#because the djinn is beyond done with his bullshit

[gaymiens]

honestly believe that wwdits just needs to have longer episodes or longer seasons

[emotionallyits2009]

deancas fic rec list!

hello everyone! happy christmas to those who celebrate it, my gift to you is my fic rec list that i said i would make like a month ago. the only thing it is organized by is canonverse vs alternate universe. tried to cover a variety of subjects but there are in particular many fics of the genre “postcanon where cas is human and he and dean live together and slowly finally get their shit together” because i know what i’m about, son. HOPE U ENJOY. and if you wanna talk about any of them or rec me other fics please do. :) 

Canonverse:

where the weeds take root by deathbanjo, 30k, explicit “Are you happy? Y’know. Just—being here,” Dean says, gesturing to the yard with his beer bottle. “Being with—I mean, you used to fight in celestial wars and—and save the world. Now you’re growing vegetables and talking about chickens.” There are many fics set in a post-canon universe where Cas is human and he and Dean live together and slowly fall into a relationship. Imo this one is the best of the best of that genre. This was one of the first fics I read back in July when I was getting Back Into Supernatural where I was like oh fuck I’m like in this. Dean builds Cas planters and bookshelves and a chicken coop and they fight and work through it.

Cuckoo And Nest by komodobits, 10k, explicit For a long time, Castiel thought that every earthly possession other than the immediately necessary was excess to requirement. But Dean – Dean who named his car, who keeps a photograph of his mother in his wallet, some thirty-plus years after her death, who still has the crumpled ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign with a sleeping pelican emblazoned on it from the Microtel outside of Roanoke where he first kissed Castiel, clumsy and unsure, under the unsteady fluorescence of an exhausted bathroom bulb – is sentimental. It puzzles Castiel, where Dean draws the line between what is meaningful and what it is worthless. Really Gets the dynamic of Cas doesn’t think Dean wants him to stay/Dean thinks Cas will leave the first chance he gets. Also a nice example of Cas thinking he’s not wanted if he’s not useful/powerful and being told otherwise. Another all-time fave!

lonely hearts by outphastthemoat, 4.5k, gen He thinks he might give up having his own anything just to be able to step foot inside the room next door and sit on the edge of Dean’s bed instead. This one is for the CAS GIRLS who know what LONELINESS feels like.

Helionneiros by aeli_kindara, 24.2k, mature In which Dean visits his mother, and Claire takes Cas on a hunt. I’m always on the lookout for more fic with Claire and Jack. Jack doesn’t show up until the end here but the relationship between Cas and Claire is really nice.

Crawl by aeriallon, 11k, explicit It’s been almost four years since Castiel left Kansas; he'd eventually settled in an island town where he has a job, a house, and a life without the Winchesters. Every winter, Dean drives down to the coast to see him. Another fic where Cas is human but in this one he took some time for himself and got some distance from the Winchesters! He gets to be competent and weird as a human and we love that for him. I must warn you all that this fic contains one use of the phrase “making love” which would normally put me right off but it’s still worth reading. The first of a three-part series.

home where you hold me by microcomets, 1.6k, gen Cas and Dean, in the moments between their battles, ache for quiet spaces. Technically this is a coda to 10x20 but you don’t need the episode for context. Short and very sweet.

Build a Home by domesticadventures, 20.1k, teen After they save the world, Dean expects Cas to come back to the bunker with them. He doesn’t. This one is so cute it’s like what if once they were done saving the world Sam and Dean actually invited other hunters to move into the bunker with them. Obviously Dean wants that to include Cas but doesn’t know how to use his words.

the taste of gravel in the mouth by deathbanjo, 22.4k, explicit This is what Cas gave up Heaven for: greasy diner food, shitty motel rooms with even shittier cable, long car rides spent in complete silence except for the same six tapes playing over and over again, and a burnt-out husk of a man who can barely hold a conversation anymore. Angst fic! They go on a road trip and Dean is severely fucked up post-Mark of Cain.

Unknown Quantities by xylodemon, 8.6k, explicit No one ever tells Dean anything. Another nice getting-together fic.

Creature of Habit by trinityofone, 5.2k, teen The more you love someone, the more you want to kill them. Or: How Cas developed some bad habits, and Dean coped surprisingly well. This one is ancient by destiel standards (written during season 5) but it manages to nail the married couple vibes they give off in later seasons. Cas is a bitch and Dean likes him so much. <3

The (Mostly Accidental) Courtship of Dean Winchester by Tuesday, 11.2k, mature Angelic marriage rites were never intended to go quite like this. Another old one that is a lot of fun! They get Accidental Angel Married and if you don’t enjoy dumb fanfiction tropes like that I don’t know what to say to you.

Vena Amoris and Other Old-Fashioned Bullshit by pyrebi, 4k, teen In which angelic marriage bonds are apparently stupidly easy to trigger, Cas wages multidimensional war in Heaven, Dean can't catch a break like ever, Sam rather enjoys being a dick, love saves the day, and nobody consummates anything. The OTHER accidental angel marriage fic written in 2010. 

Crazy Diamonds by pantheon_of_discord, 24.8k, explicit A week ago, Dean was pulled out of Hell. Now, he’s apparently woken up in 2018, and the angel that a mere twenty-four hours beforehand had threatened to chuck him back into the pit is sleepily pouring himself coffee and wearing Dean’s second-favourite Zeppelin shirt. It all seems like a perfect happy ending, but with Hell’s scars still so fresh, Dean can’t imagine how he could have possibly gotten there. At the same time, the Dean who went to sleep in the bunker, right next to Cas, wakes up on Bobby’s couch in 2008. He’s instantly bombarded with questions by a Lilith-obsessed brother and a man who’s been dead for years, and must decide between keeping his finally-perfect life intact, and the lives he could save by re-writing history. Regardless of these choices, both Deans are trapped in the wrong decade, and their only way back lies with a Castiel still very much under Heaven’s thumb – one who might find the future Dean describes difficult to believe. Time travel is FUN. There’s an excellent part where (minor spoilers) future!Dean is like, “Guess what, asshole? You like me so much you marry me!!!!!!!!!!!” to 2008!Castiel that made me laugh out loud the first time I read it. Also just a good reminder of how most problems in life are temporary and if you could go back in time to talk to your younger self you’d be like, “Hey man. Chill out. You get through it.”

The Path of Fireflies by museaway, 63.7k, mature After his humanity is restored, Dean wakes up in bed with Castiel, a wedding ring, and no memory of the past twelve years. There’s a lot of amnesia fic and djinn fic out there were Dean wakes up ~suddenly together with Cas~ but I like this one in particular because he’s initially very confused and kind of a dick about it until he acknowledges that being with Cas makes him happy.

take the long way home by dothraki_shieldmaiden, 95k, explicit Three months ago, when Dean decided to retire, he thought his life was going to end up differently. He'd thought that he might get to have it all, Sam, Cas, Jack, and nice little place to live. Instead he gets Sam and Jack off on their Summer of Love Tour, radio silence from Cas, and a never-ending road trip consisting of himself. Still reeling from the loss of his grace, Castiel travels the country in search of hunts. Driven by a need to prove his usefulness, he pushes himself beyond all limits of endurance. Together, with the help of a few friends, a crumbling Victorian house, and a stray cat, Dean and Castiel patch themselves back together and create a home together. Do you wanna read almost one hundred thousand words of Dean and Cas having extremely intense feelings but refusing to voice them aloud? Haha of course you do that’s why you’re here. There’s also a lot about Cas adjusting to being human and being depressed about it which might resonate if you’ve ever felt weird about having a body. To be honest the author could stand to use a few more commas but there were also half a dozen moments that made me put my phone down and drag my hand slowly over my face and whisper “oh my god” to myself which is like, the ultimate measure of a good fanfiction so it gets to be on the list.

like moses and batman and james dean by saltyfeathers, 31.6k, explicit dean used to turn tricks. over a decade later, he met cas. Have you seen the fanon (apparently pioneered by Mr. Jackles “Original Deankin” Ackles himself) that Dean used to prostitute himself to feed himself and Sam when they were younger? Are you interested in exploring that concept in fanfiction? Well, this is the only fic you need. Mind the tags on this one! It’s not what I’d call happy but it’s good.

Some Assembly Required by narrow_staircases, 47k, mature It’s September of 2005, and Dean Winchester, in an attempt to outrun old mistakes and painful memories, finds himself in southern Kentucky on a wild goose chase. He’s completely certain this weird religious movement he’s “investigating” is a hoax, despite the miraculous healings people report, and he’ll be back on the road in a day or two. Things are looking up when he meets Cas, an awkward (and gorgeous) graduate student who’s actually doing honest-to-god research into the local tent revival meetings. When that research takes a weird and personal turn, Dean’s left to face two very serious realities: one, this may be a real case after all, and two, he’s fallen way harder for Cas than he should ever have let himself. Stanford-era AU of Dean trying to avoid his father and getting in over his head on a case.

Alternate universe:

And This, Your Living Kiss by opal_bullets, 57k, mature Only a very few people in the world know that the celebrated and reclusive poet Jack Allen is just Kansas mechanic Dean Winchester, a high school dropout with a few bucks to his name. Not that it matters anymore; life has left him so wrung out he never wants to pick up another pen. Until, that is, a string of coincidences leads Dean to auditing a poetry course with one Dr. Castiel Novak. The  professor is wildly intelligent, devastatingly handsome...and just so happens to be academia's foremost expert on the poetry of Jack Allen. Mundane AUs in this fandom have to be really, really good to catch my attention and this one is! It’s exactly what it says in the summary and the characterization is spot-on. 

Out to Drift by deathbanjo, 20.9k, mature Dean drives a black car with a loud engine. He lies too easily. He keeps a gun in the back of his jeans, and Castiel isn’t sure, but he wouldn’t be surprised if Dean has killed someone before. Two people in fucked-up unstable situations meeting and forming a connection. Honestly guys I really just love deathbanjo.

[gayregis]

i’m mad, because think of how easy it would have been to slip a regis romance arc into blood and wine. he and geralt have really good chemistry and conversations anyways, so it would have felt very natural. it could have been structured like yennefer’s and triss’s romance quests are, in the fact that they pop up after the part of the main quest that concerns them is mostly done. regis could have asked geralt just to drop by for another talk after tesham mutna, or something.

realistically, and to make it more difficult, they may have made it so that you can only romance regis if you don’t kill detlaff during tesham mutna (i mean, it’s not hard not to kill him, but you do have a larger chance of getting an ending where you do have to kill him because he attacks you first). they may also only allow the regis romance arc if you got the “lone witcher on the path” ending and aren’t dating triss or yennefer.

it could have literally just added a simple sidequest with them talking and shit. also, none of this “oh it’s awkward because being gay is awkward” bullshit. just have it as a romance option like any other romance quest. regis asks geralt to talk more, geralt says ofc. regis says “let’s not meet at the cemetery but like, [x place].” when they meet there, it’s explained through dialogue that it was a significant place for them because of their history in the books, and you get some book references and explanation. 

i figure that because it’s regis, the whole ‘challenge’ in the romance option (like the challenges in other romance quests being exploring fyke isle for keira, escaping from novigrad for triss, and subduing a djinn for yennefer) would be a series of dialogue in which you have to pick the right options. regis is very talkative and philosophical. it wouldn’t be a matter of choosing “the most romantic” options, but it would instead be the options that are more in-character for geralt, that also allude to him sharing interest in regis (similarly to how in the books, regis was a very good confidant of geralt’s). they could discuss how they met in the books and talk about their memories together. 

idk what would be emotionally significant for them to talk about. i guess regis ‘dying’ during the assault on stygga castle could be significant. it is briefly mentioned in the “for you” dialogue option after what lies unseen, if you choose to seek out the unseen elder.

regis: .”..and yet you survived. though you are risking your life. the question is why. this contract... it goes well beyond what witchers customarily handle. i cannot abandon the matter, for detlaff and i are bound by blood, but you... you could simply walk away. so why, my friend? why stay and risk your hide?”

geralt: “for you. you're in a heap of trouble regis, trouble detlaff brought on. seen you die once already. that one time was enough.”

regis: “i... hm. i'm not certain i know what to say. i am grateful, geralt.”

this interaction demonstrates that they are emotionally close! and we know this already because of the books, but... point being that it’s already in-game. they really should have expanded on this just a tad, it would have been great to see.

it would probably just be like. geralt saying “hey.... it worries me when you die” and regis would just like . laugh on accident. because geralt’s human and constantly in mortal danger and regis is just like. “YOU’RE worried about ME? hello??” and then he could give examples of all the times geralt was close to death. regis did get worried after geralt drank resonance and panicked because he thought his kicking might be death throes. they could discuss that fear for a while... then move on to happier things. 

geralt could explain more in-depth about ciri (the game would give you a dialogue option to tell the short/long version, as it did during the main quest). regis could talk more about detlaff, not in a ‘defending his actions’ way, but just in a general recap and bonus info way. they could discuss their relationship and how it’s funny that they’re a vampire and a witcher working together and HAVE BEEN a vampire and a witcher working together... and that conversation could lead to them talking about their love lives and awkwardly asking if they’re seeing anyone lmao. regis would be like “ah i knew youd always end up with yennefer...” and geralt would be like “um. actually no.” “oh! well, triss is a very lucky lady” “actually not her either...” “erm. sorry” “its alright. im taking a break from sorceresses for a moment” “[eyes emoji]”

the scene would mostly just be them acknowledging that they care for each other deeply. it would be up to the player through dialogue options to choose whether it’s friendship or romance or not (similarly as it did with keira, triss, and yennefer). 

[nightlet]

Hi Simmers -

We want you to know we’ve been seeing all your feedback and we hear you.

We HeAr YoU

Fuck I’m sorry I just really hate that phrase it always feels to damn patronizing. “We hear you, but that doesn’t mean we’re listening.” Anyways.

As we always have been, we’re committed to growing The Sims as a game and as a community, so instead of trying to respond to a variety of tweets we wanted to consolidate some thoughts and updates in one place:

We are working on adding significantly more skin tones before the end of the year, and will share news on our progress soon. Beyond that, we’re committed to continuing to expand representation in The Sims 4. This is not one step, but a journey.

I’m still not really getting why they aren’t working on making the color wheel instead. Or even just to keep it simple: two sliders, one for skin tone and then an undertone. That right there would give a HUGE range of customization.

But come on. You guys HAVE A COLOR WHEEL THAT YOU’VE ALREADY BUILT. And we all know how much you love reusing assets! So fuck just reuse the one asset that I think just about everyone would be ok with!

And I realize that it’s not that simple, the genetics system would possibly need an overhaul to play nicely with it. But again, that’s something that you’ve already done with pets. You have a working system that you can already piggyback off of. Shit, don’t even do the whole painting thing again if it’s so hard. I mean you’d have to if you actually care about your players being able to recreate themselves but whatever, just give us a wheel.

On upcoming content - when we consider something for addition to the game we consider what it will take to update it meaningfully. This is just as true for babies as it would be for cars, bunk beds or any other number of feature requests. Sometimes there is foundational technology we need to work through and sometimes we need to dig into designs more deeply to make sure we understand your expectations. This work takes time, and we don’t update you on these projects until they become more real. Game development in general can feel like a long process and, like most of the world, we are adjusting to a continued state of working from home.

I can understand this. As a non-programmer but with some experience in web coding, I try to give them some benefit of the doubt because I can only imagine how easy it is for something to just not work. Buuuut that doesn’t mean I’m going to overlook how, once again, it feels like we’re in the dark. The dev team is constantly saying “yes, ok, we’ll start making more effort to be transparent and share with you what’s going on.” It lasts for like two packs and then it kinda just sinks back into silence.

In just a matter of weeks we’ll be sharing more about our next Expansion Pack, which we’ve been working on since last year. I want to set expectations now, though, that cars, babies, farms and bunk beds are not part of this EP. We understand how important these features are to you but we want to be honest that they are not part of this upcoming pack.

I am a little bummed that this pack isn’t going to be anything we’ve been asking for, again. But I do find it funny that she’s throwing out the time they’ve been working on it. Like as if to say, “see how long it takes? We started on this a long time ago and that’s why it’s not including anything you’ve been asking for!” EXCEPT WE’VE BEEN ASKING FOR THIS SHIT FOR YEARS. Ok, maybe not farming, I haven’t seen the calls for that until more recently. I’ll give you another bogus pass for that. But all that other shit? DAY ONE.

I swear to god this pack had better be super fucking good. It better be something that at least a large part of the community has been asking for, especially after this SW bullshit. Personally, I’d like to see a supernatural pack, though I know that’s hit or miss with the community.

But I’d love to get so many different life states (as well as some more development for existing occult like aliens or ghosts). Werewolves, fairies, zombies, ACTUAL FUCKING PLANTSIMS PLEASE, genies or djinn, you could bring back Bigfoot (and give Plumbella Bonehilda while you’re at it, you bastards!) AND SO MUCH MORE. Why not some variety? Werecats, werebears, actual witches that have a centuries-old war with spellcasters or maybe voodoo? Honor different cultures through bringing in different creatures from their lores. Make cemeteries and crypts a thing with it! Put all of the Happy Haunts ideas in. PLEASE GIVE US BACK AT LEAST SOME HYBRIDS I WANT TO FUCK UP MY FAMILY TREES SO BAD OH MY GOD.

But regardless of what it is, MAKE SOMETHING WITH DEPTH. There’s SO MANY packs that I’ve bought that I’ve done literally next to nothing with because everything feels so shallow. I don’t think I’ve actually explored a single pack 100% (and I’m actually debating making a legacy just for that now) because they feel so incomplete. Believe me, devs, I want to buy all of your packs. I want to support the Sims team and absolutely fall in love with everything y’all put out. But how can I justify giving you my money when it feels like you’re saying “I hear you” but you’re not actually listening?

As a team, we are going to make more of an effort to communicate what’s coming with more regularity and transparency so that you continue to feel in the loop about new features, experiences, packs, and general information.

That’s it for now, and you’ll be hearing more from us soon. In the meantime, all we ask of you is to be kind, engage in constructive conversations with each other, and continue to celebrate what makes the Sims special to YOU. And I can assure you that we will continue to listen, continue to invest in The Sims 4 and continue to engage with you. We could not do what we do without our players.

SimGuru Lyndsay & the Sims Team