#cassie just wants to fight for him and fix his fashion choices

[ew-selfish-art]

DpxDc AU - If his parents are going to treat him like a punk, he might as well lean into it. 

Danny is getting seriously worn down by his parents constantly asking him to explain why he’s gone all the time and why his grades have slipped so far. I mean, sure, it took them months to notice, but now that they have, they’re alluding to the fact that he’s turned into some kind of punk and that he’s not taking life as seriously as he should be. This is what makes Danny kind of snap. 

He cuts his hair, gets Sam to pierce his ears in a few places (which sucked but was nice to catch up with her since Team Phantom didn’t get out much anymore), learns how to skateboard and gets Tuck to help him mask his identity on the internet as he begins online protesting the unethical treatment of ghosts. He makes picket signs that he leaves outside of Fentonworks and it takes days before his parents see them because they’re down in the lab. They go back up immediately after his parents take them down, and he begins tagging buildings with protest sayings and art all over amity park.

No matter how they ground him, the Drs Fenton are at a loss as to what to do to control Danny. Jazz says it’s not her place to interfere and is cheering her little brother on for being passionate about a new hobby. 

Danny’s honestly really vibing with the changes. He always understood why Sam wanted control over her own look, but he’s really leaning into the whole shebang. Ember and Johnny13 have never bonded over anything more than they have the punk transformation of their King. He’s really representing them fr fr- she taught him how to play the bass. 

With enough protests about the Anti-Ecto acts, the JL step in and begin their efforts to lobby change within the US government. Constantine is up to date on the new King being from Earth and thinks they might be able to weasel out a non-apocalyptic scenario if they reach out sooner than later. A letter gets sent through the infinite realms (No way in fuck was John going to try and summon a fucking King excuse you Bats)- Danny gets the letter and decides to let them sweat a bit, sending back his own letter that just says “K.” cause he’s learned that adults/authority figures all suck ass until proven otherwise. After a few days, a portal opens up in the middle of their meeting. 

Ghost King Phantom is rolling in on a skateboard, with the Ring of rage dangling from one of his ear piercings and ice crown floating above his head. He’s drinking an off brand smoothie, wearing a leather jacket that has medieval chainmail on it over his now distressed hazmat suit and his boots steel toed.

“...Sup. Y’all want to do something about this whole situation? I’m an all or nothing kind of guy.” Danny greets them. He means that he’s willing to be diligent in his efforts to disbar the Acts. It gets interpreted as him threatening to end the world, ofc, but that’s an issue he has to deal with later. 

“King Phantom we have been working daily to-” 

“Uh huh. Look, didn’t you guys have like a teenage group? I want to work with them, they’ll probably actually help me get shit done while you fuck around with paper work.” 

#the most punk thing you can do is protest #dcxdp #dpxdc #dp x dc #dc x dp #dc crossover #dp crossover #danny phantom #dc universe #young justice crossover #danny doesnt want to work with the authorities but is willing to work with YJ #Tim drake gets a new skateboarding buddy #danny's skateboard is kind of cheating tho cause he and it can float #kon is always down to take down a government sponsored org that does unethical research #cassie just wants to fight for him and fix his fashion choices #bart recognizes him from the speedforce and they bond over time being a fake ass bitch #i just wanted the funny visual of danny skateboarding into a meeting on the watchtower

[sylvanfreckles]

How about another release from the Supernatural AU vault?

I was looking for an unfinished story that I had an idea for, when I noticed a little document called "SPN working title flipped" (working title means it's still in the idea stage, and one-shots or idea dumps are in my main documents folder while longer stories get their own folders...not that you wanted to know).

It was inspired by a fic I read a few years ago where Castiel had moved out to Sioux Falls to get away from a bad situation. In that fic he was trying to flip the house (fix it up to resell), which is where my working title came in to play. I don't have much more than the working summary and a couple of pages I drafted up while I was playing with the idea, but I thought it might be fun to share!

And so we present: Flipped (Working Title)

Summary: Balthazar Augustine has long been a man who would do anything to seal a deal—until an SOS from his missing cousin makes him drop everything to go to the rescue. Now Balthazar and his cousin, Castiel, are hiding in nowhere, Kansas while one of the world's most powerful businessmen is hunting them down.

...

Balthazar slipped through the door separating the study from the rest of the house. Nine months of planning, six months of it buddying up to one of the most corrupt businessmen he'd ever met, and an expensive bottle of brandy completely ruined by enough tranquilizers to take down a grown elephant had finally lead up to this point.

He used the keys he'd lifted from Ishim's pocket to open the long hallway to the house's bedrooms. This was the riskiest part of this operation—Balthazar really only had the floorplan to work with, no actual knowledge of which room he was after. It had to be one of the suites, Balthazar couldn't see Ishim letting his prisoner free to use the facilities as needed.

There were only four choices. The third one had a full deadbolt on the door in addition to the old-fashioned lock on the knob.

It didn't take much to figure out which key to use, and a quick check of his watch showed him that he was ahead of schedule. Balthazar took a deep breath, fearing it couldn't possibly be this easy but praying it would be, and slowly pushed the door open.

The room inside was sparse, only a small chest of drawers and a desk in addition to the single bed. No rugs on the floor or pictures on the walls and the windows were heavily shuttered, the only light in the room from a small lamp on the desk. A dark-haired man was curled up on the bed, back to the door, thin blanket bunched around his waist.

Balthazar closed the door behind him and crossed the room to drop to one knee beside the bed. Hesitantly, he rested one hand on the other man's shoulder, shaking it a little. “Cassie?”

The man stirred, and the face that looked up at Balthazar was unmistakable even after almost three years. The bright blue eyes were ringed by shadows and fading bruises, skin a little too pale and hair a little too long but it was his cousin.

“Bal...Balthazar?” Castiel's voice was rougher than usual, and Balthazar caught a glimpse of dark, finger-shaped bruises around the younger man's throat.

“Come on, up you go,” Balthazar slid one hand behind Castiel's shoulders and heaved him up, twisting so his cousin was sitting on the edge of the bed. “We don't have much time. What do you need to take with you?”

Castiel's fist tangled in Balthazar's shirt, his eyes wide and fragile. “Is it...is it really you?”

Balthazar smiled and cupped Castiel's face in one hand. “Who else would it be? You called, I came. Sorry it took so long.” Nine months too long. Nine months—or more—his cousin had spent locked up by a madman; beaten and starved and isolated from the rest of the world. “We have to hurry,” he added, keeping his voice low and calm. “Do you need anything from this room?”

Castiel looked around the room with a shudder. “He didn't...none of this is mine.”

His stomach twisted a little at this, but Balthazar stepped back enough to locate a pair of shoes placed neatly at the end of the bed. He handed those over to his cousin and eyed Castiel's outfit critically. Just some flimsy-looking pajama pants and a t-shirt.

Balthazar hurried to the dresser and tugged one drawer open, hoping for a jacket or sweatshirt—something to protect Cassie from the autumnal chill. “Do you have anything other than pajamas?” he hissed over his shoulder, finding the drawers only half full of the same kind of flimsy nightwear Castiel was currently wearing.

“He keeps them in another room.” Castiel seemed to be having some trouble focusing on the shoe in his hand. “I don't...don't need it unless I go out.”

Balthazar crossed back to his cousin's side and gently took the shoe away from him. “Well, we're going out now and we're not coming back.” He could now see the shoes were actually house slippers, but they would have to do. He could buy his cousin an entire wardrobe of clothes once they were out of Ishim's hands but they had to hurry now.

Castiel slumped sideways and let his head rest against Balthazar's shoulder. He was clearly fighting to keep his eyes open, but Balthazar couldn't let him fall back asleep.

“Cassie!” Balthazar gripped the back of his cousin's neck with one hand and gave him a little shake. “Stay with me.”

Castiel blinked slowly, focusing on Balthazar's face. “Sorry.”

“Don't be sorry,” Balthazar patted him on the knee and leaned down to shuffle the younger man's feet into the slippers. “I'd almost forgotten how difficult it is to wake you up sometimes.”

“He...he likes me quiet when...company is over.”

Balthazar stilled. He'd been afraid of this—Ishim keeping Cassie drugged was always a possibility. Balthazar had been hoping to make a quick tour of Ishim's home offices and maybe the study, dig up some information, but with Castiel barely able to hold his head up they had to keep moving.

“Up you go,” Balthazar easily hauled Castiel to his feet, wrapping one of the dark-haired man's arms around his own shoulders for support. Castiel seemed far too thin as Balthazar tucked him close against his body, taking as much of the slight weight as he could. “Just a quick walk down this hall and a cut through the gardens and we'll be home free.”

His cousin's head rested limply against his shoulder, and Balthazar could feel more than hear Castiel mumbling something into his neck. “Yes, yes, of course,” Balthazar murmured, pressing a quick kiss to the top of Cassie's head. “Anything you want, just as soon as we're out of here.”

To his relief, the hallway was still empty. Ishim didn't keep much in the way of staff on hand after the business day closed, and all but a handful of security personnel commuted to the estate rather than live on the grounds. Balthazar adjusted the arm around Cassie's waist to check his watch.

#supernatural #au ideas #flipped #read in the light of the dumpster fire #everyone's human au #balthazar's here too! #hurt castiel #yes yes it's on the list #there are just a dozen ahead of it right now

[mittensmorgul]

Do you ever miss old Cas? Like I know his character development has been super important, and everything he's becoming has been all about who he truly is, and not an angel puppet. But sometimes I watch older episodes and I miss early Cas. I miss the "You should show me some respect," the "I'm not here to perch on your shoulder," and the "we had an appointment" kind of moments. Idk, I love Cas all around, but sometimes I miss his early mystery and badassery.

Hi there! And no, I don’t really miss “old Cas.” But I think the three examples you’ve chosen aren’t really similar at all. The first two are literally what you described as being “an angel puppet.” They’re both from the same conversation at the end of 4.02, when Cas’s only goal was to manipulate or threaten Dean into doing Heaven’s bidding. Because again, context matters. Folks throw these lines around a lot, but so often the larger surrounding meaning is just losing the larger point here:

DEAN: I thought angels were supposed to be guardians. Fluffy wings, halos -- you know, Michael Landon. Not dicks.CASTIEL : Read the Bible. Angels are warriors of God. I'm a soldier.DEAN: Yeah? Then, why didn't you fight?CASTIEL: I'm not here to perch on your shoulder. We had larger concerns.

and

CASTIEL: Three days ago, you thought there was no such thing as me. Why do you think we're here walking among you now for the first time in 2,000 years?DEAN: To stop Lucifer.CASTIEL: That's why we've arrived.DEAN: Well... bang-up job so far. Stellar work with the witnesses. That's nice.CASTIEL: We tried. And there are other battles, other seals. Some we'll win, some we'll lose. This one we lost. Our numbers are not unlimited. Six of my brothers died in the field this week. You think the armies of Heaven should just follow you around? There's a bigger picture here. You should show me some respect. I dragged you out of Hell. I can throw you back in.

This isn’t “badass Cas” here. It’s Cas not caring one whit about Dean, as long as Dean sticks to the mission. Dean is nothing more than a tool to Cas at this point. And he might not be self-aware enough to understand it yet, but Cas is equally a tool of Heaven at this point. There is literally nothing about either of those lines that I would wish on Cas again.

Now for the “We had an appointment,” from 5.04, that was Cas interfering with Zachariah and Heaven’s plans to save Dean, and was more of a moment of comic relief (and literal relief) that he’d saved Dean from Zachariah, you know? This was more than a year’s worth of character development removed from those quotes from 4.02.

But, this in mind, how is Cas any less badass NOW than he was back then? I just... don’t understand the complaint, I guess?

Granted, Cas spent the first several episodes of s13 being actively dead, so that really limits the amount of verbal badassery he was capable of at the time... but knowing all along that Cas would not only be “dead” for a few episodes, but that the entire purpose of this was for us to witness Dean’s specific struggle with his loss, I was more than happy to play along with the show. And because I didn’t let myself become bitter over these facts, 13.04 was one long, glorious Fuck You letter from Cas to his long-term struggle with depression.

(the post below this on my blog is actually a reply to someone asking about Billie’s line to Dean in 13.05, “I say live.” And I suggest that it applies equally to Cas vs the Empty Entity)

Castiel’s personal growth arc since the end of s6, including the majority of s7 while he was again literally dead, and then returned with no memories only to regain them to his own personal horror, has been about his guilt and penance for the things he did, for how badly he fucked up in s6. And then how much he struggled with putting any of that to rights.

I could pull a long series of out-of-context quotes that sound terribly Sassy Cassie, if that would make you feel better about any of this. I know there’s at least one post going around about how Cas is just as sassy as ever, with quotes and gifs as evidence. First off, it makes me really uncomfortable to reduce a character to a few random catchphrases like that. But also, just like Dean, his arc has largely been about overcoming depression. And as such, he’s struggled through A LOT of introspection and come to some major revelations about who and what he is, and who and what he wants to be.

I mean, his personality hasn’t fundamentally changed, but his understanding and motivations and goals certainly have.

His desire to stay in Purgatory in s8 because he couldn’t face what he’d done was one of his initial reactions to this. He’d rather run away and suffer eternally alone in Purgatory than confront what he’d done to Heaven in the name of stopping another apocalypse.

He was so hopeful and willing to believe in Metatron’s plan to “fix” heaven, to shut the gates and lock all the angels inside, because of what Naomi had put him through (torture, reprogramming... I mean we learned A LOT about just how resilient Cas is, and just how much he’s struggled through just to get to this point, where he finally understands exactly how much Heaven had tried to control him like a puppet or a tool.) But he’s so desperate to find a way to atone, to right his wrongs, to make up for the damage he’d done, that he was blind to the truth of how he was being manipulated yet again.

He struggles directly with humanity-- his own humanity-- in s9, before he once again does things because he feels he has no other choice. He was ready to die in 9.09 until he learned that whatever angel Dean had dealt with in order to save Sam back in 9.01, it hadn’t been Ezekiel, but someone who’d lied to Dean about his identity... and Dean needed to know this. So instead of sacrificing his life, Cas sacrificed his own agency yet again, stealing the grace of another angel. I think we can all agree that this particular bit of “badassery” is something we’d never like to see from him again. It’s on par with Dean selling his soul to save Sam, meaning it is an objectively horrifying choice. And that fact is pointed out to Cas repeatedly, by pretty much every other angel character in the narrative over the next season and a half.

And aside from his late s10 job as babysitter and pork rind delivery service, he really hasn’t been not-badass. He’s finally free of Heaven’s “reprogramming,” and for the first time in his billions of years of existence, he doesn’t have an instant “fix” available to him to erase his memories or reboot his operating system. He finally has to DEAL with the cumulative fallout from all his past choices and actions.

So like no other angel ever, Cas has had an opportunity to work through all of this, to understand free will, to understand humanity, and it has made him a better individual. Yes, he’s struggled with depression, and with the consequences of his actions and past choices, and he’s felt unworthy or useless or... like he’s poison.

I mean, these aren’t the typical things angels feel, you know? Because Cas has become so much MORE than that. I think this is why the petty-sounding complaint that Cas is no longer a badass, or that he’s become weak, makes me so angry.

Yes, I’m sorry. I’m watching his entire character arc unfold, seen him fight through some of the most heart wrenching battles against depression (both literal and metaphorical), struggled to reclaim his own personal arc from the whims of fate over and over again, only to emerge personally strengthened each time like steel put through the forge to temper it, and then I see comments on his arc like this, and it just makes me want to scream.

Cas’s entire story has always been about agency. His early “mystery” was the fact that he was unknown and unknowable as a tool of Heaven’s will, you know? Why in the hell would I miss that?

If you think Cas isn’t 10000% MORE badass than he ever was as Heaven’s malleable tool, might I suggest rewatching s12 and s13. If you want Cas-flavored snark, there’s plenty of that. I could spend an hour pulling quotes for you, if you’d really like. But this isn’t about snappy one-liners or Cas being a badass warrior, or him winning fights by being the more ruthless and uncaring participant.

His fight against three other angels in 13.07, for example... he had several opportunities to kill those angels and technically “win” that fight. But Cas is a better person than that. Three other angels were intent on capturing or killing HIM (which didn’t really seem to matter to them...), while Cas was intent on NOT harming them, you know? In a fight, it puts him at a disadvantage, but morally it puts him on the high ground.

Then during all his conversations with Lucifer, Cas gave just as good as he got. If that’s not the best flavor of Sassy Cassie, I don’t know what to tell you.

So... Cas has once again had his agency stripped from him, because that has ALWAYS been his struggle-- both in-story and on a metanarrative level-- and his story falls apart if it suddenly becomes something else. This is how his character development has always run, and how it will always run, until the last turn of the narrative wheel when we finally get to the end of the entire series.

This is how stories work.

And Cas is one of the most intensely profound character development arcs ever written. I can’t stand that his struggles with agency, depression, self-understanding, free will, happiness, love, and purpose can be reduced so frequently to whether or not he’s performing badassery in a particularly proscribed fashion at any given moment. It just seems... petty. And misses the point entirely.

I guess I take it so personally because I recognize stuff I’ve personally fought through in Cas’s arc... black depression and worthlessness... and hell if fighting my way out of that wasn’t one of the biggest (and yet still somehow ongoing) fights of my entire life. So to have someone suggest that somehow this still just isn’t good enough for them feels like a very personal Fuck You, you know? So I’m sorry if this came off a bit angry and defensive.

Might I suggest that Cas doesn’t need to punch things or kill things or terrify things all the time in order to be badass? Sometimes simply fighting through the worst of his personal struggles with himself and living to see the sun shine another day is far more badass than stabbing some idiot in the face.

Cas’s struggle with his own agency, with his own free will, with his own choices about who and what he is and wants to do and to be IS his story. And it’s insanely badass to me.

#castiel winchester #i'm sorry if this came off in a grumpy tone but i'm genuinely frustrated by this #it's spirals all the way down #this is how stories work #you learned it from the goats #sorry for the mishmash of weird and insensible meta tags #but this belongs in all of them #i feel like i've made this post before somehow... and i'll probably have to make it again... #*sighs heavily and gently bashes my face against the keyboard* #Anonymous