#for anyone still struggling

[comic-sans-chan]

Well, I've been thinking about it again, and I've come to the conclusion there is no version of Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship that wouldn't have ended in a breakup. Maybe if Gabriel hadn't shown up, it wouldn't have come so quickly, but it always would have happened this way.

Not to link fandoms, but this was an issue we ran into with another show ages ago. I was a teenager in that fandom and it was a bittersweet comfort show about child neglect, alcohol abuse and growing up too fast, and the main ship was incredibly dysfunctional. This made sense, because both characters had baggage. The show promised again and again, these two are soulmates and will end up together eventually, but when it ended, the creator of the show said, "Yeah, I want to make a sequel where they're older and have broken up." This was devastating to many of us. I outright ignored it for a while. True love means forever, why would they break up? The creator promised they would end up happy together, so this separation period made no sense. How can two people be right and wrong? But as I got older and the world's shapes began to take on more definition, the more sense it made. Of course they would break up. They were both already broken.

I think with a lot of stories, particularly the ones we come back to again and again, we tend to fall into similarly comfortable conclusions about those stories. Of course, once a story is over, why would anyone's first instinct be to come up with ways in which the ending is doomed? Good Omens ended with Aziraphale and Crowley fighting to be together and winning, so we accepted that. What they have is true love and true love is forever. That's supposed to be the end.

But it's not. Of course it's not.

Crowley is from a household of abuse. Two households. He started out innocent and ended up falling into a hole with a bunch of other angry children and got the innocence beaten out of him over six thousand years. Only, he still had a friend from that old household. A good one. That friend was like him but smarter, more careful, so he learned from him. He learned to be cautious. He learned to keep secrets. And he loved his friend to the point it became an obsession to keep him safe from both physical and emotional harm. He didn't want Aziraphale to ever have to go through what he did. That obsession turned into its own kind of damnation, for both of them.

Aziraphale is still in that old house, but he does know how to keep his mouth shut and his head down. He knows not to ask questions. He knows not to make suggestions. He just does his job, takes the hits with a smile, and figures out ways to be happy in secret. He rebels quietly, where no one can see him. One of his key characteristics is that he's intelligent. It shows.

They've grown up on opposite sides of a fence. They've argued since the beginning. They agree on outcomes but never the footpaths to those outcomes. They've never totally seen eye-to-eye, they've always tried to twist the other to their way of thinking, they've never quite respected each other. This was clear in Season 1 already, but Season 2 shows that they still don't know how to work together. They're more aware of the other's plans now, but those plans are never the same. Aziraphale thinks Crowley's plans are silly, is unsurprised when they fail. Crowley thinks Aziraphale is being all-around ridiculous, is only willing to humor him up to a point. They swap places again with Aziraphale driving Crowley's car and Crowley running the shop, but Aziraphale changes the Bentley to suit him and Crowley throws books haphazardly about. They adore each other, but there's no respect, and this is what culminates in their breakup.

It's a painful truth, but children of abuse often end up in dysfunctional relationships. When you have no idea what love looks like, it's hard to emulate. That's just the way it is. The dysfunctional beliefs that spring forth from abuse need to be unlearned and the realities of how life and love really work need to be trained. It's no wonder Aziraphale and Crowley love humans so much, then--we've shown them possibilities they never could have dreamed of. But it's not enough.

Crowley learned to hide, so he hides. He doesn't believe in happily ever after. He never chased Aziraphale because he thought retirement with him would be joyful; he only chased him because he loved him. He doesn't move into the bookshop. He doesn't tell Aziraphale he's living in his car. He doesn't tell Aziraphale the full extent of Gabriel's evil or Shax's threats. He hides in his car and thinks of how to keep Aziraphale safe and unburdened. He yells at humans to feed the ducks correctly and gets drunk. He knows how tenuous safety is, so he doesn't feel safe. That's it, that was the ending he fought for. The ending he expected.

Aziraphale does believe in happily ever after, though. He expected Crowley to stay in the bookshop, but Crowley simply wouldn't. He tries to goad him over in every way he can think of, but it never works. Crowley maintains distance, maintains the clearly set boundary lines of "mine" and "yours." Aziraphale has fully accepted Their Side, but his idea of Their Side is different from Crowley's. He expected the world. He expected big sweeping kisses and dancing and sharing everything with each other. He calls Crowley constantly and Crowley runs to his side every time he needs him, but he always leaves after. Aziraphale fought for safety and believes he won it. This wasn't the ending Aziraphale expected.

It's easy to imagine now, when you take a step back and really absorb the landscape, Neil and Terry discussing sequels and saying, "Well, of course they would separate, so the sequel would begin with that. They've split, Aziraphale is back in Heaven trying to fix things, and we go from there." It's not the first time they've broken up, but it is the first time they've been able to be properly together, so of course it wouldn't work. Not right away. Not at first.

They're just at the beginning of the unlearning, and we go from there.

[off-mozzarella]

(From the body swap AU)

Hii! I'm very happy to see that my body swap comic was so well received, so here's a little something as a thanks for all the support <3

I'm excited to keep sharing my drawings, I hope you like what I make!

[o-sunny-day]

“Don’t… don’t tell him you think dingbat fonts are cool.”

AUGH @forgettable-au fanart :3 been on another roll with it (in agony constantly)

theres some untranslated wingdings cause i love translating it myself, hope others do too :D

not confident on how “canon” or in-character this is but- I HAD FUN this AU has really got me in the rendering spirit, I really enjoy taking inspiration but also adding mu own silly twists on it and AAA everything looks even more tasty now

I view this as them in New Home after getting something to eat (after the last page update) and heading back the same way since Alphys’ place is on the way to The Lab. The font convo comes back up again and then yeah

Alsoooo if youre interested in behind the scenes stuff heres the speedpaint :3

also i never poster about this- but i had another forgettable dream. it didn’t make any godamn sense. I woke up and drew the only scene I could remember:

Wingdings and Sans had a fight and ig wingdings killed Sans 😭😭😭 in a stairwell for some reason

and current Sans, Papyrus brother Sans, is like watching all of this and was brought here by Lancer like a Ghost Of Christmas Past type situation. Idk why. I choose not to attempt to make sense of this anymore. But i swear this is an actual dream i had 😭

[lttleghost]

feminine butch Jesse Pinkman be upon ye...

Jesse is transfem - she/her with optional he/him (girl version) and feminine terms ONLY!! if you bring up how you think she is actually transmasc on this post I will not be kind to you

[wheat-angel]

For any selfshipper out there who finds themselves low on energy a lot, physically or mentally, to where it's hard to take care of yourself everyday:

You're F/Os still love you.

It's hard to find the time or energy to shower? They help you set a routine, but they won't scold you if you miss a day for whatever reason, there's always tommorow.

Cleaning up after yourself not coming easily? C'mon, let's do one thing at a time together. Maybe picking up one specific item and putting those away. Or maybe choosing a small section of the room that's "messy" to focus on.

Chores need to be done, and you're overwhelmed? Let's turn it into a game. Maybe a point for each thing you get done. Or maybe with each part of it complete, you get to get a little reward for them, and if you collect all of the little rewards, you get the big prize, hm?

Finding it impossible to cook for yourself? It's alright, even if you microwave something or order out, all that matters is that you're eating.

Missing medications? You'll be rewarded with hugs if you go do that for them, because that's important. And if it's got to be at a specific time, then your F/O will help you through the day as best they can.

All they ask of you is that you do what you can. They know it's hard and tough, but for you, they'll try to be as patient as they can. You need to take care of yourself because they want to see you being alright and getting through day by day.

They love you. Platonically, familialy, or romantically, it doesn't matter. They love you and care about you.

You're doing your best. Be patient with yourself like how'd they'd be patient with you. If you need to push yourself to do it, then let your F/Os be the ones trying to motivate you to do it if that helps you.

~~♡~~

If anyone reblogs with tags or comments about how gross or disgusting these kinds of people are, you will be blocked on sight. Don't shame people for their struggles when you don't know them.

Also Pr0///shippers, their supporters and neutrals DNI. Everyone deserves human support like this and don't deserve to die, but this specific post is not for you.

[hamofjustice]

a funny/sad thing about people who go on tirades about how penny pokemon sv is an awful selfish violent criminal who should be arrested instead of being reached out to and helped, and how they feel insane that anyone likes her is... she absolutely already feels that way about herself and they didn't notice

she spends the whole game doing what she can to protect her friends from being blamed for anything, calling herself a massive idiot under the guise of being someone else, turning herself in voluntarily, wanting to be given more punishment. it weirds her out that her friends and the school directors and chairwoman keep showing her mercy and seeing the good in her and what she was trying to do instead of throwing her in the trash she thinks she belongs in

[potato-lord-but-not]

mostly tma doodles with some sillies sprinkled in

[camillahect]

[tubbytarchia]

they'd never let me on life series because I would bring body horror

[iloveacronix]

Made some Lego tutorials for my friends and anybody else who would like to learn, (at least a bit!) Sorry if my explanations are a bit funky😭😭

Tagging my pookies @yourlocalkitkat @captaintacosworld

[silently-standingstill]

this is outrageous i cant stop drawing them

[maddieandangel]

Consider: character-exclusive trinkets.

[might-be-a-potato]

GLAMROCK BONNIE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the most bestest boy literally ever and i am sososososososo very happy we got a canon design for him now !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

version w/ out text vvvv

[erinwantstowrite]

folks,,,, i can not possibly write every single thing that has ever happened to these fools in the comics, in LoF. that would be decades worth of content and decades worth of a headache that i'm not bothering with. i don't even know what all is canon to LoF, just things that aren't canon because it would hurt my brain (or my heart) to include it. like i do try to keep it coherent but i don't know everything. if you want to include specific arcs then please write your own fic. love you and hope you succeed, but LoF is already a monster of a work and i can't even imagine trying to keep all of that together

[therosefield]

going through my first new game+ run and have reached this conversation in old lumière which i now realise this time around is renoir referring to clea in her younger days:

i have some thoughts to share. spoilers for act 3 (including side quests/late-game optional content) under the cut:

i think it's truly painful to think about because of all the siblings, it's clea who most loved the kind of art her family's renowned for. she loves painting and the artistic form so well that she clearly wanted to spend her youth bringing all sorts of wonderous tales to life within her own canvases, and became upset upon realising she'd never have enough time to truly be able to do that with all of the great fables to ever exist.

(not to say verso and alicia definitely didn't also enjoy painting, just to clarify, because they probably did, but verso's big love was his music and alicia appears to have inclinations towards writing, if the secret library/study area connected to her room in the manor is anything to go by.)

the way renoir/the fading man talks about it makes it sound like a true childhood wonder, and maybe that's exactly what it was – how many of us creatively-inclined have felt the same melancholy at some point or another, knowing that there was and still is so much artistic brilliance out there in the world; more than we'll ever get to even know about? i don't personally hold the belief that dreams like that are dangerous, but it would not surprise me if the eldest daughter of the head of the artists' council was told to treat it that way by her mother if it upset her enough to distract her from the work and the legacy she'd stood to grow into.

but then i remembered the lampmaster, and the way the fading boy (verso) describes it in a way that almost sounds like a fable in and of itself; a ghost story brought to life, playing on his fear of the dark. clea used to feel (and maybe still does deep down?) like she should see all the fables of the world so that she can recreate them in her own canvas; assuming the lampmaster is not one such fable, has she not made one of her own in creating it?

separately from all of the above, i'd been thinking about her well-documented penchant for perfection, and how that might impact her issues with the portraits of her painted by her parents: an axon – and i have a lot of thoughts on The Hauler which i will probably go into in a separate post – which she empowered simon to kill, and a literal recreation of herself, which is implied to have insulted her to the point of her repainting (read: hijacking) her painted self to suit her own needs.

putting the two separate trains of thoughts together then got me thinking: what fable-equivalents are there in the canvas world? there's esquie and the gestrals which verso created, sure; but there's also the nevrons, the lampmaster, dualliste, françois– all created by clea. in a world that exists solely within a canvas like lumière/the continent, the only fables to be found are that which the painters create; and with the exception of françois who's magnificiently rocky turtle-y self could never be duplicated, clea has puppeted her mother's portrait of her to diligently recreate every fabled creature she's brought into existence, over and over again.

and so there her painted self is, fufilling the dream the real clea had as a child: knowing about all the fables of the world, and faithfully bringing them to life within the canvas. its a dream so powerful it literally kills her in the end, because it's not truly her dream – it's just another goal passed down from creator/mother to creation/daughter. clea may have inherited her perfectionism and single-minded focus on her war from her mother, whether she wanted to inherit them or not. in creating more nevrons until she is stopped by expedition 33, her painted self has inherited – unwillingly, as we well know – the same things from her in turn.

[dreamsy990]

Could you perhaps draw how Penelope and Odysseus met in your monster AU?

it was a pretty friendly meeting i think