#Chidi 2.0

[tobytheeggo]

hey…..its the anon who asked about vampire chidi! do you have more on skinwalker chidi? the idea is really horrifying. i like it.

Welcome back again!!

Thanks by the way, even with the jokes and all, it’s such an interesting concept to me and I like sharing my ideas to people! Now some more bits and pieces that may or may not make the Final Cut or just not be canon to him

⚠️‼️Gory imagery warning for the last bullet‼️⚠️ (after more)

Because he is a skinwalker, and humans get possessed by looking at one, I think it’d be a gut wrenching idea that (real) Chidi’s soul is still in that vessel and has to watch all the gore and plotting of the monster he shares a body with

^ if this idea does make the case, I’m still not sure how’d it happen or where the skinwalker would even come from

Vincent only started noticing how weird ‘Chidi’ was acting when he wouldn’t respond to his advances or would get into bed later than normal. He starts to think that he’s lost interest or something, but knows how unlikely that’d be since the two are so infatuated with each other enough and talk to one another frequently if any issue with their relationship

(Ignoring the first bullet) the myrmidons have tried to come up with a plan to kill it, however, it could easily overpower the executors with no problem

If it were two different people/entities, the actual Chidi is probably held somewhere far and encapsulated, or maybe even dead; but in the case that he’s not and the skinwalker is eradicated, Vincent would probably have a hard time being around Chidi again because of the whole event (Yk if Vincent doesn’t get demolished)

In the instance that it doesn’t need to be around a group or populated area, the Chidi (2.0) will get tired of its altered vessel and sometimes just elongate its limbs or break some bones to get into a more ‘comfortable’ state

^ If someone does happen to pass by him then that person will never be seen again </3

[ineffablelunatics]

The Good Place and Crowley

A while ago, someone sent an ask to Gaiman. It went as follows, “In the book, ‘Golden Girls’ was Crowley’s favorite TV show. Is that slo TV Crowley’s favorite or does he have a current TV show that he prefers?” He answered, “I think he’d love the ‘The Good Place.’”

The Good Place is one of my favorite shows. I completely understand why Crowley would like it. It has some of the best debates of the philosophy and ethics of modern day society including the afterlife. It argues that people should not be defined as good and bad. It shows that people can improve. It tells us why and how they improve.

There’s two things about Crowley that really connect him to these thoughts. 1. Crowley does not like to be defined as good(or nice). Though we haven’t really seen that include bad, I would assume that it would be the similar thought. It also might have something to do with Aziraphale saying those things specifically, but that’s another post. 2. That people are not defined by what happened to them, and that means that anyone can improve.

Crowley fell from Heaven. He fell from grace which made him demon which means that for all intents and purposes, he should be evil. But he isn’t. Crowley doesn’t ever really commit truly evil acts. Any truly evil act that Hell thinks Crowley committed, humans committed. Crowley just took the credit. Crowley likes the thought that people can change. In Hell, he sees tons of people who are awful, but he also sees people who just made some mistakes. He sees demons who are like him who don’t find joy in treating people terribly. He’s seen angels causing harm happily, but others giving away joy like lollipops.

Those two things are fundamental in the show, The Good Place. I would argue Good Omens as well. If Adam had always been treated like he was evil, he probably would have never had friends who he genuinely cared about so much so that their fear pulled him out of his power drunken state. If Aziraphale had assumed the snake was evil(if he even saw him lol), then smited him, where would Crowley and humanity be? The demon with the imagination burned to ash and humanity living with almost decision-less whilst tucked neatly within Eden’s walls. If people couldn’t improve then Shadwell would have never been able to put aside his fears and foolishness so that he could love Madame Tracy and show it. Gabriel and Beelzebub would still be planning Armageddon 2.0 if they hadn’t moved on and fell in love instead.

The Good Place reminds us of the things time and time again. Each of the four main characters get reset, and every time, in the right circumstances, they always become better people. They are also never really defined as good and bad either. At times, others try to define Eleanor as a bad person, but every time, she reminds them that, yes, maybe, she shouldn’t be in the Good Place, but at the very least, she should be in her very own Middle Place. Every time, Chidi teaches her how to become a better person(which only works, because she wants to be one) and in the process, he becomes one too. Just like Gabriel and Beelzebub.

This was way longer than I expected it to be, but here are some quotes from The Good Place and where I think they would fit into Good Omens whether that be place and time or people and relationships.

“Sometimes, when you’re feeling helpless, the secret is to help someone else. Get out of your own head. Trust me. The next time someone asks for help, say yes.” This feels like the whole of S2, specially Aziraphale with Jim and then Maggie

“If you have bills to pay and shit to deal with you don;t have time or energy to become a better person.”  The Resurrectionists in 1827 with Elspeth and Wee Morag

“If there were an answer I could give you to how the universe works, it wouldn’t;t be special. It would just be machinery fulfilling its cosmic design. It would just be a big, dumb food processor. But since nothing seems to make sense, when find something or someone that does, it’s euphoria.” All the couples in GO, but that quote right there seems to be how Crowley and Aziraphale has been holding on for so long

“I guess all I can do is embrace the pandemonium find happiness in the unique insanity of being here, now.” Nina specially during The Ball

“People improve when they get external love and support. How can we hold it against them when they don’t?” Beelzebub and Gabriel

“We have no plan. No one’s coming to save us. So... I’m going to do it.” Aziraphale(specifically him at the end of S2 in my opinion)but also just everybody in S1 with Anathema, Agnus, the Them, Aziraphale and Crowley, just all trying their best

“If soulmates do exist, they’re not found. They’re made. People meet. They get a good feeling, and they get to work building a relationship.” All the couples, but especially Aziraphale and Crowley with the Agreement, they were working on their relationship before they knew they were even working on their relationship

“What matters isn’t if people are good or bad. What matters is if people are trying to be better today than they were yesterday. You asked me where my hope comes from? That’s my answer.” Crowley, because deep down, at the end of the line, we know that he’s an optimist

*reminder that all of this is my opinion, if there’s anymore quotes you would like to add, please do, some of the information might be incorrect

[mylittleredgirl]

after spending 29 hours thinking about a canon-ship scale for that poll, i decided i might as well spend another few hours looking through my old livejournal icons folder to rank the collection of ships i have written/am writing (for better or worse)...

we lost so much when we stopped making those 100x100 pixel icons. where are the pretty tiny photos of artfully cropped couples with even tinier text on them. all we know now is the wasteland of youtube thumbnails on google image search. we used to be a society

decryption key:

same canon, never met on-screen: clone!sam/jack (sg-1) (i'm rounding up from 0.5 here since she's an open-source fanon OC, but you get me)

they interact on-screen: jack o'neill/elizabeth weir (sg-1/sga), b'elanna/kes (st: voy)

some charged interactions: daniel/fraiser (sg-1), troi/ro (st: tng), margaret/trapper (mash), hawkeye/trapper/margaret (mash)

important intimate relationship (not labeled romantic): sheppard/weir (sga), hawkeye/trapper (mash)

one-sided feelings in the text: janeway/chakotay (st: voy) (i will hang for this take i know), miles/keiko/kira (st: ds9), talia/garibaldi (b5) (not necessarily proud of this one but i filled sooooo many five-subject notebooks about them when i was a teenager)

they kiss but it doesn't count: hoshi/travis (st: ent), julian/jadzia (st: ds9), riker/ro (st: tng)

mutual feelings in the text (unresolved): doggett/reyes (x-files), picard/crusher (st: tng - 24th century edition only)

unresolved on-screen, word of god confirmed: sam/jack (sg-1), jake/diane (jake 2.0)

they get together on-screen: trip/t'pol (st: ent), julian/ezri (st: ds9), frank/margaret (mash)

they stay together (endgame): mulder/scully (x-files), riker/troi (st: tng), miles/keiko (st: ds9), berena (holby city - somehow??? i hear we won in the end?), chidi/eleanor (the good place), jason/janet (the good place)

[katoska]

I’m 99% convinced that Janet was the one to put the idea to propose to Simone into Chidi’s head. Just like she obviously put the ring into his pocket. So that’s it for free will in a simulated reality.

[captain-penguin2]

Favorite TV Show Ships

Most of the ships I ship are dead, but I thought I would share anyway (this isn't all of them, but my main ones)

Conrad and Nic (CoNic)-> The Resident

Fitz and Simmons (FitzSimmons)-> Agents of Shield

Zari 2.0 and Constantine (Hellfluencer)-> Legends of Tomorrow

Jake and Amy (Peraltiago)-> Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Clay and Quinn (Clinn)-> One Tree Hill

Caitlin and Barry (Snowbarry)-> The Flash (not as much anymore)

Kara and Mon-el (Karamel)-> Supergirl

Brainy and Nia (Brainia)-> Supergirl

Oliver and Felicity (Olicity)-> Arrow

Ray and Nora (DarhkAtom)-> Legends of Tomorrow

Lucifer and Chloe (Deckerstar)-> Lucifer

Barney and Robin (?)-> How I Met Your Mother

Zoe and Wade (Zade)-> Heart of Dixie

Vincent and Cat (VinCat?)-> Beauty and the Beast

Eleanor and Chidi (Chelanor)-> The Good Place

Jughead and Betty (Bughead)-> Riverdale

Cheryl and Toni (Choni)-> Riverdale

Quinn and Puck (Quick)-> Glee

Josh and Gabi (Jabi?)-> Young and Hungry

Leonard and Penny (Lenny?)-> Big Bang Theory

Phoebe and Mike (Phike?)-> Friends

Mike and Rachel (Machel?)-> Suits

Nick and Jess (Ness)-> New Girl

Fallon and Liam (Falliam)-> Dynasty

Brett and Casey (Brettsey)-> Chicago Fire

Erin and Jay (Linstead)-> Chicago PD

Nat and Will (Manstead)-> Chicago Med

Jeff and Britta (Jetta?)-> Community

Eddie and Jamie (Jamko)-> Blue Bloods

Mel and Jack (?)-> Virgin River

Peyton and Blaine (Paine?)-> IZombie

Nancy and Ace (Nace)-> Nancy Drew

Geri and Walker (Cordri)-> Walker

Higgins and Magnum (Miggy)-> Magnum PI

Morgan and Park (Parknik)-> The Good Doctor

Shaun and Lea (Shea)-> The Good Doctor

Ellie and Nick (Ellick)-> NCIS

Mark and Lexie (Slexie)-> Grey's

April and Jackson (Japril)-> Grey's

Maggie and Gary (?)-> A Million Little Things

Nina and Scola (Scolina)-> FBI

Kellett and Forrester (Kellster)-> FBI International

Rollins and Carisi (Rollisi)-> SVU

[gothhabiba]

perhaps this is due in part to the pacing of this show just being unavoidably screwy, but during season four I think the Human Crop 2.0's characters and motivations are not adequately explored. the enormous question of the possibility of improvement from behaviours like misogyny, racism, and sexual harassment (which latter thing is just..... skated over completely?), which really ought to be central to a show about. ethics. is kind of phoned in.

in particular, it annoys me a good deal that we're TOLD that Simone makes unfair snap judgements about people, but we never.... see it? every time she "judges" Brent, it's an accurate assessment of whatever it is that he's just done, not a (however accurate or inaccurate) assumption about what he's about to do. we see the others' flaws actually play out, but not hers? and it feels REALLY weird to be told that a Black woman is judgemental and mean or whatever and then have that be completely unsubstantiated. you can call her decision not to help Brent out of the hole a demonstration of a flaw, but I'd see that as a lack of forgiveness or a failure to help someone regardless of how she feels about them. maybe a judgement of his future potential as a human being. and 1. that's different from what we're told is her flaw, which is making "snap judgements" (it's been a year at this point...) and 2. it's a little bit late to be demonstrating her flaw right at the end of the year, especially given that we're meant to believe that she has gotten better since the beginning of the year. you really could not show me her being unfairly judgemental once in like episode three or whatever?

the writers have Eleanor be like "Simone's right, she should not have to deal with this, this is Brent's problem, not hers" because they're using her as the mouthpiece of The Moral here and don't want to be misinterpreted as saying that Simone ought to just grant Brent forgiveness (for things he's not even sorry for). which is fine, if heavy-handed (and also kind of out of left field, since the last time we heard Eleanor say anything about gender or race it was to racially fetishise Tahani and continue to financially support a man who had committed sexual assault, so it would have been nice to have seen how she went from there to being so progressive that a racist misogynist could be hand-picked to annoy her specifically. I mean I guess she remembered where Chidi was from? lol). but they're walking a fine line here between "Simone is too judgemental" and "no no we swear, Eleanor tone policing a Black woman was a mistake that the characters learned from, we're not endorsing that" and it would have provided a lot of clarity here to show Simone actually be wrong once or twice. or even for her to have assumed that Brent was awful before he had really demonstrated it. did I just miss that scene??

we're also told that. what's-his-name. the gossipy gay guy (which uh??? lol) improves, and we see some of that initial bonding with Tahani, but a scene here or there about him demonstrating changed behaviour (refusing to gossip about someone! leaving women and their fashion choices alone!!) would have really helped to drive this point home. instead, right at the end, we're shown him 1. revealing someone else's secret; and 2. continuing to rag on a woman for daring to wear the same pair of shorts every day. and yet we're told that he's improved significantly, so. I guess we have to believe that

I'm now on season 4 episode 8 of my rewatch btw

[therealvinelle]

I have a question about the relationship between the twins and Aro! Who do you you think is the priority for them? Like would the twins choose each other or Aro if they had to decide? I'm pretty sure Aro would choose Alec between the both of them bc of his gift, but what if they were in a situation where only the twins or Aro could survive? Would Aro choose himself so he could fulfill his mission, not impossible but harder with Alec & Jane, or would he trust the twins to do that on their own with their gifts? Sorry about the long ask 😅

So, anon is Michael from The Good Place, and Aro, Jane, and Alec take turns being Chidi. I like it. 

Since the trolley problem wouldn’t be a problem for vampires, the trolley is now a nuclear warhead headed towards either Aro or to Alec and Jane, and our Chidi has to choose who it hits.

Aro is given an impossible choice

The nuclear warhead is fast approaching, and Aro has to choose who it hits.

He saves himself.

It has nothing to do with who he loves. Alec and Jane are great kids, their loyalty unparalleled and their powers are invaluable in keeping the vampire world under control.

However, they’re twelve. Twelve-year-olds can’t rule the world, that would be a fantastic YA novel but Aro’s trying to keep a very real world running.

Aro is effectively the person keeping the Volturi together. He believes in the cause enough to have created the law in the first place, he’s the one with the drive, the one who built it all up, the one who wins people’s loyalties. With Marcus being barely functional, Caius being- well, Caius, Aro is the Volturi.

There was a Volturi before Alec and Jane, but there won’t be a Volturi without Aro.

Leading without the twins will go hard, but Aro will still have Demetri, Chelsea, Renata, Marcus, and a large number of loyal guards. He’ll pull through, as he always have.

Alec and Jane are given an impossible choice

I’m slotting them together because I believe they’d make the same choice, and for the same reason.

They’d save Aro.

They love each other more than they love anybody else, Aro included. This much is true.

However, they live for Aro.

Aro is the one who gave them this new life, to whom they’ve sworn allegiance in this long eternity. They’ve served him for twelve hundred years, and have every intention of serving him for countless more. Volterra is their home, Volturi their identity.

Take away Aro, and this would all fall to pieces.

If Jane was being forced to choose between Alec and Aro, or Alec between Aro and Jane, the they would choose the twin. Or choose Aro, beg for death, and instead become Marcus 2.0 because Aro wouldn’t let them die. It would be miserable for everybody.

However, if they get to choose between Aro or dying together, then... yeah, I think they’d noble sacrifice it out. It would in some ways be a good way to die, too. It would be at their own terms, together, and for a good cause. They won’t burn either, just get nuked. One moment there, the next they’re not. Given the violent days of unending bloodshed that is their lives, this is a kind death considering the alternatives.

Aro survives the trolley problem.

[shebeafancyflapjack]

Two Pairs of Glasses and a Bottle of Red

Chidi goes to say thank you to Michael for being there for Eleanor.

“Hey…Did I go back in time?”

It probably seems that way, Michael smirks, considering the multiple boxes containing Hawaiian pizza that have been stacked up around his new office.

“Welcoming present from Shawn and Vicky, I reckon.” He says to Chidi, waving a few of them away to allow him entry, the Professor having to slide around them in order to reach the chair in front of Michael’s desk.

His request for a perfect replica of his previous office had otherwise been met to the last detail. It had simply come with the extra bonus of seventy boxes of pizza only a mad man would eat.

He can’t be too annoyed. As demonic hazing attempts go, this one seems rather light-hearted. Almost nostalgic. Perhaps he really was getting the chance to repair some burned bridges with his former colleagues. It wasn’t something that ever appealed to him before but is oddly satisfying now.

“How does it feel to be back?” asks his friend.

Michael shrugs, “Weird. Kinda miss my second neighbourhood already. I know it wasn’t around as long as my first one but it felt like part of the same one, y’know? It’s good to know it’s still there this time. I wish you had all agreed stay there rather than coming here with me.”

Even with Shawn’s guarantee of the humans protection that binds the rest of the demon, Michael can’t help but be weary. He knows there’s a lot of employees unhappy with the shake-up, more than half who are perfectly happy torturing humans as their job, whether they deserve it or not. They would be more than ready to take their work frustrations out on the four people who are the reason for this shake up, the first one in fifty thousand years. Even Janet stands the risk of being marbleized again if she lets her guard down, it wouldn’t be the first time.

He wishes they had agreed to stay tucked safe back at the Good Place 2.0. But the little cockroaches had been stubborn as ever.

“Are you kidding? As if we’d let you have all the fun sorting out dimension of frustrated demons on our own.” Chidi smiles.

“I never thought I’d see you describe having to deal with a bunch of demons as fun.”

Another way of saying that, of all the infinite wonders of the Universe he’s experienced, he never thought he’d get to see Chidi be cool.

“Don’t get me wrong, I still wanna scream like a little girl when one of the lava monsters passes me. But then it says hi and I remember it’s just Todd.”

Good to know confident Chidi can still be scared when Michael feels an old desire. He’ll remember that.

Even he feels the need to relive old habits at times. In a safe, harmless, controlled way of course.

“Did you need me to help with anything, pal?” He asks, “I thought you and Eleanor would be getting settled into your new apartment? They cleaned out the rat-snakes, right?”

Not the best living quarters but he tried to find the comfiest temporary homes for all of them, not able to design and build them their own places as before in this area where he has no control as an Architect. He at least managed to get Tahani a penthouse suite, even if it is at the top of a volcano.

“You didn’t tell us those were the previous occupants, they had to come back to collect some stuff they left. But it’s all good, I left Eleanor to ‘wear in the new couch and test drive the TV’ as she put it.”

Michael smiles to himself. After the year she’s had, she more than deserves to put her feet up. He doesn’t tell Chidi how little she slept while he went away. Not that she needed it, or that Michael didn’t try to encourage it, but he reckons she could now sleep for a week if she wanted.

“Actually…Eleanor is kinda why I’m here.” Chidi admits, Michael noticing the serious change in his tone.

“Oh. Did you wanna sit down?” He gestures to the chair, waving his hand again to clear it of more of the boxes.

Chidi shakes his head, hands in his pockets.

“No thanks, I’m gonna need to stand.”

“Why’s that?” Michael frowns.

“Because there’s a chance I might hug you and this will make it less awkward.”

Michael goes still, not sure how to respond to that. There’s always been an unspoken physical distance between him and the Professor, more so than with any of the other humans. He’d had the most hugs with Eleanor, followed by Jason’s which always left him smelling jalapenos, and a few recent ones with Tahani (which, he couldn’t deny, were simply amazing, how on Earth could he parents not adore her?!). The most contact he’d had with Chidi was a fist bump on the few times they saw eye-to-eye.

Not that Michael can blame the guy for wanting to keep a safe distance, given how he used to be the main target of Michael’s more jerky conduct in the past. He’s probably only now stopped expecting him to splatter him with fake blood or a shower of needles.

“I wanted to say thank you.”

“…Thank me? For what exactly?” The three hundred years of torture that he’d recently been accessed to?

“For…everything, man.” Chidi says, face lighting up with gratitude; “For taking my classes seriously…eventually. For saving us, even when it cost you literally everything you had been working for until then…Sacrificing yourself for us, bringing us back from the dead, saving us, donating all that money to make sure we were okay and then helping to save, not only us, but humanity itself, I mean…You really weren’t expecting a few thank yous thrown your way?”

Michael looks away, feeling the heat rise beneath the cheeks of his skin suit. He didn’t do any of it expecting a thank you and, up until now, he hadn’t really received any. A few unspoken, grateful smiles from the others, a pleasant stroke of his arm, but never the two words said aloud.

“I’d do it all over again.” He says, earnestly, still not believing it was enough to undo the centuries of psychological harm he’d inflicted on them to begin with.

“I believe you. I mean, I’ll be honest, when you first started taking my classes, there was a point I thought you were beyond help but…I can tell you with the utmost sincerity…I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud of one of my students.”

Oh, fork, the pesky nerd is going to bring him to tears.

Michael sniffs; “Yeah, well…I had an amazing teacher. You only have yourself to thank. And Eleanor, obviously…She’s the one who got me to take all your ethical nonsense seriously.”

If not for her, he’d still be sat at his desk in his old office with his feet up, refusing to budge, refusing to be the bigger not-man and apologize and admit he needs help. Shawn might jokingly call him a demon daddy but it was the two of them together who got him to grow up.

Chidi gives a wistful smile; “Yeah…Eleanor is the answer. That’s clearer to me than ever.”

Damn straight.

“Thank you for looking after her for me this year.”

Those words make something buckle deep within Michael. His thumb starts to itch at his side.

“You should know her well enough by now to know she usually has to be the one looking after me.” He tries to laugh it off but there’s an uncomfortable stinging in his chest.

What is wrong with him?

“We both know she’s not invulnerable as she likes to pretend. Leaving her was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do…but I had no choice.”

Yes, you did, Michael stops himself from saying, the ethical voice in his chastising his own.

“I know.” Is what he says instead.

He respects the guy for not letting himself be a potential risk to the experiment and everyone’s eternal safety. He’s been there himself.

“I remember seeing you two together, when I was ‘away’ all that time.” He says, again surprising Michael with the brief use of air quotes – who is this guy? “You looked like you had fun together, ruling that fake Heaven. You were always smiling together. Right up until the end, I mean, that evil laugh the two of you did....I know she enjoyed that, even if it was terrifying for me at the time. I’m glad to know she was okay…And I think a lot of that is down to you.”

He rubs the back of his neck, trying not to remember the feel of her hips in his hands when he’d grabbed her waist during their Hail Mary; “Or maybe Eleanor is just that strong-willed…”

“That too but…C’mon, man, I know you care about her as much as I do.”

More than the dweeb could ever know, Michael thinks to himself. He never intended to play favorites and he appreciates all of them in their own special way; Tahani’s grace, Jason’s optimism, Chidi’s kindness as much as his intellect…But Eleanor…Eleanor was as much like himself as he could ever hope to meet and yet, somehow, a thousand times better. Braver, wiser, sharper…Everything he could only dream of being.

“I’m just relieved to know that, if I have to go away again, she’ll always have you there.” Chidi says, softly.

That buckling sensation inside Michael finally snaps.

He clenches his jaw.

“No.”

Chidi blinks; “Sorry?”

“I said no.” The voice of his long-buried demon husk rears its head; “You’re not to go away again, do you hear? You’re not allowed to…leave her again.”

“I…”

The Professor inches back a bit as Michael makes a move forward, the desk his only protection from the demon grabbing him by his sweater-vest.

“You think she was all smiles and laughter during the past year?” He growls, “Let me tell you something, buddy, those were just glimpses of your girlfriend you saw there as you passed us on the street or at all those events! You didn’t have to stay up with her all those nights she cried over how much she missed you or how worried she was that having to put you with Simone would change your feelings for her, all because you were too much of a dummy to help that woman out without believing she was your soul mate!”

He sees the other man recoil at that, wincing with shame. Michael suffers the recoil, feeling the twist in his gut, but now that the bottle cap on his emotions has been popped, he has a years worth of anger and resentment to spill.

“Did my little reload of all your memories happen to miss out that time you saw her break down in tears because you told her you felt like you were being punished?! Because I’d convinced her you needed to be tortured so you would stop flitting around like you were on vacation and actually lend a hand to help that deckwad Brent, but she went too far, because she was rightly pissed at you for leaving and ended up hating herself for it! And yeah, I admit, I was pissed at you too for breaking her heart when I’d trusted you, of all people, to take care of it!”

He can see Chidi’s shoulders hunched now, a grimace appearing on his face as a stomach-ache brews within him. Good. He’s not immune to those. They’re just no longer rendering him immobile with pain.

“The last thing I wanted to do was hurt…”

“Then you should’ve thought about that before you left! You should have gotten over your stupid anxiety about Simone before considering leaving her! What on Earth is wrong with you, man?! How could you be so lucky to fall in love with Eleanor Shellstrop and be blessed to have her love you back, and then agree to forget her?! After everything she’s been through, how could you do that to her?! How could you think it was okay to leave her with me as a piss poor substitute and then have the gaul to waltz back in here after a year and say ‘thanks for looking after her’?! You don’t deserve her!”

He regrets those last four words before they’ve passed his lips.

By the time the red mist has parted from his eyes, he sees the tears in Chidi’s eyes as they lock across the desk. Michael’s throat goes dry. He takes a step back back, only noticing how wet his own eyes are when he finally blinks. Oh shit. How could he say that? As if thinking it had been bad…Had been wrong enough, but to finally…

“Chidi. I am…Oh, I am so, so sorry…” He breathes.

The other man doesn’t respond. He doesn’t deny the accusations, which somehow makes it worse.

The most agonising of silences hangs between them before they seem to move at the exact same moment. The both of them removing their glasses at the same time to give them a wipe, Michael using his handkerchief while Chidi uses his sleeve.

“Damn, these things steam up quick, huh…” Chidi says, awkwardly, his voice broken.

Michael gives a weak smile; “I don’t even need mine, they’re just for aesthetic…Speaking of which, if you ever want me to fix that astigmatism, just say, you shouldn’t really have it dead.”

“No, no, it’s fine…Like you said, it’s part of the look.”

Michael lets out a sigh, partly relieved to get those words out, awful as they are. He’s eternally grateful that the other man didn’t storm out of the room and slam the door. He wouldn’t have blamed him. It hurt enough that he no longer had Eleanor at his side, his partner in crime and saving the Universe, her constant shining spirit and quick-wit lighting up the room. It hurt knowing that her time and companionship had been prioritised to someone more worthy of her. He’d tried so hard to ignore the ache of her missing presence, when it had only been a couple of days since the experiment ended. He should have remembered that burying his sadness only made it worse in the long run. One of her first lessons and he’d forgot.

He was the one who didn’t deserve her. How dare he ever say that Chidi was the one to blame in all of this, after everything the man had given up, had missed out on?

With another wave of his hand, Michael summons a bottle of merlot, one of Chidi’s favorite vintages, along with a couple of glasses. His friend sniffs again, giving a grateful smile. They’re both in need of a drink.

They each take a glass and a seat at either edge of the desk, their backs to each other.

Michael takes a sip and then looks down at the glass in his lap.

“What’s it like?” He dares to ask, after a while, “….Being with her?”

There’s a pause behind him.

“…You’re asking me what love feels like?”

He shakes his head; “I know what being in love feels like.” That might say more than enough, “…I’m asking how it feels to have her love you back.”

Michael has been content on the scraps of affection he gets, like a dog sitting at his master’s table at dinner, those smiles and jokes and fleeting hugs more than enough to keep him grateful and satisfied with the place he’s honoured to take in Eleanor’s heart. But he’s not entirely reformed, there’s still a tiny wicked side that dares to be greedy, that dares to…imagine, what it would be like to be truly hers. Surely, just once, he can be allowed to live vicariously.

Once again, he’s amazed that Chidi doesn’t chew him out, smash him over the head with the wine bottle and leave. Instead he hears the Professor take another sip.

“How do I describe it? I mean…I’ve had girlfriends before, as you know, but I never…I was in never truly in love before her.” He explains, heavily; “When I’m with her, when she’s with me…It’s like all those difficult questions and puzzles of the Universe suddenly fit. Or what remains unsolved fades into the background and…I stop worrying about it all. Because all I need to know, when she’s there…is that she’s there. She looks at me and, wherever we are in these insane dimensions we keep falling through, from Heaven to Hell, to that weird pancake nightmare…So long as she’s with me…I belong. I’m home.”

Michael smiles, moving his hand up to wipe a stray tear from his cheek. He always assumed it would feel something like that, based on the fleeting sense of peace he found in those moments with Eleanor. He’d never felt at home in Hell, with his fellow demons. He already knew he would never be accepted or belong with those dorky angels on the other side. The closest he had ever come to feeling at home was on Earth and that was also off the table. He’d spent his whole existence as an ugly duckling searching for swans that were probably long extinct.

But he knew what being part of a home…a family, felt like, a little. Especially during the past year, when they were a team, there were times he could almost convince himself that where he was always meant to be was at her side. Her equal. Two sides of the same coin. But every time that hope of feeling complete at last would appear, it would be cruelly snatched away, every time that grief of missing her true love appeared on her face. And he would be lost again.

“You’re a lucky man, Chidi.” He tells his friend, truly.

He hears him shuffle to look around behind him; “You know she loves you too? Right?”

He shrugs; “Yeah, sure…”

“C’mon, Michael. I’ve seen the two of you together, since you joined up with us.” Chidi tries, reaching to touch his elbow; “You’re like…a part of her. She needs you as much as me.”

He wishes there was truth to that.

“Tell me something, man,” He asks, looking down at the fingers on his arm; “How many tears did Eleanor shed over me after I gave her my pin and sent her through the portal after you guys?”

Chidi slowly brings his hand back to his lap.

“I…Uhm…” he frowns; “Well, we didn’t really have time for that…She wasn’t exactly skipping about it-.”

“Did she mention me once again before me and Janet turned up?”

The other man doesn’t respond.

“Thought not.” Michael refills his glass; “And rightly so, you guys had way more important things at hand. But, let’s be honest, if it had been you who was left behind, she would have screamed at that Judge to get you to come join her, or fought her way back through Hell to get to you…It’s always been you, Chidi, it always will. In every reboot, lovers or not, you were the missing piece she sought out. I’m grateful to be her friend but let’s not pretend we’re on equal footing. It’s not fair on either of us.”

“I think you doing yourself a disservice-.”

“Has she told you about Bad Janet yet?” Michael cuts in again; “That was a fun night. I mean it sucked, it was one of the worst of the year, but it was…interesting, if nothing else. We had no idea what was sabotaging the experiment and, to cut a long story short, the suspicion fell on me being the spanner in the works. The only thing I could do to restore Eleanor’s trust in me was offer to blow myself up.”

“WHAT?!” Chidi exclaims, nearly spilling his wine.

“Oh, you wait till I get to the part where Jason figures it out and saves the day!”

“Okay, now I know you’re lying.”

They manage to share another brief laugh. It’s a lot easier to find it funny now, all these months on, despite it being the night Michael’s heart was shattered and, despite everything good that came after, created a crack that was still waiting to be repaired. Possibly never.

“Point is…She barely said a word against me taking myself out. But you? I mean, you had to convince her just to forget her for a year and look what it did to her.” Michael says, “I could vanish from her life tomorrow and, sure, she’d be bummed…but if it was you? Even in death, she wouldn’t survive that. That’s how much you mean to her. Don’t ever take it for granted.”

Michael knows he won’t. He just needed to give him that kick in the ash to be certain he knew how serious this was. For both of them.

“I’m sorry.” The professor whispers.

“What for?” Michael asks, “You did the one thing I never could. You made the woman we both love happy. I’m just glad I get to share in that, even if I’m not the cause.”

He hears Chidi put down his glass on the desk and stand up. Michael takes it as his cue to get on his feet as well, turning to face the other man.

“I’d quite like to give you that hug now, if that’s all right.” He says.

Michael rolls his eyes, as if inconvenienced.

“I suppose, if you must.”

Chidi takes the first step to bridge the gap between them, holding his arms out as Michael mirrors his movements and they share their first embrace. He hopes it’s one of many to come.

He can’t help but be surprised, as ever, by the tightness of the other man’s hold. It was always easy to forget how strong he was underneath that dorky outfit, those jacked arms and pecks strangely reassuring to the touch. He can understand the appeal for Eleanor. It seemed more forgivable now for her to constantly tease him of his own physical shortcoming compared to the man she loved.

“I hope you know how much you mean to all of us. Not just Eleanor.” The Professor tells him, as sternly as he used to lecture him in the past.

He gives the guy’s shoulders a pat.

“I do, buddy.”

Chidi is the first to move back, his hands still firm on Michael’s arms as he regards him, intently.

“She doesn’t know, does she?” He asks, “You never told her?”

Michael shakes his head, heavy with regret he can’t begin to describe.

“I was going to. When Janet saved me from Shawn, as we were going through the portal, I told myself…” He takes a breath, “I told myself that I’d been given a second chance and that, next time I saw her, I’d tell her. I’d tell her how I felt and I’d ask if she felt the same and…Take it from there.”

“What happened to that plan?”

Michael can’t help but laugh. It’s amazing what an idiot the genius can be at times.

“You kissed her first, dummy.”

And when he saw the smile on her face...how he could ever dare to come between anything that made her that happy again?

The door opens and Eleanor strides in, a bounce in her step that hasn’t been there for almost thirteen months.

Even with the office in a new location, she’s able to treat it as if it’s Michael’s usual home, free for her to walk in and own when she pleases. The demon behind the desk who quickly steps back doesn’t complain, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“Well, don’t you two look all cosy!” She says, brightly; “You guys having a pizza party without me?”

Her arms immediately wrap around Chidi’s neck and he greets her with a kiss on the lips.

“Ham and pineapple, babe,” He doesn’t tell her she missed out on the wine, that can be their little secret; “But if you fancy pizza for dinner, Todd recommended a place on the corner of our street?”

“Oh yeah, they do a great meat feast…I mean, some of the salami used to be sliced humans but I’m pretty sure Shawn is recalling all of those.” Michael says, off-hand.

Eleanor barely seems to hear his commentary.

Her eyes are focused purely on the man she’s been pining for all these months, hands hooked behind his neck, humming as she presses her nose against his. Michael looks away, knowing he’s no more than a blurry shape in the corner of her eye now.

“Whatever, I’m starving…You’ve kept me waiting long enough, dude, time to fill me up.” She says to Chidi, her voice low but not quite subtle; “And we can food too, I guess.”

“Eleanor!” Her boyfriend blushes on behalf of the third wheel having to listen in.

“Oh, it’s just Michael, he knows what filth to expect from me, right bud?” She says aloud without looking at him again, merely expecting him to be there.

Would it even matter how he responded?

Would she hear him if he confessed, out loud, how he wished it was his chest that she was leaning against, his shoulders she was hanging from, her lips against his? Would she react with anything other than laughter if he told her about what he was planning to do at the Judge’s chambers all those years ago?

“Our love is stronger than anything you can throw at us.”

Even his own, he humbly accepts.

“Michael, do you wanna join us for dinner?” Chidi asks.

Before the demon can respond, Eleanor does it for him.

“Oh I’m sure Michael wants a break after having to put up with me for a year, right dude?” Eleanor gives him her first direct look since she entered, followed by a wink.

Of course. He wasn’t going to intrude anyway, but he’s nothing if not a good wingmon.

“I’ll be fine, I’ve had more than enough pizza for one day….You guys should catch up. You’ve only got eternity together.” He smiles.

Eleanor mouths a ‘thank you’ before leaning back up to kiss Chidi’s bottom lip again.

Anytime… He sighs and looks away, Anytime, I’m yours.

Every kiss he watches them share is both parts pleasure and pain. Obviously, he’ll take the truth with him to retirement or whatever his end will be. No way would he risk tarnishing what they have. He’s happy to remain in the shadows, grateful to be allowed to watch the light shine nearby, even if it’s forever beyond his touch, beyond the cruel hope of getting to feel that warmth on the skin of a body that isn’t truly his.

“Well…if you horny mammals don’t mind, some of us have some work to do.” He puts on the smug superior being mask again, “And you’re no longer my boss, Shellstrop, so I’m gonna take this opportunity to tell you to get out.”

“What d’you say to me?” She throws him a glare.

Fuck. Nope. Damn it, she’s still in charge.

“I mean…Have a good time at dinner.”

She giggles, knowing full well the power she wields over the two men in the room.

“That’s better.” She looks back up at Chidi, eyes shining with a joy they’ve not possessed in far too longer; “Let’s go, my new confident, sexy nerd.”

“Do you still have to call me a nerd?”

“Take the damn compliments.” She tugs on his hand, pulling him out of the room with her.

Michael puts the wine away.

“I’ll see you guy later…” He wishes, as casually as he can.

“Yeah, see you, bud.” Eleanor throws back, her mind clearly on more important things, with barely enough room left in her horny, lovesick brain to pay him notice anymore.

Chidi, however, meets his eyes, almost apologetic again, on her behalf.

“Don’t be a stranger, Michael.” He tells him, almost as an order.

The demon nods. No, sir.

“You know where to find me.” Always right there, for all of them.

Despite the hallow ache in his hearts, despite knowing that spark, that unbeatable connection he shared with the woman he loves, is now gone, that he’ll always be looking in from the outside, left out with his memories of what they could have been…He keeps Chidi’s words in his head. It might be the end of whatever beautiful mess he had with one of his humans, but perhaps it’s also the start of a friendship he didn’t realise how badly he needed with another.

[swithe-ist]

ooooh I want to like the good place so badly, but the neverending self-aware wheden-esque humour grates after a while.

the underlying premise is really good though, it’s pretty, and the casting is perfect (except for adam scott, sorry, don’t buy it)

is the 2nd season more confident in itself or?

[miss-musings]

A Hellstrop look at 4.03

Going through it scene-by-scene:

Opening scene, these two are looking domestic AF -- outside, sharing some coffee (presumably), which makes me think of their matching coffee cups at the airport at the end of 3.05. I also find it interesting that they’re plotting their day together, rather than with the rest of the Soul Squad. Just reiterates what I said earlier -- Eleanor and Michael are co-leading (or co-parenting) this Good Place Experiment 2.0.

So, then. Eleanor brings up what a dork Chidi is, which Michael also laughs pretty heartily at. It’s when she remarks on how much she loves him, that Michael changes the subject. 

“It’s so great he erased his memory,” Michael says... almost like he’s happy that he gets to spend less time with Chidi and more time with Eleanor. But, then he sees the look on Eleanor’s face, and he quickly remarks how he’s always cognizant of how Chidi electing to erase his memories has caused Eleanor pain. He specifically says that he always thinks about it and he’s respectful of Chidi’s sacrifice. Hmmm....

Then, when Chidi approaches, all chipper and blissfully unaware of who exactly they are to him, Michael is practically beaming.

In the office scene right after the ‘coffee date,’ as it were, Michael -- who has known Chidi through 803 reboots and during his two-year reboot on Earth in the new timeline, says that he’s never seen Chidi so relaxed before. Huh. And, then of course, he -- very rightly, I will clarify -- says that Chidi needs to be tortured in order to become a better person. OK. Eleanor’s on board with it, and she’s very gung-ho about using her ‘torturing ex-boyfriend skills’ for Chidi’s betterment.

I also find it interesting that Michael (and Eleanor) decide to turn to Jason for help in torturing Chidi. Wouldn’t they be afraid that Jason could accidentally give the whole thing away? Also, Jason seems to like Chidi and says himself that he’s coming off the heels of a rough break-up and maybe isn’t the right person for the job. But, of course, they know exactly how effective Jason will be at making Chidi miserable enough to decide to better himself, so they pursue it anyway.

I think the whole crux of the episode, as we’ll talk about more later, is that Eleanor is acting kind of petty with this whole ‘motivating Chidi via torture’ thing. While everyone -- even Michael -- says it’s time to let up, she’s like no, let’s keep going until he’s straight-up miserable. It’s almost like that whole “If I can’t have you, no one can.” Eleanor has grown a lot, but she’s still clearly vindictive toward her ex-boyfriend for “abandoning” her, even though he did it in an act of self-sacrifice.

When Michael and Eleanor visit Stressed!Chidi, they’re wearing matching sweater / bow tie. So cute!!! When they wear matching blues and pinks and purples, it’s usually pretty subtle. But, this was VERY obvious, thanks to that bright shade of yellow. I wonder if any of the residents ever wonder if these two Architects are a ~couple~. Like, they don’t know how Architects’ lives work. Maybe. Who knows?

Also, Michael seems to be very happy to see Chidi being tortured again. And then of course the little fist-bump between them. :)

At the luau, Michael and Eleanor are wearing matching leis!

So... who’s idea was it to create the helpful Magic Ants? Michael seems to have control over them, since Eleanor tells him to call them. Also, even though we didn’t get the scene, I would’ve loved to have seen Michael and Eleanor drinking champagne in their shared co-Architects’ office, because they are the co-parents of this neighborhood. But, damn, Chidi’s torture is to the point where Michael’s saying they need to ease off and Eleanor’s even more gung-ho. And I love the little touch of Eleanor moving to Michael’s side whenever Chidi comes into the office. Rather than moving closer to Chidi, she moves closer to Michael.

And then THE ANTS SHOW UP! Did Michael already mentally summon them with his demon powers???

OK, so for the Chidi-almost-confesses-and-Eleanor-breaks-down scene:

I know I’m not the first to point this out, but I love how, even when Michael is facing Chidi and talking to him, his body is still pointed at Eleanor. I feel like I remember some random tidbit back in my hardcore dating days. If you’re standing in a group (circle or semi-circle) of people, and you want to see who someone’s the most interested in, look at where their feet are pointed. I feel like this is actually kind of worthless when it comes to trying to figure out whether your crush actually likes you or whatever, BUT, I think it’s a point worth making here.

And, of course, their blocking reinforces everything this season has given us so far. Eleanor is in charge; Michael is her ‘assistant’ / co-Architect; and Chidi is THEIR subject now. He’s no longer an equal. Michael and Eleanor are really the equals here, even though Eleanor and Chidi are supposed to be our couple. It’s sad, really, and as much as I love Eleanor and Chidi, I’m very curious as to how the show is going to give us their romance again considering they now have a very unbalanced dynamic. (Unless they somehow give Chidi his memories back, which I’m not sure if that’s even possible.)

“And this is the Universe getting back at me” -- not the Universe, buddy. Just a bitter ex-girlfriend.

And that fact that Chidi thinks that Eleanor is God (or the God equivalent of this afterlife) just further reinforces how much I feel like we’re not really going to get Chidi and Eleanor as a real couple again. (Unless, again, they give him his memories back.)

So, as Eleanor’s having her little cry, Michael stands by her side, gives her a box of tissues, explains away her remark about how she’d promised to take care of him. And his dialogue again points out that this is Eleanor’s neighborhood. SHE’s the Architect. He’s helping her, sure; but she’s the one calling the shots now. Then, I love how he basically tells Chidi that Chidi’s pain is Eleanor’s pain, and then basically tells Chidi that he will blow up whatever the problem is. LOL

Like “OK, anything that’s causing Eleanor pain is going to get blown up. So, just tell me what it is!” Of course, Michael’s in on the whole thing, but it’s still kinda funny that that’s how he frames it to Chidi.

AND THEN, when Chidi tries to offer his apologies and comfort Eleanor for causing her pain, Michael LITERALLY SHOVES HIM OUT OF THE ROOM!!! “She’ll be fine [as long as you’re not around]!”

LMAO, you guys

So.

Now we come to the “Eleanor figures out why she’s been acting so vicious” scene.

Want to point out that it looks like Michael’s pocket square matches Eleanor’s sweater.

Michael points out that Eleanor & co. were only torturing Chidi because they had to. He basically gives her an out. He says what they were doing was necessary for the experiment, but -- because Eleanor’s grown so much -- she has to verbalize exactly why she did what she did without being prompted.

As we saw with flashbacks in earlier seasons, one of Eleanor’s biggest insecurities was people leaving her. In relationships, she always wanted to be the dump-er not the dump-ee, to the point where she reads Sam’s emails to his dad just so she can get the drop on him before he has the chance to leave her. This time, though, Chidi was the one who left HER, and she was angry, as she says.

Eleanor points out that Chidi is the person she talks to when she’s angry. But, we’ve seen her talk to Michael when she’s been angry, namely in 3.06 when she has her emotional outburst saying “I wanted that mom!” And, just like there, we can see why she prefers to go to Chidi instead of Michael (when she has the option, which wasn’t the case in 3.06), because Michael doesn’t understand human emotion.

“You’re often happy when you should be sad, and angry when you should be happy.”

But, just like last episode, Michael is the one there, comforting her, telling her to get her shirt together because they have work to do, and she’s the only one who can lead them right now. He tells her that she’s entitled to be a little angry, and that she’s on a road to work through it. Which is a much better response than he had for her during her little outburst in 3.06. So, Michael’s growing too, and learning what Eleanor and the rest of the Soul Squad need from him, even though he’s not human and doesn’t understand their emotions.

:)

P.S. Also, after rewatching that clip of the hooded figure making their way to the Good Place experiment, I’m thinking it’s either Shawn or Vicki in the Michael!SkinSuit. It seems to be a person of a taller, broader build, and they seem to be wearing more formal looking shoes. But, that could just be a stand-in and not actually representative of whomever it actually is. But, Vicky-as-Michael seems like the best bet right now, considering that was brought up in the 4.01 “previously on” and hasn’t really been mentioned since. I feel that like that’s a shoe that has to drop at some point soon.

[roominthecastle]

I know I am biased, but the whole 'kiss solving Eleanor's identity crisis and repairing Janet's void' thing kinda mirrors the sink hole repairing itself back in Michael's neighborhood after Eleanor and Chidi made up, which bothers me in ways that only a biased, semi salty person could be bothered.

Everybody is biased, anon. At least you are self-aware enough to realize that, which already puts you above 90% of fandom + when character A spends an episode bullying and badgering character B into confessing his love for her and B does something adjacent to it but only when A’s self-absorbed tantrum finally threatens to erase them (and their friends) from existence is - objectively speaking - not cutesy uwu romantic at all. *cue is this a pigeon? meme*

Genuine love confessions aren’t coerced like this. Even after going through her determinism scare, Eleanor legit got pissed at Chidi bc he needed more than just her random, unsolicited outburst of “in this alt life - that you have no memory of - you were in love w/ me” and it was ??!? She expected him to reciprocate at once based on that past relationship and when he didn’t (also Simone who?), she started yelling and guilt-tripping him. She even tried to trick him and refused to leave him or this topic alone.

Dude was just forced out of a steady relationship by circumstances beyond his control. He has shown 0 romantic interest in Eleanor in this reboot - in fact, he sent her packing by ending the study. He was denied time to think things over even though it was perfectly reasonable to not rush into any declarations. He had no say in whether he wanted to know of this alt relationship, which Eleanor proceeded to hold over his head as some kind of obligating factor anyway. And given all this, we are expected to believe that his refusal to confess his undying love was some unreasonable hesitation he just needed to get over? Come the f on. This season they went out of their way to make this romance as rushed, contrived, and force-fed as possible, and it’s rather jarring tbh. I don’t think it’s biased to feel that this is off and not in a funny, endearing way everything else is off in this show.

C/E in S1 and S2 had an actual, meaningful dialogue going. This episode was not a discussion, it was a selfish ultimatum of “be in love w/ me stat or we will all blink out of existence”. If Eleanor were a guy, this would already be labeled ��yikes”. And I ain’t even gonna touch the whole “Eleanor literally cannot exist now w/o the coerced validation of a dude” angle bc…  yikes 2.0.

The rest of the ep was glorious, tho.

[tobytheeggo]

chidi 2.0 headcanons when before i blow up your houde

Okay so for anyone that isn’t in the server, basically ‘Chidi 2.0’ is just a Skinwalker version of him and it all branched off of this one photo I saw on Markos instagram that didn’t really look like Chidi at all and there was just something off about him; so naturally me and the server memed about it and he’s basically the server OC

The ‘Off’ Chidi being on the Left and the Canonical on the Right

Alr headcanon time! (Which is kinda canon since it’s an ‘oc’)

Compared to regular Chidi (6’2), he’s like an inch or two taller

Gonna use He/It for this mf because it’s technically a creature 😭 (and so am I tf, I love using it/its)

No ones entirely sure where he came from, it just kinda showed up?? (Possibly from a nearby forest but there wouldn’t be one for miles upon miles)

It doesn’t talk all that much which doesn’t raise suspicion since Chidi doesn’t talk much either, but the way he stares so intensely at things makes people concerned

He WILL eat lacking staff or myrmidons. Their fault for slipping up

It is technically plotting on the Marquis, but it knows that he’s definitely disturbed and gets a feeling it’s not the real Chidi, so it stays dormant with its plans

His head can turn a full 360 degrees

If you put Skinwalker Chidi and regular Chidi in the same place, regular Chidi will absolutely not do anything, he’s scared of it

[cheddar-the-dog]

Okay but listen. I might be way off but: what if the person send to the experiment 2.0 to torture Eleanor IS Chidi? What if that was Shawn’s plan all along?

That they were gonna wipe Chidi’s memory, effectively making him the person send to the experiment 2.0 to torture Eleanor?

[mylittleredgirl]

~dear yuletide author~

this is the first time i’ve done yuletide, so i didn’t realize assignments went out so quickly! hopefully, dear author who was lucky or unlucky enough to get me, you’ll have waited a moment to click the link so i can extend to you all my love and gratitude!

i’m pretty easy to please so You Do You and i’m sure to love it, but if you’re stumped, here are some lists of things i like! perhaps one will inspire you. [edit: i just looked at someone else’s dear santa letter and realized that i got Very Distracted talking about everything i love about... everything... and so this is way too much information! please grab any one random bullet point anywhere in here and pretend that’s all i wrote.]

(general things i like, general things i don’t like, and then i flail about what i love in each requested fandom)

general things i am delighted by, grab bag edition:

happy or hopeful endings

reunion/rescue/oh-my-god-you’re-not-dead...

... seriously, just, hurt/comfort me right up, throw some pining in there and i will probably re-read the fic every day for the rest of time

(while we’re talking about pining, jealous pining is the best kind, but see above re: happy or hopeful endings)

... OR, if you’re not in the mood for that kind of ~drama~: slice of life! i really enjoy silly domestic nonsense that reveals something about the character(s)

episode-related fic 😍

friendship fic: either as pre-romance between the main pairing, or pairing characters having meaningful supportive friendships with other characters

if you want to write kink fic: light bondage; masturbation (mutual or of the pining variety, whichevs); amtdi (or, you know, an equivalent for non-space fandoms where aliens probably will not make them do it -- basically: dubcon = yes please, noncon = no thanks)

general things i don’t enjoy:

character death: real life is hard enough, people

character assassination: just assume i like everyone in canon enough that i don’t want to see them dragged too harshly, including canon love interests that are not my preferred pairing

incest: Can We Not (some of you fuckers have made a strong case for an exception for that Doom movie but i’m still. nope. non-incestual family relationships are my eternal fave tho!!)

crossovers

AUs, with exceptions (a good spy thriller AU is hard to turn down)

requested fandoms:

sga rpf

ahh, the pretty hell

i’m shamelessly (or shamefully, depending on the day?) in love with torri/joe, but i also really like general cast shenanigans! 

if you’re going sgarpf but ~not~ torri/joe, i’d prefer neither of them be romantically involved with anyone else in the cast but joe’s like, real life marriage is cool

i’m really into the ~Oh No We Mustn’t~ (or the corollary: ~Oh No We Did~) nature of it all

and joe being jealous really works for me

i’ve written them before and it’s all on ao3, but locked to logged-in readers only

jake 2.0

omg, this is absolutely the first thing i think of whenever someone says “rare fandom”

i love it i love it it’s so adorable i. love. it.

i adore jake & diane together as frustrated what-are-feelings? nerds or in the oh-god-THESE-are-feelings phase equally :)

this fandom is perfect for the fearing-for-your-life rescuing trope, just saying

but this fandom is somehow ~also~ perfect for just hanging around playing scrabble and not knowing how to just Make A Move, You Nerds 

lost in space 2018

john and maureen have had a life together and then they imploded and then they got back together and are Very Sexy and really, anywhere in there, they’re good for all moods:

family fluff, especially of the flashback variety

ze angst during season one

gen and being good parents

did i mention they are. very sexy.

for this fandom let me throw out there that i am not into robot-fucking. one look at the ao3 tag makes me think this is important to clarify.

twin peaks

i haven't actually seen "The Return" and probably won't get to until after Christmas, so I'd really prefer fic set in or primarily using canon from the first two TV seasons! 

i listed Audrey, Dale, and Harry but you don’t need to include all three. audrey’s my fave of faves.

i ship audrey/dale but also like to take into account that dale cooper is an Upstanding Morally Responsible FBI Agent

i ship harry/dale too

i love friendship fic and canon-relationship fic and the entire wacky cast of characters so... whatever floats your goat

canon divergent AUs are fine, because like, Wow, is canon ever cruel 

the good place

i love! these nerds! so much!!

seriously ALL of these nerds, i love them. feel free to go off-script and include anyone you want and no one you don’t want. 

i ship chidi/eleanor and janet/jason and i friend-ship absolutely everyone

i really enjoy all the other ship/slash pairings too

except that i’m strongly in the aroace michael camp so platonic otps only for our fave reformed demon

this show is the greatest example of the greatest trope: characters annoying each other into deep eternal affection. 

and seriously: whatever!! i love these characters and these fandoms and the whole idea of surprise wonderful fic so i am guaranteed to love whatever you do!

[katoska]

Earth 2.0 is a simulation and full of zombies and here is why:

Right, so. Given what we’ve seen of the VR restaurant, it makes way more sense for the Afterlife to be a computer simulation, rather than run on Magic. 

 I mean, I know “They are in the Matrix!” is not a new theory, cause TGP literally consisted of pixels, defied physics, contained the consciousnesses of dead people who didn’t have a brain to run soul.exe on anymore and was maintained by an A.I. who is not a robot  - cause she’s a program, made of data. And so is everyone else in the Afterlife, otherwise how could anyone physically interact on that existential plane? 

Thing is, if everyone in the Beyond is just data, what happened to the data of the humans’ last versions? Is it still there, ready to be downloaded into the gang’s brains? And as for Michael and Janet who are made of Weirdness, how did they get bodies that could interact with the physical world, anyway?

Yeah, I don’t think they did. 

Sure Michael and Janet appear human-ised, their powers are gone, and Michael can’t even lie convincingly anymore (... says he, the Cartesian Demon; I’ll have some salt with this, please.). Michael is having a problem with his sweat-glands, Janet with ... other glands, but that doesn’t mean they are in the human world, or in actual human bodies. Like, Tahani’s face once started changing into a Picasso painting, doesn’t mean TGP was secretly a museum all along. 

The reason I’m dusting this theory off is, the fake restaurant and the way it paralled DDR and Michael’s 800 attempts proves that nothing in TGP is actually magic, because the technology to create fake realities exists. 

Probably not on Earth 1.0, mind. Janet might know how to recreate the tech, but that doesn’t mean she would have been able to find and afford all the parts, get a hold of the proper tools etc, all in the span of, what? a couple of days, at most? Forget bad accents (though Heinz’ wasn’t so bad) and Australian flags and peeps, this here is the biggest load of bs so far. That thing worked because someone on the outside of the Earth simulation decided it would work. Just like Michael decided flying would be a thing. Except now he is not in his own neighborhood anymore, so he can’t fiddle with the programming.

Janet was able to give Chidi the Power of the Snap because she was the Architect of her restaurant-neighborhood, so she got to make the rules. She could have turned his face into a Monet painting, if she wanted to. Which is probably why Architects don’t usually get to live in their neighborhoods; too much risk of things getting personal.

She also created a Simone, except one that was a philosophical zombie; something that’s physically the same and acts and reacts exactly as a real person would, except it has no consciousness; no soul.

So basically, Chidi could say whatever to Zombie!Simone and reboot her as often as he wanted to, and still be ethically fine cause she’s not real and he knew it.

Which begs the question: If someone didn’t know the other person was a philosophical zombie, do their actions towards them still have ethical meaning? 

The real person’s actions towards the p-zombies, I mean. Naturally, zombies wouldn’t be affected by the points system, as they have no soul. So they won’t come knocking on Gen’s door complaining that the ripple effects of the reboot affected their score negatively, and why did those humans get more time and they didn’t and blah blah blah. So that would save her a headache.

Earth is fake, and full of Zombies.

[sueboohscorner]

#TheGoodPlace Season 2, Episode 1 & 2 "Everything is Great!" Preview and Photos

THE GOOD PLACE: "EVERYTHING IS GREAT!" On a special season one hour season premiere of The Good Place: It's deja vu all over again! Having had their memories erased by ambitious master architect Michael (Ted Danson), Eleanor (Kristen Bell), Chidi (William Jackson Harper), Tahani (Jameela Jamil) and Jason (Manny Jacinto) again settle into the Good Place, unaware of what has previously transpired...except that Eleanor discovers the one clue she had left for herself and attempts to piece things together. D'Arcy Carden also stars

Are you ready for The Good Place 2.0 or Season 2?

The second season of The Good Place premieres on a special one hour premiere begins Wednesday, Sept. 20th at 10/9c.