like a fever that just won't break.

Hello everyone! I can't reiterate enough how thrilled I am with the response we've had for the comment!meme so far. I just wanted to share a couple of my favorite creations that have come of it:

Title: 'Tis But a Flesh Wound
Author: princess_aleera
Tags: phobias (needle/injection), Hell/post-Hell issues, injury (misc.), blood loss, anxiety/panic attack, hospitalization
Characters: Dean, Sam, OCs
Genre/pairing: gen
Rating: Follows directly after 8x14, but no spoilers past that point.
Word-count: ~3500
Spoilers:N/A
Warnings: Brief, graphic mentions of Hell trauma
Summary: Where Sam does not get where Dean's sudden, powerful needle phobia comes from.

Reccer’s comments: This is a deliciously classical example of hurt/comfort at its finest, and if you enjoy hospital scenarios, you'll love this. The fic does an excellent job of conveying Dean's mindset here, particularly through the acuity of its somatic descriptions. I love the way it bends and modifies canon to integrate the prompt (fear of needles) organically and believably. But its greatest strength is the sheer solidity of the H/C itself--classic without becoming rote.

Title: Quiet on the Set
Author: ramblin_rosie
Tags: deafness, trapped between realities (technically)
Characters: Dean, Sam, Lisa, Ben, Castiel, the cast of 6x15 "The French Mistake" (prominently, Jim Beaver)
Genre/pairing: Gen, implied Dean/Lisa
Rating: G
Word-count: ~2000
Spoilers: For 6x15, I suppose?
Warnings: None.
Summary: Cas sometimes has a strange definition of keeping people safe--like the time his buddy Balthazar sends the Winchesters and Braedens into a world where no one believes Dean's really deaf.

Reccer’s comments: The sheer invention of this really just floors me. Meta episodes can be difficult to tackle in fic (maybe it's some kind of paradox?), because a lot of the brilliance of meta is so tied into visual and aural gags. This fic not only accomplishes that, but establishes its own AU within the 6x15 AU--Dean is rendered deaf post 5x22, and Lisa and Ben accompany Sam and Dean to Vancouver. Like princess_aleera's fic above, this one also integrates these additional complications seamlessly. And you know what? It's just plain funny. You can tell from the opening scene exactly the kind of productive navel-gazing the fic sets out to accomplish: ("There’s this angel in his and Lisa’s living room, see, whose vessel seems to be some greasy, debauched English playboy, and the angel says his name is Balthazar and he was Cas’ only friend back before Cas got sent to Bible camp. He’s also the source of the loose nukes, which he swiped from Heaven’s arsenal just because he could. Except now he’s trying to back Cas again because Cas has succeeded in getting Raphael off the Campbells’ collective back but doesn’t quite have the juice or the clout to stop Raphael from starting a civil war as cover for going after Purgatory.-----)

The trick is, it manages so much more. And the supporting cast in this fic are just sublime--I'm particularly smitten with the portrayals of Lisa, Ben, and Jim Beaver, all of whom are sorely underrepresented in fic, imho. :P Really fun, inventive, lovable read. I don't think "lovable" is a term typically ascribed to text, but it sure is now!

Looking forward to more!