#aquaintances of 30 years

[roupoii]

Rog and Zariel coloring and framing (?) practice

[ctl-yuejie]

a taste

[autumnaaltonen]

How do you think Alucard would react to first meeting reader that is a demon queen (like muzan with different forms and could go out into the sun) and is also integra's bsf and is also as powerful as him!! 😧❗

Alucard x Demon Queen! Reader

Alucard went missing for 30 long years, which may seem like nothing from his perspective, but for Sir Integra, he missed the most formative years of her life.

Sure, she's a natural leader, powerful government official, and overall force to be reckoned with, but she did miss having a pet hurricane by her side. Seras is far too obediant for her own good.

So when the opportunity to become aquainted with little ol' you came along, she didn't hesitate.

Like Alucard, you were also a supernatural being granted with the powers of Hell and dark magic, but you occupied a different undead department entirely. While Alucard is King of the vampires, you were more like the Queen of the demons, undead beings born in Hell, rather than created on Earth.

You had minions all over the planet, disguised as politicians, CEO's, or just random nobodies who are assigned to make influential butterfly effects to the human realm.

And you are the top bitch.

So, when Alucard returns from Shrodinger's Box and comes back to Sir Integra's side, you could imagine his horror when he finds you had basically replaced him.

He was absolutley jealous at first, and ritefully pissed...until he met you, that is.

When I tell you a switch was flipped in him the moment you introduced yourself as a demonic leader of epic proportions and loyal friend to Sir Integra, mans is howling.

Follows you around like a shadow when he isn't working. Loves to pick your brain and hear about your exploits, and takes joy in brainstorming ways to dominate Hellsing missions with you.

Loves to experiment with his new powers alongside you, sparring with magic, weaponry, teeth and nails.

Enjoys seeing you shapeshift, especially in ways that causes mischief around the manor. Sometimes you even shapeshift into him just to cause him trouble with Sir Integra.

Flirts like a motherfucker, and you like to play along just to tease him.

Sensual touches in the hallways, little whispers in your ear during missions, eyeing you like a meal whenever you wear something even a little revealing. He has no shame.

Whenever you have some of your demonic minions accompanying you, they never like to let Alucard get too close to you, and that pisses him off to no end. Constantly competes with them to prove his power and worthiness to walk by your side, and it doesn't take much to get his message across.

Your respect is earned, not given. And Alucard works like a dog to earn it. You love it, not that you ever show him that.

[mayorofcattown]

On the one hand the jokes abt yorishima being too much of a grouchy old man shut in to have been with reiko (and be natsume grandpa by extension) are very funny and also true. but also consider, the even funnier possibility: yorishima is a grouchy old man shut in precisely because he got ghosted by reiko like 30+ years ago

this man tried to have a relationship one time and fucked it up so bad he decided to never leave his house again

(tho honestly at this point I mostly just like the yorishima grandpa theory entirely because of how much he would hate it. can you imagine, being yorishima, a grouchy old man living alone in the woods minding your own business when suddenly some mildly annoying aquaintence of yours shows up with some random kid and he turns out to be your grandkid that you didn't even know you had? from that girl you dated that one time who ghosted you entirely out of nowhere? and now you have to be an actual parental/mentor figure to this kid? he'd be so fucking mad, it'd be hilarious)

[theacedragon0w0]

It's just a Doll

Sage is gifted a stuffed plushie and doesn't know how to cope with it

Kinda angst warning because Maaan Sage's self love is more empty than a Walmart parking lot at 3am and can't take what they dish out

It was your typical shopping date for the girls, Sage and Hazel on bag carrying duty while Velvette and Rosalina took charge on finding cute accessories for the two guards and themselves to match.

"I don't understand why they insist on finding 30 pairs of belts and keychains," Sage groaned, seeing Velvette and Rose cooing yet another clip on red bow that sat on a display case.

"Ah let them spoil us Bluebell, they did the same when we went to that hanging gardens and they didn't have a gift shop." Hazel nudged Sage, but her ears lowered as both saw Velvette asking the clerk about a bedazzled collar that caught her eye.

Still, Sage was still getting used to being pampered, she much rather be the one spoiling them instead. Turning their head they spotted a fuzzy item.

It was a tiger plushie, the size of a pillow and the fabric looked cuddling. Almost like instinct Sage shifted their hands so they could get a feel of the fluffy friend.

It was soft, like holding a cloud of reassuring love, it's beady eyes showing no judgment. Sage stared at the tiger and couldn't help but remember her old one she lost all those years ago.

Before she was sent here, before she was taught that she had to "grow up" and help out the house, before the person that she thought she could trust shot her in the b-

"Bluebell, you there?" Hazel touched Sage's shoulder. That's right, Hazel, one of Sage's loves, that never made her feel worthless or pathetic or weak. Sage was safe, well as safe as being a body guard for an overlord can be. But Sage sighed, placing their new aquainted friend back on the shelf.

"You've been staring at that there stuffed toy fer a while now, you know if you want it you can ask the girls to get it-"

"No! I-i mean no it's fine really! Besides what would I want a silly kids doll anyway I got you guys to cuddle with!"

Hazel, not taking the half baked excuse, reach behind Sage to grab the tiger, whistled for Rosalina and Velvette's attention before tossing the stuffed animal at their direction.

"Yo boss! Sage wants this, can you add that with all the shiny knick-knacks yall are grabbin?"

Velvette and Rosalina looked down at the stuffed tiger, completely forgetting a set of earrings that they were going to add in their bags.

"Awww, Sage we love to get you this sweetie!" Both ladies cooed.

Sage, now deep violet on their ears and face, rushed to snatch the doll away from their grasp, but Rosalina, taking advantage of her height, kepted the tiger out of Sage's reach.

Sage quickly gave up, not wanting to cause a scene, booked towards the exit, almost forgetting they were holding bags of unpaid items. Fuck!

Hazel, tailing Sage and was thankful that they didn't barge out of the store, bent her knees so she was eye level with them

"Hey, what's wrong about getting you a plushie friend?"

Sage, at this point is fighting tears, they hated this feeling, like they were a child acting out, "I said I don't need a stupid doll, it's childish and I shouldn't have grabbed it in the first place-"

Hazel, cutting off Sage by bringing them into an embrace "It's not childish to want something love, you can always ask for stuff you know?"

Sage, choked, "I know that,"

"Do you? We love you, and it's not just you go outta way to make us these amazing dishes or that you work with the other worker's for Velvette's workload, or how you help me detangle my fur, or even to entertain Rosalina herself, we love you."

Velvette and Rosalina joined in on the embrace, Sage was at a loss of words, fave burying into Hazel's fur, mumbled "you guys are too good for me, get that stupid tiger."

Hazel belongs to the pookie @puffymucher

Rosalina belongs to the other pookie @mirconreadzztuff22

[bizarrequazar]

12-31 (CST) Year in Review space notes

This was a Twitter space held by QuelleVous et al. to review the events and exposés from the past year. The recording can be found [here].

[notes I’ve done on previous spaces] [glossary of names]

We had a good start to the year with the interview between Zhang Zhehan and Li Xuezheng. 🥺 (recorded on 2021-12-30, released 2022-01-01)

Li Xuezheng was muted on 01-10.

The Instagram was reactivated three days later.

The Zhang Sanjian WeChat was made another three days after that, 01-16. This showed a SIGNIFICANT difference in “Zhang Zhehan’s” personality less than three weeks after the interview.

The WeChat account itself was registered on 2021-12-24 in Shenzhen. Zhang Zhehan’s police report was filed on the same day in Beijing.

Metadata of several of the hat photos dated them to 01-10, the day Li Xuezheng was muted.

Also on 01-10, Xie Yihua mentioned rolling out the brand in her group chat with fans. She didn’t respond to any questions asking about Li Xuezheng’s wellbeing. 

Xie Yihua has only met Li Xuezheng once, when she and Su Shifu tried to convince him to tell Zhang Zhehan not to sue CAPA in December.

The tea shop is the reason many people initially trusted the WeChat account. At the time most of us did truly believe that the shop was owned by Zhang Mama.  -  Zhang Mama’s company was the tea shop’s pu’er supplier, this is no longer the case. No one has yet shown any pu’er cakes that were produced by Zhang Mama’s company in 2022.   -  Zhang Mama only became a majority share holder of this company in 2021-04.  -  No one who went to the tea shop prior to 813 mentioned meeting Zhang Mama there, only Chen Ahyi who would say that Zhang Mama had just left / was there yesterday / would be there tomorrow.  -  The fake Lufei account (2021-11-14) also came from the tea shop, as did the rumor that Zhang Mama listened to the haizhes’ end of year livestream.  -  Some CP fans didn’t trust the tea shop early on. The biggest issue they raised what that it seemed to be using Zhang Zhehan’s elements as a marketing strategy, which they thought was out of character for him.

 An early essay the WeChat posted claimed to have gotten an antidepressant perscription from Zhang Peichao (aka Doc Creepy).  -  Zhang Peichao has no legitimate authority to do so—he has a PhD in philosophy with a focus on psychological theory, and he actually works as a counsellor (no medical training required, he has a bachelor’s in general biology) and writes self help books.   -  Standard doctor’s notes in China now include notes on whether the patient has had COVID, been in contact with someone who has had COVID, etc. This was not present in the photograph of the perscription included with the essay.  -  Zhang Peichao gave talks for an American university that does not have an APA approved psychology department (which also had a cult scandal a few years ago), and he is on a Hong Kong psychology council that is not well known or respected.  -  He made some troubling statements on his Facebook about mainland China which have now been deleted.  -  He’s primarily based in Shenzhen.  -  He also wrote an essay after Word of Honor aired saying that Wen Kexing was attracted to Zhou Zishu because he had mommy issues, and said rude things about Gong Jun’s acting. -  A lot of the early essays posted by Zhang Sanjian mirror his way of thinking and writing.

Zhang Peichao is offline aquaintances with Hao Jingfang, a sci-fi author who early on said similar things about Gong Jun’s acting. This year she encouraged whalers to attack Gong Jun and claimed she had tried to contact lawyers to sue him for encouraging cyberviolence against Zhang Zhehan. She’s currently muted for politically sensitive posts. She also had work of hers included in an anthology alongside Bai Ying’s boss.

Bai Ying is a reporter for Xinhua News.  -  On 2021-12-01 Xinhua published an article co-authored by Bai Ying interviewing  an unnamed CAPA representative who supported their immoral artist lists. Fans discovered upon digging that Bai Ying himself was a member of CAPA’s ethics committee and in fact had interviewed himself.  -  His career goal is to be a playwright, not a reporter, and he has written several plays funded by CAPA.  -  Fans found his Weibo account, which included posts that were sexually suggestive and critical of China and the CCP.  -  He has continued publishing similar articles throughout this year.   -  He has another online persona that was running with the righteous passersby, claiming to be a female retired CCBI official. He wrote a long essay in 2021-12 that was very sympathetic to fans. The account became known after it kept trying to gift Li Xuezheng money during one of his livestreams, which Bai Ying claimed was accidental.   -  He’s participated in nearly every activity smearing Gong Jun and related to Zhang Sanjian.

Another reporter, Han Dandong, has also written things for CAPA.  -  He has a side account on Weibo that liked and reposted both his own articles and things from righteous passersby.  -  That account also is used to sell homeopathic crystals and includes posts making sexual comments about young women.  -  He had an article about AI face changing technology published in Legal Daily on 2022-12-30. People realized that the Weibo post for this turned on comment selection and left a comment tagging Xie Yihua as the top comment. This was briefly pinned as Legal Daily’s featured post.  -  (Legal Daily itself has done a number of other sketchy things related to 813, including publishing multiple articles slandering Zhang Zhehan and implying the Instagram’s validity. It is likely that this is the work of only select people within Legal Daily, given the size of the organization.)

Many of the people on Weibo who have run away after being exposed are still active on side accounts liking posts related to current happenings.

Fandom is one of the largest markets in China, with huge amounts of money generated from it. This is why so much work goes into embedding fake fans in fandom, manipulating fan behaviour, etc. Our fandom is not exceptional in this respect.

The actions we’ve seen from the Zhang Sanjian scam gang have also been seen by scams aimed at other artist’s fans (badly photoshopped advertisements, peddling cheap merchandise, etc.)

Zhang Zhehan’s fandom was ripe for manipulation after 813 due to the trauma, confusion, and information blackout caused by it. The fact that his fandom is still so active despite his absense is astounding.

Lao Ahyi is a director at Songcheng, an executive unit of CAPA.  -  She was (likely still is) part of Songcheng’s strategy to expand Songcheng into doing online IPs.  -  She’s been planted since 2021-08. Her story was that she was an older lady who had just given birth and was fighting for Zhang Zhehan, and there were rumors put out by Umbrella that she was Zhang Zhehan’s cousin.  -  She has not been visibly active since she was exposed in July, but is still on side accounts.

The most recent person to flee was Shirley (the one who claimed that Zhang Sanjian had been specially invited to the Shanghai Theatre Academy performance), who deleted her Weibo account one hour after being exposed. Deleting a Weibo is a fairly lengthy process, it can’t be done this fast by regular users—the fastest method is by customer service, sending them pictures of your ID, and applying with them to delete your account, and even this usually takes at least 24 hours but can take up to a week. For Shirley to be able to do it so quickly means she is in direct contact with someone at Weibo who was able to do it for her. 

A lot of the people who have been exposed are from the education sector, which has suffered massively due to tutors no longer being able to work during the pandemic. 

If the scale of the current scam seems unbelievable, remember that 813 itself was a huge scam involving planted fans, water armies, bought out journalists, etc. If CAPA is capable of that, why not this?

Chinese livestreams are hugely profitable to both livestreamers and platforms, it’s a multi-trillion yuan industry. CAPA absolutely have the funds to be financing the scam.

Sophie  -  Was born to a not so well off family. In college she met a sugar daddy and became one of his girlfriends in Shanghai. He’s a very successful business man who has dated stars.  -  She wrote about this on an account that she seems to have lost the password to, on which she talked a lot about the other girlfriends and her life experiences. This is all information she posted publicly herself.  -  The sugar daddy broke with her after deciding to only date more famous women. Sophie then met a bank worker, known online as Umbrella, by whom she has a daughter. He refused to marry her until she had a son. The two of them have a Weibo account where they only talk about and post pictures with the son, never the daughter.  -  Umbrella has a get rich quick mentality but has horrible investment sense that has led to them being in debt.   -  They planted themselves in the Word on Honor fandom in 2021-03 after Umbrella was laid off.   -  She seems to listen to these spaces. 👋👋  -  Sophie filters people for Xie Yihua—no one talks to Xie Yihua without talking to her first.   -  Sophie tried to be on the CP side first but people didn’t like her lol.  -  Prior to 813, Sophie was involved in the Wang Peiwen fake girlfriend rumors. She private messaged Danny, one of the people in the yacht photo, asking if Zhang Zhehan had a girfriend. Danny immediately replied saying that Zhang Zhehan was single but did not deny that he was the person on the boat with his face covered in the photo. The fact that this was Sophie (posting on a side account) was unintentionally revealed by one of the big whaler accounts.   -  On her CPF account, Sophie helped to spread the fake girlfriend rumors: she was the one who identified the girl in the photo as Wang Peiwen. Screenshots she posted claiming to be Wang Peiwen messaging Zhang Zhehan’s studio on WeChat were actually of an account run by Sophie.  -  Sophie is very bad about giving herself away more through the ways she reacts to people exposing her.

A consistent behaviour with the scam gang is them shitting on Gong Jun and trying to blame him for the things that have happened to Zhang Zhehan.

Prayjane (involved in the girlfriend rumors) has likely been involved because her husband is not doing well financially. People like Lexus and Peter don’t have clear motives other than being clout chasers. 

Fake Uncle wrote an essay in 2021-07 (on the same day Sophie posted the girlfriend “clairifcations”) claiming to be Zhang Zhehan’s uncle.  -  He claimed to have been there when Zhang Zhehan made his hole in one in golf. Reciepts from the hotel do not support this.  -  He claimed to be a retired police officer who was helping Zhang Zhehan with research for Formed Police Unit. He never went through police training let alone was an actual officer, and the book on another police officer that he claimed to have co-authored was not written by him, the publishing house had never heard of him.  -  He’s friends with Lao Ahyi, she deleted one of her Weibo accounts after Fake Uncle was exposed.   -  The essay led to a lot of rumors against Zhang Zhehan post-813.   -  The essay included an entire paragraph about the tea shop.

We now know that there were people in Zhang Zhehan’s team prior to August who are not to be trusted, so it’s probable that they intentionally gave him bad guidance on how to respond to the various smears going on.

Like Sophie, Lexus’s entire life is online because he’s posted about it himself. Zhang Zhehan had basically everything that Lexus wants (fame, a singing career, good at golf, handsome, etc.). Despite the fact that he has gained some notoriety through his connection to Zhang Sanjian, he is openly resentful of the fact that people only pay attention to him because of that. 

Zhang Su (Susu)  -  His entire persona as fans knew him was basically created by fanfic authors and what he said himself. The only times he had publicly interacted with Zhang Zhehan were during the bike trip after they graduated (which Susu did not finish) and on Taste of Time in 2018.  -  He’s signed to an MCN connected to CAPA and his boss is friends with CAPA executives. He also has professional connections with Xie Yihua’s sister.

The way that some of the men in the scam gang (Lexus, Master Wu, Peng Lihu, Su Shifu, Zhang Peichao) behave with female fans is incredibly predatory. A lot of other fake fans have also been found to be middle aged men posing as young women. If any whalers do read these notes, please be aware of this and be cautious.   -  There was one point where they encouraged whalers who had bought the brand’s necklaces to post photos of themselves wearing them in revealing tops and bras. 

Candy break! Everyone’s favourite candy from this year:

The hexagon ring behind the glass in Gong Jun’s birthday “leave of absense” letter. 

Valentine’s Day, Gong Jun’s 1129 1314 511 kadian, and the photos from where Zhang Zhehan had once taken photos that can be overlayed to make them stand together.

The Anon account, in particular how Zhang Sanjian has reacted to the account regardless of the Anon account’s actual validity.

The fact that Xie Yihua still can’t get in touch with Zhang Zhehan meanwhile Gong Jun has been quite openly travelling with him.

How Xie Yihua never responded to anyone’s investigations until QuelleVous revealed that her Baidu Baike page had been edited on 813, when Xie Yihua panicked and posted a long essay refuting it. Her overreaction is the reason QuelleVous et al. became known to the Chinese side of the fandom.

The picture from Yunnan of “Gong Jun” from behind in a hoodie where the anatomical proportions of his height and shoulders match Zhang Zhehan’s more than Gong Jun’s. Other observations like the thumb, the photos being cut so that the butt isn’t visible, how illogical it is that Gong Jun would change outfits in the middle of taking photos. (It could have been different days, but why would you go to the same place at 5am on two different days?)

In Gong Jun’s belated birthday livestream he mentioned his parents going home the day after he got the cakes while he stayed in Yunnan, so who took that photo of him at the luxury hotel?

When Gong Jun was replying in the birthday AMA and there was two distinct writing styles being used. 

How Zhang Sanjian posted an essay a couple days later talking about watching the movie Gong Jun had mentioned in the AMA. Pick a narrative bro, do you hate him or not?

QuelleVous says Xiao Yu bought a motorcycle this year.

Gong Jun’s bodyguard (”Bond-dage”?) could probably tell a lot of stories lol. He appears in a lot of fansite photos but there are times when he’s absent, so there are rumors that the two of them share him. There was also a time during the Legend of AnLe filming where the bodyguard came over to look at the CPF in the mascot costume.

(This humble note taker’s favourite candy was the Ritz Carlton rumor, where Zhang Zhehan and Gong Jun supposedly were seen outside the hotel on Zhang Zhehan’s lunar birthday. 🥺)

Back to serious stuff:

For the Instagram bike trip in August, plane tickets were bought for Zhang Zhehan, Zhang Mama, and Xiao Yu to go to where it started but none of them actually showed up for the flights. Xie Yihua and co. have stopped leaking flight itineraries since QuelleVous revealed this.

Some pretty well known paparazzi have been paid to spread the low quality “chance meeting” photos of Zhang Sanjian. (Fansites at least put up the pretense of being fans and showing fan loyalty, paparazzi just sell to the highest bidder. Why are you trusting them?)

The CPF who initially leaked the 03-01 airport photos that we all thought were Zhang Zhehan (they were not) deleted her account after being questioned about it.

Wendy was the one who told everyone to listen to Su Shifu’s podcast after 813, and she was asking everyone to spread it around. 

Sophie was the one who outed the fact that Su Shifu had been fired, using his real name.

Thank you to the Ding Dongs and everyone who has worked to share clarifications about Zhang Zhehan this year. Thank you to everyone who has stayed here and stayed strong for Zhang Zhehan. Thank you to Gong Jun for all the little rays of sunshine.

Let’s hope 2023 brings Zhang Zhehan’s official return, that Gong Jun stays safe and successful, that both of them are able to do whatever they want, and that many many people go to jail.

Happy New Year everyone! 🥳🥳

[maikabishop]

MAIKA BISHOP

Nickname(s): Mai Age: 30 Birthday: June 7, 1993 Occupation: Sales associate at Fresh Garbage Neighbourhood: Downtown Length of time in Briar Ridge: since birth Pronouns: she/they Sexuality: queer/unlabelled Zodiac Placements: gemini sun, libra moon, pisces rising.

WANTED CONNECTIONS | CONNECTIONS | PINTEREST

Maika is the second (and youngest) child to parents, Raymond Bishop and Carrie Ballenger, two highly successful realtors in South Carolina.

After meeting in university and bonding over their love of the business, Raymond and Carrie decided to take their business partnership to new heights when a romance blossomed between them, later resulting in a marriage and children.

After her father's retirement, Colleen became the proud owner of Ballenger Realty, inheriting their list of valued clients, as well as business offices in Briar Ridge and surrounding areas.

Although neither child could complain about a lack of necessities or food on the table, Maika and her brother, Chance, suffered in other areas, often feeling an absence of time, love, and attention from their parents as they prioritized their business endeavours. Instead, they made up for the lack of affection by funding each child's lifestyle, spoiling them with lavish gifts and paying their university tuition.

Much like their mother, Maika was a social butterfly in high school, often earning attention from many of her male classmates. She had good grades, was the school's star volleyball player, and was generally well-liked and respected by peers.

From a young age, Maika had learned that keeping up appearances was important to the Bishop family. Because of this, she would often force herself to go to parties and social gatherings, even when Maika's true idea of fun was spending the night at home watching movies with their brother.

Close in age, the two were just as much friends as they were siblings. Though this all changed when Chance got married at just eighteen years old. For Maika, the decision was difficult to understand and in a lot of ways, they felt abandoned.

Maika attended university in Briar Ridge, studying interior design, in hopes to help with the growth and expansion of her family's realty business as they began to flip houses for profit.

It was in university that Maika first grew aquainted with Noa Andreas. While they had known of each other in passing, being matched as roommates must have been kismet. From day one, they were practically inseparable, experiencing a bond unlike anything Maika had ever felt before. Noa was her platonic soulmate, her other half. And despite having a long-term boyfriend who often tagged along on their adventures, Maika tried everything to shake the terrifying feelings she was developing for her best friend.

Between their disinterest in their coursework, feuding with their brother and a crush so big it was swallowing them whole, Maika did the only thing she could think of and ran away from her problems. Not only was her ex-boyfriend left wondering what had changed, but she had left Noa to pick up the pieces of her departure as her best friend struggled to pay the rent.

It only took one call to her cousin, Cameron, before Maika was on the first flight to New York City in hopes to start over. Determined to have no contact with her family members back home, Maika was forced to start from the bottom up, serving as waitress by day and mixing cocktails at a gay bar by night, as her cousin assisted in putting a roof above her head.

Although Maika is still on their self-discovery journey and hasn't put a label on their sexuality, they feel more comfortable in their own skin than ever before. Thanks to the help and support of her co-workers and her cousin, Cameron, Maika has been able to immerse themselves in an environment that has allowed them to be their most authentic self.

Now more confident and financially stable, they have chosen to join their cousin in returning back to Briar Ridge, facing their fears and their families together as she begins to live her life unapologetically. Confronting Noa on the other hand? A little more nerve wracking.

[ao3feed-ineffablehusbandz]

Remain Forever Yours

Remain Forever Yours

by TawnyOwl95

Seven years ago Aziraphale Device was persuaded out of accompanying his dearest friend to Egypt.

Now a famous explorer, Anthony Crowley is back in London and looking for a wife.

Aziraphale is determined to be happy for him, despite his own breaking heart.

Words: 1257, Chapters: 3/30, Language: English

Fandoms: Good Omens (TV)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M, M/M

Characters: Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley (Good Omens), Anathema Device, Agnes Nutter, Gabriel (Good Omens), Madame Tracy (Good Omens), Satan | Lucifer (Good Omens), Hastur (Good Omens), Ligur (Good Omens), Warlock Dowling, Harriet Dowling, Thaddeus J. Dowling, Michael (Good Omens), Newton Pulsifer

Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens), Anathema Device/Newton Pulsifer, Aziraphale & Anathema Device

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Regency, Inspired by Persuasion, IneffablyAusten, Misunderstandings, Oblivious Aziraphale (Good Omens), and boy is he going to earn that tag, Friends to Lovers, lovers to estranged, estranged to we can no longer be aquainted, no longer acquainted to lovers, Eventual Smut, impossible odds, yearning from a distance, too many cousins, Significant touches, weaponised politeness, declaration via letter, everyone knows Aziraphale is gay, except possibly Aziraphale, every austen heroine needs a sister, Epistolary Elements

From https://ift.tt/2muiJZO https://archiveofourown.org/works/46439536

[moonsongchorus]

Where: Bliss Yoga Who: Mateo and Octavia (@octaviaaxford)

"Let's take this moment to be quiet and contemplative, reflecting on where we are in the world right now."

Mateo was certainly reflecting, but quiet wasn't something that had ever come naturally to him. As the yoga instructor passed by and the room fell into silence, Mateo bit his lip hard, currently bent over in a downward dog, and managed to keep his mouth shut for a full 30 seconds. Then he whispered to Octavia, "I mean, there was a ghost inside that fairy!" While he did not know Octavia very well--and had never actually spoken to her outside their regular yoga class--they had been here, sweating it out on a mat side by side enough times to have a casual acquaintance. And after the spring festival's chaos, there was a lot to get re-aquainted about. "I've been chasing ghosts for years and I've never seen anything like that!" They switched positions, the yoga instructor shot him a warning glare, and Mateo went quiet again....for another thirty seconds until he whispered, "And then my camera man died! He died, but then he wasn't dead no more. This place is crazy!"

[glorioustidalwavedefendor]

So since the person bloked me I have to do this here ...

Wow, holy shit, no one assumed anything about you.

No because this is not an assumption:

What you are describing sounds like a Urinary Tract Infection or kidney infection (pyelonephritis).

-> assumes I was the perosn having issues with the kidney

-> assumes that he knows better what I am talking about

I’m sorry a doctor missed your infection, but this is different than kidney failure.

-> same assumptions

Next time, if you feel you have a kidney infection, try to ask for cultures or unusual cultures.

-> assumption that it is about me

No clear indication that he is no longer talking to me so this may or may not be about me

Also, if you ever do have very serious symptoms that may be potentially life or death, like if a doctor finds evidence of organ failure, I urge you to inform a doctor you use/abuse drugs.

-> assumes I take drugs. I WISH, because I have to endure this bulshit sober for medical reasons an it is realy strting to eat at me

You may be cut off but if you desire to continue using, you will be able to find drugs again.

-> assumes I am taking drugs

Doctors frequently run drug screens without your knowledge as well. When organ failure or serious symptoms are present, doctors will frequently run a basic drug panel, which will pick up on common drugs of abuse if there was recent abuse. They can also sample your hair to backtrack drug use. They often don’t get your consent or tell you because they DO understand addicts do not tell them.

-> assumes I take drugs

-> assumes a doctor whould do a drug test, considering that without my consent my insurance does not pay for it so the doc has to pay out of pocket ... no very likely ...

I do not want people thinking infections are on the same level as organ failure, and that most doctors would just simply miss, and continue to miss, something as serious as organ failure.

-> assumption that you know for a fact that the person I was talking about did not in fact have kidney failure based on your diagnose doctor foxesduringwartime ...

I already have seen all the research you linked. Thanks, I’m 30+ years old and have been doing activism in the real world for years, saving real lives, not ranting angrily on social media.

-> assumption about what I do and do not do off social media

This is very weird for you to come on my post and offer support for drug addicts, then flip out because someone thought you might be one!

-> Assumtipn that my anger was about being taken for an addict instead of beeing angry about you doctor foxesduringwartime explaining my and my aquaintances medical history to me without any detailled knowledge ...

Let's see what did you write?

Not all doctors are quacks, and the ones who tend not to believe you, in my experience, are the ones most likely to suspect drug use and addiction. It is not uncommon for that to be the reason why they are skeptical over your symptoms.

You said: It is not uncommon for that (aka the assumed drug use) to be the reason why they are skeptical over your symptoms.

-> assumption: drug use

-> assumption doctor is justefied in beeing sceptical about sympoms (mine or other peoples) which no, they are never justefied to be neglectfull because of drug use or assumed drug use

-> assumption doctor did nothing wrong

And the realyl funny thing is ... while I was explodog over another arrogant man thinking he knows better I was wondering "will this be missconstrued?"

But I was dumb enough to assume that someone that can diagnose things not just through a screen but aso backwards through time has enough reading comprehension to understand whta made me so angyr ... my bad ...

If it isn’t clear, I don’t judge addicts, but you apparently do!

-> assumption that my anger was becasue I give a rats ass about your opinion of me. I react very volatil to people explaining the medical history of me or my loved ones or my aquaintances to me, especiall if they have no business doing so. Becuse that is exactly the kind of arogant know it all that has almost killed me more then once ... The very assumption without any blood work or anything that just looking at me will tell you all you need to know

I have experienced not being believed, and have almost died, I am also a trans man who was pre-transition and in the closet most of my life, so I have experienced misogynistic medical and psychiatric abuse. I am literally on disability.

Good for you?

So the system worked for you, small wonder that you are so busy licking boots.

But you can not use your anecdotal experiences to declare that doctors, on average, would miss organ failure, especially for radically different situations and contexts.

No but you can use your anecdotal effidence, if I may quote: "In my experience" ...

You write:

in my experience, are the ones most likely to suspect drug use and addiction. It is not uncommon for that to be the reason why they are skeptical over your symptoms.

-> assumption: It is my fault because I am an addict. ... but you don't judge addicts ... sure ...

Maybe they don’t believe you because you act like this!

-> assumption a) I act like this wenn I am sick and in need of help

-> assumption b) I was born with this attitude and have never been acting different in my live

-> assumption it was my fault that doctors treat me like garbage and don't take me serious

I used to be very sweet and trusting and calm and believed that doctors on average are tyring to help ...

Which got me almost killed ...

Now that I controll after them, tell them in no uncertain terms, wenn they are making mistakes, or are just categorically wrong and generally treat them like my worst enemy they actually have started to take me serious ...

Sorry, but this has nothing to do with you being a woman,

-> assumption: Where exactly did I write that this is because of gender?

this is a genuine overreaction.

O.K?

Mister "I blocked you less then 5 minutes after you answered"

Meaning I doupt that you really had enough time to read what I wrote.

But that explains your reading comprehension XD Or lack therof ...

If denying that this isn’t irrational behaviour helps though, then go for it!

-> assumption: about what my reaction might potentially be

Again you blocked me, you have no idea what my answer is ...

BTW. you blocked me immidiately after you reblogged, which means I would normally not even have seen your barage of lies, assumptions, accusations, schoolyard taunts and moving the goal post ...

Makes me wonder for whome this answer was meant because it clearly wasn't me ...

But I digress ... nice schoolyard taunt ...

It's like saying someone talks to much and then se ethem squirm becasue either you defend yourself proofing the point or you don't say anything seemingly agreeing ...

Your good at this ... are you a professional bully?

You started to literally scream at me and got oh so upset I thought you were one of them evil junkies.

-> assumption Again, I got upset beacsue you said:

Not all doctors are quacks, and the ones who tend not to believe you, in my experience, are the ones most likely to suspect drug use and addiction. It is not uncommon for that to be the reason why they are skeptical over your symptoms.

-> I dodn't care if anyone thinks I am taking drugs, I do however care if my doctor refuses to move his ass becasue he thinks he has me all figured out and that my problem is that I take stuff I shouldn't or don't take stuff I should ... because again, that attitude is pretty leathal ...

Big text doesn’t make your point better, and you aren’t “schooling” me.

-> assumption I am wasting my time on you to teach you anything.

I wouldn't teach you how to breath if you where chocking <3

Get a grip and go fuck yourself.

Wowi ... someone is totally not overacting here ...

Get off my posts too

Ahm ... this is tumblr you will have to deal with the fact that people will see your posts and add something unless you just block everyone and use this as a diary. I mean it's not liek I came on to your blog, I rebloged from someone else. but never mind I already noticed that reeding comprehension is not your strong point. Which is fine ... I am dyslexic ... I understand that reading is sometimes super duper hard

if you have this egocentric mentality and don’t actually care about addicts,

-> assumption based on lacking reading comprehension

-> at least you didn't use narcissistic ... it's teh small things ...

just wanted to whine about your own problems.

How is this whining about my own problems:

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

i knew an addict who had *kidney failure* from amphetamines and he still would not stop.

This is exactly the reason why we need to make drugs legall and normal

So you can go to your doctor (if you dodn't live in america that is ... ) and be like, hey I take drug A and my kidneys are not doing so hot, there might be a connection

Because if your kidneys are not doing so hot and you can't tell your doctor a reason he willrefuse to believe you, because doctors are incompetent quacks that are already overwhelmed and out of their depth if they have to diagnose something as rare and complicated as Streptococcus ...

But if that drug is illigal you will not go because you dodn't want to get in trouble with the law and maybe the kidney will cure itself ...

It won't ...

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

You dear doctor foxesduringwartime where the one that missed the point and made this about me ... but never mind ... as a doctor you of course know best doctor foxesduringwartime ...

Make your own text posts, thanks!

-> assumption that I do not in fact write way to long posts on my own blog ...

So those are about 25 assumptions give or take you made in two posts ...

That's a lot considering that you claim you made NO assumptions ...

You know, I am glad you blocked me, so I dodn't accidentally bump in to you, I would hate to have to remember your name ...

How to end this?

Ah ...

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 2.6 million people die each year due to medical errors worldwide.

So yeah, assume your doctor is a quack and doesen't give a shit about you ... and if you are wrong, lean back and enjoy the rare experience of being taken care of by a professional ...

[bhristyy]

To my new aquaintance, a 30 year old gay man;

We casually speak to each other as if we have met at least once before. Out of boredom and pure curiosity I asked him for his zodiac sign followed by finding out his lifepath number. He was a Leo and his lifepath number was 4. I was very familiar with this type of person.

My ex boyfriend whom I dated for years, towards the end of high school, had a significant importance in my life at the time. I told my new aquaintance that lifepath 4’s are extremely disiplined, like stability, routine, and structure. Extremely hardworking people, that like to set goals. Outside of that, I told him that I admire how much Leos love unconditionally and being a lifepath 4 is such an overlooked mentally strong person. Someone that can lose it all today and rebuild everything again. Once things go extremely wrong, I admire the fact that they can start from scratch and rebuild their lifestyle. He ended up crying in my arms in public because he had never felt so heard and so seen. He admitted that he use to be too busy pouring into other people’s cups that he felt empty and in order for him to fully love another person again he has to fully love himself.

Why Leos are my favorite sign:

This took me back to a time where my ex and I were together and we had fond memories. He was a very good partner and a loyal friend. I use to visit my friend’s house every day who lived down the street…

My ex was always there because they were bestfriends. He was someone who almost all the girls at my school had a crush on. He was 5’10, mixed with black and asian, toned with abs, built arms, tattoos, a deep jawline, quiet, and very calm. At a glance, I could tell he was good looking, just normally not the type of men I went for. He was a pretty boy.

Gradually we became closer, we started to sleep next to each other, and became more touchy. We ended up becoming friends with benefits because he expressed attraction towards me. He asked me out and we became a couple. I could already feel his love towards me growing everyday as we got to know each other. He had severe mommy issues. His mom ended up kicking him out and I took him in. He was forever appreciative of this. I was still very young at the age of 17 and he was 19. Living together made us know everything about each other. I had undiagnosed BPD. I was extremely moody, sad, anxious, jealous, angry, happy, and unhappy all in a matter of hours. I often took things out on him, because I was so broken and so hurt from childhood trauma and wounds. He made things at home as peaceful as he could. We would shower together, cook for each other, go on dates, and watch movies together. He always gave me half his paychecks, bought me my first car, paid for my upkeep, and helped me with my homework. I felt very taken cared of. He always remembered every holiday, birthday, and more. He did whatever possible to make life easier for me and always kept his word.

He truly loved me for who I was. He came home one day with my name tattooed. I felt really special and adored. We spent most of our days going to work, cooking, playing video games, and enjoying our time together. Being so young, I still wanted to hangout with my friends. We hung out with mutual friends, but it wasn’t the same. We both grew very jealous hanging out with the opposite sex. He thought I loved male attention, bruh-girls definitely didn’t exist in 2012. I guess it didn’t matter to me whether I went out or not, but I also felt like I was missing out on life.

We eventually had to move away from each other and both of us lost the ability to make effort or stay in touch, I suppose. I don’t remember our ending too much. I just know we tried to get back together again and we just didn’t feel the same. I mostly only liked him as a friend. I wasn’t able to feel for him romantically.

What I learned:

As much I think I wasted time, I actually didn’t. I learned so much from this. I learned how to appreciate the small things in life more and how to love. Us being together kept both of us safe from nonsense. We built together, worked together, and reached personal goals. I did not have immediate family emotionally there for me at the time. Later, when I helped him make amends with his mother, his family treated me like family. He showed me the love and loyalty I never got. I appreciate all of his efforts for being there for me. I wish I felt the same way towards him, but I didn’t and just couldn’t force myself to. However, I wish him the best sincerely and hope life treats him as well as he once treated me. We do not follow each other on social media and I do not have feelings for him, but part of me wishes maybe some day I will meet someone and will be able to give them a love so selfless, unconditional, and pure. I hope that he is doing well, married and with the children he always wanted.

P.S. I am sorry I never loved you in that way, but thank you for being in my life and showing me something I didn’t know I needed.

[dignitary-felix]

making friends as an adult is hard

Like I know I'm not the only one struggling. I see "omg how do you make friends when you're not in school anymore?" floating around internet spaces for 23-30 year olds.

But why is nobody talking about how hard it is to just...have a text conversation with someone in the little free time I have during or after work. To have friends like in the movies where they are supportive and there for you and you are there for them.

I feel like that portrayal of friendship is just pure fiction now.

I am so picky with who I want to be friends with...I make attempts but when conversations keep peetering out I have no choice but to assume my politeness and silly humor is so boring that ppl can't handle it and ghost me. I end up being the fool who always texts people.

I dunno what I'm doing wrong. I feel like I have many aquaintences, many who know a polite and anxious version of me, but not the real me. I was part of a friend group in high school and I wish I had that again so fucking badly.

I had that for a bit at work with my coworkers but when people are fired and quit constantly, that all falls apart. People I saw everyday at work are gone completely and it's a loss I'm struggling with. It's probably the ADHD making this feel like a rejection.

I dunno. I only talk to partners and exes, and like a small handful of other people, but I want stronger connections and I'm starting to feel like I'm just unworthy? Like I'm not good enough for the fairytale version of friendship that's in all the stories.

I'm 27 now and so fucking lonely.

[nationalrecluse]

RULES & GUIDE

RULES

Do's and Don't's. Make sure to re-read them when a change is announced.

General RP etiquette is expected (don't godmod, don't force things on me without discussing it OOC & getting my explicit consent, be polite to mun)

You, the mun, must be at least 19 years old to follow my blog. Muses can be any age.

Have your muse be in their late 30's at the minimum if shipping ensues. (doubtful!)

No disturbing shipping dynamics (pedophilia, incest, necrophilia etc) in any shape or form allowed.

Don't involve me in your drama. I don't participate in call-out culture. I don't care. I won't care. I don't spend nearly enough time on the internet to care. Don't bother with me if this is bothersome to you.

I am NOT available on discord. Even if I've given you my discord, you'll have better chance at talking to me by shooting an IM.

Don't pressure me for replies. Remind me about our interaction if I haven't replied or liked your post within 2 weeks of posting them. I'll do the same.

GUIDE

In-depth information about how I run my blog.

Only aquainted with the anime and very vaguely with the manga

Donovan is married to Melinda and they don't seem to have a good relationship. I'm iffy about shipping outside of their marriage, so please be aware that I will treat every single romantic ship as an extra marital affair.

I'm open to write as many genres as my RP partners are, but I have a strong preference for drama. Anything triggering will be talked about extensively OOC and placed under a read more and tagged appropriately.

Please don't assume you know Donovan's war plans if your muse doesn't have a good reason for it. (He'll have to take you out, and I'm not talking dinner!)

I'm open to have different muses play collaborative roles in Donovan's life. Just discuss it with me.

I play Donovan as heterosexual and aromantic. That said, erotica isn't a focus on this blog and neither is romance. That's not to say that neither won't commence.

I HC that Anya can't hear Donovan's thoughts because of the scars he has across his head. My HC is that has implanted something in his head to prevent subjects from Project Apple (+ others, including Anya's lab) from having access to him.

Super duplicate friendly!

I am an ESL writer. I do what I can with what I know at the moment.

My blog is low activity as a default. I will reply to what I have muse for in the moment.

[cheeseanonioncrisps]

Honestly, controversial opinion, but Crowley arguably does move pretty fast, if you look at it from a celestial perspective.

“But they were friends for 6000 years!” No they weren't.

I mean, headcanons can vary, but if we're going purely by the text then they don't appear to have met up at all in the 1000 years between Eden and Noah's Ark (Crowley has to ask about the aftermath of the Flaming Sword Incident) and it's not clear how many times they encountered each other in the 3000 years between that and the crucifixion.

They don't go out for lunch together (that we see) until eight years after that. Once again, I've seen lots of excellent headcanons and fics about how they might have spent that intervening time together, but from a strictly canon perspective, Crowley and Aziraphale being basically just friendly colleagues for the first 4000 years of their relationship is a totally valid interpretation.

And then, of course, Crowley probably has to leave (he's “just popped in for a quick temptation”, remember) and the next time we see them is 500 years later. Which is a super long time for a human— and I'm not going to argue that they didn't meet up at all in the intervening time, since at this point I don't think it's implied one way or another— but for an angel or a demon?

They've both been on Earth for well over 4000 years by this point. How long is 500 years relative to them? Fifty years? Fifteen? Five?

Anyway, it's at this point— 500 years after what was quite possibly their first lunch together— that Crowley turns to Aziraphale and is like “hey? Want to commit literal treason?”

And make no mistake, that is what he is asking. These two are enemy agents, and Crowley is asking to exchange information about the secret plans of their respective sides. This would require Aziraphale to

a) trust Crowley not to take advantage of this information for the benefit of Evil

b) consciously choose not to take advantage himself of the information Crowley gives him, for the benefit of Good

c) accept (even just a little bit) the idea that the activities he's just spend the past >4000 years on don't make any difference at all in the grand scheme of things, and Heaven doesn't really give a shit about him.

… And he does it. He rejects the idea initially, but just over a thousand years later we see them together at the Globe, and the Arrangement is not only established, but clearly has been so for some time.

Long enough for Crowley to decide it's time to bend the rules. Not only are they arranging secret meetings and tactically keeping out of each other's way, but they've already done the 'taking care of each other's blessings and temptations' trick “dozens of times”. Aziraphale is still nervous and shocked when Crowley suggests it, so he's probably used to only doing it as a last resort in emergencies, but he knows exactly what Crowley is suggesting the moment he comments on what a shame it is that they both have to go to Edinburgh. This is not a new thing.

Aziraphale at this point still believes that angels and demons are fundamentally different. For all he knew, the first time he performed a temptation he would fall instantly and the first time Crowley performed a blessing he would… explode, or something. But still, at some point during the last thousand years, Crowley persuaded him to do it.

And then, just over 200 years after that (and how long even is that? It's ~4% of the time they've spent on Earth so far) Crowley asks for holy water, Aziraphale thinks he's going to kill himself, freaks out about how much he cares and brings out the Heaven Party Line to cover up his real feelings. Crowley takes it as a personal insult and they fall out for a century— according to the script, Aziraphale is convinced that they're not friends anymore.

100 years after that, and Crowley's back again, and he's just saved Aziraphale from discorporation (… by threatening him with worse discorporation, but still) and thought to rescue his books. Aziraphale has his big moment of 'this demon is the only being who truly cares about me, and I truly care about him' and then literally like 20 years later (which would be what on the celestial timescale? Two weeks?) Crowley's after the holy water again, and Aziraphale has to choose between letting his friend almost certainly die through inaction, or making him slightly less likely to die right away but ensuring that if/when he does die later down the line, it will be All. Aziraphale's. Fault.

He chooses option 2 and in the process has to admit— maybe not out loud, but definitely through implication— that the initial refusal to hand it over was never about Heaven, because Aziraphale couldn't give a toss about what Heaven thinks compared to what will ensure the safety of one incredibly irritating demon. Probably crossing his fingers that he's not going to Fall the whole way through, because that is a bloody extreme thing to admit given the circumstances.

And Crowley's response? “Cool, so we're now going to go off together and start hanging out like normal people who don't have the threat of each other's horrific destruction hanging over their heads every minute of the day? We're going to drive off in my car and just be openly BFFs forever now?” No Crowley.

In the past just under 2000 years you've gone from work aquaintances (which was already illegal! Literally every conversation you two have ever had could have resulted in your deaths!), to treason buddies, to Aziraphale fully admitting to himself that his loyalty to you is more than his loyalty to Heaven. That his loyalty to Heaven does not in fact play into it when it comes to your safety. Even though he's an angel, and that sort of thinking is exactly the kind of thing you Fall for.

And like less than thirty seconds after you've both come to that realisation, you're turning round and asking him to give up all plausible deniability and attempts at secrecy and just start openly hanging out together where Heaven and Hell could just stumble upon you at any time.

Like yeah he turns you down, what with finding out you're about to risk killing yourself, and handing you a suicide pill, and finally admitting his ultimate betrayal of Heaven in his heart, this has been a rough past few hours for Aziraphale. He's probably not ready to be making those kinds of decisions.

But he says he's willing to give it a try. Not yet— give him a minute Crowley— but he's willingly acknowledging that there is a Next Step to this relationship and he wants to get there.

And then the next time we see the two of them, in 30-40 years time, Aziraphale has made the step. They're going to the Ritz together and getting wasted in the shop afterwards. They seem to have done this before. Crowley now wants to form an allegiance and deliberately work to circumvent the Great Plan that Aziraphale believes was set out 6000 years ago by God Herself, and it literally takes an afternoon for Crowley to talk him into it.

Like, I see a lot of posts about the holy water scene where people are blaming Aziraphale or joking about how Crowley couldn't possibly go any slower than he is already. And yeah, from a human perspective, they're barely moving. But from the perspective of millennia old beings whose existence predates the Earth itself? And for whom literally every step in their relationship was utterly revolutionary and completely unprecedented?

To Aziraphale, it probably felt a lot faster.

[cator99]

An aquaintance of mine approached me at a party last night and asked "did u hear, (mutual friend) is a terf and swerf!!" And I was just like. Ok I have zero problems with her and I think its fucked up that people jump to conclusions about people's beliefs when they don't even truly understand them and just label shit as something so reductive like terf and swerf, we need to have each others backs as lesbians and bi women, really just as women in general, we live in a conservative shithole and we are doing the work for homophobes and misogynists when we come for each other like this, we need to sort shit out instead of infighting and shit smearing..... I dont think she liked that i didnt immediately just get mad and say some shit like "terfs r evil!" ...she just stood there unsure of what to say. but she's a grown woman, 30 years old, and she can handle the truth, this gossipy tenderqueer cancel kid shit is brain rot :( I continued on to say that my friend isn't hurting anyone, and she responded with "actually, she befriends lesbians and tries to get them to become terfs" like ok I've known her for years, and this behaviour she's exhibiting is called making friends and then sharing opinions and beliefs with them. She's not some malicious indoctrinator... If u don't like her then thats your right but dont go around overstating harm and acting like she's a predator or idk trying to brainwash people with feminism lmao. She's a detrans lesbian in her early 20s, she's living her life firm in her boundaries and values and still going strong after all the fuckery that idiots here have put her through and not once has she bent under the pressure. Fucking intense. People here are straight up insane and hate lesbians and try to tear them apart and think thats progressive or healthy. This makes me so mad! Obviously. Like wheres the critical thinking- of course she befriends other lesbians, and then slowly, cautiously reveals that she's a feminist- she used to be open about it right off the bat and all it got her was, primarily, being treated like garbage. Now she slowly eases people into getting to know her and see her as a human being before sharing her honest thoughts and making room to talk about it so they don't jump to conclusions, because look what happens, how quick people are to label her as a "terf and swerf" and throw her under the bus, going around trying to make people hate her and isolate her from a community that should have her back. What is she supposed to do? They won't be happy until she changes herself to cater to other people's fucked up demands. Same old shit that lesbians have always had to face. Do these people not get it or just not care? End of rant....... i just care for her so much

[teabooksandsweets]

All Creatures Great and Small

Facts, trivia and corrections of common misconceptions

As you probably know, I love James Herriot’s books and the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small. But reading posts online, from random comments on social media to actual newspaper articles, made me realise that not everything said about the books and especially the series is exactly correct, or at least not complete. And then of course, there’s also the usual questions askwed and answered (not always correctly) over and over again. So this post will address some of these things, simply because I care about it all.

James and Helen, Chris and Carol

The most common untruth spread about the series is that Christopher Timothy, who played James Herriot in the BBC series, left his first wife for an affair with Carol Drinkwater, who played Helen in the first three seasons, and that she was fired from the show because of it.

It was actually quite different. First of all: Carol was never fired! The show was cancelled after three seasons, as the books had finished at that time, and Carol returned for two following feature-lenght specials. It was only when, due to the books’ and the show’s popularity, Alf Wight (the real Herriot) decided to write new stories that the show was revived, and Carol, unhappy with a role that she liked but thought to limited, chose not to return.

As for the affair, that was different as well. There was a lot of bad press, especially for Carol, but Chris Timothy never left his wife for her. In fact, they didn’t even like each other at first: Carol had a mild crush on Robert Hardy, which she never pursued because he was married at the time, and didn’t get along with Christopher Timothy at all. Then, near the end of the first run of the show, they had to wait together in a car for a scene to begin filming, and they started to talk. His married had just ended at that time and he was very distraught, though he was not yet formally divorced, and she had just gone through a painful break up herself. They bonded over that, and got together. Chris was still married at that time, but seperated, and she was never the reason for his divorce. The press painted a different picture, one that is still spread nearly fourty years later, but it’s not true at all.

The Yorkshire farmers

Were all actors. People like to claim otherwise, but it is not true. Many people like to say that the farmers look too authentic to be played by actors, but that isn’t true. The actors were just very good at playing farmers, and not so famous as to be instantly recognised. Many were regional actors, from little theatres and comedy troupes, others were rather familiar, but not too well-known faces from television shows. They were not real farmers, they just did their work and did it well.

What about the vets?

The big question of the arms inside the cows. Did the actors really do the dirty work? Long story short: Yes.

But they didn’t do things on their own! No, no. The BBC hired to veterinarians, one for pets and studio scenes, one for farm animals and outdoor filming. The real vets trained the actors, helped them, and sometimes traded places with them for close ups on their hands. They even found sick animals to be treated for the filming, either by the actors under their guidance, or by themselves, depending on how difficult or serious the respective procedure and ailment were.

Some things, such as stitching wounds and helping with the calfing and lambing (the latter being rather normal for “country bumpkin” Robert Hardy, who was used to a lot of the work he had to do on screen) were done by the actors, including the (in)famous arms in the cows’ backsides. But never anything that could harm the animal! In fact, many animals were saved by the show, as the BBC paid for all treatments on set, which caused the real evts to take the pets of poor clients to the tv sets, even if they were never used for filming, and made the BBC pay the bills.

Fun fact, though: There’s a scene in which Peter Davison literally screams with his arm in a cow’s backside. That’s because his arm was tightly squeezed inside and he was in real pain. But don't worry, he got out alright, and the cow was okay too.

Science and progress

The illnesses and treatments were very accurate. People also like to claim otherwise, but that isn’t true. Many things, of course, are outdated now (and, ironically, many things that were seen outdated back then have become rather common again!) but the medical treatments are absolutely accurate for their time, and so is the portrayal of the scientific progress from the 30s to the 50s.

There are, of course, very individual cases, and unconventional treatments, but that happens if you base things on real life and memory, rather than textbooks. Those special cases are either things that really happened and worked a bit different than usual, or things that are very similar to real happenings (like real cases “blended” to make one fictional one, etc.) and not, in fact, pure invention. The books are, after all, written by a real vet, based on his own memory, and the show adopted all these cases very accurately.

Fact and fiction

Alf Wight still chose to make things up for his stories. Many details are changed from real life, such as changing Helen’s background very much from Joan’s and putting aquaintances from different decades into one setting. He also kept things from his perspective—things he didn’t know about his friends, were things he didn’t know, at least at that time, and that is how things stay.

Now the writers and actors of the show dug a bit deeper, and talked to Joan (Helen), the Sinclairs (the Farnons) and other people who play necessary parts. They added details that could give more depths to the stories, but also respected specific wishes for privacy, especially coming from Donald Sinclair.

Which brings me to:

What happened to Caroline?

Siegfried marries Caroline in the first Christmas special, but she is only mentioned (and sometimes briefly seen) in later episodes. Many people wonder if that means that their marriage ended or wasn’t good, but it’s very much different.

Caroline is based on Donald Sinclair’s real wife Audrey, whom he loved incredibly much. They had two children, which are also sometimes mentioned but never shown in the series. That is because Donald valued his privacy very much and wanted to protect his family from public attention.

Alf Wight first met Donald Sinclair as a young “bachelor” (actually widower, but he also kept that to himself) with many flings with pretty young women, and that’s how Siegfried was portrayed at first. But it couldn’t be kept like that always—it would have been silly for a middle-aged Robert Hardy to always invent visits to his mother to cover up various dates, and a character based on Donald, whose world revolved around his wife, could only be a bachelor in the very first few years of his acquaintance with Herriot. Donald Sinclair was unhappy with being shown dating various women, which he did before he married Audrey, even after three seasons, and he also didn’t want Audrey to be used for the show.

So it was decided that Siegfried were to have a wife, and children, and be very happily married in the later (initially unplanned) seasons, and that there were not to appear in television storylines. They lived off-screen, in their own big mansion, while Siegfried was working in Skeldale House. A woman-who-could-be-Caroline was sometimes seen when a partner was needed, and that’s it.

Donald’s first wife was never mentioned, also out of respect to his privacy, but Siegfried was portrayed to have a severe fear of loss and separation, and to cling very strongly to all his loved ones, as well as to have strong depressive and maniac episodes, which is said to be accurate to Donald Sinclair’s personality. This portrayal was, however, done very subtly.

Character and actor

Alf Wight said to Christopher Timothy that he was the Herriot that he wrote about. They got along very well, and Chris Timothy was considered the perfect actor for the part by him.

Donald Sinclair was, true to Siegfried’s character, always unhappy with the way he was portrayed, and the better and more accurate the portrayal got, the more dissatisfied got he. Robert Hardy was, according to people who knew Donald, absolutely perfect at playing him, and Donald himself was of a very different opinion. But he liked Robert very much, they became very close friends, and Robert actually worked as assistant in his surgery and sometimes their families lived together for filming and holiday periods. Both Alf Wight and Robert Hardy insisted that they “toned him down” while writing/playing him, even people who didn’t know him thought him “too much”.

Brian Sinclair was very happy about the way he was portrayed, and about the books and the show in general, and very relaxed about it all. He also really liked Peter Davison.

Joan was very critical of Carol Drinkwater at first, and thought she made her look like a tart, but warmed up to her later and talked well of her performance in retrospect.

The second girl to play Rosie Herriot, Alison Lewis, was friends with Rosie’s real-life daughter Emma. Rosie didn’t expect her to play the part, and was very surprised to see herself played by her daughter’s friend on tv!

Marjorie Warner, the inspiration for Mrs Pumphrey, was one of the first people to recognise herself on the page while reading the books, and was very happy about the way she was portrayed. It is, as far as I am informed, unknown whether she liked the tv series, but she was still alive when the first seasons were made.

As for the actors

It was Robert Hardy who made much of it all possible. His fame allowed the BBC to cast the relatively unknown Christopher Timothy in the lead role, which they first wanted to cast a famous actor for, and it was him who insisted on making Tristan a larger character, because he greatly enjoyed Peter Davison and set his mind on making the young man a star. He also threatened to leave the show if it were filmed anywhere but Yorkshire, and he also forced the BBC to treat the actors and animals better, and insisted on the necessary safety around the animals. After Chris Timothy’s accident, he insisted that he shouldn’t be re-cast and took up some of the work he couldn’t to, and made Peter and Carol do the same. That aside, he edited, revised and changed some of the scripts, and wrote some of his own scenes. When some younger writers messed up Siegfried in the later episodes, he largely took over himself.

Robert Hardy and Peter Davison actually grew extremely fond of each other. Robert insisted that Peter looked exactly like one of his brothers at that age, and he loved the way Peter tried to impersonate his mannerisms to make them feel more like a family.

Christie the whippet was Robert Hardy’s real dog, the other dogs belonged to producers and other crew members. Some sources claim that all dogs were his, but that isn’t true. SIegfried’s horses were usually actor-horses but he sometimes rode his own on screen.

Mary Hignett was the balancing force between the actors. Everyone loved and admired her, and whenever there was a bad mood between the others, she quickly got them all calm again, just as Mrs Hall used to do. Her sudden death shortly after the (original) end of the show was a great shock to all of them, and Mrs Hall died with her. She was greatly loved by everyone.

Margaretta Scott was also very respected and beloved. She always insisted on carrying the various dogs who played Tricki-Woo on set, and she would only have her make up done by the chief make up artist.

Robert Hardy’s was usually called Tim, as his real first name was Timothy, which he was also occassionally called, and which caused some confusion on the set.

Christopher Timothy had a car crash at the end of the filming of the first season, in which he broke his legs, which is the reason he walked on a stick and had a very stiff walk for some time.

Robert Hardy’s daughter Emma has a very serious riding accident before the filming of the first season, in which she was badly injured, and which made her father rather sensitive to the horse-related safety on set, and insist that everything must be done right and no risks taken. She fully recovered, and actually played the small part of Rosemary Brocklehurst in the series, thirteen years later.

Lynda Bellingham was pregnant during the filming of season five, which is the reason for the slipped disc storyline. Andrea Gibb, who played Deirdre, was also pregnant at that time, but her part was smaller and was simply away for some episodes, and wore some covering clothes.