could absolutely have led to her getting in the way and causing problems. Hope this is explored more.

She summons Jack to help her! Because they are a team! I don’t know like on the one hand it’s obvious, if nothing else probably the doctors and nurses on the ship would hesitate whether they should listen to her when she’s arguing with their boss, but the whole thing just felt like it got across so well the way they are used to relying on each other.

How is Raffi’s hood staying on while she runs? She and Whorf continue to be cute as hell.

Seven Jack teamup!! This was actually a secret item on my wishlist that I didn’t mention because it had nothing to do with themes I just really like Jack and want him to get to do cool stuff and what’s cooler than bonding with Seven? Also as far as I’m concerned this proves that that one fic is canon.

Are there going to be. Consequences later for Jack knocking out a security person or are we just skipping that? LMAO the doors though.

I really thought that guy was like, going to assume Jack was the bad guy, not that he was the bad guy? But anyway I’m ALWAYS down to whump the pretty boy. Yes please.

Curious like a proper sucker about the Seven hallucination. “Connect the branches. We’ll be together soon. Find me.” What does that mean! I also wonder if he’s picturing whatever’s going on as Seven just because actual Seven is there talking to him, or for another reason?

Hmm, okay it’s not that Picard doesn’t deserve a significant share of the blame but Will you were in command, you made the call to listen to him!

[rosesvioletshardy]

how to lose a hockey player in 10 days - mat barzal chapter 1

chapter 1 is finally here and i'm sorry for the wait hopefully you guys like it

also i don't think i mentioned this but the reader does use she/her pronouns

summary: when 2 people are given similar bets, things may not go the way they think it'll go

series masterlist

mat masterlist

main masterlist

# of words: 3,902

warnings: mentions of drinking (all characters are of age)

----------

It's been a few days since Y/N got the offer from Adam and a few days since she’s wondered if it was worth risking her career for something that she wanted. She knew she had to get an answer back to him before the season ended and playoffs began, but she couldn’t figure out what to do. On one hand, if she does it, she’ll be able to write about things she actually cares about and not things that could send a player off the edge if they read it. On the other hand, if she doesn’t, she’ll be stuck writing things that no one wants to read as long as it gets Adam and the company more money. She talked to her friends about it and they thought she should go for it, especially if she wanted to talk about something she cares about. Y/N was going to get more opinions from people she could trust but she was leaning towards the idea though she hated herself for it.

Now she was sitting in her living room with her roommates as they all sat around watching a game as usual for Y/N to talk about and write an article on later. Her roommates were often okay with her doing this almost every other night or her coming home late because she has to interview players before and after games, not to mention her eyes being focused on either her computer or her phone so she made sure to have the perfect article written. This time it was different. They wanted to do something different rather than just go to sleep after writing down notes and highlights from the game.

“We need a night out.” melissa blurted out as the 2nd period came to an end

“What?” Y/N asked shocked, seeing that it was a weeknight and that they all had work the next day

“We. need. A. night. Out.” melissa said taking a small pause between each word

“She’s right. Specifically you. You overwork yourself too much.” jack mentioned

“Exactly. Also didn’t you have this like bet thing with your boss? That’s the best way to meet a guy, like I know there are single guys on both teams that are our age or even near our age. It may be Wednesday night, but you haven’t gone out since who knows how long.” melissa exaggerated

She wasn’t wrong. Either the islanders or the devils would probably be out celebrating after the game tonight and you couldn’t help but pull yourself together to say the words and plus the three of you haven’t hung out alone that didn’t involve more friends of theirs since who knows how long

“Okay, you’re right. I’ll go. Just let me finish writing my notes and let the game finish?”

The two roommates simply just nodded and went back to paying attention to the game. Y/N couldn’t help but think about the consequences that’ll come out of what she’ll be doing. She quickly shook away the thoughts and looked over to her friends. She knew that they would support anything she did and she was the same with them. When she first told them about what she and Adam had talked about, they first thought she was crazy but they supported her and would stand by her incase she needed reassurance.

For Mat on the other hand, the night out after a game meant a celebration night rather than needing a night out in general. After scoring the overtime goal, he figured that there was going to some sort of celebration with rounds on him. He didn’t mind it, especially if it meant celebrating him. The locker room was filled with the electric energy of the guys congratulating him as soon as he came back from the post game interview with claps and yelling going all around.

The ride over to the bar was quiet, there was occasional talk before they entered and headed over to their usual spot. Jack ordered their usual drinks as they tried to spot out anyone. The three friends subtly scanned the bar but not trying to make themselves seem suspicious. On the other side of the bar, two hockey players sat as they talked. One with his girlfriend by his side and the other by himself. Their team had their wives or girlfriends out with them if they were able to make it but it was their star player who truly stood out. His best friend has been trying for the longest time to set him up, but in the end, they were never successful

“I’m just saying, you need a girlfriend. Like right now.”

“No I don’t, we have playoffs to focus on and no offense to Riley, but a girl at the moment will just be a distraction. Not to mention I can make any girl fall in love with me, it doesn’t matter if it’s 1 day or 5 months. I can sell myself to any woman”

“Alright, alright I give up. If that’s how you want to be then” Anthony said while taking a sip of his beer

“No, I’m not done with this.” his girlfriend, Riley, said leaning forward getting more interested as to how Mat was acting

“Alright, I'll tell you this. If you can get a girl to fall in love with you in 10 days, then we’ll stop trying to set you up” she finishes

“I’m down with that” anthony added now interested as to what his girlfriend just said

Mat sat there and pondered for a moment as to what Riley told him. There were things that he could get out of but part of him was telling him that it was a bad idea but the other part of him told him to go for it, especially if it meant that Anthony and Riley would stop setting him up.

“Why 10 days though?” Mat asked, curious about why Riley had chose that specific time frame but not questioning it further after his question

“5 days is too short and 5 months is too long” Riley started

“I mean I fell in love with Beau a week into dating but I didn’t say it until 3 weeks” she finished making beau shrug and smile as he remembered the day and immediately told mat as soon as she was gone

“Alright i’ll take that bet” he said, leaning forward over the table with a hint cockiness in his tone

“You sound a little cocky there Mathew” Riley said

“Not cocky, confident”

“Okay then, at the end of the season gala, if you go to it with a girl that’s really in love with you, then we stop setting you up or bothering you about your singleness” Riley concluded shaking Mat’s hand taking that the bet was now on

“One condition: she has to be within our age. Meaning no one older than 24, but not younger than 21.” mat had explained to them

“Fine.”

The three then scanned the entire bar looking for someone that can fulfill the bet that was made. On the other side of the bar sat the other three friends looking for someone for a similar reason. It was hard for the both of them since neither party knew who was single and who wasn’t and whatever choice someone made there was a downside to it. There was either a partner that they weren’t aware of, they were a little older than their age range, etc. It wasn’t until Jack spotted someone he was familiar with. He nudged Melissa’s arm making her smirk and nudged Y/N making her look over. Mat Barzal. Melissa saw that he wasn’t with anyone and knew that he could possibly be single and good for Y/N. Riley and Anthony looked over and saw her and looked at each other. Riley recognized Y/N. She’s seen her in the building they both worked at and gossip tended to spread around there quickly but it never left the fifth floor but they’ve maybe only interacted with each other once. Riley soon nudged Anthony signaling that she needed to talk to him in private. “Hey, we’re going to get more drinks, do you want anything?” Anthony lied to Mat

“No, I'm fine.” he answered back, showing that his beer was still somewhat full. When they slipped away, Riley pulled him to the bar where they were somewhat out of Mat’s view but still visible

“What, why’d you drag me here?” anthony asked while signaling for another drink

“Over there at the table, 2 girls and 1 guy. We have to get Mat to notice her. I’ve seen her in the building I work at. I think her name was like Y/N or something.”

“Okay what does this have to do with anything” anthony questioned

“Someone told me she’s working on an article and has to observe for 10 days on a hockey player. I love Mat, I really do and he’s our friend and I know we said we won’t mess with his love life and such but the bet and everything.”

“But”

“But I think she could do it for him” Riley finished as they looked over to her talking to her friends

The two smiled at Mat who was looking around the bar to try and find someone but not make it too obvious as to who they were looking at. They threw in some jokes at who their friend should date but they decided to be serious about the situation and kicked Mat’s shin, making him yell out in pain

“Ow! What the fuck was that for Riles?!”

“You see that girl? On the other side sitting with the guy and the girl? I think we found your target” riley said sitting back in her seat

“This is your chance. That’s fucking Mat Barzal. He could be easy” Melissa yelled in Y/N’s ear over the loud chatter

“I know”

“Looks like he’s looking over to you” jack added on as he saw Mat look over in your direction, with a smirk before looking away and went back to talking to his friends

“I’m going to get a drink” Y/N told them as she slid out of her seat, empty handed

“But your drink-oh okay i see what you’re doing, go ahead” Melissa finally caught on as she let you go

Y/N ordered a new drink and pretended to throw looks over her shoulder, trying to get Mat to notice her. Mat did notice her but he tried not to make it obvious that he was looking at her and just gave a smirk while looking away. It went on like that for a few minutes and Y/N had sent Melissa and Jack texts in their group chat about whether or not Mat was going to get up from his seat and make a move on her. Mat noticed what she was doing and knew it was bothering her, so he kept it going for a few more minutes before he set his drink down and slid out of his drink

“Where are you going?” Anthony asked his best friend out of curiosity, knowing what he was going to do

“I’m going to get a new drink” mat smirked

He walked through the small crowd as people congratulated him over to the bar where there were a few people drinking, including Y/N. He waved down the bartender signaling for another beer and while he waited, he saw the woman from the side of his eye as she slowly took small sips of her drink.

“Hi” Mat voiced, making Y/N turn her head to him

“Hi” Y/N voiced as he began to talk to her, making them both smile

“I’m Mat”

“This is going to sound weird, but I know. Mat Barzal of the New York Islanders” Y/N started

“But I’m Y/N L/N” she finished

“Pretty sure I knew you knew who I was but it still didn’t stop me from coming over here. Especially after you’ve been throwing looks to me all night”

“And who said you haven’t been throwing looks at me? You came over here to talk to me by pretending to say you needed a new drink to your friends, when yours looks half full.” Y/N shot back as mat laughed and looked down before looking back at her

“Okay you got me there, but I couldn't help it. Especially when the person I wanted to talk is so beautiful” Mat told her as his voice got lower, causing the blood to rush to Y/N’s face

“You really know your way to make a girl blush don’t you”

“Well I have been known to break hearts since I was a teenager” he finished as the two smiled and stared in silence

“Unattached?” Mat asked Y/N with curiosity

“Currently” she answered

“Likewise” Mat agreed, adjusting in his seat

“Surprising” Y/N said sarcastically

“Psycho?” he shot back, joking

“Rarely” she answered leaning forward, smirking

“Interested?”

“Perhaps”

“Hungry?”

“Starving”

“Leaving?”

“Now?”

“Mmhm”

“Okay, one second” she told him getting out of her seat and headed over to where Jack and Melissa were

“So?” Melissa asked leaning over the table

“We’re going out now for something to eat. I’m going to see if he’s the keeper”

“And if he is?”

“Tomorrow night, i’ll flip the switch” she finished handing over her car keys over to them as she turned around to walk back to Mat who was now waiting at the door

“Good luck babe.” Melissa started

“And be safe!” jack finished as the two watched their friend walk out with the hockey player as he put his hand on her back while opening the door for her to leave first

“This isn’t going to end well”

“Yeah, but we have to support her” melissa added as she took the rest of Y/N’s drink

Y/N and Mat walked out and headed towards Mat’s car where he proceeded to open the door for her so she could get in. She thanked him before climbing in as he walked around to go to the driver’s side. The car ride wasn’t silent as the radio played quietly and the two adults began to talk a little more about themselves before arriving at the restaurant that Anders had told the team about before. Mat was doing his best to impress her by being the perfect gentlemen that his mom taught him to be and making sure all his attention was on Y/N, despite them meeting and going out for about an hour

“Alright, what do you think” mat asked breaking the silence after he had just broken another crab leg

“About the food or you?” Y/N questioned him

“Both”

“This is delicious, and I’m still deciding” She winked, making him laugh

“Well, is there anything I can do to help” he asked before taking a drink of his water

“Yeah, you can answer some questions for me” Y/N started as if she didn’t know much about him already

““Some” sounds a little too indefinite and since I already answered a bunch today, I’ll let you have three”

“Are you guys always out celebrating with beers and drinks after clinching a playoff spot”

“I mean, i mean we’re not supposed to but a little alcohol every once in a while with a little partying doesn’t hurt anyone” he answered honestly before continuing

“What about you?”

“What about me?” Y/N had answered with a confused look

“Your name sounds familiar, have I seen or heard of you before”

“I do work with the NHL and write articles, specifically within the New York area, so you may have had a question from me or so before and after games” she answered, the last part being half a lie about having to have asked him stuff seeing she preferred to be behind the computer majority of the time and mainly worked with the Rangers and would rarely be called to work with the Islanders

“Okay now your voice and your name seems familiar” mat started

“I don’t mean to impose or sound rude, but how come you choose to only write?” he finished

“I’m honestly not sure. I do love talking to people about what they do but it’s the way that the questions sometimes come out and sometimes you don’t get the response you want or they sometimes take it the wrong way. You think with a masters you’d know how to talk” Y/N explained to him as he genuinely listened to her

“I still got one more question to ask you”

“Go ahead” mat responded leaning in

“True or false: all’s fair in love and war” Y/N asked him as mat let out a small chuckle before answering

“True” he answered, making them both smile.

The two of them continued to eat and talk until they realized that they were some of the few people left there and had the owner come up to them and ask them to leave. After they looked at the clock, they quickly thanked them and paid for their food before heading back to Mat’s car. They had decided to go back to Mat’s for the night seeing that Anthony was going to be with Riley and it meant that Mat would get some alone time with Y/N to see who she was. Same with Y/N, she thought it was a great idea and would tell Jack and Melissa about it soon.

When they entered his apartment, she took in every detail that was inside. Y/N noticed the pictures of the team, his family and friends that were on the side table where Mat dropped his keys on. It wasn’t really what she was expecting for someone his age, but she figured that his mom and sister could've helped him and Anthony out when they first got it.

“Nice place, it’s very tidy”

“Thank you, probably wasn’t what you were expecting? Can I get you a cold beer?” he asked as he headed into his kitchen

“Sure. Can I use your restroom?” Y/N asked before Mat told her where it was

As she was walking up the stairs, she noticed that it wasn’t filled with a lot of things but it wasn’t bare either. There would be the occasional wall art you’d find at a Home Goods but it still fit who he was as a person. Y/N didn’t need to use the bathroom, but she did need to call her friends to tell them what was going on

“Finally you call! What’s going on?” Melissa exclaimed already begging for any kind of juice

“Nothing’s going on right now, but we did go to a restaurant and stayed there until close just talking and now-” Y/N began before Jack cut her off

“And now what?” he asked curious as to how she said it

“I’m in his apartment?”

“HIS APARTMENT?!” Melissa yelled causing Y/N to move her phone away from her ear as she snooped in the mirror cabinet

“Melissa, I’m not going to sleep with him”

“Oh that is a lie. You can’t hide those lyin’ eyes”

“No, no. Because I can practice some self-control, unlike some people” Y/N said,

“Wow Y/N that hurt” Jack said holding his hand to his heart

“Anyways, i’m going to dangle the bait-” “What’s the bait?” Melissa asked confused at her friend’s wording

“She’s the bait” jack explained

“Okay, got it then what?” Melissa then asked

“Oh shit I can’t talk right now, I have to go. It sounds like he has some music playing” Y/N said as she began to hear music from his bedroom

“Record everything! Take notes! We’ll talk about this later!” Melissa finished before Y/N finished the call

Mat was downstairs making sure everything was looking good and was tidy before playing something from his smooth R&B playlist and grabbing the beers. It’s kind of weird that he might now have done this with a regular date but because of the bet, he wanted to make sure that everything was going according to plan and that he could get Y/N to fall in love with him. When she exited the bathroom, she didn’t really expect much to happen but she saw the candles lit and heard the music playing before Mat came and gave her the opened beer.

“There you go”

“Thank you”

The two smiled at each other before Y/N decided to pull an ultimate move and place her bag down on his bed and laid down. Mat had no clue as to what she was doing but it was working for him and she could see it through the way his breath hitched as she rubbed the spot next to her. He walked back and leaned against his dresser. She continued to pat the spot making him laugh and pat the spot on the dresser next to him. She gave in and got up and went over to him before she looked at him and pressed her lips against his. He quickly pulled away after a few seconds, and whispered

“Hey, let’s not go too fast”

“Yeah. yeah.” Y/N agreed before pulling away and started to get up before Mat stood up and pulled her in for another kiss. Y/N wrapped her arms around his neck after setting their beers down and began to kiss back. She soon pulled away and decided what to do next.

“We’re moving too fast. You’re right-it’s too fast”

“Okay” he answered as they both pulled in and locked their lips together.

Mat held onto her waist before he moved them to his bed. He began to kiss along her neck before she began to talk again, knowing it would frustrate him

“Still too fast. I’m sorry. I want you to respect me.”

“I do. And I want your respect”

“I respect you for respecting me”

“I respect that”

“Good” she finished knowing she got him right where she wanted him as they both got up. The two of them sat in silence before Y/N decided it was a good time for her to leave and continue with her plan.

“I’m going to go.”

“I can take y-” Mat began before Y/N cut him off

“No, it's fine. Um. I can call an uber.”

“Okay. Can I at least get your number?”

“For you? Anything” she smirked as she took a pen off his night stand and wrote her number, more importantly her work number, on his arm

“This is my work number. It’s not fake, don't worry. Maybe I can give you my phone number soon” she said as he let out a laugh

“Okay that’s cool. I see what you’re doing.” he started

“I’ll call you tomorrow after practice”

“I’ll be expecting it. Good night mat” Y/N said as she kissed his cheek before heading to her uber

After she had left through the door, Mat went out to his balcony and watched her get inside the car but before, they stood there staring at each other

“Goodnight Y/N L/N” he had yelled from his balcony as she just waved to him

“Oh you are already falling in love with me” he said to himself, smiling at her

“I’m gonna make you wish you were dead” Y/N said to herself as she blew him a kiss before climbing in

Mat walked back in his room, smirking at the thought that she had left her purse on his nightstand.

[curioussubjects]

I feel bad discussing spn now that’s over but I’ve been wondering. Do you think dean actually meant it when he said “why does that something always seem to be you” (15.03)? Usually people blurt out what’s on their mind all of a sudden even if they didn’t mean to say it out loud. But it comes out because the person either thinks about it or actually believes it. Do you think at one point Dean truly blamed Cas for Mary? I mean, putting 15.09 aside of course.

Why do you feel bad discussing SPN now the show’s over, anon?? Don’t feel bad!

The short answer to your question, in my view, is that Dean was lashing out because of how his unaddressed trauma over Cas dying (cf. 7x01, purgatory, 12x23) gets entangled with him processing his grief over Mary and Jack. Everything is further exacerbated by Chuck’s villain reveal, and the events that lead to Rowena’s “death.”  The longer answer to this question starts with acknowledging that feelings and trauma are complicated things that aren't always rational. And that's the crux of the matter for Dean in that moment he lashes out at Cas: he's not behaving rationally. We know Dean is angry, and historically doesn't handle anger well at all, but we also know, even without 15x09, that what Dean is really feeling is fear. In that moment, Dean is angry, and he's scared. If you watch the scene closely, too, you'll notice that Dean is still present enough to regret saying "why does that something always seem to be you" to Cas. He tenses up, he looks down and only looks up again in stubbornness defiance when Cas says he can't even look at him. Then Cas leaves, which has always been an issue for Dean. However warranted Cas's decision to leave was, it still hits Dean as rejection, too. All this is to say that the break up scene is extremely fraught, and Dean is the type of person who needs time to process events and emotions, and time to process is something he hasn't had since Mary disappeared.

So you ask: ok, cool, but what does all of that have to do with Cas dying, Liv? And here's where I say they have everything to do with Cas dying. I've talked about this before in tags and in other posts that I can't think of right now, but there are common occurrences in the events that have led to the more traumatic Cas deaths. If we think of Cas dying in 07x01, the context for that is as follows: Cas needs to solve a problem, he wants to ask Dean for help, but the desire to not burden him with it is greater, so Cas ends up handling the problem solo, which leads to disaster and also him dying. Or, well, apparently dying. But as far as Dean was concerned, Cas was dead, and he did struggle with it a lot during season 7. Now, fast-forward to s12 and the context of how Cas ends up dead then: Cas needs to solve a problem, part of him does want to cooperate with Sam and Dean to solve it, but he ultimately decides his desire to bring Dean a win, and to shield him and Sam from actions they'd suffer from are greater. Predictably, Cas ends up handling the problem solo, which leads to complications, and him being killed by Lucifer. Cas's death in 12x23 is significantly more traumatic to Dean than the one in 07x01 as season 13 starts with a grief arc that is devoted to Dean's suffering over Cas -- to the point that suffering overshadows even his grief over Mary. Granted, these are somewhat reductive summaries of the events of seasons 7 and 12, but the fact remains that those two deaths were remarkably similar as well as traumatic. 

If you look at trauma theory in regards to literary analysis, you'll notice that a key element is repetition. The story of trauma is a story of echoes, which is partly why triggers are what they are for people who have PTSD. In particular, a situation doesn't need to be an exact replica in order to evoke a traumatic memory. A situation need only be similar enough to the traumatic event to cause a trauma response. Therefore, if we keep in mind that the events leading to 15x03 aren’t exact mirrors of 07x01 or 12x23, but too reminiscent for comfort, then Dean’s behavior toward Cas starts making a bit more sense -- not excused, but understandable. A quick summary of these similarities goes as follows: Cas notices there’s is something off with Jack because of his soul; he decides to investigate on his own to avoid worrying the Winchesters and also because of his own fear of losing his family. He only comes forward with what is happening after something potentially disastrous has happened (Mary’s death). Later, Cas deviates from the agreed plan to close the wound leading to hell, which leads to another disastrous consequence (Rowena’s death). What does this look like? Cas makes a decision to act on his own, and doesn’t tell Dean (or Sam) about it, something goes wrong, someone dies. Notably, here, moreover, is that Cas obviously doesn’t die, but he has paralleled Mary before (when he was dead in s13) and there’s an argument to be made that he would eventually parallel Rowena (with heaven), but that’s from a metanarrative perspective rather than Dean’s, and I digress.

Oh, It’s worth noting, too, that the way in which the arc starting with 14x18 and culminating in 15x03 presents a similar, but not quite, chain of events as those of previous seasons signals the intentionality of the trauma narrative. 

But anyway, as we were: the resonance between the traumatic and triggering events, with the latter being traumatic in their own way, make Dean response in a way that is unfair for the situation at hand, but betray a deeper truth about Dean’s state of mind. Backtracking a little from 15x03, the first instance of Dean lashing out at Cas happens in 14x18 with the (heartbreaking) line: “Then you're dead to me.” At face value, those words are a condemnation of Cas and indicate a complete breakdown of the relationship, hinging on Jack having hurt/killed Mary. There is, however, another angle there, pain simmering beneath the surface, which makes more sense in its direction to Cas: the last time Jack, Mary, and Cas were involved in a tableaux like this, Cas died and Mary was gone. In what is an inversion of events, Mary is dead and Cas is...there, but as an echo of Jack’s birth, to say Cas is dead is a statement of fact: he did die, then. And as he was a parallel to Mary in the aftermath of Jack’s birth (and the rehashing of the John, Dean, Sam drama through Dean, Sam, and Jack), so is he a parallel to Mary here, except in circumstance. Both Mary and Cas had been after Jack. Mary happened to find him first, but Cas could’ve easily been the one to find him. Easily been the one who died. See the issue? This is obviously not to say that Dean’s grief and rage weren’t about Mary herself, but that the situations are entangled and murky. 

Further entanglement and murkiness happen when Cas is forced to change the plan to seal the hell wound in 15x03. We all know, including Dean, that there was nothing Cas could’ve done instead of what he did. But besides the change of plans, there’s an undercurrent of anxiety of the wound closing before Cas makes it out. He does, of course, but that’s the what if, always. And to illustrate the possibility, Rowena sacrifices herself to close the wound. It’s not coincidence that the similarities here are tenuous considering the stress burden from everything that has happened since 14x18 has continued to grow with no respite.

The stage is set then for the confrontation that leads to Cas walking out of the bunker. Dean is clearly on edge, and Cas is in a particularly vulnerable and hopeless headspace:

CASTIEL: Sorry about Rowena. DEAN: You're sorry? Why didn't you just stick to the damn plan? CASTIEL: Belphegor was lying. DEAN: Belphegor's a demon. CASTIEL: He was using us. He wanted to eat every last soul to take over Hell, Earth, and every... DEAN: Yeah, and we would've figured it out... after. With Rowena. CASTIEL: The plan changed, Dean. Something went wrong. You know this. Something always goes wrong. DEAN: Yeah, why does that something always seem to be you?

The reason I went of this long journey to come back to this is so as to make clear that what Dean is talking about here isn’t about Rowena at all, and it’s not about Mary either. We know Dean didn’t really blame Cas for Mary, and that he didn’t blame him for Rowena, either. But do those bolded parts sound familiar?

CASTIEL: Listen. Raphael will kill us all. He'll turn the world into a graveyard. I had no choice.

DEAN: No, you had a choice. You just made the wrong one.

CASTIEL: You don't understand. It's complicated.

DEAN: No, actually, it's not, and you know that. Why else would you keep this whole thing a secret, huh, unless you knew that it was wrong? When crap like this comes around, we deal with it... Like we always have. What we don't do is we don't go out and make another deal with the Devil!

CASTIEL: It sounds so simple when you say it like that. Where were you when I needed to hear it?

DEAN: I was there. Where were you?

DEAN: You should've come to us for help, Cas.

How about:

DEAN: Cas, you can't – With everything that's going on, you can't just go dark like that. We didn't know what happened to you. We were worried. That's not okay. CASTIEL: Well, I didn't mean to add to your distress. I – Dean, I just keep failing. Again and again. When you were taken, I searched for months and I couldn't find you. And then Kelly escaped on my watch, and I couldn't find her. And I just wanted I needed to come back here with a win for you. For myself.

[...]

DEAN : We will find a better way. CASTIEL: You mean, we? DEAN : Yes, dumbass. We. You, me, and Sam, we're just better together. So now that you're back, let's go, Team Free Will. Let's get it done. CASTIEL: I'd like that. DEAN: Great.

“Then, you’re dead to me.” “...why does that something always seem to be you”

Because it’s Cas, and Cas being dead and gone. The tragedy of the divorce arc is that Cas ends up gone, too. However, this time, it’s Dean’s fault for not stopping him. Here, Dean’s fear of Cas dying leads to the anger that ultimately pushes him away. So, yeah, Dean meant what he said, but not in the way Cas took it. Not in the way it appeared as. 

The other tragedy of Supernatural ending as it did is that Dean never got to heal from that trauma, he never got to confront Cas for it, either. Make no mistake, the empty deal is another spiral of Dean’s unaddressed trauma over Cas dying. The beats are the same, and the result is Cas, gone, and Dean, shattered. Sadly, we never got our final resolution, the climatic reunion that would mirror Dean’s prayer in purgatory and Cas’s confession in the dungeon. It’s a story left unfinished. 

[gaymershigh]

I'm so excited to find a blog who actually does Male/Gender Neutral pronouns! My request headcanons where GN!MC badly hurts their ankle during PE so individually Malleus, Vil, Leona, Jade, and Jack carrying them to the infimary. Probably mostly platonic but kinda leaning towards wanting to be more than friends?

I'm a sucker for 'platonic with some romantic elements' type of tropes so this is a big yes for me!

Triggers: none

Malleus, Vil, Leona, Jade, and Jack carrying g/n reader to the infirmary after they severely injured their ankle in PE

He knew that you're reckless and bound to injure yourself in any type of way just from how brave you are from talking to him. You called him "Tsunotarou" and you've now been chatting with him as much as you get the chance to or when he appears outside the Ramshackle dorm. Though he doesn't mind it, he knows that you should be more careful.

So when you injured your ankle, he was only shocked for a mere second. Again, it's supposed to be expected when it comes to people like you but that doesn't make him any less concerned. He ran his way towards you and that enough makes other students feel uneasy. Even if you two are closest of friends, you usually spend time without anyone there to see so you two are a very bizarre combo to the others.

He had asked you if you were ok and if you could walk again. Your ankle was sprained and your denial of being in pain almost fooled him if you didn't wince as soon as you tried to stand up. He was a fae, his ability to handle pain has far surpassed any ordinary human so he wouldn't fully understand but can still recognize that you're in a rather agonizing situation.

Malleus had no choice but to pick you up from the ground, not as he minds it but what he does mind is people not minding their own business and just stared at you two, God bless Mr.Vargas for telling them to resume the activities. There was no use if you're trying to make him put you down or get yourself down by yourself as he was way too strong, even if his grip wasn't tight at the moment.

He actually has no idea what's wrong with you, he doesn't know why you can't stand up on your own so you have to do the talking. The nurse persisted Malleus to go back to his lessons and it irritated him but you also shooed him out and told him to visit later when he's free. Very questionable as to why he's free as PE ended but you couldn't care less. He always visits you every day because of how you always manage to make him happy and his heart flutter and he is not sure as to why.

Vil always has loathed your carelessness. He has pointed it out several times and telling you to be careful but you just couldn't help but get into countless troubles and it's not helping that your best friends are intentionally and unintentionally troublemakers. He never gave up on scolding you for your careless actions as he wants his..friend to improve but it does get tiring getting angry over the same thing over and over again.

So you falling and harming your ankle until you can't even stand up without the feeling to cry was not surprising in the slightest, just like what Malleus felt. He facepalms to your recklessness before walking up to you to ask if you're ok but NOT before scolding you, telling you that your actions have consequences and other junk but you never cared enough to listen.

Once you said that you might have sprained your ankle, he dramatically sighed and called you a fool for that. Since even walking you to the infirmary was already hard for your side, he had no choice but to pick you up and asks you to stop struggling or freaking out so much like you weren't gaining enough attention from injuring yourself.

While he's used to getting attention, he doesn't like the one he's getting right now as this could end up with multiple scandals of you and him maybe dating. While he's not opposed to dating you- wait, what is he saying!? He doesn't like you that way, right? It doesn't matter is what he thought to himself at the moment as the main priority is to get your butt into the infirmary and do a three-hour lecture on why you should be careful as the scolding wasn't enough. He called out the people staring as rude and should mind their own business and to continue their PE lessons.

He got really upset when it was confirmed that your ankle injury was rather severe and not just mild as it would take about four weeks or even more to fully recover. He understood fully and left the premises as he does have a class to attend but worry not, he will visit you any free time he has. If he couldn't visit you, maybe a video call would suffice. While he wouldn't treat you like royalty, he would be softer with you as he slightly pities your condition. As you were discharged and needed to walk with a cast, meaning you will be slower than before, meaning Vil would also slow down his pacing as you are his friend! Yeah, friend..

Your recklessness was annoying but also what makes you interesting in the lion's eye. It was so entertaining to see a creature with sentience to have very little to no sense of danger. While he doesn't like the part where he gets involved but when he isn't and you're just figuring stuff by yourself is such an amazing show he could watch forever. Well, as long as you don't get seriously injured or something because truth to be told, he doesn't want you in any type of physical pain because surprise surprise, you're his pal.

So when something Leona doesn't want to happen to you happened, he mentally groaned in annoyance because he needs to get up from this comfy spot under the tree but he's still worried of course, it's just not obvious at all. People would've thought that he hated you or something when he saw him walking to where you are with a dead cold stare. When he found out that you were your cause of agony, he gave you an "Are you serious" look. He's very disappointed facial expression makes you embarrassed even more now.

He spat out a monotone "you ok" line, you thought that he was a robot for a second. You said yes and he told you to get your ass up from the grass and you obliged but failed to do so. When he saw you winced as you were trying to get your left foot standing, he knew damn well you aren't ok and gets more worried. However, his expression never changed. He sighed one more time before picking and throwing you on his shoulder in one swift. Your struggles are no use as he was stronger than you.

He glared at the people that dared to stare, especially to the ones that were whispering to one another about utter nonsense, aka stupid "are they together?" Rumors. He decided to tell the nurse what's wrong with you but it was worded so bad that you had to do it in the end anyway, making him scoffed like he just didn't say "their ankle broke or something". He refused to return to his class because it's boring but deep inside, it was because he wants to stay by your side for the entire time of your recovery.

Even if you're discharged and able to walk with a walking boot, he still stuck at your side even from afar as he doesn't want to see you do anything stupid and maybe twist your spine as he does not doubt that you're capable of doing so because of how unpredictable you are. And maybe it's also because, from all the time he has spent with you during his visiting times, something about you shined more inside him. Inside where exactly? Inside his heart.

Jade loves this recklessness you hold. It's the reason why you're so unpredictable and he loves that about you. One second you will be the smartest person in the room, the next second you almost fall off from the second floor of the school building because some of your papers were accidentally been blown by the wind. While sometimes it can be quite troubling, most of the time it's enjoyable.

But now is the times where it's not as entertaining. He did the wrong decision of not keeping his eyes off you for more than 20 minutes to focus and trying to hone his flying skills as he heard you wailed in pain somewhere not too far away. He walked his way calmly to the source of your sounds of misery and see you lying on the grass with the broom beside you, absolutely helpless. He chuckled at your deadpanned face before asking if you're ok. Whatever your answer is, he knows damn well you aren't as you were wincing a lot as you were trying your best to get up.

He offers to walk you to the infirmary and you happily oblige. Only like two or three people would stare for a few minutes as walking you there isn't an abnormal situation as they did it before as well for other injured students. Just as soon as you two reached the hallways, where nobody is around to glimpse, he picked your figure up and continue your journey to the infirmary. If you asked him why he's doing this, is because it's faster and convenient to do it this way. Also, your face got so red when he picks you up and he thinks it's adorable, making you even redder.

For real though, seeing you all blushed up is quite endearing, he might tease you even more just to see that red face again. Anyways, he perfectly explained the situation of your ankle with some condescending remarks in it. He's a very busy man so he doesn't have that much time to visit you so he wishes you to discharge as fast as soon as possible so he can see your lovely face as much as usual.

So when you do discharge, he would always accompany you to wherever you're going if he's not doing that already. No matter if you need a cast or not, he would always treat you like a patient or even more, like royalty. He believes that he should make it up for not being able to visit, especially since you're always complaining to him how boring it was staying in the infirmary bed for four weeks. He can even get you red with this little special treatment, so why not go for it? It even secretly makes his heartbeat fast as well.

Jack hates people who do not think before doing their actions and you are no exception. Nobody knows how you guys got to be friends to begin because it feels so impossible. Maybe because you two were paired up for an alchemy class project? But he still sticks with you for more than eight months already. Maybe he likes you? Or he's like your low-key guardian? Yes, the latter is the second but the first one could be a possibility, who knows.

That's why he gets more irritated when your recklessness is the cause of your distress. He could take it as your punishment for being so careless and take this as a lesson but knowing you, that will never happen so that gets him even more irritated. He runs up to you and scolds you for a few minutes about why you should be careful and such, it's surprising how he's so calm despite how many times he has scolded you about the same thing. After that useless scolding, he finally asked if you were alright or not. He scoffed when you lied about your ankle injury and have no choice but to pick you up from the grass.

Why would you even try to make him drop you off? It doesn't matter how much you annoy him on the way to the infirmary. If someone's injured he takes thing seriously, especially if it's his totally platonic mate that was in pain no matter how severe it is. He would get rather defensive and would throw hands with people who are saying things that maybe your relationship is more than friends so, please remind him that you're injured and your health is something he shouldn't be easily distracted and fight people who don't know how to mind their business, even though you might not care for your ankle yourself.

You kinda did not tell him what's wrong with you nor did he even asked in the first place so you'll do the talking. He got pretty surprised when you told the nurse you have an ankle injury, even more, astonished when that it's in a severe category now. He didn't like that you were taking your conditions lightly and joking about it too. He's a good boy, so he would follow the nurse's orders to leave to resume his lessons. Just like Vil and Jade, he wouldn't visit you every day as he still needs to prioritize his school life and such. Though, he might cut a tiny bit of his workout schedule to visit you until you discharge.

So when you do discharge no matter if you need a walking boot or a cast or just nothing, he will keep his eyes on you more frequently as he doesn't want to see you do some dumb stunt and hurt yourself again. He would make your stay in the Savanaclaw areas close to him and let you do whatever you want while he works out. As long as you stay nearby and don't wander off. I repeat, he doesn't want his probably future lifelong mate to have a single scratch on their face.

OMG!!!!! I FINALLY FINISHED A FIC DESPITE GETTING ALWAYS DISTRACTED!!! I'M SOOOOO HAPPY!!!!! 😭💜✨✨

~𝕸𝖎𝖗𝖎

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 277 “Operation ‘Protect Yuusaku’s Virginity’”

Sorry, I’m obviously late with the ramblings but the scanlations were out late and, due to work, I didn’t have any free time once they were out. Anyway here’s there are the new ramblings and...

...yeah Kaeko’s attempt at stealing Sugimoto’s virginity gets a special place in the GK horror scenes... but let’s got with order.

We start with Tsurumi sitting on a chair in the Imperial Japanese Army 1st division Headquarters pretending he had no idea the Ainu gold ever existed in front of Lieutenant General Okuda Hidenobu, Commander of the 1st division. The latter wants Tsurumi to find the gold for the Central Government as Tsurumi’s information-gathering ability is highly regarded.

Just this should make Okuda realize Tsurumi is lying when he pretends not to know about the Ainu gold but whatever, Okuda is clearly not the sharpest pencil in the box.

Anyway Tsurumi asks Okuda if this means he should report to him instead than to his superiors. Okuda waves off his concerns saying Hanasawa is in his debt so of course he wouldn’t mind if Tsurumi were to report to an officer that’s not him… especially if he never discovers about it because I honestly doubt Okuda is planning to warn Hanazawa about this.

Whatever.

Okuda, who evidently has no idea that everything he’ll say to Tsurumi will be used against him and for Tsurumi’s advantage, better explains him the whole entity of the problem.

We learn that inside the Army people from Satsuma domain and people from Choushuu domain, are held in high esteem and considered the only true military men, likely due to them being the winners in the Boshin war and Meiji restoration. However, despite their past alliance, they basically can’t stand to each other and are always struggling one against the other.

Hanazawa is from Satsuma so, of course, he doesn’t want a scandal to befall to his family for fear of consequences from people from Choushuu.

He asked Okuda’s help because Okuda is from the Kokura domain and so he looked like an impartial and safe choice, proving Hanazawa’s understanding of men is quite terrible because Okuda fully plans to take advantage of what he knows about Hanazawa and, as we’ll learn later from Tsurumi, he’s likely on the Choushuu side. Really, Hanazawa can’t even pick up his allies. -_-

Okuda is no better.

He knows Tsurumi is from Niigata, from a highly-esteemed family of former samurai from the Echigo-Nagaoka Domain which had an awful time during the battle of Hokuetsu (one of the last battles of the Boshin war) against the imperial forces composed mostly by people of Satsuma and Choushuu so he thinks Tsurumi would be willing to help to put an end to the control those factions have over the army because he should have a grudge against them.

We see that Tsurumi’s face darkens, which might mean that yes, Tsurumi has no sympathy for them, but Tsurumi is the sort of man who doesn’t merely follow his feelings, but remains calm and plans the doom of his adversaries quietly. The Akō vendetta probably felt like an amateur work to Tsurumi.

In fact, instead than asking more about the Ainu gold he’s supposed to find, Tsurumi asks more about the scandal in which Hanazawa is involved, planning to use it as ammunition in his own personal plans.

Then, as he leaves the place with his men, he shows his true colours.

He didn’t buy at all Okuda’s words that he’s “impartial” believing he’s actually on Choushuu side and afraid if Hanazawa were to get the gold, it would strengthen the Satsuma position. Tsurumi, who’s much more intelligent than Okuda or Hanazawa, finds all this a pathetic face, admitting he’s sick of Central.

He also confesses that yes, he knew about the Ainu gold already from his time in Russia (it’s unsure if from his time in Russia as Hasegawa or from his time in Russia with Tsukishima), and that Okuda’s words merely corroborated the info Tsurumi had about it… which is interesting because it confirms Okuda learnt about the Ainu gold from a source that’s not Tsurumi.

Then Tsurumi informs his men they’ll pay a visit to Yuusaku and Kikuta because evidently Okuda had told him also who he had tasked with protecting Yuusaku’s virginity.

Meanwhile Kikuta informs Sugimoto Kaeko wants to meet Yuusaku again at the Imperial Hodel.

Sugimoto worries about what will happen should Kaeko find out he’s a fake.

Kikuta thinks he’s worrying for himself and tells him he’ll just have to return the uniform and go on his way… although as he says so we don’t see Kikuta’s face.

Sugimoto is actually worried about Kaeko as if she were to figure out, this would mean she would know something dirty about the Army (read= Hanazawa).

Kikuta gives him a sideway look, his face slightly shadowed as he tells him he has a plan B Sugimoto doesn’t need to know.

It’s interesting how Kikuta never asked Sugimoto his name. Of course the Doylistic explanation is that so he won’t recognize him when he’ll heard his surname from Tsurumi during the gold hunt but I wonder if the Watsonian explanation is this was to protect Sugimoto. Sugimoto too by now know things he would be better not knowing. If they were to tell Kikuta to kill him he could let him escape and then cover up for him by saying he didn’t even know his name so he can’t track him. Alternatively it can be to protect himself, as he might be trying not to get too close to Sugimoto.

Meanwhile at the Army Academy Mrs. Suzuki accidentally asking Yuusaku if Kikuta had relied to him the message, informs him that today was the day in which ‘the matter at the imperial hotel’ (帝国ホテルの件 Teikoku hotel no kudan) was scheduled. To make matter worse a man immediately scolds her as she wasn’t supposed to talk with Yuusaku about it. In the end they’ve to confess that they were told to pass all the letters and telegrams for Yuusaku to Kikuta which prompts Yuusaku to decide to go ask him directly.

A moment later Tsurumi drops at the place and he’s told that Yuusaku just left and the same guy who has scolded Mrs. Suzuki for informing Yuusaku about the meeting has no problems telling Tsuurmi about were Yuusaku went.

So we jump at the Imperial Hotel where Sugimoto expects to have another luxurious dinner with Kaeko and, instead Kaeko’s maid drops the beef stew all over him.

Using as excuse that Yuusaku has to absolutely change himself Kaeko pushes Sugimoto upstairs, claiming she booked a room there. As they walk they’re spotted by Tsukishima who informs Tsurumi while a worried Kikuta follows the action with his binoculars.

Once in the room a panting Kaeko urges ‘Yuusaku’ to rip off his clothes and strip naked in the bathroom.

While a naïve Sugimoto worries about how pretty the room is, Kaeko drags him in the bathroom and tells him to wash up.

Sugimoto finds a little odd how the bathtub is already filled but strips naked anyway.

Meanwhile big bad wolf Kaeko, with an expression that would make Jack Nicholson in “The Shining” proud, tries to get into the room. To Sugimoto’s credit he doesn’t scream like a banshee as Wendy Torrance did but tries to close her out of the bathroom.

Kaeko asks him to not bring her shame as a woman. Sugimoto weakly defends his own virginity by claiming she doesn’t know him well. Kaeko claims she doesn’t mind as he looks handsome and steals his clothes from under the door before threatening to let ‘Yuusaku’s’ situation be known to other people if he were to refuse her.

Sugimoto worries as he knows he has been called in as a stand in to avoid this kind of situation.

Meanwhile outside Tsurumi asks to Kaeko’s maid, Hamako, if she has seen a candidate officer. She denies it as she’s clearly there to stop everyone from interrupting but Tsurumi hears Kaeko calling Yuusaku.

Tsurumi says out loud to his men that Kikuta was ordered to break off the engagement so he doesn’t understand why Yuusaku and Kaeko are in a room by themselves.

I wonder if Tsurumi came there because he was hoping to be the one to save Yuusaku’s virginity so as to put Hanazawa in debt… or if he’s saying this out loud so as to let the maid know about Kikuta’s involvement. We’ll see.

Usami instead tells Ogata this will be the first time he’ll get to meet his little brother, a man worthy of waving the regimental flag.

Usami again calls Ogata just Hyakunosuke, as if the two of them were friends… or if he just were looking down on him taking confidence when he shouldn’t, as Ogata in past chapters always called Usami by surname.

Whatever, this means that Usami, and by default Tsukishima and Tsurumi, are informed of Ogata’s parentage. Does the whole 7th know? Maybe. If that’s the case I wonder who told them.

Back to Sugimoto he asks Kaeko if this is all because Yuusaku’s mother wants to keep him away from the army. Kaeko explains Yuusaku’s mother worked as a nurse at a special military hospital in Hiroshima during the Sino-Japanese war. This experience pushed her to decide her son shouldn’t take part to the war. Kaeko adds Yuusaku should show consideration for his mother’s feelings.

Sugimoto says this is something Yuusaku should decide by himself as it’s his own life, basically betraying the fact he’s not Yuusaku. Kaeko is confused while Sugimoto tells her to ask Yuusaku which he wants to chose before signalling to Kikuta there are problems.

In that same moment Tsurumi and his men barges in the room claiming they’re there to protect Yuusaklu’s virginity.

I wonder if Tsurumi is practising for when he’ll have to ‘rescue’ Koito.

As for Kaeko, she thinks Tsurumi is working for Hanazawa and tells him if he doesn’t get out she’ll tattle everything to the Army. At this Tsurumi threatens to kill her and Sugimoto, thinking killing Kaeko is Kikuta’s ‘plan B’, decides to barge out completely naked, threatening to kill them all.

Ogata, who has no idea the naked man with murdering intentions is not Yuusaku, grins, likely thinking ‘Yuusaku’ is rather far from pure.

Likely he believes Yuusaku’s state means he was about to sleep with Kaeko, and Sugimoto’s statement about murdering people might have caused Ogata to think the ‘oh so perfect’ Yuusaku, is actually not perfect at all.

I feel bad for him because, when he’ll discover Yuusaku isn’t the guy in front of him, he’ll be in for a disappointment.

Anyway this chapter ends here.

This chapter gives us some interesting info about the Army, Tsurumi and how Ogata’s status of bastard son was known to Tsurumi’s inner circle and, possibly, to the rest of the 7th. It fleshes more the Hanazawa family, although I’ve to say I noticed when Noda has to talk about Hanazawa or his wife he recycles always the same image.

Well, I guess that’s all. Sorry if it’s late and kind of jumbled but the whole timing and work didn’t help me at all.

[huntertales]

Part One: Abstinence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder. (Rock And A Hard Place S09E08)

Episode Summary: Sheriff Jody Mills enlists the help of Y/N and the Winchesters to help investigate multiple kidnappings that belonged to the same chastity group. The three decide to infiltrate the group for themselves. But things go wrong when Y/N and Dean disappear. Sam and Jody must rescue them before it’s too late. Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader Word Count: 5,223.

Previous Part | Supernatural Rewrite Masterlist

NOTE: Yes, this is a repost. I edited a few things around because I didn’t like it when I read it over. Took me a few days to actually get around to doing such thing. Sorry about that, but please enjoy!

Dean wasn’t sure if he should be concerned at the state he found you in when he walked into the kitchen this morning, or take a picture to tease you about this later. It seemed you were in the process of eating breakfast before you somehow fell asleep at the table, your head cradled in your arms as you quietly snored, notifying Dean that you were in a deep sleep. You hadn’t taken a hunt in the past couple of days since coming back from New York, giving you and the boys a chance to catch up on some sleep between looking for jobs and trying to figure out how to fix the mess Metatron made. While you helped when you could, your sleep hadn’t been disturbed all that much. Dean thought this might have been the first time since you started hunting you’ve gotten a healthy amount of sleep. 

He could tell because you slept like the dead last night. Dean had to lovingly, but quite forcefully, push you off his chest so he could get a jump start on the day. Normally it was you who slipped out of bed first and Dean eventually got himself up. Instead you rolled over to your side of the bed and slept for another twenty minutes before you got up. You seemed your usual self when you woke up this morning, eyes half-shut and grumpy, signaling to him you forced yourself up against your own will. On mornings like this Dean learned to wait until your first cup of caffeine to speak a word to you. It seemed you had just done that from how the pot was still hot and plenty full for everyone else. But for some reason, you were still exhausted and in need of a little cat nap. 

“Sweetheart?” Dean quietly spoke out to you, making sure to keep his voice at a soft enough level so he didn’t disturb you from your slumber. Normally you were a light sleeper on a good day. He made his way over to the table and leaned over to see your peacefully sleeping face. You were out cold. His lips twitched into a small smile at how adorable you looked. Dean knew he was going to get it from what he did next, but to hell with the consequences. He never got the chance to prank you like he did with Sam. 

Dean made his way over to the table with a bowl in hand and a little too roughly dropped it down, causing you to wake up abruptly and with a rush of panic. The man snickered to himself behind his coffee cup as he watched you frantically look around the kitchen wondering where the noise came from. When you realized who was to blame for your rude awakening, there was a few second delayed reaction before you rolled your eyes. 

“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty.” Dean greeted you, smiling from the way you tried to fix your disheveled hair and smooth down your wrinkled top. “Did I disturb you?’

“What? No.” You mumbled. You rubbed your eyes like a tired child and forced yourself to keep a yawn from escaping your mouth. Sam happened to come into the kitchen right as you dropped your arms into your lap. The younger Winchester gave you a slightly confused reaction at your groggy demeanour. Your face scrunched up in annoyance from his lingering stare. “What are you looking at, Sasquatch?” 

“Did you get any sleep last night?” Sam asked you out of concern, wondering if a bad nightmare kept you up most of the hours. None of you were strangers to restless nights due to a wandering mind that went to dark places you traveled to. Your entire life was a living nightmare, your past troubles liked to come and haunt you when you tried to sleep. But it seemed that wasn’t the case for you. 

“On the contrary, she slept like a drunk baby. I had to pry her off me this morning.” Dean answered his brother’s question for you on his behalf. “And I caught her napping on the table.” 

“Before either one of you waste your breath, I’m fine. It’s just…I’m fine.” You reassured the younger Winchester before he could bombard you with his typical worried expression and a follow up question. Despite your lack of a proper answer to explain your exhaustion, you didn’t want them to worry. They liked to over exaggerate things when it came to you. It's always been that way. Lately you didn’t want them looming over your shoulder, asking you every few minutes if you were feeling okay. Before either one of the brothers could drag out this conservation farther, you quickly changed the subject. “How’s Kevin? Has he found anything yet?” 

“Jack. He’s on about four days of no sleep.” Dean said. He grabbed the box of cereal and poured himself a bowl while Sam joined the both of you at the table after fixing himself a cup of coffee. “He looks worse than you.” 

“Dean, please. You know Sammy doesn’t like it when you flirt with me out in the open like this.” You replied with a sarcastic remark with a little hope the boys might think you were in decent shape after all if you were able to keep up with the petty banter. Despite how you looked. Somehow you thought you might feel worse. “What about Crowley? Do you think he might be lying about the whole ‘Metatron spell being irreversible’ thing?” 

“Crowley lie?” Dean pretended to sound shock at such a possibility, causing Sam to scoff between sips of his coffee. While the situation was grim, there was a small silver lining that you might be able to use to your advantage over the demon. “I do know one thing. Next time that junkie’s jonesing for a hit of blood, we got leverage.” You were about to agree with the plan, knowing it was better than anything you had, but the words failed to come out of your mouth. Instead a rather loud yawn escaped first. “Seriously, you want a pillow?” 

You rolled your eyes from your boyfriend’s concern hidden behind his behavior. “I’m fine.” 

“You don’t look so good, Y/N.” Sam shared his concern along with his brother’s. He’d been silent for most of the conversation since settling beside you. It didn’t take much observations to see you weren’t looking that great as of lately. He was starting to grow uneasy with the possibility that there might be something wrong with you. Something deeper than you realized. “Do you feel like you’re getting sick?”

“I’m not sick. I just—I feel like my battery can’t recharge.” You admitted to them, trying to explain how you felt to the best of your ability to them. “I don’t know. It’s probably just stress or something.” 

You reached for your bowl of soggy cereal when the room fell into a moment of silence. The brothers glanced over at one another from hearing how you felt. A string of unspoken words were said between them as they processed what you explained about your current situation. You were being held together from the inside out with duct tape and angel grace. Things weren’t moving quick or as efficient as they wanted. Despite wanting to talk about it, Ezekiel remained silent on a possible reassuring update, choosing to stay silent. 

You scooped up a spoonful of flakes and stretched out your head to take a bite, only stopping at the sound of a cell phone going off. Dean reached a hand inside his pocket to pull out his phone after realizing it was his own and answered the call. The person on the other line was a familiar one to the boys, you however gave the older Winchester a slightly confused expression at hearing the name he greeted. 

”Who’s Sheriff Mills?” You whispered to Sam, wondering why the name sounded a bit familiar, just not enough for you to put a face to a name. 

“Jody Mills? The sheriff up in Sioux Falls? We worked on a case with her years back with all the dead people rising in town?” Sam tried refreshing your memory. You thought about it for a second before shaking your head, coming up blank. He tried to resist the urge to pass his brother a look of disbelief as he continued on to try and jog your memory. “She went on a blind date with Crowley and nearly died.” 

“Oh. 

 Jody.” You finally figured out who was on the other line, your fingers snapping at your eureka moment before the call could be put on speaker for all of you to talk to the woman to see what she was calling about. 

“Uh…I got a bit of an oddball to pitch your direction.” Jody said. You leaned forward to listen to the call better as you placed your elbow on the table to cradle your head. For a second you swore you heard a faint sound of something crashing in the distance. “A small town I cover outside of Sioux Falls—only crime to speak of being the occasional cow tipping. Then last week, four people go missing.” 

“All right, so, what makes you think this is our kind of weird?” Dean asked the woman. 

“I’ve got a witness who says he saw someone lift an S.U.V. to nab a girl last night.” She told you the key detail that made her think of the boys and call them for some extra help. 

“Huh.” You glanced over at the boys with a rather intrigued expression as the possibility of another case for you to dig a little bit deeper into to see if it might be a hunt. “I don’t know about you, but I’d say that’s definitely our kind of weird.” 

+ + +

 You and the boys packed up your things and made the drive up to South Dakota to visit the sheriff. You figured it wouldn't hurt to keep yourselves busy while Kevin worked himself to the bone with the tablet. All of you decided to meet at the latest crime scene and go from there while you caught up on details. You were happy to be out of the bunker and moving around. You hoped going back on another hunt might give you a second wind. There was nothing better than a couple of missing people to get the adrenaline pumping. You just wished you knew what was making you so damn tired. You bit back another yawn when the Impala pulled into the parking lot of some diner. 

You were the last one to get out when Dean parked the car next to the sheriff’s truck, still moving a bit slower than you intended. The boys greeted Jody with wide smiles and tight hugs after seeing her again. You slammed the backseat door shut and smoothed out your outfit before approaching the woman, giving her a friendly smile. However it seemed she wasn’t expecting to see you. Your smile faltered slightly at the confused and startled expression that crossed her face. It seemed the boys failed to mention about your resurrection from the dead when they called to see how she was after everything that went down earlier this year with her blind date with the King of Hell. 

“What’s wrong, Jody? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Dean joked with the woman, finding her reaction at seeing someone who thought was dead was rather funny. She turned her head to look over at the man, demanding an explanation. “Yeah. We felt the same way when I saw her again. It’s a long, messy story.” 

“I’m 

 a ghost. Or a zombie.” You reassured the woman before she could try and process how you were somehow alive. “It really is a messy story. Short version of it all: not really dead, just lost my memory and thought I was someone else for two years.”

“It never is easy with you boys, huh?” Jody felt the need to ask. You could hear the humor in her voice at the trouble that seemed to follow them. “Anyway, it’s nice to see you again, Y/N. Glad you’re not dead.” 

“Me too.” You agreed with the woman, smiling at how her personality peeked through her words. From what you remembered about the woman all those years ago when Bobby was still alive, you liked her. And the things the boys mentioned about her during the drive here made you think she was going to be a good friend to have on your side. “Luckily, I’m back and ready to hunt down whatever is kidnapping these people.” 

“That’s the spirit. So, car was right over there, ass over teakettle.” Jody gestured over to the other side of the parking lot where the abduction took place, all that remained was the broken glass from the car that was currently being swept up by a maintenance worker. “Now, normally, if somebody would tell me that one guy lifted an S.U.V, I’d tell him to take a flying leap, but after what I’ve seen and now heard…” 

“Nothing’s impossible.” You said. You opened up the case file to one of the missing people and skimmed through the information, wondering if there might be something important here to make note of while the boys went through the others. "How does this match up with other missing people?” 

“Well, four abductions, strong evidence left at every scene—literally.” Jody said. 

“So, the first vic was a pastor?” Sam asked, wondering if there was another more solid connection to the rest of the victims. 

“Yeah. Door of his study was punched in. And the next two—an engaged couple.” Jody explained the case in better detail. You looked down at the case file Dean laid open on the trunk of the Impala and the black and white photograph attached. All of the victims appeared to be the small town folk who were innocent at first glance. Someone went out of their way to snatch them up. 

“Locked bedroom window was ripped open.” Dean noted the similarly strange and destructive pattern between each kidnapping. 

‘And then we have our waitress here with the topsy-turvy ride.” Jody added. 

“Any other connection among them?” Sam wondered. 

“Yeah. They were all members of Good Faith church here.” Jody said. You narrowed your eyes slightly while you thought of the possibility of what might be might be to blame for this if there was a religious connection to all of this. You and the boys dealt with something like this a little similar earlier in the year. “My church group back in Sioux Falls was in a tizzy over it.” 

Dean hummed his response at hearing the sheriff and her new found spiritual faith. You tossed him a dirty look at his reaction to the woman’s faith to God. She had every right to believe in whatever she wanted, even if you didn’t feel the same way. Jody seemed to have picked up on the same feelings you had when she asked him what that was all about. “I didn’t peg you for churchy.” 

“Yeah. You know…choking on the ladies’ room floor ‘cause of witchcraft kind of makes a higher power seem relevant.” Jody gave the man a truthful response to her sudden urge to join a church. You offered a weak smile when you saw her eyes direct over to you. “And seeing someone you were told was dead doesn’t help, either.” 

“Jody, are you sure you’re ready to jump back into the fray?” Dean asked the woman in a concerned tone of voice, knowing all the things she witnessed last year and the passing of Bobby didn’t help the woman. But it seemed he underestimated her. 

“This wackadoo stuff keeps coming. More I know, better armed I’ll be.” Jody gave an honest response to the man’s question. She was a sheriff, after all. If she wanted to protect her town from creatures that went bump in the night, she was going to have some practice in order to do that. You had a feeling from what Jody witnessed over the years, it was going to take a lot to scare the woman to the core. 

“Okay, so, we have missing church folk and super strength.” Sam summarized what all of you knew at the moment so far about the case. He decided to take a shot in the dark, figuring it wouldn’t hurt to throw his theory out there. “Maybe angels harvesting vessels? Could be a Buddy Boyle type thing.” 

“Wh—angels?” Jody repeated the creature the younger Winchester spoke out in the open like it was nothing. She looked at all of you with disbelief at how casual you were being. “You’re joking.” 

“Don’t get your pants on fire.” Dean said, stopping the woman from becoming thrilled at hearing about creatures she thought only existed in the bible. “They suck.” 

“You said there was a witness.” Sam said, circling back to what Jody mentioned earlier. 

“Yeah, well…” Jody shrugged at the person who was waiting for you to talk to them. She didn’t seem too set on the idea they were going to be any help to you. “More or less.” 

You and the boys decided to get a booth inside the restaurant while Jody rounded up the witness so you could speak to them. You sipped the coffee you ordered out of politeness and patiently waited. A few minutes later Jody arrived with your witness, a homeless man who most likely camped out near the place from the looks of him. You offered a friendly smile when the man's eyes scanned across the table to see what this was all about. Jody pulled up a chair while she ushered the man to take the seat in the booth next to you when you slid over to be close to the window. He set his coffee cup down to the table, seeming comfortable enough to give his side of the story. 

“Okay, Slim.” Jody said. “My friends here want to talk to you about the missing girl.” 

“Honor. Her name was Honor.” The man started off by giving the missing girl’s name, indicating that he knew her on some personal level. And it seemed he remembered her from the kind behavior given to someone like him. “Nice girl. Always left me meatloafs.” 

“Slim, why don’t you tell us what you saw that night?’ Sam asked the man, hoping to get to the reason why he was here in the first place. 

“I heard a big noise, got woke, and there’s somebody over there lifting a car up—like this.” Slim demonstrated what he witnessed last night, lifting up his arms the way he saw the stranger did to the car, as if the several ton machine weighed nothing. 

“And did you happen to see who it was?” You asked him another question. 

“I was too far. But I saw a light go off.” Slim made sure to add a small detail he thought was important enough to mention. Sam guessed it was a white light, “Blue. Blue like fire. But not. Then she was—she wasn’t there.” 

“Could you think of anything else?” Dean hoped for a little bit more from the man, but Slim shook his head before he looked down to his cup of coffee. He was helpful enough for you and the boys at figuring out what you might be tracking. Dean pulled out a small wad of cash from his pocket and handed over a twenty dollar bill to Slim, hoping to give him a hot meal for his help. “Well Slim, thank you for your time.” 

Slim happily pocketed the money and went on his way with the cup of coffee he came over with. You let out a quiet sigh from trying to figure out the proper direction you should be going to figure all of this out. While you didn’t have much at the moment, Slim’s description of the kidnapping might have been something for you and the boys to go off on. 

“Okay. So, no white light. No angel.” Sam said, feeling confident enough to cross the creature off the list at the endless other monsters to blame. 

“Has anybody talked to the victims’ families?’ Dean asked the sheriff. 

“It’s next on my list.” Jody answered. 

“Okay, and you said that they were all part of the same church?” Dean’s question was replied with a nod of the head from Jody. This connection, strong or weak as it might be, was the only one you had going for you as a possible hunting ground of where this monster was picking their victims. It was better than anything. Your lips stretched into a frown when Dean looked over at you. “Ready to get your worship on?”

+ + +

You and the boys decided to change out your clothes meant for posing as federal agents in favor of something more casual. The church all four of your victims seemed the usual run of the mill place of worship. You pretended to play along as the new people in town interested in joining to get a better understanding of how things worked. The woman who helped give you a tour of the place was a little too friendly and squeaky clean for your liking. She smiled in delight when you and Dean introduced yourselves as a happy couple "engaged to be engaged" with his little brother tagging along.

You roamed around the church hand in hand with Dean while Bonnie, your overly peppy tour guide, told you all the things Good Faith church offered to its members and the public. Usual things like Sunday school and charities for the homeless. You decided to have a little fun and play into the whole loving couple when Bonnie mentioned the church was perfect for weddings as well. You smiled at her when she occasionally turned to see you and Dean whispering to each other, acting like a couple of crazy kids in love with a religious ceremony in mind. It wasn't that far off from the truth. You did love Dean, and while you wanted to marry him someday, a church would be the last place you'd choose to do it. 

After the tour was complete, the four of you made your way to Bonnie's office where she took a seat at her desk before gesturing for the rest of you to follow with the few chairs she had available. Sam missed out when his brother swiftly snatched the chair next to yours, causing Dean to smirk in victory while the younger man awkwardly looked around to find another seat and pulled it up next to the desk.

"We hope you enjoyed the tour." Bonnie said, the smile she greeted you with felt as if it never left her face. It was starting to make your cheeks hurt at the welcoming disposition she carried on. "Any questions before we get you all registered?"

"Yeah. Uh, look," You pretended to be apprehensive from the subject you were about to approach after she had been so kind to you. "Ms. Futchko—"

"Oh, please, dear." Bonnie quietly laughed at the formalities and corrected to you something more casual, wanting to treat this situation like you were among friends. "Bonnie will do just fine." 

"We love the church. We do." You cushioned the strange questions you were about to ask her, deciding to pretend and act as if you were a concerned citizen wondering what you might be getting yourself into. "But...well, we've heard that a few members have gone missing. And while my boyfriend likes to think he's Superman," You flashed a quick smile as you reached out to squeeze Dean's hand before letting it rest there to continue milking the little performance on sharing your fake concerns. "We’ve been talking in private about it. And to be honest…that kind of scares us.” 

"Let me assure you, with our increased security, Good Faith has never been safer." Bonnie told you, placing a hand to her chest to try and give all of you a better peace of mind. It seemed she was worried about her fellow churchgoer, just in the way a little too religious person thought was the best form of action. Leaving it up all to the chance God would intervene and save the day. "And those people who have gone missing, well, they are front and center in our prayers." 

"What a relief." Dean let out a breath at the reassuring sounding news, making Bonnie's smile return after it disappeared shortly from the change in conversation. "Now, you must have been close to them." 

"Well, we do share the A.P.U. bond." Bonnie. Dean pretended to be intrigued at hearing such a thing when he asked more about it. "Our chastity group. ‘Abstinence Purifies Us.’” 

You pretended to turn your head to another direction when you scratched your nose, the easiest way to sneak an eye roll of frustration at hearing the new connection to the victims. Out of anything, you should’ve seen the virginity angle coming from where you were. 

"Wow." Sam laughed and smiled, faking interest about such a group. "You mind if we sit in on that, maybe see if it's for us?"

“I’m afraid it’s members only. I'm sorry, but it can get pretty personal." Bonnie apologized for the inconvenience after offering so many things for you to join, but it seemed this one was off limits for obvious reasons. You, never being the one to miss an opportunity, jumped to it before either one of the boys could back out. 

“Then count us in.” You said, lightly smacking your thigh as you grinned. 

"Well, I'll be a squirrel in a skirt." Bonnie softly laughed in delight at hearing your eager enthusiasm to join a group, intidicating to her that the three of you were good Christians. You mirrored her behavior as you smiled over at Dean when he squeezed your hand a little too roughly, wondering what the hell you got yourselves into. "I'll be back in a jiff with the papers." 

Bonnie wasted no time jumping up from her seat and heading to another room across the way, allowing you to watch what she was doing. She opened up a filing cabinet and shuffled around some papers to find what she was looking for. Your attention fell back to Dean when you felt him softly smack your arm. 

“A chastity group?” Dean asked you, wondering if this was really how you wanted to spend your afternoon. And why you needed to drag him into your plan. You knew he would love to do anything else than listen to a bunch of horny virgins go on about temptations and sins brought on by the world. 

"It's not a bad idea." Sam seemed to have agreed with your plan of action, figuring out the same possible pattern you had. If you knew who was in the group, you might have a better chance at saving others from going missing. "If all the members were in A.P.U., then maybe whatever took them is stalking virgins." 

"And that Slim guy said he thought he saw fire." Dean added another little detail that went together with the virginity part. Something you've dealt with before. "So, what are you guys thinking, dragons?"

You never got the chance to finish the conversation when you saw Bonnie return back with the forms in hand. You cleared your throat and went back to acting casual as if that’s what you had been doing the entire time she was gone during the short period of time. You forced yourself to smile again when she handed you over a clipboard with a piece of paper attached. 

"You can just sign here, and your purification can begin." Bonnie instructed you, letting you glance down at the piece of paper. You read the title of the paper and slowly your expression fell as to what you were about to promise. Something you lost several years ago. You bit your bottom lip when Sam mentioned the pledge, only to be taken by someone who had never had intercourse before. "It's a commitment to your virginity." 

"I don't think we can really un-ring that bell." Dean thought he was funny with the innocent sounding joke, deciding to humor himself. Bonnie, however, stared at the man with a blank expression. It hadn't dawned on her just yet why you couldn't sign right away. "You know what I mean?"

A moment of silence fell across the room as Dean's smile faded away when Bonnie continued to stare at the man with eyes too wide for his personal comfort. Slowly, the wheels in her head started turning, making her realize the sins you've committed. "Oh. I see." Bonnie's gaze quickly darted away from you and Dean specifically, as if she was trying to hide her disappointment. However, like the good Chrisitan that she was, the woman offered you a chance at redemption. "Well...if you just ask for God's forgiveness for your sins and make a new vow of chastity, well, then you'll be born again as a virgin in His eyes." 

"So, you just hit the 'virginity do-over' button, and all is good with the man upstairs?" Dean's question meant to come off as sincere and curious, but he had a way of coming off a little igorent at times. Sometimes he didn't understand the kind of people he was dealing with and how to adapt.

"It's not a button." Bonnie corrected the man. Her tone of voice fell into a softer, and yet slightly colder one as she defended her personal views in a way to make him better understand. "And...this isn't just a piece of paper. I mean, this is your clean slate, your chance to be a virgin until marriage. Isn't that something you want? To be pure for each other until your wedding night, the way God intended?”

You raised your brow slightly from the way Bonnie tried to guilt trip you for doing something thought of as a sin. Premarital sex was the least horrible thing someone could do. However, just to get yourself into this damn group, you decided to pretend and feel remorseful for a second. You looked over to Dean, the both of you nodding your head and shared matching smiles. "Well, you had me at 'clean slate.' Right, sweetheart?" Dean asked you, clicking his pen to be the first one to sign. "Let's do this." 

You and the boys signed your names on the pledge and handed over the clipboards back to Bonnie's awaiting hands. She glanced down at the names you scribbled down and smiled in delight. "Congratulations Sam and Dean Winchester, and Y/N Y/L/N. You are all virgins." 

You found yourself letting out a quiet laugh at hearing something you hadn't heard in a while. Sam faked his enthusiasm while Dean took it a smidge too far, grinning a little too wide and seeming excited at the news. At least making a show out of it for Bonnie. You knew one thing for certain: this was going to be one interesting afternoon. 

Rewrite Taglist:

@deansquirreljerkwinchester // @everything-i-tried-was-taken // @starswirlblitz // @supernaturalismydrug // @we-are-band-sexuals // @angiewinchestercas // @kaylinfayezink  // @owhatshername1 // @kgbrenner  // @cleo-is-my-doggy // @eeyore1988 // @dakota-dream // @lilylovelyxo // @timetravelingginger // @holahellohialoha //   @quicksilver123456 // @natashacamillas //@lexi-anastasia //@kaylinfayezink //  @deanwnchstr @albot-eh // @rashinyx2002 // @shellybeans //  @icantfindacreativeurl //  @becs-bunker // @oreosatmidnight // @bands-and-shietz // @fabulousmustachesonapolarbear // @clarewinchester // @releasethekracko // @alex-zeppelin // @mega-mrs-dean-winchester // @theskytraveler // @notmoose94 //@assassinofmasyaf // @caswinchester2000 // @savannah-m-99 // @sunlight-dean // @strayrosesbloom // @that-slytherin-over-there // @1000roughdrafts // @its-medeanwinchester // @simplyhemmings // @dream-believe-and-love // @that-winged-rat // @romanovanoffsstuff // @underthestarrsss // @lady-elena-adeline

Message me if you would like to be added!

[incorrect-pokespe-quotes]

Let’s Talk About Norman

I’m going to start off by telling you all something you probably already know: Norman is abusive. I try not to use super strong language on this blog because calling someone abusive / toxic is a pretty big deal, but Norman is an abuser, full stop. Aside from the obvious physical violence though, there’s a lot of emotional trauma he causes Ruby through his actions— this post is mostly going to be talking about Norman’s emotional abuse and how it affects Ruby’s psyche and actions throughout the arc instead of just “oh he punched his son down some stairs” because I think it goes way deeper than that. With that out of the way, the rest of the post is below the cut!

PHYSICAL VIOLENCE

I can’t talk about Ruby and Norman without mentioning this— it’s the most clear cut evidence of his abuse on-panel. He punches his son down the stairs, engages in a high stakes fight with him, and puts him in mortal danger (which Ruby has to save himself from). What I’m concerned with isn’t the actual incidence of violence itself, but rather the emotional baggage that comes with it.

The interesting thing about the Big Fight scene to me is that Norman instigates the conflict. Norman lures Ruby into a “dark and scary building” in the rain and away from others, appears behind him, threatens him, and throws him against a wall. The only thing Ruby had done in that moment is ask his dad how / why he had found him— Norman was the instigator of violence. It is Ruby’s reaction to this immediately violent start that segues into the next Big Thing about their relationship.

ENVIRONMENT OF FEAR

It is obvious from the minute Norman appears on panel that he is intimidating. Multiple characters throughout the arc mention that they are scared of / intimidated by him, but none are more obvious than Ruby. In fact until we reach the scene at the Weather Institute, Norman hasn’t been shown in a positive light at all from Ruby’s perspective. Ruby continuously mentions fear about his father: he imagines his father grabbing him, looking angrily at him, and generally seems to be afraid of him. Ruby expresses worry and concern about the consequences of his father’s anger— and that’s ALL he thinks about. Ruby mentions explicitly that he has seen “Norman’s Dark Side” and tries to hide as soon as he appears. He even shivers at the mere mention of Norman. Ruby’s entire motivation is his fear of his dad, which is bad, obviously. 

Every thought about Norman that Ruby has up until the Weather Institute about Norman express fear and stress Norman’s emotional distance. Whether or not Ruby and Norman love each other is not of importance here, what is important is that Ruby has constant worry and anxiety about how Norman will react. His entire motivation at the beginning of the arc is centered around doing things behind Norman’s back and giving him definitive proof of Ruby’s accomplishments— Ruby is so nervous around Norman that he considers communicating to be a risk. This is typical abuse victim behavior and it continues through the arcs. Living under the constant threat of (often violent) punishment has taught Ruby that disagreements and communication in general are dangerous and can spiral into violence very, very quickly— he displays this same fear time and time again.

Quick Aside: As everyone here probably knows, the main conflict in the oras arc is centered around Ruby’s unwillingness to tell Sapphire what is going on for fear of how she will react. Ruby’s hiding of his memory of their confession in the Emerald arc is the same— Ruby refuses to communicate because he is afraid of how Sapphire will react. His main emotional flaw is the fact that he is driven by fear; Norman has shown him there are consequences to communication and Ruby carries this lesson throughout his entire life. He is a victim of abuse and this hampers his ability to communicate and be emotionally vulnerable. He is so caught up in the idea of consequences that he is more than willing to lie or omit the truth to avoid the consequences of talking to people about stressful topics. This is not to say that Ruby’s actions are excusable— he’s still a dick with communication issues, but whether or not Kusaka intended it, Norman’s abuse and its consequences define Ruby’s emotional arc.

ANGER ISSUES

I can’t really talk about the environment of fear that Norman created without talking about his anger issues. He crushes a phone, shoves people out of the way, knocks multiple Pokemon out at once, and otherwise acts aggressively in various situations throughout the arc without any real Reason. As if these hints weren’t enough, we actually get confirmation through Ruby’s mother that Norman “does this often”— and judging by Birch’s reaction, these displays of destructive anger aren’t normal in in-universe. Whether or not there is a violent / strict parenting style within the universe doesn’t matter, because Norman is shown to be uncharacteristically aggressive in comparison to other adults in the series. Judging by Ruby’s reaction at the Weather Institute, he implies that his type of violence towards him isn’t uncommon; he seems almost resigned to it.

To wrap up this section: Norman’s aggressiveness is atypical even in-universe, he is shown to be unable and unwilling to curb his violent anger, and this creates an environment of fear among his family that permanently impacts Ruby’s ability to communicate effectively with others.

PART 2

DISCLAIMER: This is where things get… dicey. Everything I’ve mentioned previously is rooted in the actual drawings and actions of the characters or overarching themes / problems. This next part however focuses on dialogue. It is almost impossible to truly understand the tone of each line without being a fluent Japanese speaker (which I am not) so instead I’m going to use Viz and CY to the best of my ability for this section. I’m not going to extrapolate this to Kusaka’s intentions, since without the original work that’s nearly impossible, but I can at least talk about the way these come off in English.

EMOTIONAL ABUSE

Admittedly, Viz is the worst about this. They constantly hype Norman up and excuse his behavior, outright censoring some of the physical and emotional abuse. Viz absolutely mangling the tone of RS, however, is a post for another time.

Because Norman actually speaks to Ruby at length a grand total of twice times in the RS arc, we can break down his actions into these two instances: the first is at the weather institute and the second is as he’s dying.

Rather than go based on overall theme, this scene is best done line by line (this is using the CY version due to limited censorship compared to Viz). 

Scene 1: Volume 17, Chapters 208-210

(Norman is dangling Ruby off the roof of a building by his collar. There are sharp rocks at the bottom)

Ruby: Re… release me…! Norman: Insolent brat!! Is that how you talk to your father?!

To start, Norman uses tone policing and deflection. He focuses on the fact that Ruby is “talking back” to him and making demands of his father, which doesn’t acknowledge Ruby’s request or the fact that Ruby is being dangling over the roof of a building. Also note that this is the first time the words are bolded and that they stay this way throughout the fight— Norman verbally escalates the fight. Norman is abusing his position of power over Ruby in order to excuse his actions and pass the blame back to his son.

Ruby: I don’t care how furious you are with me… I’m ready for it!

(Norman decks Ruby down a flight of stairs)

Norman: Why did you run away from home?!

Note once again that Norman is implied to start raising his voice first even when Ruby isn’t. There’s another deflection here: Norman changes the subject rather than actively respond to anything Ruby says.

Norman: Well? Say something! You’d better voice your complaints right now!!

(Ruby has a conversation with the Swimmer, who advises him to apologize to avoid his father’s rage and “just go home” which… fuck you Swimmer Jack. I’m skipping that part of the dialogue bc it isn’t that important).

(While Ruby is debating what to do, Norman’s Slaking lifts the stairs that Ruby is on and tries to fling him into next Tuesday).

Ruby is physically prevented from escaping by being dangled above Norman. I shouldn’t have to tell why physically preventing someone from leaving an argument is a bad thing.

(Ruby decides to fight Norman)

Note that Norman is physically and emotionally forcing Ruby into two possible options: Fight or be obedient. He is preventing Ruby from running and deflecting Ruby’s attempts to explain himself. He then shifts the blame to Ruby *again*, attacking Ruby and his pokemon with full force and implying it was Ruby who instigated the conflict in the first place.

Norman: … so you wish to fight me? … Iron Tail and Hyper Beam… I was the one who taught you those attacks. There’s nothing about your attacks and strategies I don’t know about. You’re just wasting your time! Give up!

Here, Norman does two things: he stresses Ruby’s dependence on him and his power over Ruby. It’s a typical “your success is dependent on me” and a “there is no option except obedience” rhetoric, and is likewise typical of abusers. Norman is stressing the things Norman has gifted to Ruby (battling knowledge) and using whatever he can to force Ruby to do what he wants— he’s exerting his control.

(Ruby turns the tide of the battle, so Norman likewise switches tactics by attacking Ruby himself and attempting to hit him with a staircase. Ruby falls down the stairs and is dangling over a pit of spikes when Norman stands on the edge, blocking Ruby’s only escape route).

Norman: Now will you come quietly? Stop being so stubborn

Not only is Norman forcing his son to choose between obedience and Literal Death, he also shifts the blame again. He excuses his own actions by claiming it is Ruby’s stubbornness that forced him into this position. He deflects the whole “putting my 11 year old in harm’s way” by claiming Ruby’s own resistance to Norman’s violence is the trigger for the violence itself. It doesn’t make sense, but it’s victim-blaming nonetheless and sadly, it works

(Flashback time: Norman admits he was going to give Ruby permission to participate in contests and gets emo about it. They fall, but Norman catches Ruby. This doesn’t matter though, because they both end up falling and Ruby uses his running shoes to save them both).

Ruby: (thinking) Ru- running shoes… my birthday present from dad… saved both… our lives

Ruby displays pretty typical abuse victim behavior here, focusing not on Norman’s 3 threats to literally kill him but instead on the One Good Thing Norman did. He doesn’t mention that it was Ruby himself who saved them both or that Norman was the one who put them in danger in the first place— he’s in total denial about the severity of everything that happened.

(At this point, Norman looms above Ruby with an angry expression and a raised pokeball. Bystanders panic because it appears that Norman is going to attack Ruby who, by the way, is unconscious on the ground, but Norman gets a surprise call from Winona and turns away after realizing that Winona can see him).

“I only stopped attacking my son when I realized people were watching”… alright fuck off then Norman

Norman: HEY!! Idiot son! You disobeyed your parents, then you ran away from home. I’ve had enough! Just do what you want! In return, you’d better accomplish your goals!! A man should complete what he has set out to do… … before he can return home!!

Hoo boy. Norman never apologizes, deflects all the blame onto Ruby, insults him twice, and then tries to save face with Winona and the people around him by giving Ruby permission to do contests— which he was apparently planning to do all along. He emphasizes the things Ruby did in response to Norman’s actions (Ruby ran away from home because he knew his dad would be unsupportive and gets violent during disagreements, so in essence Norman is to blame for backing him into a corner). Norman twists the narrative in order to make Ruby the instigator in every case, justifying Norman’s responses as reactions to Ruby’s problematic behavior

Swimmer Jack: Isn’t that a wonderful father? Ruby: Thank you… father.

Ok first of all Jack is a dumbass, so jot that down. Second of all, while it’s unintentional, Ruby is being gaslit to hell and back. It is only after Norman’s omission of all the abusive behavior and bystanders’ affirmation of Norman’s love that Ruby starts to think positively towards his father. The threat Ruby used to think was so large has been downplayed and outright denied by the people around him, so Ruby’s prior fear of Norman diminishes. Ruby’s fear of Norman and the violence Norman took against him is denied, downplayed, and ignored, so Ruby begins to doubt his own animosity towards his father. Thanks Swimmer Jack you unintentionally gaslit an 11 year old.

SCENE 2: (this one is much shorter, thank god)

(Norman, while he is dying, explains the whole deal with how he was ordered to search for Rayquaza yada yada. Throughout the exchange, Ruby gets increasingly upset).

Ruby: (thinking) barred from the test and forced to search for Rayquaza… It must be some kind of punishment! What could Dad have done to warrant such… why was he made responsible… ?!

Ruby: … … but… come to think of it, dad is not someone who makes mistakes easily… something’s not right!

Slight aside, Ruby has been so convinced of his father’s power by others that he is unwilling to even CONSIDER that his dad fucked up, which… wow!

Ruby: That day… Dad must have taken the rap for someone else… and… (flashbacks to Salamence Incident) that person… was….

Ruby: (out loud) … me?! That person who set Rayquaza free… was it me…?!

Norman: Yes.

And then he dies!

(Technically he says “oh I did all that out of love” (paraphrased) and then dies but it’s just a continuation of the previous thing).

Norman, before dying, does not say “I’m proud of you” or “I’m sorry for everything” or anything remotely comforting, instead he says “hey Ruby, you’re responsible for my death and all your childhood trauma alongside your friend’s. Peace.” (this is paraphrased).

Even on his actual deathbed, Norman places the blame on Ruby for Norman’s own actions. He makes Ruby feel guilty for Norman leaving, Norman hiding information from him, and Ruby’s tumultuous childhood.

CONCLUSION

None of this is to say that Norman doesn’t love Ruby or that Ruby doesn’t love him back— I’m fairly positive the two of them love each other dearly and want the best for each other. However, Norman is a child abuser who reacts violently, instigates violence, and then turns around and denies said violence. He creates a culture of fear among his family, gives Ruby some serious communication issues, and the narrative takes his side. Norman is a child abuser in canon and has a very VERY profound effect on Ruby which has emotional ramifications throughout Ruby’s entire character arc all the way until oras.

TLDR: Normans sucks man

[casasupernovas]

more:

series 4 may have a new companion, but it still seems to hinge too much on rose. series 3 seems to have little consequence on the overall story. so much so, that if you took out series 3 altogether and went straight from the 'runaway bride' to 'partners in crime' and swapped out martha in the sontaran two parter for the brigadier...the only consequence of series 3 that is shown in 'turn left' when the doctor dies is that he wasn't there to help when the royal hope goes to the moon, and everyone bar one dies, including martha, sarah jane and her crew. rose isn't even aware of her existence, and by proxy she is not even aware of sarah jane's death either. right at the beginning of the series after yet another blonde takes the helm in 'voyage of the damned', the doctor seems to feel guilty for what happened with martha, with donna commenting that he acting better than he was the first time they met, only for him to reduce the entire situation to be that martha had a fancied him even though we know she was in LOVE with him, something he KNEW because she admitted it to John Smith and we KNOW he remembers 1913 very clearly, and saying it got 'complicated' is a gross simplification of the series that was very annoying to watch.

in fact, this simplification becomes downright alarming to donna when she hears the full story of what actually happened to martha and her family. furthermore, it's sets up a weird superiority over martha just because donna is not romantically interested as if the idea of romance in itself hinders a character. it doesn't, if handled correctly. i dont think rose's romance hinders her - i just wish they had made her more equal to the other companions. as far as i know, this was never really a thing in classic who, people had favourites, but no companion appeared to be deemed better than the other. in the 'fires of pompeii' - the emotional weight of why the doctor needs a companion is great...until you realise he should have already learnt this with martha already. and with all the rose cameos, it also felt like donna was becoming dimmed in her season too albeit not too much as catherine tate brought her so much character that she is hard to diminish.

'turn left' while a stellar episode, leaves a bitter taste in my mouth as the more i rewatch, the more callous rose seems and the more the story seems to just be a ploy for rose to scarifice donna to get her man back. i dont think this was the intention but it's certainly what it feels like. it made more sense to see someone like martha in that story, rather than rose, as martha was literally working with unit, and it is implied that unit keeps tabs on certain worlds and timelines, and it would have been really eerie for donna to meet martha jones, only to see on the tv that the woman she just spoke to was dead. also rose seems downright psychopathic when she leans over donna's dying body with no sadness for her death and says "bad wolf." and although im sure everyone was exicted to see rose again, i feel like it would have been more impactful if she wasn't involved because she was still trapped in 'pete's world' and instead, we get a surprise last farewell when the doctor sees her again in 'the end of time part 2'.

seeing rose pre the first season for the first time since series 2 would have been more impactful in my opinion. additionally, it felt odd for the show to display rose as some sort of warrior with a massive gun she barely even uses, especially with what the doctor had said multiple times in this series in regards to guns, especially as his daughter literally got shot a couple episodes previously and his response to her murderer. in fact, i don't even even remember what rose actually did in the 'stolen earth/journeys end' two parter (please comment). i only remember martha working for unit, jack dying and liasing with torchwood back in cardiff, harriet jones bringing everyone together, and the red herring thrown in with mickey, sarah jane and the osterhagen key. and of course the meta crisis doctor and donna. i even read that even billie piper wasn't a fan of how rose's story ended. her immediately leaping into the meta crisis doctor's arms was selfish but selfishness is one of the main characteristics to rose. it was realistic so i didn't dislike it. but it was kind of annoying when they were all on zoom as it were (haha!) and rose immediately got jealous of martha.

again, jealously is another classic rose trait, but i would have thought rose would have grown up a little at this point. and the "she's good" line to martha wasn't as great as they probably thought it would be, as at this point in the story, martha didn't want or need rose's random stamp of approval.

all in all, i think the impact of rose, and handling of subsequent companions could have been handled much better. martha could have still been in love and have agency like she does in the doctor who novels. and i think we all know donna can stand on her own two feet as a character. and i personally felt that a point that series 2 should have focused on more than the 'my boyfriend the doctor' thing should have been the instability of traveling with him. they would explore this to an extent but the tone would almost always be a little ruined e.g. rose being devastated at mickey choosing to stay in the parallel universe only to forget his existence in 'the idiot's lantern' the very next episode. i did like however how they handled mickey & rose in 'army of ghosts' because you could see that rose was visibly hurt that mickey wasn't exactly fawning over her anymore, but it wasn't like she could say anything. and some points she talks to him and he doesn't even look at her. and because i liked rose so much, it just became quite disappointing to see how her character was subsequently handled after her departure.

fin.