#layers upon layers

[amplifyme]

The Hound eased his dagger into the man’s chest almost tenderly, the weight of his body driving the point through his surcoat, ringmail, and the quilting beneath. As he slid the blade back out and wiped it on the dead man, he looked at Arya. “That’s where the heart is, girl. That’s how you kill a man.”

[cyber-corp]

i saw you like "bronze jade" style memes

here is my latest

This is some postmodern shit, dawg. Put this next to a Warhol. Your magnum opus

[hinamie]

inflict

[procrastiel]

If I can add to that a little: Dummkopf, the literal translation being ‘dumb-head’ as in a person that is not bright, also nicely ties into the Flesheater definition here; describing someone as un-imaginative, unable to understand context or deeper meaning (specifically referring to the head, nicely tying into the zombie trope of brain eaters as well)

Banana. Fruit. Plant. Food. Sustains life for animals and humans alike. "And what are they putting in bananas these days?!" First of Aziraphale's magic words. Symbolic of plant life on Earth.

Fish. The ocean. Oysters. Sushi. "Why do you eat *that*?"/"It's what humans do." "Bouilla...bouilla...bouilla... baby... fish stew. Anyway!" Symbolic of marine life on Earth. Love. Sex. He probably wins prizes for his tropical fish.

Gorilla. Also: Go-RILL-a, if you're Mr. Harmony. Animals. Ancient ancestors of humanity. Big fans of bananas; do not typically eat fish. (Rill. A small stream. Carries fish. Represents water, necessary to all life on Earth.) Gorillas represent the animal kingdom, the connection between animals and humans, and the interdependency of Earth's ecosystem. Earth is a balance of banana (plant life), fish (marine life), gorilla (animal life) and...

Shoelace. Humanity. First word in the sequence of Aziraphale's magic words that isn't a type of living thing but is, instead, an invention of the living thing it represents. Humanity is defined in Aziraphale's magic words by its bipedalism and its innovation-- by its ability to create, develop and use tools to improve its existence... but then also by their ability to keep refining, to keep trying, to keep progressing. Humans walk on two legs and created tools and created shoes to support that endeavor and then the shoelace to make the shoes better. Have you found the missing antichrist's name, age and shoe size yet? Humans walk-- they go ever forward, even if they sometimes go backwards. They are defined by their creativity and imagination and the determination to keep progressing. They create art and so they get a word full of symbolism because of their ability to make art and seek meaning and ask questions. Aziraphale loves them so.

(with a) Dash of Nutmeg. Civilization and evolution. Nutmeg comes from the nutmeg tree, in a full circle back to plant life. Dash of nutmeg is then the world created by these creative shoelaces. An ever-growing and changing world, full of refinement of and appreciation for life on Earth. A dash of nutmeg is learning and experimentation. Figuring out the right amount. Just a dash of nutmeg can change the whole taste of a dish and bring it to the next level. No nutmeg in a dish that needs it-- or too much? Not the same. No almond syrup where it's needed-- or too much? Not the same, maybe even a bit dangerous. To know that is to learn it... and to learn it is to either experiment yourself and/or to learn from the experience of humans. Aziraphale's love of being a student of humanity through the ages. Reading their books, absorbing their music and theatre. Letting them teach him French and magic and about food and love. A dash of nutmeg is literally the spice of life. To eat the right dish with just a dash of nutmeg is to experience the joy of life on Earth-- to experience pleasure from consuming the fruits of the Earth. It's living. It's to eat life alive.

A hefty jigger. Doesn't exist. A jigger is precise, is quantifiable; a dash is a flick of the wrist and is less precise, more improvisational, just enough. You cannot have a hefty jigger. You can, though, always have a dash. See: nutmeg. See: almond syrup, as Nina pours into Aziraphale's coffee usual coffee order, as ordered by The Metatron. If you say 'dash' when you order in the shop but 'hefty jigger' when you deliver to your mark, you're wanting to look like a savvy, old man to the barista to get the order right... but you're intentionally attempting to look clueless to Aziraphale, to make him think he'll be needed to help you navigate humanity. It means you do know how to order coffee but you are pretending you do not to the person you are trying to manipulate. It means you're a liar.

A jigger is measured by shots. By the shot is one way you can order coffee. Coffee is freedom. Give me coffee or give me death. Give me liberty or give me death. Does anybody ever ask for death? Some wise-cracking asshole has to ask Nina for it at least once a week but she says no when The Metatron asks because no one ever *really* asks for death. Not seriously. Not as anything but a joke. They all ask for their beverage of choice. They all ask for freedom or comfort or pleasure or all of the above. Wanting to live is predictable to our villain but it's understandable to the rest of us. Living on this magical Earth can be a lot at times but it also is the most amazing thing imaginable.

No one knows that better than Crowley, who spans the gamut of coffee orders (among other beverages). Dessert coffee-- espresso, cream, maybe some alcohol-- in a small, Irish-coffee-style mug in 1.01 during a lazy afternoon lunch but also, on a stressful morning, this...

Mr. Six Shots of Espresso in a Big Cup. Crowley. But only sometimes. And not really. Not when we know him better than Nina does. Not when we've seen him twice order his symbolic liberty at a slower pace and cut it with some sweetness along the way. Not when The Bentley in S2 showed us that he drives fast, he pounds espresso, and it's all anxiety. Mr. Six Shots of Espresso in a Big Cup really wants to drive 52 miles an hour, per The Bentley, and slowly sip half a fluffy dessert coffee at lunch at The Ritz with Aziraphale. Crowley wants everyone to see him as Mr. Six Shots of Espresso in a Big Cup but he's not. He's...

Crowley. Bildad the Shuite.

Bildad. Means, quite literally, "old friend," as Sitis' mind translated upon his request. Aziraphale's oldest friend. Humanity's oldest friend. Also means "loved by the Lord." He's And the Voice of Frances McDormand's favorite, if only They'd put him out of his misery and share that. the Shuite. Means, as Michael points out, "from the land of Shua" but Michael doesn't really fully get it. It is not where you are from; it is not what kind of species you are. It is not what you "are", whatever that even is. Heaven, Hell, angels, demons, it's all... pointless, as Crowley tells Shax in 2.01. Bildad does not define Shuite as a place-related name; he does not define humanity as tied to beings of a specific region or to a species, even, really. Humanity is not the exclusive domain of people of any one race or ethnicity or religion or species. Being a Shuite isn't where you're from or if you are human only or if you have a human corporation but others call you an angel or a demon... Bildad defines Shuite as what you do or what you are learning how to do. He defines being a Shuite as how you're interacting with the world on Earth and how you are spending your days. Being a Shuite is something you *do* and freedom is the choice of what that is, which some unfortunately have more than others. What does Bildad *do* then, as *the* Shuite?

Bildad the Shuite. Professional midwife/cobbler. The demon who delivered humanity from The Garden of Eden, and who now lives among them, working hard as a professional shoemaker, helping them forward and letting them teach him just as much.

A shoelace. A human.

And like the rest of us, he's making this shit up as he goes. Nothing more human than that, really.

Banana, fish, gorilla, shoelace, with a dash of nutmeg. Aziraphale's magic words. His mantra. The only full prayer we've ever really heard him say. His history of Earth as he's observed and lived it with Bildad the Shuite for thousands of years. The words mostly work when he needs them to but sometimes they fail and that's okay. As a certain angel excited to be on Earth once said while pretending to be a human in the bookshop, the error they made just then proved they were human. It did, indeed, even if Muriel doesn't quite yet understand just how human they are.

Nazis. Fascist motherfuckers who seek to suppress free thought and oppress others through dehumanizing violence. Can be expert lip readers. Can be multilingual. Can understand language on a technical, surface level that makes their inability to understand context very darkly funny. I am played for a sucker. You are played for a sucker. He, she, it are played for suckers... Dangerous as all hell in their willful ignorance, their lack of critical thinking and their complete lack of empathy.

Zombies. Those who are asleep to their surroundings. Those who do not seek to understand context and dive for deeper meaning. Those who do not engage with art (and, if they're Nazis, those who seek to suppress it.) Those who are full of apathy. Those who do not question. Those who think like how others tell them to think. Those who are content with surface understanding, not deeper meaning.

Flesheaters. Zombies-- in the horror movie sense. Those with a bloodlust for brains. Those who murder with impunity to satisfy a violent, dark hunger. Those with dark impulses that harm others; the polar opposites of hungering for pleasure from food, art, sex, love, companionship. The thematic opposites of Crowley and Aziraphale.

Nazi Zombie Flesheaters. Fraulein Greta Kleinschmidt, Mr. Harmony and Mr. Glozier. Multilingual members of the Nazi Party, one of whom is an expert lip reader. They are zombies, as shown by how they lack the imagination, intellectual curiosity, critical thinking skills, and creativity to be able to decode the deeper meaning of the surface words they read and recite correctly but do not actually comprehend. They do not seek to understand how a creative magic trick is being performed before their eyes because they fail to even notice that one is, even when presented with an abundance of contextual clues. They're also, in their cases, flesheaters. They roam around London eating innocent, free-thinking brains-- quite literally suppressing thought. In The Blitz, Part 1, they were already Nazi Zombies. In The Blitz, Part 2, they become the Nazi Zombie Flesheaters.

Jiggery-pokery. Cutesy-sounding British phrase with a darker origin. Means 'trickery'. Means 'deceit'. Not in an innocent way, like the sleight of hand deception of a magic show... or the sleight-of-hand tricks played by writers and performers on a television show with recurring motifs around spies and magic and wordplay and hidden romance and a whole secret language imbedded in its dialogue. Origin of jiggery-pokery: British Army, mid-1800s. Used to refer to homosexual sex acts, then illegal, amongst soldiers in its ranks when targeting them. Evolved a bit in modern times to a lighter-sounding term meaning cute trickery but still equally refers in definition to gay sex, conducted in secret, and by those who are then threatened with exposure by other soldiers who feel homosexuality goes against the morals of the unit. Used onstage by The Marvelous Mr. Fell to describe his complicated relationship with human magic, which metaphorical for his own humanity, in contrast with his role as one of God's soldiers, a moment before his partner gets on stage to perform some of that humanity with him. It is not performative, though, because humanity is not exclusive to humans; humanity is to be a Shuite and love is love. In the audience: a soldier from Bildad's unit and the Nazi Zombie Flesheaters, working in tandem to out Crowley and Aziraphale for what is, to Furfur and the Nazis, supernatural and actual jiggery-pokery.

Three cowry shells and a lone caraway seed. A sleight of hand magic trick, used by writers to point out multiple layers of meaning and a request of the audience to engage with the story and find the seed beneath the layers. A sleight hand of magic trick, used by The Marvelous Mr. Fell thousands of years prior in his exploration of human magic. He fooled ancient Egyptian Queen Nefertiti with the trick. He masks the lone caraway seed successfully beneath a different cowry shell than the one the humans watching him think it is hidden beneath. He hides one meaning beneath another. He hides his self-deemed jiggery-pokery humanity beneath what Heaven suspects of him as an angel.

My Nefertiti-fooling fellow. What The Marvelous Mr. Fell's love, Bildad the Shuite, calls him to he remind him that his humanity is not jiggery-pokery. His magical man, who is also kind of terrible at the actual human magic part, but is so very good at the human magic part, and what could be more human than that?

Dummkopf. What Greta calls Harmony, after he successfully reads Aziraphale's magic words but she interprets them as nonsense words... despite them all seeing through the windows Aziraphale moving in such a way as to suggest he is performing a magic trick, suggesting a potential context for the words. None of these three have what the creative minds involved in Good Omens know their audience does have, which is the curiosity and love of story enough to look for context and meaning. 'Dummkopf': German for 'dumbass'.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Horse Meshi. Delicious, in Horse.

[paesthethyc]

giving best girl a spotlight, its my personal twig design <3

[chwylaven]

"In their embrace."

Yahoo @amimuu 's dtiys !! Couldn't resist joining it's so lovely

+ bonus comic in relation to their vta au dream

sorry if it looked rushed hshdh

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

ooooooooh lovely crunchy breakdown my beloved...

imma giggle tho

Vaggie for real didn't know she could DIE until after hearing about Carmilla killing an exorcist

she spent 3 years with the princess of hell, assuming she herself was unkillable. i don't think... i don't think she ever even thought Charlie COULD do anything to her

she's not part of hell's hierarchy. She's from heaven. Charlie isn't her princess

(Charlie didn't know that, but Vaggie did)

if, somehow, Charlie got mind controlled into kicking Vaggie out- well and? So??? Aside from the emotional fallout and missing her and all that, Vaggie is VERY well suited to making her own way in hell.

That's, kinda her role in the relationship- the hotel /manager/, trying to make Charlie's ideas work in the reality of hell. That's what got them into trouble earlier- Charlie asking Vaggie to figure things out solo and only after that kinda blew up a little, only after seeing the pressure that put Vaggie under, that's when Charlie realizes there are limits here- they need to do this TOGETHER.

And even then- Vaggie didn't even fail, really. She thinks more like the sinners than Charlie does. Her idea of bonding through survival DID work on the hotel guests (survival of her terrifying bonding attempts XD), even though Charlie was horrified by it.

honestly between the two of them, feels like the only real 'imbalance' is kinda the reverse

Vaggie has lost everything before and survived it. She knows she can.

She had conviction before ever meeting Charlie- it's why she DIDN'T kill that kid- and she also had enough of an urge to protect herself even after being thrown aside- by everyone she knew- to ditch her exorcist gear after being abandoned in hell.

She was making an EFFORT not to get mobbed instantly. Yes, sitting down by a dumpster and staring blankly into space didn't look good- but it was a lot safer than she'd been a minute ago

Charlie helped her, definitely! Saved her from a lot MORE suffering and loneliness- but Charlie was just conformation of something Vaggie was already willing to risk everything for- the idea that maybe, there are people in hell who shouldn't be murdered, and facing heaven's fury isn't as terrifying as that one thought

and yeah, she's a soldier, she wants to be useful, she feels like there's no point to her if she's not helping Charlie with THEIR dream

but she also manages those thoughts by herself

taking a moment alone, letting her 'failure' sink in, sitting with that and then getting up and going back to Charlie with an apology and a promise to do better

she's, emotionally fucked up, but pretty self sufficient. she knows how to deal with HERSELF and HER feelings

she didn't go to Carmila for therapy- Vaggie already knew what she wanted and was acting on it. Even with Charlie pushing her away, she had the hotel, their friends, HER OWN NEED to make all this work

Charlie couldn't work through things on her own

Emotionally speaking, Charlie's the vulnerable one, the dependent one

when Vaggie wasn't there to be her support, she started falling apart, failing at what she was trying to do- until Rosie HELPED her look at her feelings, and the Vaggie lied situation, and gave her a way to figure out how she actually felt about everything. what she wanted to actually DO about it

Charlie didn't have that blueprint. Charlie doesn't face her problems, she smiles and tries to keep smiling until they stop being problems

(she didn't call her dad for a long time, before. it took Vaggie and the hotel to get her there. it took Vaggie holding her hand to get her through it)

so when a problem came up that she couldn't smile at?

when the problem was the person Charlie relies on to HELP HER with her problems...?

If you take Charlie away from Vaggie, Vaggie still has herself. she's been there before. She knows how to hold on. she did that already. we SAW her push through before and AFTER knowing Charlie

if you take Vaggie away from Charlie......

.....

...well, that's already changing though. Charlie's dad is in the picture again. Charlie has friends in the hotel.

They're not enough yet, not the SAME as the woman who's been her closest and deepest confidant after Charlie's family fell apart and left her in a world that laughs at everything she believes in

buuuut with Vaggie's help, the hotel is running. Charlie has so many more people in her life now- and they're starting to believe in her too

what part of that is 'unhealthy'?

or that was my take away from the show, at least. hell knows there's as many ways to watch and understand something as there are people who watch it ^w^;

As someone who ships Chaggie as well, I want your opinion on this.

Someone made a kinda good point about Charlie and Vaggie’s relationship; the point being that there’s a power imbalance between them. Charlie is the princess of hell. She wouldn’t physically loose anything or be hurt physically if she breaks up with Vaggie. But Vaggie would loose both the love of her life and her home and friends if they break off. And so they see this toxic dynamic because Vaggie is “walking on eggshells” in order to stay in Charlie’s favor and not getting on her bad side.

So….thoughts?

The problem is people who say these things treat the terms "power imbalance" and "toxic" and "unhealthy" as the same things when they are not.

There is a power imbalance, yes, definitely. I constantly make jokes about the fact that Charlie and Vaggie have a forbidden love story in a Boss/Employee HR violation kinda way for pete's sake. It's just a lot more funny thinking about the fact that that probably has more weight than the demon/angel situation.

But the thing is, no matter what Charlie will ALWAYS have a power imbalance with whoever she dates because she is literally the princess of Hell, as they have said. Even if she dates a fellow hellborn royal, the fact that Charlie is in a higher position of power will always be a fact because her parents are literally the only ones above that. So what? Should she just not date anyone??? Also, isn't the one has a higher position of power but still loves the other a super popular ship trope? Rich x poor. Royalty x commoner. Goddess/immortal x normal human. Popular in school x the social loser. The list goes on. So why is it a problem now?

The fact that they think Vaggie "walks on eggshells" around Charlie is a bit...? I'm just a little confused you know? Vaggie is definitely not afraid of Charlie. When they had their fallout, she wasn't afraid of losing the things she was dependent on Charlie if they ever broke up(i.e. a home, her safety, money etc) because Vaggie damn well knows Charlie wouldn't do that. Everyone in hell knows Charlie goddamn Morningstar wouldn't do that. Vaggie was merely afraid of losing their relationship, which is a perfectly normal thing to be afraid of. Vaggie's dedication to Charlie isn't rooted in fear, it's rooted in devotion in the name of what she thinks the person she loves deserves.

The thing that makes Chaggie so great despite that power imbalance is the fact that Charlie is an absolute sweetheart. She isn't the kind of person who would take advantage of that power and Vaggie, as someone who knows her so well, is perfectly aware of that. Vaggie is safe with Charlie in every way that matters, and this is where toxicity and the unhealthy elements come into play.

Charlie and Vaggie as individuals have all the ingredients for an unhealthy relationship. As Husk so plainly pointed out, Charlie would rather fix everyone else's problems than help herself. Meanwhile Vaggie has deep self-hatred that seeps into how she feels about everyone but Charlie. They're both the type of people who would rather think about others rather than themselves. This is the root of their codependency, and why their relationship can be quite unhealthy. It's extremely evident with Vaggie, which makes perfect sense since she probably never saw herself as a person before Charlie.

Those flaws can so easily be taken advantage of in a relationship, but the thing is, do they do that? Do either of them think the other ever would? As Rosie did say...

While Charlie likes to shoulder everyone else's problems, Vaggie looks at the love her life and decides she'll take some of that load so she doesn't get crushed under the weight of the world. Vaggie reels Charlie in by being the realist to Charlie's dreamer. Vaggie used to essentially be Heaven's living weapon, but she has now sworn to be the armor for someone who looks out for everyone but herself.

On the other hand Vaggie's self-worth is shrewed because she's an ex-soldier who thinks she should always be under someone's service to be deserving of anything. But here Charlie is who constantly calls Vaggie her partner and blatantly treats Vaggie as an equal and still loves Vaggie "more than anything" and doesn't doubt that Vaggie loves her in return even after finding out Vaggie's lie and true origins.

So are they good for each other? Maybe not, but there's still more of the show to see. They can be unhealthy, but not to the point that being together damages each other in any significant way. Their relationship is imperfect, which is fine. No relationship is. Especially not in fucking HELL. And perfect for a story because, yunno... They are still in an ongoing story. They aren't a lost cause yet. It's something they can develop from, something we can get to SEE them develop from.

Are they toxic though?? Are they harming each other physically, emotionally, sexually, or financially? Definitely not. Because although whether they're good FOR each other still remains to be seen, it is an undeniable fact that they are good TO each other, despite all the ways they could not be. The unhealthy elements are due to how they treat themselves, but their relationship can't be deemed toxic because of how they treat each other. And for now, that's what matters and that's why I love this ship.

[terminalkisser]

ID RATHER DIE

THAN GIVE YOU CONTROL

[crustycrackhead]

I got possessed dude, did a line of flour— some crazy shit anyways… Swampcat

Swampcat, Kremy Lecroux x Morning Frost

They both find each other interesting like anatomy wise, drastically different, some “lemme examine you 🤓☝️”

Kremy slowly blinks and Frost gets flustered… that’s the good shit to me man. Purring, Bellows… I SHOOT THEM TWO WITH MY AMERICAN GUN

[amplifyme]

26 years later and I still have so many thoughts about Never Again that I’ve never (haha) written down and shared. Suffice to say Mulder doesn’t deserve all the hate he gets for this episode. Sure, there is a pattern of crossed wires when it comes to Moose and Squirrel and real communication, but both are equally complicit when it comes to the events and the aftermath of this episode. 

I am glad to see that many of the fans who discovered the show after the original run are less prone to blaming Mulder for everything fucked up about the MSR and acknowledge that Scully’s flaws also figure into it.

[effervescible]

Come to think of it this may have also been patient zero for ships with extreme height differences

The other day a friend on plurk posted a meme asking what fandom ship changed your brain chemistry and how, and of course I was like "Mulder/Scully" because obviously, and then it was like my third eye opened because I realized the trope of "two very competent people who are also very different must partner up and come to respect the hell out of each other and get shit done" applies to like Every God Damn Fandom I've been in since, and is often WHY I lean toward one particular pairing over others.

Trigun. The Buffyverse at large. Numerous comic book lines. Bleach. Assassin's Creed. Kingdom Hearts. Uncharted. Shadowhunters. Overwatch a little bit. Dresden Files. ATLA. Graceling. It's there, it's always fucking there, and it shouldn't be surprising but I am still kind of laughing at myself because wow I just imprinted on that dynamic like a helpless baby bunny didn't I.

[thegirloffans]

Louis, Madeleine, and Daniel finding thier soulmates through sheer power of "Oh you're a vampire? Well mark me down as scared and horny!"

And now that has me thinking of the three of them telling someone the answers to: "Well how did you meet your maker? When did you find out they were a vampire?"

Madeleine: Oh well, she saved me from these horrible people who broke into my shop and were about to rape me. I was scared but more so fascinated and thankful that she saved my life❤️

Louis & Daniel:....

Louis: Ah, well...I was going through a pretty tough time because my brother had just committed suicide so after his funeral I went to the church to confess my sins and he got mad because I was ignoring him after we fucked ONE TIME and ripped me out of the confessional where I watched him murder two priests in cold blood. He told me he loved me though❤️

Daniel: He got mad at me because Louis was coked up on my blood and called him "boring" so he held me hostage and tortured me for a week so I could teach him how to be "fascinating". He was going to give me an easeful death though❤️

LIVE MADELEINE REACTION:

[makenna-made-this]

Poultry keepers in the northern hemisphere rn

[triptychofvoids]

just a bad dream

[embracing-the-ineffable]

Yes! That's all true! Scheherazade tells stories for 1,001 nights in order to save her life from the Sultan, who is her audience (and husband). And there was going to be an Arabian Nights minisode.

Someone in Good Omens could be a narrator (an unreliable one, perhaps, who could be Aziraphale or Crowley or someone else entirely) telling these stories, maybe to someone in heaven, maybe altering details to save... Humanity? Crowley? Aziraphale? Whoever the narrator is?

Layers upon layers upon layers with this show 😍

The Ineffable Detective Agency presents: Another disappearing sign on a storefront!

Good Omens: the mystery that just keeps on giving!

The green textiles storefront next to Maggie's shop is here (in season 2):

But sometimes, it's not (also in season 2):

Now you see it, now you don't:

"Alf Laylah wa-Laylah" means One Thousand and One Nights, and the second line on the sign is "imported carpets and textiles".

Related: @postsforposting has previously talked about one of Maggie's record shop storefront signs that also sometimes disappears. Here's another photo of both signs:

And here they're both missing:

They each also make solo appearances, although that isn't as common.

As always, we're happy to hear your thoughts about these Ineffable Discontinuities!

Featuring contributions by @thebluestgreen, @noneorother, @kimberleyjean, @bbbitchvibbbez, and @embracing-the-ineffable at the @ineffable-detective-agency

See more of our posts plus a collection of Clues and metas from all over the fandom, here.