#like we get the sense we aren't human very quickly

[lucifers-version]

The Princess and the Dragon route continues to be one of the best in the game.

Not only is it brilliant meta commentary.

But you see what you look like and go, "holy shit I have been pulling up to the princess every time looking like that?! And she still wants to talk to me?"

It paints the Princess so much more empathetically and not just because we are sharing her POV. We see how imposing we look, how insane, and realize all those times she's looked at us and been willing to trust. She's been willing to trust the bird dragon that breaks into her house and may kill her.

It re-contextualizes every other interaction you have with her knowing how frightening you must look to a girl chained up in a basement. And her more violent forms must have seen a monster worth fighting. Because there are many times we both looked like a monster and acted like one.

It's that POV that changes the way you see every route you've done before, and how you see every route after.

Like damn I am massive, unreadable and sometimes wielding a blade. I wouldn't trust me either.

[captain-huggy-bear]

In The Firing Line

Pairing: Quinn Hughes x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Lil' bit of hurt/comfort, lil' bit of angst, lil' bit of panic

Summary: You break up a fight at your school getting hurt in the process. There's only one person you want to call in that situation.

Notes: I have in fact been punched in the line of duty as a teacher and while it's not common it is truly a scary experience and I very much wish I had a Quinn to pick up the pieces when those things happen.

Another kinda angsty one? I keep putting the reader through some stuff in this series, I promise teaching is not always this eventful...please don't be scared of it <3

Totally happy to take requests/ideas/prompts at the moment in my ask box :)

Writing Masterlist

There are some dangers to your job, hazards you might say...while generally speaking teaching is a safe profession except for your stress levels, the reality is you're dealing with human beings who aren't yet capable of fully regulating their emotions and thinking through their actions. So things happen...like fights...and fights are...unfortunately something you can't just ignore as a teacher. They are in fact something you have to actively deal with.

There's a deep seated desire not to get involved, a sense of self preservation that says don't stand in between two teenage boys who are going at each other. That unfortunately is overridden by two things: 1) The duty of care you have to keep your students safe and stop them hurting themselves or others and 2) Your genuine desire to not see any of your students hurt.

At this point in your career you work off of instinct. The moment Carl throws a punch at Gabriel, while you're in the middle of teaching mind you, you're ushering every other student out of your classroom with directions to find another teacher. That leaves you with 2 teenage boys flipping tables and intent on pummelling each other. Really, you'll later find out the fight is over something silly, Gabriel had talked to the girl that Carl liked, Carl had been told that Gabriel was flirting with her and talking shit about Carl. He wasn't. Later they'll both apologise to you profusely and their sets of parents will come in and apologise to you too, but in that moment? Your only concern is stopping the fight from progressing any further and stopping blood from being spilled.

Perhaps it's misguided, but in your experience getting in the middle works. Often students stop, pulling their punches out of fear of hitting an adult, like a sort of reset button. The fact that you're there usually does the trick. So that's exactly what you do, you wedge your significantly smaller self between two teenage boys who stand well over 6ft tall, one of whom is on the boxing team and the other on basketball team. You think this is a good idea, spoiler alert, it is most certainly not.

You misjudge this, it's almost like slow motion the way that Carl's fist comes towards you, his eyes seeming to widen as he processes that you're now in the way and in the line of fire. You have just enough time and thought to turn your back to him so that he doesn't hit you anywhere soft and vulnerable.

But, fuck does it hurt to have a junior boxing champ throw a solid punch straight at your shoulder blade. You jolt straight into Gabriel who breaks your potential fall and both boys fall dead silent, fight ended as quickly as it had began. Whatever haze of red had come over them completely diffused. All you can hear is a series of swear words followed by the sounds of some of your colleagues coming in to take both boys away.

You're dimly aware of one of the English teachers wrapping an arm around you and carting you down the corridor towards the staff room, of being sat in a comfortable chair and handed a warm drink that you have little desire to sip at.

"I think she's in shock..."

"She can't teach like this, can you talk to Lisa about covering her lessons for the day?"

"Should we phone someone?"

The conversation happening near you is practically underwater, dull sounding. You register it but you don't really hear it, words that go in one ear and out the other like water off a duck's back.

Your gaze fixes on your principle who crouches in front of you with a soft smile, "Y/N, do you want to phone someone? Get them to take you home, we're going to give you the rest of the day off, okay?"

You nod more out of instinct than anything else, you feel like you're underwater or not in your own body. Adrenaline still pulsing through your system, shock having hit you so hard that you don't feel real. You feel floaty, not really present.

When you're left alone, an empty staff room, you reach for your phone. You unlock it on autopilot, find the contact without really thinking and listen to it ring, once, twice before being picked up on the third ring. Reliable and steadfast as always, he never fails to answer the phone to you.

"Hey, baby, you okay?" Quinn's voice is soft, sweet but curious with an undercurrent of worry because you almost never phone him while you're at school. It's that that seems to break you, seems to dissolve the numb shock and bring forth the waterworks.

"No..." You can't help it, you're sobbing in an instant, breathing rapidly as the shock gives way to panic, like Quinn's voice broke the dam that had been holding your emotions in check. "I-I-I..."

"Breathe, baby! Hey, hey, breathe...you're okay, what happened?" You try to follow his instructions, but your breathing is still sharp, short, stunted. Every breath cutting itself off by the next. Each sob interrupting your words and your attempts to get a full breath in.

"Baby, listen to me, okay?" You try to tune into Quinn's voice, the steady stableness of it, the way he tries to keep it as even as possible, "Breathe with me, okay? Breathe in..." You listen to him as he instructs you on how to breathe, breathing in when says and out when he says until your own breathing is back to a point where you can at least talk, still the tears don't disappear.

It's like your body has finally realised it was in danger, like it's finally realised what happened. You're just thankful that the room is empty, that everyone else is teaching right now because you can't help but feel embarrassed as you cry over the phone to your boyfriend over something that feels silly in your mind. It was just a punch and it wasn't even intended for you, you probably won't even bruise....

"What happened, baby?"

"I...I tried t-to break up a fight..." Your shoulder aches now that some of the panic has worn off, right in the shoulder blade. A reminder of the fact you've been punched by a junior boxing champ.

"Are you okay? Did you get hurt?" You can tell he's worried, the stability of his voice disappearing in favour of concern but you stay silent...you don't want to make him worry... "Sweetheart...?"

"I...I got punched in the shoulder...I'm okay...I...I think." You don't want him to worry more than he already has, you know what Quinn is like...if he could wrap you in bubble wrap and keep you with him all the time he would. You know he supports you having your own life, own career, but he also hates you being unsafe in any way. You don't want him to worry especially when he's not around, the idea that he might worry when he's away on a roadie kills you inside.

"Has anyone had a look at you?"

"No...they want me to go home though..." Not like you have a proper nurse in school anyway, besides, you're certain you're just going to ache. You doubt there's any lasting damage.

"Okay, okay, give me 20 minutes? I'll get Petey to drop me off and I'll drive you home."

"You don't have to, Quinn..." You don't like feeling like a burden and that's how you feel right now. Quinn shouldn't be spending his day off picking you up from work and looking after you. He should be relaxing, enjoying the little free time he gets between games and practices, resting his own injuries like his hand that's still braced.

"Baby, respectfully, shut up. I'm going to get you, you aren't driving home, and we're going to spend the afternoon cuddling, okay?" You can't help but smile, wiping some of the tears that have tracked over your cheeks away, the salty taste on your tongue from where a few drops had hit your mouth.

"Okay...I love you."

"I love you too. Get your stuff ready and stop feeling like a burden. You're not. I love you, so I want to help you." You can't help but huff out a laugh at him calling you out for the thoughts you don't voice, because of course Quinn would know what you were thinking, of course he'd know you were feeling like a burden already.

"You know me too well." You roll your eyes, easing yourself up from the seat you'd been placed in earlier and making your way to the door knowing you need to venture to your room to grab your things. A little bit anxious about it, but knowing the students in question were likely already in isolation or the principle's office or been sent home after everything. Even though you know without a doubt Carl and Gabriel never intended for you to get hurt.

"That's my job, sweetheart."

"We've had this discussion before, your job is to hit a piece of vulcanised rubber around on the ice." Quinn's pretty certain you sassing him is a good sign that you're getting over the shock of being punched on the job, a good enough sign that he can't stop the laugh that comes out because at least you're okay.

"That's my paying job, not my proper job. My proper job is to look after you, baby."

"Mmm, do you want an ID badge for that?" Your classroom is empty when you get to it, students having been taken somewhere else for the period, most likely to the gym. It makes it easier for you to start grabbing your things without a million and one eyes on you.

"Yes please, and a lanyard."

"I'll get that printed for you right away," You're putting your work laptop away, grabbing your water bottle, phone balanced between your ear and your shoulder. Quinn finding away to calm you without even being in the room was something you were thankful for, while that well of anxiety still sat deep in your chest, you felt at least functional in that moment. More functional than when it first happened at least.

There's a beat of silence, where Quinn is unsure if he actually wants to come off the phone. Hearing you reassures him you're okay, not perfect, but okay...but he knows that to get Petey to pick him up he needs to actually say goodbye to you. A dilemma if he ever saw one.

"I'll see you soon?"

"See you soon...thank you, Quinny," You mean it, you always mean it. For a man who is so busy, so stressed all the time, he truly never failed to be there for you. You never thought twice about phoning him because you knew he'd pick up, knew he'd help no matter the situation, even if he wasn't around he'd find someone who could help. It was his reliability that always had you reaching for his number, even when past boyfriends had been last person you might have called. Quinn was always steady, always there, always on hand.

"Anytime, baby."

You're waiting in the car park when Petey's car drives up next to you, the window rolled down for the blonde man to give you a sympathetic smile.

"Hey, Petey..." You give him your best attempt at a smile but you know it's a weak one, his features scrunching in sympathy. You can see Quinn in the passenger seat, hoodie on, beanie over his hair.

"Hey, Y/N, you okay?"

"I will be..." You answer as Quinn gets out of Petey's car, your smile starting to turn more genuine when Petey throws a bar of chocolate at you out the window. Not even just any chocolate, but the good stuff, European chocolate.

"Feel better soon, okay?"

"Thank you, Petey." You stand back as Quinn thanks Elias for the ride, tapping on the roof of the car as a sign it's okay for him to leave and you grasp the bar of chocolate tightly, feeling emotional over the thoughtful gesture.

That emotion spills over with one look from Quinn, tears starting to silently stream down your face as he pulls you into his warm arms. You feel so utterly safe the moment he does, your face pressing into his hoodie and just breathing in the scent of his cologne, the sea salt smell of his old spice deodorant. He practically traps you in his arms, trying to give you a sense of security and safety by wrapping you up tight, one hand coming to comb through the ends of your hair, the other stroking down your back in slow motions.

Quinn presses a kiss to your hair as he rocks you side to side, feeling the way your body shakes in his arms, the residual adrenaline left over from the whole affair coursing through your body. He knows better than most how your body responds after taking a hit, he's felt it time and time again on the ice, but the adrenaline usually gets worn off in play for him. For you? This is unfamiliar territory, unexpected and with no way to get all that adrenaline rush out of your system.

"I've got you, sweet girl...let it out, you're okay..." If there's one thing Quinn will always do, has always done, it's make sure you understand you can rely on him. That you don't need to hold back any of the ugly parts, the difficult parts, the raw parts, out of fear of being a burden. He doesn't care that his day is being spent stood in a school parking lot holding you while you cry, in fact he prefers it to the alternative, you pretending nothing happened, not telling him, crying on your own somewhere...

"Wanna go home, baby?" You nod into his chest, arms so tight around his waist that he almost worries he might not be able to breathe if you just squeeze a tad tighter. "Keys in your pocket?" You nod again and he slips his hand into your pocket, then the other one, fishing out your car keys.

The walk to your car is hindered by your refusal to come out from your spot hiding in his chest, you walk backwards while he walks forward. A strange sort of dance that shows just how much you trust him not to let you fall over.

It's obvious when he gets you to your car that you don't want to let go of him, that you feel safe surrounded by him in every sense of the word. Surrounded by his arms, surrounded by his hoodie, by his scent. But, Quinn is good at compromise, at finding solutions to problems, seeing the gaps in the defence and making a solid play.

"You want to wear my hoodie for the ride?" Your nod is all he gets and he's quick to strip himself of the oversized hoodie, pulling it over the top of your head and helping you work your arms into it. It's large on him and large on you, sleeves long enough to cover your hands, fabric billowing in a way that makes him think he could probably slip in there with you if he tried hard enough. He helps you pull the hood up and over your head, watching as you burying your face into the neck, breathing in the familiar smell of his cologne.

It's like hugging him when you can't and it helps you feel that comfort still when he can't hold you because he has to drive. You still feel surrounded by him, his body heat having infused the fabric, his scent in the cotton, the sheer size of the hoodie comforting you. It brings you security that you need right now.

"Better, baby?"

"Mmhm." You hum from within the hood, eyes wide and soft and it makes Quinn's heart ache a little to see you like this, so withdrawn, so needy because of something that shouldn't have happened in the first place. There's part of Quinn that wants you to stop working altogether, wants to just pay for you to put your feet up, relax and enjoy your hobbies but he knows you love your job despite the issues. He knows he could no more ask that of you than you could ask him to stop playing hockey because of the dangers associated with his career.

"Okay, let's get you home, yeah? Then I'm going to check you for a bruise, okay?"

Quinn's gentle with you as he opens the car door and helps you in, doing your seatbelt up for you and making sure you're as comfortable as possible for the ride. Your music plays the moment he starts the engine and you smile just a little when you watch him have to adjust the driver's seat, complaining that your legs are far too short.

That smile eases some of his worry but you can see his concern in the way his fingers alternate between tapping the steering wheel and gripping it tight between his palms, tight enough that his knuckles go white each time. Every now and then he reassures himself that you're okay by reaching a hand out for your thigh, palm squeezing the plush flesh once, twice, before returning back to the steering wheel.

You don't say much on the way into the apartment, just let him reach his hand back for yours, gripping it tightly with your smaller hand and letting him guide you through the apartment building hallways and through your front door. You let him guide you all the way to the bathroom until he has you in front of him under the bright florescent lights. Quinn's large palms run up and down the tops of your arms in gentle strokes as you peer at him from beneath his hood, still buried deep, breathing in his familiar smell.

"Let's take a look at you, baby, okay?" You nod and help him as he lifts the hoodie up and over your head, turning you around until your back is facing him. It's intimate but rather clinical, not the sort of undressing you might usually experience with Quinn and you appreciate that. You appreciate that he can see you undressed for practical reasons, genuine reasons without making it sexual or strange, you appreciate that Quinn's concern right now is making sure you're okay not the fact he can see your bra.

You can feel his hands glide over the skin of your back and shoulders, assessing, the careful way he looks you over as if a single touch might cause you more unnecessary pain.

"Has it bruised?" Your voice is rough from the crying and the period of silence you'd entered into and Quinn takes it as a good sign that you're starting to talk to him again.

"Yeah, baby, practically black and blue...the kid a boxing champ or something?" He means it as a joke, but the irony is that he's not wrong.

"Yeah, he was actually..."

"Shit, baby...stay here, 'm going to get some ice and paracetamol for that bruise, okay?" You let him go but the moment he's gone you're looking in the mirror, twisting your head round as far as possible to see what the damage it.

Quinn's not wrong, you're legitimately black and blue, your shoulder has a nice fist sized bruise that is already turning various shades of blue and purple, blood pooling under the skin. It explains why each roll of your shoulder aches like nothing else.

"Here, baby," Quinn returns to the bathroom with a tea towel filled with ice, pressing it against the bruise and holding it there. It's cold, uncomfortably so, causing you to hiss.

"s cold..." you mumble frowning at him in the mirror and Quinn gives you a sympathetic look and a quick, commiserating kiss to the top of your shoulder.

"I know, but it'll bring the swelling down, just a few minutes for me, baby?"

"Okay...a few minutes" You agree watching him tend to you in the mirror, downing the paracetamol he brought back for you from the first aid drawer he keeps in the kitchen. Quinn's attentive, even as he holds the ice filled towel to your skin he checks every now and then that he's not giving you freezer burn, that it's helping reduce the swelling and not actually hurting you more.

"Atta, girl," Quinn's free hand cups the back of your neck, thumb rubbing back and forth soothingly, every now and then digging in to a sore spot to distract you from the uncomfortable cold sensation against your shoulder blade.

"Can we cuddle now?" You're patient for the first few minutes but that starts to wain as the cold becomes almost painful against your skin.

"Yeah, sweet girl, we can cuddle now...think you've earned it," Quinn throws the melting ice into the bathroom sink, hand trailing down to grip yours to tug you back to the bedroom.

He helps you change into comfy clothes before tugging you down into the bedcovers with him. You breathe a sigh of relief as you curl into his side, face pressed into the warm crook of his neck, leg slung over his waist. Quinn rests a hand on your thigh, pulling your leg tighter against him while his other hand finds its way into your hair, scratching gently across your scalp.

"You tired, baby?" You can't help but close your eyes at the way Quinn's fingers curl in your hair and run through each strand, burrowing as deep into his neck as you can as he pulls the covers up and over the top of the two of you to create a cosy little nest of warmth.

"Yeah...really tired..."

"Eventful day, huh?" You nod into his neck in agreement, feeling like your body has been through the mental and emotional wringer. There's the physical discomfort of being punched obviously, but the bigger issue is how emotionally exhausted you feel. Your nervous system having been put through fight or flight, only to have to come crashing down from that adrenaline high.

"You can sleep, baby, it's okay, I'll be here when you wake up..."

"You promise?"

"I promise, 'm not going anywhere." It's his reassurance, the firm but gentle hold on you that helps you fall asleep because you trust him, you believe him. You know that if Quinn says he'll be there when you wake up, then he'll be there.

[schizosupport]

One of the curiosities about how psychosis is defined, is the fact that clinically, delusions are defined as strongly held "wrongful" beliefs that don't respond to counter-proof, and that aren't shared with others in a subculture.

In other words, believing even very bizarre conspiracy theories such as "the earth is flat" isn't a delusion, though in a broader linguistic sense it is sometimes referred to as such.

In this post I wanna talk a bit about why that is, and why I do think that it's important to have a distinction between clinical delusions that happen in psychotic illnesses, and strange beliefs that arise in other ways.

So why is it not a delusion if it's shared with a subculture?

I think the reason for this distinction is that delusions experienced by people with psychotic disorders are something that comes from within, rather than something we've been taught to believe. Per definition. Psychotic people aren't particularly "gullible", we don't lack critical thinking skills, we have an illness that make us believe random untrue crap in a way that makes us unable to think critically about it. So while a psychotic belief could be inspired by something we've come across (like a conspiracy theory) our brain is generally gonna take it as a seed and run with it. Therefore we usually quickly get out of bounds from the 'community' that might have inspired our belief anyways.

Overall, we are less prone to having gotten our beliefs from others and are more prone to being the originator of a belief. In something like folie a deux, a non-psychotic person is taught reality from a psychotic delusional person, f.ex. a child growing up with a delusional parent. The child might appear at first glance to be psychotic, but actually they only believe those things because that's what they were taught by someone they consider an authority. If you remove the child from that environment, you will usually be able to help them regain a better understanding. Similarly someone might grow up in a cult. And they are believing what they are being taught, and their parents are believing what they have been taught. And there will be most likely an originator to the cultish beliefs. That person might be maliciously making things up, or they might even be psychotic and delusional. But the people who are being taught these things as facts are behaving like most humans, as social creatures who's reality is defined by their context.

Most people's context is defined along the lines of consensus reality, but if your social context is not aligned with the majority consensus reality, you are still aligned with the beliefs of your social context if you share your weird beliefs with a subculture. Your brain didn't independently come up with a wild belief that is out of touch with everything you know/have been taught.

Consensus reality is a consensus. And even if the consensus you follow is shared by only 2% of the population, if that 2% is all the people you relate to and consider to be the people "in the know", then you are in a way not going against your contextual consensus reality. You've just picked a less popular one.

So what defines a clinical (psychotic) delusion is that it does not align with any consensus about reality that you have access to. It's your own, and it's unlikely that you have allies who are supporting your beliefs. Though in rare cases a clinically delusional person may be contributing new material to a subculture, that others then start believing, and as a result they do share their beliefs with a subculture. But they didn't just learn the belief from the subculture, the belief is growing and morphing independent of the group.

But yeah that's all clinically speaking. In a broader linguistic sense, I think people use "delusional" to refer to anyone who has beliefs that aren't aligned with the majority-consensus-reality, or even more simplistically, that aren't aligned with the speaker's understanding of consensus reality (usually as an insult). So an atheist might refer to the religious as delusional, and vice versa.

It may be a losing battle to get wider society to stop using 'delusional' in this way, but I think it is at least helpful to talk about how such "delusions" differ fundamentally from the psychotic experience.

[smallestapplin]

aghahah loving the Autobots harem and Decepticons reaction

funny to think the only two that seems to take 'interest' secretly are the seekers, Starscream denying, Thundercracker having internal panic and I can't help but think skywarp being bold and all

do you see what I see

This was the first thing that popped in my mind, please feel free to hop back in if you wanna add more

🔞18+ only! MDNI!🔞 no sex happens, but heavy dirty talk and mentions of past relations.

-

-

Skywarp is dangerous.

You are such a cute little thing too, and seeing your small body taking such big spikes with ease just replays over and over in his mind. He's aware Thundercracker wants you too, his fellow seekers aren't very good at hiding their want for you.

It's hilarious honestly, decepticons have gone on and on about how they hate humans, they are just pests, and yet here they all are fawning over you.

But Skywarp has the upper hand over any of them.

But it comes at a cost.

He doesn't know the autobot base very well, he could never get close enough to learn the lay out to get the upper hand, but from the footage Laserbeak got, you have a home outside of the autobot base so if he can catch you leaving or before you get there, it'll be over and out.

His teleporting comes in handy for this, he's so giddy that he's going to be the first decepticon to get a taste of you, maybe even getting to rub it in the autobots faces.

It's early in the morning, you had just finished your chores at home for the day, leaving you proud that you can leave for the weekend and spend it with your lovers.

What you weren't expecting was a flash of purple, a servo grabbing you, and then you're deep in the woods, you barely recongize the area as a place in the next city over. You're face to face plate with Skywarp.

"Aw, sorry sweetspark, I didn't mean to spook ya like that." He doesn't sound sorry at all.

"Skywarp, right? I'm surprised Starscream and Thundercracker aren't with you." The three are rarely seen, at least on the battlefield, without the other far behind.

His red optics gleam, ecstatic you know who he is and so quickly too! His smile, far softer than you'd expect from a bot like him.

"Thought I'd stop by to see such a cutie."

Oh, oh no.

Sure he's quite a handsome bot, hell a good portion of cons are lookers, but you'd never expect them of all cybertronians to want to interface(as your own lovers call it) with a human.

"I'm flattered, but Ratchet is expecting me and he gets worried the more time that passes."

You're playing a dangerous game, knowing good and well Skywarp isn't a con to play nice.

"What, that old bot? You need someone who can out pace ya, not some workaholic medbot that ain't got time for ya."

You narrow your eyes at him, not taking kindly to him insulting Ratchet, that old medbot is nothing but a sweet caring lover, always ensuring you're taken care of first before overloading, even pampering you after he's fucked you stupid.

Not to mention you have every autobot to choose from, all of the more energetic bots trip over themselves just to get to be the ones to ruin you and pump you full that day.

"What, are you offering?" It was sarcastic, but his grin tells a different story.

"You catch on quick, little cutie. C'mon, I won't mention it to anyone, just let me have a taste of that pretty lil valve."

You squeak, jumping back in his servo trying to create some distance between you and his face plate. Your eyes wide at his words, does he have no shame!?

"We both know you'd brag to your seeker buddies just to rub it in their faces."

His engines purrs at your biting words. Your face is burning, you feel hot all over but you don't want him to know-

"You may have gotten me there, but don't act like you don't like the idea, you humans have such weak senses but I can smell your want already."

Skywarp laughs at your embarrassment.

"You're just too cute, I can't wait to see what other cute expressions I can have you make."

You don't get a chance to answer him when the roar of an engine is heard, you both look up and see Skyfire in his alt mode, picking a nice spot to land and letting out the autobots he flew over here.

"Seems I forget they can track my phone's location. Maybe next time you can try, if you're fast enough."

You're so smug, but you take a step forward and place a swift kiss on his scowling face, your lips so small but so soft against his dermas, he almost forgets his anger.

You said they can track a device you have, meaning no matter where he goes they could always find you.

He's snapped from his thoughts when Prowl snatches you from his servo and lands a nasty punch across his face, sending the decepticon flying.

"Dear, are you okay? He didn't hurt you, did he?" Prowl checks you over, holding you close and safely.

You just smile "I'm okay, he didn't hurt me, just came here for a talk is all."

"A talk!? Little light, you know to-"

"I know, I know 'never trust a con' but honestly he didn't do anything."

Prowl finds that hard to believe, but he lets Skywarp escape.

Maybe next time, Skywarp.

(Though he does go back to his habsuite at decepticon base, fisting his spike and fingering his valve as he remembers how your dermas felt against his, how warm you felt, how soft you felt.

Oh primus he wants more.

He needs more.

He needs you.)

[highseas-swede]

Becoming Real

Recently Good Omens Prime Twitter account posted a BTS photo of Aziraphale and Furfur and it started the gears in my head turning, trying to parse it. It's only just now that it finally coalesced into a proper thought.

I kept thinking Aziraphale reminded me of something, especially when compared to the other angels. Look at him next to pre-Jim Gabriel, Uriel, Michael... heck, even Furfur, who he's standing next to right now.

Furfur is a demon, but his outfit is impeccable, it's sleek and stylish. The angel's suits in heaven are all pressed and flawless and New.

But not Aziraphale. He's dressed in old human clothes, his waistcoat is worn and tattered and long-loved. Aziraphale is, as Michael put it, like an old sofa. Worn and comfortable. He could choose to look basically however he wants, but instead he chooses to clothe himself in actual human clothes, to eat human food, to enjoy human entertainment - books, music, plays, etc. He does this despite the fact that it actively makes the other angels dislike him and find him unpalatable.

And that's what stuck out to me. Because unlike those other angels and demons, Aziraphale doesn't feel distant from humanity. He might be odd or eccentric to humans, but they don't question his humanity. He doesn't stand out to them in the way that the other angels do when they show up.

It occurred to me that this is because unlike the other angels... Aziraphale is Real.

Have you ever read The Velveteen Rabbit? There's a scene in it where they talk about what it means to be Real:

This made me think of Aziraphale. About how the other angels are these pristine things, kept aloof from the world, and then there's Aziraphale, who is worn and shabby, who's lived on earth for millennia among the humans. He's loved and learned and experienced what being human is like and because of that he's Real in a way that the other angels aren't. Humans have personhood, a sense of agency, a sense of self. Angels and demons have only the divine plan, as Beelzebub and Gabriel noted, that's all they live for "if you can call it living".

But what strikes me the most is how potentially devastating Aziraphale's Realness will be to Heaven. They only succeed at keeping angels in line because they're undistracted from the Great Plan. We see how Gabriel - as Jim - takes to cocoa after trying it. We see how quickly Muriel becomes fascinated with books.

Now consider that this is the angel they're putting in charge of Heaven. This worn, shabby, old sofa of an angel who has an endless well of love, for Crowley, for the world and the humans in it. He doesn't seem dangerous in the slightest. He seems Fragile.

But he is dangerous. So very dangerous.

But it's not because he's a guardian, not because he's a warrior, not because he's the Angel of the Eastern Gate who leads a battalion and was issued a flaming sword. He gave all of that away and it's worth noting that this is the first actual choice we see him make in the show, the thing that sets him apart in Crowley's eyes, and it wasn't even Crowley's doing! Aziraphale made a choice to give the mortals his sword out of compassion and it is a sense of compassion we don't see from the other angels.

His deviations all stem from that initial act. It takes him from being this two-dimensional cardboard entity existing only as part of the Divine Plan and set him on the path to actual Personhood.

It doesn't happen right away, of course, because as the Skin Horse says:

"It doesn't happen all at once. You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But those things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

And doesn't that sum up Aziraphale? He's shabby and worn and he's beautiful to the people who understand and appreciate that being Real means being imperfect, and that every imperfection is still beautiful.

No wonder the angels mock his corporation, his flaws, all the things he enjoys that make him less than what they think he should be. We see evidence over and over that Aziraphale is essentially "ugly" to them. But that's because they don't understand.

Aziraphale's Realness, his personhood, what Crowley has helped nurture from the Wall of Eden all the way to that last desperate kiss, is what really matters. Good Omens has always been about People being fundamentally People. It's the underlying current that ties everything together, for good or for ill. People have agency. People have self-actualization. People have the ability to make their own choices, for good or for evil.

And now Aziraphale has that too.

That's the very real danger he presents to heaven.

Because we've already seen that any angel, given sufficient time and interaction with humans could be like Aziraphale. All it takes is one small opening, one bite from the apple. Whether deliberately or not, Crowley tempted Aziraphale into every step, the way he tempted Eve in the garden. He gave Aziraphale the knowledge of Right and Wrong, presented him with the option, the way he did with humanity. Were they even really human before Crowley? Did he give them free will? His actions cast them out of paradise, but did it ultimately set them free? Has he struggled for millennia to do the same for the angel he's loved so well and for so long?

Does Crowley know how horribly, wonderfully well he succeeded?

Bringing Aziraphale back to Heaven, putting him in charge, was the absolute worst thing the Metatron could have done for keeping the status quo and it's not because of Aziraphale's fighting prowess. It's because of the small Human acts of kindness and pettiness that Aziraphale is capable of. That's not going to go away when he's in Heaven. It's going to spread. He's going to infect Heaven with Humanity. It's going to be so slow and gradual that they won't see it coming until it's far too late.

It's not going to be the way that Aziraphale intends to change Heaven and yet, it will surely ultimately be what really makes a difference.

I wonder too, if maybe that's some subconscious part of it. After seeing Gabriel change, seeing Muriel change, I wonder if there's not some part of Aziraphale that realizes that Heaven is a miserable place that makes miserable people. He'll extend compassion to them that they don't deserve and don't know they're missing and he'll surely go on with whatever his own Plan - with a capital P, of course - is and he won't even realize what he's actually done.

And then, like the ending of S1, like the ending of S2, the ultimate deciding factor will not be who is the best warrior, who is the strongest. It will be about the Human element.

Metatron thought he could control Aziraphale, bring him in line by bringing him back to Heaven. He wants to take away the human element of Aziraphale and shove him back into that Obedient Little Angel shaped mold and he doesn't realize it's not possible anymore. Aziraphale's grown. He'll never fit, he'll never be that again. There is no going back anymore.

As the Skin Horse says: "Once you are Real, you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."

And Real things, things with depth and purpose and will, are impossible to ever truly control.

[llamagoddessofficial]

Hello! How have you been? I hope all is well on your side of the world! I was wondering if we could get some more of knightmare? J-just a thought... please🥺🌹

"there you are,"

You jumped, tearing your eyes away from the aurora above you. When you moved your arms and stood up straight, a little snow was disturbed from the smooth stone of the balcony; shooting a glance over your shoulder, you saw Nightmare, silhouetted by the torchlight from within the castle.

"what are you doing out here? you aren't wearing nearly enough to be outside." He closed the door behind him. Immediately, he too was bathed in the green aurora glow that felt like it filled the whole world. The glittering snow crunched gently under the soles of his leather shoes - as he walked toward you, he started to toy with the collar of his large fur-trimmed midnight cloak, unclasping a metal moon charm that took on an emerald glint every time it shifted.

"I'm watching the sky," you replied, meekly, breath escaping in a shimmering cloud.

He came to your side at the balcony, eyelight peering curiously down at you. He tugged loose a fabric knot at his throat. "for how long? i expected you'd be long asleep by now."

"I-I don't know." Now that he had snapped you out of your trance, you were starting to really feel the cold through your simple woollen dress. "It's hard to keep track of time,"

Nightmare sighed. With the knot undone, he drew the great cloak off his shoulders. You watched, mutedly confused - you could hear its silver embroidered ends sweeping over the flagstones.

... He stepped up to you... and brought the cloak around your shoulders.

You blinked up at him, flustered by the proximity once again, as the heavy thing suddenly weighed down upon you. Warmth-imbued soft fabric suddenly soothed your skin, fur tickling your cheeks and nose. He looked so different without the cloak - he wore a lovely long-sleeved dark tunic beneath, the neck and wrists lined with real silver. He looked so handsome, the aurora's glow suited his complexion far more than sun; you liked being able to see his face, less obscured by layers of fur.

You wanted to ask many questions - Are you really sure I can wear this? Is this ok with you? Isn't this precious to you, you wear it all the time? Isn't it expensive? Are you certain?

... Yet... the questions didn't come. Instead, a tiny tired "Thank you," fell out of your mouth.

His eyelight got wider, for a moment. And you could not tell if the aurora had merely brightened, or there was colour on his face. But his expression quickly returned to normal.

Seemingly subconsciously, he touched the fur of the cloak, very near to your face. "i choose to not hear that," he said, gently.

You exhaled. Ah, right. You couldn't thank the fae, could you? Nor apologise. There was implication of debt. "Oh."

He sounded sympathetic. "you've got to be more careful than that. this is no place for slips of the tongue."

"I know. I just... when I'm comfortable, I forget."

He got a strange look on his face.

"could i ask why you are staring at the sky?" He shifted, standing beside you, mimicking your position of elbows rested on the balcony edge. The subject change was not lost on you, but you chose not to speak on it. "with not nearly enough clothes on, i might add."

You stared at him. "Why am I staring? Is that a genuine question?"

His brow creased. "yes?"

You looked back up again. At the sea of stars - but equally, the silent river of green and pink fire that flowed across the open sky.

You had never seen it this strong in the human world, never. There were no words that could fully make sense of it. It was gentle, silent, like smoke, like water, like fire. Like magic.

"I mean..." you were breathless. "... Just look at it."

"it signals morning, for us. a high aurora and a full moon is the closest we get to daylight." His dark, soft voice was perfect for the setting. "some days it is strong, some days it is weak. but it always comes."

"It's really, really beautiful."

... He hummed.

"... yes. it is."

You glanced at him. He looked away from you, up to the sky.

"You weren't even looking,"

"i must admit, i have long struggled to see any beauty in my realm." He relaxed his whole weight onto his forearms. "i see only darkness and cold. shadows of what the summer realm has."

Your eyes were getting heavy. "If it was hot, you could never have given me your cloak. And if it was bright, I could not see the stars."

Nightmare hummed. His hand shifted, as if to move toward yours, but instead he knitted his fingers together.

"perhaps we should make a deal."

You turned, shooting a withering look up at him. "Nothing binding."

He grinned. It was hard to believe that face belonged to the very man that had unhorsed a dozen knights to win your hand. "yes, yes, nothing binding, i swear. a human sort of deal."

"Hm. Go on, then."

"you remain here, at the palace. you live as you wish to, under my complete protection." He played with a silver ring on his index finger. "and in return... you will tell me when you find my realm beautiful. metaphorically lend me your eyes. perhaps then, i'll finally start to see what you like so much about all this snow and stone."

Ah, you couldn't help but smile. "Alright, I agree to that. You'll realise it's far, far more than 'snow and stone'."

He chuckled. "i hope so."

"We'll start with this. I find the aurora very, very beautiful." You looked back up to it. "Look at the shapes. The patterns. But just... look at the colours. Aren't they breathtaking?"

Nightmare settled in beside you, his upper arm brushing your shoulder.

...

"... i think i'm starting to see it." He murmured.

You could tell, from the direction of his voice, that he was still looking at you.

[kanmom51]

JM's fascination with JK's tiddies

Is it only me or have we kind of ignored this moment? Moved on a little too quickly from it, at the very least.

But before we get into it here, did y'all notice this?

Stop looking at JK's bare back, that's not it!!!

It's JM's comment that had me thinking.

JM didn't have to tell JK he didn't touch him, not to mention the fact that they constantly get handsy with each other, so why would he have to say that?

Noticed it when the episode came out, and first thing that came to mind was: "he knows". They see everything. They know what people say about them. We know about some of JM's fans having a hard time accepting what those two have, and more so the constant claims of JK being mean to JM or even physically abusing him. You think the two of them are unaware of these posts? With this comment, I'm kind of thinking that the answer to that would be an astounding no. They know. We've seen them do things, say things in the past that were clearly a reaction to online claims, hateful posts. I do think this is one of those occasions. Imo, the second JM said "this is violence" he knew there would be those that would run with it... hence the comment to follow.

Ok, and now this:

Why is it that while saying "don't get excited already" he's going for JK's pecs?

We've addressed many of their interactions from their trips, sweet and naughty. Including their Sapporo trip. But somehow, this moment has gone a little under the radar.

I guess that in an episode where we have them both prancing around half naked enjoying each other's company in the hot and cold tubs, flexing their arms and chests in our faces, this moment can get slightly lost, lol.

So, here I am, doing a public service (aren't I great that way?), bringing it back for us to talk about.

I will start by saying how much I love love love their playfulness. It's never ending. Of course, just like any long term loving couple, they have their difficult moments (we are all human after all), but also, like many long term loving couples, they have this humor reserved only to the two of them, knowing how to laugh together, play together, have fun together. They have their own games, their own jokes, many a times those around them are in the dark, unable to understand or join in (at times, as we see with the other members, not wanting to, seeing that they are so over those two already, lol).

And while I'm at it already then:

I love their relationship. Just had to say that at this point.

I love how they love each other to death.

I love how they have been together for close to a decade and still lust over each other.

I love how sometimes you catch them looking at the other like it's the first time they've seen them, like they are the hottest thing under the sun, like they are the sun and the moon to them (well, they literally are the sun and the moon).

I love how much they know each other.

I love how much they look out for each other and take care of each other.

I love how much they not only love one another, but actually like each other.

I love how they just FIT.

I love how they have their own Jikook sense of humour and I love how playful they are with each other.

I love how they CHOSE to enlist together. Chose to spend the 18 months of military service with each other even when knowing that this clearly meant a more difficult placement and service. I love how they were the most important thing to each other, being together, looking out for each other, looking after each other through this difficult time of their lives.

All of the above makes for the healthiest loveliest long term relationship.

And then you have the combination of the playfulness and the hots with the "grab/touch/poke/fondle the chestie" game, which seems to be one of JM's favourite games, lmao.

JM most definitely has a fascination with JK's chest. Past, present, future.

They are litterally JM's chestie besties.

He looks at them, he touches them, he grabs them, he pokes them, he talks about them.

He owns them!!!

[midnight-bay-if]

Hey, hey!!😊

Quick ask, what would ROs do if they saw someone hitting Mc? (I feel like I'm going to see the chaos that the ROs are going to create, pure fun 😎)

Bye, bye!!

(Oh, dear... Yep, you'll unleash the beast with an ask such as this. The beast being all of the ROs because all of them are capable of being monsters if pressed, haha.)

S: S watches you from a distance, as they so often do when they are around you. It isn't on purpose. Their eyes are naturally drawn to you when their mind begins to wander. But what they wander to this time is less pleasant. They don't know who it is with you, but it is obvious the conversation isn't going well. Then, they strike you across the face. It happens in moments, but it slows down for S.

In theory, S knows you can handle yourself well enough. The hit was sloppy with little technique; they have seen you take worse. Yet the indignity of it all only makes them feel... angry.

"You do attract some odd sorts, MC," S says, stepping between you and the assailant, arms crossed with muscles flexed. "Now even rodents are vying for your attention."

The stranger steps forward momentarily, blind rage cutting through common sense before reason again takes hold. They weigh their chances against the two of you before quickly scuttling away with their head dipped low.

"I could have handled that, S."

S turns back to you with a soft smile. "I know. That was for me." S reaches out and gently caresses the area that was struck. "Let's find something cold for the swelling. Then you can tell me all about how you managed to anger the pest."

Rain: Rain's been a little distracted by their surroundings. They still have much to learn about the human world, which can be a lot to take in. So, they don't realise they have been gradually wandering further and further away from you; not until they turn around to ask you a question, and you aren't there. They are momentarily confused until they spot you a little away being confronted by someone who looks especially angry.

The man leers into your space before reaching out to slap you across the face. It shocks them. The blatant violence against you is harrowing and difficult to believe despite it staring them right in the face.

Rain sprints to close the distance, setting themselves between you and the attacker with a face of fury reserved for only the worst of creatures.

"Back off. Now."

The man scoffs, clearly not very impressed. "This has nothing to do with you. This is between me and them."

"Wrong." Rain pulls out an official-looking badge that denotes them as a government employee. "I suggest you walk away before this becomes my problem further."

The man tuts, shakes his head, then turns on his heel with a quick step.

"I had that handled, Rain."

Rain sighs. Then turns to you and shrugs. "At least he's gone now. Let's get some ice for that cheek, shall we?"

Taj: Taj has zoned out. Sometimes, they have to do it in public to stop themselves from feeling suffocated by the people around them, which gets them in trouble a lot. S can be whittling away battle plans on the fly and will quiz them once finished, only to find Taj had stopped paying attention about halfway through.

So, it isn't immediately apparent to them that you have begun to draw back. But they do not step too far away before their ears twitch, alerting them to a change in surroundings. They turn back, expecting you to already be rushing to catch up, but instead see you waylaid by a furious man shouting spittle in your face.

Taj is already rushing back in your direction when they see the closed fist contact your cheek. A burning heat engulfs the pit of their stomach, and their vision hazes red as Taj pounces onto your assailant, forcing them to their floor as their fists and claws start going wild.

"How dare you?! You filthy little--"

You have to drag them away. It isn't pretty. The man's face is bleeding from multiple lacerations, terror in his eyes as he crawls to his feet and dashes down the street.

Taj is breathing heavily, their skin burning hotter than usual. They feel tiny lumps of skin collected under their fingernails from where they dug them into the human's face. It was wild, untamed. They want to keep going.

"Taj?"

Taj inhales sharply, closing their eyes as they count to ten in their head. 0ne, two, three...

They feel your hand on their arm and open their eyes again.

"Are you... all right?" Taj finally says. "Are you hurt?" A warm hand encompasses your cheek with much more gentleness than they showed the man.

"We need to go. Now," you command, tugging on their sleeve. "Hopefully S will know how to fix this."

N: It is common for N to fill the silence with the sound of their own voice. They have a lot to say, and their voice is lovely by the way. So, when you are wandering the street, and N is gesturing wildly as they recount the tale of their day, they don't immediately notice you lagging behind. "And that is when I said, 'Nice try. Next time try using your actual legs to--" They stop, eyebrows creased and turn towards you.

The instant they do, a resounding slap fills the space. Your head turns with it, but otherwise, nobody moves. N feels the Hael in them raging. The fire that keeps them tethered unleashes inside them, boiling their blood dangerously.

But they do their best to mask it, hiding behind an insidious grin.

"And who is this delightful individual, MC?" They ask, reaching out to grab the woman's hand before she can pull back, gripping it tightly. "You always make such interesting friends."

Sensing their darkness, you place a placating hand on their shoulder. "It's okay, N. I can handle this."

The woman senses it, too. N may be smiling, but there's no amusement there. She's scared; all previous bravado has wilted to nothing. So, N lets her go.

"Scuttle away now, my dear," they say, waving their hand away as if dismissing a servant. "Before my hand slips."

The woman does as she is bid in record time, and N's smile slowly twists to a snarl. "Wretched cur."

"It's fine. I'm fine. Let's just drop it."

N inhales deeply, the hatred still burning. Then, they firmly plant a smile back on their face. "Of course, my dear. Let us go about our day together, unspoiled. You should probably get that face seen to. We can't allow your perfect features to become marked, can we?"

Strangely enough, you don't bump into the woman again on your usual morning routes. It's almost as if she has vanished entirely from Albach Bay.

Umbra: Umbra spent some time away from you today. They are getting better at it. Their instinct is still to remain close, watchful, a silent sentinel destined to guard you. But they have since learned that it can be unhealthy to have such a strong attachment to a living person—unhealthy for the recipient and harmful for the provider. It's not something they particularly understand, but they want to learn—for you.

But now they are keen to return to your side. It's been two hours, after all. That's more than enough time for something dreadful to have happened. They need to see you. To see you safe.

They round a corner, their face lighting up when their eyes catch you. The other person with you barely gets a second glance. Until that person lifts a hand to you, anyway. Then, Umbra is instilling that face into memory. Within moments, a cloud of black smoke disappears and reappears beside the assailant, a black dagger curled beneath his throat, pressing against the skin.

Black smoke pillows out of Umbra's eyes, the typical whites of their eyes pitch black. Within a breath, a dagger is pressed close to the man's throat, nicking at the skin.

"How dare you?!" The voice is raspy, much lower than Umbra's usual tone, and joined by a myriad of dissonant whispers.

You reach out, grasping Umbra's arm to stop them. "No, Umbra! Don't!"

Your voice cuts through the fog, the black in their eyes returning white as they turn to you. "But this man--"

"Does not deserve to die!"

Umbra feels your anger and disappointment in them. It cuts deeper than any dagger could. But they do not know how to differentiate between those who hurt you and those who should die for it.

Umbra drops the knife from the man's neck, stepping away to let him run. And run, he does. Umbra watches a moment longer, allowing the man to shriek and holler far into the distance.

"We should go. Now. Hopefully S can fix this."

Umbra follows, their dagger arm still itching.

(I may have gotten slightly carried away again. Why do I do this? lol)

[writingquestionsanswered]

I'm tired of my ideas always being big. It's overwhelming. I like seeing others' WIPs and ideas because they're just so simple... Like, that comic about a mermaid living in the ocean in our modern time and dealing with plastic trash. So simple and my own brain is bursting with ideas. But my own WIPs... they just start huge. I'd like something smaller... but I don't know how.

Stories Always Get Too Big

Stories can get out of hand quickly when they sprout too many independent threads. There are three primary culprits that serve as sparks that create these threads:

1 - Setting 2 - Non-Protagonist Characters/Relationships 3 - Back Story

The thing to remember, though, is that no matter how interesting your setting is, no matter how compelling your other characters are, and how fascinating the back story is, those things are not your plot.

Plot is the sequence of events through which the protagonist (and potentially other main characters) attempt to resolve the story's conflict by overcoming obstacles and setbacks in pursuit of a goal.

In other words, focus on this:

the protagonist > their normal world > the event that introduces a problem they must resolve > the goal they formulate in order to resolve that problem > the events that occur as a result of their pursuit of this goal > their attempts to overcome obstacles and setbacks encountered along the way > their attempt to solve the problem once and for all > failure or success > life in a changed situation/world

Anything else doesn't need to be there unless it is critical in order for one of the above steps to make sense.

So, let's take your mermaid example... though I haven't read that comic so I'm winging it here:

the protagonist = mermaid normal world = doing mermaid stuff inciting incident = finding plastic trash in the water goal = clean up/find the culprit and teach them to do better events = cleaning up, learning about humans, tracking down culprit climax = mermaid appeals to humans to do better finale = mermaid is living in a cleaner ocean

Now, let's say your brain starts to go off on a tangent about a deep oceanic rift and an evil merman wizard who lives there... stop right there. It's a fun idea, but what does it have to do with this story? How does it relate to the trash, clean-up, finding the culprit, or appeal to humans to do better? It doesn't. Theoretically, you could make it make sense... like, maybe the merman wizard likes the trash and wants the ocean to be dirty and gross, so maybe he is opposing the mermaid's attempts to clean up and to appeal to the humans. Okay, that works, so you can keep it. But, let's say you also have this idea about these creatures that live around the hydrothermal vents, and the mermaid meets and falls in love with a scientist who's studying them. Okay, again, interesting idea, but this one is much harder to fit in with the rest of the story. Sure, you could say the scientist is studying marine pollution instead... that brings it back around to the main conflict, but still, what does this relationship add to the story? How does it help or harm the mermaid's mission? How does it help to explore the story's themes or help deliver the message? It doesn't really sound like it does, so this would be an example of a thread you can probably snip.

And the thing is, it would be okay to follow a thread like that while you're plotting or writing your first draft, just to see where it goes and see if you can make it work. Part of why we edit and revise is to snip out the threads and elements that aren't pulling their weight. But learning how to curb them as they occur to you will help save you work later on down the line. Try writing those ideas down in an ideas document, and maybe those can be worked into different stories, a sequel, or a companion story.

One final note: I am very much aware that there are some epic writers out there who let wild tangles of threads sprout as they write, and they follow them all without abandon, relevant or not. That's okay, too. These are writers for whom that works, who don't feel overwhelmed by all of those threads, who want to write something bigger and more unwieldy. Maybe in time as you get accustomed to writing smaller, tidier stories, you embrace the bigger stories your brain wants to tell. Or maybe you don't. Whatever works best for you is all that matters. :)

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[waokevale]

The Overlapped AU [Aka Superhumans disguisted as Dinner Theater workers]

The Owners

The Managers (Engineer & the HR person)

The Waiters

The Security

The Performers (Wes is mostly on cleaning duty though)

The Kitchen staff (the others are usually tasked to help, though very few are actually trusted at all times to be there)

The Bartender and the Host

The Dishwashers

The Clerk & The Supplier

So this AU came to me upon a dream, and I just had to make it real...

The synopsis below:

The event of April 17th 1906 does happen, however instead of Charlie and Maxwell being kidnapped into the Constant, the Constant overlaps with the real world and spreads itself onto Earth.

Charlie and Maxwell in the process become corrupted and have to hide away temporarily. Both of them soon began to hear strange voices, source of which neither is quite sure, telling them, compelling them to hide the corruption's effect from the publicity, for the time being.

They come to a mutual realization they have to fix this mess somehow and hunt down any and all corrupted by the tome, by any means necessary.

(Maxwell still has codex umbra, but it is sealed shut for the time being until he's sure it won't spread more if Their influence. )

But the corruption didn't just appear out of nowhere, it's been leaking way long before Maxwell found the Codex, if to a less prominent extent.

Thus, in few years passing, they form a Dinner Theater, a rather inconspicuous establishment from the first glance. Very quickly they began "hiring" employees, which in reality means tracking down and blackmailing those who have been corrupted but not fully lost themselves to its effects, in order to hunt those who had.

Winona was against the idea at first, as she found out. But seeing the effects of corruption first hand, she quickly had a change of heart and integrated herself into Charlie's new environment.

Eventually they gathered a rather generous amount of people. Once a person's proven to be trustworthy to a point, they're give higher positions in the company.

However those who aren't, are likely to be shunned or "fired" which...you could probably guess what that means.

Many of these people gradually come to terms with the reality of their situation and accept their newfound purpose, being thankful that at least they still have a roof over their head and a warm meal, instead of being viewed as monsters or outcasts to the greater society.

(Wilson though, can't quite accept this notion. He keeps claiming that "this is just a big misunderstanding, I'm just a normal guy!" Yet the truth could be far from it.)

When Maxwell and Charlie hear of the danger looming, they immediately inform their "staff" of the matter. Those who are more experienced in combat come along to face whatever opponent may cross them, while those who aren't, stay behind, to be an additional aid or a medic in case the battle gets too intense.

Whenever any suspicion arises in the town about the shady business going on in that particular building, the two owners alongside their employees practically gaslight anyone and everyone into believing they're but the most regular entertainment center.

The characters who have either willingly or unwillingly lost their humanity, mostly in the physical sense, are given special devices constructed of Thulecite and bits of nightmare fuel (made by Winona, Wicker and the main two), which effectively hide away their true identity, or surpress the effects of their ailment.

There's also a few other people important to this story, especially the One, which even Charlie and Maxwell refer to as "The Boss", though what many most recent hires don't know, is that there's someone who's in a position much higher than the owners themselves, controlling their every move.

Correlating to that, another person, or rather, a set of people per se, working for a much different cause. Though most of them are "people" in only a visual sense of the word.

And while, there might be someone inside the well-known around town diner, who just might be more than what appears on the surface, literally and metaphorically this time.

__________

If you're interested to learn more about this AU, do let me know. If you have any questions, I'm happy to hear and answer them!

[jules-ln]

Viktor is literally art nouveau

I was looking at Viktor's design in league of legends and it hit me, Viktor in Arcane IS Art Nouveau

Not literally but yes literally in a way lmao

Let me walk you through my thought process

I was looking at the league of legends design, and I thought that the fact that Viktor still had hair was weird if the whole point of Viktor is human bad machine good, then why does he has something as human as hair?

Then I thought about the Arcane Herald design, and it actually made more sense that this Viktor still had hair, why? Just look at his robots

The first thing that called my attention was their shoes, because those aren't normal heels, no, those are heelless heels! and let me tell you

1) Viktor isn't straight (no straight man would know and like those shoes, you can't fool me)

2) That's like the worst shoes you could ask for to fight/run in, do you know how easy is to fall with those shoes? No, they aren't practical, those shoes are merely for visual pleasure

And it doesn't seems like Viktor would be the kind of man that would put looks above functionality but then you think about how his designs in general have a very heavy preference for art nouveau; which, is also very much beauty over function

His robots have the asymmetry, A flowing organic shape, a preference for a feminine figure, the reference to flora on the patterns. They're are art nouveau bots and theres no way to deny that, and Viktor's Herald design is too, to some extent

Again, preference for a feminine figure, flowing organic shapes, his staff looks like a tree (kinda), asymmetry to some extent (not as much a his robots), hair (very important). You can reasonably say that it was at least inspired by art nouveau

Then we have the design of his room/house in the commune, it's pretty much art nouveau inspired too. I've seen some people say that Viktor made this to reference the Hexgates because he missed Jayce, but now I'm thinking, what if it wasn't that he missed Jayce, but more that the Hexgates were originally his design

And listen, I know I know, both worked on the hexgates, both should be credited equally, but realistically, I think it's fair to say that both of them probably had different levels of involvement on different things? So what if Viktor was the one with the original idea for the outside design and Jayce then added the art deco elements? Then Viktor repeated it on the commune with a more art nouveau style simply because he likes it?

And you might ask. Why does it matters? Why does the fact that Viktor likes art nouveau means that he's the personification of art nouveau?

Well; now to the point, I studied a little of art history on college, and I was a bit obsessed with art nouveau back then, and you know what was the goal of it?

Art nouveau was made to bring art to the common person, to have every day objects being a piece of art. It was supposed to get art away from the rich and to give it to everyone. But it failed

And you know why Art Nouveau failed and was quickly abandoned?

Two things, 1) it was too expensive, and 2) World War 1

So ironically Art Nouveau ended up being too expensive to reach the people they wanted to help so it stayed a rich people thing, and then it had to be abandoned almost completely because of WW1; there weren't enough materials to make it and a lot of people that became poor because of the war didn't have the money to spend on it

It was very short lived even when it made a big impact on history (That reminds me of someone)

Now compare art nouveau's history to what happened to Viktor (And Jayce)

They wanted to make magic accessible to the common people, to help; but it ended up being so that Hextech only helped people in Piltover to get richer while people in Zaun got worse and worse

Then something happened, a war, and both Viktor and Jayce had to abandon their dreams

Add to that the name art nouveau means new art, and in Spain it was called "Modernismo" Why? Because it wanted to be the future of art, young, refreshing, a bright future different from the past. Who else wanted to be the future of something? Men of progress who?

Viktor (and Jayce to some extent but I think he's more art deco lmao) IS Art Nouveau. It's his story

(And funnily enough, you can find art nouveau in Zaun, but I don't remember ever seeing art deco in Zaun, while it's the main thing on Piltover)

(Also also, I have some thoughts about Jayce being Art Deco, but that's for maaaybe later lmao)

Listen I'm a death of the author guy, I'm going to find meaning on my own. But either someone in the art department had to know the history of art nouveau and made a point of making it Viktor's main style (because it is Viktor's style, like I showed before), or it's just an extremely funny and fitting coincidence

[thewertsearch]

@manorinthewoods asked: Vriska and Eridan have now killed one person each. Tavros and Feferi's respective moons have been destroyed; as such, they cannot be revived via dream selves or the moon-crypt slabs. What do you think will happen now? ~LOSS (18/5/24) @manorinthewoods asked: Welcome to Murderstuck, aka Homestuck's version of Canaan House. Who do you think's going to survive this? ~LOSS (22/5/24) Anonymous asked: tavros and feferi are D----EAD! do you think they'll stay dead? you've already stated your opinion that there are death flags like crazy all over vriska, so do you think anyone else will die? if so, who? Anonymous asked: Now that the bodies have started to hit the floor, what's your prediction for who's gonna survive to meet the humans?

I'm actually doing to do something a little different this time, and analyze the situation primarily from an author's perspective, rather than an in-universe one. I had a lot of fun doing that with yesterday's Kanaya post, so I want to try it again.

Let's enumerate the remaining trolls, in ascending order of how likely I think they are to kick the bucket (😳) during Murderstuck.

There's no chance whatsoever that Sollux will die. His Doom prophecy is fulfilled, and if he were to die a third time, it would break his long-established duality theme. Plus, he'd have predicted it, and would have been complaining about it since Hivebent. He's fine.

Death flag score: 0/10.

We just got Aradia back. She's not even involved in Murderstuck, seemingly travelling to the Furthest Ring after being resurrected, so none of the murderers can touch her anyway.

Aradia is a powerful time manipulator who can freeze even the most dangerous enemies. It would take a lot more than Eridan and Gamzee to defeat someone who can stalemate Perfect Jack, and I predict that she'll survive the rest of the Act with ease.

Plus, killing her again so soon would feel really cheap. Been there, done that.

Death flag score = 0.5/10

Karkat and Terezi are too important to die.

This doesn't always guarantee a character's survival - A Song of Ice and Fire comes to mind - but ASOIAF kind of proves my point, doesn't it? Martin can throw all the Red Weddings he likes at us, but everyone still kind of knows that the really important characters aren't going to die until their arcs are complete. If A Dream of Spring ever actually comes out, Daenerys will still be around, and you can take that to the bank.

So no, I don't think Karkat and Terezi will be going anywhere. Now that Kanaya appears to be dead, they're undeniably the most important trolls remaining, alongside Vriska. And we'll get to Vriska.

Death flag score: 1/10.

I know it's weird to predict that an already deceased character won't die, but I wrote an entire post last night about why I believe this to be the case.

tl;dr: it doesn't make narrative sense for Kanaya to stay dead.

Death flag score: 2/10.

Now, we're onto the characters who I think might actually die.

Gamzee's still alive at the end of the countdown, so he'll at least survive the next couple of hours.

Certainly, his position seems rather precarious. His stated intent to wipe out the entire Veil will make him a lot of enemies very quickly - and based on the image above, he clearly gets into some sort of trouble. That scratch almost looks like it could be the work of Jack's sword.

However, I have a hard time believing the Most Important Character In Homestuck is going to die less than halfway through Homestuck. He's been saying all sorts of cryptic nonsense lately, and he strikes me as someone whose role in the story will expand even more than it already has. Gamzee is the one character on this list we know will stay relevant for the entire comic.

I don't think he's going to achieve his murder mission, of course. I think he'll probably be 'defeated' somehow, and expelled from the Veil by the surviving trolls, only to pop up again sometime later. There's still a chance that he'll be killed - but if he is, I'm 100% sure that he'll return in some form. Gamzeesprite would be even worse than Calsprite, in my opinion.

Death flag score: 3/10.

Yes, I still believe Vriska will die - but I don't know if she'll die in Murderstuck.

Scratch positioned her as someone who will perpetuate a monumental, large-scale mistake, and I don't think there's anything she could do on the Veil that fits the bill.

However, Vriska is more imaginative than I am. She could easily pull a trick out from up her sleeve that I didn't see coming - some terrible, horrible idea that earns all of Scratch's foreshadowing in one fell swoop. Vriska is known for her Incidents, and you never know when the next one is on the horizon.

Death flag score: 4/10.

There's not a lot tying Equius and Nepeta to the Veil, is there?

They don't have strong relationships any of the remaining trolls, and even among the B-team, they've barely had any prominence since we've left Alternia. Killing one or both of them would up the stakes of Murderstuck without introducing the narrative issues that, say, a dead Karkat would cause.

Plus, if one of them dies, then the other would immediately gain an incredibly strong motivation, and become a more prominent character overnight. I already like Nepeta - but a heartbroken, vengeful Nepeta hunting Eridan down across time and space? That's a fucking arc.

They could also both die, and return to the story from another direction. It hasn't escaped my notice that almost all the 'important' trolls are Prospit Dreamers, and the two Furthest Ring explorers are Derse girls. I've been wondering for a while now if the solution to the Veil's bloated cast is to split the trolls back into the Red and Blue Teams, with the Red Team joining the kids outside the session, and the Blue Team joining Aradia in the Ring for some secondary mission. I guess that implies Tavros will be resurrected, but there do seem to be hints that that might happen.

I don't want either of these two to die, but... well, killing them would raise a lot of interesting possibilities.

Death flag score (both of them together): 6/10

Death flag score (one of them) : 7.5/10.

Eridan is screwed.

Neither the story nor the trolls can allow him to ally with Jack and lead him to the Veil, and they'll do anything they can to stop him. I don't think anyone's inclined to show him mercy, either - Kanaya and Feferi were very popular.

I don't really see any way out for him. He has no allies, he can't Hopesplode everyone at once, and he's never shown himself to be particularly resourceful. I think if there's one troll practically guaranteed to be Murderstucked, it's him.

Death flag score: 9/10.

[jazeswhbhaven]

A Christmas beneath Heaven | React | Days: 4 & 5

Okay, so it made sense to do a 3-day and then the others a two day react per post. (I just hope my masterlist doesn't end up too many links for the reacts lol)

SOOO we left off with learning that MC has the Christmas Cold which causes them to be overly horny due to them holding back their desires and being in Hell as a human. We also know that Solomon had it and a devil cured him of it before. It also appears that Bael found the devil that knows of the cure!

But uh.....you see

The devil is an old like really old woman. We're talking like imagine gran gran is in her 80s-90s old in human standard where she talks r e a l s l o w.

And it turns out, not only are our boys seemingly impatient (Beelzebub especially like he's nearly pulling his clothes off out of waiting on her answering how to heal MC), they also seem to be judging her physical appearance very harshly.

Which doesn't make a whole lotta sense to me because aren't they old asf? I guess they haven't reached that point where they have wrinkles or grays or maybe they don't have that ability to age physically because they ARE kings after all.

Anyways, gran gran is trying her best to explain, but no one is having it so Ppyong is here to try and help.

I also noticed twice during these days that Asmodeus was calling her "mature" in a flirty way, because he pretty much flirts with anyone and gran gran is on his list.

Ppyong finally gets some kind of headway with her, and it turns out...her clan just has a condition where they age very quickly. She later includes that not only does her clan age in appearance quickly they don't live as long.

Knowing this information though, uh...doesn't help the matter because Belphegor of all devils starts laughing it up that she looks like that and he's imagining everyone looking so old like that at "young" ages. Though, Beleth has to smack some sense into him because when she mentions dying early Belphie is still laughing about it. SAFE TO SAY THAT BELPHIE HAS THAT KINDA HUMOR YA'LL AND HES STILL MY BBY ITS OKAY.

Asmodeus does his flirty thing, gran gran agrees to meet with him after the meeting, and well Satan blows the fuck up cause he's really just trying to get to the point and it's pissing him off that Asmo is just trying to stick his dick in someone once again.

Ppyong does say that she is aware of the cure, that it's located in "Middle Realm" where fallen angels refuse to believe they are in Hell and are waiting to return as confirmed by Beleth. Belphie asks why Beleth didn't just stay there and he says he doesn't remember (though I'm pretty sure he does to a certain extent and I have this theory that fallen angels have the ability to lie btw, a trait that stays with them from being an angel)

And it seems that the angel they are looking for that knows exactly of this cure is Achazriel, the one who fell before Lucifer, the OG first fallen angel that was forced out of heaven. So naturally, he would have that kind of ability.

Solomon also got the medicine from this area, meaning the Middle Realm has been in existence for quite some time and that would make sense.

Meeting is adjourned with this info and everyone seems to split off (even Asmo and gran gran 👀👀) leaving Beel, Bael, Beleth and Belphie who took his ass back to sleep lol

Bael tries to see if Beel wants to do the same thing, to which no he doesn't. Beleth tells him not to worry about it and he already clocked that the other devils seperated themselves for a reason. Bael concludes it's because they're trying to win MC's favor by curing them first.

Beel knows the real deal. On Christmas day....MC is at their peak meaning that's when they are MOST unhinged in their desires and that's the best time to strike. Everyone is basically waiting until MC is pretty much so horny they can't even think straight, take advantage of that moment and then cure them.

"Waiting until the fruit is ripe" as Beel puts it.

Now....tbh that's such a devil thing to do and I don't even think I can be mad about that considering they want to experience that for themselves. But something tells me that none of the kings are going to experience that....moment with MC.

SCREENCAP TIME

This part was sending me, Bael is fucking tired but he would rather not use Asmo's lap because he knows that the fuck that means (his boner would be pokin' him)

Okay ya'll rude asf, leave her a looonnneeeeeeeeeeeee

Asmo called her mature in appearance probably in a horny way and Bael was like

Beel was so impatient he was being this dramatic. Gotta love a drama queen. but dats my boo.

Belphie. pls babes. Just go back to sleep.

LOL. He hates Beel, can't stand him apparently but is willing to take one of his nobles for himself. You ain't slick Levi...(you just want your bestie and you to share it's okay)

Bael is always so tired of his shit lmao, I just wanna run him a hot bath and give him a massage like, let's melt all that stress away...

Belphie....again babes just go back to sleep.

Asmo being like-

him @ Asmo rn

Sorry ya'll but this description of his voice....fine asf I swear like bring all of that over to me now

Proof of why I think fallen angels have the ability to lie ^^^^^^

This is hot of him idk let's boil our enemies in gold

titty cameo

Thanks Ppyong kicks him into a wall 'playfully'

The fact that he can see that far is wild but he also can probably smell them too. Everything about him is....just him.

And there ya go~ the next two days for part one will probably be them going to the Middle Realm. LETS PAUSE FOR THEORY TIME

I honestly think how this "trying to bang MC when the cold is at it's peak" won't happen. With normally how these events go they will attempt but something hilariously funny will happen where MC just sweats it out and they don't need the medicine after all or "someone else" got to them first and it's pretty much none of them. Lol

Let's see what the results bring hm???

[dangermousie]

In which I, of all people, make a post in praise of a love triangle

I hate love triangles. I HATE THEM. They never make any sense to me - either it's an OTP and an interloper (in which case it's not a triangle, go away interloper) or I keep going "make up your damn mind" and "why should I be invested in one ship when you aren't."

But Lost You Forever proves that like any other tropes I am not too fond of (slice of life comes to mind), it's not that I hate the trope per se, it's just that it's almost never done in such a fashion as to satisfy me and when it is...oh boy!

Because the love triangle of Xiao Yao with Tushan Jing and Xiang Liu (sorry, Cang Xuan, I love you, and I am rabid about the fact that the ML of this is not the romantic interest, but you are not ever a contender) makes me RABID. The acting, the writing, the possibilities.

In the first season, I never felt that Xiao Yao was in any truly meaningful way considering Xiang Liu as a choice for any length of time (I don't mean it NEVER occurred to her, I just mean it was little flashes that disappeared quickly.) But in this season, she very much does.

Why do I, the obsessed Jing x XY shipper love it so? Because it so makes character sense.

The reason she largely never considered him in s1 was because by the time any such consideration could occur, she already allowed Shiqi in her heart. There are flashes of what-if and the sexual chemistry with XL is off the charts, but she is hopeful and happy with Jing, she's experiences the giddiness of first love and first mutually accepted desire with him. XL is a what-if but a not a particularly longed-for one, if it makes sense.

But in this season, Jing broke her heart (whether she should have that attitude is a separate question of course, but she does and so here we are.) Which means that XY, heartbroken over Jing, has a little space and here is where it all starts coming rushing in vis-a-vis XL.

I love this because this is so so so so human and so realistic. As I was mentioning to @aysekira - despite demanding unrealistic permanent constancy of her loved ones, despite needing them frozen in amber forever, XY herself is not like that because few people are and it's healthy actually and she's healing! (Yes, Jing is not like that but to me that is actually a sign of how broken he is. Separate tangent tho.) And so yes, it's so human to, after a relationship ended, mourn and grieve but also on some level open your heart to other possibilities.

I genuinely believe that if Xiang Liu allowed himself to be with her, she would move on from Jing and be happy and fall in love with XL fully and eventually Jing be merely a memory in the corner of her heart (pleasant or sad, depending.) Just as if/when she and Jing get back together, she will move on about XL and he will be a memory the same way.

And it doesn't cheapen her feelings or their feelings or anything. It's just life. We are the sum of our choices.

I hate hate hate the concept of fated soulmates, of one perfect soulmate destined by fate. That's lazy writing, that's a crutch when you can't narratively show WHY these characters should be together.

And this show gets that. It gets it so well.

She could have been happy with Jing. She could have been happy with XL. Maybe in some other universe she met someone else entirely and was happy with them. Alternatively, if she remained a spoiled and petted princess of Haoling, she'd have never looked at Jing and most likely never looked at XL and they may not have liked her either (look at Nian - you cannot imagine either of the men liking her.)

Just as if Jing was never tortured into near-dissolution of his self by his brother, he would have been a very different person and not capable of winning her heart or caring to, or if XL had a different life, same.

There are so many possibilities and paths and choices and the fact that the drama gets it is one of the best things about it.

We watch Xiao Yao heal and grow up (in a way, she's so emotionally stunted due to trauma, we are watching her going through her teen years in some ways - figuring out who she is and what and who she wants.) And I love that one of the ways she figures out who she wants is by looking at what kind of life she can have with that person.

Anyway, this drama is a MASTERPIECE.

The end.

[mxstellatayte]

Can u do carlos w/ actions 1,5,11? thank u so much ^^

im just gonna do actions 1 and 5 because i'm touch starved (and also sick so energy is LOWWWW at the moment). hope you like it <3

movie nights are a very common occurrence in your relationship with carlos. ever since he found out that your favorite way to spend time with someone you love is by just laying on the couch under a pile of blankets with a bowl of popcorn and a good movie, it's how you've spent almost every saturday night before a race. there's something about being so close to you that, no matter how bad your jet lag is and what time zone your body is in, the two of you are able to fall asleep extremely easily.

"amor?" you hear, followed by the hotel room closing and shoes being kicked off, shoved somewhere out of the way.

"hey, carlos," you smile, closing your laptop and leaning forwards. he kisses you quickly before flopping down onto the bed next to you, face down in the plush duvet. "hard qualy day?"

"yeah. i'm exhausted." you gently rub at his back, and he moans happily.

"you wanna watch a movie?"

"that sounds amazing. i'm gonna shower real quick, so do you wanna choose tonight?"

"sure," you say, pressing another quick kiss to his lips before he walks into the bathroom and shuts the door. after the water starts running, you grab the tv remote and pull the duvet off of the bed, making yourself comfortable on the couch. there aren't many options in terms of movies, but you find one of your favorites: the italian job. once it's ready to play, you throw a bag of microwavable popcorn into the "cancer box," as your mother likes to call it, eagerly awaiting the time where you get a human weighted blanket and can press play on the movie. soon enough, the shower is turned off and the door opens.

"what did you find?" carlos wipes at his hair with a towel, another hanging around his hips, and you have to keep a complete and absolute death grip on your self-control to not commit sins right then and there.

"the italian job. it's one of my favorites. i'm honestly surprised we haven't watched it yet." carlos changes into joggers and a t-shirt, then immediately lays down on top of you, immediately bringing you a sense of calm.

"in that case, let's begin." you smile, grabbing the remote as carlos pulls the duvet over the two of you, and you smile as a familiar intro begins to play. maps and arrows appear on screen, and your left hand comes up to play with carlos' damp hair. he sighs happily, sinking further into you, and not even half an hour later, you've both fallen asleep, the movie long forgotten in favor of resting before the race.

[vidavalor]

LMAO Crowley and Aziraphale having the hots for Gabriel is so funny to me like they thought they were being so smooth with it and bro is just standing there like “hello? I can understand what y’all saying about me 😂” But tbf, he is quite the handsome man, can definitely see why everybody is swooning over him (too bad beezelbub caught the fly before it can be caught 🙂‍↕️)

*giggles and shares snacks* Yeah, he's sexy and he knows it. 😂 Poor Crowley and Aziraphale the day that they realize that Gabriel and Beez understand them, though 🤭...

It's going to go very quickly from *blush* they know we jokingly made The Supreme Archangel the mutual free pass to then realizing oh no... if they understood that, then they understood basically *everything* we said... they know entirely too much about our sex life for us to ever look them in the eye again and now they want to go to dinner?! What are we going to do?! 😂

It's not just Gabriel-- The Ineffable Bureaucracy flashback sequence showed that Beez understands it, too, and started off the two of them in using it between themselves as well. More on that and other bits of Gabriel trying to get Aziraphale to see he knows what's being said below.

It would make sense that the two who understand this are Ineffable Bureaucracy since these are not just the other two that have fallen in love but also the supernatural characters who are most capable when it comes to language.

Most of the angels and demons suffer different language impairments as a result of not spending a lot of time on Earth. A lot of the demons aren't great spellers, which is a symptom of being unfamiliar with language. Few of the angels and demons have a sense of humor enough to understand homophony-- think of Michael not understanding "Bildad the Shuhite! Need any shoes?"-- and most of them are terrible with anything requiring nuance, like sarcasm or innuendo. The only two who don't really show things like that are Beez and Gabriel. They both understand sarcasm and innuendo and they both have more humor and imagination than the other angels and demons.

Their shown language vulnerabilities are ones that are actually common of a lot of humans-- Gabriel doesn't know the origin of some Latin phrases, for instance ("keep the status quo static and, uh, quo-y")-- but that's about it. Some outdated slang from him, too, when he's in Jim mode ("neato"; "keen") but pretty much all circa 1950s America, which is the time period of "Everyday" and, it could be argued, is his mind trying to piece that together. (He also uses "cool" and "pass" in other scenes, which are very current, considering that most of the other angels and demons are still on "toast! t-o-s-t-e!".) I can't even think of a shown language issue where Beez is concerned; they are portrayed as that quietly adept in contrast to almost all of the other characters around them.

Beez demonstrating a fluency in Nightingales in the Ineffable Bureaucracy flashback scenes with the music that's playing now being the two of them and not just "Everyday"...

Gabriel is originally not understanding that Beez is adopting Crowley and Aziraphale's language as a their own, too, because they both understand it and it's fun. He knows what music is in Nightingales but Beez saying that the two of them are like that is new to him. They both know that Crowley and Aziraphale are in love and that their hidden language is a cant-- from the Latin cantare, meaning to sing. Music is language; a song can be a spoken duet.

The *noise*, you idiot, Beez teases. You and me. They laugh fondly a little at Gabriel being self-effacing and a little shy with that's music?, as he's unaccustomed to Beez pointing out that they are just like Crowley and Aziraphale, whom they both know are in love. Beez wanting to Nightingale with Gabriel is Beez saying there's no reason why they couldn't use the romantic language they both understand that the two they've been protecting developed to talk to one another, too. Beez would like to because they like the song that's playing now-- they love Gabriel and being with him.

They are Nightingales, too, and this song thing-- this cant? Beez thinks it's clever. They say that they think that it contains information (not just holds information but keeps that information contained-- keeps it hidden) in a tuneful (musical and pleasing) way. They like it. They think it's romantic. They want to do the wordy bird song thing with Gabriel and saying so is basically telling Gabriel that they feel for him the same things that they both know that Crowley and Aziraphale feel for one another.

Once Beez brings in that they're talking about nightingales, they then use a paraphrased line from "Everyday" that also works in the Nightingales cant to tell Gabriel how they feel about him:

"Everyday, something is getting closer."

Within something is thin, which is related to Crowley in Nightingales. Beez aligns themselves with him, adopting thin for themselves as well when speaking with Gabriel, drawing not just the parallels between themselves and Crowley as the demons who are physically smaller than their angel partners but also drawing a comparison between Gabriel and Aziraphale being comforting to them and Crowley, which is more evident in closer.

Everyday, some thing [some Crowley-- in this case, Beez] is getting closer. They're getting closer emotionally to Gabriel, but also the homophony of closer: closure. Every time Beez spends time with Gabriel, it is a healing thing for them that helps them deal with past trauma.

Sweetly, though, it's also everyday, Beez is getting clothes sure, giving Gabriel the very appropriate Nightingales term of clothes and its homophone of close. Everyday, Beez is getting clothes sure-- everyday, they feel more comfortable with and closer to Gabriel and become ever more sure that he is the one for them.

They told Gabriel they loved him in Nightingales and Gabriel then understood it and, adorably, was too flustered to actually initially really respond in kind in any notable way when it came to words. We can cut him some slack-- no one's ever told him they loved him before. Him just returning the feeling was more than enough of a thing and all Beez needed in that moment.

But, after this scene, now with awareness that Beez likes Nightingales, Gabriel had a romantic use of words for them the next time they met:

"That song will always be there on that jukebox to comfort the afflicted."

Afflict: original meaning: to be cast down (as if to Hell). In past tense of afflicted, the way Gabriel also uses it: to have been harassed; to have been harmed; specifically: to have been struck; to be distressed or troubled, as in to have suffered anxiety and other symptoms related to trauma. Phonetically, afflicted = a flick. To flick a fly is to violently push it away. Gabriel will always be there for his unjustly flicked fly, Lord Beelzebub.

Crowley and Aziraphale both mistakenly thought that Gabriel was someone who would hurt them. They think that he can't understand what they're saying because they think that, if he did, then he would clearly know that they're lovers. Since they mistakenly think that Gabriel is like everyone else in Heaven and that he would be opposed to that, they can't imagine a scenario where Gabriel would find out and wouldn't punish them for it. Since they're alive and remain seemingly undiscovered, they presumed that he couldn't understand them when, in reality, he has for ages. He is shown multiple times trying to use that same language to tell them that he does and, in his first scene in 1.01, that he is on their side.

Gabriel and Beez are the reasons why Crowley and Aziraphale are still alive. They've been running interference for them with the two who actually would kill them if they knew-- Satan and The Metatron. Crowley and Aziraphale are pretty good at hiding things but they're not that good at it-- especially not for thousands of years. They'd be dead by now without Ineffable Bureaucracy.

Gabriel and Beez are like ffs did you two really think that you were being randomly assigned to 'thwart' each other for thousands of years? How are you both so brilliant and also have one, collective brain cell between you? Of course we ship it-- who do you think kept setting you up?!

From his dialogue in the scene, we can see that Gabriel's entire reason for being in the sushi restaurant in his first scene is because he and Beez had met up earlier in the night and Beez was confiding in him about how upset they felt over not being able to do anything about Crowley being involved with Armageddon.

The only thing Gabriel does in the scene is tell Aziraphale what's happening with Crowley as they speak and then to give him a special assignment to watch Crowley-- to "keep him under observation" which is, interestingly, terminology also used by people in healing professions about those who are suffering.

As Aziraphale points out in the scene, that's literally just part of Aziraphale's regular job that he's been doing since the beginning, making us question why Gabriel would come all the way down from Heaven on the night Armageddon began to basically just tell Aziraphale that Crowley was at risk unless he was concerned.

Gabriel had shown up to tell Aziraphale specifically to keep a real close eye on Crowley since Crowley is involved with Armageddon because, in reiterating this special assignment, he's trying to give Aziraphale an excuse-- all very if you get caught, tell them I told you to get close to Crowley for information and I will cover for you both. I'll take care of worrying about The Metatron and Heaven-- you just take care of Crowley.

I also love how he pretends to be unsure as to who Crowley is-- which is really funny as you know that if there's one demon Down there besides Beez that Gabriel is aware of by name, it's very likely going to be The Serpent of Eden-- and then, seconds later, makes it clear with his "So has Crowley" dialogue that he knows exactly who Crowley is, emphasizing that he was intentionally hamming up ignorance to try to be like I know nothing wink wink to Aziraphale.

I really wish Aziraphale understood that Gabriel was singing Nightingales in this scene because informant is such a fun word in it to use to refer to Beez. It's in form, ant and ants = humans, in the insect analogy bit of it, with bees = angels, as Crowley and Muriel showed in S2. Gabriel's informant in Hell is a demon with bee in their name who can produce a separate insect in flies and who is his demon ant human person. Gabriel is trying to say that he and Aziraphale are alike-- he has an informant in Hell, too-- and that his informant is upset about Aziraphale's informant being harmed and so is Gabriel and the four of them really ought to try to work more together as a quartet of musicians.

Remember thin from Beez's scene above? The Crowley word within other words like think/thing/somethings? Gabriel using it in his first scene to talk about Crowley: We have reliable information that things are afoot. He's talking about Bildad with verbal italics to try to show Aziraphale that he knows ways to refer to Crowley in Nightingales as a way of saying I speak this thing, too-- we're on the same side. Let me in so I can help you both.

This one below is my favorite, though, as Gabriel's sarcasm mixes with innuendo and he's having a ball at the same time as he's going to just explode if someone to doesn't figure out that he's in on the joke already...

Gabriel, sarcastically making a surface-level comment that sounds like it's them pretending that Crowley and Aziraphale haven't had any interactions on Earth (lololololol) by saying that Crowley hasn't spotted-- noticed-- Aziraphale yet. It's all steeped with the obvious, dry, sexual innuendo, though, in which Gabriel's making it pretty apparent that he knows that Crowley, ah, spots Aziraphale all the damn time. Other meaning of spot beside that of to observe? To stain in spots or to sully something.

Think about a moment earlier in this conversation when Gabriel dryly said that he didn't consume anything-- he didn't "sully the temple of his celestial body" with food or drink-- to which Aziraphale quipped in response:

"Nice suit."

Aziraphale was pointing out the fact that he does understand that Gabriel was being a little self-deprecating and poking fun at Heaven's whole anti-consumption thing with the "sully the temple" line because Gabriel himself does consume resources, too-- the ones involved in his human-made, custom-tailored suit.

The suit shows that Gabriel is not as closed-minded as Heaven is and that, while he might not understand Aziraphale's particular sources of things to consume, he understands consumption on the whole. Along with not ordering Aziraphale not to eat and, instead, just being snarkily interested in it, it shows that he's curious and an ally to Crowley and Aziraphale more than an enemy.

Gabriel dryly, sarcastically joking "it's a miracle he [Crowley] hasn't spotted you yet"-- where spotted can mean to sully, to make "impure"-- shows that, unlike The Metatron, Gabriel doesn't think consumption actually does sully anybody. He knows that Crowley and Aziraphale are lovers and that Heaven would disapprove of this but Gabriel, personally, does not.

Gabriel doesn't think it's morally wrong to consume resources and that it should be a person's decision as to in what way they might like to, should they wish to at all. He doesn't think it wrong to like a nice suit or to absorb knowledge from a book or, in the case of some of Aziraphale's favorites that are on display during the sushi restaurant scene, to enjoy a good meal or to take another person to bed. He's like can you believe Heaven is so fucked up that we have to pretend that you aren't fucking him, Aziraphale?

Related to that scene is also this one:

Jeffrey Archer is this guy on the surface level but what would "Jeffrey Archer books" be in Nightingales, into which a nervous Aziraphale would default, regardless of whether or not he thought Gabriel understood him? We know from numerous other scenes that books = people and...

Jeffrey: alternate spelling of Geoffrey, from the the Proto-Germanic frithu, meaning peace, derived from the PIE (Proto-Indo-European/basis of English & most languages used in GO) root word meaning to love.

Archer: to arch, as in to be curved atop; an archer, as in one who strikes with a bow and arrow, like Cupid.

The Cupid aiming an arrow towards the East of The Angel of The Eastern Gate's compass bookshop:

[Screenshot by TosieRose on Reddit]

Gabriel: *shrugs and distracts Sandalphon while pretending he's not internally dying laughing at Aziraphale being like 'oh sorry there's some evil books in here that I have to sell to the humans to keep up my cover' on the surface while, beneath it, using the author's name to vent a bit frostily in the language he thinks only he and Crowley understand about the idea that anyone would think there's anything evil about what he and Crowley get up to in the privacy of their own home and making love is not a sin, thank you very much*

Gabriel probably then went back Up and Heavenly Googled who the hell Jeffrey Archer was and laughed even harder.

Aziraphale isn't the only one Gabriel finds amusing, either. Unlike the other angels and demons, he loves a good pun and fell as hard as the rest of us for Bildad the Shuhite from the moment he said that he'd have to be on his toes under the eyes of a (s)expert like Gabriel.

Perhaps he should have been. 😂