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#this is random but we've been buddies long enough that if you ever want my instagram
lowkeyorloki · 2 years
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1. This fucking quote:
" Our lives are not like the glamorous ones we read about in books. People don’t love each other because they can’t control it, they love each other because they can. I can want and choose to love you, but I can’t choose to make it enough"
Is actually wonderful, I litteraly want to fucking print aaaah i love it so much.
2. This chapter felt so heartfelt and honnestly I'm glad to see how much the reader has grown during those past chapters. Very proud of her !!!
3. The yearning between them is making me lose my mind omg you're a genius.
4. I want to read everything you ever write bc your style is beautiful
🥺❤️
When people tell me their fav quote from the chapter,,, serotonin,,,, in my brain,,, increases,,,
ALSO if anyone wanted to make prints of my work I would totally be down provided they include a link to the fic in the description and also a link to the product so I can buy it LMAO. But in all seriousness the fact you would even think of hanging some type of physical copt of something I wrote makes me all 💓
Thank you for reading + enjoying! I think you’re right, the reader has grown and we’re seeing her knowing how to express her regrets, when to defend herself, and how to respect Loki’s boundaries. 
And the yearning... this is a special type of yearning because they’re not holding back for each other’s sakes they’re holding back for their own. Like, they want to reconcile and touch and hold each other SO MUCH but their fear of both hurting and being hurt forces them to hold themselves back and second guess everything. It’s messy, but I think they’re doing pretty well so far. 
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"Seth?" you asked, shuffling down the dark hallway to your room. "Are you trying to scare me?"
There was no answer from him. You didn't really know what to think. He told you to stay in the house, and not to leave under any circumstance. There was a wolf howling in the distance, and then suddenly Seth had to leave. Your house was in between Forks and La Push, and left basically nowhere for you to walk to even if you wanted to, and you didn't have a car.
"Baby?" you stuttered, the deafening silence made your heart race. You knew you heard something come from your room. The sound of glass shattering made you choke on your breath.
Instead of facing the noise, you turned to run, but landed right into the chest of Seth's older sister.
"Leah!" you sighed, wrapping your arms around her. She spun you to put herself between you and the noise. "I heard someone in the house."
"I know," she said, eyes staying focused towards the end of the hall. She didn't say anything else, just stood observant and thoughtful.
"Where's Seth?" you asked, "what's going on?"
"He'll tell you everything," she said, turning to you quickly. "Take my car, go to my house. Seth will be back soon, okay?"
She pushed car keys into your hand and then guided you to the door. "I know you're scared, buddy," she said, holding a hand on your shoulder. "but I need you to trust me."
"Okay," you said, fumbling the keys and looking out the window on the door. All you saw was darkness. But Leah was tense, on guard.
You pulled the door open and rushed out, unlocking her car and getting in the driver's seat.
You sped down the road, crying as you floored it all the way to Seth's house.
Seth had been your boyfriend for over a year, but he'd been a little distant lately. Not in a bad way, he's just busy with his job after school and always talking about his friends. But you knew he loved you. It was easy to tell. The way he looked at you, treated you. There was never concern.
But you were starting to wonder.
Something was happening and no one would tell you anything.
You parked the car in Leah's usual spot, and shuffled a few quick steps to the door. You tried to wipe your tears away, but Sue caught you when she opened the door before you could even knock.
"Come in," she said, "it's so cold. Where's your coat."
"There was someone in my house," you said, walking into the familiar house. "Leah told me to come here."
Sue didn't look scared like you did. "Why don't you go lay down? Do you want some tea?"
"No thanks, can you just tell Seth to wake me up if I fall asleep?"
"Course," she smiled.
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Seth, go home, we've got it, Sam thought.
But Seth was unsure, there was a vampire in your house. Sam thought maybe he'd caught Seth's lingering scent and wanted to see who was in there. If he had found you...
Don't think about it, Leah said. It wasn't rude, she was just trying to help him through it. But he was on high alert, sniffing the ground and trying to find the tracks that had somehow been well hidden from them. There was no way this was random, someone had been after you. He knew it, he could sense it. Every nerve in his body was telling him you were in danger.
He froze when he got to a tree. It smelled like the vampire had waited here, watching.
It seemed to Seth like he had been waiting to catch you alone. Your mom had left not long before Leah had gotten there. Not to mention the wolves on the perimetre waiting for your safe removal.
I think you should tell her now, buddy... Embry thought. His attention also turned to the tree.
The scent was in the trees, covered by your clothing. Seth took off running when he smelled it, Embry and Leah hot on his heels. Leah was faster than him - faster than all of them, really - but Seth was powered by fear and adrenaline.
The thoughts in his head blurred to a low mumble, and he felt more like a wolf than ever. When he got deep enough, he heard rustling. The vampire was still there. He had been watching them search your house. As he got closer, he could tell this was a newborn. The clothing stolen from you and the human blood still running in their veins made their scent dull. But he'd caught it now.
I'm going left to flank! Embry's voice barely made it above the blur of Seth's mind.
Seth, it's under control. Go home! Sam's command rang through Seth's head clear as day among the rest of the chatter. He didn't want to, but he didn't have a choice.
Grinding to a halt, he spun and took off in the other direction. It took Seth all of five minutes to run back to his house.
After a clumsy change in the backyard and trouble getting his pants on, he rushed up the back steps and into the house. Sue was sitting at the table, and smiled when her son walked in.
"Everyone okay?"
"Uh, yeah," Seth scanned the room for signs of you, other than your scent he couldn't tell. "They're still out there. Where's y/n?"
"In your room, I told her she could spend the night." She smirked. "No funny business."
Seth scoffed, trying to hide the blush on his face. It wasn't like that, you guys hadn't even...
"I'm going to see them," he said, walking off and mumbling goodnight as he passed. Sue laughed.
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You really had tried to stay up and wait for Seth, but after the adrenaline had worn off it was hard to keep your eyes open.
Seth snuck into the room, the light from the hallway hitting your back. Your hair was fanned out in a mess behind you, and your face being squished into the pillow was making your breathing loud. Quiet as he could, Seth changed into pjs and snuck under the blanket with you.
It startled you awake, but you relaxed as soon as you felt the familiar touch of Seth's arms around you.
"It's just me," he whispered, pulling you close. Any chill you had left melted away in his arms.
"I love you Seth," you whispered, tears threatening to jump as you looked at the wall. "but you have to be honest with me now."
"I know," he whispered, a tone in his voice alerted you that he was trying not to cry. "I don't want you to be scared of me."
"I could never be scared of you," you said, matching his volume.
"Even if I could shift into a wolf?"
There was no hint of a joke in his voice. "A wolf?"
"Me and the rest of the pack. Sam, Jacob, Paul... all of them. We don't hurt people, we protect them."
"From what?"
"Vampires."
"Was it a vampire in my house?"
"I can't tell if you believe me or not," he said, but smile on his face didn't match the fear in his eyes. You didn't think he was lying, but you didn't understand how this could be honest.
Finally you said, "haven't decided."
"I can show you," he said, "but we'd have to get out of bed."
"On second thought..." You snuggled closer into his warm chest. You placed kisses over the soft skin and smiled when he hummed softly in delight. Sue was in the next room, so neither of you would try anything, but you weren't afraid to run your hands over the muscles in his arms.
"Hmm?" he prodded, kissing your hair.
"You can show me tomorrow."
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serenityseventeen · 3 years
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Love & Letter: To The Thirteen Boys I've Loved Before
The Fifth Letter
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To: Kwon Soonyoung
From: Y/N
Hello, Soonyoung.
It hasn't been long since we've known each other. I know that now, after the semester of Junior year ends, we won't be able to see each other. The only way I was able to see you was because we took a performing arts class together this semester. Next semester, after winter break, I'm taking music.
I want to tell you this but even now, during winter break, I'm still not sure. Maybe if we had more time to spend together, I would have the courage to talk to you and develop a better relationship with you. I'm not sure if you know, but I think I liked you. Or, I admired you at least.
Soonyoung, you may be the craziest boy I've ever seen in my life. When I took performing arts with you, you were timid at first, which I found cute. Now, you have no trouble talking to me at all. I realized that once you talk to a person once, you can talk to them a million times again. Thank you for talking with me.
You're cool. Whenever someone in the class feels discouraged because the teacher is being strict, you always remind them that it's fine and you nicely correct them. That happened to me too. I know that I'm probably not that good at dancing but because of your help, I could find the difference of very small details like which angle I'm facing, the angle of my hands, all that. You're sharp and concise when it comes to dancing and that makes you cool.
I appreciate you for helping me dance. I'm quite a hard worker so whenever I couldn't get something right, I would keep practicing. Everyone would be resting at the side when it was time to rest, but I couldn't rest unless I perfected a move. Thank you for always dancing with me. I know you're always tired after dancing but you manage to make it seem as if you're always full of energy and sometimes, you really are filled with energy.
I think the reason for falling for you was because of your personality and how you took care of everyone. You were a kind guy that wasn't afraid to stand up for other people. My heart especially fluttered when I saw you asking the teacher to stop yelling at the students for not getting the moves right. I like you a lot and respect you too, Soonyoung.
I also really liked how you danced. I still remember that first time our teacher put on some random music and asked us individually to freestyle. Almost everyone didn't know what to do so we just moved our bodies. I'm pretty sure I looked like a complete idiot while freestyling at first, right?
Well, compared to you, all of us seemed like complete noobs. The way you read the music and moved your body to the beat and rhythm of the song you heard for the first time was mesmerizing. Whenever I think about it, my jaw always drops. You were so cool and my heart was racing. Your hand movements were sharp and the amount of body control you had was truly amazing, Soonyoung.
That's the true reason why I wanted you to teach me to dance. That's the true reason why I asked you to watch my freestyle. I admired you so much, Soonyoung. I really respected you and your dancing. I felt so inspired by it.
I just know it, that day when I walked up to you in the classroom, fumbling with my hands, I must've looked like a complete weirdo, right? Since we didn't talk much, I didn't expect you to remember my name. I don't know if you saw me blushing, but I was.
“I have a request... Can you watch my freestyle?”
Your flustered expression was really cute. Your eyes widened a little and I think I saw your ears turn pink too. You went like “hm?”
When you watched my freestyle, I'm sure you were disgusted, but I'm thankful that you didn't walk say because it probably looked as if I had no potential to be a dancer (yes, this made me fall for you as well). You helped me learn to read beats and continued to tell me which parts of my freestyle were good. You taught me a lot of things regarding freestyle and quickly, I was able to find my style and improve overall as a dancer.
You also started recording me dance. I was shy at first, but I'm thankful you did it. I don't know if you still have the videos on your phone because we don't communicate outside of school, but I hope you don't have the ones when I was still beginning to freestyle!!! Gosh, it's like haunting me just thinking that you still have the videos!!!
I also want to thank you for this hehe... During the days when we were given free time to dance, talk, and practice, I saw you dancing to SHINEE. I want to thank you for that. I was just practicing my freestyle but then you invited me to learn a dance by SHINEE. When I first saw their dance, I was immediately hooked. You then taught me slowly, step by step, for the days when we had break time. Now I know so many SHINEE dances that I've begun learning to dance to different kpop songs in my room.
All this time, I've just been talking about how kind, caring, and cool you are because that's what I thought of you. You were so cool, Soonyoung. I admired you but I also know that I liked you. To me, you felt like a friend but at the same, it seemed like weren't close enough to be that. We were hovering in the middle of classmates and friends.
I'm pretty sure that you don't think of me the same way I think of you. To you, I'm probably like a pupil. We got along well though. I got to see your cool side through dancing and you also had a shy side too. When you finish performing your freestyle and realize everyone's looking at you in awe, you get so shy. I don't know but I find that so cute.
It was a bit of a pity that I only saw you once every few days a week. I wanted to see you more often and possibly, we could have been dancing buddies too. I've learned to love dance because of you. If only... Sadly, we aren't in the same classes this semester. I sort of predicted it.
The school is pretty big so seeing you isn't easy. Plus, aside from learning dances together and caring for each other as classmates, we didn't have anything special, did we? I mean, whenever you moved my arms while behind me, I'm pretty sure that I was the only one who had my heart racing. Seriously, you shouldn't do that to people! I don't think you're aware of how attractive you are, Soonyoung.
Each time you hover behind me and take my hands or stand behind me to help me adjust my arm's position, I always get flushed with butterflies. Like, you could do it from the front, but the back brings you so much closer to me that I get so flustered. Every. Single. Time.
You're close enough for me to smell your scent, hear your breath, and feel your breath on my neck. It's extremely ticklish too. Do you know that I like you!?
I find it to be a pity that we didn't have any classes together aside from the dance class. If we did, maybe we would have gotten a bit closer to each other. I don't only want romantic relationships that's not even my goal with you. I want to be your friend and dance buddy but we still aren't close enough for that, are we?
So, if I ever happen to bump into you again whether it's in the hallways or by pure coincidence, I don't think I'd be able to say something to you. Sorry, Soonyoung, I'm a coward. I'm constantly driven by the negative thoughts and the possibility that you don't think of me as a friend or dancing buddy but just someone who learned a dance from you. I'm still extremely grateful to you though and I won't care if your true intentions for teaching me were to train yourself. I still like you a lot even though I'm sure it'll fade.
To me, you don't seem like a bad person. You seemed to always be passionate and genuine about dancing. You're kind too. I liked you a lot because you were genuine, passionate, bright, and kind. You were cool, inspiring, and showed me so many new things.
I know this letter to you had mainly just been contaminated with me telling you how grateful I am toward you, but trust me, this is a love letter to you. I did like you. I liked you because you showed me new things and because of all your other qualities. I don't know, I'm a confusing fool.
In the end, we are probably just like strangers to each other, but that's okay. We only spent a semester together, meeting twice a week, so knowing you would have been equal to not enough time anyway. Because I'm sure you probably don't like me the same way I like you, I can rest assured in my head that this letter would just make you proud of yourself. Of course, you should be proud of yourself.
I'm glad that I met you even if it was just for a little while.
Time is seemingly hating me but I can end this letter off with a smile.
Sincerely,
Y/N
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© serenityseventeen
6/20/21 - 7:10 pm
a/n: I'm going to post this love & letter series to my Wattpad as a separate book instead of in my seventeen imagines book. + I went down day6 memory lane and started listening to their songs again... I love them so much too + I'm excited for even of day comeback!!!
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caranfindel · 6 years
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Recap/review 14.06: “Optimism”
THEN: Starts out pretty ominous, with clock-ticky music, Jack's grace getting sucked out, "this is the end of everything," and Jack considering himself useless. We're reminded that New Charlie exists (aw, Dean looked so pretty in AU Land) and Jack has "the mind of a hunter." Michael hurting people and Dean feels guilty (aw, Sam's Beard of Despair, how I miss you). Sounds like we're in for a real downer of an episode, friends.
NOW: Nebraska. Happy music. A cheerful librarian opens up shop, and she's cute as can be but I wore that blouse in the 80s and it needs to stay there (JUST SAY NO TO THE RUFFLED YOKE, LADIES). Her name is Harper, and she has a kind-of-date with a guy named Winston tonight, though she is clearly Not Into You, Winston. An (apparent) coworker named Miles hears her "scream" and comes to her aid, brandishing a stapler, and is reminded that he needs to mind his own business. Winston leaves, clearly walking on air, and then STAYIN' ALIVE STARTS PLAYING and we focus on Winston's feet just like the iconic opening scene of Saturday Night Fever (if you're too young to remember, watch this, IT'S IMPORTANT CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE and there WILL BE A QUIZ LATER) and y'all don't even know how much I love this song. YOU DON'T KNOW. I can't help it. My mom was a huge Bee Gees fan, partially because she was very into Barry Gibb.
Coincidence?
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What can I say? I am my mother's child.
Now, where were we?
(Pretty much where we always are, so could you please just move this along?)
Sorry for the digression. Anyway. Now I suspect this isn't going to be a downer episode after all. (Turns out it was directed by Richard Speight, which would have been a clue if I'd known that earlier, bless him.) While I've been digressing, Winston has happily bopped down the street, only to have a hand cover his mouth and drag him off-screen. There's a record scratch and a squirt of dark goo and a scream, so I guess it did turn out to be a downer for Winston, but not for me.
Title card!
{Sidebar: I didn't realize Saturday Night Fever was directed by John Badham, who went on to direct several episodes of Supernatural.}
Jack's drinking coffee in the bunker. He takes a sip and then pours a huge amount of sugar into it, which immediately makes me think of this scene from The Fly when Jeff Goldblum, who does not yet realize that he is turning into a fly, does the same thing.
(Spoiler alert: Ahem.)
Dean walks in and asks what he's doing, and Jack explains that everything tastes different without his powers, and he can't get the coffee to taste the way he likes it. That's because coffee is nasty, Jack. (And also, thanks to the Continuity Fairy for remembering that food tasted different to Cas when he didn't have grace.) Dean asks if Jack has seen Sam, because that's what Dean does; he probably walked in the door and felt a disturbance in the Force and realized he didn't know where Sam was. From Jack, we learn that (1) Dean went on an overnight run to Mobby's love shack cabin and (b) Sam went on a hunt with Charlie without telling Dean. Is Dean okay with this? Are we gonna okay with this? Couldn't he have at least sent a text message? He's supposed to be setting an example!
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"Explain to me again how you just let Sam LEAVE."
I guess Sam had to go himself, rather than send someone else, because this is one of those times when there's no random hunters in the bunker. (And where's Rowena? Did Charlie abandon her in the Southwest? Did they have a fight?) Jack imagines Sam and Charlie are doing something "really exciting."
Cut to Sam and Charlie sitting quietly in a truck outside Memphis, bored out of their minds. Hee! It's the kind of crappy old truck I always want Sam to drive, so I love it. They're staring at a bus stop with an ad for Pete the Pestinator, who seems to be an insect exterminator. (Spoiler alert: ahem again.) Sam confirms that "this is where all those people went missing," although if he's been sitting in that truck long enough to be bored, he really should have nailed that down by now. Charlie says "yep." More silent sitting.
Back to the bunker. Dean seems surprised that Sam left Jack there alone (where's Cas?) and Jack says "Sam wanted someone around when you came back. He's worried about you."
"Yeah, that sounds like him," Dean grumbles, and hello, kettle, the pot just called, and said you're black. Jack offers some encouragement, telling him no one blames him for Michael, and Dean says "Cool. Well, I blame me, so." His self-flagellation is interrupted by Jack's Cough of Great Concern. "Maybe I'm allergic to sitting around doing nothing," Jack snarks.
Dean sits down for a heart-to-heart, and Jack says he's been hunting with Cas and wants to do more. Dean says "No offense, Cas is an insurance policy on those hunts." Jack looks hurt. I don't understand this at all. Why wouldn't Jack already know that Cas is there to protect him? And why would this hurt his feelings? I'm so confused. But I immediately forget it, because Dean says "Sam's just trying to keep you safe, okay? He's a smart guy." AND THEN WE CUT TO THIS.
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Bless you, Richard Speight, writer Steve Yockey, bless you both.
I literally did burst out laughing at Sam and his fidget spinner. Charlie is not amused, and Sam puts his toy away with some embarrassment.
Bunker. Jack's found a report on our dead friend Winston, who seemed to have human bitemarks taken out of his corpse. And others have gone missing in the area. We skip part of a conversation, but whatever it was, Dean says Sam won't like it. "Sam's not here," says Jack. Oh, no you don't, Jack. Don't you go ignoring the Chief's directives just because he's not here. Dean says he'll go check it out alone, but Jack suddenly remembers Sam's Law and reminds Dean about the Buddy System.
We can be hunting buddies!
Okay, uh, (a), don't call it that, and (b), YOU'RE gonna back ME up?
Oh, Dean. You didn't do the (1) and (b) thing that I love so much. Jack gets to be the one to bare a little bit of his soul now, telling Dean that he also feels guilty about Michael, because he could have killed him but he was "distracted and stupid." He doesn't want to sit around feeling guilty all day, he wants to hunt.
Looks like that was the right button to push, because we cut to Sam on the phone, clearly not a fan of the plan and telling Dean to be careful. I assume his reluctance is because he doesn't trust Jack to watch Dean's back. But Sam, if you can trust Maggie to hunt alone, you can trust Dean with a novice backup. (I know, I know, Dean is more important than Maggie.)
Sam asks again if Charlie is sure this is the right place, and she says it's where four people disappeared. And while she was scouting around, she found a mason jar full of goo. Is this the same goo we saw when Winston was killed? (Spoiler alert: no.) And now she's trying to figure out what they're hunting, so she's reading. I'd have done my reading before the stakeout, but that's just me. (I'd also have done some reading instead of sitting there glaring at Sam while he enjoyed his fidget spinner, but that's also just me.)
(I also might have thought of more interesting things to do while I was stuck in a car with Sam, but they would have interfered with the stakeout. And they aren't anything Charlie would have been interested in anyway.)
Cut to Dick's Red Rooster Diner (ha ha, I see you, Speight). According to Winston's obituary, he had breakfast here every morning. Jack agrees with me that it's an odd thing to put in an obituary, but Dean says that when someone dies young, you don't know what to put in those things. (Oh, think of 20-something Dean's obituary.) He introduces them to the waitress as Agents Berry and Charles, and the only thing I can think of is Chuck Berry, so if someone has a better idea, let me know. He asks for details about Winston, and the only detail she can provide is that he's dead. Jack dutifully writes that detail in his little notebook. (BLESS.)
This waitress is wonderfully snippy, knows her rights, and isn't the least bit interested in talking to these FBI agents, but when Dean hands her some cash she changes her mind. She says they should should be more interested in Harper, who Winston just started "courting," and Jack is confused.
What's courting?
It's what you do before you start dating.
Ah, and that's the thing you do before the sex.
Sometimes you just have the sex.
Okay, Dean's wrong, courting is what you do instead of dating, but this is still a wonderful exchange. And the next part is wonderful too, cutting between the waitress and some customers explaining that Harper was popular in high school, but her boyfriend ran off, and now all these men connected to her have died, and she's really into romance books, and ending on I've heard too much Dean and I'm confused Jack.
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Love this.
Back at the stakeout, Sam's biting his nails, which I also love for some reason, and of course the only time we've ever seen him bite his nails was when he was worried about Dean. New Charlie picks right up on it. She tells him Dean will be fine, and comments that he's got other friends, right? Which I don't understand, because it doesn't matter what other friends he has, he's not hunting with them. He's hunting with Jack. "He used to have a pretty damn good wingman," Sam says, and I think no, Sam, what are you saying, he still has you. She says he should call "that guy" to check on him, and Sam says "that guy was you." Charlie gives him a look. "No, it wasn't." And she's right, Sam. SHE IS NOT YOUR CHARLIE. And also, was Charlie ever really Dean's wingman? I don't think so. Sam, of course. Cas, literal wingman. But not Charlie. Charlie was the little sister.
Sam apologizes, and then says "I'm just saying, I'm not surprised you survived the apocalypse." Which isn't what you were saying at all, Sam. Charlie is surprised she survived, because she was just a programmer at Richard Roman Enterprises (Dick Roman! I wonder what happened to your AU version), living with the love of her life, Cara. My heart skipped a beat because I was so ready, guys, for the love of Charlie's life to be Dr. Cara Roberts from Sex and Violence, but apparently not. {Sidebar fic prompt: Sam. Charlie. Dr. Cara. Three-way.) Charlie's Cara was a baker. Charlie tells a sad story about waiting for help that never came, and Cara eventually being killed by people, not angels. Society falls apart. (Or, as Dean once said, demons I get; people are crazy.) Sam insists society isn't falling apart here, and Charlie says "not yet."
Just like last week, we're getting some needed differentiation between the characters we lost and their AU counterparts, which I appreciate.
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I also appreciate pretty, attentive, sympathetic Sam.
Diner. Dean calls Jack "Mighty Mouse," for some reason, and congratulations him on finding a case. He tries to teach him about the importance of pie, but Jack's more interested in courting. He's never been exposed to off-screen romance, unless Gabriel and Rowena counts (Dean assures him it doesn't, but how would Jack have been exposed to Gabriel/Rowena anyway, since it happened while he was in AU Land and Gabriel didn't make it back?) Dean promises he'll give him The Talk when they get back, but right now they need to concentrate on finding Harper. {Sidebar fic prompt: Dean's and Sam's versions of The Talk. Would Dean's be like Dean's speech from Rock and a Hard Place?} Jack speculates she might not be human, and Dean says they're going to find out, and it's going to work like a romance novel. Hmm!
Cut to the library, where Harper is working. Dean enters and identifies himself as FBI, with questions about Winston. She doesn't want to talk, and he pushes. Then Jack shows up, asking for a book about the area's history, and defends her against the big mean FBI guy. Dean says "why don't you back off, kid" and Jack responds "No, you back off, old man" and DEAN'S FACE. This was clearly NOT IN THE SCRIPT. I love it. Dean slinks off, dejected, to examine his gracefully-aging face in the rear-view mirror. {Sidebar: I honestly think Jensen is aging a lot better than Dean is. Dean looks tired a lot of the time, and I'd like to believe Show is doing that on purpose, but I don't think it's the case. Jensen always looks awesome.} Harper is delighted, and apparently smitten, judging by the music. Jack introduces himself as "Jack Smith" and she invites him to her apartment, where she has the perfect book.
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Why does this library have those convenience store perp measurements at the door? Does it get robbed a lot? Also, how many episodes have signs in the background with the title of a different episode? Not very many, I'm guessing.
As they leave, Miles the Stapler Guy follows and asks where she's going. It must be close to closing time, because Harper says she'll come back and lock up. Miles, who's carrying a bag of trash, refuses to shake Jack's hand. As Jack and Harper go one way, he stomps off in the other direction. I'm suspicious, and so is Dean, who gets out of the car to follow him. As Miles puts the library's trash in an inappropriately small residential bin, he hears a noise. We then cut to Dean, who hears Miles scream but just keeps walking? But then a trash can is knocked over and that gets his attention. He finds Miles dead, and we get a monster POV shot watching him.
Stakeout. Charlie's still reading. Apparently she brought all the books. She says she hates hunting, which surprises Sam, because she's so good at it. She points out that she's good at it because the alternative was death. "I mean, no offense, but who wants to be a hunter? This job, just a lot of tears and death."
Sam says "you said something like that to me once, long ago, about hunting." He quickly apologizes for once again conflating her with Our Charlie. At first I was annoyed at him, but then I started thinking about how awful Our Charlie's death was for him, with the MoC, and the fear, and the worry, and the guilt, and his brother saying he should be the one on the funeral pyre instead, and you know what? I'm gonna cut him some slack for trying to forget all of that ever happened. A lot of slack, in fact.
Charlie casually drops that she's glad this is her last hunt. Did you give the Chief your two week's notice, Charlie? I DON'T THINK SO. She plans to get away from monsters and people, and "live on a mountaintop or something... as long as there's good wifi." I'm sure Sam can get you set up with his magical wifi, Charlie, if you stay on his good side.
Harper's apartment. She seems to be all about love, with a decorative "amore" sign in the kitchen and a big red heart hanging on the wall. She suddenly realizes it's weird that she brought him to her apartment, though she's thinking "putting the moves on you" weird and I'm thinking "inviting a potential serial killer into your home" weird. But maybe I listen to too much My Favorite Murder.
She leaves the room to get the book (odd that it's not on the stuffed bookshelves in her living room, but they're all full of romance novels). Jack asks why the FBI was "hassling" her, and she tells him about Winston's death as he surreptitiously puts a silver coin on the floor and splashes holy water all over his hands. A call comes from Dean, but he ignores it. When she comes back with the book, she notices the coin on the floor and picks it up. She touches his hand when she gives him the coin and notices that it's wet. I would have put the holy water on the coin, although a wet coin on the floor might be as weird as wet hands. He just laughs weirdly and then does a fake cough AND SAYS CHRISTO. SOMEONE FINALLY REMEMBERED CHRISTO. Oh, my heart. I've been waiting 13 years for this moment. She doesn't react to it, so she seems pretty human. He says he's nervous, so she sits on the couch and pats the seat next to her.
Stakeout. Charlie has found something in the books called a Musca. Sam already knows it's a man-fly hybrid (IT'S THE FLY; OUR MONSTER IS JEFF GOLDBLUM) and that no one's seen them, so if they do exist, they keep to themselves. She's impressed with his Sammy smarts. He says he's read all the books, but if he'd read this one, he'd know that every few hundred years a male Musca can't find a mate and he "abandons his community and starts using people's bodies to nest, binding them together with a viscous goo." Ew.
As they walk, in the background we see a figure approaching the two women who are sitting on the bus stop bench. It's clothed in black, carrying a black briefcase, and it has a giant head. At first I think it's literally a giant fly's head. But when Charlie notices it, we get a closer look, and it's a large black hood, like a beekeeper's outfit. It sits down and then casually scoots closer to the women, who scoot away, and it's hilarious.
Harper's apartment. She asks Jack where he's from, and he tells her he lives in Lebanon, Kansas. NO, JACK. DON'T TELL ANYONE WHERE YOU LIVE. Jack coughs some more and then notices a picture of Harper with her boyfriend, Vance. She says he left town after high school because he wanted to see the world, and Jack seems astonished that anyone would leave her. And that was when her bad luck started, but she tries to stay optimistic. "Me too," Jack says. "I had some not-so-great stuff happen in my past. Trying to be positive... it can be hard." Oh, Jack, sweetie. They gaze into each other's eyes and it looks like they're going to kiss. Jack's phone buzzes with a text from Dean that says CALL ME NOW.
Jack? Do you believe in love at first sight?
Do you... (music swells)... mind if I use the bathroom?
Ha!
Jack hides in the bathroom to call Dean. He tells him Harper isn't a monster, and he thinks she's in love with him. Although Dean's sure that's not the case, Jack says "but if she is, I need to know everything about sex. Go." Ha again! Dean tells him about Miles's death, which makes Jack wonder if she's cursed. Dean says it's more like all the guys around her are cursed. "Like me," Jack ponders, just before we get another monster POV shot and a strangled shout from Dean. The phone goes dead.
Jack comes back into the living room and Harper asks if he's okay and if he wants to go for coffee. Then the door bursts open and Dean comes in, and I wonder why she's freaking out until I remember that Dean is Bad FBI Guy to her. He quickly blocks the door and tell her they're here to save her from... whatever it is that's suddenly growling and banging on her door. "At first I thought it was a ghost," he says, "but then it punched me in the face." She's freaked out about a ghost, but Jack reassuringly (NOT!) tells her that he's saying it's NOT a ghost. Dean recognizes a photo and it turns out the monster is her old boyfriend Vance, who she didn't even realize was dead.
For some reason Dean isn't carrying a lot of weapons, but he has a silver knife and finds a silver letter opener on Harper's desk. Silver will slow it down, he tells them, but there's only one way to kill the undead boyfriend. Vance breaks the door down before we learn what that is. Dean starts fighting with the silver knife and tells Jack to get Harper out of there.
Stakeout. It's nighttime now. A lone man sits at the bus stop as Sam tries to convince Charlie that she can't drop out of society. She needs people, and also, it's hard to walk away from being a hunter. "I tried. Our Charlie tried." You know, for someone who did want out of hunting, and did try to get out of it, Sam spends a lot of time convincing others to do it, or at least enabling them. I mean, Dean was all "Patience, if you can live a normal life, do it," and Sam was all "well, Claire, if you're gonna hunt, I guess I should show you how to hack." Although that (and teaching Ghoul!Adam to shoot) was more about protecting someone determined/forced to be a hunter than recruiting. So maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. Anyway, if anyone recognized the futility of getting out of the life, it would be him.
Jeff Goldblum shows up again and sits by his next victim. Charlie wants to go for the kill, but Sam thinks they should wait for him to make his move, in case he's just into weird fashion. Look, Sam, if a guy likes wearing a black beekeeper's bonnet and sidling up to random strangers at bus stops, he deserves to be hunted, whether or not he's actually part bee. When the bus shows up, it blocks their view of the duo. When it leaves, the bench is empty. Which could mean they just got on the bus, but we see something disappearing behind the stop. Sam decides it's a go after all.
Let's stick with this story, rather than cutting back and forth between them like the show did.
Sam and Charlie find a door with a bunch of goo on the handle. Sam says Charlie found something in the books that theorized a brass nail dripped in sugar water would kill a musca. Because yes, of course sugar water, WHICH FLIES EAT, would kill a fly man. (Rolls my eyes at this otherwise delightful episode.) Charlie reminds him they have neither of those things. "So we get creative," Sam says. I'm expecting some kind of MacGuyvering involving a can of Coke, or Sam's sugary coffee. (Spoiler alert: I'm wrong.)
{Sidebar: Why are all the methods of killing monsters so weirdly specific? Chopping off the head should kill ANYTHING.}
They go through the door, which surprisingly leads them into an abandoned warehouse. It's full of flies (normal ones, not half-man flies) and smells like pine cleaner and rotting meat. Yum. Eventually Sam finds the briefcase, which is full of what looks like candy wrappers and also has a white cloth, which he sniffs to discover chloroform. Dude. Don't sniff the chloroform rag. Charlie finds the most recent victim, still alive, by a pile of bodies. Something grabs Charlie's hand. She pulls loose, but falls off a low platform (seriously, it's like two feet high) and... loses consciousness? Okay. Maybe he chloroformed her and I missed it. I'm old and decrepit and this would have barely bruised me. He must have chloroformed her.
Sam tries to wake her up, but is interrupted by the WORST MONSTER COSTUME EVER. Oh god, you guys, this fly man head is so bad. SO BAD.
{Sidebar: Did you know that you don't see much of the shark in Jaws because the model was so bad, Steven Spielberg decided he wanted to shoot it as little as possible? And it actually made the movie better because the unseen monster was so much scarier? Just saying, Speight.}
(Um, have you watched any movies that were made before 1980?)
Well, that was uncalled for.
Jeff Goldblum attacks Sam and gets goo on him, and if this were really a fly, wouldn't that goo be digesting him? Isn't that how flies eat? (Why yes, it is.) Charlie regains consciousness and stabs it with something, which gets it off Sam long enough for him to shoot it in the head. Creativity in action! So, I guess I got my wish. Interesting that, just like last week, the guys figured out that there are actions that will kill anything.
Aftermath! Charlie and Sam are driving, and Sam says he feels bad for the Musca, which could have been happy if it had stayed home with its people. Subtle, Sam. Charlie's all, yeah, okay, I'm like the bug, except not so much. As we see the Musca family coming to retrieve their brother's body, Sam asks Charlie not to leave. "If we help people, then maybe they'll help people, and all that, and that's worth it. Even with all the tears and death, it's worth it." Oh, Sammy. {sniff} She says she'll think about it.
Back to Jack and Harper. It was broad daylight when they got to her apartment, so I don't know why it's nighttime now. How long did he spend in the bathroom? No wonder she asked if he was okay. Cut to Dean gleefully fighting the zombie, who suddenly stops fighting and runs off.
Jack and Harper run to the library, where she struggles with the keys until Jack remembers she left without locking the door. They scurry inside and he locks it. As they hide behind the counter, they see Zombie Vance run by. Jack tells her not to worry, because he locked the door, and she asks if he flipped the switch under the lock? Obviously he didn't, and she goes to do it herself. As she stands, looking out the door, Vance shows up. She unlocks the door, which Jack obviously DID lock, and opens it. He hands her the history book - I guess Jack dropped it - and they kiss.
Um. whoops. Vance is actually still Harper's boyfriend. And he has to eat human flesh. Like, Jack's, for example. Vance lunges for Jack, who hides in the stacks as Harper gives him the villain dialogue over the library's PA system. She likes Jack, but he's obviously a hunter, and she comes from a long line of necromancers, so it would never work out between them. She killed Vance to keep him from leaving after high school, and killing every other guy in her sights is just a fun little romantic roleplay for them. We get a little scare when a hand appears on Jack's shoulder (been a lot of that going around lately), but it's Dean. He tells Jack they have to get Vance back into his grave and then drive a stake into his heart to keep him there. And they're going to convince him using another romance novel method.
Jack tells her he wants to do things Vance can't do - walk her down the aisle, raise a family. This draws Vance out, who lunges at him but finds himself facing Dean. Vance gets Dean against a wall, and Harper calls out to him. Dean thinks she's going to call him off, but she says "Baby, kill him!" and Dean's "huh" look is precious to me. Instead, Dean slaps a handcuff on his arm and cuffs him to a pole or something. Jack cuffs his other arm to a library cart, I think, which is mobile and therefore defeats the purpose of cuffing, but good try, Jack. The cuffs burn Vance, so they're silver or enchanted or something. Seems like a successful hunt, but when the guys look up, the door is open and Harper is gone.
Later we see Harper and her suitcase at a cafe, writing a letter to Jack. So she had time to go home and pack a suitcase, and Dean and Jack didn't go to her apartment and look for her? Guys. Come on. She's sorry she's going to have to kill Jack, but it means she can bring him back to life and they'll be together forever. See you soon, she writes, sealing the envelope addressed to Jack Smith, c/o the Lebanon, Kansas post office. I TOLD YOU NOT TO LET HER KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE, JACK. Is Harper going to be a Big Bad this season? Or maybe a Little Bad? I wouldn't mind seeing her again. She's a charming little villain.
Finally, Jack's drinking coffee again, probably with a lot of sugar, in the bunker. This scene, with them facing each other, is a nice callback to the beginning of the episode. Dean tells Jack he did good, and Jack pushes for more hunts, because he was right. It's not about being right, Dean tells him, it's about what you do after you're wrong, after you've made a mistake. And about not beating yourself up, Jack points out. Dean tells him he's pretty smart, and Jack smiles and coughs and Dean promises to talk about getting him on more hunts when Sam gets back (BECAUSE SAM IS THE ONE TO ASK, YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT) and Jack lies about being fine and then coughs some more and shows Dean his bloody palm and collapses on the floor with blood oozing from his mouth and nose and WELL. THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY.
And the episode ends, without Sam and Dean sharing a single scene. Has that happened before? It's unsettling. I like the ep, though. I liked the relationship focus - Sam bonding with New Charlie, Dean bonding with Jack. I liked the humor. I liked that Sam wasn't ignored, even though the brothers had separate storylines. I liked the continuation of things that have been happening this season, the gentle reminder (but not constant siren) of Dean's guilty feelings and Sam's leadership and Jack's issues. And, of course, CHRISTO!
And there was one weird thing I noticed on first watch, but it didn't jump out at me on rewatch so I don't remember when it happened... Dean said "Son of a B." This is the second episode where they said something weird instead of bitch. What's going on there? Is Dean never going to say "son of a bitch" again? Because that's not good.
What did you guys think? And please help me stay unspoiled; thanks!
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