whynot: etc: oh deer (another country)
Las ([personal profile] whynot) wrote2010-03-30 10:25 pm

'Mandelbrot' - SPN - pre-Cas/Dean - PG13 - croatverse

Partly, the still-popping Castastic shindig is strongarming me into a 'BE PROLIFIC' mindset (I for one welcome our new Castiel/Scully OTP), but mostly, [livejournal.com profile] 22by7's Dean&Castiel drawing really just snagged my mind that much. The first time I saw it I was like woah, but also what is going on here? 'Cos there is intensity there, but it's also very ambiguous, and I kept headtilting at it and wondering what is the story? There is vulnerability, but also malice. Something that could either be intimacy or desperation. And perhaps fear? Who has the upper hand? Is there an upper hand to be had at all?

So, it inspired me to write some croatverse melodramz. Partly because it doesn't take much to make me write croatverse melodramz, but mostly because goddamn would you take a look at that drawing.


Mandelbrot
Supernatural. Pre-Dean/Cas. PG13. 5x04 episode tag. Warning: GWG (grammar? what grammar?).
Sam says yes, and Dean doesn't take it very well. 775 words.


Sam just said yes and the angels are gone, and Dean barges in all angry and raw, and you look up, wide-eyed but unsurprised. It is not the first time you have seen Dean angry, but it is the first time he hits you after your grace has flickered out. The crack of his fist on your jaw, the explosion of heat and sharp blades; you understand as you never have before how Dean's enemies fell at his feet, cut grass, shucked wheat. This is pain. You know this now. You are learning so much. Where are your angel buddies now, he says, where are they Cas, where the fuck are your goddamn brothers, where the fuck is your dad, huh, where.

The amulet stays cool to the touch.

And oh the ley lines that unfurl from Detroit to here and back again, into Dean Winchester's breaking heart and back again, into the ground to rise up through the soles of his brother's feet, up through his body, the voicebox fluttering and the mouth that shapes the one word: yes. In the end was the word and the word was--

Fate lines and life lines like the earth is a hand to be read, and what can we do, old friend, before we are enclosed in God's own fist? These fingernails digging into skin will leave pink crescents. You are not an angel anymore, and the dull blue-black of being slammed back against a wall makes you cry out, you know this to be pain. The brown-flecked green of his eyes razed through with rage; that, you have learned a long time ago. The things you know about him, like the loves that he lets break him because he knows no other way, you know that too.

He thinks he is the only one who breaks for family? For whom family breaks? You are not afraid of his curses, which do nothing. You are not afraid of his fists; you knew them when they were hands, they have held you. You are not afraid of silence or speaking too late; living in the aftermath of everything means having all the time in the world, what's left of it.

His grief spirals out, fractals that divide and never end, the burning mandelbrot. When you try to speak, he doesn't let you finish. When you say his name, he says don't you Dean me. What the fuck have you ever done, you shoulda left me in hell and what about Sam you sunnuva bitch what the fuck have you ever done, I should kill you right now. Threats, yes, you know threats, the sensation of his hands around your neck, those callused fingers. Those callused words, the angry fingers; you feel them tighten, just a little, enough to let you know he's not fucking around. And fuck you Cas fuck you, goddamn useless fucking sunnuva

So do it.

It's the first directive he lets you finish, and he tries not to notice by barreling into another verse of curses, goddamn motherf

Do it.

The brown-flecked green you know so well. These hands, his pause so close to bursting.

For all his pomp and circumstance, he lets you touch his face. You feel the wetness there, the warmth, his breath against your wrist. He lets you touch his hands, though you make no effort to remove them. You touch lightly where his pulse flutters, he who proclaims himself ready for loss, ready to bring it upon himself like he says he has before.

And oh the ley lines that uncurl beneath your feet, they trip and tangle. They tie you down to earth and knot around his legs and pull, and maybe that is why he falls against you, crumpling, dragging his brother's name from his throat. And fuck, he says. Fuck. As if no one else has lost a brother, as if no one else has been the brother lost.

Misery is selfish. You are learning so much.

You slide to the floor, the both of you, the easier to bear his weight. The loosening of his hands, and how his open mouth on your shoulder wracks out a heavy sob. You see the sky through a broken window: it is the lightest of blue, the barest hints of silver, empty. You are disturbing the dust around you. Your jaw throbs and you suspect splinters in your back.

He shifts against you, says your name against your neck, and once more into your hollowed cheek, and you say I'm here. Of course you are; there is nowhere else you can be.
ext_80109: (Torchwood: Ianto: this world is unkind)

[identity profile] be-themoon.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 03:02 am (UTC)(link)
khalskhdglhds

SPEECHLESS.

no, seriously. no words for how awesome this is. LEY LINES. *flails hands* LEY LINES. MISERY IS SELFISH! YES YES YES.

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 12:55 pm (UTC)(link)
<333 Thank you, homeslice. :D

[identity profile] unoshot.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 03:10 am (UTC)(link)
And fuck, he says. Fuck. As if no one else has lost a brother, as if no one else has been the brother lost.

Misery is selfish. You are learning so much.


EVERYTHING YOU WRITE IS BEAUTIFUL.

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 12:57 pm (UTC)(link)
NO YOU, OH GOSH

<3 Thank you. :D

[identity profile] 22by7.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 03:17 am (UTC)(link)
The the fractals. The ley lines. CASTIEL. ABSORBING THE DUST. Why so goddamn beautiful, lassiterfics? I feel all honoured and such ;_;

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 12:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I should be asking you that question! The fractals and ley lines of my heeeeaaaaaart tangling upon seeing your beeyootiful drawing. <3333

[identity profile] xarixian.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 03:24 am (UTC)(link)
wow. I don't really have words for this but want to express how much I love it. *love*

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-04-01 12:17 am (UTC)(link)
Aww, thank you :)

[identity profile] lexhibition.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 03:51 am (UTC)(link)
You see the sky through a broken window: it is the lightest of blue, the barest hints of silver, empty.

So, just out of curiosity, what kind of animals do I need to sacrifice and to what God so that I can write something half as gorgeous as every single sentence you produce?

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-04-01 12:19 am (UTC)(link)
:-O AWW SHUCKS YOU.

<333 thanksverymuch XD

[identity profile] xaara.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 04:03 am (UTC)(link)
Isn't it awesome how that party makes it totally okay to write lots and feel no shame? I am hardcore digging it.

I am also hardcore digging this story, though it probably deserves a little more mature language than that. I love this beginning to their post-apocalyptic relationship, because it is (in 5.04 as well as fanon) not a happy one. It's a struggle, a constant fight for dominance. It's angry.

And yet. There is love here, too. (What's that line from The Road, something like, "They are each other's world entire.") Sometimes, you take what you have and gather it close and that's what there is.

I especially loved this line: You are not afraid of his fists; you know them when they were hands, because it says so much, and predicts so much. Lovely, as always.

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-04-01 12:23 am (UTC)(link)
That party is the beeeeeeest. It gave the world Castiel/Scully and Cas&Becky roadtriptiems! And perhaps some intrepid reporter AU? :D I am so pleased.

"They are each other's world entire."
D: oh croatverse!OTP, and how they break my heeeeaaaaarrrrt. 'Cos sometimes they can't be, they just can't be entire worlds anymore, because they have both lost so much, they are not entire in of themselves anymore. BUT THEY KIND OF HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO BE. oh ship.

Thank you!

[identity profile] maskedfangirl.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 04:45 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I got nothing. This is utterly gorgeous.

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-04-01 12:29 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you, good sir!

[identity profile] vikki.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 05:13 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, wow. I like the way the power is balanced in this fic. A while ago I said that I think of Dean like a wave in the ocean and Castiel the bedrock against which it breaks and wears; this fic is that. But written out and awesome.

They both break my heart, but I especially love how Castiel sees Dean's selfishness and fatalistic behavior for what it is.

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-04-01 12:31 am (UTC)(link)
Dean like a wave in the ocean and Castiel the bedrock against which it breaks and wears
!!! I like this very much.

Also thank you very much!

[identity profile] cassandra-leeds.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 06:42 am (UTC)(link)
Stunning. STUNNING WORK. The piece of art was one of my favorites and now this is too. I see it as a perfect companion piece. They stand alone, but also compliment each other. Wonderful job. Just wonderful. This is going to be haunting me for days...

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-04-01 01:08 am (UTC)(link)
Isn't her drawing just WONDERFUL?? She is pretty much amazing. I'm all a-flutter that you think my fic complements her art, oh gosh. Thank you so much!

[identity profile] layne67.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 08:11 am (UTC)(link)
Oh that is simply beautiful.

[identity profile] layne67.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 08:14 am (UTC)(link)
Btw, there is now a Castiel/Scully pairing??!!?? Ahaha, I can just imagine Mulder confronting Castiel, expressions identical lol.

(no subject)

[identity profile] layne67.livejournal.com - 2010-04-01 01:23 (UTC) - Expand

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/sapphirestar_/ 2010-03-31 08:14 am (UTC)(link)
oaslkfjdlskfjs this. just.

And oh the ley lines that unfurl from Detroit to here and back again, into Dean Winchester's breaking heart and back again, into the ground to rise up through the soles of his brother's feet, up through his body, the voicebox fluttering and the mouth that shapes the one word: yes. In the end was the word and the word was-- & The things you know about him, like the loves that he lets break him because he knows no other way, you know that too. & MISERY IS SELFISH. JUST, JESUS, FUCK YES.

STUNNING.

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-04-01 01:12 am (UTC)(link)
nfkdsfsd THANK YOU XD

<3
ext_13391: (SPN: future!Dean is broken)

[identity profile] smilla02.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 09:38 am (UTC)(link)
This is simply stunning. wow!

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-04-01 01:12 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! :D

[identity profile] ariadnes-string.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 12:03 pm (UTC)(link)
This is gorgeous. I really love how Dean leads with a punch--so Dean. And this:
As if no one else has lost a brother, as if no one else has been the brother lost.


(I just realized that I've left you three comments in as many days--mind if I friend?)

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-04-01 01:13 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks! And no, I do not mind. Hello new friend! :D

[identity profile] squeemonster.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 01:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Um . . . I feel gutted. This was STUNNING.

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-04-01 01:38 am (UTC)(link)
:D Thank you! Sorry for the gutting.

[identity profile] lisuli.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 02:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, this was just gorgeous. I adore your way with words.

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-04-01 01:39 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks very much, man!

[identity profile] emsana.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 04:17 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm starting to wonder if you're aim in life is to break my heart... if so, you're doing a pretty good job!

This was perfect. Thank you.

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-04-01 01:40 am (UTC)(link)
PERHAPS. XD

It's just croatverse!OTP breaking my heart, and then I have to unburden my pain onto all ya'll. Thank you very much! Glad you liked. <3

[identity profile] lizzie-marie-23.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 05:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, this is lovely. Dean's helpless anger and Castiel not being an angel anymore but he still sees the ley lines twisting, and they pull both of them down. And the misery is selfish, and the fists that used to be hands and Sam and oh wow, just everything.

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-04-01 06:57 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! Hehe, fucking ley lines. ;)

[identity profile] oywidapoodles.livejournal.com 2010-04-01 12:22 am (UTC)(link)
Well, fuck. I would quote something, but literally every single sentence is gorgeous.

This is pretty much the epitome of what everyone aspires to when they try to make their fic really beautiful. You didn't just throw the fancy words together; every last one is perfect, and there's so much meaning behind them. It feels... crafted.

It's hard to describe how much I love this.

Would meme again.

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-04-01 07:18 am (UTC)(link)
!!! Thank you very much! My god, what a lovely thing to say, I'm so flattered you like it. :D <33

[identity profile] katmaxwell.livejournal.com 2010-04-01 04:26 pm (UTC)(link)
This is breathtakingly gorgeous. What a wonderful use of second person, and just. This is really, really good.

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-04-02 01:31 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks so much! I'm glad you enjoyed :)
ext_7893: (Dean-Cas)

[identity profile] mikes-grrl.livejournal.com 2010-04-01 05:19 pm (UTC)(link)
This is so elegantly beautiful. Tragic and harsh and empty in the way both Dean and Cas are empty: painful longing for those they have lost. I love you bringing in Cas' own feelings about his lost brothers and being the brother lost, as the mirror-dynamic of the heavenly brothers with the Winchester brothers is a big kink for me. Loved the choice of POV, very daring but it works well here, giving an intimate feel to the objective perspective.

Thank you!

(I've been out of the SPN loop lately, something about anticipation makes me want to hide, generally. Glad to come back and find new words from YOU! ♥)

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-04-02 01:34 am (UTC)(link)
<333 You leave the greatest feedback; I always enjoy hearing from you. :D Thank you so much! I too am a big fan of the parallel daddy issues of Dean and Cas, and think it absolutely needs to be explored more.

[identity profile] glorious-spoon.livejournal.com 2010-04-01 05:51 pm (UTC)(link)
This was so beautiful. Strange and painful, but just indescribably gorgeous.

You are not afraid of his fists; you knew them when they were hands, they have held you.

Yes. This. This is the Dean and Castiel of the future.

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-04-02 01:38 am (UTC)(link)
:D Thank you very much! Aww man, what a lovely comment. Dean and Cas of the future just break and break my heart, I love themmmm :(

[identity profile] godofstrife.livejournal.com 2010-04-06 03:25 pm (UTC)(link)
And oh the ley lines that uncurl beneath your feet, they trip and tangle. They tie you down to earth and knot around his legs and pull, and maybe that is why he falls against you, crumpling, dragging his brother's name from his throat. And fuck, he says. Fuck. As if no one else has lost a brother, as if no one else has been the brother lost.

THIS PARAGRAPH IS EXCEPTIONALLY BEAUTIFUL.

I love the elegance and lyricism in your words, it's amazing how well this works for their furious, fucked-up relationship.

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-04-07 08:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much! And hey, thanks also for reccing this at rec_hymenated. :D I'm superchuffed.

[identity profile] zempasuchil.livejournal.com 2010-04-09 07:31 am (UTC)(link)
holy fucking shit lass I just watched this ep and there was a lot of whimpering and horror but THIS. this is so potent, ley lines and the voicebox fluttering to say yes. just perfect and wow, Cas voice! your Cas voice is fantastic - especially everything about the loss he's experienced, what loss. And your Dean is so so exquisitely broken, I mean the show does it but you've got him at a worse point than we've ever ever seen and you wrote him perfectly. and they are perfect. There is nowhere else you can be - yes exactly yes yes yes. oh wow man <3333333

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-04-09 09:19 am (UTC)(link)
YAY HOORAY CROATVERSE IS THE BESSSST. Thank you, Z! Aww <333. And loss, yes! Broken, yes! Well, we have parsed this out in chat, so you already know my thoughts XD. I'll just express hearts at you again: <3 <3 <3

[identity profile] colazitron.livejournal.com 2010-04-11 01:45 pm (UTC)(link)
O____O

You're a genius. Wow. This is beautiful. The ley lines and Cas learning and how he just seems completely void of everything but isn't and Dean's selfish misery and--!!

Perfect. A stunning picture you paint here.

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2010-04-13 11:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed :D . Hehe, yeah, Cas always has more going on beneath the surface.

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