Supernatural Fic: A Pathless Land

[xaara]

Title: A Pathless Land
Author: xaara
Rating: G, gen
Timeline: post-5.16 (vague spoilers)
Characters: Castiel (Dean, Sam)
Summary: From this distance, the earth curves like a solitary marble, rolled into a corner and forgotten.

Comments

[xaara]

The Amun part was originally a sketched scene from a Cas-looks-for-God idea that never went anywhere--probably for the best, given Thursday's episode. I like the idea of these old gods hanging out near their temples, even though no one worships them anymore. (Marduk's always struck me as especially sad, since Babylon was used as a prop for a murderous dictator and later a base for an invasion force, but he and Cas just started trying to one-up each other in the game of My Life Sucks.)

Hehe, Cas in Space. (I keep hearing that like a circus announcement: Cas!...in!....SPAAAACE!) It's very melodramatic and Doctor Manhattan, but he tends to be a sort of ornery melodramatic guy, which is why we love him.

I'm so glad this worked for you. I've been trying to get a better handle on Cas's character, which is an exercise not unlike photographing lightning. Thank you. :)

[innie_darling]

This is really lovely, and I especially was struck by Castiel's meditations on "missing": The screen tells him, 2 missed calls. He wonders at the evasiveness of it, the implied blamelessness. Missed. As an accident, as poor aim. As failing to wake for a meeting, or failing to catch a train, or failing to understand. As homesickness. As mourning.

[xaara]

Thank you. I've been trying to poke around in his head lately, with mixed results, so I'm glad you thought this worked.

[vikki]

Pardon me, I'll be over here being the reviewer who has no words.

This has some absolutely lovely imagery, and I, like the reviewer above me, am particularly fond of the musing on 'missing'. I was also struck by the way you described Castiel's failing grace, like it's his blood and his vessel's cells and its being divided and divided and thus destroyed. This is Castiel, slowly falling. Absolutely lovely.

[xaara]

Thanks. :)

What really struck me about this last episode was how Cas had been, up to that point, a tragic character, but one with drive and purpose.

And now we're in this moment of What is an angel without a God? Which is even more interesting.

[tabaqui]

Ah, man. That was...so very lovely. So incredibly heartbreaking. Castiel in the Valley of Kings, talking to the ghosts of old gods. And out in the black, contemplating his fall....

Amazing.
*sniffles a little*

[xaara]

I've recently become quite attached to the idea that Supernatural's pantheons exist in parallel. That, for example, the gods all get together for potlucks and poker nights to talk about how their neighborhoods have gone to shit.

I mean, more poetically than that. But that's the gist. And it's really fun to play in that version of this sandbox.

Thank you. :)

[tabaqui]

Oh, me too. The boys have run into too many spiritual concepts from other beliefs for there *not* to be an 'old gods club' somewhere.

Which rocks.

:)

[cassandra_leeds]

This fic is like a breath of fresh air. What a refreshing voice! And the sweet and detailed subtlety of this blew me away. And the flow! Such a story! I love it when I want to quote most of a fic for what moved me in it and that doesn't happen very often, so thank you for that. Putting this in my memories! <3

[xaara]

Thank you for that. Sustained Cas-voice is something I'm still finding elusive, so I'm really glad you liked it. :)