#one of the only good things the nina timeline did for me?

[a-shadowedvales]

jane does her best to avoid mirrors at any cost as she finds her reflection somewhat distorted in them. she sees who she is, knows it’s her, but her face always looks a tad askew; like her eyes are too far apart, or her lips are a little smaller than she thought they were. overtime, this becomes so prevalent that if she looks into one for too long, her perception and surroundings instead hold a similarity to the upside down. in the bathroom, the shower behind her drapes with tangled vines; the sink is running, but it releases the same black liquid that she was coughing up after closing the gate. her own body and face will transform into that twelve year old girl with a shaved head and a tattered hospital gown.

it gets to the point that she begins combing her hair elsewhere, and brushing her teeth with her eyes closed so she doesn’t need to look in the mirror, or using the kitchen sink. she does open up about these experiences with her therapist in 1986, and is given techniques to help distinguish between what is real and what isn’t. these mental tools do help, but sometimes, even if it’s just a flash, blink and you’ll miss it, the glass will show her what’s not really there. ultimately, it’s why there’s no mirror in her bedroom both in hopper’s cabin and the ives’ house. even when she’s nearing adulthood, becky stands in the bathroom with her when jane has no choice but to use it, and assures her niece that anything she may be seeing is not real.

[vidavalor]

The Vavoom: Or, when the show's hinting Crowley & Aziraphale first kissed

It was not in 2.06, if that makes you feel any better?

Meta/theory hybrid stuffity stuff below the cut. As always, all interpretations are valid. This isn't meant to offend anyone who sees things differently. Post contains spoilers for the films 'Kiss Me Deadly' (1955), 'About Time' (2013), 'Love Actually' (2003), and 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' (1994). Apologies that this took a few days. Life's been wild this week. Let's dive in...

Right. So. The Vavoom...

I feel like most of us, by this point, are probably in agreement that Crowley is not talking about something he saw in a Richard Curtis film when he talks about his plan to help The Shop Lesbians to fall in love... and that, if he's not talking about something he saw in a movie, then he's talking about something he experienced... and yes, sure, absolutely Crowley has been on Earth for 6,000 years and could have vavoomed with basically anyone who has ever lived at this point as well as one semi-sentient car and even the world's once only-remaining unicorn but... we all know he's talking about Aziraphale. So this is about unraveling what the show presents as Clues to this end and using those Clues to solve for x and see if we can prove that Crowley is talking about Aziraphale and then figure out when this Vavoom happened with the information the show has given us so far... and the good news is that we can do all of those things so here we go...

The first thing to do is to eliminate the Richard Curtis films. Let's just start with Crowley saying that he saw his whole vavoom moment in "a Richard Curtis film." As someone who has seen a frankly embarrassing number of Richard Curtis films, I can tell you that this is a very amusing misdirect from a writing standpoint. It is amusing because it's a wink of sorts towards the same problem that comes up when you try to find The Vavoom on the GO timeline based on what the show's presented so far. What is that problem? It's that-- at first, cursory glance-- no one GO scene or Curtis film seems to have everything Crowley describes. Don't worry, though, because we actually do have enough information to find the lone caraway seed beneath these three cowrie shells here. You'll be Aziraphale-voicing an "a-HA!" very soon. :)

There are only two Richard Curtis films that feature elements Crowley lists as having occurred during The Vavoom: 'About Time' and 'Four Weddings and a Funeral.' The Awning of a New Age scene in GO actually winds up an homage of sorts to 'About Time', as it is referencing it pretty heavily. However, there is no vavooming in 'About Time'; meaning, there is not this gaze-to-kiss moment that Crowley is talking about. A wedding reception tent collapses under heavy rain and soaks several supporting characters in the film, much like how our supporting characters Nina and Maggie get soaked by too much rain causing the awning to collapse. There is no gaze or almost-kiss or kiss before it. There are other canopies-- umbrellas-- but no one gazes or kisses under one. So, Crowley did not see The Vavoom in 'About Time'-- but that particular Richard Curtis film might have been the one in Crowley's mind when he quickly latched onto Richard Curtis films while speaking with Aziraphale in the pub.

As a result, thinking about his conversation with Aziraphale while trying to craft his Shop Lesbians Vavoom might have actually caused him to over-weather and cause the awning to drench Maggie & Nina. So the joke there is more that The Original Vavoom of which Crowley is speaking in the pub scene is something that really happened and had an element or two in common with a scene in the Richard Curtis film, 'About Time', which also features Bill Nighy (see: 'Love Actually' stuff below), whose mannerisms Crowley seems to like to emulate at times. As a result of seeing the film and thinking about how it *wasn't* like The Vavoom-- the canopy collapsing, the lack of an actual Vavoom in motion prior to this, all of that disappointing Crowley greatly when he saw this film lol-- Crowley ironically then says he got the whole idea of The Vavoom from a Richard Curtis film... when, in fact, *the distinct lack of Vavoom* in the film was what Crowley remembered from it... and then, upon thinking of the pub discussion when trying to start an Awning of a New Age for Maggie & Nina, it accidentally became part of his miracle, causing him to over-Weather and, kind of hilariously, substituted the kiss Crowley was trying to incite with the collapsing awning scene from 'About Time'... the film then disappointing him all over again lol.

The other Richard Curtis film that is relevant is 'Four Weddings and a Funeral.' You might be familiar with the scene-- its ending scene-- just from cultural osmosis as this point, even if you haven't seen the film. Hugh Grant proposes to Andie MacDowell in the pouring rain. So, the big problem with this scene is that there is no canopy. None. Whatsoever. They're soaked through. We never see them go inside. They look into each other's eyes and they kiss but it's raining on them the whole time and Crowley is really specific about his canopy requirements for Vavooming. This scene is also wrong because it's a proposal between characters who have known one another on and off for years and have a more extensive history, whereas Nina and Maggie are much earlier in a potential relationship and The Vavoom Crowley talks about is an intense gaze into a first kiss. That said... just as how 'About Time' ties to Nina & Maggie's story, there are some 'Four Weddings'-y elements to Crowley & Aziraphale's relationship, in that their story also covers them meeting up through different points in time and such. 'Four Weddings' was also the first mainstream, hit rom com to openly feature queer characters in supporting roles so it's a strong one for GO to be referencing... but, ultimately, no Crowley-described Vavoom scene in sight.

Finally, there's 'Love Actually', which doesn't actually have a single element in it that pertains to The Vavoom but I'm throwing it in here because I'm just looking at all GO ties to Richard Curtis films at this point. 'Love Actually' features Nina Sosanya (GO's Nina, of course) as a queer-coded character and, in GO, David Tennant has a few scenes where he seems to be channeling Bill Nighy's Billy Mack from 'Love Actually' in S1. (Tell me Crowley's not doing Billy Mack's walk when they cross the street to the bookshop in Eleven Years Ago in S1 lol.) For those of you who have somehow avoided seeing this movie lol, Billy Mack is an aging rock star who is the best character in the film and heavily queer-coded. In S2, there's also some Big Bill Nighy Energy in the "we'll just to have to make it worthwhile then" bit with Muriel in Heaven and also in the way he chuckles in the "I *was* there, you see" moment with Gabriel. Also probably worth mentioning that, in 'About Time', Bill Nighy plays the dad of one half of the main couple in the movie and his role is to teach him how to live life and this involves pursuing the woman he is trying to marry throughout his ability to fall through time. So, Bill Nighy is basically playing the S2 Crowley of 'About Time' while the main couple of that film parallels Maggie & Nina, in that he's setting up the scenario for the couple involved to get together. Nothing in the film, though, is as overt or contains elements that match The Vavoom, other than the collapsed awning, as we got into above.

So mah point is dolphins that while there are a couple of Richard Curtis films that contain bits and pieces of what Crowley is talking about, there isn't a single one that has anything really remotely close to the, uh, extremely specific scenario he was detailing... so now we have to look at just what the hell Crowley's on about, exactly... and for this, we are, surprisingly, going to wind up looking at a very different film from any by Richard Curtis-- 1955's classic film noir, 'Kiss Me Deadly'. Why this random film, you say? Because it's actually not at all random to GO S2. It's the origins of the phrase "vavoom"... and S2 of GO contains a multi-episode homage to the film.

'Kiss Me Deadly' is, tonally, very different from GO as it's pretty dark film noir but it has a plot you might find a little familiar. One night, driving down a dark road, the main character picks up a hitchhiker who has lost her memory. After she's murdered, the film revolves around the main character-- a private investigator-- and his lover/partner investigating the case to try to solve the mystery. GO's episode "The Hitchhiker" opens with a plot and visual homage to this film when Aziraphale picks up Shax in The Bentley and obviously S2 contains a plot surrounding a mystery related to a character who has lost their memory in Gabriel. I'm going to do a separate thing that is a deeper dive into this with particular emphasis on how the lead characters relate to Crowley and Aziraphale at another point in time because it crosses into too many other things to fit it into this one at the moment but the reason why I bring the film up now is because of its ties to the phrase "vavoom."

"Vavoom", alternatively spoken as "va va voom" and containing the same meaning, is thought to have originated in a cartoon in the late 1940s but its use in "Kiss Me Deadly" in 1955 is what pushed it into popular, cultural use and knowledge. In the film, there's a character named Nick, who is friends with the two leads (the Crowley & Aziraphale-paralleling Hammer and Velda). They have nicknamed him "Va Va Voom" because he says it so often. Nick is an auto mechanic who works on the leads' car-- yes, there's a Bentley parallel lol-- and it is his use of the phrase that made it one we are familiar with today. But what does it really mean exactly in terms of this scene in the pub?

Without going too far down the road that we wind up in another meta about wordplay and symbolism in S2 here, the show is doing things related around the word 'passion' and all of its various meanings. It begins with Aziraphale referring to Maggie's feelings for Nina as "a pash"-- which is British English slang for "a crush" or "an infatuation". It comes from the word "passion"... but the word "passion" actually means something much different. "Passion" is very specifically romantic, erotic love when used to describe a relationship. It means enthusiasm when about a hobby or the like-- Aziraphale will get the neighbors to come to the meeting/ball by negotiating their commitment based on things they're passionate about-- Mr. Arnold and Doctor Who, Mutt and the history of magic. Finally, S2 is tying a lot of this passion-related plot to *The* Passion-- as in, The Passion of the Christ, or the Christian phrase for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why is it called 'The Passion' anyway? Because the Latin root of 'passion' is 'pati', which actually means 'to suffer.' Looking at all of this and how the show pairs up scenes with different types of passion is a whole other meta. I'm bringing it up here because of the relationship between 'passion' and 'vavoom'...

"Vavoom" means voluptuously sexy. It means passionate. Something having a sense of "vavoom" or "vavavoom" means it is either suggestive of or is sensually pleasing. In GO S2, Maggie & Nina represent the pash use of passion-- the new love, the crush-- while Crowley & Aziraphale are the show's example of passion in its fuller, richer meaning of romantic, erotic love. So now that we eliminated the idea that Crowley is talking about having seen an example of this vavoom he's talking about in a movie-- I mean, 'Kiss Me Deadly' is totally a movie Crowley saw once so he might have first heard the phrase in it, like many people did but there's no vavoom itself the way Crowley describes it in the film, just the phrase-- but yeah, now that we've eliminated the idea that Crowley got his idea from a film, we can say with relative ease that he's talking about something he personally experienced. I think we can all agree that if he did, it was with Aziraphale and the purpose of him bringing it up in the scene is not just as a suggestion to solve the issue of needing to matchmake The Shop Lesbians but as a way of being seductive towards Aziraphale.

This is also part of 'Kiss Me Deadly' in that Crowley here is the Velda to Aziraphale's Hammer. Hammer is preoccupied with the mystery. Velda tries to help him solve it but is also seeking his romantic attention the whole time and being rebuffed in favor of the mystery. It's darker in the film, as you'd probably expect, since it's film noir, and Aziraphale is actually subtly playing back in GO S2. In GO, it's mostly played off as Crowley, kicked out of bed since the religious family are in the guest room lol, continuously making overtures towards Aziraphale to torment him a little for the whole Gabriel situation but also mainly just because he likes to and he misses him. (It has been, like, maybe 18 whole hours lol.) He continues it into later in the day when Muriel is in the bookshop and Aziraphale is a little more overtly playful then but he is in the pub scene as well. All of this also ties into the fact that Aziraphale wants to drive The Bentley but again, that's a whole other meta. Going to stay focused on the kiss here...

So what we're saying is that, in the scene in The Dirty Donkey, Crowley does that whole lean and the sexy hands and that super posh voice he does from time to time to seduce Aziraphale, and describes their first kiss back to Aziraphale when asked to come up with a romantic solution to help their neighbors realize they are in love. Specifically, Crowley says this:

Whew. *fans self* Jesus, Crowley... No wonder why Aziraphale thought you could help The Shop Lesbians. That? Was romantic...

The key thing I love about this is that while everything he says lends itself to the idea of a kiss, he doesn't actually explicitly say that until the later scene in the back room when Muriel is in the bookshop-- the "one fabulous kiss" part. It's evident later on when he explains the plan to Jimbriel and when he puts it into action that his intent is to trigger a scenario that might prompt Maggie and Nina into kissing and when the awning collapses, he feels like he failed at the overall Vavoom. He did, however, see it working from across the street, such were the fireworks, when they looked into each other's eyes and what's sweet and also very hot about this scene in the pub is that the looking into each other's eyes is the key bit of The Vavoom to Crowley. The kiss is what happened as a result of looking into each other's eyes. The romance of the gaze and the passion of the kiss = The Vavoom but the latter without the former isn't the whole rapturous, perfect moment and Crowley is into this moment. He's still weak in the knees over the thought of it.

And what he says happened in it? They looked into each other's eyes and realized they were made for each other? Crowley thinks that. He says that, flat out, to Aziraphale. Crowley. Who was abandoned by the God who was supposed to love him believes that same God created he and Aziraphale for each other. That they're fated, destined soulmates. And that they both knew it, in that moment when they were taking shelter from a sudden rainstorm together, under a canopy, and they gazed into each other's eyes and then

Yes, I am aware that he says "humans" in that bit in the pub scene. He's referring to Nina & Maggie but also he and Aziraphale have a tendency to refer to their love for one another in human terms in different scenes throughout the series, which is probably a whole other meta and *refocuses on finding this damn kiss here*...

So Crowley-- while heavily emphasizing the words "together" and "canopy", both for maximum sexiness and to lead us in the correct direction lol-- tells us what's needed in this scene, right? We need a sudden rainstorm, a canopy, them wet from the rain and taking shelter, Crowley's glasses to be off or he's in a situation to be able to take them off (ironically, unlike he was when he was in the pub while he's talking about all this erotic gazing), and then we have all this gazing into a very vavoom-y, very passionate first kiss.

So, what scenes seem at all remotely tied to things Crowley describes for The Vavoom? There are three scenes that jump out immediately-- and it's none of them lol. They *are not kidding* about quite literally 'three cowrie shells and a lone caraway seed'. There are three scenes that they want you to think could be connected to this and be distracted by to complete their sleight of hand trick. They want you to look towards Aziraphale's hand and not up his sleeve, so to speak.

So the three cowrie shells scenes here are Before the Beginning, Eden, and the Job minisode. Why? They are the scenes that involve Crowley and Aziraphale and some form of a canopy, which is one of the two words in Crowley's whole Vavoom moment that he heavily emphasizes. So it's not Before the Beginning and it's not Eden and why? Because we're missing the other word Crowley heavily emphasizes-- *together.* Crowley and Aziraphale took shelter from a sudden rainstorm *together* under a canopy. That's the set up. But Before the Beginning and Eden-- the first scenes our minds run to-- are not this because they are sheltering *one another* but not sheltering *together*. One of them is exposed to the rain each time.

There's an additional possibility that is thrown into the mix that is tied to these two scenes, which is the S2 announcement poster-- the one that features Crowley and Aziraphale on Whickber Street in the rain. That one is also out because Crowley is being sheltered from the rain by Aziraphale with a tartan umbrella (ridiculously adorable, I agree lol)-- but they're not both sheltering together. That one feels like it was designed just to fuck with us, especially because Crowley's hair in it is, for some reason, at Eleven Years Ago length in it. It's almost like it exists to both be cute and to, after the season is over, make us go wait... was it then? (It was not then.) More distractions. Ok, so, then what about the Job minisode?

Is it ox rib night? This seems to have some elements at play-- there's a roof and a storm and them together and all-around kiss vibes-- but it's actually not this, either. That said? Job is connected to it in a big way and helps prove my theory here so we're going to come back to it. I'll eliminate it here by pointing out that when Crowley defends The Vavoom as a possibility for Maggie & Nina to Aziraphale, he says "get humans wet and staring into each other's eyes" and "humans" in that bit is them, even if they are not fully. This eliminates the Job minisode as The Vavoom because it confirms that Crowley & Aziraphale did get wet as they went to shelter from the storm. In the Job minisode, they never go out in it. So, Job is out, too.

Ok, so then how do we find the one scene that unlocks this and points us towards the answer hidden in plain sight in front of us?

What is the one scene that really should tell us more about The Vavoom? How about the one wherein Crowley partially recreates it?

The Awning of a New Age is the lone carraway seed. Maggie & Nina paralleling Crowley & Aziraphale. What can we learn about what happened with Crowley & Aziraphale from what happened in this Maggie & Nina scene?

We already know that Crowley feels like he partially failed at recreating The Vavoom for them. It was meant to lead into a kiss and then the awning collapsed. That is what is different from Crowley & Aziraphale's first kiss but Crowley was delighted by the gazing, which we already know to be the very important bit of this here. Off of this, we can conclude that there's obviously a parallel of this bit for Crowley & Aziraphale and this is where the parallels in the scene stop. That means that what happens *before* the gazing moment in The Awning of a New Age scene is important because that's the parallel. So, what's happening while Crowley spots them together outside and starts up the rain? They're talking, right? And what are they talking about?

They're talking about one of them-- Nina-- having a partner who is unreasonably upset. Nina is anxious about it. She doesn't blame Maggie for it, as it's not Maggie's fault. It's also not Nina's own fault and what Lindsay wants from Nina is confining and abusive. Lindsay, we learn, is cruel. We decide in this scene really how much we don't like Nina with this woman and that we want her to be with nice Maggie who is sweet and supportive and is over the moon for her.

On the surface, this would seem to be absolutely nothing like any Crowley & Aziraphale scene we've ever seen, right? Fooled by what is on the surface-- modern lesbians in London Soho, one of whom has a romantic partner-- this seems to be a plot Crowley & Aziraphale have never had. Except, that it's not. It's a parallel to one you'll remember.

One, paralleling sentence here for you...

God's a bit tetchy...

Awning of a New Age unlocks that Lindsay being unreasonably angry and dolling out insane punishment for no actual misdeeds is a parallel to God during The Flood. God was Aziraphale's Lindsay-- the unseen, abusive partners, sending down their words and marching orders and causing distress. Crowley approached Aziraphale like how Maggie approaches Nina. Aziraphale half-heartedly tries to defend God the way that Nina half-heartedly tries to defend Lindsay but both pretty much give up in the face of Crowley's and Maggie's sane responses and support. The agreement that the present situation-- Lindsay about to abandon Nina, God about to abandon her creations in The Flood-- is horrible and unjust. They connect over the lack of justice. The Flood scene we saw ends as the rain begins, with Crowley and Aziraphale both looking up as it starts to fall.

Maggie and Nina get further-- they get to the first half of The Vavoom, in parallel. We haven't seen that yet with Crowley & Aziraphale. (Maggie & Nina also didn't have to go stop and save a bunch of people first lol.)

So how do we know that The Flood was the first kiss?

How do we know that Crowley and Aziraphale first kissed in Ancient Mesopotamia in fucking 3004 B.C. and have been vavoom sorted gone on each other ever since?

Because it happening in the aftermath of saving lives in The Flood would then mean it meets every one of the elements Crowley describes. They get wet from the storm. They will work to save everyone, which is evident from Aziraphale being dead fucking certain in the Job minisode that Crowley was a sweetheart who wasn't going to kill any goats or kids. How would he know this for sure? Saying that what God was doing was terrible in The Flood scene isn't enough for Aziraphale's surety by Job. That means that Mesopotamia and The Flood is the first time they teamed up. It means that Crowley saved people and animals during it. It more than likely means that he did so in a way similar to what he does during the Job minisode-- he transformed them into something that could survive the storm, probably rocks or something. (Big Medusa vibes lol.) But what would happen then? Crowley and Aziraphale would have to *stay through the storm to turn the people back*, right?

So, they'd need to seek shelter from the rainstorm. Under a canopy that could survive the storm. One they can both step back under and bump into one another beneath. Most likely, it's an actual canopy in original meaning of the word-- the shelter of trees. I think one of them (Crowley) bolted afterwards, based on the Job minisode, which we'll get to again in a second, and from under a canopy would be the easiest way to just be able to leave during a storm. (They did not spend the Biblical 40 days and 40 nights under that canopy or they almost certainly would have wound up having sex, which the show is suggesting in other scenes didn't happen for awhile after this which is also another meta lol.) But there's also another reason for trees that kind of cracks me up.

Remember when Aziraphale comes back from Edinburgh in S2 and, before he left, they had their whole Our Car/Our Bookshop thing and Crowley's been peeved for a day now over how Aziraphale got to go adventure in The Bentley and he got to wear a cardigan and babysit their former attempted murderer? And about how what he's really playfully irritated over is that he keeps trying to use Operation Shop Lesbians to turn Aziraphale on by mentioning their Vavoomy first kiss and Aziraphale is, kind of hilariously in retrospect, just totally tormenting him by barely indulging him on it? What happens when Aziraphale comes back from his trip?

Crowley-- genuinely-- says "there you are-- I was worried something had happened to you" and he's off-camera for a moment as he does so and the camera is on Aziraphale, who kind of seems like he would like one of Crowley's kisses about now. But what does Aziraphale get in place of where a kiss could have gone?

A face full of plants lol.

In their box, so that when he handed them to Aziraphale, they hung over his head like a canopy.

Don't wanna talk about The Vavoom, angel? Fine. You're just getting the trees. Mwah. *goes to his car and is all did you misssssss me kissy face*

Aziraphale, in old married bitch mode:

Finally, there's that Ancient Mesopotamia is, chronologically, the last scene so far in which Crowley is not seen wearing glasses, which is essential because Crowley-- while wearing his glasses in the pub lol-- describes the key bit of The Vavoom as involving staring into one another's eyes, which Crowley & Aziraphale can't do if Crowley has his glasses on. Since Crowley wears his glasses in approximately 87% of Good Omens, it means that the answer is in a scene where he's either not wearing them at all or could be seen as able to take them off. Mesopotamia meets that criteria. But there's still one more thing that can really hammer home the idea of this The Flood, Part 2 being their first kiss and that's going to be how we end up back at the Job minisode again.

Go back and think of the Job minisode again but now with the idea that the last time they saw one another-- ages before it-- they shared this moment of wildly passionate vavoom and look at how it recontextualizes the entire minisode.

Start with when they first see each other again. Where did *that* Aziraphale come from? He's teasing him.

The Aziraphale in Before the Beginning and in Eden and in the first bit of The Flood that we've seen is more anxious. He's not afraid of Crowley and he's definitely attracted to him but he's distracted by the dangers of what is happening while they're talking. Suddenly, he jumps from the Aziraphale of The Flood to the Aziraphale of the Job minisode. This one is flirtier. This one is literally like all so you never called-ing Bildad the Shuite lol. He's all "last time I saw you was... The Flood?" like he doesn't know and Crowley is all tight nod ohfuckit'shim and also ohfuckit'shimhavemissedhimsomuch and hiding behind his sunglasses-- Bildad is the first appearance of the sunglasses, chronologically, so we go from the Vavoomy gaze to Crowley hiding his eyes... this then all moves into the courtyard scene after a few moments...

Oh, what's this now? The only scene in the whole series in which Aziraphale asks Crowley to take his glasses off? And he does? So quickly-- intentionally-- that his expression from before is still on his face and it's just nothing but naked want like he's saying oh you wondered how I was looking at you from behind these this whole time? yeah, it was like this... Aziraphale is straight up asking for more vavoom. Take the glasses off. Look me in the eye and tell me you want this and yeah, sure, they're talking *on the surface* on *one level* of their conversation about whether or not Crowley is exhibiting serial killer tendencies and wanting to kill small animals and kids but, really, this scene is also the formation of their coded way of speaking to one another. Crowley's "I want to. I long (pause) to kill the blameless kids of Job the way I killed his blameless goats" and then lifting just enough of the magic to let Aziraphale see that he had actually not killed the goats at all but had actually faked their deaths, indicating that that was his plan for saving the kids as well... Well, it also means that *all* of what Crowley just said to him was coded. That's the weird pause after "I long" that breaks it into two sentences. It makes the second level of their conversation that Crowley whipped off his glasses, gazed into Aziraphale's eyes, and said I want to, I long... meaning, I want you, I want to kiss you again, I long for you...

But the bit of the Job episode that sells me on The Flood being The Vavoom is actually the bit just after Crowley miracles himself, Aziraphale, the kids, Jemimah's pot (because he's so not a serial killer, he saved the damn pot lol), the wine (because fuck that little Influencer Brat of Job-- Crowley's not about to kill a kid but he absolutely will drink the last of his wine for treating Aziraphale like a whore lol), and the food down to the cellar and started iguana-ing the kids. Why this bit? Because Aziraphale is fucking giddy and is just tormenting the living fuck out of Crowley.

He's all "I knew it!" and when you first watch the scene, right, you could think he means he knew that Crowley would save the kids. Yet, he already knows that by this point-- that's what the courtyard scene was. That's why he's yelling that he's "QUITE SURE" when Crowley asks him if he is (and calls him "angel" for the first time when doing so) while he's setting everything on fire just a moment before. Obviously, Aziraphale is happy that Crowley didn't kill the kids but what he's all I knew it *smug smile, actually fucking wiggling with flirty joy* about is that Crowley wanted to be alone with him again and would find a way to make it happen because what's the plan? The one that Aziraphale is totally teasing him about?

Aziraphale is going on about how oh, this is *Satan's* big plan, huh? A *big storm*? He loves every minute of it and he also really loves Crowley getting very close to him-- kissable close-- and being all "ooh aren't you brilliant?" when Aziraphale was acting smug. When did Crowley get that comfortable getting that close to him?

But yeah, Aziraphale loving every second of Crowley saving the kids, turning them into sightless/soundless iguanas, and sending a storm over the land for the night while keeping the two of them dry in a little cellar canopy so they can be alone together again-- essentially, repeating a version of The Vavoom scenario, as he'll still be trying to do millennia later... Aziraphale thought that very romantic and had no problem flirtily teasing the hell out of Crowley for it. Crowley's game is as ancient as Bildad the Shuite lol.

So yeah, what we're saying here is that there's a The Flood, Part 2 and that it's likely in S3. I actually wouldn't be surprised if it opened S3, since the first two seasons are opened with the other canopy-themed firsts-- the two first times they met, really, in Before the Beginning and Eden, both with the wing canopy-ing of one another-- so S3 could be the tree canopy and their first kiss. The Flood also seems likely to return because of how it ties thematically to the whole end of the world of S3's Second Coming plot.

One aspect of this theory that I really like is also that it means that Crowley was more female-presenting during their first kiss (which also goes along with the feminine energy sometimes associated with the phrase "vavoom"/"vavavoom") but also that when they next see one another in the Job minisode, Crowley is the more male-presenting Bildad the Shuite... and Aziraphale is really just into all of it. He's just into Crowley, full stop. We already know he is but I like the idea of it tied to their early days and showing it unfold a bit and how it's just all fine by Aziraphale, who just loves this being and is happy to see them and get to be alone with them again. It's very sweet and romantic.

I guess the last thing to say is that if this is true, we're all going to have a field day redoing the psychoanalysis of this bit below, aren't we?

[dissvicious]

THE BARTO AND NINA SITUATION

Did Barto and Nina slept together during Uta's concert and does Barto has his place on the dad pool ??? Answer under the cut

🔞 MDNI - slightly spicy, drug use / chemsex

SO FIRST THING

the dad pool final results are sending me. Eustass CUCK-tain Kid much?? Anyway let's end the suspense now. Did Nina slept with Barto at Uta's concert?

Short answer: yes and no, anyway no chance in hell he can be the father of the baby.

To establish a thing this don't really fit my timeline since the baby was conceived at the beginning of the timeskip but since one piece film Red isn't really canon I decided if fit ok or let's say it wasn't the same concert idgaf it's just funny

So. Killer Kid and Nina never really settled grounded rules about being in an open or a closed throuple. The three of them are jealous and possessive each in their own ways so they are mostly exclusive, but whenever a special occasion shows up they talk about it and see if yes or no the other are comfortable with it (exemple : Kid: Can I hatefuck Law? Nina: if you do this babe I'll cut your dick with my chainsaw and give it to eat to the sharks 😊 Kid: ok. Communication 101)

when Nina decided to go to Uta's concert she was like "dudes I'm probably gonna get baked as hell and since you guys don't want to come with me to this 'normie mainstream commercial shit for pussies' I can't promise I won't gonna get laid" and they assumed she was just trying to piss them off so they snorted and agreed - yeah well ok I'll admit communication isn't their strongest skill ok

Nina spent the majority of the concert completely baked in her tent, met Barto in the picnic area of the camping next to the concert place while she was eating a big slice of space cake

They immediately became friends because that's what punks does at concert

She's the one who painted "UTA" on his face :3

"Oi wanna take some edibles and zone out with me in my tent?"

Nina got a small star projector she uses when she got high and they spent hours of just lying down together looking at low quality space pictures sliding her tent ceiling

🔴_🔴 🔴_🔴 "wow....."

One thing leading to the other they started making out, Nina was feeling alone without her boys and Barto reminded her of Kid.

Nina, caressing Barto hair: "Hanw you're stupid and you're wearing ugly pants just like my boyfriend I love him so much I miss him he's incredible.... Don't tell him I told you this tho he's an asshole and I hate him"

Nina would have loved taking things further than second base but...

It was a LONG dry period for Barto ok

Poor man only had the time to dry hump between her thighs for less than a minute before exploding like a powder barrel 😔

that's why he don't have his signature pants during the concert btw

She was slightly frustrated but she let him snuggled against her and sleep in her tent

Sobering up they forgot the incident and became good buddies, they often meet each other in concerts and raves.

Kid and Killer don't know yet what happened between Barto and Nina, not that she hide it from them, just she... Forgot it, it was really nothing to her.

If they find it they gonna get real mad at Barto for a little while. Poor dude.

So no, sorry to disappoint, Barto isn't the father of Chainsaw metal killer Baby.

I WON'T SAY ANYTHING ELSE WAIT AND SEE FOR THE RESULTS

[castleclerics]

ABSOLUTELY INSANE NINA PROJECT PARALLELS FROM FUTURE MAN S2 (2019)

so there i was…. minding my own business watching s2 of a show i watched solely for josh hutcherson. then suddenly… he wakes up out of a simulation in a bathtub.

anyways once he fully awakes he’s greeted by literal female brenner

i don’t even think i have to explain the next screenshots so just look at this shit

she tells him she's from the future and she went back in time because she believes he's the only person with "the skills to save our world" similar to how owens tells el the same thing in 4x03

this part is crazy to me because i already had a theory that if el did the massacre, that her sending one through the gate was something her own mind made up.

anyways so the reason they put him in the simulation was to ask him questions about this guy (its a really long story) but like in the og timeline this doctor creates a cure but it destroys humanity so josh wakes up in another timeline where he didn't save the world, where stu, josh's former coworker, takes place of the og doctor. but it's interesting to think about since brenner was trying to have el find henry all this time and what if he wanted to see what questions her brain could answer about him to collect info on him or something??

el saying to brenner "i came here to try and understand who i was." LIKEEE

he asks if he says no to the simulation process then what would happen so she tells him they'll wipe his memory and "the only side-effect would be the lingering sensation like something was off. it would just be gnawing at you never more than a shadow." which reminds me of el laying in bed and getting flashes of the massacre in 4x03.

anyways onto the twin/clone stuff !!!!!!

he escapes into the desert after this so og josh doesn't end up getting killed. so basically they clone josh to see which version of him will be the correct one powerful enough to take down stu. also og josh ends up stumbling into a room of all of his dead clones :)

AHEMMM el commiting the massacre........ (for backstory in s1 he blew up a building to save the world so it was for good) and brenner recreating henry over and over…..

also just look at all the screenshots it literally looks like it was filmed where s4 nina scenes were filmed...

btw i'm still making a masterpost thing of how el rly did do the massacre it's gonna take a while bc i still have to do a little more analyzing and go over alllll of nina

there's literally more parallels but i can't fit them in this post but they aren't too important, more just to show the writers genuinely got inspo straight from this. anyways how fun right my jaw was on the floor watching this

[daerklina]

what eric heisserer did to alina’s character was absolutely devastating

first of all she got less than two hours of the whole timeline of the whole s2 as a main character.

if they made shadow and bone crossed with the crows, which was absolutely unnecessary and dumb decision because they sidelined even crows themselves and didn’t enlighten none of the problems crows themselves suffered like what jesper and nina felt as grishas or what happened to inej. all of it just to lift kaz’s backstory.

and yes, if they made kaz and alina leads, why kaz got his lines from the books and alina got none when originally this show & books were about her and her only

they promised they’d explore alina’s heritage but by some reasons she was the only person who didn’t get any backstory and they left no clue who are her parents and did other sun summoners exist before. sorry I don’t accept the book ending either because alina was only special and leigh left her powerless with some stinky otkazat’sya on a farm.

and what we got? “empty promises” as said alina in s2 but darkling’s promises were real and the writers’ aren’t. even jessie mei li wasn’t much comfortable about the decision of alina’s complete erasure.

I also can write miles of text how badly they treated the actress herself how they made jessie stay the longest on set, didn’t include most of scenes and how they made everyone shoot in a warm clothes (darkling’s death scene) in 35 degrees hot.

what drives me more mad is that mal knows whose descendant he is, why is he like this but NOTHING for alina. and I even know why, because in any case if alina’s backstory was in the book & show the ending wouldn’t fit leigh’s and eric’s narratives (alina’s terrible ending)

alina is the most powerful and the most interesting and the most unexplored character even in the books and I’m so angry they made her asian just to violently sideline her

also as I remember correct one writer was also involved in a show that erased asian character (dc titans?)

the only and only thing about the show is alina ending up a queen, surrounded by grisha and a good husband who may not be her lover but he’s protective, will always listen to her, will never whine , will help her etc (I’ll forever annoy y’all with my darkolina agenda)

[lackadaisy-headcanon-supply-unit]

Hi I hope this isn't too much trouble but

Can you do a child rocky x child reader? (The reader has a younger sister in this) fluff to angst to fluff It's basically how rocky met reader and their sister as kids and then one day reader and their sister have to move (you can decide why if you want) and rocky gets sad by this but they meet again as adults working together at lackadaisy

(Hope this isn't too much)

I probably fudged a few things from canon here, so forgive me if anything is put in the wrong place in his timeline.

So imagine you’re Rocky for a moment. You’re bouncing between two households because your mom’s in and out of someplace you can’t go and your dad couldn’t be fucked to look after you. Aunt Nina’s great and all, Freckle’s swell, but you’re getting the wires crossed on what’s home and what’s temporary lodging. And then a kitten your age and her sister (Freckle’s age) move in next door.

Y/N and her family expected a welcoming party and boy did they get it. Aunt Nina baked a little something, dressed up her boy and her sister’s unfortunate little drifter and brought them over. Rocky kept up a  “prim and proper” facade until Y/N peered out from behind their parent’s leg and it was torn down in favour of talking at a mile a minute. Before Y/N likely knew what was happening they were invited outside and listening to Rocky lay the foundation for a pretend adventure story while his cousin looked sheepish and their sister was utterly enraptured.

His Designated Second Best Friend (second Only to Freckle, his Platonic Soulmate) having moved in, things started to become a little more solid for Rocky. Which is a good thing, because about as soon as he and Y/N declared each other best friends Nina got the news that his mother was gone, his father had vanished into thin air and custody of Rocky had gone to her.

So he was both uprooted and barely moved. Y/N and their sister sat with him at the wake held at Nina’s house, but he was a little confused and ashamed of himself because he hardly remembered his mother. She got sick when he was about four years old. Now seven, the only memories he had were foggy at best.

That was the start of a tough time for him. He acted out more often yet couldn’t understand why. He had anger outbursts that ended in grounding and forgot about them. Since whatever was going on upstairs couldn’t be diagnosed at the time, nobody had any idea what was going on in his furry little head. Yet Freckle and Y/N stuck by him through it, even after he shaved Freckle’s face and deliberately slammed Y/N’s tail in a door to see if he could break it. (They forgave him, but they also tucked in their tail or wore it in a belt for a little while after.)

Idle curiosity turning deadly aside, he was wonky but stable. Y/N’s family suddenly having to move away after a house fire was a hit to his morale, but he was fine. Yep, perfectly fine. Until he got kicked out. But that was fine too, because he could share letters with Freckle.

After spending a few years doing whatever the Hell he felt like and bouncing around from place to place (his favourite stint being at a circus), he was back in Saint Louis. Home sweet home.

He wound up in a speakeasy band as the violinist (and rum running part time). It wasn’t a bad gig, all things considered. It was nice to be able to improvise and not set everything on fire because of it, Zib gave him the leeway to go wild if he saw fit, it was nice to see the place fill up every night and the people liked tolerated noticed

Well, it was nice to see the place fill up. He even started picking out a familiar face here or there after a few months.

When Ivy started bringing a newly-of-college-age queen in with her, Rocky took notice. Something about the girl felt strangely familiar. Was it the bold glint in her eye that commanded adventure or the strange little lisp in her voice? Maybe she never grew out of it.

Ivy caught on to Rocky’s notice of her and dragged her over to meet him after a set…Along with a genderless feline whom Rocky would recognize anywhere. The rest of the pieces fell into place then and there.

The reunion between Y/N and Rocky was unfortunately cut short due to a silly little shootout over a few bottles, but the two got away safely so there’s no harm done. They’ll be back.

The thought of seeing Y/N and their sister again gives Rocky new appreciation for Lackadaisy. The place gave him a safe space, some friends acquaintances and even brought his best friend back to him.

[demonsfate]

shipping questions // accepting // @juanalmada1234 asked . . . shipping questions: 1, 18, 20, 22 and 28

1. what’s the best thing about shipping for you?

It's hard to say! There are so many great things about shipping! But I think it may just be delving deep into the characters' feelings. Often, people may behave differently toward those they are in love with. I feel that in ships, you can view a side of a character that isn't often seen. Like Jin may be more affectionate and more willing to make physical contact with a lover than he will with a friend. They may know stuff about each other than nobody else does. And we get to see just how far the characters will go for their lovers. I just think it's a great opportunity to flesh out two characters.

It's also interesting for Devil, because he used to be somebody who couldn't really love anyone. So, it's a new experience for him!

18. is there a ship you used to like, but not anymore?

I'm trying to think but... I don't think there really is? Usually it's rare for me to start disliking a ship I've enjoyed. I guess the closest thing to this would be that I used to consider the idea of Jin & Julia (they have stuff in common!) But I pushed that aside in favor for Jun & Michelle. Dunno why! But I just prefer the moms together lol

20. is there a ship you wanted to play, but couldn’t yet?

EEEEEYAHHHH!! As I said, I do have a soft spot for the Jin & Alisa ship, so I would not mind trying that one out!!! I also have a super secret soft spot for the Jin & Miguel ship! Y'know, it's not as toxic in MY portrayal 'cos Jin isn't actually responsible for the sister's death. But y'know, the guy who did get her killed still exists within him... so that would make things AWKWARD. Anyway, I like the Jin & Miguel ship just because it seems Jin has a thing for the hot-headed aggressive guys. And well... also just look at how TALL and HANDSOME he is! I thiiiiink those are the only ships I haven't really gotten to play yet? I'll probs get to play 'em eventually, tho! Frick, it took over a year for me to get a Xiao & Hwoarang to ship with!

22. is there any ship you will likely never play? (apart from the obvious in/cest, pe/dophilia etc, i want to believe you guys are Good)

Hmm. I think I'm pretty lenient on who I ship Jin with - like I'm VERY easygoing when it comes to writing ships! Hell, somebody could be like "do you wanna ship?" and I'll be like "SURE!" But I do have some dealbreakers, or more so, Jin has some dealbreakers. Like for example, I don't mind the Nina & Jin ship (I don't ship it but it's not something I dislike) but... I just don't see Jin dating an assassin. I see him dating a former assassin who now wants to make amends. But he's not going to date somebody who's still actively hurting or killing people. So like, that means Anna is also off the plate! I also don't see Jin with Marduk or Ganryu either luls. And obviously, Jin would never date Ogre for obvious reasons lol. He wouldn't date Azazel either. But honestly, I don't think those two are capable of romance.

Devil, on the other hand - I feel like there would be a lot more ships I'd be willing to do with him, but it also depends on the timeline. I'd joke that pre-purified Devil would go after Ogre, and he may! But Jin's hatred for Ogre is too strong, and thus, it influences Devil to be furious with Ogre. Devil, would however, go after Marduk - purified and not purified unfortunately. Like Jin though, he wouldn't be interested in Ganryu.

28. would you play a “bitter exes” relationship?

The funny thing is that out of all the years I've been RPing (11 years now...) I have never written a breakup with mine & my partner's muses, I've never written exes before. Isn't that weird? I always thought I'd get breakup threads 'cos I happen to frequently write problematic muses. (Like Devil - villains. Or if not villains, then morally gray / anti-heroes) Yet... nothing ever happens! The only time I wrote a breakup was in private discord RPs (back when I used to do those) and they got back together anyway lol.

But I wouldn't mind doing a bitter exes relationship! Though... I'm not sure how bitter Jin would be. I think Jin would only be very bitter if the relationship ended due to betrayal. But I'm not so sure 'cos I never had the opportunity!

Devil, on the other hand, would be a very bitter ex no matter how the relationship ended. Just because Devil, even after purification, is a jealous and possessive man. He may not be as aggressive about it as he once was, but he still feels those two emotions, and he still has to cope with them.

[kaesaaurelia]

petrichor, ozone, and copper

For @whumptober day 14, using the prompts “water inhalation,“ “just hold on,” and the lyric prompt, “Feed me poison, fill me ‘till I drown.”

Continued from Day 1, wherein Crowley definitely did not move into the bookshop, took a nap on the couch afterwards, and when he woke up his lungs hurt and he passed out, Day 2, wherein Muriel carried him into Maggie’s record shop, because they hoped a human might understand better than they do what was wrong with him, Day 10, wherein Crowley's illness was causing strange and terrible weather, and help from Heaven was not forthcoming, and Day 13, wherein Crowley got even worse, but Muriel thought they might've worked out what had happened.

Muriel brought Crowley back to Nina's shop, which was very empty. When they put him down on one of the tables, he looked very grumpy indeed.

They didn't know if that was consistent with what they thought was happening to him, but it was consistent with Crowley, so they didn't worry about it too much. "I think it's holiness poisoning," they told the humans. Crowley made an incomprehensible but thoroughly grumpy noise. "Only I don't think it's usually this slow?"

"What do you know about holiness poisoning?" Crowley asked.

"Oh, it's all in the employee handbook!" said Muriel, perking up. "All the ways it can happen, and what it looks like, and how we mustn't do it to any demons, because it's a violation of all kinds of treaties."

"And how to fix it?" Maggie asked hopefully.

"Er. No, actually," said Muriel. There must be a way to fix it, though, because... well, because. Surely God wouldn't let this just happen to Crowley, who was very nice except for the demon thing, so if he had got holiness poisoning somehow, there must be a way to fix it.

"So they told you how to do something you aren't supposed to do?" said Nina, leaning against the counter. Nina sometimes asked questions in ways that made Muriel awfully uncomfortable, which they tried to ignore, because surely Nina didn't mean to do that. "Sounds more like they just wanted you to make sure you weren't caught."

"Oh, no, they would never want us to do something we weren't supposed to," said Muriel, appalled. "That's the first thing in the employee handbook! And the third, and several other things also. It's definitely very important to the mission statement."

"Right," said Nina, but it was a slow, drawn-out sort of way to say "Right." Muriel decided to try not to worry about it.

"Anyway!" they said brightly, "I think I know what caused it, actually, and since it would be such a terrible treaty violation, I can only assume Hell is trying to frame Heaven for it, so Heaven should be very happy to help me fix it!"

"Mmhmm," said Nina, exchanging a look with Maggie. Crowley tried to say something, but he started coughing again, so conversation was briefly impossible because of the thunder.

"Anyway! Now that I know who to talk to, I'm going to go back to the bookshop and try to get a hold of then!" This would be much easier, because reaching somebody who knew specific things about physical matter would probably be easier than waiting for someone, anyone, to answer a general prayer and redirect it to the Supreme Archangel.

"Er. Good luck with that?" said Maggie. "But isn't there anything we can do for him now?"

"Don't put any holy water on him," said Muriel, brightly.

"Seems easy enough," said Maggie.

"And don't light any candles you got recently as housewarming gifts," added Muriel, just in case, because they were reasonably sure that was what had happened. They felt stupid now, not thinking to check that the candle had come from the Supreme Archangel and not an infernal malcontent hoping to provoke a terrible war according to Hell's timeline instead of Heaven's.

"House... warming?" Maggie asked.

"It's a charming human tradition!" said Muriel, who was surprised the humans did not already know about their own traditions. "I'll be back as soon as I have a solution."

They hurried back to the bookshop, waving away several lightning bolts. That seemed awfully dangerous for the humans to deal with, they thought. Which was yet another reason there must be a way to help Crowley!

Once they were back, they started the circle up again, but this time they knew exactly who they were going to be contacting, and it wasn't the Supreme Archangel, because clearly there was something wrong today with how Heaven was directing prayers. At one point in Heaven they'd memorized the entire internal directory, and an angel in the lower rungs of the Physics & Metaphysics Division had to be easier to reach than the Supreme Archangel.

And so it was that, in very little time at all, they were speaking with Arariel. "Sorry, who are you, exactly?" Arariel asked.

"Oh, I'm Muriel!"

"Do I know you?"

"No." Muriel had just liked their name, which they thought was fun to say. They decided not to explain that, though, because it seemed a bit rude. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"Oh, no, no," said Arariel, shaking their head. "It's a bit dull here now the world's all created and everything. Last thing I had anything to do must've been, oh, a hundred years ago at least, maybe more."

They'd gone a lot longer without anyone bothering them, so that didn't sound that bad, really. "What was it about then?"

"Some Principality wanted us to end support for fire. I knew the idea was mad from the start, but there was so little going on I read all fifty pages, just in case they had some good points."

"Did they?" Muriel asked. It seemed an odd request to them; fire was so nice and cozy.

"Nah," said Arariel. " But I'm sure whatever you need won't be that weird. So! What do you need?"

"The cure for holiness poisoning." Arariel frowned at them, so they clarified. "In demons. Well, one demon."

Arariel nodded slowly, and Muriel waited for them to explain the cure. But instead they said, "Sorry, you know we don't like demons, yeah?"

"Oh, no, obviously," said Muriel. "But this one is nice! Also his symptoms are pretty dangerous for the humans. I'm on Earth," they clarified, "so there's a lot of them! Anyway, what should we do to fix all of that?"

"Erm. Well. Have you tried holy water? Once the demon is gone for good there won't be any more dangerous symptoms," Arariel said.

"But that would kill him!" said Muriel.

"Right," said Arariel. There was a long silence, and then they said, again, "You know we don't like demons, right? Because they're evil?"

"This one isn't, though. I mean he is, but he's not really," Muriel said. "And he's really suffering. I don't think God would let that happen, do you?"

Arariel frowned. They did not seem angry so much as fearful, though Muriel could not tell why they were afraid. "Well. Look, I don't know what to tell you."

"But it's a terrible treaty violation," said Muriel. "Hell's clearly set this up so that it would look like we provoked a war, but we didn't, and then we'll have --"

"I really don't think the leadership would mind if there was a war," said Arariel.

Some leadership would, Muriel knew. "Look," they said, "if you can't help me I really do need to be put in contact with the Supreme Archangel --"

"The Supreme Archangel?" Arariel repeated this with incredulity, as if Muriel had asked to speak to God. "He'd smite me. He'd smite you, too. Very smitey one, I hear."

"I've met him and he's very nice," said Muriel. "He gave me a cup of tea."

"Don't know what that is."

"It's nice to look at!"

"Well. Er. Great for you. Look, anyway --"

"The reason I'm asking about the cure for holiness poisoning," said Muriel, determined to keep what little foothold they had, "is because the demon who's got it is the Supreme Archangel's... er... er..." They were not quite sure how to describe the relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley. "Well, Crowley's sort of his demon, do you understand?"

Arariel looked very dismayed. "Oh. Oh no. Yeah, we've all heard of Crowley."

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing, never mind," said Arariel. "I don't know what can be done for him, though, so --"

"If you don't help me I'm going to tell the Supreme Archangel," said Muriel, impulsively.

They felt a bit bad about it later, but it did seem to help things along, in that Arariel went from dismayed to terrified in short order, and said "Right! Yes! I'll -- we'll -- we'll work something out, yeah. It wasn't by holy water, I would imagine, because I think he's immune, and anyway if he wasn't he'd be dead. What was the method of exposure?"

They thought about Crowley's tiny lung knives, and the candle they'd been gifted from, supposedly, the Supreme Archangel. "I think inhalation?"

"Of some sort of incense, or --"

"No, I don't think so -- let me just check something," said Muriel. They hurried back to the desk, where they found the candle, and they sniffed it carefully. Yes, that thing that had made them feel at home was definitely holiness. They rummaged around in Aziraphale's desk drawer until they found a little letter opener shaped like a sword, which they used to cut the candle open.

In the center was a hard white thing buried in wax, but melting that away with a quick miracle, the thing looked like a knucklebone.

They hurried back to the circle and held out their hand for Arariel to see. "This was in a candle. It's very holy."

"Aah, a human saint's relic," said Arariel. "Very holy indeed. Well. And the demon's still... alive, and reasonably intact?"

"He's coughing a lot and he's lost all his strength," said Muriel.

"Well. You'll want to ease the holiness out of him... somehow. Let me run some tests. I'll get back to you," said Arariel.

"I'm sorry to put you to all this trouble, only it's very important," said Muriel. "He's a very nice demon."

"I don't know about that," said Arariel, doubtfully. "On the other hand, at least you're not proposing to edit a fundamental chemical reaction out of the universe entirely, so. Small favors."

--

The longer Crowley stayed out of the bookshop, the better he felt. He was still feeling awful, but the blood rain had turned into regular rain, which was good because that would probably keep it from clotting up in the gutters, and his temperature had gone down enough that he was safe for humans to touch. It still hurt to breathe, though, and to move, and it was all deeply infuriating because all he wanted to do was sleep and the only place with a bed was the place he couldn't go into. But between the two of them Nina had got someone to lend her a cot and Maggie had got blankets from somewhere and he was dozing uncomfortably in the record shop's storage area, which wasn't really a room of its own but it was at least slightly hidden from human view.

Muriel came by late in the evening to explain what they'd found out, which was that Crowley could be cured by the simple expediency of inhaling holy water.

"What," said Crowley.

"Because you're immune, you see," said Muriel. "That's what Arariel said, anyway. I didn't know a demon could be immune to holy water," they added, "but that's very handy, isn't it?"

"Ah." Crowley did not exactly have regrets about escaping his execution by switching places with Aziraphale, but also, it did mean Muriel's information was a bit useless. "So the problem with that iss I'm... not... completely immune? I mean, I'm definitely immune enough that you don't need to go telling Heaven I'm not."

"Oh," said Muriel, nodding as if that made sense. "Well. Could you -- er. What if you just breathed in holy steam?"

"That would hurt a lot," Crowley said. His voice no longer sounded like his own, but on the plus side, he wasn't coughing as much anymore, because it was hard for a throat to itch when it was in this much pain.

"It would, but it would dissolve all the little spiky holy particles in your lungs, hopefully," said Muriel.

"Holy... particles?" Maggie asked, dubiously.

"Yes! Arariel told me about them," said Muriel.

"And you believe thissss Arariel?" Crowley asked.

"I did tell them that if you died I was going to tell the Supreme Archangel," said Muriel, "and they seemed to want to avoid that."

"Hmph," said Crowley, not thinking much of this threat. But then again, he was in enough agony, and how much worse could inhaling holy steam be? And as little as Aziraphale must think of him, Crowley couldn't imagine he wouldn't be at least a little upset if Crowley died. So he supposed he might as well try it, because either he'd die and it would be over, or he wouldn't die and he could make everyone else at least half as unhappy as he was about it the whole time.

It took until the next day to obtain both the holy water and a humidifier, since nobody was keen on making Crowley put his face in a boiling pot of holy water. When he was finally able to try this supposed cure, the storm around Whickber Street became a mist to rival the bad old days of pea-soup fog, and all he could recall of the day was a searing pain and Muriel trying to be encouraging at him while he felt like his throat was being eaten up by acid.

But eventually, finally, when he faced away from the steam, the pain was significantly lessened, and Muriel suggested he rest for a few hours, and by the end of the day the only traces of the brief but strange local weather disturbance were the mingled scents of petrichor, ozone, and copper, and a handful of thinkpieces in the papers about the unexpected consequences of climate change, and Crowley was still wobbly and exhausted and achey, but he could breathe without pain.

[unreliablesnake]

Of reverse love and stuff: Good news, bad news (Eobard Thawne x OFC x Harrison Wells)

Summary: Eobard comes to see Nina with good news, but all she has are bad news.

Note: If you want to know when I post new stuff, follow @unreliablesnakefics. If you want to read other parts of this series, check the #orlas tag.

Eobard had a big smile on his face when his eyes fell on her in the middle of the crowded bar, and before she could say anything, he closed the gap between them and kissed her gently, clearly taking his time and enjoying every moment of their reunion. He was in a good mood, better than he usually was in when they met for their monthly dates, and Nina suddenly felt guilty for what she was about to do tonight.

“It’s gonna be cruel, I know that, but it has to be done tonight. I can’t waste more time,” Harrison had told her on the phone earlier that day, seconds after he warned her about Eobard’s expected arrival in the afternoon.

So she was now sitting across from him in a secluded booth, nursing a cocktail that was too bright for her current mood, but since his boyfriend decided to pick her favorite, she didn’t complain, only flashed a thankful smile at him. Her foot was tapping furiously from the nervousness that took over her system, and it was hard to pay attention to the small talk he began with.

She knew he had something important to say, and she couldn’t help but wonder what it could be. His bright smile and generally happy attitude made her curious, which is exactly why she put her feelings aside for a second to focus on him. Nina reached out to put her hand on his and she even flashed a smile at him when he looked at her.

“Why don’t you tell me what got you this excited?” she asked him.

“I found him. I found out what time period the Flash is from,” Eobard replied with an incredulous laugh. “After all those trips, I finally found out, and you know what? I found him only a few years from now.”

That was good news. He had been trying to pinpoint his enemy’s location in the timeline for a while now, but knowing he finally succeeded made her proud. “Congratulations, I guess. What now?”

He intertwined his fingers with hers as he thought about the answer. “I need to find out who’s behind the mask. That’s gonna be a tough one,” he admitted, but she could tell he kept the second half of the sentence to himself so he wouldn’t sound too arrogant.

Nina let out a short laugh at this. “You’ll figure it out. If anyone, you can do it,” she told him with a reassuring smile.

“I know we can’t meet as often as we should, but I’m trying. When I travel in time, getting home is usually the tricky part, but I do my best to keep this relationship alive,” he told her, though she couldn’t really understand what it was all about. Eobard only stopped for a second to raise her hand he was holding and place a soft kiss on it. “I love you, Nina. I know you love me, I will never forget that, and I want you to know that I’ll always be there for you.”

It was strange. Eobard wasn’t the emotional type, something must have happened that made him say things like this. “What’s gotten into you?” she asked with a chuckle.

Eobard leaned back into his seat with a satisfied smirk on his face. “Nothing, I’m just in a good mood. Is it a crime?” She shook her head with a smile as she did the same. “I missed you, darling. I always miss you, especially when I go home alone,” he explained, his words only leaving more question marks behind.

“Then don’t go,” Nina said out of nowhere, going against everything Harrison had told her. She was supposed to break up seemingly, not ask him to stay with her.

“You know I can’t stay.”

It hurt her. Sure, she had his older version all to herself now, but that wasn’t the same. She wanted this version of Eobard, her boyfriend, the man who had saved her life a few months ago. She wanted to be selfish, a part of her wanted to ask for more of his time despite knowing full well he was busy trying to identify his greatest enemy.

Her phone buzzed on the table and she took a quick glance at the phone. It was a message from Harrison, he wanted to know if she had told him the news. With a groan, she turned off the screen and returned her attention to her boyfriend. But Eobard wasn’t stupid, he knew something was up.

He watched her with a raised eyebrow for a few seconds, but when he realized she wasn’t about to tell him, he leaned closer to ask, “Nina, what’s going on?”

“I need to tell you something,” she began hesitantly, having no idea where to begin. “We… I can’t be with you. Not publicly, I mean,” she quickly corrected herself when she saw the look on his face.

“What do you mean by we can’t be together publicly?” he asked, the anger in his voice easily detectable by now.

“You–an older version of you–told me I officially have to be with Harrison, not you. I’m just doing what you told me,” Nina added nervously.

Eobard took a deep breath then exhaled slowly as he thought about what to say next. It was clear he was mad, probably planning his escape from her by now, but he behaved because he wanted to know more. “Why would I believe that?” he asked.

“You told me that’s how you would react. You said something like you should trust me because I’m not Rose. Whatever that means,” she added.

He licked his lips as his hazel eyes were fixed on her. “Let me get this straight. My older version wants you to break up with me so you could date Wells? What’s in it for me?”

Nina shrugged. She wasn’t allowed to say more than this. “I have no idea. But I’m apparently allowed to see you in secret,” she pointed out.

The air was heavy with tension and she didn’t know what else to say. By now she knew how hot headed he could be, and hearing this must have been hard for his ego. Her heart was beating so fast she thought it would jump out of his ribcage as she waited for him to finally say something.

But he only shook his head and stormed out of the bar without saying anything. Nina let her forehead hit the table with a loud thud once he was gone, and it was a tough battle to fight back her tears. Her phone buzzed again. And again. It drew a groan out of her as she reached for the device and looked at the notifications.

Harrison was losing his patience at home. She sent him a text to calm him down, saying she would stop by later to tell him about this meeting, but he insisted on meeting her as soon as possible. So she collected her jacket and bag, then went outside to call a taxi. After the conversation with Eobard, the last thing she wanted was facing his other version.

Once she got out of the car in front of his house, she had to take a deep breath to convince herself to go inside. “I can do this,” she said to herself.

Harrison let her in through the gate without a question, and already waited for her at the front door with his arms folded over his chest. Nina stopped a few feet away from him, keeping a comfortable distance for now. The disappointment could be seen on his face, but there was something else too, something she couldn’t quite decode yet.

“How did it go?” he asked her softly.

“What do you think?” she snapped, surprising him with the reaction. “He just left. I don’t know where he went, for a moment I even thought of the possibility of him coming here to punch you or something.”

Silence fell between them but she wasn’t worried about it. For the first time since she had known him, silence felt nice. But then he ruined it by opening his arms and taking a step closer to her. “Come here, sweetheart.”

“You fucked everything up, Harrison. What if I never see him again?” she asked him worriedly, fighting back her tears for the second time in a matter of hours.

“You will. He loves you, Nina, he will always come back to you,” he assured her as he pulled her into a hug, but she couldn’t believe him. “Trust me, he’ll return. He just needs to calm down a bit first.”

[thatonesongyouretryingtoremember]

hiii what does the angela is jane ives reuther mean in ur bio 👀

hiiii🌸💖 thank you for asking anon! I love talking about this topic<2

I've answered this a few times as well as expanded on my theories, so at the end I will explain where more information is.

BASICALLY Terry Ives has one memory of giving birth to her daughter, "Jane" via C-section

and El gets a memory triggered sitting NINA of being birthed vaginally.

This already raises the issue that El is obviously not Jane Ives, but rather that Terry gave birth to a different baby. [this wasn't my find, I believe it was either @/demadogs or @/pinkeoni ]

there are even clues in ST2 that point to this! Terry does not have any reason to believe Kali escaped HNL, so if she was doing all that going out of the way to talk to her daughter who she hasn't seen in thirteen years, why would she send her back to a triggering environment in HNL by herself to fetch Kali? Don't get me wrong, there's a good chance Terry cared about getting the other girl free, but the message was very clear that she wanted El to find a girl who was in the rainbow room, or at the very least to show El the girl in the rainbow room.

so that's where my theory comes in. Terry was either telling El "The blonde one is Jane!" or all that plus "Go find her and bring her home because she's my daughter!"

Even when El says to Terry that she is Jane and that she is home, Terry verbally says "No." which is not part of her normal pattern, but rather something she is specifically saying in the moment. No, El is not Jane, and neither El nor Jane is home either.

so that brings us to why Angela specifically is actualy Jane. First of some technical things and then to the clued.

It is most likely that Jane Ives has blonde hair because her mother retained blondeness well into adulthood. If her hair did change from being light blonde, it would take years for the color to be recognizable as even dark blonde, let alone light brown. As an ex-blonde myself, I had a similar color to the toddler Jane from the memory of Terry breaking in to HNL. By the time I was fourteen, El's and Jane's age in 1986, I had dark blonde hair while my blonde peers retained a light blonde color. This would transition to a light brunette by sixteen.

El, on the other hand, has dark brown hair already at age eight. She likely never had blonde hair at all unless her hair quickly changed in infancy, if I'm remembering this right. Either way, age four to age eight is WAY too quick of time to transition to a completely opposite hair color! (@/henrysglock has a few things on the hair color too, as well as hair color as an indication of the timeline split!) Angela on the other hand has light blonde hair at age fourteen, just like Terry would have. There's a similar thing to be said of her eye color, but I honestly haven't paid as closely of attention.

More the conceptual boy! the thing that makes this theory so brain zappy!

"Jane" as a concept represents everything El missed out on. Phrases like "Plain Jane", which means ordinary person, or simply "Jane" being the catchall girl to "Joe"'s catchall boy, and "Jane Doe", an unidentifiable woman, come to mind. "Jane" is femininity, normalcy, popularity, and ease.

Angela represents all of the same things! El is literally copying Angela so she can try and be all those things!

so not only is El copying Angela because Angela has what "Jane" represents- but she is trying to embody a "Jane" persona simultaneously! SHE IS COPYING ANGELA TO BECOME JANE.

There is also alot more to this theory, including Angela parallelig 002, her being obsessed with the "good dad" version of Hopper El speaks of, her appearance being an opposite/shadowself version of El, her name having "Angel" in it, etc.

all that plus some other explanatory posts that go deeper into it (I'll try and link some) can be found in #angela ives, and #angela is jane, plus I've got some more meme-y posts tagged #angieposting, for more fun :3

I hope this answered some of your questions! yes, when I say Angela is Jane, I do mean it literally. Well, not in like a "her name is Jane" way, but in the sense that the baby Terry gave birth to is actually Angela.

If you have any more specific questions or observations feel free to leave them or post in the tags obviously, I love hearing new input on my fave theory!!

(oh yeah and it's kind of intertwined with timeline theory, so Angela and El are alt timelines of eachother as well. there's more on that in a whole other post though)

IMPORTANT LINK NO. 1

I'm on the hunt for a few others

[anbubisibuna]

My Das Haus Anubis Season 2 Review:

So this has been in my drafts for weeks and I just forgot about it. It's a mess.

Things I liked :

Almost every scene with Mara and Magnus together. They were the only couple that convinced me. I really liked seeing them doing those things for eachother and being there for one another. And them saying that they loved eachother. They are the only couple I buy their love.

Mara and Magnus' first kiss. For the standard of the show it was really great also in comparison to the others. Because I only saw that true love soulmate kiss with them. It was the most feelings involved. I also like how they slowly pull away and then look at eachother to realize what they did. The others also weren't good imo.

How after Mara got together with Magnus she only had eyes for him, her person. It was so cute. And she did look more in love with him than ever with Kaya.

The Benny storyline until Nina kissed him. It was fun to sub. Also because of the music and there seemed to be less talking. I LOVED that Benny came during the time there where problems with Mara and Magnus because he couldn't tell her what was going on. And even then she wasn't flirting with Benny like Nina did. I mean with Nina and Daniel everything was fine right before he came and she still cheated. It just was proof how strong their relationship is and Mara would never do something like that to Magnus. And with Nina and Daniel if they ever had any struggles, idk how they will pull it through. And Nina kind of just seemed to push Daniel very easily away. Because Idk it seemed like Benny wasn't there for long until Nina risked their relationship which does make it worse kind of. ( Also kind of unrealistic.) And I counted the days. I don't know if they are really canon because the timeline is pretty messed up.

Day One Daniel writes Nina a secret letter that he loves her. Which she doesn't receive. Benny comes at the same say and later in the evening Nina sees him for the first time in the coffin and thinks he's cute. Nothing too bad.

Day Two. The next morning Benny is making breakfast Nina is openly starring at him. After school Benny flirts with Nina at the girls floor and later before she goes in the cellar. And she looks like she's very smitten. A bit too much. That night she dreams about Benny kissing him.

Day Three. Nina is shocked about her dream. The next morning she and Benny accidently touch fingers. At school she fainted because she can't handle Benny. ( Which also made me thinking. Did they seriously sold Nina and Daniel as the main couple but then have Nina faint because she was so attracted to him. ) Benny " saves" her and later they flirt together on the couch. In the evening Nina decides to go to the cinema with Benny where later when they come home they almost kiss. ( Their lips where kind of slightly touching already)

Day Four Nina is flirting more openly with Benny. She has later an argument with Daniel. In the evening Benny and her kiss.

Day Five the next morning Nina is avoiding Benny. Her grandma got worse. Daniel is there gor her but later breaks up with her.

Day Six the Camping Trip. Nina writes Daniel an apology letter he forgives her. She gets kidnapped. In the evening Daniel and Delia try to visit her.

How after a while Mara starts noticing Radus weird relationship with Magnus aswell.

Victor being a dumbass. And not finding the secret room until the end. He's such an entertaining character. Haha.

Kayas character got like after the storyline with his sister pretty great. The fact that he forgives Max for not actually apologizing to him. Is really great of him. I also like how his always there for Daniel. He's a great friend.

Victor trying to play Raven at the beginning but failing at it. And Raven calling him Victor Emanuel Rodemer all the time. And overall their relationship.

That Magnus after a while learned how to manipulate Radus aswell. He's probably smarter than Victor and Raven haha

Daphne. She's a complete bitch. But I like how the actress played her. In this really flirty way kinda. She's was kind of funny at times especially when she tried to kill Mara and covered it up.

Magnus apologizing to Felix at the end. That was so cute. And I really loved that.

Magnus character development. From still being slightly greedy at the beginning of the Season to doing a really selfless act in the end of the Season when he locked Raven behind the secret wall. Because from his point of view it looked like he was just leaving his father to die. He still had some tiny little faith in Raven after all of this. And second he didn't know the Club was doing all this to save Nina's grandma. So him doing the right thing because he didn't want to betray them anymore. By that time he did believe that he would suffer more at the end when he did that.

Delia in general. She was truly shining in this season. Love how creative and clever she is.

The unprofessionalism of the nurses is beyond belief. And it was hilarious. What nurse leaves a choking dying patient alone just get a doctor? There are emergency calls. And how the just give Victor a colonic Irritation without his consent. I would sue the whole hospital if they did this to me.

Felix and Delia together or Luzy and Felix together it was a fun combo.

Daphne and Radus relationship. It was really interesting. I don't know if Radus may loved bombed her in the beginning and that's why she fell for him because she was desperately looking for love. I'm really interested to know how their relationship began. But I think there is alot of dependency on Daphnes part. Both are pretty messed up and they haven't healed their inner child.

The whole scene of Magnus stealing the grail was really funny. First, why on earth was he doing those Ninja moves? Did he fall on his head or something? Omg. imagine Mara came out of her room and saw him doing that shit. That's going to be her boyfriend in the future. And he says the others are crazy. I mean she already knows that he is insane. And second Victor. I don't know, doesn't he have a Pajama? But just the fact that he came in his usual clothing made me laugh so hard and also that none of the other kids decides to stand up. It's like the actor himself didn't even bother to get changed.

The kind of weirdly sexual relationship between Radus and Victor. There was too much sexual tension between them. Radus doesn't touch his wife like Victor.

I really liked Mara and Magnus building their trust during their relationship. Of course it wasn't helpful that Magnus had to lie to her. But it was either he endangers her or he lies to her. So I don't count that as " lying or ruining her trust" because he wasn't doing it for selfish reasons. Also that Mara didn't give him a reason not to trust him already in the beginning of the relationship. I think that made it easier for him aswell to open up. If Mara had something with Benny, he probably wouldn't get over it. And me neither. Idk if they would still be my favourite ship, but a part would be tainted.

Nina and Daniels weird date in the garden. I mean it was kind of cringe. And pretty forced how they just have to push them from friends to Lovers. But also kind of funny. How they didn't see the headphones. Delia and Kaya not being able to control themselves to not flirt with eachother. Delia talking about the Club, Kaya being there as well and not giving a shit.

Eventhough I think they were a bit rushed; I liked scenes of Charlotte and Luzy together and Luzy not wanting Charlotte to start something with Kaya.

I like Felix helping Mara and Magnus when they have problems. I like the dynamic of the three.

The tasks were fun at times and entertaining.

Amneris being there for Mara.

Things I didn't like:

Nina and Daniels Drama before they got together. I usually like slow-burn. But they just don't have any chemistry. I never saw any moments of like wanting to kiss eachother. I know this is common behaviour for teenagers. So I don't blame them for that. But I still found them annoying. And the first episodes where so hard to sub mainly to that. I was so glad when they were finally together. Not because I ship them, but because their whole drama was finally over.

Luzy whole crush on Kaya. Made no sense at all. I'm not sure if they did it to add more drama until Luzy and Max get together or because they had to use Kaya somehow as he's barely useful in Season 2 and they didn't want viewers to forget about him.

The whole thing with Delias scarf. I'm glad it didn't took too long. But why does Magnus know the scarf is from Delias father but Mara doesn't,? Mara isn't new like Noa in HHA. It also made no sense that she didn't know that Delia and Magnus disliked eachother. She knows that.

Nina's Jealousy kind of annoyed me with the Physics test. I'm not saying she's not allowed to be jealous. She's is allowed to feel whatever she wants. Those are her feeling and they are valid. But after that thing with Benny? And ESPECIALLY how she cheated on Daniel. Because she didn't even look like she cared about Daniel. And it's him who has comfort her and make her trust him. Eventhough it should have been the opposite. Realistically Nina should have gone out of her way to make Daniel trust him after her short infidelity.

Nina and Daniel having to kiss after Tut and Amneris got reunited. This was absolutely not a moment for them. They had one in the last Season Finale. Wasn't that enough?

Mostly the Club scenes. It was a struggle subbing them. They are such boring characters. Especially Nina and Daniel. However I like the Club the most in Season 2.

Benny lying to Nina that he was her boyfriend after he found out she lost her memory. I mean wtf is his problem? He should have just left then. The story is done. It also was bad so Daniel had to fight for her. Didn't really like that. And if she thought he was her boyfriend the kiss in the washroom wasn't the only one. But that doesn't count as it wasn't consensual. Anyways that whole thing was so messy yuck. I'm glad it wasn't Mara and Magnus. And it also seemed like Nina and Benny briefly dated or something. Because Daniel said something that Nina dumped Benny. But Benny should have been sued. No matter what Nina didn't deserve to be lied to after losing her memory.

What I would have done differently:

That if they broke Mara and Luzy's friendship apart or made them more distance that they did it differently. That Luzy could be pissed that Mara doesn't care that Linn doesn't come back and she's all about Kaya. Charlotte already comes then which makes Mara move in the attic much earlier. And Lotte and Luzy become friends then and not through this love and first sight kind of bs. But Luzy and Mara would later still be friends in S2.

That Mara and Kaya broke up sooner. Like it didn't even look like they were in a relationship anymore. Also Mara was pretty MUCH flirting with Magnus and way to close to him. In the park she even almost kissed him. I didn't care that much about Kaya around that time and neither do I believe that he loved Mara but he doesn't deserve to be cheated on. So I did wish that atleast she had the girlballs to break up with him. I'm glad she apologized to him later.

A scene of Magnus and Kaya talking it out. There seem to friends still. I never saw Magnus apologizing or anything. Then again after Mara came back it was like as if Mara and Kaya never dated. And Magnus apologizing would also be kind of weird if he starts dating Mara later. But I think they probably had a short conversation off screen. Or Kaya just realised how serious they were and that he didn't love Mara anyways.

Charlotte and Kaya had potential. But they really did them dirty. Charlotte liking him first without actually knowing him was a bad choice. It also made no difference for Kaya that maybe for once a girl likes him for who he is and not just his looks.

Nina and Daniel should have atleast broken up longer after the Benny thing. And also they did it alot worse than in HHA. But the same time their reconciliation was identical. And after they come from the hospital where Daniel breaks up. Nina doesn't even apologise to Daniel. Nienke does. And also Daniel says sorry to Nina for not being able to be with her anymore. But then again them getting together like a day after it was probably better for me while subbing. Because if they didn't there would be even more drama. But it's not very healthy imo. It would make sense that Daniel has some pent up resentment towards her. He does seem like the type of person who does that.

That Magnus told kind of said that he was also working with Raven because he was threatening him and Mara. He did it to get his father out of prison too But the guy also made sure that his father would stay in there longer and be assaulted. They don't really acknowledge that he was being emotionally abused. And it wasn't really easy for him to just not believing Raven wouldn't help him anymore.

Luzy could have still helped in the second part. She still did first part. And she managed to juggle the Club and the schoolnewspaper back then. And it didn't seem to make sense why she suddenly was so uninterested in it.

I wish we got to know more about Maras family background and her and Magnus talking about it. But I do think they talked about offscreen and Mara during that was probably too scared to do so.

Maybe show how it came to the Kaya and Charlotte kiss at the end. And how it seems like they are dating. Because they ate Falafel together and now they like eachother? ( Ugh... why did they do so many couples so terrible this Season? 😭 And then they just messed up Mara and Magnus in the movie. Did the writers smoke crack or something? )

Random:

Kaya really was kind of useless. And sometimes it felt like they did some storylines that were unnecessary. Just so Kaya is kind of relevant. The first one would be the whole MaraxMagnus and Kaya thing. Which was like from Ep 15-30 or something. Kaya didn't love Mara or make any sense why those two are still together. And then of course Charlotte's crush on Kaya. She can find him attractive, but the way she idolised him. And then the whole Benny thing. I mean liked the storyline in DHA. But it was pretty useless. But it also gave Kaya something to do. From Ep 45- 66 or something. And then right after we have Luzy believing for some damn reason that Kaya is her secret admirer. Again makes no sense at all. And this is from Ep 67-90 or something.

The motivation between Nienke and Nina with the Jimmy/Benny thing really felt different. I skipped alot in between those episodes. Nienkes main motivation does mainly look like because she was scared to choose Fabian fully bit she still clearly loved him. With Nina it was kind of like she had problems with Daniel as a person and that she was bored of him. It did made more sense in DHA than in HHA imo. Jimmy isn't even good looking and Fabian isn't boring. I don't excuse in DHA. But atleast I can sort of explain why Nina did it, because she was bored of Daniel and because he has zero passion. She intiates like 90% of the kisses and he just stands there like a statue.

Daniel is doesn't really care about Kaya. Like I know Magnus has been a pretty shitty friend to Felix but that gets acknowledged. Kaya is always there for Daniel when he has issues with Nina and Daniel just isn't. He doesn't even seem to give a shit that Mara cheated on him with Magnus or comfort him atleast when the two start to date. And then when the two wanted to go camping it seemed like it would be more of a distraction for Daniel because of his damn relationship problems with Nina. Eventhough Kaya at this moment had it worse. But did Daniel actually care about that? Of course not. And then of course he also helped Daniel to find Nina's letter about Benny. And not to forget how Kaya was there and supported Daniel during his Pugna Physica. Which I doubt that Daniel actually shows any interest in Kayas sport events. I know what Max did with Kayas sister was wrong. But atleast he showed some general interest in him as a person.

Nina and Daniels chemistry gets worse the next season. And Daniel shows even less passion in the relationship if that is even possible. That's something I still remember.

I had to remind myself at times that Magnus is technically still a kid , so Raven doing business with him was so weird. This dude is like 40 and doing business with some 16 year old. And top of that was kind of able to play Raven at times too. He is of course less creepy than HHA Raven. But he's still kind of creepy too. Especially when he just followed Magnus into the showers one time.

My favourite to sub was the Halloween Episode. Not just just it's a MaraxMagnus Episode. But also there was alot of music in between. Another is the Finale. Again filled with lots music.

Nina got alot better in second half. She still wasn't my fave. But she was alot more likable and seems to be more involved. And there her motivations seems to be alot stronger there.

The first couple days I was doing like 5 episodes per day. ( no joke). I wanted the first 20 episode to be done as quick as possible. I didn't really enjoy those episodes to be honest. So I just thought I had to get through it. Some were still really nice though.

Again. I do think Mara and Kaya should have broken up before she kissed Magnus. But we all know they didn't. She was already locking lips with Magnus in a Public restroom for about 10 seconds while still being with Kaya. And I honestly think that whole story after, was quite underwhelming. You tell me that absolutely nobody gives a shit that Mara who was "lucky" to date the most popular guy in school. Suddenly went to a guy who isn't very popular. Really they are not shocked or in disbelief? They just take it as it is and move on? I'm not saying they should hate on her. But moving a few episodes forward to when Kaya interrupts Luzy on her date with Max. And he's about to tell the whole school. This makes him look like he has some sort of idk how to say it, respect or is responsible for someone's reputation. But then again absolutely nobody giving a shit that Mara is now dating Magnus kind of makes that doubtful and that he is in fact not that important at all. But Luzy in that scene makes it look like he is.

It's really kind of obvious how Mara really needs to be touched to feel loved. And Kaya just isn't doing that. Like at all. He always just sits there. And he doesn't even seem to be interested in her. (It's so bad. The scene in the kitchen. It's so damn terrible.) It does make sense why she ended up touching Magnus so much. I'm glad she got together with him then who does show alot of physical affection. And Kaya later on gets with Charlotte who doesn't seem to have a problem a lack of physical affection. Just an assumption. So everything is fine.

Luzy and Max were kinda weird. Because upon receiving the letters she didn't even seem to like him. And then they don't even spend time with eachother. And then boom after he kissed her she dreams about him for some reason and then after some drama starts dating him. How is that true love between them? Are they serious?

Kaya should have gotten with someone who just doesn't find him amazing at first glance. Because he still believes he some gift from the gods and that doesn't really change with Charlotte. Because he treats Mara even worse than Mick does around that time. (OK. Mick almost kissed Amber.) But aside from that Mick seemed to try atleast and show interest in her, where Kaya just walks aways rolls his eyes or whatever.

Another thing I don't get how they made the cheating with Benny and Nina so romantic. I mean I get why they made it like that with Mara and Magnus when she waa still with Kaya. But with Nina and Daniel? lol. They play this romantic music when Nina is about to cheat on Daniel. Nina and Daniel are supposed to be the main couple and then they create this romantic scenes with another dude when she's still with Daniel. And I don't get either why they make Nina act so bratty. Do they want us to dislike her? Her cheating was really uh... yikes. I don't think on how she cheated is a sign of them starting a healthy relationship. And at times I was also thinking if she completely lost her mind or something? Does she have any awarness? I mean after the cinema they were so close to kiss their noses where already touching eachothers faces. Is she lost or something? How didn't she feel any guilt and was still to Daniel in the next morning like : " Yeah I would have liked if you where there." And then when Daniel confronted she was pissed that she didn't kiss him. But hours before she was doing her make up along with the other girls in the bathroom to impress Benny. I'm sorry if I say that but if I were Daniel I wouldn't want a girlfriend like her. As a friend yes but not as a partner. I also don't understand how Daniel just blindly trust her again after that. She doesn't even do shit for him in the relationship. It's always about her problems and her issues. I would have liked it if there was some work rebuilding that trust. Even if Daniel did forgive her the next day. But she still betrayed his trust. And just idk don't really like how he just trusts her fully again for no reason. I mean what if the next hot guy comes along? Their relationship probably would have been more meaningful and they would have a closer emotional connection if they worked through that. They don't have to share big scenes but just some small scenes. Instead their relationship is so shallow and empty. Or Daniel having a hard time going in the washroom for some time because he imagines Nina and Benny there. If they did this storyline with Benny, which was even if I liked it useless. Atleast they could have used it go form a deeper relationship between them or try to.

The thing with Charlotte and Kaya in the end and their kiss was very rushed. You could kind of tell that the writers wanted to put everyone together and so by the end they didn't have much time anymore and just quickly squeezed them in.

The writers themselves seem to have different definitions of true love. With Nina and Daniel it's just there, with doubts, jealousy cheating etc. But also with other people saying how great they are together with the innocent puppy love. With Mara and Magnus it's like getting to know eachother, becoming better people, become emotionally vulnerable, building trust, support and helping eachother. And talking it out after misunderstandings. With Charlotte and Kaya it's like Charlotte finding him hot and wanting to get into his pants. With Luzy and Max it's like, Max writing her secret letters. Her feeling something when he kisses her before she even got to know him as a person and hung out with him. I mean seriously Luzy and Charlotte were better than those three couples. ( I think you know which three I mean)

[tonydaddingham]

said i'd be back with an rb!!! should note that i have rb'd an edited version of my original post, as @katalina27ua has pointed out a couple of timestamps ive missed:

nina's phone, ep1

crowley's watch, ep6*

(*edit 03/01: i have since spotted, what i think, is a different time on a different promo shot of this same moment - crowley at the bentley, watching aziraphale leave - and the timeline has been updated in the original post. in this secondary photo, instead of 09:15am, it appears to be between 09:20 - 09:25am, which is only supporting to me that a timestop did occur in the final fifteen, and crowley's watch stopped along with him and aziraphale whereas the bookshop clock - disconnected from them - carried on ticking):

but back to the original rb:

so a really helpful thing was pointed out to me by both @zenkitty714 (sorry im only getting round to understanding what you're saying now!) and again @katalina27ua (and took me a good while to realise what they were explaining, my bad - thanks for being so patient!!!), in that there are a couple of clock-reads in ep6 that, if we accept that the clock is a normal, fully-functioning clock, should be impossible.

in case anyone is like me and didnt put two-and-two together before now: normally, as the minute hand moves around the clockface, the hour hand moves incrementally with it so it can travel to the next number (and so on and so forth). as such, the only instance where the hour hand, in theory i guess (at least as far as i understand it), would be bang-on the number is when it is top of the hour - eg. 8 o'clock. so, it's intriguing to note when it's not an o'clock, so to speak, but the hour hand appears to be dead on a number whichever way around you read it.

the first one is what i think @zenkitty714 is referring to in the replies. i kind of ummed and erred over in the original post (not realising that the above is the exact reason why i was having so much trouble reading it) (suffice to say im not an expert):

because, as above, it shouldn't be possible that the hour hand is pointed in between 8 and 9, and the minute hand be pointing at 12 to signify the top of the hour, at the same time; the hour hand should be on one or the other. ergo, it shouldn't be possible, as it currently stands, that this reads as 8am or 9am. this is also the same for if you read the time as 12:43pm - the hour hand should not be pointing dead-on 12, it should be in-between the 12 and the 1.

the second is the one @katalina27ua highlighted; on face value, the clock is reading as 9:25am, or 5:45am/pm:

but once again, neither are possible on a normal analog clock; if it were 9.25am, the hour hand would be in-between the 9 and 10, and if it were 5:45am/pm, the hour hand would be between the 5 and 6.

there are at least a couple of instances, now that i look back on them throughout the season and has now been pointed out to me, where this happens; where the hour hand (depending on which read you take) appears to be slightly off for what a functioning analog clock would display. as to why it's happening, anyone's guess... but:

it stands to near certainty that the clock is, in real life, broken and the crew purposefully move the hands in sequence with the scenes/shots being filmed - i think that's likely a given, irrespective of any fuckery going on.

but as to why they seem to be landing on times that don't make sense - it may well be that that level of scrutiny or detail wasn't paid during filming itself, and the times are just meant on face value without 100% accuracy as to how a real clock would work. alternatively, it may well be that the impossibility of it is absolutely meant, and is a clue in and of itself.

thank you again to @zenkitty714 and @katalina27ua , you're brilliant!!!✨

timeline rundown

tbh this is mainly just for my reference and i will probably come back to it at a later date; a lot of other much cleverer people are spotting some scenes that appear to be out of order, and before deep-diving into scrutinising each scene and frame, i decided to (for the first run, anyway - im sure others have gotten much further ahead, but i personally like to do my own research) just go with a surface-level, basic approach of looking for time indicators.

edit 02/01: additions!!!✨

couple of notes:

this is initially going with the assumption that no fuckery is going on, and only highlights where things appear to be consistent or inconsistent

on the clockhands, and which way round to read them, this caused me no end of headache. for example, reading the ornate hand as the hour makes ep6 sensical, but then makes ep1 gibberish (and vice versa). so, im doing both! and colour coding them!

blue: ornate hand is the hour, other hand is the minute

orange: ornate hand is the minute, other hand is the hour

green: a timestamp that isn't shown by the clock, or has been surmised/hypothesised.

you can make your own conclusion as to which reads make the most sense, but i'll be adding commentary anyway!!!✨

episode 1:

aziraphale gets maggie's letter: the only thing we know is that the bookshop is closed which, given aziraphale's stunning opening hours policy, doesn't mean a whole lot but for the most part, he seems on average to open the shop between 9.30-10am, and close at 3.30pm

shostakovich: aziraphale gets the records and heads off to listen to them, saying that he will be doing so for the next 21 minutes. i know there have been theories out there stemming from mismatched serial number on the record - but for my money, the explanation is a bit more watsonian than that; that aziraphale has a certain amount of free time to chill out to some music before something else happens (ie., to me, before crowley arrives to the shop). therefore, i would say that it logically follows that the previous scene, and this one, is late afternoon after the shop closes.

crowley in st james' park: as the camera sweeps past buckingham palace, you can hear bell chimes in the background, likely posed as coming from big ben. it starts with the cambridge chimes melody, falls silent, and then rings the number of tolls for the hour. when the agent joins crowley on the bench, i can hear a count of five tolls, for 5pm. example of the 5pm toll here.

gabriel/jim arrives: when aziraphale pauses the record, it appears to be 4.20pm.

when jim is handed the hot chocolate, the main bookshop clock reads as 5.20pm, or 4.25pm. seems odd that there would be such a gap for the former, (albeit plausible given that aziraphale gets jim settled and fitted with a blanket etc.), but the latter is more likely.

- capture of the two preceding timestamps

shax and crowley again: crowley's phone reads as 10.35am which, needless to say, does not fit in the above and below timeline at all.

jim and aziraphale conversation continues: the main bookshop clock reads as 6.20pm, or 4.30pm. again, given that aziraphale immediately looks in the box after retrieving it from outside, makes the latter more likely. it also makes sense taking into account the following hypothesised timestamps.

aziraphale calls crowley: not time-stamped, but crowley notes that he is 'two minutes' away when aziraphale calls. jim doesn't appear to have moved, so presumably the call is made soon after the last scene, and when they are both in the café, it still seems to be fully open and running. if we accept that the start of ep1 is most likely around 4pm, and the aziraphale/jim conversation wraps up around 4.30pm-ish, this would make sense - that crowley arrives to the café around 4.40pm. they then obviously leave, and it cuts to:

maggie gives nina the record: same as the above; maggie remarks that she wants a little something "for the end of the day", and nina says she has to finish closing up. nina has cleared away the dishes from the boys' table, the café is has just emptied, and nina's colleague is getting ready to leave. if we treat this scene as concurrent with the "ah! gabriel!" scene, probably around 4.45pm.

crowley lightning strike: maggie is chucking away her tea bag, and nina is upending chairs. if we say that the "ah! gabriel!" and "so did i!" scenes together take maybe 5-10 minutes in-universe, could hazard that the lightning strike is around 4.50pm - 4.55pm.

interlude, where we then return to crowley getting back to his bentley, and it's nighttime. then gets abducted by beelzebub, before squealing off at 110mph+ back to the bookshop. there isn't a timestamp until:

from @katalina27ua (thank you!), crowley restores power: nina's phone reads as 9:02. this would suggest the morning, but i would suggest that given phones can be set to either the 12- or 24-hour clock, and coupled with darkness and emptiness outside, it's 9:02pm.

the dance: the main bookshop clock reads 1.45am, or 9.05pm.

episode 2:

"what comes after 'K'?": when aziraphale gets startled by jim, the main bookshop clock reads as around 6.53am, or 10.35am.

archangels arrive: the main bookshop clock reads as 09.55am, or 11.45am.

aziraphale starts playing the record: as has been pointed out by @canarybell, this scene is so clearly cut in half from the muriel-arrival scene* in ep3. possibly for timing issues, but still out of sequence of the above; im very tentatively putting the time of the main bookshop clock as somewhere around 11.40am or 8am... only the former could work in the ep2 timeline, but again, it is reasonably certain that this is cut from the beginning of ep3 where, in the context of that scene, it is most likely 8am*, and this scene's place in ep2 is just a continuity issue/post-filming to make up timings.

dirty donkey: no time-stamp, but going on face value of how packed the pub is, seems to be at least mid-late afternoon, or post-lunch weekend. im erring towards the former - that people have come in post-work, and it's somewhere around 3.30pm onwards.

jim remembers: the above makes sense with this scene in context, as the main bookshop clock reads 5.20pm or 4.28pm.

post-job flashback: when we return to aziraphale in modern day, and he calls for crowley, the main bookshop clock reads as 6.30pm.

crowley/nina conversation: the record store is still be open in this scene, which would be odd for 6.30pm onwards, albeit not impossible. the café is definitely closed (it's empty and you can see chairs on tables), and nina is only just leaving/finishing up the close. in which case, it makes sense that aziraphale dozed off for a couple of hours, crowley to have wandered off, and nina to have closed up (if her café closing time is, say, 6pm). so, im going with this being around 6.30pm also.

episode 3:

note: i miss out a fair few scenes in this episode and ep4, because a lot is so flimsy in the speculation. with scenes in the bookshop, we can help gauge time with the shops/crowds around it etc, but in ep3 - eg. when aziraphale is in the bentley - i don't think i have enough surrounding data to make a reliable estimate on when it is... so essentially, im just going on what timestamps we do have.

returning to *the muriel arrival scene from ep2: if we accept that this is meant to be joined with the ep2 scene, the main bookshop clock reads as, most likely, 8am (but reminder: could also be 11.40am) when he sits down to start going through the articles and drawn gabriel, which seems to take some time (given the next timestamp):

however, when muriel turns up at the door, and aziraphale pauses the record, the clock reads as what i think is 7.50am or 9.35am (quality is such that i can't quite tell which hand is which, but i think it's this way round). i think, however, given the continuation of the scene, the latter is the most likely:

cupperty: when aziraphale enters the main room with the teacups, the main bookshop clocks reads as 9.50am.

crowley enters: clock still reading as 9.50am.

- capture of all three preceding timestamps

a hefty jump forward to the gravity conversation: the main bookshop clock reads as 6.17pm, or 3.30pm.

another jump forward, when aziraphale gets to the graveyard, and borrows the phone: clock on the phone reads as 5.30pm.

crowley picks up the call: the main bookshop clock shows as around 5.25pm - 5.28pm - so a couple of minutes' difference, but still fairly reliable.

episode 4:

frankly this episode is anyone's guess, given that there's only two main scenes in modern day. but to start, aziraphale is obviously driving back during the night, so possibly late evening/very early morning. he says that he is late, and so presumably he was meant to get back to london before nightfall/at least, before its very late in the evening.

aziraphale parks up: nina's phone in the café reads as 6.47am. this is supported by the background crashing sounds; with lots of restaurants around, likely bin lorries emptying the bottlebanks/bins.

episode 5:

the opening, when aziraphale leaves to go invite the other shopkeepers, shows that the bookshop is closed but the café and marguerite's is open; the former doesn't really mean jack shit, but i reckon marguerite's is likely to be a lunch/dinner joint. so, with that in mind, likely to be sometime in the afternoon.

crowley has his 'oh' moment, and whistles aziraphale over: we obviously don't know how long crowley has been sat there, but long enough that the patrons have swapped over - so let's say maybe an hour, and again still likely afternoon.

crowley then leaves to go confront gabriel, and aziraphale presumably follows up behind him shortly after. when crowley returns downstairs, and aziraphale is sprucing up the shop: quality is once again dogshite so i can't be sure which way round the hands are, but fairly certain the main bookshop clock reads as 12.30pm or 6pm. the latter seems the most likely, given the following scenes/dialogue:

aziraphale sends out crowley to find nina and maggie, and make sure "they are on their way" - it indicates that the party, set to start at 6.30pm, is soon. rightly enough, crowley pops round to the record store and it's closed, but maggie is inside - and nina has closed up the café and set to leave also.

mrs sandwich and then mr brown arrive: the main bookshop clock reads as around 6.20pm - 6.30pm, but we then don't get a clear shot of the clock for the rest of the episode. we know it suddenly gets really dark as soon as nina flies into the bookshop, but given the demon raid going on outside it's not really a reliable indicator of time.

so up until now, ive been pretty certain that the orange timestamps are the more correct, as they seem to flow the most with the general in-universe happenings of the story, and correlate most with the external green timestamps of the eps. however, ep6 goes very screwy in this respect, and it seems that the blue timestamps suddenly become the more accurate.

episode 6:

demons enter, attack, and the bookcase falls/maggie and nina hold them off with fire extinguishers: the main bookshop clock reads as 2.30am or 6.12am.

crowley comes back from heaven, and the demons arrive: the main bookshop clock reads as 6.02am or 12.30am/pm.

just before the gabriel/beelzebub flashbacks: the clock still reads as just gone past 6am or 12.30am/pm.

gabriel returns: the main bookshop clock, over maggie's shoulder, is out of focus so i can't quite see which way round the hands are, but i think reads as either 7am or 8am, or 11.37am, just before they're ushered out by crowley. either one of the two blue timestamps seems the most likely.

crowley drops off nina and maggie: nina remarks that she should have been open "half an hour ago", which if she normally turns up to open up the shop anywhere between 6.30am - 7am (as per her phone from the end of ep4 - 6.47am), makes 8am more likely - that she turns up at around 6.45am, ready to open at 7.30am.

angels and demons arguing: the main bookshop clock reads, just behind dagon's head, as approximately 08.25am or 4.40am/pm.

michael threatens aziraphale, and metatron arrives: the main bookshop clocks reads as 8am (9am?) or 12.43pm.

"extremely alcoholic breakfast at the ritz": reliably informs, for the avoidance of any doubt, that this scene is in the morning. indeed, when crowley gets out of the armchair, the clock shows again that its around 09.02am, or 12.45pm.

crowley tidies up the bookshop: the main bookshop clocks reads as 09.23am, or 4.47am/pm.

"id better start talking": the main bookshop clock reads as 09.25am or 5.45am/pm. it remains this time for the whole first half of the feral domestic, right up until the kiss.

crowley leaves, and metatron returns: the main bookshop clock now reads as approximately 09.40am or 8.47am. we are shown the scene in pretty close, tight-knit order, with no conceivable gaps in the scene where 20 minutes could have gone missing.

aziraphale leaves the bookshop: the clock remains at 09.40am or 08.47am

again from @katalina27ua! crowley at the bentley: the time on his watch reads as, at least (from what i can tell at the quality i have), within the ninth hour. however, the linked promo shot shows clearer - if we accept this to be taken directly from live filming etc - that the clockface reads ~09:15am.

so. couple of things to talk about here.

for the most part between eps 1-5, the clock has been pretty consistent with not only keeping track of time as scenes have developed etc., but also matching up with other instances of where a timestamp is given to us outside of the bookshop. with that in mind, it is highly likely that the clock is a reliable source of marking the in-narrative time of the story. this, for me, is evident with the orange timestamps - where the ornate hand is the minute hand, and other marks minutes.

however, when we hit ep6, it goes to shit. the orange timestamps (providing that ive tracked this all correctly - but error on my part is a very high possibility, i couldn't be bothered to go get pen and paper) suddenly go screwy, and it's the blue ones that make more sense.

we'll revisit that second point in a minute, but returning to the first point - this tells me a crucial thing (imo). first, that the clock can be accepted as the constant in the equation upon which to compare the variables. therefore, for example, crowley's bell tolls in st james' park, and his phone clock, are immediately apparent as 'out of sequence'. the same goes for the part in ep2 where aziraphale starts drawing gabriel - this of course could just be down to a non/extra-diegetic we-need-to-cut-ep3-but-plump-out-ep2 reason (and i think that's probably the case), but crowley's phone is so purposefully and blatantly (and arguably needlessly - could have just answered straightaway and achieved the same result) displayed with the 'wrong' time, that it doesn't feel accidental.

so if the timeline more likely follows the orange, why does it go completely bonkers in ep6, and instead start to follow the blue? god knows, i really don't have much of an answer beyond the "freaky-deaky time shit is going on", and maybe "the demon incursion/crowley going to heaven/the angel and demon stand-off/unreliable narratorship all round might be something to do with it." but to my mind, it is the blue timeline that suddenly makes narrative sense - it's likely morning, crowley supports this with "breakfast at the ritz", etc.

similarly, what is interesting to note is that despite neil's answer that the 20-minute skip during the kiss was a continuity error (and i will say, full disclaimer - perfectly prepared to still accept this as the truth), the crew/team seem to have been fairly hot on keeping the clock otherwise within continuity for the whole show. for a scene of this magnitude, where they know it's going to be emotionally upheaving for fans, leaving them gasping for an Explanation for how it all went down, and therefore scrutinise it for every little detail? sorry, im personally not buying that it wasn't deliberate... will probably end up eating my words, but there we are.

my brain has melted out of my ears trying to wrap my head around this, but i'll probably come back to it at some point with, no doubt, some corrections - and some further thoughts✨

[me-uglypretty]

Wasn't there some bits of their relationship having issues nearing the end? (I'm not sure I remember cause I haven't done my rewatch yet for this year)// Just joining the convo (hoping you don't mind or find this annoying). I don't remember properly bc the timeline was a little bit messy and we jump from one event to another. I think they had a rocky relationship towards the end bc leigh wanted him to write the comic but i don't recall when he started seeing nina and at which point he tried to start something with her, even just by thought or when he told danny. Like in season 1 we see that during summer he changes the antidepressants, tries to exercise and does the comic.. then the hiking thing happens so i'm assuming the nina thing was before that summer during the school time? but then he went on summer and he stayed with leigh and i don't recall their relaitonship being bad? maybe it was meant to be explored in season 3 and we got to see if he went all the way down with nina but i think dany would've known? i'm so frustrated with the lack of answers bc there's so much potential.

About the danny thing i would like to add my two cents. I think leigh was using him to feel close to matt ,which was awful of her (love her and i understand her pain but using him was not cool)... however i think there was something between them since the very beginning... maybe it was attraction or just a product of grief and despair but i think danny's animosity towards her and how she was acting with him and wanting to stay in touch shows that while she wasn't in love, she cared about danny.. it was doomed and they were never meant to be together (i wanted leigh +girlfriend and danny+black woman) but if i couldn't get those i wouldn't mind to see them together at some point

It's totally cool to join in! cause we need to talk more about sfyl.

I think S3 was meant to reveal more of all this? Since we only got like a bit of the Nina thing, then the sudden seeing/dreaming of her husband. Like it’s so weird, why she’s getting all this signs. But I feel like there's too many layers of Matt, that's it's easy for him to pretend? and for Leigh to just not see pass it.

Though, I’d like to see them tell Leigh’s story than her trying to remember back things and being told things about her husband.

AGREED. Danny was a rebound + that was during Leigh’s “I’m gonna fuck which ever man I desire” era. Honestly, Danny must had felt some kind of attraction towards her (and jealous? with the whole, how did his brother find someone like Leigh who’s the total opposite). I think Leigh needs a good therapy and not latch on to whatever last memory she has of her dead husband, cause that’s what happened with Danny. It makes me wonder if she imagined it was her husband when they were together since he’s the closest to him that she could ever get.

I’m petitioning for Leigh x Girlfriend then another man. I’ve watched enough shows to know what they’ll do but if S3 happens, I need Leigh to figure out that she should date woman instead.

[tigger8900]

The Nobodies, by Alanna Schubach

⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

Nina and Jess are the closest of friends, sharing a secret: simply by touching their foreheads together, they can swap their consciousnesses, each inhabiting the other's body until they choose to swap back. After a falling-out in senior year of high school drives them apart, they reconnect in their 20s, quickly beginning to share their adult lives in the same way they had as children. But what are the consequences of two souls intertwining in such a way as to become one indivisible pair?

This is a heartbreaking story about the wonders and horrors of deep friendship. I'm not really sure how much I can say about it without spoiling the plot, only that the relationship between Nina and Jess felt so horribly authentic to me. The instinctive pulling together, the constant blurring of boundaries(should you have them? can you?), the hurt recoil as you go too far again, and again and...it almost hit too close to home. For those of us who've had the experience of being on one side of an ampersand, one half of a pair that can only be considered as a unit, this novel is familiar and the final confrontation inevitable. Neither character is likeable. Both are flawed and behave badly, repeatedly. But none of it is pointless cruelty. Everything comes from a need, whether it's fallout from childhood trauma, a desire to be loved, or even just a misguided attempt to love another. Check content warnings before reading, because this goes to some dark places. I liked the way the story followed two timelines, one when they were 9-17 and another when they were around 25-30. I also appreciated Schubach's exploration of Nina's Jewish culture, while at the same time being disappointed that we didn't get anything of the same for Jess's Mexican culture. I did notice that Nina never experienced any on-page racism while inhabiting Jess's body, only noting that Nina-as-Jess was seen as beautiful and desirable. Maybe the author wasn't comfortable with the subject matter(fair), but it stuck out to me as a notable omission to not acknowledge it being a thing at all, especially given context around the sexualization of latinas. The other thing that bothered me was that I sometimes found myself struggling to follow the narrative when the two were body-swapped. But the fault lies not with the book(it was consistent in using the name corresponding to the consciousness, rather than the physical body), but rather with my own reading attention. I also believe it was deliberate in a way, throwing the reader off-kilter and blurring the line between the two characters. So, read carefully! I can't quite bring myself to give this one four stars. I think this might be a fault on my end rather than the book's, part of the visceral reaction I had to the subject matter. Elevating it from an "it was alright"+ to an "it was good" is a mental step that I just can't take right now. This book makes me need a therapist.

[novelmonger]

I watched FMA: The Revenge of Scar on FMA Day and am only now talking about it shush leave me alone I was busy okay.

Both before and after watching it, I've come across a fair share of posts sharing their excitement about it, talking about it as something they enjoyed. And there's only one thought that comes to mind when I see them:

....Why?

I'm not trying to rain on anybody's parade or anything; I'm just genuinely confused. If you like these movies, what do you like about them? If you watched the first one and were excited when the sequel was announced, why? I'm just really confused, because I've watched two of these movies now, and...sorry to be blunt, but I thought both were a pile of crap ^^'

Am I just somehow missing everyone who's complaining about the movies? Or am I completely misunderstanding people who are trying to make the best of things? Because right now, I feel like I'm either left out of a huge, fandom-wide joke, or I've gone utterly insane.

I mean, I have sooooo many complaints against these movies, such as:

very fake-looking wigs and costumes (admittedly, they were a bit better in the second one)

Ed and Al were the only ones who could act their way out of a paper bag (I've only seen the sub, so can't speak to dub performances)

the CG looked so fake and ugly

even I noticed the awful greenscreen and masking lines

the transmutations were way too slow; I had horrible flashbacks to The Last Airbender x.x

terrible pacing, so both dramatic and comedic moments fall flat (which makes me want to cry, because Arakawa-san has such impeccable timing for both T^T)

nonsensical switching around of the timeline, creating problems for themselves they then have to scramble to solve in the most haphazard ways (like Ed's motivation to go to the ruins of Xerxes, which makes no sense now because they didn't have Ross go into hiding, so he had no reason to go into the desert; he just kind of...heard the word "ruins" and teleported to the desert)

WHAT ON EARTH WENT WRONG WITH ARMSTRONG WHY DID THEY GIVE HIM A PROSTHETIC SCALP JUST FIND AN ACTOR WHO LOOKS GOOD WITH A SHAVED HEAD GOODNESS GRACIOUS D:

Mei is waaaaaaaaaaaaay too old

the soundtrack is utterly forgettable, which is a huge shame when you compare it to the masterpieces of Michiru Oshima and Akira Senju that came before it

Envy's true form is nowhere near big enough

maybe a minor gripe, but the clapping and snapping for alchemy just...doesn't sound cool like it does in both animes :/ More realistic, I guess, but um...this is fantasy, you can let such things have big dramatic sound effects just because they sound cool....

why on earth does Winry have dark hair????? Why does everybody else have to wear awful wigs but she keeps her natural hair color???? aldkfjsa;kfljsdlfkjslkj;lkjsf

I was bored all the way through both movies and kept checking the time to see how much was left. Let me repeat that: I was BORED. In Full Metal Alchemist!

On the positive side, um.....

Ryosuke Yamada was basically the perfect choice to play Ed. He really nailed the character, and had some great expressions and deliveries that brought out Ed's personality without making it too cartoony and over-the-top (and I'm pretty sure that the problems I have with timing are more a fault of the director, rather than the actor)

I actually really enjoyed the scene where Ed and Al have their little confrontation about Al's soul being fake; it was new material, but 100% in-character, and full of the brotherly love that is at the heart of FMA

Nina is adooooorable :'3

Selim is also possibly the cutest little boy I've ever seen in my life; super hard to imagine him as a Homunculus, but that's kind of the point

props to them for the attention to detail required to recreate some scenes with even the same framing and angles as the manga now if only they'd also managed to recreate the pacing and emotional depth

Uh...yeah, that's all I've got. It really doesn't weigh out the negative side.

Again, if you liked the movies...please, I'm begging you, tell me why! I really want to understand ;_;

[potaracandy]

❝ I don't know about Trunks, but I more so wanted her to explain what the hell she was talking about. The thought to restrain her didn't even come to my mind. ❞ Without warning, Vegito could feel an indescribable fatigue coming over him then, having to recount that trial. It was ridiculous, the entire thing was, and it hasn't even been that long since it went down. The Saiyan wasn't sure when he'd get used to it, but he frankly hoped it'd be soon enough.

❝ No. Whatever Nina sees in him, it's invisible to me. Trunks, Shin, and Gowasu didn't get it either. ❞ He sighed. ❝ It's equally unbelievable that Zeno chose to honor her request. Then again, he hardly cares about morals…only whatever he finds entertaining enough. ❞ The Omni King viewed Zamasu as a kind of toy, more than anything else. The same most likely went for all of them - including Vegito himself, despite Zeno deeming him a friend.

The slight change in topic to bring up Trunks made a pit form at the bottom of his gut. He could vividly remember how the young warrior looked at Nina as he went back to his timeline…

❝ He was not having a good time, to put it mildly. What she did felt like betrayal to me, so it must have felt at least one hundred times worse for Trunks. Before returning home, he shared a farewell with me…but not her. ❞ Vegito shook his head. ❝ Her choice to protect that Kai has a lot of consequences. The bridge between she and Trunks probably burning to ash was the first of them. ❞

There was a chance none of them would even see that version of Trunks again, so this situation being what they parted on? It wasn't a pleasant feeling, even for Vegito.

Nabooru folded her arms as she listened to Vegito's tale, her grip on her forearms gradually paling her knuckles. Her scowl deepened with every turn of the story, and the fire in her eyes brightened dangerously. While her fury was no longer directed at the Saiyan, at least one part of this convoluted situation finally making some sense, the story did nothing to quell her rage.

Ninazu, you stupid, naïve, ignorant fool.

" You should have stopped her. Treat her like a child if she wishes to act like one, " she muttered darkly, gaze locked with his. However, her words lacked any real resolve, a sign of a woman simply trying to voice sense into the universe. " If it meant fighting her, then you or Trunks should have. Especially when the stupid idea of involving a couple of idiot child gods in the decision was brought up. "

She breathed out a huff, and swept her hand over her face, finally turning away as she felt walls begin to crumble, allowing all she pushed down, all she tried to heal from, to seep through the cracks. She closed her eyes tight, doing all she could not to hyperventilate or cry or just break, and focused on another. Trunks. Oh, Trunks. How did this effect him? He and Nina had been close, and yet...she chose to protect his tormentor over considering all Zamasu put him through. All he took from him when he already had so little. Decided he deserved a second chance for committing mass genocide and torturing a friend who had already suffered more than his fair share.

" This is insane, right? I'm not crazy for thinking that that monster doesn't deserve mercy or a second chance? " she shook her head. As much as she wanted to berate Ninazu, to scream at the top of her lungs about her idiotic decision, she shifted gears. " How's Trunks? What did he say? How did he react? Is he...well, I don't think he could be alright after all this. But...how is he holding up? "