The Exception

[noiproksa]

Title: The Exception (1/2)
Author: Noiproksa
Pairings: Dean&Cas (intended as gen, but can be read as preslash), Cas&Sam
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Summary: Dean says ‘yes’ to Cas.
No real spoilers for season 14, but inspired by 14x03 and my need for a Dean & Cas hug.
Word Count: 3200

I'm still relatively new to the fandom and trying to find out where all the cool kids are hanging out. Not livejournal, apparently, not AO3 (at least not in a feedback friendly way) and I'm not sure about tumblr. So I landed here, but not sure if anyone is still on here either. If you know where I could go, I'm open to suggestions. Is there even a fandom space where people are still talking to each other? Maybe it's just too hard for a newcomer to get a foot in the door in a fandom so huge?

Read it on AO3

Comments

[noiproksa]

:) Well, you can't help what you fall in love with (if I could, I'd go for a medium size fandom). Can't believe that it's been two months since I wrote that and nothing much has changed. I still *feel* new to SPN fandom, but strictly speaking I'm not a total newbie anymore. If you have any questions and my few months' experience can help, I'd be glad to give you some pointers, but as I said, I probably don't have many pointers to give. ;)

What I do nowadays is follow the Destiel and Castiel tag on tumblr, which means I know the relevant spoilers as to not be disappointed by episodes (for example if there is an episode ahead without Cas) and so that I know which episodes to look forward to (apparently, there'll be some sort of Destiel scene in 14x12).

Apart from that, I'm mostly on ao3. And I link to my fics from comms on livejournal and dreamwidth, although I suspect that that's in vain. Livejournal is dead anyway and whenever I link to fics from dreamwidth a day after posting, nothing new comes in, so... not sure why I'm still doing it.

In a fandom this huge, you just have to get good at scrolling by things that don't interest you. For every fic that's interesting to me, I have to scroll by 100 I'm not interested in. Oh, and on tumblr, I block a lot. Sometimes, anti-destiel people post under the destiel tag, so those get blocked right away, of course. And any tags I'm not interested in (for me, that would be for example wincest) get blocked, too.

Are you up to date or do you still have episodes left to watch? I'm always up for talking about Dean & Cas or Team Free Will (the original version).

[butterflydreaming]

I'm caught up! It's wild, I started S2 &everything after just this November. I think I've also seen every con panel video on YouTube. There's a certain degree of internal screaming but I think I'm still processing this new thing.

At least I'm not new to fandom in general, and some of my other loves were the kind fraught with fic in quantity over quality. I'm taking a break from Tumblr for a bit. I was lucky to be active with a community on LJ when that was a thing; it would be a marvel to have that kind of thing again, but the world has changed in 15 years.

Hey, just this interaction has been awesome, thanks for replying. I need to go read your fic! :)

[noiproksa]

I only joined the tumblr side of fandom recently for the spn fandom when I noticed that there's not much going on on lj and dreamwidth, and I have to admit that I feel very old because I think livejournal days were so much better. My last fandom was largely on livejournal and there was just such a nice sense of community. (But "Everything was better in the good old days" is a thing old people say, so I'm trying to adapt.)

What do you think of season 14 so far? I dig the Cas storyline and am looking forward to when Dean finds out about the deal, but I'm a bit worried about how that will play out. They're not gonna kill Cas off for good, right?
Were you disappointed that "our" Dean was back so quickly at the beginning of the season? I know lots of fans were, complaining that TPTB resolve possessed storylines too quickly, but I was actually happy about that because I was worried that it would take too long to get Dean scenes, so it was a nice surprise for me. I hope it will be the same after the winter hiatus.

Oh, and thanks again for your lovely comment on my fic. <3

[butterflydreaming]

I feel guilty about how when Michael has him, because I so love Jensen in dress up clothes and seeing him play a character that has none of Dean's baggage. But I think about how the character is being raked over the coals again and I just... suffer with him. Like, I was so happy at the thought of the boys retiring, of Dean actually thinking about that. It's not good for ratings or the show but it's good for my heart.

Narrative pacing-wise, I suspected something like the way it played out, with Michael taking him back, because the Michael possession was so short and abruptly ended. I'm not feeling Michael's Monsters, though, so I hope that's also a narrative distraction. I prefer the Empty as a higher level threat; being able to look like anybody has some of the feel of demon possession from early seasons. That leaves a lot of opportunity for various actors, too.

With J2 both wanting fewer work days so they can have more time with their kids, I can see the compromise of not just shorter seasons, but also less screen time. It would make sense to shift focus to Cas (Misha lives just over the border) and Jack. They have awesome chemistry. I'm thinking about how TPTB would steer series for longevity, and continuing the family theme but giving new viewers a young beauty with mountains of charisma refreshes the show, while giving us more of Cas would make up for all these years where he's hardly around.

So, in world at this point, all members of TFW 2.0 are heading to the Empty when they die, right? I mean, Billie being Death hasn't changed how she feels about that. Or has it? She has higher clearance now and knows more about the Winchesters importance in the cosmic balance.

[noiproksa]

I was waiting for Michael to take him back, too, but I suspected that he was still hiding inside of Dean, so I like the "real" solution better. And yeah, I agree that the Empty is a better antagonist. I'm really looking forward to that storyline. I'm also still waiting for the whole "almost no angels left/ Heaven needs angels" storyline they hinted at at the end of last season. But I'm not sure if that was just one possible avenue they decided against in the end.