#motw (sort of)

[carefulfears]

where would you have ended the series at? like some people say ftf, some say s7, some say it was right to go all the way through the revival.

do i have to keep it exactly as is and decide where to cut it off or can i go all the way through and change literally everything that happens? lmao

keeping everything the same, my ideal end would’ve been after s8. mulder and scully holding that baby, family restored, deciding he was the truth they had been looking for: that IS the end of this story. that is the only natural conclusion to what we’re doing here. there is literally no reason why it ever should’ve changed from that.

and i like s8!! other than the reproductive trauma nastiness and some dull episodes, i love the narrative of that season.

if you had to do s9 and for some reason we had to lose the baby, if i had my way, 2nd movie would’ve still been a MOTW (a completely different one lol) and dedicated a lot more to exploring the themes that are already present. what it means to be followed by “the darkness”, what it’s like to live in a haunted house, what the effect of missing child after missing child is on them and their relationship. the coping mechanisms that they’ve developed and the ways that it comes in-between them.

revival could’ve still happened, could’ve had a lot of the same ideas, i’ll even allow them the same motivations for trying to find the baby. but instead of killing jackson’s adoptive parents and doing…..whatever that was……it could’ve focused on mulder and scully getting back into solving x-files while getting to know him, on some level.

and on moving forward from that pathology that kept them so haunted for so many years; a lot of the growth they do have in the revival is in them talking about their child and not just avoiding it and carrying around the guilt. to actually be able to know him and form a relationship with him would’ve gone a long way to an imperfect but still satisfying resolution to their characters.

it’s wild how bad s9/IWTB/revival are when, in my opinion, it would’ve only taken such MINIMAL changes to be good?? CC clearly regrets the plot that ruined his show, and it would’ve been so easy to fix it, rather than try to erase it.

basically, i want IWTB and the revival, written by glenn and james not chris.

#thanks for the ask!! i love to just talk about these things with you guys #alternate: s9 but mulder offscreen as a stay at home dad #like he WANTED TO BE #and like the OBVIOUS EASIER SOLUTION to dd not being there wouldve been #series still ends with them going on the run sure why not #IWTB mulder scully william in the unremarkable house being given a MOTW case that leads them back into society out of hiding #couldve explored a bit of the effects of raising a child while on the run from the law #revival mulder scully back in the x-files some sort of mythology issue #cameos from teenage will #idk if the revival would work as well tbh #but i cannot come up with EVERYTHING #asks

[spnhunter4life]

Two Minutes to Midnight

Summary: Y/n is out for a fun day with Sam when things take a turn for the worse. Desperate for help, they turn to Castiel for answers. But how helpful will the unreliable angel be?

Word Count: 5.5k

A/N: My first time writing Cas! As you can tell, I went with the seasons 4 and 5 socially awkward, only moderately helpful Castiel. That's my favorite version of him. I've had this idea floating around for quite a while and I finally got around to writing it. This isn't my favorite thing I've written by any means, but I'm happy enough with it and figured since I took the time to write it, I might as well post it. Hope everyone enjoys!

Masterlist

Sam, Dean and I were at Bobby’s, taking a couple days of downtime. Dean had been hard at work giving the Impala some routine maintenance – his version of relaxing – and Bobby was busy doing research for a case, so Sam and I had taken one of Bobby’s functioning old junk cars into town to go see a movie, something we rarely got the chance to do. Dean had originally been planning to come with us, but opted out when he realized we were set on watching a documentary.

Our movie finished just after six so we were on our way to grab some food for everybody when it started. I gasped out loud at the sudden painful ache in my chest. I wished I could take back my reaction after the initial shock of it wore off. It wasn’t so bad. It could definitely be ignored. Sam had already been alerted that something wasn’t right though and asked about it. 

I brushed it off, telling him everything was fine. We walked to a diner and put in an order of food to go and then settled into stools at the bar to wait. But by the time our food was ready twenty minutes later, it was getting a lot harder to ignore. Sam noticed and seemed concerned, but I waved him off again. 

The drive back to Bobby’s finally pushed things over the edge into problematic territory.

“Sam. Something’s wrong,” I said through gritted teeth when we were still about ten minutes away. 

“What’s going on?” He asked, looking at me in alarm. 

“I don’t know. My chest hurts. It’s getting a little hard to breathe.”

“Why did you keep telling me nothing was wrong?” He hissed out in frustration.

“Wasn’t that bad,” I told him. “Thought it would go away. But it’s getting worse.”

He looked over at me, eyes full of worry, and then pushed the old car to go faster.

~~~~~

The door rebounded against the wall with a bang as Sam carelessly threw it open. My arm around his neck and his arm wrapped tightly around my waist was the only reason I was still standing.

“What the hell happened?!” Bobby demanded, jumping to his feet and rushing over to help. He put his own arm around me and together they helped me over to the couch. I immediately rolled onto my side, curling into myself in a futile attempt to stop the pain that had spread throughout my whole body.

“I don’t know!” Sam answered, sounding a little panicked. “She was fine and then she was just in pain all of a sudden! I asked her about it and she said she was fine. But it’s obviously getting worse.”

“Alright, settle down now. We need to stay calm. We won’t solve anything if we’re not thinking straight,” Bobby said. “Now think. Did you guys see anything strange? Did you come across anyone who seemed a little suspicious? Was there anything that caught your attention?”

“No, there wasn’t anything. We didn’t even talk to anyone except the waiter at the diner,” Sam said.

“Y/N? Can you think of anything Sam’s forgetting?” 

I searched my memory as best I could, but it was really hard to concentrate. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever been in this much pain.

“I don’t know,” was all I could manage to say.

“Ok. Well we’ll just-”

“Wait!” Sam interjected. “There was that guy. You bumped into him on the sidewalk. I mean we didn’t think anything of it, but what if…” He came over and started carefully patting me down, checking my pockets and apologizing as he did it. 

“Damn it. No hex bag,” he said. “It had to be him though. I mean, who else could it be? I’m gonna get Dean. We should go track him down.”

“Now hold on a minute,” Bobby warned. “Could be this has got nothing to do with anybody. She might just be sick.”

“Bobby, what sort of sickness affects a person this way?” Sam scoffed.

“I ain’t a doctor, and last I checked, neither are you! Now go get your brother. Maybe we can get Cas to come take a look at her.” 

Sam hesitated for a moment but then relented and walked out the still open door to bring Dean in.

“Alright, just breathe now,” Bobby said to me in a calm voice. My breaths were coming out in gasps, each inhale making the pain in my chest worse. It felt like someone was trying to twist a knife straight into my heart. He brushed the loose hair away from my face and then placed the back of his hand against my forehead. His brow wrinkled in concern.

“You feel a bit warm,” he told me. “I’m going to grab you a cool rag.”

He went to the kitchen and I closed my eyes, trying to focus on anything else. I opened my eyes a moment later, alerted by a breeze, to see Dean’s quirky angel friend standing over me with his head cocked, looking at me in that strange way he did. He walked over and placed his hand on my head.

Sam and Dean came barreling through the door a second later.

“Y/N!” Dean called out as he ran towards me, stopping an arm’s length away. “What’s wrong with her Cas?”

I gasped out in relief, the pain receding back from my limbs until it only remained in my chest. I saw Bobby come back in the room, a washcloth in his hands.

“How’d you know?” I asked Cas. He had his eyes closed in concentration.

“I heard Dean’s prayer.” 

Sam must have seemed worried enough that Dean didn’t even wait to reach me before asking the angel for help.

“What’s wrong with her?” Dean demanded, anxiously watching Cas work.

“I’m ok, Dean,” I told him.

“No you’re not! Sam said he had to practically carry you in here!”

“Really. I’m feeling better. Whatever Cas is doing is helping.” Cas whipped his head towards me at that statement.

“I’m not doing anything,” he contradicted me. 

“What? Then why am I feeling better all of a sudden?” I asked.

“You feel completely better?” Bobby asked.

Cas removed his hand and took a step back. He looked at me expectantly.

“Not completely. My chest still hurts, but everything else feels better and it’s a little easier to breathe. It got better when Cas touched me. You really weren’t doing anything?”

“I was simply assessing your condition. I did nothing to relieve your pain,” he informed me.

“Well then what’s wrong with her? And why’s it suddenly getting better?” Bobby asked. 

That’s what I wanted to know. I wasn’t exactly prone to sporadic outbursts of extreme pain. Clearly there was something wrong with me, whether it was supernatural or medical, I had no clue. I needed an explanation though, because even though the pain was better, it was still intense and I wasn’t having the easiest time focusing on the conversation.

“Where does it hurt?” Cas ordered more than asked.

“Right now?” He nodded. “Just my chest. Before you got here it was everything.”

“But where on your chest? I need you to be precise.”

“Right here,” I answered, pointing to right above my heart, the place the pain was radiating out from.

“That’s where the pain originated? And then it started to spread and get worse?” 

At my confirmation he looked at every person in the room, lingering on me the longest.

“I have a theory.” 

Everyone waited for him to elaborate further, but he just continued to stare at me curiously, the way he often looked at people. Like he was seeing something for the first time that he’d only ever heard about before.

“Which is?” Dean snapped, his patience wearing thin.

“Perhaps we should discuss this matter in private,” Cas suggested.

“Private? Everyone is going to find out eventually. And I don’t want to leave her right now. Just tell us,” Dean ordered.

“I wasn’t suggesting you leave her,” Cas answered. “I was speaking to Sam.”

“So I don’t get to know what’s going on? And what about Y/N? She’s the one suffering right now. You’re not even going to explain why or how to help her?” Dean snapped.

Cas didn’t even answer. He just walked out of the living room and into the kitchen, telling Sam to come with him. Sam looked a little torn. After a second’s hesitation, he gave an apologetic smile and followed after the angel.

“Don’t worry. Sam’ll tell us everything we need to know,” Bobby said.

“I don’t like how evasive Cas is being,” Dean sighed. He ran a hand through his hair and came to sit on the coffee table. “Are you still feeling better?” Dean asked.

“Yeah. Thanks for calling Cas.”

Dean snorted.

“Not that he’s being any help. You’re clearly in a lot of pain,” he worried. “How bad was it before if this is better?”

“Doesn’t matter,” I told him.

“Bobby,” Sam called from the kitchen. We all looked over to see him motioning the older hunter over. Bobby sighed.

“Here,” he said, handing the washcloth he’d grabbed earlier to Dean. “Try and cool her down a bit. She felt awful hot when I touched her.”

I thanked Bobby as he left the room. A cool rag did sound kind of nice, although I wasn’t sure how much it would really help.

Dean grabbed my hand in a comforting gesture and then pressed the back of his hand to my forehead to confirm Bobby’s statement. And just like that, the pain was gone. I let out a relieved sigh. It wasn’t immediate. It was slow enough that I could feel it as it lessened and then disappeared, but quick enough that the whole thing happened in a matter of seconds. Dean had a much different reaction. He hissed and quickly replaced his hand with the washcloth. 

“This is really not good,” he muttered.

I couldn’t decide if I agreed with him or not. On the one hand, the absence of pain after going so long with it being so intense was indescribable, and I was so grateful it was gone. On the other, it must have something to do with Dean. The pain went away the second he touched me. Why? How was that possible and what did it mean?

I looked up into the kitchen where Bobby stood with his arms crossed and Sam was wearing a big frown. I could hear enough of their tone to know they were having an argument. I couldn’t hear what they were saying though.

In the end, guilt won out. I couldn’t just sit here letting Dean worry about me because I was too scared to admit what just happened.

“That helps. A lot,” I told him.

“Not enough. You’re burning up. I mean, you’re dangerously hot. Cas!” He yelled, fed up with waiting. “We need solutions here.”

“No, Dean. I mean it doesn’t even hurt anymore,” I told him, sitting up.

Three pairs of feet shuffled in from the kitchen and three sets of eyes looked between me and Dean. Sam and Bobby looked frustrated, but resigned. 

“What’s going on?” Bobby asked. But by his tone of voice, I thought it seemed like he already knew the answer.

“I don’t know. I feel better,” I told him.

“How can you just feel better all of a sudden? Especially when you’re this hot? We need better than a wet rag Bobby, we need ice,” Dean said. “I mean, she’s-” he cut himself off when he removed the rag and felt my forehead again. “I don’t get it. Ten seconds ago you were practically on fire.”

“I don’t get it either,” I said, conveniently failing to mention Dean’s apparent role in my recovery. Not out of embarrassment or anything like that, but because I couldn’t come up with a way to say it that wouldn’t make me sound crazy.

Dean let go of my hand and dropped his head. He ran both hands through his hair, took a deep breath, and then stood up. He marched right over to Cas.

“What’s going on here? What was your theory that for some reason we couldn’t hear, and why is she better all of a sudden?”

“Dean. It doesn’t matter. Just let it go,” I begged. But as I said it, I thought I noticed the pain coming back. It was faint, but it was definitely there. I whimpered a little, not wanting to go through that again.

“No, it does matter!” He insisted at the same time Cas said, “She’s not better.”

Dean took a second to process.

“What did you just say?” Dean asked.

“I said she’s not better. And I can’t tell you what’s going on.”

“Dean,” I winced. The pain was quickly returning, almost back to the level it had been at before Cas got here.

“No. Look, I’m sorry that no one else seems to care what’s going on here, but I do!” 

“Dean,” Sam said firmly. When Dean turned an angry glare at him, he nodded towards the couch. Towards me. Dean turned and saw me curled up on my side again.

“What is even the point of having an angel around if you’re always going to be so useless? I’m begging for your help here, man. Do you not see how much pain she’s in?” Dean pleaded. 

“Of course I see it.”

“Then why aren’t you doing anything about it?!” Dean shouted. 

Cas was quiet for a minute, looking almost regretful.

“I’m sorry, Dean. Truly, I am. But I can’t help. Any intervention on my part will only make things worse. You have to figure it out for yourself.”

I watched through teary eyes as Dean clenched his fists a few times. Knowing him, he was debating whether or not to punch Cas.

“Dean,” I called for him again. 

He let out an angry breath and then came to sit beside me. 

“It’s ok. I’m right here. We’ll figure it out,” he told me. He lifted my head and placed it in his lap, running a hand soothingly through my hair. I let out a deep breath.

“Why does Dean make it better?” I asked. I no longer cared if it sounded insane. This was the second time his touch erased the pain. It couldn’t be a coincidence. And if he was the only way I could get any relief, I wasn’t going to hide the fact from him.

“What do you mean?” Dean asked.

“When you touch me, the pain goes away,” I told him. And then turning to Cas I again asked why.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I need to go. But I can tell you this much. You have a six hour window from the start of symptoms. Based on what Sam has told me, you only have about four more hours before this becomes fatal. I’ll be back to check on you.” And then he was gone.

“Cas, you’re the most useless son of a bitch I ever met,” Dean fumed.

“Fatal?” I questioned, trying to be sure I heard him right. I sat up and took Dean’s hand in order to keep physical contact.

“I’m afraid so,” Bobby said sympathetically. “I wish we could help. Believe me, I do. But Cas pretty well tied our hands.”

“Then untie them,” Dean ordered.

“We can’t. He made it pretty clear that you two have to figure it out on your own. If we help then it doesn’t count and we can’t save Y/N,” Sam said apologetically.

“It’s ok,” I said to a panicky Dean. “It’s not the first time we’ve been in circumstances like this. We’ll figure it out.”

“Shouldn’t I be the one saying that to you?” He asked.

I just smiled.

“I honestly think this hurts you more than it hurts me.” And I didn’t doubt the truth of those words. Dean cared and felt things more deeply than anyone I’d ever known. When someone he cared about was in pain, so was he.

“Let’s just get you better,” he said.

~~~~~

We spent the next three hours scouring every lore book we could get our hands on. Bobby had an impressive collection, but it wasn’t proving useful. A couple of times Sam would watch us for a few minutes looking like he wanted to say something. Bobby always hushed him before he could though, and after about an hour, the two of them decided to leave. Bobby said since they couldn’t help us anyway, they might as well give us some space and remove the temptation to just give us the answer.

Dean and I had been very careful to stay together. He never left my side for more than a minute, and only when we needed more books to look through. We’d held hands for a while, but when both of our palms started to get sweaty, we experimented a little with how much contact was necessary. We discovered that sitting pressed up against each other, thigh to thigh and shoulder to shoulder, worked fine. 

Impending death unless we could figure out a cure aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this time with Dean. Working together and being so close was nice. And if the minor crush I had on him caused my brain to go a little overboard with the release of dopamine, who was it hurting?

But when the three hour mark hit, the pain started to make a reappearance, despite Dean and me currently touching. I shifted uncomfortably which of course Dean immediately noticed. 

“Are you ok?” He asked.

“Yeah,” I assured him. “Just… it’s starting to hurt again.”

He grabbed my hand.

“Is that any better?”

I waited a few seconds, but it wasn’t getting any better. I reluctantly told him so. Dean bit his lip as he glanced at the clock. It was 11. One hour left.

“We’re running out of time. Maybe that’s why. We just need to hurry up. Can you still help?” 

“Yeah,” I told him. “It’s not that bad.”

“Ok. I’m gonna get some more books,” he warned me. I nodded in understanding and he hurried over to Bobby’s bookshelf. He was less selective than he had been in previous trips, just grabbing up an armful of the first books he found. By the time he got back to the couch I was gritting my teeth, trying to hold back a pained noise.

“Ok, here we go. Keep looking,” he instructed me as he sat beside me and grabbed my hand. It helped, but the pain didn’t fade entirely the way it had before. I did my best to ignore it, focusing on the book in front of me.

The pain got steadily worse. Dean took his jacket and flannel off, pressing our bare arms together in the hopes that more skin on skin contact would help. It didn’t. I really tried to help, but within ten minutes I was no longer processing the words I was reading, my mind too distracted. After half an hour I was back to the excruciating level of pain I’d been at when Sam dragged me through Bobby’s door. I was laying down again, my feet in Dean’s lap. Dean was in a panic.

“That’s it. I’m calling Bobby,” he said decidedly, standing up and fishing in his pocket.

“No. Don’t. He can’t help. And you’ll only worry them,” I managed to grit out.

“Well there’s certainly reason to worry!” Dean yelled. “Y/N, I don’t know what else to do! I can’t just sit here and watch you die!”

“Come here.”

“What’s the point? It’s not helping anyway. I just- I’ve gotta do something. I’ve gotta-”

“Please,” I said. He let out a frustrated growl, but relented. He knelt on the floor by my head and ran a hand through my hair. 

“Cas, if you don’t do something to help real soon, I’ll never forgive you,” Dean threatened. “Come on you son of a bitch. After everything we’ve been through, this is really how you want things to end?”

We waited, but Cas didn’t come.

“Dean,” I said.

“Don’t worry,” he told me, fresh determination in his eyes. But also fear and doubt. “I’m going to fix this. I don’t know how. But I will,” he promised.

“Dean, just listen to me,” I said. “There’s something I want to say to you.” I was interrupted by a particularly bad wave of pain washing through my body. I tried to be quiet, but a whimper worked its way past my lips. Dean squeezed my hand through it, the only comfort he could offer. “I know this is… really crappy timing,” I told him through my sobs. “But I need you to know.”

“Y/N. Don’t,” he said. I wasn’t sure if he could tell what I was about to say or was just protesting what he clearly knew I considered to be my deathbed confession.

“I love you,” I said anyway. “And I’m sorry to put that on you. But I needed you to know.”

Dean was crying now too, a single tear rolling down his cheek.

“And that’s exactly why I have to save you,” he said. “Because I love you too.”

His lips closed over mine. He kissed me gently, as if afraid of hurting me. The pain intensified and I groaned. Dean immediately stood up and grabbed his phone out of his pocket. Then it started to fade away. I imagined I could feel five different lines of pain – each branching out in a different direction – start to disappear. Starting at the ends of my limbs, it worked its way inwards towards my heart. And then it was gone.

“Dean, wait,” I said. He ignored me and continued pacing as he dialed. I sat up first, and then I stood. Dean stopped moving, looking at me in surprise.

“It’s better,” I told him. “Ok? See? I’m up. And you’re not even touching me and I’m ok.”

“You’re ok,” he repeated, a little dumbfounded. He dropped his phone and rushed to me, wrapping me up in a hug so tight I worried I was about to lose my newly regained ability to breathe. “Don’t you ever do that to me again,” he breathed out, pressing a relieved kiss to my temple.

We spent a few minutes just holding each other before Dean, somewhat reluctantly, let go of me. 

“We should call Sam and Bobby. Let them know you’re alright,” he said, picking his phone up off the floor.

“Yeah. We should,” I agreed. “I guess they’re probably pretty worried.”

Dean finished dialing the number he’d started to punch in earlier and I listened to the very short conversation that followed.

“Sam. Yeah, she’s better. You guys can come back now.”

He hung up the phone, hung his head, and took a deep breath, releasing the rest of the stress from his body. Then he turned to look at me. He smiled wryly before walking over and pulling me into another hug. I pressed my cheek against his chest, and he buried his face in my hair. I felt his chest rumbling when he spoke.

“You owe me. I haven’t decided what yet, but you owe me big. You just put me through enough stress to knock at least five years off my life.”

I just smiled, able to laugh about it now that it was over.

“I know,” I told him.

“I don’t think you do. I don’t think you can even begin to understand how scared I was,” he said.

“Yes I can,” I disagreed. I pulled away from him slightly and turned my face up to look at him. “I can imagine exactly how scared I would have been if the situation was reversed.”

He let out a deep sigh and pressed our foreheads together before tilting his chin down to connect our lips in another kiss. Now that the pain was gone, I was able to appreciate the softness of his lips. I wanted more, and I tried to deepen the kiss a little, but he pulled away. Before I could ask why, I got my answer in the form of the sound of the door opening.

“Never again,” Dean repeated in a playful, but very serious, tone. Then he took a step back just as Sam and Bobby walked in the room. “You two sure got here fast,” he remarked.

“We only went a mile down the road,” Bobby said. “We wanted to be able to get here quickly if we needed to.”

“Why? I thought you couldn’t help anyway,” he countered, standing with his arms crossed now.

“Dean,” I warned.

“No, I wanna know what exactly was so dangerous about them telling us what to do. Which, by the way, I still don’t understand what made you miraculously better all of a sudden.”

“It’s called an amare,” said a deep voice behind us. We both whirled around to see Cas standing there.

“And where exactly have you been?” Dean growled out. “I asked you for help Cas, and you abandoned us.”

“I was tracking it down. It’s been safely delivered up to the custody of Heaven,” he answered.

Dean clenched his jaw.

“Ok. So now that everything is over, explain. What is it? Why couldn’t anyone tell us anything?”

“Amares are… for lack of a better explanation, rogue cupids. They wander around looking for people who are in love but hiding the fact from the person they are in love with. When they find such a person, they infect them with a toxin. All it takes is one touch to infect their target.”

“That guy you bumped into on the sidewalk,” Sam said.

“Yes,” Cas confirmed “Whether the couple is a pair Heaven wants together or not, they don’t care. And as you’re aware, they don’t give you an easy moment of falling in love as cupids should. It’s extremely painful and oftentimes fatal since the victims rarely even get a chance to make it better. Their solution is always to go to the hospital which of course is useless.”

“What makes it better?” Dean asked again. 

“Seeing as Y/N is fully recovered, I would assume you know the answer to that.”

“Well I don’t. One minute I thought she was about to die and the next she was fine. Explain that,” he demanded.

I shifted on my feet a little, curious about the answer myself. 

“Y/N knows,” Cas said, noticing my discomfort. Dean turned to me.

“Y/N?” He asked, sounding a little betrayed.

“Well…” I started unsurely. I had a theory, but I didn’t want to admit it out loud. It was too ridiculous. Even by our standards.

“If you knew how to make it better the whole time, why did you put me through that? Why did you put yourself through that?”

“I didn’t know how to make it better! I just… well it seems kind of obvious. And extremely crazy at the same time,” I said, explaining my hesitation to answer. Dean was looking at me expectantly, waiting on an answer. I sighed. “It’s a direct cause and effect situation. When you touched me, it made the pain go away, right? Even if just temporarily?”

“Yeah…” Dean answered, not seeing where I was going with this.

“So…” I prompted. “What happened right before I started to feel better?”

I watched the wheels turning in his head as he thought back. I saw the moment it clicked for him, and he looked at me doubtfully.

“You really think-”

“I told you it was crazy,” I said a little defensively.

“It’s not crazy,” Cas said. “Why do you think you humans have all those fairytales about true love’s kiss?”

“Wait, so you’re saying-” Sam started, but was interrupted.

“Not literally,” Cas said. “There’s no such thing as true love. There’s just people falling in love. Some are more compatible than others of course. But legends exist for a reason. There’s always truth to them. They’re a warning and a guide.”

“So you’re telling me that Snow White was made up as a warning about the amare?” I asked incredulously. “It’s not exactly a legend, it’s a children’s story.”

“And who should be warned about the dangers of the world if not children?” Cas said.

“Alright, fine. In this scenario Y/N was Snow White and I was… Prince Charming, apparently,” Dean summarized, rolling his eyes a little. “How does kissing her make her better?” His patience was wearing extremely thin, especially with the somewhat ridiculous turn this conversation had taken and how long it was taking to get answers.

“When an amare infects someone, it specifically targets the cure of the toxin to the DNA of the other person. This is why your touch and even your presence was able to help. But it is only your saliva that can break down the toxin completely, which is where the kiss comes in.”

I wrinkled my nose a little at his word choice. It just sounded so clinical and… really not romantic. Not that we had been in what I would consider a romantic situation anyway, but… I don’t know. For some reason talking about saliva made it weird.

“And no one could tell us this because?” Dean asked again.

“Apparently once they infect someone, they stick around to keep a close eye on them,” Sam explained. “They have a certain amount of control over the toxin. If anyone interferes, they’ll change the DNA sequence it’s been coded to so that the person can’t be saved.”

“Why?” I asked. “What’s the point? Just to hurt people?”

“No. Despite their unsanctioned methods, they are still cupids doing what cupids were meant to do. Their goal is to bring people together,” Cas answered.

“And they’ve got a great way of making it happen,” Bobby muttered.

“Ok, answer me this Cas,” Dean said. “If those things stay close to the people they infect and you left to track it, why did it take you so long to find it?”

“It didn’t. I found him very quickly.”

“Then why didn’t you-”

“Because that would be interfering. I had to wait until Y/N was better.”

“Thanks for your help Cas,” I said. I could admit that I had felt a little abandoned before, but now that I had all the answers, I could see he was honestly just trying to help. I knew it would be a while before Dean calmed down enough to see that.

“Of course,” he said. Then he disappeared again.

“He’s not really one for unnecessary conversation, is he?” I commented.

Bobby snorted and Sam grinned, pulling me into a hug.

“I’m so glad you’re ok,” he said. “You had me so worried.”

“I know. I’m sorry,” I told him.

Sam let me go and Bobby affectionately patted me on the shoulder.

“Don’t apologize,” Dean said. “It’s not your fault.”

“Actually, apparently it is. Both of your faults in fact. At least a little bit,” Sam teased.

“Yes. Because I knew that I was going to be targeted by an amare,” I said sarcastically.

“Well, lesson learned,” Sam replied. “When you get tired of this idiot and move on to someone else, be sure to tell the guy how you feel.”

I huffed out a quiet, tired laugh.

“Yes, well. If I get tired of him, I’ll be sure to keep that in mind,” I said. “It’s been a long day and I’m exhausted, so goodnight everyone,” I said as I headed for the stairs.

I took a quick shower and had just finished changing into shorts and a tank top for bed when there was a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

The door opened and Dean took a step inside, hovering in the doorway.

“Hey, uh… is it alright if I join you?” He asked. I smiled at his obvious nervousness. It was something I saw on him so rarely. “I don’t really want to sleep on the floor. And it would be nice to have one night where I don’t have to listen to Sam’s snoring.”

“Is that the only reason?” I asked. Of course I didn’t mind. We’d shared a bed a few times before.

“It might be. Or maybe I’m also having a hard time letting you out of my sight after everything that happened today,” he admitted. I smiled and patted the bed.

“Come on in then,” I said.

He climbed into bed beside me and only hesitated a second before pulling me into his arms. I wrapped my arm around him and snuggled into his side. We definitely hadn’t done this before. But I liked it. I hadn’t lied when I said I was exhausted, and I felt myself quickly drifting towards sleep.

“Y/N?” Dean whispered, bringing me back to the edge of consciousness. 

“Hmm?”

“I love you,” he said. I smiled into his chest.

“I love you too.”

Tags: @123passwort @buckybarnes-1917 @chicken-nuggs-and-cozy-hugs @globetrotter28

#two minutes to midnight #supernatural fanfiction #dean winchester #sam winchester #bobby singer #castiel #reader insert #dean x reader #idiots in love #getting together #motw (sort of)

[dalishthunder]

Finally on the final episode of TAZ Amnesty, and I ship Duck and Minerva so hard... the fact that he's the only person he told his "actual" name to, the one she confessed all of her crimes to??? Like idk even if it's not romantic those two are kind of soulmates to me???

#odt #TAZ amnesty #i didn't think they could top balance #bc so much of the fanart and stories and theories were about Balance #but tbh I think Amnesty not only exceeded my expectations but also is better #I think they handle powered by the apocalypse better than they handle dnd #and that sort of smoothness just enhanced the storytelling and really sold me on motw #ALSO the fact that Aubrey apparently got a lot of hate is so wild to me #She's such an amazing character and Travis played her so well

[ocpdzim]

NEW ADVANCED UNWANTED CONVERSATION AVOIDANCE STRATEGY FROM MONSTER OF THE WEEK: filonyn has enlisted another party member, marie, to slap their phone out of their hand if they get a gossipy phone call while they're busy on a hunt so that when confronted about it later they can say "sorry, i got attacked by a werewolf and could not take your call"

#they cant lie so they have to construct these sorts of elaborate excuses. its so funny #oh and why did i not answer any calls for the next 5 hours afterwards either? well you see. the werewolf was still there #everybody knows they cant lie too so even though this sounds blatantly stupid well. clearly there was a werewolf. #this will not prevent significant drama from occurring but at least 'what the fuck was up with the werewolf' may provide a distraction #monster of the week #motw #filonyn #oc tag #my ocs

[mustiels-art]

We had to tether Brandon so he wouldn't wander off and almost die (AGAIN) and that tether came in handy to form a baby chain when we found some survivors in the school of the town we're hunting in

#chainsaw man #csm #chainsaw man oc #csm oc #brandon guy #magpie ransom #motw #motw oc #this is like the third time we've put brandon on some sort of leash

[bumblevoid]

Five Nights' Monsters, my monster of the week campaign, is now going be rambled about so- enjoy

gonna start this off by sharing my current thingy of npc designs! I'm too lazy go grab close-ups, but those will come later when i write up rambles about each of them.

minor gore warning btw

the hunters so far have met five of these guys!

haha im gonna tag them all and see how this goes-

some busts of a few of them too! i drew Henry a WHILE ago though-

#five nights' monsters #motw rpg #fnaf fanart #sort of #fnaf vanessa #sammy emily #henry emily #charlie emily #fnaf cassidy #gregory security breach #is that really his tag? #jeremy fitzgerald #michael afton #helpy #haha lets hope my players dont look at this cause 2 of 3 potential big bads are in this lol #cw gore #cw bl00d

[deadeyesthickthighs]

some of my ttrpg boys <3

#the player is me ofc the joke is that my first dnd character is almost twice my height and each of his swords are taller than me #(feli and ivan + mask are from different campaigns) #also i say some bc my boy wendel from our monsterhearts game is not here (hes an angsty teen vampire but like in a funky way) #and i have wisran who is my backup character in our main dnd campaign but unfortunately feli decided hes unkillable so #i only play boys in our ttrpgs bc i can do that #though technically dandelion is they/them who just accepts masculine pronouns #theyd beat you to death if you purposefully misgender them but then again theyd beat anyone up regardless of the specifics of the offense #theyre an ex-human-sort-of-fae thing dont think too much about it theyre just here for a good time #and tutti fruiti is trans and a very good boy having a not very good time (his friends are prone to almost dying) #tutti frutti has assigned height bc i didnt have the specific height for him aside “hes short” and someone said hes 5.1 jokingly #sumii posts #my art #dnd #motw #ttrpg

[antique-symbolism]

top 5 stargate eps?

oh BEST question, thank you anon!!!! Shit though, I could give you a top 5 per season. I am going to do my best to pick a top 5 general, but I am going to limit it to seasons 1-5 of SG-1 since that's what I've re-watched within recent memory.

Solitudes

1969

Serpent's Song

Bane

Window of Opportunity

I'm giving honorary mentions to 2010, Wormhole X-Treme, Message in a Bottle, and The Tok'ra (Parts 1 & 2). And trust me... I have MANY more favourites!!!

#solitudes is THE episode #but the problem with getting people into stargate is that you can't just show them Best Episode Solitudes right off the bat #you have to know and care about the characters before you understand why Solitudes HITS #that's actually sort of the problem in general with getting someone into Stargate SG-1 #all the best episodes are the character driven ones but you have to have watched enough of the MOTW plot driven ones to Get Invested #not that Stargate's MOTW eps are bad! a lot of them are very good #they're just not the ones that make me scream insane about the show #stargate #stargate sg1

[winteringart]

I’m a new soul in a strange world, hoping I can learn a bit about how to give and take

#em shiragaku #my art #illustration #aesthetic #ocs #my ocs #Mori Decorum #motw character #sort of #it’s an au

[elfgays]

Fuck. Uhhh what’s a fun character personality to play. I keep making aloof but gentle well meaning souls with depression and that’s all great and whatever but I’m getting a little annoyed at myself for playing the same thing all the time...... I have like two weeks at least to consider a good idea but idk what it should be

#ttrpgs #I want to one day play an asshole but I don’t know this group yet so I don’t want to cross the mental wires of me and my character to them #in that way yet #since that can require a lot of trust and understanding among the players as a group #I don’t want to be super cheerful bc tbh I have to do that at work every day I need to be more feral #when I’m off the clock #Idk the very vague idea I have so far is a monstrous (the MotW playbook) and they’re a kelpie that used to eat people and try not to do #that anymore #I think maybe they understand now that they shouldn’t do that but they’re like ok but raw flesh is tasty still (and they regularly buy raw #meat from the store and just eat it) #(but if given a fair chance to eat someone like a murderer or something they’d be on it) #I like the idea that they’re fairly well adjusted these days maybe. like they really succeeded in integrating into humanity and finding a #human style purpose and they’ve done a lot of research on their chosen profession #(not that I’ve decided that yet) #and they’re fairly knowledgeable about the area #but they’re just sort of. makes everyone uncomfortable bc of the Vibes #but idk what sort of PERSONALITY they should have augh

[txttletale]

I just wanted to let you know that I just found your tumblr within the past week and you have immediately become my 2nd favorite tumblr, being only behind Blogatog. Love your ttrpg takes.

Anywho, you said to ask about flags, so what is your biggest/are your biggest red flags when it comes to ttrpg design?

thank you! i'm glad you enjoy my silly little posts. anyways i think my biggest red flag is unintentionality--the feeling that the writer of a TTRPG has done something by 'default', the inability to put myself in their shoes and understand (or even better, be told by the text itself) the reason why a particular decision has been made.

one of the biggest places this rears its head is in terms of tone and voice. let me quote jay dragon's really good the storyteller technique:

Another advantage of getting to know the narrator of your RPG is that it helps mitigate unconscious bias in your design. Dungeons & Dragons has a notably anthropological narrative voice, explaining other cultures and creatures like a scientist in the field. The language of D&D mimics the writing style of mid-century scientists traveling to “exotic” locations and cataloging non-Western experiences as part of a documentation of the Other. It’s easy for newer designers to want to “write a game like D&D” without regard for how even the narrative voice of Dungeons & Dragons carries unintended political baggage. Is a bird’s-eye and judgemental perspective really the energy you want to bring to your whimsical fantasy world? Or is there another perspective within your world that can be more useful, and allow you to find new perspectives on the world you’ve created.

narrative tone is a choice--the attempt to use a 'neutral' tone for rules text and description is also a choice, how formal and how informal you get with it is a choice, and when i read a text that seems to have made that choice thoughtlessly it imo bodes very poorly for the rest of the game.

other examples of this kind of unintentionality are games that have a comabt system despite not being about combat in any way--games with equipment rules despite them not setting out to tell the sort of story where which sword or gun a character has matters--games that measure themselves in exact distances without actually using a battlemap--&c.

while most of this unintentionality takes the form of 'falling back onto what DND does' because DND is the market leader and many people's first TTRPG, so imitating it without purpose is something that both cynical market-share chasers & unexperienced designers without a wide range of expereicne can do--it's absolutely not unique to it. one form of unintentionality i see a lot in indie TTRPG circles is creating far more Moves for your PBtA game than necessary--clearly more out of a sense that 'AW/MotW/Masks has a Move for this' than any specific understanding of what that move will do in your game

in game design--as in any art--there is no such thing as a 'neutral' choice or a non-choice. there are only choices, and how much someone's thought about these choices is important!

#ask #aork14 #nicey ask :) #ttrpg

[foundry-fabrications]

System Spotlight: Monster of the Week

Hello everyone, and welcome to another System Spotlight! Today I've got a pulpy game full of mysteries and monsters, so let's split up, gang, and Investigate a Mystery on Monster of the Week by Evil Hat Productions!

MotW is a mystery solving and monster hunting RPG inspired by shows like Scooby-Doo, Supernatural, The X-Files, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You play as a team of investigators out to solve mysteries and fight evil, usually in short, self-contained or “episodic” adventures strung together into a larger campaign, each surrounding a new mystery or monster, hence the name.

Character Creation

You start by picking one of several “playbooks”, each based on a popular archetype or trope from the genre, such as The Chosen, The Spell-Slinger, The Mundane, The Wronged, or The Monstrous. Think of them like classes in other RPGs. Each playbook has everything you need to make and play that character until their inevitable death or retirement, including character advancement.

Then you pick one from five attribute arrays. There are five attributes (Charm, Cool, Sharp, Tough, and Weird) and each array has some strong attributes and some weaker attributes, with the others being in between.

From there, we can start getting into the real meat of the playbooks by picking moves and other details specific to each playbook. Every playbook has their own set of moves in addition to all the basic moves, which we’ll talk about those later. For example, the Expert has things like “I’ve Read About This Sort Of Thing”, which lets you roll using Sharp instead of Cool when you act under pressure, or the Spell-Slinger has “Shield Spell”, which lets you reduce the damage of an attack when you protect someone. Each playbook has a lot of options so you have a lot to play with.

In addition to the moves, many of the playbook have other special features that are unique to them. For example, the Professional works for an agency that gives you resources in missions, but you have to deal with some kind of restrictions on what you can do, while the Wronged has a background that gives them benefits as well as a connection to the supernatural underworld. Again, there are a lot of fun options.

Finally, you pick from a list of special gear that you can use on missions such as weapons or equipment, then you establish your history with the other characters in your group. This is a fun little activity that really helps to get the group dynamic going. Each playbook has a list of prompts for what each other character could be to you. For example, they could a blood relation, saved you from a monster, act as your moral compass, or maybe you’re really attracted to them. Lots of fun options.

Resolution Mechanic & Moves

MotW is a Powered by the Apocalypse game (huh, two in a row) that uses 3d6 and a few basic moves for pretty much everything. There are 8 moves, each pretty self-explanatory: Act Under Pressure, Help Out, Investigate a Mystery, Kick Some Ass, Manipulate Someone, Protect Someone, Read a Bad Situation, and Use Magic. Whenever you want to do one of those things, roll 3d6 and add any relevant rating bonus or situational modifiers. On a 10+ you do exactly what you set out to do. 7-9 whatever you’re doing is less effective and usually has some kind of downside. But anything under a 7 is a failure and nothing happens. Each move tells you exactly what happens at each threshold, but that's the gist of it.

Each move also has an Advanced effect that can trigger if you roll 12+, but you have to have taken one of the Advanced Move options as part of character advancement, which we’ll talk about in a bit.

Harm & Luck

Running around fighting monsters and thwarting evil is dangerous, so sooner or later you’re bound to get hurt. Whenever you take damage, you subtract it from any armor you have and mark the remainder as points of Harm. Once you mark 4 harm, you’re Unstable, and at 7 Harm, you’re Dying! If you take any more Harm, that’s the end for you and your character is dead. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to heal in MotW through downtime and certain moves across various playbooks.

But what if you REALLY need to avoid taking a hit, or you just fumbled an important roll, that's where Luck comes in. Each character begins with 7 points of Luck. You can spend luck to reduce the harm taken from an attack to 0 or retroactively change the result of a roll to a 12. Here’s the kicker. Your luck is finite and does NOT come back (except in EXTREMELY specific circumstances that shouldn’t be relied on), and once it runs out, you’re Doomed! A Doomed character is at the end of the line and Fate isn’t happy with your existence. The GM, or Keeper, is allowed to make more and more bad stuff happen to you. Results of failure will be worse, monsters will target you more often, any bad, fate-related things in your playbook will begin to happen, and past decision will come back to bite you at the worst time. Doomed characters don’t last long, so don’t let it get to that point if you can help it.

Character Advancement

Ok, so character creation and actual play are pretty straightforward, and that trend continues with your advancement. You gain experience whenever you fail a roll, and once you have 5 experience, you can pick an Improvement from a list in your playbook. These are things like increasing a rating by one, gaining a new move, or taking a move from another playbook entirely. Once you have 5 Improvements, you qualify to take Advanced Improvements. These are even stronger things like gaining 2 Advanced Moves, changing your entire playbook, retiring your character while they still live, or even regaining one of your spent Luck!

Other Stuff

That’s pretty much everything as far as player-facing content goes, but there’s a good bit more for the GM to dig in to. There is advice for creating your own mysteries, stringing mysteries together in arcs, and running downtime and one-shots, an introductory mystery, suggestions for how to customize your game, and a big ol’ list of inspirational material.

Tome of Mysteries and Codex of Worlds

But if you’re looking for more MotW content (official, anyway), Evil Hat published the Tome of Mysteries and, just this last year, the Codex of Worlds. The Tome of Mysteries is just that, a collection of new pre-made mysteries you can run, while the Codex of Worlds is a full-blown expansion with all kinds of fun additions to spice up your game. There are new rules, special team playbooks that the whole group can use, and entire settings to shake up the game, each with their own rules and mysteries! It’s like a 400-page book and a delight to read.

My Thoughts

So, it took me a while to get into playing MotW. It was my first encounter with an RPG that was more narrative focused in its mechanics than D&D and I struggled to wrap my head around it. My friend was running a long-term campaign in it, so I heard a lot of what went on and the kinds of shenanigans the group got up to, and I was curious. Over the years, he ran a couple one-shots, and frankly I didn’t get much out of either. Something about it just didn’t click with me. But this last Halloween, he ran an SCP-themed game using some of the stuff from Codex of Worlds, and that one finally got me. I don’t know if it's because of my love for the SCP universe or that our one-shot quickly became a four-shot, giving us more time together and less pressure to finish in a timely manner, but that game really made me understand it and appreciate it for what it is. And I like what it is.

So, what do I like? Well for starters it's dummy simple, something that has become increasingly important for me over the years. The basic resolution mechanic is clean, the moves are clearly defined, but open-ended enough for creative uses, and because you’re mostly going to be rolling 7-9s it keeps the game interesting. And I could just gush about the playbooks! I think they’re my favorite part of the games, easy. They’re stupid simple to use, are completely self-contained, and have enough options to make a wide variety of characters but not so many options as to be overwhelming. You can hand a brand-new player a playbook, and they can be ready to play in 5 minutes, maybe 10. I wish more RPGs had their classes laid out like this (if you know any, let me know!).

Another great thing about the playbooks is that because they’re so well-structured, it makes it easy for people to make their own custom playbooks. There are quite a few custom playbooks made by fans online, and several of them are actually available on the Evil Hat website!

So yeah, I love this game and if you’re into things like Scooby-Doo, Supernatural, Buffy, The X-Files, or The Dresden Files, I think you’ll have a good time too. Anyway, that's all for now. As always, stay safe, don't forget to love each other, and I'll see you again soon.

#system spotlight #monster of the week #motw #scooby doo #supernatural #the dresden files #buffy the vampire slayer #rpg #evil hat #powered by the apocalypse #mystery #monster #ttrpg #tabletop #tabletop rpg #tabletop games #tabletop roleplaying #the x files

[ladylightning]

i need to know what not getting spn means

good question. i don't think there's one right way to interpret the show, but i do think there's portions of the audience that flat out refuse to interact with the narrative or subtext or any sort of critical analysis, which bars them from "getting" the show.

i'm talking mainly about dudebros who think it's the "kill things and drink beer" heterosexual tv show, or people who take it at face value as a goofy motw show. also people who are deeply obsessed and enamored with jackles/jarpad etc and view the show as just a means to ogle the men more than storytelling. i am also talking about the cw as a whole and honestly probably a good portion of the writer's room, i'm not sure a lot of people actively involved with the show's creation really fully understood the breadth and depth of the show's lore, messaging, and narrative purpose. also people who vehemently hate one of the main characters, or think cas is not a main character, etc. i think you missed the point.

beyond that, there's plenty of different schools of thought about the show (hellers, wincesties, etc) i don't think anyone is "wrong" per say because they at least are showing evidence and making arguments for their interpretations, which to me indicates they engage with the show on the deeper level that constitutes "getting it" in my eyes. of course i have my own interpretation of things, but i think people who have drastically different interpretations than mine still "get" the show, if they are doing textual analysis and web weaving and making arguments, etc. this is how i feel about most media honestly.

tldr: you have to engage with the text/show to "get" it, regardless of what your viewpoint ultimately is. there's nothing wrong with taking the show at face value, but you are missing the larger point of the show by doing that imo.

#spn #supernatural

[ocpdzim]

1970s outfits for Filonyn! The one with the really long veil is an outfit they wear to wild parties, and the reason the hat is so unusually wide and the veil is so unusually long is because they really do not care for wild parties and if they must go to one it’s vital for them to enforce personal space

#my art #oc tag #my ocs #monster of the week #motw #they can’t just NOT GO to parties they’re invited to because that would be rude #which as far as fae are concerned is like. worse than committing a murder #the 1970s had a lot of the sorts of parties they hate most. #they get sensory overload and they’re an introvert. #filonyn

[disabled-dean]

Forever Mint Condtion posting, but truly it is Thee thesus episode for how Dean's relationships with the victims of the week has changed-

Dean makes *one* comment about the appearance of the hot comic bookstore lady, and it's to point out that she and Sam have the same haircut and dress sort of alike.

And then it's Sam who ends up trapped in the store with her, and Dean in the hospital bonding with the boy bestfriend over their shared love of this niche horror franchise and how he watched a lot of movies as a kid because he wanted to be able to "count on the bad guys always loosing".

And then they don't even rescue the girl from the motw in the end- because she's the one that figures out what's keeping the ghost in place and she and Sam go to rescue Dean (in a super non-sexually charged way).

And then afterwards neither of the boys have a moment with her, they're just like- yep, sometimes this is just how these things end thoughts and prayers <3

And Dean gets into the Impala and is like, I got to fight Hatchet Man and also I will never be over Michael using me to hurt other people like???

It is truly a whole different animal than it used to be.

#a win for the girls and the gays on this one fam #like *yes* the obvious bit about dean not performing heterosexuality or masculinity to quite the same heights as before #but also my fucking kingdom for attractive femal side chatacters who are allowed to act normal and don't have to date anyone #dean posting #spn 14x04 #grey watches supernatural

[the-forge]

spock acknowledging his mother absolutely kills me!! and as much as i love the production efforts of snw, i think more episodes devoted to peripheral characters and their development without the insane devotion to cannon would serve the series in a good way! stop the spock romances but keep the hijinks. i want ortegas fleshed out and going on away missions creating new insane maneuvers every episode. i want m’benga going to research conferences that get completely derailed by ethical dilemmas (scrap the doctor / melee fighter split for him). i want a pelia and amanda episode of reminiscing about the past while trying to haggle some antiques and all of that turns into a heist of sorts. i want more of this!! the enterprise bingo was absolutely fabulous in this sort of revitalizing of old trek plot structure and it was fantastic!!

and obviously every episode isn’t going to work for everyone in this structure, because you have different writers coming on with different perspectives on each character and different themes you have to like to get episodes, and sometimes it just doesn’t click. but i think this is the beauty of the structure, the next episode has a new format and bam! maybe i just find the monster of the week format more compelling than serialization in shows, but i think it’s also the reason snw is more popular and compelling than disco has been. i mean there’s been a few episodes that don’t hit it for me (im really not a fan of musicals, i mean they grind the gears i have, and yet im not mad at all subspace rhapsody was a hit, it was an homage to a genre that a lot of folks really love) but overall the personal misses are just that. subjective takes that you can pick up or leave and the next week, the next episode you have that same choice.

and that's why im petitioning the production team to chill a little bit so each episode doesn't have to have this crazy production value. i actually think it would benefit the series a ton if they'd use some of that money in making a few more episodes a season (not 30 like 90s shows, i understand the industry has changed) but more of the motw format and less of the serialized romanticism would be great for the show! for me at least hey o

#star trek snw #snw #tafm