#God cursed me with both The Blood and Specific Type. My life is so sad.

[cartoonghosts]

god made me asexual because he knew I would be too powerful if I wasn't. I'm simply too hot to be allo. This is also why he gave me depression

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E25 (July 10, 2018)

First show in the new studio! Ashley wasn’t nervous until Sam started talking about how nervous he was. There’s a lot of nervousness. Now with Dani Cam!

Tonight’s guests are Ashley Johnson and Sam Riegel!

Announcements: TM is headed to San Diego Comic Con again this year! On Tuesday, July 24 (the Tuesday after their Saturday panel), the panel will be broadcast in TM’s usual time slot. Wyrmwood giveaways are back starting this week, but will be hosted in the Critical Role Twitch chat moving forward. New shirt in the store (featuring Nott and Jester’s detective agency!).

@critrolestats​ for this episode:

Yasha is practically tied with Fjord for highest average damage dealt per episode (35.875 for Yasha, 36.040 for Fjord).

Nott maintains her lead for the most natural ones (23). Sam points out that he’s using the same dice as last campaign and suspects the proximity to the baby may have been a curse on his luck. Ashley: “I feel like he couldn’t possibly be a curse on anyone.” Sam: “No, he’s a demon child. Have you held up a mirror to the child to see if it has a reflection? That’s all I’m saying.”

It’s been 34 days since the Mighty Nein met in Trostenwald. Ashley points out that it’s starting to be a substantial number of days for everyone to have been spending all their time together.

Kiri was with the Mighty Nein for 11 days.

Nott’s new crossbow is a +1 hand crossbow. If Sam rolls a 20, it magically resets and fires another bolt immediately. If Sam rolls a 1, it tries to do that, fails, and shoots Nott instead. Because it’s a magical weapon, it will deal magic damage even if non-magical bolts are fired from it. Sam’s holding out for a cupholder.

“Beau is-- I think more of Beau and Yasha’s relationship, whatever that turns out to be, I like exploring that in the game.” Yasha “got a kick out of” Beau playing up her injuries and didn’t mind carrying her around. “She’ll help a girl out.”

The official name for Nott’s flask is The Flask of Perpetual Booze.

Heroism for the sake of being nice is definitely new from Nott’s perspective---she and Caleb have mainly just been fighting for survival until now. Money is not what drives Yasha, so getting into a fight is more motivating for her than any sort of reward. She was very affected by getting the couple out of prison, and especially by what followed with Kiri. “She’s trying to not let things affect her, but they do.” She’s averse to getting emotional, because then people are likely to see the cracks; it’s easier for her not to engage, but Kiri leaving affected her more than she was ready for. (Part of it was bleedthrough from Ashley and Marisha trying not to lose their composure during that scene.)

Nott was surprised that the Schusters accepted a good deed from her even knowing she was a goblin. “It maybe changed her impression of how ready or willing people are out there to accept a little gobby into their world.” Traveling with the Nein for so long and having their respect has “definitely expanded her opinion of the world and the people who live in it.” She’s never had that experience before. “So far, mainly people throw rocks at her.”

Gif of the Week: the many faces of Sam-as-Burt-Reynolds.

Sam’s eyes were watering and stinging all night because of the fake mustache. “By the end of the night, I was struggling to keep my eyes open.”

Brian: “I have good news. The fly that was buzzing around everywhere and bugging us is dead. It’s in my drink.”

It was a big relief to everyone that Kiri made it through her time with the Nein alive and okay, but it was still really sad to give her up. “As Sam Riegel, I’m really sad to see the character go, but in the game I kept looking for a way to find her a safe place.” They both feel pretty good about leaving her with the Schuster family. Sam points out that they know where she is, so they can come back and visit. Brian gives Matt well-deserved kudos for how lovable Kiri was right from her first appearance.

Because of Ashley’s schedule, she knew Matt had to plan something for Yasha’s disappearance, but he hinted to her that something would happen at the end of the night and that she’d know what to do. “He makes it feel organic and part of the story. I like that it’s the three of us going together on this journey.” She didn’t know beforehand what was going to happen (and still doesn’t know more than we do) so it was a very exciting scene to play out.

Sam and Ashley realize anyone could have volunteered for that last watch---they’re so impressed with how Matt set that up as their choice, even knowing he might’ve had to scramble to get the right combinations of players ready to go.

Sam points out that they’re left with no obvious leader, there’s a lot of underconfidence with Caleb and Nott and a lot of overconfidence with the other two (”all misplaced”). No healer, one person with substantial magic, no tank. The clues basically consist of a bit of blood on the ground. “I don’t know how we’re going to find these people, and even if we found them, if the baddies were powerful enough to apprehend all three of them, I don’t know if we’d be strong enough to rescue them.”

Fanart of the Week: a gorgeous scene of Beau training.

Both Scanlan and Nott have “a visceral hate of goblinkind for different reasons.” Scanlan would kill one on sight. “Nott might ask them a few questions first, and then kill them.” She hasn’t come into contact with any goblins from outside her clan. “Maybe she’d have an open mind if she met a really cool goblin.”

“Yasha’s relationship with the Stormlord is still fairly new, so I think her connection with him and figuring out how to connect with him-- she’s still figuring that out, but I also think he probably knew she could take care of herself. She’s still figuring out what she’s supposed to do to reach in and connect with him.” It’s tied in with her backstory. “There’s a lot that she doesn’t understand about it.”

On Nott losing her detective partner: “They’re bad cop/bad cop. Without one of them, they’re just bad cop! How would that work?” Beau might be her first attempt at a new detective duo.

Ashley’s okay with the speed at which Yasha’s backstory is being revealed---in that basically none of her backstory has been revealed. “I would love to have revealed more while I was home, but her backstory is very sensitive and it’s not something she would be comfortable talking about.”

At one point, Sam was writing a pilot pitch for a CW-type show about “sexy minotaurs and centaurs in a high school.”

Stealing the gun wasn’t about messing with Taliesin; Sam has specific plans for the gun. “Let’s just say that Nott has a fascination with things and enjoys shiny things, but also enjoys chemical things, and it’s an interesting item to her and she has ideas of what she could try with it. It also helps that it bothers Taliesin. I’m not going to lie.”

The Stormlord is more of a protector figure than a distant, abstract figure to Yasha. “He definitely saved her from something. Before the Stormlord, she didn’t serve any gods. That was a foreign thing to her. I don’t think she knows what servitude means, yet, but she’s getting there.”

Nott felt like a protector and a keeper of Kiri. “Innocent little kid who needs to be protected and is also adorable!” She’s also very pleased to see Caleb coming out of his shell.

Ashley has confidence in the remaining four members of the Nein. “I think they’re going to be fine.” Sam: “Let’s be frank, Ashley’s been carrying us as a show for some time now, and losing her might sink the ship.”

There’s some speculation about why Matt keeps putting manacles into the narrative. Sam: “They might have some sort of a payoff later? Otherwise, he’s just kinky.”

Matt has said that he’ll figure out a way to bring Ashley in on Skype even if she’s the only one of the three available, but she also just wants let the narrative unfold naturally. They’ll see how it goes moving forward.

Unexpected Matt Key!

Talks Machina In The Dark:

Weirdest stuff found during the move? Sam found a bunch of rejected things he was going to paste to the side of his flask. “Some of them were clever. Some of them were not.” Brian: “Taliesin’s coffin that he sleeps in.” They all found a lot of dice lying around. Ashley’s Gil dice is still missing!

Sam does some squats. Brian: “Totally normal. It’s totally normal.”

Everyone’s really sad that Laura couldn’t be there for Jester’s goodbye with Kiri.

Yasha “100%” did not feel qualified to give Caleb advice. “Just anybody coming to her for advice about anything. Why are you asking me? What advice could I possibly give you?” Sam demands to know if she’s ever had a friend. “Yes, of course. She comes from a very rural area, and raised in a certain way that she was-- You gotta wait. It’ll make sense. There’s a lot of life that she hasn’t lived yet. She doesn’t have a lot of life experience.” She’s around Ashley’s age (or the equivalent for an aasimar).

Both Sam and Ashley think Kiri would be good as a rogue. Possibly a bard? Ashley: “Matt’ll come up with something great if we ever see her again.” Brian points out the potential for a kenku using mimicry for Vicious Mockery.

Votes go to Marisha’s Fjord voice over Taliesin’s Jester voice.

We delve into the disgusting depths of how gross Sam’s flask gets. “We need to get you a little brush.” “We do. I might get tetanus from this thing.”

[b4dluckbin]

I am evil but- 1 to 50, answer them all!! hahaha (if you only want to do this for one oc- then michaleas)

Hello, I hate you. I'm also not going to cut this because I have no idea how so have fun everyone.

This is for Michaleas Lament.

1. What’s their full name? Why was that chosen? Does it mean anything?

His full name is Michaleas Ermiah Lament. First part is because Michael,,, sounds tOO WHITE. Ermiah I came up with my myself but looking into it, it is kinda close to Ermias or Jeremiah. Hmmmm. Lament? He's a sad boi.

2. Do they have any titles? How did they get them?

One personal title he was given while in the military was "The Lamenting Giant". It was more to poke fun at their commander more than anything because of how tall he was and usually he has a distant, kind of sad look on his face like he was constantly thinking.

3. Did they have a good childhood? What are fond memories they have of it? What’s a bad memory?

Yes he did- until he was 9. It was pretty modest but comfortable until then. Fond memories he had would be are listening to his mother hum as he helped her clean around their little house, and looking over his fathers woodwork that he sold in town. For the last bit..... *SCOFFS* His entire life after 9 years old. That's all chock full of bad memories but if I have to limit it of his childhood,,, everything from 9 to 20 years old.

4. What is their relationship with their parents? What’s a good and bad memory with them? Did they know both parents?

He knew both his father and mother! He had a very good relationship with them both. They were very nurturing but stern when they needed to be (like when he wanted to go outside or into town with his father). A good memory he has of them is just them sitting together for dinner and his father telling him stories about the places he had been when he was younger.

5. Do they have any siblings? What’s their names? What is their relationship with them? Has their relationship changed since they were kids to adults?

He has no siblings.

6. What were they like at school? Did they enjoy it? Did they finish? What level of higher education did they reach? What subjects did they enjoy? Which did they hate?

He never went to school. He was taught what his father and mother had learned.

7. Did they have lots of friends as a child? Did they keep any of their childhood friends into adulthood?

He didn't have any childhood friends as he was cooped up in his house until he was 9. Then he was enslaved for about 10 or so years.

8. Did they have pets as a child? Do they have pets as an adult? Do they like animals?

No he didn't have any pets. He is neutral about animals.

9. Do animals like them? Do they get on well with animals?

He's never really interacted with animals before.

10. Do they like children? Do children like them? Do they have or want any children? What would they be like as a parent? Or as a godparent/babysitter/ect?

.... CONNA YOU REALLY SHOULD HAVE EXCLUDED SOME OF THESE- Oh god... He thinks children are cute from a distance but are very annoying. He has a son named Adiren. Because of the situation (no I'm not saying it to validate him in just trying to be like vague with how I'm saying this. He is a terrible father in main canon) he was a neglectful father. But in AUs I've had for him he is decent. He's just a tad bit over protective. As a god father? Uhhhh depends on if this is AU or Canon dad Michaleas. If it was an AU and all is Gucci then he'd be decent enough at being a caregiver. If it was main story well- he wouldn't really be worried about them.

11. Do they have any special diet requirements? Are they a vegetarian? Vegan? Have any allergies?

Michaleas is actually not allergic to anything. Except love. Also no, this big boi is a meat eater.

12. What is their favourite food?

Steak and potatoes.

13. What is their least favourite food?

Id have to say maybe fish? He doesn't really like the smell.

14. Do they have any specific memories of food/a restaurant/meal?

Stew,,, his mother made that a lot.

15. Are they good at cooking? Do they enjoy it? What do others think of their cooking?

He is actually fairly decent at cooking! He does enjoy it because it's something to take his mind off of whatever he's currently thinking about. He's been told it's really good but he doesn't,,,, care for compliments.

16. Do they collect anything? What do they do with it? Where do they keep it?

If there is a flower he has never seen before you best believe he will press it into his journal.

17. Do they like to take photos? What do they like to take photos of? Selfies? What do they do with their photos?

Lmao in a modern AU? He'd probably have a little blog or something dedicated to flower pictures. He won't take a picture of himself because he hates how he looks.

18. What’s their favourite genre of: books, music, tv shows, films, video games and anything else

If my boy was literate, I'd say he'd be into adventure stories. He loves acoustic jams because he plays the guitar. Tv or films??? Maybe family movies and comedys. Video games?????? Medieval-esque stuff. He'd be too into Dark Souls and rhythm games.

19. What’s their least favourite genres?

Tragedy (They just make him sad). For music it's anything too loud.

20. Do they like musicals? Music in general? What do they do when they’re favourite song comes?

I don't think he'd be a fan of musicals very much. Music in general? He likes. If his favorite song were to come on he'd probably just sit and hum along with a smile.

21. Do they have a temper? Are they patient? What are they like when they do lose their temper?

*insert laugh meme* Yeah. Yeah he fucking does and his blood curse revolves around it. Oh boy he's prone to yelling.

22. What are their favourite insults to use? What do they insult people for? Or do they prefer to bitch behind someone’s back?

He likes to use the word "privileged" a lot against people that are acting out.

23. Do they have a good memory? Short term or long term? Are they good with names? Or faces?

He has a good memory but he can remember faces better than the names that correspond to them.

24. What is their sleeping pattern like? Do they snore? What do they like to sleep on? A soft or hard mattress?

It isn't much sleeping as it is lying awake and staring at the wall. When he does sleep ooooh yeah he snores. Not like,,, super loud but noticeable. He likes a more soft bed because hard beds make his back hurt.

25. What do they find funny? Do they have a good sense of humour? Are they funny themselves?

,,, he has a dark sense of humor unless it's just something you really can't have a straight face at. Someone almost choke on bread? He will have a fit. He isn't really one for telling jokes himself.

26. How do they act when they’re happy? Do they sing? Dance? Hum? Or do they hide their emotions?

When Micha is happy he usually just has a smile plastered on his face for a while. He is capable of singing but doesn't like doing it, so he opts to humming. He doesn't know how to dance.

27. What makes them sad? Do they cry regularly? Do they cry openly or hide it? What are they like they are sad?

Remembering his past trauma. No he doesn't cry regularly and if he feels he will he will hide off somewhere and call himself a dumb ass. When he's sad he's desolate. He makes himself scarce and when he is around you get that brooding feeling.

28. What is their biggest fear? What in general scares them? How do they act when they’re scared?

Going back to the slave ring. Nothing really scares him. Maybe little jump scares but eh. When he's actually fucking terrified? He will close up on himself and leave. Fast.

29. What do they do when they find out someone else’s fear? Do they tease them? Or get very over protective?

Like Kai it really just depends on what the fear is. Spiders? You can handle that yourself. Groups of unknown people in an unknown place? Yeah no, come here and walk with him now so he can watch out.

30. Do they exercise? Regularly? Or only when forced? What do they act like pre-work out and post-work out?

Post military Michaleas hardly worked out any more, but when he was still there? Totally.

31. Do they drink? What are they like drunk? What are they like hungover? How do they act when other people are drunk or hungover? Kind or teasing?

Oh gOD THIS IS PART OF THE PROBLEM WITH HIM BEING A PARENT. He falls into a deep depression because of some shit and picks up drinking more so than he did before in the military. He really just wants to forget so badly. When he's hungover he's a complete asshole. When he's drunk it's just sad boi hours.

32. What do they dress like? What sorta shops do they buy clothes from? Do they wear the fashion that they like? What do they wear to sleep? Do they wear makeup? What’s their hair like?

He gets his clothes at any normal clothing store. Nothing fancy at all just basic shirt and pants. Sleeping is just pants no shirt. His hair? Messy short brown hair parted in the middle with Short cut bangs.

33. What underwear do they wear? Boxers or briefs? Lacey? Comfy granny panties?

Hi, the image of granny panty Micha is scared into my brain thanks- boxers my fam.

34. What is their body type? How tall are they? Do they like their body

Me, explaining Micha to anyone: Bara. But,,,, smaller,,,, he's like 6ft6-6ft7. Does he like his body? Eh. He doesn't like the scars that litter it.

35. What’s their guilty pleasure? What is their totally unguilty pleasure?

Guilty pleasure? Spending time with a certain fucking vampire. Unguilty pleasure? He likes,,,, sweets.

36. What are they good at? What hobbies do they like? Can they sing?

He's good at playing the guitar and fighting. If he was allowed I'm sure he'd pick up gardening. Who knows if he can sing? :3c

37. Do they like to read? Are they a fast or slow reader? Do they like poetry? Fictional or non fiction?

*quietly sobs* he's shit at reading.

38. What do they admire in others? What talents do they wish they had?

How some people can go about their lives so easily without a care in the world.

39. Do they like letters? Or prefer emails/messaging?

Talk to him,,, face to face. Dont be a coward.

40. Do they like energy drinks? Coffee? Sugary food? Or can they naturally stay awake and alert?

I mean,,,, does trauma count as a natural way to stay awake and alert? Because I feel like it is personally.

41. What’s their sexuality? What do they find attractive? Physically and mentally? What do they like/need in a relationship?

*leans into mic* He's gay. He is more both when it comes to someone. He needs someone who isn't just using him for,,, sex because hi- sex drive? There, but honestly kind of hates it. He wants someone to talk to and help him through his bad moments. Someone who won't talk shit to him about being weak because he does that to himself enough.

42. What are their goals? What would they sacrifice anything for? What is their secret ambition?

*leans into mic further* To be able to have a decent relationship with said vampire from earlier.

43. Are they religious? What do they think of religion? What do they think of religious people? What do they think of non religious people?

He isn't religious at all. He's Atheist actually. He thinks they're just sheep following a Shepherd. Non religious people, in his eyes, are smart to see through that shit.

44. What is their favourite season? Type of weather? Are they good in the cold or the heat? What weather do they complain in the most?

Michaleas likes the time around the end of winter because that's when the flowers start to bulb up. He thinks its beautiful. He fucking hates the heat. You can't escape it.

45. How do other people see them? Is it similar to how they see themselves?

They look to him as something like a pillar. He doesn't waver and they believe if they try hard enough they won't either. Which is,,,, completely different than how he sees himself. He hates hIMSELF AND THINKS HE'S WEAK LMAO.

46. Do they make a good first impression? Does their first impression reflect them accurately? How do they introduce themselves?

I mean,,, no. He's very fucking blunt with his observations of people. Yes and no with reflecting him accurately. He is very observant but he isn't like,,, that when you warm up to him. He plays around more and talks shit. Michaleas introduces himself as such. Michaleas.

47. How do they act in a formal occasion? What do they think of black tie wear? Do they enjoy fancy parties and love to chit chat or loathe the whole event?

He hates fancy events. He will wear what he has to but he isn't going to have his tie tied or creases ironed. He doesn't give a shit. He wants to leave.

48. Do they enjoy any parties? If so what kind? Do they organise the party or just turn up? How do they act? What if they didn’t want to go but were dragged along by a friend?

Regular parties where he can just drink and have fun? Totally. No one prissy there just a bunch of rough dumbasses. He doesn't plan parties he just turns up if he hears about it and is like "where is the booze".

49. What is their most valued object? Are they sentimental? Is there something they have to take everywhere with them?

He doesn't have anything like that. He has his sword for protection so I mean that counts as a need everywhere and anywhere. Edit: I lied. He has a journal with pressed flowers he normally has on him always.

50. If they could only take one bag of stuff somewhere with them: what would they pack? What do they consider their essentials?

Water, food, things to start a fire, tools and his sword.

[dimples-of-discontent]

Reporting in from Paleyfest

I have returned from Paleyfest (and some drinks with friends afterwards so sorry for the delay)! It was a great experience - the crowd was psyched and it was all super fun. I’m glad you all got the livestream so you can enjoy the whole panel too. I’m actually pretty surprised that there wasn’t some kind of announcement made, either about possible Season 14 (although Singer alluded to it with “maybe we’ll go there next season” it’s not a confirmation and he could just be assuming) or about Wayward. It seemed like with this much PR going on there would be something substantial to promote BUT the crossover ep itself is a big deal and a long time in the making so I guess it was the occasion.

Speaking of the crossover episode, I’m going to break the rules (or the very polite request that they gave us) to not spoil it for anyone else. @tinkdw asked me to and I’m guessing there are other people out there who’d like to know some the details in advance. (I’m also not a member of the press or anything or else I’d have more qualms about making public stuff they asked to keep on the DL since it would be job-related.)

SO - I am putting my thoughts on the episode below a cut. If you read on, know that I will spoil the whole plot and also give you my initial analysis of it from the perspective I usually have (Destiel-positive, endgame-positive). And if you’d rather not spoil, just scroll on.

@elizabethrobertajones @naruhearts @sactownbrowns3 @amwritingmeta @postmodernmulticoloredcloak @mittensmorgul @amyoatmeal and any other meta writers (who I forgot b/c it’s 4:30am to my body clock) I’m alerting you to the existence of this post in case you want the episode details ahead of time BUT in your position I probably wouldn’t so don’t feel in any way bad if you don’t want to read now. (I’ll reblog once it airs.)

***SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT LIKE WOAH***

I loved this episode!! It was a ton of fun. It was slapstick and silly but did some heavy lifting too. Honestly, it worked the way a lot of our favorite crack episodes did and alluded to at least one of them explicitly (”Changing Channels,” obvs, and I think there may have been more subtle references to others). 

I’m too tired to do a full meta analysis but here’s a kind of bullet recap, first of the most plot-based elements:

The plot turns on the fact that the Scooby Doo world, suddenly, ends up functioning like the world Sam and Dean inhabit. The boys enter the cartoon assuming all usual cartoon rules would apply (and Dean’s ready to have a rollicking good time with them) only to discover that the first murder in the haunted house is real. Ghosts are real. Death is real. Sam wants to tell the Scooby gang about it from the get-go but Dean wants to protect them and preserve their innocence. 

It’s already obviously about childhood, and losing it, but Dean makes it explicit by talking about how much he loved Scooby Doo because no matter where their dad had dragged them it would always be on. They were his friends and constant companions. He is really being thrown into the best part of his childhood....and you can see why it would be the best because it’s probably his fantasy and deepest wish that the ghosts, demons, etc. of the world he inhabits would turn out just to be bad guys in masks, death wouldn’t be real, etc. It’s Dean safe place in childhood because it takes his actual life (ghost hunting) and makes it safe and even fun. Dean wants to keep his safe place safe and is shocked and horrified when the rules of his universe invade.

It’s Sam who wants to tell them the truth about monsters from the word “go” even before it’s been revealed that death can come to Scooby Doo. (Dean laments, heartbreakingly, that it doesn’t matter if he dies...what’s important is that they make sure Scooby doesn’t die because clearly he’s such an innocent creature.) Sam, who did not have his childhood cut as abruptly short as Dean and who did not have to seek solace in a cartoon world because Dean helped him make a safe space in the real world, doesn’t see the point of lying about ghosts being real. Dean, who worked to keep Sam safe from this knowledge for YEARS of his own stunted childhood by acting as a parent, does want to keep the gang in the dark because he wants them to retain their innocence. It’s a huge lampshade to the different experiences Sam and Dean had as children and as sons.

They do eventually have to tell the Scooby gang and, wonderfully, it induces an existential crisis in them. Watching Daphne question the existence of God based on what she has inferred about the afterlife is amazing. It is not what I expected. Dean brings them back from the brink by reminding them of all the good work they had done before.

I’m going to tell the ending now and then double back to some other observations: the phantom they are chasing is the ghost of a small boy who is being manipulated, through a cursed object (a pocket knife given to him by his beloved father before he died), by an unscrupulous man (the real estate agent who we met in the beginning) who unleashes the boy’s anger on whoever he chooses for his own purpose...to scare people off of property he wants to buy. This way, the villain of a typical Scooby episode actually becomes the villain of this SPN episode...the evil real estate developer. 

Before heading back to their world, where they burn the pocket knife and free the ghost, Dean convinces Sam and Cas to lie to the Scooby gang and tell them that they were right initially--ghosts aren’t real. He goes so far as to stage the unmasking of the cartoon villain (the one from the original Scooby episode) and helps them to explanations involving wires, cornstarch blood, etc. Sam is grumpy about it but does it anyway. It’s crucial to Dean that they leave the Scooby gang as they found them and not saddle them with the world the Winchesters live in.

Let me just reiterate...the ghost that has been terrorizing them is frightened little boy. Who kept a pocket knife (much like the one we see being used to carve the Winchester’s initials into the Impala) as a token of his dead father. His father is symbolized and memorialized by a weapon. The weapon is the object the little boy is tied to and that another man--a bad man--can use to manipulate him into hurting others because “I just get so angry sometimes.” To be free, the knife (weapon, father’s legacy) has to be burned. There are closeups on a very sad Dean while this happens (some sad Sam and Cas too).

It is blindingly obvious that the little boy, who is wreaking havoc on the cartoon safe space of his childhood, represents Dean. To stop the destruction Dean has to let something go (he starts the episode referencing Elsa and EXPLICITLY SAYING THIS LINE I CAN’T EVEN). Something that is keeping him angry. Something that is tied to his father. Something that can be used to manipulate him, employed as a weapon to hurt other innocent people (Mark of Cain/Demon Dean plot lines). Dean is full of anger and of self-loathing and it’s coming from the same source. That source is toxic masculinity. Let it go, Dean. Let it go.

Is it also tied to issues of sexuality? I think so. I’ll reflect a little bit below, but I wanted to do the whole plot-based analysis first. 

And now the less plot-based stuff:

Ok, so can the ghost represent repressed sexuality/a different form of masculinity? SO MUCH YES. Point one: Cas is the only one who stops to take a look at the ghost and is thisclose to seeing through it’s big ol’scary disguise and finding a vulnerable child. He stops and squints at it, Cas-style, and says “I’ve never seen a ghost wear such a ridiculous costume. Unless...” and then he reaches out to it, starting to push aside the veil only to be pulled away. Now if that isn’t metaphorically precisely what Cas did, and does, for Dean and his performing facade I will buy a hat so that I can eat it. 

Point two, there is a scene where the ghost is chasing everyone through a series of doors on either side of a hallway (you know the scene...they run across the hallway, doors open and shut on either side, feet flying everywhere). They successfully shut the ghost in a closet with iron chains, though it’s close to breaking out. Daphne presses her body up against the door to hold it. Dean checks her out very obviously in a way that is both superfluous to and inconsistent with the plot. This means that the silhouette of a conventionally sexy woman is QUITE LITERALLY holding the closet door closed on the ghost. Metaphorically, it shows how Dean is able to use his attraction to conventionally sexy women to hold back what’s haunting him...attraction to men, ideas about a certain type of masculinity. Does it work? BIG FAT NO. The ghost breaks out anyway. (<Puts on professor cap> Have you guys read “The Beast in the Closet”? It’s by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick and is about "intense male homosocial desire as at once the most compulsory and the most prohibited of social bonds.” It’s about Henry James’s work but I think you would all dig it. <Takes off professor cap.>)

I wanted to start with that because I can tell that people are going to be very upset about Dean’s excessive flirtation with/pursuit of Daphne. And, yeah, I almost injured my eyes by rolling them so hard at some of the things he says. BUT THAT’S THE POINT. What he’s saying is a child’s idea of how a grown man would act with a woman he likes. And it bears a great deal of similarity to how Dean does act sometimes. We call it performing!Dean and wonder to what extent Dean is conscious of his performing. Given this episode I’d say..maybe .not that conscious? I feel like the overstated heterosexual dudebroness was done specifically to give us an over-exaggerated literal cartoon version of heterosexual Dean to compare to regular Dean so that anyone who doesn’t know Dean performs in his own life will have a lens through which to see it.

Also, Daphne is his childhood crush. OF COURSE he’s going to act like a moron around her. If I encountered [insert childhood TV crush here...for me it was Kevin from “The Wonder Years” for whatever reason] I’d act dumb as fuck! But you have to remember that she represents innocence for him...it’s established that all the Scoobies do (heh - puns!). Even if he’s kissing her hand or putting an arm around her or whatever there is no danger there, just like there’s no danger in the ghosts. Sexuality to Dean isn’t scary in Scooby Doo because it’s simple: it’s just a girl he likes. Except, just like how the ghosts are also dangerous, the love plot isn’t going to be that simple or that straightforward (heh - straight). You see where I’m going. Dean would rather be in a universe ghosts weren’t real because it’s safer and easier and kind of a fantasy land but they ARE real and he will have to deal with them; Dean would also rather be in a world where he was a suave, irresistible ladies’ man because it’s safer and easier and a kind of fantasy....but he’s not. Jensen even said so in his interview. Granted, Jensen’s comment may have just meant that Dean’s not suave like he thinks. But the actual episode draws a parallel that’s pretty damn clear.

Another reason to not worry: Daphne is zero interest in Dean at all. She has negative interest in Dean. Her lack of interest in Dean has created a void that is sucking all the air out of the room. She may not even know that Dean is hitting on her. She is so focused on Fred that no one else exists for her as a romantic interest. They are so obviously a pair, even though they are never shown to be together as a couple explicitly. <Stares directly into the camera like I’m on The Office.> Can Dean not see that? Is he blind? Well, he does see it, but he thinks Daphne is “settling” for Fred who represents a kind of masculinity that makes him uncomfortable (more in a sec). In point of fact, no one is romantically interested in Dean in this episode...unlike Sam who gets a lot of appreciation (and an eventual kiss) from Velma.

 As for Fred, Dean begins by really hating him (so much that Sam remarks on it) and when pressed about why he attributes it to Fred’s self-confidence despite things like his “stupid ascot.” Dean comes to like and admire Fred and, ultimately, have the confidence to wear an ascot himself BECAUSE HE LIKES IT. It didn’t make Fred less of a man. It doesn’t make Dean less of a man to wear it with his plaid shirt. Fred helps Dean along the way to some self-acceptance. It’s nice. Fred is there to serve as a contrast to Dean’s overblown notions of what is “masculine” and offer another form of masculinity that is, manifestly, still appealing to the ladies.

Now, remember the Scooby Doo universe doesn’t have sex in it. It’s a cartoon. And they bend those rules only the tiniest bit here. All of Dean’s advances and even his jokes are PG. That innocence on the part of the Scoobies is played for laughs, Daphne remarking that Dean is silly for not knowing that “boys and girls don’t sleep in the same room” for example, but it’s also integral to the plot. (There are some other jokes too and, for a glorious second, I thought that they were legitimately going to reveal that Daphne and Velma were a thing but sadly not.) No one would want to ruin the Scooby universe by telling them about sex...not even Dean. Again, it contains a child’s conception of relationships.

I’m imagining some people will also be upset about how the episode treats Cas. I was especially stung that, right at the outset, Dean says flat-out that “Cas is basically a talking dog.” I made a noise of indignation that made people look at me. BUT let’s also remember how much Dean loves that talking dog. He’d die for him. He wants to protect him at any cost. He doesn’t want to spoil his innocence. So, yeah, that’s not a nice thing to say but it’s also not the whole story. Cas is grouped with Scooby and Shaggy the whole time and he bonds with them, SMILING (ALERT ALERT CARTOON CASTIEL KNOWS HOW TO SMILE) AND LAUGHING when he has to leave. He thanks them for showing him the importance of humor even in dangerous times. I think it’s a good lesson for Cas and his real affection for them reminds me of what a soft character he is inside, wanting to get a cat or save monkeys or keep bees. That’s been missing from Cas lately (even though I do LOVE bamf!Cas) so maybe this will help him recall it.

I want to say again that Cas is the one who can see through the ghost and its “ridiculous costume.”

Interestingly, both his entrances (his first appearance after Fred and Dean take off to drag race; when he reunites with the boys in the haunted house) frame him as a scary villain. The first is from behind and you just see the coat billowing out (though this did remind me of the girl running the drag race in “Grease” which...lol); the second he’s silhouetted in a window, approaching it in the rain, and is then covered with a sheet before he’s “unmasked” by Dean and discovered to be a friend. This is...pretty much Castiel’s character progression always. Looks like a threat but is discovered not to be.

Once they get back to their regular world Dean makes a remark about how that was the most fun he’s ever had “including that time with the Cartwright twins.” Cas studies him and asks “What did you do with the Cartwright twins?”. There’s a long beat in which Dean looks shifty and grins and shakes his head and turns away. Sam says “I don’t think I want to know.” Cas says nothing. Cas does want to know. This is new and part of a general progression that @amwritingmeta wrote a great analysis of where Cas is becoming able to think something like Forget that sacred oath...I must know what Dean did with those twins.

There was probably more, you guys, but it’s super late for my poor body clock. Please feel free to pass this on to anyone you think would like it but bear in mind that a) there are MASSIVE SPOILERS, b) this is just my interpretation of the episode, and c) I only saw it live once so my details may be wrong. 

I thought this as a fantastic episode the more I think about it and I’m SO EXCITED for all of you to get to see it too so I can hear your thoughts!! <3

[hannahindie]

I Believe In Miracles: Part 2

Characters: Cas x Reader, Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester Word Count: ~2,600 Warnings: Violence, Super over it Cas, the use of hallucinogens, ;anguage, a lot of sass, getting lost in a corn maze...just shenanigans in general. A/N: This is the second part of my challenge fic for @winchesterprincessbride! You can catch up on the first part here! This was beta’d by the lovely @trexrambling and @pinknerdpanda and I love them more than I love most things on this planet. I hope you enjoy! As usual, tags are at the bottom. If you’re missing or would like to be added, please let me know!!

“I don't want to go over this again,” Dean practically whined as he spit more blood and grimaced at the sting in his lip. Cas moved as if to heal him and Dean waved him off, “Don't bother.”

Sam groaned as he picked a piece of glass out of his bicep, “The one time I’m not wearing a jacket, and I get thrown into glass table. By the way, thanks for that Dean.”

Dean glared at Sam, “You didn’t have to run after me. I had it.”

Sam rolled his eyes, “Oh, yea, you had it alright. You had two giant ass guys chasing you down because they thought you were some sort of religious zealot trying to save Y/N’s soul.”

Cas looked between the two battered brothers, a look of annoyance on his face, “So Y/N is still in there and you have been banned for life, do I understand correctly?”

Sam looked at Dean, then dropped his head, “I mean, if you want to be technical about it…”

“What is the plan now? Do you have a goal, or are you just going to sit and argue with each other while Y/N takes her clothes off for financial compensation?”

Dean looked at Cas, his eyebrows raised, “Listen, Jealous McAssface, we just got our asses handed to us while trying to keep her from taking her clothes off. I don’t need your holier than thou attitude right now.”

“Dean, I am an-”

“I swear to God, Cas, if you say you’re an Angel of the Lord one more time, I’m going to kick your feathery ass.”

Sam’s phone rang and he hurried to answer it, “Hello?” He grimaced and held the phone out from his ear, “Hey, Y/N….No, we….it’s not that we didn’t think you could....now wait a second, that’s a little harsh...I can go and do what?....Oh….Come on, we didn’t….sorry, Y/N. Yep. ‘Kay, bye.” Sam slowly slipped his phone back into his pocket. “Y/N is fine.”

Dean looked at Sam expectantly, “Is that it? She’s fine?”

Sam shook his head, “No, she had some other things she wanted us to do but...um...they weren’t relevant to the case, nor something I want to do with my brother, so.... Anyway, she said she would call us when she found something and for us to just leave.”

Dean opened the driver's side door and looked at Sam, “I say we head back to the hotel, get cleaned up, and wait for her to call. Clearly, she can take care of herself.”

Sam walked around to the passenger side and started to sit when he saw Cas looking forlornly toward the strip club, “Cas, you comin’?” Suddenly Cas was gone and sitting in the back seat, and Sam sighed, “Alright then.”  He slipped into the car and Dean took off, the roar of the Impala echoing off the building as Cas watched it shrink in the distance.

“I do not like the idea of leaving her, Sam.”

Sam looked over his shoulder at Cas and smiled gently, “She’ll be fine. If I’ve learned anything about Y/N, it’s that she knows how to take care of herself and when to ask for help. We aren’t too far away. It’s okay, man.”

Cas shifted his gaze from Sam back to the window, “If that is what you truly believe, then I will accept that answer.” He fell silent, and Sam and Dean exchanged looks. The next couple of days were going to be long...and probably weird.

 Yesterday

Sam and Dean were sitting in the hotel researching when Sam’s phone buzzed against the table.

“Hello?” Sam’s eyes jumped to Dean, concern etched in his features. “Y/N, slow down, what happened?” He put the phone on speaker and laid it in the middle of the table so that Dean could also hear.

“Listen, there’s so much corn….maize...maze? Maize maze. I think...I think I’m in the middle? The club owner….he’s got a teardrop, I think it’s him. TEAR DROP, SAM.”

Dean leaned forward, “Y/N, where are you?”

They heard a rustling, then Y/N cursing, then more rustling, “I told you, Dean, the maize maze. I’m in it. I think….there were some mushrooms? Maybe some flowers? They were pretty and smelled good. Have you ever had mushrooms on your taco? I highly recommend...hahah….high.” Dean looked at Sam, confusion clearly written on his face.

“Y/N….are you...are you high? What happened?”

They heard something else rustle, then Y/N giggled, “The nice man made me some tacos. ….Well...he was a nice man. But I think there was-” the connection started to crackle and Sam and Dean exchanged concerned looks, “-shrooms, but I’m not so sure I like them, and the owner left me-” there was more static, and then Y/N’s tiny voice came back through, “- I’m tired. I’m gonna lay down now.”

Sam grabbed the phone and held it closer to his mouth, “Y/N, don’t do that! Stay with us, okay? Where are you? Are you in the maze?”

“MAIZE. I am surrounded by maize. Sam, the owner has the tear drop! THE TEAR DROP-” the line suddenly went dead and Sam looked at Dean, his eyes wide.

“What was that?”

Dean spun Sam’s laptop around and started typing, quickly read down the page he’d pulled up, and groaned as he spun the laptop back around, “She’s high as hell Sam, that’s what happened. Xochipilli is also apparently known for his use of flowers from psychotropic plants and hallucinogenic mushrooms, which I think our precious ‘Angel’ found out the hard way. How many things is this guy the god of?!” He slammed the laptop shut and leaned back in his chair as he rubbed tiredly at his eyes. “Dammit…maybe we shouldn't have left her alone-”

“Why would you have doubts about that?” Cas interrupted, causing Dean to nearly topple backwards out of his chair .

“Shit, Cas! We've talked about this!” Dean rested his head in his hand, “Warn a guy before you freakin’ pop out of nowhere. Jesus.”

“I am sorry. But that does not answer my question. Why would you doubt your decision to leave Y/N behind? You specifically said she could take care of herself.”

Sam looked over at Dean, then back at Cas, who had narrowed his eyes at them, “Cas, listen, we’ll get her back. It shouldn't take much to narrow down where he took her-”

“Get her back? She should not be gone! And what do you mean, ‘narrow it down’? You promised that this would not be an issue, and yet here we are. I should not be surprised, getting involved with a Winchester, never mind both, tends to lead to kidnapping, torture, or death. I should not have allowed this.” The lights had begun to flicker as Cas went on his tirade, and Sam’s eyes widened as he saw the dim outline of wings on the dingy wall behind Cas.

Sam held his hands up as if to surrender, “We’re sorry, Cas…we’ll get her back. I know the general area she was talking about, and her cell phone should be on so we can track it. I promise, she’ll be fine.”

“I am going after her. I can locate her quite easily-”

“No, Sam can go get her.”

Cas glared at Dean, the shadow of his wings growing more pronounced, and Sam nudged Dean, “Dude...maybe don’t interrupt him…”

Dean flipped the laptop around so that Cas could see it, “Tomorrow night there is an amateur guys night at the strip club. Since Sammy and I aren’t allowed to go back in…we’re going to need you to do it.” The wings grew darker, and Sam silently shook his head. His eyes moved towards the door as if judging whether he could make the distance before Cas went into full on smiting mode. “Also….fun fact….Xochipilli is also the god of homosexuality and male prostitution, so maybe you could, uh...work some magic with those baby blues of yours.”  The only thing that saved Dean from Cas’s obvious rage was Sam’s phone ringing. He quickly answered it and put it on speaker when Cas switched his glare from Dean to him.

“SAM. Listen...I’m not sure exactly where I am….but there’s still a lot of maize. Maze. …Corn. I think I’m in the middle. Things are a liiiiiiittle spinny….and by a little, I mean a lot. A lot spinny.” There was a small thud and then the sound of Y/N sighing.

“Y/N, what was that?” Sam asked as he looked up at Cas, who was staring at the phone in Sam’s hand, his anger replaced with concern.

There was another sigh, then a quiet giggle, “I found a box, so I climbed inside of it. It’s nice. I think I’ll live here now, in my maze box. Maize box. Maize mazey maize…”

“Y/N, are you okay? You sound strange.” Cas’s voice had gone back to it’s normal, deep tone, and the room had returned to its well lit, wingless state.

“Cas!! Listen...I need you to follow the mushrooms. They will lead you to the….the umm….shit. Mushroom...leads to the….sadness. Yea! The mushrooms are the key to the Aztec’s tears. Corn tears. Wait...no. Maize? No...TALISMAN. Cas, follow the mushrooms!” The line went dead, and Dean looked at Cas with raised eyebrows.

“Now are you in?”

Cas’s shoulders dropped and he sighed, “Fine. May I please borrow your laptop? It seems I have some research of my own to do.”

Right Freakin’ Now

 Outside Poppin’ Pacoani

“Dean, I do not know about this. I do not think watching several hours worth of Youtube tutorials regarding pole dancing is sufficient training for this.”

Dean rolled his eyes, “It’s amateur night, Cas. They aren’t going to expect you to be perfect, and it’s not like you’re trying to get an actual job. I just need you in there to distract everyone while I look for Xochipilli, grab the pendant, and destroy it. You can do that, right? Y/N would be super impressed by such a selfless display of taking one for the team.” Dean winked and Cas frowned at him.

“Why would it matter if Y/N was impressed? I have told you, I do not-”

Dean waved a hand at Cas, “You aren’t kidding anyone, but if you want to keep denying that you have a thing for Y/N, that’s fine. We’ve all gotten pretty good at lying to ourselves about our feelings, so welcome to the club.” Dean looked at his watch, “Looks like we’ve got some time to kill. Why don’t we head over to the diner and grab some food, maybe go over what your game plan is?”

Cas shrugged, “As you are aware, I do not eat...but going over strategy would probably be a good idea.”

Dean rubbed his hands together, “Great. I saw that they had a special on the ‘World’s Best Bacon Cheeseburger’. Maybe they’ll have pie, too. Let’s go.”

 At the exact same time, in the middle of a corn maze

 “Y/N!” Sam half whispered, half yelled into the falling darkness. Although they were pretty sure Xochipilli was at the strip club, especially for their amateur night, Sam wasn’t taking any chances as he wandered alone through the corn, his gun drawn. He heard a rustling to his right and quickly turned to investigate the sound. “Hello? Y/N, is that you?” He glanced down at his phone to see the blinking dot he’d been following was straight ahead. The maze did not have a path that went in the right direction and he sighed before plowing through, nearly tripping over a large wooden crate when he came out into a cleared section. His foot connected harshly with the crate, knocking it over, and Y/N toppled out like a drunken toddler. “There you are! Jesus, Y/N, are you okay?”

She sat up and blinked slowly at him, “I don’t know...am I actually awake right now?” Sam nodded, and she rubbed an arm across her face sleepily. “Good news is...I don’t think I’m high on those mushrooms anymore. Bad news is that my head feels like it’s going to explode, and I have no idea how the hell I ended up in a crate….or in a cornfield.”

Sam reached out to help her stand, “Well, we think Xochipilli must have dropped you off here, although we aren’t sure why, other than this is where the bodies were found. But we’re pretty sure he’s at the strip club, so maybe he just wanted to mess with you...although I’m not sure what good that would do for him. Hmm…”

Y/N cleared her throat, “Umm...Sam...I’ve got some more bad news.”

Sam looked up from his phone, “What?”

Y/N pointed over his shoulder, and he turned around to find himself face to face with what looked like one of the Aztec statues of Xochipilli, only life sized. “Are you freaking kidding me?” he groaned as it shoved him out of the way and walked slowly towards Y/N.

“Now listen here, buddy, I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but I am not about this life right now. I guess this could be part of a bad trip...yea...that’s it. This is just a really bad trip. Have I mentioned how much I hate mushrooms? Why don’t you tell Chief Cornstalk that I’m gonna opt out of becoming a human scarecrow? It’s not really my style, and honestly I’d make a terrible one, too many curves on this bod. You’re not gonna fool anyone that I’m just made out of straw, ya know?” She ran out of room to back up and looked over the statue’s shoulder at Sam, “A little help here, Moose!”

Sam rolled his eyes at the nickname, but fumbled for his gun that had been knocked out of his hand when he fell. He finally found it, but the statue had grabbed Y/N, and he was afraid he would hit her if he shot.

“Sam, what are you waiting for? He’s...he’s trying to squeeze me to death!” Y/N was struggling to break free, but he could tell she was having trouble catching her breath. He looked around and felt relief when he saw a piece of rebar lying near where he'd found Y/N.

“Y/N, DUCK!” She ducked down as well as she could as Sam swung, the rebar connecting with the statues stone head. The statue shattered and Y/N fell to the ground, breathing heavily. Sam dropped the rebar and shook his hand as the vibrations from the metal connecting with stone traveled up his arm.

“This is the worst corn maze ever,” Y/N gasped as she leaned back on her hands and looked at Sam.

“It’s maize,” Sam corrected. Y/N flipped Sam off and he laughed. They both froze when they heard a rustle, “Are there any more of those things?”

Y/N scrambled to her feet, “How the hell am I supposed to know? I’ve been high as balls this whole time.”

Sam nodded, “Fair enough. Let’s go.” They took off running toward the car as the rustling began to come from what seemed like every direction.

Continue to part 3 HERE.

Forever Tags: @trexrambling @pinknerdpanda  @wheresthekillswitch @emilywritesaboutdean @arryn-nyxx @emptywithout @escabell @charliebradbury1104 @@jarpadandjensenaremyheroes  @deanssweetheart23  @canadianjelly @super-not-naturall @aubreyreadsstuff @dean-winchesters-baby @melissaj616 @fandomismyspiritanimal @keepcalmandcarryondean @assbutt-still-in-hell @owllover123 @rosie-winchester @amionthetumblr @duubaduu @hiimaprofessionalfangirl @goldenolaf25

I Believe In Miracles Only: @eringva @night-thinker-23 @curlyblondexoxo @deaths-damn-fruit-basket @thedevilinthedetails

[waitwehadhomework]

Came For The Sweet Melody, Stayed For Her (Draco Malfoy x Reader)

As a well bred pure blood, Draco is required to be able to play a musical instrument, both gracefully and efficiently. As a Malfoy however, Draco is required to be able to play at least five. As Draco, he can play the equivalent of none, ha.

Before the war, Draco’s main goal in life was to please his parents, more specifically his father. During the war, Draco’s main goal in life was to stay alive. Now though, the war is over, he is alive, his parents are alive, their ideals are, hmm well, not so much. Not that he’s complaining though, he likes the way things are right now. Both his mother and father have given him free reign on how to live his own life and he rather hopes it stays that way. So what if he can’t play a few measly instruments? There are more important things, like Quidditch.

Yes, Quidditch. This year, much to his satisfaction, he’s been made captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team. Along with keeping up with his mandatory classes he’s also been spending a lot of time whipping his team into shape. Right now, Slytherin is in the lead for the House Cup and he will keep it that way, he rather thinks everyone has had enough with Gryffindor always winning. It will definitely be quite gratifying when the Great Hall is all draped with green and silver at the end of year feast. That would teach those pesky lions.

Today, Draco is out on the pitch alone having already dismissed his team an hour prior in favour of going through statistics and strategies by himself. He’s got about four days until the match against Hufflepuff and he’s determined to drive them straight into the ground. He’s not worried or anything seeing as they’re just, well, Hufflepuffs, but he’s not stupid enough to let his guard down. This year Hufflepuff have formed quite a formidable team and are not to be taken lightly. Seeing as they’ve already beaten Ravenclaw his point has been already been proven.

After another hour Draco’s sure he’s got everything thing in check so he lands his broom and heads for the showers. Hufflepuff might as well just admit defeat.

He’s still going through plays in his head as he makes his way to the Slytherin dorms when an unfamiliar sound distracts him midway. It’s definitely music and he takes a minute to puzzle over why he’s hearing music in the middle of the hallways. The notes are somehow soothing and a little sad at the same time and Draco finds himself slightly mesmerized by it. Piano, he decides. It’s a piano, but who’s playing it, and where? He debates with himself for a bit. Should he investigate or leave it be?

His feet are already carrying him to the source before he’s even made a solid decision and his mind is already trying to conjure up an image of who the pianist might be. Unsurprisingly, he comes up with nothing.

He stops just outside of what he knows what used to be the old Charms classroom from about a decade ago (maybe even longer). Who would want to play in a drafty old place such as that? The notes begin to pick up the pace and Draco takes a moment to listen. It’s kind of nice, how the sounds all blend together. Whoever this is is obviously talented, and he can’t help but feel a slight pang of envy. There was actually a time when he was interested in learning how to play, but soon lost interest when he discovered he lacked most of the skill set. He wasn’t a very patient child after all.

The pianos tune had begun to slow down to a gentle melody when Draco realized that he was basically just standing outside the old Charms classroom probably looking like an idiot. Cautiously glancing around, he saw that there was no one in sight so he carefully nudged the door open bit by bit. 

What caught his attention first was the room itself. It was barely recognizable from what it once used to be. The space was bright and cozy with a small fireplace. There was an assortment of different instruments lying around on tables or propped against the wall and he realized that this was an actual club. Since when had there been a music club? 

It took him a second to find what he was looking for, but right at the end of the music room, tucked away in a corner, was a simple black piano and with it, playing with her back turned towards him, was the pianist. She was swaying a little as she played, her hair swishing back and forth slightly (it looks kinda soft too). He gets a glimpse of her face a little as she hits a few keys that are a bit further away from her and suddenly his feet are rooted to the spot. Because oh, he knows her. She’s in most of his classes. The quiet girl who doesn’t usually talk to anyone but his eyes can’t help but follow around anyways. The one who shows no real interest in people but seems to have a strange weakness for animals. The one who always seems to be reading something but it’s never a school book. The one who he was partnered with once in Potions and she didn’t treat him any differently when she saw the mark on his arm. The one who Draco might have day dreamed about on one or five occasions and oh no oh no oh no. When did this happen? He rather thinks he’d be the first to notice when he has a crush.

.

.

He has a ....... crush.

Somehow, it’s not as bad as he thought it would be, but to find out like this is sort of humiliating. He makes a mental note to make sure that Pansy never finds out. He’ll never hear the end of it if she does.

You seem oblivious to the new company as you play, the melody once again gains pace as your fingers dance faster and faster. Draco is entranced both by the music and you as he watches on, out of your line of sight. He just had to fall for the quiet, artsy type, didn’t he. After all the bragging about getting a wealthy beautiful well connected girl, this is just embarrassing. Ah but, you are beautiful, he knows for a fact that you have guys come to confess their supposed feelings for you on a regular basis. He can’t help but hate them, they don’t see what he sees. They don’t see this.

“You’ve been standing there for a while now, can I help you with something?” The music stopped abruptly as you turned around without warning. Draco startled so badly he hit his elbow on the edge of a desk.

You stared on in disinterest as you looked at him expectantly while he nursed his elbow cursing silently. “I heard a piano..” He began lamely.

You nodded slowly. “I was playing a piano, what a coincidence.”

He glared at you. “As I was saying, I heard a piano and I was curious about where it was coming from, so here I am.”

“And you stayed for most of the song?”

 “As it so happens I-”

“Did you like it?” You cut him off.

“I- huh?”

“The song, did you like it?” You repeated.

“It was...... nice” Draco admitted haltingly. He was glad he did when your expression softened. Then immediately regretted it when you smiled. He’s melting. Shit, why is he melting?

“I wrote it myself, you know. It took a whole month, I’m quite proud of it.” You weren’t looking at him, instead gathering your music sheets and neatly clipping them together. “You smell like grass and dirt by the way, it’s how I knew you were standing behind me.” You added wrinkling your nose to emphasize.

“I was on the pitch for three plus hours, if you must know. One shower wasn’t going to suffice.” Draco tried not to sound offended but ended up sounding haughty instead. You were unfazed, cocking an eyebrow in apparent interest.

“Three plus hours? Are you that scared you’ll lose?” You teased.

Draco scowled. “According to the Guide of Flying to Win, an average Quidditch practice should last at least six hours.” He huffed indignantly.

Your jaw dropped involuntarily. “Six? For real? That’s...... kinda rough.”

“For average people. I happen to be above average.”

“And that’s just cocky.”

“It’s self-confidence”

“It’s cocky”

“Stop saying that!”

“Cocky” You folded your arms and gave him another smile, catching him off guard. “For a cold ice prince, you’re surprisingly easy to rile up.”

“.....shut up”

“Now that’s plain rude”

“Are you always this infuriating?”

“As a matter of fact, yes”

It’s been a while since he’s had a migraine, he must confess. Just what is it with this girl? He was actually trying to make nice conversation for once but this is steadily going down hill for him. Falling for people really sucks.

“I’m done here for today, so if you’re planning to stay and, uh, ‘play’ something, feel free to.” You stood up from the bench, swinging your bag onto your shoulder and giving him a pointed look. “Piano’s all yours.”

“I’m not here to play, like I said, I heard music, I followed it, then I found an annoying introvert, end of story.” He cut in front of you getting to the door first and was about to leave you standing in the dust when he saw the weird look on your face. “What?”

You kept blinking at him for a moment but then seemed to regain focus as your expression morphed into curiosity. “How d’you know I’m an introvert?”

Draco scoffed. “Oh come on, you always sit at the back in classes, you avoid big crowds and tend to walk along deserted corridors, you eat lunch alone out by the lake, even just now you were in here playing music alone, you prefer animals to actual humans, I even remember when-” Draco clapped a hand over his mouth in horror. What the hell? Did he actually blurt all that out? Oh my god, there is no way he’s looking at your face now. He fixes his eyes on a point just above your head but he can still see your mouth gaping open in his peripheral vision. Why did this have to happen to him? “I’m going to go back to my dorm now, forget this meeting ever happened. Have a nice-”

“Wait.” You instinctively reached out and grabbed onto Draco’s sleeve. It worried him how much he didn’t mind it. You began tapping your fingers nervously as if steeling yourself for something. “You- um. When’s your match?”

“Huh?”

“Eloquent, Malfoy. Your match, when is it?”

Draco blinked. “Saturday?”

“Perfect” You let go of his arm to fiddle with the strap of your bag. “Uh, I- I’ll go and cheer for your team.”

Draco blinked again. “You’ll cheer for Slytherin” He repeated slowly.

You rolled your eyes. “Yes, that’s what I said”

“But you’re a Gryffindor.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“So.....why?”

At this you granted him another genuine smile and Draco somehow felt truly blessed. “A few reasons, actually. First of all, I’ve kind of just given you a free show so I’d like one in return. Second of all, most of Gryffindor is already betting on Hufflepuff and I like to be diverse. Last of all...” You started to look nervous again. “I....mighthaveathingforthecaptain.” You finished in a rush.

It took a whole minute for Draco’s brain to process that last bit of information.

“You what?” He asked dumbfounded.

“You know, I’ve just exhausted my last bit of Gryffindor courage so I’m going to go and die from embarrassment right about now. Good luck with the game.” You were about to make a beeline for it but Draco grabbed onto your wrist just in time. “Hoooooold it”

You exhaled in exasperation.“What now? Look, I’m seriously not in the mood to be made fun of right now. But you can try tomorrow if you like.” Despite your words you sounded genuinely upset and his heart clenched a little his grip on your arm going a bit tighter. 

“When I win the match, go out with me.”

“Huh?”

He smirked. “Eloquent, (L/N). The match,  when I win it go out with me.” 

You gaped at him for a moment then a smirk slowly formed on your own face. “Okay first of all, when you win? That is definitely called cocky. Second, I have a lot of money riding on you Mister.”

Suddenly feeling bold he reached for your hand and cradled it gently in his own taking note of your rapid blush. He couldn’t help feeling a little possessive. He did this. He put that blush there. 

“So, is that a yes?”

“Hmm” You pretended to consider. “If you win”

He squeezed your hands with affection he didn’t know he had. “I’ll win.”

You returned the pressure. “I know.” You replied simply.

To whatever gods are listening, please never, ever let Pansy hear about this.

For Anon

[angelergic]

Manhunt - Chapter 8

~MASTERLIST~

Words: 3376

A/N: New chapter alert, my dear readers!

I know, it was once again a long time you had to wait for this chapter. It took me almost a week to finish this chapter, and I can honestly say, I'm proud of the rollercoaster of emotions that you're going to read in here!

I also wanted to tell you, that my surgery went well and that I'm doing fine. Also, they let me home on Tuesday.

I hope you enjoy this chapter and as always, I'm happy to read your feedbacks!

Tagging: @celebranehelyanwe, @ladystar0710, @annamreed, @humorcomchantilly @thefivebaddestbidders (if you don’t want to be tagged just tell me.)

CHAPTER 8:

I stumble back when the realization hits me that I still have a piece of family living out here, somewhere.

"Well, actually she's your half-sister you two only have the same father but different mothers." Eisuke's gruff voice rips me out of my thoughts, all of a sudden, he's right at my side also looking at the computer screen.

I only click my tongue at his unnecessary correction and lean forward again, "Soryu, can you find out anything more about her?" he gives a simple nod and begins to type away on his laptop.

Suddenly, a lot of information pops up. I rapidly blink my eyes, not expecting to find so much. The one that is on full display looks like it's some kind of personal description, like the ones you can find when you want to know everything about a certain celebrity.

"All right, this is all the information I can find about her. She kind of looks like you when you were in your teens." Soryu whispered the second part, so only I could hear it. I smiled lovingly at the picture.

"She does, doesn't she?" I said dreamily. I guess it was a picture from around 3 years ago, she has puppy-like, grey-green eyes with a dark circle around her pupils, her nose is small just like mine too and she has cute, pouty lips. Her hair looks absolutely beautiful, it's espresso brown, shoulder-length, and looks thick and healthy.

I let my eyes drift downwards to all her personal information like her height, weight and also her address. My eyes widened in surprise when I read her address. St. Luke's International hospital, Tokyo.

I didn't know if I should feel joy or sadness. Joy; she lives in Tokyo. Sadness; she has lived in a hospital for 2 years now, with her mother.

"Soryu could you open her medical record, please?" I whispered to Soryu, who seemed to be just as confused and curious as I was, so he opened it immediately.

As her medical record popped up I looked at the numbers of pages it had. There were 3 pages. 3. Dear god.

Soryu stood up and motioned for me to sit down and take the laptop which I immediately did. I gave him a curt nod and mumbled; "Thanks." I went to reading right away and began to shut down the deep voices from the men that gathered around me.

The first thing I read about was a tonsillectomy, or also known as a tonsil removal, in 2008. Everything went well and she healed nicely, no complaints.

Skipping to 4 years ago, the year 2012. There was a big car crash on a highway in Tokyo. Tamara and her aunt were in the car, they just came back from camping for the weekend. When a drunk-driver was speeding against traffic with 120 mph and hit their car frontal, her aunt was instantly dead but by some miracle my sister survived after they put her in an artificial coma. She also lost the mobility in her legs.

I didn't realize it before something trickled down my hand I had on the keyboard, I was crying. God, why was I acting so stupidly emotional lately? I was always crying over something whether it was Eisuke pissing me off or reading the medical chart of my sister. Maybe I was already developing a strong and deep love towards a person I haven't even met.

I wiped the tears off my cheeks with the back of my hand and continued reading.

2 years ago, she was diagnosed with PTSD. Since the car crash she spaced out more than she normally would and always woke up screaming and sweating from horrible nightmares, constantly reliving the events prior to everything. She also kept avoiding highways and cars that were the same brand as her aunts.

From there on her life seemed to be going even more downhills than before her diagnosis.

Almost exactly 1 year ago, she went to the doctors because she had been experiencing severe nausea, fatigue, pain in her bones and rapid weight loss for unknown reasons. After a bone marrow and blood test the diagnosis was clear.

Stage 4 leukemia.

She is currently undergoing chemotherapy even though the doctors told her that they could only extend her life span for a while.

I cover my mouth and try to stifle a sob, but it escapes anyway as tears once again begin to cascade down my cheeks. I hunch over and put the laptop in front of me on the table and bury my face in my hands, crying to myself.

I feel three hands touching my shoulders and my back, each of them rubbing soothing circles into my skin. I open my eyes a bit and look absentmindedly through my hands when I notice someone moving in front of me, kneeling so he is face to face with me and taking my tear soaked hands in his calloused ones.

Kneeling in front of me was Soryu with a soothing and reassuring smile on his face. "Hey, you're going to see your sister. We're going to visit her and then you can talk about everything you missed out in each others life’s." Apparently, he misunderstood my reaction thinking that I thought I was not going to see her or worrying that she's not going to accept me.

I shook my head and a frown made its way on his face. I mumbled hoarsely; "No, you don't understand. She has stage 4 leukemia and the doctors, they told her they don't know for how much longer she will live. They couldn't even give her a number on how much longer she's going to live."

I felt the four hands that were touching me begin to tighten at the things I just revealed. Soryu looked at me with sad eyes but he was stunned to silence, comforting someone was never his strength. I saw somebody move beside me and get into the same position as Soryu was currently in.

“Princess, I can only imagine what you’re going through right now but you need to be strong for us. For Tamara.” Baba comforted while kneading the flesh on my upper arm.

I looked over at him and could see his eyebrows form a sad, worried frown. “Please, we need you to stay here with us. Don’t shut us out.”

Soryu also began to press my knee with his hand which made me turn my attention towards him. I stared into his eyes for a few moments, his eyes were filled with determination and reassurance, he gave me a light nod and a faint smile.

I wiped my tears off my face and took a deep breath, “Okay let’s get back to it, we have a case to solve.” My voice was still a little weak and shaky, but filled with determination.

Soryu and Baba smiled at me, getting back on their feet and Mamoru said, “Alright y’all heard the kid, back to it!”

Before Sor could turn away from me, I put a hand on his shoulder which made him turn towards me once again with a questioning look on his face. I softly smiled up at him and whispered a soft, “Thank you.”

He smiled back at me and placed his hand on top of mine. I dropped my hand and turned back towards the computer on my lap.

---

After what could have been a few minutes or hours, I'm not exactly sure, Eisuke stepped out of his office and called me up to look at something.

As I jogged up the stairs, I could not help but get lost in my thoughts. I kept thinking about Tamara, I would love to go to the hospital she's at to visit her and also, to get to know her better. On the other hand, I didn't want to confuse or scare her away from me if she rejected me or didn't want to have anything to do with me, her life has already been hard enough.

"Pick up the pace!" I heard Eisuke growl from the top of the stairs. I almost fell down the stairs because he startled me so bad. When I reached the top, I shot him a killing look and cursed under my breath.

When we got to his office, Eisuke closed the door and walked to his desk with his laptop on it. He sat down, pulled a second chair next to him and patted it as a sign for me to sit down. I hesitantly obliged and questioned while doing so; "What did you find, Eisuke?"

He had his triumphant smirk on his face and turned to his laptop, typing away. "So, I searched for murders that are similar to your fathers in the past 15 years. And I found a few, 6 to be exact."

As I listened to Eisuke I began to focus my eyes on the laptop screen and scanned over the names of the victims. I absentmindedly began to mumble to myself and Eisuke stopped talking while he shoved the laptop in front of me.

I noticed that the victims were from both genders, which meant that he did not have a strong hate towards one gender. But they were all in the same age group, late 20's to mid-30's.

They were also all killed in Japan and were just as successful as my father was, from being in a grand business to working as a head chef in the biggest restaurants in Japan. My mind couldn't really grasp all the information that was suddenly thrown at me and this stupid nightmare just kept creeping back into my mind. Without thinking, I began to write down the crime scene of Ota I have seen in my dream. The first name that popped up was John Wayne Gacy, the psychotic killer-clown from Chicago. Then I narrowed it down to just the Japan area, no specific name popped up just another unsolved case that was opened 15 years ago. Only now there was a list of 21 people on this list.

I sit back in the chair and let out a tired sigh while rolling my head to get some of the built-up tension out of my shoulders. "If this is all the doing of one person, he would have multiple personality disorder. That means he has about 5 or 6 personalities, damnit!" I begin to mumble to myself but the last part was a little louder than intended which made Eisuke turn towards me.

"What are you mumbling about? Found something?" he asked annoyed while crossing his arms.

"No. I mean, yes. Kind of?" I shrug and shake my head to gather my thoughts, this was all just too much of an emotional rollercoaster. "I had a nightmare about the 5 of you being murdered in 5 completely different ways. So, I looked up one of those scenes and found the exact same time-span, with the exact same descriptions of the killer. I think our murderer might have a multiple personality disorder." I began to explain with a clearer head, by just concentrating on the matter at hand.

I could see that Eisuke's attention was transfixed on the words that were escaping me. When I was finished with talking he scratched his chin while thinking about my words and probably puzzling the pieces together.

---

Our little study round was interrupted by Baba bursting through the doors of the giant office. "Princess!" he chirped in a tone that I already found overly suspicious, "Come with me, I have a surprise for you!" he held out his hand and did a gentlemanly bow.

Eisuke and I shared a side look and the both of us shaking our heads while I began to giggle at Eisuke's funny, grumpy face he had. I turned back towards Baba's outstretched hand and took it with little hesitation, I didn't like his tone before but I know that Baba has something up his sleeve I will find enjoyment in.

He led me out of the lounge and charged towards his room. "Baba, what exactly do you have in mind?" I asked, knowing I will only get a half-assed response but hey, asking doesn't cost anything, right?

"Didn't I say that it would be a surprise?" he asked back while coming to a halt in front of his own penthouse room.

"Well, yes you did. But I'm an Interpol agent, you should know I don't like surprises that much, especially when they are coming from a criminal." With a smug smile, I decided to tease Baba back.

He unlocked the door and looked back at me pretending to be hurt by my words. "Now that right there was just cruel! I'm not a criminal, I'm a thief!" I looked at Baba dumbfounded with big eyes and my mouth slightly agape. Then I burst out laughing so hard I had to hold my stomach. When I turned my gaze back towards Baba he had a sincere smile on his lips.

"Alright so what is this big surprise you're playing up right now?" I walked past Baba into the living room and turned back towards him.

"Go take a shower, wash all those tears away. When you're finished go into my bedroom and put on what's lying on the bed. I'll be waiting here." He slumped down on the couch, still wearing that honest smile.

I nod and head towards his bathroom, where a long overdue shower is waiting for me.

---

To say that the shower was much needed is probably an understatement, it was most likely one of the most satisfying showers I've ever had in my entire life. With the towel tightly wrapped around my body I walked into the bedroom, that was connected to the bathroom, while drying my hair.

When I reached the bed, I couldn't believe my eyes and thought Baba was messing around with me. There was a beautiful, fluffy cocktail dress lying on the bed. I gasped loudly as I took the royal blue, silky, dress by the hanger and pressing it to my body while looking in the mirror.

I put the dress on and had one of the biggest, most idiotic smiles of eternity on my face. It was a perfect fit and the perfect length, it almost reached my knees. How did Baba even know my dress size?

When I turned back around to see if the zipper was all the way up, and maybe to see if my butt looked good, my gaze fell back towards the bed where I noticed a pair of simple, black high heels. I picked them up and held onto Baba's armoire while putting them on. Like the dress, they were exactly my size, how does he do that?

As I looked at my body in the mirror, stepped closer to it and got a closer look at my face. I had faint dark rings, my lips and my skin looked dehydrated. I wondered if by some miracle, Baba had some makeup. Suddenly I heard some shuffling behind the door and saw Baba opening it.

"Wow." Was the only thing he could muster, while his eyes danced up and down my body. "Princess, you just made me lose my words, and it takes a lot to do that to a man who really likes to talk." I laughed a little at his remark and turned fully towards him.

"Makeup's in the bathroom mirror." He crossed his arms triumphantly. "You really think I would forget one the most important things? I have everything perfectly mapped out." I grinned up at him and made my way into the bathroom, to do my makeup and hair.

After about 30 minutes I walked out and found Baba sitting on the bed with his phone in hand. "I'm ready." I said in a soft voice.

He lifted his head away from the phone screen and his eyes grew wider than before as he took in my finished look. I blushed and placed a piece of hair behind my ear while smiling shyly.

He walked towards me as he extended his arm out towards me and I took it without hesitation. "Alright, my lady. Let's go." And so, began an evening I wouldn't forget in a while.

---

Dinner was absolutely fantastic. We went to a little restaurant, a secret favorite gem of Baba's so he told me, that was in a vintage style with huge chandeliers decorating and lighting up the room. The company I had with me wasn't so bad either, it made me feel a little nostalgic only that the both of us matured, some more, some less, and conversation flowed easily with the occasional flirting in-between.

After we were finished with our food and left the restaurant, Baba asked me to come with him for one last adventure before we withdraw to our respective rooms. I gladly accepted since I didn't want this evening to end.

He led me to the rooftop of the Tres Spades. I let out a silent gasp when I discovered that Baba had even more up his sleeve. There was a bottle of champagne, two glasses and a candle placed on a low table with two cushions on the floor.

I walked towards said scene with Baba following after me. When I stood there, I didn't know what exactly to do now. Baba probably noticed my hesitation and gestured me to sit down, which I gladly did.

He poured us some of the bubbly goodness, as we clinked our glasses Baba raised his glass a little and said; "To our reunion, our successful careers and this wonderful evening I got to spend with the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on."

I rolled my eyes at his last remark and took a sip. Immediately, when the liquid hit my tongue, I could tell it was something overly expensive. It still tasted so good, the sweetness and the slight bitterness made it almost prefect.

I set my glass down on the table and moved to stand up to gaze out to the view we had of Tokyo. I closed my eyes and breathed in the chilly, but still pleasant, night air while a gust of wind blew by, which made me shiver slightly. Baba noticed and shrugged off his burgundy blazer and placed it on my shoulders.

I turned my head in his direction and met his gaze; "Thank you." I whispered, "I mean not only for the jacket, but for the whole night. I truly don't know when the last time was that I let this loose and didn't constantly have to worry."  

Baba gave a small smile and put his hand in front of his mouth. If I didn't know it better, I could've sworn that I made the womanizing thief blush, but it was hard to see in the dim city lights.

"The pleasure was all mine, princess. I enjoyed myself just as much as you did, if not more. I'm very proud of who you've become, (Y/N)." He looked at me with nothing but honesty and love in his eyes. I smiled up at him and felt my eyes become a little hot.

"Thank you, nobody ever said that to me so it means a lot, especially coming from you." He looked shocked for a second but recovered fast and put his warm hand on my face to gently rub the apple of my cheek.

I felt myself become almost hypnotized by his eyes as I stared deeply into them and he did the same. I gingerly placed my hand on his chest right over his heart that was beating at an incredibly fast rate.

We inched closer and closer to each other, like magnets. Then, we stopped just a few inches apart. I saw his eyes flicker down to my lips and back to my eyes, his eyes were asking for permission which I granted him by putting my other hand in his soft hair and pulling him closer so that our lips touched.

Little did we know that this soft and loving kiss, would turn our whole world upside-down.

[dimples-of-discontent]

13x16 thoughts (from Paleyfest)

(I may need to go back and refine later but these are my post-Paleyfest notes on 13x16.)

I loved this episode!! It was a ton of fun. It was slapstick and silly but did some heavy lifting too. Honestly, it worked the way a lot of our favorite crack episodes did and alluded to at least one of them explicitly (”Changing Channels,” obvs, and I think there may have been more subtle references to others).

I’m too tired to do a full meta analysis but here’s a kind of bullet recap, first of the most plot-based elements:

The plot turns on the fact that the Scooby Doo world, suddenly, ends up functioning like the world Sam and Dean inhabit. The boys enter the cartoon assuming all usual cartoon rules would apply (and Dean’s ready to have a rollicking good time with them) only to discover that the first murder in the haunted house is real. Ghosts are real. Death is real. Sam wants to tell the Scooby gang about it from the get-go but Dean wants to protect them and preserve their innocence.

It’s already obviously about childhood, and losing it, but Dean makes it explicit by talking about how much he loved Scooby Doo because no matter where their dad had dragged them it would always be on. They were his friends and constant companions. He is really being thrown into the best part of his childhood….and you can see why it would be the best because it’s probably his fantasy and deepest wish that the ghosts, demons, etc. of the world he inhabits would turn out just to be bad guys in masks, death wouldn’t be real, etc. It’s Dean safe place in childhood because it takes his actual life (ghost hunting) and makes it safe and even fun. Dean wants to keep his safe place safe and is shocked and horrified when the rules of his universe invade.

It’s Sam who wants to tell them the truth about monsters from the word “go” even before it’s been revealed that death can come to Scooby Doo. (Dean laments, heartbreakingly, that it doesn’t matter if he dies…what’s important is that they make sure Scooby doesn’t die because clearly he’s such an innocent creature.) Sam, who did not have his childhood cut as abruptly short as Dean and who did not have to seek solace in a cartoon world because Dean helped him make a safe space in the real world, doesn’t see the point of lying about ghosts being real. Dean, who worked to keep Sam safe from this knowledge for YEARS of his own stunted childhood by acting as a parent, does want to keep the gang in the dark because he wants them to retain their innocence. It’s a huge lampshade to the different experiences Sam and Dean had as children and as sons.

They do eventually have to tell the Scooby gang and, wonderfully, it induces an existential crisis in them. Watching Daphne question the existence of God based on what she has inferred about the afterlife is amazing. It is not what I expected. Dean brings them back from the brink by reminding them of all the good work they had done before.

I’m going to tell the ending now and then double back to some other observations: the phantom they are chasing is the ghost of a small boy who is being manipulated, through a cursed object (a pocket knife given to him by his beloved father before he died), by an unscrupulous man (the real estate agent who we met in the beginning) who unleashes the boy’s anger on whoever he chooses for his own purpose…to scare people off of property he wants to buy. This way, the villain of a typical Scooby episode actually becomes the villain of this SPN episode…the evil real estate developer.

Before heading back to their world, where they burn the pocket knife and free the ghost, Dean convinces Sam and Cas to lie to the Scooby gang and tell them that they were right initially–ghosts aren’t real. He goes so far as to stage the unmasking of the cartoon villain (the one from the original Scooby episode) and helps them to explanations involving wires, cornstarch blood, etc. Sam is grumpy about it but does it anyway. It’s crucial to Dean that they leave the Scooby gang as they found them and not saddle them with the world the Winchesters live in.

Let me just reiterate…the ghost that has been terrorizing them is frightened little boy. Who kept a pocket knife (much like the one we see being used to carve the Winchester’s initials into the Impala) as a token of his dead father. His father is symbolized and memorialized by a weapon. The weapon is the object the little boy is tied to and that another man–a bad man–can use to manipulate him into hurting others because “I just get so angry sometimes.” To be free, the knife (weapon, father’s legacy) has to be burned. There are closeups on a very sad Dean while this happens (some sad Sam and Cas too).

It is blindingly obvious that the little boy, who is wreaking havoc on the cartoon safe space of his childhood, represents Dean. To stop the destruction Dean has to let something go (he starts the episode referencing Elsa and EXPLICITLY SAYING THIS LINE I CAN’T EVEN). Something that is keeping him angry. Something that is tied to his father. Something that can be used to manipulate him, employed as a weapon to hurt other innocent people (Mark of Cain/Demon Dean plot lines). Dean is full of anger and of self-loathing and it’s coming from the same source. That source is toxic masculinity. Let it go, Dean. Let it go.

Is it also tied to issues of sexuality? I think so. I’ll reflect a little bit below, but I wanted to do the whole plot-based analysis first.

And now the less plot-based stuff:

Ok, so can the ghost represent repressed sexuality/a different form of masculinity? SO MUCH YES. Point one: Cas is the only one who stops to take a look at the ghost and is thisclose to seeing through it’s big ol’scary disguise and finding a vulnerable child. He stops and squints at it, Cas-style, and says “I’ve never seen a ghost wear such a ridiculous costume. Unless…” and then he reaches out to it, starting to push aside the veil only to be pulled away. Now if that isn’t metaphorically precisely what Cas did, and does, for Dean and his performing facade I will buy a hat so that I can eat it.

Point two, there is a scene where the ghost is chasing everyone through a series of doors on either side of a hallway (you know the scene…they run across the hallway, doors open and shut on either side, feet flying everywhere). They successfully shut the ghost in a closet with iron chains, though it’s close to breaking out. Daphne presses her body up against the door to hold it. Dean checks her out very obviously in a way that is both superfluous to and inconsistent with the plot. This means that the silhouette of a conventionally sexy woman is QUITE LITERALLY holding the closet door closed on the ghost. Metaphorically, it shows how Dean is able to use his attraction to conventionally sexy women to hold back what’s haunting him…attraction to men, ideas about a certain type of masculinity. Does it work? BIG FAT NO. The ghost breaks out anyway. (<Puts on professor cap> Have you guys read “The Beast in the Closet”? It’s by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick and is about “intense male homosocial desire as at once the most compulsory and the most prohibited of social bonds.” It’s about Henry James’s work but I think you would all dig it. <Takes off professor cap.>)

I wanted to start with that because I can tell that people are going to be very upset about Dean’s excessive flirtation with/pursuit of Daphne. And, yeah, I almost injured my eyes by rolling them so hard at some of the things he says. BUT THAT’S THE POINT. What he’s saying is a child’s idea of how a grown man would act with a woman he likes. And it bears a great deal of similarity to how Dean does act sometimes. We call it performing!Dean and wonder to what extent Dean is conscious of his performing. Given this episode I’d say..maybe .not that conscious? I feel like the overstated heterosexual dudebroness was done specifically to give us an over-exaggerated literal cartoon version of heterosexual Dean to compare to regular Dean so that anyone who doesn’t know Dean performs in his own life will have a lens through which to see it.

Also, Daphne is his childhood crush. OF COURSE he’s going to act like a moron around her. If I encountered [insert childhood TV crush here…for me it was Kevin from “The Wonder Years” for whatever reason] I’d act dumb as fuck! But you have to remember that she represents innocence for him…it’s established that all the Scoobies do (heh - puns!). Even if he’s kissing her hand or putting an arm around her or whatever there is no danger there, just like there’s no danger in the ghosts. Sexuality to Dean isn’t scary in Scooby Doo because it’s simple: it’s just a girl he likes. Except, just like how the ghosts are also dangerous, the love plot isn’t going to be that simple or that straightforward (heh - straight). You see where I’m going. Dean would rather be in a universe ghosts weren’t real because it’s safer and easier and kind of a fantasy land but they ARE real and he will have to deal with them; Dean would also rather be in a world where he was a suave, irresistible ladies’ man because it’s safer and easier and a kind of fantasy….but he’s not. Jensen even said so in his interview. Granted, Jensen’s comment may have just meant that Dean’s not suave like he thinks. But the actual episode draws a parallel that’s pretty damn clear.

Another reason to not worry: Daphne is zero interest in Dean at all. She has negative interest in Dean. Her lack of interest in Dean has created a void that is sucking all the air out of the room. She may not even know that Dean is hitting on her. She is so focused on Fred that no one else exists for her as a romantic interest. They are so obviously a pair, even though they are never shown to be together as a couple explicitly.<Stares directly into the camera like I’m on The Office.> Can Dean not see that? Is he blind? Well, he does see it, but he thinks Daphne is “settling” for Fred who represents a kind of masculinity that makes him uncomfortable (more in a sec). In point of fact, no one is romantically interested in Dean in this episode…unlike Sam who gets a lot of appreciation (and an eventual kiss) from Velma.

As for Fred, Dean begins by really hating him (so much that Sam remarks on it) and when pressed about why he attributes it to Fred’s self-confidence despite things like his “stupid ascot.” Dean comes to like and admire Fred and, ultimately, have the confidence to wear an ascot himself BECAUSE HE LIKES IT. It didn’t make Fred less of a man. It doesn’t make Dean less of a man to wear it with his plaid shirt. Fred helps Dean along the way to some self-acceptance. It’s nice. Fred is there to serve as a contrast to Dean’s overblown notions of what is “masculine” and offer another form of masculinity that is, manifestly, still appealing to the ladies.

Now, remember the Scooby Doo universe doesn’t have sex in it. It’s a cartoon. And they bend those rules only the tiniest bit here. All of Dean’s advances and even his jokes are PG. That innocence on the part of the Scoobies is played for laughs, Daphne remarking that Dean is silly for not knowing that “boys and girls don’t sleep in the same room” for example, but it’s also integral to the plot. (There are some other jokes too and, for a glorious second, I thought that they were legitimately going to reveal that Daphne and Velma were a thing but sadly not.) No one would want to ruin the Scooby universe by telling them about sex…not even Dean. Again, it contains a child’s conception of relationships.

I’m imagining some people will also be upset about how the episode treats Cas. I was especially stung that, right at the outset, Dean says flat-out that “Cas is basically a talking dog.” I made a noise of indignation that made people look at me. BUT let’s also remember how much Dean loves that talking dog. He’d die for him. He wants to protect him at any cost. He doesn’t want to spoil his innocence. So, yeah, that’s not a nice thing to say but it’s also not the whole story. Cas is grouped with Scooby and Shaggy the whole time and he bonds with them, SMILING (ALERT ALERT CARTOON CASTIEL KNOWS HOW TO SMILE) AND LAUGHING when he has to leave. He thanks them for showing him the importance of humor even in dangerous times. I think it’s a good lesson for Cas and his real affection for them reminds me of what a soft character he is inside, wanting to get a cat or save monkeys or keep bees. That’s been missing from Cas lately (even though I do LOVE bamf!Cas) so maybe this will help him recall it.

I want to say again that Cas is the one who can see through the ghost and its “ridiculous costume.”

Interestingly, both his entrances (his first appearance after Fred and Dean take off to drag race; when he reunites with the boys in the haunted house) frame him as a scary villain. The first is from behind and you just see the coat billowing out (though this did remind me of the girl running the drag race in “Grease” which…lol); the second he’s silhouetted in a window, approaching it in the rain, and is then covered with a sheet before he’s “unmasked” by Dean and discovered to be a friend. This is…pretty much Castiel’s character progression always. Looks like a threat but is discovered not to be.

Once they get back to their regular world Dean makes a remark about how that was the most fun he’s ever had “including that time with the Cartwright twins.” Cas studies him and asks “What did you do with the Cartwright twins?”. There’s a long beat in which Dean looks shifty and grins and shakes his head and turns away. Sam says “I don’t think I want to know.” Cas says nothing. Cas does want to know. This is new and part of a general progression that @amwritingmeta wrote a great analysis of where Cas is becoming able to think something like Forget that sacred oath…I must know what Dean did with those twins.

There was probably more, you guys, but it’s super late for my poor body clock. Please feel free to pass this on to anyone you think would like it but bear in mind that a) there are MASSIVE SPOILERS, b) this is just my interpretation of the episode, and c) I only saw it live once so my details may be wrong.

I thought this as a fantastic episode the more I think about it and I’m SO EXCITED to hear your thoughts!! <3