#i meant other 6 archangels

[eyestrain-addict]

Photo of me trying to decipher which angels are actually archangels and which are mistranslated seraphim

[crowleyholmes]

Hello friends, lovers, hereditary enemies, and fellow Good-Omens-brain-rot-afflicted!

Inspired by some lengthy conversations and the need for reassurance regarding a renewal for season 3, the lovely Eena @michaelsheens and I have decided to start a little Project!

(Sorry, Crowley, we had to…)

THE NICE AND ACCURATE PROPHECIES* WEEK

Running from SEPTEMBER 25TH to OCTOBER 1ST, it’s all themed around season 3 and the assumption we’re gonna get that renewal. (Manifesting, baby.)

✨ THE PLAN ✨

Every day will focus on a theme around which everyone who wants to participate is encouraged to create any kind of content they want to! Art, fanfic, edits, playlists, speculation, meta, go nuts!

(Also please don’t worry if something doesn’t fit neatly into a day’s theme; they’re only meant to give somewhat of a prompt and structure. Ultimately it’s not that strict and serious, we just wanna see your stuff :))

✨ HOW TO PARTICIPATE ✨

Share whatever your big heart and massive brain comes up with and use the tag #gomensnaap

(It’s like a long nap or something.)

You’re also welcome to give shoutouts to other people’s work you love and want to celebrate, but please make sure to link and credit properly (!!!)

Most importantly: have fun <3

✨ THEMES ✨

(under the cut)

DAY 1: “And there will be great lamentations.”

Let’s talk the Second Coming! We start off and warm up with everything plot-related. Theories, meta, crack ideas, let’s hear your thoughts on where you think the Big Main Plot is going to go!

DAY 2: “I can make a difference!”

For day two, let’s focus on Aziraphale’s arc in season 3. Did he go to Heaven with a plan? Or is he winging it? (Pun only somewhat intended.) Was he threatened or manipulated or both or neither? Will he tell Heaven just where they can stick it or can he actually succeed? What’s in store for our favorite angel?

DAY 3: “Hated by Heaven, loathed by Hell. How will our hero cope?”

Day three is all about Crowley and what we think he’s going to get up to. Is he going to go drink himself senseless and have a good cry? Go snek and hybernate for a bit? Hang out with Muriel and do some tempting? Does he have a plan and how will he cope being on his own?

DAY 4: “There was magic abroad in the air…”

Let’s talk Ineffable Husbands! How are Crowley and Aziraphale going to resolve things between them? Will there be a massive fight? Radio silence for days/weeks/months/years? Will they learn to Actually COmmunicate? Will there be grudges, grand gestures, secret meetings, a big rescue mission from either side?

DAY 5: “Extreme sanctions.”

On day six we wanna make ourselves anxious, sad and upset. (As one does.) What thing that may or may not happen in season 3 are you most worried about? Dark/depressed/evil/etc Crowley? Memory-wiped/brain-washed/archangel Aziraphale? Book of Life? How could Neil & Co hurt us the most?

DAY 6: “Do you…want a hot chocolate?”

After day 5’s spiral, it’s time for a metaphorical treat. What are you most looking forward to in season 3? What do you really want to see? Headcanons coming true? Scenes you wish for? Things that’ll make you wanna name your cat/dog/fish/insert other pet here Neil Richard Gaiman or Sir Terence David John Pratchett?

DAY 7: “It’s starts, as it will end, with a garden.”

Finally, to finish it all up, let’s speculate about the end of season 3. How do you think we’ll leave this story? Will things just go back to how they’ve always been? Will there be peace? Earth hidden from Heaven and Hell with a big 500 Lazarii miracle? Aziraphale and Crowley turned human? Or will they get their cottage in the South Downs for the rest of eternity?

[actual-changeling]

when gabriel/jim (jabriel?? gim?????) talks about his "one particular person", aziraphale's smile is such a blink and you will miss it moment but so incredibly precious and we don't pay enough attention to it.

so, welcome to another round of alex's unhinged meta corner where i over-analyse micro expressions while losing some more braincells.

firstly, here's a clip of that scene just so we are all on the same page since i don't know how much time everyone else spends watching that show. don't ask me it's probably at least 6 hours a day at this point

what i want to focus on is aziraphale's reaction to jabriel's words right after "person". did i slow the clip down and then go through it frame by frame to get the following screencaps? yes. yes i did.

there are two parts to this, the spaced-out smile and then his shock/fear. also before we start can i just say how fucking insane whoever made the trailer was for putting the 1941 dinner scene RIGHT THERE??? with THAT expression??????? yeah. no. i need therapy for that alone.

anyway.

while he is talking, aziraphale is looking at jabriel the entire time, but honestly, i don't think he is actually seeing him, he's neck-deep in his memories of crowley. he as that sparkle in his eyes he tends to get around crowley/looking at crowley and that smile appears rather slowly (or as slow as something can be while lasting less than a second).

personally, i'd call that expression "completely and utterly in love" or besotted if you wanna keep it simple. a content little smile meant for no one except himself, the kinda look he probably wears in private while calling crowley to ask him to come hang out. aziraphale loves him and in this short moment, he knows it - and so do we.

when jabriel (preferable over gim, in my opinion) trails off, aziraphale remembers that hey, wait a minute. that's my boss. that's the archangel fucking gabriel. he can't know about me and crowley.

at this point, neither we nor he know what exactly is up with jabriel, so there is a very real danger that everything aziraphale says or shows will be reported back to heaven. the shock sets in, the smile disappear and aziraphale falls from cloud 9 (pun intended) and lands face first back on earth.

while aziraphale does not have crowley's memory of what exactly went down in heaven when they tried to burn him to a crisp, he has always been incredibly anxious around gabriel and the other archangel. he is fidgeting, unable to stand still or even keep his gaze from flicking around. the only moment he calms is, you guessed it, when he is zoned out and thinking of crowley.

the very real fear that settles on his face is not just about himself, it is mostly about crowley. if heaven knows, hell will, too. everyone knows about the back channels, most just try and keep up plausible deniability. the fact that it is michael who seems to be directly in contact with hell for the most part and not gabriel is worthy of its own post at some point.

another thing worth mentioning is that aziraphale is so afraid, in fact, that he physically backs away from jabriel and gets as much distance between them as possible. jabriel looks like a lost toddler, very non-threatening, but the trauma runs so deep that it does not matter how much of a danger he really is right now. he has been a constant threat for over six thousand years, you cannot deconstruct your view of a person, especially your boss, that quickly. not even if they turn up with total amnesia on your doorstep. naked.

this was less unhinged than some of my other posts but i think this is a moment that gets overlooked a lot. at least i haven't seen anyone talking about it yet since we are all understandably focused on the ending of episode 6.

[monstermoviedean]

i so so get your feelings about the michael arc as a whole, just spilling some added thoughts here, feel free to ignore, i just wanted to make it an ask so this mess wouldn't be an rb

the michael arc has a whole other layer of unfairness to me because it follows so much of the same plot threads as sam's issues with lucifer in season 4-5 and then hurts dean in a way they never hurt sam. when sam was panicked over what being lucifer's vessel meant and running around on cases, dean supports him (despite getting no sympathy when michael is also revealed). in s14 however sam not only, obviously, actively brings up dean's very valid fears like they're just him abandoning family (sammy, honey, look at your track record) and works behind his back with others. sam in the cage = dean in the malak box. but dean trusted sam to let him go, no matter how much it killed him. sam frames dean doing the exact same thing as another issue of trust. also also also if i remember right, sam wasn't even possesed by lucifer as long as dean and cas were by the archangels!!! not dismissing his cage trauma ofc, but there is a very clear level of repression that sam is trying to keep concerning everything, which also leads him making some bullheaded statements to dean.

like it's insane how they speedran the archangel vessel trauma from s4-s5 with michael, but proceeded to have no aftermath resolution for any of it. nor did they have sam really support and dare i say, comfort, dean, the way the reverse happened. (and obviously dean made his own mistakes in s4-s5 with sam, but the ratio is completely different). anyways, just found the repeated themes interesting and thought you might too

oh this is soooooo tasty thank you so much!!! i especially love it when people send me stuff like this that helps me connect dots. i hadn't connected the dots on how much of a speedrun this is! but holy crap. it really is!

they spend almost all of season 5 working on the lucifer + michael vessel buildup, and then most of season 6 and part of season 7 deals with the aftermath of sam's decision to say yes. to be clear, i don't have any issue with that! it makes sense in context and a lot of it is well-done. and i certainly don't begrudge the show for highlighting sam's feelings about being lucifer's vessel. but even if we round down, even if we say it's just one season of sam having this vessel arc, that's still way, way more than dean got.

i don't want this to sound like "wah sam got more screen time than dean" because that's absolutely not my issue. my issue is that both in their universe and in our universe, sam and dean can have the same exact problem and their problems can be assigned different levels of weight and attention. is this 100% true 100% of the time? no, of course not. but when it comes to being a vessel, the effects on sam are highlighted. the effects on dean are downplayed.

like you said - even in s5 dean barely gets to react to being michael's vessel. he gets one episode (05x18) to really consider it and we all know how that goes for him. and in s13-14 it's just as minimized. dean gets less than 5 minutes in 13x23 to concoct his plan. this isn't something he's agonized over. this isn't something that is foreshadowed even a little bit. and then dean is possessed for an unknown length of time. in my opinion, it was probably a few months.

that's a huge deal. that is a HUGE deal. even if he's possessed for the minimum amount of time necessitated by the episodes, it's still probably a month. i don't remember how long sam was possessed for in 05x22, but i'm pretty sure it was less than a month.

is length of time the only thing that matters here? nope! definitely not! in no way do i mean to suggest that dean automatically had it worse than sam simply because he was possessed for longer. as you point out, the cage.

but this brings me to one of my biggest issues with the whole arc: sam not showing a single speck of empathy for dean. as you noted - sam is going through it, he is feeling emotions and recalling memories that he has repressed, and i understand why those could come out in ways that are less than healthy. totally get it. but it is still just downright awful to watch sam talk to dean the way he does, especially knowing sam has been exactly where dean was.

dean doesn't do a perfect job handling sam being lucifer's vessel. no doubt. i don't remember it that well at this point; it's been a while since i've seen season 5. but look at what he says to sam when sam has made up his mind to say yes:

SAM: You're gonna let me say yes? DEAN: No. That's the thing. It's not on me to let you do anything. You're a grown – well, overgrown – man. If this is what you want, I'll back your play. SAM: That's the last thing I thought you'd ever say. DEAN: Might be. I'm not gonna lie to you, though. It goes against every fiber I got. I mean, truth is… You know, watching out for you… it's kinda been my job, you know? But more than that, it's… it's kinda who I am. You're not a kid anymore, Sam, and I can't keep treating you like one. Maybe I got to grow up a little, too. I don't know if we got a snowball's chance. But… But I do know that if anybody can do it… it's you. SAM: Thank you.

dean says it's not up to him to decide for sam, and while he doesn't necessarily like his decision, he respects it. and he wants sam to know that. he goes out of his way to comfort sam and to build him up, to support him. and it's a shocking contrast to what sam says when dean tells him about the ma'lak box plan. it's even more shocking when compared to sam trying to talk dean out of it.

does sam need to be 100% supportive and kind all the time? nope! but the way he goes about this is just so incredibly self-centered and so actively harmful to dean. as you mentioned - he frames it as dean abandoning his family. he also suggests dean is "giving up," "quitting," refusing to believe in/trust sam. i yelled about this yesterday but sam is, whether intentionally or not, picking at all of dean's worst fears while dean is facing down another worst fear and feeling shame for feeling fear. sam says and does some pretty awful things and dean does not get to respond to any of it. he just moves on. it's like it's not his story so it doesn't matter what he feels or how he's treated.

and to know that all of this gets heaped on dean - guilt for saying yes, guilt for letting michael out, guilt for "leaving the door open," guilt for what michael did, guilt for not being "strong enough" to keep him contained, guilt for "abandoning" sam, plus the very VERY real trauma of being possessed for a long stretch of time, plus what's about to happen to mary and jack - to know all of this happens back-to-back-to-back? that's hard enough. but to not even let him react to any of it? to force him to keep going as if this is all business as usual and he should just suck it up? so much worse.

and i'm just going to go ahead and assume sam never apologizes for any of it. i may be wrong. please correct me if i'm wrong.

[musclesandhammering]

Spn Opinions That’ll Have Me Burned at the Stake Pt. 2: Electric Boogaloo

I’m back and bitchier than ever. For reference, here’s part 1.

• Season 5 wasn’t that great.

• D*stiel isn’t real, it’s a sucky ship, and that confession scene was just the writers pandering to the rabid deancas fans cause they knew they were the only ones still watching the show lol. And they left it ambiguous enough that they could still say it was meant platonically if they needed to.

• I hate how they watered down both angels and demons post-season 5ish.

• I liked Ruby 1.0 better than Ruby 2.0.

• I hate Honey!Cas. They just did that cause they didn’t know where to take his story from there, needed him out of the way, and thought it would be funny. It was insulting.

• Jack should’ve been played by an actual child so everyone’s abuse of him would resonate with the audience for what it was (casual fans are brain dead and need to be spoon fed).

• Victor Henrikson deserved more time on the show.

• I said it in the last post, but Alex is way more interesting than Claire and should’ve been given the lead role in the wayward sisters storyline instead.

• Dean is canonically straight and for Christ sake if you guys wanted bi rep, there’s about a thousand other characters that are strongly coded or implied to be bisexual (including Sam!) but y’all didn’t focus on them because it wasn’t actually about representation, it was about making it more plausible for your dumb fetishised gay ship to actually happen (spoiler: it didn’t).

• Season 3 and Season 6 were some of the best ones, you guys just don’t have any taste.

• Claire is not Castiel’s daughter and saying she is erases Jimmy and insults her, and even Cas himself acknowledged that on the show.

• Castiel is canonically NOT gay and Misha constantly saying he is is annoying and airheaded. He’s been attracted to women IN THE SHOW and he’s not even really male, so calling him a Gay Man is reductive and just plain wrong. Also, it’s veeery sus that- given how bi/pan folks are even more underrepresented than gay people- that one of the rare times where the bi/pan label actually fits a character BETTER in CANON……. the allies and monosexuals adamantly reject it. Hm.

• “Curing” vampires or werewolves or demons shouldn’t have been a thing.

• The Winchesters cause most of the bad shit that happens and then they just force supernatural beings to fix it for them- tell me again how they’re Super Special Heroes.

• It shouldn’t be possible to make angels human by removing their grace, because (unlike demons, werewolves, etc) they were never human to start with. If you drained me of all my blood, I wouldn’t magically transform into another species, I’d fucking die.

• Making Billie go crazy was dumb.

• Rowena was one of the most interesting and charismatic characters on the whole show- they just didn’t know what to do with her character.

• The archangels, Lilith, and Azazel should’ve been the biggest threats on the show. No other knights of hell, no god and his sister, no Cain, nothing like that. Having every villain just get progressively more overpowered made the show unbelievable and repetitive and annoying.

• The kernel sanders king of hell guy was hot.

• Dean is misogynistic as HELL, homophobic, likes racist porn, is a narcissist, pervs on teen girls, & thinks all non-human people should be exterminated… and that is all CANON.

• Most of John Winchester’s abuse is fanon.

• Fans portraying Cas as a smol bby who colours in colouring books and has a bee plushie is so fucking annoying.

• Instead of having so many gigantic cosmic storylines with god and his sister and alternate dimensions and even the angel and demon tablets, they should’ve just scrapped those and made the stein family and the bmol and the alpha vampire storylines way bigger than they were. Less cosmic stuff, more earth-based stuff.

• They ruined Lucifer’s character post-season 5. Before that, he was more sympathetic and reasonable than Michael. After, he was a spoiled child hurting people for fun.

• Everything from season 7 on is garbage. All of it. There’s bits of goodness here and there but overall seasons 7-15 are trash.

• How the fuck are there actual people who are deangirls and hate Sam?? The space where your brain should be is empty, I swear to god.

• If there was gonna be any lgbt rep in the Wayward Sisters group, it should’ve been Jody and Donna instead of Claire and Kaia. Those two were boring as hell and had zero chemistry or build-up, but Jody/Donna had plenty of chemistry and was very believable.

• Meg has the best and most realistic redemption arc of anyone on the show.

• Chuck was not likeable or charismatic enough to carry off as big of a villain arc as they gave him. Also that whole thing was stupid and WAY too Out There.

• All the angels should’ve been aroace. All the demons should’ve been pan.

• I stanned Cole so hard up until he changed his mind about hating Dean. That was disappointing.

• Sam went through the same shitty childhood Dean did (plus Bonus Abuse on top of it) and he didn’t turn out Like That.

• I cannot think of a single person that was asking for a spin-off about the Winchester family, like that has to be the most boring thing.

[ruddyhotelau]

I’ve always wondered if this version of Micheal fell after falling in love with Eve, and having Emily. Are the other archangels became the seven sins after following Micheal while the canon Sins are still angels with Lucifer still in heaven? I’ve always wondered what Gabriel or Raphael would look like in demon forms.

Ok so in this AU, Michael and Eve weren't in love. Our Michael became canon with Vox after the main story has ended. And about Emily and other sins, we already talked about the and here are the screenshots for the questions. I hope this helps to answer your question =33

The reason Emily in this AU is a fallen angel is because she followed Michael and Sera when they fell. They are both very close to her so she wanted to be with them, even if that meant becoming a demon in Hell (Emily fell when she was about 6-7 years old in Seraphim's age)

[intuitively-her]

What is your next accomplishment?

Pile 1- (7 of cups, The World, The Empress, The Moon rx, The Tower, The Hermit rx, The Hierophant)

After a period of isolation, you're finally putting yourself back out there. You're rising above a situation that was meant to break you down. You will realize all of the potential that surrounds you. A lot of the things you worked hard for are finally coming to fruition. I keep hearing "fruits of my labor." You're breaking out of old mindsets and societal standards. You're really stepping into your boss b*tch energy! *Angel msg from Teresa: Time out! You've been so busy taking care of everyone else's needs, but now it's time to take care of yourself.

Pile 2- (5 of pentacles rx, Knight of wands, The Tower rx, 2 of swords, The Fool rx, Temperance)

You will escape a situation that has been detrimental to you. I keep hearing "escaping ruin". You will see a positive shift in your finances. You will finally be able to express yourself the way YOU want to. I also keep getting something about traveling and seeing more of the world. I'm also seeing here that you will be presented with some type of option that will allow you to leave this behind. *Angel msg from Archangel Raphael: I am helping you heal physical challenges in yourself and others; You are a healer like me.

Pile 3- (8 of swords rx, 2 of wands, 8 of wands rx, 6 of cups, Queen of swords, The Hanged Man) Angel number confirmation: 222

You will be leaving behind people, places, things that no longer serve you. You will put more focus into the things that are most important to you. You're letting go of fears that used to hold you back. You're taking more risks in all areas of your life. You will become a better planner and manage your time better. You could currently be in a period of waiting or feeling like your life has been dull. I'm seeing here that you will grow closer with your family and have improved communication with them overall. You will become a better communicator as well. I keep hearing "throat chakra". You're going to speak up more and stand up for yourself in situations. *Angel msg: Patience; Now is the time to learn, study, and gather information. Enjoy being a student, because in the future, you will synthesize your knowledge into action.

Pile 4- (The Hermit. Ace of swords rx, Strength, 2 of cups rx, Death, 8 of pentacles)

You will leave behind a love or job situation that was hindering you. You will do some deep self-reflection and discover more about yourself. This will lead you to start trusting your judgement and intuition more in situations. You will gain more confidence and develop a back-bone. You will learn how to be there for yourself more. *Angel msg from Archangel Uriel: Your emotions are healing, which enables you to open up to greater love. I will help you release anger and unforgiveness from your heart and mind.

[eybefioro]

UNDERCOVER - Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - Like a Prayer

Summary: In which a demon gets on his knees.

Excerpt:

Aziraphale applied his angelic signature onto one last piece of paperwork. Seeing Crowley on a regular basis was marvellous for his morals these last few months, allowing him to focus on his work. The main question these days was how to resuscitate Jesus Christ. See, the problem with Heaven – well one of the problems – was as follows: they knew what they had to do, according to the Great Plan, but nobody had left any practical instructions. And Aziraphale was more than eager to exploit that fact, withholding any useful information he happened to come across, buying his time and pushing other agendas. He was presently working on having angels use the break room he had open and tastefully furnished a couple of weeks ago. “So you’re not the one who sent Muriel on that mission?” Crowley asked. Annoyed, Aziraphale sighed. “For the third time, my dear, no. I haven’t seen Muriel in weeks.” “Hmm… You’re just ignoring the missing angels business then?” “I am not! I meant to investigate, should you know, but now that someone has taken care of that matter, I can focus on more important things.” “You’re not worried about them, then?” “They’re angels, they can take care of themselves!” Crowley sniggered. “Have you seen your lot?” Aziraphale tutted, rolling his eyes, and reclined in his chair. This conversation was not what he had in mind when Crowley had appeared at his door, wearing a mockery of a scrivener’s attire: knee length shorts, high tartan sock, a beige shirt opened on his chest hairs and a pair of golden glasses. The archangel shot him a death stare, pouting. “Would you please?” he whined.

Read it on Ao3 💛

@goodomensafterdark @captainblou

[nofomogirl]

Metatron's manipulation step by step

Part 6: Divide and conquer

Part 1 - where I discuss the significance of the coffee.

Part 2 - where I take a look back at season 1

Part 3 - from Metatron's arrival on Earth to sending the Archangels away

Part 4 - inside the bookshop after sending the Archangels away

Part 5 - at the table in the street

In the previous part, I discussed the fragments of conversation in which Metatron made his offer.

This is how the conversation ends:

"Well, you don't have to answer immediately. Take all the time you need." "I... I don't know what to say." "Well then, go and tell your friend the good news."

Doesn't it seem weird to you?

I was never offered a job as a Supreme Archangel, obviously, but I was offered a few things in my life. I also made other people various offers. And I've been part of the talks where someone made somebody else an offer. And in my experience, you don't normally say "You don't have to answer immediately" to someone who has already said "yes".

That's what I meant by all those asterisks in Part 5 - we never see Aziraphale actually agree to go to Heaven!

Crowley asked Aziraphale if he said no, and Aziraphale answered first with a stunned "Not at all" and then choked silence. And both Crowley and us as an audience, in the heat of the moment assumed that it meant Aziraphale said the opposite. But it doesn't! The fact that Aziraphale didn't say no doesn't automatically mean he said yes!

Then we see Metatron acting as if it was all settled. He just comes into the bookshop and asks Aziraphale if he's ready to start. We see Aziraphale go to Heaven. So it only seems logical that he agreed to it right after it was offered, during that conversation outside, at the coffee table.

But here's the thing - I really truly doubt he did. The possibility of pardoning Crowley made him very open to it, yes, but it was not a done deal. He expected to take it after Crowley was on board, and he expected Crowley would be on board. But he didn't give Metatron any definite answer.

And working around it was, in my personal opinion, the evilest part of Metatron's scheme. He basically tricked Aziraphale into acting on a choice he didn't actually make.

Just look at the scene after Crowley leaves the bookshop. It's all Metatron just rushing Aziraphale, and very purposefully not giving him a single second to think and process.

He said "Take all the time you need." but then he was inside the bookshop the second Crowley was gone. Like honestly, if he tried to enter any earlier, he and Crowley would bump into each other in the doorway.

He said "Take all the time you need." but then when Aziraphale mentioned his bookshop he just announced he had already entrusted it to Muriel. He doesn't even ask beforehand, he just makes those plans for Aziraphale.

He said "Take all the time you need." but when Aziraphale falters, he just pressures him with "Anything you need to take with you?" uttered in a borderline condescending tone.

Throughout the entire scene, he acts as if Aziraphale was trying his patience by unnecessarily delaying their departure and he's clearly desperate to lead Aziraphale out of the bookshop immediately.

I can't think of another reason for his behavior, for putting this fake time pressure on Aziraphale, other than the fact that for Metatron's plan to work Aziraphale cannot be allowed to just stop and think. If Aziraphale manages to gather his thoughts and calm down, the chances are very high that he will turn Metatron down and stay.

Because why would he go?

We clearly saw he wasn't interested in the offer until it was extended to Crowley. That was the hook. But now that Crowley had refused, what was the point of going again?

If you think it's illogical and far-fetched, I assure you it's a common trick used in real-life manipulations. If you want someone to do something they don't really need or want, just act as if it was already decided. Speak quickly, rush them into acting, and preferably trigger their emotions somehow, so that they aren't 100% rational.

Aziraphale right after his argument with Crowley was a perfect target for this strategy. He was very VERY emotional and incapable of thinking straight. Putting him under just a little external pressure was enough to make him go along with pretty much anything.

The question is how could Metatron know he would have Aziraphale in such a vulnerable state, to push him where he needed him?

The answer is, sadly, Crowley.

We all focus on how Metatron fooled Aziraphale, and rightly so. But it's time we start talking about how he played Crowley. Because play him he did, like a bloody fiddle.

In fact, Crowley did most of his work for him.

Metatron could get only so far in convincing Aziraphale Heaven is not that bad. But Crowley attacking Heaven AND simultaneously lashing at Aziraphale? That, unfortunately, was bound to push Aziraphale towards Heaven.

It's really a tragic irony that Aziraphale approached Crowley with the intention to only take Metatron's offer if Crowley took it too, but was left to take the offer because Crowley rejected it so vehemently.

Metatron could bank on Crolwey's and Aziraphale's interaction to turn into the communication disaster that it was for a very simple reason - he knew what the offer would do to Crowley, and he knew Aziraphale wouldn't be able to understand what was happening.

In short: Metatron knew what Crowley's triggers were, and Aziraphale didn't.

Add to that the fact that, in case you didn't notice, Crowley has some serious anger issues this season. The best (and one of the very few) takes on the topic I've seen so far is this post, originally by @weirdgirlcore, with insightful comments by @ineffable-aurelia. And during his outbursts, Crowley is NOT rational - which I've mentioned here.

Metatron knows this. He knows because even if he hadn't been paying attention earlier, Crowley's lightning fit was pretty conspicuous...

He knows Crowley is a ticking bomb right then and he knows how to set it off. He didn't need to know how exactly the shards would fly. He just needed to know the explosion would happen so that he could stroll into the crater afterward to wisk away the shell-shocked angel who had no mental capacity to resist.

So he does just that.

He enters the bookshop and pushes Aziraphale.

Continued in: Part 7: Finishing touches

[fanfictiongirlie]

SPN: Your Archangels

Parings: None (Though I am tempted to make this multi-chaptered and have a romance with Jack, not sure tbh)

Description: You always had your angels watching over you, since the day you were born. They were to protect you, and to make sure you were happy. Until they all disappeared.

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Kinda sad ngl, Raphael sucks

Words: 1,409

p.s I wrote this ages ago, so it might be a bit meh, I love it nonetheless, enjoy <3

Having the four archangels assigned to you was something out of this world. Literally. It was special, you were never really alone growing up, because you had them, watching over you, making sure you were safe and happy. It was perfect, especially when you were younger since your parents never really got you. 

And even though Raphael never cared for you, having the other three there was amazing. They looked after you. 

Michael; the eldest angel, he acted like the eldest. Always bossing the others around, it made you giggle when you were little, you'd call him Mr grumpy some days. Michael was stern, and was always there to remind you of the rules, but most importantly he always reminded you that you were safe, and would forever be safe. He clashed with his brothers often trying to keep you safe. 

6 Years Old:

"Faster Gabie!" You giggled as you ran to the swings, it was a rainy miserable day, your favourite to go to the park, it was empty. Gabriel kept up as you ran towards the swings, Gabriel didn't struggle to keep up to your little legs as you ran, but that didn't stop you from always telling him to run faster. 

You jumped onto the swing and Gabriel started pushing you.

"Higher!" You squealed, you were going so high, you could almost see over the tops of the houses around the park. 

Suddenly the swing came to a halt, and you weren't up high anymore, you frowned and looked behind you, wondering why Gabriel had stopped pushing you, but instead of seeing Gabriel, you saw Michael standing next to Gabriel, looking very grumpy.

You pouted at them and hopped off the swing and skipping towards your angels. 

Michael smiled softly at you, and crouched to your level. 

"Why are you grumpy Mikey?" You ask.

He brushed your hair gently.

"I'm grumpy because Gabriel wasn't being safe with you" He frowned "He was pushing you too high, you could of been hurt"

"She was having fun" Gabriel grumbled.

 "Mikey it was so fun, I was so high, I just wanna fly, like you" You pleaded. Not understanding why you couldn't go high, you weren't breaking any rules, just having fun. 

Michael sighed and gave Gabriel a very annoyed look. 

"Pleeessee" You pleaded throwing your hands around Michael's neck, hugging him tight.

Michael let go of you, and stood up. He ran his hand through his hair. You pouted at him, and looked up at him with wide eyes, a look that always got you want you wanted. 

"Fine, you can go high on the swings but I shall stay here and watch, to make sure you're safe" Michael grumbled, Gabriel rolled his eyes and picked you up, he spun you around and placed you back on the swing, you both giggled as you got what you wanted.

Lucifer wasn't around much as you grew up, you weren't allowed around him, mostly due to him and Michael not getting along, also you once mentioned Lucifer's name in front of your parents and they shipped you off to all kinds of therapies and camps thinking you worshiped the devil.

Lucifer had scared you at first, you last hear of him when you were around seven. And since then you didn't mention him, nor did Michael and Gabriel. 

You had heard about the devil, obviously, but he was suppose to be red, and evil, covered in fire and blood, and that was so untrue.

15 Years Old:

You hated it here, your parents had moved once again, which meant another school, people were never nice on the first day of a new school. You had never had an actual human friend before, you were always moving, and your parents liked small towns were everyone knew each other, and they didn't want to befriend the new girl. 

So your only friends were the archangels, and a few other angels. Castiel was one of your closet angel friends, he was awkward and you related to that.

Your parents ignored you as you walked into the house, signing you raced upstairs.

"Michael, Gabriel I missed you so much today" You said as you were opening the door, you knew they'd be there waiting. But you froze, there was someone else here. Another archangel maybe? You weren't sure, he didn't look right, he was more built like Michael and Gabriel but his skin was covered in red blotches, they looked painful. 

You shuffled over to Michael, standing as close to him as you could, he instantly wrapped his arm around you. 

"This is our brother Y/n" Gabriel said, he didn't look happy, which made you feel very unsafe.

"I'm Lucifer" The man smiled, he stepped forward, but you stepped one step back slightly behind Michael now. 

"I suppose you don't remember me" He asks, you shake my head.

Remember him from where...?

"I'm going to help you remember princess" Lucifer said reaching his hand to the side of your face, you flinched and held on tighter to Michael's arm. 

"It's okay sweet" Gabriel smiles softly at you.

Lucifer touches the side of your head, and suddenly memories came flooding into your mind. 

-

Lucifer playing in the garden with you when you were four, him helping every time you cried before the age of seven, him holding your hand every time your parents would yell at you.. When he had to go away...

-

"Luci, I remember you" You smile and let go of Michael's arm, he opened his arms to you and you threw yourself into the hug. 

"I missed you princess"

And Gabriel, he was your best friend, the light in your life, he was such a goofball, he always knew how to cheer you up, always helped you when you were stressed out. 

18 Years Old:

You ran to your room crying, school wasn't the problem this time, it was college. Problems seemed to follow you wherever you went. You threw yourself onto your bed and sobbed, letting all the pain out through your tears.

"What's up sweet?" You heard a flutter and then the bed dipped as Gabriel sat next to you, his hair soon stroking your hair. 

You sat up and he opened his arms for you, and you buried your head int his chest and tried to even out your breathing. 

"Wanna tell me what'ts wrong?" He asked

"I still can't make any friends" You whisper

"You have us sweet" He said, kissing your forehead

"Yeah but Gabriel I have no human friends, what if you leave me one day" You whimpered. 

"We're never going to leave you" Gabriel said, stroking your hair once more. 

You didn't believe him.  Michael and Lucifer never stopped fighting, and you knew Gabriel hated his brothers fighting, what if he ran away from it. And what didn't help was Raphael didn't like you, and taunted them for looking after you. 

-

You hadn't seen your archangels in years, you couldn't believe it, your parents had been killed and you nearly with them, but two men saved you, and when those men found out you knew Castiel, they brought you home with him, like a stray. 

Sam and Dean Winchester.

You liked them well enough, they were a bit hostile at times, you think they only put up with you because Castiel asked. 

You were sitting in the bunker, you felt so alone, without your archangels.

Michael and Lucifer were locked in the cage, and Gabriel he was probably dead for all you knew. You had never gone so long without them, thinking of it made tears slip from your eyes. 

"Would you like a drink Y/n?" Sam asked you, you shook your head.

You didn't know what to do, you felt so alone.

"Cas I need them" You whimper. 

"Who?" Dean asked, both him and Sam were looking at you, they didn't know about the archangels being yours.

"Michael, Gabriel and Lucifer" You said, more tears slipping from your eyes. 

"And how exactly do you know them?" Dean asked

"Y/n was assigned the four archangels when she was born, maybe before" Castiel went on to explain your relationship with the archangels. The brothers listened but you could tell they found it odd. 

"But they left me" You frown. "They promised me"

They promised you'd never be alone, you'd never be upset. But here you were alone, and in need of your archangels. 

(I do not consent my works to be posted anywhere else, by anyone other than myself.)

[inconspicious-random-thoughts]

Do you think the Elders of Heaven will get involved in the story at some point? And if so, what role do you see them playing?

Hello ol'chum!

I assume by Elders of Heaven means the stereotypical Archangel lore.

We already have a few silhouettes.

We have these 6. I assume their Lucifer siblings. Which I am surprise isnt 7 as there can be "7 main archangels" It would also counterbalance the Sins of Hell

You have these other different angles at seem to be on par with Sera level...tho they appear to have less wings...so maybe lesser? The also seem to be in the court scene as well (and stood below Sera)

then we have these guys

While the middle has 6, and the others have 4. Maybe its their "true forms?"

It really depends how much run time if we get to be introduced to them beside a passing glance. . Assuming we continue to only get eight 25 mins episodes a season, it does dim the chance to see them. It's not a lot of runtime to cram everything in, while also no knowing how long the show run. So, the creators have to semi tie up arches and stories while leaving openings to continue the story.

We already have such large cast and the story takes place mostly in Hell, not Heaven So chances for more Angel characters to appear outside of Heaven are low . We are left with a few storylines that will connect next season. The Vees, Alastor quest to break his Deal as well trying to fulfill it, The Hotels and the residence own stories for character development, Lute and Lilith, (Possibly Adam?), And finally Emily/Sera/Sir Pentious. So there is already a lot going on with the characters we already know to add more. Plus the possibility of the characters that are on the backburner such as Baxter and Crymini, Also, I would like to see the other Sins come out to play beside Helluvah Boss.

If we are given a "You are preapproved for 7 seasons!" we would get to more characters come out to play. I would be very excited to see Hazbin take on the archangels.

BUT that said, It depends how the Heaven story lines goes with Lute and Sir Pentious. Are they going to be secret meetings about Sir Pentious redemption with the higher beings? Is Lute revenge going to be secret attack or is she going to stage a full attack? The latter would probably need the higher beings approval that would help introduce the archangels.

There are different amount of named archangels. 7-12+.

If we can't get multiple Archangels and only get to witness one, I believe it be Michael. Just guessing the creator want to loosely inspired by the bibical stories.

By the bible, Michael was the one that defeated Lucifer and casted him to from paradise. While, the show seem to have Lucifer merely accept his faith and fell, it doesn't mean that the show (and Lucifer) possibly telling was omitting a fight that would surely tramazited Lucifer that he had to fight his own brother. I don't think Lucifer one that would share and divulge much about his fall. I think he avoids talking about it.

Even, if we look pass that bit, The bible mention Michael battled Satan twice. I know in the show, there's a Sin Satan, and Lucifer as two people but in the bible they appear as one. So If we get an archangel appearance, I believe its Michael because who wouldn't watch the drama that will unfold between Lucifer and his brother, both being on opposing sides?

Also, Michael is a representation of courage, protection and cleansing...and that seem to line up with the whole extermination thing. Considering the Exorcist lost their general, we assume Lute would take that mantel but I wouldn't be surprised if Michael makes his appearance by stepping into the role to lead Heaven army for a big showdown.

Who I would like to see is Jeremiel because I think he would be hilarious. His role is to have a soul view their life and past to figure out lessons the soul was meant to learn from the experience. Help the soul understand the lessons, learn from their mistakes and see the "light" to make a change for the better. Sort of like like Scrooge and his three ghost from a Christmas Carol.

I can see this archangel being integrated to help Charlie's dream. Using his skills to help redeem souls.

Why I think he be a fun addition, is he supposed (I think in the show and cast to help sinners he may be flabbergasted and appalled a number of times...*coughcough AlastorCough*) to be non judgemental, he also meant to be brutally honest. (Which I think Charlie might chastise him over) He would have to show them their life on Earth but additionally their time in Hell. Which may lead Jeremiel to become queasy as soul in Hell are more deplorable than they were in Earth since there's less inhibitions.

I think it be entertaining to see him trying to show the light to someone like Alastor who probably see his "moral mistakes" as his greatest achievements and doesnt show regret over it. Alastor would view the events fondly. Alastor being greatly entertained to be able to view his carnage.

Some other Sinners also handle it with a great deal of scoffing with skepticism and defensensive but more or less, Jeremiel contributions works.

Other likely candidates who possibly make an appearance:

Mataron the highest of Angels and have direct contact with G(o)od. So, when they try to contact G(o)od, they would have go through Metaron. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a plot twist that G(o)od been absent and Mataron just been covering it up and its really him ruling Heaven as he tries to figure out their missing leader while keeping status quo. Oh! just thought of a drama filled! Roo already corrupted him, which may be why no one seem to hear from g(O)od.

Azrael. "Angel of Death". However he really isn't death, he just greatly associated to death as he escorts souls to their afterlife. Since he deals with death and souls transfer I can see how he can make a brief appearance. More so if he has a new course to ferries redeemed souls to Heaven (without them dying to complete their redemption)

Gabriel might be one. Only because he has a big name. I don't see typical roles fitting into the Hazbin universe much.

Raquel might come to play as a mediator or judge if there's more of a court type of storyline between Heaven and Hell. He meant to be unbiased and impartial while banishing disagreements while encouraging fairness. Chamuel might come to play alongside with Raquel. Chamuel being a sympathetic character who foster peace.

I be interested in any thoughts shared over this.

[maochira]

Being abandoned by best friend!Kaiser [Part 5]

[Part 1] - [Part 2] - [Part 3] - [Part 4]

I know the last part was over a month ago but... I'm back with this little series!

Tags: gn!reader, angst, fake friends, part 6 will come very soon as well!!

It's been a bit since Kaiser and Ness have returned to Germany. Even though it wasn't your intention, you and Ness have drifted apart. A lot. You rarely talk to each other anymore.

But hey, you have your other friends now. And they act almost just like Kaiser and Ness back when you used to be an inseparable trio. So you should be feeling just fine now, right?

Well, turns out those two friends weren't actual friends. They used you. They genuinely thought by becoming friends with you they'd be able to get closer to Kaiser and Ness when they return to Germany. They didn't expect you to seriously drop Kaiser completely and they didn't think you'd drift apart from Ness like you did either.

So now that you're completely apart from your old best friends, your newest "friends" decided there's no worth in keeping up with you. So from one day to the next, both of them ended up ghosting you out of nowhere. Without letting you know why.

So, what do you do now? Look around for new friends? Go back to Ness and try to strengthen that friendship again? Or should you even attempt to return to Kaiser?

No, not Kaiser. In no way are you returning to him. Not unless he's the one to approach you first. After he ghosted you and just forgot about you as if you never meant anything to him, he should be the one crawling back to you and begging for forgiveness.

And even if he did that - which is very unlikely - does he even deserve your forgiveness? Does Kaiser seriously deserve to be your friend again after what he did? He hurt you so much and you keep thinking about it over and over.

A lot of nights, you're unable to fall asleep because all you can think of is how Kaiser walked past you when you came to meet Ness at the airport. Your mind keeps trying to find any possible reason why Kaiser has turned away from you, who once used to be his best friend, like this. You just never come to any concrete conclusion because there seriously is nothing that big that you've done wrong.

What makes it even worse is that you don't know why your new "friends" dropped you either. They abandoned you just like Kaiser did. They may have actual reasons, but you're not aware of you.

So there you are, believing there just has to be something awfully wrong with you.

But even if your friendship with Kaiser has broken completely, there's still Ness who you can return to. And Ness would immediately say something if anything about you bothered him. So you should give him another try. Right?

Taglist (sign-up link): @astruosie @kaineedstherapy12 @zyuuuu @yerinsshi @luvcalico @remy-roll @thedaisy78 @truegoist @rienniey @kalinkavx @vanitasbrainrot @rrueyuo @weichspuelertrinker @acacIa @kermitslefteyeball11 @futuristicxie @bluelock4life @yueyingwrld @yuehailin @keiidaydreams @takorirei @sagejin @https-archangel @ririgards @depressed-bitchy-demon @kaiserkisser @userwithlotsoftime @yellowelectroslime @nikokii @chaosinanutshell @quite-eerie @midnightymel @rzu

[phantom-of-the-501st]

Aziraphale's Decision

A mini essay on why Aziraphale's decision in S2 Ep 6 makes sense and why the Ineffable Husbands need to learn to communicate.

Let's get a couple of things out of the way first. 1. I've seen a lot of people discussing this over the last month and a half so this isn't exactly super unique but... whatever. I have thoughts! and 2. I am aware that have a posted in the past that I am a supporter of the coffee theory. Do I still agree with that statement? Errr... I'm not sure. I definitely think that there is something up with that coffee but Zira's final decision is so in-character that the idea that he is under the influence of something is weird to me. So I don't really know where I stand on that right now. But this isn't about coffee! This is about why Zira's decision makes sense.

TW: Mentions of manipulation and emotional abuse.

Abusive Relationship

Aziraphale's relationship with Heaven is definitely toxic, with the latter being the abusive power in the dynamic. For his entire existence, Zira has been trying to do what is good and for a long time he believed that that meant doing whatever Heaven asked. But being around Crowley, he began to realise something: Heaven's morals are actually rather questionable and the way they go about things leaves much to be desired. Crowley knows how unfair the system is and he spends many years trying to show Aziraphale that he shouldn't just abide by Heaven's laws.

"You're just an angel who goes along with Heaven as far as he can."

Crowley isn't trying to manipulate Aziraphale into being bad, just trying to make him realise that Heaven isn't quite all it's cracked up to be. And Aziraphale is aware of this, which is why he chooses to take the position of Supreme Archangel: not because he wants to go back to their way of doing things, but because he wants to use his new position to change the way the system works.

"I can make a difference."

It isn't about going back to the old way of doing things, it's about changing the system to fit what is the right thing to do. And Heaven knows that Aziraphale wants to do what is right, but they also know that Crowley has planted seeds of doubt in Aziraphale's mind which could cause him to dismantle the system.

So they manipulate him. They bring him back by offering him something he wants but they know he will never have: working in Heaven with Crowley by his side. The Metatron knows that Crowley would never come back, but he also knows that Aziraphale could never turn down the chance to have his closest companion by his side as an angel. Aziraphale takes the bait because, in his mind, he can create positive change; he can use the chance that Heaven is giving him to make a difference.

But that was never going to happen.

Parallels with Gabriel

Aziraphale believes that his position as Supreme Archangel would give him enough authority to make a change. But there are others (The Metraton, Crowley, the audience) who know that this isn't the case because Gabriel was the perfect example of how unfair the system is. Gabriel said no to Armageddon. He went against Heaven's wishes and flat out refused. And because he was Supreme Archangel, no-one could dispute him, right?

Wrong.

Because they will always be people higher up the ladder.

Gabriel didn't do what was required of him, so Heaven demoted him and wiped his memory. It didn't matter what his station was before, they kicked him down before he could cause any more trouble. And the same will end up happening to Aziraphale. It's a perfect example of why Heaven is so abusive: they offer Aziraphale a position of power, under the guise that he can make changes to the system while also having his most trusted companion by his side. But they are making this offer with the knowledge that they will always have the upper hand and at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what Zira does because they will always be able to kick him back down.

And the thing is, Crowley knows this. And not just in the sense that he knows that Heaven is a hierarchy made of abusive arseholes because of his own experiences. He knows because he saw exactly what happened to Gabriel. He saw the former Supreme Archangel's decision to refuse Armageddon, he saw the complete injustice that was the trial and he saw just how easily Heaven managed to knock him back down the ladder. And Crowley knows that the exact same thing can happen to Aziraphale.

Yet he doesn't tell Zira.

At no point does Crowley explain what he found out. At no point does he tell Aziraphale that Gabriel's position as Supreme Archangel meant absolutely nothing when he went against what Heaven wanted.

"When Heaven ends life here on Earth it will be just as dead as if Hell ended it!"

Yes, he tells Zira that Heaven can cause just as much destruction, be just as unfair as Hell, but he never tells Aziraphale the exact conditions that led Gabriel to where we saw him at the beginning of Season 2. Crowley knows but he doesn't tell Zira because these two have an awful habit of not actually telling each other important context (like how Zira never tells Crowley that he has Agnus Nutter's book while at the bandstand). These two are notoriously bad at sharing information.

Crowley knows that Aziraphale is never going to be able to enforce the change that he wants because he knows what happens when angels try to do that. But Zira doesn't know that he's getting himself into the exact mess that Gabriel did because no-one actually decided to explain anything to him!

Misunderstandings

And because Crowley and Aziraphale are notoriously bad at communicating, it means that they are on different but parallel wavelengths to each other. They want the same thing but they think the other person wants something different. They're final fight is very similar to the one at the beginning of the season, just in reverse.

"I fell like your exactly and my exactly are different exactlys".

At that point, they were saying the same thing but meaning two different, while here they want the same (to keep each other safe) but they are saying different things, which is leading to just as much confusion.

Aziraphale knows that the way that Heaven currently functions is bad; Crowley's lesson did reach him. But rather than abandoning it like Crowley, he believes that trying to change the system is the best way to go.

"It will be just like old times. Only even nicer!"

Zira wants to go back to having Crowley by his side in Heaven and he believes that after he has made the changes that the system needs, everything will be even better than before. He believes that it'll be nicer because he believes that he can fix the problems that Heaven has.

But Crowley doesn't see it that way. He thinks that Aziraphale will find things better because there will no longer be something wrong with Crowley. He thinks that Zira is saying he isn't good enough as he is and that only when he chooses to go back to Heaven and choose the path of righteousness that he will be what Aziraphale wants. They just don't understand what each other is saying.

Aziraphale believes that he can change Heaven so that it'll be good enough for Crowley, good enough to accept the Angel that they unfairly cast into Hellfire for simply asking questions. But Crowley thinks Zira is trying to make him good enough for Heaven, good enough for Aziraphale.

Aziraphale Was Never Going to Stay (and Crowley Was Never Going to Go)

And here's where things really fall apart and why it makes sense that they did. Not only do the two of them fail to communicate with each other, but they were never going to make the same decision because their beliefs as to what the right course of action is are different. Aziraphale believes in changing the system, digging out the rotten core of Heaven and making things better, making things the way they should be, into a system that doesn't punish others for asking questions. And he believes that he can do this.

But Crowley knows he can't. Crowley knows that there will always be a bigger fish in the pond, will always be a hurdle that is too great to jump over. In his mind, the best thing to do is to just leave it be, to walk away, to sever ties with a system that will never be anything other than toxic. But Aziraphale doesn't see this because Crowley never told him about how "Zira" was told to shut his stupid mouth and die without a trial, or how Gabriel had his memory wiped for daring to not do what was expected. Aziraphale was never going to be on the same wavelength as Crowley because he never knew the same information that Crowley did.

At the end of the day, they were never going to choose the same thing. While they both want to keep each other safe, and while they both want to spend the rest of their existence together, they were never going to be able to do so because their perspectives on what needed to change were never the same.

Concluding Thoughts

Aziraphale's choice isn't out of character. Nor is Crowley's. The problem is is that they can't communicate in a way where they truly understand each other's feelings and goals. And the thing is, their arguments are both entirely reasonable and unreasonable.

With the information that he has, and the manipulation that he has been through, believing that he can change the system makes total sense for Aziraphale. At the same time, asking Crowley, who he knows has had an incredibly painful past with Heaven, to go back is definitely not a good choice on his part. Similarly, Crowley's decision to stay away from the systems that have caused him so much grief is the healthiest choice for him to make. But to expect Aziraphale to make the same choice when Crowley himself has been keeping important information from him is unfair.

And they both need to work this out. They need to learn where they went wrong, they need to know where they need to heal and change and in order to do that they need some time apart. They need to face the consequences of their choices to understand where they stepped out of line.

And then they need to talk.

But it is both entirely their faults and not. It very much feels like a right person wrong time situation, where they are both what the other needs, but neither of them are in the right position to act as the support system that the other half requires. They both need to heal in order for things to work out.

And while it's painful and heartbreaking and a complete and utter mess, everything about the choices that they make makes sense.

@saturn-sends-hugs @nobody-expects-the-inquisitorius @here-comes-the-moose

[birdy-babe]

Returning to my Tumblr Era to say one thing: as much as we are all mourning and grieving the end of Good Omens episode 6, you have to remember how insane it is that Neil Gaiman confirmed and added all sorts of things into this season simply because we wanted it. Now this is assuming these things weren’t already planned, because if they all were we are some high IQ fans.

(MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD)

But think about it:

-Crowley pre-fall. We literally have written fanfics, made hundreds of fan-art, fan edits, etc about pre-fall Crowley. We were especially attracted to the whole “Crowley made the stars” plot line and BOOM: Neil Gaiman handed it to us neat and nice on a platter with a cherry on top.

-Crowley as Raphael/An Archangel. Now this wasn’t confirmed but Neil could not have hinted to it more. From the fact that, in the first scene only Aziraphale introduced himself (which would mean Crowley was someone well known, therefore Aziraphale already knew him) and when Muriel couldn’t access confidential files because “only the highest order of angels can do it” (not exact quote but yk), and then Crowley just FLIPPED it open. Also the Metatron KNEW who he was pre-fall. Basically it has been confirmed that Crowley was pretty freaking important pre-fall

-Good Old Fashioned Loverboy. They included GOOD OLD FASHIONED LOVERBOY IN THE SOUNDTRACK

-Gabriel and Beelzebub. If I’m 100% honest I always thought the fanfic and fanart was silly because that could never be canon! I doubt that was even a thought in Neil’s mind! Nope, I was wrong, and I will be doing the “I was wrong, I’m sorry” dance. He handed this to us because he knows us

-Aziraphale driving the Bentley!!!! The amount of fanfics and fanart and theories about Aziraphale driving the bentley is INSANE. And the fact that Neil not only included him driving the bentley, but also included that Aziraphale didn’t drive the bentley because it was a last-ditch-effort thing or to save crowley, but because he had simply just ASKED Crowley if he could? insane. Absolutely bonkers.

-Ineffable Husbands. Neil has stated before that they ever never meant to be lovers in the way humans are lovers. They are ethereal beings and therefore don’t have things like relationships. Well I’d BEG TO DIFFER because not only did we get a confession scene from crowley but a KISS. Also since Gabriel and Beelzebub are together too we know that Angels and Demons do in fact love like humans do. He really said THIS IS A LOVE STORY NOW.

-Crowley yelling at Gabriel for how he treated Aziraphale. I think if Ao3 had a “Spotify wrapped” type thing, my number 1 fanfic I read about Good Omens is this exact plot. Crowley defending Aziraphale from when Gabriel tried to kill him. Like it was picked right out of a fanfic. Literally an insane scene.

-Also lots of other small things! Aziraphale and Crowley dancing together, whenever Crowley defended Aziraphale, more Aziraphale and Crowley backstory, what happened after the “lift home” scene, etc.

Just, I can’t help but count my blessings after watching this entire season. That doesn’t change the fact that I’m eternally heartbroken and in severe need of season 3, but I’m very happy with the season.

[garden-of-thoughts-fruit-of-lips]

No fighting is necessary. A person of God relies on witness and testimony. Honestly, humility is essential since we are all born sinners.

Each person's journey varies, reflecting their distinct life experiences and the garments they've worn. As a result, we uplift one another with truths about Christ and prepare ourselves by cleansing our minds with God's Word. Christ, our mediator, transforms our minds, spiritually clothing them in white, replacing the attire from our former lives.

Therefore lifting each other up in truth concerning Christ and preparing ourselves by a cleansing from God Word. As Christ is the mediator so by His Word our minds are being made over and our minds are spiritually clothed in white instead of the one we wore during a system. Each path of life varies as we hear each person has they own life experiences and the clothes they wore or is wearing.

But a witness concerning God Word is accurate knowledge, which leads to everlasting life. Yes, a witness towards God Word that came through holy spirit not a person. It is like the sound of a trumpet 🎺 once you hear it. And the song of Moses is being sang if you hear it. (Revelation 15: 3,4)

If you hear it, then you'll hear the voice of one calling out in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of Jehovah! Make his roads straight." (Matthew 3:3)

Does it not talk about 2 witnesses to prophesy for 1,260 days (Revelation 11:3)? Does not God Word say that He has a place prepared for the woman who fled into the wilderness where they would feed her for 1,260 days (Revelation12:6)? This witness is most definitely true. And happy to those observing it and who are hearing it.

But only if you have an ear you will hear. Just as it is written, if anyone is meant for captivity, he will go into captivity. If anyone will kill with the sword, he must be killed with the sword. (Revelation 13: 9,10)

Bible verses please read one or read them all:

2 Timothy 2:24

For a slave of the Lord does not need to fight, but needs to be gentle toward all, qualified to teach, showing restraint when wronged

Revelation 7: 13, 14

In response one of the elders said to me: “These who are dressed in the white robes, who are they and where did they come from?” So right away I said to him: “My lord, you are the one who knows.” And he said to me: “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Revelation 1:3

Happy is the one who reads aloud and those who hear the words of this prophecy and who observe the things written in it, for the appointed time is near.

Revelation 22:7

Look! I am coming quickly. Happy is anyone observing the words of the prophecy of this scroll.”

1 Thessalonians 4:16

because the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangel’s voice and with God’s trumpet, and those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first.

Revelation 12:11

And they conquered him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their witnessing, and they did not love their souls even in the face of death.

Revelation 22: 10,11

He also tells me: “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, for the appointed time is near. Let the one who is unrighteous continue in unrighteousness, and let the filthy one continue in his filth; but let the righteous one continue in righteousness, and let the holy one continue in holiness

Revelation 1:9

I John, your brother and a sharer with you in the tribulation and kingdom and endurance in association with Jesus, was on the island called Patʹmos for speaking about God and bearing witness concerning Jesus.

1 Peter 1: 11,12

They kept on investigating what particular time or what season the spirit within them was indicating concerning Christ as it testified beforehand about the sufferings meant for Christ and about the glory that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were ministering, not to themselves, but to you, regarding what has now been announced to you by those who declared the good news to you with holy spirit sent from heaven. Into these very things, angels are desiring to peer

2 Peter 1:4

Through these things he has granted us the precious and very grand promises, so that through these you may become sharers in divine nature, having escaped from the world’s corruption produced by wrong desire.

[grumpygreenwitch]

Fanfiction 1-2-3

I wrote some more.

I have a guilty pleasure read (one of so, so many). In this case it's Nalini Singh's Guild Hunter books. I recommend them if you like urban fantasy heteroromance with a touch of smut. They are fun, they are quick, and within the constraints of working for one of the big publishers, she tells a fantastic story. They've got the usual problems of heteroromance, but I don't read them expecting to solve the problems of the world. They pass a night well enough, and that's all I ask.

This is fanfiction for that world because there's always been one glaring problem with the world she created, and it's always jarred me, violently, every time it comes up in the books. There's a little under 30 chapters, it's already finished, and it will be going up here, on Pillowfort, Ko-fi and Ao3. Ao3 might actually get it faster than everyone else. Pillowfort will get it slower, simply because they don't have a queue and me remembering to post things is always dicey. Updates should come once a week.

Well, here we go, I guess. Please remember that reblogs give me life. The main tag is #Alyss and Jean.

Buy me a Ko-fi?

1-2-3 + 4-5 + 6-7-8-9-10 + 11-12 + 13-14 + 15-16 + 17-18-19 + 20-21 + 22-23 + 24-25 + 26-27

1

Alyss had never meant to be anyone important.

Angels, he understood, were the top creatures of the world. They were born to that privilege, they lived in that privilege. It never left their lives. No matter how low an angel might fall, and some did fall very low, they were still apex predators, apex lifeforms. A very, very old vampire might best a very young angel, but why would they risk the terrible destruction that would fall upon them if they did?

But there was wiggle room in that definition, in what was expected of an angel. And for most of his relatively short life Alyss had been of a very firm mind: he was going to be an accountant. This was not the sort of thing he told anyone. Humans were accountants. Vampires were accountants. Angels had other people do their accounting for them. And in truth, he'd learned many other skills throughout his few centuries: he was an excellent illuminator, a passable translator of multiple languages. If it had to do with books, he was good at it. If it had to do with numbers he was even better. But he didn't want to be an illuminator. He didn't want to be an archivist, or a librarian, or a historian.

He wanted. to be. an accountant.

On his second century, after the last of his teachers had given up on him in some specific fields, he'd left the Refuge and finally been allowed to openly do what he'd wanted to do all along. He'd found work in many angelic households and businesses; none that wanted him there permanently, but that was fun in its own way. He got to see so many new places, mingle with so many different people, meet so many of his kind, see how they lived, how they ruled.

Within a few years he was horrified.

Alyss understood, in theory, the process by which vampires were Made and trained. He'd never personally met any; in the Refuge they were distant satellites orbiting around the angels, or Archangels, they served. Until he'd left the Refuge the reality of vampires had been little but writing on a book: the meticulous scheduling needed to remove the build-up of toxins in an angel's body, the complex rules and regulations by which those humans who wished to undergo the vampiric awakening were measured. Hundreds of thousands applied every year. Most were turned away, found wanting or incompatible, though they were never told of the later. In exchange for the many gifts that came with becoming a vampire, they agreed to a hundred years of service to the angel whose choice gave them the chance to be Made. That century was meant to turn a feral creature into a self-willed predator, ruthlessly in control of their new instincts. It was a time for their angel to teach them what they were, who they'd become. To guide them and yes, if need be, to make them fear the ultimate authority of those who had created them, and could destroy them if they did not learn.

Alyss had seen no such teaching. He'd seen torture, lots of that. He'd seen cruelty beyond anything he'd ever imagined, for no reason other than an angel's entertainment. He'd seen the most stalwart hearts shattered, the strongest wills broken. He'd seen new vampires refused the kindness of going through their initial awakening in a medically induced coma, simply because their angel wanted to see them writhe. In Isabel's court he'd seen the angel wake a vampire from such a coma just because she wanted to hear them wail in incomprehending terror while she entertained some close friends for dinner. And that was just for starters; one hundred years was a long time to find out what harm you could do to a person to while the hours away.

It wasn't entirely unfounded, Alyss understood that. After the Cascade, when both the number of angels and archangels had beeen catastrophically low, the vampiric population had risen on a tide of mindless bloodlust. The Guild existed to hunt vampires who ran away from their contract for a good reason: too many vampires, well, ran away from their contract. And in theory the VPA was supposed to advocate for vampires, particularly those most vulnerable.

But after what he'd witnessed Alyss had begun to wonder if some of those vampires didn't run away for a good reason. He saw so much of the bad over the next century that the good seemed distant, faint, and eventually unlikely. It became shocking to him whenever he found an angelic home where the trainees were treated well.

In one of those houses he met Jean. And things kind of spiraled from there.

2

Alyss flew through the early morning light, deeply enjoying the chilly breeze coming from the sea, the sight of New England beneath him a vast landscape cloaked in every color of autumn imaginable. If he'd not been en route to a meet-n-greet he would have gone down just for the guilty pleasure of walking among the trees and kicking up clouds of gold, red and orange leaves.

But he was due at Kliman's house within the hour, and while the breeze was lovely it was also a headwind. He put his head down and pressed himself to further speed. Better to arrive on time and a little breathless than late.

The aerial picture he'd been sent of the estate didn't do it justice. Kliman oversaw New England from Maine but she was a reclusive, elderly angel; her agents did most of the legwork while she remained hidden away in a hundred acres of marsh and woodlands. The house was beautiful, a jewel nestled among wild-seeming gardens. There was a pond shaped like a crescent moon on one side of the manor, gleaming in the sunlight like silver. The autumn-touched woods went on forever, and a vast marshland glittered off to one side.

There was a helipad tucked away on the far side of the property, and a man waiting for him on it. Alyss landed as gracefully as he could while carrying his office in his frontpack, breathing hard. He’d tried traveling backpacks like those of most angels, but his wings were positioned in such a way that most laptop bags just weren’t comfortable.

"Morning wind caught you, did it," the man drawled, his Maine accent dulled not a bit by the many years he'd lived and served his angel.

"Height usually helps," Alyss admitted, wheezing. "Didn't this time."

The man laughed. He was of a height with the angel, which made him short; Alyss didn't quite reach the halfway mark to his sixth foot, though his oversized wings gave him the illusion of height. Kliman's Second was powerfully built, dark brown hair freely peppered with silver; he’d been made late in life. He was wearing comfortable, elegant clothing and two short knives on matching sheaths at his hips, the handles old and worn. His hand, when he offered it, was warm and heavily calloused. "Glad you could make it. I'm Gevaun, the lady's Second."

"Oh." Alyss faltered, as ever he did when he found a vampire that seemed content with their lot in life. Gevaun didn't just look well-adjusted but outright happy, and for a moment the angel didn't know what to do with that. Belatedly he scrabbled to take off a glove and meet the hand with his own. "Sorry. I'm still waiting for the day I won't feel the cold. A pleasure to meet you, Gevaun."

"I'll let the staff know to keep the place warm for you." Amazed, Alyss realized the vampire was teasing him. "Bring all the extra blankets out."

"What a sight I'll make, bundled up with only my eyes peeking out," he replied automatically, and felt an unexpected surge of gladness when Gevaun chuckled in response. The vampire gestured them on and they meandered towards the manor home by way of a winding stone path. "May I ask you why I'm here or should I wait until I'm speaking to Kliman?"

The vampire seemed to think on that far longer than the simple question merited. "You know she's old," he said at last.

"Very. But with the Cascade, it's said there's just no one to replace her if she goes into Sleep."

"Oh, there's plenty. There's none she trusts is the thing," Gevaun replied. "She's done a good thing here. Raphael's never had a reason to worry about New England because she knows the difference between a velvet glove and an iron fist. The others..." The vampire grimaced.

"That's not something an accountant can fix," Alyss pointed out primly.

Gevaun grinned at him. "No. But a good accountant can sniff out which of them's already cheating. She wants to clean house before she even considers looking for a replacement."

"Do you think they're cheating her?"

"Oh, absolutely. Well, barring Evie. But, you know, I'm her Second. I'm expected to be suspicious of everyone, even if I'm the only one."

"You've not met many accountants, have you."

Gevaun was still laughing at that when they reached the house. Alyss was surprised to be led to a bedroom, spacious and colorful, where a vast balcony had been seamlessly added to the wood and stone of the house's architecture; this was a room meant for an angel. He opened a door to an exceptionally modern bathroom, equally set up to accommodate someone with wings. Another door led to a walk-in closet empty except for boxes labeled "Books", "Kitchen", "Clothes" and the like. The last door led to an empty office where he dropped off his bag.

A maid, human, came to get him, peeking in not-so-discreet awe at him. That, at least, was behavior familiar to Alyss; he wasn't much of an angel to his own people, but to humans he was still one of those apex creatures. He was even passingly nice to look at, he often thought, though he knew most of it was his wings: they were amber-colored, some unknown quality of the feathers making them gleam in the right light, the rich hazel going to darkest honey at the tips.

Otherwise Alyss had always thought himself unremarkable. Short. Skinny. Rather than his mother's auburn hair he'd ended up with his father's fine brown curls, and rather than his striking green eyes he'd got his mother's brown gaze. At least he'd not inherited Maura's abundance of freckles. Or Elian's nose.

Compared to himself Kliman was exquisite, and he found himself tongue-tied the moment he saw her. The angel of New England was a porcelain figurine with flawless, pale skin and a long, rich golden braid at her back, between wings where every feather was tipped in various shades of violet and indigo, her eyes of matching hues. She wore clothing as comfortable as her Second's, dark gray slacks and a knit sweater fitted to her wings.

"Ah, the accountant." She beamed at Alyss and offered her hands, and when he would have instinctively bowed over them she instead pulled him into an unexpectedly strong hug. "None of that! Kissing knuckles, really now. This isn't the Dark Ages again, and thank goodness for that." She pulled away and stared at him. "Goodness, you're so young." She sounded a little crestfallen.

Alyss couldn't blame her. Time swam and lingered in the other angel's gaze, and for a moment he felt crushed under the burden she carried. "I assure you, ma'am, I got all my wild-oating out on my second century," he managed, breathless under what little he'd glimpsed of her age.

She burst out laughing in surprise. "Did you?"

"Terrible, I was. There's books still shelved in the wrong place at the Refuge's library. Truly I don't know a worse criminal."

Kliman laughed even more.

They sat and had hot cocoa and warm croissants, and Kliman told him much the same thing Gevaun had said. "I'm old, Alyss. I'm tired. This Cascade has left me hollow. So many dead, such terrible scars on the world. The healing will take decades, centuries. I’ve done my duty by my Archangel, but I’m tired. I don't have the strength for it anymore, I just don't." Gevaun, standing behind her, put a hand on her shoulder and she covered it with one of hers, smiling a little at her Second before facing Alyss again. "I want to Sleep. But after everything that was lost, after everything we fought for, I will not leave my people, my land, my charges, to someone less than worthy. I will see them cared for as I would care for them."

"I'm not the sort to ferret out plots or villains, ma'am," Alyss pointed out nervously. That simple gesture, that moment of unthinking, trusting intimacy between angel and vampire had got him so distracted he'd nearly forgotten what he was there for or what the older angel had just said.

"I know. But you are the sort to hunt down numbers to the last decimal. You can tell me if they're already taking advantage of their position. You can tell me how badly they're abusing the power I've given them. That's all I ask." Her smile turned so sharp that it made Alyss slick his wings back instinctively. "I'll take it from there."

3

Alyss began with Rhode Island. It was small, it was uncomplicated, and Gevaun already had a list of Andrew's pecadillos. "He's a vampire, he was never in the running, and he knew it from the beginning," Kliman's Second told Alyss. "We put him there because it was safe, in every way that matters. If you find anything beyond what we have I'll just go down there, put the fear of God back into him and see that he cuts it down to more reasonable levels." Alyss frowned and Gevaun grinned. "What were you expecting, Alyss?"

"That you'd kill him," the young angel admitted readily.

"Jesus! He's not bad, he's just lazy. Rhode Island's just about what he can handle."

"Yes, but he's cheating you. He's cheating Kliman. You already know this." At a loss for words, Alyss shrugged. "It's what anyone else would do. A few angels would make it linger but the end result's the same."

Gevaun stared at him a long time. "You've been to... a lot of angel homes, haven't you?"

"I've been to enough," the accountant admitted tightly as he set up his laptop. "Enough to know this place is the exception, not the rule."

"Raphael is not unfair. Ruthless, stern, but not unfair. He doesn't like his angels to be unfair either."

"That doesn't seem to stop them."

"Vampires are dangerous, Alyss. I'm one and I can tell you that. I don't trust half my breed half the time, and the other half I'd split fifty-fifty still. We're predators, and blood sings a helluva song. Bloodlust is a very real threat."

"Vampires are predators, yes. I know that. I've seen a great deal of them, I've met a great deal of them, in passing." Alyss put down his tablet a little more forcefully than he'd intended and turned to look at Gevaun. "But humans learned to gentle horses to saddle rather than break them. They learned not to uses whips or fire or hooks on animals for entertainment. You'd think we angels could do better than them with a sentient creature. Except we don't." He drew and let out a deep breath, and realized he was an inch away from blowing up at his employer's Second. He went so profoundly red he felt it like radiant heat, and flailed with his equipment. "Rhode Island first then, got it. On it. Right away."

Gevaun's brows, unseen, went up minutely. So, there was steel to the little goldfinch. Interesting. "Leave you to it," he drawled and walked away, closing the door to the little office soundlessly.

Alyss waited until he was sure he was alone to collapse on his keyboard with a pathetic sound. Ah, yes, just the sort of first impression that got him recommended to others. Well, nothing to it now, he'd just have to let his work impress instead.

If not because Kliman insisted that he take dinner with the household, Alyss would have lost all track of time buried in his work. Ever since he’d been little, when he’d first realized that what went on in his head did not have a spoken form, he’d realized he would have to be his own translator for the rest of his life. Numbers ruled his mind, his dreams, shaped and defined his world. When he was at work numbers danced in his mind's eye, falling into serried, organized rows and columns, order that he brought about. It was a very small sliver of the world, but one he controlled, one he knew, one that did exactly what he told it to do. It was hard to peel himself away and accept that he belonged to a very different reality, but for the angel of New England he did, every night, even as he spend his days working.

The first thing he noticed was that Gevaun was keeping a very good watch on Andrew.

The second was that Kliman's own accounts were not what they should be.

After confirming a fourth time, he threw himself out of the office and onto the balcony, gliding down to one of the paths likely to take him into the woods. He needed air, he needed space, he needed his thoughts to stop harassing him. He hadn't been brought in to audit his boss, for the love of prime numbers! Well, technically he had been, but!

The woods welcomed him with whispering breezes and unexpected torrents of leaves, and Alyss' mood changed almost immediately. He spread his wings and shook them, laughing a little when he realized he couldn't fully dislodge the leaves caught in his feathers. He dragged his shoes through piles of gold and brown, red and orange, gleeful as a child. He found a few wild rose-hips and left a tiny offering of blood on the rose thorns when he picked them and ate them, sweet and tart like little pieces of sunlight made solid.

The thwack of the ax splitting wood nearly made him jump out of his skin. He froze, eyes wide, sucking on his bloody fingertips. When the sound came again he flinched, but it was also reassuring proof that he wasn't hearing things. The third time he straightened up and began to earnestly follow the sound deeper into the woods.

The sound was coming from a clearing where a falling tree had dragged two more of its brethren down with it. It had happened long enough ago that all three trees were dry and dead, prime pickings for firewood. Kliman's manor ran on solar power, but it did have a number of fireplaces that were probably very cozy when they were going. The trees had been cleared of branches, which had been cut into kindling and neatly bundled up on the bed of a small wagon attached to a muddy ATV. The logs had been split into sections at some point, the chips from the chainsaw's work littering the ground beneath them.

There was a man splitting those sections with an ax, and Alyss immediately felt as if he were intruding into someone's privacy.

The man was nothing but muscle. He'd stripped off his jacket and shirt, which were hung on the side slates of the wagon. He was tall, swarthy, what Alyss' mother would have called 'sun-kissed' with an appreciative purr. The thought only served to make Alyss flush, flustered. His hair was short and wavy and very, very dark, and his shoulders were exactly the sort one would expect of someone splitting wood as if it were butter under a hot knife.

Alyss suddenly choked; what he'd thought to be dappled light falling on the man's skin wasn't. It was moving when he moved. It was scar tissue. The lumberjack's back and arms were covered in it, thin lines spread out with sickening regularity and creating a very precise grid all over him.

The man whipped around at the tiny sound, the ax held up like a weapon. Alyss scrabbled back and away, arms coming up to appease. Before he could say anything one of his wings slammed into the tree behind it, and the other ran right into a mass of brambles. "Wait, no, I don't mean -" The rest of whatever excuse he'd been about to offer went out of him in a startled cry of pain.

"Don't move!" The stranger barked, tossing aside the ax and putting his gloved hands out as if to calm a frightened animal. "Don't move, don't move your wings."

Alyss was finding some small measure of reassurance in the ax not being brandished at him, but it was about the only part of the current situation that wasn't worth some panic. "Oh, it hurts!"

"You're caught in a greenbrier. Don't move." The man repeated, his tone low and slow. He had an accent Alyss couldn't place. His face was carved stone, his features stark, lean and austere; there were very dark shadows under his bright green eyes, and he looked starved but calm. He put his hands up. "I'll get you loose but I need my knife."

The silence grew between them. "Alright?" Alyss said uncertainly, not sure why he'd have to be informed of such an obvious thing.

The stranger gave him an unreadable look. He stepped back to the wagon, chucking off one of his heavy gloves, and grabbed a plain leather sheath from one of the jacket's pockets. Slowly, carefully, he approached Alyss and then moved around him, to the tangled-up wing. "You can fold the other one," he said.

His voice was low, the accent giving it a pleasant sort of music that under better circumstances Alyss would have appreciated as much as the man’s looks. "I'm afraid they get on the buddy system when I'm stressed," he admitted. From up close the scars were even more obvious in their methodical, almost mechanical pattern. The man was sweat-sheened, he smelled of his work, of wood and forest... and of the faint, alluring scent of a particular predator.

A vampire.

"Fair."

Alyss saw him gingerly grab something, felt the tug of it against his feathers, and stiffened in anticipation of pain. It didn't come. "What is it? What did you call it?"

"Greenbrier. Tangly sort of vine." The pressure eased in part of Alyss' wing, and the vampire showed him the culprit, a thin green vine covered in spines nothing really ought to need for anything but a nefarious purpose.

"I don't think I needed to see that," Alyss admitted breathlessly, his whole body tightening up again. "But it's good to know what to avoid in the future, I guess."

"If you're in the habit of not staying to the path, that might be wise," the vampire said mildly as he carefully, so carefully, cut the greenbrier off in bits and pieces. Of all the things he'd expected, to find an angel in the middle of the woods hadn't been part of the schedule. He'd planned to spend the day alone, working on the firewood. The silence and the solitude were balm he sorely needed. Instead he was cutting greenbriers off of one of the most delicate-looking angels he'd ever seen, and that included Kliman. The thorns of the greenbrier had ruffled some of the amber-colored feathers, had twisted a few, and the sight wounded him. It had to hurt, but the angel was doing as he'd been told, holding perfectly still, even if by angelic standards the vampire was practically groping him. "You're the accountant."

"Yes. I'm Alyss."

"Hn." The vampire threw aside a massive loop of the spiny vine. "Jean."

"John?"

"Jean," he corrected, grunting when the greenbrier, unsurprisingly, punched right through his glove. He got a better grip and cut another section off the wing.

"Oh, Jean." The angel huffed shakily. "Well, I'm glad to meet you."

"Are you," Jean paused to stare dubiously at him.

"Yes. Very glad actually. Otherwise I'd be stuck here with no one to help me."

"If I wasn't here you wouldn't have had a reason to come looking. Why'd you come, anyway?"

"I heard the ax, I couldn't tell what was going on."

"You've never heard someone chopping wood?"

"Not for a century or so."

"Fair," the vampire admitted after a moment. "Alright, move. Slow. I can't tell if I got it all from this angle."

"So... get behind me?" Alyss suggested blankly.

Jean had to pause and digest that suggestion, so innocently, so trustingly put out there for him. "Would, but there's a tree in the way. It's gonna win whatever fight I start." Alyss made a nervous sound and the vampire leaned back. "Hey. Look at me." When those sweet brown eyes met his gaze he spoke as calmly as he could. "You're alright. Just move slow. If something tightens up, stop."

Alyss closed his eyes, drew in a deep breath, and let it out very, very slowly. He tried to fold his wings -

"Stop." Next to him, Jean dropped to his knees and slipped beneath the wings. Some more greenbrier began to fly off in pieces.

"Thank you for being careful,” Alyss murmured, even though a flush of embarrassment was slowly but surely creeping over his face. “I am not a libertine, I'd like to point out," the accountant said primly, wrapping his arms around himself.

The comment was so outlandish, so out of nowhere, and such a complete betrayal of the angel's current state of mind as well as his efforts to ease it, that Jean barked out a laugh before he realized what he'd done. He had to stop and pull away, leaning back on his knees to look up at that fine-boned face. He could feel the ghost of a grin trying to break free. "Too much action for you?" Jean watched crimson spread over the fair skin, and the angel could only offer a high-pitched, wordless sound in response, covering his face with one hand. "I won't tell, I promise."

"I'm not a virgin, either!" Alyss declared staunchly from behind his hand. Somehow it seemed very important that he declare that, and yet as soon as the words were out he couldn't believe he'd said them.

"Duly noted," was all the vampire said in response. "Alright, try now. Slow." When Alyss managed to pull both wings tight to his back, Jean further instructed, "Lift your wings up. Alright, now step forward, three steps. Ought to put you clear of the greenbriers." When the angel obeyed and was finally both safe and free, Jean rolled smoothly to his feet and moved to the wagon to clean his knife.

"Oh, it itches, it itches, it all itches. Thank you, Jean, but it itches. Please, excuse me."

"Excuse wh-" Before he could finish, Alyss had sprung up. The vampire jerked away and crouched down instinctively; such a take-off was usually a maneuver only seasoned angelic warriors learned or mastered. But Alyss, Jean realized, had an unexpected advantage: his wings were big for his size, larger than those of most angels the vampire had ever seen. He leapt and cupped them and they caught the breeze, effectively parachuting him up and away. Just like that, the accountant was gone. "Anytime," Jean told the empty clearing, and went back to chopping wood.