#geek-kitty

wine is made of grapes, it totally counts as a snack. and uh, i need to find one of those mahogany candles. have you smelled the mountain lodge yankee candle? that's my writing candle... it's like a hot lumberjack fresh out of the shower lying on a bearskin rug in front of the fire he made for you

I HAVEN’T! Apparently that’s something I need to do, because a hot lumberjack making me a fire to sit by while he lays out on a bearskin rug all dewy from a hot shower sounds like something I wish I were smelling right now.

Oh no, I actually started at 6pst/9est, so just finished!

I will definitely add those.

@manic-multitasker said: Can you change my sprint to 9pm est? I’m pretty sure that’s the conversion for me to start at 6 pt. if it stays at 8 I might not get home from work in time

sure thing!

@shannon-kind said: Ellie, if you’re not planning on running the Friday night, I can run it.

tagged by @geek-kitty

choose 3 fictional characters that represent you. Or me. Whatever. Here they are:

I identify a lot with different aspects of different characters in SPN. I think its why a lot of us love the show. We can really relate to many different characters, though some do rise above the rest for each person.

That being said, my first two are gonna be Dean And Cas

Castiel: 

I often feel socially awkward (especially in an OFF line setting) and I usually miss references that other people get...I’m sure I could go on if i wasn’t too tired to think.

Dean Winchester:

I've been told that I "Talk a lot, but say little." I hold things in, I hate crying (but apparently I'm okay with getting emotional over fics and movies, but for real life problems? forget it!) and it's rare for me to really open up about anything bad going on in my life or to ask people for help. I've been working on that...but uh...well, still a work in progress...Still, you ask me how I am and my first instinct, whether or not i am, is to say, “Good. You?” 

I am the oldest of my mothers kids and my sister was made my responsibility. I was ignored often in favor of dealing with my sisters issues because “You’re a good kid and we know you can take care of yourself.” (I also have a half brother from my father that I never got to know. He’s somewhere, out there, in the world...and wanting nothing to do with our family)

Lastly, With those two powers combined - I present to you the third fictional character that I am often Compared to, Kiki from Sluggy Freelance (the first Webcomic I ever read...)

I love Kiki...I love ferrets and well, kiki is one as you can see. Her name is almost exactly like mine, and I have been dubbed with her nickname for the last 15 years. 

Kiki is easily distracted , naive, stupidly optimistic and always smiling, and she expects the best out of everyone. Which I am told I also do. I know that even when i’m uncomfortable or getting bad news i’m almost always smiling and yes, i can be easily distracted. I don’t think i’m quite as naive as Kiki is though, or as optimistic, but i guess it’s what people see when they see me, even my friends of long standing years.

P.S. Early in the years of Sluggy Freelance, one of Kiki’s tag lines was: “Stay good Sam!” *Poing*

We’re running a few scheduled 1k1h sprints through the Weekend Writing Marathon. (what’s a 1k1h?)

timezone converter

Friday 6 am eastern, hosted by @unforth-ninawaters

Friday 9 am eastern, hosted by @geek-kitty

Friday 10 pm eastern, hosted by  @captainawesomeellie

Saturday 5 pm eastern, hosted by @geek-kitty (tentative)

Saturday 8:30 pm eastern, hosted by @captainawesomeellie

Sunday 9:00 am eastern hosted by @hullosweetpea

Sunday 8:30 pm eastern, hosted by @captainawesomeellie

Sunday 11 pm eastern, hosted by @geek-kitty

I got through about a scene and a half (editing) despite constant interruptions from the kiddo and garfield blaring in the background lol

prompt: halloween

pairings: destiel

word count: 2,988

tags: au - high school, mostly fluff, first kiss, mentions of homophobia, mentions of domestic violence 

Haunted Halos [AO3]

“Dean, are we going to die?”

Dean Winchester sighed as he felt his little brother’s hand tighten around his. Sam’s voice was barely audible above the storm raging around them. This had to be their worst Halloween yet.

“We’re not gonna die, Sammy. It’s just a little rain.” He had to shout to be heard.

“It’s more than just a little rain!” Sam shouted back. He pressed closer to Dean when a particularly violent gust of wind threatened to knock the two boys off of their feet. “Do you even know where we are?”

“Of course I do,” Dean said. It was a lie. When it had started to rain, Dean had told Sam that they were going to have to cut their trick-or-treating excursion a bit short this year. They had started to head home but the storm was fast approaching and soon it was near impossible to see anything. Dean was pretty sure that even without the rain it would be dark out by now. Their parents were going to worry.  

Dean kept walking with Sam clutching to his side, hoping that they would stumble either into their own yard or the yard of someone they knew. The wind seemed to be getting stronger, or at least louder. Dean worried that thunder and lightning would soon make an appearance. He didn’t know what he would do if that happened. Sam would be terrified.

It took a few moments for Dean to realize that it was not, in fact, the wind that was getting louder, but rather the engine of a car that was pulling up behind them. Momentarily blinded by the light from the car’s headlights reflecting off of the raindrops, Dean tried to pull Sam off the road before they both got hit. The car stopped next to them, but Dean could not see who was inside of it.

The driver’s door opened, and someone shouted, “Need a lift?” His parents had always told him to never take a ride from a stranger, but Dean figured these were special circumstances.

“Sure!” he answered, and the door behind the driver’s swung open. Dean ushered Sam inside and slammed the door behind him. He and Sam found themselves squashed into the backseat with two other boys, one of whom Dean recognized from school.

Castiel Novak was the star of the track team and the second smartest student in their year. Dean had never spoken to Cas directly, but he had certainly heard a lot about him. Charlie Bradbury, one of Dean’s best friends, shared most of her classes with him and said that he was a pretty nice guy. Currently, he was completely drenched and though his outfit may once have been white, it was now a dull grey and the bottoms of his pant legs were brown with mud. He held a sad looking circlet of gold material in his lap. The boy sitting next to him was dressed similarly. Apparently, Sam and Dean were not the only trick-or-treaters who got caught in the rain.

The car started moving again and Dean looked to see who was driving. The guy was older than Dean—he looked to be in his twenties—and he was focusing intently on the road. His bright yellow rain jacket practically glowed in the dark car and the cigarette between his teeth was unlit.

“What are your names?” he asked, glancing at the mirror to see the backseat and mumbling slightly because of the cigarette.

“I’m Dean Winchester, and this is my brother Sam.”

“I’m Sam, too!” the boy next to Cas piped up. He was rather small, and Dean guessed that he was either Sam’s age or a little younger.

“Really?” Sam asked. “Is it short for something? Mine is short for Samuel, after my granddad.”

“Mine’s short for Samandriel,” said the other Sam. “After an angel.” He held up his sodden circlet as explanation. Dean found it ironic that they would get picked up by people dressed as angels. His mom always said they were looking out for him.

“That’s really cool!” Sam said.

The other Sam grinned. “I like your costume,” he said, noticing Sam’s Superman outfit. Dean was dressed as Batman. He had pretended to be annoyed with the idea when Sam first mentioned it, but he actually really liked it.

“I like yours too!”

Dean met Cas’ eyes over the heads of the smaller boys. “Do we go to school together?” Cas asked.

“Uh, I think so. It’s Cas, right?”

“Yeah. Do you wrestle? I’m pretty sure I’ve seen you at matches.”

“You probably have. And you do track?”

“Yeah.”

Dean didn’t know how to continue the conversation. Cas was staring at him intently, and Dean held his gaze. His eyes were a very pretty shade of blue.

“Is that eye fucking I see?” the driver teased, glancing from one boy to the other.

“Gabriel!” Cas looked away, flushing scarlet. Dean felt his own cheeks grow hot.

“Listen, I don’t care if it is, I’d just rather you two get a room—”

“Shut it!” Cas snapped. “Sorry,” he said, turning to Dean. “Uh, this is Gabriel. He’s my brother. He’s also a complete dick. Sam’s also my brother. Well, this Sam is.” He patted Samandriel on the head.

Dean was still blushing furiously. “What? Oh. Um, hi. Nice to meet you.” He turned his attention to the driver, Gabriel. “It’s significantly less nice to meet you. No offense.”

Gabriel laughed. “None taken. Want a cigarette?”

“Excuse me?”

“A cigarette. Do you want one?”

“You shouldn’t smoke,” Sam said, frowning. “It can kill you.”

“I know, kiddo. That’s why this is candy.” He gestured vaguely at the cigarette hanging from his lips. “Couldn’t smoke it if I wanted to. Which I don’t. Want one?”

Sam glanced at Dean, who said, “Sure.” Gabriel passed them a pack of the candy cigarettes and all four boys took one.

“You two live around here?”

“Uh, hopefully. We live on Bunker Hill Road.”

“Okay, that’s pretty close. It would be about a twenty minute drive on a normal day. I don’t think we’ll be able to get there tonight, though. There are some power lines down and a bunch of streets are blocked off…”

“Oh.” Dean started to panic a little.

“You could stay at our place for the night, if you wanted. I’ll drive you over in the morning. Hopefully the roads will be clear by then.”

“Are you sure that’s okay?”

“Yeah, of course. It’s not like we really have another option, anyway.”

“Thank you,” Dean said, relieved.

“No problem, kiddo.”

Sam tugged at Dean’s sleeve. “You should tell Mom and Dad.”

“Oh, right.” Dean pulled his cell phone out of his pocket to see that he already had seven missed calls from his parents. “Oops,” he muttered, dialing the home phone number.

His mom picked up. “Dean? Are you okay? Is Sam okay? Where are you? Do you need us to come get you?”

“Mom. Mom. Calm down. We’re fine, just a little wet. We’re—uh, where are we?” he asked, directing the question at Gabriel.

“Paradise Ave,” Gabriel informed him.

“Wait, are you with someone? Do you know them? You know you shouldn’t talk to strangers,” Mary scolded worriedly over the phone.

“We’re fine, Mom. We’re around Paradise Ave. It’s about twenty minutes from home, except some power lines are down and some of the roads are blocked off, so we can’t get there. We’re with Cas Novak—he goes to school with me, Mom, don’t worry—and his brothers and they said that we can stay at their place for the night and they’ll drive us home in the morning. Is that okay?”

“You’re sure you know them?”

“Yes, Mom.”

“Okay. That’s okay then. You let me know if you need anything.”

“Okay.”

“Tell Sammy I love him.”

“Okay.”

“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you.”

“Love you too, Mom. See you tomorrow.”

After hanging up the phone, Dean looked up to find Cas and Gabriel looking at each other with an expression Dean couldn’t quite make out on their faces. He felt himself blushing. Neither of the Sams paid him any attention; they were too engrossed in their own conversation.

Dean cleared his throat. “Okay. Uh. They’re cool with it.”

“Okay. We’re almost there.” Neither Cas nor Gabriel said another word until they reached the driveway.

“I’m pretty sure the wind would break any umbrellas we tried to use, so we’re just gonna have to make a run for it.” Gabriel pulled the keys out of the ignition and held them so that one key, probably the one to the house, was positioned between his fingers. “Ready?”

The five of them leaped out of the car and ran to the front door. Gabriel fumbled with the lock a little bit, but eventually he got it open. They all tumbled inside, pulling the door shut behind them.

“You should all probably try to get dried off a bit. Cas, Sam, you mind lending them some clothes?” Gabriel asked.

“Okay!”

“Sure.”

“Take your shoes off first.” Gabriel said, removing his own. “We don’t need mud all over the house…”

“You want to see my room?” Sam asked Sam, after everyone had lined their shoes up on a mat. “I’ll get you some clothes while we’re there.”

Sam looked at Dean, who nodded encouragingly. “Okay!” he said, and followed the other Sam out of the mudroom.

“Uh, you can stay here. I’ll go get something for you to wear.” Cas looked a bit apprehensive. Gabriel was giving him a rather odd look, and Cas blushed a little before leaving the room.

Dean was left alone with Gabriel. He didn’t know what to say, or why Cas had looked so nervous, or why Gabriel wore an expression of of mixed pain and pity. He did recognize the expression, though. It was the one he wore when Sam tried to act differently so the other kids wouldn’t tease him.

“So, you and Cas go to school together?” Gabriel was looking at him warily.

“Uh, yeah.”

“Are you friends?”

“Umm…not really? It’s not like I don’t like him,” Dean added quickly. “We just don’t really talk, you know? My friend Charlie—Charlie Bradbury, I don’t know if he’s mentioned her?—anyway, she has a lot of classes with him and she thinks he’s cool.”

Gabriel relaxed a little. “Oh yeah, he’s told me about her. She’s that genius redhead, right? Really into computers? Probably going to be valedictorian?”

Dean laughed. “Yeah. She’s awesome.”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “Are you two…?”

“Oh God, no. We’re just friends. Best friends. She’s kind of like my sister. Besides, she’s got a g—she’s in a relationship right now.” Dean panicked a little. Charlie didn’t care if people knew she was gay (if they tried to giver her hell, she’d break their arm), but Dean wasn’t sure of the Novaks’ opinion on the matter and really didn’t want to have to deal with any homophobia tonight.

Gabriel either didn’t notice Dean’s remark or chose to ignore it. He seemed to be much more at ease now, and Dean hoped that meant his interrogation was over.

“You know, Cas seems to be taking a while. Why don’t you go up to his room and see if you can find him—”

“He said to stay here, though.” Dean figured there had to be some reason Cas didn’t want him in his room.

“Yeah, ‘cause he’s shy and awkward and doesn’t want to have to start a conversation. Go on, it’s up the stairs and the second door on your left—”

“But—”

“Nope. Go on, unless you want me to push you.”

“Uh, okay…” Dean hesitantly made his way to the stairs. Their house was nice, but a bit small. There were no carpets and from what Dean could see, each room was painted a different color. He wondered where their parents were.

Dean stopped outside the door he assumed belonged to Cas. He knocked, and Cas opened it.

“Gabriel, what do y—oh.” Cas’ face flushed crimson and he stumbled over his words. “What are—I told Gabriel—you, you can’t—” He slammed his door shut, but not before Dean was able to see a little of it.

The walls were a light baby blue, and a white bookshelf was overflowing with novels. Something that looked like a star chart was hanging on the wall next to a window, and there was a garden of tiny plants lined up on the windowsill. However, Dean’s attention had been drawn to a large pansexual pride flag that was hanging on the side opposite the star chart.

“Please, go away!” Cas’ voice was panicked and shaky.

“Are you okay?” Dean wondered if he should get Gabriel.

“I’m fine. I’m fine. Just go away. Please. Don’t come in here. Please. And if you—if you saw—if you saw anything—”

Dean wondered what the hell Cas was worried he had seen, but then it clicked. Why Cas had been acting so weird. The looks he kept sharing with Gabriel. Why Gabriel didn’t seem to trust Dean.

“Do you mean your pride flag?” A muffled noise came from the other side of the door. Dean took that as a yes. “Dude, calm down. I’m bi. I’m part of the GSA. Most of my friends are queer. If you’re worried I’m gonna…I don’t even know, man. But I’m not. I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to. Okay?” Silence. “Cas?”

Slowly, the door opened. Cas looked like he was holding back tears. His breathing was sharp and uneven, and he was twisting the hem of his shirt.

“Really?” His voice broke, and a single tear slid down his cheek.

“Yeah. Of course.” Dean didn’t know what to do. “Hey man, it’s uh—it’s okay. Calm down. You’re okay.”

Cas started crying in earnest now. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he kept mumbling.

“Oh, no. It’s fine. It’s, um, come here.” Dean awkwardly wrapped his arms around Cas, who was shaking horrendously. Cas flinched at the touch at first, but eventually let Dean lead him to his bed. The two sat there until Cas had calmed down enough to speak.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled again. “I don’t—I’ve never—no one outside my family knows.”

“Oh. Wow.” Dean was silent for a moment. Cas was still shaking. “Well, uh, it’s okay. With me. Like I said, I’m bi. So like. I’m cool with it. Obviously.”

Cas laughed. “Do um, do other people know about you?”

“Yeah. My family, most of my friends, anyone who goes to the GSA meetings, probably other people. And now you.” Dean smiled. So did Cas.

“Are your parents okay with it?”

“They are now. Coming out to them was, well, it wasn’t fun. My mom had no problem with it, but my dad…he wasn’t thrilled. Mom talked him round, though. What about yours?”

Cas laughed, but it wasn’t a happy one. “There’s a reason I live with Gabriel.”

“There’s…oh.” Dean’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry. But he’s okay with it.?”

“Yeah. He’s bi. They sent him to therapy when they found out. He ran away as soon as he could, but we kept in touch. After that, Dad started getting pretty violent. Sometimes he’d leave for days. Mom was pretty distant as well. Once I started realizing…things, I asked Gabriel if I could move in with him. He said that I should bring Sam, too. I had already explained to him what was going on, and he was just as scared as I was. We skipped school one day about two years ago so we could sneak our stuff out of the house while our parents were at work. Gabriel picked us up and brought us here. I haven’t spoken to Mom or Dad since.”

Cas was staring at a spot on the floor. He seemed to have forgotten Dean was there. “God, that’s…awful. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Cas”

Cas shrugged. “It is what it is. We’re pretty happy here. Gabriel can be annoying as hell, but he cares about us.”

“That’s good. And your parents, they’re uh, really shitty.” Cas laughed. “No. I mean it. You didn’t deserve any of that. None of you did. And if they don’t realize they’ve got some of the best kids in the country…” Cas looked up to meet his eyes, and Dean faltered, blushing.

“Thank you.” The words were spoken softly, and Cas’ lipped twitched up into a smile. Dean stared at them.

“Dean?”

“Hmm?”

“You’re staring at me.”

“Am I?”

“At my lips.”

“They look soft.”

“Do they?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you want to find out?”

“Yeah.”

The kiss was slow and awkward and clumsy and over far too soon. Dean’s heart was racing and his mind was numb.

“Was that…okay?” Cas looked nervous.

Dean brought himself back down to earth. “That was awesome.”

“Really?” Dean nodded, grinning. “I’ve never done that before.”

“You haven’t?”

“No.” Cas smiled. “I liked it though.”

“Me too.”

“We should do it again.”

“Okay.”

And they did. Repeatedly. Dean didn’t realize how long it had been until glanced at Cas’ clock.

“We should probably get some sleep,” he murmured tiredly.

“Okay.”

The two changed into pajamas and climbed into Cas’ bed. They lay there for a while before Dean asked, “Are you doing anything for Thanksgiving?”

“What kind of a question is that? It’s three o’clock in the morning.”

“Are you?”

Cas hummed. “Probably not. It’s just been the three of us for the past couple years.”

“You should come over to my place. All of you, I mean.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. We have a bunch of people over. It would be fun.”

“Okay. I’m looking forward to it already.”

Dean smiled. “So am I.”