supernatural brings people together

Child and I try to limit our tandem media watching due to the fact that breaking out in a ship and/or character war in the middle of the night without access to a keyboard is kinda awkward and not a little surreal. We recently discovered that the thing people say, you would never say to someone's face what you wrote in that double flamey comment? Yeah, no, we do. But it's still half in netspeak and fanspeak, so I'm ruined for talking to normal people for hours.

I have been very wary about watching Supernatural with him; I mean, Stargate Atlantis, he was more a Sheppard/Ronan shipper, but that was my secondary ship, so I could roll with that. Torchwood we were fine, but the Due South period of our lives, for those who remember that, was not pretty at all. But this is different, okay? There are all kinds of people, and I'm totally accepting and everything, but if he turned into a Sam OTC, I might have to give him up for adoption, which is kinda tricky at his age and everything.

(Not that I do not love Sam and everything, my best friends are OTC Sam and apparently ship Sam/Lucifer, but Child is what you might call an evangelical OTCer, and this wouldn't end well for anyone, and I do mean anyone. Like, this is how supervillians are made, okay? It will be the stolen Due South box sets all over again and the Vecchio stanning and dude, he's like, five nine, I can't duct tape him in his closet. Not that I ever did that, but I'm saying, that option, permanently off the table. Now the best I can do is block his wireless and change his X-Box login. And he's going to work out how to fix this when he realizes I locked the router login page to my laptop's IP. I feel bad about that, though; he's really good about leaving comments at AO3 on fics he likes and a good feedbacker is not to be trifled with.)

Child skipped backward to refresh his season one and two, barrel through season three with a faintly shell-shocked expression, and emerged with me for season four viewing with a faint trace of horror. Finally, near the end of season four, he says, like he just can't stand not to say it:

(this is a paraphrased summary of a really deep and meaningful set of conversations about the Pain of Dean Winchester. It was beautiful. I honestly wish I'd recorded it. It was magic, okay? Magic.)

"Why does Dean always suffer so much?"

(At this point, we are around 4.19 or so. Before this, he was exploring agnosticism. I explained this is TV. He wasn't convinced.)

My heart swelled like, fifty sizes, but apparently my silence was like, an indictment or something because he said, "Jenn--" because apparently, I lose my mom title when I'm fannishly traumatizing him.

"I'm with you." But I hate not get it all out there. "I'm kinda a Castiel girl, too, though. Seriously. He's magic."

Child thought about it for most of the rest of the season (read, forty-eight hours give or take) and at the end of 4.22 while we were discussing whether or not Dean goes off to silently cry like, all the time and why people who judge him for that should be smited like whoa, he says, "So Castiel and Dean--"

I'm getting him a rec list.

(He has a subversive love of Sam/Ruby that he won't admit, but I checked his cache and I know things. I don't even think he liked her until 4.22, when suddenly he was all OMG (it sounded just like it looks) and I mean, from his point of view, it makes sense.)

ETA: Child finally set up his AO3 account and gave up pretending that his cache is a lie, so I'm feeling a strong sense of parental accomplishment right now.

Comments

[out_there]

ETA: Child finally set up his AO3 account and gave up pretending that his cache is a lie, so I'm feeling a strong sense of parental accomplishment right now.

Awwww, feel proud of him, Jenn. He's such a little fen it's adorable. (And "why does Dean suffer so much?" is such a big question that I suspect gets answered with "becaues he's pretty when he's miserable" which is such a lousy answer, really.)

[seperis]

Child is connected with Dean like whoa, which makes a weird sort of sense, since while he doesn't have brothers or sisters, he's the oldest grandchild and is pretty constantly with my oldest niece, who is a little younger than him, and pretty much is in the big brother role with her. I suspect there is some projection going on with the older sibling/younger sibling.

[amalthia]

lol, this almost reminds me of our family dinners that quickly turned into yelling fights over which was better, Voyager or DS9. Seriously, my mom LOVED Voyager. I hate to think what would have happened if she was a Tom/Chakotay shipper and she found out I slashed Tom/Kim... :)

[seperis]

*dies* Trek wars or Trek Versus Star Wars wars--the geek family Thanksgiving topics to forever avoid.

[jetsilver]

At my house, it's the Trapper John vs BJ Hunnicut that gets really vicious.

[seperis]

...you know, me and my mom had a discussoin like that when I was in my teens and watching MASH constantly; it came on like, three times a day. I'm trying to remember what side she came down on.

[nagasvoice]

You know, this would make a great convention panel. "Too much fannishness, Practical Methods to Avoid Flames at Dinner," or some such.

[seperis]

And probably surprisingly relevant to everyone's lives at that. *g*

[sara]

*dies*

I have great hopes of having these sorts of experiences myself, one of these years.

[seperis]

It's really the DVD box sets that suffer, really. He still has my Buffy season 7 from argument I don't even remember last year.

[ambersnake]

You know, these anecdotes of yours are the first and only thing that has ever made me think for a moment that procreating might not be a complete and utter personan disaster.

Then I talk to someone else with a kid or am forced interact with one, and remember that no.

[seperis]

*hysterics* Honestly, I have to know kids really, really well to really connect well. That's basically teh one I gave birth to and the three related to me. The rest just seem incomprehensible.

[scy]

That?

Is pretty damn awesome.

[seperis]

Aww, thanks honey. *hugs*

[synecdochic]

The tales of you and Child make me deeply happy.

You should send him along to #dreamwidth in another few years. We'll teach him how to program and scar him for life with horrible, horrible puns and sexual innuendo.

[seperis]

Hey, I've been working on that. When I'm done with him, I'm fairly sure nothing on earth will shock him. Cause horrible flashbacks of nightmarish conversations and certain internet websites maybe.....

[monanotlisa]

I'll have you know that if I ever manage something as complex as a child, you will be one of the people having convinced me it can be a fan-tastic experience. ;)

[seperis]

I'm always vaguely surprised by how individual he is. I always get blindsided by the combination of the bits of me and something that's not anyone I've ever even heard of.

[northern]

Thank you for sharing! Made me go all "awwwww".

[seperis]

Thank you!

[jenna_thorn]

a good feedbacker is not to be trifled with

I applaud your training and his initiative.

[seperis]

You gotta get those important lessons across.

[kass]

This is SO AWESOME.

I just. Yeah.

I hope that when Zaphod is the age your Child is now, he and I are having these same conversations, or whatever will pass for them in another, you know, 12-14 years. *grin*

[seperis]

*grins* its' all in the long term exposure, really.

[concinnity]

*sniff*

[seperis]

Awww.

[mrkinch]

Beautiful! My own Kid (now 30) and I bonded (still do) over many fannish things, but not ships.*is sad*

[seperis]

Hee! Fandom with Child has been an adventure.

[grammarwoman]

Child should really think about writing his own manifesto: "How to Live with a Fannish Mom". The Emperor and I could certainly use it. I'm easing him into fandom slowly with vids, Lego Wii games, and Star Wars.

[seperis]

I'm kind of terrified of when that day arrives. The meta alone....

[serrico]

"Why does Dean always suffer so much?"

AND he's a good feedbacker??

...I am speechless with affection for your kid, Jenn. You done good with him. :D

[seperis]

I KNOW. I was terrified he would not get the awesome that is Dean. I should have trusted my indoctrination more.

[nianeyna]

oh man every time you post about Child my desire to become bros with him increases by a factor of about 1000. CHILD YOU'RE AWESOME LET'S HANG OUT.

I'm probably not cool enough to hang out with Child tho. Ah well. XD

[seperis]

I'm still not over his little Magic the Gathering cabal outside of school each day. It's like, his geek. So unashamed.

[keenai.livejournal.com]

*friendsfriends*

This post made me laugh. My daughter and I have recently started watching TV together and sharing fandoms (instead of me just watching iCarly or whatever with her) and I have had the whole "don't like the wrong character" moment. I mean, we just fought tonight over her love/like of Victoria Grayson on Revenge. So from an internet stranger, I totally enjoyed!

[seperis.livejournal.com]

*dies laughing*

Years ago during Due South, Child and I like, went to war over Kowalski versus Vecchio; ever since, we've been really wary about watching things we'll be fannish about together.

I need to see that show. *makes note*

[chosenfire28.livejournal.com]

OMG that is just adorable and amazing and YES DEAN DOES SUFFER A LOT AND DEAN/CAS!!!

I really love that you can have this kind of bond and conversation with your kid, it sounds like a lot of fun and an amazing thing to share.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Having a fannish child is a great relief. Now if he can just avoid being a serial killer or Republican, really, my work here is done.

[elucreh.livejournal.com]

You may be my favorite parent-teenchild combination in the entire UNIVERSE. Fictional included.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Aww, thank you!

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Sigh. My mother has fannish potential, but she's far more likely to fangirl, oh, Dancing With The Stars celebs and read squee-filled hearts-and-flowers RPF rather than something reasonable like Sam/Dean. And I utterly failed to get her into SPN.

Sooo... what's a OTC? One True Character (guesses)?

[seperis.livejournal.com]

OTC - one true character. He sort of ships, but it's more his love of a character involved, and he's fairly even handed between het and slash.

*G*

[carson-leigh.livejournal.com]

I love you.
This is so me and my Bean. She has finally gotten out of the Disney stage and I love being able to share shows and ships with her. It is so fun. We agree on most ships Dean/Cas, John/Rodney, Peter/Olivia, Luke/Reid. It makes me proud.
She even stopped watching Glee this season because she couldn't stand the lack of character continuity. She makes me vibrate with happiness.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

*dies* Child is off-and-on with Glee for various reasons. I think its' his bad relationship fandom, sort of, the one he'll remember with fondness and a shudder.

[slashpile.livejournal.com]

WOW. That is an epic parenting win. You should definitely get a ribbon. Or something.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I have pride like whoa. *happy*

[eretria.livejournal.com]

I do love this. You raised your child right. :o)

And, when you're reccing: Consider all of murron's stories (http://archiveofourown.org/users/murron/pseuds/murron/works?selected_tags[]=27). Seriously. All of them - unless you want to leave out the NC-17 ones still. Then all the others. She's a truly outstanding writer.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

OOoh, thank you! I don't think I've read all of these either!

...if you are like, bored and just need to rec anything, I'll listen. It's been two years to catch up and Christ, there's a lot of fic. Y'know. If you have time.

[suzvoy.livejournal.com]

\o/

[seperis.livejournal.com]

*glee*