I love Sam's sense here of not only being not this baby Mary left behind, but being inescapably afraid that she'll be disappointed in him--in him himself and the life he's led, since surely that's not anything a parent would want for their child. I think he and Dean both have that sense, and this fic sets up such a great scenario to begin to open that up. Because they wouldn't have gone through that history with her--they don't even roll it out, even in small innocuous chunks, for people who aren't their mother!
And even though I know Sam was one part embarrassed and two parts shamed and mortified by Dean's big speech, the whole thing made me really proud of him. GATHER, 'ROUND, Y'ALL, THIS IS SAM FUCKING WINCHESTER. The reactions of the hunters and just--that feeling of the whole gathering being awash in these tall tales and mythos is so lovely. And it provides such a stark contrast (from the reader's perspective--I imagine from Sam's it was a low-key version leading up to a much worse session of more of the same) to the way Lucifer brings things out, and puts Sam's personal history and relationships on bare display for all the world and all his mother to see. That image of being stripped bare and rendered discomfittingly transparent is something I love very much but don't see often (and even more rarely, see successfully).
no subject
And even though I know Sam was one part embarrassed and two parts shamed and mortified by Dean's big speech, the whole thing made me really proud of him. GATHER, 'ROUND, Y'ALL, THIS IS SAM FUCKING WINCHESTER. The reactions of the hunters and just--that feeling of the whole gathering being awash in these tall tales and mythos is so lovely. And it provides such a stark contrast (from the reader's perspective--I imagine from Sam's it was a low-key version leading up to a much worse session of more of the same) to the way Lucifer brings things out, and puts Sam's personal history and relationships on bare display for all the world and all his mother to see. That image of being stripped bare and rendered discomfittingly transparent is something I love very much but don't see often (and even more rarely, see successfully).
Magical! <333