#i just wanted really to. think about the way that angel used to be because it's meant to be very different as to how she is now

[synvil]

Inked Up // Tattoo Artists! Bullies! Rafe Cameron & JJ Maybank

a/n: hope you guys enjoy this! <3 i decided to mix up the top voted and the runner up together :33 it’s not fully bully! esque but it’s kinda.

synopsis : when bullies! tattoo artists! rafe and jj trap you while at a party and tease you, where they finish the night admiring their handiwork.

warning : nsfw content ahead! choking, handjob, oral, double pounding, no protection, etc.

porn without plot basically

“And where does the princess think she’s going?”

The jump you make when you’re startled by JJ’s presence has him grinning in amusement. And even more so when you go to turn around to leave, and Rafe stands there, blocking your exit with a smirk.

Rafe’s gaze is full of hunger and desire, his tongue drags along his lower lip slowly as he takes in your appearance, the way the slit of your dress exposes your mid thigh and down.

“Excuse me..” You murmur, attempting to sidestep him but he merely blocks your path once again, a devilish smile on his lips. “Y’know, we’re surprised to see you here. Thought you’d be hiding away from us after what we did.”

You purse your lips and look down at the ground, avoiding their eyes as you shift your footing.

“Why don’t you show us how it’s healing?”

Your head snaps up at Rafe’s suggestion and JJ chuckles. “What are you scared about? No one’s comin’ in here.” Just for good measure, the blonde peeks out the window of the kitchen and sees all the party guests focused on their small talk outside.

“Come on, sweetheart, we won’t bite.” Rafe reassures, a sweet yet cunning smile on his lips while JJ winks. “Unless you want us to.”

“I think i’m good.. look, Sarah and Kie are looking for me, so—“

“Sorry, babe, but it wasn’t really a question.” JJ swoops in from behind, picking your body up with ease bridal style, and bringing you over to the kitchen counter, placing you on top.

Rafe locks the door to the entrance and moves to shut the curtains on all the windows.

JJ bites his lip as he takes in your body, the way your thighs press together and your arm that holds to your chest to express your anxiety and afraid thoughts. He gently brings his hand to your leg and slowly drags his fingers up until it caresses your wrist and he wraps his own around it, carefully pulling it away.

“No need to hide from us, babe, we’ve already seen all of you, haven’t we?”

Rafe grins when he recalls yesterday’s session at work. “Let us admire you and the handiwork we did on your body, baby.”

“Leave me alone.”

Rafe tilts his head as his large hand grasps your throat with ease, forcing your head up to look into your eyes as you gasp. “That’s no way to talk to us after we took care of you and made some pretty markings on your skin.”

“I didn’t ask you to do it, you forced me.” You spat and Rafe’s eyes darken, looking unamused at your attitude as his grip tightens a bit. “Don’t act like you didn’t enjoy it, sweetheart. I specifically remember how much you begged us to continue once we started.”

A pink flush spreads on your cheeks at the memory, because as much as you hate it, he was right.. You did beg them, because it felt so fucking good, having the two of them take care of you and mark you theirs. You even remember looking in the mirror at their work when you finished.

“So don’t hold back, angel,” JJ carefully pulls Rafe’s hand away from your throat, who reluctantly lets go, and cups your cheeks with his hand. “Let us take care of you again. It’s not like you were really enjoying this party, right?” He smirks and you purse your lips.

You push his hand away, adamant about not wanting this, despite the arousal your body was building at the thought. “No, Kie and Sarah are waiting for me and—“

Rafe interrupts you by turning your head for a deep kiss, while JJ spreads your thighs wide and moves your dress away, seeing the wetness that was soaking your panties.

“Oh, it seems like you do want this..” JJ teases as he pulls you closer to the edge while he falls to his knees. He dives his head in and gives you a little lick over the cotton of your panties.

The action causes you to squeak and tuck your thighs together, effectively trapping JJ’s head between them and he chuckles below you. Meanwhile, Rafe uses that opportunity to slide his tongue in and explores your mouth. JJ brings his hands up and wraps around your thighs and pulls them apart once again.

Rafe starts to slide the straps of your dress down your shoulders, letting his hands roam your body before stopping to fondle your breasts, squeezing each mound desperately.

You whimper as the man below you continues to give tiny kitten licks onto your clothed cunt and JJ grins at that. He pulls back and looks up at you. “Does the princess want me to eat her pretty pussy out?” He coos and you blush, shyly nodding your head. “Y-yes..”

Rafe chuckles when he pulls back to let you speak and motions for JJ to move. He then helps you off the counter for a moment, just to help you fully slide off your dress, leaving you in just your panties.

“Oh, look at that..” Rafe eyes the ink between your breasts and JJ smirks before his eyes glance to your thighs. “And this seems to be doing well too..”

You don’t say anything, too embarrassed to admit you were taking care of it well.

“So pretty..” JJ murmurs as he licks his lips.

“JJ?” Rafe hums, letting him do the pleasure of pulling off your bottoms. The blonde does so eagerly, still on his knees as he pulls at the hem before sliding it down, watching at your pussy glistens in your arousal. “So pretty and wet for us~”

JJ gets a little more underneath you, leaning against the side of the counter before he slides your hips towards him and then as you hover over him, he pulls you down so you’re sitting on his face. Your eyes widen and gasp as his tongue dives in, and you illicit a loud mewl in ecstasy. “Oh god—“

Rafe licks his lip as he watches you tug at JJ’s hair, his own hand palming himself through his restrictive slacks, before starting to strip of his clothes.

His lips curl into a smirk when he sees your eyes on him, trailing over his chiseled, muscular body while your lips are parted, strings of moans slipping out from how much JJ is pleasuring you.

His tongue flicks at your clit multiple times, making you cry out. “Oh, fuck, JJ-!” JJ feels some of your juices dribble down his chin and he hums, licking every inch of you before fucking you with his tongue. “Please, don’t stop! Yes-yes, right there!”

You can’t hold back any longer as a coil in you snaps and you moan out loudly, your legs trembling and your juices come gushing out, over JJ’s face. The blonde laps it all up, loving every second of it as he swallows every drop he could before slowly lifting your hips away.

Rafe helps you up and off of him, your legs shaking as he slowly helps you the ground, whilst tossing a towel he found towards JJ, who cleans his face.

“It felt good didn’t it, baby? You like it when JJ devours that cunt?” Rafe smirks as he cups your cheek, his fingers delicate on your skin as you’re still dazed from the orgasm.

“But it’s our turn now, sweetheart.” He hums as he stands straight and his hardened length is inches away from your lips. You flush at how erect he is, seeing the red tip of it already leaking with precum as you hesitantly wrap your hands around it.

“Don’t be shy now, darling.” Rafe purrs, leaning forward and tapping his tip against your lips. You swallow thickly before parting your lips and he slides right in. “Oh..fuck..” Rafe groans out low, his hips moving in slowly.

You can barely manage halfway before you start to feel overwhelmed and you press a hand to his thighs and he laughs. “Is that all you can do, sweetheart? Such a shame.” Rafe bites his lips as he forces more of his length in, and you choke.

“S-shit, do that again, baby.” He almost whimpers at the way your tongue tries to please him while your head bobs his cock.

Behind you, JJ has cleaned his face off and was stripped of his clothing, pumping his own member while he watches with lustful eyes.

“My turn, angel.” He says, desperately to feel you and you pull back from Rafe with a gasp. But JJ doesn’t let you catch a breath as he turns your head to face his cock instead, and shoves it in without a second to waste. “Mmph-!”

Your hand travels to Rafe’s member and begins to pump it, to satisfy him, while JJ thrusts into your mouth, his hand on the back of your head.

It goes for a minute or two, JJ’s and Rafe’s groans mixing together as you please both of them on either side of you.

“You’re doing so well, princess..” JJ coos, brushing a strand of hair behind your ear. Even with his praise, tears brim your eyes as your air slowly collapses, the more he thrusts his hips towards your throat.

“Shit, i’m gonna cum-“

His hands clutch a fistful of your hair and pushes your head further towards him, the tip of him hitting the back of your throat with a choke.

“Hey, don’t just pay attention to him, baby.” Rafe takes your hand that’s wrapped around his member and guides you to pump him, stroking him back and forth until you do it yourself and pick up the pace.

The movement causes his head to toss back as he groans out in the pleasure, bucking his hips into your fists, nearly using it as a fleshlight. “Fuck, baby, just like that.”

You feel like you could pass out from lack of oxygen at any second, but fortunately one last swirl of your tongue sends JJ over the edge and he shoots his sperm straight down your throat, a roaring moan gutted from him.

That seems to do it for Rafe as well as he finds himself rutting faster into your hand before his own cum spills over your hand.

“Fuck, princess, you did so well.” JJ laughs with a pant, slowly pulling out of your mouth as you choke on his cum, spitting some of it out as you gasp for air.

You don’t say anything, too busy trying to catch your breath again but as soon as he hears you seem okay again, Rafe pulls you to your feet. “Don’t think we’re done yet, honey.”

“W-what-“

Rafe goes to the floor, laying on his back and JJ helps you over him, atop of him. Rafe lines himself up at your entrance, rubbing between your lips gently making you whimper in need. He chuckles at your pleading eyes and carefully slides in, your voice erupting a soft moan as he fills you up inside.

JJ bites his lip at the sound as he falls to his knees and lines himself up behind you. You feel him poking at your entrance as well and your eyes widen. “W-wait don’t tell me you’re—“

The blonde grunts a bit as he pushes his hips forward and manages his tip in, sliding in right beside Rafe’s cock. You sputter a choked gasp as you fall forward onto Rafe’s chest, Rafe hissing at how tight it was when JJ slips in.

The intense pressure is nearly enough to make you cum right then and there, a loud cry from you as your hands clench into fists into the ground beside Rafe’s torso. “F-fuck- ‘s too much- can’t..”

You’re becoming breathless, JJ having been able to slide all the way in as the two guys begin to thrust slowly in sync, letting you adjust.

“You can do it for us, baby, it’ll feel good real soon, won’t it, J?”

“That’s right, princess, you’re doing amazing… don’t even think about it, just let it go.”

Their praises makes you whimper again and it slowly melts into a deep-rooted pleasure and the two men relax, starting to thrust into you at a more consistent pace.

“Oh, fuck.. You’re so fucking tight, sweetheart.” Rafe strains a chuckle as JJ moans from behind you; one hand on your hips while the other fondles your right breast from behind. “You feel so good, princess.”

You can’t even register what they’re saying to you as you hold yourself up, feeling your climax approaching once more, each of their thrusts dwelling deeper, hitting your cervix.

“Rafe! JJ!” Your cries of their names make them moan as they pick up the pace, unable to contain themselves any longer. Rafe leans up to kiss you, messy breathy kisses all over your chin and neck while JJ grunts and twists the buds of your breasts.

“I’m gonna cum— too much.. it’s too much.. it feels so good!”

“That’s right, angel,” JJ reaches to pull some of your hair back for Rafe as he feels his own release coming. “Say our names, tell us who’s making you feel so fucking good.”

“Y-You, you are!” You squeal as you cry out in pure ecstasy, jumping upwards and letting them both slip out of you as you squirt all over Rafe’s body. “Fuck- that’s so fucking hot, baby.” He grunts as he moves you to the side carefully, your body collapsed on the floor and panting.

Both men began to pump themselves, JJ still on his knees while Rafe stood and they move their hands quick, desperate to cum.

The two break into mixed grunts and moans, panting as their release spurts all over you, painting over your inked skin.

Your legs tremble in the aftershock of overstimulating for so long, your breath heavy and your arms raised to rest over your face, blocking your view of them.

“Shit, that was amazing.” JJ pants, sweat glistening on his skin as he looks down at you.

Rafe chuckles at the sight, his hand brushing over his initials marked on your inner thigh, while JJ relishes at the sight of his own between your breasts. He watches as your chest rises and falls into a steady pattern and he smirks. “You look so pretty for us, princess.”

“We really marked you up good..” Rafe murmurs as he traces the outline of the letters. “I think you could use another ink or two here.” He teases, fingers brushing over near your clit and making you shiver.

“Let’s get you cleaned up, princess. I’m pretty sure I heard Rose pounding on the door outside.” JJ sighs, glancing over at the locked door and covered windows.

Rafe rolls his eyes as he finds some towels. “She’ll live. This party is boring anyway.” And JJ grins as he turns back to you.

“It was until now anyways. Why don’t we leave this party and continue this at our place?”

Rafe smirks with a glint in his eyes as he trails over your body. “Sounds like a plan.”

a/n: hope you guys enjoyed ! <3 this basically really is porn without plot, this has nothing to do with tattoo artists lmao

i was originally going to do like a tattoo session butttt idk what happened. :’) if you guys want a redo, i wouldn’t mind 😭

synvil™️ do not copy my work.

this is very rushed and unedited.

[l-starsz]

hi, i just discovered your blog and you’re so good at writing!!

i have a request and you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, it’s a little long. but, what if reader and billie are on a late night driver after one of billie’s concerts and reader starts getting turned on by the vibrations of the car, since porsche’s are actually closer to the ground and billie notices and starts teasing her about it. you can add whatever you want!

a/n: thank you so much!!🩷 i hope this is good, i got carried away writing this ngl😭

applause filled the arena as billie ran off the stage. she ran backstage towards me and jumped into my arms. once we pulled away from the hug, we sorted all of her stuff out and then headed to her car. it was a pretty long drive home, but we were close enough that we didn’t need to stay in a hotel.

we sat there in comfortable silence for a little bit as billie drove, her hand on my thigh. i’d turned some music on in the background so that we weren’t in complete silence. while we were sat there, i was just thinking as i stared out the window, and took notice of the car. more specifically, i took notice of the vibrations that ran through the car.

i tried to think about something else, i didn’t want to get turned on when we weren’t close to home yet. nothing worked though. no matter how hard i tried to distract myself, my mind kept circling back to what i could feel beneath me. i felt myself begin to get wet, resulting in me squirming in my seat and squeezing my legs together.

billie glanced over at me, but didn’t say anything just yet, assuming i was just making myself comfy. i was trying hard to not make it obvious to billie that i was getting turned on, but was clearly failing. she glanced over at me again when i shifted once more.

“you good baby? seems like you’re a bit fidgety over there.” she smirked, keeping her eyes on the road, but also looking back to me every so often.

“i- yeah i’m good bils.” i quietly answered.

“you sureeee? i don’t know you’ve been moving in your seat a lot, seems like you’ve got something on your mind. almost like you’re getting turned on?”

i shut my legs tighter, trying to push the feeling aside, but it was no good as i felt billies hand travel higher up my thigh. her nails lightly ran across my skin as i groaned. i closed my eyes and laid my head back against the seat.

“what is it that’s got you horny, love? can you use your words and tell me please?”

“your hand on my thigh..” i mumbled.

“oh really? that’s interesting baby. anything else, hm?”

she knew exactly what had turned me on, she just wanted me to say it because she knew i’d get shy. i groaned and covered my face with my hands. she was trying to tease me.

“cmon angel. you can tell me.”

“the.. the vibrations from the car.” i whispered, my hands still covering my face.

i heard her giggle, beginning to move her hand up and down my thigh once again, carefully moving to my inner thigh and closer to where i was throbbing. she couldn’t do anything though since she was driving. so i had to just sit and wait until we were home whilst she continued to tease me.

“you’re so needy for me, huh? we’ve still got a while until we’re home my love.”

i whined and shifted around yet again, trying to escape the feeling. it was no use. the whole way home, billie just continued to tease me. by the time we actually got back, i was soaked. i’d practically soaked through my underwear.

as soon as i stepped foot in the house, i pressed my lips against billies. i needed her so bad. her hands fell to my waist as i almost fell against her. she led me to our room, carefully laying me down on the bed whilst her lips stayed against mine in a desperate kiss.

i tugged at her clothes, attempting to get them off of her. she undressed me, and then undressed herself. she looked so perfect. i was only left in my underwear, whilst billie was completely naked. her hand traveled towards my clothed pussy, two fingers lightly resting against my clit.

i whined and lifted my hips, trying to get her to finally touch me. i was desperate. i heard her laugh at how impatient i was being as she quickly pulled my underwear off, then gently pushed my hips back down.

“please billie. i need you so bad.” i whispered, ready to beg for her to do anything as long as she was touching me.

“what do you need?”

“i need you to touch me. please.” i whined.

almost immediately after hearing the words leave my mouth, she pushed two of her fingers into me, making me cry out. i knew it wouldnt take me long to finish for her.

she was curling her fingers inside me as quick as she could and when i thought the pleasure couldn’t get any better, my stomach contracted as i felt her mouth on my clit. she sucked, licked, and carefully bit it, making my walls tighten around her fingers and the feeling began to rise in my stomach. like a knot that was getting tighter after each passing second.

her free hand slowly moved to press against my stomach, making me more sensitive to her touch. i squeezed my eyes shut as her movements somehow got quicker. i needed to cum. i didn’t know if i could even get my words out though. whenever i tired to tell her, my words got caught in my throat and instead came out as moans and whimpers.

“b- billie!! can i please cum for you? i’m so close.” i almost screamed.

“of course baby. cum for me.” when she spoke, her voice vibrated against me, making me moan even louder.

my cum dripped down her fingers and coated her chin whilst her movements began to slow. she didn’t stop yet, helping me ride out my orgasm. once i’d completely come undone, i slightly pushed her head away, becoming too sensitive. her fingers stayed inside me for a minute as she placed gentle kisses up my body until she reached my lips.

“i’m so proud of you my pretty girl.”

a small smile came to my face as i answered her.

“i love you billie. so much.”

“and i love you so much.” she answered, “can i get you cleaned up now? it’s getting late and i can tell how tired you are now.” she giggled.

i nodded, closing my eyes and covering my face with my hands as she slowly and carefully pulled her fingers out. i immediately clenched around nothing, the slight sensitivity still there.

“okay angel, do you wanna have a bath? or are you too tired?” she asked. i moved my hands to rest on her waist as i sat up, feeling her move my hair from my face.

“i’m tired but can we have a bath anyway, please?” i whispered, leaning up for a kiss.

“of course.” she placed a gentle kiss against my lips, then lifted me into her arms and took me to the bathroom, sitting me down on the counter.

as she began to fill the bath up, and add bubbles of course, she came back to speak to me.

“you did so good for me, love. made me so proud.” she spoke in a soft tone, holding onto my waist.

“you made me feel so good. thank you.” i answered, burying my face in her neck and placing gentle kisses.

we stayed like that for a minute or so before i couldn’t help but feel slightly guilty. i didn’t touch her, i just let her help me.

“billie.” i mumbled against her skin.

“what’s up?” she asked, running her fingers through my hair.

“i didn’t touch you at all. can i-“

“baby, don’t worry about that, okay? you’re tired and it’s late, we can have a bath, get into bed, and then sleep if you want?” she smiled.

“but i want to return the favour..” i frowned.

“you can tomorrow, yeah? we’re both tired. let’s get some sleep and we can continue this tomorrow, alright?”

i nodded in defeat, kissing her neck again before she moved away to check the bath. i heard the taps turn off, then i was lifted into her arms and lowered into the bath. not long passed before she got in behind me, pulling me to rest against her chest.

we stayed in there for a bit, talking and helping each other clean up. she even helped me wash my hair (and of course i washed hers for her too). soon enough, we were getting out and both wrapped in towels as we giggled about how silly we looked.

we changed and immediately got into bed, cuddled up in each others arms. safe to say i was fast asleep within ten minutes.

[vidavalor]

*pops up in cloud of smoke; dusts off jacket a la Beez* Hi there! 💕I was paged in the comments by @turquoisedata & am glad that I was because I love the stuff you were mentioning in your first paragraph. I don't think it has much to do with why we're getting a 90 minute movie-- that's just an industry-standard length thing-- but you've tickled my brain on the other, multiple references to ninety as a quantity of something. Let's see what kind of word history magic I can stir up here that might be of use.

Ninety is a mix of the number nine and an evolution of tig, which meant ten. It comes from the fact that, obviously, ninety = nine groups of ten. So, if we're looking at what's going on with ninety, we're really actually looking mostly at the wordplay and other meanings of the number nine with a dash of the number ten, and we'd want to go to history for that and where it could tie into Crowley & Aziraphale's story & the story as a whole.

Let's do this backwards and start with ten because it might make more sense that way. The number ten, in Roman numerals, is the letter X. This is why the name that Crowley and Aziraphale gave to the bookshop that is noted in Furfur's copy of Demon's Guide to Angelic Beings Who Walk the Earth is Angelic Embassy X.

It's a layer of humor in the scene when Crowley storms out of the bookshop, all upset, after the argument with Aziraphale in 2.01: Oh, I can't do this, I'm just so angry [an ang is a fish]... One, two... ten!

So, why Angelic Embassy X?

The letter X means a whole variety of things: it can refer to something considered "wrong" in the view of someone else. It can refer to something experimental-- which we know the bookshop embassy is, as it's really the only thing like it. It can be used between two or more names to refer to a collaboration. It's shorthand for adult things (*Gabriel voice* pornography) and it also is part of the shorthand of xo, referring to hugs and kisses. In math, x refers to an independent variable.

The address to the bookshop also contains the number ten. Since Aziraphale has basically built the street for the last few hundred years, he probably was able to pick the number so we can count that as part of the wordplay, too (and we should anyway, as it's a detailed kind of story 😉...) The address, according to Demon's Guide, is 105 Whickber Street.

There are other angles to explore with the number 105. (Anyone else who is into Buddhism or used to watch Lost is currently like if only it were 108! 😂) There might be things I'm missing but number 105 is not really that interesting and neither, honestly, is the number five from an etymological point of view. There are aspects to the number five's history though, that are really interesting and relevant to Crowley & Aziraphale.

You could get into iambic pentameter in poetry and its ties to Shakespeare, for one option. There are mathematical aspects to it that could be seen as fun applied to the story-- it's a safe prime number, for instance. There are ties to the Bible but Good Omens is a wordplay-happy religious satire... I'd look at the words with everything first before I got too deep into Biblical lore. It's not irrelevant but after a long time happily pouring over this story, the words >>>>>>>>>> everything else. Stuff from the Bible that doesn't fit with the wordplay or the themes isn't really relevant in a story that is only really using it to skewer religion anyway.

I'm sure that the real joke with 105 Whickber Street here is that 105 is 1 + 0 + 5 = 6. It's a reference to the number six, which comes from the Latin verb sex. Off the top of my head, other instances of wordplay around six/sex are in the six shots of espresso innuendo, which I looked at over here, as well as Aziraphale grinning flirtatiously with the whole "I have in my hand a sixpence..." bit in 1941. On the farthing, the other coin? A nightingale-wren bird. 😉 Aziraphale is flirting about their secret language in that secret language in that already-meta-in-ten-different-ways scene.

And so! We come to the number nine.

Nine is an odd prime number. You can multiply it by any number and the sum of the numbers you receive will always be divisible by the number nine. Because of how magical-seeming a number it is, it factors into different cultural histories. Of what I know of those things, the most relevant here off the top of my head would probably be The Nine Orders of Angels/Christian Angelic Hierarchy and The Nine Muses.

Good Omens has its own ideas about the power structure of angels in Heaven but it is taking the names of the levels of rank an angel could have from Christian theology and that has nine orders-- thrones, dominions, virtues, principalities, etc.. Good Omens has put its own spin on it for the purpose of its satire but Crowley & Aziraphale cheekily using wordplay around the number nine when it relates to Heaven in this way would make sense.

The other thing that's relevant is probably the Greek Muses, of which there were nine. The Muses are the goddesses of science, literature, and the arts. From them, the word muse evolved to mean artistic inspiration. There is wordplay around The Muses in Good Omens in the show and the novel in a few places, my favorite of which is a winking use of a word that derived from muse, which is amusing, used several times across both the book (the Milton Keynes paragraph, in particular, cracks me up) and in the series.

Something that is amusing, in the etymology-happy vocabulary of Crowley and Aziraphale and Good Omens as a whole, is both humorous and artistically inspiring. All art and music and literature is inspiring in many different ways to Crowley and Aziraphale. The two of them are both artists in their own rights and both really are the Muses themselves-- inspirational and influential goddesses of art and science and literature.

One of the ways that they find such things to be artistically inspiring😉, though, is probably best summed up by...

Dear Diary, Last month, Crowley and I both happened to be in Edinburgh and he insisted that I visit a graveyard at midnight! He said he had come upon something he thought would amuse me.

Would someone please write me Crowley's Archangel Gabriel jerkoff fantasies, I'm begging you. 😂

Anyyyyyway... that's maybe some of the reasons why they like the word ninety. Aziraphale might have had more (but not less) than ninety guineas in his wallet on their date in 1827 but he phrased the amount using words in their vocabulary. (Crowley was out of it at the time but, amusingly, not so much so that he wasn't also wording-- pretend and proper are Ineffable Husbands Speak/nightingale language vocab words.) Crowley can't do "90 miles per hour in central London" for reasons including he might hit someone and also the ninety stuff we've looked at and also that the word mile is one that has deep ties to ancient Rome. (See: fish-related meta linked earlier in post.)

Aziraphale getting his driver's license "90 years ago" is wordplay that's also riffing on some aspects of literal things. In the later scene when Aziraphale gets into the car, alone, to take it to Edinburgh, we see him basically magically getting the car to drive itself as opposed to actually manually driving it.

Aziraphale can drive the car with his mind, magically, and he probably has a piece of paper from the British government that says he can legally drive a car but he didn't actually go get a driver's license 90 years earlier. He doesn't really know how to manually drive the literal car-- The Bentley-- but he's not really talking about The Bentley in the "90 years ago" scene.

Aziraphale is continuing the sexual metaphor from S1 where he's the bookshop (which is an overall metaphor in the story, as well-- it's why the whole plot becomes will the demons get into the bookshop? in S2, metaphorical for a mental health breakdown). In this analogy, if he's the bookshop, then Crowley is The Bentley.

Aziraphale is poking gentle fun at the fact that he has long since been licensed to drive "The Bentley"-- Crowley-- but Crowley is reluctant to let Aziraphale drive the literal car. He's proposing they trade, as they always otherwise do in bed-- Crowley can take the bookshop and Aziraphale can take the car. The whole mock-bickering over taking the car versus going by train is really about which one of them is topping the next time they have sex.

Crowley bought the literal Bentley in the 1930s, which is 90 years ago when Aziraphale says that line in S2. So, if Aziraphale says he's been licensed to drive the car since Crowley first decided he wanted to own one, then this is really Aziraphale saying he's been licensed to drive Crowley (has had his enthusiastic consent) since Crowley first decided he'd like to go for a ride with Aziraphale.

Aziraphale passed that driver's test with flying colors! As he says, back then, they (Crowley) didn't even require tests but Aziraphale insisted.😉 The original meaning of require was actually inquiry-- it was to ask.

Back then, long before the invention of the car lol, when Aziraphale first was granted permission to "drive The Bentley", Crowley wasn't the one who asked. Aziraphale, as he says, insisted. Original meanings: to pursue, to urge, to encourage.

As we saw back in S1:

The Number 90

I couldn’t sleep last night, and for some reason, “‘How much have you got in your wallet, angel?’ ‘About 90 Guineas’,” kept running through my head. This morning, I was still thinking about it, along with, “You can’t drive 90 miles an hour in central London,” and, “I passed my driving test 90 years ago.” That’s weird. That’s a lot of random mentions of the number 90.

And of course, nothing in this show is random. I don’t know anything about numerology, so I did a quick Google search to see if I could find something. There wasn’t a lot, but it looks like the number 90 is supposed to be an angelic number, and represents embarking on a spiritual journey to achieve enlightenment and inner peace. It is a reminder to be more philanthropic, kind, and compassionate. Which kind of makes sense, given the contexts in which it was mentioned and Aziraphale’s general character arc. But, that’s still kind of random.

Apparently, the number 90 is also mentioned five times in the Bible. It is mentioned three times in the show, so then I thought maybe we were going to get two more mentions in the last season as some kind of biblical parallel (assuming it is actually significant in some way). And then I got sad, because it was probably yet one more cool little detail that was going to be cut out due to time constraints, because we’re not getting a full final season anymore, we’re just getting a 90…minute…movie. A 90 MINUTE MOVIE. The last movie is 90. MINUTES. LONG.

What does this mean???!!

Does anyone have any ideas about this?

[darklinaforever]

I think people say Orlok can’t love because he himself says that in the movie. Don’t get me wrong-there are versions of vampires who absolutely can love. Like Kinski’s Nosferatu was capable of love. Langella’s and Oldman’s Draculas were capable of love. Lestat was capable of love. Angel and Spike were capable of love. Etc. Hell, even novel Dracula says that he too can love. The issue is what types of loves are they really capable of and how destructive and toxic those types of love really are.

However, 2024 Orlok specifically says that he can’t love at all. As for Ellen, well, it never actually has been such a problem for woman to fall in love with a bad monstrous person-I mean we have so many examples irl of it, so it wouldn’t be a deal breaker alone. It’s just I don’t think 2024 movie gives us real example of Ellen being in love/falling in love with Orlok. Unless I missed something.

So, don't take this the wrong way... but Robert Eggers clearly doesn't agree with you at all.

The film is about a love triangle with Ellen who loves Thomas as much as Orlok. It's canon.

And the ambiguity is placed on Orlok side, but let's be clear ; If he didn't have real affections for Ellen, things would have happened very differently in the film, you have to be realistic.

You know that there is a world of difference between what a character says and what he does / what the story shows ? It's a bit of a cliché in fiction. You have to look a little beyond the dialogues, I'm just saying...

Otherwise, the analysis would be dead if we took everything literally.

It is said that Orlok & Ellen are two people potentially falling in love. If isn't love, it's something else, but love is maybe the closest thing to it that you can kind of relate to.

Eggers, also talks about Orlok like the character of Heathcliff in the gothic romance Wuthering Heights. Namely that we don't know if he really loves her (Ellen / Cathy), or if he just wants to possess and destroy her.

Orlok & Ellen is also literally the Death and the Maiden, Beauty and the Beast and (again) Wuthering Heights inspired.

So saying that Orlok can't love because he says so (and in fact it's Ellen who says that) doesn't mean that it's the absolute truth. Clearly not.

[halitis]

Any thoughts on Roy and Hal?

How they would interact with eachother in Roy's Speedy era?

Hal becoming Roys 2nd Parent?

DO I HAVE THOUGHTS

BOY OH BOY DO I HAVE THOUGHTS. ALWAYS. my two faves :DDD

hal is really quite good with kids! probably one of the best in the league i'd argue. it's because he treats them like independent people with thoughts and feelings. while roy loved that at first, it ended up causing some light strife between the two when ollie started going off travelling. because he HAD enough independence, he didn't want more. he wanted someone there.

while hal and roy are close now, they weren't really close before the events of 'snowbirds dont fly'. hal thought roy was a good kid, with a lot of love in his heart (although, sure a bit rebellious but thats to be expected). hal helping roy out like that, helping to save his life, it really put a foothold into their relationship. hal started to realise what roy needed, was different to what he himself needed as a kid and adjusts accordingly. roy loves it and that hal is willing to put in the work for him.

i, personally, don't see hal as roy's parent. i don't think roy needs or wants another parent, he had brave bow and he has ollie and dinah. that isn't to say they aren't family! i just don't think they have a strict label on what they are to each other, they are just family. if anything though, i'd label them either as cousins or hal as his uncle. (this isn't to say i am judging or whatever if you view hal as roy's father! i do incredibly understand why and i do see the potential).

[continued under the read more]

they Bicker a LOT... but it is how roy shows love. hal was concerned at first because during his speedy era, sure roy would tease but he would never argue with him. it took a bit to realise "oh he's just growing up" (hal went through a brief crisis over that one). now you can find them having pedantic arguments over nothing, and if someone interrupts or tries to stop them; they are just like "???? we weren't fighting ????"

hal and roy ended up bonding over sports, hal would take him out to baseball games because it was An Iconic Part of American Culture and he cannot BELIEVE ollie deprived his son of this (roy could not have given less of a fuck), but he ended up getting really into it. to this day they will call each other just to talk about the teams on for each season. sometimes they will go months without talking, only to message out of the blue going "did you SEE that angels game. what the fuck was that!!?"

hal helped out with lian a bit when she was a baby, he's used to dealing with kids and would babysit her when roy just needed a break. now however, lian doesn't really know him that much. roy wants to try and keep her life as stable as possible and hal isn't around enough for roy to trust him to stay a presence... hal adores lian though, roy will silently send through photos and videos and what not and hal will always compliment her. it's so tragic, and hal really hates it but at the same time he does understand. he would probably do the same in roy's position afterall.

roy looked up to hal so much as a speedy, like that is his dad's cool best friend who has seen SPACE and his entire thing is being FEARLESS omg omg. cue hal being smug about this to ollie, that his son thinks hal is cooler than him. ollie is quick to disabuse this notion to roy, with many mortifying videos of the green lantern. roy never looks at hal the same way again.

hal and roy bond over their complicated relationships with carol and jade, it's a lot of sighing and gossiping. it's not a competition, but roy somehow always wins (hal takes a guilty joy in thinking 'at least i'm not roy'). i think they should get to have a girls night. as a treat. let them do each others hair and watch movies and gossip about girls!

i had more to say abt them, but it's 3am and i am so Bone Tired..... hope this fits what u were looking for op! thanks for the ask MWAAAH!

[bunnyinvanilla]

Hi sweetie!! i love the way you write price sooo freaking much!! truly you are amazing!! (sorry if it has any typos english is not my first language) what about price seeing reader crying and really upset after a customer were mean to her? said something rude or a mean comment on her appearance

hiii pudding!! absolutely do NOT apologize, and thank YOU sm for the compliments, they mean a lot to me cause I really hope you like what I write, I need validations and praise to function :,) love this idea, you’re just a sensitive emotional lil bunny, n big old daddy price wants to protect you from mean, rude ppl ;(

you love people, you’re basically a social butterfly, despite your shyness, you just love smiling at strangers and giving them compliments — that made working part time as a waitress easier, that until you found a rude costumer.

poor baby, you kept thinking everyone in this world was as nice and loving as you,

“can you make me a vieux carrè?” the costumer hadn’t even greeted you before he plopped on the barstool, and that already made you feel upset :(

“good evening,” you retort gently, picking your usual pink notebook up but not writing anything down yet “what…what is that?”

he frowned, the kind of look that you always wanted to hide from, judgment all over his face, like he was considering your lack of intelligence. hard for a girl who kept seeking for approval and praise.

“you don’t know what a vieux carré is?”

“uhm…” you shrugged timidly “no, im sorry, I don’t drink” you replied sheepishly, tempted to call one of the boys and let them handle this conversation “and I don’t make drinks here, I only serve them. Simon is the one who mixes-“

“so you’re dumb and useless?”

the word was blurted in such a spiteful manner that made you want to flinch, but you’d been taught to remain polite and kind even with people who were not — your poor, sensitive glass heart though, felt a tiny crack on its surface.

“they probably put you here only for your looks, if you can’t even make a damn drink” with every word he said, you felt more and more warmth invading your chest, your cheeks practically burned with heat, and the back of your throat stung, like hundreds of tiny needles poking through it.

he stood up with a heavy, bored sigh, grabbed his wallet and buried it right back into his pocket, but not without casting you a disapproving glance first, from head to toe. “as flat as a table, you’re not even useful for that”

another crack made your poor, fragile heart shatter down completely, and your eyes grew watery, the promise of upcoming pearly tears that laid still on your pupils, but that threatened to come down your rosy cheeks with a single blink.

they started pouring out when you hid in price’s empty office, knowing no one would find you there. You sniffled, quiet sobs that echoed around you and seemed to cling to you. You’d forgotten to take a handkerchief with you, the little, sweet tears staining the fabric of your uniform shirt.

“what bloody happened?” john’s voice was a deep grumble, thick with worry and confusion. You hadn’t heard him walk in, but that was his own office, and he hadn’t expected to find his pretty girl crying there.

“doll, what’s wrong?” he walked close to you, grabbing you by your waist and turning your body towards him. You keep sobbing silently, crystalline tears smudging your mascara and the glitters you’d put on your eyes.

“nothing, sir, ‘m, ‘m- fine, ‘s just..” tiny hiccups interrupted your feeble speech, and when you finally lifted your eyes to meet his, and he saw your doe, sweet eyes filled with tears, he wished he had brought his rifle with him — to shoot anyone who’d made his sweetheart cry.

price was a gentleman, he only ever wanted to see you cry from pleasure, not sadness.

“what happened, angel? come on, talk to daddy” he cupped your face with a large, warm hand, his thumb catching a tear that spilled out and wiping it away.

“that guy- he-he said i was dumb because i didn’t know how to make him a drink, I apologized, ‘n i know it’s my fault because i didn’t know if it was on the menu but..” your chin wobbled at the memory, your already weak self esteem had been completely crushed by that guy’s words. “he said that im useless and im..im flat as a table,”

john’s eyes hardened, his brows frowning as he listened to your explanation, and he clenched his jaw. You sniffled again, sobs that made his heart clench, and his free hand tickle with the need to punch him in the face. He was fuming, but had to confort you.

“oh, love” he murmured gruffly, his thumb wiping away some glitter from your tear stained cheeks. “oh sweetheart, come here”

lowering his hand he took yours in his, gently bringing you closer to him, walking towards the little sofa chair, the one he’d added to his office for when you wanted to read while he worked.

he sat down and brought your body on top of his, swinging your legs around his sides. You lifted you hands and rubbed your tears away, like bunnies did when they cleaned their soft faces ;,(

his hands rested on both of your legs as you sobbed, slowly moving up and down to caress your bare thighs. “doll, you’re the most beautiful angel I’ve ever seen, the prettiest little thing,” he filled your ears with reassurance, his rough, raspy and low voice speaking gentle and loving words to you. You blinked down at him, sad puppy dog eyes that pulled at the strings of his weary, war burdened heart — he’d seen the worst and cruelest things within his line of work and during missions, but nothing compared to seeing you cry on top of him.

he lifted his head and buried his face on your neck, his mustache tickling your skin as he left a trail of kisses all the way down to your chest, stopping where the neckline of your shirt set a limit to his affection. “the kindest, sweetest girl in the world, intelligent and smart, the cutest fuckin’ baby” he rasped those word between the kisses, against your flushed skin. “my princess, my pretty lap bunny, aren’t ya…”

“don’t ya worry your pretty little head over that meanie, alright, babydoll? He’s lucky I didn’t hear him, I would’ve cut his hands and shoved them down his thr-“

“daddy!” you called him out, a little laugh between the tears, finding his colorful language amusing. “don’t say that”

he grinned against your chest, pressing a kiss right where your heart was and looking up at you again. “listen to me, love. You’re the most precious girl that exists, don’t ever, ever doubt how beautiful and clever you are, understand daddy?”

you let your eyes fleck between his own, nibbling on your pouty lip, and nodded lightly.

“good girl, pup. Say it f’me.”

“I won’t..”

“that’s my girl. Give daddy a kiss, cmon”

you lowered your head and pressed a delicate kiss above his mustache, and when you pulled away, he brushed the back of his finger right under your eye. “no more tears, stay here and rest for a bit, daddy’ll get you some water”

needless to say, you did in fact snuggle up on the sofa, waiting for john to come back with your water — what was taking him so long?

just him finding out who that bastard who’d made you cry was. He’d found him sitting on a stool, complaining to his friend about the waitress — let’s just say that by the time he came back to you, his scarred hands weren’t cold anymore, but were red and pulsing, and Johnny and Gaz had found a way to relieve some boredom. only orders from the captain, after all.

‘’just make him regret what he said, aight boys? and don’t tell my missus, she’ll feel bad.”

[lp-collins]

This is one of the scenarios I've been running through my head!

The way I'm currently imagining it, Andrealphus does hire Striker to murder Octavia and sets him up with angelic weaponry etc. I don't even think he involves Stella, not that she cares that much, but he is seriously pissed at this point and maybe she'd draw the line at actively killing her daughter, not sure.

It just so happens that Blitz is tracking Striker around that time because Vassago needs proof that the guy has a connection to Stella, so that they can drag them and Andrealphus to court and help Stolas get his powers back. (There's a lot of earlier scenarios that go into that lol) And Blitz happily took the task upon himself because he is done with Striker getting away with hurting his family. So it's a pure coincidence that Blitz happens to be following him the moment he goes after Octavia. Stolas isn't there, M&M and Loona aren't there and he doesn't have time to call any of them for help. When he sees Via and realizes that Striker is about to hurt her, he does the only thing he can: he attacks the guy before he can lay a hand on her.

Thanks to the Pain Games, we know that Blitz and Striker are a match for each other in terms of physicality. Plus, Blitz has Via to worry for, his first priority being to keep Striker and the angelic weapons away from her, even at his own expense. It's a nasty fight, both of them get hurt pretty bad and this time, you know it's going to be to the death. Octavia does want to help, but she's not nearly advanced enough to target only Striker with her powers when they're moving around so much.

Blitz does manage to gain the upper hand (maybe through a clever trick, maybe Octavia does get a shot in when Striker is pinning Blitz to the ground or something) and finally kills Striker. It means they won't be getting any evidence, but he doesn't care if it means Via is safe.

And seeing this guy who she doesn't even like, who stole her dad from her, who she can only see as her antagonist fight for her completely changes Via's perspective. This whole time, it's only thing she has wanted and now it's coming from the person she least expected it from. (Stolas fights for her too, in ways (searching LA, keeping up the attempts to talk to her, visiting the palace when he really shouldn't), but she can't see that because her mind is so focused on the ways he fights for Blitz.)

Suddenly, she can't hate Blitz anymore. Worse, he is seriously injured and he needs her help. She isn't very good at the portal thing yet, but she manages to make one to Sloth and helps him through. At Blitz's request, she calls Loona (because he knows Stolas will freak out and is capable of taking off without telling anyone) and she uses her status to get him priority treatment at the hospital.

She stays with him while they wait for Loona and Stolas to show up and they talk a bit. At some point, Via asks why he would risk his life for her like that, and Blitz tells her that she's family, that she always will be. And somehow, she believes him.

I wonder if there'll be an upcoming episode where Via gets put in danger and Blitz has to save her alone.

Like, its clear to everyone that Stella and Andrealphus don't care about her, in fact they seem to see her existence as an obstacle to what they want to achieve.

I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually stage another kidnapping or assassination for her, should she start posing herself as a threat to them. She's already started showing signs of standing up to them, and her powers coming in quite strong(truly Stolas' daughter fr), so it'd make sense if they decided to get rid of her. It was also somewhat foreshadowed in Western Energy- maybe Striker is the one ordered to kill her?

Only Stolas would be powerless at this point, so it'd be nice if Blitz was the one to save her. Maybe he'd be involved by complete coincidence like with Fizz? Im reaching bc im delusional, but maybe they'll bond during it, Blitz being protective over Via possibly or maybe actually getting hurt. Imagine Via sees someone going nuts trying to protect her, bc I dont think she sees that, sees how much she matters to anyone, much less the imp who ruined her family. It'd be such a good wake up call for her to realize not only why Stolas ended up caring for Blitz, but also how important and loved she actually is.

Also Blitz has a small but GREAT record of reconciling with someone via salvation from life threatening disasters, its his method of bonding, therapy if you will

I just want Octavia and Blitz to bond ok- i want these punk ass idiots to see how much they have in common, plsplspls Vivzie-

[kittenfangirl20]

Addict au

Adam felt his entire body shudder as he inhaled the long line of coke. He couldn’t believe how damn good it was. It was some kind of new type of coke on the market. 

It was said to be so good the high would start immediately. To Adam’s pleasure they didn’t lie. Of course it would.

 One of the main elements used to make it and have that effect came from the fallen angel himself. 

His blood.

It might not be as strong as it would be if he were still holy but it produced a kick. 

Val: Well how is it?

Adam glanced up to the man who helped produce the drug.

Adam: It’s good, really good.

Val: See what I tell you? Is it not the best thing that’s ever entered your anatomy? Besides sex that is.

Adam: It is now, don't forget our deal!

Val: You wound me little lamb, do you not have any trust for your own business partner.

Adam: We are NOT business partners. The deal is that I give you my blood and you give me the stuff for free. 

Val: Exactly business partners

Adam scoffed and looked back down at the table with the tray of stuff.

Adam: What are you gonna call it anyway? 

The man smirked, placing a hand on his hip.

Val: Angel’s blood has a nice ring to it. Don’t ya thing? 

Adam merely rolled his eyes and packed up the stuff into his bag and prepared to head out. 

Val: I’ll see you soon then?

Adam: Yeah…soon.

Without another word he marched right out of the overlords office and out of his building. As Adam trudged his way through the filthy streets of Hell fellow addicts lined up along the sidewalk, in the alley, and some in the middle of the fucking road he couldn’t help but chuckle.

Not that long ago Adam would have been disgusted with their behavior. Would have said that extermination was a kindness. They no longer suffer through their addictions if permanently dead.

But that was before Adam died during the extermination, woke up fallen, and began walking a mile in the sinners shoes. He wouldn’t say that sinners were all just poor unfortunate souls that only needed saving. Oh dear Lord no.

He simply had an understanding of them. 

Maybe they were lost and so was he.

He never thought he’d stoop so low that he’d sell his own blood for a bag of dough. Yet here he was. That’s just what happens when you finally get your hands on something that’s never been available to you. 

Soon you want more.

As ironic as it may be, it consumes you. The more you put into your body, the more you feel like you need. To help you relieve any pain in your life, even temporarily. Like it did for Adam.

Here in Hell, his life was nothing but pain. Well, his entire existence has been painful. But at least up on Earth and in Heaven he had people who cared and supported him.

Down here he had no one but himself. At one point during his first days down here he’d considered going to the hotel. Since she did claim redemption was possible for anyone who seemed it.

But that was before Adam got his hands on his first bottle. Then soon moved on to more hardcore stuff. And all his thoughts kept circling back to the truth whenever he thought about the hotel.

They’d never accept him. 

Lucifer would never accept him.

Or worse they did and then what? He didn’t know but he didn’t want to find out. He stopped when he realized he made it to his rundown abandoned apartment complex. 

He merely sighed and went in getting ready to hit himself up again. 

Adam lay on the pitiful excuse for a bed after he took more drugs. It helped at least numb the pain and keep him mind off of the self loathing. But that wasn’t possible because tonight when he turned on the TV he saw a commercial for the Hazbin Hotel which included Lucifer in it. Seeing that made Adam start to cry.

Adam: Why couldn’t you just love me the way I love you.

But it wasn’t meant to be because he chose Lilith over him. Thinking of Lilith made Adam cry even more. Just thinking of the first woman always made Adam sad and fearful. Especially now that Lilith got to relax on the beaches of Heaven while Adam had to sell his blood for money and drugs. Adam cried himself to sleep. In the morning Adam woke up and stumbled out of bed to go and buy some groceries. He didn’t realize that he was spotted by Angel Dust who ran back to the hotel and went to both Charlie and Lucifer.

Angel: Look, I don’t know if we should be concerned or not. But I saw Adam at a local grocery store. He lost quite a bit of weight and he doesn’t look good. I think he is having a rough time in Hell.

Charlie: Dad, we need to help Adam. I know he attacked the hotel, but no one deserves to suffer like that.

Lucifer: I will go and talk to him, I just don’t know if he will listen to me.

The truth was that Lucifer had wanted to help Adam and apologize for everything.

@talesfromawannabewriter

[intrasun]

Brutally Soft Lore #01

A lot is going on with my most recent (and first post back!) of Brutally Soft. It really is meant to be up to interruption, but I wanted to share what I was thinking symbolically with Wednesday's dream (for anyone interested in that kind of thing).

To start, I redid this post four times, trying to figure out the best way to tell the story. Although pretty cliche, I think this dream sequence was a good look into Wednesday's psyche.

If you're an anime fan, you'll see the obvious nod to Neon Genesis Evangelion. NGE is an allegory for loneliness and depression. Alongside the other religious imagery in this post, it was a fitting reference that encompasses Wednesday well.

Neither I nor Wednesday believe in a God. Rather I choose the ocean to represent a sort of godly entity. You could interrupt this as Wednesday praying to Mother Nature as a kind of God as well. Here is where you'll see the NGE inspiration. The crosses floating in the ocean are meant to, in this scene, imply that the ocean itself is representative of a God. I wanted it to look someone what ... punishing? Almost angry? Like her prayer will not be answered, or she feels like it isn't going to be. It's a hostile interaction.

In the picture of Wednesday crying, she's facing away from the sun and the reflection of the crosses is still behind her but now they are upside down. Almost like she is turning her back on God or has lost faith. You could also interpret this as Wednesday being somewhat "sinful" and that sinfulness even follows hers ie. it looming behind her. Although this post has nothing to do with faith (and Wednesday had none, to begin with), this really is just to show a loss of hope. I love how this came out and I hope people see this detail but if you didn't hopefully now you do!

Despite the sin references, I use the daylit scenes to represent good intentions. Here Wednesday is hanging her head before she breaks down, but I placed the sun here to represent a halo. She, although struggling with motherhood, is trying. She is a victim of hardship. The dark ocean scenes came to be more of how Wednesday views herself and her situation and the daylight scene represents more of how others see her. I didn't add Amelia to this post because it is about a mother and daughter, but you could imagine, in a way, she is the sun looking down on her brightly.

Oh, Drew. I always edit Drew with angel wings because I think she embodies pure good. She's a child, pure of heart. In Wednesday's life, she acts as an angel as well. But I won't get too much into that here. In a not-so-subtle way, I chose black wings. Not to say she's fallen but perhaps darkness could or has or will enveloped her. Alternatively, the all-black is a way to mourn Drew's childhood. In the last detail, Drew is looking at a raven (or maybe you saw a crow) a symbol for a bad omen, the one Wednesday is worried about bestowing onto Drew. This scene is during the day, in the same sky as at the beginning of the post. Although you could deduce that Wednesday is either cynical or broken, she has hope in the back of her mind (ie in the background) when she envisions her daughter.

The line "I pray that my daughter doesn't look like me, doesn't resemble me." I have always said that Wednesday not only doesn't, like her appearance but she'd hope Drew wouldn't look like her. If you've seen Drew, she looks a lot like Wednesday. The resemblance reminds Wednesday of herself as a child and she worries she'll also see Drew with the same pain.

I've always shown Wednesday to be stoic (almost to fault and a symptom of bad writing). That anger masks a lot of sadness, I believe anger is a symptom of deep sadness. This is Wednesday's mind, where it is not necessary to mask her emotions, there is no reason she should feel the shame of crying. In this space, she feels free to just let out how she feels, and that is by sobbing. I feel like this could make people sympathetic or view her as weak. Who knows! My goal isn't to make the reader sad (I want them to just feel how they feel) but to show Wednesday more honestly.

The line she says is derivative of a quote by Franz Kafka.

The text in yellow! As I am sure anyone could guess it is a song. It is Tell Me by Corbin. If you can take some somber music, Corbin is incredible. My favorite artist. The lyrics and who is saying them or who they are about are really up to the reader. It could read that it was a voice speaking to Wednesday, a more sympathetic voice than her own. I think you could think of Wednesday saying it to Drew. Even a voice like Amelia's or an omnipotent voice saying it to them both. It was very fitting and I wanted it to include it to provide an alternative perspective to the reader.

I spent a lot of time on this post and I am very proud of it. IDK if this new style of storytelling is going to translate to people. Hopefully, it does to someone! This is only the first post so I won't expect too much. I hope to one day get to a point where I can hear other people's interactions and theories on the story and characters. Till then! I'll be sharing mine here. Thank you for taking the to read this post.

[sonknuxadow]

What do you think Knuckles Generations would look like

feels like a good time to bring back this image i made when sonic x shadow generations was first announced. we can make this real if we bother sega about it enough (joking)

i feel like a knuckles story set during generations might be hard to pull off considering knuckles was in sonics whitespace but then again so was rouge and she still played an important role in shadows story so i guess its not impossible . anyway i think the rest of this post got way too long so im gonna put it under a readmore actually

idk if this is a good idea at all but like. sonic and shadow each have their own sort of gimmick right . for sonic its the classic and modern thing and for shadow its the doom powers. and classic knuckles isnt in this game. so maybe his whole thing can be switching between more typical sonic gameplay and the treasure hunting gameplay from the adventure games..... idk ....

for stages. my personal picks would be angel island* for sonic 3&knuckles, red mountain for sonic adventure, aquatic mine or pumpkin hill for sonic adventure 2.. i dont really have a preference for which one but there should probably be a sonic heroes stage. and obviously ares island for sonic frontiers. and i feel like there should be a level from knuckles chaotix as well but idk what it should be because i dont really know anything about that game. sorry.

(*could be based specifically on angel island zone from sonic 3 or just be a general angel island based stage like how they did a space colony ark stage for shadow gens. also i tried to not repeat any stages from sxsg but i think re-using sky sanctuary could work here. like i dont have many story-related ideas for this but knuckles' story would have to start after sonic frees him so maybe it begins with him going into sky sanctuary which leads to him finding the knuckles specific whitespace)

as for other characters that would feature in the story . i know its not a strict rule that there cant be repeat characters but i also wouldnt want for there to be too many repeat characters anyway which kinda limits our options ……. i think tikal should be a white space character for sure. maybe pachacamac too i think he would be an interesting addition. sega would never do it but mighty would be a good choice too. actually maybe they wouldnt be too opposed to it in this context considering gens is a game where classic and modern characters interact. idk. im struggling to think of boss battles right now but i think rouge would be a fun rival battle since we already know she leaves her spot in sonics white space at some point. maybe she could try to see if the master emerald is still intact and if she can steal it while nobodys paying attention to it. i also would want a sonic rival battle soooo bad but idk how they'd work that in

[cantcompetewhereudontcompare]

A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF HARRY STYLES LYRICS

I've been thinking about how to approach the last part of the Louis' songwriting deconstruction (Part I, Part II, Part III, plus a bonus).

I mulled over different ways to go about it, and ultimately decided that before I delve into an analysis of Louis' lyrics, I need to analyze some of Harry's. Why? Because, as I said multiple times, I hate hypocrisy, so if I'm going to pick apart an artist's work, I need to show what my criteria is with art that I appreciate and like. Otherwise, I could very well cherry pick and be unfair, and that's not what I'm about.

Because we've established that Louis isn't really the one writing the music or melodies, I'm going to leave musicality, chord progressions, instrumentation, etc, out of this analysis and only focus on lyrics. But let me be clear, Harry is very intentional with that part of his music, and taking that part of the composition off this analysis is in detriment of his overall "score".

In fact, in my entire time as a fan of his, I thought Harry's lyrics were his weak point while his strength was melodies and instrumentation, and I while I haven't necessarily changed my mind, after analyzing his lyrics in a deeper way with poetic structure and rhyming schemes in mind, I've come to the conclusion that I underestimated him in that regard. His melodies and instrumentation are still the best ingredient, but his lyrics aren't as far behind as I originally thought they were.

I'm going to analyze Harry's songs by the following metrics:

Poetic intent: 1- Rhyming schemes and patterns 2- Effectivity and comfortability of the rhymes 3- Syllable distribution and cadence

Vocabulary*

Clichés, commonplaces, and overused tropes

Nonsensical elements and overall storytelling

Theme and execution of it

*In regards to vocabulary, initially I wanted to use the CEFR levels, but all the online tests I could find gave me the same result for every song, so it just became a useless metric. I wanted this to be impartial, but my own biased opinion will have to suffice.

In all regards, the benchmark I'm using is your average pop song, not a masterpiece work of art by the best lyricists of our lifetime. Essentially, I'm grading on a curve. Some metrics will have a baseline that's a 7 and gets upped or lowered. Some others will start at a 10 and get lowered if they mess up. I'll explain my thought process for each as I make my case for the first song.

Harry has recorded and released 35 songs total, and Louis has too (in the second part of this series I said he'd recorded and released 34, but that was not including Copy Of A Copy Of A Copy, which wasn't recorded in a studio but is part of his live album). That amounts to a grand total of 70 works. I simply won't be analyzing that many songs, so I'll pick a handful.

For both of them, the choices will be songs that I find interesting or think are their strengths. I promise I won't cherry pick the best of one and worst of the other. You're welcome to suggest other songs that you think represent Louis' strengths better.

When I type down the analysis this type of metric: [10S] will mean the amount of syllables of the line.

ONLY ANGEL

POETIC INTENT

VERSE 1 Open up your eyes, shut your mouth and see [11S] That I'm still the only one who's been in love with me [14S] I'm just happy getting you stuck in between my teeth [13S] And there's nothing I can do about it [10S] Broke a finger knocking on your bedroom door[11S] I got splinters in my knuckles crawling 'cross the floor [13S] Couldn't take you home to mother in a skirt that short[13S] But I think that's what I like about it [10S]

The stanza has 8 lines, which are neatly divided in two groups of four by both rhyming pattern and syllable distribution. The rhyming pattern is A A A B C C C B, syllable distribution is 47+47.

This is mirrored in the second verse:

VERSE 2 I must admit I thought I'd like to make you mine [12S] As I went about my business through the warning signs[13S] End up meetin' in the hallway every single time [12S] And there's nothin' we can do about it [10S] Told it to her brother and she told it to me [11S] That she's gonna be an angel, just you wait and see [13S] When it turns out she's a devil in between the sheets [13S] And there's nothing she can do about it [hey, hey] [10S]

Once again, the stanza has an A A A B C C C B rhyming pattern with a 47 + 47 syllable distribution.

All the other elements of this song (mainly chorus and bridge) are repetitive and playing into the instrumentation and the melody first and foremost. There isn't a rhyming pattern to analyze.

Rhyming schemes and patterns:

The verses have an interesting rhyming pattern. It's clearly not half-haphazarldly through together, but actually well thought out and with intent. It's not your run-of-the-mill rhyming pattern (those are usually A A B B or A B A B). There's something disruptive about the "about its". While I can't rate the chorus or bridge, I'm not going to deduct points for that, because if I were analyzing the music alongside the lyrics, they would be elevated by it, so while I can't add extra points for that, I think subtracting them would be unfair.

For this metric, the baseline will be a 7, and I'll be adding or subtracting points on that baseline.

Score: 9/10

Effectivity and comfortability of the rhymes:

They're good. Not amazing, but good. None of them blows my mind, but none of them are uncomfortable or feel forced either.

With this metric I'm starting at a 7 for "average pop song" and adding or subtracting points from that baseline.

Score: 7/10

Syllable distribution and cadence:

I'm not gonna lie, the symmetry is really appealing to me.

This score is pretty arbitrary. it's a very random metric, that will only apply to very specific songs. I'll start off with a 7 and add points if it stands out. Most songs will just be a 7.

Score: 9/10

Vocabulary:

It's good. It's not Bob-Dylan-esque good. It's not even Alex Turner good. But it's good. The scores here are in comparison to the average pop song, and I think Only Angel's vocabulary is slightly more elevated than the average pop song.

A standout lyric to me is "I must admit I thought I'd like to make you mine, as I went about my business through the warning signs." He's saying, "You may have all the red flags, but I have my rose-colored glasses on, so all I see is flags" in a more sophisticated way.

For this metric, I'm starting at a 7 for "typical pop song vocabulary" and adding or subtracting points based on that.

Score: 8/10

Clichés, commonplaces, and overused tropes:

When it turns out she's the devil in between the sheets.

This is the only cliché I can identify in this song. I can't expect singers to never include clichés, but I will take notice of them, and if overused, deduct points. Also, the clichés have to make sense with the rest of the song. In this case, it fits perfectly.

Would calling her an angel be classified as a cliché? Meh, that would mean literally every love song is a cliché.

The rest of the song is a well-executed romantic-adjacent song that doesn't rely on clichés.

For this metric, I'm starting off at 10 and deducting points for clichés.

Score: 9/10

Nonsensical elements and overall storytelling:

There are no nonsensical elements to this song. It's pretty well contained within its logic. It presents a relationship that isn't serious, but sexual in nature. While the lover's brother and the speaker's mother are mentioned, it's not to allude to a serious relationship, but the opposite. The speaker's mother is mentioned in the context of not taking the lover to meet her. The lover tells her brother that she's "gonna be an angel," but the speaker tells us that's not what ends up happening.

Even the sentence "end up meeting in the hallway every single time," which could sound a bit nonsensical, actually ties the second verse to the first ("broke a finger knocking on your bedroom door"). This sentence also ties back to another song on the same album (Meet Me In The Hallway), which I think is a nice touch.

It's pretty cohesive.

As with the last metric, with this one I'm starting at 10 and deducting points for nonsense or bad storytelling.

Score: 10/10

Theme and execution of it:

As I said earlier, it's a romantic-adjacent song that doesn't rely on typical and overused tropes, which makes it a little different. There isn't an allusion to a serious relationship, but rather, to one that's mainly sexual, which probably helps, as it's typically not that explored within the pop genre.

There's a very vivid image of him at her door, knocking vigorously until he gets hurt, then falling to his knees and crawling, and in that context running into her. The element of "every single time" gives us insight on this being a repeated occurrence.

Starting a romantic adjacent song by declaring that not only has the lover never been in love with the speaker, but also, that nobody else has, is really clever to me. It's self-deprecating and introduces us to an interesting theme, which flips the expectations of what a popstar might sing about, in terms of love, in its head.

I'm starting off this one at 7 for the average pop song. Elements that elevate it will better the score, elements that make it overdone, or nonsensical will lower it.

Score: 9/10

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Only Angel is not a lyrical masterpiece, but it's elevated by its innovative approach at a theme and rhyming structure. It's obviously well thought and its author knows about poetry and applied their knowledge correctly.

Score: 61/70 = A-

CAROLINA

POETIC INTENT

VERSE 1 She's got a family in Carolina So far away, but she says I remind her of home Feelin', oh, so far from home She never saw herself as a West Coaster Moved all the way 'cause her grandma told her"Townes, better swim before you drown"

The rhyming scheme in this verse is a combination of perfect rhymes ("Townes", which is pronounced "Town," and "drown"), repetition ("home"), and assonant rhymes. Assonant rhymes are those that sound similar when spoken but don't look similar in paper. There are assonant rhymes in Only Angel, but they look more similar, so they're more obvious to the untrained eye.

I recommend you listen to the song to check for yourself. Listen to how he says the words "Carolina" and then "I remind her," and then do the same thing with "as a West Coaster" and "grandma told her."

Let's rearrange some things to measure the syllables.

VERSE 1 She's¹ got² a³ fam⁴-i⁵-ly⁶ in⁷ Car⁸-o⁹-lina¹⁰ [10S] So¹ far² a³-way,⁴ but⁵ she⁶ says⁷ I⁸ re⁹-mind¹⁰ her¹¹ [11S] [of] home,¹ feel²-in',³ oh,⁴ so⁵ far⁶ from⁷ home⁸ [8S] She¹ nev²-er³ saw⁴ her⁵-self⁶ as⁷ a⁸ West⁹ Coas¹⁰-ter¹¹ [11S] Moved¹ all² the³ way⁴ 'cause⁵ her⁶ grand⁷-ma⁸ told⁹ her¹⁰ [12S] "Townes,¹ bet²-ter³ swim⁴ be⁵-fore⁶ you⁷ drown⁸" [8S]

The rhyming scheme is A A BB C C DD. I put [of] between brackets because it's there for grammar reasons he glues it to "home" in practice. Once again, as with Only Angel, you can divide this verse into two neat groups of 28 syllables.

B and D are examples of what's called "internal rhymes."

Verse 2 is even more technically intricate, and this time, it doesn't mirror verse 1.

VERSE 2 She's got a book for every sit-u-a-tion [10S] Gets in-to par-ties with-out in-vi-ta-tion [11S] How could you e-ver turn her down? [8S] There's not a drink that I think could sink her [10S] How would I tell her that she's all I think a-bout? [12S] Well, I guess she just found out [7S]

This rhyming scheme is amazing. A A BB CCC D D. It's a thing of dreams. There's two pairs of perfect rhymes ("situation" + "invitation" and "about" + "out"), a trio of perfect rhymes ("drink", "think", "sink"), and a pair of near rhymes ("how" + "down").

While the rhyming scheme differs between stanzas, the syllable structure is once again mirrored, with two groups of 29 syllables each.

BRIDGE I met her once and wrote a song about her I wanna scream, yeah, I wanna shout it out And I hope she hears me now

A AA AA is the rhyming scheme here. "Shout," "out," and "about" are perfect rhymes, they all share the same vowel: /aʊ/ and the same consonant /t/. "Hope" and "now" are assonant rhymes, with each other and with the rest.

As with Only Angel, the chorus is repetitive and elevated by the music. So I won't be adding or deducting points.

Rhyming schemes and patterns:

😍 I'm in love.

Score: 10/10

Effectivity and comfortability of the rhymes:

This type of rhymes are more common in hip-hop and a lot less common in pop music. Alex Turner is famously inspired by hip-hop, which is what encouraged him to do internal and assonant rhymes and whenever he could. I'm using Teddy Picker (a song Louis called out) as an example because it's very rich in it:

Another variation on a theme A tangle on the television and the magazine D'you reckon that they do it for a joke? D'you reckon that they make 'em take an oath That says that "We are defenders of any poser Or professional pretender around"

On its face, only "defenders" and "pretenders" should rhyme, but actually listen to the song. Listen how he pronounces every word and you'll see. Particularly eye-opening is how he pronounces "professional" with the stress on the last syllable, which changes the vowel to an open sound that rhymes with "we are."

Anyway, back to Harry, I'm not very used to this type of usage of rhyming in pop music, and I absolutely love it.

The fact that none of these are awkward, or cliché, or overdone. But also feel completely natural and like they just flow with the cadence of the song. No notes.

Score: 10/10

Syllable distribution and cadence:

I don't need to keep yapping.

Score: 10/10

Vocabulary:

In my humble opinion, the vocabulary is slightly better than the average pop song.

Score: 8

Clichés, commonplaces, and overused tropes:

The concept of "she's a good girl" and writing a song for someone you just met.

Is "she's got a book for every situation" a commonplace? I don't think so, right? It sounds like it should be, just like "there's not a drink that I think could sink her." The images these words elicit are so vivid, one would think these commonplaces already exist, but I can't find evidence of it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to claim that Harry was the first person ever to put these words together, but they certainly weren't widespread clichés.

Searching "book for every situation" (without quotes) and limiting the search to before the album came out yields no relevant results.}

I'm deducting two points and adding one for creating a sentence that sounds like it should be a cliché but isn't. Sorry, I don't make the rules.

Score: 9/10

Nonsensical elements and overall storytelling:

The logic within the song is solid. There are no nonsensical elements, no parts that were just added to bulk up the lyrics, no leaps of logic. The storytelling is excellent. He meets a girl once, she's exciting, and unique, and different, and after the date is over, he can't stop thinking about her, so he writes her a song without telling her he's doing it. She'll find out when she hears it.

Score: 10/10

Theme and execution of it:

The theme is a new spin on the typical love song (such as Only Angel was) and I think it's perfectly executed. It's not a magical concept, but it's cute.

Score: 8/10

FINAL THOUGHTS:

While I personally like Only Angel better, I'm trying not to be biased, and I think Carolina is a tighter song in terms of lyrics. It's very cohesive, the vocabulary is above average, the rhyming scheme is well thought out and done.

Score: 65/70 = A

GOLDEN

POETIC INTENT

VERSE 1 Gold-en, gold-en, gold-en as I o-pen my eyes [12S] Hold it, fo-cus, ho-ping, take me back to the light [12S] I know you were way too bright for me [9S] I'm hope-less, bro-ken, so you wait for me in the sky [13S] Browns my skin just right [5S] You're so golden [4S]

This stanza has two groups of rhymes that parallel each other throughout. The green rhymes are a mishmash of perfect rhymes with both the vowel /aɪ/ and the consonant /t/, and assonant rhymes where just the vowel rhymes.

The blue rhymes, however, are more complex. The single-syllable words "know" and "browns" are rhyming the vowel /oʊ/ (though, typically, "browns" would use the vowel /aʊ/, the way Harry pronounces, especially with a silent "S" makes it match with the rest).

The double-syllable rhymes, however, are compound rhymes, rhyming the vowels on both syllables. In Golden, the vowel for the first syllable is /oʊ/, and for the second one, /ə/. I'm not claiming every double-syllable rhyme here shares the /ə/ vowel because clearly they don't, but the way it's pronounced makes it rhyme. "Golden", "open", "broken". and "focus" do share them, though. Hopeless uses the /ɛ/ vowel, while "hold it" and "hoping" use the /ɪ/ vowel. Pronunciation, melody, and context makes it so all of these are compound rhymes.

The first two lines mirror each other perfectly, with each "golden" in the first line corresponding with a second line rhyme. "Gold-en" + "Hold it". "Gold-en" + "fo-cus". "Gold-en" + "ho-ping." and then ending both lines with an assonant rhyme ("eyes" and "light"). Both are also 12 syllables. In fact, the fourth line closely mirrors 1 and 2, while it doesn't fully do it (and there's a reason that we'll explore later), it does mirror the amount of syllables. It has 13 syllables, but if you listen to the song the "I'm" is sang alongside "for me".

The rhyming scheme here is AAAB AAAB AB AAB AB A.

VERSE 2 I don't wan-na be a-lone [7S] I don't wan-na be a-lone when it ends [10S] Don't wan-na let you know [6S] I don't wan-na be a-lone [7S] But I can feel it take a hold [8S] I can feel you take con-trol [7S] Of who I am and all I've e-ver known [10S] Lov-in' you's the an-ti-dote [7S] Gold-en [2S]

This stanza is simpler than the last one, though that's not saying much because the last one was kind of insane. All the blue words rhyme with each other through the vowel /oʊ/ making these assonant rhymes, but "alone" and "ends" also rhyme, through the consonant /n/, making this a consonant rhyme ("ends" such as "browns" gets the "silent s" treatment from Harry). It's likely this rhyme is added for effect. A rhyme that separates itself from the rest, to show us how final and serious he is about it "ending."

This one would be a A AB A A A A A A A pattern. Chef's kiss.

As typical for Harry (and for a lot of pop artists!) the bridge and chorus of this song don't really have a rhyming pattern worth analyzing and play a lot with instrumentals and melodies.

Rhyming schemes and patterns:

Having two separate rhymes going at the same time, one of them being mostly compound rhymes, while also being coherent and intentional with your vocabulary isn't exactly easy. The first verse is incredible. The second one is not bad at all, just a little less impressive.

Score: 9.5/10

Effectivity and comfortability of the rhymes:

What would earn negative points here, would be uncomfortable rhymes, where you add a word simply because it rhymes even if it doesn't make sense or sounds awkward. Or rhymes where it technically rhymes, but it sounds awkward to the ear. What earns positive points is internal rhyming, unexpected or clever rhyming, assonant rhyming that you'd never expect to rhyme, etc.

Golden does neither of these things, so I'll give it a neat 7.5. It's good, but it's not mindblowing. It earns a 0.5+ for somehow doing a whole scheme including the word "antidote" and have it make perfect sense.

Score: 7.5/10

Syllable distribution and cadence:

The first verse is a 10/10 the second one gets points for congruity.

Score: 8.5/10

Vocabulary:

It's okay. Nothing revolutionary. Sliiightly better than the average pop song.

Score: 7.5/10

Clichés, commonplaces, and overused tropes:

I can't think of any. Self-deprecation, though not a novelty is not exactly a staple of pop culture. Usually the singer tells us why the lover is either perfect or at fault. Songs where the singer believes they're not good enough are rarer. That alone makes Golden stand out. There are also no commonplaces or idioms that I can identify.

Score: 10/10

Nonsensical elements and overall storytelling:

There aren't any nonsensical elements. No words just added there to fill a void that don't make sense. No leaps of logic, nothing like that.

Its storytelling is actually really good. I can't analyze the music side of it, for the reasons I already mentioned, but it definitely plays a role in storytelling.

Strictly lyrics, though, in the first verse he's describing the feeling of being dazzled by a bright light when you're not used to them. You open your eyes and you have to squeeze them shut because it's so bright. He's looking at it, and it's "golden, golden, golden." As his eyes get used to it, he's asking her to "hold it", he's "focusing" and he's "hoping" that he can get back to that light, which seems to be moving away. But as the verse progresses, he tells us that, in reality, he always knew she (the light) was too bright for him. He's not hoping anymore, he's hopeless, and he's not holding anymore, he's broken. She's no longer near him, she's now in the sky. And as the sun, in the sky, it browns his skin.

Once you break down the verse this way, it's heartbreaking. He went from having her next to him, blinding him, to moving away from him. And he tries to stay with her, but eventually realizes it simply isn't possible. She's now distant, in the sky. She's still present, browning his skin, affecting him, still, but she's further away.

In the second verse, he's grippling with the fact that this distance will only grow bigger. And he's anguished about the inevitable reality of ending up alone, which he now is sure will happen. He tells us through repetition exactly how anguished he is about it. Despite this, despite knowing this relationship will inevitably end, he tells us that she still has a hold of him and how important she is to him.

It's beautiful storytelling, using a metaphor to retell the ending of a relationship. To be able to write something so compelling while also using such beautiful poetry is a gift.

Score: 10/10

Theme and execution of it:

This is a "love song" but as I said before, it's not your typical one. It has a self-deprecating angle that's not too experimented with. As I just detailed, too, it's very well-executed. I think the angle it takes for storytelling is fresh and interesting.

Score: 9/10

FINAL THOUGHTS:

I'm so mad I can't analyze music with this song, because hooo boy does the music play a huge role in this one. All I can say is that it's a great song.

Score: 62/70 = B+ (the music would elevate this to an A+)

LOVE OF MY LIFE

POETIC INTENT

VERSE 1 Things hav-en't been quite the same [7S] There's a haze on the ho-ri-zon, babe [9S] It's on-ly been a cou-ple of days and I miss you, [13S] When noth-ing re-al-ly goes to plan [9S] You stub your toe or break your cam-era [9S] I'll do ev-ery-thing I can to help you through [11S]

The words "same", "haze, "babe", and "days" are all assonant rhymes through the vowel /eɪ/. "Plan" and "can" share the /æ/ vowel. "You", "do" and "through" all have the /uː/ vowel. This leaves you with a A AA AB C BCB rhyming pattern. There's a single line left out with no rhymes. This would be normal for any other pop star, but not really for Harry, especially if every other line is full of rhymes. So why? Because that line is representing "nothing really going to plan."

It even sounds a little out of place when he sings it. That's on purpose. Artists that do this, hiding the meaning of the lyrics in the poetry, are my absolute favorite, and I had never noticed Harry did this until right about now.

VERSE 2 I've nev-er been a fan of change [8S] But I'd fol-low you to an-y place [9S] If it's Hol-ly-wood or Bish-ops-gate, I'm com-ing, too [13S]

The second verse is very short and sweet, and filled to the brim with rhymes. Having two parallel rhymes and one of them including the word BISHOPSGATE. I commend him, really.

He does the bit of representing the lyrics with poetry again, "I'm coming too" has an assonant rhyme with "Hollywood." It's not an exact thing, but the vowels /ʊ/ and /u/ have a very similar rounded sound from the back of the mouth.

I've always thought that he intended this song to be about Olivia Wilde (he started writing it before he met her, but he kept retouching it over the months, case in point "you break your camera"), who lived in Hollywood and moved to London with her kids. There was a whole conflict with her kids' dad about that, specifically, so Harry is telling her "either way, I'll be there." There's a slight mention of this in As It Was ("leave America, two kids follow her"). Curiously, the As It Was music video was filmed in the Barbican, which is right next to Bishopsgate. Harry and Olivia spent a bunch of time in or around Bishopsgate (almost anyone in London would, to be fair).

Anyway, rhyming scheme A AB AB.

CHORUS We've been doin' all this late-night talkin' 'Bout anything you want until thе morning Now you're in my life I can't get you off my mind

Nothing too impressive here, but it's rare for Harry to not just vibe with the music in the chorus. So we have rhymes in a chorus for the first time! (Not really the first time — I'm being facetious — even Sign of the Times' chorus is full of rhymes). Rhyming scheme AA AA B B.

Rhyming schemes and patterns:

The device of using not-rhyming to communicate part of the lyrics is really clever and I really like it. Other than that, the schemes are good, but not mindblowing. The first verse is really cool, though.

Score: 8.5/10

Syllable distribution and cadence:

Okay! Nothing mindblowing. Nothing too intentional. It's okay.

Score: 7/10

Effectivity and comfortability of the rhymes:

Listen, he managed to rhyme BISHOPSGATE seamlessly. Give him props, for the love of god.

Score: 8.5/10

Vocabulary:

Better than your average pop song — not exactly the reincarnation of David Bowie, but better than average. "There's a haze in the horizon" gets an extra point.

Score: 8/10

Clichés, commonplaces, and overused tropes:

I mean, there are very common elements, such as following your lover everywhere and...

"I can't get you off my mind"

But it's the type of commonplace you expect in a pop song. So I'll allow it (I'll still deduct a point, though).

Score: 9/10

Nonsensical elements and overall storytelling:

Storytelling through rhymes, are you kidding? And also, nothing is nonsensical. And he manages to tell a coherent story.

Score: 10/10

Theme and execution of it:

It's cute, not super overdone but also not overly original.

Score: 7/10

FINAL THOUGHTS:

This is one of my least favorite songs by Harry (I still like it a lot), but I chose it because I thought it was interesting how he incorporated the rhyming in the storytelling (he kinda did that with Golden, but very subtly). And I wanted to include at least one chorus with a rhyming scheme. Lyrically, Matilda, Boyfriends, Love Of My Life, and Music For A Sushi Restaurant are much better (off this album). Also, low key Keep Driving. But Late Night Talking is still a very good pop song.

Score: 58/70 = B

Overall, Harry is a compelling songwriter who tends to put thought into his rhyming schemes and intent behind his lyrics. He, perhaps, overuses repetition (less so now than before) and could elevate his vocabulary and themes a little bit, but I would say that his lyrics are actually better than average and he doesn't get enough credit for them because people tend to either just listen to his biggest hits or not look too deep into them.

I think lyrics are his weakest point as a songwriter, but that doesn't mean they're bad at all. At the end of the day, it all boils down to taste.

I think in male mainstream pop, the only male artist that I rate higher than Harry in terms of songwriting is Hozier. Ed Sheeran could be up there too, but he sold out a while ago, and is slowly going back to his roots. I'm obviously not even considering incredible hip-hop artists like Kendrick Lamar or rock-leaning artists like Alex Turner (I would say Alex isn't really that mainstream nowadays).

I think Harry is a B- songwriter when it comes to lyrics and an A- songwriter when it comes to instruments.

[yuwuta]

PLS PLS PLSSSSS keep talking about kids with olympic athletes! gojo and nanami pls pls pls i have to Know. everything u wrote about yuuta was already so so cute

(prev olympics au here)

the gojo twins are hilarious because your baby boy looks exactly like satoru, but has very little of his personality—it seems like the only things he inherited was satoru’s love for sweets and love for you. still, even though he’s a strong swimmer, he much prefers to relax in his floaties alongside you if you’re also in the pool, or chill by your side on a lounge chair, glasses too big for his face keeping the sun out of his eyes as he shares his smoothie with you, and asks to borrow your phone to take pictures of his sister and daddy in the pool. 

your baby girl on the other hand… she might have your face but she’s got satoru’s everything else—his competitive streak, his confidence, and definitely his mischievous nature. she’s the one who tiptoes into your bedroom at five in the morning, tapping at her daddy’s shoulders, and putting her little finger over his lip to shush him before he can wake you up; she’s always the one to convince satoru to take her swimming the backyard at the crack of dawn, and why by the time you and your baby boy wake up, she and satoru are already past warm up laps and swimming lessons and onto who can make the splashiest canonball competitions (she always wins because while her tiny body can endure a belly flop, satoru’s years of training physically doesn’t allow him to do it… and maybe because he’s not so competitive when it comes to his baby girl, he’ll always let her win). 

kento’s professional judo career honestly doesn’t last very long. after his first olympic games, you two start dating and he proposes just after he wins gold the second time he’s in the olympics; he does maybe two more years of national competitions while you’re pregnant, and decides that the intense training for the next two years in preparation of a third olympic competition isn’t worth missing time he could spend with you or your baby girl—plus, with all the money he’s made from competitions, winning gold medals, brand ambassadorships, commercials, and collaborations, he had enough money to provide for all of your for the rest of your lives. so, that’s what he does (his dream has always been to be a househusband, anyway...) his previous salaryman career comes in handy when deciding how to invest his money, how to buy a house, how to take care of his friends, how to set up a fund for your daughter, and an extra account or two… just incase more babies come along… 

by the time your baby girl is four, she’s already kento’s biggest fan. she loudly and proudly proclaims to everybody that her daddy was basically superman and won all the shiny trophies and medals in the house from when he was being a superhero. if anyone recognizes kento when they’re out together, she always confirms their suspicions, proudly boasting, “yeah kento is my daddy! he’s a winner!” it always makes kento’s heart swell to hear her praise. he doesn’t compete professionally anymore, but he does train from time to time, and has taken on a few mentees, and your daughter LOVES to watch him coach/train. she’s got her own uniform that she always puts on whenever they go to the gym together, and gets so excited when kento or ino or yuuji pretend to spar with her. 

she’s honestly kento’s mini figure. she’s respectful and reserved, but strong and knows when to fight and how to use her voice. there’s a time when he gets a call from her school saying that she got in a fight, the principal frames it as your daughter needlessly pushing around an older kid, but your daughter is certain in her words when she tells her dad that it was because the kid was being mean to the younger kids, and to her. kento doesn’t say a word to the teachers—doesn’t even fight them sending her home early for the day, because he’s happy to scoop her up and take her out for ice cream and tell her that he’s proud of her.

[disposal-blueeee]

halloween thing i drew for an art trade with @cherry-207 ! she asked for edgar and scri dressed as angel and devil . you can see her part here !

edgar vargas belongs to jhonen vasquez

scriabin belongs to @zarla-s

[celestialtrolls]

A Letter of Recommendation

Angel || Past || ~650 words

-

When living in the countryside, with an extremely long commute to her school in the nearest town, Angel usually stayed on the school grounds for as long as the gates were open, taking advantage of the internet connection and waiting for the rush hour to end before even thinking about packing her bags.

This usually led to her being the only student left, and often she would be asked to move to sit in the headmistresses' office so that she wasn't left unattended as all the other teachers went home.

And so it had become routine, and usually the evenings consisted of sitting in a comfortable silence. The elder would be taking care of her business, filing documents or writing reports, and Angel would work on essays or research.

This evening, about halfway through her final school year, was a little different however. Earlier in the day, as the headmistress had been making her rounds into each of the classrooms, she had placed an envelope on Angel's desk.

-

"A military university? Sorry Miss Diniav, but I'm not really interested in fighting."

"There's more to our fleet than just shooting at enemies. There are logistics, supply, developing technology, public relations - You would benefit from moving to a capital and attending."

The tealblood doesn't look up from her laptop as Myraki stands over her, typing away at an essay that is demanding her attention - an analysis into a series of cases led by a famous legislacerator of the past, a topic Angel had become intimately familiar with since choosing it for some of her coursework.

"Law is very competitive for tealbloods, and I have no doubt that you would succeed in the field, but you're bright enough that you could go into any industry. Everyone who graduates this university gets a position in the fleet - and a good position, if they seek it. Ones that pay more, are less dangerous, and you wouldn't have to work so hard as this."

A sweeping gesture at the laptop and the pile of books and folders on the desk punctuates the violet's sentence, and silence falls in the room as the keyboard taps pause. It's hard to discern Angel's expression through the curtain of hair covering the majority of her face, but her lips are pressed into a frown.

"You don't think I should be working hard?" Despite the frown, her speech on it's own is light, almost a laugh behind her voice.

"Don't misinterpret me on purpose." In contrast, the headmistress's tone is sharp enough to cut fabric, but Angel doesn't seem fazed. "But your teachers have expressed concern that you have allowed yourself to have an undeveloped social ability due to your uncanny focus on study. You're never seen speaking to your peers. You would benefit from a field where you are able to learn to balance your schedule."

Angel lifts her head, the frown now wider. Of all people to lecture her about 'social connection', she did not expect it to be the headmistress who had come into the school to straighten everyone out and focus on academics. On second thought however, the fact that she had been former Fleet, working in teams and with people working under her...

It makes sense that even she sees the value of other people. Annoying.

"I spoke to some of my former colleagues in Druzhale, and with my recommendation and a high score in the entrance exam, you could get a scholarship and move to the city. It is very rare for people from outside the city to get a placement there, do you understand? You will consider it."

The atmosphere in the room after such a lecture was heavy, and Angel did not begin typing again. Words gathered on her tongue, despite not being sure of how she felt, how she should feel, but sitting on a convoluted mix; maybe somewhere between anger and pride. But she swallows them all down, and shuts her laptop.

"I'll be heading home early."

[purpleshadow-star]

So, the season finale of Hazbin Hotel came out last night.

Spoilers ahead

I was never part of the Hazbin Hotel or Helluva Boss fandom(s), though I have been watching Helluva Boss since about midway through when season one was being released. I only watched the pilot for Hazbin Hotel maybe six months to a year ago, and I only ever watched it once. I never kept up with VivziePop or whatever was happening behind the scenes. I watched Hazbin Hotel as it came out the past few weeks, I’ve watched some TikToks about it over the past week, and I read through a few (like, three) of the character’s wiki pages like, yesterday.

So, with all of my inexperience in the fandom and in this universe, I’m going to try to predict how the show is going to end.

Kind of.

Well, I’m going to make a prediction.

I think Angel Dust will be the last resident of the hotel we see get redeemed.

Angel was the first resident of the hotel. It’s only fitting that he’d be the last (that we see, anyway).

I think that season one was almost like a set-up season. The main characters and their characterizations/arcs have been established. The main problem, the extermination, has been temporarily dealt with. It’s been proven that the main objective in the show, redeeming sinners through the Hazbin Hotel, is possible. Seeds of a bigger plot and future trouble have been planted.

Now that the bigger plot things are out of the way, I think the show will be able to (hopefully) slow the pace down now and really focus on the hotel itself and the redemption process of the sinners that choose to be there, along with the individual characters and their personal journeys and arcs.

I think that Sir Pentious getting redeemed and making it into Heaven proved that the concept of the hotel can work, so now that they have the bigger, newly built hotel, they’ll start to get more residents. We’ll meet and bond with more characters as the seasons go on and they’ll go through the hotel and eventually get redeemed and go to Heaven.

I think that during all of this, for the next few seasons, we’ll see Angel work towards redeeming himself too. At this point, he’s accepted the hotel. He’s accepted his place there and he’s been visibly getting better. We’ll see him continue his path to redemption while also dealing with Valentino, his contract with him, and any other personal conflicts that arise.

I think that partway through the show, we’ll see Angel start to kind of put off becoming fully redeemed. Maybe he’ll just slow down, but I think we’ll see him become more apprehensive about completing his redemption.

At this point, he’ll probably already be in an official relationship with Husk, and his situation with Valentino might be resolved or at least not as much of an issue anymore. I think he’ll start putting off officially moving on into Heaven because he realizes that he doesn’t want to leave his friends behind. He won't want to leave the friends he’s made at the hotel, so even though he might be ready or almost ready to go to Heaven, he’ll just keep putting it off.

I think Angel’s ascension to Heaven will be the big series finale. I think that it’ll be a big emotional moment. Angel will accept that it’s time to move on, and there will be an emotional scene where he says goodbye to Charlie (who, as a Hellborn demon and not a mortal soul, can’t go to Heaven like the other sinners), and Vaggie (who will choose to stay with Charlie and has no desire to go back to Heaven), and probably Alastor (who loves his power and control too much to want anything to do with redemption himself) and maybe Niffty (I’m undecided about whether she’ll try for redemption, but I’m thinking no, at least as of right now). If Husk stays behind, that’ll be an absolutely heartbreaking goodbye too, but I’m thinking that, at some point in the show, Husk might decide to try for redemption as well, so maybe he and Angel are going together and saying their goodbyes together.

I think we’ll get a teary goodbye for the people Angel is leaving behind in Hell, but we’ll also get a joyous reunion scene where he meets up with all the redeemed souls in Heaven as well. He’ll get to see all the former residents we got to meet throughout the show, and maybe he’ll even have a moment where he gets to reunite with his sister, too. It’ll be a somewhat bittersweet moment, but a happy one overall, because Angel Dust, the first resident of the Hazbin Hotel, who didn’t take it seriously in the beginning and thought redemption wasn’t possible, who went through so much in Hell and who didn’t think things could get better for him, will have finally completed the journey to redemption and moved on to Heaven.

And then maybe we’ll get an epilogue-esque scene or series of clips of Charlie and Vaggie happily continuing to help redeem sinners in the Hazbin Hotel, of Angel and the other redeemed souls happily living their best afterlives in Heaven, of the redeemed sinners meeting and welcoming new redeemed souls into Heaven as they come in.

And maybe, taking place some time in the future, maybe years after Angel goes to Heaven, we’ll get a moment of Charlie and Vaggie, and any of the other original cast that stayed in Hell, being allowed to take a day trip into Heaven. Maybe we’ll get to see them reunite with the redeemed sinners in Heaven in person for the first time since the redeemed souls left, and it’ll be a happy reunion where they’re all just happy to see each other again and catch up. Maybe at this point the show has already established a way for the redeemed souls to still be able to communicate and keep in touch with those in Hell, so maybe this isn’t the first time the two groups have spoken to each other since the redeemed souls left the hotel, but maybe it is the first time since the redeemed souls left that they’ve been able to see each other in person, so the teary hugs all around are expected and maybe even appreciated.

Maybe the show will end on a happy note, where our first and most skeptical hotel resident ends up happily redeemed with a partner who loves and values him for who he is and friends who care for him, and where our main character is able to fulfill her dreams of helping her subjects find the best version of themselves and move on to a better place.

Maybe the extermination no longer happens, so there’s no more deadlines. Maybe being redeemed is no longer just an escape from second death. Not every soul in Hell is going to want to change, but for Charlie, it’s not about redeeming every soul. The Hazbin Hotel started as a way to decrease Hell’s population so that the extermination would no longer be necessary, so that no more souls, however awful, would be needlessly killed, but Charlie knows that the extermination was never about overpopulation, and yet she’s still going through with the hotel and she’s still working to redeem sinners.

So, maybe the extermination is a thing of the past, but Charlie will still continue running the hotel and giving sinners another chance, because everyone deserves another chance. Because Hell isn’t forever, and despite whatever some people did when they were alive, they deserve the chance to try to redeem themselves. They deserve the chance to try to be better. And that’s Charlie’s dream. She just wants to give her subjects the opportunity to do better, and not everyone will take it, but in the end, we'll see that all the effort was worth it for those few souls who do.

So, to recap: I think Angel Dust will be the last sinner we see get redeemed. We might get clips and/or mentions of souls after him, but he’ll be the last character to go to Heaven who’s journey to redemption we’ve seen. In the series finale, he’ll be the last major character to be redeemed, and we’ll get to see him live his best life in Heaven while Charlie happily stays behind in Hell to help guide more souls along the path to redemption.

Or at least, that’s something I’d like to see, anyway.

[quietwingsinthesky]

I guess I can't really get behind cas saving dean from hell as a destiel win, or lines like 'you don't think you deserve to be saved', because. this is not a point at which cas is doing because he believes dean is good and loves him or anything but. he saves dean because that's heaven's will. when he reminds dean that cas, and heaven, are who saved him in early s4, it's not him really saying 'you're a good man', it's a debt that he is using, pretty explicitly, to get dean to do what heaven wants. even the handprint reads like... ownership, in a way.

cas is complicit in heaven's manipulation of dean after he's pulled out of hell. that's what makes his rebellion later powerful, because this is an angel who believes in heaven so strongly that he will look into the eyes of the righteous man he saved and tell him that if he doesn't do what he's told, he will throw dean back into hell.