SPN fic - Whipping Boy - PG13 (gen)

Jan 04, 2008 00:28

We have snow! Snowballing and snowman building-type snow. It'll probably be gone tomorrow, but we made the most of it by staying up late and playing in it ( Read more... )

supernatural fic, oh dean, pastor jim, pre-series

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Comments 114

hucknclem January 4 2008, 01:34:56 UTC
You're baaaaaack! I love this so much. And especially this line: "John shakes his head, smiles sadly. “I raise a hand to Sammy, and it’ll break Dean’s heart." True - I'm sure Dean would've much rather ran laps in the rain than have seem Sam punished. Oh, the angst! And you know how much I love this line of reasoning from John, because I'm sure that's exactly the way it worked. Thanks so much for the fic - hope you had a wonderful holiday! :)

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eloise_bright January 4 2008, 01:41:12 UTC
Thanks. John knows Dean too well, but he when he tries the mindgames with Sam, it isn't going to work.

Holidays were great - but I'm dreading going back to work. *whimpers pitifully*

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minx999 January 4 2008, 01:39:35 UTC
Wow, this was heart wrenching. I love John, but I could see him doing this. He seemed to use whatever means necessary to keep his kids safe and in line with his orders. And I liked the outsider POV too. I like seeing how others think of and see the Winchesters. Nice job!

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eloise_bright January 4 2008, 11:45:24 UTC
Thanks. I'm glad this didn't feel too out of character for John. It's a fine line for me when I'm writing John, making him hard enough to be the guy we saw in the show, but not turning him into a complete bastard. I've been reading Kripke, JA and JDM's thoughts on John as a father, and they all agree that John loved the boys desperately, but he was obsessed by finding the demon, sometimes to the detriment of his sons.

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eloise_bright January 4 2008, 11:50:50 UTC
Thanks. John as a human parent makes more sense to me than a lovely cuddly guy, or some mean asshole who cared nothing for Sam and Dean. We all make mistakes on a daily basis with our parenting, and the best we can hope for is that our kids turn out okay in spite of those mistakes. *sigh*

I love Pastor Jim POV. I find it easier than Bobby, as I enjoy Jim's background of religion - I can imagine him thinking of things in terms of biblical references, which I'm fairly comfortable with. I think Bobby sees the Winchesters quite clearly, but unlike Jim, he doesn't hold his tongue, and I'm sure John and him threw down over how John treated the boys. We've never been told why Bobby threatened John with the shotgun *g*

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deathangelgw January 4 2008, 02:55:15 UTC
so sad how John had to act. I mean, hardass ain't the word. Military Sergent would be about right and it's terrible to see a child's childhood smashed so early on. Ah well...ah that was gooooooooood!

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eloise_bright January 4 2008, 11:52:59 UTC
Thanks. I think by this stage, John was definitely in drill sergeant mode. The extra training seemed like something he would set as a punishment, and it would be highly effective with Dean, who already has an overdeveloped guilt complex. If he used this punishment with Sam, however, I think it would just make him even more determined to rebel.

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deathangelgw January 4 2008, 16:02:38 UTC
definitely, which is unfortunate since that just added to Dean's low self esteem that he's nothing. gah...the cycle...

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teachertam January 4 2008, 03:20:06 UTC
Poor Wee!Dean.

This seems to be a very accurate portrayal of how John would have handled the problem. He's got to use manipulation (as all parents do, really) to get the point across to stubborn Sam.

It's clear how Dean wound up so broken, so ready to believe that his life only matters in relation to how much he can do for Sam. Which totally explains why it hurt him so much when Sam was gone at college. Without Sam around, half of Dean's reason for living was missing.

We don't know each other, but another story of yours (I believe it was "Bitter Pill"? Which, if so, wow!) was just recc'd at SPN Storyfinders, and I wandered over.

*sniffs*

Beautiful.

Thank you.

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eloise_bright January 4 2008, 11:56:40 UTC
Thanks. I do think John would manipulated the boys like this - I'm sure he didn't enjoy it, but he'd probably see the end as justifying the means.

I also think John had no idea how much this kind of punishment affected Dean, how Dean defined his worth in terms of his little brother. I think John would have been horrified to realise how much he'd damaged Dean.

And yeah, Bitter Pills in one of my early John and Dean relationship stories. I've been obsessing about them for a while now.

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