#and also the astral plane lol

[what-is-it-to-be-pk-esque]

Enjoy some Astarion kiss screenshots I got with my tav Seraphina, trying to find the cutest and prettiest spots for them to smooch

[one-chaotic-neautral]

Arcane ships ranked, for fun

The main ships and some rarepairs I've found, I like pretty much everything in the first 4 rows. I probably missed some but idk what they are and I'm too lazy to add more rn.

feel free to add your thoughts or ships but again its just for funsies :)

[orcawardseal]

There are endless worlds out there, countless ways to declare love, infinite ways to express it

[honibumii]

Having gay sex would have been less gay. and sexual

[margina1ia]

Idk where it was, but I think I saw a post about how Cassandra couldn't finish saying the word "fair" without being consumed by the rage shard. Going back and watching the moment when it starts to go wrong in the wizard synod, Cassandra says "it's not fair" immediately before the shard rips through her and she begins bleeding out.

Thinking about this with the Bad Kids' convo with Lydia Barkrock and how the pit fiend in her chest couldn't say the name of the dead fallen god he served or he could only say it in certain contexts... I wonder if Cassandra had another sibling aside from Galicaea and Sol (or maybe it is Sol?? Or Helio???) that she was a right hand to or had a contract with (now I'm thinking about rules and relationships re: figs warlock classes????), and maybe what Lydia's party invoked is what happened to Cassandra. I wonder if, when the Bad Kids find out more about the ritual, they will recognize elements of what happened at the wizard synod.

Anywayyyyys, maybe I'm just drowning in red strings lol

[itspileofgoodthings]

people love to complain about the discography because it can TAKe it

[lunarharp]

wip thing...

of my bg3 avatar hellebore. i also did some casual nude studies of my 3 characters which i'll put under a cut... rather unlike me after all. (so WARNING for abrupt non-sexual full Artistic nudity lol...,,,,) (< won't be making a habit of this)

they mean the world to me

[swordmaid]

I was playing my sims astarion/shri’iia earlier and so far astarion was late on the first day of his law career bc he was too busy fucking his girlfriend, then when he finally went to work he ended up having an argument with his boss and won which gave him some career exp majig then when he went home he apparently stole some shit from his government job bc I made him a kleptomaniac lmfao

[taniushka12]

ok ok ok so... holy shit it might be obvious but only in this replay i realized that the astral copies were the Id ash keeps talking about, which means they were original to the oldest house and NOT the astral plane as we were led to believe by the board... which means Former is also more tightly sided? affiliated? (is?) with the oldest house bc in the final battle it sends a couple of ids / astral copies to help jesse

in the logs he mentions the id being harmless and curious until At Some Point they began to get more aggressive, which id say is when the Board gets more present in the house (or, alternatively, when the board needed some targets for the Director's target practice, which is a sad thought!)

[undead-potatoes]

2, 8, 21 from the Tav list!

2. What relationship did your Tav have with their family/guardian(s) growing up? Has that changed with age?

Growing up in a (frankly understaffed) orphanage, he never bonded much with the adults around him, and what little familiar bonds he formed was with the other children. Unfortunately they all scattered to the four winds as they became too old and had to move out, and he only keeps some surface level contact with a few of the kids he grew up with. The only true constant familiar bond he's maintained through his life is his first mentor, Nana. She's the closest he ever got to a stable parental figure, and she wasn't all that stable nor maternal so you know. But she taught him what she knew, cared for him the best she could, and he in return has looked out for her ever since. They don't see each other that often anymore, but he checks in on her a few times a month to see how she's doing, especially as she's getting older and struggling to take proper care of herself.

8. Did your Tav have any romantic and/or sexual relationships prior to their illithid adventure? If yes, who was it with and what was it like? If no, how did they feel about being single?

Most of his relationships have been mostly physical, having had many a casual sexual relationship in the past. Dysphoria be damned, he likes to have a good time, and it's rarely a big problem when his partner is respectful of his boundaries. He thought he had found the love of his life, once when he was quite young, but it ended so messily and affected him so badly he just decided to keep things strictly physical so to speak. Whenever someone gets a little too close he freaks out and breaks up their little agreement, and in a worst case senario he just ghosts them entirely, thought that is a rare occurrence as he tries to keep things friendly at least. You kinda have to when you want to keep hanging out in the same social circles (he might have learned that the hard way when he was younger lmao).

21. How does your Tav feel about love?

He's a bit of a hopeless romantic at heart, to be honest, constantly having to catch himself catching feelings and getting just a little too into someone a little too fast. But as mentioned before he deliberately keeps people at an arms length, thinking it for the best from past experiences. Love is something he's had too little of in his life, and something he so desperately yearns for in between all his fears of it. Not just romantic love, but familiar and platonic love too. In truth he doesn't really know if true, unconditional love exists, or if it's all fairy tales and he was a fool for falling for it once. But when he's finally in a place where he feels genuinely loved, and feels safe to love in return, he's just an absolute sap about it. He tells people he loves them all the time, and it's just as scary and joyful every time. I also think it helps to have people like Gale and Karlach in his life, who are so unabashedly loud and sincere in their love for others that it makes it seem less scary.

From this Tav ask meme (Durge version)

[dreamquestofunknownkadath]

Okay so I’m actually going to rb this again so these authentic period replies don’t get lost at the bottom of the notes

i swallow my mom's diamond but she doesn't understand?? i'm dragonkin and she is literally starving me

oh no! i totally understand where youre coming from but maybe next time you could eat some cheaper gems? maybe like rhinestones? i know it wont compare to real gems, but it could be a cheaper way to satisfy your hunger! or even better, you could make rock candy! i know how hard it can be to have humans not understand your kintype, and i wish you the best of luck with your hoard! (◡‿◡✿)

[ironunderstands]

Here’s my comparison of Acheron, Aventurine and Ratio that I made in 2.1 which I forgot to upload here lol, I would like you to know my thoughts then because OH BOY HAS THIS AGED WELL

Aventurine, Acheron, Ratio and what the Nihility means to them

(Inspired by a convo I had with @aoxizu on Tumblr!)

The ending scene of the 2.1 update (the one featuring the black hole) is perhaps one of my favorite in all of fiction. I genuinely adore the way it was done and what it says about both the characters and life itself. This game has THEMES and by god did they come through then. So, I want to go over why I love it so much, and why it’s such a vital moment for Acheron, Aventurine and Ratios characters.

First, some context. Prior to Aventurine’s and Acheron’s conversation, Aventurine was taking the riskiest gamble of his life. Prior to the confrontation between him, Acheron and the Astral Express, Aventurine set up a plan to try and get to the secret at the heart of Penacony, as well as provide a ruse for Topaz and Jade to do, well whatever they planned on doing, the ending scene says they came there to “harvest”, so in 2.2 I assume we will find out what exactly that entails.

In order for this plan to work, Aventurine needed his cornerstone and to trick Sunday, so pre-2.0 he went to Dr. Ratio to include him in this plan, and set up a fake betrayal to fool Sunday and allow him to keep the Aventurine stone, with the Jade and Topaz stones also being acquired pre-Penacony. We know this because of Aventurine’s conversation with Topaz post 1.4 Belabog mission in which he requests her help in Penacony, something which we didn’t get confirmation on whether or not she accepted until 2.1, in which it’s revealed that one of the Cornerstones in the box is Topaz, meaning when they got confiscated in 2.0 she had already accepted his offer (we can assume a similar situation for Jade). 

Essentially, everything had been going according to plan for IPC (even if Aventurine was absolutely not having a fun time during it), Ratio even says as much, stating that the IPC is pleased to hear of his death sentence, so that part of the confrontation was already predetermined. This leaves Aventurine with one final gamble, hoping the Astral Express and Acheron take the bait, and that they will try and stop him from destroying the entire dreamscape, which if Acheron acts on it, he could entire the true dreamscape to find the truth, as only an emanator could break through the power of the harmony. 

Luckily for Aventurine, the gamble pays off and Aventurine does indeed draw her blade, both stopping him and sending them both into another plane entirely, it’s there in which one if my favorite scenes in fiction ever occurs. 

You see, even if Aventurine planned this all from the start, he hasn’t exactly been having a fun time while doing it. Being sentenced to death and then slowly hallucinating on Harmony sh1t until the manifestations of your past self and your present doubt and insecurities come to haunt you isn’t exactly fun for anyone, especially Aventurine. 1) Because his backstory is horrifically tragic and being faced with a reminder that you will never feel secure or valued or truly happy would be enough to erode away the psyche of anyone 2) A version of himself which claims to be his future, but is more like a personification of how much Aventurine doubts and hates himself. It’s even more telling that this isn’t the first time he has talked to this version of him, in fact it saved his life several times, meaning one of Aventurine’s driving motivations is his own self loathing. 

A trait that on the surface you don’t think he would have, Aventurine plays the role of the confident, unflappable gambler who always wins, when in reality his other hand is under the table, clutching his chips for dear life (something I quite literally paraphrased from the game). 

Therefore, going into this conversation, Aventurine is more relieved than anything, yet another one of his gambles paid off, but now he will have to see how to go from there, and that’s when Acheron’s advice comes in. She’s not stupid, and immediately recognizes that he won (or at least got what she wanted), and that killing him is meaningless, it’s not his time yet. However, what Aventurine is really focused on is the fact that out of all the emanators he could have come across, the one he faces now is an emanator of nihility.

And well, in the face of overwhelming nihility, one’s own value comes into question yet again, and that’s something Aventurine doesn’t even need the aeon for to ask. So, he talks to Acheron, as IX isn’t exactly going to answer, but she might know. Now, I’m just going to lay out the dialogue (then explain it obviously) because it’s genuinely amazing. 

Aventurine starts out by asking Acheron if she is an emanator of nihility, and I find her response to be really interesting. She doesn’t view herself as someone chosen by IX, as nihilism (the feeling of meaningless) envelops everyone equally, but she has simply walked in their shadow longer, tainted on the feeling. This leads Aventurine to question if this is the end, as if life has lost all meaning, in the face of overwhelming nihility, would that mean he’s dead?

Luckily Acheron immediately disagrees, stating that this is merely a manifestation of IX, not the end (he’s not dead guys idk how anyone can think that). However Aventurine still questions if his death has been determined, but Acheron doesn’t promise it. She mulls over his plan and and Aventurine asks her why she thinks he did it, and Acheron believes it was to find a secret deeper than the dream “deaths: the Real Penacony. He wonders how she found out, and Acheron says it’s the trailblazer’s identity which allowed her (and Aventurine) to come to this conclusion (we don’t yet know how this happened for either of them yet, but 2.2 should give answers).

They continue, Aventurine reveals that he believes the barrier the family built using the power of the harmony was not just to keep death out but the nightmare that is the real dreamscape. That the Memory Zone is simply a vast island built atop a violent ocean with the barrier keeping whatever nightmarish secrets from washing ashore. In order to break through this barrier and find the real dreamscape, which is why he kept killing himself earlier in the dream, but to no  avail. When Sparkle gave him the hint, he realized it was referring to Firefly, someone who had seen the other side and survived it, even if she was unable to let others know if it. It wasn’t proof of the families wrongdoing, but it was suspicious enough for him to try and get Acheron to kill him, rather than try and find the Meme to recreate Firefly’s death. 

Acheron points out just how insane this plan was, that if he hadn’t gotten lucky and crossed path with her, it wouldn’t have succeeded. Then, she commends him for playing it perfectly, pitting her perfectly against him and creating a plan that would be beneficial for the IPC no matter what happened, as even if he dies that would be great leverage. However, Aventurine disagrees with that last point, he truly can’t guarantee the IPCs success or even his own survival, that if she hadn’t drawn her blade it would have all be pointless. 

She’s doesn’t let him continue along this line of thought, what-ifs are pointless and he earned his ticket to the dreamscape. What matters now is what happens next, and Acheron asks him if he can return from the abyss (Childe reference?), but more importantly, she questioned if he has ever wavered, as even a gamble as seemingly insane as the one Aventurine just did seems to have not shaken him (from her POV, we know how terrified Aven was but everyone else minus maybe Ratio does). 

Aventurine tells her perhaps the most fundamental aspect of his character; he gambles simply because he has no other choice, betting on everything because he has nothing else to lose. Acheron tells him to wake up from this “dream” (aka find the true dreamscape), and she presumably goes to leave.

However (and this is my favorite part of the scene), he asks her one more question before she leaves, thinking she might know the answer as a pathstrider of nihility, “Why are we born in this world if it’s just to die?”

Her response is the best possible way you could answer this question. Acheron is an emanator of nihility, but she doesn’t think life is meaningless. The feeling of emptiness and pointlessness envelops everyone equally and that’s exactly why the nihility is pointless. It doesn’t matter that nothing matters, and we aren’t born into this world just to die. 

Aventurine still worries though, after all if the dice of fate will always roll to the same conclusion, then destiny is predetermined, so why struggle? Why does it matter?

Her answer again is not one he would expect, but one that absolutely makes sense. Acheron says the answer has been with Aventurine throughout his entire life and journey on Penacony, and that he’s already somewhat realized it. Aventurine said himself that sleep is a rehearsal of death, but people aren’t ready to welcome death, which is why they sleep to get a taste of it. Sleep is much like death, a realm of unreality in which anything might be possible within the dreams that define its existence. Death itself is an unreality, and nobody truly knows what it’s like to die, but dreams are the closest we might ever get before the end. Like Acheron says, in a way, dreams are just a preparation for death, a practice before it can be welcomed. 

However, much like how dreams can contain anything, even if we cannot choose to experience them or not, life itself is full of choices, regardless of if the ending is determined or not. Acheron understands that there are an infinite amount of things people cannot change before the end, but there are choices you can make up until it. Death is inevitable, but the life you live before it isn’t. This is what the words in red mean, both here and in my opinion, in general. 

Acheron reminds the trailblazer to make the right choice when time comes for it, in our first meeting with her. However, I don’t think the path we choose matters, but rather the the fact that we chose at all. Now the next paragraph will include a minor discussion of 2.2 leaks, so skip to the next slide if you don’t want to hear it. 

Sunday is getting a bossfight in 2.2, and it’s highly theorized that he works/believes in Ena the Order, especially because it looks like it’s their hand he’s touching in that one animation of the bossfight. Now here’s the thing, Order as a concept Chooses For You. I think the trailblazer making a decision is the thing that will save them and the rest of the gang, as within the face of an entity defined by limiting choice and free will, choosing to well, choose will save them (us?) and perhaps be the thing that gets the trailblazer acknowledged by the Harmony, a concept greater than Order. 

Anyways, after she says that, Acheron leaves Aventurine, saying the answer to his question was from his friend.

And Aventurine pulls out the vial from Dr. Ratio

The vial telling him that the only impossible thing in the dreamscape is dormancy (meaning the secrets from before are destined to rise and destroy the “island” that is Penacony.

The vial telling him to stay alive and wishing him the best of luck, which in the Chinese version is: 

Ratio answered both of Aventurine’s questions. The physical one, the one that pertains to Aventurines goals in Penacony, informing him of a vital aspect of the dreamscape that will help him win his gamble. But more importantly, he also answered Aventurine’s emotional one. What is the point of living? There is no real deeper meaning but to stay alive, survive and keep on living, because at the end of the day, that’s the only choice Aventurine can make, and that’s the one Ratio wants him to make.

Ratio Gives Aventurine A Reason To Live. 

Aventurine says that he has nothing left, his family is gone and he has nobody and nothing to fall back on which is why he gambles. But Acheron proves him wrong, he isn’t alone, she calls Ratio his “friend”, says that he’s the solution to his doubt. Someone caring about Aventurine is what saves his life, he walks into the massive black hole unafraid not because he holds some secret power or technique or trick, but because someone cares about him, and that someone taught him that caring about himself is enough. Aventurine didn’t need the power of an emanator to survive the true dreamscape, he only needed a friend, and the will to keep going that he realized from them. 

This is the true meaning of nihility, not that  Aventurine says that he has nothing left, his family is gone and he has nobody and nothing to fall back on which is why he gambles. But Acheron proves him wrong, he isn’t alone, she calls Ratio his “friend”, says that he’s the solution to his doubt. Someone caring about Aventurine is what saves his life, he walks into the massive black hole unafraid not because he holds some secret power or technique or trick, but because someone cares about him, and that someone taught him that caring about himself is enough. Aventurine didn’t need the power of an emanator to survive the true dreamscape, he only needed a friend, and the will to keep going that he realized from them. the universe is meaningless, but that regardless of if it has one or not, it doesn’t matter. It’s this realization that saves Acheron from losing herself like other emanators, it’s this realization that allows Aventurine to cross the event horizon of that manifestation of IX, and it’s this realization that I believe is why Dr. Ratio was never acknowledged by Nous: he was already treading the path of nihility without even realizing it. 

Now this is where my conversation with @aoxizu comes in, and I’m just gonna paste directly what they said because I think it’s amazing and everyone should read it, more importantly it’s what inspired this slideshow in the first place.

Ratio tells Aventurine to live despite everything because that’s the only thing he can do. It doesn’t matter how absurd life is, or how meaningless it all seems, choose to live anyways, because all you have are choices, and it doesn’t matter if they lead to some grand outcome or future or whatnot. To Ratio, life doesn’t, and shouldn’t care about that. Existence doesn’t need to make sense to be worth it, and that’s a sentiment both me, the characters and the og poster share.

Acheron is a lot like Ratio, she chooses to live despite having discovered the meaninglessness of the universe. In an existence seemingly black and white she chooses to paint the world red with her choices, accepting its reality and choosing to forge her own path rather than succumb to the madness. That’s why she says in her trailer, “there is no other choice but to move forward” and that’s because there really is no other choice, the universe doesn’t have some grand plan for anyone and you can’t turn back time to change anything, so all you can do is move forward.

My contribution! I’ve already kinda started but I do want to talk about how Ratio could be treading the path of nihility, but I’ll let this amazing post finish.

So yeah, amazing post, and I don’t think I could reword what they said in a better way than they did. Bringing up the philosophical aspects of this scene makes me really happy because they are so prominent, but most people aren’t really aware enough to notice. Absurdism is one of the driving inspirations behind the dreamscape, and it’s nice to see someone else besides you (see: my slideshow about Penacony and its American influences for an elaboration on this) bring it up. Honestly I think that philosophy fits Ratio far better than any of the Ancient Greek stuff you try to slap on him. Sure he obviously has the inspirations, but he’s closer in spirit to philosophers from the 1700s to now than them, a reinterpretation of Greek scholars rather than a copy of them. 

And this is where my idea that Ratio is a pathstrider of nihility (and he doesn’t even know it yet) comes in. He doesn’t view knowledge in the same way that pathstriders of Erudition do; knowledge for knowledges sake has never been something Ratio has cared about. Knowledge means something to Ratio because it allows people to better themselves, not because it has some sort of inherent value. That’s why he’s so determined to spread it, he wants everyone to reach their fullest potential, and dedicates his life to doing so. Regardless of if the universe has meaning or not, that doesn’t mean people can’t try and live their best lives, and that’s the philosophy Ratio truly believes in.

Moreover, this is why it’s so meaningful that Ratio is the one to help Aventurine, he’s teaching him something Ratio himself learned long ago when he got rejected by the Genius Society. Despite all of Ratio’s intellect and qualifications, he will never be good enough for them because he simply doesn’t view knowledge in the way they do. But instead of this meaninglessness (nihility) consuming him, Ratio dedicated his life to doing what brought him meaning and validation rather than searching for some hidden answers from the universe (specifically Nous).

And it’s not like he just accepted it happily. Ratio still wants their acknowledgement, and it still hurt (and hurts) him a lot to not have it, which is why I think he unknowingly strides the path of nihility. To Ratio, his view on knowledge is simply how knowledge is, and the fact that Nous will never perceive it in that way because his philosophy is more nihilistic than it is erudite is something Ratio might never come to terms with. But that’s ok. The point is that it’s ok, Ratio doesn’t need to be acknowledged or to understand the truth of the universe to be happy or do well for himself. Our universe might mean nothing and yeah that can and will suck, but existence is more valuable than some grand cosmic plan, and even if you don’t realize it, choosing to live is enough.

Continually, this reminds me of the conversation Aventurine had with his hallucination self, in which he told real Aventurine that him and Ratio are very similar. In a way, they are, both struggling to find meaning in their lives, and Ratio helps Aventurine find meaning in his without really even knowing how. Sure the note was meant to keep Aventurine going, but Ratio caused Aventurine to come to a conclusion that probably won’t find Ratio for a while. He helped Aventurine overcome nihility without even knowing it, without Ratio even realizing that THAT is the thing he has been struggling with, and the path he has been walking the whole time.

I really hope we get to see Ratio again, and at the very least I want a story quest for him because I want to analyze his brain under a microscope. Him and Acheron need to meet asap I want more Ratio content idc if everyone else in the fandom hates him I love him and he’s my pookie bear and I will write 3039493494 things about him when it comes to me UGHHHH. Anyways I didn’t know how end this so this is the ending yaaayyy! I hope you liked it and if you have any thoughts let me know! 

_________________________________________

Og post over! That was a long ass read and past me was absolutely cooking up a storm, oh god did this age well and I was right about or close to right about a lot of shit haha. Anyways I really do hope you enjoyed reading this, and this will hopefully provide some needed context for my next posts on this subject. Also feel free to repost this onto other sites I’m very proud of it

[charmedreincarnation]

Good evening charm! ( It's evening here lol ) <3 💌

So I have entered void like 2 times before with your theta method but I always forget affirm and now Ima trying again to enter with that method which gorgeous recently shared 😩💗

So that post of gorgeouslypink that u rebloged I didn't understand quite a bit :( may u please explain us in simple words what we have to do exactly?

So happy and proud for you love! and ofc yes I can.

Simply

1.go to bed normally

2.wake up 3.5 hours later

3. Get up and go to your recline chair or anywhere where you can sit in a degree of 120-130. And give yourself a neck pillow or regular pillow around your neck! Like those ones you use for planes.

4.set your intention to enter the void state.

When you have woken up congrats you should enter! You also might have a lucid dream, that’s what I used this method for. You can Enter the void state through the lucid dream if that happens as well! If you don’t know how to, you can use my lucid dreaming guide in my pinned that explains how.

Here’s the website I used that explains this method from a while ago ! Again, I used it to enter a lucid dream and shift but you can use it for the void and astral projection too.

[vidavalor]

Brenda and Ron

Remember Madame Tracy's obnoxious regular customer, Brenda, and her long-suffering, dead husband Ron? Yeah, I'm pretty sure they're a big clue about The Metatron-- yes, The Metatron-- and how this could go down in The Finale...

Brenda: Her name means-- I kid you not-- "flaming sword."

While Brenda is absolutely fucking obnoxious, she's also something of an inverted Aziraphale parallel here. Brenda, by design, is kind of like if you took everything great about Aziraphale and intentionally did the opposite with it. She's bigoted, she's mean, she hates kimchi lol, she was bullying and rude in her loveless marriage to her long-suffering husband, Ron, who couldn't stand her... She's basically the opposite of our open-minded, sushi-loving angel and the kind, loving, mutually-adoring relationship he has with his partner. Everything terrible about Brenda is notable in the way that it brings to mind how she directly contrasts with Aziraphale.

What our flaming sword of Brenda does have in common with our flaming sword of Aziraphale, though, is that there is someone she cannot easily access whose voice is on another type of astral plane and with whom she needs to speak with great urgency.

For Brenda, it's about her regular attempts to speak with her late husband, Ron, while, for Aziraphale, it's about him taking the rare step of powering up the circle in the floor and trying to reach God. Brenda has nothing of any real note to tell Ron while Aziraphale is quite literally trying to save the world.

When Aziraphale attempts to reach God, he, too, reaches a medium of sorts-- The Metatron, who claims to be the person who can speak for God... just as Madame Tracy claims to be able to be the voice of Ron.

We're a bit doubtful about The Metatron's claims because, unlike Aziraphale, we have seen the opening titles of this show where Frances McDormand is credited rather specifically as "The Voice of God" so, when the wonderful Sir Derek Jacobi shows up as floating head claiming to be God's mouthpiece and is this condescending, cold, shifty, Wizard-of-Oz-esque asshole, we're pretty sure that Frances McDormand is the voice we should trust more-- regardless of whatever the deal with Her might be, exactly.

Backing this up is that The Metatron's parallel is another charlatan. This one being one we actually like-- Madame Tracy.

While Aziraphale attempted to talk to God and got sidelined by a character claiming to be a medium to God, Brenda regularly believes that she speaks to "her Ron" through her sessions with Madame Tracy... whom the audience can clearly see is only pretending to be Ron... just, perhaps, as The Metatron is only pretending to be able to speak to God.

Now, take Good Omens' words-within-words wordplay thing and break the word metatron up. While the inclination is to break it like "meta tron"-- and that does yield results-- for the purpose of this meta, break it like this:

The Metatron: Me Tat Ron. The word tat comes from tatting, a verb used to refer to making knotted lace. A tat is a knot in tatting. Me Tat Ron = Me Knot Ron... or: I'm Not God.

So, in our parallel here, we also have aligning the persons our Brenda and our Aziraphale are trying to contact. For Brenda, it's her dead husband, Ron, and for Aziraphale, it's God, right? Ron = God.

Ron: Short for Ronald. Means all of the following: counsel rule; advice of a sovereign; a song of joy. Ron is also apparently a Hebrew word for joy.

What bit of the apparent words of The Voice of God does Gabriel remember because it's the only thing he's clinging to as proof that maybe God is real and would approve of his disapproval of The Metatron and the demonizing of the demons?

"I remember when the morning stars sang together and all the angels of God shouted for joy."

He remembers what sounds an awful lot like a prophecy of what's to come-- when all the angels of God get together, look to the people who are like independent, sovereign nations among them (like Crowley, Aziraphale, Gabriel & Beez) and demand their freedom to pursue joy and live under a democratic form of government. They're all shouting for joy-- for Ron-- and how might they get it in The Finale?

What can we see from what happened when Aziraphale and Brenda's stories crossed into one another in S1?

Aziraphale's hilarious possession of Madame Tracy while she's in a session with Brenda results in Aziraphale bringing in the real Ron and we get what will be the opposite of how this will go-- the contrasting parallel to the Heaven story like this in The Finale.

Brenda, for the first time since her husband died, actually hears his voice. She's awful, though, so she squanders this and just starts complaining to him and Ron flips out (not very joyful lol), shouting at her to "shut up", glad he can tell her off in death at least when he never did in life.

We're left with Aziraphale's hilariously dry "wasn't that touching?"

Brenda and the two with her are, ironically and amusingly, not really changed much by the fact that the real Ron was heard. Brenda was a true believer and the woman she brought was pretty easily manipulated. The man thought it was a charade but was along for the ride, willing to credit Madame Tracy with a good time when it was all done, saying she provided good entertainment value.

Nothing really changes as a result of this Ron revelation because it's the lower stakes, contrasting parallel. It's the little plot that, really, secretly, is the same thing as the big plot still to come. In that bigger plot, with the involvement of our main characters and the much higher stakes, the opposite could well happen-- the revelation of The Metatron being a fraud will actually change everything.

The point is that everyone involved with the Madame Tracy arrangement was getting out of it what they needed or wanted so no real offense was taken. Nothing changed because no one needed it to change-- which is the complete opposite of the angels and demons in Heaven/Hell. Brenda was getting a place to work out her grief, her guests were getting to support Brenda in that process and be entertained along the way, and Madame Tracy was getting paid-- so, no harm, no real foul here. But the paralleling situation to this?

That one is much more serious. That's fate-of-the-world serious. That's a being in The Metatron who isn't just trying to keep a roof over their head and meals on the table for them and the lovable old idiot next door by pretending to be a fortune teller like Madame Tracy was. That's a fascist ruling an empire of a bonkers number of angels who has amassed enough power to try to destroy Earth and every person on it. It's not Madame Tracy's handful of satisfied clients; it's countless, miserable beings who are being oppressed.

Now, think about what happened here to cause the emergence of Ron and how this is a parallel to the Aziraphale and The Metatron story...

Ron was only able to enter the conversation when Aziraphale possessed Madame Tracy. In doing so, he took over Madame Tracy-- he usurped her power.

Madame Tracy allowed him to do this where The Metatron never ever will but the idea is that the truth of Ron-- God, in our parallel here; democracy and freedom and joy-- will emerge only if Aziraphale can surpass The Metatron in power.

Note that I didn't say that all of this changes if Aziraphale takes over Gabriel's job. I said he needs to surpass The Metatron in power. How does Aziraphale do that?

He's actually already done it-- by being Aziraphale.

The only thing more powerful in Heaven right now than The Metatron is the collective power of everyone who would move to defend Aziraphale *from* The Metatron. He's the motivation for everyone to come together.

It's just all about going directly at The Metatron and taking his power. It's doing that which can reveal the truth about The Metatron and God and lead to an appearance by our metaphorical Ron-- lead to the changes in Heaven that the end of our story needs.

In the parallel in our main story, it won't be the Brenda/Aziraphale who gets screamed at to "shut up"-- it will be the Madame Tracy/The Metatron. Our main angels and demons are really The Voice of Ron this time around and, just like how it took Aziraphale to make it so that a guy named Ron could be heard in S1, it will take Aziraphale again to make Heaven get the Ron-- joy, democracy, freedom-- that they've been desperate for all this time.

Either way, it's going to be funny when the angels and demons get The Metatron cornered and demand to talk to Frances McDormand and The Metatron does about this great a job at it 😂...

Also, bonus interesting bit related to who is going to help with this in The Finale is that Jim is among the common names mentioned in the hilarious moment of Madame Tracy trying to hit on the name of a guy that Brenda's guest knew.

Did Brenda's friend know a Jim? No, he didn't. In the contrasting parallel, though, Crowley and Aziraphale got to know a Jim pretty well recently and, funnily enough? Much like Brenda's skeptical friend with Madame Tracy in S1, our Jim seems like the one character who is pretty sure that this whole 'The Metatron Speaks For God' thing is a charade.

[yummysake-saucegay]

Thoughts (S2 finale spoilers)

Ugh I'm still brainrotting from the finale and trying to write a Jayvik fic and there are a few things I'm wondering (btw I'm so into rambling about it anyway, please hit me up if you wanna talk about it), so what are your opinions on these:

What do you think Viktor would look like if they respawned somewhere? Somehow my headcanon is pre-Hexcore but with his disability

(Also while we're at it why do so many people think they died? What do you think? I thought them just getting sucked into the Arcane was a very un-dead ending, I don't count it unless it's really on-screen (I would count Ambessa, Isha and Heimerdinger (although I guess he respawns?) as deceased judging by the way it was depicted, and even Isha and Heimerdinger wouldn't be 100% without the context))

What are Jayce and Viktor actually wearing in the astral plane lol? It's sometimes just white and in the end scene looks like simple black clothing?

Do we know how much time passed (a few months I guess?) between ep 3 and 4? And how long was Jayce stuck in the alternate universe? How long has it been since he and Viktor said goodbye? There's probably more but that's all I can think of right now

[generalidiocy]

Escape From The Vault thoughts

I know I'm a couple days late, but I'm gonna try and recreate my thought processes watching the dnd stream cause I need to yell into the void (please yell back I love conversations)

basslines basslines basslines! I knew Luke played bass but didn't know he was that good, wow

yay jockey boy! oh no... oh no jockey boy!

wap tentacle... great

"i used to have doors in my house... back when I lived" - there's so many instances of Fullset being bizarre, but this one tickles me

"how do you know my name" "it says SNAKEHIPS in giant letters across the door" - classic joke, perfect, no notes

Juliet Caesar cameo! I think...

she does magic for a fee, old lady margery

sam just playing all his classics this time around - @.meneatyoghurt made the same point but she's right

the unrelenting aubergine is the best name for a warhammer

royal andre - let's not call him prince andre though, that name just sounds wrong to me now /lh

"i bought these in a shop :-] :-] :-]"

"you've always wanted to be capteeeuuuurrreeedd"

tom knows what a skylight is, sam does not

why are these title cards so eerie

round of applause to Teo and Sam for the music and visuals, fucking brilliant

"things are heating up" "press A"

Love/Brother Face Eldritch Blast

"Tell me how you feel about the Jews!!!"

Andre and Andrew are the sweetest, if we see Andre again I hope he has his Andrew with him, too

"I used to be a trapeze artist"

that description of a dead hare made me so sad...

also leftenmost mc and david being dead in this hurt me a lot more than it should have

fullset beating the other two to the second body lol

"entering the astral plane" - in case you didn't get the reference

"are you having a non-canon adventure?"

sam knew what he was doing ending the first half with "Where's Jeremiah"

also why didn't bubba die from the fall? i don't want him to be dead, but he seemed absolutely fine considering he just fell 60 feet

andre beetroot being friends with bubba was a nice combo

"ok that's a different thing" i really hoped they wouldn't make "pressing A" an innuendo... but ofc they did /aff

yes, homosexuality is the link between these characters (twas funny, but came out of left field for me lol)

again, what's with the creepy title cards?

andre and bubba again!

"are you saying that you weigh less than 10 pounds?"

andre can't fight but we love him

snakehips being badass as usual

"RUN" followed up with a highly non-threatening "flee :-)" took me out

"the gm should've given these characters higher armour classes"

"tell me how you feel about the Jews!" the sequel

Troll Son!

"a dock, as in, boat boat" - perfect definition, well done margery

"that's *strictly* non- canon"

goddammit I got really excited to see Persephone then we ran out of time

sweethearts sweethearts sweethearts!

this was such a great tribute to the iconic characters we know and love, and we all had fun watching it I'm sure. Sam was an amazing DM, and AJ, Tom, Luke and Teo all did phenomenally as usual

anyway, ramblings over, just needed to scream about this for a bit