The two new writers for the show.

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Do you guys have any particular non-Wincest strong brotherly bond recs I could pass along to a newbie?

ita, this is AU but it's what I rec to people looking for gen recs for Sam and Dean brotherly bonding stories: the Secure the Blessing 'verse by rahmi. Up Ahead (the roads were closed) is the sequel, and this is the first timestamp, the second timestamp, and the third timestamp (scroll down on the page just a bit).

It begins when Dean is killed during a fight with demons. In Sam's grief and desperation he wishes that John, Mary, and Dean live. That they know what "normal" is; that John never has to teach Dean how to be a soldier.... and that Sam is kept away from them because supernatural evil is always attracted to him and he doesn't want it to touch them any more. Of course wishes never go the way they should, and Dean wakes up in a 4 year-old body with most of his memories intact and starts demanding that they produce his Sammy immediately. (John and Mary really don't know what to do with a toddler suddenly declaring that they should be dead and speaking Latin and drawing Devil's Traps and pouring salt all over the place.) The wee-child part doesn't really take up much of the story, it moves on to adulthood and the boys reconnecting and proving that it doesn't matter where or when they are, their bond is so fierce they just can't be kept apart. Bonus rabidly protective Dean and powers!Sam.

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None of these are ones I recced. I don't even know if I've read them. Thanks. I will pass them on and read them myself. When I'm not on my phone I will share what I initially thought of.

Watched a bunch with bon tonight. Seven and a half eps. She's finally met Castiel. Whoo hoo!

Lots of thoughts I meant to note, but it is mostly men dying in the back half of s3. Really male skewed.

When we first meet Rufus, he hasn't spoken to Bobby in fifteen years. I guess the Winchesters get him back in the game.

Man, season 4. I'm having to justify Dean's ire a bit to bon, and I want to smack and hug Sam. Still hate Ruby. Always did.

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I kind of enjoyed Season 3 Ruby. Perhaps because when she was the network-mandated female costar of the week there was still a lot of calling the brothers idiots but not so much demonstrating that they actually were.

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I guess the Winchesters get him back in the game.

I think he was still in the game, just not playing well with others.

I can't figure out how they're getting out of that room. If Castiel was going to go nuclear, that should have happened in the episode -- a big boom of white light and a question mark would have been just as much a cliffhanger.

But Crowley's not coming back to save them, and the angel sword won't kill him, so. Pledging their fealty? I just can't imagine it, even to get away with their lives.

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I think he was still in the game, just not playing well with others.

I think they said he'd been out of it for 15 years.

Oh, and I think a BJ should get them some thinking time.

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But what about the work he'd done tracking down Bela?

Oh, and I think a BJ should get them some thinking time.

Fairly sure that will be kept to fic, but you never know ...

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That was what ended the fifteen years, if memory serves (it was a lot of teevee yesterday), Bobby reaching out to him to ask him to look out for Bela.

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I can't figure out how they're getting out of that room.

That's a damned good question. I also don't see them pledging fealty or playing along.

After putting my thinking cap on, here's a few thoughts as to how things could go.

• Castiel starts having difficulty processing the souls, and gets distracted long enough for the boys to skedaddle (plausible, but a wee bit anti-climactic)

• Someone or something else unknown zaps them away (been there, done that)

• It turns out that Jimmy is still in there somewhere, and distracts Castiel long enough for the boys to skedaddle (variation on the first idea, but with the nasty twist of Jimmy still being around)

• Death intervenes in some way (slightly out of left field, but only slightly)

• Gabriel isn't as dead as he seemed, and intervenes in some way (more out of left field)

• We know there are other deities out there - they're not happy with a new major player trying to take over the game

• Castiel, in an effort to show the boys that he's not a

bad deity, really he isn't, lets them go with a threat/warning

• Variation on the above, with a bit of the first thrown in: Cas has a short-lived crisis of conscience/return to his right mind, and tells the boys to run.

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Oooh, Death is a good possibility, although sort of unlikely. I guess Chuck could be one, too?

I would love to see the last happen, but I think that would be anticlimactic, too, really. I also think Cas has completely gone mad king, and I'm not sure what's left of his senses to get back.

The whole thing upsets me more than I thought it would. I love Castiel, and the scenes leading up to this where he was trying so hard to explain to Dean that he was doing what he thought was right, and that he was only asking for the same trust and faith he'd shown Dean are just heartbreaking now.

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