#ghosts also can become demons if they’re wicked enough

[the-witchhunter]

DP x DC: Custody

Do you know what ghosts are?

Okay you presumably have an idea of the concept, but are you aware of what ghosts are in the DC universe?

In DC, when you die, you tend to go where you think you should, with a couple notable exceptions. Your soul goes where you think it should.

A ghost is a soul that has not moved on to an afterlife, has escaped an afterlife(usually hell), or some force keeps them from moving on. The Ghost Zone? That’s just where souls that don’t have an afterlife to go to but don’t want to move on to Death’s domain

Selling your soul? That’s just giving custody of your ghost to someone, and they collect upon death. a bit more akin to selling yourself into future slavery, but you get the point

Tricky thing is only one being can collect on a soul/ghost and upon death John Constantine has some pissed of Demons ready to collect

That’s going to be one hell of a custody battle, and Danny counts as a neutral third party since he doesn’t belong to a specific afterlife

He can already feel the headache

#dp x dc #dp x dc crossover #dp x dc prompt #dpxdc #that is actually how ghosts work in DC #ghosts also can become demons if they’re wicked enough #so contextually the ancients are probably demons and pagan gods #or both #undergrowth fits either category #also ignoring that currently only satan has dibs on John’s soul #and that’s for him stabbing satan in the face with a wine bottle #the other two that he actually sold his soul to are dead #like fully dead #made into nothingness because demons already are souls and disappear if you actually manage to kill them #Satan and Lucifer are two different people btw Lucifer is just hanging out in LA #Satan is the first of the fallen

[thelostbaystudio]

The Lost Bay - First Look Release

Your one-way ticket for the 90s that never were.

Today is the day! after countless play tests and tweaks The Lost Bay - First Look has been released digitally. In it you play as a young person touched by the Weird, an ancient force that gives you supernatural powers. You roam the Bay with your gang, its malls, arcade games shops, skateparks and beaches, and fight the Horror that has awakened.

Key features of the game:

1. You play Vibes. Each vibe has a distinct flavor and set of powers. You can play as Splinter, Screamer, Scanner, Firestarter, and many more. Vibes are granted custom growth opportunities: every time they fail at using a power they get a Scar, and this can include getting new powers, or discovering something about the Bay.

2.The lore of The Lost Bay is spread throughout the ruleset, tables, and game procedures. You’ll discover it as you create your character and play, without having to read boring lore text blocks. The lore of the Bay is embedded in the items, powers, Scars and NPCs you’ll encounter.

3.Open and play. Three attributes, two resources to manage (Heart and Weird), one mechanic to rule it all: a D6 dice pool. If you have a basic knowledge of tabletop RPGs you’ll need fifteen minutes to familiarize yourself with the ruleset.

GET THE LOST BAY FIRST LOOK

4.Weird is cool. And there’s a lot of it in the Bay: cults, curses, relics, and Living Saints. The Lost Bay is both a familiar playground and an uncanny world that portrays an alternate version of the 90s. It’s wicked enough to give you the chills, and it’s open enough for you to expand it the way you like.

Why the 90s?

Because they’re a decade where the ancient analog world mixes with the modern digital one. This mix creates infinite clashes and conflicts, ideal to spark tabletop RPG adventures, and horror stories.

The Bay itself is the incarnation of this contrast. Ancient creatures and forces dwell right next to modern technology and buildings. Even the playable characters embody this duality: they are archetypes inspired by the late 80s/90s media and culture, but their powers derive from the ancient and mysterious forces.

What you’ll get in the First Look edition? 

Spooky Locations

Scary MOFOs

Supernatural Horror

Powerful Vibes

Loads of items

Relics

Living Saints and immortals

Story sparks

VHS, arcade games, skateboards, evil cults, demons, ghosts, blood and fear.

You can get the First look edition right now at an affordable price. The game PDF is updated on a weekly basis, and its price will increase as new sections are added. Meaning that the earliest you get it, the less you’ll pay for it. Pretty neat right? Funds collected will allow commissioning more art from Evangeline Gallagher and to pay for editing.

Have you ever wanted to play a zombie or a ghost? Now you can!

This week’s update features two new Vibes (playable character classes): the Half-Dead, and the Spirit. To unlock them you have to die first, and if you’re lucky enough you’ll become a Reborn. You might even get a Zombie cat pet.

MINIDUNGEON

If you have little time on your hands and are looking for a ready to play horror adventure compatible with The Lost Bay check UNIT DH-17. This suburban horror mini dungeon has been updated to fit The Lost Bay ruleset.

You can also get them both as a bundle with a 20% discount here https://itch.io/s/99423/the-lost-bay-rules-adventure

Weird is beautiful

Want to know where this game comes from, what it’s really about?

I grew up in an environment where toxic masculinity was the rule. Both at home, and outside of it. And by toxic, I mean horror-movie level toxic. Murders, blood and all. That was just the way things were, the world of the grown ups. Normalcy. I didn’t find that normal at all! I was pretty scared most of the time. But I was lucky enough to be part of a gang of kind souls. We loved each other and helped us survive the harsh world of the Bay. We were Geeks, Punks, Queers and Dreamers. The normies called us Weird. At first that felt hurtful, and it took me years to understand that being “Weird” is more than ok, that “Weird” is beautiful. Eventually, I made “Weird” my one-word motto, and used to wear a Why be normal? pin. I was proud of my Weirdness. Things felt better, the Bay was my playground, I loved its marshes, forests, beaches and skateparks. I was happy.

Then one day, something unexpected happened. I had to leave the Bay, without notice. Like in the movies. At dawn, hiding, in secret. I didn’t come back for more than 15 years. During that exile the Bay grew in my mind like a place of fantasy, and actual memories blended with fiction. The Lost Bay became a dream, partly familiar, partly alien, a place of wonder shrouded in a terrifying mystery.

TAKE ME TO THE LOST BAY

The Lost Bay - First Look is the travel guide to this wondrous and wicked place I’m offering to you. If you accept the invitation you’ll play beautiful and powerful characters, you’ll fight the horror in breathtaking combats, and rewrite the Lost Bay’s history.

#ttrpg #indie ttrpg #indie rpg #tabletop rpg #indie tabletop rpg #horrorrpgs #horroart #suburbia #90 #horror games

[plush-rabbit]

Protecting Mammon - Headcanons

Request: Hc for Mammon with a s/o that is usually very laid back and calm,, but whenever one of Mammons brother's mock him, reader gets super defensive of him, they're somewhat of a guard dog for him? And reader goes out of their way to compliment and be affectionate towards him in his brothers presence? (Also could you do Male reader? Thank you, i love your writing!!)

A/N: Let MC say fuck!! Please, i wrote a similar one, sort of,, like a while ago but i really want MC to stand up for him, please (aso i left this gn i hope you don’t mind!!) (one too many insults breaks my heart, like if my mc were there id make them all give away their possessions to him)

-

It isn’t easy to hear the brothers argue. Their voices boom that you think that the walls are going to collapse onto themselves, but you grow accustomed to it as you have with everything else about them. However, something doesn't come as easy. While they all insult each other, there’s always a playful toone attached to their words,a gentle shove and a wicked smile as they laugh when the other bites back. It’s different with mammon. It’s always been different with him. At first you assumed that was how they talked with each other- every sibling fights, lovingly known as the Cain Instinct in the Human Realm, not that you’d ever mention it to them. But, their words hold venom, they hit where it hurts for him, they tease and treat him horribly and it leaves a horrible taste on your tongue- it reminds you when you were small and you were forced to swallow that awful purple medicine that no matter what you drank, the taste just lingered. You wonder how long Mammon has had to hear those words.

You can always tell when the insults get taken too far, when they start to get personal and the words aren’t jokingly said or even in a teasing way, but they’re said out of anger and like the brothers that they are, they all start to gang up on the second eldest. The brothers joke and you can tell that it bothers Mammon by the way his jaw tightens and the roll of his eyes, the way that he starts to get quiet. You can only do the one thing you can think of- you hold his hand. He looks at you quickly, his brows raising and eyes glancing down to your interlocked hands as his lips quirk upwards. During that time, you pull him away, asking in a very loud voice that you need him to accompany you to your room or to a store. When the other brothers try to intervene, stating that they’ll walk you, you shut them down, pulling Mammon close to you, standing in front of him acting as a shield to protect him from his brothers. You want to protect him, to take him away from the insults and the mean words of his brothers.

Perhaps you’ll never know how much the words truly affect Mammon, everytime that you ask him, he just gives you a tight smile, shaking his head and squeezing your hand- a subtle hint to drop the subject. It makes you lay awake at night, wondering how a demon could be hurt by words. Everything about the words and brothers starts to leave a horrible taste in your mouth. A part of you even blames yourself- you know how he was teased mercilessly when he was tricked into forging a pact with you, but the thought of not having a pact with him makes your heart ache in a way that you didn’t know it could. He’ll like in your bed, a loose t-shirt on him as he lets out deep breaths, his chest rising and dipping with an arm over your stomach. Soon it becomes when there’s a snide comment, you give a curl of your lip and look of disgust.

The lack of sleep that you gain from overthinking about the pact and the brothers leaves you in an irritable mood. You start to resent the brothers, frowning and pulling away from them and even if Beelzebub isn’t involved in the teasing, he isn’t too bothered by it unless the insults really start to hurt. Leviathan and Asmodeus are perhaps the worst, Satan a close second- or third- if were to tattle on Mammon, but the two aforementioned brothers remain the cruel ones, insulting him and spewing filthy words that makes your face burn with anger that you wonder if Satan could feel it stewing deep in you. It hurts to pull away from the brothers but you don’t like how they treat your demon.

At a certain point, pulling him away from the brothers isn’t enough. Holding his hand is something you enjoy, and it must be a sort of release for him because you take notice of how he remains staring at you despite the onslaught of words thrown his way. With a careful glance given to the third eldest who rants on about how Mammon had stolen something- which you were sure he hadn’t, you’d been with him during the time frame that Leviathan accuses- you lift his hand and kiss his knuckles, letting your lips ghost over them. When you feel his breath hitch, your smile, turning his hand over and placing a kiss to his palm, moving to let his palm cradle your cheek as you lean into him. The arguing stops and you can feel eyes on you, but you can also feel the way that mammon’s heart echoes softly against your ear, how his hand slowly moves to hold yours once more.

No matter the amount of times that you’ve complimented him, he always reacts the same, as if it were the first time you told him something nice. His cheeks are tinted in a dark color, his face burning and heart beating erratically despite you telling him sweet things. You sit on his lap, pulling him close as you play with his hand, each line traced over carefully with a touch that tickles his palm. He jokes at first, telling you that of course you’d compliment him, he is after all The Great Mammon, but there’s a smile that lingers, stretched wide across his face as he leans back and keeps a hand on you, taking great pleasure in hearing you say something nice.

Every insult is refuted with a compliment. He’s called a scumbag, you call him your protector. He’s called greedy, he’s reassured that his sin is something that is difficult to control. He’s told to never come home, you cup his face in your hands and tell him that you’d follow him anywhere- a heavy implication that stays on your tongue and when he nods slowly, you hold him tight, grateful that he understood what you wanted to tell him. You hold him close, his door locked as the movie plays, the colors flashing across his room until they fade. The desperate part of you needs to tell him everything, to repeat every compliment until they drown out the insults. You need him to smile.

They’re brothers and you know that, but it doesn’t lessen the blow. You make sure you spend more time with him, to show that he’s your number one and your favorite. It might be cruel, but they’ve been cruel to him. You want to keep him safe. When the insults start to worsen, you bite back. You scowl and tense your shoulders, your hands fisted tightly leaving crescent shaped marks against your skin. The words might not be cruel- you don’t think that you would want them to feel that sort of pain, nor would it do any good towards Mammon- but you tell them to be quiet, glaring at them and looking away immediately.

Sooner rather than later, the brothers catch on. Every insult is met with a kiss, your lips pressed against his cheek or your hand pulling him away, locked behind a door where they cannot enter. They sulk and pout, they try to pull you away, but you can’t leave Mammon’s side. Not that you would ever choose to do so. You stick by him, pulling him close and sitting beside him, your attention stuck on him. He’s your demon, why would you ever want to be pulled away from him? You keep him close, hugging on his arm and telling him how he’s been so much help to you. Mammon keeps you in his arms, you smile shining at him, and you pay attention to him. You kiss at his wounds and run your hands through his hair. You pull him close to your chest, your words soft as you tell him how warm he is. He loves the attention, the kindness that you give to him, the way that such a small and delicate human can stand up against demons and fight back all to protect one. He lays against you, sinking into your own warmth and taking it greedily, loving the way that you feel pressed against him.

Greed personified is not easy to please- he wants it all, craves it and yet, he can’t have it. It sits on his palm but he is unable to close his fist to truly claim it. Yet, you sit beside him, eating a meal at the dinner table as the ruckus continues on, your hand clasped tightly around him and when he turns to look at you, he squeezes your hand. He holds it tightly, feeling your hand tighten a moment later as you turn to him, your cheeks puffed with food still your mouth as you smile at him. You remain in his hand- whole and ever beating with a smile that is forever etched in the demon’s mind.

#obey me #obey me mammon x reader #obey me mammon x mc #obey me mammon #obey me mammon card #obey me mammon fluff #obey me mammon smut #obey me mammon headcanons #obey me mammon fanart #i hope you like it!! #thanks for reading!!

[therealvinelle]

What other non-extinct magical species do you think exist besides vampires, shapeshifters, and like 3 children of the moon?

Not a lot.

More, I have absolutely no way of guessing here. We’re never given any hints or indications that creatures other than vampires, shapeshifters, and Children of the Moon exist, which means I’m as at a loss as you are.

I do think that, on the whole, since the world of Twilight appears identical to ours, that there can’t be any creatures left that would attract too much attention as they would have been discovered by modern technology. Sirens, for instance, would be found out by fog lights, cameras, recordings, you name it. Mermaids, on the other hand, could get away since much of the ocean remains unexplored.

This all being said, I can speculate.

Two things come to mind.

Gifted humans

I haven’t written the meta on what gifts are yet, but I’ll just state that I think gifts  are magic. We see them adapt to a human’s needs, personality, or trauma, all according to what suits them best, and I don’t think the gift a vampire has is random. What a gift is appears to be malleable, as people with extreme needs (Renata, Bella, and Renesmée) will have gifts protecting them while others will have their gifts turned into something different if the incentive is strong enough (Jane and Alec). This points to gifts at the core being magic, capable of adapting a new state should the human bearer need it to. For vampires this malleability is lost, what you have is much more powerful than what you had as a human but you’re also stuck with it.

With the possible exception of Jane and Alec (good things happened to people who were kind to them, bad things to people who were cruel, and when they died it was their intent that turned these gifts into something else), humans are not able to control their gifts.

What I’m saying is, within the Twilight world some humans are magical. This is extremely rare, but it’s the best explanation I have for gifts.

Now onto thing the second.

Legends: where do they come from?

So, within the world of Twilight, most myths about vampires are fabricated. Coffins, bats, Christian iconography, a lot of it was made up by Aro. Unfortunately they couldn’t get wash these myths clean of the blood-drinking, the immortality, the something happening in the sun, or the incubi.

More, we see again and again in canon hat there are humans who know, legends are told. The fact that the blood-drinking couldn’t be erased entirely from myth is telling enough on its own.

No, vampires have left their footprint on human mythology, much to Aro’s chagrin.

Which is our door to speculation about which creatures still exist out there. Because if vampires left a footprint on mythologies within the Twilight world (which I remind you appears identical to ours, at least up until 2006), it is fair to assume other creatures have as well. It’s canon that the Children of the Moon did.

So, then, what can we assume?

First of, we must assume that a lot of mythic creatures identified as non-vampires, might actually have been vampires. It’s canon that the Egyptian pantheon was actually just Amun and his buddies, and I think that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Off the top of my head, the following creatures or afflictions could be vampires, at least the ones with a penchant for creative hunting:

Siren Otherworldly beautiful voices that lure in sailors to their deaths. Now, the legends say sirens are as hideous as their voices are beautiful, but that could be a warning among sailors, and even if it’s not it works since vampires are so inhuman-looking.

Nøkken The most beautiful man, sometimes horse, you ever did see, and he will lure you to a watery death.

Troll Far-fetched, but trolls are terribly strong and turn to stone in the sunlight. Within the world of Twilight, trolls could be the result of a game of telephone.

Ghost People long dead are seen again, walking around in their old houses. they disappear.

Possession Someone once a member of community screams in unimaginable agony for days, becomes a terrfiying demon, kills everything in sight, speaks so quickly it’s unintelligible, appears and disappears out of thin air, and is decidedly animalistic with snarls, growls, and crouching.

My point with all this being that in a world where vampires have walked among us for thousands of years, they’re going to have left a lot of footprints in our mythos.

But, as it’s unlikely they’re the only ones, there are myths one may assume arose from elsewhere.

Now, I can’t speculate as to what creatures might have inspired these myths. As I demonstrated above, and canon shows with vampire myths being as far removed from real vampires as they are, these myths are only going to contain one grain of truth, possibly a very distorted one at that.

But there are some creatures that come to mind that seem directly contrary to vampires, Children of the Moon, and shapeshifters, and as such might be pointing towards another creature entirely.

I’m getting tired, so I can only think of two examples:

Changeling A child is stolen by fairies, who replace it with a fairy-child. This child is wicked and unnatural (doesn’t grow, might have a beard or too long teeth). Easy to think immortal child, except the whole point, the core, of changelings is that they trick parents into caring for them, and they’re hard to distinguish. Immortal children will eat their parents if they get within 500 yards of them.

Nisse Moody, mischievous, yet fairly harmless, the nisse is at his most abstract a patron saint for your farm. Give him his oatmeal and he’ll milk your cows, fail to do so and he’ll poke holes in your milk bucket.

I’m not saying the changeling or the nisse were or are necessarily real in the Twilight world, but it’s not impossible either. Mostly, though, these two above are only examples, my point is that as vampires, Children of the Moon, and shapeshifters all made it into legend in the Twilight world, it is a fair assumption that legends not concerning these three might hold a grain of truth as well.

#long post #twilight #twilight meta #twilight renaissance #twilight worldbuilding #myths #folklore #twilight gifts #twilight vampires

[the-slasher-files]

Hello!! It's me again, I loved what you wrote from my last request, and I wanted to try if I could ask for another one. I know it's a holiday, so I understand if it's gonna be a while, or if you'll be unable to do it.

Picture this, s/o is out busy all day, leaving the slashers on their own. Then, while the slashers are in their duties, they spotted something that reminded them of s/o. It can either be clothings, accessories, or even the smell of something their s/o bakes, etc.

I would love to see how Michael and Jason (even the other slashers, for the other readers out there) would contemplate when something like that happens to them. Like a moment thinking about their s/o and recognizing their adoration for their s/o.

(Ask is a little long but I also wanna say I love you writings so much! Happy Holidays!)

oooooh I adore this!! Happy Holidays to you as well! Just to make it more painful I am going to make it so the s/o is gone for ‘longer’ making them yearn more :) Also forewarning there is quiet a bit of gore in this but not super bad, also includes people getting murdered and angsty vibes! hope you enjoy🔪💕

MASTERLIST

SLASHERS BEING REMINDED OF THEIR S/O WHEN THEY’RE GONE

INCLUDES JASON, and MICHAEL

JASON VOORHEES

A creature quietly stirred in the shadows of the trees, moving rapidly but somehow silently. A ghost. A myth. A legend of Camp Crystal Lake. When you were gone and he was on the hunt, the man that bared the name Jason Voorhees, was ruthless. Everything he was with you as a lover was lost and replaced by violence, rage and a malicious intent. Brutally spilling blood in revenge, becoming one with the forest and lake that hid him effortlessly, waiting for the time to strike.

The small group of teenagers were in the rustic wooden cabin glimmering in the night by with the warm glow of the campfire outside, left abandoned for other activities. He could hear the groans, heavy breathes and muffled music from the drunk teens, creaking the old beds in a rhythmic pace. The creature white knuckled the wooden handle of his machete, forcing bones and veins to appear along the damaged skin.

The normally creaky floorboards of the porch did not creak for him, hiding his presence, almost as in appreciation for the man that kept up the camp and fed the woods surrounding. Jason made his way into the wooden structure quickly meeting a sizable man, shirtless, protecting a young female that stood behind him poised to scream but the air never left her lungs for the machete brutally skewered both teens with little effort. A river of scarlet seeped into the old wooden floorboards beneath the killers muddy boots as the blade was pulled out of the slumped corpses. With forceful steps Jason marched into the small bedroom ripping the door open, the hulking frame of the beast lunged toward the naked skinny teen and with the clean whoosh of metal blood sprayed everywhere, the bed, the floor, on Jason and coating the now screaming women beneath the teen. Quickly the creature grabbed her throat, pulling her up and squeezing, watching the life drain from her trembling body, lips turning blue and eyes bulging, she was gone in a simple few minutes.

The night fell silent again until a new muffled song appeared from the bathroom, a familiar song, one the creature had heard many times before. Turning slowly and gingerly pushing the wooden bathroom door open, steam swept through the air and a phone laid on the counter, a woman was in the shower singing alone to the song playing from the device.

The scene was yours but the smell and voice wasn't. It brought the creature to a strange state, one that placed the man in between his two persona's; deadly murderer and gentle lover. Jason stood observing for a moment, remembering all the nights he would come home and find your little naked body in the hot shower pretending as if you were on stage to thousands preforming your favorite songs. So cute, so pure and vulnerable, coating yourself in the beautiful floral scents you always seemed to dawn. Jason would often step into the stream with you usually fully clothed making you laugh-- Your laugh was even so adorable to the large man-- and he would run massive hands where he pleased along your soft skin, making you look so small under him. Perfection was an understatement to Jason, you were his everything and you took him for what he was, loving the man with all of your heart.

Jason missed you and missed you bad; gone for a week seemed like a year to him. Hating when your family pulled you away to the fast and loud city, which you told your lover you hated too but you both knew you would have to see them sometime, making sure you were fine.

A ridiculously out of tone lyric was sung and it ripped threw Jason’s ears, drawing his ire and pulling him into the killer character. This was not you, not your smell, not your voice. Swiping the phone to the floor the creature destroyed it under his boot with ease and forced the giant blood covered machete through the shower curtain and into the unfortunate soul behind it.

MICHAEL MYERS

A scream broke the air of the cool October night. In the traditional white American home a crimson liquid painted the inside, smeared against the walls, sprayed along the flickering tv screen, pouring out of a woman. A man watched her, head tilted as she clawed against the grey carpet with one hand, while the other futility clutched her neck where a stream of blood ran. His anger was bright at the fact it wasn't you beneath him, bleeding out and crawling away helplessly.

The shape of Haddonfield had made home in the shadows tonight, slipping away between the cookie-cutter houses and stalking with warm glow from the windows. A blur of white and navy hid away for the moonlight didn't even want to touch the sick soul, seamlessly blending into the night.

He had watched her from the bushes with a feeling of desire forming in his core, burning fury and sick thoughts incased him. The shape could do things to her that he never could with you, but it wouldn't be the same, he knew. She had your same hair colour. Similar build. The same black hoodie. Baking something that smelled familiar.

You were gone, not at home but in your hometown. Far away from Haddonfield. Only one more night he counted in his head, one night too long. You had done everything to try and convince Michael to take the road trip with you but leaving his town wasn't something he ever wanted, you knew that and accepted it. However, Michael didn't accepted it, rage grew every hour you were gone, knowing he should have just tied you up in the bedroom, threatening to kill you. Fuck, he wanted to see how your blood would run between his fingers and shimmer on his cold metal blade. Something was different about you, and Michael just couldn't place it why he had kept you alive and allowed your touch for so long. It could've been your smell perhaps, it was sweet with a tinge of musk from himself; the copper smell fell flawlessly against your skin and mixed into a dangerous perfume. Maybe it was your nature, treating the man like a human instead of a demon, not ever wanting to push him on why he was the way he was, you just took what he gave you and it was enough. Every living thing has needs and you met his perfectly, unlike the bitch he watched.

Large boots squelched along the damp grass, striding with a wicked intent the shape quietly opened the back door of the home, stepping into the shadows of the hallway. Michael looped into the kitchen where the woman was; she gazed into the black eye holes of the white mask and screamed, faltering to the living room, Michael walked slowly grabbing the largest knife from the wooden block on the counter. Two large strides had the man towering over her figure, slitting her neck from ear to ear.

Michael had planned this from the very moment he saw her yesterday walking past the house you shared with him. She was not you, and that was the point.

#my writing #asks #requests #horror #slashers #michael myers #halloween #jason vorhees #slasher fanfiction #slasher fandom #michael myers imagine #michael myers x reader #jason vorhees x reader #friday the 13th #slashers fandom #slasher x reader #slasher x s/o

[robbyrobinson]

Favorite Monsters and Cryptids

1) Black-Eyed Children: What these beings are no one knows. Some cite them as being demons or vampires who require permission to be allowed in. Some say they're alien-human hybrids or tulpas (thought beings). Even interdimensional entities or the ghosts of deceased children. They are described as either wearing old-timey clothing or dark-colored hoodies. They have extremely pale, oftentimes peachy skin tones and speak in a monotonous, adult-like fashion. They approach their target's home or car to knock or their door or window saying that they needed to get in because of bizarre reasons. If they are further denied entry, they become increasingly enraged and reveal their dark, turquoise eyes. In some cases, the witness almost considers opening the door...at least until they catch a glimpse of their eyes. 

2) Mothman: A large, red-eyed creature that was described as stalking Point Pleasant from 1966-1967 in West Virginia. Typical descriptions depict the Mothman as bat-like in appearance that had a deafening screech. On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed killing 46 civilians. Strangely enough, Mothman seemingly disappeared after the tragedy, many believing that the Mothman was a harbinger of the bad omen. 

3) Reptilians: Crazy conspiracy theory aside, Reptilians are shapeshifting extraterrestrials said to hail from the Alpha Draconis star system. David Icke, in particular, believes that they infiltrated the Earth to take over each of the world's governing bodies. Some also say that they terrorize humanity because they feed on negative emotions and what better way than to stoke the flames of anger and fearmongering than with propaganda? 

4) Shadow People: Ever thing you catch something moving from the corner of your eye? Shadow People are believed to be different things ranging from guardian angels; demons; interdimensional beings, etc. The Hatman is often considered to be the leader of the Shadow People and is considered as being the most dangerous out of his wicked kind, but many say that he is an entirely different being. 

5) Kuchisake-Onna: A Japanese urban legend, it is said that Kuchisake was once a beautiful woman married to a samurai. When the samurai felt that she was being unfaithful, he cut her mouth and killed her. Since then, she had become a vengeful spirit wearing a trench coat with a surgical mask. Carrying a pair of scissors, if she approaches a victim, she would ask them if they thought she was pretty. If they say no, she kills them. If yes, she would remove her mask to reveal her Glasgow grin and asks the question again. If the victim said yes again, she would make their mouth like hers. 

6) Teke Teke: Another ghost from Japanese folklore, Teke Teke was a woman or schoolgirl who was bisected by a train. One take of the legends have her ask her victims if they knew where her legs were. If they said no, she would rip their legs off. Another variation has Teke Teke go after the listener if they heard the story. 

7) Eight Foot Tall: A demon disguising itself as an 8-ft tall woman wearing a sundress and straw hat. She targets children and is recognizable by her demonic droning. 

8) Machine Elves: They are extradimensional entities often described as being sighted by those taking DMT. They claim to be the architects of different planes of existence but have unstable forms that continually contort. Everything happens at a fast pace in their world with all of them having high-pitched voices.

9) Greys: The stock character many think of when the possibility of extraterrestrial life is speculated. They are buglike in depiction with almond-shaped black eyes. Some say they were created by the reptilians as a slave race that deflected. They are commonly associated with alien abductions.

10) Butterfly People of Joplin: In 2011, a devastating tornado hit Joplin, Missouri that killed several people. But from the disaster, many children claimed that they experienced winged beings that saved them by holding back falling debris with their wings. One boy was found miles away in a field claiming that the Butterfly People wrapped him in it to smoothen his fall. 

11) Chupacabra: Later takes of the cryptid posit the creature as being more canine in its features. They are accredited to draining the blood from livestock such as goats. 

12) Jersey Devil: its origin story is really unique. The story goes that when a mother of 12 kids was due to have a 13th, she in annoyance, prayed for that child to be a devil. The baby is born and appears to be relatively normal. But then it, of course, transforms into a horrible abomination, escaping into the woods. 

13) Bigfoot and the Abominable Snowman: Bigfoot or the Sasquatch is an ape-like, humanoid creature believed to have been sighted in several parts of North America. Some believe that the Sasquatch is either an ancient ape species that had escaped extinction, or some even assume that Bigfoot is the missing link that researchers have been searching for. The Abominable Snowman is similar to Sasquatch in some fashion, the exception being that the creature was sighted in the mountains of the Himalayas. There have been some samples of hair believed to have been those of a Yeti's that were analyzed to be the fur of an extinct species of bear from the time of the ice age. 

14) Mongolian Death Worm: In the Gobi Desert, there is believed to be a large species of worm that is said to have lethal venom that could kill anyone who even slightly touched the creature. It can even generate electricity. The worm was also known to hunt camels, and would then lay its eggs in the intestines. 

15) The Loch Ness Monster: Probably one of the most famous examples of a cryptid in cryptozoology. Believed to be an ancient creature such as a plesiosaur, the Loch Ness Monster, or Nessie, is believed to inhabit Loch Ness. Described as having a long neck, flippers, and endless humps, accounts of the creature date far back to the time of Saint Columbia. Interest in the creature continued until in the 1930s, an alleged photograph of the monster dubbed the Surgeon's Photograph goes down in history as one of the best cases for the existence of Nessie. Even though the photograph was a hoax, many others had given their accounts of the Loch Ness Monster through the use of sonar and photography. 

16) Black Stick Men are what happens when you take drawings of simple stick figures and give them sentience. They are believed to be two-dimensional in appearance, and can even generate electrical discharges. Unlike with other paranormal entities, Black Stick Men are not connected to supernatural events. So, they just appear randomly for no real rhyme nor reason. They are believed to feed on negative emotions and their presence incites aggression and uneasiness. 

17) Wendigo: In Native American myth, a Wendigo is born when a hapless human commits the act of cannibalism in desperation. As punishment, they are transformed into a monster with an insatiable hunger that would never be quenched. They don't have a corporal form, but they are often represented as antlered-humanoids. 

18) Ningen: These are giant, aquatic humanoid entities that are commonly sighted in the waters of the Arctic. Some species are alleged to grow to great lengths.

#ningen #cryptids #black-eyed children #beks #black-eyed kids #blackeyedkids #mothman #indrid cold #reptilians #shadow people #hat man #hatman #teke teke #kuchisake onna #eight foot tall #Butterfly People of Joplin #aliens #greys #grey aliens #jersey devil #loch ness monster #scotland #nessie #chupacabra #Mongolian death worm #dmt #dmt entities #machine elves #black stick men #bigfoot

[mythicamagic]

Sesskag week Day 6: Romance

Summary: Who says BDSM can't be fluffy? (No smut, the clue is in the title.) Oneshot. For Sesskag Week Day 6 - Romance.

Rated M but not for outright smut, just implied

1,500 words

(all prompts posted on Ao3, fanfic.net and Dokuga)

AN: Sooo media sure likes painting BDSM as something that goes hand in hand with abuse, hm? Hate that. Have this instead.

Aftercare

Lying atop rich, silky furs, Kagome stared ahead sightlessly, panting. Her body hummed alive, muscles burning like she'd run a marathon as she lay on her stomach, tufts of fur acting as bedding brushing against her sensitive chest. Twitching thighs sweetly ached, combined juices clinging to slick flesh. Her ass remained slightly perked even now, and she shivered with the sting. No doubt he'd left slight red handprints just like last time.

Everything felt flushed, sweat clinging to her torso, lips feeling bruised from the force of their kisses, heartbeat thrumming wildly yet starting to calm after her pent up pleasure had been released so exquisitely.

She shifted her bound wrists resting on her spine, connected in a series of ties to her ankles, legs drawn up behind her. A snapping noise filled her ears, abruptly feeling the binds loosen, severed rope sliding free. He'd set her free.

Squeaking, Kagome felt herself be turned over, the blindfold hitched up over her eyes and removed. Blinking up at the ceiling, dazed eyes adjusted to the light. She touched the cool wetness on her bottom lip, feeling some forgotten drool lingering there and blushing.

Clawed hands rested on her knees, the Daiyoukai's chin resting in the crook of his elbow as he caught his breath, body trembling slightly. He remained sitting upright, broad shoulders hunched forward, indicative of his exhaustion.

Silver hair obscured his face, hanging limp and cascading around her on the floor. Kagome weakly lifted a palm, brushing damp bangs aside. Sesshoumaru lifted his head- red eyes slowly dying back into liquid gold.

The miko offered a tired smile.

"Hi."

He returned it, pressing a chaste kiss to her palm that almost made her laugh. How at odds with the mood from mere minutes ago.

"Hello."

Sesshoumaru leaned back and unsteadily straightened, licking some blood away from his chin. The fresh bite mark on her shoulder thrummed from the action.

A whine escaped Kagome when he drew away, lips pursing. If her arms didn't ache so much she'd have reached out to beckon him closer again.

The smoke of a smile ghosted across his mouth before Sesshoumaru dragged a robe loosely around him and briefly stepped out of their room to demand a trayful of things be sent to the desired room. He then knelt to scoop her up into his arms.

Carrying his mate to their private springs and finding beverages and food waiting for them, the Daiyoukai sank into heavenly waters. They each hissed and shuddered, the temperature unforgiving on certain sensitive areas.

Placing Kagome on his lap, Sesshoumaru supported her back, gliding thin lips over her neck. Her tired limbs slung around him in an attempt to return his embrace, before he pulled back, lifting her wrist to inspect it.

"Were the binds too tight? You should have told me."

"I didn't feel it at the time," she murmured. Or rather, she had, but the drag of the rope had only served to heighten her arousal.

Humming, a wet tongue drew out, grazing over the faint red lines left behind from the binds. Sesshoumaru licked at nuzzled at her flesh, a rumbling noise escaping his throat. He looked rumpled and decadent, steam from the springs curling around his visage. Despite how effortlessly violent he could be with enemies, Sesshoumaru's palms as they moved and caressed her body dragged with a gentleness that one would not expect.

"Do you wish for water or sustenance?"

Her lips quirked. "Sure, I'll take something to drink, please. Maybe a pain killer too."

Dehydration was a very real thing, what with the amount of sweat they'd worked up. A cup was gently urged to her lips and Kagome curled shaking fingers around it, taking a long drink and coming down from their session slowly.

She then smoothed a soothing hand through silky silver hair, stroking his ear. "Are you alright?" she inquired gently.

Sub drops were expected but Doms could also experience them. A stereotype was that they didn't need aftercare. If she could just get her damn jelly limbs under control she'd have pampered him a little too. Sesshoumaru hummed, lowering her arm and wrapping her tighter in a warm embrace instead, their skin plastering together from the heat.

"I really do think we should come up with a fun safe word," Kagome sighed, lulling in exhaustion against him. Throbbing limbs relaxed, body unwinding beneath his soft touch. "Just a plain ole 'stop' or 'no' doesn't feel too special, does it?"

"This one does not see much point. You hardly ever tell me 'no' and if you do it is only to adjust our positions," he snorted, grabbing a cloth and starting to wash her body. "And for another; I do not find the prospect of hearing you begging me to stop arousing. Therefore we do not need a 'special' safeword. If you wish to stop, it is simple enough to say."

"Fiiine," Kagome huffed, running a hand over his bicep. Blunt teeth marks marked his flesh. She smiled a little.

Dragging the cloth over her back, Sesshoumaru absentmindedly kissed what welts and marks were available to his lips. Lifting her to sit on the side of the pool, he grabbed a lotion from her era and started to lather it over them for good measure. Kagome draped her legs on either side of his waist, heels grazing magenta stripes hugging his hips. Sesshoumaru shot her a warning look. Kagome flashed a weary smirk.

"You have surely had enough. Do not tempt me, miko."

"Wouldn't dream of it," she winked, closing blue eyes and resting a cheek against his shoulder, sighing with satisfaction. After being mated for five months, Kagome had decided to suggest a few things in the bedroom. They'd introduced cuffs at first, then blindfolds, and things had spiralled from there. Luckily Sesshoumaru already had a taste for dominance and took to things like a duck to water. He was now quite the expert at using toys and vibrators that she'd awkwardly lugged through the well. Trying to conceal sex toys within the depths of her backpack proved to be a terrifying gamble. Inuyasha and Shippo had started bugging her for ramen and sweets, assuming her pack must be filled with presents for her friends.

'They're gifts from me, for me!' she'd hissed until Sesshoumaru had mercifully stepped in and helped conceal her secret.

Now the couple had progressed and were comfortable enough to pull off different ties. The hog-tie was an unspoken favourite. Her poor, overstimulated sex twitched, core tightening with just the memory of it.

Calloused palms dragged over sun-kissed skin. "What am I going to do with you?" he sighed, grazing his cheek against hers in demonic affection. If someone glimpsed their sex lives, they'd shallowly assume the black-hearted, cold and cruel youkai had been the bad influence on the pure and pretty miko. That he was the one who spanked, marked and fucked her for his own enjoyment and nothing more.

Kagome lifted her head, kissing the underside of his jaw and teasing her mouth there. "I can give you a few ideas," she purred, showing the truth of their relationship. Pure and pretty miko's could have kinks too, and every time Inuyasha eyed her with pity and glared at Sesshoumaru like he'd 'tarnished' her, it only became more apparent that her curiosities and zest for exploration in the bedroom would've been stifled in other, more clumsy hands. It didn't matter how much she tried to explain or defend Sesshoumaru, some just willfully misunderstood.

Her mate, however, kindly dipped two blunt nails down. His other claws remained long and sharp, but the index and middle fingers had been tailored to meet her needs. Kagome gasped and sighed as they brushed her slick sex.

"You honestly desire more?" he asked in a velvety voice. "Despite the fact that you can barely move?"

Kagome glided greedy hands up his firm abdomen and chest to cradle his face, stroking soft thumbs over striped cheeks to elicit a shiver.

"I can still speak, can't I?" blue eyes danced. "That means you didn't do a good enough job- ah!" she jolted as lithe digits pushed in without warning, scooping the remnants of their lovemaking out of her. They'd need to make room, after all.

"Indeed," Sesshoumaru grunted in her ear, starting to rub her all over again. "Be thankful for the day we crossed paths, miko. No human could ever keep up your needs-" his free hand curled around her neck, "-and no other would endeavour to pleasure you as thoroughly as only I can."

"That's fine," Kagome murmured, rutting her hips against wicked fingers and becoming a vocal, breathy instrument in his talented hands. She gripped his shoulder and squeezed when he moved too quickly, and Sesshoumaru eased up, their silent cues only curling her toes with pleasure and making her head tip back to accept his hungry mouth on her neck.

"Because I don't want anyone else."

End

#sesskag #skw2020 #sesskag week 2020 #Sesshoumaru x Kagome #Sesshoumaru #Kagome Higurashi #anyone else predicting this getting blocked by tumblr? lol

[mittensmorgul]

i obviously did not think this through

So the other day I thought it would be fun to make up my own Essential Rewatch List leading up to 15.01, and boy howdy was I ever wrong! This post is the result of that. Instead of a conveniently streamlined list of important episodes for meta and character development highlights, instead have this 15k word probably-useless behemoth...

I debated not even posting this on tumblr because it’s just so massive. But heck this was a lot of work so here it is.

For reference purposes, I refer a lot to my rewatch notes, but mostly in later seasons. If you’d rather just go to the beginning of my tag for the most recent rewatch, 1.01 is the last post on this page, and then you can just continue chronologically from there:

https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/tagged/s14+hellatus+rewatch/chrono/page/3

If you want to read more about a specific episode, every singe episode is filed on my blog with the episode tag. For example, all posts about 1.01 are tagged like this:

https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/tagged/spn-1.01

To find a different episode, just plug in the correct episode number and voila.

If you’d prefer to skip an episode but don’t fully recall it and just want a quick refresher, every episode is linked on this page of the superwiki. Those links will serve you up a tidy synopsis as well as link you to the transcripts for every episode (linked at the bottom of each episode page):

http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/Category:Episodes

I started out making reasonable, logical entries for every episode, and then... kinda went off the rails toward the end... apologies for how chaotic this might read. Most of it was typed off the top of my head, and I haven’t edited it so apologies for any errors. Under a cut because FIFTEEN. THOUSAND. WORDS.

Good luck.

1.01 Pilot Obviously this episode sets up everything that comes after, and gives us a platform from which to understand exactly how the show’s mythology will eventually evolve. It also establishes a baseline for understanding Sam and Dean and their personal character evolutions and family dynamics. Probably essential viewing in any rewatch...

1.02 Wendigo Like so many early episodes, we learn more about Dean and Sam, and the missing father they’re searching for. And here we get “Saving people, hunting things, the family business” that becomes the motto of the Winchesters.

1.03 Dead in the Water

Sam is shocked to learn that Dean’s good with kids, and how Dean was traumatized as a 4-year-old. Like, dude, he practically raised you, Sam… makes sense he’s good with kids...

1.04 Phantom Traveler Specky the Wonderdemon, who was terrifyingly beyond their pay grade at the time. Kinda hilarious in retrospect… (also first use of Dean’s homemade EMF meter)

1.05 Bloody Mary Aah, Sam is keeping secrets from Dean (about his psychic powers and that he’d foreseen Jess’s death), and we learn ghosts can be attached to items that must be destroyed to banish the ghost.

1.06 Skin ooh Dean, take off that shirt yes… no… wait… stop… you can stop with the shirt you don’t… no please put your skin back on… (no, seriously, we learn A LOT about Dean from the shapeshifter, and so does Sam… There’s a heck of a lot Dean keeps buried. Also a reminder that shifter episodes tend to involve these sorts of buried secret things for Dean. Also Dean’s first “legal death” even if not actual death)

1.07 Hook Man Another ghost attached to an object, Sam’s first flirtation with anyone after Jess’s death, and Dean’s proficiency and innovation in hunting techniques continues to surprise Sam-- with the first use of salt shells for a shotgun.

1.08 Bugs Oh look more first season talking of their different experiences and memories of childhood and especially their very different relationships with John. If you can ignore the bug-related portions of the episode. Also I think still the only time in canon Sam and Dean have used umbrellas.

1.09 Home

Well if you absolutely need an in-depth exploration of the Winchester Family Dynamic as it stood in s1, this is a good baseline episode. Mary’s guilt expressed by her ghost in the house where she died, more exploration of Sam’s psychic powers, and we first see John on screen in the “present day.” Sam also learns it was Dean who carried him out of the house when he was a baby, and uses the exact same line John told Dean in this episode (take your brother outside as fast as you can and don’t look back)

1.10 Asylum So much of s1 was Dean getting orders from John and… following them. We get an interesting glimpse inside Sam’s head (having heard some of Dean’s dark secrets in 1.06) and via ghost interference Sam says some pretty bitter things to Dean (and would’ve shot him if Dean had been dumb enough to hand him a loaded gun. lucky Dean’s smarter than that). But now we have their baseline issues laid out on the table for us.

1.11 Scarecrow Sam is sick of taking orders from John and decides to go find John on his own rather than following another order. He meets Meg hitchhiking, and she tries to lure him in. Luckily Sam realizes Dean is in trouble and goes back to save him. They decide to stick together again. Of course.

1.12 Faith Here we go… the first moment the show realized it had the potential to be something bigger than a MotW horror/fantasy road trip. Dean’s first brush with capital-D Death (in this case, a reaper). The first time in canon anyone suggests that Dean was “chosen by the Lord” for a greater purpose.

1.13 Route 666 Racist Ghost Truck. But also the first time we learn an important difference between Dean and Sam. Sam hid everything about his life from Jess (a woman he was planning to propose to), but Dean fell in love with Cassie over a matter of weeks and told the whole truth to… and she dumped him for it because she thought he was lying to her. That heartbreak goes a long way toward the cavalier attitude Dean puts on toward relationships in general in the early seasons. Tell them the truth and they’ll leave you for it, but he won’t live the lie that Sam was perfectly happy to...

1.14 Nightmare Aah, more of Sam’s powers (darkest timeline edition with Max), and Sam credits John for being a better father… until he sees Dean’s reaction to that comment… and we get that Dean stood between Sam and John’s… lack of parenting skills >.>

1.15 The Benders “Plain old people are often worse than monsters”

1.16 Shadow The return of Meg, who is Up To No Good messing around with scarier demons than good old Specky was. We finally have John in the picture, but he deems it too dangerous for them to stick together, blaming their vulnerability on their care for each other, and just PFFFFFFT how often has the show kicked this notion to the curb? Give it a few more episodes… Sam also expresses his desire to finally get their revenge so he can leave hunting for good and go back to his “normal life.” Dean is crushed and upset by this revelation.

1.17 Hell House Aah, the prank war :’), and the idiot ghostfacers :’). It’s a tulpa.

1.18 Something Wicked Well if you need your heart ripped out with Dean Feels, you’re in the right place. Sam learns even more about Dean’s struggles as a kid under John’s orders, and what “failure” to obey meant to Dean-- that it once almost cost Sam his life. Sam gets a better idea of the burden of guilt and the weight of responsibility that Dean has carried for far, far too long. And Dean gets a bit of closure, finally killing the shtriga.

1.19 Provenance Sam gets to unburden himself a bit from Jess’s death and make a real connection with a wonderful woman who gets a real peek into the reality of their lives and the supernatural. Still, he walks away, and completely loses touch with her for like… 7 years...

1.20 Dead Man's Blood Sam and Dean are sick of blindly following orders, and sick of wild goose chases. And they demand answers from John. We learn about vampires for the first time, and are finally introduced to The Colt, which will take on so much significance over the seasons that it’s RIDICULOUS. A weapon Mary heard bedtime stories about as a child, now become real to be used to get their revenge on the demon who killed her? Which will resurface again and again to either become their hope or destroy their hope… so much baggage attached to a single gun.

1.21 Salvation So much plotting, but the demons get their way and get the Winchesters separated and set up. Sam fails to shoot the demon with the Colt and John is captured.

1.22 Devil's Trap As the title suggests, this is where we learn about the Devil’s Trap. And see the “single step” exorcism performed (not the two-step Specky exorcism from 1.04). Dean rejects John’s orders and “wastes” a bullet from the Colt to save Sam’s life. But it’s still all a trap, because the demon is possessing John. Dean realizes it when John is NOT FURIOUS that he “wasted” that bullet. It nearly kills Dean, and Sam refuses to kill John in order to kill the demon. The demon escapes, the Winchesters have one bullet left in the Colt, and then they’re run over by a demon-possessed semi trucker.

2.01 In My Time of Dying Dean’s second brush with Death (again, reapers). He learns a lot while mostly dead that unfortunately he won’t remember for a long time (until 4.15, to be precise) about reapers and their powers (manipulating reality, etc.). Sam is desperate to save Dean, and John trades his life (and the Colt) to the Demon for Dean’s life, lays one HELL of a burden on Dean-- either save Sam, or you’ll have to kill him. No further details, just that horrific fact which Dean will try to shield Sam from as long as he can, which will (as per usual) probably only make things worse when they eventually come out. Dying wishes on this show SUCK DONKEYS. Remember that when we get to 5.22...

2.02 Everybody Loves a Clown Spoiler alert: nobody actually loves a clown, especially not Sam. But heck Dean driving the soccer mom minivan is priceless. And we’re introduced to Ellen, Jo, and Ash at the Roadhouse. Sam and Dean are like… whoa there are actual hunter gathering places? And begin to uncover just how sheltered and weird their lives have been, even for hunters.

2.03 Bloodlust like 1.15, “sometimes people are the worst monsters,” with a generous side helping of “sometimes monsters aren’t actually monsters.” Dean gets to question a lot of what he was taught his whole life by John, via the proxy of Gordon Walker and his hate-on for vampires. But Dean realizes there’s a limit to killing everything not-human… the beginning of the era of “killing what deserves to be killed and not just anyone will do”

2.04 Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things Zombie. Considering Jack’s longtime fascination with zombies, and how 14.20 ended… possibly relevant thematically on several levels… Girl resurrected by a dude for love (she didn’t love him in life… but was basically a “soulless person” as a zombie, as we will come to understand in later seasons). It’s a terrible idea to try and bring back the dead… >.> But this is all wrapped up in grief and how Sam and Dean each deal with grief in their own ways, and how they don’t really understand how the other is processing John’s death. In the MotW language of the show, zombies are about grief for the past and an inability to express it or move past it. They’re just emotional baggage (like shapeshifter eps reveal hidden truths and vampires are about revenge)

2.05 Simon Said More special children affected by the demon exhibit psychic powers… Sam is unsettled by the mind control, but unlike Dean he’s immune to it… He’s scared he’s gonna turn “evil” (and this is the first hint he gets that Dean might feel the same, based on the horrific dying promise John extracted from him that we still haven’t heard, and which we’re reminded is clearly weighing on Dean anyway)

2.06 No Exit Aah, Jo. They hunt the ghost of HH Holmes with her and learn some terrible things about their father’s history-- that he probably played a part in Jo’s father’s death. We also learn Dean sleeps real funny in chairs...ow it just looks so dang painful :’D (but they do comeuppance real well on the ghost…)

2.07 The Usual Suspects I love this just for the structure of the episode, showing us Hunting with Sam and Dean 101-- how to avoid arrest and imprisonment edition. This just gives us so much insight into how well they work together as a team, and the degree to which they’ve developed code words and references and how they are able to craft seamless backstories in the event a hunt goes south. It’s just… delightful.

2.08 Crossroad Blues The introduction of Crossroads Demons. And the first confirmation to Dean that John did indeed sell his soul for Dean’s life. Uncomfy revelation. The demon offers Dean a deal… his father resurrected and ten years to enjoy his company before Dean’s soul would end up in Hell instead. Dean declines. But their arsenal of weapons against demons (and the newly-introduced Hellhounds) grows to include goofer dust.

2.09 Croatoan Aah, a terrible time was had by all… the demons are scheming, creating demonic viruses and testing Sam’s immunity to them. But of course Dean and Sam don’t know that… Dean’s comment as they leave town: “I'm already starting to feel like this is the one that got away.” And ends on a cliffhanger of Dean about to tell Sam what John told him in 2.01.

2.10 Hunted Sam is enraged Dean would keep that from him, and wants to seek out more Special Children to learn what they can, but Dean wants to hide out and bide their time for safety’s sake. And maybe it’s just because I was in my 30’s when I first watched this show, but Sam pulls what I still think of as one of his signature childish moves and runs away in the night. But down that path lies revenge against the demon, so of course Sam runs into vampire-adjacent Gordon Walker. We learn more about how the Winchesters work together, the secret code word “funkytown,” and that sometimes they actually get the authorities to work in their favor. They’re good at manipulating the system...

2.11 Playthings Ghosts, Hoodoo that wasn’t to cause harm, but to protect against the ghost. Sam gets spectacularly drunk and makes Dean promise to actually kill him if he goes bad. Yikes. We also have the “why does everybody think we’re gay,” and Sam’s reply of “you’re kinda trying too hard to be butch” that Dean… doesn’t have a response to. Sam gets to SAVE somebody (he puts a gold star in his book as proof he’s not turning evil yet)

2.12 Nightshifter This is one I recommend actually watching… another shapeshifter (not a mandroid), so uncomfortable truths time. Sam lies thinking he’s protecting someone from danger, but it just drives Ron into even WORSE danger (and gets him killed). Everything about this hunt goes sideways, except they do actually kill the shifter, but now they’ve got the FBI on their tails. This is Winchesters Scrambling In A Tight Spot nirvana.

2.13 Houses of the Holy The first hint that the show… could possibly someday include angels, but they’re still on the BS list by the end of this episode. We learn more about Sam’s belief in God, Dean’s utter disdain for the idea of God, and the fact that Mary had believed in angels. Dean witnesses something he can’t explain, and Sam points in Dean’s direction when asking, “That’s Michael, right?”

2.14 Born Under a Bad Sign From holy to Hell… Sam is possessed by Meg, who leads Dean on a wild goose chase and does some pretty horrific stuff with Sam’s body. >.> They learn about the antipossession charms from Bobby (and probably get the tattoos shortly after this). Dean still refuses to kill Sam even when he begs (though we learn it was Meg testing or goading all of them).

2.15 Tall Tales We’re introduced to the Trickster (who’s even tricking them about his actual identity). Sam and Dean are completely bamboozled until Bobby shows up and points them to what’s really going on. There’s a lot of fun stuff about Sam and Dean’s relationship and how they see themselves and each other in here, though. And of course we know who the trickster actually is, which makes this all so much more interesting in retrospect… bit of comeuppance and lessons learned.

2.16 Roadkill An interesting take on a ghost MotW episode, where one of the ghosts doesn’t realize she’s dead, and how Sam and Dean work with her to save them all.

2.17 Heart Sam’s first actual sort-of-relationship with a woman. Who happens to be a werewolf… oops. There’s a lot of Sam Pain in this one, and Dean feeling like he’s failed in protecting Sam, yet again. But we are introduced to werewolves, which take on the monster meta shorthand of exposing or understanding their own inner monstrousness.

2.18 Hollywood Babylon And it’s Dean’s turn to have a little fling, where their concept of a “vacation” is “deal with mysterious haunting and death on a movie set.” And like in 1.12, this all comes about because some dingdong thinks he can do whatever he want. ALSO! The true monster of the week here… IS A WRITER. A writer who is furious that his story was trashed, and produced into something unrecognizable as his actual writing. I think this one might be HIGHLY relevant to 14.20, just for that. For the deadly tantrum of a writer who didn’t get his way. (plus the brilliance of Dean going from complete noob to the best PA in the history of Hollywood in like… a day… he’s just that good :’D)

2.19 Folsom Prison Blues In doing a favor for their father’s marine corps buddy (so the ghost of John hangs all over this one), they deliberately get themselves arrested and put in jail. Dean fits in there just as well as he did as a PA. He’s… really just that good at acting. Now I have Green Onions stuck in my head and I want a milkshake. And a donut.

2.20 What Is and What Should Never Be DJINN. aka the monster meta signal of deep personal introspection. What we learn about Dean in this episode is just heartbreaking. What he would wish for (Mary alive, Sam happily at Stanford Law School engaged to Jess) and the consequences he’s willing to endure for that to be a reality (his own life’s work negated, where everyone assumes he’s a drunk and a thief and a loser). 

2.21 All Hell Breaks Loose: Part One Dean just wanted pie. Instead Sam gets taken by demons. We finally find out what the demon wanted with him (sort of). Sam plays in the Demon Hunger Games, and loses at the last moment… (Dean gets to feel what it’s like to have a psychic vision, and hates it)

2.22 All Hell Breaks Loose: Part Two Dean sells his soul to resurrect Sam for the bargain price of one year before he’ll be dragged to Hell. Well learn about Samuel Colt’s Hellgate, which can ironically be unlocked with the Magic Kill Anything Gun (the Colt). In retrospect, this was just the beginning of the larger narrative arc of the Apocalypse, where Azazel released Lilith (along with a lot of other demons) to get that party started now that they had their hooks in Dean’s soul, but hey, at least Azazel won’t live to see it all happen (Dean finally shoots him with that last Colt bullet, rendering the gun useless but at least it did what they needed it to, with an assist from John’s ghost).

3.01 The Magnificent Seven The Seven Deadly Sins, the introduction of Ruby and her Magical Demon Killing Knife. Dean tells Sam he can’t be saved because if he breaks his deal, Sam would die.

3.02 The Kids Are Alright We meet Lisa (who Dean had a fling with years earlier) on Dean’s “relive his greatest hits before he goes to Hell denial roadtrip.” And Dean thinks he has a son for a hot minute (he does not, but he likes the kid anyway). Weirdness with them will ensue until they finally get to move on with their lives in s6. >.> But we’re introduced to our first fairie-adjacent creatures: Changelings. And Sam learns Ruby is actually a demon...

3.03 Bad Day at Black Rock Sam lost his shoe. We learn about curse boxes, Sam and Dean learn that John kept a secret storage unit full of weird and possibly dangerous stuff. But also some relics from their childhood-- Sam’s soccer trophy, Dean’s first sawed-off shotgun. And if that isn’t shorthand for the fact they had very different childhoods, I don’t know what is. Anyway, we meet Bela, and are entertained by good luck going bad… kinda the theme of s3?

3.04 Sin City more demons, we learn more about bigger plans they had for Sam, and Dean comes THIS CLOSE to actually considering letting a demon go… but Ruby helped Bobby make the Colt work again, and Sam kills both demons.

3.05 Bedtime Stories A pseudo-ghost of a girl trapped in a coma acts out fairy tales as a cry for help. Dean doesn’t want to kiss a frog. The pie is poisoned and Dean has to fight the big bad wolf… I swear that all makes perfect meta sense.

3.06 Red Sky at Morning Bela again. And like the ghost they’re hunting, we learn she got her revenge against a family member. The first use of the name “Castiel” in the spell to summon the ghost’s brother’s ghost so they could splish-splosh each other out of existence. That’s… all you really need to know.

3.07 Fresh Blood Gordon Walker, vampires, and vengeance. Taken to an extreme. Dean basically throws himself into danger because what does he have to lose if he’s already destined for Hell? But he’s beginning to crack, and Sam’s getting pretty desperate to get Dean to admit he’s scared and do something to save himself. Gordon’s desire for revenge gets him captured by a vamp and turned… and Sam ends up beheading him with razor wire. Yikes… so much for that revenge, eh?

3.08 A Very Supernatural Christmas Yuletide fun and eggnog. Pagan gods they end up killing with a Christmas tree. But they do reach a personal emotional plateau with Dean’s whole “half a year to live” clock ticking down.

3.09 Malleus Maleficarum Witches. Ruby. And a demon who knows Ruby leading a coven of suburban housewives who believe they’re just doing something harmless and not slowly selling their souls to said demon. Ruby saves Dean’s life, earning his reluctant gratitude for the time being, but not exactly his trust. This is the first we learn of Lilith, the demon apparently leading all the rest of them. Dean also learns that demons are just human souls that have been tortured in hell, and that’s what awaits him after he dies.

3.10 Dream a Little Dream of Me VERY IMPORTANT EPISODE. African Dream Root, which mimics the sort of djinn-dream experience. Dean has to literally confront his demon self. For the first time he admits he didn’t deserve any of this, any of what John put him through. And he admits to Sam that he is scared of going to Hell. Oh, and Bela steals the Colt, aka the only weapon they have against Lilith.

3.11 Mystery Spot If 3.10 was about Dean’s internal trauma, 3.11 is about Sam’s. The trickster puts him through a time loop forcing him to relive endless Tuesdays, and Dean dies each time and he wakes up again. The power to do this is just… insane. Just when they think they’re out, Dean apparently dies “for real,” and it drives Sam on a six month long rather terrifying revenge mission. Only to finally come face to face with the trickster again after having proven the horrific lengths he’s willing to go to in order to save Dean. Also a very, very important episode. Trapped eternally in someone else’s looping story and forced to act it all out endlessly? Yeah. That’s not 14.20 at all >.>

3.12 Jus in Bello very nearly the series finale. They work with Ruby after FBI agent Henriksen discovers they weren’t lying about the supernatural and they exorcise him from demon possession. Dean gives him The Talk about what’s real, and refuses to sacrifice someone to perform Ruby’s spell that would supposedly save them all and kill all the demons. Everyone lives… for a little while, at least. At least Sam and Dean are marked among the dead, so they won’t have to worry about law enforcement chasing them for a while, but Ruby holds this over them (in addition to losing the Colt, if they’d just listened to her everyone would still be alive… in theory… she’s really good at this manipulation thing!)

3.13 Ghostfacers And interesting perspective to see what Sam and Dean would look like uncensored and unbound from the traditional episode format, and through the eyes of other people.

3.14 Long-Distance Call Crocotta. Dean is lured in by John’s voice over the phone, believing it might be a ghost situation, and that John may have a way to save him from Hell. It’s all just a trap that leaves Dean feeling even more hopeless, knowing he can’t expect John (or anyone else) to save him from this. 

3.15 Time Is on My Side Sam gets desperate, and we have another mention of zombies… which if you’ll recall, signals grief and desperation and an inability to let go of the past. Which kinda defines Sam’s state right now. Dean tracks down Bela to retrieve the Colt (but it’s long gone, and Bela’s about to be dragged off by hellhounds herself). Sam tracks down Doc Benton hoping to get him to share his secret for immortality as a last desperate attempt to save Dean. But Dean doesn’t want to live like that, killing other people for their organs as his would wear out, just to keep himself out of Hell. And honestly good for him because ugh.

3.16 No Rest for the Wicked Dean’s seeing through the veil, able to see demons’ true faces, and the hellhounds that are on their way. They steal Ruby’s knife and go after Lilith, and fail completely. Dean’s dragged to Hell, and Sam’s immune to Lilith’s powers.

4.01 Lazarus Rising CAS GRIPPED DEAN TIGHT AND RAISED HIM FROM PERDITION. Honestly if you don’t know the meta import of this episode, this list ain’t gonna help you.

4.02 Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester We really learn about the Apocalypse, the seals breaking that will eventually free Lucifer. Supposedly the angels want to stop them from breaking… and Dean and Cas have their first real conversation about all of this. And this is the episode my tag for God comes from, “If you say mysterious ways, so help me I will kick your ass.” Dean’s already set himself up with Cas to defy God.

4.03 In the Beginning Angels can send you back in time! Dean sees Mary and John’s relationship, the death of Mary’s parents, and the fact Dean talked John into buying the Impala AND now feels responsible for having lured Azazel to Mary in the first place… he witnesses the deal she makes to bring John back that would effectively shape the entire narrative on both sides of this episode. The things we do for love… Cas told Dean to stop it, and in the end tells him he never could’ve stopped any of it. It is what it is. It’s the first instance of Dean getting this glimpse at the bigger picture, and taking away his OWN lesson from it rather than the one he was supposed to learn… 

4.04 Metamorphosis Dean finds out about Sam working with Ruby to exorcise demons with his psychic powers. And the inevitability of falling victim to those psychic powers plays out in the MotW, the rougarou who gives into his hunger. Sam promises to give up using his powers lest that happen to him.

4.05 Monster Movie A straightforward, black and white case. A shapeshifter (so buried truths), but this one becomes Hollywood movie monsters trying to give the monsters a happy ending… essentially trying to rewrite his own story. Sound familiar? Dean gets the girl, at least. I love this episode.

4.06 Yellow Fever Dean vs his own fear, compounded by the fear of a ghost who infects him with ghost sickness, inflicting his own suffering on Dean. This was Dabb’s first episode, and as such, is definitely worth watching for the themes, and what Dean is truly afraid of-- i.e. of going back to Hell and being tortured by Lilith, of Sam being a yellow-eyed demon. The rest is just awkwardly fun watching Dean squirm.

4.07 It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester Sam breaks his promise not to use his powers when Samhain rises. We meet another angel- Uriel- who isn’t as fond of humanity as Cas. Sam meets Cas, too. But this is truly the episode where Cas begins to differentiate himself and show his doubts in Heaven’s orders. He warns Dean that bigger tests are coming, but he doesn’t know what they will be yet. This is still the true foundation stone of Cas’s entire personal character arc for the entire series, when he went from maybe-three-episodes-then-dead interesting side character to 11-years-and-counting truly a Winchester.

4.08 Wishful Thinking I love this episode… you can’t just wish for what you want without consequences. This was like primer-level Cosmic Consequences stuff.

4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer Dean learns what Sam was up to while he was in Hell being tortured by Alastair (conveniently the antagonist in this episode), why he trusts Ruby now, and voluntarily works with Ruby to save Anna-- a woman who hears angels talking. This is effectively continued in:

4.10 Heaven and Hell Where Anna remembers that she’d been an angel who fell from Heaven by choice, removing her grace to experience life as a human. Which… is kinda important a concept to know exists… >.> Heaven (and Cas) judge her harshly for that choice, and yet… there’s just too much just go read my rewatch notes from this episode at the very least.

4.11 Family Remains They think it’s a ghost but it’s not a ghost. All you need to know is this is the episode they wrote on a dare to see if they could write an episode that the network would refuse to air ever again. They were actively trying to write the worst possible episode they could imagine, and this is the result.

4.12 Criss Angel Is a Douchebag

Sam had a thing for stage magic as a kid, but now he runs around with a demon. The concept of “will we be in this life until we die or it kills us” and “what would life even look like to us if we were actually to grow old” is batted around for possibly the first time. 

4.13 After School Special

From contemplating retirement to flashbacks to high school. Another look at Sam and Dean and who they are as people, and how their very different childhoods shaped them into who they are now.

4.14 Sex and Violence Dean’s Siren was a dude. (oh, and the director of this episode? whose last episode was 6.15? is directing 15.03, so maybe worth a peek...)

4.15 Death Takes a Holiday Dean vs Death again. The return of Tessa the reaper from 2.01, and Dean finally remembers. They save Tessa, save a seal, and capture Alastair, but discover they’ve been manipulated into doing it by Cas/Heaven. Heaven loves its manipulations… Pamela the psychic warns Sam that what he’s doing, despite his intentions, is not good. He ignores that advice. At the very least read my rewatch notes for this one. >.>

4.16 On the Head of a Pin There is absolutely too much going on in this episode to sum up in this post. Read my rewatch notes, read the superwiki, watch the episode. This one is huge, for Dean and for Cas.

4.17 It's a Terrible Life Heaven’s Grand Manipulator, Zachariah. Or he thinks he’s pretty grand… he’s really not all that good at his job

4.18 The Monster at the End of This Book CHUCK. The inevitability of destiny, or at least his attempt to write that version. In this episode, all of Chuck’s plans go according to plan… until Dean drags him back into the story and forces a different ending. (and we learn Sam’s demon blood drinking is so distasteful to Chuck he didn’t even include it in his books) Remind you of anything? Like, oh, 4.22, or 5.22, or 11.23, or 14.20? Yes, this episode is the key to everything.

4.19 Jump the Shark Since Adam will reportedly be back in s15, watch this one and understand Dabb’s exact intention in creating the character in the first place-- literally as a decoy who never existed with any narrative weight of his own, as a ghoul (a creature that feeds on the dead and takes their shape). I wrote about this one recently, so I won’t waste space repeating myself here.

4.20 The Rapture CAAAAAAAASSSSSS. He gets dragged back to heaven for disobedience, and is tortured back into obedience. Obviously this one is huge for Cas as a character, and for Dean’s relationship with him. But they both learn about why Sam’s powers were getting stronger, and are not pleased...

4.21 When the Levee Breaks Sam’s detoxing from demon blood until Cas lets him escape. Cas rounds up Anna and has her sent back to Heaven for her own round of torture/reprogramming. And Dean and Sam have her Big Falling Out that drives Sam to do the horrific… however good his intentions are, what he’s doing is still bad.

4.22 Lucifer Rising The grand manipulation is unveiled. Dean talks an angel into rebelling from Heaven to stop the apocalypse, but they’re still not in time to stop Sam from breaking the world. Chuck… is less than fully helpful, despite Cas literally volunteering his own life to protect Chuck. Pretty sure this is a critical episode for rewatching. Chuck’s mostly pleased his story is going to plan.

5.01 Sympathy for the Devil Ugh, no we do not have sympathy for the devil on this blog. Chuck recruits his biggest fan to deliver cryptic messages to Sam and Dean. Dean learns he’s Michael’s true vessel, destined to be his tuxedo for the apocalypse. Cas returns without having a clue how he’s even alive. And it’s all Chuck’s doing… even if we don’t know that yet.

5.02 Good God, Y'All

The apocalypse is in full swing, and the Horsemen are coming out to play. In this case, War manipulating people into destroying each other. Cas sets out on his mission to find God and convince him to help stop this mess. We learn Dean’s amulet had the power to find God all this time, and they’d never known it until now. Convenient!

5.03 Free to Be You and Me Just watch it already, you know you want to. Defines Dean and Cas’s relationship for years to come, though. Plus Sam learns he’s Lucifer’s destined vessel. I’m sure that will all go fine… 

5.04 The End I know most people will disagree with me on this, but the only useful meta takeaway from this episode is the same as one from 4.17: Dean doesn’t learn the lessons he’s “supposed to.” He makes his own lessons. There is literally zero other relevant information to take from this episode, aside from it being Cas who saves him from it. Watch if you enjoy it… but literally nothing about it is any more real than the djinn dream in 2.20 or the dreamroot dream in 3.10, and it’s all been rendered irrelevant by later canon anyway. Especially by 14.20 and that moment Dean refused to play Chuck’s game anymore.

5.05 Fallen Idols More John baggage disguised as an old god. Worth watching just to hear poor Consuela the housekeeper wail about Abraham Lincoln killing Mr. Hill, and Sam being attacked by Ghandi.

5.06 I Believe the Children Are Our Future Dabb’s second gag on the fandom… the antichrist. Dean admitting Cas is his friend. :’)

5.07 The Curious Case of Dean Winchester Dean gets to be an old man for a day.

5.08 Changing Channels Just watch this one, read about it, whatever. Refresh yourself on it. The trickster is unmasked as the Archangel Gabriel, and he’s attempting his own ploy to force Sam and Dean to “play their roles.” They convince him they’re not gonna do that, but to break out of the endless loop of literal television shows he’s forcing them to act out for his own entertainment (and sort of to teach them that lesson), they’ve got to do more than just refuse to play their roles, they’ve got to best him at the game. Kinda like they’re probably gonna have to do with Chuck in s15. 

5.09 The Real Ghostbusters Oh, speaking of Chuck… here have a Supernatural fan convention, and a key piece of information on what actually happened to the Colt after Bela stole it. But most importantly, Dean gets to yell about how much he doesn’t appreciate the story of Supernatural.

5.10 Abandon All Hope… They find the Colt, and Crowley, and discover it never would’ve worked against Lucifer anyway, and then promptly lose the Colt again. Lucifer gets to stare down Cas and Cas doesn’t blink, Meg’s hellhounds kill Jo and Ellen, and really everything’s kinda bleak. Lucifer raises and binds Death.

5.11 Sam, Interrupted WRAITH, aka a monster that uses mind altering venom to “cook” her victims to perfection, so like a djinn and other mind-altering, perception-altering creatures, when they sneak up on you unawares, things get… complicated. Massive insight into the essential character of Sam and Dean.

5.12 Swap Meat Body Swap. That one time Sam was actually Gary.

5.13 The Song Remains the Same More time travel, Sam’s second resurrection, we finally meet Michael face to (Young John Winchester’s) face. Mikey seems pretty confident in his “destiny.” Dean’s second warning to Young Mary about her death is wiped from her mind. Contemplation of Cosmic Consequences: it’s better never to be born if it means stopping the Apcoalypse-- clarified in 12.23-present that… nope, definitely worse. “Team Free Will” coined. Watch this one. It’s the stage on which all the s12-present Family Dynamics will be set.

5.14 My Bloody Valentine We learn Heaven set up John and Mary, that they couldn’t stand one another before Cupids intervened and made them “the perfect couple.” I’ve written a lot about the effect the Horseman Famine had on all of them-- especially Dean and Cas, with the reminder that s5 was the season of “lol nope” to the category of beings attempting to manipulate all of them, including the Horsemen. Important just for all of that (and Edlund’s confirmation that Cas’s cravings were actually his own, and that my read that he was being a shifty liar blaming it on Jimmy was correct-- Cas does have his own human cravings, going all the way back to this point, that he was ashamed of, or terrified of, or both...) As well as Sam’s struggle against demon blood addiction, and his fear of and gradual acceptance and internalization of his own powers)

5.15 Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid ZOMBIES. ZOMBIE PIE. JODY MILLS. As I’ve said above, zombies are grief and unresolved baggage from the past, and in this episode, the denial was so strong even the normies in town were willing to accept the return of their dead loved ones, clinging to them until they “turned” and devoured them… the Mary parallels, Karen’s talk with Dean about what we do for the people we love… this one’s important.

5.16 Dark Side of the Moon Dabb, and our first look at the structure of Heaven, and how human souls see the place. Probably one of THE most misunderstood episodes in the entire series. Please see everything I’ve ever written about it for reference. FINALLY they toss out the toxic, worthless samulet. (which we literally learn in 11.20 that chuck “switched off” and INTENTIONALLY rendered worthless, because it suited his plotline and amused him). Still think this is vital to understanding Dabb Era overall.

5.17 99 Problems We see what it looks like when Dean gives up, loses hope, and is about to do Stupid Things™. Cas too. Probably useful just for that.

5.18 Point of No Return We finally see Cas really let loose on Dean, and admit what he gave up because he believed in Dean. Because Dean asked him to. Dean nearly gives in to destiny, but because of Cas, because of Sam, he fights through it. Zachariah and his manipulations end (getting stabbed in the face tends to end that sort of thing). Also the irritating return of Adam only to be the meatsuit for Michael when Dean refuses. (and we learn the truth about Adam-- that everything ghoul!Adam told them had been a straight-up manipulation, and Adam only ever cared about his mom. by the time he learns the truth, it’s too late for him, the gullible idiot vs the power of propaganda)

5.19 Hammer of the Gods The return of Gabriel, aka Loki, and a ton of other pagan gods Lucifer will slaughter. Interesting in light of Gabriel’s return in s13, and because of the mirror of Chuck in each of his archangels. And the Winchesters win another angel to TFW.

5.20 The Devil You Know Crowley’s good at manipulation, but again proves himself to be… mostly trustworthy (as long as they’re all working toward the same end). And re: manipulation, Sam gets a glimpse of just how thoroughly his entire life has been manipulated by demonic forces, which… relevant to the revelations of 14.20 vs Sam’s persistent faith in God despite everything.

5.21 Two Minutes to Midnight Cas is effectively human. Bobby sells his soul for Death’s location, and Pestilence falls to teamwork. Cas learns the value of a shotgun. Dean has pizza with Death, who WANTS him to succeed at locking Lucifer back up and explains exactly how to go about doing it. Sam thinks he can overpower Lucifer if he gives in and says yes.

5.22 Swan Song Sam was not totally wrong in 5.21. Cas resurrects Bobby, and explodes and is resurrected (again!) himself. Sam drags two (2) archangels into the cage and is promptly pulled out (only missing one critical bit…). Dean… actually tries to live up to at least one of Sam’s dying wishes, and it basically ruins his life for the next year. Chuck is a smug, self-satisfied bastard who pats himself on the back for a story well-told before flapping off and proceeding to write variations on his original fic using his favorite characters. >.>

6.01 Exile on Main St. All I can hear is Dean’s heartbreak and anger that Sam had been “alive” for a year and forbade anyone from telling Dean that he wasn’t actually suffering tortures in Hell all that time. If ever there was a YIKES moment on the show, this is it for me. This one’s probably good to watch just for the setup of soulless!sam and s6 in general.

6.02 Two and a Half Men Dean’s even good with monster babies. And after a year of unsettled living with Lisa, he’s more duty bound to protect them than he is wanting to stay because he’s actually happy there. Sam is a creepy hunting machine.

6.03 The Third Man CAS! But heck he’s acting shifty, but so’s Sam, and Dean’s feeling even more alone now. The introduction of the concept of Angel Marks on souls, the Profound Bond, and biblical weapons. And the war in Heaven, and the seasonal antagonist stepping up into Michael’s shoes: Raphael.

6.04 Weekend at Bobby's BALLS. Woodchippers trump everything. We discover that burning a demon’s human bones will perma-kill them, and learn a bit of Crowley’s backstory.

6.05 Live Free or Twihard Dean becomes a vampire for a hot minute. We learn there is a vampire cure that works as long as they haven’t had human blood yet. And we learn something really, really is wrong with Sam...

6.06 You Can't Handle the Truth Dean is now 100% positive that something is horrifically wrong with Sam, and is distraught that nobody else seemed to know it for a YEAR.

6.07 Family Matters Cas figures out what’s wrong with Sam and promptly becomes even shadier around the Winchesters. We meet the Alpha Vampire. And vampire eps are about revenge, right? There is a LOT of shady going on here.

6.08 All Dogs Go to Heaven weird dog episode that I always forget exists between rewatches.

6.09 Clap Your Hands If You Believe… hands down the best soulless!Sam episode. You fight those fairies! I’m still waiting for another fairie episode where Dean can still see them and nobody else can :’D. Just watching Sam try to logic his way into being more human is educational about the struggle to be human in general.

6.10 Caged Heat Family betrayal, Sam and Dean nearly get fed to ghouls, Cas would rather be with them then fighting his war in Heaven. Angel blades can kill hellhounds. They finally entrap meg into working with them instead of always trying to kill them >.>

6.11 Appointment in Samarra I think this is still in my top five favorite episodes ever, and one I think everyone needs to rewatch. Dean and Death episodes usually are. And in this one, Dean IS effectively Death for 24 hours. But there is a LOT in this episode, from Death “testing” Dean on multiple levels-- forcing him to make choices AND process the consequences of his actions and how it affects other people… this is a big one for the cosmology of the SPN universe and Dean specifically. Even in Dabb era.

6.12 Like a Virgin Dragons are a thing. Eve pops over from Purgatory.

6.13 Unforgiven Sam’s soul/hell flashbacks start when he goes poking at the wall, but he keeps poking anyway. Giant spider people. Eurgh. But unfortunately the whole “web of lies unraveling” thing kinda fits.

6.14 Mannequin 3: The Reckoning The haunted kidney episode. But Dean finally breaks it off with Lisa (again… >.>)

6.15 The French Mistake We actually learn something about the angel wars… sort of. We also learn AU’s are actually real. (this was also the last episode the director of 15.03 directed, so probably worth watching if they’re bringing him back after all these years…)

6.16 ...And Then There Were None Monster Possession is apparently a thing now. The last of the Campbell hunters die (that was a quick trip through the family dynamics there >.>). The main takeaway here is from Rufus’ funeral: Life’s short, and it’s not worth carrying guilt and regret (takes them a really REALLY long time to actually internalize it with each other, but at least they got the spirit)

6.17 My Heart Will Go On Cas just lying to their faces, creating an alternate timeline just to generate souls as a power source (the specific number of 50k souls comes up, and will come up again in 6.20, as the number of souls Crowley “loaned” Cas at the beginning of the war in Heaven, with the suspicion that Cas was attempting to “buy his way out of their deal”, but the plan fails and he’s forced to put everything back… but he does ensure Sam and Dean both remember the entire experience, but we get an idea of the extent of the power angels can actually wield.

6.18 Frontierland Dabb has referenced this one several times during his era, but again, the history of the Colt is involved, a Phoenix, and Dean in a cowboy hat. We learn even the other angels think Cas is up to something super shady. But it’s their first real moment of hope.

6.19 Mommy Dearest Eve uses Mary’s face to torment Dean, we learn Crowley is not dead, and Cas… has been doing shady things with him. Cas is again effectively human for an episode.

6.20 The Man Who Would Be King Well this is where everything both falls apart and comes together. This episode makes sense of the entire rest of s6, as painful and sad as it is. If you only watch one episode from s6, it should probably be this one.

6.21 Let It Bleed Dean’s worst fear comes true, and people he cares about but leaves behind for their own protection are used against him. Not just by bad guys, but by Cas. Ouch. Still incredulous that Dean did recognize HP Lovecraft, or even make a Metallica reference at the mention of “Call of Cthulhu.”

6.22 The Man Who Knew Too Much Sam putting himself back together. Cas tearing things apart.

7.01 Meet the New Boss That one episode where it looks like Cas will be the unwitting bad guy and s7 will be about saving him, until it’s really really not. That whole exchange between Dean and Cas about forgiveness and finding some way to make it up to him, though… that’s what will carry us through the bleak middle of s7 and generate the grief arc for Dean in the meantime.

7.02 Hello, Cruel World It looks like Cas is really, truly gone, and all Dean has of him is his trenchcoat. And we’re stuck cleaning up his oozy black mess for the next 15 episodes before getting him back again. Sam’s Hallucifering all over the place and finds a connection to reality through squeezing the scar on his hand, which will become a symbol in show for reconnecting with reality for him for years to come.

7.03 The Girl Next Door Sam thinks pie and cake are the same. In their own respective messed up mental states, Sam thinks Amy is worth saving, Dean doesn’t trust that and kills her. Let the guilt ensue.

7.04 Defending Your Life A good setup of Sam and Dean’s issues for s7.

7.05 Shut Up, Dr. Phil I can’t believe they melted Tula’s painting. But it takes a couple of bickering witches for them to finally get a hold on the Leviathan, so that’s something.

7.06 Slash Fiction Aah, going back to the beginning as a trap for Sam and Dean-- the Leviathan using the Supernatural books to lay a trail case by case from Sam leaving Stanford (Crowley will do the same in 8.22, and the end of 14.20 gave a lot of people the impression there will be a similar progression in s15… but honestly that’s really only sustainable for a single episode, but this may be relevant for like… 15.01-02). Also, Dean finds it satisfying to behead himself (or the leviathan version of himself)… so yikes.

7.07 The Mentalists I love this one just for the Dean feels. He’s really hurting.

7.08 Season Seven, Time for a Wedding! Sam’s love-spelled. Mind control is always a terrible thing. Demons trying to game the system and cash in on deals ahead of schedule. So that’s a thing.

7.09 How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters I love this one. Poor Dean. This is the first time he’s actually felt good in like… ever. Too bad it’s from monster goo.

7.10 Death's Door Bobby :’( And Dean essentially falls apart.

7.11 Adventures in Babysitting Vetala. Which only Dean knew hunt in pairs, so hunter after hunter had been falling victim to them, including Sam. Meanwhile Dean finally got a decent nap.

7.12 Time After Time Dean gets booped back to the 1940’s to hunt with Eliot Ness. Still, they defeat Chronos, yet another god whose prophecy will be tossed aside by the Winchesters.

7.13 The Slice Girls Dean accidentally has a monsterbabby, Sam kills her. Amazons.

7.14 Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menagerie Just watch it. This is the only episode in the entire series that just… is purely good and fun. Sam has to confront his fear of clowns, Dean faces a villain who was blamed for his brother’s death when he was just a kid and his parents should’ve been doing their jobs instead. I mean...

7.15 Repo Man The guy who was trying to lure back “his demon” exorcised during the Apocalypse era, by continuing his murder spree. Sam loses to Hallucifer by acknowledging his existence as separate from Sam’s own subconscious. There’s… a lot in this episode. At least read my rewatch notes.

7.16 Out with the Old Sam eventually succumbs to his Hallucifering, Dean nearly succumbs to a pair of toe shoes. Peter Yankit of Johnson Lane nearly succumbs to a cursed porn magazine. Cursed objects are fun.

7.17 The Born-Again Identity CAAAAASSSSS! He’s back, even if he doesn’t remember who he is. Dean tries to break it to him slowly, but instead unburdens a lot of his personal hurt over Cas’s actions to the oblivious “Emmanuel,” And Cas tells Dean his feelings are completely understandable. This is setting up the entire rest of Cas’s arc, probably through the end of the series. This is what motivates him, his need to repent. And He gets a start by taking on Sam’s trauma, healing Sam.

7.18 Party On, Garth An alcohol spirit enacting personal revenge, and despite all evidence, Sam continues to doubt Dean’s theory that Bobby is somehow still around. Dean’s season-long grief-drinking becomes a punchline, and Dean’s literally the only sober one in the final fight scene.

7.19 Of Grave Importance Yep, Bobby is a ghost, been there all along. Also, ghosts can sort of… cannibalize each other? For their power? whatever, moving on.

7.20 The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo CHARLIE.

7.21 Reading Is Fundamental KEVIN. But also CAS! Is awake but not quite himself and in full denial mode, like he was awakened against his will before he was done cooking >.>. we learn a bit more about prophets as we see Kevin awakened to serve the Leviathan Tablet.

7.22 There Will Be Blood more manipulation, and the Alpha Vampire is back, so we get a double whammy of manipulation/deceit AND revenge. The alpha vampire cooperates with the Winchesters. So does Crowley.

7.23 Survival of the Fittest Cas doesn’t want to fight, but in the end he steps up. They get the Leviathan, Dean and Cas are beamed to Purgatory, and Sam’s left alone and pulls a Sam. He runs away from reality.

8.01 We Need to Talk About Kevin Dean comes back from Purgatory without Cas, but with a vampire friend… so s8 is about Dean making pals with revenge. This will fuel his arc for a good long while to come until he can finally make his peace with it. It affects his interactions with Sam for most of the first half of the season… because while Dean was fighting for his life, Sam was… pretending to be a normal guy and ignoring everything else. Including Kevin.

8.02 What's Up, Tiger Mommy? The push to do something drives them to seek out the Demon Tablet with the promise of closing the gates of Hell forever at Kevin’s suggestion. Plutus, the God of Greed is the baddie in this one, if that’s any sort of meta statement on their overall plan to take this particular course of action… the narrative basically condemned their plot before the season even started. Hubris, ahoy. But we also find out why Cas ran away in Purgatory-- to protect Dean. And why he wanted to stay-- guilt and penance.

8.03 Heartache Oh, a case where a curse is passed on to others after death? And the original death didn’t actually end the curse as intended? Nice.

8.04 Bitten I love episodes were we see Sam and Dean through other people’s eyes. And this one, an episode where we learn new things about werewolves (remember: an examination of inner monstrousness).

8.05 Blood Brother I’d point out the agony of Winchester Secret Keeping being toxic, but since we’re largely out past that by the end of s14… *shrug emoji*. Dean helps his vampire friend get revenge against the vampires who killed him. Double revenge! And Sam… does not like Benny. But we know exactly why DEAN does… he literally saved Cas’s life in Purgatory, despite repeatedly wanting to leave Cas behind. He saved Cas for Dean.

8.06 Southern Comfort Garth again, and his serenity is basically there to point out how toxic Sam and Dean are by comparison. The spectre that possesses Dean to leech off his vengefulness has zero effect on Garth. But Dean gets out his feelings of anger that Sam never looked for him in Purgatory, so that’s on the table to provide drama for years to come.

8.07 A Little Slice of Kevin CAS IS BACK AGAIN! But he has no idea how he got here (he’s been mind controlled by Heaven again, and is desperately trying to make amends, but is literally blocked from doing so at every turn, which is a tidy mirror for what Chuck’s done to the entire story since… forever… so this is probably a must-watch episode, or at least read my notes on it.

8.08 Hunteri Heroici This one’s fun, until it’s owie, and then sad. Magical powers don’t save the day, they only end up hurting people. Cas desperately wants to make amends, but he is afraid to face what he’s done. Instead, he just gets manipulated even harder. At least read my notes for this one, too.

8.09 Citizen Fang Oh, manipulation moves directly to the Winchester brothers, no heavenly interference required. Vampires again, but this time Dean again sides with Benny, but against Sam… who again refuses to hear the truth and pulls another Sam. He forgot the lesson that sometimes it’s not the monsters being monstrous, and it’s important to kill the RIGHT monster, not just the convenient one.

8.10 Torn and Frayed Just like the episode sounds… Cas goes to Dean for help,  and then brings Sam onboard and asks them to stow their crap. By the end of the episode, Sam and Dean will have resigned themselves to being on their own again because Cas is… something is not right with him...

8.11 LARP and the Real Girl CHARLIE! Fairies! Dean does one (1) fun thing for his birthday. But this is about using a book to manipulate events to suit the Bad Guy’s whims. Sound familiar?

8.12 As Time Goes By Sam and Dean meet their grandfather, fill in a huge gaping hole from their past, and discover their legacy, the Men of Letters, and the Bunker that will become their home.

8.13 Everybody Hates Hitler Yep. It’s true! Nazi necromancers, and another new ally in Aaron. They settle in to the bunker.

8.14 Trial and Error They take their first steps toward closing the gates of Hell, killing a Hellhound. I wrote about this one recently, so go read that. :’D

8.15 Man's Best Friend with Benefits another weird dog episode

8.16 Remember the Titans Prometheus, Artemis, and Zeus. Curses passed down through families to fall on innocent children. And Zeus is delighted because it causes even more suffering.

8.17 Goodbye Stranger oh the agony. We see what it took for Heaven to control Cas, and what it took for Dean to break through to him, only to fall to yet another mind whammy by the angel tablet. Of course Dean takes this personally, abandoned again. Definitely watch this one. Read the notes. All that.

8.18 Freaks and Geeks In case anyone missed the point, we have manipulation and vampires. And Dean reminding everyone that finding the truth is important (let’s not be so bloodthirsty that just anyone will do).

8.19 Taxi Driver The second trial, the horror that Bobby’s wrongfully been in Hell all this time, and Sam is stranded in Purgatory until Benny shows up to escort him to the portal. Sam finally gets why Dean’s loyalty to Benny never wavered. He was literally willing to die for Dean. This guilt will carry Sam into the third trial eventually but for now...

8.20 Pac-Man Fever Let’s look at Dean’s guilt/fear. That he’s failed to protect Sam and won’t be able to save him from the trials. Fear is a terrible thing. But we have djinn AND dreamroot, so all the false realities.

8.21 The Great Escapist This is still among my favorite episodes, but Cas finally begins fighting for himself, and we uncover the extent of Heaven’s duplicity, and meet Metatron, aka Chuck Lite. Definitely watch or at least read.

8.22 Clip Show Aah, I mentioned this one back in 7.06. This is Crowley’s turn to use the boys’ history against them, but instead of manipulating them, they trap him (at the beginning of 8.23, after whoopsie accidentally freeing Abaddon because of Crowley’s manipulation distracting them from their job…) We learn that “curing a demon” is a thing.

8.23 Sacrifice Cas is so embittered by his experiences with heaven that he refuses to believe Metatron is lying, and thus falls victim to the worst manipulation yet. Sam’s dying from the trials, Cas is human, and angels fall. (and also some of the worst, most toxic relationship stuff between Sam and Dean, which contributes to all of that, along with their hubris to think this was a good idea in the first place… I mean it’s literally what the big bad of s9 did to Heaven so why were they trying to do the same to Hell again?)

9.01 I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here Cas is human, confused, and alone. The big bad is basically Diet Chuck, and Dean is manipulated into doing a Terrible Thing to save Sam that will strain their relationship for the rest of the season. (Don’t worry, Sam will return the favor in s10 >.>) Buckle in for a season all about manipulation by more powerful cosmic forces but with all new levels of guilt over having caused these problems in the first place!

9.02 Devil May Care Abaddon makes a play for the role of big bad, but will ultimately lose the title to Metatron.

9.03 I'm No Angel The Worst Possible Take on Human Cas. Mostly I ignore this episode.

9.04 Slumber Party Oz. Dorothy. Wicked Witch of the West. Sam’s angel possession gets a bit tricky… Direct mind control instead of the manipulative sneaky kind we usually see. and CHARLIE. The Winchesters lives are directly compared to Dorothy Baum’s, where her “fictionalized” version didn’t even come close to describing the horror of her lived reality. (also that one line swap incident that still pisses me off… and pissed Robbie Thompson off enough to write a whole SCENE in 11.04 they couldn’t screw around with like that… “god helps those who help themselves”)

9.05 Dog Dean Afternoon oh look another weird dog episode

9.06 Heaven Can't Wait the Best Possible Take on Human Cas. Well, while Dean’s still being held hostage against telling the truth to him about the angel possessing Sam… and not being able to just bring Cas back home with him. :’)

9.07 Bad Boys Sam learns another major lesson about just how much Dean was manipulated into lying to him his whole life, and another look at what Dean has given up over the years to protect Sam. The origin of my “the story became the story” tag. 

9.08 Rock and a Hard Place Breaking vows is frowned upon. Vesta. And Dean tries to tell Sam about the angel possessing him, but he’s prevented from doing so. And he’s really beginning to realize just how bad a decision this may have been...

9.09 Holy Terror Cas is back in town. He can’t stand by when he might be able to help, but again Gadreel (because now we know that’s the angel possessing Sam) refuses. Gadreel is lured in by Metatron, and things for Sam go from bad to worse. Cas steals another angel’s grace because he had no choice. And Gadreel kills Kevin and runs off. All of a sudden, Dean’s alone.

9.10 Road Trip Just when Dean can finally tell the truth to Cas, Cas isn’t human anymore. They literally never got to actually just BE. Crowley poughkeepsie’s Sam into kicking Gadreel out. Abaddon is becoming more of a problem. Probably at least read the notes on this one. At the end, it’s Dean that “pulls the Sam” and runs away. Which is interesting because they’re essentially gonna swap narrative roles for like… the next season and a half. Buckle up. Things get rocky >.>

9.11 First Born And definitely watch this one. Cas and Sam bonding hour, while Dean goes off with Crowley and is manipulated into taking on the Mark of Cain so he’ll be able to kill Abaddon for Crowley… (and for everyone else, but mainly for Crowley).

9.12 Sharp Teeth Sometimes family can be a werewolf pack. And Garth is now part of one of those, but there’s still zero monstrousness in Garth. As Dean’s beginning to wonder if he should regret taking the Mark (just as Cas wondered if he should regret cannibalizing grace… which he said made him barbaric)

9.13 The Purge A genuinely altruistically intentioned monster, or at least one who attempted to use her monstrousness for good. But her blind spot was her brother, out there just devouring whatever he wanted and not wanting to play by the rules of society or worrying about staying hidden and safe. Plus, DONNA. Even if she doesn’t get to play a big part in the monster hunting.

9.14 Captives We learn more horrors about the s6 angel war from Bart, and pushing Cas toward siding more and more with humanity and against all the heaven nonsense (until he’s manipulated back in DIRECTLY by Metatron and his magic typewriter… but that’s four episodes in the future yet). Linda Tran gets a bit of revenge for being held prisoner for half a year anyway...

9.15 thinman ghostfacers, back to face their own ghosts. If you like getting hit in the face with anvils...

9.16 Blade Runners Crowley’s addicted to humanity. Dean finds his own addiction in the First Blade. And we get our first glimpse of the darker side of the MoL.

9.17 Mother's Little Helper Misha directed it, and it’s got one of the most beautiful scenes in the whole series (Sam freeing the stolen souls, but Dean drinking and playing pool ain’t half bad either). Soullessness, which Sam handles on his own, and learns the truth of how Abaddon infiltrated the MoL.

9.18 Meta Fiction A MUST WATCH. Writers lie. Read my posts. What makes a story? Seriously, Metatron is just Chuck with training wheels.

9.19 Alex Annie Alexis Ann Vampires. More revenge. This time for stolen childhood and lost family. Plus Jody, and the first seed that would become Wayward. Dean is also beginning to succumb to the Mark’s darker urges.

9.20 Bloodlines Dabb’s idea of a joke, I’m pretty sure. 

9.21 King of the Damned Well, Abaddon’s dead, at least. Time trave wtf’ery. Dean is… not okay...

9.22 Stairway to Heaven Sam and Cas pop culture road trip. The level of Metatron’s manipulation becomes horrifically apparent. And Cas gives up his army because he refuses to kill Dean. (also Dean really loses it at the end…)

9.23 Do You Believe in Miracles? Crowley reveals the truth about what the Mark is doing to Dean, and we see the final truth when Dean wakes up as a demon.

10.01 Black Demon Dean Part 1. Bad karaoke and random murder. Cas is languishing because of stolen grace, and Sam is off the rails interrogating demons for Dean’s location.

10.02 Reichenbach Demon Dean Part 2. Cas struggles to teach Hannah about humanity, Sam struggles to find Dean.

10.03 Soul Survivor Demon Dean the conclusion. Cas hugs the demon outta Dean. Er… that’s what happened, pretty sure. But he’s still got the Mark.

10.04 Paper Moon More fun with Werewolves: Siblings edition. While Dean struggles to come to terms with his own literal inner monster...

10.05 Fan Fiction Just watch it. And read my rewatch notes for it. I mean, it’s about rewriting the story. And Chuck shows up at the end and gives it a “Not bad.” Probably kinda relevant.

10.06 Ask Jeeves Supernatural: Clue edition. With a shapeshifter that Bobby had known about for decades. Buried secret things again.

10.07 Girls, Girls, Girls Our first real introduction to Rowena. :’) She’s not a friend in this one...Hannah finally gets a taste of humanity through her vessel’s grief and pain, and decides that it’s wrong for her to remain in her vessel. She returns to Heaven, and Cas is left to ponder how he affected Jimmy’s family (since Jimmy’s long dead now) by his possession.

10.08 Hibbing 911 DONNA AND JODY. Donna gets “the talk,” in a vampire case, and finally gets to prove her mettle as a hunter.

10.09 The Things We Left Behind Cas has found Claire Novak, and does what he can to help her. She’s been taken in and manipulated by an unsavory character, who Dean kills in a fit of mark-induced violence (granted he was surrounded by dudes who wanted him dead, but it was still upsetting and mirrored his nightmare from the opening scene). The burger date. (go ahead and watch it)

10.10 The Hunter Games More Claire drama, but this time she stops it. The Longing Retcon. Cas uses emoticons. And Dean nearly kills Metatron while demanding he tell him how to cure the Mark. Things are getting kinda desperate on that end… All Metatron says is “the river ends at the source”

10.11 There's No Place Like Home OZ. CHARLIE. At least read my watch notes. I’ve been banging on about this episode since it aired. But at the very least read the last round of watch notes. Possibly relevant again because of how it was relevant to Chuck and Amara in 11.23 (yes, this is basically how Dean saved the universe).

10.12 About a Boy Dean gets zapped into a 14-year-old version of himself by a witch. Plus: the mark disappeared for a few days, probably giving him a mini-vacation from enduring it and refreshing his control a bit.

10.13 Halt & Catch Fire ghosts in the machines… plus a John reference that is reinforced when a clip from this episode is reused in the horror movie trailer in 14.04 (so skim my rewatch notes for that if you’re still following along for that sort of thing… post 14.13… *shrug emoji*)

10.14 The Executioner's Song Watch it. Read the notes. This is a big one. Free will-wise.

10.15 The Things They Carried Khan worm: homoerotic sweat lodge edition.

10.16 Paint It Black Worth it just for Dean’s confessional scene. At least read my rewatch notes.

10.17 Inside Man We learn some interesting things about Heaven, Cas gets Bobby’s help to break in and talk to Metatron, they sneak him out, steal his grace, and have their leverage over the one person who might know how to cure Dean AND get Cas what’s left of his own grace back… Meanwhile Rowena tries to kill Dean, and he has a heart to heart with Crowley about what Family really means. Definitely watch, or at least read my notes. A lot happens in this one.

10.18 Book of the Damned CHARLIE. And the wtf’ery of the Styne family begins >.> Sam has a good chat with Charlie about his own life. Metatron leads Cas to another book containing his grace and then escapes with the demon tablet. Family dinner. At least skim my notes on this one. (basically anything with metatron is probably relevant to Chuck stuff…)

10.19 The Werther Project Watch this one. I just wrote notes on it. The beginnings of an interesting relationship between Sam and Rowena (yes that started in 10.18, but this is where it gains weight in Sam’s own subconscious). Dean confronts himself in his own vision about the burden he’s laid on Cas (to kill him if he goes off the rails again). There’s a lot of emotional baggage in this one, too. But seroiusly-- watch this one for the Sam and Rowena stuff, because Rowena… isn’t even really there… 

10.20 Angel Heart Claire, and Cas’s finally laying to rest his baggage associated with the Novak family. Dean and Claire finally bonding. Dean and Cas went to the Hot Topical.

10.21 Dark Dynasty w. t. f. (if you want to be pissed off, give it a watch)

10.22 The Prisoner If you just want the comforting revenge portion of the program, just watch this one instead. Or if you can’t bear to, at least read my notes on it.

10.23 Brother's Keeper Whoopsie, Dean kills Death. Whoopsie, Sam doesn’t stop everyone else from executing the spell to cure the mark. Whoopsie, that releases the Darkness. Also for people who don’t “see Samwitch,” uh… please note that this is a major inciting incident in Sam and Rowena’s relationship-- she’s being held prisoner to complete this spell, and literally kills the only person she ever loved for it, on Sam’s order… (technically…), which will fuel the ongoing antagonism of early s11. Their relationship isn’t fluffy. It’s built on this mutual pain.

11.01 Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire Amara. I think a lot of s11 is gonna be relevant thematically to s15, but...

11.02 Form and Void I think a better focus of “what is relevant thematically” will be found by looking at Dabb’s episodes and influence over this season… I’d start a rewatch with this one, and the introduction of Billie, who will become Dabb’s in-show avatar as he takes over the reins.

11.03 The Bad Seed Rowena finally undoes the spell she’d cast on Cas. but they’re all traumatized. Please at least read my notes on this one, too.

11.04 Baby This episode sets the new tone for Sam and Dean’s relationship going forward. They are more open with one another, and the main drama isn’t them hiding things that eventually blow up in their faces like it had been in the past. There’s still elements of that, but things never really go back to the toxicity of s9 and s10 after this. Ghoulpire.

11.05 Thin Lizzie Fake haunting at Lizzie Borden’s house, Amara eats souls.

11.06 Our Little World Cas is clearly struggling with PTSD, hiding in the bunker until he spots Metatron by chance and finally gets upset enough to go after him. Dean’s first confrontation with Amara outside of his Darknado Vision, and she… tosses him aside like a used tissue. Sam’s still having visions of the Cage and still thinks the visions are coming from God… >.> 

11.07 Plush Donna! And haunted masks! Foreshadowing that Sam’s about to confront Lucifer in the cage-- creepy clown in the elevator.

11.08 Just My Imagination Sam’s childhood imaginary friend was actually real.

11.09 O Brother Where Art Thou? Dean is yoinked from a park by Amara to have a chat about how they’re destined to become one and all that creepy nonsense, while Sam decides to go directly to Hell to talk with Lucifer and doesn’t wait for Dean. Granted, Rowena has been manipulated with lies from Lucifer in this scheme… but she’s about to learn how bad a decision that was. Dean does get to see just how casually Amara can destroy angels, though… which will become relevant it...

11.10 The Devil in the Details Where Dean tells Cas to run if Amara isn’t actually dead… but Cas is convinced he’s useless by the end of the episode and says yes to Lucifer. Owwwwww. At least read my notes on this one. They’re from last week...

11.11 Into the Mystic We meet Eileen, and I just wrote notes about this episode a few days ago. Banshee, which feeds on broken hearts, Dean’s told he’s pining for someone, and is concerned that Cas doesn’t seem himself… >.> He’s also asked if he wants to know the secret to a long and happy life… “Follow your heart” (and he confesses his powerlessness in Amara’s presence to Casifer) https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/186891847375/1111-into-the-mystic-heck-ive-written-a-lot

11.12 Don't You Forget About Me Wayward! Family learning what it means to be family. Vampires-- so the element of revenge, but this time it’s the vamps seeking revenge on a human. 

11.13 Love Hurts Quareen. A monster that basically feeds on obsession, toxic “love.” For Dean, that manifests as Amara trying to rip out his heart. I mean… this is the episode he confesses to Sam that he can’t control himself in Amara’s presence, and Sam reassures him it’s not his fault. And he explicitly says it’s not love. It’s horrifying to him, because this episode, this monster, had nothing to do with love, but with possession and control.

11.14 The Vessel What a wonderfully apt and layered title. Thus begins Dean’s s11 “pining for Cas” arc, where his entire focus shifts to Cas after unburdening his Amara issues onto Sam in 11.13. I also consider this episode to fall definitively into Dabb Era. Probably goes for episodes back to 11.10, but this is where that shift is truly evident to me. Definitely watch this one, read my notes, etc. etc.

11.15 Beyond the Mat https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/186962895400/1115-beyond-the-mat-jerry-wanek-directed (just read my notes, this is a Dabb co-writing credit episode)

11.16 Safe House Maybe I should just start copying my rewatch notes here for every episode… https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/186963627365/1116-safe-house-more-blasts-from-the-past-in-a 

11.17 Red Meat You should just watch this one, and remember this episode isn’t glorifying the codependency between Sam and Dean, it’s shattering it… It’s werewolves, after all (inner monstrousness brought to light) and read some of my past notes on it.

11.18 Hell's Angel The first half of the episode is just a lot of talking, but hooboy.. Rowena is back from the dead and we learn more of why she seeks out power-- self-preservation. Worth watching just for the second half, the failed Poughkeepsie scene, Dean’s heartbreak and fear for Cas, and Amara’s shock that with Cas standing between them, she doesn’t seem to have any affect over Dean at all… 

11.19 The Chitters For a MotW episode, I think this really captures on a meta level what Dabb intends for the whole series. It’s worth watching for itself, but have my notes as to why: https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/184690946610/weve-finally-hit-1119-on-the-tnt-loop-this

11.20 Don't Call Me Shurley Chuck, and Metatron. I think everyone really needs to watch this one, just to remember how absolutely shady Chuck was. Basically from here right through the end of s11, if you pay attention to these episodes, nothing about 14.20 is the least bit shocking...

11.21 All in the Family Just like 11.20...

11.22 We Happy Few Just like 11.20 and 21

11.23 Alpha and Omega Do we not all think s14 is gonna end on a similar thematic note? Minus all the cliffhangery stuff?

12.01 Keep Calm and Carry On I can picture Dabb rubbing his hands together preparing to run the narrative in loops ad infinitum until he gets word they’ve got one season left to wrap it up. Worth it for the Dean and Mary and Cas. :’)

12.02 Mamma Mia https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/184126233100/cass-flashback-to-his-time-hunting-with-mary-as (written recently…)

12.03 The Foundry The companion notes to the link in the last episode: https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/187007192830/1203-the-foundry-yes-ive-already-written 

12.04 American Nightmare If you haven’t noticed, I’m just pasting rewatch notes links now… >.> https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/184740345285/im-watching-1207-on-the-tnt-loop-and-yeah 

12.05 The One You've Been Waiting For See the link at 12.04 (Dean also killed Hitler)

12.06 Celebrating the Life of Asa Fox see the link at 12.04 (Also Billie is in this one, so of course I think it’s important to the ongoing Dabb Era narrative)

12.07 Rock Never Dies see the link at 12.04 (Lucifer’s nihilism laid bare, no different from Michael’s in s14)

12.08 LOTUS The episode that brought us Jack. Well, eventually…  I’m putting these notes here, even though they also cover 12.09: https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/184761652205/so-the-tnt-loop-has-continued-into-s12-and-after 

12.09 First Blood (see above, plus Billie, plus Cas laying it out on the table what he will do because he loves the Winchesters... he does a lot of pining for Dean)

12.10 Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets Nephilim, Lily Sunder, Human souls as angelic power sources, the deceptions of heaven (and love versus obsession again). https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/184762915965/last-ep-on-the-tnt-loop-today-1210-reminders 

12.11 Regarding Dean Watch this one, 100%. But also have my whole tag for this episode… I haven’t actually made rewatch notes for it recently, apparently? Which is a shame, because we have Sam working with Rowena, Dean riding Larry BEFORE losing his memories to a curse. There’s a lot of excellent character stuff in this one, for all of them.

12.12 Stuck in the Middle (With You) Watch this one. Cas is family. He loves them. This is the point I became frustrated with myself because there’s a huge gap in my hellatus rewatch notes that I thought I covered and apparently… did not… I don’t have recent notes to point you toward for convenience...

12.13 Family Feud Rowena gets her revenge on Crowley for making her kill Oskar in 10.23. Too much time travel wtf to even bother mentioning anything else.

12.14 The Raid The lengths Sam will go to to have any sort of relationship with Mary… including lying to and manipulating Dean. Vampires… and the Colt, and Sam finally kills the Alpha Vampire.

12.15 Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell between the Crowley and Lucifer drama, Sam kills the Alpha Hellhound (essentially). A lot of other deceptions and lies come to light though, and Cas disappears off to Heaven and from just one call, Dean’s already concerned about him. https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/184853801830/still-on-s12-in-the-tnt-loop-and-heck-s12-looks

12.16 Ladies Drink Free (covered in the notes linked in 12.15) Werewolves, and an actual werewolf cure.

12.17 The British Invasion (covered in the 12.17 post) Eileen is back for her last real episode.

12.18 The Memory Remains https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/184854556715/that-last-scene-of-1218-where-sam-and-dean-are 

12.19 The Future https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/184875554515/i-find-it-endlessly-fascinating-that-i-can-rewatch (this post covers… most of the rest of s12 and loads of s13)

12.20 Twigs & Twine & Tasha Banes (see the link in 12.19)

12.21 There's Something About Mary Mary is being stripped of her will. And Free Will has been what this show has been about… forever. And what will be recontextualized in the wake of 14.20.

12.22 Who We Are And here’s where Mary’s will is restored to her.

12.23 All Along the Watchtower The proof of the spiral narrative. But also the point writing this post that I’ve determined this is all probably neither useful nor interesting to anyone other than myself, and I lose the ability to simply discuss these episodes individually anymore. From here on out, it becomes a weird blur of everything. This post is already over 14,000 words long and I still have 43 more entries to make, and I have no idea how to convey the meta import or Character Development highlights from this point forward. I don’t even know how to eliminate most of these from a watch list of essential character and meta points. So I’m just gonna… wing it… 

13.01 Lost and Found Watch this one for the soul-crushing agony, and our intro to the Nougat.

13.02 The Rising Son Jack is nearly manipulated by the Kentucky Fried Demon

13.03 Patience Our second Wraith. Watch it for, if nothing else, Dean shouting down Sam about Cas.

13.04 The Big Empty TFW in group therapy with a shapeshifter. Cas vs the Empty, defending his life with a statement that he wants to live, but… again he is unclear on his mission going forward.

13.05 Advanced Thanatology Must watch for Billie, for Dean’s complete loss of hope, and Sam’s inability to “fix him” with things that worked in the past.

13.06 Tombstone Yeehaw! Cas is Dean’s big win.

13.07 War of the Worlds Michael has been effectively “playing God” in the AU. The first rumors that Rowena is actually alive after 12.23, and Cas is captured by Asmodeus, who manipulates the Winchesters into thinking Cas is still at liberty… That’s probably all you need to know. >.>

13.08 The Scorpion and the Frog https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/184946657745/so-im-still-out-ahead-of-the-tnt-loop-but-i (this also covers 13.15)

13.09 The Bad Place Wayward!

13.10 Wayward Sisters Wayward again!

13.11 Breakdown Donna! Wayward part 3! And the reminder (via Vampires) that not everyone who has a brush with the Supernatural will feel compelled to pick up a life of hunting.

13.12 Various & Sundry Villains Zombie! (which makes it relevant to Jack stuff even indirectly) Rowena! And Sam giving Rowena what she needed to protect herself, which honestly is what she’s been seeking since her introduction in s10. Sam. Just handed it to her. Let that sink in. Maybe watch the episode. It’s fun, anyway.

13.13 Devil's Bargain Heaven sucks. The bits about Sister Jo describing the feeling of weakened grace allowing her to feel a little bit human is relevant to our interests, though. 

13.14 Good Intentions Watch this one. It sets up Cas’s special power to strip memories from a human mind, and the results of that. And Dean’s wishy-washiness about just telling Cas he’s wanted, not just needed.

13.15 A Most Holy Man (see 13.08)

13.16 Scoobynatural Dude… it’s scoobynatural. just watch it because you want to.

13.17 The Thing this post covers 13.17-13.20, for convenience’s sake: https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/184996231285/so-ive-watched-four-more-episodes-since-my-last 

13.18 Bring 'em Back Alive (see above)

13.19 Funeralia Billie and Rowena, Sam’s “destiny” to kill Rowena, and Castiel’s forgiveness by Naomi in Heaven as she explains how badly heaven is broken and shows him to the door, knowing he won’t stay. This is a must watch.

13.20 Unfinished Business Revenge doesn’t fix anything.

13.21 Beat the Devil https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/185000752455/still-watching-s13-and-1321-is-owie-but-im 

13.22 Exodus (see 13.21) https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/185000920730/dean-in-1322-so-close-to-ready-to-letting-all 

13.23 Let the Good Times Roll (see 13.21) But I have a list for this episode… maybe just read my tag starting with the posts I made on May 19, 2019… https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/185002926095/1323-vs-1420-lets-start-with-1323-jack-tell and https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/185003462010/1323-was-so-ridiculous-i-mean-dean-basically 

14.01 Stranger in a Strange Land At this point, I think everything is at least tangentially relevant… I mean look at this nonsense: https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/185004920575/on-to-s14-and-one-of-dabbs-big-pet-themes-for

14.02 Gods and Monsters https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/185014835950/aah-only-18-more-episodes-to-go-and-48-hours-to

14.03 The Scar https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/185016627975/aah-1403-power-doesnt-fix-anything-dean-is 

14.04 Mint Condition https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/185018115175/im-gonna-lump-1404-and-1405-together-here-for 

14.05 Nightmare Logic (covered in the post linked for 14.04)

14.06 Optimism https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/185030339610/1406-jack-im-already-writing-isnt-that and https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/185030940270/jack-vs-zombies 

14.07 Unhuman Nature (see that first post in 14.06)

14.08 Byzantium https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/185042798280/omg-wait-literally-in-1408-while-theyre-all 

14.09 The Spear https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/185043896890/haaaaa-1409-and-michaels-speech-at-the-end 

14.10 Nihilism Not rewatch notes, but a post made after the episode aired: https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/182171684160/were-working-on-the-power-of-love

14.11 Damaged Goods https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/185047861195/the-boxes-of-1411-omfg-a-demon-trapped-in-a-box 

14.12 Prophet and Loss https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/185048948905/aah-1412-tony-you-cant-you-cant-do-this 

14.13 Lebanon https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/185050918250/ive-been-holding-off-starting-1413-because-i 

14.14 Ouroboros aka the point where I firmly believe they were 100% sure s15 would be the final season, and began actively setting up the endgame. (I mean I think they knew well before this, but this was where the turn happened narratively) https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/185052705595/i-wrote-a-little-about-1414-earlier-today-in 

14.15 Peace of Mind WHEEE! My delightful personal vendetta against Chip, the MotW, the direct Chuck parallel who even called himself a god, and who manipulated everyone else around him to make HIMSELF happy… like seriously, major definitely must rewatch. https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/185074234960/mittensmorgul-once-again-in-1415-cas-is (I wrote so much about this episode it’s ridiculous)

14.16 Don't Go in the Woods https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/185056380525/so-i-started-watching-1416-intending-to-write 

14.17 Game Night (see 14.16)

14.18 Absence https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/185065385445/1418-and-1419-both-will-require-additional 

14.19 Jack in the Box (see 14.18) 

14.20 Moriah Writers lie. I think this is now officially my favorite episode of the series… 

#s14 hellatus rewatch #spiders georg of the tnt loop #how the heck else can i tag this one i mean YIKES if any post ever qualified for the tag #too many episodes to tag them all #it is definitely THIS one yikes #and i never ever tag my posts this but #supernatural meta #destiel #samwitch

[marypsue]

Hi! I saw in a previous ask that you really like monster transformation fics. Do you have any recommendations?

If you’re here, I figure you at least know of Gravity Falls, which is good because a lot of these are gonna land squarely there. (I’d recommend looking up the Monsterfalls AU if you haven’t already. Also, a lot of the Transcendence AU deals with Dipper becoming a demon and fallout from that. And the One Of Us AU! GF AUs have consistently been a gift that keeps on giving.) 

Also, I’m gonna expand the definition of ‘monster’ to include 'any creature that isn’t human but possesses sapience’ because why not. That’s where I get most of my good, good angst.

- Cooperation Is Mandatory (Gravity Falls): Fair warning before you click, this fic is abandoned and orphaned at six chapters. But they’re six of the best chapters of werewolf angst and worldbuilding that I’ve found in this fandom. This was the fic that inspired Raising Stakes.

- Rest & Revivification (Gravity Falls): Aftermath of Soos getting turned into a zombie in Scary-Oke. Sweet, funny, light, and just a little bit horrifying, just like the episode!

- Snow and Pine (Gravity Falls): More quality werewolf Stangst. This one’s a series of one-shots, rather than a chaptered fic. Technically complete, though I feel like there’s still more to the story.

- Guardian (Gravity Falls): The glowy symbol Bill put on the side of the portal mechanism turns Stan into a gargoyle. Things go about as well as you’d expect. I haven’t kept up with this one, because it got much more into romantic-drama territory in later chapters, but it does start very strong and if your attention span is better than mine you’ll probably get more mileage out of it.

- The Ghost That Lives In Great Uncle Ford’s Basement (Gravity Falls): Dipper and Mabel arrive at their great-uncle’s house for the summer, only for Mabel to uncover a thirty-year-old murder mystery. Stan’s a ghost and everything is terrible! Good but sad.

- State Of Dreaming (Gravity Falls): SandyQuinn (@agentquinn on tumblr) consistently delivers the gut punches and the good good catharsis. Stanford Pines sacrifices his humanity to defeat Bill Cipher. It’s what happens afterwards that matters.

- The Logical Conclusion (Gravity Falls): Short and sweet, funny and full of fridge horror, just how I like 'em. Gargoyle Stan discovers he has a taste for red meat.

- A Thousand Natural Shocks (Gravity Falls): An eldritch horror convinces itself that it’s Stan Pines. Then it’s forced to remember the truth. dubs is an incredible author, and has a few AU/oneshots in this same 'verse.

- (To Die Will Be) An Awfully Big Adventure (Bandom): So normally I’m not about RPF. This, though, is 1) old enough now that the circumstances it depicts really don’t reflect any of the players’ real-life circumstances and so it’s real easy to read them as original characters, 2) carefully and creatively worldbuilt to rival any decent urban fantasy profic out there right now, and 3) an absolute blast to read. A wayward MCR fan decides to give Gerard Way the greatest gift they can think of - immortal life. Unfortunately, they don’t…ask first. Contains conspiracies, vampires, werewolves, fairies, all the delightfully goffic ridiculousness of Fueled by Ramen in the late 00s, some extremely quality angst, great clothes, and a twist I genuinely did not see coming.

- Something Wicked This Way Comes (ROTG): Werewolves! And werewolf hunters! Contains both the angsty established hunter who got turned into the thing he hunts and the naive innocent who knows nothing about monsters and has no idea what he’s become! No knowledge of ROTG required to enjoy this bad boy.

- Blessings And Curses (The Hobbit movies): I don’t even go here, and this one’s another one that I strongly suspect will never be finished. But it does that 'fish out of water’ aspect of adjusting to a new body - and the culture shock that comes with it - so well. A dwarf gets whammied into an elf, with all the accompanying cultural baggage.

- Theodicy (Supernatural): Dean gets made over into an angel. Again, I don’t even go here - I guess I understand the theoretical appeal of Destiel, but the actual characters as they appear on the screen together have done nothing for me. But. This one’s so visceral, so gutting, so horrifying on so many levels, that the veneer of normality and positivity that lies over it just twists the knife. Fucked up and horrible and, in a strange way, hopeful. I love it.

- In Love, And Blood, And Death (The Lost Boys): That Good Shit. A classic vampire story retold with all ladies and a bad ending. This one’s extremely lush, the descriptions lyrical and rich and brutal. I could sink into this fic and just roll around in it for a while.

(I have also, uh, written a whoooole bunch. Off the top of my head, Raising Stakes and Shorts and Determination are probably gonna be the two you’ll get the most mileage out of.)

#chatter #monsters!

[diveronaevents]

The people of Verona were content. The bridge was in ruins, the city was at war, and still they tucked their children at night without fear in their hearts. Their fingers did not tremble as they touched their toddler’s cheek, and their dreams were full of promise and hope for a better tomorrow. The quietness that lingered in Verona - covering the city like a weighted blanket that cannot be shrugged off - had become a comfort to its citizens. 

But there were still people who had not forgotten the horrors of the festival. There were still those who know to sleep with a knife between their lips. Survivors knew, after all, that ruin was most dangerous when it wore the face of peace.

On a night where the moon did not shine and the stars were all that kept the city from plunging into empty darkness, a clandestine meeting was held. From the shadows, a single pair of bright eyes glowed and studied the room. It was nearly barren, with only four single chairs arranged around a circular table and nothing else. 

He was the first to arrive, but he would not be the first to expose himself. Not until the one who had personally invited him appeared.

“Orion.” Behind him, a familiar voice of velvet sounded. “Darling, were you waiting for me long?”

He emerged, stepped into the light with a cat’s smile. “Hardly.”

Before Mona had the chance to respond, the front door opened. The ringmaster of their circus, the summoner of them all, had arrived. Behind her, a single companion trailed with a storm in his eyes.

Orion’s lips quirked, but the ghost of a frown fled before it could be seen.

Loretta stood behind a chair, claiming it for herself and laying a somber gaze upon them all. “We may begin,” she said, her voice a command and far from a question. 

Mona raised her brows but made her way to the chair across from Loretta. The others followed suit, and a suspicious silence fell over them once they were all seated. 

“I thought you were dead,” Orion quipped.

Felipe narrowed his eyes. “I am.”

As if they had all been waiting for that short exchange to be complete, Mona clasped her hands together, gaze drifting to a shadowed corner where she imagined their invisible ally would huddle. But he wasn’t here. Alexander had already played his role. He had already given his word. All that was left was for Mona to see if it would prove worthy of her rarely-given trust.

Her gaze returned to her companions. Her thoughts returned to what was at stake. “Enough small talk. We have a daunting task ahead of us.”

                                                                         —

Cosimo knew his home best when it was in despair. It was what he had grown up with; it was what he had profited from, time and time again. There was beauty in despair; there was promise and even profit in calamity. This was his gift: optimism. But even he had trouble grappling with the current state of affairs. The Montagues had pushed his pride to the edge and thought to see him fall off the precipice. They thought to turn his affections against him, going after his adopted niece and his trusted advisor.

They thought wrong. He had watched Rafaella grow from a spiteful little creature to a woman worth fearing. He had watched the fear in her eyes turn to something terrible, and knew she would outlast them all. Still, he could not have his leadership insulted. He could not have his own advisor kidnapped without retribution.

It would be much easier to think clearly without his daughter’s fury filling the room.

“We will bring her back. No matter how many soldiers it takes, they will not take my cousin without paying for it.” The principessa was shaking with rage, her cheeks flushed with the force of it. 

“And what do you propose?” Vivianne asked, a beacon of reason and logic.

He needed them both. He needed both Juliana’s ferocity and Vivianne’s clear eyes. With his back turned towards them, staring off into space, Cosimo listened.

“A rescue.” Juliana’s eyes were on Vivianne but she spoke to her father’s heart and his pride. “We show them we are smarter and stronger by taking her back. We come together as one to find her and bring her home.”

Vivianne turned her eyes towards Cosimo. Juliana followed suit. They waited patiently for him to speak. 

“And you would lead it?” 

“Yes,” Juliana bore her eyes into her father’s back, knowing he would meet hers and be proud of the purpose he saw in them. “I will bring her home.”

Cosimo turned and felt only some strange loss of the principessa. The more and more he spoke to her, the more he saw the beginnings of a regina. 

“Very well.”

                                                                        —

Overall, Damiano might consider himself content. The Festa Dell'amore had not made a major dent in their revenue streams, and Genevieve had expertly shifted the winds to undo any damage control. Perhaps the Montagues were not the glowing heroes of Verona as he had hoped, but the people were forgetting the horror of that night the Witches took their last breaths.

Even better, the night ended with Rafaella in their grasp and beneath their heels. The Dark Lady’s information had already proven valuable, with potential threats quietly eliminated and new leads secured. And for all its unfortunate surprises and mishaps, the Festa Dell'amore had been a success.

Yet, the Montagues were growing unruly and restless, eager to see the Capulets in rags and willing to take revenge into their own hands. He had to admit: it was tempting to see how far they would go to control fate and change the tides. His hands itched to loosen the reigns and to give the Montagues over to their every whim and fancy.

It was precisely why he invited the Dark Lady to meet him. There was no one better suited to the task.

“On one condition,” Mona smiled and bent her head forward, her earrings caught the light and sparkled. Each movement was intentional, crafting an illusion she intended - needed - for Damiano to buy into. “It will be a gala to celebrate Verona, the city that brings us all together.”

“And who might you mean by us all?” Damiano asked dryly, knowing fully well what her answer would be.

“Why, the Montagues and the Capulets alike, of course. Verona’s elite. The only ones who are capable of understanding each other even while they are at odds. As a patron of secrets to both, I must extend an invitation to both as well.” She flashed a smile and played her final card against him. “It’s only right, as hostess to your grand party.”

                                                                        —

With Damiano Montague’s blessing granted as a tribute to the newfound alliance with the Lady of Whispers, Hotel Emelia has been put under her reign for one legendary evening, dedicated to the hosting of a gala unlike any other that Verona has ever seen. Montagues, Capulets, and an assortment of Verona’s elite have been invited to celebrate the city and all that unites them - power, glory and blood - in an event designed around the very notion of reveling in it all. No expense has been spared and no restrictions have been imposed in this diabolical dream the Dark Lady has crafted. And all of Verona shall succumb to it. That is the promise of its mistress -- and as it is known... she never goes back on her word.

Within the invitation, Mona has included the layout of the event. Each spectacle is intended to entice the senses, drown the heart and immerse each and every guest in the possibility that awaits them all. They are as follows, each of them taking place in a designated area in the hotel:

HALL OF HEAVEN: The sanctum of the event and the heart of the promised revelry. It overtakes the dining area of the hotel which has been refurbished to serve as both the central location within the gala and the first stepping stone paving the way for the decadent journey that awaits. No one knows the value of a first impression better than the Dark Lady, and thus she’s ensured that the crowning jewel of the event would take one’s breath away from the moment their toe dips into its threshold. Ornate decorations sprawl across every wall and line every corner. Gleaming chandeliers bathe the crowds in spiraling gold. Opulent sculptures and awe-inspiring artifacts can be found guarding the pillars and cradling the stage -- but that’s not all. The hall is not only a sight for sore eyes, but also fodder for restless appetites of all kinds. Magnanimously lined buffets are available to cater to the guests in every way, multiple live performances are scheduled to occupy the stage throughout the evening, and secluded corners are fitted with seats and tables for the reticent and the weary alike. With all that it has to offer, one can be expected to wander through it for hours and hours on end.

DEVIL’S ALLEY: While the hall embraces the weary, this area was made for the wicked. Ever familiar with the ravenous inclinations of Verona’s lost souls, the Dark Lady has designed this area to cater to their every whim and thrill. A shadowed doorway in one corner of the hall leads to a sprawling staircase that ends in an unused kitchen on the lower floor. Vacated of all cabinets and appliances, it’s been cleared and decorated to house the gala’s very own fighting club. A miniature yet no less brutal version of Measure by Measure. Any guest who’s consumed by restlessness or bloodlust alike need only climb down that flight of stairs in order to reap their instincts for all they’re worth. Bookmakers can be found nudging their way through the hollering cluster of spectators as they take bets and keep track of the ensuing fights. An overseer is also stationed nearby to make sure that things don’t get too ugly, but you can rest assured; they won’t be holding anyone back so much as they’ll be ensuring that no one topples into an early grave sooner than Verona dictates. That would sour the mood far too much for the Dark Lady’s liking.

KISS IN THE DARK: None could claim that an experience is of the Dark Lady’s creation if it wasn’t meant to stoke one’s desires and rile their slumbering demons, and it's for that purpose precisely that this section of the event was designed. Along the same floor where the Hall of Heaven is stationed, a room of the most enticing, stirring nature can be found. It’s unnerving upon first glance; as dark and sightless as an abyss, with amplified echoes to every trickle of sound and a heady, coaxing aroma in the air. A single push is all it takes for one to be plunged into this delectable nightmare. Only to realize that it’s no nightmare at all when the fall is suddenly cushioned by the plush, smooth velvet of an unseen recliner. When the fear is slowly chased away by the drifting touch of an awaiting lover -- or an array of them. There are no restrictions and no bounds in this bottomless cocoon of bliss. There are only possibilities, and the Dark Lady is more than happy to provide each and every one of them to any starved soul that comes knocking on the door.

STOLEN EDEN: No journey into Heaven is complete without a taste of the Eden it harbors, and that’s exactly what one would find upon venturing through the ornamented doors that mark both the end of the hallway and the finish line for one’s expedition through the Dark Lady’s crafted dream. What was once a broad, royal suite, is now an elaborate garden; with artificial plants and greenery along the walls, flowers of all kinds and scents dangling from the ceiling, with the smell of incense in the air and the taste of peaches on the tongue. Meant as the final resting place before guests ought to make their return back into Verona’s dreary realm of terror, the suite is nothing short of a tropical slice of paradise. With a charming fountain cradled in the heart of the garden, recliners and cushions scattered all across the room, and beautiful servers that idle around, keeping the guests company and tending to their every desire, with the promise of flesh if they so wish it and an endless reprieve lining the trays they carry, in the form of cigarettes, drinks, and every drug that Verona has to offer. It’s difficult to imagine how anyone could be persuaded to leave after such an endeavor, but then again, there’s no one that they would find awaiting them at the door to escort them to the exit. Merriment of this nature is never-ending in Verona, after all, and so long as the people ask for more, the Dark Lady shall continue to provide.

                                                                       —

OVERVIEW: Welcome to the gala, Veronesi! Queen Mab was absent from the chaos that overtook La Festa Dell’amore, but now she’s back to take Verona by storm. She’s hosting the gala in collaboration with the Montagues in honor of the newly-established relationship that she’s now formed with them, for the purpose of giving the city some room to breathe after all the ruin that it’s recently witnessed -- or so she claims at least. As we’ve all come to learn by now, in Verona, nothing is ever as it seems, and there seem to be stirrings of something big and dastardly on the horizon. The Montagues are focused on finding unity and creating order in their scattered ranks, and the Capulets are roiling over the loss of Rosaline and working to ensure that they retrieve her as fast as possible. All while a certain set of individuals lurks in the shadows and fiddles with a scheme so wholly their own. We can do nothing but hold our breath, and await what is meant to unfold.

As you’re aware, LADY ANNE and FLORIZEL are included in the event despite the fact that they are now open. Due to the crucial roles they play in the event, and for the sake of not disturbing our pre-determined plans for the plot, we’ve decided to make an exception for them. For the duration of the plot drop, they will be treated as NPC’s and you’re free to explore their involvement in your threads. But we ask that you please refrain from godmodding them or doing anything bigger than mentioning or referencing them in your threads if you wish to do so, as we have to be mindful that they are still open for applications. You can now date your threads from MARCH 4TH through MARCH 15TH -- with MARCH 15TH serving as the night of the gala. Have fun!!

#diveronaevent

[jakattax]

That is a very interesting point to raise and I definitely see on a daily basis a growing discontent towards ceremonialists like myself who adhere to the originating texts and carry out a traditional evocation, traditional meaning magician in circle, lengthy rites, usually the demon bound to a specific area for safety and containment. I’ve been recently called out on these methods as to some they are deemed harmful or disrespectful to the spirit at hand, as if they have they have kinship or compassion or even a degree of familiar friendship with spirits, in particular demons and most prominent with the 72 demons of the ars goetia. So much a rising anger and general distaste of these methods that even the word ‘Solomonic’ has been censored as if it’s a crass and vile insult, used only you wish to invoke the vengeful ghost of King Solomon. To say of demons are well meaning or not is a completely different debate, as spiritual entities we can’t really categorise or place any notion of human emotions or feelings unto spirits, as a whole we can’t invent their own motives or desires because it’s something we as humans won’t be able to comprehend. Can demons be deemed ‘good’ and ‘helpful’? Absolutely. Can demons not deemed ‘wicked’ and ‘unhelpful’? Again absolutely. There is no wide generalisation of such petty morality as good or evil in the mind of spirits or demons, they just can’t be registered on a scale, they are unquantified, immeasurable, neither white or black and not necessarily grey either. As magic is the highest form of natural science and philosophy, it’s the job and duty of the Magus to explore these areas and not just to form a consensus because someone in the Internet said so. What is deemed the Solomonic method of evocation, the formula and method which the vast majority of magicians have used for centuries is naturally the most appropriate and by far the safest method to achieve evocation. As I said that demons are morally ambiguous spiritual agents, they’re still a force from hell and being such their inherent energies tend to focus more on the wild and deceptive side, not necessarily ‘evil’ at all, just an aura of uncontrolled, feral power. And in a setting in which the Magus and those around him/her can be exposed to this is not ideal, as incorporeal beings they can effect your surroundings, body, mind and soul in a negative way. The ‘Solomonic’ method (I don’t really like labelling any form of spiritual ritual evocation as Solomonic in nature but I’ll use it for the sake of brevity) ensures that this can’t happen, it ensures that the magician is safely contained within the circle and that the demon is safely contained within the triangle. Yes there are spells in the Goetia such as the black handled knife, Greater Curse and the Curse of the fire in which the Magus places the sigil (the symbolic and physical representation of the demon) into a metal box and hands it over fire, thus in effect burning the demon until it relents into obedience, and yes these measures can be perceived as extreme. However in a ritual setting your never going to be guaranteed 100% success regarding who or what you conjure, you could spend the entire ritual in the hopes of contacting say Buer and you get a spirit which you either can’t identify or may be masquerading as Buer or may be a completely different demon of the Goetia altogether. What are you going to do then? Ask it nicely to go away? Demons do not respond to kindness and good intentions, if a demon is being unruly and uncooperative you simply must take these measures to rid yourself of it. Usually the knife of black handle will suffice, but the whole reason why these spells and curses against the demon exist is that they work in repelling the spirit. A demon cannot feel bad or be injured or wounded, a magician certainly can, a magician could die if they screw up a demonic evocation, these curses send the demon away, don’t be concerned about the feelings of a demon because they have little concern for you.

However under the right circumstances and when the evocation is carried out in the proper manner with the Magus showing due respect, veneration and adherence to the text, these complexities don’t happen; the demon is summoned safely, the Magus is safe, the request is given, you achieve or fail, Depart the demon and job done. No ‘harm’ done to the demon and hopefully no damage done to the magician through the operation. That’s as easy as it is. Read the book, follow the instructions and do the magic. The ars goetia, well in fact the entire Lemegeton is one of the few ‘complete’ traditional grimoires and as a system of magic it is in its entirety (well the ars notoria is a bit fuddled) and it is functional, practical and workable. Yes there are definite obstacles and hurdles such as the many tools you require and yes it ideally needs a prolonged period of study devoted to it, but once fully digested it is a relatively simple grimoire to work with.

And I think that’s where the modern problem of ‘boo you enslave demons!’ lies; in a nutshell it’s idleness and a lazy attitude to practical magic.

I don’t watch or interact with anime so can’t possibly comment on their representation of Demons or a western ceremonial magic evocation, and it’ll be impossible as a human to comprehend if there is a demonic agenda or conspiracy at work, for all we know there is, however I lack both the scholarly and practical knowledge to exposit further. However to address my prior point of laziness in magic; I’ve been on tumblr for over a year now, so I’m still new I know, and I joined because I understood that out of all social media platforms this one was most alive with the occult and magic. Before I joined tumblr I was very hermetic in my 10 odd years of magical study and practise so this is all relatively fresh to me. And I’m still constantly surprised and occasionally upset by the sheer amount of inaccuracies, deception, falsehoods and errors regarding some methods of magic. As a student of ceremonial magic with a dash of Alexandrian and Gardnerian Wicca with some traditional English witchcraft knowledge obviously I don’t know everything about every method and path of magic. And the constant thing which pops up the most is this modern attitude that magic is both simplistic and quick. That intent is all that matters and if you brush your hair you’ll get good fortune and if you drink water Persephone will give you a boon (I’m just using gross exaggeration here not specifically calling any one out. Well I am really, just no one in mind) and just this attitude that anything can be achieved with a bright attitude and a mindful of hope. Wonderful if your a happy go lucky existentialist and a very good way to live your life, but not in magic, not in ceremonial magic or evocation. Demons and spirits require hard work to get into contact with, it’s by no means a necessarily easy procedure as it demands time, effort, devotion and restraint, just like anything in life it gets easier with practise but it remains a long and arduous process. A sigil alone is not enough, the sigil is a demons written signature, it’s calling card, having one drawn on the ground is not enough to get a response. It may turn a head or get its eyes on you in conjecture with other factors but alone it’ll achieve nothing. There also seems to exist this feeling that demons can be companions, even friends and I’m not even going there because it’s laughable. I’m sorry but it is, your either deceiving others with your claims, deceiving yourself or just plain delusional if you think Baal has your back and is your personal chum. Obviously I’m being quite critical over the notion of demonolatory, again a relatively new term to me. As a core principal and philosophy of actual worship of a demon is just a bad, I’m running out of fancy words so I’ll just say bad. I think this attitude of magicians being the bad guys is a hodge podge of how everyone wants magic to be easier, so everyone skips the proper evocation techniques and those who do them are labelled ‘elitist’ just because we actually, you know, do the work. It’s not elitism in the slightest, it’s just that if you want the magic in the text to work you need to put in the work 🤷‍♀️ simples. And I certainly feel that maybe in the eyes of pop culture demons have become somewhat...cutesy. Look at poor Stolas for example. I think it’s this systematic dumbing down of demons in combination with a lazy attitude to magic that puts this idea into some people s head that demons are A: easy to contact and B: will be my friend. Naturally this is dangerous magic as your willingly opening yourself up to coercion and influence, you become blinkered almost and the ‘Solomonic’ methods are designed to counteract all of that, to secure the integrity of the magician so it’s he/her in control and not the spiritual force.

I’m losing cohesion now so I’ll wrap up. Yes this modern attitude of “Boo! Nasty S*lomonic magician hurting demons!” Is in this odd crucible of idleness, misinformation, pop culture attitudes and a lack of understanding of the core principles and working of ceremonial evocation, again in particular to the ars goetia. It is hard to deconstruct in its entirety and this is all just speculation and conjecture on my part. Obviously as a ceremonial magician I will always champion the ceremonial magic methodology, they haven’t changed or evolved (much) over the centuries for a very simple reason; it works. So don’t fix what isn’t broken.

[draconida]

Shance Fic Recs (Part three)

More Shance! With Kuro and Sven too. 

82- Mysteries Become Reality by FullmetalDude1 [M/M/M/M, Sven and Kuro]

The world is full of mythical creatures that are slowly but surely being integrated and accepted into society, but a couple of hate crimes and BS still happens.

Lance is a human in this world, doing his best to help Mythics out even if he's got a bad history.

Then he meets 4 super hot Mythics in collage and he is gone, but he'll never admit that.

At least, not until he's been held for ransom by a gang of haters.

83- i don't have too much but i know enough by quiddative

Lance shot a panicked look at Keith but the asshole just laid there uselessly. “Don’t look at me like that,” he snorted. “They’re your kids, after all.”

What?

“What?” Lance and Allura yelled.

Allura turned to Kolivan with narrowed eyes. “Explain,” she demanded.

Kolivan looked very much like he wanted a drink. “The two of them appear to be the Red and Black Paladins’ children from the future.”

(Or: Lance and Shiro's children appear from the future and emotions ensue.)

85- Remember Me by boredomsMuse

Back before Kerberos, Lance and Shiro had been close. Boyfriends, type close. Boyfriends who'd meet each other's parents, all of them, type close.

Except, none of the Paladins know that. Not even Shiro.

86- Starlight Starshine by stirlingphoenix

'He’s beautiful', was the only thought Shiro’s mind could process as he watched Lance in person for the very first time. Those two little words repeated themselves on a loop over and over, making sure he’d never forget this moment. He’d always thought Lance to be exceedingly attractive, but seeing him in real life, as opposed to the TV screen or a movie poster nearly blew his mind.

Shiro had every intention of getting out of there before he ended up doing something embarrassing. Nevermind the fact that Lance wouldn’t know who he was, he still wasn’t too keen on potentially making a fool of himself. But just before he could make a beeline for the exit, the sound of his proper last name echoed throughout the air, forcing him to stop dead in his tracks.

“Excuse me, Mr. Shirogane?” The nervousness that plagued his caller’s voice hit Shiro’s ears wrong, yet it was still oddly familiar to him, as if he’d heard that same tone over a hundred times before.

As it turned out, he had, just never like this. Turning around, he came face-to-face with the lead of the production, the one and only Lance McClain himself, standing before him with a curious, perhaps even anxious expression covering his face.

87- Hi by Nevermoree

"in a world where you have your soulmates’ first words tattooed in your skin, he, obviously, has… well, that."

88- Te prefiero a ti by Nevermoree [Explicit and only spanish]

Lance has been in love with Shiro since he can remember, so when he have the opportunity to spend the night with Shiro, he have decided not to waste it. It's supposed to be a one-night deal, but things do not always work out the way you plan.

89- How to get a hot, shape-shifting dragon-man to fall in love with you by charlotteXOyates [Explicit]

Discovering a new species is a dream every reptile expert can relate to, so Lance's excitement upon meeting Shiro, a man with scales and a dragon tail, is understandably through the roof. What's less understandable, however, is Lance's sudden desire to help the dragon-man with his rut…

90- Daycare, Toddlers, and a bit of Love by starryrosez

Lance falls in love with the father of a boy he looks after in daycare.

91- Claws by AshesTheTerrible [Explicit and omegaverse] Lance had clawed his way through the Galra military ranks. This was the most important day of his entire existence. He was being assigned to a commander. One of the most ruthless commanders in the Empire. He had to make a good impression.

It would be just his luck that he'd be stricken with the beginnings of a ruthless heat. He knew the suppressants made him sick, but he took them anyway. Anything was better than a fucking stupid heat. He couldn't very well look strong with his heat boring down on his shoulders.

But puking at the feet of your new commander doesn't exactly make you look like a model Galra either… hindsight Lance supposes. 92- Lance's Guide on How to Embarrass Yourself in Front of Your Insurance Adjuster by Eilera

“This is for my mama, Hunk. She was so worried about this whole thing. They just finished renovating. I’m not gonna let her down. If my name isn’t Lance fucking Hernandez Martine-holy fuck he’s gorgeous.”

“Oh no. No. Lance do-“

Lance didn’t even hear him because there was a fucking gorgeous god walking up the path to the front door.

(In which Lance is helping his mama with an insurance claim and he was not prepared for the smoking hot insurance adjuster.)

93- designated drivers anonymous by kalakauuas

"It’s halfway through his sixth attempt at a puppy-filter pic that the bathroom door whooshes open wider than Lance’s mouth trying to prompt the puppy tongue onto the screen. Right when Lance screeches in surprised terror, he takes the picture.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t know it was occupied,” says the person who threw the door open, his hands rushing to cover his eyes quicker than Lance would run from his mom’s chancla.

The good thing is, aside from vaguely humiliating selfie poses, there’s nothing to see here."

Lance and Shiro meet through a shared hobby, if you consider hiding in bathrooms during house parties a hobby.

94- Tris for Guys by quiddative

“Um, my name is Lance McClain-Reyes and I have a personal training session,” Lance said, though it came out as more of a question than a statement.

The girl hummed and typed something on the computer. “Ah, right on time,” she said. “Looks like you’ve been paired up with Shiro. If you’ll just take a seat, he should be out in a few minutes.”

Shiro?, Lance thought as all the gears in his brain suddenly screeched to a halt. I must have heard wrong. There’s no way—

“That’s okay, Pidge, I’m already here,” said a deep and familiar voice just behind Lance.

(Or: What do you do when the guy you've been crushing on turns out to be your personal trainer for the day?)

95- easier to lose by quiddative [Explicit]

Shiro is at the peak of his NHL career. Unfortunately, being famous has its downsides, particularly when it comes to dating. And that’s on top of the fact that he’s still in the closet. However, a chance meeting with college student Lance, who seems to be the only person in the entire city who doesn’t know who he is, gives him hope that maybe he won’t die alone after all. Just as long as he can keep his identity a secret.

96- A Halloween Tail by Cathwren

Lance just wanted to have a fun Halloween night, but when homophobic idiots give him trouble he makes a new friend in the dashing young knight that swoops in to save the day. Secrets are shared and Lance can easily say he got a night to remember...and maybe even a boyfriend.

97- 13 stories for Halloween by liddie [Explicit]

A collection of 13 Shance stories for the month of October featuring (but not limited to): vampires, kitsune, werewolves, demons, cursed scarecrows, ghosts, merpeople, oni and whatever else comes to mind!

98- Head Start by SuccubustyKisses [Explicit]

Werewolves. If there was one scent Lance knew above all else, it was Werewolves. Being born from a werewolf father and a human mother Lance knew werewolves. So when he got to the Galaxy Garrison and smelled werewolf in his class his first thought was to make peace with the other wolf.

Sure, Lance was only a half blood, and the closest to transformation he'd ever gotten was sharpened canines and claws during a full moon, but he was still wolf. As such, wolves should stick together. He left his family pack behind to come to the Garrison, maybe he'd be able to form a new pack here.

99- Forgotten Gods and Scales Like Jewels by keir [Explicit and Dubious Consent]

Lance has spent his entire career searching for the elusive and forgotten god of war and lust, a god made of part man, part snake. The pieces are there, and once Lance puts them together, he and his team discover the long forgotten temple dedicated to the naga god, but more lies in store for Lance than he could have ever dreamed of discovering.

100- Of God's and Fae's by MommaVanillaBear

A fae of the ocean, casted aside and alone made the dangerous trek to the festival of lights, and though the way back should have been easy, his steps become lost and the ocean he searches for is replaced by thick foliage and towering trees. Caught by a creature that claims to be an Earth fae, the one of the ocean must spend a month living in the forest or else the God who watches the forest will become aware of him. And there was no way the ocean fae could fight or hope to escape the wrath of a god.

101- Pornstar Lance by Ryuani [Explicit]

Lance used to work as a pornstar but space kinda stopped that.

102- Take a Chance by nuuuge [Fem!Shance]

Lance really just wants the hot Basketball prodigy to notice her.

103- Yearning Touch by CirqueBordello (CircusTalia) [Explicit and Sven]

Sven volunteers to be part of an experiment. But when that experiment makes a change in his body, Lance is there to support him but also realizes he likes the new Sven.

104- The Shirogane Triplets by MermaidLance [Explicit, Trans Lance and the title]

Three Boys

One Lance

He's in for an adventure.

105- Next Time, Pack Them Separately by Quiddity

“So, uh, you in Detroit on business?” Lance asks. The guy glances at him and for a second Lance thinks that he’s terribly misread his mood and he’s about to be snubbed in the worst way. Then he notices the dark circles under his eyes. The man’s totally exhausted. “No,” the man says, shuffling together his papers and securing them together with a wicked looking alligator clip. “I’m headed to New York.” Lance perks up. “Oh! Me too! I’m headed there to meet up with- uh…” Lance is cut off when his neighbor unbuckles himself, stands, and pushes into the line of passengers with a muttered apology. Lance sits there, dumbfounded as the man opens the overhead compartment and pulls down his- Nope. That’s Lance’s bag he’s strapping over his shoulder. That’s his palm tree name tag, that’s his laptop, that’s his senior film project he’s been working on for the past six months and his external hard drive with only back up of three hundred hours of work just shambling down the aisle and off the plane. Oh no.

106- The Knotty Omega by keir [Explicit, omegaverse and little All/Lance]

Lance never saw himself doing porn, but the opportunity fell in his lap with a wicked smile and the smooth talk of Lotor, a producer. The omega finds himself at the center of attention for many horny alphas as he does the most taboo and engages in heat sex for the camera.

107- Double Trouble by liddie [Explicit, Kuro and Shiro]

When Lance agreed to help out at his grandma's flower shop during summer break, he didn't know that it meant managing the shop singlehandedly for months while she went adventuring off to Europe.

Sure, he needs to practice his magic with living things...and yes, plants are a good way to do that without bodies stacking up if something went wrong. But Lance can't even keep a dandelion alive to save his life, so how the hell is he going to keep the entire stock of his grandma's enchanted flower shop alive and healthy for four months?

The answer is simple. He's going to summon himself some help using the dusty old spell book he found in the attic.

It's too bad Lance's handwriting looks like chicken scratch on a good day…

108- To Drown In You by Val_Creative [Explicit and Trans Lance]

Humans are a fearful race, unable to conjure anything other than simpler, volatile emotions, or so Shiro’s mer-clan has taught him. Lance’s compassion and his openhearted empathy deepens Shiro’s need for more. And he’s only know Lance for the turn of a moon.

109- How Deep is the Love We Think We Know by mizufallsfromkumo [omegaverse]

It had been a considerable while since Shiro nested.

So long in fact he didn’t even realize he was doing it.

Until he yanked one of the Castle’s lounge couch cushions out from behind Pidge. No regard for the fact that she was using it. He just knew he needed that one because it was the softest of all the other cushions. Pidge’s surprised squeak as she toppled to the side didn’t even register with him for a moment.

Or at least not till Keith called him out.

110- Repayment by SuccubustyKisses [Explicit and omegaverse]

“I need you to do me a favor Coran.”

“Anything for you, son.”

Lance stepped forward, digging his wallet out of his pocket and slamming it down on the desk in front of him. “There is a man here, an alpha named Shiro. He lost his arm in a car accident.”

“Yes, Takashi Shirogane. It’s a shame what happened to him.” Coran looked away sadly.

“I want you to take this credit card and give him everything he needs. The best, top of the line products.” Coran looked down at the credit card pressed between Lance’s hand and his desk then back up at Lance. “Please?”

111- Dream a Little Dream by thinkpink [Explicit]

Shiro is an adult- he knows how feelings work. He definitely knows his own feelings. Right?

112- Telltale Blush by thinkpink [Explicit and Dubious Consent]

“So why don’t we just skip the part where you throw lines at me and I pretend not to be interested, and you can suck my dick instead.”

113- Dress to Impress by thinkpink

How did Shiro even get sweatpants in space? And why are they so god damn thin!

114- A Dragon by liddie [Explicit]

On the day of his wedding, Prince Lance is carried away by a fearsome creature of old. The remote island is a prison and the dragon his keeper, although Lance is not completely alone. A mysterious man named Shiro is also a prisoner of the dragon, but as Lance learns just who he is, he comes to realize there is more to Shiro than he first thought.

115- In Flagrante Delicto by gwendy1

in flagrante delicto (adverb)

Definition of in flagrante delicto: 1 : in the very act of committing a misdeed : red-handed 2 : in the midst of sexual activity

116- Black's Deal by SuccubustyKisses [Explicit and little Klance]

I’ll give you what you need to get what you want, but you only get two quintent. Do you agree?

“Yes.”

Or the story of Shiro taking over Keith's body in the time of his disappearance between seasons 2 and 3.

117- The Beast Of Pirate's Bay by SuccubustyKisses [Explicit and Major character death, but don't scary you. Happy ending]

A loud shriek filled the air, causing him to fall back onto the damp metal of the ship floor. “I’m sorry.” He whimpered, covering his ears as the sound continued to ring out.

As instant as the sound came it quickly disappeared, leaving Lance to tentatively uncover his ears. “Please,” he begged, tears escaping his eyes as he looked over the side of the boat again. “I won’t even enter your territory if you just bring me a juniberry flower!”.

118- The Lion, The Witch, and the Cursed Ghost by SuccubustyKisses [Explicit]

When lance goes to Kogane forest in search of the cat he saw plastered all over the news he ends up with a lot more than he bargained for. But he's not complaining.

The ghost floated up, arms crossed as he looked over the trees. “I’ll make you a deal.” Lance’s eyes brightened, he knew his excitement was obvious. But, he didn’t care. “If you can find me in this forest before the sun sets, I’ll take you to see Shiro. If not, you will leave this forest without a fight.” He turned and lowered down to Lance’s level again, holding out his transparent hand. “Do we have a deal?”

Shiro must be the cat.

Lance reached out, taking the hand, surprised when he actually felt contact. “Deal.” Before he could even shake the hand properly it was gone, along with its owner, only the flutter of leaves in the air showing he had even been there. Snatching up one of the leaves, Lance grinned. This ghost vastly underestimated him.

119- That's not a phone by CrypticGabriel [Explicit and Trans Lance]

Lance had a part-time job at the movie theater. During his job, he liked ogling at a frequent flyer named Shiro. But he never expected to catch him doing the unthinkable while watching a movie. And no. It didn't involve a phone.

120- Let's Play A Game by liddie [Explicit]

About to leave for a little vacation time at his grandfather's seaside cottage, Shiro gets a text from Allura asking if he can drop her friend Lance off at the beach on his way. He agrees, but is entirely unprepared for everything that Lance is.

121- How Do I "Casual"? by The_Busy_Beee

Sometimes Lance loves living in the same building as his best friends.

Sometimes he hates it with a passion.

Usually only when Keith's involved, however.

Or:

Lance brings home a guy and isn't sure how to handle the "morning after" situation. Keith is exhausted and thinks Lance has murdered somebody.

122- Spilling Secrets by The_Busy_Beee

Everyone knows the past never stays in the past.

Or:

Shiro finally meets the Blue Lane crew, Lotor is a shit, and Lance really just wants today to go well.

123- Good Girl by strawberrylovely [Explicit and Fem!Lance]

Shiro hears Lance masturbating in the team bathroom. He’s not sure whether to help or run away, so Lance makes the decision for him.

124- Beautiful Breed by Blue_Queen662 [Fem!Lance]

Kept in captivity for years, Lance had not had any contact with others like herself in a long while.

Shiro had been gone from the sea for years. From being separated from his pod for a long time, he had forgotten how it feels to be loved by a mate.

Shiro has been chosen to be Lance’s mate. For his strangth, speed and intellect; it was decided amongst guests at a dinner party that the Champion will mate with Zarkon’s prize pet.

125- my boyfriend's back (and you're gonna be in trouble) by heavenlyrare

The Galra and the Alteans haven't been at each other's throats, thanks to Prince Lance's and Commander Shiro's relationship.

Unfortunately, the rest of the universe doesn't seem to know that.

126- Missing Pieces by AshesTheTerrible [Explicit]

Shiro comes back from two tours overseas a changed man. He has one less arm and a lot more nightmares. His best friend Keith convinces him Yoga is the perfect form of meditation to help with his PTSD and he's skeptical at best....that is until he sees the instructor and is instantly in love.

127- Full Moons and the Mornings After by Impetus

Lance really needs to stop letting stray wolves into his apartment.

128- My Best Friend's Brother? How Cliche by orphan_account

Lance has been pining after Shiro since he was 14, and the last time he saw him before Shiro left to go to veterinary school had been embarrassing as hell. But, things were different now. 3 years had passed, Shiro was back, and Lance was a new and improved version of himself. This time, Lance wasn't afraid to do what he wanted to.

OR that one where Lance hasn't seen Shiro in years but when he goes to drop some food off at Keith's house he walks in on Shiro working out.

129- How To Use a Long Rest by avoidingavoidance [Explicit]

In which the team's game of Monsters and Mana isn't actually a game, and Lance takes good care of Shiro. Several times.

130- Just Take That Breath in Your Lungs by mizufallsfromkumo [Omegaverse]

When Shiro was younger, and freshly presented as an Alpha, he use to think about how things would be when he claimed his mate for himself.

Ideally it would be their wedding night, but it wasn’t a necessity. Shiro was fine with whenever moment arose and felt right. And when his intended mate would find it, Shiro would turn on soft music. They’d maybe dance a little, or speak soft words of love. Then the night would progress in a slow, gentle, and loving path towards claiming.

Because yeah, Shiro was a hopeless romantic at times.

Sue him.

But that was the furthest thing that was happening, Shiro thought as he and Lance flopped into the nest both of them had constructed over two weeks ago.

131- Can You Find the Path that Leads Back to My Heart by mizufallsfromkumo

Lance was just left to sulk in the cockpit. And wonder just where his relationship stood with his mate, who had his soul transferred and fused into a clone's body. A clone Lance had just continued on courting like nothing ever happened, because he didn’t know his mate had even died in the first place.

Lance never thought going to space would be filled with so much drama.

Much less, drama that made his life sound like really bad telenovela plot line.

132- Some Good Shooting by AshesTheTerrible [Explicit and Trans Lance]

Lance and Shiro had been nothing but a hurricane of spats and frustration since the switching of lions. And then quite suddenly...they weren't anymore. Hunk couldn't figure out what had changed between the blue and black paladins but the rest of the team just seemed happy the two were working together. Maybe a little too well in fact.

Unbeknownst to the others, really all it took to change the two paladin's attitudes toward each other was one hard kiss in the hangar doors.

Parts 1 / 2 / 3 

#shance #fic rec #vld #voltron #shiro/lance #vld sven #vld kuron #vld kuro #takashi shirogane #lance mcclain #svance #kurance #kuro/lance #sven/lance

[dndplus]

In-Depth: Villains, Part 2

Again, if you’re hear to learn about making a villain for your adventure/campaign and you’re a newer, less experienced DM, I highly recommend you look at my posts titled ‘Getting Started’ first, specifically the ones about making an adventure.

They can be found here:

Getting Started: Making An Adventure, Part 1 Getting Started: Making An Adventure, Part 2

If you’re here and have not looked into Part 1 of my In-Depth on Villains, it can be found here:

In-Depth: Villains, Part 1

Hello again!

We’re picking up right where we left off with the steps I laid out in Part 1.  They are:

Motive, Station, Mentality, Ability (Essentially, all of Part 1)

Introducing the Villain to Your Party (We’ll start here)

The Villain’s Lackeys

Evolution

The Hill They Die On

Most of the actual “Creating” happened in part 1 with identifying a villain’s MSMA.  This is only a small part of a villain, though.  Having a good one made does little if they way they’re presented and used isn’t also done appropriately.  For some, simply being a menacing figure is at the end of your dungeon is enough.  That said, you can’t simply having one basic, menacing figure after the next over a twenty level campaign, can you?

Introducing the Villain to Your Party

This is important, make no mistake.  When the party first meets the villain is just as important as when they kill it (assuming the villain doesn’t win, of course).

There are several things to consider when you introduce the villain, but the MSMA of that villain go a long way in helping you determine the details.  Here’s a few basic introductions to start:

1. The Guy At the End

This is the most basic of all introductions.  Essentially, an NPC in need of help will describe the villain to the players, and the players will run into them at the end of their dungeon and fight to the death.  Believe it or not, as basic as this is, it can be compelling even for a campaign’s BBEG.  

I recall a specific example here of an Aboleth who worked so secretly that discovering his name was an event of enormous importance in the campaign.  He was never seen (or interacted with) until the very final confrontation.  Rather, the players dealt with a legion of spies (in the form of Deep Scions) that acted as the main source of their player-to-villain interaction.

For simpler villains, you really can just stick them at the end of the dungeon and call it a day.  The scale may go up as your players increase in level, such as in who gives them the task, and what they’re there to accomplish, but at the end of the day there’s always room for a simple “they’re the guy at the end” situation.

2. The Power That Be

A powerful politician.  A corrupt member of the military or guard.  The ruler of an evil kingdom.  This villain is best introduced to the players through their importance to the region, without any mention to the fact that they’re to be an enemy in the future.  This builds precedence, and creates drama when their involvement becomes that revelation to really kick things off down the line.  It fits will with the noble-as-a-thief trope I went into detail on in Part 1.

In some cases, this villain meets with the players directly before the two groups turn adversarial.  They could be someone the players report their heroic deeds to, and are thus congratulated and even rewarded.  They could be a person of importance they bump elbows with while at a gathering for the rich and powerful, whether it be for something completely unrelated or not.  Regardless of what you do, when this chance meeting happens, I advise finding a way to show the villain isn’t entirely genuine.  This could be as blunt as them being mean to a servant, or dismissive of plights of people they think of as ‘beneath them’, but it can also be more subtle than them.  The villain could be trying too hard to appear kind to the players, such as by offering favors and help should the players ever need this.  This approach is particularly devious, as your players will never turn down a favor from someone who seems powerful (especially if it seems like going to them is what you intend for them to do in teh future).  In this way, you create a situation where the players learn of a plot by the villain without knowing who it is yet, and thus delivering their involvement directly to the villain themselves.

3. The Old Evil

Some villains have a history of being a villain.  They enact schemes meant to disrupt life for good folk and cause disorder wherever they go.  They may also be a great, roaming beast that’s awoken from a thousand year slumber that the players will need to assemble help against.  Regardless of your particular brand of ‘ancient, terrible evil’, you can be certain to evoke an entirely different atmosphere when you introduce this villain through a story reminiscent of the Boogey Man.

Of course, how you reach the ‘ghost story introduction’ of your villain is important as well.  Show the players the effects of the villain first, such as a village in ruins at the hands of their methods, or if the villain isn’t meant to pay off until much later, put the players IN the event that terrorizes a village/city/kingdom.

In Conclusion...

Regardless of how you choose to introduce the villain, and there are obviously more than the three I gave you to get started with, remember that your villain is unique.  Two different villains with the same introduction should play out differently, sometimes even drastically so.  A cocky, arrogant noble is going to be blithely charismatic, whereas a cold, uncaring sociopath who cares nothing for his people will likewise be a stalwart and serious individual.

The Villain’s Lackeys

This applies to every villain, even ones without ‘actual’ lackeys.  I know that may seem strange, but we’ll get that particular type of villain in a moment...

For starters, consult your villain’s MSMA.  Their station as a crime lord is going to put the criminal element front and center as far as lackeys is concerned.  In contrast, a warlock may have deep sea monstrosities, wicked fae, or terrible fiends at their disposal.  A crime lord who’s also a warlock might have both.  

How do you handle that situation, though?  Typically, the beings of a patron’s background (in the case of a warlock) are of a higher power level than commonplace thugs.  In this scenario, your crime boss might employ a wide variety of thugs, bandits, and the like, and have a single, somewhat powerful fiend/fey/eldritch horror as a sort of ‘mid-boss’ to the adventure.

Some villains don’t really have minions, but may live in places that are simply fraught with danger.  A Behir lives in a secluded cave, one that’s particularly hard to reach, and could have any arrangement mountain monsters between the players and itself.  This could be a contingent of trolls, or a group of stone giants.  It’s important to understand these aren’t true lackeys, of course.  In the instance of a villain like this, the players will be able to sneak by whatever stands between them and their intended target, which can drastically alter the course and pacing of an adventure.

More significant villains are going to employ a greater variety of minions, including other villains!  Keep this in mind when you have two greater villains operating in a similar realm, as a ‘mid-boss’ type, lesser villain can be the thread that ties the two together.

Other villains have far less complicated lackey situations, but ones that should still be heavily considered.  Liches and necromancers, for instance, will employ the undead.  It’s important to know a lot about undead minions when you select what they command, though.  Some liches may have apprentices who weren’t quite up to the task of achieving lichdom themselves, which would create a Boneclaw.  Other liches might have a Cadaver Collector employed, which suggests that they are mechanically inclined, a fact that can be reflected in their lair and the traps they employ later.  Finally, a particularly sadistic and wicked lich may be host to a Devourer, suggesting a connection to the Demon Lord of Undeath Orcus himself!  

A villain’s lackeys tell a story about the villain themselves, as well as what they do and what they might become.  In that vein, we move on to...

Evolution

This section will be short, but it’s important.  It does not apply to minor villains, as they are meant to come and go in a short period of time.  Moderate and major villains, however, can be the focus of multiple adventures.  Their schemes, as well as their defeats, can shape how they present in the later segments of an adventure.

A villain who succeeds in stealing a powerful object may acquire new abilities, or perhaps that same villain kidnaps a renowned tinker and adds mechanical wonders to its list of lackeys.  

On the contrary, a villain who is defeated may set itself up to better counter the players’ own abilities, or retreat to a place where it is more powerful.

This can happen in reverse, as well.  Players may simply find a villain becomes more nuanced and dangerous as they grow closer.  The tactics used to achieve victory may prove less effective as time goes on, or they could reach a point where they need to evolve by finding outside help.

Whatever the case, always be mindful of how the successes and failures of your villain are going to shape their actions.  It keeps things from becoming stale, and empowers the notion that the players are fighting a specific character, and not just ‘whatever the DM throws at them that session’.

The Hill They Die On

Another short section, and the one we’ll conclude on.  There are scenarios where your players will kill a villain before you planned to have them die, and that’s fine.  

Applaud your players for pulling something like that off, whether it be because they were exceptionally clever, or your own inexperience made it possible.  It’s at this moment I’ll say something I may not have said yet: always be ready for the next adventure.  If your players pull off a surprise victory ahead of schedule, knowing what their next adventure is to be and letting them find their way to it will allow you time to finish the session without canceling too early.  This will then give you time to prepare assets and properly build the entirety of that next adventure.

Unexpected scenarios aside, your villain has a limit.  There is both a point in time when the villain must truly ‘lose’, and when your players will yearn for something new.  There are a few ways to do this, but what’s most important is to understand their motives.

A necromancer looking to learn about the undead will die on the hill of ‘backed into a corner with nowhere to go’.  It’s not significant, but a necromancer of that sort is not a significant villain.  A necromancer working tirelessly, maybe even selflessly, to use profane magics to resurrect a loved one will sooner die before let the players foil their plot, and that is the hill they die on.

Some villains will still try to escape after their plot is foiled, only to find they have nothing once truly beaten.  This villain may fade into obscurity, beaten but not dead, or that villain may develop a personal vendetta against the players.  That adventure finds the players as targets, with the villain pushed to their absolute limit as they attempt to assassinate the players in a murderous rage with no regard for their own well being.

Villains have an expiration date; a period of time where their involvement as the players’ main antagonist is interesting.  You can save them if you want, keep them alive to be used as a lackey to a greater villain, perhaps purely to strike at the players out of spite, but they are still no longer the main antagonist in that scenario.  

I end this post here, on this somewhat dour note, because you may feel particularly proud of a villain.  That’s great, be proud, and even keep that villain for later.  A villain in one campaign can come back in another as an undead, or a devil, or after some other grisly transformation, and when they do they’ll be interesting again.  What’s most important for now is that you say goodbye and congratulate your players when they triumph, and then get excited as you start the MSMA for the next villain they’ll love to hate.

#D&D #D&D 5e #D&D&EE #Dungeons and Dragons #Dungeon Master #Dungeon Master Tutorial #Dungeon Master Guide #Villains #DM #GM #BBEG #DM Tutorial #Campaign #Campaigns #Adventures

[beerecordings]

Those We Have Lost

Part 9 of My Brother’s Keeper. (Part 1 l Previous l Next)

My taglist is a separate post. This chapter and probably the next one or two will be really fast-paced and heavy, so I’m sorry about that. Hopefully they’re still enjoyable. There’s a lot of story I want to tell in just a couple chapters.

This is the first time I’ve really stressed about a chapter. I’m glad it’s done, I’m glad I’m happy with it, and I just hope you like it and that I’ve set up everything I need to set up so that I can tell this big dumb story.

Also... I’m sorry about this... lol

Here we are. We meet, we fight. My brothers know blood and battle and they always have. Jackie, I’ve missed you, Chase, do you know him?

They move up the stairs of the skeleton building together, with Chase behind Jackie.

“Chase,” says Jackie. “You've never actually met Anti, have you?”

Chase swallows. “No,” he says.

He's only ever been there in the aftermath, in blood and in grief.

“I know, though,” he says. “I know that he's dangerous. I get that.”

Jackie turns to him for a moment, with sorrowful eyes. “Okay,” he murmurs. “I really hope you do. I love you, okay?”

“I love you too, Jackie.”

“And we're going to be really careful because... is that him?”

They've stepped onto the third floor and there's a body at the end of the open room.

Chase grips at Jackie's shoulder.

Something giggles from the boards over the windows.

“There's Schneep,” Jackie whispers, staring at the body collapsed across the room. “You go get him. I've got your back.”

“Okay,” Chase whispers back, and curses his voice for shaking. He steps towards his fallen brother, and Anti strikes like a snake.

Jackie takes his first blow, a burst of electricity, right to the chest, and hisses through his teeth. He whips out his wood knuckles and strikes out at the glitching manifestation of his nemesis.

“It's been too long,” Anti hisses, and his image appears on Jackie's every side, crouching as though about to strike and holding a knife longer than his forearm. “I've missed you, Jackieboy!”

“Back off, Anti,” says Jackie, and slashes forward again, but Anti is already gone, standing on the stairs.

“Come on, Jackie, let's play tag!” he calls, laughing from all around him. “Or are the stairs too painful for you since I shattered your body into pieces and stab wounds?”

To be fair, yeah, the stairs will hurt like hell. But Chase hasn't wavered. He's sprinting towards Henrik, laid out on the other side of the room, and Jackie knows that the more time he can buy them and the farther away he can chase Anti, the more likely they are to escape. Nothing else matters.

He pushes his pain away, sucks in a deep breath, and takes off after Anti.

Howling with laughter, Anti glitches up the stairs, up the stairs, sitting on the railway, playing with his knife, reappearing, reappearing, reappearing. He's showing off and Jackie knows it. One of them is far more powerful than the other tonight, and Anti won't let him forget it.

“Come on!” he crows, spinning his knife about in one hand. “Come on, you false little hero! When was the last time the street-wise criminals and Londontown drug lords saw you? I'm so glad you've finally come out of hiding, big brother! I think you need a warm-up. Look out!”

His blade comes slamming through the air towards him and Jackie barely manages to throw himself out of the way instead of it shattering his collarbone. “Fucker,” he yells, and retaliates with a blast of his power – pure bright light.

Anti laughs manically as light burns painful at his eyes and tears into his impure and chaotic energy, falling back and reeling from the pain. He glitches again, retreating to the next floor, and summons a second knife as he waits for Jackie to join him.

“Now you're just being a dick,” Jackie snaps, panting at the top of the stairs.

“That really does hurt you, doesn't it?” purrs Anti, watching him try to straighten up. “The old wounds. I hope it's as humiliating as it is painful.”

“Yeah? I'd watch your mouth, cause I'm about to make you pay for it.”

Anti laughs and lets Jackie throw a pair of light beams, avoiding both with a quick glitch. “Oh, Jackie, I have missed you. I'm so tempted to dance with you the same way we did last time – to defeat you, destroy you, and then go after your darling baby brother.”

“But you hate going in circles, don't you?”

“Yes, precisely. And why settle? I've been planning something even better than my last triumph. Come on, Jackie, calm down for a moment. There's some things I think you should know.”

Jackie breathes hard, watching Anti with narrow eyes. They know each other well.

“Fine,” he says, his hands relaxing around his wood knuckles. “What?”

It's a cool night, and at this height, the crickets fade into a distant symphony. Cars pass occasionally and their light cuts through the boarded windows like water spraying up at the end of the ocean.

“I just want you to be here when Chase Brody dies,” says Anti.

Jackie grits his teeth hard. “Fuck you,” he says. “Fuck you. Forget my chest and my neck and my stupid fucking heart. If you try to go near Chase, I'll kill you one way or another, little brother.”

Anti laughs so hard his chest glitches into nothing but color. “Oh, darling, that is the fun part. I'm not going to kill Chase. I left my dog with him downstairs.”

“Your... what?”

“Sorry. I meant my brother.”

Jackie's heart misses a beat.

“You're lying. You haven't had enough time with Schneep to make him yours.”

Anti glitches, and for just a second, he is a black dog with barred teeth, and then he is Jack again. “Oh, Jackie, I'm not talking about Schneep.”

It can't be. It can't fucking be. His heart shivers.

“Marvin?” he whispers, though he can barely form the word.

For just a second, Anti shows his surprise.

“Marvin?” he repeats. “You still think...”

The wind chills Jackie's blood and bones.

“You still think Marvin's alive?”

He'd give the world to make Anti unsay those words.

“Oh, now, that is too funny.” He laughs like a hyena and it echoes and magnifies as he draws closer, flicking his knife from hand to hand. “You still think Marvin's alive! You still hope! You still wait for him!”

Jackie yells and darts forward, throwing punch after punch at Anti's face. Anti is quicker and more violent, but Jackie's always had the strength advantage, and he shoves Anti back until he glitches away and reappears on the other side of the room, his teeth bared.

“Poor Jackieboy,” he snarls, letting blood run out of his mouth and his eyes glaze black. “You've always been so fucking deluded. But don't worry, my darling. I'll tell you what happened that night, when Jack slept, and Henrik was mine, and Marvin died alone.”

Jackie's breathing is choking him up. He's just going to ignore him. He's just going to ignore him, put his hands up, and fucking swing.

Hit, miss, miss, Anti catches his wrists and drives him back, his knife catching on Jackie's knuckles. Jackie burns him blind with light, but Anti just closes his eyes and swings forward, unfearing and careless. Pain means little to him and violence is his world, and Jackie is forced back, only managing one more good blow before they catch each other's wrists. Together they stumble back, two great forces locked together, but the moon is high and the sun is missing, and Jackie trips up first.

“You've been wondering for so long,” says Anti, slamming Jackie's head against the wall again, and again, until he screams for the pain and slumps in the demon's arms. “Let me tell you, big brother, what happened that wonderful night. I defeated you, destroyed you, left you splayed on the ground like a rabbit dropped from the mouth of a vulture, your pathetic body shattered into different layers of agony and bone dust. You failed to protect him. He should have known then that the fight was lost, but he always did take after you when it comes to stupidity. I came for Jack. Marvin was there. He cried for you, but you didn't come.”

“You son of a bitch!” Jackie screams, shoving at Anti's glitching arms. He summons light to make Anti burn, but the demon just tightens his grip on his throat and continues, his eyes blazing blue and green and his wicked teeth curved in a smile full of hatred and euphoria.

“He tried so hard to put up a good fight! He threw all the magic he'd been granted at me and moved between dimensions like a mouse moves through the walls of your house. Tiny, skittering little pest! But I caught him by the hair and dragged him down, and he wept for you, and promised me that you would kill me, that Jack would never be mine, that I would never win. And then, Jackieboy, oh, then... you wouldn't believe, couldn't understand how wonderful...”

Anti leans in close and sighs. Jackie shivers and waits, held tight by his terror, by his desperation, by a long year of wondering, wondering, wondering.

“Oh!” says Anti. “To taste the thick flesh of his pulsing heart!”

Jackie screams so loud his throat tears.

He is a sun given humanity and he thrashes in Anti's arms, kicking, striking, struggling, though his back burns and his whole body wails its protest. He howls like an animal shot, like a dog trapped in a fighting ring. Marvin could be a ghost beside him – he can swear he feels the blue haze of his little brother's magic, sees the curve of his cool, loving smile, hears his dancing laughter become a cry of terror, of fear, a cry for Jackie to save him –

“No! Marvin! No!”

“Does that hurt? Is it bad? Come on, Jackie, get up. Where's your fight gone, big brother? Where's your fight gone? Fuck, you're so weak. I should have made you watch as I killed him and left his corpse splayed over you as you bled. And now my little Jameson is going to slaughter your Chaser and give me his heart. Will you grieve, Jackie? Or will you just die?”

Jameson?

The world stills. Tears weep down his cheeks.

And instead of blue magic, Jackie sees the uncolored flicker of an old movie screen, feels brass in his hands, hears the steady ticking of a clock, watches the little one's warm eyes smile up at him, smiles back at him, feels his heart beat calm beneath his hands –

That is when a gunshot sounds.

Anti howls his triumph, filling the whole room up with glitches and wild ferocious energy. Jackie screams fear. And Chase, staring in horror at Jameson Jackson stood before him, clutches at the bullet lodged deeply in his chest, and crumples, soundless, to the ground.

Terror, grief, and love all burning together make Jackie powerful. Beneath Anti's hands, he glows and struggles, his body filling up with heat and light.

“So you do have some power left,” Anti smiles, pressing down hard on his throat and letting his fingers burn. “Maybe even enough to send me away. But, mo deartháir, it won't be enough to save him. It's never been enough to save any of them.”

Jackie screams.

Lashes out.

For a moment, it is like his whole body has vanished from the earth, and he is only light, white and ethereal, floating painless above the earth. Jackie senses the beating hearts of his brothers, the raw hatred that makes Anti whole, and, downstairs, another little soul he does not know, one full of pain, fury, confusion, and a regret so deep his heart threatens to shatter.

The room fills up with light, and Anti shatters into pixels. Jackie watches as he heaves up a mouthful of blood, laughs for joy and for agony, and disappears as though he never existed.

“I didn't mean to,” says Jameson Jackson.

His hands are full of blood. Chase Brody does not move.

“I didn't mean to,” says Jameson, but the damage is done.

#okay im deleting some of my tags on this cause i think they might be the reason this isn't showing up in tag #antisepticeye #chase brody #jackieboyman #bee writes #my brother's keeper #jameson jackson

[mycasandstarrs]

SPN 10x05: “Fan Fiction”

As a former theatre kid, this episode brings me so much joy.

“Ghost? Meet Winchester.”

There’s our girl!

“Where is the Samulet?”

“Oh! I took it off. It kept hitting me in the lips, and...”

“That amulet is the symbol of the Winchesters' brotherly love!”

!!!

“There is too much drama in the drama department.” Well...yeah.

“Why couldn't they just do ‘Godspell’ like good little skanks ? Instead it's this... awful, unbelievable horror story. Hmm! Like that stuff really happens! Huh, theater is about life, you know? Truth! Truth! Where is the truth in ‘Supernatural’?”

What the fuck kind of teacher is this??

I had a theater teacher who told us theatre was magic. I think she would’ve liked Marie’s play about Supernatural.

There she goes.

“I mean, it's close, but it's just.... It needs a little more grrrr!”

Our very special title card.

“Sundown” by Gordon Lightfoot

Our beautiful Baby.

Dean awake before Sam? A shocker.

“A teacher in an all girls school went missing in Flint, Michigan. She was heading to her car, disappeared, and nobody's seen her since.”

“Dean, there's nothing here that even remotely suggest there is a case.”

“There is nothing that even remotely suggest there isn't a case. Boom!”  

Logic!

Hell yes!

Thank you, thank you, thank you Robbie Thompson.

“Ugh, theater kids. Great.”  

“What? I was a theater kid.”

“Barely. You did ‘Our Town’, which was cool. But then, you did that crappy musical.”

“The - ‘Oklahoma’? Hugh Jackman got cast off of ‘Oklahoma’.”

“You ran tech, Wolverine.”

Hey, Techies are just as important as the actors.

They missed the huge banner advertising the show??

hahahaha, their faces are hilarious. Granted, if I found out someone made a musical about my life, I’d be speechless too.

“If there is case... It probably has something to do with all of this.” It has everything to do with it.

Marie, writer/director, and Maeve, the stage manager. (Fun fact: I was a stage manager once! Lots of fun, work, and telling people to shut up and pay attention.)

“I'm Special Agent Smith. This is my partner, Special Agent -”

“Smith.”

“Smith. No relation.”

Again with the joke.

There’s plenty of singing in Supernatural, mostly from you, Dean.

“If there was singing, it would be classic rock. Not this Andrew Floyd Webber crap -”

“Andrew Lloyd Webber.”

Love the improv correction.

Don’t shoot down “Carry on Wayward Son”, Sam.

I also had a theater teacher who went through a divorce.

“Maeve, right? You're the stage manager?”

“And I understudy Jody Mills.”

Maeve would make a great Jody!

“I'm gonna throw up.” Shush, Dean.

“I mean, I gotta say, it's kind of charming. The production value, and the...” I love Sam’s sincere interest tho.

Rule #1: You never touch the props.

“Why are they standing so close together?”

“Um...Reasons.”

“You know they're brothers, right?”

“Well, duh! But... Subtext.”

We gotta address that.

“You know, back when I did tech in school, we had two CD decks-”

“I'm sorry, I have to go sign the delivery.”

Aww Sam! I would love to hear his theater stories.

Pfft, Sam.

“There's no space in Supernatural.” We got close to it...

“Chuck stopped writing after ‘Swan Song’. I just- I couldn't leave it the way that it was! I mean, Dean not hunting anymore, living with Lisa?! Sam, somehow back from Hell, but not with Dean?! So, I wrote my own ending.” I don’t blame her.

“Dean becomes a woman.” Would still wanna see that happen in an episode.

“So, Sam came back from Hell. But without a soul. Then, Cas brought in a bunch of Leviathans from Purgatory. They lost Bobby. And then, Cas and Dean got stuck in Purgatory, Sam hit a dog. They met a prophet named Kevin, they lost him too. Then Sam endured a series of trials, in an attempt to close the gates of Hell. Which nearly cost him his life. Then Dean? Dean became a demon. Knight of Hell, actually.”

S6-9 summary, courtesy of Dean.

Here comes the second hand embarrassment.

“That is some of the worst fan fiction that I've ever heard ! I mean, seriously, I don't know where your friend found this garbage!” Oof, I still don’t like that.

“Siobhan and Kristen are a couple in real life. Although, we do explore the nature of Destiel in act two.”

“Sorry, what?”

“Oh, it's just subtext ! But, then again, you know, you can't spell subtext without.... s-e-x.”

!!!!!

Hi, Jensen.

“I don’t understand.”

“Me either.”

“I mean, shouldn't it be... Deastiel?”

LMAO SAM.

“You know... How about Sastiel? Samstiel?”

“Ok, alright. You know what? You're gonna do that thing, where you just shut the hell up. Forever.”

Teasing brother, Sam.

“This whole musical thing, everything, it's... It's all a coincidence? There is no case?” When is it ever just a coincidence?

“Get in the car!”  

!!!!!!!

BUT HE NEVER DENIED IT THOO, that’s all i’m saying.

“You know, we should've done ‘The Outsiders’, like I told you.”

Maggie’s the second person to get kidnapped.

“I called the cops, and a bunch of adults just told me I have an overactive imagination.” :(

“It is all real. And so are we. I'm Sam Winchester. That's Dean.” NO NO NO.

“You guys are way too old to be Sam or Dean.”

“Oh, yeah!”

“More of a Bobby/Rufus combo? Maybe.”

How old do they think Sam and Dean should be???

“We are what the books called hunters.” They believe that.

First guess: a tulpa.

“How do you kill an idea?”  

“Well, in ‘Hell House’, Sam and Dean burnt the house down, to take out the one tulpa they hunted.”

Correct!

“Gird your loins. It's horrifying.” Umm...okay.

I love how reluctant Marie was to burn her prop.

“What?”

“It’s not a tulpa.”

“Say it one more time, but just a little bit more Arnold--”  

LMAO, Dean.

Calliope.

“According to the lore, Calliope manifests creatures from the story she's tuned into.”

The show must go on.

An understandable panic attack over the possibility of getting eaten.

“Is Marie gonna get eaten?” Shush.

I love when Dean calls people “champ”. It’s so sweet and endearing.

“If Sam and Dean were real, they wouldn't back down from a fight. Especially my sweet, brave, selfless Sam. There's nothing he can't do.” !!!

“I used this for my one-woman ‘Orphan Black’ show, last year.” Marie is the theater kid I would’ve lowkey wanted to be.

“Writer. Director. Actor. I'm gonna Barbra Streisand this bitch.” FUCK YES! KICK IT IN THE ASS!

Dean fixing Stage!Cas’ tie!!

Funny Sam asked for Chuck...

“Oh! I-I, I love him. I do! But honestly, the whole author introducing himself into the narrative thing, it's just not my favorite. I kind of hate the meta stories.” I politely disagree.

“Alright, listen up, girls. Now, you're all here, because you love ‘Supernatural’.”

“Actually, I was hoping we'd do ‘Wicked’.” 

“I want you to get out there, and I want you to stand as close as she wants you to, and I want you to put as much sub and add text, as you possibly can. There is no other road. No other way. No day, but today.”

“Did he just quote ‘Rent’?”

“Not enough to get us into trouble.”

“Ghooooost-facerssss!”  This episode just adds wonderful years to my lifespan.

You know what I would pay to watch this play in full???

“The Road So Far”

There it is.

The misunderstood thumbs up, lmao.

Sam goes bye bye.

Maggie and the teacher.

They were in the school’s basement.

Hello, Calliope.

“I’ll Just Wait Here Then”

Nothing makes me more emotional than seeing the audience fall in love Stage!Cas, much like we did with our real Cas.

“If I have to sit through that second act, one more time... There's robots, and tentacles, and space. I can't even.” lol

“A Single Man Tear”

That exorcism special effect is so wonderful! I can see how they do it now, but from the audience’s POV, it’s absolutely magical.

What the hell did the audience think Dean was doing??

“We're through the looking glass, here, people. Strike the wendigo set, let's prep the priests costumes. And Sarah? Get understudies into hair and makeup.” Maeve’s a A+ stage manager.

“Supernatural has everything. Life. Death. Resurrection. Redemption. But above all, family. All sorts of music you can really tap your toe to. It isn't some meandering piece of genre dreck. It's... epic!” Agreed.

Stage!Dean is a pro if she could keep singing with everything going on in the background.

lmao at the one guy putting on his poncho.

Original Stage!Sam knocks out Calliope.

Understudy!Sam kills the Scarecrow.

Sam kills Calliope. A trifecta of Sam Awesomeness.

RIP Calliope. Killed by Sam.

The audience must be wondering how they managed to do that for years.

“Take a bow, Sammy.” Take a bow too, Dean.

“Thanks for saving my friends.”

“Sure.”

“You know? If you'd cut your hair a little, you'd make a pretty good Dean.”

Aww.

“Dean? You never should've thrown this away.” YYYEEESSS

“It never really worked. And, I don't need a symbol to remind me how I feel about my brother, so...”

“Just take it. Jerk.”

“Bitch.”

I love Dean’s panic when he realizes he just called a teenage girl a “bitch” without meaning to, lmaoo.

Take it away Stage!Winchesters!

Let me tell you, I literally bursted into tears when they started singing “Carry On Wayward Son”. It’s beautifully done.

Starting with Stage!Mary, who is more or less Square 1 of the entire story.

i remember a lot of people being upset about Cas not being part of the family lineup at the end, and I get it. But if Marie was only going off of the first 5 seasons, it makes sense that she didn’t see Cas as family yet because Sam and Dean didn’t see Cas as family yet. They’re just one year shy of that.

BUT the same girl who plays Cas is on stage as Adam, a technical Winchester. You could say Cas took over Adam’s role as the third Winchester “brother” because canonically speaking, that’s the highest title Sam and Dean have given Cas.

“Who's that?”

“Oh, that's Adam. John Winchester's other kid. He's still trapped in the cage, in Hell. With Lucifer.”

lmaooo. Awkward.

“Don’t you cry no more.” I sing, while crying.

I wish he had kept the Samulet Part 2 on there.

A picture perfect ending.

...One last surprise.

“Oh my gosh! But wait... That means that- Calliope came for me or for-?” Did Marie know who he was?

I thought it was Cas...

I legit lost my goddamn mind when I saw him.

A perfect episode of Supernatural, in my most humble opinion.

#supernatural #spn summer rewatch #spn liveblog #spn 10x05 #fan fiction #our 200th episode :')

[jadedbirch]

ARTIST CLAIMS ARE NOW OPEN!

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1. Good ships scuttled on the deep

His fingers follow flecks of blood down to the point of his captain’s cheekbone. A thin pink scar, no wider than John’s fingernail, marks Flint’s pale skin. Flint’s eyes close completely. “I thought it was a welcome,” John says. Silver and Flint become lovers following the battle on Maroon Island. S4 AU with established silverflint relationship and some canon divergences.

2. Pray For The Wicked On The Weekend    John Silver spends his days in a faded green pickup truck filled with salt-loaded shotguns and silver and holy water on the back roads of the United Stated hunting monsters and demons and things that go bump in the night, and he’s fine with it, because it’s the easiest way to forget what he’s lost. But there’s something coming, something that he can’t face alone. So where else would he turn but the best Hunter the US has ever seen. Even if no one has heard from James Flint since Thomas and Miranda Hamilton went missing.

3. patron saint of lost causes

It takes two weeks to get Flint off Skeleton Island. Or rather--it takes two weeks for the island to let them go. In which Skeleton Island is a living character and brings a host of nightmares through the mist which force Silver and Flint to confront the dangers of their minds. Featuring surreal dreamscape horror as Silver literally battles figures from his murky, unnamed past and Flint moving through a river of blood and ghosts until he and Silver finally meet in the middle. Influences include Guillermo Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth and The Devil's Backbone and Maria Luisa Bombal's work.

4. Let It All Unbreak You Post season four. Alone in taverns, at different points in time, Flint and Silver ponder what went wrong with their different relationships. They drink, remember and regret. They reflect upon the little they had together, and regret not making it work after the war with Madi or Thomas, while knowing very well that the very reason it all went wrong is that they had changed too much, had given each other too much, yet were not brave enough to admit it to each other when it was still time.

(Ships: Silverflint, flint x miranda x thomas, flint x thomas, silver x madi) (Angst, definitely not fix-it, no happy ending)

5. Pirate Sex is In Vogue

My fic is a modern AU primarily through email correspondence between Silver and Flint, although other mediums (such as texting and phoning) will be introduced as the story evolves. Silver is a crack erotica writer and Flint is the librarian who just wouldn't showcase his books at the Nassau Public Library, despite the insistence of the latter. They become unexpected virtual pen pals after Flint sends a heated rejection letter and grow closer through their correspondence, helping each other confront the inner demons of their personal lives. There will be polyamory, since Flint is involved with Thomas and Miranda by the time he and Silver fall in love.

6. Tell me we're dead and I'll love you even more

In the year 1725, or thereabouts, John Silver finds himself driven by a winter storm into an inconsequential little port town, barely a speck on any civilised map. Returned to the life of a drifter, tired and rough around the edges, he is resigned to waiting for the weather to pass before he can sail on again to the next town, and the next, and the next. That is until he overhears a conversation in the inn about a local fisherman, one Captain Barlow, and his tall tales of tempests and becalmings, devils and sharks, and Silver finds a new future opening up to him, haunted by the spectres of his past. Whether landed in this place by fortune, or fate, or even divine intervention, he finds he cannot leave again without following this trail that leads from an old and half-forgotten tether knotted deep between his ribs to somewhere that feels familiar and safe, like home. The way won’t be easy; it’s paved with notable absences and painful unspoken truths, and there’s as good a chance as any that he’ll find a knife to his throat before he can so much as say ‘Long time no see, Captain’. Still, all roads do seem to lead to them baring their souls to one another in the dark, and Silver would be lying if he said he hadn’t missed it.

7.  An Epilogue

After the events of Treasure Island, John finds James and Thomas. There’s a gradual awkward descent to domesticity when pirates retire. Madi brings Jim Hawkins with her from London. This is the ultimate fix it where there are no unanswered questions and everyone lives happily ever after. SilverFlint, SilverHamilton, SilverFlintHamilton, SilverMadi

8. Stealing Hearts

A 1920s AU with Flint as a mob boss, fighting a corrupt police force/police system, and Silver as a thief who gets caught up in all of it.  

9. Space Raiders of Nassau

The space station Nassau is in open rebellion against the interplanetary Imperial Alliance.  Captain James Flint is in deep shit for rearranging the face of a fellow raider captain.  As punishment, Nassau's leaders assign an inside man to his crew, with a very convincing cover story (that they're married). Complicating things further is the fact that Flint's shifty new husband, John Silver, knows a lot more than he's telling about their secret mission. Their own survival as well as Nassau’s future depend on how successfully they can navigate the dangerous skies… and each other.  

10. The Pirate Captain's Wedding Once he has his hands on the thief Flint is willing to do whatever it takes to get the page from him. And then Billy & Gates say marriage is the only solution left on the table. Or rather matelotage – the time honored pirate form of matrimony. Billy says it’s the only way to regain the crew’s trust, by marrying one of them, and Gates agrees. For once Flint’s desperate enough to agree to it. He never expects to actually fall in love with the little shit. Canon-Era Season1/Season2 AU– with angsty developing feelings, public consummation, & There Is Only One Bed night after hot sticky sweaty night. 11. The devil's gotta' earn

Supernatural AU. James Flint has been a hunter for over a decade now and he knows people join this profession for plenty of reasons and few of those are happy ones. Some people just seek the thrill, some want to protect the so called innocent, some - like him - are out for revenge and John Bloody Silver apparently is just trying to get rich. [Borrows mostly from first seasons of Supernatural, little to no prior knowledge of this show required. Miranda lives, Thomas tragically does not. Lots of angst, few monsters of the week and a demon or two.]

12. touch me James is a widow, bartender and owner of the gay-bar “The Rainbow“. After Thomas' death it had been John who had lift him up. One day one of his usual dancers - because what is a gay bar without your occasional striptease - can't perform. John offers to fill the space and James has to face that John is more than just a friend. Slow burn and StripperJohn!AU

13. Adamantine Flame Flint is a forest god called The Flame and Silver is part of the cult that worships him that resides on the fringes of the underworld. 14. [Title TBD] Silver never met another werewolf before. Well, realistically, he knew he must have because he wasn't born a werewolf so someone had to have done this to him. But that didn't count since his memory of the whole incident was lackluster at best. He knew others had to be out there somewhere though and he wanted to find at least one, just to know he wasn't all alone. Flint was surrounded by werewolves all his life. Always part of a family, always knowing someone cared for him. Knowing he had someone to care for. The memories were as vivid as ever, of a time when he cared for someone. But they were gone and he knew he was meant to be all alone. 15. set my soul on fire

Nothing quite like getting out of prison to make a man feel like pulling off the biggest heist you’ve ever heard of. But he can’t do it alone - he’s going to need some money, a plan, a crew, and of course, his partner. His incorrigible, oral fixation-having, blue-eyed devil of a partner. Who is this smooth, seasoned con man with his eyes on the prize? James fucking Flint, naturally. And his partner? John Silver.Viva Las Vegas, baby.

16. cat dad

Modern au. Flint's life is fine. It's quiet and it's fine and he's fine. Well, except that his upstairs neighbor is a dick and his relationship with Miranda is strained and maybe quiet isn't all it's cracked up to be. But then a one-eyed cat enters his life and with it one John Silver. Flint's not sure how he feels about that, but he's working on it. Plot includes cat shenanigans, cooking, fluff, and feelings. 

17. [Title TBD]

A post-canon rendition of the Silver and Flint reunion wherein rather than seeking each other out the two are brought back together by outside forces. There’s a wedge of sour history and new lives built between them but love and desire become hard to deny when every path you set out on to leave someone behind sends you hurdling straight back to them. Treasure Island divergent/ignorant, though I pull some things from TI including the bird. (Includes SilverMadi and FlintHamilton as side-pairings, warning for canon Black Sails side-character death.) 18. The Spark

it's a Girl Genius AU

That's it, that's the whole shtick. It's basically the plot of the show, but clockwork-punk with mad geniuses (of course Flint is one), Urca being chock full of Aztec tech a'la Mysterious Cities of Gold, and dr. Howell and colleagues taking medicine to some quite Frankenstein levels - convenient with so many characters who should know better than to fucking die.

Also John Silver might be a construct.  The prosthetics are not nearly as complicated as in treasure planet, but at least one person has a gun arm? dirigibles are "Supposed Not To Be Invented Yet", but not for the lack of trying. Silverflint revolves around having "The Spark" and personhood and is shaping up heavier than i intended... luckily they will have plenty of people to set them to rights - i'm aiming for a happy polyfamily forming in the background.

19. he’s funny that way

1920s Atlantic City. Everybody knows the only way to leave crime boss Eleanor Guthrie's business is through a funeral - either delivering the sermon or laid out in the casket. Still, Flint leaves anyway, because he likes to make his life as difficult as possible. Case in point: his new partner, the scruffy, irate, one-legged racketeer with a pretty mouth, a quick tongue, and a rye recipe even Pussyfoot Johnson wouldn't spit out. His new partner's making sure he's not joining the church and taking a celibacy vow anytime soon - but will anyone be able to save Flint from his early - or long overdue - grave?

20. Ship to Wreck 

"I don't know if you've noticed, Doctor," Silver snaps, incredulous, "But every moment the Captain is unconscious in that bed is another step away from five million fucking dollars. As if that weren't enough, we're locked in a ridiculous show of force with a madman who seems keen on blowing us sky high unless we concede to his demands; we've got a crowd of men up top losing their Goddamned minds because they've been promised a fight that we cannot presently even hope to deliver; and--" Silver pauses, exhaling hard. "Actually, you know what? There is no and.  I’d say that’s about enough shit to make us all a little tense, wouldn’t you agree?" "Hm," Howell says, mildly. A post 204 fic in which: Flint gets a fever, Silver has a panic attack, and Howell gets a migraine. Includes, among other things--Silver trying and failing at playing nurse; Silver trying and failing at controlling his feelings; Flint being dazed and delirious and soft; some singing, some yelling, and heavy doses of mutual pining. Love, obviously, turns out to be the best medicine. 21. More Than One Odysseus

Reunion fic, about two years after 4.10. Quite a lot of talking and a little of the following: fishing, sex, hunting, bathtubs, Jewish surnames, books, stories and Terra Australis. Canon-compliant, not TI-compliant. A few animals killed (for food, not sport).

22. Seedlings

"If there's anything I can help you with-- Or if you'd like to order flowers for an upcoming occasion--"

"All right, honestly?" Handsomely disgruntled customer looked Silver dead in the eye and said, "I'm looking for a gift that says, 'You are making a dreadful mistake, and you will regret these actions for the rest of your days. Call me when you've figured out what a fucking hash of things you've made.'" He spoke the way some people chewed tinfoil.

Silver felt two things: lust like a plague of locusts, and the words 'uh-oh' waft through his brain.

On the second anniversary of the worst day of his adult life, John Silver─temporary florist, burgeoning gardner, and former thief─meets James Flint. It is only love at first sight for one of them. (Or is it?)

23. The Curse of Aeaea

Inspired by the connection between Flint and Odysseus: Silver and Flint find themselves dealing with a very Circe-like situation. Once the curse affects Silver, they have to figure out a way to end it or be trapped on an island that’s not on any map.

(Animal Transformation, Body Horror, Poor Coping Mechanisms, Circe’s Curse, Odysseus, Post-Season 2, Pre-Season 3)

24. With Strange Aeons Months after the disappearance and presumed death of Captain Flint and Long John Silver, Max smuggles Jack and Anne to Oglethorpe’s plantation. Thomas learns that not only do the three of them have a friend in common, but he is not the only one whose dreams are haunted by a strange city and a terrifying name. Meanwhile, Flint and Silver try to escape an island trapped in time, impossibly built and impossibly old. Along the way they’re forced question reality, each other, and themselves.

And in his house in R’lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming. (Prior knowledge of Lovecraft is fun, but not required.)

#sfbb2018 #silverflint #art claims