#I DARE YOU TO TELL ME THIS ISN’T NEIL

[dayurno]

Do you ever just think about how the headboard on Kevin's bed on the Nest doesn't budge. Of all the hints about what his life there was like that's the one that gets to me the most because it's so deliberate. Because even though he's probably physically stronger than Riko or at least evenly matched, Kevin wouldn't fight back. But he wasn't given the choice to anyway

honestly i think putting neil in kevin’s side of the room is such a telling choice during the castle evermore scenes. we spend so much of the first and second book hearing about how much kevin fears his so-called family, their haunting of the narrative as bloodthirsty hounds who can sniff out his fear, and when we actually get to finding out why that is we see it from someone who was immediately shoved into kevin’s old place. riko wasn’t just hurting neil because he wanted to (“i’m going to enjoy hurting you just as much as i enjoyed hurting kevin”), he was making sure neil knew he was inferior by putting him in direct contact with the roles kevin and jean played in the nest, using him as a substitute for the one that got away. neil gets a speedrun of some of the worst moments of kevin’s life, and he gets not a single breathing moment for it before he has to be shoved back into exy, like kevin was

i wouldn’t dare presume nora sakavic’s intentions on anything at this point, but i like the idea that neil’s stay at evermore was supposed to tell us all we needed to know about kevin’s time there, without kevin ever having to actually recount the years (he wouldn’t, even if he could): that it was horrifying, and that being in his shoes will never be as glamorous as neil previously thought. i like the breaking of neil’s expectations for kevin; i like how it makes neil realize the life kevin led was not better. and that’s the point, isn’t it? when neil is lying in kevin’s bed, handcuffed to kevin’s headboard, his legs pinned under kevin’s only friend, getting hurt by kevin’s brother, that’s what neil realizes: this is not better. it might be different than life on the run, but it is not better.

[orionsangel86]

I was once again flicking through the Sandman comics and thinking about the changes made to the show (as I am pretty much always doing) and something that struck me as interesting is why they chose to swap out Tales in the Sand for Men of Good Fortune.

In the comics, The Sound of Her Wings is the last story in Preludes and Nocturns. Dream’s meeting with his sister Death closes out the first of the overarching storylines within the Sandman saga, and it ends with Dream finding some measure of peace after speaking with her, and finding joy in hearing the sound of wings.

This can be interpreted as the first bit of real foreshadowing of Dream’s desire to die. Anyone who has read the Kindly Ones knows how important The Sound Of Her Wings is as it is called back to heavily at the end.

In the comics, the next issue can be seen as a one off, but is included in The Doll’s House book. This issue is Tales in the Sand - the tragic love story of Dream and Nada.

Right after Tales in the Sand, we get to the Doll’s House, which begins the exact same way that episode 6 of The Sandman Netflix show ends - with Desire calling on Despair to begin their scheming over the existance of the vortex.

I found it very interesting how the show swapped out Tales in the Sand for Men of Good Fortune - a story which in the comics comes much later within The Doll’s House storyline.

On the one hand, it makes sense to move Men of Good Fortune outside of the Doll’s House story for pacing reasons. But by putting it where they did they have drastically changed the tone of the story in a few ways.

1. It changes the end of The Sound of Her Wings. Show!Dream doesn’t leave his sister to sit and find peace in the thought of death, instead he does the opposite, he immediately goes and seeks out the one person he knows who is quite literally the antithesis of death - someone who finds joy in living. It still ends the Preludes and Nocturns story with Dream finding some manner of peace and happiness, but not in the sound of wings. Instead, it’s in the reunion with his friend who loves life so much he refuses to die.

2. It takes the place of the only love story we are given for Dream at that point in the comics. The Sandman comics have a tendency to avoid revealling too much information about Dream too soon and up until this point in the comics, all we know about his love life is that he condemned a lover to hell 10,000 years ago, based on a very brief conversation in A Hope In Hell. Tales in the Sand is the expansion of that brief conversation, giving us at least one perspective of how the tragedy played out.

I am really curious about why they decided to leave it out of the show completely. Partly I think its because it isn’t exactly a flattering look at Dream as a character. Probably didn’t seem like good business sense to the people who wanted The Sandman to perform well to basically destroy your main characters likeability half way through the first season (imagine all the Twitter puriteens and anti types who would get on their high horses attacking Sandman fans and Neil Gaiman alike for daring to like a main character who comes across a little bit rapey in this particular story - among other horrific character flaws).

Also, Tales in the Sand generally fits better with the Season of Mists story arc overall, and I think we will get a much kinder and more forgiving version of this story in the show.

So instead of being introduced to the first of Dream’s lovers, we are introduced to Hob Gadling. Make of that what you will.

3. It makes the immediate cut to Desire at the start of The Doll’s House story all the more eyebrow raising. Part of the reason why I think Desire’s scenes follow on from Tales in the Sand is because Desire had a lot to do with Dream’s bad behaviour in that story, and what ultimately happened is partly their fault. It is brought up both in comic and show when Desire tells Despair that “Nada was a mistake” but in the show, this comment remains a mystery, whereas in the comic, it goes some way into explaining the horrific story we have just read.

In the show, instead it makes for absolutely beautiful subtext as they cut to Desire’s realm and the song Desire as Desire says “Attend sweet Sibling” whilst we have just watched Dream reunite with Hob and smile the first real smile he has had all season so far. For a split second on my first watch I legit thought Desire was talking to Dream at that point and encouraging him to hook up with Hob. It was a very confusing few seconds!

At the end of the day, I think the change to the order of these stories was a very good idea, even without the added level of shipping fodder it gives us Dreamling shippers. In changing the end to The Sound of Her Wings in the show, it removes the foreshadowing of Dream’s desire to die, which I’ll be honest, so far I can’t see at all in the show version of the story. Instead, we get a Dream who is happy for the first time after reuniting with his friend - who apparently waited an additional 33 years for him and built/refurbished a pub in that time.

I have a bazzillion more thoughts on the changes from comic to show on the Men of Good Fortune issue in particular, but that’s for another post. I just had to get my thoughts down as the more I read and re-read the comics, the more I feel like the show is considering a different direction, a more hopeful happy direction. But I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

[tavolgisvist]

Paul once reminded me, ‘Don’t forget, you’re not very good, any of you, you know that, don’t you?’ I had forgotten, I had. It had gotten to the point where I was really believing in myself, you know, really having a good time being me. Apple was in its (comparatively) early days. I had been back from America three months, this was summer 1968. It was design time for stationery and advertisements and logos, we were building our image by being and that was trouble, being. Being was sticking your neck out and getting bites all over it. I don’t think I ever hated anyone as much as I hated Paul in the summer of 1968. Postcards would arrive at my house from America or Scotland or wherever, some outright nasty ones, some with no meaning that I could see, one with a postage stamp torn in half and pasted neatly showing the gap between the two halves. Joan received one bearing the words: ‘Tell your boy to obey the schoolmasters,’ and signed: ‘Patron.’ Far out. Lots of people were getting postcards in those days; Christ, you know it wasn’t easy. These were the days long before Klein came to town. These were the days when Neil Aspinall as Managing Director would come to my room in Apple in the middle of the day and collapse on the sofa and sit, staring and staring. He tells me now it was fear. I knew then it was fear. We were all frightened. We were frightened of Them and we were frightened of each other and we were frightened of the press. At about this time Paul wrote ‘Hey Jude’. Remember: make a sad song better.

...

Something happened last week which was most significant – I signed my name with a flourish and it was a legible signature and it said: Derek Taylor. In the ordinary way I dare say this would mean very little – but it was fantastic how good it felt at the time. I blame no one but myself and I mention it only because it happened and it was wonderful. As I said, it was three years ago this month that Paul said to us: ‘Remember, you’re not really any good, any of you, you know that, don’t you?’ My God, it had been a long fight uphill most of the way, learning how to be and I credit the Beatles with astonishingly generous support for my efforts. My job in journalism was going very well indeed when we met, if you regard the Beaverbrook Press as something of value – and I did then, don’t now, hate its attitudes and stinking bigotry with fierce passion – then I was making some good time for myself but then I met the Beatles and that was the something else that millions of us were to pick up on and feed off and feed and feed off in one great seven-year feast. They broadened my vision and narrowed my margins of error, they straightened my path, loosened my tie, and they taught me to stand up and speak out. They hastened my classlessness, turned me on and inside out, literally put acid in my tea and in Joan’s, gave me presents, took my word for a lot of things, took my views on other things, my praise when it was offered free, bought my labour when it was offered for money and in the end, and in the end, by December 1970, I suffered an identity loss so crucial that when Richard DiLello returned to the Apple he had joined as an office boy and left as an apathetic wreck, returned as photographer and designer of the last Apple Christmas card which was to feature all our tense, cautious faces, I walked like a robot to a white expensively designed hollow white plastic rhomboid, placed it over my head, sat in the Director’s chair and posed faceless as one of the 365 arses Yoko once filmed. It was time to leave, I guess, and I went. It was New Year’s Eve 1970. You have read about the early part of that year, when George had sent me home: ‘Write,’ he said, ‘you have a lot to say.’ Dear George. I have nothing to say about George that isn’t loving and warm, and elder brotherly. Considering everything, he is a saint. He sent me home because there was nothing left for me to save at Apple – I don’t think I knew the half, not a quarter, not a tiny fraction of the background to staff movements in the last days of Pompeii, when the boiling shit hit the fan and sprayed over leaders and followers alike, leaving us all feeling grubby and ugly and useless. Was it true then, like Paul had said, and John was later to say and say and say again, that we were all of us, the inner clique, worthless, talentless? No, it was not true. We’re alive … and to prove it, we’re here.

...

I guess everything got too big, too bloody vast for human beings, frail, ill-prepared human beings, to cope, whether Beatles (and we had to concede it in the end, oh yes we did, they were human, should have realised that when Ringo had his tonsils out with the bidding at $10,000 for them), or us, nervous at their feet. We couldn’t take it. So … so … in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make. We weren’t making much love in the late sixties, not any of us. All the bold gold promises of heaven on earth for all artists everywhere, they went out the window by summer of 68 and by 1969 even Magic Alex was unmagicked. Came 1970 and even going to the pictures to see Let It Be was cause for guilt and shame? Christ! The manner of the ending of the Beatles is a shame, a real bad bummer. Maybe one day it will seem easier, I trust so. But had they continued, they and all of us who gave them their fixes and got our own in return, we would not have survived to tell the tale. I say now, it didn’t end a day too soon.

(As Time Goes by Derek Taylor)

(Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI)

Btw, about ‘Don’t forget, you’re not very good, any of you, you know that, don’t you?’ from John:

Q: How do you feel towards the Beatle people? All of them who used to – some still do – work at Apple, who’ve been around during those years. Neil Aspinal, Mal Evans . . . JOHN: I didn’t mention Mal. I said Neil, Peter Brown and Derek. They live in a dream of Beatle past, and everything they do is oriented to that. They also have a warped view of what was happening. I suppose we all do. Q: They must feel now that their lives are inextricably bound up in yours. JOHN: Well, they have to grow up then. They’ve only had half their life, and they’ve got another whole half to go; and they can’t go on pretending to be Beatles. That’s where it’s at, I mean when they read this, they’ll think it’s “cracked John,” if it’s in the article, but that’s where it’s at, they live in the past. You see, I presumed that I would just be able to carry on, and bring Yoko into our life, but it seemed that I had to either be married to them or Yoko, and I chose Yoko, and I was right.

(John Lennon, December 1970, interview with Jann Wenner for Rolling Stone)

[simonsrosebud]

kevaaron cause why not

kevneil (both are acespec )

Matt/Nicky (I stan bi matt) Erik and Nicky are still friends but we're previously in a relationship, Erik has moved on (maybe nickys first love??)

andrew/Roland pre -series (theyre like a year apart cause I'm not sure how old Roland is but I've always thought of him to be a gay middle-aged man, but Andrew would be like underage and that's a nono)

Kandrew (acespec kevin?? Maybe on the demisexual spectrum??)

Renee/Allison/Dan or some variant/combination in the same au as Matt/Nicky

Jean/Neil , demisexual spec Neil

Kevin/Jeremy cause they were never given a chance and KEVIN I KNOW THERE'S GAY IN YOU demispec kev

Choose whichever pairing that inspires you most but PLEASE tag me in the writing cause I need more aftg in my life <3

okay i may definitely tag u if i do others but for the first one i couldn't help but do jeremy and kevin I JUST LOVE THEM

The thing about Jeremy, Kevin supposes, is that he really thinks that he could’ve been a Raven if someone had been paying attention all the way in West Virginia.  He had the same talent and stats that other strikers did when joining the line, had more of a height advantage than Riko ever did.

Being a Raven would have broken his spirit.  Kevin doesn’t think he’d ever forgive himself for that, knowing that he probably would have contributed to it at some point.

But then he wouldn’t be this, free and spirited and so fearless in showing unabashed joy.  Here, sitting in Kevin’s car, babbling on about California and how Kevin really should visit him next time so that he can show him around.  “I’m glad the sun has finally reached you,” he’s saying, “You look good with a nice tan.”  And it’s taking too much out of Kevin to keep his eyes on the road.

Jeremy’s hotel is just off campus, but it’s not far, and Kevin does have time, so he leans against the hood of the car while Jeremy lifts himself up onto it because “the height difference isn’t fair”.  It's only three inches, Kevin doesn't dare point it out. And suddenly Kevin is reaching out to smooth his fingers through Jeremy’s hair, soft and smooth and golden in the setting sun.

“Maybe it’s all this hair weighing you down,” he says.

Jeremy smiles, wide and lopsided and lazy, and leans into his touch.  “Never.  The hair is part of my charm.”

Kevin settles his hand on the hood of the car, then, all long legs and tall torso leaning so casually, and he’s pretty sure Jeremy’s eyes linger on his arms for a second longer than normal.  It makes his chest fluttery, so he says, “That’s what I used to tell Jean.”

And oh, Jeremy lights up.  “Yeah?  He tells me it’s unbearable.”

“He’s an idiot.”  Why would anyone ever say that?  “I used to talk about you a lot… in the Nest.”  He doesn’t really know why he says it other than he and Jeremy won’t be in the same place forever and Neil told him to stop holding back just because he’s scared of getting a letter in the mail from Ichirou himself.  So long as you send them their money and stay out of jail, your free time is your own.

With the way Jeremy preens at his confession, he thinks it’s the right call, anyway.  He taps Kevin’s closest finger with his pinky.  “What, about exy?”

“No.”

Surprise.  “Oh.”  Jeremy’s skin is honey gold and bronzed from the constant California sun, but Kevin’s never seen him sunburned.  The tinge of pink on his cheeks may be as close as he’ll get.  “Can I tell you something embarrassing?”

Oh no.  Kevin steels the lead in his stomach.  “Sure, anything.”  He can feel it coming, the inevitable, I feel flattered, you know, but I just don’t-

“I used to have a poster of you in my bedroom at home.” 

God, this was even worse.

“But I took it down once my older brother caught me kissing it goodnight before bed.”

Oh…?

Kevin opens his mouth, but doesn’t know what to say.  Instead, a smirk starts taking over his lips.  “You had… You used to kiss me?  Every night?”

Jeremy’s blush has traveled the length of his neck, but at least he laughs softly.  “Until I was, like, almost sixteen, yeah.”  Kevin taps his pinky finger back.  “Now I just do it in my head.”

Pause.

Kevin whips his head back up, shock surely coating his face.  “You what?”

And Jeremy’s face falls.  “I-I just mean- sorry, I didn’t- oh god, I just made this super,” he slides off the hood of the car, “awkward.  That’s not- I just meant that, like-“

Kevin grabs his hand when he gets too far.  Jeremy freezes, but doesn’t dare move.  Kevin works on his words, lets his mouth fish open while he tries forming them, and eventually says, “If I had a poster of you,” he frowns, “I’d, um…” he looks up at Jeremy, vulnerable and confused and maybe, possibly, the least bit hopeful.  “I’d kiss you goodnight, too.”

Grinning, now, Jeremy lets his hand fall further into Kevin’s, and gives it two squeezes.  “You can, you know,” he whispers.  He meets Kevin’s eyes slowly.  “If you want.”

Nothing could stop the jackhammering in Kevin’s chest, or the rushing of blood in his ears from how red his face probably is, but Jeremy’s voice comes through right as rain regardless.  He gives his hand a tug, pulling Jeremy closer, and steps towards him so that he has to look down at him.  Those three inches are going to kill him.

But Kevin must be taking too long, because then Jeremy’s hand is sliding up the side of his neck and pulling him down, and Kevin’s hands go flying to his sides, falling into the dip of his waist and wishing they could run up along his skin.  Jeremy sighs a bit into his mouth and drags his tongue along Kevin’s bottom lip, and then Kevin is pulling him closer until their chests are flush and his hands can slide underneath the thin t-shirt, hand splaying on Jeremy’s lower back and wanting to curl itself into the skin there.

Jeremy’s tongue is warm and slick and Kevin tries not to be embarrassed when he moans lightly into his mouth.  It makes Jeremy smile against his mouth, which really is Kevin’s own fault because he did not want this kiss to end.  Jeremy tucks back in for one more kiss, shorter but sweeter, his fingers gently scratching at Kevin’s scalp, and searches Kevin’s face from only inches apart when Kevin subtly tilts his head into his hand.

“I kinda had one more embarrassing thing,” Jeremy pants a little, a warm smile poking through, and god, everything about him is warm and sweet, so so sweet.  His skin underneath his shirt is warm like a fresh batch of cookies; tongue like a melted marshmallow daring to fall apart in your mouth;  smile like a rainbow after a hot summer shower and disposition of one that reminds Kevin of his mother’s comfort, of Abby’s hugs and his father’s safety.

Jeremy himself is a son of Apollo, Kevin is sure of it.

But Kevin doesn’t trust his own voice, right now, so he just nods and hums in encouragement.  He holds Jeremy close more decidedly, taking advantage of the contact and flattening his palms along the bare skin of his back and waist below his shirt.  He thinks for a moment it sends shivers down Jeremy’s spine.

For this, though, Jeremy goes up on his tip toes and tilts Kevin’s head to grant him his ear.  He nips at it, first, sending a shiver down Kevin’s spine, and says, “You’ve been number one on my list since I was fourteen.”

“God.”  It’s not intentional, but Kevin doesn’t even care at this point.  He’s heard all about these lists from Nicky.  He knew what it meant.

Jeremy laughs, quiet and contained and goofy, and props his elbows on Kevin’s shoulders to shelter them in.  “Would you like to come up to my room?”

[stabbyfoxandrew]

I kept forgetting abt ww for weeks oml I can't believe angel Neil is on 127!!!!! I'm v sry, pls can I have some angel neil??

WIP Wednesday (3/6) | Guardian Angel Neil AU (Part 131)

“Chocolate on chocolate, I bet,” Neil guesses with a smile. “That’s what you like best, isn’t it?”

“Mm,” Andrew recalls a homemade chocolate cake in a yellow-painted kitchen in Oakland. It was dry and the frosting was gritty, but it had his name on it. And Cass had actually cared enough to— Andrew doesn’t want to think about that either. “Nicky always gets vanilla cake. That’s what Aaron likes.”

“That’s not fair.” Neil says with a frown. Andrew shrugs. It’s not like he’s ever bothered to express his opinion. Cake is cake. 

“Doesn’t matter much to me, I’ll pile chocolate ice cream onto it no matter what color it is.” 

“Oh, I miss ice cream.” Neil says suddenly. “Strawberry was my favorite.”

Andrew makes a face. “You are a very sad man.”

“Big news, everybody! Neil is sad and the sky is blue! Don’t forget to pick up the paper!” Neil says, cupping his hands around his mouth. Andrew laughs and Neil rolls his eyes. “For your information, strawberry ice cream is better than chocolate. And I’ll tell you another secret: so is vanilla.”

“How dare you.”

[stylecouncil]

ignore your lame anon and tell me some fun facts about that mormon guy

how dare you call him that mormon guy but I’ll ignore it because I love you. hunky dory is his mission. that’s one of the fun facts he said he found hunky dory at 19 and never went on a mission trip, so that was his mission. his parents met in a trailer park. he moved to a town with no stoplight when he was 9 but ran off back to vegas when he was 16 and got a fake id. his father was an alcoholic from a long line of alcoholics who his mom would take brandon with her to look for drunk in casinos but stopped drinking when he converted to mormonism (so there are layers here). he used to say he gets angry when he sees happy college students and he still gets a bit of an ache about it because it was never an option for him. he was a fat kid who got called a fag and felt completely out of place. andy of andy you’re a star fame is a real person he went to school with. he used to religiously read every morrissey and noel gallagher interview he could get his hands on. he stole morrissey demos from morrisseys guitarists bag when he was a bellhop. he kept the teacup morrissey drank out of when he came into the restaurant he worked at. he stalked morrissey for an entire night at a hotel while morrissey knew what he was doing the entire time. his first band was a synth pop band called blush response with a guy named trevor he met at a golf course job who he felt like was one of the first people he ever truly clicked with. they bonded over morrissey and depeche mode and the pet shop boys erasure etc they used to dye each others hair black. and when brandon was kicked out of the band and trevor moved to la with his girlfriend he almost drank himself to death. seeing don’t look back in anger at the hard rock in a show he only managed to get into at the last minute because someone handed him their ticket as they were leaving was what made him think he could really do it and that he wanted to be in a guitar band specifically. he hates any oasis song not written by noel. he made lou reed laugh by showing him that perfect day has the same chord progression as perfect day when they were recording tranquilize. he said every emo band needed to be beaten to death and never took pete wentz up on his offer to get sushi. his teeth were all falling out by the time he we like 26. he used to have to drink to get through every show. sam’s town is a real casino and he said it was like a beacon on the road from the trailer park where his parent were from that showed you were getting some place, you were getting to the city soon. he used to sleep on a morrissey pillowcase. he met his wife at a vegas thrift store and her cptsd has factored into his writing quite a lot. he almost fired that one annoying lorde producer that isn’t jack antonoff but almost as annoying 4 times while making the desired effect (I feel like you might appreciate this one idk why). he references a paul simon song in caution by the killers (another one for you). he’s notoriously tactless and mouthy and has tried to tone it down sometime after sam’s town because it became all that people could say about him (alt rock azealia banks) but it’s not really entirely worked (partially because a lot of that is just….him despite what he says so it hasn’t gone away but) it just got replaced with harping on the mormon thing despite him kind of being theologically all over the place with that in reality/seemingly clinging to it in name etc for a multitude of complicated reasons. he almost got an oasis tattoo as a teenager. he called hunky dory a working class album. uhhhhh I think he’s very interesting and a bundle of contradictions in the best way and funny and one of our last great frontmen who is also a great and varied songwriter. is that enough fun facts some of these aren’t fun. he’s been saving his beard trimmings in a plastic ziplock bag for years to give to neil tennant of pet shop boys fame.

[beezusvreeland]

a very good idea - chapter 7

summary: After your boyfriend cheats on you at a party, you break up with him, who tells you nobody else is willing to be with you like him. You decide to prove him wrong, with a little help from a new friend.

ship: miguel o'hara x f!reader

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 7

In sixth grade, you were learning about NASA’s Apollo Missions in history class. All the steps that were necessary for man to finally land on the moon. Right around that time, the movie First Man , starring Ryan Gosling as astronaut Neil Armstrong, was released in theaters. So, your teacher recommended that the class should go watch it if you had the chance. 

Your classmates quickly organized a group outing, so the class could go to the movies together. Technically, everyone was invited: it was a friday night with no parent’s supervision affair. When you asked your mother for permission, she obviously said no. 

You did try to reason with her, but the thing about your mom is that she was facing a bigger challenge in dealing with Jenna, who was at high school at the time. If she could handle the rebellious “I will pierce my tongue and become a nomad” (and she actually did, which you thought was surreal) sister, she could say no to you without any regrets. Your mother did, however, promise you she would take you and Jenna to watch the movie during the weekend. 

“You’re lucky this movie has Ryan Gosling in it”, Jenna complained, giving you a dirty look.

The friday your class was going out was very weird. Feeling left out wasn’t uncommon for you, but the excitement of your colleagues made you feel like you were missing out on something special. 

During lunch, you were walking with your tray through the cafeteria when you saw that the big table in the center of it was taken with the majority of kids in your class. You headed their way, since there were so many people, surely no one would mind your presence. You were wrong. 

“Wait, what do you think you’re doing?”, asked Dana D’Angelo, a brunette with a perfect bob and a ballerina posture. 

You were sliding your legs between the bench and the table, the contents on your tray a little messed up from the movement. You had almost dropped it a moment earlier, your lunch was saved by none other than Miguel O’Hara, who was seated on the other side of the table. It was so quick you didn’t have the chance to say thanks.

“I’m sitting to have lunch”, your voice was squeaky and low and you hated yourself for it. Dana had always been a very confident girl, and could be very intimidating when she wanted to. Like right then:

“Are you going with us tonight?”

“No…my mother didn’t allow me to.”

Dana raised an eyebrow and gave you a fake smile. 

“Well, this table is only for people who are going to the movies, so…”

That hit you with the force of a thousand daggers. Tears started forming inside your eyes almost immediately. You looked around and your colleagues all remained quiet, most of them avoiding your gaze — including Miguel. 

***

“May…May May May”, Hobbie sang with his eyes closed. “Pete, please tell your aunt that if she wasn’t already married, I’d be your uncle.”

“She’ll love to hear…wait, what?”, Peter looked disgusted. “I bring you pie and you unlock a new fear in me, Hobbard!”

You, Gwen and Miles laugh. Lunch time was quickly becoming one of your favorite times of the school day. Miguel’s friends always made you feel welcomed. No pretending or trying to impress: they were playful, funny and were comfortable with each other in a way you’ve only experienced in your own friendship with Jess. 

Hobbie had a smirk on his face: “It’s uncle Hobbie for you, mate”. 

“Ew, no! You wouldn’t dare”, Peter shook his head, as if trying to erase the mere idea of it all out of his head.

“I mean…if it moves, Hobbie will flirt with it. Human or not”, Miles pointed. “Isn’t that right, Miguel?”

You looked behind you to find Miguel, opening a gatorade bottle and taking a sip. 

“Hobbard can charm the pants off of a wall”, he said, sitting down by your side. Even Peter laughed at that. 

��I’m a free spirit, mate, I’m open to all experiences.”

“That’s what they are calling it these days, huh”, Gwen said.

“You know it, love.”

Gwen rolled her eyes and turned to you.

“I hate it when Jess has lunch with her athlete friends. She is the only one who can tame him”, your friend said. 

“Oh, he wishes”, you made her laugh. “All good for tonight?”

“Yeah…your sister is a life saver, by the way. That purple jacket is really something.”

“Don’t worry about it, Jenna loves thrifting and owes me a lifetime of favors. 7pm at Jess’s?”

Gwen nodded. 

“Deal.”

You feel a gentle poke at your waist. That was…new. 

“What are you girls up to?”, Miguel asked, a lazy smile on his lips.

“We’re getting ready for the party together”, you looked to your right, to make sure Gwen didn’t hear you. “Gwen needs a bit of a morale boost.”

“Is she ok?”, his eyebrows creased. “Did she say anything?”

“She didn’t have to.”

“Oh…right”, Miguel scratched his head. “Thank God we have you.” His eyes immediately gave away the fact it had slipped his tongue. “¡Ay, coño! I mean, she has you and…”, he tried to fix it.

“Well, you are lucky to have me, O’Hara”, you teased, a burning sensation going through your body. 

He studied you, his eyes filled with amusement and maybe a hint of lust. 

“Now, tell me…”, Miguel whispered as he put a lock of your hair behind your ear, but his hand remained, twisting your hair with his fingers. “You’re very giving to your friends…but what about your boyfriend?”

You had full body chills. And felt so out of breath you didn’t realize that you were squeezing your thighs together.

“I asked you a question, cariño”, he nudged his nose on your cheek. 

Your hands grasped the hem of his sweatshirt. Miguel had his lips parted and his eyes closed. He seemed just as affected, if not more, by the whole interaction as you. That emboldened you to turn and whisper in his ear, your voice in a tone you didn’t recognize: “He will have to work for it”. 

You gave him a kiss on the cheek, just as the bell started ringing. You grabbed your things and got up, fixing your hair.

“See you tonight, everybody.”

Miguel’s eyes were widened in a pained expression. As you walked away, trusting your body to lead where you needed to go, the thoughts inside of your head went wild. You were feeling a lot, from excitement to curiosity. The world might've ended and you wouldn’t know. For those few moments, you were somewhere else with Miguel, a place that belonged only to the two of you.

How could life ever go back to normal after that?

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<< chapter 6

>> chapter 8

all chapters

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a very good idea playlist

[sleepyfoxbooks]

Good Omens

By Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

A little note beforehand:

@neil-gaiman has been my favorite author since I read The Graveyard Book as a kid. Reading Good Omens as an adult really made the whole experience feel like it was coming full circle. Twice now, he has inspired my reading hyper-fixation. So, thank you for giving your work to the world.

I finished this book before I started this blog, but I felt it deserves to be here. I almost immediately let my coworker borrow it so I can’t give direct quotes and page numbers.

Onto the review!

⚠️Warning! Contains spoilers for Season One of the show and the book! ⚠️

Overall this book is amazing! There were so many times I found myself smiling like an idiot in the airport reading this story. Reading lines in the book at are used verbatim in the show made me feel like I was in on some little secret. I’m gonna get into more detail, separated by the three storylines.

Adam Young & Them

So in the book, there is a long running joke that Elvis Presley isn’t dead and works at a little burger joint in Des Moines. Death even says during his run in the trivia game that he never touched Elvis. I found this absolutely hilarious and sometimes wished the line was in the show. It made me kinda happy to read about a fat Elvis just lovin’ life flippin’ burgers.

Now Greasy Johnson isn’t in the show at all. He’s apparently the extra baby from the Chattering Order that was adopted (Which was kinda relieving). So in the book Johnson is the leader of the rival gang of children to The Them. I loved this motif in the book, comparing the childhood scuffles between the two groups of kids to the war of heaven and hell. It gave a level of pettiness to the armageddon debacle. Having Adam explain to his friends the never ending struggle between Them and Greasy Johnson in equivalence to the literal world-ending war that is heaven and hell was kinda brilliant. I understand this part of the story not being in the show, but at the same time I think the added complexity of the rival gang would’ve been interesting to see on screen.

Ok in the book, we get a lot more of Dog’s thoughts, and they’re kinda adorable. Dog just loves being a dog! And I love reading about it. By the time armageddon is at their doorstep, he doesn’t want it either. Dog’s whole journey kinda added this extra layer of charm to the story.

The Witchfinder & The Witch

I love the descriptions for this storyline. Pulsfier and Anathema have such wonderful and dare I say accurate descriptions of their characters in the book. If you read this book in 1990 when it came out, you could picture these two perfectly.

During the scene where Anathema meets Crowley and Aziraphale via car crash Anathema has the best thought. She’s at fist kinda wary of these two strange men in the dark, but when Crowley calls Aziraphale “angel” she’s immediately like “oh! They’re gay!🏳️‍🌈”. Of course this book did come out in the 90’s so she didn’t say that explicitly.

An added difference between the show and the book that was for the better, was changing Madam Tracy’s spirit guide. In the book her spirit guide is Geronimo, an indigenous American man. I definitely think Geronimo was written with some stereotypes but I can’t comment too much on that. Colleen (the spirit guide in Good Omens the show), was definitely a better addition for the series.

Crowley & Aziraphale

They’re so in love, and no one can tell me otherwise. Just reading it without the context of the show, they so love each other.

In the show, we get a scene of Crowley pushing Aziraphale into a wall at the old Satanic Nunnery. That little moment doesn’t happen in the book.

A lot of the ending in the season was much more bulked out. For example, the series adds the entire Crowley and Aziraphale swapping bodies to trick their respective bosses. I actually love this addition though. This ending made their story arc feel so much more complete.

I think that’s all I’ve got for now! Please recommend more books!

[writing-for-life]

Just popping in to clarify a couple of misconceptions that cropped up in both tags and comments and that (a part of) fandom is very enamoured with (for obvious reasons):

1. Ferdinand Kingsley did not regret that dialogue has been left out that shows Hob’s regret. There is no regret in 1789 in the comics, so nothing in that department that can be left out. What Ferdinand regretted was that they didn’t put in the dialogue that showed how truly awful and involved Hob was in the slave trade. “I sort of started it,” said with a hint of, dare I say, pride? And then brushing off Dream’s concerns by saying “It’s a living.” Twice.

If we are trying to use the comics to “absolve” Hob, or paint him in a light more sympathetic to our own feelings, we should at least do it properly. And there’s absolutely nothing remotely sympathetic about him here that could have been integrated into the show at this point.

So no, the dialogue that’s been left out would have painted him in a worse, not better light, and I personally think it was the wrong move to leave it out, just like Ferdinand. Because now the series pushed his whole involvement in the slave trade much more into the direction of, “Oopsie.” But of course many people in fandom already took that as a hint that he is somehow a better person in the show. And I’m just inwardly wishing that people would step back, take a minute, read that again and hopefully notice that leaving those comments out can’t make him a better person. Even if we change his arc slightly and he “wasn’t that involved.” It just reduces the whole issue even more and makes it more problematic because it somehow makes it a “little blip” in his timeline.

Quite frankly, I think they should have left the whole slavery arc out completely, because it never sat right with me to use slavery merely as a side note to show a white person’s character development without properly examining the damage caused. It makes the plight of PoC a plot vehicle while still only centering white people’s guilt/fragility, and I always thought that’s truly a blind spot only white people have (and I’m white myself, to get that out of the road straightaway). There are other ways to show character development.

I’m not saying it isn’t a part of history and could have been used narratively. But it would have needed to be fleshed out instead of making it basically a comment in passing. And the point is that it never has been fleshed out, and I am very doubtful we’ll get anything remotely appropriate in the show after what we’ve already seen. But only time will tell, so I’m withholding final judgment on the matter at this point. Fact is: It is very uncomfortable to watch at this stage if you have any sensitivity on the matter, and I think as a fandom, we should be more able to sit with that discomfort and examine it instead of brushing it away.

2. If we are talking about Hob’s “remorse”, we are probably talking about Gwen and Sunday Mourning (and potentially that half-sentence in 1889). And again, even as a white woman, I can see that a black woman is used (!) to forgive Hob. And that black woman has been written by a white man for that sole purpose without giving her anything else to do. I love Neil, I really do, but again: I think he got that terribly wrong. And I hope he sees it differently now and the show does something about it, because it’s painful to watch (at least for me, and again: I’m white. I can’t even begin to imagine how PoC will perceive this).

There is also the not so small fact that Hob is, even in his guilt and shame (and you know, shame is always about yourself, and that’s very in keeping with his character—at least they got that right), not honest with Gwen. The thing about him basically inventing it, which he so proudly proclaimed in 1789? Yeah, about that one:

Because the “Jack” Hawkins he talked about in 1789? That’s actually this dude:

And Hob funded him 200 years before 1789, and enabled Hawkins to set up what was called the Triangle Trade. Hob was involved in what became the slave trade well before 1789–he already funded it when he had money in the 1500s. And it is so obvious to me that fandom at large never examines this, or even makes the effort to understand the comics in that way. Literary analysis my arse. If you think the comics show remorse—well, they bloody well should because it wasn’t a “small” mistake (as if anything involving slavery ever could be anyway). He carried that mindset around with him for literal hundreds of years and saw nothing wrong with it until at least (! more about that in a sec) 1789. He’s been written as a stand-in for British Imperialism, with all that entails.

So how honest is he really? And how long, even after 1789, was he still involved, even after abolition in England (buying and selling slaves was made illegal in 1807, but owning slaves was only made illegal in 1833/34 btw)? Because there’s still this:

“It got worse when they did. You only needed one voyage in three to make a profit. You could afford to dump your cargo if… you spotted a British Man o’ War.” How does he know? Why does he have these nightmares? Take your guess…

No people, that’s not someone who tried it for a couple of weeks and then thought, “Oopsie, my bad.” That’s someone who has been opportunistically involved from the 1500s until after slavery was already abolished in England (very likely even after that convo with Dream). And how people can’t see that is really beyond me, because it’s right there, black on white.

Yes, what we see above and in all the other panels is guilt and shame. And it reminded me of this:

And I’d encourage everyone to really listen to what Jasper has to say, and sit with the feelings it brings up. Because I can still remember watching this in the George Floyd aftermath for the first time, and how deeply uncomfortable it made me—because he’s right.

It’s not for white people to absolve other white people from their guilt around the oppression of PoC. It could be argued it’s not for white people to write a black character to do that in their stead either. And black people/PoC do not need to forgive and absolve white people from their guilt. It is something that cannot be forgiven restrospectively, and we, as white people, need to be okay with that. And as Jasper also so rightly points out:

The guilt is not even helpful (at least Gwen has the right sentiment there, but it’s still incredibly flat and not fleshed out enough), and shame only centres ourselves.

It’s about the work. And we are not working if we close our eyes. Not even if it’s just “fun fandom.”

And now people can holler at me for not seeing Hob Gadling as some puppy-eyed person who is so full of regrets *uwu* that we all need to forgive him. It’s not for us to forgive what is unforgivable, even if he is “just” a character in a graphic novel.

However, I do see him as narratively important, and I see him as a stand-in for humanity, and more specifically, England.

The above two things aren’t at odds. Writers can get things narratively right but still be emotionally tone-deaf due to their own blind-spots. We don’t need to assume malice, but we also don’t need to leave it entirely unchallenged.

And because of that, we can certainly see Hob as someone who has to live with his conscience, and the consequences of his actions, for the rest of his life and struggles with that (as he should). And maybe we can see him as someone who is now, finally, trying to put in the work. That doesn’t mean though he needs to, or even can, be forgiven—especially not by black people. Because I still wonder what Gwen would have said if he had been truly honest with her (which he, I’m afraid to say, wasn’t, see below panels). That wouldn’t have been an embrace is my guess…

My controversial opinion about Hob Gadling is that I believe he’s absolutely the sort of guy that “puts things behind him”, and tries to wash his hands clean of the things he feels icky about. This is implied pretty well in the show, with him blithely moving from soldiering and robbery to printing, from slaving to… whatever it was he was doing in the 19th century instead. That being said, this is not at all the same as actively trying to atone, or even making a concerted effort to be a better person, and I really wish fandom could tell the difference!

[camaro-hargrove]

It's Broken

word count: 1.3k

-

billy breaks his nose and max gets to grow up

-

It happens a few weeks after the fight at the Byers.

Billy’s been on his best behaviour, hasn’t even spoken a word to Max or even looked at her little friends. He does everything that’s expected and more of him at home. But apparently that isn’t enough.

He knows Max hates him, everyone can tell. You’d need to be deaf and blind to not know and even then you’d be able to sense the tension between the two. So yes, Max hates him but he didn’t know she hated him this much.

Dinner at the Hargrove Mayfield house is always tense, Billy keeps his head down and finishes everything on his plate after being the last to be served. Says ‘no thank you, Susan’ when offered leftovers because he is not allowed to eat more than what he’s given. He answers when spoken to, never asks if someone could pass something to him. It’s a quiet ordeal most of the time.

“Billy was supposed to take me to the arcade today but he didn’t," Max says, stabbing a piece of potato with her fork.

“Is that true, Billy?” Neil asks, his gaze feeling like a loaded gun. Billy always has to sit directly across from Neil, always in perfect view to make sure he doesn’t misbehave.

“No, Sir,” Billy replies. He knows there’s no point in lying but it’s going to end the same either way. “I didn’t know Max wanted to go today”

“Yes, I told you this morning” Max is glaring at him from next to him. “Several times”

Billy pauses and fuck, she did mention it except he was distracted this morning because of a maths test he had to take in first period.

“She did mention it,” Billy says slowly. “I was just distracted this morning, I had a test”

“That’s not very kind of you” Neil takes a bite of chicken, chews thoroughly before continuing “Sounds like Max was excited to go”

“I was” Max pipes up “El was going to be there, you know, El? My only friend who’s a girl?”

Billy knows she only brought up El because Neil and Susan hate that she’s a tomboy and hate that she’s friends with boys. That they’d be even more lenient with her for being friends with an actual girl.

“So, Max was forced to not spend time with her friend because you were too distracted to pay attention to her?” Neil has a way of warping words into swords and viciously attacking him with them.

“Yes, Sir” Billy replies on autopilot because what else is he supposed to say? Anything he says will be twisted and used against him either now or in the future.

Neil dabs at his mouth with a napkin and stands up. Billy, frozen in his seat, doesn’t dare look away from his plate as Neil comes to stand behind him. He’s expecting a slap on the back of the head, maybe a hand on his shoulder pulling him up from the seat but instead he feels his dad’s hand in his hair and suddenly his face is full of pain.

He thinks Max screams and wonders why the fuck is she screaming. He gasps and chokes on blood that’s sliding down the back of his throat and brings his hands up to his nose, taking deep shuddery breaths when his fingers brush alongside it.

“My nose!” Billy manages to get out, still in a state of disbelief. There’s blood in his unfinished dinner.

Neil doesn’t say anything, just grabs Billy by the upper arm. Billy braces himself for more abuse but instead he’s led over to the front door and out to the truck. He doesn’t have any shoes on or a jacket and he’s cold. Neil has shoes and a jacket on.

They drive in silence to the hospital, Billy not daring to let out a groan of pain when his head moves along with the bumps in the road. Neil doesn’t turn his head to look at him once but he does catch his eye in the rearview mirror and Billy sees a warning.

The hospital is quiet on a Wednesday evening. There’s a woman coughing into her elbow and a man and a woman sitting with their arms crossed near the entrance. They walk over to the receptionist and she looks up in alarm at all the blood spread around Billy’s face.

“Oh my” she starts

“It’s broken,” Neil interrupts her. “Broke it playing basketball, boy wasn’t paying any attention”

“Yeah” Billy knows better than to tell the truth. He’d made that mistake before and he’s still here.

They clean up his nose and Billy bites his tongue so he doesn’t make loud noises. It’s crooked and they give Billy something to squeeze as they quickly snap it back into place. He does yell then, receiving a glare from his dad but he doesn’t care at that point. They clean up the blood once again that had been dislodged in the relocation and then place a thick wad of gauze from the tip of his nose to his forehead. He closes his eyes and grimaces as they stick it down with a beige bandage, one going across the bottom of his nose and onto his cheeks and the other across his forehead. It’s humiliating and Neil knows it.

The humiliation is an added part of the punishment.

He’s given a prescription for painkillers that will never get filled and they’re driving home. No comments had been made about his lack of footwear.

Max is still awake when he gets home. Looks at him with pity and he tries to glare at her and fails miserably. He walks past her and straight to the bathroom where he looks at himself in the mirror. There’s bruising around his eyes and on the gaps where the gauze isn’t.

Max is standing outside the bathroom, looking like she wants to talk to him but Billy doesn’t want to even look at her right now so he shoves past her and goes to his room. He carefully takes his tee shirt off, stretching the collar so it won’t brush against his nose and then he lies in his bed. He sleeps on his back so the bruises have no contact with his pillow and tries to sleep through the pain.

The next morning, he wakes up and gets dressed before facing the music that is breakfast. Susan is placing a cup of coffee in front of his father who says nothing. He folds it when Billy enters the room and looks at him.

“Max wants to go to school early today” he says calmly “You don’t have time for breakfast today”

“Yes, Sir” he says once again. Voice distorted from the way his nose is blocked and pulled. Max looks up from her bowl of cereal with an expression that this is the first she’s hearing about wanting to go to school early. “I’ll warm up the car”

He grabs his messenger bag from his room and the car keys from the bowl next to the front door and sits in the driver's seat. He pulls down the sun visor and tilts his head to get a better look at what he’s going to be dealing with today. The bruising is way more prominent today, dark under his eyes and purple in colour towards the edges. There’s a bit of dried blood and he grabs a tissue and dampens it with some spit to try and get it off. He hisses at the contact but grits his teeth and keeps going.

Max opens the door to the passenger seat and slides in quietly. Billy pulls out of the driveway and they drive silently to school, not even bothering putting a cassette in to listen to.

“I’m sorry” Max says quietly “I didn’t think he’d do that”

“Bet you’ll think twice now, won’t you” Billy doesn’t look at her. Keeps his eyes on the baron roads in front of him.

“I thought he’d ground you or something, not break your nose” She replies looking over at him. “I didn’t know he was that bad”

“Well, congratulations” Billy says dryly “You’re old enough to experience the real world now”

[dayurno]

hii i just finished ur baby kevin fic and i love how you write!! like genuinely u described things so well and ur characterization was so on point as well as being sooo funny and sweet :) ur voice and love for kevin really came thru. thank u so much such a delightful fic im totally gonna binge read the rest of ur stuff <3

AHH THANK YOU!!!!! something that i really kept thinking to myself as i was rereading babykevin fic is that for a fic where (the adult) kevin is hardly present, it really feels like a love letter 2 kevin day in my head..... perhaps its because neil is fond of him and you can tell through his narration or something else altogether, but i think this fic is easily one of the most loving ive written about kevin.......... i couldnt show more of my hand if i tried.... im even a little embarrassed

“The evil creature that was making him so scared was actually…” Neil pauses for emphasis, “...a dog. It was a big one. We’re not sure how it got into the Foxhole Court in the first place, but this person, this simple person, who only had bad memories of getting bitten by a dog as a child, was unwilling to cross this dog’s path so he could go home.” [...] He swipes his thumb under Kevin’s eye; a soft motion. “We did. Of course we did. We teased him the entire way home about it, but that’s the point, isn’t it? We still went back for him. We still sent the dog away.”

IM REALLY not sure if its the idea of their dynamic mellowed down to what a child can understand but i think there has never been dialogue (written by me!) so loving about kevin day before... im not sure. i was overcome by my fondness of him when i wrote it i suppose

“His food is really terrible, though. Nothing like what Andrew makes you. You’d have to pretend to like it.” “Why eat it if it’s bad?” Kevin asks, looking more and more curious about his older self the longer Neil talks about him. Neil is not surprised to think that he could do this for much longer. The ache of missing Kevin subdues when it is shared aloud. “Well, because he goes through all the trouble of making it for you, so how could you dare not eat it?” He crouches down to be Kevin’s height, the corner of his mouth quirking up. “And sometimes, if you give him critique, he’ll go try to fix it right away. Last time I said it was a bit stale, and he added so much salt I had to cough out the rest.” Kevin hesitates. “Was it better?” “No. God, no, it was worse. Stale was a compliment; it was too salty.” “But… you ate it.” “I suppose I did,” Neil agrees. He really had — scraped his bowl clean, too. Choked it down like a man, much to Andrew’s chagrin. “He put in a lot of work. It’d be a waste if I didn’t eat it. And, well, whatever. I wanted him to be happy with himself.”

like :-) anyway sorry about this all its just that you saying this really made me want to talk about it..... i fear everyone is going to know im fond of kevin day now...

[floveslondon]

Things I noticed/thought while watching GO S2 (again) Episode 5

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Zira giving away books! After he specifically asked Crowley over the phone the day before to not sell any books, let alone give them away.

‘Maggie and Nina are counting on me’ But they aren’t are they? You want to make them fall in love with eachother so Heaven doesnt suspect you anymore, and you both can go back to the somewhat free life you had after Armagedon’t. So you’re doing it for Crowley and you. I think he’s justifying his fantasies, and believing those all too well himself.

Crowley’s thoughts after the magician says no: 4oh, go on then, give away ANOTHER book, I dare you’

Crowley in a fez and acting silly, glad we saw that, because it shows that there is still a lot of Angel!Crowley left <3

Crowley is so done with his husband when speaking French.

Mr Rossignol = mr Nightingale 😭

‘But you understood me’ I can only hear Lady Mary Crawley from Downton Abbey when he says that (also, Crawley!?!)

‘Only because for 250 years you’ve been wittering on about the plume of your imaginary taunt’ 🤣

Does Nina say ‘Bravo’ because she is reminded of her own relationship, because they do bicker quite a lot?

Poor pookie looks like he has been hit over the head, either because he hasn’t realised he loves Zira before this, or because he didn’t realise how obvious it is that they like each other. Oh to live in a world where anybody can love anybody…

That line ‘Smitten, I believe. You’re being silly’ The first part made me smile like an idiot, and then the second part gave me butterflies. The money I would give to watch this series again for the first time.

C+A in a heart on the blackboard <3

‘When you told my only friend to shut his stupid mouth and die…’ Goosebumps every time, damn David

Crowley testing if Jim/Gabriel really is telling the truth, because even if Gabriel was thick, he would still know that jumping out of a window is a bad idea. And now Jim was more than willing to jump to be able to help.

It hurts, my head isn’t built for that I know, do it anyway! Crowley how do you know that? Because you heard it from someone else, or because they wiped your memory when you fell, and had to do a lot of very painful thinking to get some of it back? I would bet on the latter…

Ooooh when they show the matchbox I can hear a fly buzzing!

‘Wait and see.’ NEIL FUCKING GAIMAN I am in your walls. Just kidding, I love you really, this is just perfect in its weirdness

Zira just sneaking a long glance at his thin dark duke, his body is fully turned away after e few seconds but he’s still looking, even though Crowley isn’t looking and is nearly out the door

Such a nice touch that people’s clothes change as they enter the bookshop, yet Zira and Crowley remain unchanged. Neil has said that there was a whole outfit planned for Zira, but Michael felt like he would keep on his normal clothes. Many people have also mentioned it is because even if the meeting is supposed to be a fantasy for Maggie and Nina, it shouldn’t have to be for them.

The exchange between Crowley and Maggie is weird, but I can’t put my finger on why…

Ms Cheng looking around before she enters the bookshop is so ominous, I don’t like it. Is she noticing the demons approaching, or is it something else?

Both Crowley and the metatron (next ep) mention the weird name for the coffee shop

The miracle for the clothes and the feeling better and knowing the dance works on Nina and Maggie, but when Zira wants to make them forget all about it, it doesn’t seem to work. Why is that?

Zira again shutting Crowley down, let him speak!

In my head, if it weren’t for the legion of demons outside of the bookshop, Crowley would be blushing so hard when being dragged to the dance floor and while dancing with Zira

I hope we get to see Crowley and Zira do the full dance, including holding hands and getting very close to each other <3

So cute that Zira only loosely holds hands with other people, but every mm of his hand touches Crowley’s

Majestic Jim is majestic, that suit and coat sure are something

‘That arch- traitor Crowley’ Archangel Crowley, is that what you meant Shax?

I want to know Zira’s suggestion!

Maybe Zira’s miracles don’t work on them because Nina and Maggie have too much love for Zira, and love is way more powerful than miracles?

Why does Crowley specifically call for Nina whether or not she’s coming? Why not Maggie too? Or just say ‘Everybody ready?’

Look at the rug in the bookshop and then go look at the rug when Crowley is cleaning up in the next episode. Here it is mostly red with a white border, in the next episode it is all white! I doubt it’s a continuity error, why did they do that 🧐

Episode 6

[writing-for-life]

Oh man, I feel this is a very unfortunate pairing. @tickldpnk8 and I tried to balance things out while still honouring the fact it shouldn’t matter who illustrated more issues, or what their style is (artists will ultimately come up against each other in the later stages anyway, no matter what).

But these two are so vastly different—it’s like opulence vs scarcity, soft vs harsh, circles vs angles, baroque orientalism vs expressionism or art deco (have a look at some of Midnight Theatre).

Amano awes me, I can appreciate the immense skill, but he never really… moves me (totally my problem). His Morpheus slays though—probably the bitchiest Dream Lord we’ll ever get. And since we’ve just been talking about his work as the inspiration for another piece of art that currently creates some waves, have this one, and a bit of Batman thrown into the mix (I do not dare to put his Final Fantasy stuff on here, but look it up if you’re interested):

Kristiansen’s work, however, will forever live rent-free in my head for the one issue he brought to life (The Kindly Ones #64), and this panel (replicated for a commission, which is just a beautiful piece of art):

And that, for me, is hard to shake, because it still gets to me after decades.

These are still in my queue, but I might as well post them here now before they land separately:

Also: I’ve posted the back of this SkyBox Gold Foil Card in a meta about how Dream experiences love before (yes, I own whole folders of complete sets of Vertigo and Sandman Trading cards, that’s how long I’ve been at this, and I’m not even sorry), and I’d just like to throw this beauty in here:

These 50 words that describe Dream, straight from the horse’s (read: Neil’s) mouth, are the cure for close to two years of fanonisation of Dream. He’s male btw (apparently that’s one of his most defining features) 🤣

Anyway, I know we are voting for the best portrayal of Dream and not the story. I love The Kindly Ones and Dream Hunters equally, for different reasons. Amano will probably walk this one, but I have to give my vote to Kristiansen. Because I look at his Morpheus, and it makes me feel. That is Morpheus to me, even if stylised. I look at Amano’s, and I am awed by his technique, but it leaves me… lukewarm? It’s almost too perfect. And it’s not how I see Morpheus (apart from the bitching gear 🤣).

Art, and the way it does or doesn’t move us, is a wonderful and weird thing. And that’s really my main takeaway: If art makes you feel or not depends on so many things, and skill and style can only ever be a means to an end. And said end is telling the story and communicating it in a way that connects. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. And the receiver is as important as the sender, or something along those lines…

So have my vote, Teddy, because your art moves me. As I’m sure Amano’s will move others.

And here are the faces behind the art:

Who’s your favourite? Show them your appreciation via posting what moves you about their art, sharing a favourite panel or even some work that isn’t Sandman-related.

You still have until 6pm/London to cast your vote for either Kristiansen or Amano before the next pairing lands.

Round One/3, Poll

Teddy Kristiansen, artist #64

VS.

Yoshitaka Amano, artist The Dream Hunters (prose version)

Two artists with wildly different styles who have illustrated some of the probably most memorable storylines and created art that most Sandman fans will immediately recognise.

Here are the issues they have illustrated to refresh your memory:

Teddy Kristiansen: The Kindly Ones #64. Also check out Sandman Midnight Theatre (co-written by Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner)

Yoshitaka Amano: The Dream Hunters (prose version)

And remember, you are voting for your favourite version of Dream, not the particular storyline.

Who is your favourite and why? Let us know in the comments/reblogs. Share your thoughts about their art, your favourite panels from their issues, or even other art they created and help us turn this into an artist appreciation post.

Here’s the poll to vote for your favourite if you want to see them again (you can find the whole bracket and some additional info here, and feel free to check out previous matches via the tag #sandman march mania):

Event organisers: @writing-for-life and @tickldpnk8 (who also designed the logo)

[new-revenant]

Mirror World of Mine AU art hoopla! It’s the Lunch Lady scene but it’s uh different. Danny’s basically saying that only he has the capability to defeat the Lunch Lady. I have a story bit under the cut. This is making me want to write a whole fic for this AU. Anyways, if you don’t know anything about this AU, just look at my previous posts about it under the MWofM AU tag. This is a magic AU. Neil is this AU Danny. Regular Danny also exists in this AU. Possession ieskai. You read that right.

After Neil had darted to the bathroom after the “garbage fight” he managed to start, Sam and Tucker barely had a moment to settle down before the temperature in the cafeteria started to plummet.

“Brr, since when did it get so cold?” Sam asked, shivering. Tucker shrugged, shivering as well.

“Maybe some garbage got in the AC?” Tucker suggested.

“It’s not garbage-“ Sam started before being abruptly cut off by a screech coming from the kitchen. Everyone in the cafeteria started looking over toward the noise, and promptly started panicking. Did they even notice the wind that came from nowhere? And that it started to swirl over to the kitchen? Sam and Tucker noticed.

“Sam, I think we might have a,” -Tucker leaned closer to Sam to whisper- “we might have a ghost problem.”

“Hopefully the ghost doesn’t show up psychically,” Sam whispered back.

Then the ghost appeared. A sweet looking lunch lady, clad with pink clothes and a white apron, seeming rather confused.

“Hello dearies, I’ve noticed that there isn’t any meatloaf, even though it was supposed to be served today, according to the menu,” the Lunch Lady asked quite calmly.

“Well it was going to be served until someone changed the menu,” Tucker glared at Sam, who responded with a huff.

Then the ghost’s appearance shifted. She got bigger, and her white hair outside of her cap burst into flames.

Green flames surrounded her body as she yelled, “WHO CHANGED THE MENU?!”

“You just had to tell her didn’t you?” Sam hissed through gritted teeth.

“What was I supposed to say?” Tucker asked.

“Nothing! Say nothing!”

“THE MENU HAS BEEN THE SAME FOR 50 YEARS!” The Lunch Lady continued. She growled as a green vortex appeared above her.

“We’re done for!” Someone yelled. Sam and Tucker could only agree with that sentiment-they had no idea how to deal with a ghost. Maybe if Sam actually bothered to learn more about her psychic powers, and if Tucker knew anything about supernatural creatures that aren’t vampires or werebeasts, maybe, just maybe they could’ve done something. And it looked like Sam was going to be the Lunch Lady’s first target, as the ghost pointed a fist of green at her.

“WERE YOU THE ONE TO CHANGE THE MENU?!” The Lunch Lady questioned.

“Um, maybe?” Sam smiled nervously. That was apparently a good enough answer for the Lunch Lady to lift one of nearby tables to throw at her.

A haunting laughter sounded out from every corner of the room. The Lunch Lady paused, lowering the table. The air seemed to still for a moment, returning to the same calm of before. Sam gave a sigh of relief before remembering the laughter.

A figure phased up through the middle of the floor. Another ghost, a boy that looked around her age. His lower face was covered by a white cloak that enveloped his entire body, only the toes of his white boots poking out from under it.

“It isn’t very professional to attack students lady,” the new ghost told the Lunch Lady with much more confidence in his voice then anyone else would have in this situation.

“Well someone changed the menu,” the Lunch Lady responded.

“The same menu that was in place for 50 years? How awful.” The new ghost seemed to know about the menu then. Or he was just listening in.

“Yes! You understand me then!”

“Oh I understand. I understand that you’re putting your anger onto innocent students!”

The oppressive air returned with the Lunch Lady’s anger, “LUNCH IS SACRED, LUNCH HAS RULES, HOW DARE YOU DEFILE IT’S IMPORTANCE!”

The new ghost just laughed. He clasped his hands together, and shaped a giant, odd looking scythe out of ice in mear seconds.

“I don’t think I’m defiling lunch’s importance, I’m just standing up for these kids.” The new ghost said. He stuck the end of his scythe into the floor and floated to stand on top of tip of it. He looked over to Sam and Tucker specifically, looking between the two before his bright green eyes settled on Sam. Sam looked back, but couldn’t bare to look him in the eyes. She focused on his white hair, which had a golden sheen on the tips of it.

“I think we’re all aware that without me, Danny Phantom,“ -the ghost-Danny Phantom-threw his hands out flamboyantly, unveiling the green coloring of the inside of the cloak- “You wouldn’t have a GHOST of a chance~“ He cackled after saying that, whether it because of his pun of for some other reason.

“Now let’s get this haunt on the road!” Danny pulled out the ice scythe from the floor and launched himself at the Lunch Lady, and the fight began.

Both Sam and Tucker wished they went to bathroom like Neil did.

[stabbyfoxandrew]

arsonist neil for wip wednesday please🙏

WIP Wednesday (2/21) | Arsonist Neil / Firefighter Andrew AU (Part 98)

With that, Andrew rushes for the office with a warm face. He’s never had a boyfriend, he’s never wanted one. He still doesn’t. But he doesn’t think he would mind too much if it was someone like 10. Okay, sure, the arson thing isn’t ideal. But everyone has to sacrifice in a relationship, right?

Andrew isn’t sure that makes sense, but regardless he drops into the chair and plucks a thick packet of papers from a tray on the desk. After filling out two lines, Andrew gets bored and rolls the chair over to the doorway to look out. There’s no one in the hall, so he drops the pen and gets his phone back out.

Andrew It was a false alarm. 10 Oh. That’s good I guess. Or bad? If you’re bored I could start one for you. Andrew Don’t you fucking dare. 10 What’s got you in such a great mood? You just said you didn’t have to fight a fire. Andrew Even though there was no fire, I still have to fill out paperwork about it. 10 Oh. That sucks. Andrew You’re telling me. Every time you get match-happy, I have to fill out one of these. [a photo of Andrew’s hand holding a thick stack of paper] 10 Oh. Yikes. Andrew Yeah. At least I can talk to you while I fill this one out. 10 I’m sure that makes it all worthwhile.

Andrew snorts and sets his phone down for a moment to start actually doing his fucking job. He gets through the majority of it fairly quickly. He gets the caller’s phone number from the station’s phone and scribbles it down. And since it was a false alarm… Oh shit. That means he has to fill out another form saying so. Because they’ll have to investigate whoever was misusing the emergency line.

[biillyhargroves]

listen i know we’ve talked about heather & billy being each other’s beards but please consider billy & robin agreeing to be one another’s beards.

hear me out: billy and steve and robin all chilling at the harrington house. lounging by the pool. a little tipsy. robin is telling steve and billy all about how she feels like an absolute disaster around girls, just cannot get her shit together, gets way too nervous and flustered and fucks up every time she so much as attempts to flirt. and there’s a school dance coming up! and her parents want her to go! have been pressuring her to put herself out there! enjoy her high school experience! but she has no one to go with. she’s all stressed because she wants to please her parents but she’s too scared to ask anyone — guy or girl — to go with her, platonically or otherwise. and it’s steve to the rescue, “why doesn’t billy take you?”

“are you whoring me out to your friends now?” billy teases, and steve makes a very valid point that taking out robin would at least get billy out of the house for the night. he also points out that putting on a show, going out with a pretty girl, might keep paternal suspicions at bay. neil hargrove isn’t stupid, after all, and steve and billy have almost been caught enough times to have them worried. billy takes all of this in and shrugs. “sure, fine, it’s a date.”

at the dance, robin is longing after…someone. maybe vickie, or nancy, or heather. billy tries to get her to go talk to the girl and she shuts him down. he doesn’t push, but he does actively demonstrate his flirting skills. the arm around the shoulders. softening his voice. leaning in so it feels like the room falls away and it’s just the two of them.

and robin demands that he teach her more, because holy shit, she does not want to be with a man one bit but there was a split second there where billy was zeroed in on her that she felt the inexplicable urge to jump his bones and how does he do that??? “be my yoda,” she demands, and do their fake relationship begins. he flirts with her. she flirts back. he gives her pointers. meanwhile, the entire school is flabbergasted. they simply do not run in the same circles and it does not make sense but everyone’s too afraid to ask them about it or say anything because billy will end anyone who dares say anything remotely bad about robin. that’s his fake girlfriend and he will defend her honor, dammit.

plus! think of how they could torment steve. constantly berating him for being mean to their boyfriend/girlfriend. both of them play-flirting with him when they think he feels left out. making up fake inside jokes that make no sense and refusing to let steve in on them because it’s funny to watch his face get all red. it’s all good fun, and steve knows it, and he loves them both so of course he lets them have their fun. it was his idea, anyway, and they never fail to remind him of that.