In general, I am leery of things that call themselves poetry amongst the throngs of fanwork, because there's rarely any way for them to satisfy me if they aren't good, because there's so little room to play with. But, on a D/C tip, I don't get why one is a poem and one a list, but here's Dean: [link] and here's Cas: [link]

The 23 ep thing, I...I am just slacking, clearly.

I don't care if it's an AU. Why are Castiel's hips swaying so much? He has boy hips, and you have to work extra to sway them, and HOW IS THAT IN CHARACTER?

I swear, I have really specific rules for feminisation, and clearly no one else can be trusted to do it right. If you explain you draw Cas like that because he's an engel without pre-existing requirements of gender, that doesn't explain why he has a wasp waist and he's so pigeon-toed. That is not a wardrobe choice.

Does Dean get femmed up a lot in Wincest? It seems that if D/C makes someone alpha/dominant/man-shaped it's Dean, leaving Misha playing a Cas that's very short, wide-hipped, demure, apple-cheeked and subordinate. But without playing those like it's a cool exploration, more like that's how they're seen--clearly AUs hinge on something being different, but there's an impression of what they are changing versus how they have the character imprinted.

There seem to be two sides in Wincest -- one that believes Sam tops, and the other believes Dean does. Neither of them are really feminized, that I've seen, but I don't read stuff that seems really out of character at the start.

Since I'm consuming fic right now by just seeing what turns up for the pairing on AO3, I bump into a lot of summaries. And then there's the art--I'd say a subordinate Dean is less than one in five in fic, and feminised Dean (over Cas) very rare in the art that I bump into.

I keep forgetting that people a) care who tops or b) some people insist it's related to personality.

There are good stories where that's not an aspect of their relationship, though, and the whole thing is very equitable and flexible.

There aren't enough good stories for me, so I need to find fic that doesn't make me want to put a fist through anything. I stopped trolling FF.NET, because I love English, and just fell out of checking LJ for anything, but the space inbetween the stories or authors I've subscribed to...yeah, I need more.

I got my fic for the Ruby bang! I like it--it's not going to win me over to Ruby fic, but it's similar to my first bang and the Gabriel story--she interprets canon the way I do (whew!) and it's a story that's sympathetic to the character without ignoring the facts--I think a Ruby that's focussed on opening all the seals, but likes Sam and wants him to like her (as Lucifer rules the world) is working for me. It's basically the story from her possessing the final body to Dean coming back.

That does sound good.

I've been reading some old favorites in lean times, but I also get more variety than you do because I'll read RPF, too. On the other hand, I'm also reading more books lately, which I've actually been enjoying, so if there's no good fic one night, I usually read one of the books instead.

Does Dean get femmed up a lot in Wincest?

I read Wincest almost exclusively and the only times I've ever seen Dean get femmed up were when it was done deliberately as a kink (as in times he dresses in women's underwear, or some such, for those in the mood to read kink). The issue of topping doesn't have anything to do with it.

So, apart from the inciting incident, which is much of why we've shown up, what are the likely alterations made to canon? Too often Dean blames John for his internal homophobia, but mostly he's close to canon--it's easy enough. Getting Castiel to a sexual place--we have been shown it's possible onscreen, but who knows how it would play out?

There are some very standard notes that I like/don't mind: Dean doesn't believe he gets nice things, the sacrifices Cas would have to make to be with him are more than he can ask for, and fairly often he likes that Cas is a badass--those are the stories I like. Cas doesn't believe this should be such an issue, either for Dean of for two men displaying physical connections in the middle of Main Street. And if he had to give things up, it's worth it.

I do wonder if a "all I've been is an angel--I've seen more than most angels have seen, and definitely felt more than most of them" Cas who is caught in the orbit of Dean (as canon), but then decides he wants both more from him, but not to lose his essential self. Or how Dean copes with him having heavenly requirements. Those seem to have petered out since he's not Sheriff and with the whole Naomi control.

So, apart from the inciting incident, which is much of why we've shown up, what are the likely alterations made to canon?

In fic, you mean? Where authors taken canon and rework for another plausible outcome?