#good enough for gomens work

[theeminentlyimpractical]

[eefaevie]

Hi! I loved loved loved your sex pollen coffee fic! Do you have plans to write/are you currently writing anything else?

oh my goodness, well aren’t you just the sweetest 😭❤️ thank you so much!!

I do have a few more fic ideas percolating in my head right now but nothing specifically in the works. I need like a million more hours in the day to do all the drawing and writing and crafting I wanna do 🥲 alas.

The reception to coffee, theoretically has been SO amazing and lovely and I’m extremely grateful to everyone who left a kudos, a kind comment, a bookmark, etc. it honestly does make me want to write more, knowing that people like it.

I’ll use this ask as an opportunity to share that I’ve created a discord server! In it I’ll share things like updates on my current WIPs (both art and writing) and alerts when I post something new, but I’m also hoping it can be a bit of a creative community, where artists and authors and other creators can hang out and work and chat together and share their works and support each other! and if you’re not a creator yourself, you’re still a friend — everyone* is welcome 💖 I’ll share some WIPs and snippets and art streams and other fun stuff. even if you just wanna lurk and watch, that’s okay too 😘

It’s still new, but getting settled! If you’re interested in joining, you can find that here: https://discord.gg/2mB4swZTsG

thank you 🥰

*everyone 18 and older, since there will be NSFW content shared.

[hell0mega]

there's a million ways their reconciling could play out but i swear if we dont get a tearful apology and explanations of true feelings with a make-up kiss in the rain like a fuckin nicholas sparks movie i will riot

[ayarsi]

Good Omentober + Fictober (1)

Good Omentober Day 1 - pre-fall

Fictober prompt #21 - "Just in case this doesn't work." Fanfiction - Good Omens Rating - G Wordcount - 387

Stars?

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

"What's this for?"

A gray formation sprung from the ground, seemingly carefully constructed into a hollow sphere cut in half.

The angel moved close and peered into it.

It didn't have much depth. The inside was smooth and its external surface was embellished with lines and curves forming figures that encircled the whole area. Nothing was in it, but then again, God hadn't started creating anything else yet.

"It's a fountain, I believe," another angel answered, acknowledging the first angel's presence.

"What do you put in it? Surely, it wouldn't just be there and not-"

A book abruptly placed in the first angel's hands cut them short. The second angel, without ever glancing up from what looked like a thin stack of papers on a thin board, told the first of their task.

Millions of things to do, make, create. The book was almost thick enough to resemble their layers of clothing. Although there were many creations much more important to list, one caught the angel's eyes. Stars.

Stars?

"So these star things, what purpose do they have?"

"Not entirely sure, but they help make the immeasurable universe even more immeasurable. I think. You don't have to ask questions, you know, you just have to do what you're told."

"But I want to know why. Why we're told to do it, why I need to do it, and why it has to be done at all. You know, just in case this doesn't all work."

"Don't question it. This is God's Great Plan and you cannot and shall not..." The second angel's voice trailed off.

The first angel was completely mesmerized by the idea of creating these luminous, fiery stars that they had forgotten they even asked a question on what those were. They just knew they wanted to find out and see for themselves. The angel knew that somehow, their questions would be answered if they looked for it themselves.

The second angel had gone off to find other angels to instruct, and so the first was alone. They examined the fountain once more, wondering whether it was alright to touch it, and sat on the flat surface. In their hands was a book that needed some more flipping through but their eyes showed a sparkle that meant the stars would be the only thing they would focus on.

[llycaons]

the only other time in my life I’ve read this much fanned fiction was during my gomens days. lord, that series was insufferable. there was some good stuff though. mostly really funny stuff, and that EXCELLENT therapy one. probably nothing I’d read now, but I still have it bookmarked. I love that little bastard crowley with all my heart. aziraphale’s fine. I like their romance more than I liked him as a character

[gojo-mochi]

Asking JJK Men if you could watch them jerk off (Part 2; With: Nanami, Sukuna, and Choso) 

CW: Fem!Reader!. Choso have facial Piercing and nipple piercings, usage of nicknames (Baby, darling, love, honey..). Sukuna’s part is a bit mean, light pain and pinching on his part. Lots of drooling/spit. Some choking. Vibrartos usage. Oral F!Recieving. Face sitting. Slight Angst on Choso’s part. 

WC:4.3k

A/N: Whew! After this one I’m gonna work on my dec fic catalog so imma be busy… gomen.. Part 1 here!

Nanami:

You miss him when he has to work overtime. He always wakes up early as well. Leaving you still wrapped in the blankets, swaddled and cozy, planting a sweet kiss on your forehead, and tucking some hair behind your ear. “I’ll see you later, my dear.” He whispered, careful not to wake you up. Some days you try to get the best of him, doing your best to wake up earlier or at least at the same time as him. But he easily trapped you back in the bed when you stumbled out to greet him as he’s getting dressed, putting the tie on, your arms hugging his waist as your head nuzzles the middle of his shoulders. His heartbeat a nice lullaby for your weary self. He chuckles softly at the feeling of your voice mumbling out, “Good morning…”.  

Your eyes still closed to the world, he turns around and captures you in his arms, giving you more kisses this morning for your effort. Rubbing your noses together as he leans his forehead against yours and just takes in your scent. He stayed like this for a while, with you in his arms, gently swaying you back and forth. It was never enough, though. You both always craved more time together, but Nanami was always the bad guy in this situation. As he carries you up in his arms, princess style, placing you back in the bed as you complain, your hands catch on his tie as he gets the blanket and tucks you in. 

 His hand enveloped yours, bringing it up to his lips, kissing each knuckle with a spoken apology right after. He can’t promise you that he will be home early today, so he doesn’t say anything more, not wanting to lie and bring your hopes up. He leaves you in the bed once more, the warmth of it quickly fading away once Nanami leaves. You don’t hate him for it; you know he’s doing this for the both of you—for you and him to have an early retirement and live freely on the beach of Malaysia. Still, it was getting harder and harder without him, especially with his work being more demanding on him lately. 

 You got up later in the day, about an hour after Nanami left. You got ready for your own day, doing the daily items on your list, grocery shopping, cleaning, and everything else to keep your mind occupied. However, nearing the end of the day, Nanami still wasn’t home, giving you a heads-up in a text that he needed to stay after work again to finish a project. You sighed but texted him back that his dinner was on the counter and just needed warming up when he got back home. You resigned back to your empty bedroom, collapsing on the bed and staring at the ceiling. Thoughts of the morning come flooding to your mind—how vast and broad Nanami’s shoulders were when you hugged him. 

How good he smelled just coming out of the shower; His hair was perfectly styled as usual but still damp in some areas that you just wanted to run your fingers through. The look he gave you as you tugged on his tie made you slip a hand down your shorts, starting to card through your folds as wetness built in between them. Your mind went to your sweet husband, wanting him now more than ever. Your hand went on autopilot as it picked up your phone and dialed his number. Nanami was a bit shocked to see you calling him so late; his heart skipped a beat, wondering if you were in danger. He hastily picks up your call, only to be greeted by your soft moans echoing thru the line. His pants immediately tightened up. “Honey, are you alright?” He breathes out, a part of him still worried. You respond with a gasp and another soft moan of his name. “Kento, I miss you. I need you so badly..” Nanami closed his eyes, his free hand balling into a fist on his thigh, irritated at his boss and work for keeping him away from his sweet, pretty wife. “Can I see you?” You whimpered out, a finger slipping in your core as you asked him. 

 Nanami looked around him; the office was dark, and the only illumination was the glow from his desktop. He takes the phone and leans it back against his desktop, pressing the video call button. Laid back on the bed with your phone close to your face, you get a nice view of Nanami’s flushed face as the video turns on. His hands come to undo his ties as his baritone voice calls to you. ��Show me the mess you’re making, darling.” Your eyes flutter at his command, angling the phone down to show Nanami how you’re playing with yourself. “Only using your hands? Go get that toy I brought you for your birthday, love.” 

 You groan, slipping out your soaked fingers and taking this time to fully take off your shorts as you go find the cute little pink vibrartor that Nanami gifted you a while back. You showed it to him on the camera as he praised you, but before you turned it on, you asked him meekly. “Can I see you touch yourself too?” He raises an eyebrow at that, sucking in a breath. you think that was the wrong move to make and were about to retract your question when Nanami takes his phone back in his hand and scoots back in his chair. Giving you a full view of the tent bulging in his suit pants, his other hand undoing his belt. “We’ll do it together, alright?” 

 You nodded even though Nanami couldn't see you at the moment. Though he could hear the small vibrations as you turned on the bullet, you sat up on the bed, back against the headrest, legs spread. One hand angling the phone towards the front of your pussy while the other holds the bullet close to the clit. You wait for Nanami to be done first, your eyes never leaving your phone screen, as you watch the veins on his hand moving along with his fingers as he unzips and brings out his leaking cock. His watch on his wrist jiggles a little as he brings his cock up to full mast.

Palming the front of his cock as Nanami timbres out, “Slowly now, dear, I want to see you twitch for me.” Your body moved on his words alone, bringing the little bullet directly on your clit, following his directions as Nanami started to lightly fist the tip of his cock in his hand. “Do it in circles like how I did it, love, mmm, good girl..” A deep sigh comes from Nanami as he watches you soak the vibrartor, “God-fuckkk, bet you wish that was my hand, don’t you, dear?” He slowly starts to palm at his whole length this time, twisting his hand at the base the way he’s like you to do it.

“I've been neglecting you, haven’t I? I’m sorry, dear, I’ll make it up as soon as I’m home.”

“I’ll make sure that your pussy still remembers the shape of my cock in her.” 

“I miss your pretty mouth on me too, and I miss tasting you as well.”

“Fuck-I think I’ll take the whole day off tomorrow and spend them between your legs.” 

Nanami’s dulcet and deep voice made you all the wetter, your hand covered in your own arousal as he commanded you to keep the bullet on your clit. The video was shaking as you started to feel a tightness in your belly, one that you needed for a long time. “Ken-Kento!” He groans out with you, as his name falls from your sweet lips. “That's it, my love, I want to see you squirt for me.” With that final push, your thighs buck up as you squirt in front of the camera, wetting your phone, leaving droplets of your juice on the camera lens. 

A cute whine came from you as you calmed down, throwing the bullet to the side and bringing the phone back up to your face. Nanami praised you once more for being such a good girl, hissing softly as he pushed his cock back in his pants. When you questioned him about why he didn’t finish, He replies, “I can’t waste any of my cum here, I plan to fill you up when I’m home, so be a good girl and keep her nice and wet for me..”

Sukuna:

You thought he would deny you when you asked him. Thinking of something along the lines of; “Huh? Why would I use my own hands when I have your pretty mouth to use whenever I want?”. You were pleasantly surprised but wary when Sukuna agreed to do it so readily, that handsome but very punchable smirk wormed its way into his face as he crooned at you. “Who am I to deny my sweet girl her needs~?” He leans back, propping his elbow on the chair and resting his cheek on it as he stares down at you. A soft and delicate pout forming on his feature, his eyebrow creasing in so slightly as he asked you, asked, not commanded, “Could you help me get ready for it though, sweetness?”  

Your senses were screaming at you that this was a very horrible and obvious trap. But how could you resist those sweet, honeyed words, even if they were coming from a fanged mouth with a snake tongue. “Of course I’ll help.” And with that, the pact was sealed, and so was your fate. Sukuna yanks you on his lap the moment your words end, pulling you flush against his chest, facing forward so you couldn’t see the wicked grin on his face as he tears your clothes apart with his pointed fingernails. “Kuna!” You try to get off of his lap, but he easily traps you in with one bicep around your middle as his other hand wraps around your neck.

A firm hold with little pressure behind it, only a light squeeze as a warning not to act up again. “You said you were going to help me, right?” He didn’t give you the right to respond, forcing your head up and down in a nod as he cooed at you, praising you like you were the one that answered. “Good, now shut up and do as I say.” He lets go of your throat, letting the tip of his fingernail swipe along the side as another warning to behave. He finishes tearing at your shirt and your shorts, leaving you only in tattered dressing and your undies. His bicep flexes taunt as he leers down at your body.

A small growl emitting from his chest, the rumbling felt directly on your back, sending shivers throughout your body. He plays with your bra for a bit, cupping the fabric and thumbing over the part right over your nubs. Making you squirm and wiggle right on his bulge as he ruts up into you. Almost making you bounce off if not for his arm draped around your center, yanking you back in each time. A wet spot was already forming in the middle of your panties from all the friction Sukuna was giving you. He let out a booming chuckle, licking a stripe down your neck to your shoulder and nipping at your bra straps, his sharp canines breaking it apart easily. 

Switching sides to bite at the other strap and tossing your now broken and useless bra to the side, you thought about scolding him for doing that, since bras are not cheap, but any form of coherence was also tossed away as his nails came back to rip at your soaked panties now. Leaving you fully exposed on Sukuna’s lap, he placed your thighs over his so he could spread you apart, his fingers coming to do the same on your soaked lips. Your arms hugged around the bicep that was holding you down, biting back a yelp as Sukuna’s nails poked and prodded at your clit. 

A thin line between pain and pleasure was forming, a line that Sukuna knew exactly how to thread. Pushing you to the brink of tears by pinching at it, only to soothe away the pain by softly rubbing your clit. Collecting your arousal on the rough pads of his thumb and forefinger, nipping at the soft flesh of your neck, leaving marks that will stay there for days. Once he deems you wet enough, he’ll take away his hand, leaving your pussy to flutter and clench over nothing, your arms squeezing onto his bicep still, weak and restrained to Sukuna’s whims. Sukuna stood up with you still held on his chest, only for a short while, as he undoed the tie on his robe, wearing no boxers or any kind of undies underneath.

His cock springs out, heavy, red, and leaking, curving up slightly towards you. He’ll sit back down, making sure your thighs are spread open again, and tap his cock against your soaked entrance. Coating the back of his cock with your juices for a bit, even nudging the tip against your throbbing clit as you claw at his bicep, sweet whimpering pleas spilling out of your lips as you begged him for more. “Kunaaaaaa.” He nipped at your ear at your whining, “Hush, brat. We haven’t even gotten to the show yet.” You felt him smirk against your skin as he cupped your chin, forcing you to open your mouth and face downward. 

Getting a full view of his cock lined up by your entrance, his breath caresses your ear as he utters out. “Drool on it, brat. Make it sloppy, and don’t you dare spit, or else.” With his fingers squishing your cheeks in, making your lips parts open. You couldn’t form a reply, only feeling a wave of hot embarrassment overcome you as you felt salvia pool inside your mouth. You gurgle out something, trying to jolt your head away from this shame,only for Sukuna to tighten his hold on you. Pushing your head down further as a languid string of spit sluggishly comes out. 

It drips all the way down, still connected to your lips, as it hits the tip of Sukuna’s thick head. You could only watch, mortified, as the rest of your drool came out, some of it splitting off and hitting your belly. The sensation made you do a gurgling sort of whimper. Sukuna tugs your head back against his shoulder, pleased with the outcome. Laughing outright at the look on your face, “Aww, is the brat ashamed?” He crooned at you, fingers still pinching in on your cheeks as he licked away some of the slobber left on your chin. Only to leave his own wet spit on there. “Chin up, sweetie, the show can finally begin now~” 

He looks down, trailing his huge hand down from your cheeks, to your chest, to your stomach, and finally on his heated cock. Fisting it up and down slowly, rutting his hips up a bit, to bounce up forward so your pussy was grinding on it as he jerked himself off. The veins and girth of his cock were enough to make you mewl out in pleasure. Your soft, needy mews falling together with Sukuna’s low groans. It didn’t take long for Sukuna to stop using his hands, opting to bring your thighs together and squish the soft plush flesh around his length. Bouncing his legs up and down and basically using your thighs as his fleshlight.

A hand comes down in between to rub and pinch at your clit some more, not stopping once you were on the edge this time, your body writhing in his hold, arching off his chest as you cream all over his cock. Clenching over nothing as your legs still held together, his hot cock ready to burst soon after you. With a guttural growl, Sukuna’s releases his cum, spilling all over the top of your thigh. This isn’t exactly what you asked for but who are you to question the King? Not you, especially not when your mind was going blank as he began to push his fat tip inside… “Now for my reward, you're lucky I’m so giving, brat…”

Choso:

Choso was the sweetest, most caring, and most dedicated boyfriend you could ask for. He was a little bit clingy at times, but you enjoyed the attention he gave you. Your sweet, lovable, big guard dog of a boyfriend that looms over your shoulder silently whenever you’re talking to strangers or even your friends outside .His stern demeanor only cracks when his younger brother is around, his shoulders less tense but still placing a hand on your waist as a reminder to everyone of who you belong to. His fingers twitch a little whenever Yuji comes too close to you or gives you a bear hug. 

Don’t get him wrong, he loves that you get along with his brothers so closely, the idea of all of you being a close family together makes his heart swell. Though there was always that little nagging voice in the back of Choso’s head, stating that you’re too good for him and that you’ll leave him one day. So he always stands near you, a hand on you, the need to feel you there on his skin, to feel the blood coursing thru your veins, to know that you’re still here with him. Any stranger looking at the two of you would think that Choso would be the mean and domineering type of boyfriend. 

 With his multiple facial piercings, shadowy and ominous aura, and the dark makeup around his eyes, he gives off a pretty bad first impression. When it’s just the two of you alone, in the privacy of your own home. Choso turns from a menacing guard dog to a whiny puppy, always craving your attention. The two of you were relaxing on the bed, Choso on top of you, snuggling against your soft belly as you carded your finger thru his hair, the twin tails he usually wears gone. His hair cascading down his face, framing him in a way that makes him seem so vulnerable.

Your hand falls down to Choso’s cheek, and he nuzzles straight into it like a kitten, you snort at the feeling, his metallic piercing brushing against the palm of your hand. You lean up on your elbow, biting your lips as you go to ask Choso a question that has been lingering on the back of your mind for a while now. “Cho?” Your voice calls out to him, like a siren calling out into the misty sea. He squishes his cheek on your hand as he holds it closer, “Mm? Yeah, baby?’ His husky voice rings out, laced with a bit of tiredness that made it drop an octave deeper.

 Drool pooled in your mouth at the sight of your sweet boyfriend, looking at you so intently and filled with love. You pushed on forward, “I wanted to ask you something for a while now..” He raised an eyebrow at you but stayed silent, waiting for you to finish your sentence. Can I watch you jerk off, Cho?” You hear a strangled noise coming from the back of Choso’s throat as he starts choking a bit on his spit, surprised at your question. You smack his back to help him recover, he sits back up on the bed, looking at you with wide eyes. “You wanna watch me?”

He points to himself, shocked that you wanted to watch someone like him do the deed. Choso's image of himself was not very kind, he didn’t understand why someone like you would enjoy seeing him do that sort of thing, but he obliged, seeing the soft look in your eyes. “Ok, then can I ask something of you too?” His obsidian eyes glance around nervously, “Can you please sit on my face while you watch?” Now it was your turn to get shocked. “Won’t I be too heavy? I mean, I don't wanna crush you, Cho..” A low chuckle comes out from him; “First off, I don’t think you could crush me and secondly if I do die, I’ll die the happiest I've ever been.” He leans over to you, pressing a hot kiss on your lips. 

 His tongue swipes at your bottom lip, sucking on it greedily, tasting you and pushing you closer with a hand on the back of your neck. He parts from you, his eyes glazed over with a different kind of darkness as he takes in your vision. With another nip at your lips he asks; “So is that a yes then?” He sighs out, you nod in return, grabbing his shoulders and switching places with him. Pushing him on the bed, as you work on his pants, pulling them with haste, Choso chuckles once more, helping you by bending his knee as you throw the pants over his feet. 

Leaving him in only his black boxer, a delicious bulge already forming in the middle. Choso took you by the hands before you could do anything to him, “Come on, baby..” He ushered you to stand up on top of him, moving so you were facing the opposite side so you could watch him. You stripped yourself of your own pants and panties, kneeling down, your thighs on either side of Choso’s head, his hair tickling your thighs a little. You were hovering right over his face as Choso started to palm at his boxer, He whimpered out a needy, "Please, baby, just come down, I can take it, please.” He was feeling frisky just upon seeing your wet cunt.  

“Last chance to stop me.” You drawls out, a part of you wanting him to tell you to stop but a deeper part of you wanting to smother him already. Choso grips on your waist with his free hand, guiding you down on his awaiting mouth. Inhaling your scent upon contact, his tongue flattens itself on your folds, groaning at your taste. His hand slipped down his boxer as his cock flopped out heavily on his stomach. Choso ate you out before, but this position was different, and you could never get used to the feeling of his cold piercings on your sensitive skin, especially the tongue piercing that he had. The small metallic ball smoothing itself on your folds and hitting your clit was fervor. 

You almost forgot to keep your eyes open, getting too lost in the haze of pleasure from Choso’s tongue. You steadied yourself by placing your hands on his pecs, squeezing at them softly, finding the bumps of his nipple’s piercing, and tugging at them softly. Eliciting a moan from the man’s mouth, his hands covered in various rings of different sizes and shapes looked so divine as he started fisting his pale cock. Slow and steady, with some stutters in between. He eats you out, like your pussy was an oasis in a vast desert. Tongue working in overdrive, trying to get every last drop of your essence in his mouth even though most of it was spilling all over his face.

He taps your waist a bit as he pulls away just for a bit to tell you; “Mo-move your hips, baby. I want you to ride me, please.” He takes his hand away from your waist to rub circles on your clit as his nose is back to being buried in your core and his tongue lapping at your clit. You whined, feeling a tightness start to coil inside you already, you still did as he told you to, bucking your hips back and forth on his face. Your eyes water, barely able to see Choso squeezing at his own cock, the precum leaking out, coating his hand.  

Making it easier for him to fuck his fist, the wet noises of Choso’s jerking off and the slurping noises of him eating you out were combined with his low grunts and whines and your whimpers. Both of you were already nearing the end, your hips pressing down on his face as you lost control of your senses, Choso knew exactly where to press his tongue piercing on to you to make you give the best reactions. He was so pussydrunk on you that he barely even realized that he was about to cum too. Your hands dug into his chest even more, your thighs squeezed his head, covering his ears so he could hear a little bit of your pitched moan as you gushed all over his face.  

Choso’s hand seemed to move on autodrive as he gulped up everything he could in the moment, his own hips bucking up into his fist as hot rope of cum spilled out on his thigh, spurting out a few more as he stopped moving his hand. You both stayed in that position for a while, breathing out heavily. However when you make a move to get up, Choso’s hand finds its way back on your waist bringing you down. “Wait, stay with me for a bit, I can handle it.” His tongue folded itself back on your cunt, licking a strip up and down your sensitive flesh. You mewled out at the contact, thighs shivering already but his grip on you was tight. 

 His cock was still hard and heavy on his stomach, but he didn’t care for it at the moment. “This time, just let me eat for a while, ok, baby?” “You taste so good, I wanna drown in you…”

[intenseperpetualbrainrot]

The casting of Michael Sheen and David Tennant for good omens was artful, and not just in a "they did a real good job" way.

The thing about queer media is that it's not just the film. When an actor does a queer film, regardless of whether they're queer themselves, they're somehow taken as a Representative Of The Alphabetti Spaghetti. So, to star in queer media you have to be morally rock solid, unable to be found fault with, or it seems to set queer people back? Which is ridiculous.

David Tennant is SUCH a household name, literally has been Doctor Who, and doesn't use the internet enough to care about some transphobes on shitter sorry twit sorry xitter. For him to do gomens is wild but also meant that my father, who wasn't homophobic but apathetic, has now watched queer media and vaguely understood queer issues. (This may in part be because of his queer daughter, but regardless.)

Michael Sheen is an actual angel in real life. "I give all my profit to charity" right Sheen, give the rest of us a bit of generosity- oh, and he's sold his house. For him to do queer media means nobody's finding faults in his character. For him to do queer media means it's not just another excuse for people to discriminate against queer people. Also, for him to do so well at it? Like yes, you stare at David Tennant with lovesick eyes (I mean we're all doing it, but none of us TO HIS FACE ON CAMERA WHEN WE STILL HAVE TO WORK WITH HIM-)

Anyway just a few thoughts. They rattled around my brain for a bit like tumbleweeds and I might not have expressed this well but have them.

[pikahlua]

Fourteen Days of MHA: Day 3

Light Fades to Rain

Okay, let's gush. Here are my feelings about the anime adaptation of chapters 360-362: season 7 episode 11. This will quickly devolve from eloquent discussion to raging madness I promise.

The opening five minutes are the weakest part of the episode. This is the only section I will lodge any complaints about, and honestly they're not that serious.

The sadomasochism got toned down :P

I kind of expected it, and honestly I get why. Even though it was scaled back, the scene was effective enough for most viewers because there's just something about seeing it animated that makes it feel visceral anyways. The detail was always going to be reduced in the art when adapted to animation, and a lot of that art could've looked really bad without the necessary detail.

But it wouldn't be on brand for me if I didn't mention that it bummed me out lol.

The only other thing I can complain about isn't even an issue with the episode, it's an error in the subtitles.

"...you're just goldfish poop next to All For One."

a) It should be "One For All," not "All For One."

b) I don't think they should have kept it as "goldfish poop." Sorry to any language purists out there, but the idiomatic meaning of this phrase in Japanese will not get picked up by an English-speaking audience--and that idiom is important. It has an impact on how Katsuki behaves going forward. I think the subtitles should have changed that to something like "a minnow in One For All's wake" or "a tag-along weakling," ANYTHING to get the point across that Tomura is trying to inflict psychological damage by telling Katsuki he'll never amount to anything on the level of One For All. That message informs the rest of the episode!

Now, if that's the only complaint I have about this whole episode--a slightly too-fast-paced-under-detailed opening scene and a bad subtitle--then I'm a happy camper. And indeed that is the only complaint I have.

This episode is a masterpiece of adaptation.

The focus on the Big Three is so good because it does such a good job of masking where the episode is going but it's perfectly in-theme because of the parallels the three of them have with Izuku and Katsuki. IT JUST WORKS MAN. I LOVE IT.

The music that plays when Katsuki mutters is an excellent choice, though I wish they could have done something to hammer the point home more that he was indeed muttering and analyzing like Izuku does. Maybe the little "mutter" text would've been dissonant in tone lol but still I wish there was a way they could've done it. I do think the point does come across in the end still, but it's just more impactful when you get to see the little "mutter" text come full circle. Yeah yeah, manga vs anime and all that.

I didn't expect the tone they went with for Jeanist's reaction to Katsuki's muttering, but it was just different not like bad or anything. I kinda liked the whole "what the fuuuuck" vibe of it. I was thinking more like "Holy shit, I'm a proud dad" tone but this works XD

Jeanist is such a dad.

HE SPARKLE. KATSUKI, HE SPARKLE. IT SO PRETTY. AT LAST.

The animators were SOOOO trying to hide the twist this episode from the anime-only viewers, they didn't even put Katsuki on the commercial bumpers, they didn't want to SPOIL THE SURPRISE. IT'S SO GOOD.

Lost it at Tenko's freak out (damn voice actor wow) and Mirio's "g-gomen." I need the dub of this scene so bad.

JEANIST MY FIRST LOVE, DAD-ING SO HARD ALL OVER THIS EPISODE LOOK AT HIM GO.

Nejire is adorable as hell and everyone in MHA is so easily read as autistic it's remarkable actually.

They really put the typography behind the plasma cannon they actually did that.

UNF THAT PIANO. THE PIANO GOES OFF ALL OVER THE PLACE THIS EPISODE, DAMN.

Also good job on making the plasma cannon blast look small and precise to contrast Katsuki's attack last episode, because Katsuki definitely has more firepower but Tamaki has the finesse to concentrate the attack for a sustained period.

BOOTS BOOTS BOOTS BOOTS BOOTS BOOTS BOOTS BOOTS BOOTS BOOTS BOOTS BOOTS BOOTS BOOTS BOOTS BOOTS

Everything from BOOTS on is perfection I know you all already know that.

Jeanist's voice acting is underappreciated, I really loved him this episode.

The little special sound effect for his clusters now!!! IT MAKES ME SO EXCITED. I CAN'T WAIT TO SUPERIMPOSE IT OVER KATAMARI DAMACY NEXT SEASON

Present Mic with the La Brava's-Love-quirk soft narration omg [chef's kiss]

OKAMOTO. OKAMOTO OH MY GOD. YOU GIVING ME FEELINGS WITH YOUR VOICE CRACKS I CAN'T SLEEP

The slo-mo shots are so pretty ;_;

THEY GAVE US MORE KUDOU TOO AND IT WAS SO GOOD, THE CONNECTION WAS DRAWN SO WELL BETWEEN HIM AND KATSUKI I AM LOVING IT SO MUCH. IT ALSO HELPS THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING AUDIENCE UNDERSTAND THIS IS DEFINITELY THE AFO-DOMINANT PERSONALITY NOT TOMURA.

Even if this series ends without explaining it, I'm going to come up with my own explanation for that vestige world shit. That cannot just be symbolic afterlife bullcrap. IT MEANS SOMETHING.

He's just a boy ;_; He's just a baby boyyyyyy

GIVE HIM HIS AUTOGRAPH BY THE END OF THIS SERIES SO HELP ME--

he spin thru the air like a meme

It's time for Horikoshi's favorite character: Bakucorpse!

You wanted the blue sky gone, but at what cost?

YES I'M LOVING THE VIBE FROM THE THUNDER SOUND

Oh...oh it hurts a lot to see in color, oh he's so pale...ohhhh no

THAT ENDING SONG? NOW? HOW DARE.

That horrifying feeling of emptiness at the end :)

The joy of watching others cry over this 👀

Katsuki is the actual symbol of hope I don't care what anyone says. All hope of victory is lost with his death and the only chance of winning comes from reviving him with the literal power of hopes and prayers and wishes. He is Hope Incarnate. A very Sassy (Soft Precious) Hope Incarnate.

[applestorms]

a few additional notes after finishing reading the book: (tbh you could probably just read this reblog if the above essay is too many words. not that this is much better, but, y'know.)

1. i've figured out that the big thing that might make aziraphale & crowley becoming fully human by the end of the series unsatisfying to me is the fact that we don't actually know what happens to humans when they die in the good omens universe (well, we can infer, but we still haven't seen it directly for heaven & have only had a few one-off jokes for hell). since so much effort has been put forth into setting up heaven & hell as these mutually horrible places filled with flawed bureaucracies, the idea that aziraphale & crowley would spend the rest of their human lives in peace on earth and then just die and get stuck in their respective nightmares anyways is incredibly unsatisfying to me. kind of a minor point that will probably get figured out fairly easily, but still significant enough to have been bothering me for a while.

2. i keep forgetting to talk about this, but w/ regards to crowley:

so my main point for section 2 of the above essay is that there are basically two different kinds of ethics/morality/whatever the fuck you wanna call it (my philosophy training is pouting at me for being so imprecise with the terminology here but this is a fucking tumblr post so suck it) in the good omens universe: Good & Evil (capitalized), which are essentially just placeholders that describe which side an action puts you in favor of Heaven or Hell, and good & evil (lowercase), the more complex realm of ethics/morality/whatever that originates from & primarily affects humanity/the lives of humans in some way.

this distinction is quite important to me, especially for aziraphale since i feel like one of aziraphale's key issues that he runs into most significantly at the end of s2e6 is his inability to separate goodness (the human kind) from Goodness (the heaven kind). one of the key things that distinguishes aziraphale & crowley from the rest of heaven & hell in my mind is the fact that they both have a much stronger sense of intuitive goodness (lowercase), which makes sense considering how much more in touch with humanity they've been.

while crowley to me seems slightly more consciously aware of this separation, i still don't think he's totally come to terms with the extent of the separation. my big guess for season 3 is that it's going to have to involve aziraphale & crowley getting in back in touch with humanity again. we can already see hints of this kind of thing at the end of season 2 with maggie & nina very bluntly saying that they can't just play around with their lives like they're meaningless dolls (or, more precisely, meaningful only in the context of this other big game between heaven & hell), and crowley is clearly listening more closely than aziraphale, but they both have a ways to go still imo.

i've said this a billion times by now but crowley is fucked up in a very legitimately traumatized sense. basically all of his reactions in the most tense moments for the last few seasons have been literal fight or flight responses- run away to alpha centauri, fuck heaven & hell, the only people we can trust are each other, aziraphale, etc. etc. etc. while crowley might be more aware of the difference between (human) goodness and (heavenly) Goodness, i still don't think he's been able to accept that he's capable of? allowed to be? an actually good person yet, regardless of the fact that we see him and aziraphale doing good (lowercase) shit in basically equal amounts, maybe even more if we account for the good deeds aziraphale does that may or may not also/instead be categorized as Good (uppercase) deeds (uh more on that later). he has a lot of lines following his good actions in season 2 where he fairly explicitly says "nuh uh no i'm not good i'm an evil wily serpent and even if you did tell people i did this they wouldn't believe you, sucker," which... may be true? or may be a leftover instinct to protect his own ass against the people constantly watching them, i'm kind of in debate with myself about what particular mental gymnastics he's looping his lil snake body through in this case.

regardless, i see a lot of hope for crowley in the ways that he can grow in both 1. his potential closer connection with humanity by the fact that he's choosing to go against both heaven & hell still- his glances at nina & maggie right before he gets in the car are still kinda up for interpretation if they're a goodbye or a promise to come back until we see the next season i guess, but i'd like to think he keeps in closer contact, if only to distinguish him from aziraphale who is definitely going to get fucked up & stuck in heaven somehow, and 2. his freedom from heaven & hell perhaps giving him some room to breathe when it comes to deciding what he wants to do for himself- personally, i think the fact that he was so (relatively) quick to take up maggie & especially nina on their advice once they started pointing out his shit to him is also evidence of the fact that he isn't feeling the constant watchful stare of heaven & hell anymore, which was a Major Factor that cannot go unforgotten as part of the reason why aziraphale & crowley weren't communicating in the first place, imho. at the very least, crowley's role throughout a lot of the story thus far has been leading aziraphale by asking him Questions that mix up his black & white Good vs. Evil instincts, so it would make sense that it might continue. also, thematically having the demon save the angel by granting him more humanity feels very on vibe with the rest of good omens, especially since we saw What Happened when the angel tried to save the demon by making him an angel again.

again though, i don't think that aziraphale is entirely wrong in this case either though. a lot of the fallout of season 2 comes from the fact that crowley kind of basically won the argument from season 1 when it comes to his judgement of heaven & hell. he's not wrong, they are both toxic as hell, but at this point running away just Is Not a happy ending for those two, not like it could be for gabriel & beelz who never had the same connection to earth or humanity in the first place. my guess is that while crowley is going to help aziraphale once again distinguish between goodness and Goodness and get back in touch with humanity again, aziraphale is going to have to help crowley see that running away and leaving heaven & hell, two incredibly powerful, reality-altering entities, in such a horrible state isn't really a great answer either. there's a quote from adam in the original book that really sums up this idea well to me:

"I don't see what's so triffic about creating people as people and then gettin' upset 'cos they act like people," said Adam severely. "Anyway, if you stopped tellin' people it's all sorted out after they're dead, they might try sorting it all out while they're alive. If I was in charge, I'd try makin' people live a lot longer, like ole Methuselah. It'd be a lot more interestin' and they might start thinkin' about the sort of things they're doing to all the enviroment and ecology, because they'll still be around in a hundred years' time."

(pg. 432)

again, this is why i (currently, at least, this could definitely change depending on how the trajectory of the show actually ends up going but it's gonna be Years and i need to get some shit out of my brain in the meantime) want a more concrete view of what shit after death actually looks like for humanity. aziraphale & crowley's main connection, the thing that binds them and separates them out from the rest of Their (respective) Kind(s), is their love of humanity- letting heaven & hell continue to stay in their current shitty state is just unacceptable if it hurts what is so clearly dear to the both of them, and that's where i think aziraphale's argument holds some weight as well.

2.1 good & evil vs. Good & Evil

minor clarification: i know i'm playing pretty fast & loose with the terminology here, but i do want to note that goodness & Goodness as i distinguish them in this context here, with the lowercase g for humanity and capital G for heaven, are not necessarily entirely separate things, and in fact are probably generally quite similar, motivating the confusion between the two that aziraphale seems to currently be struggling with at the end of s2 under my interpretation. i.e. the actions themselves might not actually be all that different, the vast majority of the time.

rather, what i'm trying to distinguish here is less between the actions themselves and more how they come to be declared as g/Good in the the first place.

essentially: an action is deemed Good in the heavenly sense if it is something that benefits heaven/is on the side of heaven, regardless of what the specific action is. spider-man helping an old, bedridden neighbor by buying her groceries for her would be considered a Good (uppercase) action not only because he's helping someone but because Helping Someone, Kindness, and Care for the Elderly are all things connected to the side of heaven- the action gets heaven points instead of hell points, so it's deemed Good. in this case however it may also be considered a good (lowercase) action, because whatever brand of human-based ethics you're using will probably deem taking care of others to be a good thing- the action itself is deemed good here, perhaps because of the effects it has if you wanna use more of a consequentialist pov here.

on the other hand, you get a lot of the moral ambiguity & ethical questions found & analyzed in good omens itself- letting adam kill all of humanity is ultimately considered a Good action if it means that it starts a war that heaven can win, even if it is absolutely not a good action in terms of how it causes all of humanity to die & suffer. this is why i say that Good & Evil in the heaven & hell sense are actually amoral, because they can entirely agree on certain actions (e.g. adam destroying the world) so long as the conclusion supports their side in some way.

actually, speaking of- aziraphale & crowley initially trying to kill adam is actually a really interesting case to me when considering everything in this context cause it shows how aziraphale & crowley are still figuring a lot of shit out when it comes to getting in touch with human lowercase good & evil. ultimately they don't end up killing adam, but that's largely because madame tracy stops them through her inability to help commit such an evil (lowercase) act, again the case of a human ethical sense winning out over the supernatural justification. aziraphale & crowley are still kind of on the same page in that they don't want to completely destroy humanity, but they haven't quite developed the same instincts perhaps, or the same hard boundaries that the humans around them have.

3. some other great quotes that i particularly liked while reading:

*Shadwell hated all Southerners and, by inference, was standing at the North pole. (pg. 218)

"It's like you said the other day," said Adam. "You grow up readin' about pirates and cowboys and spacemen and stuff, and jus' when you think the world's all full of amazin' things, they tell you it's really all dead whales and chopped-down forests and nuclear waste hangin' about for millions of years. 'Snot worth growin' up for, if you ask my opinion." (pg. 263)

"And as for that stuff about Heaven inevitably winning... Well, to be honest, if it were that cut and dried, there wouldn't be a Celestial War in the first place, would there? It's propaganda. Pure and simple. We've got no more than a fifty percent chance of coming out on top. You might just as well send money to a Satanist hotline to cover your bets, although to be frank when the fire falls and the seas of blood rise up you lot are all going to be civilian casualties either way. Between our war and your war, they're going to kill everyone and let God sort it out- right?" (Aziraphale, pg. 330)

But, to look on the bright side, all this only went to prove that evil contains the seeds of its own destruction. Right now, across the country, people who would otherwise have been made just that little bit more tense and angry by being summoned from a nice bath, or having their names mispronounced at them, were instead feeling quite untroubled and at peace with the world. As a result of Hastur's action a wave of low-grade goodness started to spread exponentially throughout the population, and millions of people who ultimately would have suffered minor bruises of the soul did not in fact do so. So that was all right. (pg. 365)

Newt did not smoke, because he did not allow nicotine or (until today) alcohol entry to the temple of his body or, more accurately, the small Welsh Methodist tin tabernacle of his body. (pg. 404)

and, of course:

Finally the guard's proving intellect found a word he thought he recognized. "What's this here," he said suspiciously, "about us got to give you faggots?" "Oh, we have to have them," said Newt. "We burn them." "Say what?" "We burn them." The guard's face broadened into a grin. And they'd told him England was soft. "Right on!" he said. (pg. 407-408)

morality in the world of good omens

so i wrote another (admittedly very messy) essay on good omens not long ago right after watching season 2 but after finishing that, rewatching all of both seasons multiple times, and reading through the book, i have a couple more distinct ideas to get out...somewhere...if only for my own sanity. this is me throwing my thoughts into the internet before i pop, if you will. just 3 sections, below the cut.

1. environment, characters, & transformative fandom creations

to start this post off a bit more broadly, i've been thinking a lot recently about transformative fandom and the reasons why we write fanfiction/create semi-original works in the first place, as well as why certain aspects of fandom (writing, art, analysis, etc.) will be more appealing to me for certain shows/series than others. correct me if you have a totally different view of this, but in my experience i've found that i tend to naturally gravitate towards different parts of fandom depending on what the original medium of the story was- podcasts tend to lead to some of the most interesting art trends, for example, since there's more room for interpretation and character design tends to be more of an ongoing community project than something set in stone like for a tv show with live human actors.

in my own observation, i've noticed that a lot of the really big & excitable fandoms, the ones that generate tons & tons of fanworks more naturally (a.k.a. just because of the story itself & not other factors like a pre-existing franchise or hype about new great gay representation, etc.) tend to surround stories that fall into a kind of "sweet spot" that makes the creation of fanworks really appealing. if you've ever wondered why there are so many ravenous artists bending over backwards to draw gorgeous fanart for stuff like homestuck or south park or even minecraft youtubers, it's likely because those stories all fall into a sweet spot for drawing, with character designs that are recognizable at a glance and yet still simple enough that there is plenty of room for personal creative touches. (think also, if you're familiar with such kinds of homestuck terms: hyperflexible mythologies, A4:1524, and/or this archive link cause the official thing is down now for some reason)

the conclusion i've come to is thus that even something as basic as the original medium of a story can dictate a lot about what kinds of fan activities are more common or popular within said story's fandom.

so, back to good omens- for me, this all relates back because of a question i've been messing with in my head recently, about why i've been less interested in fanfiction for good omens than i have been for the last few fandoms i've been, almost all of which have basically broken my ao3 bookmarks.

this question has been fucking with me for a while now, largely because i'm not entirely sure what's motivating it. a lot of times i can figure out pretty easily why i might personally not be interested in some parts of fandom, but that's not really the case here. from what i've seen this fandom seems to be pretty mixed in terms of age, & the writing that i have read is certainly no worse than i've seen elsewhere, perhaps even better in some places- and yet, i can't seem to get entirely into it, even getting frustrated as i can't find something to my tastes for an ao3 bedtime story as i've grown so accustomed. what caught me off guard is that this was an issue that i ran into while watching season 1 as well, back when the series was still quite popular but not blowing up like it is right now.

a lot of this may seem like (and likely is, at least in part) basic overthinking, but i mentioned it all here because the answer i eventually came to is reminiscent of my previous reflections above on the nature of fandom & how/why fanworks are created.

a couple paragraphs above, i used the example of art as an example of how fandoms that generate a lot of original artwork will often do the most when the original story falls into a sweet spot of character design, but notably i think that this sentiment applies to a lot more than just art. if you've ever seen the copious amounts of kpop & hockey rpf fanfiction that lives on ao3, it should be clear that this applies to writing too.

i wrote this essay a while back responding to an observation about the lack of a more extensive symbolic language in fanfiction & i've toyed around with the idea more since, particularly in considering the question of why a lot of what we see as the staples of fanfiction exist in the first place. in that post, my response largely revolved around an argument of why we create fanfiction- namely, that fanfiction is created as in tandem with deeper analysis of the original story/series, as a way of trying to practically apply character analysis to a new context.

the key part of that last sentence to me is how a lot of this revolves around character analysis (and shipping, but really it's the characters that motivate the shipping in most cases so. same difference).

i tend to instinctively separate fanfiction into two separate categories: fanfiction that is based out of the original world/canon of the story (including but not limited to fix-its, deeper analysis fics that take a scene & extrapolate from it, continuations, etc.) and fanfiction that takes the characters from the original story & plops them in an alternate universe/AU. while i separate these out as two distinct categories of fanfiction, i should also clarify that i don't think these two groups are necessarily equal in terms of number of fics- rather, the vast majority of fanfiction tends to be AUs, keeping the original characters & changing any & all aspects of the world around them. again, this may vary depending on the story & Vibe of the fandom at the time, stories like game of thrones or harry potter or homestuck might have a lot more in the canon category by nature of any major dissatisfactions the fandom has with how the original story was told, but in most cases AUs are more popular. this was a lot of the basis behind my argument that fanfiction is created as character analysis in fact, since the characters are the most important part that carries over from original story to fanwork, as well as can end up being one of the most debated/scorned parts when it comes to fandom drift (i.e. "that's out of character"/"he wouldn't do that"/and all other such arguments about fanon vs. canon characterization).

basically, my conclusion in this case was that i was a lot less interested in gomens fic largely because i have a really hard time separating the characters from the world in the case of this particular story. aziraphale & crowley being an angel & a demon and dealing with all of the bullshit of their world when it comes to heaven & hell are such integral parts of their characters in my mind that i have a much harder time getting behind AU fanfiction that plops them in a totally different context. it's just a much harder sell for keeping the characters in character for me. (i also tend to not like s2 fix-its just cause, idk they're just not my style, which is where a lot of the recent blast of energy has led us.) to clarify, this is not a judgement, just a matter of personal preference and a reflection of why, even if a lot of fandoms will look the same from the outside/involve the same things like art, fic, etc., an individual's mileage can vary wildly when it comes to how they interact with different things online.

*additional note, also for clarification: i do want to acknowledge that a lot of this depends on pure popularity as well, popular fandoms will often end up with basically everything in terms of fanworks just by nature of how many people are interacting with & thinking deeply about the story. my point here is more along the lines of the fact that even within the more well-populated fandoms, certain types of fanwork will often Stick Out more to me than others, or even be visibly much more common than in other fandoms, due largely to the original medium/structure of how the story.

so, speaking of aziraphale & crowley in more depth now- why does the world of good omens feel like such an integral part of their personalities when it comes to characterization? up next, let's talk about morality within the context of good omens' perhaps surprisingly secular take on heaven & hell.

2. the amorality of heaven & hell (ft. the crowley quote apples you know the one)

(warning in advance that this section may be a bit limited since i'm not going to get super far (or very far at all, really) into the whole religious-analysis aspect of good omens.)

i've been binge-reading the original pterry & gaiman book for good omens over the last few days and it's been very fun seeing all the slight changes between the tv show & the original. you can really see the hand of the original creators in how the tv show was translated, even just by looking at which parts made it and which parts were deemed worth cutting out. i suppose having one of the original creators right there helping build everything really helps make a book -> show translation work, since the ASOUE tv series was also pretty well received- something about knowing what's the core of the series & truly important to keep in, and having more time to tell the story itself?

anyways, i have a short list of notes that i've been taking as i read, conversations that stand out to me or footnotes that particularly amused me, but i keep coming back to one line that stood out to me quite early on. in context, this line comes from crowley during the conversation where he is first attempting to fully convince aziraphale about stopping armageddon, specifically when they're talking about exerting equal forces on warlock to make him normal:

"You're saying the child isn't evil of itself?" [Aziraphale] said slowly. "Potentially evil. Potentially good, too, I suppose. Just this huge powerful potentiality, waiting to be shaped," said Crowley. He shrugged. "Anyway, why're we talking about this good and evil? They're just names for sides. We know that."

(p. 67)

"They're just names for sides." if i had to pick one line to sum up the view on religious morality of this series, this would likely be it.

on the one hand, i tend to interpret a lot gomens' take on heaven & hell within the context of its political stance, something that is particularly obvious through a line from gabriel in s2e2 where he tries to clarify to aziraphale that heaven isn't trying to hurt job directly, but instead is just not stopping hell from doing horrible things to him. while there may be some additional nuance to add to this take within the context of british politics that i don't really know well enough to add about, i'm inclined to see this from the side of my own familiar american politics, which might hold some weight considering how long mr. gaiman's lived around here. point is, my current interpretation of that line is that it helps in more clearly establishing the analogy of heaven & hell as the story moves forward into newer seasons and thus more contemporary politics, equating heaven with mainstream liberal politics & politicians and hell with conservatives.

this stance seems to be emphasized even more in the tv show than the book which makes sense considering its been coming out more recently, and especially in season 2 which is still quite caught up in a lot of quarantine-based reflection. (the tv show puts a lot more emphasis on heaven & hell in general, actually, perhaps initially a byproduct of actually being able to see those environments in their entirety and all the angels & demons that populate them- but we'll get to that.)

the book takes a slightly different stance that, fittingly, seems more reflective of the time it came out. in particular, i was struck a lot more when reading the book by adam's rise (fall?) to power, and how much of it was motivated by a burgeoning nervousness/pessimism about climate change and the anxieties of younger generations that comes with inheriting an earth that feels so fucked up. honestly if anything it's only gotten more relevant in that respect, what with the current vibe on the internet & the hopelessness of the doomer gen z gang, but it also has a distinctly different flavor to me from the tv show, which i think is largely because it's less connected to Formal politics since again we see a whole lot less of heaven & hell as such distinct, bureaucratic entities.

instead, there is a very distinctly amoral aspect to heaven & hell that we get through lines like the one above and especially from characters like crowley. this is why i argue that good omens, despite having so many religious elements, is such a deeply secular take, especially when it comes to its ethics & morality- Good and Evil, notably with the capital letters in this case, has very little to do with actual actions and much more to do with the name that you stamp on top of said actions. heaven & hell and the angels & demons that we see directing and watching and generally fucking with aziraphale & crowley throughout the story are distinctly separate from humanity, and as we see even more as the story progresses, distinctly unaware about what it even means to be a human, in both a deeper philosophical & very basic and literal sense. Good and Evil is simply another name for the sides- and thus the true ethics is something separate, and based in a deeply human experience.

in my opinion this is also why aziraphale & crowley, lovers of humanity and also to some degree spokespersons of it from how much they've "gone native," tend to be so deeply at odds with both heaven & hell and always end up agreeing with each other over their own supposed sides. what makes aziraphale & crowley so distinctly different is that they ascribe to the same ethics & morality that humanity does, or at the very least are trying to figure out ethics & morality & How to Be a Good Person in the same horribly messy way that humans do, separating them from the black & white "this side Good & this side Bad," logic that the rest of heaven & hell instinctively ascribe to.

there's a lot of nuance here, which is also why i think there is such an emphasis on moral ambiguity (and love, but we'll get to that) throughout season 2. the story of job, grave robbing, & questionable attempts at matchmaking- aziraphale is working through a lot of Shit right now when it comes to trying to figure out what the Good thing actually fucking is, and i think it's key that a lot of that is motivated by crowley himself. crowley might'e been cast out of heaven for asking too many questions, but aziraphale is there & listening to them & giving them the serious thought they deserve, and that can't be overlooked.

sidenote: i couldn't figure out a place to shove this in, but i also wanna point out that a lot of this is tied to the idea of growing over time too. on the same page as the quote transcribed above is another line from crowley leading up to aziraphale's question that puts a lot of emphasis on the fact that warlock is going to be a product of nurture, not nature. again, this is an argument against basic black & white assigned-at-birth morality for the ability of humans to grow & change over time and be influenced by the people around them.

it's notable that despite adam's supposed origin as a Son of Satan, what really gets him to stop the apocalypse in the end is the fact that he doesn't really give a shit about all this big plans but instead just wants to hang around his friends. there's a lot of emphasis in the book placed on how beautiful & nice tadfield is as a place for a young kid to grow up, how well loved & fiercely protected it as as something beloved to adam. while he might be overwhelmed when faced with the full picture of how horrible the world can be, ultimately what he cares about is loving & taking care of the people & places that he grew up learning were precious, and the only way to do that is to keep growing & changing yourself within that world and trying to help it also grow into something better, not throw it all away just for the slightest chance that you could restart. a message worth taking the time to think about, at the absolute very least.

3. finding morality w/in humanity: crowley & aziraphale and speculation for s3

i have complicated feelings about both aziraphale & crowley throughout a lot of the show and especially in season 2. i think a lot of people, myself included, are inclined to see crowley as the voice of reason in this season, and for good reason- as i mentioned before, a lot of aziraphale's deeper questioning of the status quo and goodness (Goodness) as a whole is motivated by questions from crowley.

i kiiind of mentioned this in my previous essay, but to state it more clearly, my take on crowley is that he's arriving at the right answer for the wrong reasons, and, conversely, aziraphale is arriving at the wrong answer for... kind of also the wrong reasons but also slightly for the right reasons. let me explain.

crowley is clearly much more aware of the flaws in both heaven & hell than aziraphale is, which seems to be the basis behind a lot of his motivation in asking aziraphale so many questions in the first place. he's also, as maggie & nina point out in s2e6, deeply lonely, often running away or getting ready to fight literally anyone that isn't aziraphale (or humans, but that's a little more complicated). from his reaction to beelz & gabriel getting together, i think it's pretty clear that he still hasn't entirely given up on the whole alpha centauri idea, and it makes sense- as i said in that last essay, crowley basically won the argument at the end of the previous season when it comes to aziraphale & crowley, "making [their] own side," so he doesn't have much reason to face any of his personal fears until maggie & nina basically point out that they exist directly to his face. once they do point it out, however, he's very motivated to act & does so almost immediately, even after hearing what aziraphale has to tell him and being pretty thoroughly devastated by it.

my point here is that crowley is correct in seeing the toxicity of both heaven & hell, he's just flawed and largely motivated by fear (up for debate if that's all it is, but i certainly think it's a big part of it) in his desire to run away from it all. it's not quite armageddon, again he's going more flight > fight here, but he's still ultimately giving up and that's not a great conclusion.

on the other hand, as some others on this site have pointed out, aziraphale is certainly showing a lot of strength in his willingness to keep fighting & try to change things for the better, but it's not hard to see how that belief has been twisted. one of aziraphale's biggest flaw in motivation at this point imo is that he doesn't just believe in goodness but Goodness, the kind that's tied to heaven always being right & all actions being morally Good so long as they're done under the name of heaven, and that clearly also isn't great.

thus what i think the both of these two really need ultimately is that deeper connection to humanity, and the ethics born from humans interacting with humans. we can already see how strong these two are when they collaborate, even when they're doing their absolute best to be as subtle as possible, but what i think they need is to once again be grounded by humanity, not to get so caught up in the bullshittery of heaven & hell and Good & Evil, but once again find a goodness defined by the world that they mutually love so much and stick with it.

i keep tossing a question around in my head about whether or not aziraphale & crowley are going to end up human by the end of this series. it feels natural that they would, they're already so at home and in love with earth & around humanity, but i'm also not entirely sure if that would be a happy ending for them considering how long they've watched & loved the world as it's changed. perhaps taking this post into account is another push towards humanity as a happy ending, not running away to a cottage to get away from the world (i just can't see running away to a cottage to be together as as happy ending, sorry- it might work for beelz & gabriel but not for aziraphale & crowley), but choosing to settle down within that world that is so dear.

[raz-writes-the-thing]

Better Hurry

Crowley x Fem!Reader18+ ONLY / requests are: open and encouraged

Summary: Based on no. 22 from this prompt list: “if i have to pull over, you won’t be able to walk for a week.”

CW: blowjobs, oral (m receiving), dom!Crowley, slight force used, female reader

Gomens Tag List: @coffee-and-red-lipstick @quickslvxrr (send an ask to be added to a tag list!)

___ ___ ___ ___ ___

You’re playing with fire. You know that. Or, well, would it be Hellfire? Either way, you’re playing with it and fire, no matter what kind- always burns. You should know better by now, and yet, you never seem to take the lessons on and retain them. No matter, maybe you’ll take it to heart next time. 

Probably not. 

Crowley is driving you home after having spent all day in the bookshop with him and Aziraphale. They’d said you should stay for the night, but you had a cat at home that needed feeding. You were worried she might just take you out as soon as you opened the door, actually. Maybe you’d send Crowley in first. Invite him in under the pretense of a coffee and then leave him to the mercy of your cat. 

Currently, you have your hand splayed over Crowley’s denim-clad thigh. You’d laid it there innocently enough at first, but as your mind tended to do, it strayed. Innocent thigh touching had grown into absent-minded stroking, had turned into groping, had turned into your fingers delicately sliding up towards his crotch and squeezing.

 

“If I have to pull over, you won’t be able to walk for a week,” the Demon growls, eyes glinting dangerously at you from behind his shades. You smother a grin as best you can, and give him another firm squeeze, loving the way you can feel him thickening under your hand. “Then again, that’s what you want, isn’t it?”

Your half-smothered smile drips into a confused little frown. 

“What do you mean, love?” 

“I mean- you’d like that, wouldn’t you? Bet that was your plan. Get me all worked up just so I’d fill that pretty cunt with my cum?” 

You can't help the way your thighs rub together at the thought. Crowley tuts knowingly, taking one hand off the wheel to reach down and unbutton his jeans. You move your hand out of the way, watching hungrily, but when he doesn’t pull the car over, your frown deepens. 

“Mm- right- you’re so desperate for it, Pet? Go on, put my cock in that pretty mouth.” 

You bite your lip, undoing your seatbelt and twisting in the seat so you could lean over properly. You take the base of him in one hand, and press a soft kiss to the tip. Crowley grunts, cock twitching in your fist. 

“You little tease,” he grinds out, fingers tightening on the wheel of the Bentley. You chuckle airily and swirl your tongue over the tip. Crowley sighs with pleasure and fights the urge to press your head down on him. 

Sensing his growing frustration, you open your mouth wide enough to fit him inside, swallowing him down one inch at a time. 

“Oh, Pet- fuck,” Crowley says blissfully. Your lips twitch with the hint of a smirk as you get him down to the back of your throat. What’s left of him sits in your fist. He’s too long to fit the whole way inside, unfortunately.

Hollowing your cheeks, you begin to bob your head, wrapping your lips around him so tight you can feel the thick vein on the underside of his cock on your bottom lip. The Demon groans, hand coming to wrap in your hair forcefully. 

“Maybe, if you’re- ngk- good- I’ll fuck you when we get back.” 

You whimper around him, the vibrations travelling up his nerves and causing him to white-knuckle the wheel. 

You flatten your tongue and slide it up the length of him before taking him back inside your mouth. He puts his foot on the gas pedal, revelling in the thrill of it. 

“Fuck, Pet- just like that, mm?” 

You pull out all the tricks in the book, all the things you know make him go crazy for you, and it doesn’t take long before he’s gripping fistfuls of your hair and bucking his hips up into your throat so he can spill his seed. 

“Fuck, swallow it,” he grunts, not letting his grip go on you. You do as you’re told, swallowing as best you can. He lets go and you come up for air, tears streaming down your cheeks and a flushed glow radiating from you. “Filthy thing, aren’t you?”

 

A little of his cum that you couldn’t swallow drips off your lower lip and you press forward to kiss him on the cheek. He smirks despite himself. 

“Naughty thing, too. Alright, tell you what, Pet- if you can make yourself finish on your pretty fingers by the time we get back, I’ll fuck you good and proper after.” 

You gasp, biting your lip. “And if I can’t?” 

“You’ll just have to go without then, won’t you.”

It’s not a question, but a statement. Your fingers trail down towards the apex of your thighs as he speeds up even further. You won’t have long. 

“Better hurry, Pet.”

[theeminentlyimpractical]

[elenthyaolyenths]

PRESS RELEASE: Aziraphale & T. Crowley, the End of the Road?

Following the incident that happened today at the AOTY [Athlete of the year, ed.] award red carpet, GOMENS representatives have issued a warning to both Toni Crowley and Aziraphale. They have been informed that the brand will not tolerate this kind of public behaviour in the future. No more comments will be issued on the subject.

GOMENS press release, February 2023.

I would like to publicly apologise for my behaviour at the AOTY awards, and assure you that my relationship with Aziraphale is nothing less than friendly. It is a great honour to work with him as representative at GOMENS and I hope our work continues to allow the brand to grow bigger in order to help young athletes to develop.

Toni Crowley on GOMENS.com, February 2023.

I would like to apologise for my behaviour at the Athlete Of The Year Awards. Please be certain that I have nothing but respect and admiration for Toni Crowley and will gladly keep working with them to make GOMENS a better, more inclusive brand.

Aziraphale, on GOMENS.com, February 2023.

Drive Me To The Moon, ch. 7

"Country Roads", on AO3!

↓Full Artwork, details, gossips and news about my health under the cut↓

All my Good Omens art

Ko-Fi - Prints - LinkTree

Started at 11AM, finished at 7PM. Holy sh!t, I did it!!!!! *dead*

As said earlier today in this post, I decided to try to colour/render an ancient WIP for the new DMTTM chapter... and yesssssssss I managed! The surgeon was right!!!

Of course it would be too difficult to draw a new sketch/lineart with this bloody orthesis, I can't be precise enough. But it's been almost 3 weeks since the surgery, and I was missing drawing so much! Lol I have never been so happy doing full-colouring (my archenemy teehee)

I'll see how I feel tomorrow (I'm scared about back pain and shoulder pain, I'm always so stiff with this orthesis), but if everything is ok tomorrow, that would mean I can try to colour old linearts and WIPs, and I can't wait to pick up one of them and work on it! (And maybe I'll do a poll so you all would be able to choose which one I'll colour!!)

See ya! Love you all!

Taglist (ask if you want to be in or out!)

@goodomensafterdark ;

@floscrap-blog ; @demonsandpieohmy ;  @amagnificentobsession ;  @captainblou

@ineffable-hyperfixation ;  @quoththemaiden ;  @paperclipninja ;  @silverdphantom ; @neverlet

@fearandhatred ; @eybefioro ; @crowleys-bentley-and-plants ;  @ashfae ; @malohkeh-main ;

@mad-aims ;  @daisydimple20092 ;  @seraphhiim ;

[fenrislorsrai]

Fandom Trumps Hate- Good Omens Offerings

this is a non-exhaustive list because there are so many Good Omens offerings. These are just Discord pals that were go "aaaaaaaaaaa what if nobody bids on me!?!?!?!"

well, then what if I give you the opposite problem and EVERYONE bids on you. AHAHAHAHAHA. Chaos for a good cause! my favorite!

Read the full offering for details. I've just given a super quick summary and additional fandoms they do if you're going "I hunger for CROSSOVER" plus said nice things about them. HAHAHAHA. YOU HAVE TO ACCEPT MY COMPLIMENTS NOW!

Get art or words as a gift for your favorite fandom for a charity donation! Fandom Trumps FAQ on how it all works. @fandomtrumpshate

Dorli-+ Legend of Zelda, Avatar The Last Airbender- illustration, banner, or book cover -- up to M rating - does trans/nb characters, f/f ships - absolutely the softest, squishiest looking character work. get the most huggable version of characters. (or squishy AND hot. ohohohoho)

SassishMoon- illustration up to E rating- does trans/nb characters, f/f ships -special note, I got art for Moon last year and it was fabulous. also have a collab coming out in a zine and it is HOT HOT HOT.

WarGoddess- + FullMetal Alchemist- Illustration up to E rating- interested in angst, unhappy endings, genderbending- lovely textures. beautiful skins tones and absolutely fabulous wings.

Sightkeeper- illustration up to E rating- option for comic page if bid goes high enough!- interested in trans & nonbinary characters- Delicious line work and delightful facial expressions. also: monsters

TheRavenMuse - 5-10K fic up to E rating- make it dark, make it weird! and by weird, has done Bentley/Bookshop smut. TIME FOR CRACK.

contritecactite- + Final Fantasy: VII, XII, XV, Ace Attorney 5-10K fic up to E OR 5K podfic of your work up to M rating- interested in trans & nonbinary character, F/F, polyships, and canon compliant/fill in the gap in canon type fics- go get you some RADIO omens. and Book Omens. writes very caring stuff... and sometimes caring is a good healing fuck.

accidentaldemon- under 5k up to E rating- interested in polyships, trans & nonbinary characters, and humans AUs- do you need some Crowley & Young Shadwell fic? AccidentalDemon has you covered.

TawnyOwl- 5-10K up to E rating- loves AUs where they meet and find they're perfect for each other in a new and special way.

SeedsofWinter +Our Flag Means Death + Venture Brothers- Fan Labor for up to E rating. (length depends on final bid value) Deep content editor. Goes way beyond the basic spelling and grammar check. This is a draft editor to help fill in missing scenes and fix pacing. Has run several zines as the editor! Interested in trans /nb characters, polyships, f/f, reader insert, unhappy endings, and RARE PAIRS.

Ngk_is_cool - under 5K up to T- TV or Book Omens! time for all those secondary character to shine! anything but a/c. especially interested in ace and queerplatonic relationships. do you want a fic with some footnotes like the book?

Shaninal- under 5K up to M rating- A/C in some canon complaint fluff and humor. OR beta read for 5-10K up to E rating for Good Omens, Percy Jackson, or Miraculous Lady Bug

EdosianOrchids- 3 options! 2 soft & fluffy up to 5K and one 5-10K hurt/comfort. TV or Book Omens. especially known for chronic pain, disability, and PTSD focused fics. Come and get some HEALING and comfort for the chronic issues. also does aspc fics.

HKBlack- 10-20K up to E rating. Interested in trans/nb characters. Love AUs with a happy ending. THERE WILL BE PUNS. SO MANY PUNS

This is only a partial sampling go see the whole Good Omens tag

and if you are have a gomens offering not listed here, feel free to add in reblogs! Let's give some charities some money!

[ticklishfiend]

prompting my own gomens tickle content im so desperate—crowley is bothering aziraphale for attention (maybe while aziraphale is trying to read or bake or organize or something) until my man is thrown into the bookshop couch and tickled to pieces for being such an annoying little shit. discuss. (ideally this is a recurring event because we know crowley wants attention no matter how he gets it) -🍓, n

happy holidays!! hope you like it <33

-

Aziraphale took a slow, deep breath. In and out.

“Was that really necessary?”

Crowley snickered behind him, “What, I thought you liked when it snows?”

Aziraphale huffed, brushing off the flour Crowley had sprinkled onto his shoulders. He refused to turn and look at him, because right now he did not need that mischievous demon to see the smile he was fighting off.

“Well, I prefer when the snow is actually snow. Like on a perfect Christmas day!” He glanced over his shoulder with a cheeky side-eye, “You’re making a mess of my best garments.”

Crowley snorted, “Best garments my arse, you’ve had that one for, what, 100-somethin’ years now? You ask me, it’s about time you get a new wardrobe.”

Aziraphale decided against responding, instead going back to kneading his dough. It was silent only for a moment before he heard Crowley suck his teeth.

“You’re boring. Dreadfully boring. The hell do you expect me to do, wait for bread to rise that I won’t even eat? Like watching paint dry…” He heard pacing footsteps behind him now.

“You don’t have to stay. I’m just trying to keep busy, you’re the one who decided today was the perfect one for a rainstorm-“

“Because I thought it’d give us some ffffuckin’… some alone time, angel,” Crowley mumbled in slight embarrassment and frustration, leaning against the wall and staring daggers into Aziraphale’s back. “Didn’t realize you hated spending time with me so much…”

Aziraphale couldn’t hold back a fond chuckle at his pouty demon, molding his dough to perfection. “Is that not what we’re doing right now? Spending time with one another?” He loved making Crowley work for it sometimes, especially when Crowley’s been so (endearingly) annoying.

Crowley grumbled, but Aziraphale felt arms wrap around his waist only moments later, a head resting on his shoulder. “Not the way I wanted, though.”

“Must you always get your way?”

Crowley chuckled, giving a kiss to Aziraphale’s ear and whispering, “My way’s the more fun one and you know it.”

Aziraphale flushed, but otherwise gave no reaction. He continued to knead, and felt a bit flustered at how intently Crowley watched his hands work.

He felt hot air against his ear once more, “You’re very good at that, angel,” Crowley hummed, kissing behind his ear, “Got such a way with your hands.”

Aziraphale tucked his lips in, his hands slowing, “You’re distracting me, Crowley. Quit.”

Crowley chuckled darkly, “Whaaaat, I’m just observing!”

“Yes, well, you’re very talkative for someone who’s ‘just observing,’” Aziraphale was ready to let his dough rest when he felt the arms at his waist squeeze tighter.

“Can’t help myself. You’re a bit easy to tease,” Crowley snickered, biting at the lobe. Aziraphale gasped softly, fingers nearly pinching at the dough. It tickled, and Crowley wouldn’t stop even when Aziraphale started squirming away and huffing. The demon knew he was tickling, even blowing air into the ear to make Aziraphale squeak, before finally the angel-

“Okay, I think I’ve had enough,” he said through a breathy giggle.

“Enough of what? M’not doing anything,” Crowley pinched Aziraphale’s sides, purposefully tickling him now. Aziraphale couldn’t help but yip at the tickle, how frustratingly embarrassing, and finally he snapped.

Aziraphale whipped around, grabbing his leather collar and pushing Crowley’s chest towards the door, leading him back towards the living room.

The demon’s eyes were wide,“Gotten impatient, have you? Someone can’t handle a little—oh-!” Crowley yelped as he stumbled backwards, “Ohohoh, excited are we?”

Aziraphale wore a smug grin as he used more force to push Crowley against the couch, “You’re very persistent.”

“I try,” Crowley gleamed, leaning his smug head back against his hands, “I mean it worked, right?”

Aziraphale just hummed, crawling on Crowley’s waist with his intentions seeming obvious. The demon chuckled, prideful over another successful temptation. He pressed his hands into Aziraphale’s thighs, smoothing the pants with his palms.

Aziraphale gently took Crowley’s wrists, bringing them above Crowley’s head and meeting their faces in the middle. “Oh, it’s that kinda night, is it?” Crowley mumbled against Aziraphale’s lips. He felt the weight lift off his wrists, but since it seemed his angel was taking a more, mhm, controlling role tonight, he kept his hands where they were.

Aziraphale said nothing in return, if only humming in affirmation. After all, he was a little busy making sure his hands tracked down the demon's body to that verrrry specific spot on his lower ribs. And Crowley remained none the wiser, still caught in trying to keep his hands up and off Aziraphale (which was agonizingly hard, how he’d love to stroke his soft cheek with his thumb, or scratch along his back, or maybe even keep up his cheeky streak and tickle his—)

“GahK-“ Crowley choked, nearly biting Aziraphale in the lip. He jerked, pinned under Aziraphale’s weight as he felt fingers pinching into his fucking ribs, that sneaky little- “Wahait angel!”

“None of that. You were being particularly annoying just moments ago,” Aziraphale tutted with a smile, fighting to keep his fingers under those ribs as Crowley wriggled and squirmed and laughed. “I shouldn’t be rewarding such pestering behavior, now should I?”

“Yohou cuhunt-!,” Crowley cackled, his hands pushing and slapping weakly against Aziraphale’s, which had now moved to squeezing against his very ticklish belly. “Ahaha-! Hahaha nohoho!”r

“You aren’t helping your case any, Crowley~,” Aziraphale sing-songed, poking his fingers up and down Crowley’s sensitive torso, which made him squirm like a giggly worm on a hook, his hands mainly just gripping onto Aziraphale’s sleeves at this point for something to hold onto. Aziraphale smiled down at his giggling frame fondly, “What would help you, however, is. a proper apology.”

Crowley scoffed through his giggles (it came out more like a choke but thankfully Aziraphale didn’t tease him about it), shaking his head from side to side. “Make me-ehehee!”

“Oh now you’re asking for it,” Aziraphale took Crowley’s batting hands with relative ease and hid them under his knees, pinning him down fully. Crowley felt a zing through his chest, digging his heels into the couch despite no longer being tickled just because he needed something, anything to put his anxious (excited) energy toward.

“Hhhmmmmhh,” Crowley hummed through a nervous giggle, refusing to look Aziraphale in the eyes. Hopefully his lips don’t bleed from how hard he was biting them.

Aziraphale looked so smug above him, cheeky grin and all. “Say you’re sorry. I won’t even make you do the dance.”

Crowley chuckled in his throat, “Not happenin’.”

“Isn’t it?”

“Nope,” Crowley popped.

“I think you will.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because I happen to know…” Aziraphale placed soft fingertips against the skin where Crowley’s shirt rode up, his lower belly quivering at the gentle touch. Crowley’s face scrunched hard, and Aziraphale only smiled harder, “…that being gentle with you makes for a most delicious torture.”

Crowley stood no chance holding back his whine. “You’re being mean, angel. I don’t even know what I should be ap-ahha—apohohologizing—wahahait, wait just gimme a secohohond—!”

Aziraphale had just barely grazed his nails against the soft skin, back and forth against that pant line and, and, and—God, how did you make an angel this demonic?!

“Such a sensitive demon,” back and forth, a single-finger scribble inside that awful hip pocket, and Crowley tittered as he felt his face heat to an unreasonable degree. “So, are we going to keep name calling, Crowley?”

Aziraphale brought both hands into his evil equation, fluttering against his hips with a gentle ferocity that sent Crowley into a horribly embarrassing giggle fit. He kicked against the arm of the couch, his body too long and his nerves far too alight to keep still.

“Angel plehehease.” Oh how he hated that word. Aziraphale hummed, his laughter sounded so pretty when it was laced with those desperate giggles.

“Please…?” He gave a quick pinch to those hips, a flustered cackle escaping Crowley’s chest before bringing his fingers up to barely flutter against Crowley’s lower ribs. Fuck Aziraphale for knowing him so well.

“Nonononohohohoho you bihihitch!” Crowley squirmed and shook, hair a tousled mess and cheeks dusted a pretty pink in his delighted embarrassment.

Aziraphale sighed dramatically, pinching the ribs, “Oh well…” except this time the pinches didn’t stop, gentle and precise as they plucked against each and every rib. Crowley couldn’t stop the cackles and giggles and snorts and whines and fuck…maybe this was worth all the fuss it took to get here.

Crowley laughed and laughed, spewing curses here and there as his ribs were plucked and poked, his belly scribbled, curse his fucking waistline for being so damn sensitive—

“Ahahangel-! I—fuhuhuhuck!—I cahahant!” Crowley pulled at his hand, those fingers poking delicately along his waist and around towards his back making words very hard right now.

“A break, love?” Aziraphale asked so sweetly as if he wasn’t breaking Crowley down bit by bit, one sensitive nerve ending at a time.

“Yes-!” Crowley squeaked as Aziraphale pinched his sides just to be cruel. But of course, Aziraphale pulled away, giving his belly a warm rub that only an angel could make feel so good.

Aziraphale kissed his cheek tenderly. Crowley scrunched his neck instinctively. “You’re lucky you’re cute, Crowley,” he whispered in his ear like Crowley had done just a bit ago to him. Crowley was still giggling at the slight contact, twitchy and unsure if it was over for good or if this was really just a break. Maybe a really short one with how long Aziraphale’s been lingering at his devastingly ticklish ears.

“A-Angel, the ears” He squirmed his head, shoulders as scrunched as they could go with his hands pinned by his sides.

“Mmm, yes I’m aware. I did say a break, no?”

“Ffffuck you’ll kill me there,” Crowley said, a breath away from another giggle fit.

“What an unusually adorable death for a demon of your stature,” Aziraphale teased. He kissed the sensitive ear, unable to hold back a chuckle at Crowley’s squeak. He kissed again, and again, light as he dragged his soft lips against the shell, relishing in Crowley’s growing giggles.

“Oh fuhuhuck.”

“So incessant with the cursing. It’s almost like you want me to keep going.”

[lenaellsi]

What are your gomens s3 predictions for crowley?

WELL

I have three categories of predictions. I know where I would take the character, but the show surprises me so often that I don't expect to get it right. Just for fun, though, and under the cut because it got so fucking long:

1. He sleeps/binge drinks/otherwise disengages from the world straight through to the start of S3.

The Crowley of S2 is, in a lot of ways, more stable than the Crowley of the Crowley of S1, but I think he's also more depressed. His only purpose was survival from the moment he Fell to the moment he and Aziraphale quit their jobs, and now that he has to live, he's completely directionless. He doesn't understand (and has never understood) how he fits into the universe, how angels and demons generally fit into the universe, and what the point is if God can just wipe them all out for any reason. He doesn't believe in any part of the Good/Evil system. Aziraphale leaving--and confirming some of his greatest fears about the foundations of their relationship along the way--could be enough to send Crowley into an apathetic coma for a bit.

So I can see it happening, but my instinct says that's not where they'll go with it. Crowley tends to fall back on his escape methods only when he truly sees no other way out. In S1, he tried to drink himself to death only when Aziraphale was gone and, to his knowledge, there was no way to locate the Antichrist and even try to stop Armageddon. A few episodes before that, he proposed leaving only because Aziraphale hadn't shared Adam's location, and because Hell was actively hunting him. Once he learned where Adam was--once there was a sliver of a chance to save the world--he drove through Hellfire to do it. Crowley's not afraid to work through tough situations, he's just always aware of how fragile things are, and is prone to feeling angry and hopeless when he sees no path forward. And of course he is--it's his oldest wound, and his deepest, that he and everything he loves will always be at the whims of ineffability, and that there's nothing he can do about it.

But in S3, since he's not at the point where the destruction of the Earth seems inevitable yet:

2. Crowley will form his own plan to stop the Second Coming.

This is what I think will happen. Crowley loves Earth. He loves humanity. He was the one to talk Aziraphale into stopping Armageddon, the one to toast "to the world" at the end of S1. The planned destruction of the universe is the exact thing that caused him to Fall. Crowley is his own person outside of his relationship with Aziraphale, and that person has a long history of fighting and scheming and suffering for the sake of humanity.

He's also a very active character. He is consistently the one making plans, moving the plot forward, trying to enact change. He saw the schematics in Heaven, and I really do think he'll do his best to come up with a plan to stop them, even though he's understandably very upset.

I don't think it'll be a good plan. If I had to guess (without knowing any specifics of the plot) I think he'll either try to disrupt the delivery of Christ to Earth or try to cut Heaven and Hell off from Earth entirely. He has no allies, no support, and very little reason to be cautious in his approach, which leads me to why you probably sent this ask:

Option 3: As above, only this time the plan is either not something he plans to survive, or his own survival is not something he is particularly concerned about.

So the thing about Crowley is that I really don't think he has any substantial issues with self-loathing, or any active desire to do himself harm. He is a survivor; he values safety and contingency and isolation above most things. But he values three things more: 1) freedom of choice, 2) Earth, and 3) Aziraphale.

He's a very angry, very impulsive person, and he is dealing with a lot unresolved feelings on the issue of demons and angels existing in the universe at all, and he loves Aziraphale and the Earth so dearly that sometimes he doesn't think straight. He's reckless, he's pissed off, he's feeling hopeless, and, after their fight, he's also convinced that Aziraphale would probably be able to move on from losing him. (In his mind, 'Crowley' is not the person Aziraphale would mourn; he would mourn the dead angel he's been chasing since the Fall.) If a plan presents itself that would be dangerous to him, I think he would see no reason not to try it. If you've gotta go, go with style.

So, yeah. I don't think it's likely, for all sorts of reasons--this is a comedy show, a Bible parody, and the tone is always going to be a little lighter than the angstiest possible conclusion, final fifteen aside. But the self-sacrificial route is one I can see Crowley taking, and his inevitable survival and reunion with Aziraphale would have an aftermath that would be messy and painful and fascinating to watch. It would also have some obvious thematic resonance with Christ, a figure I assume they'll be exploring quite a bit in S3, so that would be kinda cool.

(Thoughts on the Duke of Hell theory, with a general warning it's not my favorite, so don't read if that'll upset you:)

Very much not for me, sorry. Crowley, for all he is a master of on-the-fly (ha) bullshitting, is not suited for playing politics. (Neither is Aziraphale, for what it's worth.) Crowley is too outspoken, too honorable, and too prone to fits of temper to have any patience for that kind of role. Besides that, he absolutely does not want it. He hates Hell just as much as he hates Heaven. I don't think he would ever go back to either of them, consequences be damned.

I also think that there's no practical way it could even happen? Beelzebub only offered him the role out of desperation to find Gabriel, and even then, it was almost certainly a lie. With Beelzebub gone, every single person in a position of power in Hell hates Crowley. And if they tried to dupe him into it the way the Metatron did, he'd run and not look back.

[perenial]

gene im so glad you said this cause I haven't seen anyone else comparing it to the book as source material for like character and tone but i am So sure that if terry was alive the season would not be like this but i fear good omens fans dont realise how big a factor the lack of terry's influence is?? or like they forget that good omens was never just neilman???

ok before i go any further: i rly don't want to detract from anyone's enjoyment of the season and everything im going to say comes from a place of love for a) the original novel (& season 1 to a certain extent bc it got me back into it lol) and b) tv as a medium so like peace and love on planet let people enjoy things etc etc

but

like u said, terry's influence on the book was enormous – what makes gomens gomens is the balance of his genuine warmth and precise understanding of humanity tempered with neilman's sardonic voice and general like.....savvy approach to storytelling? i guess u could call it? anyway what rly helps the book is that it took them years to write it, passing ideas back and forth and rewriting each other's work until their voices blended seamlessly and a well structured capital-s Story was created. when i praise the book for being self-contained i think a huge part of that comes from the circumstances in which it emerged: two authors with complementary styles writing in a v particular time period where they had both the space to play with their ideas and the constraints of the novel as a storytelling format from which to craft something extremely specific.

adaptations are a tricky business and a tv version of gomens produced literal decades after the book was always going to have some unique challenges, but i don't think that's a bad thing bc the challenges could prove to be creative opportunities to take both the established audience and those new to the story by surprise. my biggest hot take here is that i don't think translating a story into a different medium means it has to follow the original narrative exactly, bc each medium has its own ways of communicating information and these structures, rules and traditions in turn inform what that story is. what matters more than following a story beat-by-beat is capturing what that story is about at its core, what themes and messages and ideas it works through and how.

all this is to say i never expected tv gomens to be a perfect reproduction of the book and if it had it been, it probably would have been worse off for it. that being said, there are parts of the book – like u said, its tone and character – that needed to have some fidelity in order to pull it off, and for the most part s1 did that bc it was still working predominantly within the bounds of the novel & its core ideas. while i did have some issues w how neilman & amazon adapted some details and characterisations, i generally rly liked s1 – it reminded me of why i loved the book and it was just generally fun to watch.

s2 was. not that fun to watch

a few positives before i go ham w the critiques:

the hair & makeup + costumes were fantastic (although i feel like s1 was slightly better re: makeup?)

the sound design & score made some of the more awkward scenes bearable and thats no mean feat imo

david & michael gave incredible performances w what they were given – michael especially managed to salvage aziraphale enough that his complete 180 didnt feel completely tonally dissonant (more on this later)

the detail of the sets is NUTS and i genuinely want to see more of hell bc of how intricate and fun the props look

i actually like gabriel/beelzebub!! their getting together montage worked for me, although they could have spent sliiiightly more time establishing what it is they like abt each other so much + why gabriel wanted to stop armageddon 2.0 so suddenly

the opening scene, although not on par w the novel's & s1's, was visually gorgeous and thematically resonant (although neilman owes me royalties for ripping it off from this shitty fic i wrote back when raphael!crowley was all the rage lol)

now w THAT being said:

like i said yesterday, the pacing was fucking awful. flashbacks are hard to work w at the best of times and the way they were used in this season felt so needless, especially the 40s one in ep 4 that takes up like 90% of the episode. in both flashbacks + present day there were scenes that dragged for no real reason, dialogue that looped back around on itself to stretch out the runtime, and weirdly enough places where there should have been character & plot work where there just,, wasn't any?? for example, maggie & nina's night locked in the café – some parts of the dialogue in later episodes made out that they'd had some rly deep conversation abt how they feel about each other or even that they'd had an affair, but that isn't clear from those scenes in the café. i'm not saying we had to see that conversation in its entirety but that there needed to be more connective details – either in dialogue or direction – that gave that part of the story coherence.

(there were pacing issues w the editing too but i don't want to jump down the editor's throats on this one bc im more focused on writing & direction issues)

the second major problem that i mentioned in my tags yesterday is the protagonist shift, which is an issue that started in s1. aziraphale & crowley are side characters in book gomens – significant ones, yeah, but still somewhat peripheral to adam (& anathema who counts as a deuteragonist imo). this works incredibly well w who they are as characters: they're Just Some Guys who happen to be involved in this epic biblical-level bureaucratic nightmare and importantly, they don't want to be in the spotlight. the arrangement was created so that they could explore what it meant to be themselves away from the Big Narrative; literally any time they get involved in larger affairs is bc the plot is alive and caught them unionising on company time. the last fucking chapter is adam (& god) being like haha u guys are alright keep it sleezy and letting them go. like. hello. neil u let them go.

but then!! tv gomens s1 does something interesting at the end w the body swapping addition that i dont totally hate – it gives aziraphale & crowley the extra bit of character work that brings them slightly more adjacent to their book selves. see i kinda view tv a/c as the younger, less settled versions of book a/c; they're still caught up in the immediacy of being key players and haven't fully realised that earth is their home. i haven't watched s1 in a while but one scene i remember rly clearly is crowley throwing all those astronomy texts in the air and angsting abt when he was an angel; i remember it bc his anguish in that scene feels a lot newer and rawer than book crowley's feelings about falling. when tv a/c do their bodyswap, it gives them the chance to land a blow against heaven/hell in a way that solidifies their allegiance to earth in a way that more closely resembles what book a/c have been abt the entire time (still adjacent, though. not parallel).

the reason why this works is that it does one final pivot to orient aziraphale and crowley as almost-main characters in a manner that makes sense in relation to a) their book selves and b) the position the tv show has placed them in. a combination of factors made tv a/c feel a lot less mature than their book counterparts but at the end of s1 they're sort of facing the same direction the book ended in, albeit through their own flashy late 2010s means.

when s2 was announced i was.......apprehensive bc to me, that felt like a satisfactory ending. i get the impression that amazon saw how wildly successful the adaptation was and was like oh shit we could make way more money out of this and neilman, having all those undead darlings that he and terry killed in the process of whittling the book into a workable novel, jumped at the chance to resurrect all those half-realised ideas. but not only were those ideas probably discarded for a reason, they've either been laying in wait for years unworked or they're new inventions, which means they weren't molded in the way that the book had been. like i said before, book gomens underwent years of rewrites and creative collaboration, and i think that process was what made it so good; s2 didn't have that. even if some of terry's ideas made it into s2, his influence is still missing bc he and neilman weren't in dialogue the same way they were in the book (and in some ways s1 bc i know terry was involved in the process of adapting gomens to screen before his death).

i don't think it's a case of newer fans forgetting terry so much as it is the context of terry's involvement being so removed from the current circumstances that certain aspects & discourses (i.e. is the s2 finale queerbaiting (no), does binge watching change the viewership experience (yes), etc etc) about the show overshadow other discussions that would usually be taking place. and before anyone says it's a case of neilman forgetting terry, i definitely don't think it's that either bc thats. yknow. wildly disrespectful. but also there are larger systems and structures at play than one writer no matter how much beef i have w him and his decisions, bc ultimately he's just one guy (a powerful and wealthy guy, but just a guy) and there's a wider cultural shift happening rn towards rehashing old stories without understanding what made them successful in the first place, and that same culture just doesn't allow for much, if any, constructive discourse analysis

so yeah