March-Stalkers Mighty: 11/22

[whit_merule]

Passus VI: Pes dexter.

“We don’t hurt children, Dean,” Ellen said, firm and far too steady, and her eyes flicked down for a moment to that notebook again, with something like regret. “But children grow up.”

Comments

[lazyblogger]

Wonderful chapter!
I enjoyed the last conversation so much. But I've got confused by Ellen too. Why did she bring incubi up? I suppose she might think that Dean's attraction to Cas is unnatural - an outside influence, even a scheme of sorts, but Cas is obviously an angel and won't be affected by white sand... Does she just try to cover all the bases here? Is it possible that Dean is attracted to Cas and is attacked by some incubus? I'm clueless, just like poor Dean.

[whit_merule]

Well, since we don't specifically come back to that question at any point...

From her point of view, most of the conversation was about testing Dean. How will he react if I mention this, will he get angry or sly in ways that don't feel like real!Dean if he's challenged, has he considered this.

The white sand specifically is a just-in-case, and a warning. Just-in-case, because their understanding of the supernatural world around them is far from complete, just bits and pieces and theories here and there. If Dean is under some kind of sexual influence, it may be that there's an incubus somewhere coming to him looking like Cas / using some old influence left by Cas; or it may be that angels are in fact more like incubi than had been previously thought. Basically, we know white sand works against something else that behaves similarly, so use that in case that is what's going on here. And as a warning? Well, saying USE WHITE SAND DEAN == "have you considered that something might be manipulating you into behaving in unnatural ways, Dean.

[ninfomana]

Oh wow, this is interesting to read. I took it as him being gone and having done something "crazy", and with the way he acts, that others might think he was under something's influence, despite the tests, and might cite Martin's behavior as proof that Dean was acting funny and shouldn't be listened to. So Ellen pointing that out and telling him to put up sand, I thought it was her hinting at him what the others would think and kind of protecting him, in that if he's got sand up and is (theoretically) incapable of being under that influence, the others can't go after him/question him/potentially turn against him.

New perspective! Good to know.

[whit_merule]

Possibly partly that too, but more indirectly, I think. She really does have doubts, and really does need to poke at him to find out for herself; and once she is absolutely sure of him she'd be pretty confident of being able to do the OKAY YOU LOT NO HARASSING DEAN HE'S GOOD thing, but it'd definitely be helpful in that scenario to be able to offer concrete proof of the 'well, it can't be this because he was protected against it' variety. :)

[whit_merule]

He can't be in love with Cas. Men fall in love with women. That is how the world works.

He has no idea what she's getting at, no. All he got out of that was WHUT CAS IS NOT AN INCUBUS I THINK WHAT DO YOU MEAN EEEE NO I WAS NOT HITTING ON JO MAAM WHAT WAS I MEANT TO HIT ON JO I AM NOT SURE NOW PANIC.

Sometimes Dean has logical clever thought processes. Sometimes he does not. :(

[auroramama]

This Dean is adorable, and I want to wrap him up in blankets. Also, Ellen appears to be the subtlest and savviest of them about human behavior, and that may be why she can see that Dean genuinely doesn't know what she's talking about.

[whit_merule]

Dean Winchesteris not adorable. Dean Winchester is ttlybadass. Is it his fault if people keep talking in riddles? :( it's almost summer, why would he need blankets? Why is Jo looking like she's sorry for him? Confuse!

[kellyanne77]

I never thought I'd be thinking of Dean Winchester as naive and innocent and yet here I am. I love that whole conversation with Ellen, and how she's trying to figure out if Dean has somehow been under an angelic influence since he was a kid, and how she's also maybe trying to give him a clue about why he's feeling like he is, and yet because this Dean is naive about sex and how it would seem that homosexual relationships have never happened in their village, and therefore that wouldn't cross Dean's mind as something possible, he's so innocent as well, that Ellen just confuses him

[whit_merule]

Dean does have a rather limited world view here, poor lad (well, he always does, doesn't he? but it's far more obvious here). But yes, it is a small enough community that homosexuality doesn't even register as a possibility on the 'ribald joke' scale, let alone as a real relationship option. Which isn't to say it's entirely unheard-of - Demian and Barnes were sort of enjoying Barnes being on gate duty at night, because they got to have some alone time, for example. And Ellen does know about them, as we find out later. And next chapter Dean will talk to someone who has rather more of a clue about their own tendencies in that direction. Not htat he notices. :)

Thank you! I do worry sometimes about not doing the minor characters justice, so I'm glad they work for you. Jo and Ellen get more time in a couple of chapters!