Here's a question

[clex_monkie89]

Why does everyone want Sam and Dean to stop hunting? Seriously, I think... like, the last five Wincest fics I read (because the only Gen I really read is pre-series) have Sam and Dean settling down and quitting hunting.

What is the appeal of that? Am I the only one in fandom who really likes the idea of them moving around constantly and saving people's lives? Sometimes it really does feel like that.

Not everyone needs a stable house and/or 9-5 job to be happy. Otherwise we'd have no flight attendants or cops or FBI agents or anything like that.

I really don't think Dean would be able to do it. Since he was four he's spent his entire life moving around constantly and he's been happy with that. I've moved around like that (but with varying times, a few months, a few days, a few weeks, and once or twice staying for almost/around a year) and I gotta say: I get physically sick when I'm stuck in one place for too long, I get nervous and twitchy. Dean would be fucking miserable in a solitary location. Yeah, he loves Sam but he would hate it there.

And Sam? He's been moving since he was born. Yeah he craves stability and safety but that doesn't mean he can handle it. I crave stability and safety too and as I already mentioned I get restless when I'm in one place for too long. I totally see Sam taking off every few weeks while at Stanford. Just grabbing his bag after class on Friday and going in a different direction each time, coming back just in time for class on Monday and probably in a lot better mood than he was in when he left.

Huh. Hadn't actually planned on writing anything more than that first line up there. I guess my next rant will have to be on permanent!genderswap fic and why I hate it so much (and no, it's not because of the het).

I totally just sat with this in Semagic for like, an extra minute because I didn't want the Current Music to admit what I was just listening to. XD

Comments

[essenceofmeanin.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's the idea of a happy ever after?

but it's just like we were talking about earlier -- dean really wants to settle down about as much as he secretly loves milk'n'sugar in his coffee. ;)

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

I don't think they'll ever stop hunting unless they become physically unable to do it. For them, I think the open road and a full tank of gas is happily ever after, or it would be if they let themselves think about happily ever after.

Sam did want to settle down, before, but a heck of a lot has happened since then. He's changed a lot, though, and doesn't really seem to know what he wants anymore. But he's made it pretty clear he's not just going to drop this life again. It has its own stability, in a way, when they're working ordinary jobs together. (Safety? Bah, they don't want they. They love the excitement. *g*)

I do think that what some fan writers want -- marriage, house, kids, etc. -- tends to show a lot in what they make the Winchesters want, and sometimes it doesn't quite fit. (I have to admit, I'm even more baffled by the urge to give them loads and loads of kids, as if suddenly all of their issues about parents and family will vanish if only they have moppets to raise.)

Heh, I didn't mean to ramble either. In conclusion: They're going to be saving people and huntings things FOREVER AND EVER THE END. *stubborn*

[mooyoo.livejournal.com]

*pops in to agree with you* My fantasy for the final shot of the final episode of teh series (hopefully many years down the road) is the boys climbing into the car after finishing a job and riding off into the sunset, towards the next one.

I kind of like fics in which they're forced for one reason or another to quit hunting, just to explore what they would each do if forced to settle down - like one of them is severely injured or sick or permanently scarred or they have a kid (sans assbaby) or whatever else, but ideally I'd want them to keep travelling together and keep hunting. I also kind of like the idea of them settling in one place to raise kids (I'm really into Wincest-with-kids fics right now [though again, no assbabies]), but still hunting - like they go one shorter, smaller trips, or one of them goes to do a job while the other stays home, etc. But yeah, I think for both of them hunting with always be there. Neither could be truly happy without it.

[dyinganthem.livejournal.com]

Am I the only one in fandom who really likes the idea of them moving around constantly and saving people's lives?

Noooo! You're not the only one! I love that aspect of the show. That's what MAKES the show. To get rid of that would just kill all the fun.

Eeeep, your current music is like the best. song. EVER. ;)

[mercurybard.livejournal.com]

I get physically sick when I'm stuck in one place for too long, I get nervous and twitchy.
Me too, though my background is a bit different then yours. I get downright bitchy, we discovered over this past year, if I don't get out every couple of weeks and just go, whether it's down to Corpus for a day to visit Julia, Elissa, and Amanda (god, did I need that trip...I didn't even know until I was on the south side of Houston, foot on the gas with The Black Parade blaring how restless I'd been feeling) or up to Ohio for Baron Wars back in May.

Honestly, I would say I'm more Sam, in that I crave stability, but I just can't handle it when I find it. Stability turns into monotony pretty damn fast.

My dad jokes that if the librarian thing falls through, I could always drive semi-trucks for a living.

[resounding-echo.livejournal.com]

Dude, I'm with you. When I read fics like that it makes me wonder what those folks see in the show because we obviously see different things.

And? I don't really want Sam and Dean to be happy either. I mean, I like that they take comfort in each other. This is why I'm not keen on Dean/Jo even though I like Jo. He's character would be completely undermined, not to mention his way of life and relationship with Sam. I know people can respond to that that Jo is a hunter so it's okay, but it's not. I think if Dean/Jo were to happen Dean's (and Sam&Dean's) life on the road would eventually have to end.

[causette.livejournal.com]

For me, it's a totally different reason why I'd like to read fics where they give up hunting. But that's not because I like stability or want them to get a home and such.

It's because I'm generally not all that fond of the supernatural aspect in stories. I'm okay with it on the show though usually all the talk about the ghosts and stuff bores me and I just want them to back in the car, ribbing at each other. I like the in between moments when it's just Dean and Sam being brothers :)

But when it comes to reading slash, I tend to skip the stories where the summary goes, "Dean and Sam pass through a small town. Something scary happens. Then they have sex somewhere along the way." I skip those stories, even though they are supposed to have AWESOME Sam/Dean moments, but I skip them because of the "case", the scary thing in the town. I'm just sooooo not interested in reading ghost stories.

That's why I go all bouncy when I see a new AU where there is something different, preferably I like it when there are no ghosts or anything supernatural at all. And if they decide to give up on hunting in a story, that means that it's probably very less likely to be about anything supernatural but more about the two of them.

So yeah, that's my two cents :P

[floridapeaches.livejournal.com]

I tend to think that most hunters hunt until something takes them out, not because of altruism, but because they don't have anything else to live for, that people don't just start hunting, there has to be something that opens their eyes to the supernatural, and hunters seem to usually be motivated by revenge or hatred. Granted, the 'saving people' is a big part of it for Sam and Dean, but they're both also motivated by revenge, hunting the thing that killed their mom, and then Jess, and then John. And being motivated by revenge, well, Dean's already said he was tired, ready to quit. He's going on now because Sam wants to, needs to.

And not just the revenge motivation, but hunters also seem to think very little of themselves, have a very low opinion of their own self-worth. Dean is not the only one. They would rather die than let a civilian get hurt. And most hunters don't have any*one* to live for. But Sam and Dean?

I think at some point, when the war is won, when there are other hunters out there, something's going to happen that will make them confront the fact that they have to live for each other. That Sam, while he might not value his *own* life above a civilian's, he DOES value *Dean's* life more than anyone. We already know he does, just from the look on his face in Faith. He would have taken Dean to see Roy, and he would have gone through with it, even knowing. Because Dean is worth more than other people, to Sam. And after AHBL there can be no doubt that Dean feels the same about Sam, if the way he cleaned up after Sam in BUaBS and the way he was ready to shoot the guy in Croatoan if he even *touched* Sam hadn't already told us.

And when they realize that, probably with some near-death close call, they're going to step back from the frontlines. They're going to realize that it's okay not to go out in a blaze of glory. And I'm not sure they would quit totally unless one of them couldn't hunt (ala 'Mile Zero'), but I think they'd move back to a support role, to salt-and-burns and research. To being Ellens, not John Winchesters. And that makes me happy. I don't want the inevitable blaze of glory. I want the house and the dogs and the breakfast that Sam always burns and Dean always makes perfect, and the getting to know the neighbors with a barbecue in the back yard, and all of it. And they travel when they need to, and just go on roadtrips because they can, because they want to see things, not because they have anywhere to go. *happy sigh* Yep, that's why I want the happy ending.

[jeyhawk.livejournal.com]

I don't want Sam and Dean to stop hunting. Maybe they'd settle down every once in a while for a little longer time to heal up and rest, but I see them on the road forever and evers. :0P

Oh... Now I have this urge to write Sam and Dean ten years from now when the Impala finally beats it for good and Dean is all heartbroken and he hates every car they get and he won't even let Sam fuck him all better. *g*

I hate permanent!genderswap fics, I mean what's up with that? And it's not really the het it's just that... NO! Just NO!

[jeyhawk.livejournal.com]

Damn... I forgot the most important thing... You should write that fic. The one with Sam taking roadtrips on the weekends. Yes, you should.

[vanishing-ruby.livejournal.com]

I think ultimately, we just want him to be happy. Some people, as you have stated, just can't see that kind of life as happily ever after.

For me, happily ever after does involve the idea of having a solid home, the whole works.

However, that seems unrealistic for the characters. They can't just leave behind all that they are.

But I do hope they can reach a happy medium eventually. Maybe slowing down a bit, occassionally taking some time off to rest(s)and hump like bunnies(/s). I just can't see them maintaining the kind of energy level necessary to move around constantly. But then, you know better than I do.