ita, what I meant in Dean Language is that Sam does not remember he's Sam. He behaves as Sam would, in that whatever makes up a core personality is still there, so he's still stubborn and curious and strong, but he doesn't remember being Dean's brother. So it's not incest for him.

On the other hand, which is where lcat confuses me, Dean tries to deny that this semi-comatose -- in the beginning -- being is Sam, but it looks like Sam, when he starts to speak again, he speaks like Sam, etc., so to him it's always wrong because to him this *is* Sam, even if he doesn't remember being brothers.

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That just makes me go: Oh, Dean! I can imagine that would be entirely gutting, and not for me. Which makes me think about an incest article I read on Gawker today, and genetic sexual attraction. But still not a thing for me in my fic.

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Ooh, I'll read that, thanks.

Also, you have email about the other, since I didn't want to go into detail here.

And Dead Language has a surprisingly satisfying ending. I didn't feel at all cheated, in other words -- everything that happened felt not only earned but natural. I think what happened to Sam with Lucifer, if he did survive it, would cause enormous trauma, so it sort of struck me as something I wondered why I'd never seen before.

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Amy, for Dead Language, what I was drawing from was

the point in the story where Dean was in the snow with a broken leg and Sam stood on the porch - Dean realized that the person he saved wasn't Sam because Sam would have helped him

and then again

when Dean learned that all of the memories were faked, he mourned the loss of his brother again

so, as the story progressed,

it seemed that Dean accepted this Sam as a person separate from his brother Sam

It was such a compelling story with complex characters that I think there are a number of ways to interpret the resolution and I guess I haven't really settled on one yet.

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It is complex! Which is part of why it's so good. And I agree -- I think you could interpret Dean's perspective the way you did.

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I finally managed to read the two stories ita linked yesterday (the cute story and its angsty remix) and I don't think the remix hit me the same way it hit you. (Except maybe Amy, who said:

Especially the end! That ... really came out of nowhere.

Because I can see that maybe I wasn't in the correct frame of mind while I read the story, but what I took from it was Sam was deeply unhappy and had seen nothing but unsuccessful relationships his entire life. For the past year or so he'd been watching Dean continue to fuck his way through the hunter community, which was devastating Castiel. Despite the fact that both Sam and Dean had told Castiel that that was precisely how Dean was going to behave. So Castiel was unhappy, Dean got exactly what he wanted but he was unhappy too, and Sam was depressed watching them be unhappy. So somehow the sum total of all of Dean and Castiel's dysfunction convinced Sam to say yes to Lucifer? I just kept staring at the screen thinking why? It didn't make any kind of sense to me. One thing didn't connect at all to the other. I'm willing to accept that I may have missed some kind of nuance, but as it is the story was effective for me up until the last line.

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I think the transition was Ruby and Lucifer presenting himself as Ruby. Oh, and their father. I think Sam gave up on himself and his family.

Yes, that's a very big step to take, it involving more than just the three of you. So while Dean was living a self-fulfilling prophecy and Castiel should have known what was coming, I think Sam figured there was no helping him. It was a bit of a jump, but I didn't think it was as huge as you did. Major depressive episode.

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That's exactly what I was thinking, Morgana. I wasn't connecting the dots, and I think it was because she didn't set that up well enough from the start.

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zombie fic, D/C (haven't read it yet) [link] "Last One Out Hits the Lights"

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This fic is so WRONG! [link]

"The Angelic Guide to Dream Interpretation"

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