SPN Gen Fiction: "To The Battlefield In Borrowed Armor" (PG-13)

[halfshellvenus]

Title: To The Battlefied In Borrowed Armor
Author: HalfshellVenus
Characters: Dean, John (Gen)
Rating: PG-13
Summary (Pre-Series): The first time Dean went on a solo hunt was eight months after Sam left for Stanford.
Author's Notes: For my switch_25 table ("Strength") and writers_choice ("Independence").

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Comments

[blackcat333_99]

He is interesting, although I'll admit that I find Sammy's grayness to be more fascinating because I can see WHY he's made the choices he makes, I understand why there's some two steps forward, one step back stuff going on with him. But John... I think his biggest flaw was a lack of awareness of the importance of communication. And I know this is a very real human flaw, and even understandable to a certain extent when taking their family history into consideration... but I guess it's one of those personal buttons of mine that never forgets he had other choices that he could have made, done things differently with his boys without sacrificing his agenda -- their safety AND revenge on Mary's killer -- in the process. Their lives would still have been rather similar to what they ultimately experienced, but had he simply communicated more with his sons even while holding to the same path... how different things most likely would now be for both Sam and Dean. And since I love the boys most of all... well.

This is not to say that I don't enjoy reading about John, not at all. The cause and effect he has on his boys, their ways of reacting to him and to his memory, and how they've grown past their early day perceptions to the thought of him... it is damn fascinating.

[halfshellvenus]

although I'll admit that I find Sammy's grayness to be more fascinating because I can see WHY he's made the choices he makes, I understand why there's some two steps forward, one step back stuff going on with him.
Yes-- it pains me that Sam's choices are often for the right reasons, but leading in the wrong direction. And I hate to see where this show has already taken him, with the events of last season.

that never forgets he had other choices that he could have made, done things differently with his boys without sacrificing his agenda -- their safety AND revenge on Mary's killer -- in the process.
Exactly-- it isn't just what you do, it's HOW you do it. My own father shares some of John's weaknesses, and so those "deciding based on what YOU want without regard to how it affects your children" is a sore subject with me. Except that John added the component of treating his boys like soldiers instead of beloved children, and god what a difference that makes.

The cause and effect he has on his boys, their ways of reacting to him and to his memory
Someone else on my f-list once pointed out that John cast a very long shadow-- his influence was always there in the background (at least up through S4), affecting who the boys were and the decisions they made. And that's pretty damn impressive for a character whom we saw only sporadically for a single season!