#as mentioned previously

[amateur-ornithology]

Right, where were we?

Ah, yes.

[shudders]

[you-cant-spell-subtext-without]

Writing prompt: nerf gun battle! (I had this written as a note in my phone with no further context lol)

Oof.

The foam pellet bounces off the top of Dean's head, Jack's triumphant "Got you!!!!" ringing in his ears.

He knows Cas only requested the "epic battle" for his Father's Day gift to appease their son, but Dean's the one who's really starting to feel like the martyr in this nerf gun war.

Not that this is unusual for him, he supposes. Grinning and bearing it is what Dean does.

Well.

What he did, anyway. Before they saved the world, and dragged Cas out of the Empty, and he drilled into Dean's head (like he does every day, actually) that he was better than all of his hangups and preconceptions.

That Dean's well-practiced cycle of self-sacrifice and resentment didn't actually constitute living a life.

Dean pauses for a moment to rub what is surely going to turn into a lump on top of his noggin. At least the kid's got aim.

He sighs, trudging up the hill behind the bunker, eyes darting for the next onslaught of bright green missiles. He's already going to have at least four new bruises, not to mention the ache in his knees from crouching to stay out of sight.

Blue eyes watch him from the bushes.

"Hello, Dean." Cas says brightly, shouldering the orange toy shotgun.

Dean swivels to point the barrel of his plastic weapon at Cas' sternum. "You know it's not an ambush if you announce your presence, right?"

Cas smiles warmly. "I wasn't going to shoot you."

Dean raises an eyebrow. "Not really how you win, sweetheart."

Cas frowns, peering at Dean's face. "You're not having any fun," he murmurs.

The seep of guilt is instantaneous, pouring into Dean's chest and choking the insides of his throat. "Sure I am," he says, injecting the words with cheer.

Cas tilts his head, that little bird-like gesture that always gives Dean the fuzzies in the pit of his stomach. He tugs on the bottom of his threadbare AC/DC t-shirt. "Dean, this is my part of the celebration. You don't have to participate if you aren't enjoying yourself."

Dean guffaws, but the laugh feels as fake as the pellets in his gun. "Erhm. No, I'm great. This is great, Cas."

It's not great. His bones ache, and his ass hurts, and he is fucking tired. Dean's been shooting guns for over thirty years, and the last thing he wants to do is play pretend at a job he recently left behind, forever. But saying that -- even thinking about it, feels selfish.

Cas is watching him knowingly. Dean frowns.

"Thought we talked about you digging around in my brain," he says, a little accusing.

Cas' mouth twists slightly to the left. "I don't have to," he says softly. "It's written all over your face."

Dean's shoulders sag. "Jack wanted this..." he starts, but Cas interrupts him.

"No, Dean. I wanted this. And yes, because I knew Jack would enjoy it -- but also because I'm enjoying it too." His gaze is tender. "But you aren't."

Dean sighs. "Don't want Jack to be disappointed," he mumbles, feeling like a failure.

Parents don't just do what they want. He thinks about John, the seep of ice in his belly expanding.

Cas gently brushes a piece of grass from Dean's hair, smiling softly. "Love's not a transaction," he murmurs. "Jack will understand."

Dean blinks at him.

Cas smiles. "Go inside," he says nudging Dean firmly with a palm on his back. "Take a bath. Ice your knee. We'll see you in a few hours."

When Jack bounds in for Dean's portion of the evening -- pizza and video games on the couch -- he doesn't say a word about Dean's disappearance from the nerf gun battleground.

Instead, he looks at Dean with shining eyes, and tells him he loves him before swiftly stuffing his face with two slices of pizza at once.

Cas gives him an "I told you so," eyebrow raise as he slides in next to him on the other side.

"See," he whispers, his warm breath tickling Dean's ear. "You don't have to do a thing to keep us." He squeezes Dean's knee and dumps a forkful of salad on Dean's plate despite his protesting groan.

Dean starts to realize that love may be about 'just being,' after all.

drinking tequila, send me an ask (or writing prompt)

[a-god-in-ruins-rises]

What's your opinion of the 2nd Amendment? How do you interpret it? What do you think was the founding fathers intention?

my opinion is that it is by far the most important of all amendments and must be preserved at any cost because it alone is what protects all other amendments.

i think it's pretty clear what it means. a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. shall not be infringed.

you can play dumb and pretend this is ambiguous, but then it just takes one look at any context (judicial, statutory, historical, etc) and it will clear things right up.

the second amendment permits people to keep and bear arms and form militias, primarily (but not exclusively) for the purpose of protecting themselves and the state. it's as simple as that. this tradition comes from english common law which we largely inherited. and then it has been reinforced by two centuries of judicial and statutory law. some of our original states had equivalents of the second amendment within their state constitutions which make the individual's right to bear arms for self defense even more explicit.

it's also pretty clear, by emphasizing the militia (which possesses a military nature), that the arms meant to be kept would have some rough parity with the arms used by professional military forces. and while speaking on the militia, many gun control advocates get hung up on the "well regulated" phrasing, insisting that it means militias need to be regulated by the government. but that's not what's being said. it's basically saying "yo, a free state needs to have a well armed and disciplined militia to protect it, and so we need to make sure people have access to arms so they can fulfill the role when the time comes."

it wasn't saying militias need to be regulated by the government. just that historically speaking, effective militias are important to preserving liberty. it wasn't prescriptive as much as it was descriptive. it's the preamble, the introduction to the meat of the amendment.

that's not to say that the government cannot organize militias. on the contrary, the constitution explicitly gives them that power. that's why there are two forms of militia; organized and unorganized.

the unorganized militia is understood to be ALL able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 45. if you're an able-bodied man between 18 and 45, congrats, you are a militiaman. you are a citizen-soldier. you may be unorganized at the moment, but you are a militiaman nonetheless. now the constitution gives the government the power to call upon the militia and organize it. but that doesn't mean any and all militias need to be organized. it doesn't mean the militia doesn't exist until the state organizes it, or that it stops existing when it disbands an organized unit. on the contrary, the militia is assumed to already exist, and the government merely has the power to organize from within that existing pool.

the constitution gives the government the power to "raise...armies" and "provide...a navy" but it makes no mention of creating a militia, only "calling forth the militia" (presupposing its existence separate from the government) and organizing it. there is no reason to assume you cannot form your own unorganized militia. i think there is even a case to be made for mandatory gun ownership and compulsory (para)military service tbh, but i know that'd be controversial.

tl;dr: it's good and shall not be infringed.

[gooseandcaboose]

Guys, the new player who may be joining my D&D group is real handsome.

[clownsgobeepbeep]

I was gonna post something tonight but passed out like every ten minutes and just barely fully woke up 

Gonna go back to sleep though lol 

Anyways, who wants questions? I'll ask them tomorrow or something