Ramblings about Poe...

[obliviousally_lj]

After Poe was ~featured~ on terribleocs the other day, I remembered that I had been writing this ~essay~ on how and why Poe is even involved with the Winchesters at all and what all her involvement entails.

I've been considering how some people who have characters involved with the Winchesters seem to make their characters like part of the family. That they're both accepted and accepting of everything that goes on with being involved with the Winchesters. I realize this isn't (thankfully) the case with Poe.

I try very hard to not make her a Mary Sue. I know she is in the sense that she's involved at all with the Winchesters, but I try to make her plot difficult and try to make their relationships believable.

Poe's in some sort of relationship with Dean. This didn't magically happen overnight. Dean was the catalyst that caused her to break off the engagement with Ryan. Not because she felt some deep, meaningful connection with Dean. Instead, because she felt that if she was willing to cheat on Ryan with this guy she'd only met a handful of times, it was time to break it off. Dean was everything Ryan wasn't and after a solid year of being in a loveless and sexless engagement and trying so hard to make it work, a stranger coming into your life and being attracted to you is very alluring. While Poe loves meeting new people, those in her social group knew of her relationship with Ryan (though not much of the details) and even if someone were interested in her romantically or sexually, they wouldn't have acted on it due to the assumption that Poe and Ryan's relationships was happy. Or, at least, stable.

Then, she discovered Dean and his brother were Hunters and, in her endless curiousity, this intrigued her and, to a point, she felt a kinship with them.

This is likely because she comes from a family of Hunters, so there's that familiarity. Generations upon generations had at least one Hunter active in the family and she was raised with this knowledge and the knowledge of how to take care of herself in regards to supernatural creatures. This, coupled with her ability to see and communicate with spirits would make one think she was well on her way to hunting at a young age, but she was more interested in learning and studying and reading. 'Hunting' for Poe was helping spirits move on. Which, while it does count as a hunt in all technicalities, that's not what she considered it. She was simply helping to lay wayward ghosts to rest. She also interacts with other Hunters pretty regularly, as she serves as an informant for a variety of reasons.

She got on well with both of them because they're pretty easy to get along with. She helped them with information and research in finding the Colt, because she works as a museum and has connections. Her and Dean spent a lot of time together - mostly having sex - and she began to assume he was taking a liking to her. Poe was on the rebound and having a guy pay attention to her in ways that her ex hadn't causes those emotions to surface.

Dean was just back from that nasty case in Ohio that his ex, Cassie, called him out to. After being turned down - again - he wasn't exactly the biggest fan of getting involved with a girl. So, while he did like Poe's company, he's also a stupid boy and pushed her away in less than great ways. She pushed back, because Poe doesn't back down when she knows something's up, and him and Sam left town without telling anyone.

Cue this happening once or twice again, cue Poe being torn between saying 'fuck you, Dean Winchester' and 'come back, Dean Winchester, I think I like you'. This coupled with Ryan returning twice and being possessed and just all sorts of mayhem. John Winchester showing up, a nasty semi accident, Dean almost dying, John dying, ectera, ectera.

Then, the events of S2 and S3 went by and Dean was dead from his deal to save Sammy. I purposefully avoided thinking up how I could fit Poe into every episode because that's ridiculous. Poe doesn't actually start seriously hunting until mid-S2, after the Devil's Gate is open. When she's not on the road, she's providing information to other Hunters - something she did even before meeting the Winchesters. So, since she has her own life happening, she doesn't need to be involved in every facet of Dean or Sam's life. That'd be ridiculous. I consider what she might be doing when the Winchesters are wherever they're at, of course, because I like to have a rough timeline for my characters. I also consider that Poe would be wondering what they were doing, as she worries about her friends - regardless of if she's interested in someone for more than just friendship.

When Dean dies, Poe finds out from Sam and Bobby. Dean never told her because he didn't want her to worry. While they're never officially a 'couple' (except to everyone else), they do take into mind how the other will react to things. Dean knew Poe would worry and probably do something stupid like Sammy was inevitably going to do. Maybe Dean didn't tell her because then he could pretend nothing was wrong - that he wasn't going to die - while he was around her. Dean spends most of S3 trying to pretend he's not going to die in a year, it wouldn't be strange if that was the case.

Poe is, of course, crushed. Aside from that, she already knew someone died, someone close to her. It's an offshoot of her spirit-seeing/communicating abilities that she knows when someone close to her has passed away. Hearing it for sure is even worse, however. You know it can't be a fluke or something cosmically fucking with you.

Then, Poe starts hunting with Sam. They figure it will be good for them to stick together. Neither of them want the other doing something stupid, though both have the thought that the other might. It only last for a few weeks, maybe a month - tops. Partially, it's because they remind each other so much of Dean and it's hard for both of them to talk about it. Especially for Sam, who's hellbent on getting Dean out of the Pit. Poe approaches death in a different way and, while it'd be foolish to say that the idea of a deal didn't cross her mind, she's not running out to find a Crossroads Demon. Poe was content with mourning, grieving, and trying to move on.

The other part is because of Ruby's presence and Sam's growing addiction to demon blood. Because of the drug problem her ex had, she doesn't approve of Sam's blood addiction and does look down on him for it. Being involved with a demon isn't much better, but Poe has a slightly more lax outlook on those paranormal entities that don't exactly fit the stereotypes. While she tried to convince Sam that Ruby might just be very bad news, he wasn't listening.

Poe likes Sam, she really does. They have a lot in common and like bullshitting about history and creepy stuff. But Poe was in a very nasty relationship with someone who had a severe addiction and when Sam starts on the demon blood, it pushes them apart as friends and puts a bit of a black mark on him in her eyes. She understands he's trying to save his brother from Hell, but she knows that's not the way to go about it. So they went their seperate ways and she hunted alone for the remaining two or three months Dean was in Hell. While she felt bad, leaving Sam practically on his own, she made no promises to anyone that she would keep an eye on him (though it's not as if she doesn't check in now and then, regardless of if he responds or not). She was doing her best to cope and that was better done away from Sam and by her lonesome.

Poe keenly understands the relationship Dean and Sam have and she knows very well that they are more important to each other than anyone else in the world. While Dean may love her (though he won't admit it) and she, him, his blood comes first. Despite this, she's willing to stand with them and fight, even if their relationship went sour. It takes a lot to make Poe hate a person and a breakup would not be one of those things. If they went their separate ways, Poe would still not hesitate to help them if needed.

Poe also keenly understands the danger she's in every moment due to even knowing who the Winchesters are, let alone being involved emotionally with one of them. Consider what the Angels have done to Sam to try and get Dean to say 'yes'. Now consider that they have two devices to use against Dean with Poe's presence. So she does her best to keep under the radar while still trying to help them out and keep her head above water with her own jobs and life.

I try to make her well rounded and believeable as a character. She's not a saint (though she has the patience of one): she's killed her ex and didn't exactly act in the best way during the breakup at all, she sort of tried to force her way into something more than fuck-buddies with Dean because she was so desperate for what he had to potentially offer emotionally, one could say she abandoned Sam when he could have used a friend the most, as well. But I think these are things that make her more human and more than just another two-bit chick thrown into a canon setting and hooking up with an established character. Mainly because their relationship wasn't planned. It was all coincidence and things that just fell in well together. In all reality, her and Sam would have been better suited for each other because they're both nerdy bookworms and walking encyclopedias of weird.

On the other hand, I could be talking out my ass because LOL ORIGINAL CHARACTER WITH CANON CHARACTER YOU SO LAME FANGIRL.

Comments

[keeperofdreams.livejournal.com]

Also add in the fact that we don't go rubbing this plot into anyone else's faces, which takes off Mary Sue points as well. :P

Hell, I never talk about it to anyone else. /kanyeshrug