#huntercorp

Written for Restraintstiel Week Day 1: Collar

Summary: Castiel is a siren, the latest addition to Sergei's collection of magical wonders from around the world, and tonight is his debut performance. But HunterCorp has been investigating Sergei for some time, and has chosen tonight as the perfect time to strike.

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“We have a special treat for the guests tonight!” Balthazar declared, boot heels striking the polished wooden flooring as he bounded up onto the dais. He struck a heavy ring on his finger against his cut-crystal glass for attention.

The chime of it sent a frisson through Castiel that ruffled his feathers. He carefully recomposed himself and made sure the drape of his wings along the back of the divan was elegant and dramatic.

It felt ludicrous to him, but he had learned, in the days of his captivity, the consequences of displeasing Sergei.

“Our host has acquired a specimen for his collection that I think you will all like a great deal,” Balthazar went on, his voice boisterous and charming, so different from the gentle-but-assured murmur he used when he tried to soothe the creatures that came under his charge. “Take care with the flooring just there and step back a bit,” he said.

Castiel couldn’t see anything through the curtain, but he’d been shown the mechanism earlier and he knew that Balthazar was pointing out the seam in the floor just in front of the stage.

“Lovely, there we are. Now, everyone take your seats, though I imagine you won’t be able to stay there for long,” he said, chuckling in private amusement since no one could yet understand his joke.

There must have been a signal of some kind, for the curtains parted and the gleam of lights fell onto Castiel. Castiel didn’t move at first, waiting for the thick glass pane to finish rising from the floor just in front of the stage and completely cut him off from the rest of the room.

An appreciative murmur cascaded through the guests like a burst of chatter through a flock of birds. Castiel assessed them and found that they all looked alike to him, in their evening finery and their crystal glasses filled with drinks in expensive hues of amber and gold.

Balthazar had coached Castiel on how to arrange himself to be pleasing to look at, apologizing for it when Castiel couldn’t help but look especially aggravated. Unnecessary, wasted apologies: Balthazar was just as much a prisoner as those who had been put in his charge, and one could not meaningfully apologize for what one could not choose.

The drawn curtain revealed how Castiel lounged upon a wine-dark velvet divan, one leg sprawling toward the floor and his wings draped over the back to brush against the polished flooring. His hair had been artfully tousled to look windswept, while the hair on the rest of his body had been waxed off. His only clothing was a historically-accurate chiton that covered him from shoulder to knee in simple linen. It looked ridiculous compared to the evening gowns and dinner suits worn by the guests, not to mention the cold.

Castiel wanted none of this, but the collar around his throat didn’t care what he wanted. Sergei, sitting in the front row with cronies to either side and a smug smile on his face, didn’t care what Castiel wanted at all.

cas = vegeta is so real. what if you were a genocidal war criminal space alien who became a husband and family man against all odds and also your human family had you wrapped around their little finger even though you used to be able to crush a planet with your pinky. (bulma is basically dean but rich which makes this even funnier) there are even some fun trunks/jack parallels if you squint hard enough

Another plane has hit the blog.

ASIDE//

I mean, HunterCorp is a lot like CapsuleCorp. Maybe we're sleeping on an opportunity to draw HunterCorp Dean like this:

they even have their liddol euro car that fits the vibe

I MEAN

HunterCorp Dean is stuck in the Endverse and living in the shadow of a Dean Winchester who died years ago.

But now that Zachariah is poking around Camp Chitaqua, the shit's getting real, the stakes are higher, and it's not just about getting back home to HunterCorp anymore.

HUNTERCORP CLUB 😂

I loved these 2 chuckleheads. They deserved their very own episode or 2+

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1. a world where the "family business" is a business in the sense that it also generates a considerable profit and doesn't rely on the family only for the labour is a world where John Winchester is, apparently, a smart, "best among men" father (who still lords over his sons' lives like the "if dad finds out we watch porn, goodbye trust fund" joke seems to imply). this is a world where john winchester is a self-made man transforming tragedy into dollars and i'm like, woah. this is thoughtsTM' treasure island.

2. this is the second time (that I can recall on the spot) that the show is equating corporate lifestyle with things that are, stereotypically, considered "unmanly". In Zachyworld (not the one in "The End" but the other one where Sam is a customer service agent and Dean is a sales manager) the corporate world was depicted as something that wasn't in Sam and Dean's nature, so to speak, because they were Hunters and the possibility of hunting as a corporate-like job wasn't even suggested. What was suggested, however, was the "queerness" of Sam and Dean's respective lifestyles (with the two different meanings of the word for each brother). And that's funny because Heaven is specifically portrayed like this big corporation that's made up of angels who are, supposedly, more "masculine" and military-minded than your average "feminine", "cheesy" (Mary's angel statue for Dean is described as "cheesy" by John) guardian angel. Zachariah thought he was being smart with his little tricks but he was revealing more than what he intended to with his banal analogies :P. In HunterCorp it's John himself who puts the "Corp" into "Hunting" thus creating a similar scenario that the angel had conjured up as a cautionary tale against the perils of a life outiside of the HuntingWorld.

3. in S14 Chuck is obsessing over the retelling of Abraham and Isaac's story, the father killing the son etc. but the existence of HunterCorp world reveals that he had been experimenting with other scenarios too, almost fanfic-like scenarios where frillier, more mundane things like hair buns and accessories are more appreciated. Like, this is a world where tragedy doesn't exist for Sam and Dean, where hunting is not a curse but "just" a job, albeit somewhat boring. And this is a world where they are wealthy people thanks to John's business acumen. it's almost as if Chuck was like "what if i create a world where money isn't a problem for John first and Sam and Dean second" and he was unimaginative enough to think that THAT would solve their problems and make them happy (and they're not, not really, like HunterCorp!Dean's words might suggest). I dunno, maybe I've watched too much "Succession", but if EYE were Chuck, HunterCorp!John would be way more like Roy Logan type and less the "loving father that spoils his sons" type.