#tbh ALL of tfw could benefit from having her around lol she would be to determined to get rid of their 'all work and no play' motto

[samsrowena]

the thing is i think one of the biggest reasons rowena would be so good for sam is because she could offer him a very healthy separation between hunting and having a "normal" life. which is something he's never had with any of his other partners because they were all either 100% out or 100% in. like i'm pretty sure she's one of the only people he knows in the life that doesn't actually let it consume her life. she helps out in emergencies and joins them on hunts whenever they need her but otherwise she just does her own thing. she indulges in self care days and she goes out to fancy dinners and she literally just allows herself to have fun and enjoy things outside of the supernatural world. and that's something sam is in desperate need of

[tinkdw]

14x06: Toxic Love v Healthy Love

14x06 watching notes.

This episode we see our Cas stand-in (Jack) team up with Dean and ask him to explain what love is, with Dean explaining that he very much does know the difference between healthy romantic love and toxic romantic love (exposed this episode with the zombie boyfriend “don’t leave me, it’s better you be dead and stuck with me than leave to live your life” storyline which I’m sure has no correlation to Dean and Cas coming up where they may be separated but let each other go, I’m side eyeing you 14x08). With Yockey emphasising that the lesson he himself exposed last season of sibling toxic love (the witch sisters) has also been learned as Dean and Sam exhibit perfectly healthy, open, communicative sibling love. 

And I mean...  mirrors...if we get any more mirrors Dabb’s going to have to open up a funhouse on set.

- So the episode opens with a Cas visual reminder with Harper wearing a beige coat before she changes after that job of “remember Cas in this episode” is done into her *warning sign* red clothing. Beige trenchcoats in Vancouver are clearly in limited supply after SPN has decided to dress everyone in one for the Cas effect. Get yours now.

- “Mary and Bobby’s" well, that didn’t take long to be an established thing.

- To Jack nothing tastes right without his powers whereas to Cas nothing tastes right with his powers >....>

My theory as a firm endgame human!cas meta writer with the later addition that Jack is a mirror exposition of each of TFW’s arcs that Jack gets his power back because he wants and chooses it as a part of his identity and Cas decides to be human in opposition because of his own choices and identity feels like it’s being fed here. Excellent.

- Sam smiling at the fidget spinner gives me feels of a positive goof nature

- Jack feels guilty for not killing Michael while Dean feels guilty for enabling Michael and I have feels about them understanding each others’ guilt and not pushing each other to get over it but just being supportive.

- Sam and Dean COMMUNICATING! MARK THE CALENDAR! Dean knows Sam won’t be particularly happy about him taking Jack hunting but he doesn’t hide it, he calls Sam and lets him know. Sam in turn doesn’t forbid it but shows he is not happy with it. COMMUNICATION. Taking into account each others’ judgement but not stifling each other. I’m living. This is what I was saying about the toxic sibling relationship v healthy sibling relationship in my opener. Steve clearly has big feels about this just as we do and wow he’s done an amazing job at firstly highlighting it with mirrors and metaphors then slamming it home with text... side eyes all the current metaphors and mirrors being highlighted for *other themes*.

More under the cut...

- Lol @ the barn behind Dean in the diner while Jack fills in the Cas visual gap.

- Wait did they even explain where was Cas is?! Nope. Yockey didn’t even bother cos he knows how stupid anything will sound lmao. *Cas is *throws dart** is about right here lbr.

- Chuck Berry as Dean and Jack’s pseudos. I love it.

- DEAN TURNING THE COCK AWAY WHILE TALKING ABOUT SEX I CANNOT. WHERE ARE THE GIFSETS?! I NEED GIFSETS! I WILL REBLOG ALL THE GIFSETS! it literally goes from talking about courting, dating and specifically sex and dean gets awkward and turns away the cock. I MEAN. This ain’t even SUBTLE.

- Are we supposed to see the two women they interview as a couple, I’m not sure. 

- Charlie’s story is A. sad AF B. Political AF. C. Super thematic to the show. She worked at Richard Enterprises as a nice callback to show Yockey knows his canon on OG Charlie, then her story is full of fanfic tropes an ultimately death. Now, I hate kill your gays as much as anyone but I don’t think this is what Steve’s doing here, he literally can’t have her gf alive here. Now could Charlie go off to find her in this world? That would be brilliant.

- Did dean just call sam Thelma lol

- So Jack says he has no understanding of romance despite seeing Dean and Cas doing “googly eyes” each other to death and saying he knows this means someone loves you. 

x

So Jack is the one who doesn’t know as the Destiel romance GA stand in where they figure it out but so does he so they don’t feel stupid as there’s someone on screen who’s like oooooooh I see now! So Sam can have the role of “I knew all along I just didn’t want to force you out of your comfort zone or get involved in things that don’t concern me” just as he did with Mary/Bobby last episode and which explains all his “strictly into Dick” “maybe you’re overcompensating” “because it’s Cas” lines from previously. Brilliant. Please continue.

- “Old man” good cop bad cop with sass. Jack, I love you.

- Jack doing all the OG Hunter tricks I love it. Again Yockey telling us he knows canon and knows what he’s fucking doing. Good lad.

- Sam: “people need people, we’re social animals”. Yockey and Dabb laying down what BS it is that Sam and Dean want to be alone just the two of them nearly every episode now is just the best. Sam wants people around him, now imo he’s not necessarily telling Charlie she should stay a hunter, just that it would be a real shame for her to ostracise herself on top of a mountain with wifi all alone. He gets that, he gets the escapism after all the trauma but he wants to help her and thinks she would be better off surrounded by others, my family and friends and he’s offering this to her and well, he knows this is what helps from his own experience. He’s living this change and seeing the benefits for himself. Just. So much yes.

- I also love that Charlie’s personality is part similar to ours but also part totally different because she’s not the same. Good, thank you Yockey. She’s not a replacement for our Charlie. No matter how hard Bucklemming may try and think they “fixed” her original death. She ain’t our Charlie and they haven’t fixed it. We are grateful to have some semblance of her but you are not forgiven for your complete lack of credibility, writing skills and total problematic behaviour regarding both her and all the other things you’ve done just by giving us an AU version of Charlie. 

- So Harper is evil, quelle surprise. She exposes a codependent and unhealthily toxic relationship where she preferred to kill her boyfriend and tie him to her, having him literally kill and eat others rather than just let him go and live his life. So, I will write a separate post about this because I think it is the theme of the episode but this heavily reminds me of Yockey’s witch sisters being a dark Sam and Dean mirror of toxic sibling love last seasons, emphasising their choice to be toxic or healthy, with them now exhibiting all the healthy and rejecting the toxic behaviours. 

So who is Harper and her boyfriend a dark romantic love mirror of now then with them potentially soon to choose a healthy route instead in direct opposition and one of them letting the other go, hmmmm I wonder...

x  Just getting this gif out again cos well I’m sorry but Cas wasn’t even in this episode or last or last last yet he’s all over them with not just human!Cas stuff here but also all the Destiel like wow... it’s impressive tbh.

- Meanwhile Dean is dishing out healthy relationship advice. Again this feels relevant to Cas’ recent admittal to Nick that he had to “eat” someone to live in a way ie possess Jimmy for his body. This feels even more like a metaphor for his giving up his grace and exposing Cas again as not this but having his own body now created by Chuck just as everyone else does. Just in case people want to continue to use this argument against him and Destiel with the necrophilia rubbish which is already totally disproved but again rears its head in a “clearly this is not the same as that” way with actual dark mirror necrophiliac toxic love going on.

- Okay so we have more blatant overt textualised metaphors with the word “metaphor” in the text with Charlie v the big fly. They really are hammering home the concept of “pay attention to metaphors and mirrors people” this season. Wowzers.

- Next week’s promo also gives us another mirror with Jack driving the impala and telling Dean “it’s like I’m you!” “no it isn’t”. Honestly, is this a memo that they have to do this every episode because I approve. Knock that memo home.

- I would also like to point out as @margarittet reminded me, the queer story in this episode (Charlie x her girlfriend) is beautiful and positive though tragic due to outside circumstances and the heterosexual story is toxic and gross with codependency, necrophilia and murder by Harper’s own choice. This isn’t to say it’s anti hetero it’s just making a point that it doesn’t matter who you love it’s what you do with it and who you are that counts.

And isn’t that a beautiful way to end this.

[aximili]

For your OCs (you can choose whoever you want): 2, 3, 7, 11, 16, 17, 28, 30, 31, 34, 35, 39, 40. For you: A, B, D, E, G, H

omg thats a LOT so ill just do one person!! uhhhhhh how bout that Piers

How easy is it for your character to laugh?

he laughs a lot but he’s not often actually amused... it’s more to give the impression that he’s at ease. he’s never at ease, & doesn’t find much funny. 

How do they put themselves to bed at night (reading, singing, thinking?)

definitely reading, he’s one of those people who will fight god over his inability to read everything ever written before his time on earth is done. 

What triggers nostalgia for them, most often? Do they enjoy that feeling?

the smell of mud & grass, fresh vegetables, quiet country roads, summer wind in your face... they make him think of where he grew up in the cotswolds. & no, he doesn’t enjoy it. he’s not comfortable with having the origin story of a country bumpkin, he finds it very gauche; it’s not the persona he’s trying to create.

How do they cope with confusion (seek clarification, pretend they understand, etc)?

depends on the context. alone, eg in academic writing? seek clarification. he hates not knowing things. in social situations? pretend he understands until he does. he never wants to have to ask. 

What makes their stomach turn?

sentimentality, & emotional displays. like, people who can’t be cynical and aloof about everything? cringe. 

Are they easily embarrassed?

not really, as in like, he’s good at never having a situation seem embarrassing for him? he’s a v natural leader and always acts as if he’s the one setting the norm, and other people do kinda fold to that. so if he like, tripped over, it would immediately become awkward for anyone who laughed, because he could be hurt, like what the hell. but if it was the other way around, he’d laugh at them, in the spirit of friendship. total double standards.

Would they prefer a lie over an unpleasant truth?

wow, talk about things his entire character is about haha... absolutely a lie. piers doesn’t settle for unpleasant truths, he’ll do whatever he can to make it so that the truth is what’s easiest for him.

Who do they most regret meeting?

B L A S lmao. tfw u become obsessed w someone, accidentally cause their death, then realise afterwards that you may in fact have fucked up pretty bad

Who are they the most glad to have met?

at the start of the book, at least? sol! he feels like he can use her to wipe away his guilt for blas, both literally (as in, misdirect her enough that he doesn’t seem at all suspicious) and emotionally (as in, make a new start and be a positive influence on her in place of her brother. unfortunately, he still has a twisted perspective on how to be a positive influence on someone). 

How hard is it for them to shake a sense of guilt? 

fake it til you make it baby...... lmao he tries but it’s always there, probably because he’ll never confront it bc that would mean facing up to what he’s done and who he’s become as a person. 

How do they treat the things their friends come to them excited about? Are they supportive?

almost always! on the surface, at least. he needs to seem like a supportive pillar. the things he secretly thinks are lame, though? he’ll chip away at those. like, he’s always making offhand mean-spirited & dismissive comments about ari’s fields of expertise, mainly because he doesn’t like that they’re much more intelligent than him, and he doesn’t want them to know they have that power. fortunately, ari has an ego of steel & cannot be manipulated! 

How easy is it for them to ignore flaws in other people?

all he SEES is flaws in other people tbh.... if he learnt to just whole-heartedly value the good stuff about others, like most people manage to, maybe he’d be a nice boy 

How sensitive are they to their own flaws?

tbh, piers is emotionally intelligent enough to know he has them. he knows, very deep down, that he’s a fucked up person who doesn’t treat others well. he just feels in too deep at this point, though? he’s been faking who he is for so long, he has no idea who the authentic him is, what would be left if you stripped away all the cynicism and left real feelings. .....god that sounds edgelordy when i put it like that. 

A) Why are you excited about this character?

what i mainly want him to do in the story is be a moral lesson about never trusting guys who treat you like he treats sol, and i feel like... so many YA books out there are unhealthy het romance focused and i really want this to be a rug-pull on that. i just really hope it’s effective. 

B) What inspired you to create them?

omg.... geez, let me think back.... originally, he was a dangan ronpa fan character (well, he remained one for a while lol), and female, and nice. she was a very chilled-out, new agey type, a source of wisdom and calm. he became male when i realised the cast wasn’t quite gender-balanced, and stayed that way since (he really couldn’t not be male, how he is now...). i thought it’d be a great twist for the end of the fangan ronpa for him to suddenly snap and reveal the stress of being the calm one had finally gotten to him. a few more iterations happened, for a while he was very much the secretly eeeevil one, and like... i guess he kinda still is, but i wasn’t happy w that, like, real people aren’t like that, and it would seem a cheap twist. so now he’s more like... the type of person who lowkey bullies his friends and enjoys the benefits of it, combined with the ego of being told he’s very intelligent, plus the typical white male brand of world-weary cynicism that can only result from never having had any real problems. 

D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look?

he’s always had long blonde hair, and that’s definitely a character staple i couldn’t get rid of! however, he used to dress super feminine - essentially because, of course, he was originally a girl and i saw no reason to change the design. it was only later on that i realised like... i’m not at all comfy with my villain being a man who dresses like a woman. that doesn’t sit remotely ok, regardless of its innocent origins. now he dresses much more like a nerdy posh fuckboy, and it suits him better.

E) Are they someone you would get along with? Would they get along with you?

omg its easy to say NOOO but honestly? i can’t pretend he isn’t based a little bit on an amalgamation of cis guys i’ve known who have these emotionally manipulative tendencies hidden underneath a charming nerd persona, so i guess i could certainly see us becoming initial friends. hopefully, tho, i’d see sense and dump him eventually. and nah, he would definitely think i’m pathetic lol 

G) What trait of theirs bothers you the most?

fdjkjkdksdhkfjhsdj uh..... the murderin bit. well, i guess the most disturbing part of his personality, to me objectively, is, yeah, seeing troubled people as potential experiments. being someone’s token mentally ill friend in various ways is bad enough, i can’t imagine how fucked up i’d feel if i found out someone was trying to manipulate me to get worse in the brain. 

H) What trait do you admire most?

i wish i could read as much & be as devoted to my studies..... lol