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mor-beck-more-problems · 4 years

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O, the Iron-y || Morgan & Cece

Timing: Last Night

Parties: @thebickedwitchoftherest & @mor-beck-more-problems

Summary: Witchy roommates unite when Morgan needs help identifying what, exactly, happened to the body she found with Kaden.

Contains: discussions of violence

“You know, someday when people aren’t getting murdered right and left, or at least when I’m not coping with so much trauma, we really need to get back to our trashy TV nights,” Morgan sighed from her spot on the floor. It had been a long time since she’d played corpse on the floor with herself, but the sight of that body had really done a number on her. Sure, she’d killed, but not like this. Not for pleasure or power or trophies or...whatever the hell was behind this. Morgan couldn’t imagine anything awful enough to just push someone into becoming so cruel. To treat supernaturals like bloody litter on the side of the street. “You could come to my place, if you wanted. The TV is so huge, you could practically see every pore on the bachelorette’s face.” She sighed again. Her enthusiasm wasn’t quite there even if she meant every word. She craned her head back to see the little witch at work. “I hope it’s a given, but thank you again, for doing this for me. How’s it going with those samples I gave you?”

Cece was leaning against the counter, staring down at Morgan and glancing every so often at her computer. From what Cece knew about the body, this didn’t seem like anything normal. Testing for normal drugs in the system could prove to be a complete waste of time. But even magic was rooted in some science. Sometimes over the counter drugs were used to create some of the most powerful spells. It all depended on the imagination, and the stamina. Finding out what she could about the body from a logical, scientific perspective could influence her findings. “That sounds amazing. The only thing that could make that show funnier is by focusing on every imperfection they have. Plus, I’ll feel like a Kardashian watching it from a rich person tv.” She tossed a glance back to the screen. Still loading in the results. “I should be thanking you. You gave me something to do on an otherwise boring night.” She also ended up back at work, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. “I’m running some normal tests first. Trying to see if anything sticks out. It can help me try to determine the clearly supernatural shit that went down. What can you tell me about the body?”

“Figuring age is hard with fae, I think, but she was an undergrad at the university. Maybe nineteen or twenty. Um, you’ve actually got...pretty much all that’s left of her. I found her with a friend just...abandoned. I’m assuming some warden is taking trophies, or...fuck, I don’t know. Having fun. Taking out some human supremacist bullshit on…” Morgan grimaced and forced herself to breathe slowly. Three months dead, almost, and it was still the first thing she wanted to do. Just breathe. Just bring the world back into the right rhythm, the right meter. “I mean, of all the ways you could possibly hurt a fae--” She shook her head, shuddering. “It was like an acid attack, only it must have been iron, right? Those are the weird, stiff pieces on the body, right? I mean, those burns, they’re everywhere. How much time did they spend planning this?” But there’s gotta be...I don’t know, some kind of underground Hunters R’ Us out there, right? Some signature that can be traced back to something specific, right? Or at least, I don’t know, if we know how, maybe someone can be like, oh yeah, my buddy goes around flinging iron at kids with wings. Great guy, why’re you mad?” She breathed again, realizing she was getting worked up again. She wasn’t going to help anyone like that, least of all whoever the body had been.

“ All that’s left of them.” It hadn’t been a question so much as a disappointed statement. Cece was concerned by what had been left of the victim. Cece had limited knowledge of Fae, but she knew enough to know that cold iron wasn’t their friend. For this girl, it looked like whoever did this really hadn’t like her. But Cece knew enough about the world to know that may not necessarily be true. Some people hunted them from some sense of duty, or for sport. People didn’t need a motive to be sick fucks. At least have the decency to make it quick. “Yeah, looks like iron burns,” Cece nodded, “They could have drugged her first. Made her easier to capture. I should know in a couple minutes.” Morgan was getting worked up over the murder. As far as Cece knew, this had just been a body Morgan stumbled across. But that seemed to be how Morgan operated. She cared a lot for everyone. “It’s hard to tell, honestly. A lot of the hunters I’ve known follow a code, but there are just as many that do it for fun. But I know there are hunters in town. From the looks of it, they were responsible for this. But I can’t promise I’ll be able to narrow it down based on some tox screen results.” She didn’t have any better answers or anything to offer Morgan at the moment besides her smile and the knowledge that she would help Morgan with whatever her next steps were. Cases like these were hard to explain and even harder to solve. Normally, justice may go unsolved. Cece didn’t have much to say in the way of justice, but she did know she could help a friend out. “And what do we do? If we found out who did it?”

Morgan grimaced and held her stomach tighter. “I’ll never understand that. I’ve done some shitty and questionable things, but this...it was slow and awful. They wanted her to suffer.” At least when she killed it hadn’t been torture. That counted for something; that was different. “We...I don’t know. Find out why. Make them answer to...someone, for what they did. Maybe she had family, or maybe...I don’t know. But I am so tired of supernaturals getting hurt and killed and forgotten. It’s bullshit. We’re people just as much as anyone else, but we’re the ones collared and thrown into cages or hunted like pests or living like who we are is something to be ashamed of or tortured and thrown where-the-hell-ever. How are we supposed to live like this, with humans, hunters, getting to hurt us for free whenever they want? Someone has to pay and I’m just...I’m tired of it. Don’t you ever get tired of hiding, Cece? I’d give up my body regrowing to have enough magic to make whoever did this pay.”

For what it was worth, Cece agreed with Morgan. As far as magic went, Cece had lived a pretty open life. The coven kept itself secret for sure, but she still was able to learn and grow with other magic users by her side. Things turned dark and for the worst, sure but at least she wasn’t hunted for it. This girl, this body was fucked. She had been targeted, hunted and tortured before they let her die. “Before we fall down that rabbit hole, you should figure out exactly what you want them to answer to. For people like them, justice isn’t clear cut. There’s no proving something like this in court. So, make sure we know exactly what we’re getting into before we decide what should be done with them.” How else did Cece lay this out to her? If Morgan wanted them eradicated from the planet, Cece was there. She had seen too many bodies like this. Leftovers from the coven, hell even herself. “It’s exhausting. Lucky for us, I’ve still got the magic for both of us.” Something flashed across her screen and she turned to look at it. “I can’t find any logical explanation as to what caused the metal to melt into her skin like that. But I’m pretty damn sure I have a theory.” Cece sighed, wishing that it had been something simple. “Can you go into my bag? Front pocket. There’s a container with a power that looks like soot. Grab that for me and sprinkle it onto the pieces of metal. I want to test something.”

Morgan knew what she wanted, if she could only admit it out loud. She wanted the hunter who did this to suffer as much as their prey had. She wanted them to fear for their lives, for their humanity, to feel the panic and indignity that she’d felt that day in the woods. She wanted them to die. A life for a life, that was the math of alchemy. And maybe she didn’t have the magic in her anymore, but she could still work her will on the world if she tried hard enough. Morgan reached for her snack pyrex and took out a chunk of muscle (deer thigh, if she remembered correctly) and started to chew slowly as she did as Cece asked. It wasn’t so bad this time now that she knew what to expect, or now that she had packed enough for a whole other meal with her. She unscrewed the lid and ran her fingers through the substance. It was so fine, it barely felt like anything, but there was a familiar sheen to it, some familiar flecks she remembered being quizzed on by her mother. It was used to detect and identify magic in a number of spells. Morgan’s brow furrowed. “You sure about this?” She asked. But Cece seemed sure enough, so, bracing herself, she sprinkled the powder over Coraline Adams’ body. The dust settled and, as her mother had trained her to memorize, a dark indigo smoke began to rise from the body.

“No,” Morgan said, backing away. “No, that’s...shit…” dust spilled from the tin and down her leg. She set it down clumsily before she spilled any more. “A witch did this?”

It hadn’t been Cece’s favorite theory. She had been keeping hope out for some type of explanation. Evidence of extreme heat, iron pills being found in the girl’s system. Something that still felt human, despite how monstrous the crime was. But the thought had been there in the back of her mind. The unexplainable could usually be explained through magic. Had her theory that a witch had been involved been at the back of Cece’s mind this whole time? Sure. She had still had her fingers crossed for the hunter theory. It was better than this alternative. More than the fact itself, Morgan’s reaction to it was what had made Cece so unhappy. She had needed to believe it was a hunter it seemed. It was hard to accept that what was once your own kind could be capable of this evil. Cece had seen it before, taken part in it. That didn’t mean she liked seeing it affect Morgan. “And worse than that, an alchemist.” Cece specified, creeping down to get a better look at the wounds. No doubt about it, the very field that Cece and Morgan had specialized in had caused this. The metal had been almost fused with the skin itself, probably while the girl had been alive. From what Cece knew about Fae and iron, the pain that would have caused would be immeasurable. It was cruel, inhumane. “At the very least, a witch was involved. Whether it was still because of hunter’s or not I can’t be sure. But we’re definitely looking for an alchemist in town. And someone with enough experience with human anatomy to know how to do this.”

“Alchemy,” Morgan repeated slowly. “They used…alchemy.” The iron hadn’t come from a stick. They hadn’t been beaten or pressed against something. The alchemist had turned the fae’s body into iron. The burns on Coraline’s face had come from a touch. “The components of the human body aren’t that complicated,” she murmured. “If you’re just trying to hurt, you don’t even need to do it well. You could just ramp up the hydrogen and nitrogen and start a combustion, or you could simulate the state of hypothermia in a few seconds, you could fill the bloodstream with sand or wear down the elasticity so it falls off, and it’s messy but if you’re just trying to kill someone or hurt them long enough to get away, it’s comparably minimal energy, but to do this...to force a body to do something like this takes practice. I mean, do you know how to do this?” She looked at Cece, completely abashed. “It’s a fucking alchemist,” she whispered again, covering her eyes and walking away from the body before she gave into the pull. “I hate this. I hate this so much. I--fuck. Thank you, Cece. I wouldn’t have guessed this, I don’t know what I would’ve done. I...I don’t know. You don’t talk to any witches in town, right?”

Morgan knew the specifics. Knew how dark their own line of magic could be. How fucked up their abilities were given a bit of anger and a rush of power. Cece studied Morgan’s anger, wondering why she herself couldn’t feel that same outrage. Had the coven desensitized her to things this much? That the closest Cece could feel for contempt was because Morgan was angry? Not for the actual body of the murdered woman that sat near them? Regardless, Morgan was angry enough for the both of them and Cece wanted to do something about that. “I could. If I wanted to.” Cece admitted. Because Morgan wasn’t wrong. This would be easy enough to do with some focus, and easy to fuck up if someone was angry enough. Passion was always a wild factor in magic. It altered it, spread lines thin and made spells harder to control. But this… “These marks are controlled. You can tell that whoever was doing this was being careful. Taking their time. It’s real fucked. And not in a good way.” Morgan questioned whether or not Cece knew any other witches. She did, but not like this. “Not any that could do this.” She didn’t know any that specialized in alchemy, and she didn’t know any that would murder someone this horrifically.

Morgan hadn’t really expected Cece to have the answer fresh out of the ether, but it would have been wonderfully easy. They could just march up to whoever’s door right then and there, demand an explanation, demand something. Sure, all witches didn’t get along, that was obvious. Some were awful. But knowing it was an alchemist shook her in a different way. Of all the things this alchemist could make, everything they could do with their magic, and they chose to destroy a fae like this. A kid. What reason could be good enough for this? What cause, what fucking spell could justify something like this. “If you, um...if you can wrap her up for me, I can take her back to my friend’s place. Figure out if there’s anyone in town who can, I don’t know, bury her or something, I guess. I...thank you, Cece, really. If you get in trouble for this I...I don’t know. I do wanna make this up to you, okay? Soon as I figure this out…”

It wasn’t hard to tell that Morgan was shaken by all of this. She had been acting strangely since she reached out to Cece, and things only got worse and worse the more they found out about it. Whatever this was, whoever did this. They needed to be stopped. That was Cece’s role now, right? Through a thick coating of irony that wasn’t long on her, she was now helping the police catch murderers and stop crimes. So this, although outside of the system and breaking so many policies that Regan’s head would pop clean off if she had been working here, was the right thing to do, right? “I got this. Seriously. Don’t worry about me. This isn’t my first rodeo.” Cece finger-gunned at Morgan, throwing in a dramatic “Yeehaw” for the dramatic effect. Someday the two could talk more about Cece’s time in the coven. Right now, considering the situation, that time didn’t seem right. “I can’t say that I know much about Fae, but I know a lot of them have their own traditions. I’d recommend reaching out to anyone you know that may be able to help out. Give her the burial she deserves and what not.” Morgan sounded like her brain was running a mile a minute, thinking too far beyond their current conversation. “Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll think of something you can do to make it up to me, got it? Now off you go, you’ve got an alchemist to find.”

#wr cece #wr chatzy #wr cece chatzy #o the iron-y #wr #wickedswriting

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yutaya · 3 years

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Iron Fist Rewatch 1x02: Shadow Hawk Takes Flight

These doctors seem very nonchalant about how close this dude just got to murdering Danny with a fork. No reassurance or apology - just pour drugs down his throat so they can hose him down. What a picture of The System.

Negative stereotype that has roots in truth - there ARE places like this and worse, but it's true that we very rarely see the good kind of facility represented in TV too. Sucks for them to always be portrayed as the bad guy, and probably harmful too if people really could benefit from them but are wary.

"Let's say [he IS Danny]. That would mean he somehow, miraculously, [1] survived a plane crash, [2] in the Himalayas, and that [3] for some unknown reason he waited fifteen years to come back, with [4] no shoes and a tendency toward violence." - Ward, reciting all the reasons he's been repeating to himself ever since the parking lot not to start thinking this might be Danny, frog and freezer stories or no.

"We're doing the right thing. We could have just had him arrested." Why DIDN'T you have him arrested, Ward? Oh right, HAROLD. ugh.

AU where Danny gets arrested instead. Unfortunately I THINK none of the other Defenders timelines work out so this would be a good time for them to meet him early, though... 🤔

Again with this bird. I completely forgot about this symbol theme.

Danny: "I was meditating." Doctor: "Oh!" Danny: "Yeah, I was trying to focus my chi so I could get out of here." Doctor: "Oh..."

Doctor's like: Oh, wow, this is an interesting level of specificity for a made up story...

I forgot how much I like this doctor. He's legit trying to help. I forget what happened to him...

Colleen is putting so much effort into insulting her students LOL. Also: Darryl's shoes are too big. Bc Colleen runs a struggling dojo in an underprivileged part of city as a safe haven for these kids and to help "teach them how to perform in the real world"

Parts of this conversation that will weigh on Colleen: "You saw me being attacked; you KNOW there's something weird going on." "One of the richest families in New York have a problem with you." "No, I don't have anyone else I can ask for help: you're the only one."

Ward: Ok, good, I'm hearing reasons why this guy can't be telling the truth and therefore cannot be Danny. That's good. I still feel kind of off though... but that's probably just the thing where Harold put cameras in the hospital. Yeah.

Poor Kyle.

Ward: "We can lobotomize him!" Me: "asdfghjkl WARD."

This shot of Harold's "smile" when he tells Ward "You ARE one of my guys! One of my most trusted guys!" is SO CREEPY

You can see Colleen FREEZE when Ward introduces himself. Harold and Ward shooting themselves in the foot with this: they're lending credence to Danny's story from the phone convo.

Ward, one of the richest people in the city: "Lie to the authorities about that homeless dude being violent for my own personal benefit. Here's a blatant bribe."

Harold yelling at the spy footage like he's throwing popcorn at a movie.

POOR KYLE.

This is deeply uncomfortable for me on a personal level.

Joy: Hmmmmm. What possible reason... could "Danny's" doctor have... for asking that very specific question.... unless.........?

Ok but "tiny Danny wanted to be an acrobat and was always jumping around on things" makes it SO MUCH EASIER for canon-divergent AUs where Danny isn't in the plane crash to still include ninja warrior Danny I-

Harold, a known dead man, looming ominously in the shadows of Danny's mental hospital room: "Here's a message about how you have to come find me and help me. It's not very subtle so you'll probably get it." Danny: "Oh shit, maybe I am crazy...?"

Danny: "I was a warrior. Only in the middle of a fight did I fully come alive. The harder someone hit me, the more everything came into focus." Harold: "Hm. Note taken." Me: *crying emoji*

Show: "oooh, ominous, Harold's under the Hand's thumb. Maybe there's more to him, maybe he's sympathetic...?" Fans: "lol, nice try. We all clocked that creep-o the moment we saw him."

I've talked about Colleen's first impressions of the Meachums in general and Ward in specific before but. Dude. Dude.

Danny, thinking that his very last tentative hope (Colleen) has fallen through, receives a communication from Joy. ;____;

Had. Had Joy already opened the bag of m&ms. It was sealed when she pulled it out of her desk drawer so wh- OH. The hospital opened Danny's mail, including the candy bag, to inspect it before giving it to him. Hahaha *sob*

If Colleen hadn't come to see Danny here, their paths might have diverged. As far as he's concerned, Colleen has made it clear that she's not going to help him and that they're just two strangers in a big city. Turning the corner and seeing her come to visit him boosts that flame of hope that Joy's package rekindled even further. He thought he had no one, and now the amount of people he has is growing.

Ok but, in an AU where Colleen doesn't go see Danny / Danny doesn't know Colleen came to see him, that isn't necessarily the end of their relationship. On Colleen's side, she's still suspicious of this entire Meachum mess - it RADIATES corruption and Colleen is very much entrenched in the downworld of NYC, where the rich powerful elite hurt the most. Plus, Danny doesn't give up on people easily and honestly, he kind of sucks at taking a hint - if he went off to some Rand business with the in with Joy, he would still end up in all the Harold mess, and probably at some point be on the run (maybe with another person - oooh, would love to see that AU - Joy or Ward or both in tow with Danny on the streets, fleeing trouble, Danny saying "I know a place") and showing up at Colleen's door, like "I know you don't want any part of this, and I don't mean to bring trouble to your door, but there's nowhere else to go," and Colleen being like "get in, quick," with her windows already half shuttered and supplies on the table because she was already investigating herself - (it could turn into a whole thing, with Colleen having connections that she thinks she can trust to help them against the big bad Harold/Meachum conspiracy, but then it's the Hand, and-!)

Danny: "The Meachum family might think I'm a threat to them." Colleen: "And why would they think that?" Danny: "Because I'm Danny Rand and I own more than half the company." Me: "And also because you stalked Joy, broke into her house and their offices, terrified and almost killed Ward???"

But anyway this is only gonna fuel Colleen's narrative that this is all greedy corporate machinations and bloody rich people politics. (Literally bloody. Literally murder people in a "problem solving" way kind of bloody.)

GODDDD Colleen is so hot in this scene when she walks into Joy's office with her pushed up sleeves on her chinese bomber jacket and her shirt tucked into her rolled up pants and - her hands in her pockets and that black bracelet and the belt - !

This argument between Joy and Ward is so emotionally charged - Ward's now in a desperate position because Joy has no way of knowing that she has just become an obstacle to something that he can't allow to happen - because Harold can not allow it to happen, and he's pulling Ward's strings, and then - ! "What are you so afraid of, Ward?" It's Harold, he's afraid of Harold. "You should be more like Dad." Ugh. ugh! Shot through the heart! "Grow some balls." I'm crying. They've both learned such terrible things from their father.

GDI DANNY the doctor BELIEVED you and then you had to go start talking about alternate planes of existence and the Iron Fist UGH he thinks you're just trying to cope with the trauma I - UGH.

This doctor is honestly trying to help but he's confirming all of Danny's fears from what Simon told him about how this place operates.

Ward regularly has to come up with ways to convince an entire board to do weird things that Harold asks - like purchase some random warehouses in Brooklyn - without even knowing why

Ward: "'Danny' is a threat to us, to our family, to our business, and the smartest solution - the one YOU taught me - is to get rid of the problem as expediently as possible!" Harold: "No, protect him." Ward: "WHY?! I am asking you why. Explain it to me! Because from where I'm standing, protecting him is dangerous, and getting rid of him is safe!" Harold: "Because I said so, that's why. Now heel." Honestly, of COURSE Ward takes this into his own hands.

Ah, yes, our first glimpse at Ward's drug addiction.

What is their plan????? Just beat him to death!? Can't make it quick - why?? Are they trying to make it look like a simple altercation between inmates???

"Ward Meachum sends his regards." God, that's so heartbreaking. The idea that not only does Ward believe Danny is an imposter and a threat, enough to try to kill him and then to send him to a mental institution - but that once he's there, out of harm's way, if he IS a mentally unstable imposter - OR once proof is starting to trickle to the Meachums (in colorful chocolate form) that he actually IS their old friend Danny - that Big Brother Ward would go out of his way to strike a deal with some "low life mental hospital thugs" to beat Danny to death?? This moment, to Danny, must feel like a bigger betrayal to Danny by Ward than anything else so far.

Danny, on all fours, looks up at the full moon outside the window, at the hawk silhouette streaking across it, and smiles. Hawk as Danny's spirit guide AU cont., but ALSO: WEREWOLF AU WEREWOLF AU WEREWOLF AU

Danny. Danny. Please run. Busting a huge hole in the wall made a very loud noise, please stop just standing there and giving people time to catch up.

#iron fist #iron fist rewatch #shadow hawk takes flight #my stuff #the immortal iron fist

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dogbearinggifts · 5 years

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Interesting (imo ofc) parallel between Diego and Vanya: both are angry/bitter/resentful bc of their upbringing and while I’d say Diego is more obviously verbally aggressive, they both lash out at their siblings, but Diego attacks others (most notably Luther) to shine light on their abuse, when Vanya attacks others she usually glosses over their own abuse and trauma to highlight her own (a la “you couldn’t handle that Dad might find me special!”)

That is an interesting parallel that I hadn’t noticed before, honestly.

I think their difference in behavior comes in large part from how they see their pasts. Diego was raised in the Academy while Vanya was mostly at the periphery of it; and while it seems clear that Vanya knew at least the basics of what her siblings endured, we know she thought her own exclusion was worse. There are a number of reasons for this, and I’ve touched on some of them before—she thought they were more favored, she may have accepted a somewhat sanitized view of their pain, she may have decided whatever pain they endured was worth the glory of being in the Academy—but the important thing is that Vanya saw herself as the least favorite and the most abused. Maybe there wasn’t a chance for her to unlearn this as a child, since we see her siblings do exclude her on the security tapes; but she squandered her chance to unlearn it as an adult when she chose to mostly cut ties with them. Her book alone—and her lack of remorse for writing it—is evidence enough that she hasn’t let go of the notion that she had it the worst as a kid and that her siblings’ suffering can’t even compare.

Diego, on the other hand, was in the Academy from the beginning. He endured verbal abuse and constant negative comparisons to his brother, but he also saw that what he went through wasn’t unique. It was different from what Luther endured, and not the same at all as what Klaus was put through, but unlike Vanya, I don’t think Diego ever believed he was the only one who suffered. I do think he remained bitter toward his siblings for a good long while, and he probably spent some years believing he had it worse than anyone simply because his suffering was different. But unlike Vanya, he didn’t cut ties with his siblings. Not completely, and not forever. He definitely went low-contact, and I think he maintained that for at least the first year; but I also think he eventually re-established contact with Klaus. We see him listening to a police scanner to find crimes to stop before police can arrive, and Klaus speaks of his work as a vigilante as if he’s witnessed the bloody aftermath firsthand. I wouldn’t be surprised if Diego kept one ear on that scanner listening for any mention of a junkie matching Klaus’ description so he could make sure to beat the police there and keep his brother out of trouble. And if that were indeed what he did, I think those glimpses into Klaus’ life would have changed his thinking toward him, taking his thoughts from Oh my god, my brother spends his entire day getting high, why is he such a loser to My brother is in deep shit.

In the years following Ben’s death and preceding Reginald’s, it seems Vanya avoided her siblings as much as possible. They all moved in different circles, which probably helped keep them separate. And I think this separation made it easier for Vanya to go over what she’d endured, compare it to what her siblings endured, and decide, again and again, that she had it worse than anyone. Memory isn’t a recording of an event; it’s an individual’s impression of it as seen through the lens of emotion. I don’t think her memories of her time at the Academy ever became wildly inaccurate, but I do think they twisted a bit. We see it when she’s walking through the Academy, hallucinating her siblings telling her she’s not welcome. She sees each instance as one where she’s cruelly rejected from the family dynamic; but the only moment that fits this description is when Reginald refuses to let her be in the family photo. All the others are rude, to be sure, but nothing out of the ordinary for siblings who have been interrupted. Ben’s “To go on a mission, you have to have a power” is definitely blunt, but it’s also a statement of fact. Yet because Vanya remembers her siblings as willful tormentors who hated her for something beyond her control, she sees each of these encounters as far, far more sinister than her siblings likely intended them to be. In isolation from her siblings, Vanya seems to have built up an entire story where she is constantly victimized by a father and siblings who want to hurt her with every word and deed—a story she eventually shared with the world.

Diego, on the other hand, might have had contact at least with Klaus, as I mentioned. But even if he didn’t, I think he took stock of his childhood, much like Vanya did. I think he relived some memories, and I think he went over conversations in his mind. None of that made him any less angry—if anything, it seems to have left him even more bitter than he was as a kid—but where Vanya used her memories to reinforce the story she’d always told herself, Diego used his to challenge that narrative. Maybe he went over one of a dozen conversations where Luther defended Reginald, and instead of focusing only on how he’d felt in that moment, he started to wonder—okay, Luther had just gone through something that left him broken and quiet; he wouldn’t say what it was, but why the fuck would he defend the guy who put him through that? Is this like those times when Dad yelled at me until I cried and then yelled at me for crying, and I walked away feeling like I’d done something wrong? His resentment toward Luther seems to have remained steady through the years, but there’s sympathy present too—sympathy that I don’t think existed in their childhood and teen years.

He and Vanya are still both very resentful toward their siblings; and in Diego’s case, I’d wager his resentment is strongest toward those he believes had it better than he did—Allison, Luther, and Vanya. Ben is dead; it seems his dislike of Five is based more on personality clashes; and he’s protective and even somewhat kind toward Klaus. But with Luther, that resentment takes on a different tone. They’re still bitter rivals, and they lash out at each other on more than one occasion. But when Diego dishes out verbal abuse on Allison and Vanya, there is no purpose beyond reminding them of something they did wrong or making them feel less than. It’s meant to point to their own wrongdoings and rub their faces in it. But when he verbally abuses Luther, all or most of that abuse (which I might track one day in a different meta) points back to Reginald. Some of it points more directly (“He turned you into a monster”) while some is more circumspect (“At least I make my own decisions”) but when he reminds Luther of his own inadequacies, he often seems to hint that Reginald is at the root of them. He holds Allison and Vanya responsible for their own failings, but he tries to get Luther to see that Reginald is the cause of all his problems. I don’t think he likes Luther at this point, and I think he has a lot of unresolved anger toward him; but I think he’s at least beginning to see him as a product of his environment, rather than as someone who was just awful right from the cradle.

Vanya also takes multiple opportunities to point to the failings of her siblings, most often Allison. But this verbal abuse is more akin to what Diego dishes out on her and Allison. It’s personal. It’s sometimes condescending and sometimes acerbic, but I don’t think she ever uses it to point back to Reginald as the ultimate villain. The only instance I can remember where she brings Reginald into it at all is when she gaslights Allison after her confession: “You couldn’t handle the fact that Dad might find ME special!” In that case, it’s crystal clear that Reginald was the villain; but in Vanya’s account, he is transformed into a henchman, acting in service to Allison’s pettiness and jealousy. Diego might remind his siblings of things they’ve done wrong, flinging it in their faces when he wants to take the upper hand; but he calls attention to their actions without ascribing motive.

I’m not saying Diego’s verbal abuse is right, and I’m not saying it’s justified or remotely okay simply because he uses it to point to Reginald as the one to hate or because he doesn’t exaggerate or gaslight the way Vanya does. I’m not defending his abuse at all. It would have been far more productive and kind for him to try and sit down with Luther, clear the air with whatever apologies or explanations might be necessary, and then steer the conversation toward Reginald and how he’d come to realize their childhood was abusive, fucked up, and something that’s going to take years to recover from. What he does instead is childish, abusive, and absolutely wrong on nearly every level. He’s trying to make things better, but what he chooses to do makes things even worse. But at the same time, he’s recognized that he wasn’t the only one who had it rough, and he knows that Luther is going to need help to see what he sees. When he lashes out at Luther, this belief that they both suffered and that Luther just needs to see it—that is what guides his actions. Vanya is still stuck in the belief that her suffering was far greater than anyone else in that house could even imagine, and her treatment of her siblings is guided by this belief. She doesn’t need to help them see that they were abused. To her mind, they were hardly abused at all in comparison to what she went through. Therefore, while Diego tries to get Luther to see something about himself, Vanya’s only goal is to get her siblings to see something about her.

#the umbrella academy #umbrella academy #tua #verbal abuse tw #verbal abuse cw #verbal abuse mention #gaslighting mention #diego hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #reginald hargreeves #luther hargreeves #allison hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #five hargreeves #ben hargreeves #compare and contrast #vanya and diego #anon #answered

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gravefated · 4 years

Photo

“ If you don’t know where you are going, any road can get you there. ”

† — - ̗̀ MINISTRYS CASEFILE ̖́-

▐ FULL NAME ➺✧ Niveous Haze ▐ NICKNAME(S) ➺✧ Niv, freak. ghost girl, professor ▐ AGE ➺✧ 21 ▐ BIRTHDAY ➺✧ Unknown. ( December 2nd 1957 / Saggitarius ) ▐ PATRONUS ➺✧ Unknown. ( Acromantula ) ▐ BOGGART ➺✧ Dementors ▐ FORMER HOUSE ➺✧ Ravenclaw ▐ AFFILIATION ➺✧ Order of the Pheonix ▐ Pet ➺✧ An adolescent zouwu ghost named Jetsam ( though they come && go as they please ) ▐ JOB ➺✧ Beauxbatons Academy of Magic - Herbology Professor

† — - ̗̀ PERSONALITY ̖́-

Positive Traits / fearless, clever, ghostly Negative Traits / curiosity, self-destructive, tactless

Wand(s):

Dowsing Rod / Vine¾, Whomping Willow Ash && Venomous Tentacula, Swishy.

UNREGISTERED: a poltergeist in a travelling carnival gave a wand to a 7-year-old Niveous after she offered them a big rainbow lollypop she stole witnessing an adult yelling && threatening at what she thought was a ghost. Telling them to lick it, && stick it in the loud meanies hair && ooze the bloody hell out of him. Previously searching for a dowsing rod so they claimed to give her a special dowsing rod. Niveous kept it as it was a bit of a funny swishy stick && special to her since it was the first-ever gift given to her by a ghost. A bit too late during her 2nd year at Hogwarts did she realize they were a poltergeist who gave her a WAND, not a special dowsing rod having kept it in secret.

10½ Blackthorn, Phoenix Feather, Unyielding.

REGISTERED: The wand she got at Ollivander’s when she was 11.

12⅔ Socotra-Dragon, Acromantula fang, Slightly Yielding.

IN HER POSSESSION: Just recently Niveous had an encounter with death eaters apparating into a pub causing chaos. Before she got away she disarmed && won one of the death eaters wand helping an elderly couple escape before she herself apparated to safety.

† — - ̗̀ GRAVEFATED ̖́-

trigger warning: child abandonment, orphanage, abuse. migrant scheme

A young fairy-tale tragedy. Nobody knows the exact day she was born as her biological parents never left that information when they abandoned her in a dumpster in London on a harsh winters night. Her rescuer a muggle English Professor took it upon himself to name her NIVEOUS Haze. She was then passed on && raised in a muggle-run corrupted London Orphanage. In && out of adoption until she was five they claimed strange unsettlings things happen around her. Cordelia. London. Jen. Marry-Lynette. These were the trophy names of her adoptions that failed but the ghosts that raised her well had brought her back to her roots calling her Niveous. For Niveous, her childhood was a blur of before && after, all she really remembers is the constant abuse from the Nuns && the children finding her peculiar. This spirited child always had a way of stirring up trouble getting her punished by the Nuns sending her to spend hours in the closet alone. But she was never truly alone. Those hours shut in the closet were spent being educated && raised up by the ghosts to become a proper lady of society. It wasn’t until she was 10 years old was Niveous really in danger. When the ghosts figured out Niveous was going to become apart of an elaborate scheme known as the child migrants programme. Lady Adela de Sallowe went to the Ministry of Magic && demanded to adopt a child. It was unheard of the dead wishing to take care of the living. Never had they ever had a case quite like this one. Everything fell into chaos in the Department for the Regulation && Control of Magical Creatures for there were no rules against it for why would a ghost want to adopt a child? Upon further investigation, the Ministry adopted Niveous && made her perform several tests until they were sure she was a witch. So they had a witch with unknown origins being desired to be adopted by a ghost. They declined Lady Adela de Sallowe’s offer to adopt Niveous. With the case rapidly catching the public eye the Ministry gave this a happy ending. They gave Lady Adela guardianship like a ‘godmother’ title over Niveous to do as she pleased && found Niveous a proper wizarding foster family known as the Grimeson’s willing to take her in && take care of her. She was now the youngest of three && the only girl in the Grimeson’s care. With a ghostly godmother && being raised by the Grimeson’s with their two sons was an orphan’s dream come true. Grooming her to be the best there is && you believed them, for a long time, but she never forgot her trauma && pain. Driven straight into the open arms of magic, straight into the lull of one more fairy-tale. They called her the spirited child, for she questioned everything && was curious about this new world. She’d experiment with her magic despite the Grimeson’s heavy objection when she was caught. When she turned 11 an acceptance letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft && Wizardry arrived. The sorting hat seemed to hover over her head for quite some time torn between the house of Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw until she was finally sorted into Ravenclaw. No one ever could say they ever liked Niveous. Everyone knew her as the ghost girl of Hogwarts. Her dormmates came to despise her the second week of school. With her ghost pet Jetsam running amok with its ectoplasm all over their stuff. Some didn’t know how to approach in fear of her being muggle-born. The rest just thought she was just non-compos mentis. Never did it ever truly bother Niveous that she was disliked && easily the target of other’s jokes or pranks. She’s incredibly clever && even though she won’t fight back, she’ll get back at them in a sneaky, off-handed way when there alone that leaves them blinking in confusion. The walls have eyes && ears && they told Niveous whatever she desired to know so no one was truly safe from her. It was much worse by her third year when she somehow won over Peeves. She was magically talented && brilliant in most of her classes. Niveous briefly worked as an Auror, immediately following her graduating Hogwarts upon her foster parent’s request. Then she began to train under a magizoologists whose wife happened to be a herbologist. Sometime afterwards, she sent an application the Care of Magical Creatures teaching position at Hogwarts that needed to be direly filled but Dumbledore himself denied her application && everyone knows it. Putting that mark that she can’t be trusted. But he was the one who secretly got her the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic Herbology position. Niveous, in the end, is ever so loyal to Minerva McGonagall && Albus Dumbledore despite the Grimeson’s loyalty to Voldemort && the Deatheaters. Unrevealed to the other members of the secret organisation, the Order of the Phoenix that she’s also apart of it. Unliked. She’s very ghostly. Instantly those that went to school with her to those that didn’t — only take one look at her && automatically assume she’s in league with the death eaters && gets mostly stayed away from. Muddling her stance on what side she’s truly on as rumours && lies about her have been spread like wildfire. But it’s only a matter of time before the rumours come to an end && the truth is revealed.

Connections:

The Grimeson Family: A pureblood family that took her in with no real good intentions. The youngest in the Grimeson’s household. This was a Wizarding family that had been on the brink of bankruptcy until the Ministry came knocking on their door with a deal to solve all their money problems.

Rubeus Hagrid: Soft by nature, kind to her when she needed it. Nothing was fake with Hagrid. Which makes him her best friend. Though she’s stopped writing letters completely for fear she’d get him targeted.

Peeves: They’re each other’s ride-or-die trouble twosome. Minus the romance. But some might disagree since he was her date to Prof. Slughorns Slug Club Dinner Party he made pretty unforgettable ( which Professor Slughorn had to make some adjustments for Niveous resulting in a no ghost no poltergeist partners ). The two hit it off after a pretty rocky start.

Gabriel Parker: At first glance, many would deem Gabriel && Niveous an unlikely pair, but after he lost his voice. It seems this Ravenclaw supported this voiceless Gryffindor through a hard time in his life. Finding ways to bond && remained friends despite their differences. But lately with the progression with how everything turning out like Hagrid so he won’t become a target if things turn out horribly wrong.

#TAGS COMING SOON !#Bio / gravefated / niveous haze.#tw: child abandonment #tw: orphanage #tw: abuse #tw: migrant scheme

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elizabethrobertajones · 6 years

Text

14x03 watching notes

Just finished watching and said, out loud and to no one: “Awww Jack.”

(This is not a spoiler, he’s just so sweet.)

Hallo, I am watching from bed despite having 3rd hand inherited a 2nd monitor over the weekend so theoretically my watching experience would be back to giant comfortable side-typing glory.

But comfy.

Easily accessible stuffed toys because Bobo Fucking Berens in Dabb era has made me cry more at this dumb show in the last couple of years than I cried in the previous ten.

Expectations: it's our Dean episode to make up for no Dean until now, and also Jody is there to see Sam's beard, and also Cas continues to be party!Cas, and Jack's shirts get darker and darker.

Side note: I think I was rushing out the door before I could talk about our lil Nougat of Denmark properly last episode where he was all, so we're killing my uncle then, and Cas was all D: D: D: D: D: who raised you. (Dean. Dean did. In this regard the boy is his father's son.) This, of course, is another Shakespearean irony than is being returned to Dean via Jack.

The point of this focus is very much to show Jack vs Cas mindsets on it when we're getting Dean returned to us, and I assume considerably more nuance is being added to the story. But for now, Jack being ready to kill his father to kill his uncle because his father was ready to kill him to kill the ghosts he saw of his enemies in Jack is more than enough of a pile of tragedy level angst to be working with.

I just need it to be clear that as far as I'm concerned, Jack is working in a completely different genre from EVERYONE ELSE around him, and the fact that it's the protagonist of a tragedy is fairly alarming, as it's a mindset that Sam, Dean and Cas have hurdled over since season 5/6 and though Dean still assumes he'll die bloody, he is at least capable of dreaming of a happy ending, and a lessening of the angst load has allowed that. Their personal stakes in the story are dwindling, in a sense, while Jack has showed up with like FOUR FATHERS and an evil uncle, which is so much potential family angst Shakey would have exploded. "Wait you can just addeth extra fathers thence addeth extra angst!?!?"

Yes my dude, yes.

*hits play* *Sam ruggedly cocks his pistol* You're stealing this whole shtick from Dean and I think it is time for the angst that you were the one dramatically cocking a gun and being the yes reductive heteronormative blah blah penis of the dynamic while Dean was not there to do it.

Oh no we immediately start with more Jack angst recap and aside from everything I just said I remembered that Bobo personally murdered me in 13x03 with the Jack n Sam stuff and here we are a year later.

Mr Stark I don't feel so good

THE BEARD EXCHANGE IS LITERALLY THE OPENING SCENE. BOBO I LOVE YOU. Thank you for breaking the tension and immediately drawing attention to how Sam has been busy and miserable. I think 14x01 set up well that every time he even had a moment to sigh his phone would ring again, and hence the beard appears as Sam eskews personal grooming and comfort in exchange for finding his brother. Jody is gonna draw attention to it at some point too because we have the promo shot of her nice peach fuzz-ing him, and I sincerely hope this is bookends to the episode and the next episode Sam is clean shaven with no comment except Jody prodded him in the face, and let me tell you only Bobo has me fantasising about the narrative framing of an episode like this.

God i'm a nerd

Anyway more seriously, this exchange coming out of the blue has a clear motive: Dean is up and about, still so freshly de-Michaeled he's in a waistcoat (and LORDY the only other scene he was in a waistcoat? 7x12's ending scene where Sam turns into such a moron in Jody's presence he's waving blushily at the door still AFTER SHE HAS GONE). Complaining about not being able to eat and sleep might be a sense of hyperbole to catch given the lack of elapsed time, but it also warns us that this might be how Dean reacts to being un-Michaeled. Or would he not, given he's up and about and snarking like his old self? How damaged will he be and how much can he repress into snark? He is playing off the very idea that this experience will have been damaging to his psyche and of course Michael did a ton of stuff which was expressly tuned to BE damaging to his psyche, then punched a mirror and shattered Dean's reflection for extra emphasis.

So all this question of how Dean is doing is loaded into the very opening line before he's even taken off his waistcoat, or of course, had enough time to truly eat/sleep/develop massive tells of the psychological trauma he may or may not have taken.

Obviously the show wouldn't be the show if he were fine, so I'm taking it as a question posed.

Then of course it slides into Bro Banter to prove it's Dean, remind us JUST how much we missed this snarky genre savvy fucker, and to make Sammy smile.

Also we're mocking Jared for being friends with that one Duck Dynasty guy who Jared's fans insist is the least awful of the bunch and also who you end up hanging out with when you're most embedded in the Texan stardom scene rather than living in Hollywood or whatever.

(God imagine being famous and from Atlanta and sticking true to your roots and you end up with the Queer Eye guyses as your BFFs instead)

Listen Bobo showed his socialist party membership card on twitter, he has no fucks to give about waving his politics around and I love him.

"If you're going to ask if I'm okay, you don't have to" (I am making fun of your beard, what more do I have to give you, bro?)

Buddy, I have been watching your face for over a decade and you have the sad tired pink eyelids of a Dean who is both tired and miserable.

Oh NO Dean walks into the main room expecting his comfy quiet library and war room full of 3 trusted family faces, and finds the bustle of Boss Sam's operation. The upcoming noise of these people before he turns the corner is an immediate warning that we should have expected this as dramatic irony for Dean's comfort levels from the start, and now he's back, well.

Panicked eyes.

He needs quiet recovery with his peeps, not alarming sudden change. A rug pull immediately after possession is a terrible thing to deal with. I've been wondering if this is a full reverse of season 6 for Dean - from the trustability of the hunter compound to the fact he lives in it, to the Samuel running it. But the effect is the same. Dean comes back from quiet time off to a change he can't handle and Sam in a new position in a family/hunter heirarchy. In this case, not Samuel's soulless goon, but a fully bearded Boss Sam King Of Hell Sir who Runs Shit competently in a way we the viewer trust implictly as Sam having Done Well, and also that the AU peeps might be a bit rough or untrained in some ways but 100% reliable in that they really do have no ulterior motive and every reason to think of Sam as an AU Moses who popped up and walked them to another land of safety and comfort.

Like, Dean, welcome back, you have Hamlet, Moses and Mobby to deal with. Cas seems to be the same as you left him, though. If somehow, impossibly, squintier.

"Right, Chief told us"

GOD I MISSED JENSEN'S MICRO EXPRESSIONS

You know how Michael sucks? No micro expressions. Guy doesn't have an anxious bone in his body.

This little bundle of neuroses I have chosen to love is full on having a meltdown on the other hand.

"Dean? Is it really you?" "Hey kid"

HUG. THE. BOY.

I suppose this is better than last year when he had a hug from a shapeshifter and had to wait to episode 6 for a hug from his father, but REALLY this season has been tormenting me with how bad Jack feels and even a hug from his gramgram isn't enough to satisfy how he should have been hugged by Sam, Cas and now Dean already this season.

We're only on epiode 3 and he's already got more hugs than he had this point last year. Deep breaths, Lizzy

Children need a lot of cuddles to affect their development into sensitive people okay? Dean got a lot of hugs up to age 4 and Sam basically did not, and he's an awkward moose and Dean is snuggly. I want Nougat to have the same development into a sensitive lad because he has EIGHTEEN FUCKING PARENTS AND NONE OF THEM HUG HIM

CAS HEARD 'DEAN' FROM ACROSS THE BUNKER, ARRIVES IN A BLUR

GOOD NOUGAT, HUG DEAN.

But like, dude, Cas just showed up at a run and made the gooiest eyes at Dean who made them back, and now you're officially cockblocking, so naff off, kid

I watched with prayer hands and Cas just got gooier and Dean got sulky he didn't get a Cas hug and this is officially the worst. Bobo, you let me down, my guy.

I mean no, Cas's gooey eyes were

...

Cas doesn't do gooey eyes. He squints. Squintily.

Who is this guy

Lol Mobby aren't in the episode because they stayed back to clean up - Sam gets stammery to Jack. Is he scared to imply they're maybe banging because he finds it weird but everyone else present is an even worse audience to announce this to for one reason or another (historically coped much better with the concept of dad sex when discovering adam and also didn't drive the car off the road into a ditch on finding out mary banged ketch), or is he trying to protect Jack from the concept of Michael leaving a pile o dead bodies for one reason or another, knowing Michael is his rage button?

He was the one who dealt with Jack trying to stay back in the AU to fight Mikey instead of just coming home.

"Speaking of clean up, I need a shower" *gestures vaguely* *Cas opens his mouth like why did I have a reaction image here? Do you want -* *closes mouth* *dean leaves*

Guys. You fucking suck. Go take a shower together and work things out.

"Still okay, I promise" *bisexual finger guns at Cas*

cut to: Cas squinting after Dean like "is he implying something"

"..."

"I really feel like he was trying to communicate something to me"

"..."

"I have no idea what Dean just hinted loudly to me twice in short succession and now that he has gone to shower I guess I will never know what he was attempting to communicate to me"

"Where's Nick?" "Hopefully not in this episode. Let's just say he needs some time because he's in a dark place and hope that's ALL we have to say about him"

Oh no. "Sam. Dean. How is he really?"

Cas has a one track mind.

But then we get the shot of Dean opening his door and they're still talking about him over the top of it, but it's that same shadowed shot of himself silhouetted in the doorway, the inner darkness represented by his room... Sam went into his and stripped himself of the tools in his pocket but before he could sleep, Jo called and set them all off again with the next lead.

Now Dean opens his door and turns on the light so we can see his inner self in a moment of peace and privacy, but essentially with a voice over about how he's super not okay.

Just how we left it. You can't even tell that for the last 2 episodes/3 weeks Cas has been coming in and snuggling your pillow every time he's not in a scene because where the fuck was he inbetween scenes in 14x02

God I have missed lingering shots of Dean's room, equating his inner space to his inner feelings. *paws lovingly at the shot* Dean's room all tidy and orderly and as he left it, yet feeling somehow very very empty and off-kilter in an unfamiliar way because he hasn't been here for so long.

It was all serious then guitar music started playing as Dean started stripping

and look

I saw the promo pics

you saw the promo pics

some person in the audience is like... why are we lingering on Dean getting undressed alone in his room while guitar music kicks up?

Is this what all that winking and finger gun action was about?

(Dean didn't wink but I took a lil break to chat with Mittens and the moment has evolved into him gurning at the door for like a minute trying to remind Cas that this means he joins him in the shower in 5)

"Fuck this shirt in particular"

I still think it was the audacity of wearing a bow tie that dragged Dean to the surface last episode

I love how Dean changes from this plain white t-shirt which is completely clean and shiny, into his normal dark dark brown shirt between scenes. I hope he got to shower. Whatever happened, this scar could have said "Ha ha ha I'm behind you", and he would have finished stripping down right to the skivvies then started fresh with his own boxerbriefs before freaking out and rushing to show the others.

But yeah, he's PISSED and embarrassed about Michael. You don't throw a guy's shirt on the floor like that unless you feel SERIOUSLY used, and here we end up with a creepy sort of STD metaphor, complete with the visual similarity to the clap: https://www.giantmicrobes.com/uk/products/clap.html

Bad fling, Dean?

Poker!witch gave Sam the clap in the episode which was totally not a metaphor about Sam getting the clap then beating poker!witch at his own game like nearly 20 episodes before he was possessed by Lucifer then beat him at his own game.

"Do the whole vulcan mind meld thing" Listen, James T Kirk, you can't just MAKE yourself one of the most iconic slash pairings of all time by comparing - wait

wait a minute

*Checks slash history books and sees them as a dictionary definition or two*

Anyway.

Dean's so eager for Cas to jump into his head. Just, like. Again. We all said it but immediately after that shirt throw? It REALLY emphasises that Dean sees Cas in this transcendant way to being used by an angel that got in his head. And left an STD mark on his arm. He can just immediately think, well, that sucked. But here's MY angel and I'm just gonna rev myself up and present my head for inspection and this isn't even a thing I'm concerned about. Hit me, big guy.

Oh come the fuck on Bobo.

I didn't have time to hit pause to have a heart attack about Cas putting his hand over The Scar, the one on the wrong shoulder, to get a clearer reception, because there's a HISTORY in scars, okay? They leave a mark and to the discerning poker and prodder like Cas that history can be read in the mark... And Cas sees... Michael being stabbed by a spear. Not just, like. Seeing Michael being stabbed by a spear, mind you. He sees it in a Bobo episode in a way wildly reminiscent of Patience seeing Claire/Kaia getting stabbed by a VERY SIMILAR LOOKING SPEAR and getting her Wayward introduction that way, when the whole Dreamhunter thing ended up being a massive Destiel parallel and Kaia getting stabbed already mirrored CAS getting stabbed by a spear (Michael's, natch) in 12x12, never mind the other stuff.

So Bobo has just built up a Destiel Dreamhunter sandwich, with Destiel nonsense either side, complete with bonus shoulder scar imagery, and a nice gooey dreamhunter centre.

Bobo, if you hadn't noticed, is really really really really reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally bitter he isn't off writing Wayward Sisters and hanging with his girls.

There's still a bunch of stuff to add up here, about why and who and how it all connects, which would involve dragging in these other spear-y episodes to assemble the full picture, so I'm just gonna hit play now I'm recovered from the shock :P

Oh dude it was a hooded figure who even LOOKED like bad Kaia and tbh at this point I'd say maybe even was?

Like, how many pronged spears are out there anyway and Jody's dealing with it so is it local? Did Michael pop up on Kaia like hey so you and I are both from alternate universes, what do you wa - OW FUCK JESUS FUKKIN CHRIST -

"Dean, who was that?"

Dean recognised her, and Cas was mind-melded enough with him to know that Dean did... Good grief I can not handle Dean and Cas existing on an emotional plane.

It's enough to mean they're the ones who call Jody with a tip off for HER rather than months of them asking her to help THEM.

Introducing us back to the Wayward world - South Dakota mug, and a text that Claire is a little angel who has been training her gals and even did the laundry.

I'm so happy

Eyebrow raise

God, Kim Rhodes is the most beautiful woman on the whole show and that's saying something considering, like. Ruthie. Lisa Berry. Something about the way she uses her face is so full of intelligence and humour that I am HELPLESS in her presence

God damn I want that fabled Girls' Night episode. Billie comes along too on a night off.

Rowena calls her up for chats sometimes these days, they're actually really good pals.

Sam you fucking moron you can't even finish a sentence in her presence. Just slap Dean on his WOUNDED arm and throw the ball to him.

Everyone leaning over the phone... This is the closest Cas has ever come to Jody.

"Jody, that's the good news."

Jody recognises that gravelly voice and snaps to holyshitanangel attention. "What's up?"

The implicit thing here is that Cas and Jody know each others' voices and are on at least chatting acquaintance. I would like to think they're invited over for beer at the same time but we have no proof..................... yet. This is Bobo on a "fuck you" rampage so I'm just, like, gonna wait see.

Bad Kaia has been going around ripping heads off things. DAMN, GIRL.

Considering the placement of the pronging was ~random~, in the sense that she can meat fork you anywhere, that means the placement of it on the meat of Dean's arm where the handprint once was on the other is even MORE significant in a metaphorical sense, of writing about "the scar" in the way of giving it a mystical property tied into the wider framework of all these relationships and events at once. The amount piled onto a simple stabbing is unbelievable, and the use of the scar as the vector for all this is definitely the byline of the episode given the title and all. It's brought Kaia back to us, given Jody the clue she needs.

And more dramatic irony that Claire was just asking to help, and Jody was like DEFINITELY HUMAN, SO ALL MINE. HAHAHA. And now we know, no, it's not all "human", it's bad!Kaia and that makes her CLAIRE'S.

I keep stopping to seal clap

it's 7:20am

Cas is packing up to leave with them!!!

And Jack looms blurrily into the background in his darkest t-shirt yet. And he's been RAPIDLY cycling through them.

In a sense this is good laundry practice, in order that you have a full load of lights followed by a full load of darks.

Metaphorically, however, this is BAD.

Jack sounds pissed they're all wearing jackets and packing bags, and he's wandering around in an over-sized dark grey t-shirt (one of Dean's? AUBobby's? It doesn't look like his standard fare which fits his body, this makes him look SMOL), with no idea we were off to kill the wizard.

Let's be charitable and say he wants to meet Jody and hang out with Kaia again.

But more likely Bobo is once again messing with Jack's inherent darkness in his presentation, especially as right now, once again while Jack is being The Sweetest Little Cookie, meeting his grandparents for ice tea and looking through the family photo album with misty eyes, he is ALSO Prince Nougat of Denmark and this is causing some serious darkness slippage because, well, revenge. Revenge is bad, kiddo. Don't need a ghost of your dead father (hey Dean's back) to tell you that.

The accusatory tone is enough to warn us that Jack's not doing so well and I'm going to assume drags Cas away from a mission with Dean followed by cooldown eating pizza and watching flicks with the girls.

"Kaia's killer is in Sioux Falls" Buddy. "He, she or it can hurt Michael" BUDDY.

I suppose they're bringing Cas because Bad Kaia kicked their asses and they assume Cas is the same height as her pet/metaphor for Kaia's inner fucked-up-ness so he can probably fight it??

"Michael's my enemy too! I fought him. For MONTHS." JACK sweetie. You can't just go around like, having an enemy list. And comparing it with your collective fathers' list.

The line about bringing Kaia into it and being responsible for what happened to her is good, though. Jack's got a social consciousness and that is lovely because he keeps doubting his goodness but when it comes down to it he wants to meet his grandparents and feels bad that Kaia got dragged into things and killed.

Of course, not realising this is Bad Kaia, they're all off to get MORE revenge on that thing that killed her.

Aw, Dean, no, don't point out how smol he is. He's wearing a huge baggy shirt to emphasise it already.

"I didn't - I didn't MEAN to be a dick" Whoops. Well, you were. You also missed the part where Jack went from smol precious child to angsty teen.

Fun fact: Hamlet was supposed to be like 18 or whatever, but because a famous actor wanted the lead role but was like, idk, 50, Shakey bumped up Hamlet's age a lil so he could get away with it, making him more of, like, a giant manbaby who is still functionally a teen in all ways except he keeps getting portrayed by middle aged men.

So, of course, we have our one and a half year old Nougat who is a 29 year old actor now getting into his terrible teens, and if that isn't the funnest nugget of trivia...

... then you are not as much of a nerd as I am about irony, coincidence, and neat overlaps of thingies.

Point is: get me a version of Hamlet where the other expected actors are adults of course, but Horatio and Hammy and his squad are dumb teens.

Lol Bobo just randomly introduces a cool lady hunter who is dragging a random victim of a hex down into the bunker to be healed by an angel. That poor girl is going to have a story to tell.

A lot just happened in a few seconds but at least Jack, who has stormed off for his nth teenage sulk of the season, now has a Cas trapped in the Bunker with him.

Dean n Sam gonna get their asses kicked by Bad Kaia

honestly is this just a ploy not to keep Cas where Jack is, but to keep Misha away from stunt fighting?

Anyway Dean communicates most of the above to Cas silently, and tells him that he should stay with Jack and also heal this girl and they have the most married eye conversation about what needs to be done, which is wonderful that they've been having these silent conversations all Dabb era but this is definitely the wordiest so far. I mean one of their more recent was just "Dean I can hear that cowboy music in your head" "what cowboy music?"

DEAN DOESN'T EVEN LOOK THRILLED TO BE DRIVING BABY AGAIN.

Sam mostly looks concerned he's hitting 80mph

I don't know anything about American speed limits but this is an alarming speed to me because in the UK 70 is usually like, the Most, and we don't have enough long straight roads that when there's no speed limit it's ever really recommended to go super fast because you will flip your car and die because all our roads are one and a half car length wide and extremely wiggly. And our motorways are congested enough you're more likely to be in a traffic jam than top speed anyway :P

I love that Dean measures people by their favourite Spice Girl. Hey Dean the 90s called, they want their pop culture relevance back.

You gay icon you.

(I'm reminded of 12x07 and Bobo and a similar conversation where Dean listed off all his manly manly historical faves)

Dean thinks Cas can handle it back home :')

"Something huge happened and you won't really talk about it!"

Okay Sam, he's traumatised and that's surface text.

You do realise the entire massive subtext is his repression and yet another metaphor for some huge queer experience and that this is the same conversation as 10x04 when he was grumbling into his chin about being embarrassed about what he did with Crowley? You realise that right?

Stop poking him about it, he'll talk when he's ready to open up. In the mean time he's feeling used and ashamed that this fling didn't go as planned after the whole first flirtation with waving his wings around and killing Lucifer where it all seemed fun to embrace his ~true self~ and have a crack at being a Flaming Michael Sword.

Also of course, we might just take him on his word that he really does NOT remember most of everything that happened because if he was truly repressing that much he wouldn't have been so gung ho for Cas to read his mind earlier but this mood pre-dates that so even if he remembered everything when Cas poked his brain, which seems unlikely as Cas saw it too, the wider sulk about his Clap Scar is more than just this.

It's a common experience, though, that Dean is repressed and moody, and Sam barrels in there trying to make him talk about it before he's ready, so the pressing is in character, regardless, that Sam doesn't trust that Dean is telling the whole truth and that there's some huge secret he's holding back.

The best part of queer subtext is that whether there is one or not it works - if there isn't, it's a metaphor for the obvious. If there is, same as above but the metaphor is concretely attached to whatever Dean is not telling Sam, and that in turn then becomes a part of the queer subtext, offered up on a platter to tell us more about how Dean is handling his post-possession shame of being, essentially, roofied after thinking he'd agreed to a consensual fling with a dude on his terms of entry and no strings attached, no walk of shame like he did when he was undressing earlier.

Poor guy can not catch a break. Shoulda hooked up with Aaron when you had the chance so your first time having a dude in you wasn't such a big deal, but just a nice booty call to keep in your phonebook. Now it's all Crowley this, Michael that...

"We need to deal with it." "Okay, I'm literally going EIGHTY to deal with it"

Dean, that's.

that's not therapy

"How can I be running from something when I'm RACING towards it" "I don't know, it's kinda your thing"

Sammy boy you have been trapped in the same car as Dean for way too long. Your analysis is getting deep. Deep deep cuts. Leave him alone.

I mean this is a guy who dealt with a gay panic by hooking up with Crowley and singing karaoke for him so.

"I just *need* you to talk to me. Slow down."

Oh SAM you said a good and interesting combo of words there. Dean, go 70 instead of 80, give us some time to feel this out because I've been FREAKED and, for you, you got a time skip but I lived it all real time and it SUCKED, and I'm hurt too by this. Reminder: our family does not do well with LOSING each other, and this is every conversation we've ever had post-thinking that happened, and I did things responsibly and grew a beard and became Boss of a bunch of peeps and also King of Hell but we'll talk about that later... Like, slow down. I have my issues too. There's 2 of us in this car and you can't go 80 and time skip to the end of this conversation either. Not when I have 3 weeks of angst packed into it.

Also: classic Sam projection. Trying to get Dean to open up because HE has pain he wants to air, instead of just bringing up how he felt, he tries to get Dean to open up, and when this continues, as always, not to be how Dean deals with things, Sam gets upset because it never gives him the opening to talk about his shit until it's an argument...

You could have just started the convo, sorry about the beard, I really mean it when I say I haven't had a moment to myself for 3 weeks, it's been HELL and funny I should mention Hell, er, did you know you can kinda just declare yourself king these days... heh

At least he's using racing metaphors about wanting to catch up and also, like, catch up

Dean responds to the sport metaphors

Dean is like nah call Jody we're almost there. I skipped ahead.

Look, I'm delivering you to your boo, what more do you want?

Jody smiles at the sight of them in a way which is almost as revolting as Cas smiling at seeing Dean again

Hugs!

Send Jody to the Bunker to HUG OUR BOY

"How'd you do it?" "What, me vs some assbag archangel? Who would you pick?" "You, every time."

And this, guys, is how Jody is never, ever patched into their angst, because they present a narrative where Dean just kinda chucked off Mikey and sent him packing and it's all cool and he's a hero.

Jody has at multiple points threatened to beat Dean into submission in order to hear a true version of how he's doing and he has so far not given in and sat at her kitchen table with a box of tissues to sob through his crap, but I hold out eternal hope like the fool I am.

Anyway it's also telling RIGHT AFTER that last conversation where Sam was probing Dean so intensely, that this is the version of "I'm fine" that Dean is going with, and even though Sam KNOWS there's more to it, this is the wall Dean is projecting, even to him. Even when he knows Dean is freaked by it and doesn't know all the details.

Jody goes up like 18 pitches "Heeey I liiIIIiiike it!" she squeaks, forcefully tweaking Sam's beard because "nice peach fuzz" is too understated both for Jody and the volume of facial hair Sam has produced without comment until Dean came back and Jody showed up.

Dean has never been so offended in his life

*Jody continues giggling to herself while Sam desperately looks for a normal conversation*

AHAHA "I haven't been home since I talked to her........... I may be avoiding her"

Yeaaaah, bringing up that it's not just a normal human beheading and weird stab mark, but ALSO a KAIA-RELATED ONE maaay be... too much.

i'm going to be honest I've been so thrilled about everything I forgot to check what cast is flashing up on the screen

Anyway there is very much a subtext to Jody's avoidance of telling Claire what's going on that she knows how much she loved Kaia and how much of an issue this is - even if it's gonna be for revenge, because they don't know it's Bad Kaia - this is something where Claire's feelings make a MESS.

Bobo gets in Sam's serial killer thing, Dean is staring into the void like am I still even here or am I in hell. Is this a hell that Michael conjured. Mikey. Hey. Mikey. I figured it out. We're done here. Let's go back to regular torture. Michael. This is the bad place. Michael.

Dean stomps off into the woods because waiting for daybreak means being stuck in the same room as Jody and Sam flirting for a few hours.

Jody firmly pokes Sam in the chest with a map.

Sam.

A raven caws in the background, and Jack is wearing layers, the darkest shirt yet, a thick corduroy jacket in the style of early Sam, and is packing a bag.

He wrote a note and his handwriting is as disgustingly adorable as I thought it might be.

Alex wrote "Jack" with a cutesy backwards K in an autograph for someone who requested it at a con and I thought that was a cute detail but not how Jack would write and the real story - and I assume like with others they made him write it in character - is much more nuanced. His letters are competently shaped like he knows exactly how they should be, but shakily written, like he's not used to holding a pen, because, well, he isn't. He's not developed the muscle memory for it, just as he hasn't for fighting and all the other stuff, because in may ways he IS still a smol toddler with no life skills. His capital letters are huge and precise, like he knows he has to write them big, but disproportionate - putting so much emphasis on the titles of the people around him, the capital letters a metaphor for their influence on him. There's something clearly unconfident about writing and yet for all that obviously written by someone intelligent enough not to make basic errors of backwards letters and other things. He knows exactly how he is SUPPOSED to do it, but the execution is shakey, and disproportionate and generally looks unschooled and painfully revealing of his entire state of being.

Is this the scene where Bobo said out loud to an empty room, awww Jack.

I've been dreading that since the hiatus.

Maybe I should dig up that post and use it as the title for this one.

Triss is gonna die, Jack stopped by the stairs up out the Bunker in the war room, heard and saw Cas moving around, then in a fit of conscience or missing him already or something, stopped by to open the door and look in.

They have DEFINITELY expanded the Bunker set, in the sense that they've attached extra rooms to it or Wanek has sat down and made some parts more standardised, because they've shown off the corridor connections in every episode so far, and in this one we're seeing a never-seen-before connection which actually explains what is behind that window and how it fits. I mean, I'm pretty sure we've seen this particular room a few times, window and all, but never actual connections which show connected sets, so much as scenes starting or stopping there with no transition.

"She's been enchanted" "Like sleeping beauty" Jack says with awe "Awwwwwwwwwww" Lizzy says with awww

I honestly can't tell which moment Bobo said "Aw Jack" out loud about because we're getting such a series of them

Anyway, Hamlet, the great procrastinator, is distracted away from his mission to kill his uncle.

Not sure about the overlap of hearing things from the other side of a wall but I mean at least he's not going around stabbing people so

Jack also seeing all the important work they do for other people, even randos, and Cas getting involved in huntery business, distracted from emotionally nurturing him because of sleeping beauty there, and phoning rowena, doing the work to unknot a spell...

If we get Cas doing spellwork I'm gonna die, it's been Too Long.

Cas [squinting]: "Are you going somewhere?" Sleeping Beauty: "ooooww" Jack: "No."

Hon, that was so suspicious you are lucky this is Cas and not one of your other dads.

But. Aww Jack to an empty room.

"If I get a vote I'm team stick together" Jody remembers 9x19

Also Sam remembers bad!Kaia kicking their butts. They're on her natural territory

she is the Predator.

Sam keeps LOOKING at Jodio.

Look, I just

Cas keeps looking at Dean, Dean keeps looking at Cas

Jam won't stop looking at each other

That head is a Warning.

Come no further, mortals

I think Bad Kaia lives here

Vampires.

they really need to figure out how to biologically identify them except for teeth because they really come up against a lot of dead ones

"I brought tissue samples home, Alex ran them underneath the microscope"

Look, girls supporting girls, I knew what they needed to do before they did it lol

Dean: I was stabbed here

YAY I went frame by frame before the reveal and that is Kaia's face in there, the hood less spooky than before and more open to reveal her

Dean: bout to be stabbed here again

Dean finally has the moves to take on Bad Kaia after a season or two with the new stunt guy

but then her hood falls back and he's STUNNED

Now everyone is stunned

I think they've been using the Wayward Sisters Bad Place soundtrack for this but I'd have to check

the music is so very different and I'm not good at music ear thing

Cas: *eye twitches violently* Me: Cas why are you having trouble with this line Cas: "... marked.................... 'gross stuff'"

Cas, internally: Why did I marry into this family

Future MoLHunter 100 years later: "Man, this place is sweet, but the filing system is balls to the walls." Other Future MoLHunter: "Babe, you did not read the Winchester Gospels before your initiation?" F MoLHunter: "There is a drawer here marked 'hands of god' and the only thing in there is a pair of chopsticks and a ladel" OF MoL Hunter: Okay I will give you that. -

Me out loud to an empty room: aww Jack

He's so concerned about Sleeping Beauty, and he can't do anything about it but he's curious.

Maybe he CAN fix her and this is how he gets a lil power back.

I hope so because awww Jack being so concerned about her.

This is a Good Procrastination From Revenge

Hamlet, take fucking notes

"Is that your dad?" "One of them, yes." Aw Jack

Aw Bobo

Jack's flipping around on family - he's accused them of talking about nick/Lucifer as his father, he's disowned everyone but grampa and grammy Kline, and now he's fondly thinking of his three hero dads

He's really struggling to work out his place and what sort of family set up he belongs to and to be fair, he has so many fucking options and all of them are somewhat disastrous or tragic, so he's 100% in his right to be fuckin confused.

On the other hand Sleepy Beauty has no context so she's gonna assume Cas is gay married with a kid Jack's age and that's like, not untrue.

"My mom... but she probably hates me" "Why?" Jack says, horrified at the entire concept that a mom could hate a child, because, well, Kelly's love was COSMIC for him "because I left," she anvils

"I was sick of being treated like a kid, and i thought I could make it on my own" Oh boy. She's just expositioning how Jack feels and immediately telling him if he leaves he'll fall in with a witch, who curses her with an AGING spell which will make her old before her time.

I feel like there is probably... a metaphor........... in here...............

Also a reverse of Dean's aged down curse, because the girl and her other victims were hansel and greteled.

I had a sudden whim a couple of nights ago to see aged down Dean and current Jack hang out. Bring back Dylan Everett to go play basketball with Jack out on the front step.

"Gave us all nice things," she says, clutching at a HUGE EVIL EMERALD PENDANT AROUND HER NECK

Jack.................................

Is that cursed

"She said having us there kept her young" She put her own age into that locket

dang I should get a bonus point for bringing up poker!witch before he was relevant

I'm always curious about the show's implications about witches maintaining their youth by sucking it from others, because almost every witch we've met who had a focus on age was doing it for that reason, whether it was eating children or playing poker.

And we have a 300 year old witch chilling around who we don't know anything about when it comes to immortality, except that she has it and she bestowed it on Oskar so it's clearly a spell she can do rather than an inherent trait of reaching a certain level of magic practitionery.

"Then it started taking me too. Even faster than the others!" yeah because she killed the witch so she probably has to suck poor sleeping beauty dry in order to regenerate and skulk away and start over somewhere

PS: Sleeping Beauty is really doing an amazing performance here. I 100% am in Jack's shoes of being horrified and wanting to protect her

"Cas is going to fix this. I promise" Sweetie! Have you ever called him Cas rather than Castiel before? It seems weird. He even wrote castiel on the letter

Sam deducts Michael's entire plan off the clue that Alex couldn't detect the vamps in her sciencing, and based on having been attacked by super werewolves.

But why is Michael cleaning up these people?

Unless he's taking threats off the board who would be too cool and powerful and may challenge him...

"Doesn't change the plan" "but Dean - "

Dean walks off

Dean has no time for Sam suggesting maybe this is something awful because of Michael that Dean might know about or else be weirdly intimately connected to because of his weird Michael-based condition.

We have no clue what's going on and Sam doesn't like that and Dean's powering through and Jody is hovering in the background like WOW I can see why you leave me out of all your dumb main plot angst normally. Never done me one of these MAIN PLOT ones before. Can we go back to normal MotW where you're low key angsting in the subtext about whatever currently ails you?

Jody slaps Sam on the lower back

lower, babe. Lower.

Cas does magic, boom purple smoke!

Aw no she's still withered.

Jack, take her necklace off and smash it

because you did the good work of a hunter and talked to her and through being kind discovered what was wrong with her

Jody has a phone provider that gets her signal in the wilderness

"Claire's been doing so good, but anything connected to Kaia... she's a powder keg"

"FIRST LOVE STRIKES QUICK, AND TO LOSE IT LIKE THAT"

okay no Jody didn't shout it, but Bobo did.

ILY Bobo

I'm like 0% surprised but I am guessing other people who had been less trusting are throwing a complete party to have it textually confirmed like that. I felt like Bobo's intent especially when he went on the record in that stream AND he had been saying already that he shipped it right after Wayward Sisters, that he never ever meant to be coy about Dreamhunter, and confirming that Claire was madly in love with Kaia was a top priority on his fuck you list since he didn't get to write the show he wanted in order to work on this naturally.

Sam nods like fair enough, happened to me with Jess, but uh wow okay no i did not - yeah okay yeah

"He's not ready for this case" "maybe he needs it"

Jam jam jam jam

I mean

Yeah mature adults discussing issues together and working out how they feel about Dean rage-hunting Bad Kaia

hey look it's that one cabin that has been in like every episode of the show in the same way that one little stoney valley was in every episode of BBC Merlin

Has she lost her spear??

Dean, that was RUDE, you're so horrible to all these versions of Kaia

That zoom up on his face is one of the top 10 Dean Is Not Okay zooms of the show

So not like "bad cas" or "new bobby" are Dean's definitions for AU peeps - no word on what Charlie is to him, maybe because AU Charlie is a real issue for him to define as he couldn't help treating her like his Charlie.

But Bad Kaia insists that she is to Kaia what she is to me - they're joined in a different way. A way that back in Wayward Sisters was implied to be a dreamwalking connection of a very different sort, something anchoring our Kaia to the bad place and their connection was... weird.

"That was an accident. I was trying to kill the blonde" She's remorseful about killing Kaia but upsets them even more by reminding them that she was out for Claire instead.

How about we kill no one, bad Kaia

Oh no, Michael keeps sending monsters after her... Now she sounds like the original Kaia just because she's got "always more" things out for her. I suppose Michael learned of her through Dean, found her, and either wants to stop her or capture her because she has universe-crossing dreamwalking abilities, and woooow that will be useful to him.

NOOO SLEEPING BEAUTY DIED. THIS IS REALLY BAD. JACK COULDN'T SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVE HEEEEEEEEEER

waaaaaaaaaah

Stop fuelling Nougat having an interesting dark arc about his entire self and purpose and let him just hang around the bunker and watch TV and eat nougat and be hugged. Can we not just have a son who is okay and nothing is wrong with him?

Oh no even the random hunter (did I really catch her name as Brunhilda or did I imagine that?) is crying at Jack crying over Sleeping Beauty dying. Cas is contractually obliged not to cry or do complicated stunts but he looks miserable too.

Oh, jack figured out the pendant?

But can they actually save Sleeping Beauty?

Sam as usual getting in before I can - "Break her!??!?"

don't you dare hurt Kaia any more, she's already told you what she knows, Michael hurt her, you punched her out with the same face and then threatened her a bunch. She might be a snarky monster-hunting feral woodland weirdo but she's still Kaia-like and you have a history of being completely horrible to Kaia-like girls when you're in a bad place.

And it turns out Dean just wants the spear that pronged him, to figure out what it did and how to hurt Michael with it. To go on his own revenge mission that he denied Jack because, guys, we are now in competition for who gets to have the angsty anti-Michael revenge mission. Jack and Dean literally competing to be most angsty about it.

Jack is being considerably more productive even if Dean solved the Kaia mystery.

But yeah. Revenge sucks you guys.

Dean you need to eat a snickers and take a rest.

smiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirk because fuck you Dean for always hurting me and the other Kaia who is probably also me.

Jack is being much smarter.

The smartest cookie.

Who needs powers when you are a good cookie.

"She wasn't cursed. This was."

GOOD COOKIE.

I vote Jack gets to kill Michael. Dean has lost his Michael killing rights.

"You're no different from him. Threats, violence, anything to get what you want." "I am nothing like him."

Hon.

"Yeah you are. And you always have been."

I don't know if Kaia knows or if she's pulling a gambit, but acting like a mystic know it all and reading Dean stone cold in a villain way sure did take some of his rage away into that good old Dean self-loathing and fear, which was one heck of a good chess move regardless of if she can magically read him or not.

No I don't think Dean is these things but Michael is a means of exploring Dean's "blunt little weapon" sort of mindset that he has suffered from because of John's upbringing all this time, and Michael emotionally mauling Dean to the point of being a non-functioning worst version of himself who threatens Kaia (AGAIN) really is an on the nose way to display the sort of trauma that Michael tore into his psyche.

Crap I need to go to yoga, but this is too good to rush so even though I don't have much left, I will be back for proper notes in a bit!

Him smash magic glowy thing with hammer

just like i told myboy to do!

Cas's hair is ridiculously spiky.

"What happened?"

YOU MADE NOUGAT FEEL GOOD ABOUT HIMSELF THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED

Aww jack to an empty room

Sam I have been gone for hours. How have you not tackled Dean to the floor and apologised to Bad Kaia

"I saw what you did to her, when you got angry. You shoved your gun in her face." To be fair, at the time Dean had also been emotionally mauled by the feels bear because Jack gave him a vision of Mary being tortured in Hell-equivalent and he was also fucked up beyond belief.

Kaias really are seeing the worst side of him all the time.

Bobo likes breaking Dean

That was enough to make Dean let go

Also to ask a really good question about how she knows!

I'm way more curious about Kaia than Dean yelling at her :P

Then she points out that he's angry and impatient because he's scared, like, duh, but sometimes he needs to be reminded that he can have "weak" emotions like that because he wants to be all tough and on the case and instead he's freaked out because Michael has messed him up completely. Like. Stay home. Help the boy with lore or something. Take a pyjama day.

Wheee full flashback!

The early evening light gives it a Bad Place colour tinge, which is awesome.

I can't believe Mikey shows up in his hat but not his jacket.

He says he's BORROWING Dean here. Hm.

Also, what I suspected, that he sensed her around and was just curious. Probably having a "what the fuck that's KAIA!?" from Dean inside him and being like Kaia huh? Time to chat.

Mikey do you literally not have your own version of that fuck off huge spear they stabbed Cas with a couple seasons ago, or do you just collect cool spears?

There's something more than usually terrifying about his face in this conversation.

And he now says there's a war coming and thinks something weird like Bad Kaia might appreciate being on his side.

Oh boy.

"Wild one" that's so cool

Michael really has some great lines for being a massive pillock

Omg he fight good too

AAH this is Kaia's memory and she's psychically implanting it in Dean's head

"Stop!" he says, clearly not enjoying watching himself beat up Bad Kaia and, like, realising exactly how awful it looks to do this when he has to watch himself from the outside and for all we know feel her pain too.

Of course Dean being desperate to get the spear to fight Michael could come across with a blur of ambiguity of Michael being desperate still to have it, whether to stop Kaia using it or because he just really wanted it and doesn't like being told no.

The concept that Michael just disappeared from Dean still lingers.

So many fights with a whole bunch of people this season. Maybe just because there's so many friggin characters

"Now you're in trouble" *Bad Kaia literally leaps through a window to avoid dealing with this* I love her

NICE STAB

thanks for saving Jody

Well that was quick

Also you're badass and terrifying and I think Claire might fall in love with you too >.>

"I'm used to it" Oh babe.

She literally raised herself in a terrifying doomy forest so

I mean at least this world has dry crackers and beans. SCORE

Jody has got a LOT of thinking to do about how to phrase any of this to Claire.

"So there's a feral Kaia living in the woods outside of town"

Awww Sam offering her a lift to the hospital

Bobo wants us to remember 9x06 and Dean having to tend Cas's broken hand maybe

Sam. Hug her right now. RIGHT NOW.

Nope Jody just looks really tormented

She's in a reverse Jack position - one mom to 3 hunters instead of one kid to 3 hunters :P

Hey look it is Jack and one of his fathers.

"Jules is off!" Hey look Sleeping Beauty was called Jules. Nerdylittleshit doesn't read these notes however so she will never know that I decided this character was named after her :P

Cas apologises for not being there for Jack, because it took this long to realise he's the father who's always at work while others have taken the stereotypically maternal role to Jack, Cas just gets to be the cool strong father who is usually dead, captured or just busy saving people and too busy for Jack as a result.

"It's okay," Jack says, sounding considerably more emotionally balanced about it than he had in 14x01 when everyone was neglecting him

"Today you PROVED that you have the mind of a hunter. And the heart of a hunter" Raised by the best, bitches!

Awwww Cas wants to be a hunter with Jack! They can get a terrible car and hit the road and do an easy case and bond as they go and eat crappy food at diners and

Jack develops Nephilim Flu in response to having a nice moment with a father because he's so unused to being treated with full attention.

Cas: *squints*

"Must be getting my first cold!"

I have a cold too Jack! Awww!!

Cas is going to make him some soup. This is too sweet. I don't even have words for any of this it's just gross. My teeth hurt.

Jack I swear to god if you stopped your revenge quest and it hurt you so bad inside you're about to cough up a lung I am going to LA to kick the writers' asses in person so if you dare be even the slightest bit consumptive

Oh thank god the scene changed before he coughed blood into his hand

Awww and then Dean admits Sam was right, while still being the one driving on the way back.

I wonder if they filmed these side by side. "Dean slow down" "Sam you were right"

"What Michael used me for" Ouch, hearing him say it like that... Sad sad thoughts.

He just wanted to skip ahead and have it all done because revenge makes you feel SO much better.

"Dean... you did what you had to do" Okay it's even worse hearing someone else justify it rather than hearing that phrase come out of someone's mouth. At least when they say it about themselves they're just in a bad place. I don't even know if this is a pavlovian response I'm having but really flipping it around to have Sam say it is a validation - Sam certainly thinks things are better off with a dead Lucifer and would have a favourable bias, because it got the job done and whatever Mikey is up to at least it's not Lucifer doing it. Because even if Lucifer were doing the exact same things it would just be intangibly but clearly worse.

"It wasn't a blink, being possessed."

Dean says to Sam, who has been possessed by an angel twice and when it was Gadreel, for almost as long as Dean was Michaeled

Dean's so freaked out because fighting the drowning sense of being possessed was so horrifying and made him feel so weak and useless and he didn't even win that fight, Michael just bailed and let him have it back. With the "I own you" hovering over him.

It certainly reeks of being haunted by a bad relationship. The sense the nasty abusive ex hovering around outside the place you work every night...

"And it's all on me, man" No it isn't, he got through because Lucifer told him how.

Well I mean if you wanna go cosmic consequences, yeah it is because Billie done told you not to go universe hopping and that's several billion dominoes you messed around with doing exactly that

But despite how I spent all of season 13 SHRIEKING at you not to do it while knowing full well you did, and how this is technically your cosmic hubris for doing that, I also don't actually blame you on a personal level, Dean. Just, like, so you know once I get back to the shrieking. Because ow you are very sad and in pain and if Nougat wasn't coming down with Nephilim Flu in the other scenes I'd basically rank you No 1 for wrapping in blankets and feeding soup.

You're still in the top 10. Jodi had a pretty bad day too :P

Oh COME ON JACK

*starts packing my bags for the ass kicking*

Aww Jack to an empty room

Um EXCUSE ME HOW MANY CONSUMPTIVE TISSUES HAVE YOU GONE THROUGH?

GO FIND YOUR FATHER RIGHT NOW

HAVE YOU BEEN DOING THIS FOR THREE WEEKS?

Well no wonder you've been in a panic to get Michael killed.

SHEESH.

Dean's back and he's gonna kick your ass because he remembers when Sam did this in the Trials and he is very very anti consumptive family members.

#Asks #rape mention cw #for thematic parallels to the whole Michael-ing thing #because consent drama and angels as per usual #14x03 #season 14 spoilers #my stuff

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caranfindel · 5 years

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Recap/review 14.16: “Don’t Go Into the Woods”

THEN: “Those guys hunt monsters!” S13 Sam bringing the AU hunters home where they’ll be safe! Sam hates this place! Can we just stop here? Now that you’ve shown me Sam in that sweatshirt and camo jacket, and his PTSD flashbacks, and brokenly admitting how much he hates the bunker, it can only go downhill from this point. Let’s stop while we’re ahead. Ah well. Jack is a Winchester and “I’m me again,” and is probably good, if one can believe that while watching him turn his pet snake to ash.

NOW: Two teens making out in the back seat of a car at a campground. The girl is antsy because something is whistling outside (“where are they, Camp Crystal Lake?” asks The Husband), and then a law enforcement officer opens the door and oh, god, I’m having a PTSD flashback myself, so let’s move on. It’s the sheriff, who is actually the guy’s father, and there’s some family drama. The girl, Barbara, goes to the bathroom to let the guys talk. The bathroom is pretty disgusting, but if she thinks the worst thing she’ll see tonight is an awful bathroom, she’s wrong. Sheriff Dad lectures his son Tom (Tom and Barbara? Is this a flashback? Are these two teenagers from the 60s?) while, in the bathroom, Barbara sees lights flashing and hears whistling and then SOMETHING puts a hand over the door. Screams, running, a glimpse of something monstrous, the sheriff trips over a tree root, and then Tom finds Barbara with her neck slashed open.

Title card!

Bunker. Sam is sitting in the dark kitchen, hunched over his laptop, looking sad (SAAAAAMMMMM!!!) and alone. Dean comes in and says “morning sunshine!” and teases him about looking at porn. So basically, we’re trying real hard to act like everything is normal, aren’t we, boys? Sam’s found a case - our dead friend Barbara - and police called it an animal attack, but there’s a history of disappearances. Dean asks about Sam’s request to take some time and Sam looks puzzled and says “no, I’m good, honestly, I’m good.” Dean gives him a hard look and is obviously thinking the same thing I am, which is that you’re LYING, SAM WINCHESTER. But he accepts it.

Sam’s lying face, and Dean’s disbelieving face.

Cas is conveniently written out, having left because he’s been cooped up in the bunker too long, and Dean doesn’t want Jack to come. He’s concerned about him having his powers back. He brings up the security guard, reminding us that Jack has accidentally killed someone before, just in case we forgot, and says “I just want to make sure he’s right before we put him back out there.” Sam reluctantly agrees.

They visit Jack, who is reading that it’s illegal to turn someone into a zombie in Haiti (good to know). They tell him they’re going out on a case, and Dean lies that he’s not invited because they don’t want to leave the bunker empty “in case Mom or some of the other hunters call.” Sam looks very uncomfortable with the lie, maybe because it’s so ridiculous (they have cell phones, and all the other hunters are dead), or maybe just because he doesn’t like lying to Jack. Dean gives Jack a shopping list and asks him to restock the bunker. Beer is on the list twice. Jack smiles sweetly and says he’ll do it, Sam looks uncomfortable some more, and the guys take off.

(Sidebar: are ALL of the other hunters actually dead? Did every AU hunter happen to be in the bunker the day Michael got out? Discuss.)

Camp Crystal Lake. (No, not really, but I don’t remember what it’s called, just that they’re in Iowa.) The brothers are in FBI suits and overcoats \o/ and the sheriff is explaining that there’s a lot of wildlife in the woods, coyotes and whatnot, and hikers get attacked. Like a coyote would do that kind of damage. They ask him if they can see the body, because a county sheriff would also be in charge of the morgue, wouldn’t he (that was sarcasm because I think the answer is no, he would not, but what do I know?) and he’s not thrilled but recognizes that he doesn’t have a choice.

Morgue. Sam opens the drawer and as he pulls it out, dead Barbara’s arm falls and hits Dean, who jumps back and mutters “mother-.” I didn’t even catch it, but The Husband did, so I had to rewind and then laugh. I don’t know why Sam is so surprised at Dean’s reaction, because even a hunter would jump when he gets smacked by a corpse, don’t you think? But it’s a cute moment.

Her eyes are an almost opaque blue-white, which makes me think zombie. And they did bring it up earlier, so… maybe? (Spoiler alert: nope.) It’s obvious even to me that a coyote didn’t cause the giant wounds on Barbara’s arm and throat. Sam notes that the skin around the throat wounds is burned, and I swear to god, Jensen looks right at the camera and asks what would do that.

“Dude, seriously, you looked RIGHT at the camera just now.”

I’m going to stick with the Sam and Dean story instead of going back and forth to Jack’s story. Although we’re not with the Winchesters right now; we’re with Tom and Sheriff Dad. Tom wants to talk to Barbara’s parents and Sheriff Dad says he needs to give them some time.

Later (or not? I can’t tell) Sam and Dean are researching at the Sheriff’s Department. “Kahunta,” says Sam. “Gesundheit,” says Dean. No, silly, a Kahunta is a “local Native American legend,” an ancient beast that spits up burning stomach acid when it’s hungry. (So, Zeitgeist, then? We’ve gone from Thanos to Zeitgeist?) Coincidentally, we see a couple walking in the woods who are accosted by a truly horrific creature that spits up burning acid.

Morning. Sheriff Dad is going over bloody photos of poor dead Barbara when his son comes in to discuss how animals who get a taste for human flesh won’t be satisfied with anything else. And he has to do something. “You said it was a coyote, right?” Flashback of Barbara and the Definitely Not A Coyote. A deputy runs in and tells Sheriff Dad there’s a situation.

The situation is the surviving half of the couple from earlier. Dean and Sam are there before the sheriff, because they’re awesome or psychic or whatever, and they ask the survivor what she saw. She calls him “a guy covered in something” and tells the Winchesters where they were attacked. Then the sheriff rolls up, recalls the search party, and tells the Winchesters to stay out of the woods. They nod politely, and the sheriff leaves.

Well, we should probably do what he says.

Oh yeah. Definitely.

Hee!

The most important things about this scene are (1) overcoat porn, and (b) Sam’s hair is slightly damp.

Nighttime. Sam and Dean are out in the woods, definitely doing what the sheriff said. They figure either he’s hiding something, or he’s scared. (Or maybe he knows something worth hiding, and that’s why he’s scared?) Sam mentions that “kahunta” means “whistler,” which is either idle chit-chat, or important information that would have come up sooner. Dean asks how they kill it and Sam says “the lore doesn’t really specify,” and that’s something that ABSOLUTELY would have come up sooner. Like, when they were packing their weapons bags. “What do we need?” “I don’t know.” Yeah, I really think they would have discussed that BEFORE they ended up in the woods. But what do I know. Dean suggests a head shot should kill anything, which is funny because that’s come up elsewhere this season - a shot to the head being an alternate way to kill something with a complicated weapon requirement.

They hear the whistle, but when something comes up behind them, it’s not the kahunta, it’s the sheriff, with a gun pointed at Dean’s head. (Sidebar: someday I’m going to have to learn the difference between a rifle and a shotgun, so I can call it something other than “gun.”) Sam is very accommodating, immediately going into placating, see, I’m not a threat, I’m following instructions, don’t shoot my brother mode. Dean’s a bit sassier and asks Sheriff Dad if the word kahunta means anything to him. The sheriff lies that it does not, and Dean knows he’s lying. Then Dean busts a move, ducking and lunging and ending up holding the sheriff’s big gun, and Sam’s right there beside him. Did Sam know what Dean was going to do, or did he just react that quickly? Doesn’t matter. It’s awesome. (Actually, it’s funny that Sam has to run over to Dean, instead of just holding his gun on the sheriff from the other side.)

The sheriff tells them he thought the kahunta was a tribal legend, and oddly enough, I didn’t catch on until now that Sheriff Dad is Native American. If I’d noticed that earlier, I would have wondered if he meant a coyote or the trickster god Coyote, and then I would have thought that would have been an amazing way for Gabriel to come back; he’d saunter out of the woods with a lollipop in his mouth and say “hi, fellas” and I’d fall over dead. But that ain’t happening tonight.

The sheriff tells them how a person turns into a kahunta, but I’m going to skip that because honestly, I’m not finding it all that engrossing. Let’s just look at how pretty the guys are, shall we?

Things that are unreasonably hot - Winchesters having guns held on them, holding guns on other people, looking confused and angry and concerned, and basically just standing there breathing.

The kahunta was bound to the woods, which is why the sheriff was trying to keep people away. When the Winchesters tell him they hunt monsters, he asks why they don’t tell everyone that monsters are real, which is a really odd stance for him to take, considering that he’s been lying about rabid coyotes to try to keep people out of the kahunta woods. The guys explain that it’s not that simple, and Sam tells him that people, even hunters (especially hunters, right, Sam?) die, and is quite upset about it, and while I’m normally all about Sam and his trauma, this is falling flat for me. I don’t know why the sheriff cares so much about them lying. I don’t know why Sam cares so much about keeping people out of hunting, especially since he’s generally the one who recognizes when someone is destined or determined to hunt, and tries to help them. (I mean, I suspect this is happening for Stupid Plot Reasons. But what do I know?)

The sheriff’s phone rings. It’s Tom, telling him he’s going to go kill the “rabid coyote.” Ruh roh! They know exactly where he’s going, because that’s where they know the kahunta hangs out, which doesn’t explain why it’s not where they went first. Sam points out that they don’t know how to kill it, and Sheriff Dad says all the lore calls for a silver blade through the heart. Luckily, Sam has one. (Sidebar: Why wasn’t that nugget in all of Sam’s lore? Discuss.)

Tom has brought some raw meat to use as bait, but the kahunta ain’t interested in that crap. It knocks him unconscious by opening a cabin door really aggressively (sigh) and then starts to drip stomach acid on him. Sheriff Dad comes in and says “hey,” as one does, and they fight. Dean runs in and, instead of going for the kahunta, picks up Thomas and carries him outside. Then Sam runs in and shoots the kahunta as it gnaws on the sheriff. It attacks Sam, who drops his knife, as one does.

(Sidebar: Would a silver bullet have killed the kahunta? If all it needs is silver in the heart, wouldn’t a bullet do the trick? Discuss.)

Sheriff Dad picks up Sam’s silver knife. Dean returns and shoos him out of the cabin, and he doesn’t say “wait, I have the only weapon that will kill this thing.” Apparently the kahunta doesn’t like Dean’s flashlight. I don’t really know what’s going on here. It lunges for him, he lures it outside, and the sheriff stabs it with the knife, so I guess they actually had a plan there. The kahunta disintegrates into a gross little puddle of goo. Sam emerges, and I swear that thing was gnawing on him, but he’s unhurt.

Just out of breath and hot AF.

Time jump! Tom is loaded into the ambulance and asks his father if they killed the “coyote.” Dad says they did, and then tells the Winchesters that he didn’t know what to tell the kid. “How about the truth,” says Sam. “He’s your son. He deserves the truth.” Dean’s expression reveals he knows Sam is actually talking to him, because the theme this week is Don’t Lie, Kids. Or Don’t Lie to Your Kids. Or something like that.

“I came out to have a good time, and I’m honestly feeling so attacked right now.“

Impala. Dean says he doesn’t think telling Tom the truth is the best idea, and they should do what they always do. "When in doubt, lie.”

Yeah, right. Like we did with Jack?

I took care of it, all right? We took care of it.

No, Dean, WE did not take care of it. YOU did. And do you think you really took care of it the right way?

Jack said he was fine!

Yeah, he’s a kid! And when we were kids, how many times did we tell Dad that we were fine, just to make him happy?

Oh, like you did just weeks ago, maybe, Sam? Was that a lie? (Also, how heartbreaking is it that Sam is comparing his parenting to John’s?)

Meanwhile, back in Lebanon, Jack (who apparently walked to town?) finds the Lebanon Mini Mart closed, with a note on the door saying “out to lunch.” As he waits, a car pulls up. It’s the three teenagers from 14.13 “Lebanon” - Max, Not!Max, and Hat boy. Max is carrying food, and Hat boy is watching the Ghostfacers on his phone. Not!Max seems to be wearing that red sheepskin-lined jacket Jack wore earlier in the season. Hat boy isn’t wearing his hat.

(Thanks for that fashion report, because that’s why we watch the show, to see what the Television Version of These Kids Today wears.)

They recognize Weird Bambi Kid, and Hat Boy asks where Sam and Dean are, and if they’re fighting ghosts. “What’s a ghost? I should go,” Jack says. It’s funnier on screen than it looks in print. They tell him they know about hunters, and Jack is relieved he doesn’t have to lie, because it makes his stomach hurt. IT’S THIS WEEK’S THEME, JACK. It turns out Not!Max is the store employee who stepped out to go to lunch, so it looks like Jack gets to do Dean’s shopping after all.

Jack fills his little basket as Max and Not!Max talk about him. They feel sorry for him because he lives with a bunch of guys (two other guys? is a bunch?) and their home probably smells like beer, Kleenex, and Old Spice. Kleenex? Has a smell? And is something you associate with a house full of guys? Okay, Max. (Besides, I’m convinced the bunker smells like Sam’s rosemary mint shampoo. But what do I know?) Hat Boy wants to talk to Jack about the Ghostfacers, who are awesome, and the books he’s reading. Jack tells Hat Boy way too much about monsters, and when they ask if he ever “hangs out,” he tells them about Tuesday movie nights, when Dean makes them watch The Lost Boys (36 times, which is like a third of Jack’s life in the bunker so far, isn’t it?)

(Sidebar: Why aren’t they watching Porky’s II? Why would Dean be so interested in The Lost Boys? Wouldn’t he hate its unrealistic portrayal of vampires? Or is he just a Keifer Sutherland fan? Discuss.)

Max suggests he could hang out with kids his own age, and Jack says “Well, I’m two. Two…wenty. I’m twenty. Two. I’m twenty-two.” Again, it’s funnier on screen. The girls invite Jack to hang out with them at “the Stoke place,” which is “this old farmhouse outside of town… no one goes there.” Jack’s interested. Not!Max cards him for the beer.

The next day, at the Stoke Place, which is nice and furnished and has electricity and doesn’t seem abandoned at all. I think it’s the same place as the party from “Lebanon.” Max and Not!Max start to kiss, and Hat Boy tells them to do that in another room, which I’ve been led to believe is exactly the opposite of what a heterosexual teenager would say if two hot lesbians were about to make out in front of him. But what do I know?

Jack shows up with a stack of books, which Hat Boy considered awesome, because Hat Boy is just really into this monster hunting business. Jack is very stranger-in-a-strange-land, not recognizing music (huh?) or SATs (and that means these kids are what, 16 or 17? way too young to be hanging out with someone who’s too-wenty-two). Once again he talks way too much about monsters, and the way we focus on the girls when he says demons could look like “me, or you, or anybody” makes me think one of these chicks is gonna turn out to be a demon (spoiler alert: no). Max asks him, in a challenging way, how he killed a demon, which convinces me that she’s the one. They move outside and he attempts to demonstrate throwing an angel blade (“so it’s made out of angels?” hee!) but isn’t very good at it.

Night falls and Jack is still unsuccessfully trying to embed his blade in a tree. He finally decides to use his powers. Voila! Seeing how impressed his new friends are, Jack starts to show off, twirling the blade like he twirled the pencil back in the bunker. Not!Max gets freaked out, so Max asks him to stop, but he refuses. Not!Max panics and runs toward the flying blade (which I don’t think she’d do, but what do I know?) and gets stabbed in the gut. Whoops! She collapses, but Jack heals her. “Hey, that’s cool, I bet you could heal anyone who got injured or killed, like maybe someone killed by an archangel,” Hat Boy says. (No, not really.) Even though he saved Not!Max, Jack’s new friends are no longer feeling buddy-buddy and they send him away.

Bunker. Jack’s basically where he was when the Winchesters left. He tells them he got the supplies, except for the beer.

I didn’t have ID.

You have TONS of IDs.

They’re fake!

Hee!

Sam sits down and the guys explain that they actually left him behind because they didn’t want him using his powers yet, until they know he’s comfortable. Dean tells him they care about him, which is the closest he’ll get to telling him he loves him unless someone’s death is imminent. I like that Sam gets down on his level and radiates compassion, and Dean remains standing and shows authority. Because Dean is emulating John, and Sam is being the parent he wishes John was. (I’M NOT CRYING. YOU’RE CRYING.)

Sam’s compassionate face is killing me.

Jack plasters on a smile and tells them he understands and promises he won’t use his powers without permission. And says nothing at all happened while they were gone.

OH JACK.

So. This was co-written by Davy Perez, and normally I love a Perez episode, but this one left me unsatisfied. It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t great. It was just kind of… eh. I guess it was bound to happen - that string of good episodes couldn’t last forever. It did convince me further that Jack is going to become the Big Bad unintentionally, probably by trying to do something good or just trying to impress someone. And I’m not a fan of that possibility.

As always, please help me stay unspoiled, thanks!

#spn #14.16 don’t go into the woods #spoilers #wet!sam #tv recaps #recap

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bleedpure · 5 years

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mark lee vc: LEZ GEDDIT ! i’m al or ally, i’m nineteen, i’m in the cst timezone aka the midwest, so u know what that means ! it sucks ! i don’t even know how to transition out of that. i’m so bad at talking about myself, so i think we’re just gonna not do that....... we’ll talk about seulki instead, which i can assure u he’s 100% more interesting than i will ever be ! u can find his info under the cut and if u wanna plot hit that like button and i’ll come to u or u can hit me up on d*scord ( which i would love tbh bc it’s easier than tumblr ims ) @ the jonas brothers did that#7625. okay, onto the intro !

- ̗̀✰ • 【 LEE MINHO, CISMALE, HE/HIM 】 ❝ did you see KIM SEULKI on the train back to hogwarts? they’re a HALF-BREED (VAMPIRE) in their THIRD year as a TWENTY year old RAVENCLAW. apparently they’re the ENIGMA around the grounds; most likely because they give off an aura of DROPLETS OF CRIMSON LIQUID DRIPPING OFF PEARLY WHITE FANGS, FORM FITTING JEANS THAT HUG JUST THE RIGHT SPOTS, HEART SHAPED LIPS CURLING INTO A DEVILISH SMILE, THE FEELING OF A PIANO PLAYING EERILY IN THE ROOM NEXT DOOR. of all the social media platforms, they’re definitely most obsessed with their INSTAGRAM; probably because they’re ELOQUENT, but also MANIPULATIVE. however, on the new manifest app in mr. carlos’ english class, they’ve already managed to anonymously steal the username: BLOODLUST.

ALSO ! if u want a better look at him, u can check out his pinterest board here ( follow me too that’d be so sexy of u ) !

information.

i’m gonna just do this in bullet points bc i’m lazy and have had a really long week so if it’s choppy.... i am so sorry u are just gonna have to deal w it KMSKSMK

seulki was born in seoul, south korea to a kang insoo, a wizard man, and kim eunbin, a vampire woman, seulki himself being her first born

he doesn’t remember much of his own father, the only image he has of him is his bloodied corpse after his mother ripped his throat out when he was five years old

she was a cruel woman is what he had learned from that moment on

most half-breeds are misunderstood creatures, but the kim line of vampires were the monsters they told u abt in horror stories, the ones that hid under ur bed and took u from ur room in the depths of the night

being descendants of vlad the impaler, yes he really was a vampire!, had death and destruction lacing through their veins, darkness and deceit wrapping around their bodies

growing up, he watched his mother give birth to three more children, all of which were full fledged vampires, unlike himself

at first, he never let it bother him, he was raised up to be a vampire, to let the magic gene within him go dormant. he fed off humans and shed the blood of other’s with the influence of his mother, but even being her puppet was never enough for her

secretly, she had always resented her falling in love with a wizard, a human, someone that wasn’t of their own kind. because she did actually fall in love with him, only to be blindsided by her own family, a powerful clan of vampires pulling who she was and who she had always been out of her

because of the resentment matted in between her bones, the anger and frustration of her family ruining her life, of insoo ruining her life, she began to see the human traits within seulki even more often than not, creating a drift and a barrier between the two of them

seulki was the eldest brother, the one who took it upon himself to help raise them, to protect them, to never let their bright souls be diminished by the thought that they were monsters. they loved him and he loved them, but his mother didn’t like that

she didn’t like how they cared for each other because they cared for each other more than they cared for her. she was selfish, wanting the love she never was able to receive, wanted to feel smth for all that she didn’t

his mother hadn’t been fond of him for a while, only using him to do her bidding and while him and his siblings got closer and closer, she got angrier, knowing that they were each others’ heartbeats and she wasn’t included in that

so because of her selfish and deranged nature, she wanted to eliminate her younger children to cause torment to seulki. ganging up on the children one night with the intent to kill them, but she didn’t get as far as she wanted to

she severely injured her second oldest, giving a few scratches the the other’s before seulki came in, eyes black and charging towards his mother. it was a bloodbath after that, the two youngest pulling their sister to safety as they called for seulki

their cries and calls snapped him out of his loss of humanity and in front of him was his injured, but not dead mother unconscious. it was then that he took his chance, packing whatever he could that was valuable and fled with his siblings

they spent time spent a long time running, bouncing from city to city more bloodshed falling onto seulki’s hands to protect the only people he held dear to him and he would do anything for them.

he struggled a lot actually with maintaining his humanity as it would slip from time to time due to the trauma even if he had his siblings to tether him down. at some point, seulki, while strong, felt himself getting exhausted from being on the run and it was when they’d found themselves in scotland being found by hagrid of all people offering seulki a place at hogwarts and his siblings a place in his hut

at first, seulki declined, not fully trusting the man with his siblings even though he would be right in the castle near by. but, after some thought and the push of the second oldest, they accepted the offer and seulki’s been attending hogwarts since he was eighteen and his siblings have found a residence with hagrid

tidbits.

he ages like a normal human up until he’s twenty-one when he quits aging and begins the phase of immortality.

seulki can and will drink blood to survive, but if he goes without it it’s not detrimental to him until he quits aging altogether which means he can eat regular food, he actually quite enjoys it.

he has fangs, he can go out into sunlight, but not for an excessive amount of time or he’ll get a rash. seulki does have inhuman speed and strength, but nothing overpowering u know? when he loses his humanity, his eyes go full black and when the vampire takes him over, his eyes are red, and his regular eye color is brown.

losing his humanity means he loses his heartbeat, most of the time either due to losing the things or people that make his heart beat or from intense and severe anger or negative emotions such as the like. though, it can be voluntarily done as well by switching it off ( kind of like tvd . . . fucking disgusting ). but, seulki being only half-vampire has an easier time, unlike his siblings, to regain his heartbeat back and for his humanity to fluctuate when it’s lost because of his human side. his siblings are his heartbeats actually, so that’s where the intense need to protect them comes from as well as just being their brother.

seulki is a Big Bi ! loves it fucking all.

he’s not super great at magic since his magic gene was pretty dormant until he came to hogwarts, so he’s pretty much just skirting by at this point.

his siblings mean the world to him, he would do absolutely anything for them and wouldn’t let a single person harm a hair on their heads. but ! no one knows they exist, though i’m sure if there were special people in his life they might !

while he sleeps around a lot . . . he’s a secret romantic. he’s always wanted to find love, but it way too terrified of it.

oh yeah he has a blood kink............ that’s important ig

personality.

seulki is definitely an interesting person. he’s wise and intelligent, having been through a lot in his life. he’s eloquent and good with his words, most would call him honey-tongued because of how he can persuade almost anyone to do what he says. seulki is kind of a dick or well, like a suave dick. he’s charming and flirty, his signature is a smirk and like arms crossed as he leans against a doorway u know? seulki is uh. how do i put this? kind of a whore. he doesn’t tend to care about others which is deep rooted in the fact that he’s never felt real love . . . his own mother hated him to the core. he’s overprotective of the people he cares about and will do absolutely anything for them. he’s an ass if i didn’t mention that before, it’s to protect himself and his siblings from ever being hurt again because he’s so terrified of letting people in for them to just tear him down in the process. he’s guarded and u never know what he’s thinking because he doesn’t show it on his face or let u know. UH I DON’T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO SAY MY BRAIN DOESN’T WORK............ he’s p manipulative............. uh he cares a lot. but deep down and he doesn’t want ppl to know that........... he’s definitely a Big Brother type when he cares abt u, makes sure u’ve eaten, makes sure ur warm and are comfortable....... yeah idk that’s it i’m done

wanted plots.

A HEARTBEAT ! — whether platonic or romantic, this would be someone who, just like seulki’s siblings, makes his heart beat thus keeping his humanity in check, they would be a WHOLE, WHOLE lot to him.

A TUTOR ! — as i mentioned earlier, seulki isn’t super well versed when it comes to magic, he’s not very good at it and it’s hard for him to navigate sometimes, so having someone to help him get his mf grades up would be lovely !

AN EX ! — obviously, this didn’t go down well because seulki is terrified of commitment and people getting close to him. it could play out in so many ways, so if it sparks ur interest we can chat !

A ROOMMATE ! — so which sucker is gonna have to live with the vampire who has a blood kink ?

A BEST FRIEND ! — obviously this is pretty self explanatory, this would be someone that seulki trusts with probably his life and they mean a lot to him, even if he’s bad at showing it.

LOVE/HATE ! — bruh give me that good shit. these two can’t stand each other, but because of that it’s formed some sort of fondness where if anyone is messing with the other they’re like who tf are u that’s my job !

A BAD INFLUENCE / GOOD INFLUENCE ! — self explantory . . . someone be a good influence for seulki and let him be a bad influence for someone else.

AN UNREQUITED CRUSH ! — my friend gave me the idea to maybe have someone have a cute little crush on seulki . . . and i was like but that’s SO sad........ then i was like u know what i love pain so here we are........ also could be requited we shall see !

FUCK BUDDIES, FRIENDS/ENEMIES WITH BENEFITS, FLINGS ! — i’m just getting lazy at this point to explain this shit . . . fuck him, let him fuck u he’s a true vers my friends.

OTHERS ! — cuddle buddy, old friends, confidant, rivals, skinny love, annoyances, a brother/sister type of relationship, and if there’s anything else we can just vibe ! tbh we don’t even have to do anything from this list, whatever fits the muses, these are just ideas !

#mhq:intros #°࿐ ✦ ༉ 𝓐. ooc ﹠ 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙠𝙪𝙨𝙝 .#huh. can't believe y'all have to read this...... i feel bad for u all #also i didn't proofread this so just go w it

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