Not far from our own dimension, there is another, as close as a single soap bubble is to another, in a tub filled with bubbles. (Hell, you could probably reach out and touch it, if you had access to all the relevant materials and didn’t care especially about keeping your flesh from sloughing off your bones.)

Our worlds are so similar, almost identical in many respects — but there are a few key differences: here be monsters. Not to worry, though; where there are monsters, there will be people who hunt them. It’s a thankless job, and you’re almost guaranteed to die young and bloody and horrible, but someone’s got to do it.

Here’s the score:

Azazel’s machinations never quite managed to gain sufficient altitude, so Samuel and Deanna Campbell were not slaughtered in their home.

In 1983, Mary perished in a house-fire, thought by authorities to have been a simple — though, of course, no less tragic — case of arson. Likely, these same authorities think, the Winchester house was chosen at random.

The Campbells knew better.

To keep the man their daughter loved from self-destructing, Samuel finally relents and begins to teach John Winchester everything he knows, all the little gambits and tips and tricks, the art of cons both long and short, and — if all guile fails — how to pick the lock of any given pair of handcuffs and leg it for the next county.

The Winchester boys stayed with Bobby, for the most part. When Sam was old enough to speak, it was Bobby’s name that he mangled cheerfully, and it shocked Bobby down to his core that something so — so stupid could make his eyes sting.

Years later, following the death of her husband, John introduced Ellen to Bobby. They got together famously, like — well, like a house on fire. They did not marry — Ellen having had her fill of marriage to foolhardy hunters — but nevertheless she joined the little impromptu family, bringing with her Jo, only a couple of years younger than Sam.

For a time, they were happy, which is more than most hunters could dare hope for.

The year is 2003, and the time for playing Happy Hunter Families is over. None of the hunters left at home (to research, or to heal, every man or woman conscious and lucid packing shotgun shells full of salt, or tailoring fake IDs, or juggling contacts and cover stories and credit card fraud — hunters lacking any real understanding of 'sick leave') has little idea how it happened, but all Hell has broken loose — literally.

A number of Devil’s Gates had been opened in tandem, and all the myriad horrors of the Pit have come boiling out into the world. It’s unclear if either John or the Campbells survived the initial blast; within weeks the infrastructure has broken down sufficiently to render phones just shy of useless.

In fact, most civic services have been shut down altogether in light of the demonic, monstrous carnage surrounding all major cities; the Gates are still open, still spilling out nightmares. It looks pretty goddamn apocalyptic.

Naturally, that’s when the angels arrive.

One gravitates towards Dean; the other, Sam. They … are not monsters*, exactly, though they’re pretty damn off-putting; and appearing out of nowhere certainly hadn’t helped.

(( * I prefer the more animalistic, quadrupedal depictions, but I just loved bloody nuzzles so much ok ))

Aaannd that’s where our story begins! :D

Nothing is firmly set in stone, backstory-wise, and shhhhh I love that canon AU episode where Ellen and Bobby were married and you CANNOT TAKE THE HAPPY HUNTER FAMILY AWAY FROM ME er ahem I mean

Regarding the angels: I’m kind of borrowing a HUGE SHEAF of pages from my favorite AU in another of my favorite fandoms (which, if you’re curious, or just want to soak your eyeballs in some delicious adorability, you can find here — GO READ IT IT’S AMAZING), in that, as the bond deepens between guardian angel and charge, the angel will become more and more human, both physically and emotionally.

(Oh, and pssst! Yes, the angels do have a purpose in this post-apocalyptic semi-wasteland, but you’ll have to figure out what it is yourself~)

—Castiel () —Gabriel —???

—???

—???

—Jody Mills —???

(pssst! if you really want to play a character you don't see listed here, just ask! I can't remember all the side characters to save my everlasting soul so this list is not a be-all, nor is it an end-all!

ALSO! please keep in mind that most of the characters are just suggestions! all the roles needn't be filled before we start, but at the very least I'd like to see the boys and their guardians. the rest is gravy~ ♥)

Given the freeform nature of this AU, you’re welcome to play any other character from the show, so long as you can reasonably explain their presence in this timeline, or even go full original with a hunter, a civilian, another angel (it’d be neat if you could tie back to actual Christian mythos, but it’s not necessary!), demons or monsters or ... the possibilities are endless! (If there's enough interest in OCs, I'll whip up a form! Don't sweat it for now; I'm more curious than anything if anyone will be interested in this concept |D)

I want this roleplay to be literate, mature, and very plot-driven, by which I mean that there are antagonists that haven’t yet been introduced and, yes, somewhere a clock is counting down, but why worry about that? I’m looking for paragraphs, not sentences, but you don’t have to write novellas, either. Solid characterization will trump purple prose every time.

(Oh, and because I believe that forewarned is forearmed: I LOVE BLOOD AND TRAGEDY. JUST SO GOSH DANG MUCH. This concludes your PSA and we now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.)