For Many Television Shows Centered Around Evolving Relationships, Romance Tends To Be The Default Focus

The Witch King's very bad day continues.

Dean Winchester

3.03 Bad Day At Black Rock

Amends

I don't usually dip my toe in the drama pool. At least not too deeply. But what's going on in fandom this week, the revelations, were extreme. The people who have come forward... they were in a cult. I am not being overdramatic about this. Gamifying harassment, forcing disconnections like Scientology, needing everyone to observe the same talking points or risk ostracism, leadership using it for money, criminal behavior towards those The Guru has deemed the Out-Group including members who don't conform heavily enough... That's a cult. The internet has made cult behavior REALLY easy. Likes and engagement make you suddenly aware of which direction your circle is leaning. If you agree, YOU TOO GET POINTS. You too will experience that sense of belonging, and that's what it's all about. So if your circle is being outright mean... if you don't want to be cast off as "not one of them"... maybe you say the mean thing too, even if it's a lie, even if you're not really sure why you're saying it. That approval feels SUPER GOOD and is addictive. And your circle amps each other up, gets meaner and meaner. The only people who stay in the in-group are those who don't speak up about the bad behavior and are willing to keep going along with it. Those aren't friendships. It's a pack of hungry carnivores. It's the same behaviors police gangs use on cops who speak up. I do have some sympathy, especially for the younger people who were still forming their identities. They were victims of indoctrination and criminal harassment. That said, they have to own their own behavior. I hope they learn and grow. They're going to have to have some self-reflection on what they've done, the lies told, the hate, the virulent -isms that were expressed, and literal crimes that were performed in the name of fitting in and winning some points with the clique. They're also going to have to reassess who their out-group is, why they even NEED an out-group over fandom things, and if there are still people in their schema who they have an impulse to hate for no reason.... because of a ship or actor preference. They're going to have to question all the lies they were told and if they are still holding onto hate based on that. That's hard if they aren't even sure what the lies were. It's going to be a process for them. We should give people the space and grace to get better. To deprogram themselves. But this does not mean there needs to be automatic forgiveness. Nobody needs to like anyone. But nobody needs to hate anyone either. Maybe the middle ground is we can grow some indifference or the ability to say, "I'm letting it go, this person is in progress, I can't control their journey, the ball is in their court."

If you were behaving badly, you've earned the suspicion of the people you hurt. A few of you are expressing amends, which is wonderful. But part of the thing with making amends is that you don't get to control the outcome. You make a genuine apology for EXACTLY what you've done, you own your part in it, and you don't make excuses... and from there, people may accept what you've said and they may not. They may forgive you immediately, they may take time, they may never forgive you. You have to learn to be good with that. It can be uncomfortable, to feel disliked, ESPECIALLY if the reason you got into the cult was because of that sense of belonging. Your impulse may be to keep giving explanations of how the group influenced you, to distance yourself. You may tell yourself, "I'm not that person, this isn't really me, it was the group." You want to be seen as CHANGED - virginal and new because you made the hard choice to finally leave the cult. ...It isn't that easy. You want the space and grace and you should get that. But guess what? You need to give that to others, too. You need to understand that people have real reasons to distrust you if you were exhibiting cruelty. And part of doing the work to make amends is the actual work. If you're serious about it, it means a lot of difficult self-reflection. You need to take an unflinching look at WHY you could ignore or participate in racism and lord knows plenty of other -isms, why outright defamation and death threats to actors and other fans were okay, why doxing people and trying to get them fired was seen as fair game, why trying to make someone feel hated and terrible about themselves was your impulse, why you were giggling and congratulating yourself for leaning into your worst impulses...until the group turned on you. Because that's the truth of the situation. You now have that self-knowledge of what you're willing to participate in. The question now is what are you going to do with that? I hope it includes therapy and I don't mean that glibly. I think it's possible there are some internet addictions going on where people crave the rush of getting Likes and engagement... and ragefarming is the best way to get engagement. If that's true... it will be EXTREMELY easy to move from the space of performing FOR the cult to performing AGAINST them, so that you can maintain your hit of Likes. And that is just sitting in the same behaviors. But if you're serious about getting better, if you're serious about being honest with yourself, you're going to need to fight against those inclinations. Please ask yourselves if you truly feel your apologies and want to change...or if maybe some part of you is just posting your attempt at amends because you want to fit in with those leaving or because you're craving that approval. Leaving is great! But are you getting the same psychological hit from your posts now? Are you trying to collect a new group that will lovebomb you because you're seeking self-esteem and miss the people who used to give it to you? I'm not saying this in judgment, I'm saying it because many people go from one cult or MLM to another, seeking that same sense of belonging. That's not my wish for you.

To the people on the other side of this... I'm not saying not to speak up if you see people slipping or people whose apologies are revealed as false words. I'm not trying to tone police people getting angry. There have been real reasons to be angry. HOWEVER... please be aware that if we want people to actually learn and grow we need to give them room to do that. There's nothing wrong with a really direct "This is really shitty and unkind behavior." Going scorched earth every time isn't the way. Is it our responsibility to motivate them to change, is it on us? Absolutely not. But are our actions going to unintentionally make them more likely to try and find a gang again because they're feeling defensive? If we also truly want to make things better, we have to ask ourselves what our goal is. Do we just want to give a tongue-lashing because we're angry? We might. And that can be justified sometimes in life. But cornered people don't often make great decisions. If what we want out of this is for people to be less terrible - there are ways to call people in and out, firmly and not sugarcoated, while still not going on the attack.

To the people who finally spoke up, you should be proud of yourselves for that. You took the first step. I hope you keep walking forward.

If you actually read to here... holy crap, I apologize. Many, many words, but I wanted to put them all down somewhere instead of continuing to overthink it at 3:30am. I do want to say... this is just my perspective. If it came off as trying to tell you how to do or feel, or like I think I'm perfect? Nah, kids. I'm a fallible screw-up, too, who is often "cringe," as the children say. We can all work on ourselves. At least that's the hope. If we're open to it.

Anyway. Love y'all, TGC

Gencest Fic Rec

Mostly oneshots because that's what I tend to read.

A Big Fake Hunter Wedding by Alyndra: humor/crack, case fic in which Sam and Dean get platonically married

acta non verba by laertez: 13x22 episode tag, Dean cleans the blood off Sam

a few things worth saying by hathfrozen: S10 AU, queerplatonic Sam and Dean, platonic kissing

An Irrevocable Condition by remy (iamremy): 4x21 CD, Dean doesn't leave Sam alone in the panic room

a hopeless violence [i named it love] by kanicro: S9 AU, instead of having an angel possess Sam, Dean gives him demon blood to save him

Aleph by story_monger: S4 AU, by the time the angels get Dean out of hell, he's already a demon.

And All She Saw Was Love by stillwaters01: S7 CD, death fic

Brother's Blood by diana_lucifera, stormageddon: Pilot AU, Dean is the one going missing on a hunt so John get Sam from Stanford | first part of a series, future parts wincest slow burn but this one is gen

cat crazed by altered: vaguely late seasons, Sam turns into a catboy, schmoop

Disney Princess Hair by Dyed_Red: Sam gets hit with a sleeping beauty curse, fluff

From me to you by EternalSheWolf: the epic love story of Sam and Dean in snapshots

Ghost in the Machine by phoenixflight: 15x20 coda, Dean sticks around as ghost until Sam burns his body

golgotha by redskyatmorning: S14 CD, Sam becomes the boyking to save Dean from Michael

Growing Darkness Taking Dawn by lightning and a lightning bug (spoons): S4, angst, hurt Sam

happier by altered: S10 AU, with a demon Dean who is obsessed with Sam

if you bite it, you own it by altered: weirdcest, non-sexual kink (biting)

it's not somebody who's seen the light by The_Bookkeeper: AU, Dean is the one with demon blood

I would like to watch you, sleeping by redmyeyes: S1, Dean watches Sam

Less Than Dirt. by ulexite: pre-series + S1, CD, case fic

Marked for Death by aceofhearts61, juba (jubah): post 15x19, Amara sends Sam and Dean on a trip of sorts to resolve their issues

Morning As They Come Down by kirathehyrulian, scippy: post 15x19, fluff

One Question Less by stardust_made: 8x23 coda

patchwork scars by altered: weirdcest, non-sexual kink (biting, painplay)

peace and unquiet by altered: weirdcest, non-sexual kink (hair pulling)

Premonition by cherie_morte: post 15x19, case fic

romeo and juliet are together in eternity (we can be like them) by saintsamantha: vaguely season 2, transfem Sam

so let it out and let it in by nowhere_blake: 12x02 coda, Mary POV

Sounds Like Truth and Feels Like Courage by sprinkles888: late seasons, queerplatonic Sam and Dean | Sam discovers the MoL found a way to utilize soul magic, platonic cuddling ensues amongst other things

stargazing by allforsammy: 8x23 coda, voicemail fix-it

stone number one by iamremy: 15x17 coda

with my pulse on your lips by altered: S10 AU, the demon!Dean we deserved, feeding Sam his blood

I LOVE YOU BEE! I LOVE YOUR SUPERNATURAL FANART!!!

Please delete if you aren't interested but would you take prompts 😬 Dean is a very protective older brother and i vaguely remember an episode where he goes apeshit when sam is bullied back when they were kids (and then something similar happens in that episode). Dean is so so angry and sam is just like <i am baby 🥺> and they are very cute 😩😭

You continue to light my dash AND LIFE with just your existence thank you thank you thank you 😘😘😘

My dear @l0vegl0wsinthedark !!! Sorry it took me months to answer but I just couldn‘t think of a good scenario! Hope you enjoy this one ✨🌻

Thanks for sticking with me through the years and fandoms 🫶

On this note: Thank all of you, who send nice asks and messages and reblog my stuff with hilarious and relatable tags I really appreciate every single one 💚 (super sorry I’m so slow at answering) but I hope I can brighten some days from time to time as much as your support brightens mine on a regular basis!

Have a fantastic week guys 💚🌻

Such fluffy hair!

Thomas Kinkade’s Christmas Cottage (2008)

kids these days don't understand the atmosphere of eric kripke seasons, he was an absolute master of his craft/vision and anyone who actively convinces anyone to skip 1-3 is not in one's right mind. eric completely understood the backwoods old school americana, the influence of 70s rock and og blues incorporated into the essence of the show. the original soundtrack of supernatural wasn't just about sounding good but woven into the narrative of the story (blue oyster cult/ACDC/led zepp/styx/robert johnson/the chamber brothers) music that held the entire spirit of time & culture of that time. (I can't tell you how much watching supernatural at 12 shaped my music taste today) the smoky roadhouses/bars, mullets, scrapyards and classic americana cars, oh he just got it.

kripke fabricated the toxic hyper-co-dependent brothers we know and love, he managed to write the most obnoxious, gung ho, red blooded masculine guy also be the obedient, subdued, desperate, needy brother/son/man who's worth is only attached in those he can gratify. the tender and gentle, sorrowful, conflicted and misfit little (big) brother who endeavoured every path to avoid his fate yet succumbed to it anyways. two brothers so layered in their attachment with one another that if you witnessed it before you you'd be down right scared

I hold onto this series so much because of how 1-5 made me feel, the nostalgia he captured.

Jensen Ackles as Russell Shaw Tracker (2024) | 1.12 – “Off The Books”

Jensen Ackles| Flaunt Magazine 2006