#would easily fall prey to cult recruitment tactics | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

an-android-in-a-tutu · 1 year

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sometimes I develop stock backstories for a particular character that I can tweek for a variety of aus because i just like the vibe. Like Cas growing up in a big religiously abusive family on an isolated farm and maybe murdering his dad in his teens and getting away with it (don't worry about it.)

Anyway one I like for supernatural generally is just like. The Apocalypse gets derailed entirely by accident and no one has any idea what to do now. On the one hand it's a very utilitarian thing. I wanna write early seasons fic without the looming threat of the apocalypse hanging over everything sometimes you know? But I also just really like that vibe. The fact that the world is never going to end as like a source of existential horror. Especially for this species whose purpose is entirely tied up in the apocalypse. What does a world look like when it's been abandoned by God and just keeps on going? The same as it always did.

I like to imagine the slow death of heaven as the debate on if they should restart the apocalypse and how rages, and as they try to figure out what went wrong and who's to blame the lies that sustain this system start to crumble. They find out God hasn't been giving orders for a long time and now the final thread of prophecy he left them has snapped and they're left floundering. Some dedicated few go searching for him but when it becomes clear he's not to be found and isn't coming back it all just starts to seem so pointless. The archangels are locked in debate over what to do next, middle management is just trying to keep dissent from spreading, and all the while more rank and file angels are just... slipping out the back door when no one's looking. They aren't needed in heaven, they aren't needed anywhere, what can they do but try to find some purpose for themselves? And what better example to follow than those small ignorant favoured creations who have always had to construct meaning for themselves in the face of the daunting prospect of free will?

That's where Castiel goes looking anyway.

My favourite version of this is one where he ends up making a Reverse Doomsday Cult.

#spn #castiel #spn angels #The World Is Not Going To End: What To Do In The Face Of The Horror Of A Perpetual Existence #technically he takes over a cult #see cause I feel like Cas #especially when vulnerable and in search of guidance #would easily fall prey to cult recruitment tactics #heaven is also a cult I think he would find it comforting and familiar and treat it all as normal #he would be oblivious to the danger signs at first #but see once he did become aware of the types of violation and abuse that occur in those kinds of organizations #well he's an angel he makes with the smiting #which leaves him with a bunch of people already primed and vulnerable due to the fact that they were in a cult in the first place #doubly so because many of those spared would of course be victims feeling a mixture of fear and gratitude towards #the man who has just very convincingly revealed himself to be OH YEAH a LEGIT Angel #super easy to just end up in charge of the cult #on the one hand Cas is a much nicer cult leader in part on account of how he came here to seek guidance From humans #So the whole thing shakes out to be a lot more democratic than all that #on the other hand there is no way Castiel knows how to differentiate between healthy and unhealthy community building #not to mention he would undoubtedly share the truth about monsters and the supernatural with his followers #and if they were at all tempted to say #bring their mission of doing good works in the world to that particular problem #or even just build up defenses around their safe haven #well now suddenly this fringe religious group is stockpiling weapons #and that does not look good

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