#these are just the noteworthy ones for now

[butchpeace]

I know we aren't supposed to pay attention to celebs but as a detrans lesbian it genuinely hurts seeing these high-profile daughters of celebs (some of whom are lesbians) transition and suddenly gain more fame because of it.

Like, when Cher's daughter came out a lesbian she (Cher) practically kicked her out the house. Now that she's a transgender man she's way more famous and their familial relationship is apparently all hunky-dory now (gee, I wonder why). Sting's (the singer) daughter Eliot came out as a masc/androgynous lesbian in 2015 but is now nonbinary, got top surgery, and is getting more acting roles. Sade released her first song in years about her 'trans son''... like, you couldn't have made a song about loving your daughter until now?

I know the more cynical among us will write these off as just attempts to get more attention from the media and go on about "nepo babies" or whatever but it's still painful yknow? The only thing I'm understanding from this is that being a lesbian woman - especially a non-hyperfeminine one - is never enough no matter how relatively privileged you are.

(Cher's case is especially damaging considering she treated her lesbian daughter like shit until she transitioned and yet she's viewed as a 'gay icon'. Goes to show that people don't care about lesbians I guess?)

100%. I hate seeing this shit, and I think you’re right. Being a masculine lesbian is never enough. It’s never going to be something that people admire and look up to in a patriarchal culture. We will never get the praise that any other demographic of people get, because we go against all of society’s rules.

Being trans or nonbinary is partially a way for these women and their families to feel noteworthy and special.

Or it’s a way to feel more accepted and understood within heteronormative society, like it was for me.

It bothers me when I see any parent getting clout for having a trans kid. So much virtue signaling.

[srgntjamesbuckybarnes]

The List (8)

Summary: When a hit list spreads around New York, Bucky’s ex-wife is the only one with any information.

Rating: Mature

Pairing: Mafia Bucky Barnes x Ex-Wife Reader

Warnings: Violence

Word Count: 2.2k

A/N: Not Beta’d.

Series Masterlist

Previous Chapter

Chapter 8

Luxurious silk sheets glided through Y/N's fingers like butter as she reached for her husband. There was a gentle rustling beneath her fingertips amidst the cool sheets. Opening her eyes, a soft smile spread across her face as she discovered a note waiting for her.

Back soon. - Bucky x

Instead of waiting for Bucky to return, Y/N slipped her phone into the pocket of her maroon silk robe, then searched for Bucky in the only place he could be this early in the morning, his office. She had been walking on clouds the last 72 hours. If it weren't for the glint of the ring on her finger and the tousled bed sheets, she might have wondered if it had all been a figment of her imagination.

Bucky had always been a busy man; the active hit list only expedited his desire to capture Loki. Apparently, three days was all Bucky was willing to spare, even on house arrest. Y/N knew the expiration date for the honeymoon phase would arrive earlier the second time around. She couldn’t fault him for trying to protect his family. Their family.

Quietly slipping into the office, Y/N was met with the back of Bucky’s high-backed lavish chair. The sunlight pouring in from the window glinted off of his polished dress shoes that were protruding from the side of the chair. Her eyes homed in on the ankle monitor peeking out beneath the hem of his slacks where his crossed ankles rested on the bookshelf.

He was too relaxed to be working. Was he sleeping? Why would he sleep in the office instead of their bedroom? Y/N ran circles around her mind scouring for anything she might have done to drive him away. Coming up empty-handed, she pushed forward.

“Bucky,” Y/N cooed. Her hand glided along the top of the leather chair as she rounded it.

His feet came crashing down with a start, nearly knocking a few statues off the bookshelf.

Stumbling backward, Y/N’s eyes widened.

“Peter?! What are you doing here? Where’s Bucky?”

Peter scratched the back of his neck, his face flush as he spoke, “Uh, Mr. Barnes is working. He asked me to cover for him.”

“He asked you?” Y/N frowned, crossing her arms. “Where is he now?”

Lifting his pant leg, Peter grumbled, “More like told me.” His chocolate eyes jerked open. “Don’t tell him I said that.”

Y/N’s frown deepened. “Where is he?”

Peter shrugged. “He left this morning with Mr. Odinson.” He snapped his fingers. “Oh, he told me to tell you something.” He spun in the chair and began ransacking Bucky’s desk.

Perched on the edge of the desk, Y/N combed the top for anything noteworthy that might stand out.

“So, Bucky left you in charge?” Y/N hummed, attempting to understand what was going on.

Peter's fingers fumbled with the pockets of his slack as he shook his head. “He just told me to be him for the day. You know, do what he normally does so no one gets suspicious about the ankle monitor. Follow his routine.” He checked his watch briefly. “The last three days he's been locked away in his room, but he told me that was off limits, so I went to his office. That’s where he usually was at this time before you came back,” he blabbed.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Clearing his throat, Peter tidied his suit jacket and sat upright.

“Come in,” he called in a mock deep voice.

Y/N stifled a laugh, clearing her throat to mask her amusement at the boy's unsuccessful attempt to imitate Bucky.

One of Bucky’s men lingered in the doorway. His eyes glossed over Peter, a frown of disapproval etched on his face. Then his eyes landed on Y/N. 

She raised her chin, ignoring her lack of dress.

The man however, allowed his eyes to roam over the expanse of her exposed skin as he spoke, “Bucky’s lawyer is here.”

Y/N eyes trailed down to Peter as he snapped his fingers. With his pointer finger turned to the sky, a look of relief crossed his face. “That’s what I was supposed to tell you.”

With pursed lips, Y/N turned back to the man ogling her in the doorway. “Get rid of the lawyer. Tell him Bucky isn’t feeling well and will call to reschedule when he is-”

Click. Click. Click.

The man in the doorway hissed, bending at the waist to rub his calf. 

“My apologies,” a man in a gray suit with red tinted glasses spoke as his white cane struck the door frame.

The male in the doorway scoffed as the blind man successfully shut the door behind him.

“How did-” Peter wondered out loud. Y/N shot him a glare, silencing the boy.

“Sorry about him,” Y/N rounded the desk gently tapping the man’s forearm, “May I?”

The man tilted his head down in the direction of her voice and gave a subtle nod.

“Matt Murdock, at your service.” He introduced as Y/N guided him into a chair across from Bucky’s desk.

Y/N patted Mr. Murdock’s arm as he settled into the chair. His hand rested on top of hers, preventing her from running away. Matt’s head turned in her direction, “And you are?”

“Y/N Barnes,” she whispered.

Something about the way he stared at her made Y/N feel like he could see through her. As if he was able to read her just as well as her husband was able to. Unlike Bucky, Matt was a stranger. He couldn’t possibly be able to read her that well.

“Thank you, Y/N.” As soon as Matt lifted his hand, Y/N backed away. “It’s nice to finally meet the wife of my client.” His head cocked in Peter’s direction. “And who might you be?”

Peter spared Y/N a nervous glance before he introduced himself as Bucky in the same poor impression.

Y/N hid her face behind her hands.

Matt tilted his head. “Are you aware that it is a criminal offense to impersonate someone else?”

Peter’s eyes widened as he pulled at his dress shirt’s collar. “Did I say Bucky? I don't know why I said that. I’m Peter. Definitely Peter,” he rushed.

Y/N stepped forward, noticing the way Matt’s head turned slightly at her movement. “Bucky is unable to meet with you today.”

Without missing a beat, Matt pressed forward, “I guess that gives us enough time to discuss your side of the story. I don’t recommend putting a client or their significant other on the stand, but your husband isn’t exactly the most likable man in New York. I’ll need your help to humanize Mr. Barnes to the jury.”

Y/N’s mouth gaped open as she dropped on the edge of the desk. “You’re going to put me on the stand?”

The corner of Matt’s lips turned upward. “Even if you could guarantee your husband’s innocence, the other lawyer would try to pull secrets out of you to incriminate Mr. Barnes. None of which would help this case or your marriage.”

Y/N sighed in relief.

“Besides, Mr. Barnes had declined your involvement during the trial and requested to keep his marriage out of it.”

“So, what do you need from me?”

“A photographer caught you and Mr. Barnes kissing at the event. I’ll need your statement of what happened to keep you off the stand. According to your husband, no one loves Mr. Barnes more than his wife. Surely you can enlighten me on some of his better qualities for the jury.”

Heat pricked beneath the surface of Y/N’s skin. Her heart swelled at the thought of Bucky leaving his character in her hands. Bucky may walk around with the confidence of a lion in a jungle, but behind closed doors, he curses his life. Not only did Y/N love Bucky, she also knew him better than anyone. If the case relied solely on her image of Bucky, he’d walk out of the courthouse a freeman.

Still, it didn’t feel right to speak about Bucky without him present. It was his trial and image. Not only would the public be watching, his enemies would be as well. Y/N’s knuckles turned white as she gripped the wood of the desk. “I should really wait for-”

A vibration from her robe pocket stunned her. Loki’s name flashed across her cellphone.

Steve. He told her to find him the next time Loki reached out. She needed to find Steve. He could trace the call.

“Is Steve here?”

Matt perked up at the urgency in her voice.

“No,” Peter responded.

Y/N cursed under her breath.

“Do you need to take that?” Matt asked.

Y/N shook her head. She shouldn’t. Bucky and Steve weren’t here. The less contact with Loki the better. “It’s just an ex.” Her finger hovered over the decline button.

“Loki?” Matt took her silence as confirmation. “Mr. Barnes told me about the hit list.” Matt drummed his fingertips along the arm of the chair. “You should answer it. On speaker.”

Y/N hesitated. Fuck Steve for not being here when Loki called. Her finger shifted, answering the call instead.

“Hello?”

Matt and Peter leaned forward.

“Pet,” Loki breathed, “you answered.”

“What do you want?” Y/N grumbled.

“I wanted to thank you.” Loki hummed. “Bucky Barnes is cunning and deceitful. That makes a man hard to catch.” Y/N stomach twisted as Loki beamed on the other end. She could hear the smile on his face which could only mean things were going his way. “Then you showed up with more wounds than a stray. A ring and a list later and you were leading me right to him.”

“Is this a game to you? People are dying,” Y/N snarled.

“You should be thanking me for fixing that pathetic excuse of a marriage you had,” he spat. “Thank you for returning the ring. I would have been offended if you weren’t so predictable.”

Y/N bit her tongue. “You’re hurt. You don’t mean any of that.”

“I could’ve loved you. I didn’t want to, but I did in the beginning.” He paused. “It was you who never loved me.” Y/N opened her mouth ready to protest, but Loki beat her to it. “I gave you the world and it still wasn't enough. All because I wasn’t him. I could never compete with him.”

“Loki,” Y/N breathed. She wanted to tell him it wasn’t true. She wanted to tell him she had loved him. She did. She just loved Bucky more.

“I loathed Barnes before I met you. Now, I loathe you too,” he hissed, his voice laced with venom.

“You’re killing people.”

“You think Barnes has never gotten his hands dirty? If you believe people are loyal to him because they adore him, then you’d be mistaken. I’m killing the Barnes empire and everything that comes with it.” He paused. “You always looked divine in red,” Loki trailed off.

Y/N only had enough time to peek down at the maroon robe she wore.

“Get down!” Matt shouted, tackling Y/N off the desk. Her back hit the wooden floor knocking the wind out of her.

SMASH.

Y/N’s body tensed beneath the lawyer. Her forearms shielding her face from the shards of glass that fell around them.

With his back against the wall, Peter peeked out of the broken window with his gun raised high.

Y/N’s body grew rigid with tension as she awaited the next move. Her muscles involuntarily contracted as gunshots reverberated through the air.

It wasn’t until Peter was standing above her with his hand outstretched in her direction that her muscles began to relax. Accepting Peter’s hand, she stood spotting the lawyer standing by the window dusting off his pants.

“How did you-” Y/N began, but she didn’t know which of the million questions swirling her brain to ask.

The corner of Matt’s lips jerked upward as he rested both hands on the top of his cane in front of him.

“I’m a really good lawyer.”

Concern etched onto Peter’s face as he surveyed the wrecked office.

“Do you want me to clean this up before Mr. Barnes sees it?”

Y/N shook her head, tiptoeing around the broken glass searching for her discarded phone.

Matt cleared his throat, holding up Y/N’s phone in his left hand. A spider crack stretched across the face of the phone. Y/N frowned, plucking the useless phone from his fingers. At least Loki was gone.

“We should talk.” Matt gestured to the window. “Perhaps somewhere away from windows.”

Y/N eyed the man and his cane suspiciously.

“Follow me.”

Peter kept his eyes trained on the lawyer the entire way to the boardroom. He racked his brain for an explanation to Matt Murdock’s fast reflexes and he was sure Y/N was doing the same.

Once the doors closed behind them, Matt faced the two. His hands resting on the cane before him.

“In the interest of my client’s unique situation, I did some research. If I may advise you, off the record, on the Loki situation.”

Hope filled Y/N’s chest at the prospect of the hit list coming to an end.

With Y/N’s consent, Matt stated the obvious, “Loki isn’t going anywhere, and neither is the hit list.” He cocked his head. “What do you know about the dead pool?"

Next Chapter

Taglist: @vicmc624 @winterslove1917 @unaxv @hangmanscoming @globetrotter28 @athenabarnes @shara-ne @mal-adaptive-dreams @jvanilly @d3m0n8ch1ld @ppbhquinn @alysianc @firstcashheroathlete @malum-forev @missvelvetsstuff @animegirlgeeky @blue786sworld @blackwood-bodecker-housewife @alessandraavengers @ozwriterchick @nerdgirljen @emily-roberts @pandabearrrrrrr @venting402 @barewithme02 @introverbatim @buckybarnessimpp @mega-kittyglitter-1 @yung-griffyndork0 @toriluvsfics @samahenoyrhye @motivation-idontknowher @pics-and-fanfics @po55um @devil11197 @keeperofsecrets6411 @natasha-died-4-our-sins @marvel-marauder16 @sugamilkteaxkookiesxcream @mcu21lover19 @imgaybutimstraight @buckysbarne @playboystark @sargexcapsprincess @eviltinkerbell14 @quethekillerqueen @barewithme02 @buuuuuuucky @reader-without-a-story @5lutty5arah

[gideonnavtheninth]

FINALLY name time! Abigail name time!!!!

Once again, Pent and Quinn are 5 in Greek and Latin respectively, which we all know is the pattern. NOW, first names are fun! Abigail, meaning-wise is biblical. It shows up a couple times, as the name of the wife of Nabal and one of David's wives, and as the name of David's sister. Jewish Women's Archive describes Abigail (Nabal's wife) in this way

Abigail, the wife of Nabal of Carmel, is the only woman in the Hebrew Bible who is described as both intelligent and beautiful ... She is “of good sense and beautiful in looks,” while he is “hard and evil in his deeds” ... Alternatively, according to the written text he is just “like his heart” Later, the narrative recounts that “his heart died within him and he became like stone". Mean and inhospitable, he meets his fate, measure-for-measure, in the petrification of his hard heart. It accounts for Abigail’s motivation: why she intervenes secretly to provide a feast for David and his men without consulting her husband. In a subtle twist, she simultaneously saves her household and allies herself with David, eventually in matrimony when she is fortuitously widowed.

The things that feel noteworthy here are A. Abigail being very defined by having a husband (But, in this case, her husband sucks) B. Several mentions of the heart, which... they are the heart of the emperor! and C. She's widowed! Continuing down her story, we see some more stuff that feels of note

She further portends that God will establish a “sure house” for David, foreshadowing Nathan’s prophecy of an everlasting dynasty for the king. She ends her speech with a hint: “when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, then remember your handmaid”. David then praises her good sense and expresses gratitude that she restrained him from bloodshed, uttering an oath to counter the prior violent one

Every time I see the word "house" alarm bells start ringing. Anyway, an everlasting dynasty feels particularly familiar here. I mean, Abigail doesn't have all that much to do with Jod, but it still feels relevant to be drawing connections when I see them.

Based on her prescience, the Talmud identifies Abigail as one of the seven female prophets in the Hebrew Bible. More likely, she is keenly perceptive about the shifting tides of history.

Not anything extraordinary here, but the concept of Abigail being "keenly perceptive about the shifting tides of history" feels pretty accurate to our Abigail!

When Abigail returns home, she finds her husband drunk from feasting “like a king” and waits until the morning to tell him what she has done. His heart then strangely turns to stone and he dies ten days later, struck by “the Lord”. David, hearing that she has been widowed, sends for her. She obsequiously prostrates herself, calling David “lord” and herself “maidservant prepared to wash [his] servants’ feet”; though, ironically, she follows the messenger with five maids on donkeys in tow. She then becomes his wife

Feels like she's very defined by being people's wives. If anything, I feel like Magnus is the wife guy in TLT. But, again, we're seeing a whole lot of heart talk, which feels like it has to mean something. The whole point of this reread is rereading so I'm certain I'm missing things, but I never got the impression Abigail was all that zealous in her religion. I will say, I will be keeping an eye out for anything that really makes Abigail feel particularly Jod-sympathizing. In GTN, we don't really blink at people supporting the emperor outside of times where it really stands out, like the Eighth, but I do wanna watch out for Abigail mentioning the emperor at all. Just something to keep in mind.

Good old' Wikipedia describes her name as derived from the Hebrew word ab, "father", and the Hebrew root g-y-l, "to rejoice," Meaning it probably means "father's joy". Again, not all that sure how this relates to Abigail the character, but still gotta cover my bases.

Abigail's self-styling as a handmaid led to Abigail being a traditional term for a waiting-woman, for example as the waiting gentlewoman in Beaumont and Fletcher's The Scornful Lady, published in 1616

The aesthetic makes sense to me. Abigail is very gentlewoman in my eyes.

Nooo Magnus don't get your own post. Nooo don't make the fifth house like 4 different posts nooo Magnus

[itriedsohard]

My Fav Les Mis Fics (ao3 obvi)

Enjoltaire Pirate AU, ~40K words, complete, absolutely amazing, pirate captain Enjolras, Les Amis as his crew, I’ve read it too many time lol, lots of background ships.

Enjoltaire Ballet AU, ~70K words, complete, 10/10 I recommend this to EVERYONE, it’s so good, author literally choreographed and came with ideas for a full new ballet, glorious

Enjotaire (are we seeing a pattern here? lol I’m obsessed with those two), One Shot, ~4K words, only available to ppl with accounts sadly, TW for mentions of sũ!cide but happy ending, R is kinda fed up with E’s idealism

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

*tries to organize my thoughts*

*remembers i'm not in school and therefore beholden to neither heaven nor hell nor any man's grading system*

*joyously shredding & tossing all my carefully arranged 3x5 mental notecards into the air like so much beige confetti. raising my arms in victory, cheering raucously until i accidentally inhale bits of homemade confetti*

(*coughing up itty bits of paper like a cat evicting a hairball with a firm understanding of tenants' rights*) wait wat happens next

[cingulata]

Since it's Dave Goelz's birthday, here's one of my favorite Dave quotes of all time (from this interview):

"I like you, you're sick enough to stay around."

[ereborne]

Song of the Day: November 22

“What Kinda Gone” by Chris Cagle

[arolesbianism]

Mental health shit is kicking my ass but at least I have my silly guys

[stairset]

Love the idea here that the other rebels' problem with Saw is just that he blows shit up and not the whole "torturing prisoners and endangering civilians" thing

[orcelito]

Came up with a last name for my new dnd character hehehe

Ceferino Martín... it has a certain cadence to it, I think.

[no1ryomafan]

So for awhile I’ve been trying to rationalize myself as to why Getter never got popular in the states as I feel it’s a show more people would generally like-not to mention give a shot with how short it is-and main assumption was due to it being an OVA as it being a direct to video ordeal a lot of people missed out on it-

Until I found out that Android Kikaider-a show I need to finish-HAD it’s OVA aired on CARTOON NETWORKS ADULT SWIM. So OVAs aren’t exclusive to tv hell but that it clicked to me the real reason: because getter has gore. Because even as an adult show you can’t show extensive gore on tv without needing to censor it and Arma has the brutal ep 8 massacre scene while New has a lot of head smashing.

I’m gonna go flip a table out of rage even though this is my fault for not realizing the obvious sooner.

[applestorms]

morality in the world of good omens

so i wrote another (admittedly very messy) essay on good omens not long ago right after watching season 2 but after finishing that, rewatching all of both seasons multiple times, and reading through the book, i have a couple more distinct ideas to get out...somewhere...if only for my own sanity. this is me throwing my thoughts into the internet before i pop, if you will. just 3 sections, below the cut.

1. environment, characters, & transformative fandom creations

to start this post off a bit more broadly, i've been thinking a lot recently about transformative fandom and the reasons why we write fanfiction/create semi-original works in the first place, as well as why certain aspects of fandom (writing, art, analysis, etc.) will be more appealing to me for certain shows/series than others. correct me if you have a totally different view of this, but in my experience i've found that i tend to naturally gravitate towards different parts of fandom depending on what the original medium of the story was- podcasts tend to lead to some of the most interesting art trends, for example, since there's more room for interpretation and character design tends to be more of an ongoing community project than something set in stone like for a tv show with live human actors.

in my own observation, i've noticed that a lot of the really big & excitable fandoms, the ones that generate tons & tons of fanworks more naturally (a.k.a. just because of the story itself & not other factors like a pre-existing franchise or hype about new great gay representation, etc.) tend to surround stories that fall into a kind of "sweet spot" that makes the creation of fanworks really appealing. if you've ever wondered why there are so many ravenous artists bending over backwards to draw gorgeous fanart for stuff like homestuck or south park or even minecraft youtubers, it's likely because those stories all fall into a sweet spot for drawing, with character designs that are recognizable at a glance and yet still simple enough that there is plenty of room for personal creative touches. (think also, if you're familiar with such kinds of homestuck terms: hyperflexible mythologies, A4:1524, and/or this archive link cause the official thing is down now for some reason)

the conclusion i've come to is thus that even something as basic as the original medium of a story can dictate a lot about what kinds of fan activities are more common or popular within said story's fandom.

so, back to good omens- for me, this all relates back because of a question i've been messing with in my head recently, about why i've been less interested in fanfiction for good omens than i have been for the last few fandoms i've been, almost all of which have basically broken my ao3 bookmarks.

this question has been fucking with me for a while now, largely because i'm not entirely sure what's motivating it. a lot of times i can figure out pretty easily why i might personally not be interested in some parts of fandom, but that's not really the case here. from what i've seen this fandom seems to be pretty mixed in terms of age, & the writing that i have read is certainly no worse than i've seen elsewhere, perhaps even better in some places- and yet, i can't seem to get entirely into it, even getting frustrated as i can't find something to my tastes for an ao3 bedtime story as i've grown so accustomed. what caught me off guard is that this was an issue that i ran into while watching season 1 as well, back when the series was still quite popular but not blowing up like it is right now.

a lot of this may seem like (and likely is, at least in part) basic overthinking, but i mentioned it all here because the answer i eventually came to is reminiscent of my previous reflections above on the nature of fandom & how/why fanworks are created.

a couple paragraphs above, i used the example of art as an example of how fandoms that generate a lot of original artwork will often do the most when the original story falls into a sweet spot of character design, but notably i think that this sentiment applies to a lot more than just art. if you've ever seen the copious amounts of kpop & hockey rpf fanfiction that lives on ao3, it should be clear that this applies to writing too.

i wrote this essay a while back responding to an observation about the lack of a more extensive symbolic language in fanfiction & i've toyed around with the idea more since, particularly in considering the question of why a lot of what we see as the staples of fanfiction exist in the first place. in that post, my response largely revolved around an argument of why we create fanfiction- namely, that fanfiction is created as in tandem with deeper analysis of the original story/series, as a way of trying to practically apply character analysis to a new context.

the key part of that last sentence to me is how a lot of this revolves around character analysis (and shipping, but really it's the characters that motivate the shipping in most cases so. same difference).

i tend to instinctively separate fanfiction into two separate categories: fanfiction that is based out of the original world/canon of the story (including but not limited to fix-its, deeper analysis fics that take a scene & extrapolate from it, continuations, etc.) and fanfiction that takes the characters from the original story & plops them in an alternate universe/AU. while i separate these out as two distinct categories of fanfiction, i should also clarify that i don't think these two groups are necessarily equal in terms of number of fics- rather, the vast majority of fanfiction tends to be AUs, keeping the original characters & changing any & all aspects of the world around them. again, this may vary depending on the story & Vibe of the fandom at the time, stories like game of thrones or harry potter or homestuck might have a lot more in the canon category by nature of any major dissatisfactions the fandom has with how the original story was told, but in most cases AUs are more popular. this was a lot of the basis behind my argument that fanfiction is created as character analysis in fact, since the characters are the most important part that carries over from original story to fanwork, as well as can end up being one of the most debated/scorned parts when it comes to fandom drift (i.e. "that's out of character"/"he wouldn't do that"/and all other such arguments about fanon vs. canon characterization).

basically, my conclusion in this case was that i was a lot less interested in gomens fic largely because i have a really hard time separating the characters from the world in the case of this particular story. aziraphale & crowley being an angel & a demon and dealing with all of the bullshit of their world when it comes to heaven & hell are such integral parts of their characters in my mind that i have a much harder time getting behind AU fanfiction that plops them in a totally different context. it's just a much harder sell for keeping the characters in character for me. (i also tend to not like s2 fix-its just cause, idk they're just not my style, which is where a lot of the recent blast of energy has led us.) to clarify, this is not a judgement, just a matter of personal preference and a reflection of why, even if a lot of fandoms will look the same from the outside/involve the same things like art, fic, etc., an individual's mileage can vary wildly when it comes to how they interact with different things online.

*additional note, also for clarification: i do want to acknowledge that a lot of this depends on pure popularity as well, popular fandoms will often end up with basically everything in terms of fanworks just by nature of how many people are interacting with & thinking deeply about the story. my point here is more along the lines of the fact that even within the more well-populated fandoms, certain types of fanwork will often Stick Out more to me than others, or even be visibly much more common than in other fandoms, due largely to the original medium/structure of how the story.

so, speaking of aziraphale & crowley in more depth now- why does the world of good omens feel like such an integral part of their personalities when it comes to characterization? up next, let's talk about morality within the context of good omens' perhaps surprisingly secular take on heaven & hell.

2. the amorality of heaven & hell (ft. the crowley quote apples you know the one)

(warning in advance that this section may be a bit limited since i'm not going to get super far (or very far at all, really) into the whole religious-analysis aspect of good omens.)

i've been binge-reading the original pterry & gaiman book for good omens over the last few days and it's been very fun seeing all the slight changes between the tv show & the original. you can really see the hand of the original creators in how the tv show was translated, even just by looking at which parts made it and which parts were deemed worth cutting out. i suppose having one of the original creators right there helping build everything really helps make a book -> show translation work, since the ASOUE tv series was also pretty well received- something about knowing what's the core of the series & truly important to keep in, and having more time to tell the story itself?

anyways, i have a short list of notes that i've been taking as i read, conversations that stand out to me or footnotes that particularly amused me, but i keep coming back to one line that stood out to me quite early on. in context, this line comes from crowley during the conversation where he is first attempting to fully convince aziraphale about stopping armageddon, specifically when they're talking about exerting equal forces on warlock to make him normal:

"You're saying the child isn't evil of itself?" [Aziraphale] said slowly. "Potentially evil. Potentially good, too, I suppose. Just this huge powerful potentiality, waiting to be shaped," said Crowley. He shrugged. "Anyway, why're we talking about this good and evil? They're just names for sides. We know that."

(pg. 67)

"They're just names for sides." if i had to pick one line to sum up the view on religious morality of this series, this would likely be it.

on the one hand, i tend to interpret a lot gomens' take on heaven & hell within the context of its political stance, something that is particularly obvious through a line from gabriel in s2e2 where he tries to clarify to aziraphale that heaven isn't trying to hurt job directly, but instead is just not stopping hell from doing horrible things to him. while there may be some additional nuance to add to this take within the context of british politics that i don't really know well enough to add about, i'm inclined to see this from the side of my own familiar american politics, which might hold some weight considering how long mr. gaiman's lived around here. point is, my current interpretation of that line is that it helps in more clearly establishing the analogy of heaven & hell as the story moves forward into newer seasons and thus more contemporary politics, equating heaven with mainstream liberal politics & politicians and hell with conservatives.

this stance seems to be emphasized even more in the tv show than the book which makes sense considering its been coming out more recently, and especially in season 2 which is still quite caught up in a lot of quarantine-based reflection. (the tv show puts a lot more emphasis on heaven & hell in general, actually, perhaps initially a byproduct of actually being able to see those environments in their entirety and all the angels & demons that populate them- but we'll get to that.)

the book takes a slightly different stance that, fittingly, seems more reflective of the time it came out. in particular, i was struck a lot more when reading the book by adam's rise (fall?) to power, and how much of it was motivated by a burgeoning nervousness/pessimism about climate change and the anxieties of younger generations that comes with inheriting an earth that feels so fucked up. honestly if anything it's only gotten more relevant in that respect, what with the current vibe on the internet & the hopelessness of the doomer gen z gang, but it also has a distinctly different flavor to me from the tv show, which i think is largely because it's less connected to Formal politics since again we see a whole lot less of heaven & hell as such distinct, bureaucratic entities.

instead, there is a very distinctly amoral aspect to heaven & hell that we get through lines like the one above and especially from characters like crowley. this is why i argue that good omens, despite having so many religious elements, is such a deeply secular take, especially when it comes to its ethics & morality- Good and Evil, notably with the capital letters in this case, has very little to do with actual actions and much more to do with the name that you stamp on top of said actions. heaven & hell and the angels & demons that we see directing and watching and generally fucking with aziraphale & crowley throughout the story are distinctly separate from humanity, and as we see even more as the story progresses, distinctly unaware about what it even means to be a human, in both a deeper philosophical & very basic and literal sense. Good and Evil is simply another name for the sides- and thus the true ethics is something separate, and based in a deeply human experience.

in my opinion this is also why aziraphale & crowley, lovers of humanity and also to some degree spokespersons of it from how much they've "gone native," tend to be so deeply at odds with both heaven & hell and always end up agreeing with each other over their own supposed sides. what makes aziraphale & crowley so distinctly different is that they ascribe to the same ethics & morality that humanity does, or at the very least are trying to figure out ethics & morality & How to Be a Good Person in the same horribly messy way that humans do, separating them from the black & white "this side Good & this side Bad," logic that the rest of heaven & hell instinctively ascribe to.

there's a lot of nuance here, which is also why i think there is such an emphasis on moral ambiguity (and love, but we'll get to that) throughout season 2. the story of job, grave robbing, & questionable attempts at matchmaking- aziraphale is working through a lot of Shit right now when it comes to trying to figure out what the Good thing actually fucking is, and i think it's key that a lot of that is motivated by crowley himself. crowley might'e been cast out of heaven for asking too many questions, but aziraphale is there & listening to them & giving them the serious thought they deserve, and that can't be overlooked.

sidenote: i couldn't figure out a place to shove this in, but i also wanna point out that a lot of this is tied to the idea of growing over time too. on the same page as the quote transcribed above is another line from crowley leading up to aziraphale's question that puts a lot of emphasis on the fact that warlock is going to be a product of nurture, not nature. again, this is an argument against basic black & white assigned-at-birth morality for the ability of humans to grow & change over time and be influenced by the people around them.

it's notable that despite adam's supposed origin as a Son of Satan, what really gets him to stop the apocalypse in the end is the fact that he doesn't really give a shit about all this big plans but instead just wants to hang around his friends. there's a lot of emphasis in the book placed on how beautiful & nice tadfield is as a place for a young kid to grow up, how well loved & fiercely protected it as as something beloved to adam. while he might be overwhelmed when faced with the full picture of how horrible the world can be, ultimately what he cares about is loving & taking care of the people & places that he grew up learning were precious, and the only way to do that is to keep growing & changing yourself within that world and trying to help it also grow into something better, not throw it all away just for the slightest chance that you could restart. a message worth taking the time to think about, at the absolute very least.

3. finding morality w/in humanity: crowley & aziraphale and speculation for s3

i have complicated feelings about both aziraphale & crowley throughout a lot of the show and especially in season 2. i think a lot of people, myself included, are inclined to see crowley as the voice of reason in this season, and for good reason- as i mentioned before, a lot of aziraphale's deeper questioning of the status quo and goodness (Goodness) as a whole is motivated by questions from crowley.

i kiiind of mentioned this in my previous essay, but to state it more clearly, my take on crowley is that he's arriving at the right answer for the wrong reasons, and, conversely, aziraphale is arriving at the wrong answer for... kind of also the wrong reasons but also slightly for the right reasons. let me explain.

crowley is clearly much more aware of the flaws in both heaven & hell than aziraphale is, which seems to be the basis behind a lot of his motivation in asking aziraphale so many questions in the first place. he's also, as maggie & nina point out in s2e6, deeply lonely, often running away or getting ready to fight literally anyone that isn't aziraphale (or humans, but that's a little more complicated). from his reaction to beelz & gabriel getting together, i think it's pretty clear that he still hasn't entirely given up on the whole alpha centauri idea, and it makes sense- as i said in that last essay, crowley basically won the argument at the end of the previous season when it comes to aziraphale & crowley, "making [their] own side," so he doesn't have much reason to face any of his personal fears until maggie & nina basically point out that they exist directly to his face. once they do point it out, however, he's very motivated to act & does so almost immediately, even after hearing what aziraphale has to tell him and being pretty thoroughly devastated by it.

my point here is that crowley is correct in seeing the toxicity of both heaven & hell, he's just flawed and largely motivated by fear (up for debate if that's all it is, but i certainly think it's a big part of it) in his desire to run away from it all. it's not quite armageddon, again he's going more flight > fight here, but he's still ultimately giving up and that's not a great conclusion.

on the other hand, as some others on this site have pointed out, aziraphale is certainly showing a lot of strength in his willingness to keep fighting & try to change things for the better, but it's not hard to see how that belief has been twisted. one of aziraphale's biggest flaw in motivation at this point imo is that he doesn't just believe in goodness but Goodness, the kind that's tied to heaven always being right & all actions being morally Good so long as they're done under the name of heaven, and that clearly also isn't great.

thus what i think the both of these two really need ultimately is that deeper connection to humanity, and the ethics born from humans interacting with humans. we can already see how strong these two are when they collaborate, even when they're doing their absolute best to be as subtle as possible, but what i think they need is to once again be grounded by humanity, not to get so caught up in the bullshittery of heaven & hell and Good & Evil, but once again find a goodness defined by the world that they mutually love so much and stick with it.

i keep tossing a question around in my head about whether or not aziraphale & crowley are going to end up human by the end of this series. it feels natural that they would, they're already so at home and in love with earth & around humanity, but i'm also not entirely sure if that would be a happy ending for them considering how long they've watched & loved the world as it's changed. perhaps taking this post into account is another push towards humanity as a happy ending, not running away to a cottage to get away from the world (i just can't see running away to a cottage to be together as as happy ending, sorry- it might work for beelz & gabriel but not for aziraphale & crowley), but choosing to settle down within that world that is so dear.

[galacticlamps]

actually ascension needs its own post since that's the one with the most details to speculate over and im starved for soho talk so i will talk to myself if need be

First the cover again, because I kinda can't get over it:

my only thing is that I had been hoping we might get Lizbeth on a cover again since she's never been on one of the boxsets before, despite being the 2nd person credited on all 4 of them (even if that's just alphabetical, still, she's the only one of the four main characters who never makes the cover)

But letting that go...

I know we already kinda knew the brief for this one but damn I didn't expect it to go quite this hard. Maybe that's just because the Parasite & Ashenden covers were (comparatively) similarish to each other and I was so pleased with Unbegotten's, and then got so used to it as the placeholder for Ascension while they kept postponing it, I wasn't expecting anything this colorful or detailed or with what I can't help but register as Fun New Outfits even though these are still like, pretty damn basic as far as costumes go. Still, it's a different vibe from everyone in suits and trenchcoats on every cover, technically. (Oh the woes of being an audio fan such that two characters owning sweaters actually does qualify as new information)

On top of just being visually delightful though, I know we knew religion was gonna be a fairly big part of this one, but I didn't actually expect to get quite this much of it - though I'm glad of it for a number of reasons. The BF twitter already made the ineffable joke so I don't have to, but also yeah I did very much spend all of season 2 episode 4 of good omens half convinced Samuel Barnett & Dervla Kirwan were about to pop up around any given corner (if you will go around being gay supernatural and horrible at your messy bureaucratic jobs in midcentury soho then I'm sorry, this is where my brain's gonna go) - so, fuel to that fire. But in terms of actual important things, at least one of my Soho wishes looks to be being granted because we have a Rev Edward Folgate on the cast list, which must mean we're finally meeting Norton's father, even if his mother & brother don't appear (which they could, technically, I've definitely seen BF not list all the doublings on their cast tabs before). Religion, domesticity, and the nuclear family are all things that absolutely fascinate me when it comes to Norton's character, so getting any amount of story involving his father & his church is something I've been actively hoping for for a long time now.

(I will say I'm a tiny bit bummed Saffron Coomber isn't on the cast list to play Mia again, but I kinda figured she wasn't going to be since Greg Austin's Armitage, who's making his first recurring appearance after originating in Unbegotten, was listed ever since the boxset was announced - presumably if she was also returning, that would've been handled in the same way. But since Unbegotten ended with Lizbeth and Mia going on a date, I still held out hope. Who knows though, maybe things did go well for them and Lizbeth just has a better work/life balance than Norton so she can date someone without them getting dragged into every scifi plot. I know that's not a very common accomplishment for any Torchwood agent, but a gal can hope)

At this point I know I'm completely in the realm of speculation & even wishful thinking, but I'm really really hoping we get some more clues as to Norton's overall timeline in this one, and I have a feeling that even if there's nothing as direct as dates given, the events of a plot like this one are going to heavily influence my personal interpretation of it.

To say that life & death are major themes for the soho crew feels wildly reductive, but even by Torchwood's standards and taking into account its origins as a piece of media with Jack Harkness & his newfound immortality at the heart of it, the living/dead status of this bunch has always been fantastically up in the air to me. Obviously Ghost Mission introduced Norton as kind of a ghost before revealing more obvious ghostly characters later on to which the title might have been referring, but his being from the past did beg the question of his survival into Torchwood's present era all the same, which Outbreak later alludes to much more directly, and his habit of showing up via hologram in multiple stories only further obfuscates any certainty we might have about where & when he definitely can be said to be alive and well. Then you've got Lizbeth and Gideon both being effectively 'brought back to life' via paradoxes that prevented them ever having died in the first place. Again, they are very very far from being the only Torcwhood characters this happens to (for a sprawling EU, it's really rather impressive how often & in how many different ways Torchwood as a whole manages to circle back to being about like. chaotic undead queers at the end of every day. though I suppose that consistency is part of why I keep falling in love with its different iterations again and again). That's without even getting into the question of Norton's dubious fate in God Among Us - and I say dubious because I know some people take that to be his ultimate death, but I personally think that reading something as vague as that as having any kind of finality rather goes against the spirit of this whole world/series, not just because I want him to live. (There are obviously other ways to make him survive/reappear, but I don't see this as a River Song scenario where we can safely assume one of his earlier-released adventures had to happen at the end of his personal timeline). But wherever God Among Us falls for him, he does very much meet God in it - or at least, a god, since the sentinel in Unbegotten is also described as a god of sorts, and even if he doesn't ultimately have the status of the god Jacqueline King is playing there, Unbegotten is still full to bursting with ghosts/undead/came back wrong/echo characters to continue underscoring that life/afterlife theme.

So all things considered, even allowing for the fact that we know Norton's twin hobbies are lying about himself and abusing time travel to suit his own ends/ever-shifting alliances, I find it difficult to believe we could get through a whole 6-part boxset about religion & death without something providing some kind of compelling evidence about where this adventure fits in among his other run-ins with apocalypses and gods and ghosts and dead-but-still-here characters/creatures, so I'm very much looking forward to any further exploration on that front.

And lastly, and least intellectually, I really want to know what the hell 20th-century Torchwood's obsession with Reginalds is. Reading through the cast list, I had to do two separate doubletakes over the character 'Sir Reginald Peebles' - firstly, because I had Reginald Rigsby on the brain, this being Soho (and the other Troughton brother being so active on BF's releases for this same month) - and secondly, because reading this in conjunction with the announcement for the July monthly adventure in which the new main Torchwood guy of the 20s is apparently called Sir Reginald Dellafield, there was a brief moment where I took that monthly release to be a tie-in with Ascension. I don't expect it to be, but damn. was it really so popular a name?

anyways, catch me thinking about those stained glass windows for the next couple months I guess (and knowing Torchwood Soho, for a long long time after it comes out as well lol)

[cdreambur]

I'm curious.. what are some of your favorite films in terms of cinematography?

i'm sure i'm going to forget some since i've watched so many movies in my life and i definitely don't remember all of them lol

since i've already mentioned it, i absolutely adore rogue one. it's such a good movie, no matter from what perspective you're looking at it, but the cinematography is just chef's kiss. they got so many amazing shots in this, and there's this one scene towards the end that's just so incredible, especially in the context of the movie, that it makes me go a little insane every time i watch it.

another one i can think of from the top of my head right now is everything everywhere all at once. i can't even put into words how much i love that movie (all of these oscars were deserved man) and i think the cinematography plays a big part in that. like, this film is so good it makes me a little mad sometimes lol

i mean, we already talked about interstellar, and, looking through a list i made for one of my friends, i'm extending some notable mentions to inception, the spider-verse films (of course), knives out, dune, and all quiet on the western front.

i'm not going to go too much into it because we would be here until tomorrow, but i love all of these films.

[longroadstonowhere]

feels so weird to finally almost be done with the silver snow route

forgot i wasn't playing on casual so i got hanneman killed before the timeskip, but other than him i think i've gotten all the supports for the knights of seiros and academy people (or at least gotten their black eagle supports)

gonna do the wolf dlc thing next cuz i keep seeing it getting referenced and i wanna know what people are talking about, and then we'll see if i'm burned out again or if i wanna do my mega recruitment crimson flower route (recruit literally everyone, see who stays after the timeskip, get all the little fiddly cross-house supports i can)

i keep having to remind myself that i don't agree with edelgard in this route, though, which is very hard, hahahaha - i did realize that in the enbarr fight, there are specific buildings that proc reactions from dorothea and flayn (and i assume manuela and seteth, but i didn't have them on the mission), which is very cool

switch is dying though so i have to stop for the night right before the 'kill edelgard' mission

[swanconcerto]

i wish there was a way to just transplant scriabin’s fourth sonata into my brain and hands