Suptober 2023-Day 15: Abstract (again)
Just for now 911 words on AO3 or below
Summary: Cas has a heavy request for Dean.
I know I already did one for today but I then I thought of this so yeah here's another lol
Cas took a deep breath. He stood outside the bedroom door, bracing himself for what he was about to do. He didn’t particularly want to do it but it was necessary. He opened the door to find Dean stretched out on the bed reading. He glanced up from his book, smiling when he saw him.
Cas sat on the bed. “Dean.”
Dean put his book down and quickly sat up. “Cas, what’s wrong?”
Cas smiled sadly. He could sense Dean’s elevated heart rate, could feel his worry. He would miss that. “Nothings wrong, Dean. Well, not really.”
“Cas…” Dean said, anxious. Now he was really worried.
Cas shook his head. “It’s ok, Dean, really. Just let me explain. I need you to do something for me.” He held up his angel blade and a small glass vial. “I need you to cut out my grace.”
Dean’s eyes widened in shock. His head was swimming with a million questions but he could see Cas didn’t want to be interrupted.
Cas took a deep breath and continued. “As you know my grace has not been consistent for some time now. Some days I need to sleep and eat. Urinate.” He added, annoyed. “And other days I don’t. I’ve thought about this a lot. I’m tired of the inconsistency.” He said honestly.
“Is it safe to cut it out?” Dean asked, concerned. “What about Jack? Could he help?”
“Perfectly safe.” Cas put the blade down to hold Dean’s hands in his. “I promise, Dean. I’ll be fine without it. As for Jack, no he can’t help. Not yet.” He tried to smile reassuringly.
“When I first got out of the Empty, Jack tried to replenish my grace but he could only manage a small amount. Separating from Amara left him weakened. He has most of his former nephilim power but replenishing grace, especially as much as I required, was too much for him. Given time he can do it but it might take years for him to reach that level.” He sighed.
“I’ve never mentioned this before but Jack and I frequently communicate on our own angel radio channel. Although lately I can only manage it if he’s close by, another reason I’m doing this.” He looked down sadly thinking about all he was going to miss. “He can always sense me and I him. And you.” He added, sadly. “I had to make sure he was ok with losing that connection because I know from experience how hard it is to lose that.”
Dean squeezed his hand. He knew he was referring to the last time he was human. Dean had many regrets about that period, knowing Cas lost his connection to him only makes it worse. But he doesn’t have time to dwell on that particular mistake. This is about Cas.
“I also had to think about my usefulness on hunts.” Dean is ready to interject but Cas stops him. “I know you don’t care, Dean, and that fact is one reason I’m doing this.” He reassures him. “It’s not only my strength I would be losing but my ability to heal you if you got hurt. I can barely manage it these days but knowing I could alleviate at least some of your pain was enough. I do this and I lose that ability.”
“I love you, Cas. I don’t care if you can’t heal some bumps and bruises, anything worse, that's what hospitals are for. Or Jack if he’s around.” He laughs, sadly. “I just want you to be ok. To be happy. If cutting out your grace can help with that, can stop the daily guessing game, then ok. Let’s do it.”
Cas hands him the blade. “It will.”
Dean takes the blade, leaning in. He pauses giving Cas a chance to call if off but instead he gives him a tiny nod to continue. He slowly brings the blade to his throat, slicing a small cut. He moves the vial underneath it to collect the beautiful, blue grace that trickles out. It doesn’t take long for the grace to stop flowing, replaced by blood. He closes the vial and presses a tissue to the cut.
Cas takes over, holding it in place as Dean goes to the desk for the small first aid kit he keeps in there. He sits back on the bed taking the tissue away. He cleans up the cut and places a band aid over it.
“How do you feel?” He asked, trying to keep his voice even. To stay strong for him.
“I’m fine. At least I will be.” He said honestly. He leaned in towards Dean who was quick to wrap his arms around him. “It’s for the best.” He said voice breaking. “I couldn’t take the uncertainty anymore.”
Dean held him tight. “It’s ok, Cas, I got you.” He choked. “I love you and I’m here for you whatever you need.”
“Thank you, Dean.” Cas gave him a quick kiss, their faces both wet from the tears. “I love you.” He moved to lay down, Dean following him, not willing to let him go.
As they laid there Cas realized it felt different. He could feel the bed and the sheets in a way he couldn’t before. Dean holding him felt different, he could feel more. He realized that while he was losing senses he would be gaining new ones. Maybe this temporary human thing wouldn’t be so bad after all.
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I think the "Billy should ditch the boar" takes comes from AM being the one route that breaks their self-insert fantasy. Flamey and Emile doing their stuff and the Jerry thing etc do not matter bcs its not being directly mean to YOU, the player, in YOUR story. Edel-chan is a very sad and traumatized girl that will ALWAYS love YOU no matter what you do and she will doodle YOU and squeak about rats n stuff, but you don't have to actually deal with any of her supposed trauma in a realistic way (+)
(cont) She will always be fine and ready to gush after you, the trauma is only a plot device to make her wary of other people that aren't you, and be attached to only you. What she does to randoms doesn't matter as long as she's nice to you. But the evil european barbarian boar dares to actually show his trauma and negative emotions around you, and make you uncomfy, and bring any sort of realism to your fantasy! how dare he! Not only that, but he admits he didn't like you at the beginning!!!(+)
(cont) you, the player, isn't above other characters when it comes to him being rude because of his trauma and mental illness, and the story dares to show your avatar feeling sad and powerless instead of badass and cool. He won't listen to you until another character opens his eyes first, and even if you marry him he's still hearing voices and struggling with his issues, your love won't cure him!! Not only that, but AM is his story, not yours! (+)
(cont) It relegates your self-insert to a supportive deuteragonist instead of the main hero the plot centers around. He will become The King and you will be just a religious leader, following the footsteps of the Evil Lizard Lady!! Obviously you don't want that!! this is your story, where you can dump all your anti-church IRL arguments into, and be a super cool baddass mercenary who never has to deal with negative emotions!! And that's why AM is the only FE16 route where I actually like Billy.
Sorry anon for the tardiness of the reply!
Yep, I feel like for both Dee and the evil lizard lady, at one point, they are unhappy/upset/angry and more or less negative at Billy - who is, in this situation, taken as the player.
I remember during the heights of 2020-2021 discourse people sending asks to other asking how can they like Rhea bcs she was meant to "u" and whatnot, and it's just... Self-insert at its finest?
But Billy - the character we see in Nopes, FEH and FE17, wouldn't feel like the player in those instances (because Billy the character would never pick the "uwu" option in the Holy Tomb, and Billy the character would understand and/or at least get how Dimitri doesn't want to talk right now) - so again, it's the same old question, who is Billy? An empty self insert who feels a lot of sad uwus when Rhea threatens to rip their heart out as they assist and support who swore to kill her because her ears are pointy and cries whenever Dimitri doesn't want to talk to them, or is Billy the character we see in other games, who shows more empathy and tries to understand people, and thus, wouldn't have been able to pick a certain route in FE16?
Lol I just remember now how some people didn't like Cyril or even Seteth because they didn't slobber over Billy - as the self-insert - in their first 5 lines unlike the rest of the cast ^^
Granted, this "YOU must be the most important person EVER" comes back in full force with the S-supports (tfw seteth doesn't mention his family to billy when they hold hands) and it reiterates something I always knew : Avatars were a mistake.
Parasocial maybe saved the franchise from turning into another F-Zero like saga, but damn if it nuked a lot in the process (and by, a lot, i mean coherence and characters networks).
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