#3. have you SEEN uriel with the gold on their face

[drconstellation]

More Half-and-Half-A-Miracle Thoughts

Part 2: The Dark side of Aziraphale

Updated 10 Nov 2023

Part 1: Miracle Power Ranking is here. Part 3: The Third Archangel is here

There was one that thing that struck me about the miracle working scene: why did Gabriel offer crossed hands to the duo?

Gabriel offers his right, his good, heavenly angel-sided hand to Crowley first, and his left, his sinister-sided demon hand to Aziraphale.

And this is NOT an accident.

Its been observed that Gabriel, in his amnesiac state like this, has reverted back to a more base-state angelic being, one of joy, and love, and curiosity. He's acting on instinct here.

Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying. The demon has more light in him than the angel, and Gabriel and can feel that instinctively. This really shouldn't be a surprise to us, its been in our face all along. Now don't get me wrong - Crowley is still a demon, and Aziraphale is still an angel, I'm not saying that they aren't. Mostly we talk about how Crowley isn't all that much of a demon at heart, just "going along with Hell as far as [he] can," but we don't really talk about much about that other side of Aziraphale other than wishing to see more of his BAMF! side.

You know what - its a side that thanks to all of the rest you ops and meta-ists out that that I've come to both fear and appreciate. And let me tell you, if I found myself in a dark alley on a bad night I would hope to God it was Crowley I bumped into , because I feel he would at least give me the choice to walk out alive. I don't think Aziraphale would, I would be at the mercy of how ever he decided he wanted to manipulate the situation...and I find that rather chilling.

Crowley might be the charred demon with a heart of gold, but Aziraphale is the two-sided bastard of an angel he loves. All bright light casts a shadow. Its easy for us to be blinded by the shining light of goodness and right and the side of God (er, hang on, isn't the GO God an eldritch horror in disguise...?) and not be able to see what is hiding behind it.

We rarely see the back of Aziraphale's waistcoat, because he is rarely seen without an overcoat on, a covering of social propriety. There is the noticeable occasion in S2E1 when Crowley comes back to do the apology dance then they perform the hiding miracle (see screenshot below, and it was still hard to chose a good angle for all it went on for several minutes!) and perhaps in S1 when he spends all night reading Agnes Nutter's book. Both times its only in the privacy of the book shop, under the cover of night. So its easy to miss that the color of the back panel is a most un-angelic color: a dark viridian green. I know I keep banging on about this, but its important, and in more ways than one.

[Edit: Since I first wrote this, I've written a mega-meta on all the colours in GO, and some of the following interpretation has changed a little - but the significance of the green still stands!]

All the angels wear some form of a pale colored neutral palette, ranging from white to beige to taupe (white, off-white shades and shades of brown,) with dove-grey for the known in-show seraphim, Gabriel, Michael, Uriel and Saraqael. Gold and blue are also associated with Heaven. But Aziraphale is the only angel to wear green and shades of blue-green. He's quite unique in that department.

The colors of Hell are completely different. Black, lots of black. And red, different shades of red. The demons are actually quite a colourful lot, but do tend towards the darker shades. Red is a colour of passion, not just a demonic colour, although it can be associated with the demonic sinister left hand side. The main colour of Hell is actually green - the thick green light that you almost of have to swim through in the crowded halls of Hell, and examples like the green stag on Furfur's sash. It represents chaos, in competition to the rigid lawful nature of Heaven.

So while Aziraphale mostly presents a socially acceptable angelic front, its telling only Crowley has properly glimpsed that dark, shady, bit-of-a-bastard unpredictable side to him - and likes it. (More from Cobragardens about it here in 1793 Paris and 1601 at the Globe.) I mean, come on - this is a being that sent a man to his death so he could go on lunch date? A lunch date he practically concocted just so he could see Crowley. wtf? A being of love who was about to shoot the Antichrist to stop Armageddon? A being who quietly and efficiently discouraged the mafia who threatened to set the book shop on fire from ever returning? (See, told you I didn't want to meet him a dark alley...) Plus we saw him mind-control a whole roomful of people for his Jane Austen-themed ball, just to woo his beloved demon, with no thought of the possible collateral damage. I'm sorry, is this the same "guardian angel" we were all glowing over earlier?

The coat lapel as wings theory adds some weight to this hidden dark side of Aziraphale as well. Aziraphale's lapels always point downwards, towards Hell. Particularly when he has been discorporated and returned to Heaven, where frustrated about being told he has to gear up for war, he instead wonders out loud if he can return to Earth to a possess a body, reasoning that if demons can, he must be able to as well. lmoa! You are so not an angel, my dear! Yet...he isn't a demon either. He's almost...a bit of both. Two sides to a coin. A blend of light and dark. Shades of grey...although he doesn't like to admit it.

Image by lomiel

Back to the shadow-like green panel on the back of the waistcoat.

Actually, on second thoughts, I'm going to put that in Part 3.

[janeway-lover]

*sigh*

Yes, yes it is.

✨️ ✨️ ✨️

✨️ ✨️ ✨️

✨️ ✨️ ✨️

✨️ ✨️ ✨️

✨️ ✨️ ✨️

✨️ ✨️ ✨️

✨️ ✨️ ✨️ ✨️

✨️ ✨️ ✨️

✨️ ✨️ ✨️

✨️ ✨️ ✨️

G L I T T E R !

[dorksndisasters]

Session 11

[[<PREV]] | [[NEXT>]]

okies hi hello we’re back! And oh heck we’ve got a new player!

 Skadi’s player is Ophi’s player’s sister! their characters are not related to each other tho. They are from the same place haha

 But anyway! more plot! wrapping up shenanigans! They have a heading!

 (the patreon posts are now maybe four ahead if you’re curious :3)

##

Ophibwynn and Marask leave the weavers behind and walk into a large cavern, busy with stalls.

“How long will that tapestry take?” Marask asks, pausing before a stall that sells silverwork.

“I don’t know,” Ophi replies.

“But your magic-”

“Didn’t take,” she says, and shoots him a narrowed look. “Don’t go back and tell them.”

Marask laughs and shakes his head. “Here,” he says to the stall owner. “How much will you give me for this?” And he pulls the chalice from his bag, carefully freeing it from Cass’ clutches.

The stall owner’s eyes light up before he can school his expression. “Two hundred. Gold.”

Marask scoffs. “It’s worth more than that and we both know it.”

The stall owner scans him over. “And I’m sure you got it by perfectly legal means.”

“Two seventy-five,” Marask says instead.

They haggle out a price, and Marask eventually pockets two-fifty gold and sixty-two silver before he turns back to Ophi.

“Weapons?” she asks, handing over the wooden club for one silver 50 copper.

“Oooh.” Marask pours over the stall. “I want that one.” He jabs his finger at a shiny dagger with a murky green gem set into the hilt.

“Ah, a good eye,” says the merchant, and explains it as a Dagger of Venom.

Marask buys it without a second thought.

Further along the line of stalls, in a corner that people seem to be avoiding, is an elf sitting with piles of fur in front of her and a wolf at her side.

Marask coos and drops to his knees in front of the wolf, offering her his hands to smell.

“Be careful,” says the elf. “She may bite.”

“Naw, look, we’re friends!” Marask grins as the wolf nudges her nose into the palm of his hand and submits to being stroked.

“What do you have for sale?” Ophi asks.

The elf runs through all the pelts she has for sale, and Ophi buys a good bear pelt for fifteen gold pieces, which she uses to augment her armour.

Cass wriggles her way out of Marask’s bag to greet the wolf, and the elf stops still.

“Where did you get that?”

“Isn’t she cute?” Marask picks Cass up and all but waves her in the elf’s face. “I hatched the egg just earlier today!”

The elf seems thrown by Cass. “I’m Skadi. This is Aurora,” she says, gesturing to the wolf.

“Marask. And this is Cass, of course.” He presses a kiss to the top of Cass’ head. “And Artemis,” he says, as the crow shuffles her wings and caws from his shoulder.

“Ophibwynn. You’ve seen dragons before?”

“A... long time ago. When I was a child.” She starts to pack up her wares. “Where are you taking her?”

Marask blinks up at her as Skadi stands. “Where...ever we go?”

“I would travel with you. If I may.”

“Of course!” Marask answers without hesitating. “Hey, would you like a pie?”

“Thank... you?”

Marask hands Skadi two pies. Ophi gives her five strips of salted beef as well, to round out her supplies.

“We should... probably return to the others,” Ophi says, moments before Marask spots the pie stall.

He places Cass back in his back and darts over.

“Finest pies in all the underneath,” the merchant says. “Can I interest you in a few? Thirty-five silver.”

Marask whistles. “Ooh, are they – is this a free sample?” He picks one up and shoves it in his mouth without waiting for an answer.

“Hey!” The merchant stabs him without blinking, lunging across his stall to do so.

Marask swears and reels back, shifting forms to crow and back to human again.

“Shit,” says the merchant, face paling. “Shit, I’m sorry, uh – here.” He packs up five pies and hands them to Marask. “Free of charge.”

“Um. Thanks?” Marask shrugs and puts them away.

Ophi pays for five pies and takes a further five under cover of a spell, which she hands to Skadi. “Ok. Back to Carric and Uriel?”

~

They return to the small room to find Annan, free of her old lady guise, panicking in the corner.

“Where the fuck have you been?” she bursts out, the minute they enter. “Your friends left, one after the other, and the spell wore off, and this isn’t exactly safe for me – did you forget I have a death threat hanging over my head?”

Ophi whips out her flute and plays a soft tune that calms Annan down. “Here.” She places Annan under the illusion of a dog. “That should be safe enough.”

“Hey, where did the others go?” Marask asks, looking around. “This... is where we said we’d meet them, right?”

Someone knocks the door closed, and a low hum of magic vibrates through the room. The straps on the chair tighten on nothing, and the mirror on the back of the door lightens and clears to show a stone wall. The light cast against it suggests it’s outside in the clear skies.

“Uh - hello?” Marask calls through it, stepping up to peer either side, as if that’ll help him see more.

“What did you do to Aelfswild!” Annan screeches. “You didn’t have to kill him! We wouldn’t have snitched, your – whatever this is, it would have been safe!”

“Hey, hush,” Ophi says, and throws a strip of salted beef at the mirror.

It hits the mirror and slides to the ground.

“Worth a shot.” Ophi shrugs, watching as Aurora snaps up the beef.

Ophi examines it. “So... it’s sorcerous,” she says.

“No shit,” says Annan, who seems to have exhausted herself.

��I don’t know which Elder God, though.”

“Can you... call someone to answer?” Marask asks.

“I’ll try?” Ophi closes her eyes to concentrate, placing one hand on the mirror and the other on Gordon’s back.

The mirror rebuffs her attempt, leaving her with slightly scorched fingers.

“Ok, can we just-” Skadi crouches to pick the lock on the door.

It doesn’t work; whatever magic has started the communication spell seems to have frozen the lock.

Marask yells and breaks up the chair in an attempt to disrupt the magic, which leaves them with a shattered chair and a comms spell still open. “Here.” He holds the back of the chair out to Ophi. “Do your thing.”

She looks confused for a moment, before he gestures at the door. “Right.” She takes the back of the chair and charges at the door.

The mirror shatters as she careens into it, and the door breaks around the lock, swinging open.

The spell dies, fizzling out.

“So...”

“Let’s try that again,” Ophi says, and repairs the mirror. She focuses her own communication spell and this time it opens in a dark room, the only light coming in through a thin, high window.

There’s the impression of a pile of straw along the back wall, which is dark stone spattered with something like moss, or mould, that glistens in the faint light.

As they look on this, something shifts in the straw and pulls back.

“Hello?” Ophi calls through.

“Who - who’s there?”

“We’re friends,” Marask says.

(Behind him, Skadi scoffs; “You’ve barely met this person”)

“You’re not – how did you get in here?”

“Where are you?” Ophi asks.

“A - tower. In the mountains. I think.”

“What’s your name?” Marask asks.  

They shift slightly, and the group make out the glint of shackles around thin wrists. “Tayse.”

“Who locked you up, Tayse?”

“My - my friend. I was helping her, I thought... she tricked me, she’s going to do something bad and I can’t - I can’t stop her.” They shift; the group see dirty feet appear through the straw, uncomfortably thin.

“What’s your friend’s name?”

“And how long have you been in there?”

“Ilromi. A year, I think. I’m sorry, I can’t...”

“That’s ok. We’ll find you,” Ophi says, and closes the spell.

“Should we find them?” Skadi asks.

“You heard what they said.”

“They could be lying; they’re the one locked up.” Skadi shrugs.

Aurora, beside her, lashes her tail and growls.

“Should we try and find the others?” Marask asks. “And work out where we’re going.”

“They had those documents to pick up, right?” Ophi says. “Maybe they went to get them.”

Annan scoffs.

“We should probably work out what we’re doing with her, too.”

“What you’re doing – you're going to let me go,” Annan says. “I helped you! I found this place for you. Isn’t that enough?”

Marask shrugs as he pushes the door open. “Possibly.”

~

They retrieve the documents from Enneth with only slight confusion (“You... aren’t the people that dropped these off.” “Yeah, we’re friends, we go way back.” “... Alright. Got the rest of my money?” “They didn’t-” “Half up front, half after.”) and find them to be the blueprints of a place called Ascension’s court and a map of another layer of tunnels under the city.

Annan attempts to dig in her heels as they make tracks towards Aewyth’s barracks, but Ophi points out that she’s still hidden as long as she stays with them.

Aewyth is... perplexed by their appearance. “New person. Where are the other two?”

“No idea,” Ophi says, sitting on her desk. “So hey, do you know anyone called Ilromi or Tayse?”

Aewyth watches as Aurora chases Gordon around her office, papers flying in their wake. “Can’t say that I do.” She lunges to catch a teetering stack before it could collapse. “I told you before – Asz is better suited to help you.”

“Alright!” Marask launches himself out of the (thankfully open) window. “C’mon guys, let’s go see Ass-Cheeks!”

The rest of them pile out the window and race around the barracks to pull faces outside various windows in the building before leaving.

~

Aszacixxl is alone in his house when they arrive.

“Sup, Lizardman,” Ophi says in greeting.

Aszacixxl frowns at them all as they enter.

“Hey, Ass-Cheeks, d’you know anyone called Tayse or Ilromi?” Marask throws himself onto the couch.

Aszacixxl closes his eyes and takes a steadying breath before he answers. “Neither are common names. I’ve never heard of any Tayse, but there have been a few Ilromis of note.

“Do you have any maps?” Skadi asks. “Of the world; we need to find a tower.”

Aszacixxl nods and pulls one out, rolling it across the table on top of the documents he’d been working at. “Did you find anything in Aelfswild’s office?”

“Oh, so like-” Marask sort of sits up, and absolutely blasts Aszacixxl with a barrage of just how their day’s been going.

Aszacixxl blinks as he tries to take it all in. “I... see.”

“And these are the people you’re getting to help?” Annan asks, sounding supremely dismissive.

“Why... are you a dog?” Aszacixxl asks, beginning to sound tired.

“For my own ‘Safety’,” Annan replies. “Since they won’t let me leave the world.”

“You should come with us,” Marask says. “We need to find out which Ilromi we’re looking for.”

“The... Scriptorium will have copies of lineages; that may help.” Aszacixxl doesn’t seem all that keen to follow the group.

“Alright, cool,” Marask says, standing. “You comin’?”

“Perhaps I should stay and keep an eye on Annan?”

“Nah, come on, Ass-Cheeks, safety in numbers and all that.” Marask tugs him to his feet. “Let’s gooooo.”

~

Marask stops in the middle of the Scriptorium’s entrance hall and yells out, “Where’s your senior book wrangler? I need an adult!”

“I thought you were an adult,” says Skadi, who’s looking confused. “I admit I haven’t really... studied how long you humans live, but you look like you should be an adult.”

“Looks,” Annan murmurs, “Can be deceiving.”

“Here, I’ll just-” Ophi focuses a spell and summons a book that should be useful.

As it flies through the open doors before them, Autag steps out of her office and grabs it, cancelling the spell. “Just what do you think you’re doing?”

“Are you the senior book wrangler?” Marask asks. “I think that’s the book we need.”

“We’re not here for a fight,” Skadi says, quickly.

“Could’ve fooled me,” Annan mutters.

“Hush, puppy,” Ophi hisses at her, and then smiles at Autag. “We just need that book to look someone up.”

“Look, I have a dragon!” Marask announces, and pulls Cass from his bag to wave in Autag’s face.

“An impressively competent spell,” Autag says, dismissing Cass as nothing more than that. She hands the book to Aszacixxl (who’s looking more worn out by the second) and points them towards a study room. “When you’re done, just leave the book in there. We’ll put it away.”

They enter the room and crowd around the table to page through the book.

“Wait,” Ophi says, and stops on a page. “There’s an Ilromi, but...”

“What?”

“That’s my last name.”

This Ilromi is marked as “Ilromi Hunzruae”, and has a sister called Mircadia.

“That’s... that’s my mother’s name.” Ophi taps Mircadia.

Ophibwynn isn’t written below them.

“Maybe that’s not the one we’re looking for?”

“No, wait-” Ophi pricks her thumb and dabs a spot of blood onto Ilromi’s name. She focuses her magic on that, and sends out a seeking spell.

It comes up against resistance almost instantly, but before the spell breaks, Ophi gets the sense that this Ilromi is north of them, somewhere.

“There were some towers north of here, right?" Skadi asks.

Aszacixxl rolls out the map he’d brought from his home. “Here.”

There are two; the Tower of Akac the Vile, and the Tower of Broken Worlds.

“Is your mother still alive?” Skadi asks.

Ophi wrinkles her nose. “Yes, but...”

“We should go visit her!” Marask announces.

“Do we have to?”

“She may be able to help us rule out your aunt,” Skadi says.

Ophi sighs. “Alright. She lives in Behrtio, so... I guess we’ll head there.”

[coppicefics]

Masked Omens: Prologue

Read the fic here!

[Image Description: Image 1 - A simple rendition of the Masked Singer UK logo, a golden mask with colourful fragments flying off of it. The mask has a golden halo and a golden devil tail protruding from either side. Below, gold text reads 'Masked Omens'.

Image 2 - A scrapbook with two newspaper cuttings pasted in. Each has a date handwritten by it; the first reads ‘Tadfield Gazette, 24th July 2009′. The second reads ‘Toffley Courier, 10th August, 2009′. Full text transcription below cut. End ID.]

Tadfield Gazette, 24th July 2009

HIDDEN GEM: O’LEARY’S LATEST STUNS CRITICS Masterful casting highlights themes of innocence and fear against a background of domestic drama. [”What do you care, David? Maybe I’d rather he dream of monsters than wake alone, like me.” ~ Jane Winsome, Act 2, Scene 3] RUMOURS OF Colleen O’Leary’s retirement have been greatly exaggerated. While it’s true that in recent years her name has been conspicuously absent from the glossy playbills and bright posters of the West End, the Dublin-born playwright still has plenty to say. Her latest offering, Hidden, is on the surface a simple domestic drama about an upper middle class family with a young son. It follows their trials and tribulations through a single fraught year as ten year old Matthew (played by the talented young team of Warlock Dowling, Gert Johnson and Adam Young in rotation) questions his relationship with his parents, his nightmares, and ultimately the world around him. Anita Lovett is both adoring and adorable in her role as Matthew's mother Jane, while Oscar Williams fulfils the role of a baffled, slightly distant father as David Winsome. The cast is rounded out by Anthony Crowley, making a return to acting in the role of Ashton Storeth, Matthew's babysitter. What might have been a fairly pedestrian premise – a child becomes unsettled as his parents fail to find time for him – is elevated to new and sinister levels by Crowley's double role as both minder and monster; Matthew is plagued by nightmares of a dark creature that dwells beneath his bed, a creature that seems to have a lot in common with the mysterious Storeth. As Matthew's nightmares increase in both frequency and severity, strange events unfolding in the household lead the audience to question just how much of what they're seeing on stage is real. The script seems to demand introspection of its audience; how much can we ever really know about the world we live in or the people we invite into our homes, even trusting them with our most precious treasures, our children? And yet, ultimately, Storeth and the Nightmare have more meaningful interactions with young Matthew than either of his parents. It's a thought-provoking piece with an ending that must be seen and not spoiled. All in all, a triumphant return to the stage for both O'Leary and Crowley, who seem to have come determined to prove themselves and done so admirably. Hidden is now booking until September 30th this year; for venue information and to book tickets, visit www.hiddenuktour.com.

Lots Donated To Charity Fundraiser WITH PREPARATIONS well underway for the Anna and Eve Foundation’s upcoming auction, it seems there are still more celebrities prepared to offer up their most prized possessions for a good cause. The latest announcement of items going under the hammer includes: The upright piano played in the drawing room scene in The Grasswater Affair, kindly donated by Celestireel A flaming sword used in the original magic act of The Amazing Mr Fell, as seen on last year's Royal Variety Performance, with personal instruction in its use from the magician himself A signed drumskin and drumsticks used by Queen drummer, Roger Taylor A Nike Total 90 Omni football signed by every member of this year’s league-topping Tadfield FC squad The stunning faux-diamond necklace worn by Angela Crowley in the 2003 film More than a Memory, contributed by Pace Productions (newspaper cuts off here)

An advert for the Four Horse Inn is also cut off at the bottom of the cutting.

Toffley Courier, 10th August 2009

Toffley Gate Protests Planned [Uriel Scrolle, Reporter] When Lawrence Richmond was elected as MP for Toffley South, it was partly on the strength of his campaign promise to invest in building affordable housing for local people. Sure enough, within a year of his election, his flagship development had been completed. Having opened its doors in 2006, Toffley Gate is a towering edifice of concrete and glass, boasting over 300 individual homes, most of which are luxury apartments – but many of them still stand empty. Now local housing campaigners are calling for lower rents to be imposed on these unoccupied units in a bid to open them up to local people who cannot afford the current rates. (Continued below.) [Image: A large, modern block of flats in yellowed black-and-white newsprint. End ID.] [Caption] The Toffley Gate development, pictured shortly after completion. Local housing activists say the affordable housing they were promised has never been provided. Photo: Daniel Brubaker on Unsplash. [End caption.]

Local Theatre Reports Record Sales for O'Leary's 'Hidden' Masterpiece: Former 'Kilcridhe' star steals show with moving performance [Citron Deux-Cheval, Arts Critic] Greater Deville’s Inferion Theatre has long struggled to fill seats as the rise of commuting in the town has left residents with far les [sic] time and money to spend on the town’s recreational offerings. It relies, therefore, on the continued patronage of those who are able to attend regularly, and on the rare piece of theatre that causes its audiences to insist friends and family go along and watch, too. This week, it reported its highest ticket sales for a single show in over ten years for the Saturday night showing of Hidden, a new play from veteran playwright Colleen O’Leary. Naturally, I had to go along and see what all the fuss was about, and I was glad I did. Hidden is a deep, dark exploration of the psyche masquarading [sic] as a simple drama about two unhappily married parents and their neglected child. While the story of David and Jane Winsome (Oscar Williams and Anita Lovett respectively) and their strained marriage is compelling, with painful betrayals and soft, poignant moments aplenty, it’s their son Matthew who steals the show, along with his au pair, Ashton Storeth, played to perfection by Anthony Crowley (once a familiar face on our television screens as heart-throb Father Jacob MacCleod in Kilcridhe). On the night I attended, Matthew Winsome was portrayed by eleven year-old Gert Johnson, one of three children who take turns in the role. For such a young boy to take on such a complex role is a very tall order, but Johnson more than rose to the challenge, demonstrating a thorough understanding of the mix of fear and adoration with which Matthew regards Ashton. In scenes with his mother and father, Matthew is quiet and respectful, almost withdrwan - but opposite Crowley, who plays the double roles of Ashton and The Nightmare, he becomes expressive and unspoken, loud in his anger, his fear and, yes, his love. Crowley, too, gives an incredible double-edged performance as warm, gentle Ashton and the silent, sinister presence that lurks beneath his charge’s bed - perhaps drawing on his own inner demons to lend authenticity to the role. Hidden is a play that leaves much open to interpretation: whether The Nightmare is real or imagined, what, if anything, it has to do with Ashton, and what the surprising ending means for the family. It’s a play to get you thinking, and I highly recommend you go along. Hidden is playing at the Infernion until August 15th. Contact the Box Office on 01632 496055 to book.

[gypsyweaver]

Excerpt 3 -- Signed and Sealed

Still deep in NaNo land. Here’s the aftermath of Gabriel wrestling with Jacob.

Oh, and here’s a link to the fic that’s going to have all of this in it eventually. Weekly updates to Signed and Sealed are set to begin in early December: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21231668

~*~

Gabriel slapped. Jacob grunted. This is what they were doing when the day finally broke.

The first kiss of silvery blue light touched Gabriel’s brow and he looked to the east.

“Behold, the dawn,” Gabriel said. “You survived.”

Jacob panted, staring as the sun touched the morning sky.

“I meant to,” the human replied.

Gabriel stepped off of the man and hauled him to his feet.

Jacob stood before Gabriel, shivering with his exertion and fear. “Am I free to go, then?”

“One more thing,” Gabriel said. “I bless you in the name of God. I bless you and your children, which shall grow to be more numerous than the stars in the sky, than the grains of sand on the beach.”

Sometime later, the same scribe that called the wrenching of Jacob’s hip a “touch” would write that God was held fast in Jacob’s strong arms. That Jacob demanded a blessing. That Jacob refused to release God until he was blessed.

A gross exaggeration. Gabriel laid his hand on Jacob’s bloody face, and blessed the man. Jacob closed his eyes to receive God’s benediction. When he opened them again, he said, “Am I free to go now?”

“Jacob, son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham, God’s chosen--you are hearby called Israel. Know that you are a Prince among man, with all of God’s favor behind you.”

“A prince?” Jacob said, and laughed. Gabriel could hear Sarah’s laugh echoed in Jacob’s. “God names me a prince?”

“Yes, Israel. As a prince, you must name this place, where we fought.” Gabriel paused. “What do you name this place?”

“Does it not have a name already?”

“A new name. What do you call this place, where you survived?”

“I think I shall call this place Peniel.”

“Peniel?”

“I have surely seen the face of God...and felt His wrath, but I have survived.”

Gabriel kept his face still, attempting to show his approval.

He greatly wished to laugh at this human. This was not the wrath of God. Gabriel knew the wrath of God. The wrath of God was slaughtered babies, cities in smoke, and the dead animals choking the clean streams with blood and rot.

He nodded at Israel. “Behold, Peniel, where you survived.”

Abraham’s grandson, the son of Isaac, formerly Jacob and now Israel--the bloody man in the torn robes, stinking of his own urine, of river water, of blood, and the leavings of his own bowels, bowed to Gabriel.

As he did, his clothing mended and cleansed itself. The blood and filth of fighting vanished from his skin. He stood in the weak light of morning, all of his wounds healed except his hip, and before him, an ironwood staff of a good length for him.

Israel picked it up.

“I thank you, oh servant of our Lord.”

It was Prince Beelzebub’s gift, and Prince Beelzebub’s healing. Still, Gabriel bowed his head to the man.

“Go with God,” Gabriel said, stepping backwards into the wing realm.

The man watched, confused, as Gabriel vanished from his sight. Slowly, he picked up the staff, wincing and grabbing his wounded hip. He staggered away, in the direction of his family.

Gabriel smiled as Israel tottered out of his sight. He turned to where he had left Prince Beelzebub.

His prince was sitting on the ground. A crumpled form lay beside them, with its wings curled behind and its head on their lap. They idly curled the long, black hair around their fingers.

Israfil slept, deeply.

Gabriel rushed to his demon’s side. “What happened?”

“He showed up after you threw Jacob into the river,” Prince Beelzebub said. “He’zz...he’zz no longer my kindly mazzter...”

Prince Beelzebub lifted Israfil’s sleeping head from their lap, and laid it gently (very gently) in the grass that they had vacated. They stood slowly, and Gabriel saw how clean and how perfect their robes were.

Sometimes, absence could tell a story as well as presence.

They went to him and wrapped their arms around him. They were shaking.

“What did he do to you?” Gabriel asked, holding them tight to him.

“Nothing I could not fix.”

“No secrets, please. No secrets from me, Beelzebub.”

“He tried to rip my wingzz off. Said he wanted me back in featherzz. Zzaid that he could craft me wingzz like my old onezz.” They looked up at Gabriel, their eyes storm grey in the morning light. “He’zz mad. She’zz driven him mad. My mazzter would not, would never...”

The tears, fat and clear, rolled down their cheeks. Gabriel gathered their face in his hands, and kissed their sweet forehead.  

“That wazz not my Raphael,” Prince Beelzebub said. “I made him zzleep.”

Gabriel nodded.

“I am not waking him...but...” They pulled away, disentangling their arms from him, and stepping away. “I have thizz one thing that I can do for him.”

Gabriel watched, ready to assist if he needed to.

The demon pulled Israfil’s sandaled feet, straightening his legs. They smoothed his robes around his legs, and then turned his head until he faced the sky. They laid his hands over his chest, and smoothed the long sleeves of his robes.

Prince Beelzebub sat beside their old master and twisted his hair into soft curls. Once they were happy with the way that his hair was arrayed, they raised their hands up. In their hands, a crown of white, purple, and blue flowers began to weave through infernal miracles. They laid that on his brow, and then they called a bouquet of white and gold star-shaped flowers into their hands. These flowers, waxy-petaled and sweetly fragrant as the riverside that they undoubtedly came from, these flowers were tucked in Israfil’s hands.

They slipped flowers in between his feathers. Beautiful blooms in blue and white and golden yellow. He laid, sleeping, in a copse of grass, which Prince Beelzebub scattered still more blooms in.

“In the Garden, I wove many crownzz for him. And for Uriel, our zzizzter,” they said. Their voice was soft and sad. “Thizz izz an apology.”

“Do you have something to be sorry for?” Gabriel asked.

“I have zzomeone to mourn,” Prince Beelzebub said. “When zzomeone izz gone from you, the humanzz zzay, ‘I’m zzorry.’” They paused, and a sob slipped from their lips, one that wracked their whole being. “I’m zzorry, Izzrafil. Raphael. I’m zzorry that She izz torturing you thizz way.”

[monkeyandelf]

Nephilim: The Watchers of Humanity

The prophet Enoch is considered one of the first contactees in history. He maintained communication and received instructions from some deities that showed incredible technological development, and his adventures were reflected in four books that even relate his interstellar journey in one of the ships of these "celestial entities". These Watchers acted as true custodians of humanity, manipulating our ancestors. However, some of them rebelled against their bosses, taking sides with human beings ... They took me to a place whose inhabitants are like burning fire, but when they wish, they appear as humans, ”we read in Book 1 of Enoch. Who hold what beings aliens they appeared before the human species under the mask of divinity, and in addition we delved into the line of descent of the first human specimens (which we now know as Adam and Eve), we find a key character in this plot of manipulation, which supposedly He is the author of one of the oldest and most revealing works in the world: The Book of Enoch. If we started from Adam, Enoch would be the fruit of the seventh generation and, therefore, father of Methuselah and great-grandfather of Noah. But who was Enoch? Why did God raise him to the status of a prophet? For what reason was he chosen as "the first learned man"? The Hebrew name of Enoch translates as "The Initiate", a role that he undoubtedly played, because he became a repository of profound knowledge. However, contrary to the mainstream of thought, that wisdom was far from bringing autonomy to the human species. Rather the complete opposite. From the study of the four sacred texts that describe the experiences of the prophet (Book of Enoch, Slavic Book of Enoch, Book of the Secrets of Enoch and Enoch Coptic), a surprising account emerges, revealing a master plan on the part of the God Yahweh to "instruct" the prophet in a series of blood rituals and, consequently, to propagate a monotheistic religion as a control system. ON BOARD AN INTERSTELLAR SHIP If we listen to the Bible, Enoch lived 12,000 years ago at the time when the Watchers or Custodians of the Lord descended to Earth to maintain lustful relationships with the daughters of men. "In the days of Yared, my father, (the angels) transgressed the word of the Lord. Behold, they sinned, transgressed the law of the Lord, changed it to go with women, and sin with them ... ”(Enoch 106: 13-16). In his texts, Enoch does not refer to God as Yahweh but as the Lord, and designates angels as his Keepers or Watchers. The prophet's description of his ascension into heaven constitutes one of the richest and most revealing accounts in the ancient world, as it offers interesting details about the nature of these "heavenly" entities. The Book of Enoch ended up being excluded from the biblical compilation, since the hierarchs of the Catholic Church sentenced that his book had not been revealed by God. Only the Abyssinian Church in Ethiopia included it in its Old Testament. The story brings together almost all the characteristic ingredients of a modern episode of alien abduction, providing absolutely amazing elements for any minimally seasoned reader. Enoch was sleeping in his bed when he was visited by two beings whom he described as "enormous men", who called him by name and asked him to accompany them to ascend to heaven. "Behold, two tremendously tall men appeared to me," we read in the Enoch's Book- So much so that I had never seen anything like it on Earth. Their faces shone like the Sun, their eyes were also like burning light, and fire came from their lips, emerging with the clothes and singing of various types in purple appearance; his wings shone brighter than gold, his hands whiter than snow. Enoch's description of these entities coincides with that found in the Bible when he details the characteristics of angels: bright and shining-eyed beings. They even say of themselves that they were born to a virgin mother. Were they the result of artificial insemination to create hybrids with extraterrestrial genetics? I am aware that many readers think I am going too far, but let's continue with the account of the facts. The angels commanded Enoch to leave a note addressed to his sons - Jerusalem, Regim, and Gaity - before they departed so that they would not seek him anywhere and patiently wait for the Lord to bring him back. Enoch narrates that two angels made him get into the spirit chariot, an experience that he describes as "being on board a palace capable of sailing through the heavens", and then said "chariot" transports him to another much more majestic place, to which the prophet called "Heaven of Heaven". My interpretation is that an aircraft displaced it to a larger one, inside which light emanated from everywhere. "He transferred my spirit into the Heaven of Heavens," writes Enoch, "and I saw that there was a building made of glass, and among those crystals, tongues of living fire. My spirit saw a circle that surrounded this building with fire and in its four corners there were sources of live fire ». Our protagonist makes it clear that a circle of fire surrounds the entire building. Are you referring to a powerful magnetic field enveloping the mothership? A JOURNEY THROUGH THE COSMOS When Enoch entered that glazed complex, he described a transparent floor that reflected stars and celestial bodies. The vastness of the cosmos moved under his feet, as the aircraft moved away from Earth. Our protagonist refers to "a first heaven, a second heaven, a third heaven ...", and so on. Precisely as an astronaut would describe the different ascending layers of the atmosphere until reaching space. "I saw a burning fire," continues Enoch recounting, "and beyond those mountains is a region where the great Earth ends, and there the heavens culminate. Then a deep chasm was shown to me between columns of celestial fire, and I saw in it columns of fire that descended to the bottom and whose height and depth were immeasurable; and beyond this abyss I saw a place over which the firmament did not extend, under which there were no foundations of the earth either; on which there was neither water nor birds, but it was a desert and terrible place. There I saw seven stars like great mountains, burning, and when I asked about this, the angel said to me: ‘This place is the end of heaven and Earth; it has become the prison of the stars and the powers of heaven. " Enoch entered rooms plagued by fruit trees and springs that gave honey, wine, milk, and oil, marveling at what his eyes beheld. But more surprising is that inside he saw about two hundred angels. One of them revealed to him that this place was reserved for the righteous and those who served the Lord. However, the prophet did not take long to go from joy to terror, since he ended up entering "infernal halls" where he observed angels subjected to cruel torture. This is how the scene describes the Enoch's Book: «From there I went to another place more terrible than the previous one and I saw something horrible: there was a great fire burning and flaming, and the place had cracks to the abyss, full of descending columns of fire, but I couldn't see its dimensions neither its magnitude nor would make conjectures ... ... Then I said: 'How dreadful and terrible it is to look at this place!'. Answering me, Uriel, the Watcher and the Saint, who was with me, said: 'Enoch, why are you so scared and scared?' I replied: "It is because of this terrible place and because of the spectacle of suffering." And he said to me: "This place is the prison of the angels and here they will be prisoners forever." SECRET KNOWLEDGE Enoch asked what they had done to deserve that punishment; the response was to disobey the Lord's orders for revealing secrets to man: "These are the Watchers who descended on Earth and revealed to humans what was secret and led them to sin." Later, the Watchers confess the names of some of those rebel angels: "The name of the room is Panamu'el; He showed the sons of men the bitter and the sweet and revealed to them all the secrets of his wisdom: he taught humans to write with ink and papyri and many have gone astray because of it, from the beginning until this day. Because men have not been brought into the world for the purpose of strengthening their belief in ink and paper »(1-Enoch: 8-10). In this passage we find an important revelation: contrary to general opinion, angels are not punished for mating with earthly women, but for revealing divine knowledge and secrets only accessible to the gods, which means that not all of these entities maintain the same attitude towards man. Now, it seems clear that some kind of superior deity had given the Watchers express orders not to transmit any kind of knowledge to the human being, in order to keep him enslaved under his tyranny. However, some of these angels ended up contravening this mandate, revealing to the Earthlings the "secret science". Enoch is unable to assimilate so many and such intense visions, and suffers a shockcollapsing exhausted. Then the archangel Gabriel appears, who helps him to get up and leads him into the presence of the Lord, with whom he maintains a long dialogue: "And the Lord summoned me and said to me: 'Enoch, sit on my right with Gabriel.' And I bowed down before the Lord, and the Lord said to me: 'Beloved Enoch, everything you see, all the things that stand, I tell you, even before the beginning, I have created everything from non-being , and the visible things of the invisible. Enoch listen to these my words, nor have I told my angels my secret, nor have I told them its origin, nor my infinite dimension, nor have they understood my creation, which I am telling you today ’» (2-Enoch 24: 1-3). The Lord forbids knowledge for human beings and punishes those of his who disclose it, yet he commissions his angels to instruct Enoch in scripture and the celestial sciences. Therefore, that God who does not want to transmit his wisdom to mortals, teaches Enoch those skills that interest him, driven by purposes that we could currently define as social engineering or control of the masses. TECHNOLOGY TO SEE THE FUTURE Enoch learns to write, and the Lord asks him to show the world what he has seen and what has been dictated to him: "And the Lord said: 'Come down to Earth and tell your children everything I have told you, and everything you have seen. Give them the manuscript books, and they will read them and know me as the creator of all things, and they will understand that there is no God but me. "2-Enoch 33: 2-9). At that instant, the Almighty tells Enoch that he is going to take him back to Earth. You will have 30 days to make God's message known through his writings. After that time, the Lord will again "rapture" the prophet to heaven, this time never to return. When Enoch returns to our world, he compiles everything he has learned and becomes a patriarch of knowledge: «This was the first of the humankind born on Earth who learned scripture, doctrine and wisdom, and wrote the signs in a book from heaven, according to the order of their months, so that men would know the seasons of the years, according to their order, by their months. He was the first to write a revelation and testify to mankind in the earthly race. Enoch even quotes the name of the angel who instructs him: «Because the signs, the times, the years and the days were shown to me by Uriel, the Watcher, whom the Lord of Glory has entrusted with all the lights of heaven and in the world , so that they reign on the face of the sky, they are seen from the Earth and they are the guides of the day and of the night, thus the Sun, the Moon, the stars and all the auxiliary creatures that travel their orbits in the chariots of the sky » (1-Enoch: 75: 3). «The vision of the Saint of heaven was revealed to me and I heard all the words of the Watchers and of the Saints –we read in the Enoch's Book- And because I listened to them, I have learned everything from them and I have understood that I will not speak for this generation, but for a distant one that is to come ». As the days passed, an angel instructed Enoch on how to transcribe all the information that flowed through a Celestial Tablet, a technological artifact with amazing power, as it was capable of calculating future events. Was it a quantum computer capable of forecasting time lines of future probabilities? WARS BETWEEN GODS Enoch wrote what the angel transmitted to him: "He said to me: 'Enoch looks at these heavenly tablets, read what is written there and point to each piece of information.' I looked at the heavenly tablets and read everything that was written and understood everything; I read the book of all the actions of humanity and of all the children of the flesh that are on Earth, even the remote generations »(1-Enoch 81: 1-2). The "chosen one from heaven" entrusted all the documents to his son Methuselah: "Preserve my son, Methuselah, the book from your father's hand and give it to the generations of the world. I have given you and your children wisdom so that they will give it to their children for generations, wisdom that is above their thoughts »(1-Enoch 82: 1). The Sumerian texts already describe these "magic tablets" as coveted objects of power, since those angels or gods who made them, would have the ability to rule the world. In a story called The Zu Myth we read as one of the subjects of the mighty Enlil, a Anunnaki –Sumerian and Akkadian deity– called Pazuzu or Zu, which means «He who Knows», manages to steal the Celestial Tablets and puts the entire Council in check Anunnaki, unleashing a war without truce. When Zu is done with the tablets, he believes himself with the ability to do anything: "I will take the Celestial Tablet of Destinations, I will rule the decrees of the gods, I will establish my throne, I will be the master of the heavenly decrees, I will command the Igigi - minor gods of the Sumerian tradition - in their space ». Through the Celestial Tablets, Enoch can experience visions of events that would occur hundreds and thousands of years in the future. In his texts, he even predicted the construction of the Tower of Babel, the prophet Elijah's ascent to heaven in a chariot of fire, and even the Great Universal Flood that would loom over the Earth 1,000 years later. When those thirty days had elapsed, Enoch prepared to leave and 2,000 individuals gathered to bid him farewell: "When Enoch had spoken to the people, the Lord sent darkness on the surface of the Earth, and there was darkness, and it covered those men who were standing next to Enoch, and they took Enoch and took him to Heaven, where the Lord is; and he received it and placed it before his face, and the darkness dissipated from the Earth, and the light returned »(2-Enoch 67: 1). REBEL ANGELS As a final cherry, and always following the instructions of the Lord, in the place where Enoch had been raptured to the top, various animal sacrifices were rendered: “Methuselah and his brothers, and all the sons of Enoch, hurried and erected an altar at the place called Achuzan, from where Enoch was taken up into the sky. And they sacrificed oxen and called all the people together, and shared the sacrifice before the face of the Lord »(2-Enoch 68: 6-7). Enoch's most revealing prophecy, that of a flood on Earth, would come after three more generations of his lineage. However, a latent problem within Yahweh's hierarchy was still raging: his angels descended to Earth to copulate with Earthlings, blinded by their beauty and desire to procreate. The secrets of the great deity were in danger day by day, as these Watchers revealed to the wives that they had taken prohibited knowledge that could elevate men to the category of gods. And that was something that Enlil-Yahweh could not allow. Only through a drastic solution would the conflict be resolved. A solution that would end the life of the human species on Earth ... At Enoch Book 1 we read that a total of 200 angels rebelled. Even the names of these Watchers who took the earthlings as wives are quoted: "Let us go and choose women from among the daughters of men and beget sons." But Shemihaza, who was their boss, told them: "I fear that you do not want to carry out this action and that I am the only one responsible for a great sin." They replied: "Let us all take an oath and let us all commit ourselves under an anathema not to go back on this project until we actually carry it out." Then the two hundred swore together under anathema, and all of them descended upon the top of a mount they called Hermon. "These are the names of their chiefs: Shemihaza, who was the chief, and in order in relation to him, Ar'taqof, Rama'el, Kokab'el, –'el, Ra'ma'el, Dani'el, Zeq'el, Baraq'el, 'Asa'el, Harmoni, Matra'el,' Anan'el, Sato'el, Shamsi'el, Sahari'el, Tumi'el, Turi'el, Yomi'el, and Yehadi 'the. These are the heads of ten » (1-Enoch 6: 1-8). From the union between these angels and women giants were born, the so-called Nephilim, which in Hebrew means "fallen" or "knocked down." In Greek translations it is given the meaning of giants, as in Aramaic. However, certain scholars defend that Nephilim comes from the Aramaic term NEPHILA, which means «Those who are from Orion», since in Aramaic Orion is Nephila. Did the Anunnaki come from the Orion Constellation as proposed by the researcher Robert Bauval, who defends the theory that the Egyptian pyramids are aligned following this constellation? WHEN THE NEPHILIM DOMINATED THE EARTH The fact is that in several excavations in the Middle East various large skeletons have been found, which means that these giants really existed, although they would not necessarily have to be the remains of the Nepfilim, but rather of human beings with genetic reminiscences of these beings. The Nepfilim and Anunnaki measured between three and six meters, so the discovery of a skeleton of these characteristics would mean a before and after in the way of conceiving human history. Returning to the story that concerns us, or that most angered Yahweh, the angels revealed secrets to their earthly wives: “Shemihaza taught incantations and cutting roots; Hermoni to break spells, witchcraft, magic and related skills; Baraq’el the signs of lightning; Kokab’el the omens of the stars; Zeq’el the lightning; –‘He taught the meanings; Ar’taqof taught the signs of the Earth; Shamsi’el the omens of the Sun; and Sahari’s the Moonmen, and they all began to reveal secrets to their wives » (1-Enoch 8: 3) The forbidden knowledge also included weapons to defend themselves, so we must assume that practically all the secrets of the smithy and the foundry were revealed by these beings, both to learn to use them in self-defense and for crafts and decoration: "And Asa ' He taught men how to make iron swords and copper breastplates and showed them how gold is mined and worked to completion, and as far as silver is concerned, to emboss it for bracelets and other ornaments. He taught women about antimony, eye makeup, gemstones, and tinctures. And then the wickedness grew a lot and they took the wrong paths and got corrupted in every way ». As the reader can appreciate, Enoch was dictated that any knowledge given to the human being is malicious, dark and sinful. Basically, the Lord condemns any technical or moral advance that humanity can develop on its own. ETERNAL PUNISHMENT FOR THE INSURRECTION Enoch is clearly a victim of "brainwashing," since he is not allowed to doubt in the least that the Law of the Lord is unquestionable. Any opposition to it means death. Only submission and fervent fidelity constitute the only way to salvation. This is how Enoch expresses the threatening tactic of his God towards sinful men and angels: «The eternal God will walk on Earth, on Mount Sinai he will appear with his great army and will arise in the force of his power from the top of the skies . And all the Watchers will tremble and be punished in secret places, and all the extremities of the Earth will be broken, and fear and a great tremor will take hold of them to the ends of the Earth. The high mountains will crumble and crumble, and the hills will crumble and melt like wax before the flame. And the Earth will divide and everything that is on Earth will perish and there will be a judgment on everyone. Without a doubt, an entire apology of terror and threat in the service of a false God who proclaims himself unique and almighty. To capture these two hundred rebel angels, Yahweh had seven lieutenants, among whom four stood out: Michael, Sariel, Raphael and Gabriel. The Lord instructed them to punish the fallen angels harshly, but especially interesting is the order that he transmitted to the archangel Michael: «And the Lord said to Michael: 'Go and announce to Shemihaza and all his accomplices that they united with women and they defiled them in their impurity, that their children will perish and they will see the destruction of their loved ones! Chain them for seventy generations in the valleys of the Earth until the great day of their judgment ’" (1-Enoch 10: 11-12). The same we read in 2 Peter: "God not only did not forgive the angels who sinned, but by throwing them into hell, he delivered them to prisons of darkness to be reserved for judgment." The angels of the Lord, after a skirmish against the rebels, capture them by locking them in a parallel world, a kind of "exile zone" where they remain in a latent state - dead in life, so to speak - while awaiting their sentence on the Day of the Final judgment. The word "Hell", present in Peter's paragraph quoted above, comes from the Greek term Tartaros, which translates as "The deepest abyss of Hades". Where exactly does the cited text refer to? Are we before an exaggeration fruit of the overflowing imagination of the authors? It is curious that even in the mythology Roman, Tartarus is the place where the enemies of the gods go. In his work The Aeneid, the Roman poet Virgil describes this Hell as a gigantic space at the deepest point of the Underworld, always enveloped by a river in flames that he designates as Phlegethon, and sealed by triple walls so that his captives cannot escape. UNMASKING THE GODS Taking into account that we know the reptilian aspect of these "celestial entities" thanks to the figures and representations of different cultures, we wonder why "good angels" are shown with the same aspect of a human being. The answer is simple. If you wanted to manipulate an ant colony to gain their trust and infiltrate their nest, would you appear before these little animals in human or ant form? All of these Anunnaki gods looked very similar: reptilian attributes, tall stature, and scaly skin. Thanks to their psyche they were able to deceive our ancestors, showing themselves under the appearance that they wanted according to their interests. If they wanted to instill fear, their appearance was grotesque and reptilian; but if they wished to seduce and deceive, they appeared as beautiful humans. This is how these entities, erroneously elevated to the category of gods, managed to get only the victors to write history. But what happened to the vanquished? Of those among your ranks who wanted to help get the human being out of the Holographic Matrix in which we live? As is to be expected, evil always ends up betraying itself, with its threats and ambitions. Perhaps we are still in time to rewrite history with the help of the vanquished, unmasking the victors ... Read the full article

[punishmentismyjob]

Lucifer: Celestial Beings & Bodies | Meta

It seems there’s some confusion over the true forms of celestial beings in the Lucifer television universe, so I thought a meta was in order.  I’ve done a number of re-watches and come to the conclusion that there are two answers, depending on the being:

Angels and later demons, who had been given physical form: IE: Lucifer, Amenadiel, Maze, and Uriel

Gods & Goddesses that have never had a physical form: IE: Charlotte Richards and God.

From various clues it seems...

Angels appear on earth in their true physical forms:

     1. Lucifer is able to recognize Amenadiel and Uriel at first glance.

There may be some argument that Amenadiel’s powers of slowing down time precede his first appearance, but there is no surprise on Lucifer’s face, more a look of annoyance. Later we see a photo of Amenadiel (looking the same) when he first met Chloe’s mother in the 70s. It would seem they always appear the same because that would be their actual form.

Uriel was standing on a rooftop, and at once glance, Lucifer recognizes him. His little brother wasn’t brandishing wings or doing anything of a show of power at the time.Lucifer’s surprise was in seeing his brother, not in shock of figuring out who he was.

But what about Lucifer and Maze’s true faces, you ask? A glamor to hide the fearful visages they have gained in hell. We see in Monster, episode 2.06, that both Lucifer and Maze have the power to reveal their more threatening visages at will as Maze does with Trixie and Lucifer does with Dr. Linda Martin. To me, Lucifer’s “true” face is both of his faces. The “true” face or the scarred and raw face we seen has been given as the Devil, though the one you see, is his original angelic face. After all, Lucifer has been said in the bible to be one of the most beautiful of angels. What bigger punishment that to take that away?

On the same note, Charlotte & God recognize their children right away. Mum knows Lucifer and calls out to him when she finally finds out where he’s living in Everything’s Coming Up Lucifer, episode 2.01. She already knows it’s Amenadiel when she comes out from her shower in Liar, Liar Slutty Dress on Fire, episode 2.02.

In God Johnson, episode 2.16, God recognizes Lucifer as Samael without him telling the so-called-ed God who he was or revealing himself completely.

    2. Wings

Lucifer has serious scars where his wings had been severed (Lady Parts, episode 1.04) Why would any angel go through all the trouble to manipulate a skeletal structure to incorporate their wings at all? If Lucifer hadn’t wanted his wings, he could have just not had them show up on a different human form. Amendiel also still has his wings as they start to wither in Everything’s Coming Up Lucifer, episode 2.01. Again, why go through that truama if you don’t have to have them in a human body?]

  3. Blood

In Everything’s Coming Up Lucifer, episode 2.01, Lucifer implored Detective Chloe Decker to test his blood from the crime scene where he’d been shot and lay dying. Amenadiel remarks that there can’t be proof that divinity exists. Why would human blood prove the divine exists?

Gods & Goddesses that have never had a physical form

   1.  Lucifer & Amenadiel have to hunt for their Mother, not knowing what she’ll look like.

In Everything’s Coming Up Lucifer, episode 2.01, both Lucifer and Amenadiel have a list of dead people that seem to have come back to life, that they are following to try and figure out who their mother has taken up shop in.

The next episode Liar, Liar, Slutty Dress on Fire, episode 2.02, we actually see Mom absconding with various bodies until she finds the recently deceased Charlotte Richards. In episodes 2.17 &  2.18, The Good the Bad and the Crispy, Charlotte is a pure and powerful gold, energy, she may have had another form in the Silver City.

    2. Lucifer’s Father appearing through Earl Johnson.

In God Johnson, episode 2.16, it seems that the piece that instills life allowed God to use a human being as a mouth piece. While Lucifer may not believe it was really his Father he was talking to, that remains to be seen.

[mazurah]

Lost in Time Ch. 3: Disparity - An Elder Scrolls Fanfic

Chapter Summary: Ma’zurah and Fayrl escape the Dragon and figure out that they are from different eras. 

Cross posted from Ao3. Chapter Rating: T for language.

First Chapter - Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

Lost in Time Chapter 3: Disparity

Fayrl continued his soothing song, feeling the cart steady as it came back to a more reasonable speed. He mentally thanked the Three that this was working.

Ma'zurah managed to seat herself in the driver's seat without falling. When she felt more stable, she burst out, "What in Molag's balls was that! Four fucking hells!"

Seeing that Ma'zurah had taken control of the reigns, Fayrl felt comfortable enough to speak again, though he was ready to sing another verse of the guar soothing song should the horse seem startled again.

"If I didn't know better, I would say it was a Dragon. But that has to be impossible, right?"

"You know what? After everything Ma'zurah has seen, she is willing to believe anything. If it looks like a Dragon, and breathes fire like a Dragon, and eats people like a Dragon, then it probably is a Dragon. What else would it be?" Ma'zurah started shaking from the adrenaline. "Gods dammit...."

"I don't know where that thing came from. I didn't think there were any Dragons still alive! Nor do I know what was going on in that town. Who were you talking about?" Fayrl wished desperately for a good bottle of brandy.

"Uh... at which point?" Ma'zurah hugged herself as best she could with one hand holding the reins, and hunched forward tiredly.

"Any of it!” Fayrl burst out. “How do you not know about the civil war? It's been going on for decades and finally it's pulled all but the Gold Coast and a few other areas into the fray. And I didn't recognize the names you were mentioning. I sure don't know how this Ulfric is Jarl! I mean, there's another Stormcloak who is a Thane, but that is hardly the same. Windhelm already has a Jarl. Something isn't right here. Something doesn't fit." A horrifying feeling gripped Fayrl. "I don't think I belong here."

"What does Fayrl mean? Ma'zurah was just in the Imperial City a little over a year ago. There was no civil war. Emperor Uriel Septim was fine."

"Who is Emperor Uriel Septim? I've never heard of such a person. Varen Aquilarios was the Emperor until recently. And Cyrodiil's Imperial City has been at war since... the fifth century? It's been mostly contained until just two years ago when all that business with the Planemeld or whatever it is called started happening. I heard some of the mages at the Windhelm Mages Guild discussing it when I was performing there. A dark anchor had dropped just south-west of Fort Amol."

Fayrl was rarely this forthright with someone he knew so little about, but in light of all the craziness, he needed to establish some facts.

"Fayrl... Ma'zurah is pretty sure that the Planemeld was something like seven hundred years ago..." Ma'zurah's face had taken on a horrified expression. "Oh no... what if Ma'zurah is out of time too? Ma'zurah knew it smelled strange here..."

"Wait." Fayrl was silent a moment. "No. No, that can't be right. Tell me, what is the year, as far as you know?"

He hoped it would prove the point he wanted to make.

"The 429th year of the third era, what year is it as far as you know?"

Fayrl's breath caught in his throat. That couldn't be right. "Why, it is 580th year of the second era last I checked. And I know it to be true. There is no way that I am speaking to someone from the future. That is madness!"

"This is madness... Ma'zurah wonders if Sheggorath has done something to make this happen..." Ma'zurah looked at Fayrl with bright eyes. "We have to get back to Oblivion somehow... Ma'zurah's rings are not working. There has to be another way."

"Go back to Sheogorath's realm? How is that going to solve our problem? Do you not think he is going to try to get us further lost in time if we succeed?" Fayrl shook his head. "We don't even know where we are. Or possibly, when we are. How are we going to find our way back to Oblivion?"

"Ma'zurah does not know." She swallowed in apprehension. "We have to find out something about this place, or time..." She looked down the road. There were three standing stones with holes in them, and a sharp curve in the road ahead.

Fayrl decided to try and use a technique the spy masters would use to try and recall information. "Do you recognize anything here? Or back where we came from? A smell, a sound, a feeling?"

Ma'zurah shook her head. "Back there, the others said this place is Helgen, in Skyrim. Ma'zurah has never been to Skyrim before. Has Fayrl?"

He nodded. "I’ve passed through Helgen before, but never spent any real time there. It sure didn't look like it does now."

"How is it different?” Ma'zurah asked insistently. “That could be helpful."

“There were just a few small cottages then, now there are stoneworks. There was mostly just a farm with a few families and a wooden fence built into an earthen barricade then."

"It sounds like it has been built up since then,” Ma'zurah mused, “so we are probably in your future, but where we are in relation to this one is questionable..."

The cart turned the curve of the road, and a stone walled village came into view between the trees on the horizon.

"Can you guess what direction we are headed?” Fayrl asked, glancing at the sky. “I don't know exactly what time of day it is to try and figure it out based off the sun's position."

"Ma'zurah is a mystic. She can use every spell known to the Arcane University in the school of Mysticism. She also knows quite a few other spells besides, but none of them are location spells... we will have to ask at that place ahead, assuming they are not hostile to Dunmer and Khajiit. It's the best shot we have right now though. The road does not turn anywhere else, and Ma'zurah doubts the cart would not break should we take it off the road."

"Well, then let's hope they are friendly, or easily charmed. I have had enough of being chased by men with weapons for one day. How about you, my dear?"

Ma'zurah shot Fayrl a look, one eyebrow raised, and continued driving the cart. They drew close to the gate, and they saw that the wall was in serious disrepair. The gate had no doors, and the wall ended a hundred feet away on either side. There was a guard standing watch in the gateway, and people moving through the small town. The whole village was shaded by large trees.

Fayrl rested his hand on his hip as they drew closer. Having his sword closer at hand made him feel infinitely more secure. "By the Three, let them not immediately try to put a sword through my chest…." he muttered.

Ma'zurah called out to the guard as soon as they were in range. "There was an attack at Helgen! We came as quickly as we could! There are many wounded and dead!" If the guards were focused on the news they brought, they would not be attempting to kill the messengers.

Fayrl picked up on Ma'zurah's idea and began to wave his arms frantically, trying to give off as much of an air of panic as possible. He used a quick burst of flame to burn a small hole into the back of his tunic to give more credit to their claims.

"Halt!" cried the guard, raising an arm to motion them to stop before him. He had not made any motion toward his weapon yet, but he was firm in his command. "I need to hear your names and your business before you bring that cart in here. We don't like games here."

"There's no time for that!” cried Fayrl. “We need to make preparations for the wounded and send for reinforcements! Helgen's going to be a pile of ash if we don't hurry!"

"This one is Ma'zurah. It is really not important,” Ma'zurah explained in a rush, “There is a creature up there attacking Helgen! We do not know what it is, but it was huge and black and it spat fire. Surely you heard it! If you do not believe us, go see for yourself, but we must keep going to warn others. We should warn the Jarl, can you give us directions?"

The guard looked at her incredulously. "Now look here, miss, if you expect me to believe that a--"

Fayrl cut him off mid-sentence, hopping down from the cart, running up to the man, and grasping him by the arm. "My dear wife wouldn't believe me, and surely I could hardly believe it myself, but I know nothing else that looks and acts as that creature did. It was like a Dragon of legend, only larger than the stories ever painted them to be! Look!" Fayrl turned to show off his burnt tunic. "I ran to join my wife in this cart and was nearly roasted alive! If I hadn't thought quickly, I might be... well, there are enough like that there already. I can only pray that mother didn't suffer long in the beast's jaws. You must help the rest of the town! Everyone will be lost if something is not done!"

Tears brimmed at the edges of Fayrl's eyes as he shook the guard. "You must save them!" he cried.

The guard looked between them, the evidence before him persuading him at last. "Alright, I can't leave our town unprotected. If there really is a Dragon, we need all the men we can get here. But Bjorni at the other gate can direct you to Whiterun. I’ll take you to him."

"Thank you!" Ma'zurah helped Fayrl up onto the cart and muttered, "Wife huh? Did you want to stop for supplies? We do not know how far it is to Whiterun. Ma'zurah only has fruit from the Skooma Cat's realm."

Fayrl settled into the cart and then cast a glance in the guard’s direction. The man’s body language looked anxious as he led their horse to the opposite gate.

Fayrl leaned toward Ma'zurah, “I don't want to chance that we might blow our cover. I have some ash yam loaf, it should be enough. It's not a far ride to Whiterun, at least, it wasn't when I was last here.”

Ma'zurah looked at Fayrl. "You know the way then?"

The opposite gate guard saw them and gestured for them to halt at the gate.

Fayrl nodded quickly to Ma'zurah, then turned to speak to the guard. The first guard beat him to it and started to explain the situation to his companion.

The second guard seemed confused, but turned and gave the requested directions to the pair on the cart. It all still sounded the same as when Fayrl had last taken the road. He was relieved. If the road looked different in the same manner as Helgen and Riverwood looked different between his time and now, it would be hard to navigate by memory alone.

"Thank you," he told the guards.

Ma'zurah drove the cart forward and across the bridge out of town and over a hill, then turned to Fayrl. "You think we actually should tell the Jarl? They might not believe us, but then again they might give us a reward. We need resources as well as information."

"I don't know what to expect from Whiterun if we do reach there. Though I've no idea what we are going to do one way or the other. All of my connections will not be here. My husband will not be here. All of my accounts will be long since gone, I am sure, there goes my hidden cache."

"You seem to have a lot in this area. Would you tell Ma'zurah about your husband?"

"It would be my great pleasure to tell you of my handsome husband, though I must admit, words can hardly do justice to his intellect and beauty." Fayrl sighed dramatically and wished he had his lute with him.

His beautiful lute! Oh, he hoped it would not be pillaged by bandits and either smashed and burned for firewood or sold for far less than its value.

"Would you like to hear about his appearance? Or how we met? Or something else specifically?"

"Ma'zurah does not know.” Ma’zurah hunched in on herself. “She just wants to be distracted from the fact that she may never see her girlfriend or fiance again..."

"You cannot speak like that.” Fayrl chided, moving closer beside her. “Come, I will tell you about how we met. It is a humorous story.”

Ma’zurah nodded.

"I met him here in Skyrim, actually.” Fayrl began. “I can't recall the name of the town, it matters little. I was at the market, and was thinking of how I had not had a traveling companion for some time. I was, at that point, working as a traveling bard, and I was missing the companionship. So, it felt serendipitous when, strolling through the market, I found myself staring at a very out of place looking Khajiit, all on his own. Usually only caravans come to the towns, or the occasional merchant to set up their wares. I had not seen a Khajiit in a town who was not a merchant. So, seeing him struggling with a man over purchasing food, I strolled forward to intercede on his behalf."

Ma'zurah gave him an odd look. "You are Indoril right? From the mainland? Ma'zurah understands that House Indoril is very traditional, and generally not likely to teach tolerance of other races. Your husband is Khajiit?"

Fayrl laughed. “A source of much of a mark upon my mother and myself by my uncle Tanval. My mother had always detested slaves, a personal matter concerning the disownment of a former grandmaster. But she witnessed something that an Argonian slave did, where she selflessly saved the life of a stableboy. Afterwards, she asked the slave how she had learned medicine, for her job was to wash, not anything related to medicine. The slave explained she used to be the healer for her village when she had been captured by slavers. Well, mother began to question everything she had been told about slaves, and shortly after, about a lot of other things as well. The signing of the Pact, while not an instant cure, has certainly begun to rectify the situation. Though, if you are acquainted with slavery on the mainland, then it must mean that it has not dissolved for good, even so many centuries later."

"No... No it has not,” said Ma’zurah slowly. “Ma'zurah has seen many injustices, and though she has many responsibilities, she tries to right some of them herself."

"It saddens me deeply to hear. There is so much I wish I could change in my time." Fayrl tried to set aside that depressing thought.

Ma’zurah gave Fayrl a speculative stare. "Ma'zurah wonders... Fayrl has visited Ebonheart. Has Fayrl seen the Twin Lamps?"

"When I was last in Ebonheart, admittedly, not for a few years now, there were no lamps of note, I am sorry to say."

"Ah. Alright." Ma'zurah looked slightly disappointed. "But Fayrl was telling this one about how he met his husband. Please continue!"

"Oh, yes!" Fayrl perked back up instantly. "So I intervened to assist the Khajiit. I admit I was quite interested in learning the tale of how he came to be in that place and that situation, so I offered to buy him a hot meal and a drink, and if he liked, to join me in my tent for the evening." There was a wistful expression on Fayrl’s face. "To my great joy, Qau-dar readily agreed. He seemed most eager about sharing my tent, and I myself was very pleased at the prospect of taking my first Khajiit lover." Fayrl looked at Ma’zurah and his voice took on a richer, deeper note. "And do you know what happened that night?"

Ma'zurah raised an eyebrow at him. "No, not at all."

"He went to sleep! Can you believe that? All the lead up, and what appeared to be flirting, and the fetcher just laid down besides me in the bedroll and went right to sleep!"

Ma'zurah laughed. "You were not specific enough with your desires? He did not understand?"

Fayrl laughed. "Yes, I did gather that rather quickly as the days grew into weeks and the weeks into months. Still, I have never seen someone so eager to jump into my bedroll before and then for nothing to happen." The edges of Fayrl’s eyes creased with laughter. "In a way it only made him more desirable."

"But you eventually got him to understand? You did marry him." Ma'zurah grinned at him.

Fayrl laughed a little nervously. "Well, no, not exactly. I mean, Qau-dar seems to understand what I meant then now, but when I try to bring it up he always seems to have a convenient lack of understanding. You would think he found me wholly unattractive. Yet he asked me to marry him, not the other way around. And though it was just for a week of free food and room, it is still legally binding within the borders of Skyrim."

Ma'zurah looked confused. "Wait, so he did not mean it? He misled you? And you still pursue him?"

"He did not mislead me. I am technically already married. Though, I would rather leave that in the past. That was arranged, to sire children, though the plan seems to have caused more trouble in the House than less. It's part of why I was spending time in Skyrim."

"Oh. Well... If he truly does not understand what you mean, then have you tried asking him using direct words? Khajiit are often very straightforward about these matters, at least when Ma'zurah was in Elsweyr."

"What do you mean by direct? How much more direct can you get than ‘share my bed’?"

"Sharing someone's bed could mean simply sleeping. It really depends on the context. Have you told him the specific acts you want once you get him in your bed?" Ma'zurah attempted to hide a smirk.

"I have also offered my body for his use, but that seemed to have gone by without understanding as well. Or perhaps he is simply not interested. Yet I swear he is flirting with me at times. But then again, perhaps it is a cultural difference?"

"Ma'zurah does not know. Ma'zurah had to leave Elsweyr when she was sixteen." Ma'zurah took a deep breath. "If he is not interested, then it seems very cruel to this one that he leads you on."

Fayrl smiled. "He has never attempted to lead me on. I happily pursue in the hopes of learning more about him. He is so different from anyone I have ever met. I would like to grow closer to him, regardless of how he is comfortable with that taking shape. In the meantime he does not keep me from pursuing other passions."

Ma'zurah nodded. "That is generally the way of the Khajiit. You sound quite in love with him though."

"What?!" Fayrl jerked in surprise. "I would hardly say my feelings have developed to that point!"

"Really?" Ma’zurah raised her eyebrows. "You were just sighing about how beautiful and intelligent he is, how much you desire to spend time with him, how different he is, and how much much you want to be closer to him. That sounds very much like love to Ma'zurah."

"I could say much the same about you, my mysterious time-traveling lady, but I would hardly call the feeling love."

"Well... It sounds like more than that to Ma'zurah. And Ma'zurah should know. She almost lost love once because she did not admit it until it was almost too late."

Fayrl shook his head. "I assure you, it is not like that."

"Well Fayrl should know Fayrl better than anybody else, so Ma'zurah will accept his word for it." She sighed and looked around at the landscape. They had just arrived at a crossroads with bridges over a river to the north and east.

Fayrl was happy to take advantage of the distraction. "Take the left fork here."

Ma'zurah directed the horse to the left and took in the huge fields of golden wheat, with houses dotted along the road at intervals. "This is a nice place. Nicer than Ma'zurah imagined Skyrim to be. Warmer too."

"This is so bizarre,” Fayrl said softly, “It is not so different as I would have expected. The buildings are different, but they are in the same places."

"The city is the same?" Ma’zurah pointed across the fields of wheat to the north where the high stone walls of Whiterun rose from atop a tall hill.

"Well, mostly. It feels surreal to encounter it so the same and yet so different!"

Ma'zurah nodded, then jumped as a crash sounded from behind the next farmhouse.

Fayrl’s tumblr: @talldarkandroguesome

Fayrl’s husband, Qau-dar, belongs to @warmsandstraveler. Fayrl’s author has an ongoing, publically available RP going with him and several other people in an alternate timeline in which nobody gets lost in time.

Screenshot of Fayrl Screenshot of Ma’zurah Check out my art tag for more pictures of Fayrl and Ma’zurah.

Constructive criticism is welcome. We also really like it if you leave comments on Ao3.

[janeway-lover]

#3. have you SEEN uriel with the gold on their face? i quite like sparkly things

Care to elaborate ma'am?

My fiancée is very pretty and occasionally they are also sparkly.

[helphowdoiusethis]

Bye, *leaving, being odd*

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G L I T T E R !