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ducktracy · 4 years

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160. porky’s duck hunt (1937)

release date: april 17th, 1937

series: looney tunes

director: tex avery

starring: mel blanc (porky, daffy), billy bletcher (drunken fish, the guy from upstairs), the sportsmen quartet (singing fish)

disney has steamboat willie. warner bros has porky’s duck hunt (or, actually porky’s hare hunt/a wild hare, your pick). the moment we’ve all been waiting for... the fated day is here at last: the world is introduced to the enigma that is daffy duck. if you somehow have been living under a rock for the past 6 months and don’t know, or if you’re just a well meaning passerby who i needlessly insulted for my own failed attempt at comical grandeur and for that i really am sorry, daffy’s my favorite looney tunes character (porky a close second) and one of my favorite cartoon characters of all time, if not favorite. i know my icon is pretty subtle in conveying that. anyway, yes! daffy makes his debut here, as does mel blanc voicing porky. with joe dougherty gone, mel has gotten his feet increasingly wet in cartoons, and now he has his big break, voicing the stuttering pig (and others) all the way until his death in 1989. and, as we saw in picador porky, porky is considerably slimmer here, a model which would be picked up by ub iwerks and bob clampett. frank tashlin would eventually slim porky down as well, the last one to do so.

while daffy is a tex avery creation, he only has 3 tex cartoons total. he’s unnamed in this cartoon (model sheets label him as “that crazy darn fool duck”), earning his title in his second entry, tex’s daffy duck and egghead. bob clampett would seemingly “adopt” daffy from tex, pinning him as porky’s sidekick. while clampett carried on tex’s vision of daffy’s daffiness, he also calmed him down as well. by 1938, daffy wasn’t a caricature of himself anymore. maybe not the most sane (is he ever?), but he was capable of coherent thought and conversation. in this cartoon, daffy is just a heckling little pest (though he fulfills that role quite often). porky and his dog rin chin chin embark on a good ol’ duck hunt, but daffy has other plans—saving his own skin.

the introduction of the cartoon is deceitfully mild. you go in thinking it’s just another porky pig cartoon, how cute, maybe a few polite laughs. a great way to lure the audience in for what’s ahead. the cartoon’s theme, “a hunting we will go”, scores the opening pan of duck hunting essentials: a book on how to hunt ducks, a “sure fire” shotgun, one “wear-well” hunting suit, duck decoys, and shotgun shells. some nice multi-plane camera work as we settle in on the happy hunter: a triumphant porky poses in front of his mirror, donning his hunting garb and shotgun, obviously pleased with himself, fancying himself as some sort of revolutionary soldier.

eager to get a move on, porky practices his aim, aiming straight at his napping dog (this time named rin-chin-chin. porky will have many a dog with many interesting names. i think “black fury” is my favorite for how metal it sounds.) the terrified pooch wakes from his nap and yelps, seeking refuge in a cabinet. carl stalling’s musical touch accents the anxious blinks of the dog very nicely.

finally, we hear mel blanc’s first ever lines for porky as he laughs it off. mel’s stuttering is especially profuse in this cartoon, still testing the waters with his new character. “d-d-d-d-d-do-do-don-do-don’t worry, it’s n-n-n--ne-ne-n-no-n-no-not l-l-l-lo-loaded. eh-w-we-w-watch!”

and, because porky says it’s not loaded, the gun is absolutely loaded. he fires a big, gaping hole right in his ceiling. i love the slow, creeping realization that porky has as he finally registers what just happened. lots of gears turning in his head, some great acting. maybe this is just the Mel Blanc Effect, but porky seems to have the most personality in this cartoon yet. this scene also blew my mind when i first watched it: this was one of the first porky cartoons i checked out, maybe the second one after porky’s romance. i’m not too sure how i stumbled upon it (i think i was curious about daffy’s origins or something), but the musical timing just astounded me. there are 8 beats in the music, and 8 angry knocks on the door in conjunction with the music. succinct musical timing was still pretty foreign to me, and this scene REALLY heightened my appreciation for the 30s cartoons, especially the music. the music is such a pivotal factor in my enjoyment of these cartoons, and carl stalling is in top shape with this one.

chuck jones animates the next scene as porky asks “who’s there?” billy bletcher’s grow grovels behind the door. “it’s the guy from upstairs!” ever good natured, porky opens the door, receiving a big fat punch to the face. the payoff is great as we see the peeved neighbor turn around, a giant hole in the right buttcheek of his pants, revealing his underwear beneath. great, drawn out timing.

tex deceives us with his tranquility of the early morning as we approach the fated duck pond, a sweeping, beautifully painted pan of the surroundings, accented by “william tell overture”. hang onto the peace and quiet, because it’s about to dissipate. porky shushes his dog, uttering the future wisdom of elmer fudd (but with a different speech impediment) as he whispers “shhh... shhhh! b-be-buh-be quiet. buh-be v-ve-very, v-v-ve-v-ve-very, v-v-v-v-ve-ve-very, ca-ca-ca-c-ca-ca-c-q-qu-qu-quiet.”

right on cue, porky’s prayers are answered as the telltale quack of a duck rings from above. one of my favorite gags of tex’s, relying wholeheartedly on deceitful timing as the duck floats on ahead. porky aims his gun, alone with only his dog, his target, and his thoughts...

when suddenly, an explosive cacophony of noise cracks through the entire pond as a gaggle of hunters pop up from their respective hiding places, firing mercilessly at the duck. so mercilessly, in fact, that porky has to dive to the ground to save himself. perhaps even better than the sudden eruption of action is the peace that comes after it: the duck flies along out of the gun smoke, completely unscathed. the hunters yell “AW, SHUCKS!” in conjunction with the mocking underscore of a hunting we will go. to quote daffy, very ingenious!

an appropriate score of “i only have eyes for you” as we hone in on a dim-witted cross eyed hunter (in the same vein as the cross eyed hitchhiker in porky the wrestler), who spots the duck in the air. the hunter aims his double barrel shotgun, but because he’s doomed to a life of loony hi-jinks thanks to his character design, he misses with both shots from each barrel, or so we think. tex takes quite a drastic turn out of left field as we see that the hunter HAS struck a target: two of them. two planes spiral towards the ground in black smoke, their pilots jumping out with the aid of their parachutes. a nonsensical gag that has little to do with the plot, but is hilariously unprecedented.

more chuck jones animation as we spot our chipper hunter placing his duck decoys in the water. with that, we are met with stardom, folks. porky turns away, just in time for daffy to fly down and land among the decoys, unidentifiable. half of daffy’s dialogue is limited to quacks and duck noises in this cartoon, which makes it all the more entertaining in my opinion. it’s so funny seeing daffy act like an actual duck. out of all the prototypes of say porky (if there is a porky prototype... i guess the entire dougherty era?) and bugs, daffy acts the most like his assigned animal species out of any of them. daffy quacks, causing porky to turn around. all he sees is a sea of decoys. porky reaches for his gun, another quack. yet the decoys are still there, no duck in (presumed) sight. a befuddled porky scratches his head before hatching an idea, winking at the audience in reassurance.

to hunt the duck, you must become the duck. carl stalling’s music score is lovely, nice and quaint and homely as porky ties a duck decoy around his head. he slowly submerges himself into the water, creeping across the pond, gun in hand. on the surface, it just looks like a regular, unblinking, plastic duck swimming. in all my viewings of this cartoon, i only JUST caught the trash littering the floor of the pond: what a great detail! it certainly adds a nice dose of sardonic humor.

porky’s genius plan works in his favor as he slowly rises in front of daffy, effectively startling the duck as he points his rifle. daffy prepares for his fate, or lack thereof, shutting his eyes and closing his ears, but all that’s expelled out of the gun is a gush of water. while porky investigates his gun, daffy uses this as an opportunity to fly away, perching himself on top of a floating alcohol barrel a ways away from the potential crime scene. just as he thinks he’s outsmarted the idiot pig, a gunshot to the barrel below him proves daffy wrong. daffy flies into the air in an angry quacking fit, while we have some rather sloppy animation of the exposed alcohol spilling into the lake, the barrel sinking.

and, because why else? a few fish come across the alcohol. they swim into the barrel sober, and emerge hiccuping and inebriated. did you know that if a fish gets drunk, it can breathe and walk on land? a fitting, tipsy accompaniment of “when my dreamboat comes home” scores the fish giggling and helping each other into a spare rowboat lying on shore.

then comes a beautiful, drunken rendition of “on moonlight bay” sung by the drunken fish. the song would be used in many a looney tunes cartoon, whether it be underscores or full on song numbers (while he doesn’t sing here, daffy does sing a duet with porky of the song in chuck jones’ my favorite duck. seemingly sober, of course). billy bletcher voices the lone fish slurring “now don’t you ever go away!”, the fish staring right at the camera in the same manner as the drunks from picador porky. i believe this is also chuck jones animation. it checks out his rule of animating drunks and closeups! the song is just lovely, as is the banjo accompaniment. certainly worthy of a listen.

what other way to top off such a great moment than a ben hardaway level pun of porky muttering “there’s something fishy about that.” i digress, i enjoy the pun (i love my puns) and his animation is super appealing and cute. porky’s frustration melts as he hears the all too familiar call of a duck. cautiously does he pull apart the reeds that blocks him and his duck foe, attempting to get a good look...

and daffy retaliates by biting porky square in the snout. the daffy nose bite gag would be a running gag with him, long after the tex avery daffy days. what’s not to love? porky doesn’t appreciate the gag nearly as much as i do. instead, he reaches for his rifle, fires, and actually gets a shot in. daffy’s lifeless body flops into the water. oh joy, oh rapture! porky’s hard work has finally paid off.

porky is completely overjoyed, now an excited, stuttering mess. “i ge-ge-ge-gu-guh-guh-got ‘im! i ge-ge-ge-gu-guh-guh-got ‘im! eh-g-g-go-go ge-get the-the-the duck, rin-ch-chin-chin!” bobe cannon animates this great bait and switch of a gag as the dog dives into the water, tackling daffy’s body and swimming back underwater, now just a black blob. we finally think that porky has emerged victoriously, the music crescendoing in triumphant anticipation, when DAFFY emerges from the water, haughtily tossing the unconscious body of the dog on the shore in a huff. what a great gag! and a side note: i didn’t mention it before, but this is bobe cannon’s first animation credit. he’s a WONDERFUL animator who’d work for bob clampett and later chuck jones, responsible for so many great smears in the dover boys. however, he wasn’t too proud of his past. he got in full swing with the UPA craze, and because of its heavy focus on design, he viewed his past works at warner bros as inferior. his animation is terrific! one of his trademarks, at least in the B&W clampett cartoons, is having a character talk without animating the lipsync. you’ll notice this often with daffy especially, like in this scene here. a wonderful animator is he!

speaking of bob(e)s, bob clampett animates the next iconic scene that would shape the entirety of daffy’s character for decades to come. in perhaps one of the strongest fourth wall breaks yet to come from a looney tunes cartoon, porky pulls out a script from the recesses of his hunting suit and flips through it calculatingly. finally, he just lets the talking get to the bottom of the conundrum. “hey, that wasn’t in the script!” daffy laughs in a lispless, hayseed guffaw. his first words are “don’t let it worry ya, skipper. i’m just a crazy, darn fool duck!” and, with that, daffy makes his iconic exit, HOOHOO!ing into the horizon as he does his signature stan laurel hop and hugh herbert laugh, cartwheeling and ankle clicking and bounding into the horizon.

on animating this scene, clampett says: “tex told me, ‘make him exit funny.’ i asked, ‘can i do anything i want?’ and he said ‘yes—anything.’ so i had daffy cross his eyes, do a stan laurel jump, and then do cartwheels, and do a ballet pirouette, and bounce on his head, and so forth. now, at that time, audiences weren't accustomed to seeing a cartoon character do these things. and so, when it hit the theaters it was like an explosion. people would leave the theaters talking about this daffy duck.” well, he was certainly right about the scene making an impact: here we are dissecting it today! while daffy’s personality turned in favor of the greedy, miserly type chuck jones and friz freleng gave him in the 50s, bob mckimson would still occasionally cling to daffy’s HOOHOO! exits and ways, even into the 60s. quite the important scene!

the scene after is rather meaningless and random, inserted possibly to fill up time or just as a declaration for tex’s love of gags, yet it amuses me nonetheless. tex works his sign gag magic as we spot a long, stringy fish making its way through the pond, an offscreen hand holding a sign that reads THIS IS AN ELECTRIC EEL, FOLKS. confirming our suspicions, the eel jolts with electricity, turning into a literal lightning bolt, a physical metaphor for its deadly touch. daffy spots the eel, completely unaware of its caveat. the animation and acting for daffy is very nice—the way he hides behind a log to “sneak” up on it, peering his little head out to get a good look. the duck strikes, swallowing the eel in one big gulp, swallowing and gleaming at the camera with his best “ain’t i a stinker?” grin. as he carries on his duck duties, swimming away contentedly, he receives a startling jolt of electricity from the eel inside him. the gag itself is a homage to the same gag in tex’s porky the rain-maker. once calm and content, daffy now skitters across the pond in a fit of terrified quacking, receiving jolts of electricity all the way. the gag has no relevance to the plot really—it just fades out and that’s the end of it, but i enjoy it regardless.

elsewhere, a different plight on a different character: hunger. porky sits in his boat, rifle in hand, waiting for his next fateful visitor to fly across, but the giant sandwich perched next to him is all too tantalizing. he licks his lips in anticipation—surely a quick lunch break can’t hurt if nobody’s coming to be shot, right? interesting to note that the past two cartoons to feature porky as a glutton have been tex avery cartoons—gold diggers of ‘49 and the blow out.

unable to stand it, porky reaches for his sandwich, discarding his rifle for the time being. just as he reaches for his lunch, a gaggle of ducks land right on the boat, quacking at him mockingly. the animation of porky scrambling to reach his gun is great. he doesn’t just reach for it, he swats around aimlessly for a few beats, trying to collect himself. i love how he looks in this cartoon, too. very cute and very appealing. porky finally grabs the gun, preparing to shoot, but all the ducks have flown away. oh well. porky goes back to his lunch, and his visitors fly back down again. in the midst of his scramble, porky grabs the gun the wrong way, nearly killing himself as he shoots the rowboat instead, collapsing into the water. all hopes of a delicious sandwich lunch is gone.

no matter! a random caricature of comedian joe penner is hiding in the pond to bring solace to porky, holding out a duck and giving his garbled catchphrase of “you wanna buy a duck?” something tells me that porky isn’t too enthused.

fade out and in to porky’s trusting hunting dog rin-chin-chin signaling for his master to come over quietly. porky marches out of the pond, swapping his duck decoy for his hunting cap and seeing what the matter is. i’m wondering if this scene was swapped around last minute, or maybe to indicate the passing of time (and more failures), seeing as porky didn’t have his duck decoy hat on in the last scene. nevertheless, magically changing hats aren’t on the top of porky’s mind: daffy swimming tantalizingly right in front of him is.

porky prepares to fire, and daffy once more anticipates his doom... but all he receives is a series of malfunctioning clicks. today is not porky’s day. however, daffy is pleased. so pleased that he marches onshore to HELP a very irate porky, furiously clicking his gun to no avail. i love how porky looks in this scene. very cute. daffy shakes his head and tuts in disapproval. in a great moment of half baked camaraderie, daffy haughtily reaches his hands out, signaling for porky to give him the gun. porky obliges hesitantly, observing as daffy clicks the gun once and fires. a success. daffy’s expression of disapproving indifference is the cherry on top of the entire gag.

with the duty done, daffy returns the gun to porky, who scratches his head in befuddlement. and, as if we could possibly forget, daffy guffaws his short lived catchphrase: “huh-huh, it’s me again.” the timing is lovely: avery could have opted to make daffy preface the interaction by saying “it’s me again”, but waited until the last possible moment to let the absurdity sit on. the line serves as a segue for daffy to make his heel clicking exit in a chorus of HOOHOO!s, once more bounding away from porky.

porky’s determined to get that damn duck if it’s the last thing he does. while daffy flies off, porky fires rapidly. in a homage to the previous airplane gag where the pilots were shot down, porky fires so quickly that he ends up decimating the ground beneath him, digging himself into a physical (and metaphorical) hole with each shot. a few overhead quacks, and porky pulls himself up from his homemade trench.

the V of ducks (or geese?) floating so tantalizingly above porky is like pure gold. figuring his gun wouldn’t be much use as of right now, porky opts to use a duck call instead. he gives it a hearty blow. the duck call is certainly convincing, but hardly in the way porky wanted it to be. the reeds and marshland around him is shot to pieces, the crowd of hunters from earlier mistaking porky for a duck instead. porky shields himself as the fire eventually stops. his happy-go-lucky attitude from the exposition is completely gone now as we spot a rare (for this time, anyway) display of over-boiling emotions. beyond frustrated, porky slams the duck call to the ground in defiance. physics defies his defying, and the duck call bounces right into his dog’s throat.

rin-chin-chin hiccups, and a duck call is emitted instead. porky and his dog ogle at each other, fearing what this could possibly mean. without any more hesitation, they both flop to the ground, taking cover. surprisingly, gunshots are sparse. that doesn’t stop porky from fashioning his own white flag to indicate his surrender. and, in an act of averyism, the gunshots pour in once porky raises his white flag. the animation of porky flopping around helplessly is very nice and rubbery—he’s like a rag doll.

duck season is completely out of the question: it’s pig season now. porky and rin-chin-chin run for the (beautifully painted) rural hills, both trying to dodge the flurry of bullets that follow. it’s like a war zone! finally, they both make it out alive... but miserable in the process. they both sulk as the woefully trudge back home, porky shooting furious glares at his hiccuping/quacking dog, who stares back at him in remorse. the mood is drastically different from the one we saw at the beginning.

finally, porky is in the comfort of his own home, free to mope and sulk as much as he pleases. just as he’s about to get his wallowing on, a cruelly familiar noise sounds out the window. seeing as it was the last cartoon released, it’s only fitting for “she was an acrobat’s daughter” to underscore the gang of ducks outside porky’s house, mockingly frolicking and playing, just waiting to be pierced full of holes.

we get our first porky stutter switch gag as he repeatedly attempts to fire, but to no avail. he’s pissed now. “d-duh-d-d-duh-du-duh-doggone it! nuh-nuh-nn-n-no more bu-buh-buh-b-bu-bu-bul-bull-bulle-buh—eh-shells!” but, as they say, luck favors the prepared, and porky was certainly prepared in the beginning. bad luck strikes porky once more as he tosses his gun away in a huff. in fact, there WAS at least one more bu-buh-b-buh-bul-bulle—shell in the gun. the gun fires, creating a giant hole in porky’s ceiling, parallel to the beginning.

a continuity error all in the name of a gag as we hear angry pounding on the door. porky opens the door and gets another punch to the snout from the same guy before, now marching upstairs with TWO holes in the back of his pants. a funny gag for sure, but the fact that he’s marching upstairs when just previously we saw the outside of porky’s house, ducks flying in his yard, raises a bit of a question. iris out.

but that’s not all, folks! the end of this cartoon has a special visitor: instead of the script writing “that’s all, folks!”, we instead have daffy zooming and zipping around on the lettering, HOOHOO!ing all the way, waving goodbye at his audience.

if you somehow managed to get to the end of this, congrats! what a monumental cartoon. this is not, by any means, the best daffy cartoon ever to exist. it’s a bit rough in some spots, and after the novelty wears off it isn’t as extraordinarily hilarious as it would have been in 1937. but that’s not to say this isn’t one of my favorite cartoons of all time: it absolutely is, despite its flaws. i love this cartoon to death. there’s so much happening! daffy’s first appearance, mel’s first time as porky. so anti-disney of an approach that it would truly shape the rest of the cartoons we’ll be seeing. without this cartoon, who knows if we’d have porky’s hare hunt? and without porky’s hare hunt, who knows if we’d have a wild hare? bugs owes daffy a thank you for his existence. i think this really is one of the most important cartoons in the entirety of looney tunes, moreso than a wild hare. the chances of a wild hare existing without porky’s duck hunt is pretty slim. tex would have no wabbit to rechristen and shape into the bugs we know and love today, because chances are there wouldn’t be a prototype bugs. not that porky hunting cartoons are the end all be all of animation, but they did play a part in spawning some of the most iconic characters in animation history.

as wild as this cartoon is, it’s strangely comforting at the same time. carl stalling’s musical score is out of this world on this one. the wild, zany moments are much more exciting than the exposition, but the exposition is very endearing and perhaps even a little sentimental, at least in my eyes. and, fun fact, there was actually a picture book adaptation made from this cartoon, so i suppose that adds to my view of its sentimentality. it feels like one, big, twisted norman rockwell painting to me. i’m always put in a good mood when watching this cartoon, because i don’t care about the continuity errors or animation errors or what have you. it’s just plain FUN. and again, you have to put yourself in the mindset of a 1937 moviegoer. this cartoon may seem like nothing in comparison to the mayhem we’ve seen in future cartoons, but as of april 17th, 1937, it was an absolute game changer. people had never seen this before. so, thanks to the direction of tex, this cartoon has shaped what looney tunes is today. i love this cartoon, and i’d urge you to watch it anytime, but its historical significance is another pivotal reason why you should watch it, at least once. GO WATCH IT!!!! watch history unfold before your very eyes! you have no reason not to. go do it!!

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#lt #porky’s duck hunt #reviews #looney tunes #long post #avery #whew... we did it fellas

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waywardwilled · 6 years

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DESTIEL || A Cosy Christmas

Summary: It’s Christmas and Team Free Will 2.0 spend it over at Jody’s with Claire and Alex. They’ve never met because I said so.

Categories: Fluff, Canon (ehh...) Characters: Dean Winchester, Castiel, Sam Winchester, Jack Kline Words: 5,960 Rating: General Audiences Tags: Fluff, Talking about Jack, No Idea

Notes: Jack and Claire get a ton of spotlight because I love them. All of a sudden fluffy asf Destiel. This story is a fucking mess. Beware. Also, I wrote this before I caught up on S13,,

Links: Fanfiction.Net

"Dean. Where are we going?"

Dean was half tempted to ignore Jack's question. It was easy to fall back into old habits but Cas was back and he was starting to see Jack in a new light.

"Sioux Falls. We're gonna be spending the Christmas over at a friend's house."

"Jody Mills, she's the sheriff in the Sioux Falls police department." Sam supplied helpfully, "and Alex."

"And Claire," Cas added on from the back seat, beside Jack. Jack nodded and stared out the window as they pulled up the driveway to Jody's cabin. Light shone from within and a glimmering Christmas tree was visible through the window.

"Guys! You're here earlier than expected." Jody opened the door upon their arrival.

"Merry Christmas to you too, Jody," Dean remarked and made his way in, followed by the rest.

"You must be Jack!" Jody gave him a quick hug, who in turn looked at Castiel awkwardly; only stiffly wrapping his own arms around her when he seemed to grant unnecessary permission. "I see you're well Cas." She lightly smacked his arm and quickly exchanged hugs with the boys. "Claire and Alex are probably bickering in the living room. You guys settle in, I need to finish up the turkey."

When they reached the living room, they expected the two girls at each other's throat, but instead, they were greeted with the complete opposite. They chatted like long lost sisters, which, in a way, they are.

"Hey. You two seem to be chattier each time we see you. What's hot?" Dean set down the two 6-pack he brought with him. They lifted their heads in surprise, not noticing their entrance. What surprised them even more, was the new blonde boy that accompanied them.

"Who's that?" Alex raised an eyebrow.

"This is Jack." Cas gestured towards the boy that awkwardly stood out in the group. The girls raised their eyebrows even higher. Before they could ask any questions, Jody came back in hands full with a plate of turkey and various other Christmas-y foods.

Jack sat between Dean and Castiel, making sure he was surrounded by familiar faces, feeling like the stranger and the odd one out. Sam was left to sit beside Alex and Claire, on the other side of the table, with Jody at the head.

They dug in, gratefully bringing food onto their plates and stuffing themselves, leaving Cas and Jack to awkwardly sit there (actually, Cas was used to it) and watch them eat.

"Uhm," Jack began, unsure of what he should do, "I don't eat much."

"What, you an angel too?" Claire offhandedly asked.

"Actually, half." He corrected, "My father was an angel." Claire nodded, letting the information sink in and slowly looked over at Castiel.

"Lucifer," Cas stated as if that answered all of their answers. This caught Jody's attention.

"Ah," She turned to Dean, accusingly, "Would've been nice to know you were going to bring the spawn of Satan to be eating dinner with us." Her words struck a spot and Jack looked down.

"Jack isn't what you think." Cas jumped in, feeling the need to defend his basically adopted son.

"Yea, we're practising to control our power and to use it for good, right?" Sam piped up. Jack nodded enthusiastically.

"Yea!"

Thus began the barrage of personal questions that Claire and Alex threw at him.

"Why are you with Dean and them?"

"If the devil is your dad, where is he now?"

"Does this mean you're an orphan?"

"If you're half human as well, what human things do you do?"

"What about your mom?"

"Uh-Uh…" Caught off guard, Jack looked at Sam and Cas in panic. They simply offered him a supportive smile.

"W-Well, my mother died when I was born, but she said that Castiel would take care of me so I have chosen Castiel as my father." Jack seemed proud, "I give no thought to my other father whatsoever." A moment of silence washed over them as Claire and Alex struggled to take it all in.

"Wait, so Castiel is basically your dad," Claire asked.

"Ah, yes, that's right." He confirmed, "Both of your parents are deceased correct? That's why you're staying with Aunt Jody."

Jody almost choked upon hearing her new title, but Dean helped pat it down. Alex and Claire nodded.

"Well, I was kidnapped by vampires when I was just a kid, until I got rescued by them." Alex glanced at Sam and Dean, who in turn gave her a smile. Jack looked over at Claire, waiting for her story.

Claire, unsure how to proceed with something so personal, looked over at Jody and Castiel. "Erm, well, my family used to be relatively normal. Until my dad got possessed." The supernatural piqued Jack's interest.

"By a demon?"

"An angel." She glanced over at Castiel, unsure whether or not she should continue. He simply smiled at her, as if to say, 'no hard feelings', but she didn't know who they were for.

Jack blinked, surprised. "I didn't know angels possessed people." Dean let out a laugh that ended in a choke when he met Cas' glare.

"Ah yea well, after that he disappeared for a year and my mom went missing and long story short, they're both dead so." Claire cut her story short and stabbed at her meat. Jack respectfully nodded.

They continued the dinner in silence until Jody, thankfully, changed the topic, "So what are you guys up to these days? Still running away from Lucifer?" She slapped the table before Sam and Dean were able to finish exchanging that look. "No lying in my lobby!"

"Erk…" Dean distractedly stuffed his mouth and left Sam to pick up where she left off.

"Uh, actually, Lucifer's trapped in another dimension."

Jody's mouth dropped. "Another dimension." She echoed.

"Yeah, and the gap closed so he's never coming back. Never." Dean confirmed. He pushed Mom into the back of his mind. He didn't need to bring her up and ruin everyone's mood.

"We should be celebrating," Claire said.

"We are celebrating." Came Jody's reply. Claire scoffed.

"Yea, celebrating the birth of Jesus."

"Actually," Cas began to interject, earning a moan from Dean, "He was born in August-"

"Cas, they don't need to hear your hour-long lecture. I'm sure they can just google it themselves if they're really interested."

"Hey! I like his informational sessions." Sam retorted.

"Hah, yeah, 'cause you're both nerds." Dean countered, Sam delivered his well-practised bitchface. Cas failed to shrug it off and his face slightly fell. Dean felt a small pang in his heart. He'll make it up to Cas later, he decided.

"Hey! No fighting!" Jody snapped them in place. She felt like she was handling Alex and Claire again; she really did when Alex and Claire started snickering. Sam and Dean shared a small smile, rolling their eyes they simultaneously said,

"Yes, Mom."

Castiel watched Jack laugh with Alex and Claire, bringing a strange warmth to his heart. Pride? Delight? He didn't know but it felt good. Suddenly, strong arms grabbed him into the hallway, the walls around them, hiding them from the others that had formed a circle to read stories. For a moment, Cas panicked but regained his rhythmed heartbeat again when he felt Dean's breath rest on his shoulder. Remembering Dean's remarks earlier, Cas ignored him. He watched Sam and Jody exchange stories, searching for funny moments to tell Jack, Alex and Claire.

"Come on, are you still angry about earlier?"

Cas continued to pretend Dean wasn’t there. When Dean pressed a kiss into the crook of his neck, He couldn't help but tilt his head. Sighing, he turned around to face Dean.

"I'm not a nerd." Cas frowned when Dean laughed, "I have also never understood your use of the word as an insult. The use of the word frequently means an expert in a particular field- "

"I was joking, Cas, joking." Dean held him around the waist. When they heard soft Christmas carols float through the cabin, Dean guided them down the hallway for more room. Grabbing Cas' hand, Dean couldn't help but sway to the light and slow tune of Silent Night-- Despite being the non-chick flick moment of a person he is.

"Dean, normally your jokes do include the insult and downgradation of others but-" Cas began to sass him when Dean cut him off with a kiss. When he pulled away, Cas simply looked more annoyed than before, "Don't interrupt me." Dean slowed the swaying and looked close to tears.

"Dean rasped, "You sound like a dissatisfied wife." Cas frowned.

"I will leave." Cas threatened which only seemed to fuel his laughter more. When he turned around to leave, a pair of familiar arms reached around and easily carried him to the end of the hall. Cas let out a small squeak when his back met the wall and he looked up to see that Dean has trapped him.

"Geez, I was joking again Cas." Dean smiled lightly and a pressed a light kiss on the other's lips. Cas let out a small amused huff at his boyfriend's joy; it was rare for Dean to be so carefree. Laughter from the living room seemed to vibrate throughout the cabin. Outside, the snow lightly touched the ground and the contrasting temperature clouded up the windows, which only seemed to make the inside that much cosier.

"I know." Cas smiled and his heart felt much lighter than it has in a long time. Dean laughed, bumping their foreheads together. He brought their faces close, giving Cas all the time he wanted to lose himself in Dean's vibrant green eyes. He wasn't sure whether it was because someone he loved was in his arms, or because the Christmas festive joy was infectious, he couldn't help but laugh as well.

"Merry Christmas Cas."

"Merry Christmas Dean."

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