#you know... now that i think about it this isn't just a parallel between angel and faith in both having tried the suicide by cop thing

[oveliagirlhaditright]

You have no idea what it's like to have done the things I've done... and to care.

[currymanganese]

Fak is too involved in Carmy and Claire's relationship. From giving Claire Carmy's number to showing up at her job with his equally annoying brother. He needs to mind his business and stop assuming what Carmy wants. In s3 ep9 Fak tells Claire he thinks (then later says knows) Carmy loves her. If you don't know Carmy's true feelings about her, why tf are you speaking for him?

Also sometimes it seems like Carmy doesn't even like Fak like that. They rarely have one-on-one scenes together and their conversations are mostly surface leveI. I always thought Fak and Richie were closer. In s2 ep3, when Claire and Carmy are talking on the phone, Carmy says Fak isn't his best friend (but then backtracks 5 seconds later saying he's probably my best friend). Then in s3 ep5 when they are preparing for the photoshoot, Fak said Carmy was #1 on his best friends list. The friendship is obviously unbalanced. Fak is one of those childhood friends you have outgrown but keep in your life due to history and familiarity. This is just another example of Carmy being stuck in the past and not being able to let go. He either needs to set some boundaries with Fak or end the friendship.

I love your blog btw. Your analysis on The Bear are very thorough.

*EXTREMELY HOT TAKE INCOMING*

Thanks for the kind compliments / thanks for the ask, but I'm starting to think that, if my suspicions are correct, that depending on how season 4 goes, that she and The Faks may shape up to be fantastic characters, at least from a trollish comedic parody perspective - and that this may be a huge 'star making role' for Molly Gordon and the rest of actors cast as the Faks if what is being set up is executed well post-reveal, and they demonstrate that, contrary to what we have seen thus far on the show, they definitely have acting range.....

Because I'm like 88% sure now that Claire x Carmy x Sydney's love triangle is an allegory/deconstructed (in part) version of Lilith x Adam x Eve from apocryphal / Jewish tradition. And that 'Sammy' Fak may be an archangel Samael figure

Lilith is Adam's first wife apocryphally and in Jewish mysticism that left him and became a she-demon / mother of demons / the "queen of the night" after being impregnated by / becoming a consort of the archangel Samael (whose name means Venom of God and is a seducing/destroying angel).

My thoughts are too incoherent right now to make a post about this theory in its own right, but all of the above could explain why the scenes where Claire is physically intimate with Carmy are shot in darkness and low light, compared to warm /well lit scenes when Syd and Carmy are emotionally intimate; it could explain why the songs that play during Carmy and Claire's scenes are frequently morbid or are outright about death, or lyric less ambient scores that invoke the feel of psychological horror,

and why mostly love songs are played for Carmy and Syd's.

I've made some posts /edits pointing out the parallels between Claire / Carmy / Syd and these biblical / mythological figures, and a post on why I think John Cena as Sammy Fak is a case of good casting (from a comedy perspective) if the Faks are really meant to serve the function that I think they are meant to below;

but some additional similarities between Claire and Lilith are that they were 'created' in the same way, 'formed from the same dust', as their 'Adam' (whose name can also mean red clay/earth and Claire's last name means mud or muddy fortress) - since Carmy and Claire both come from the same neighborhood/highschool and, depending on how much we see of Claire in the future, they may have both come from dysfunctional homes / be the adult children of alcoholic parents.

The posts I linked below are:

1. A webweaving on Sydcarmy + Adam x Eve parallels;

2. A fan edit that I did that was inspired by the webweaving; side note: if Carmy's words to Sydney at the end of their first convo was foreshadowing for them starting a literal nuclear family of their own, and how many kids they're gonna have, I'll scream;

"We're gonna make family, it's meat, (👀) plus three, and we'll eat around two."

3. A reblog add-on to @espumado et. al's @thoughtfulchaos773 @vacationship @kdbleu 's etc. thread on the theme of haunting / religious / mythological imagery and parallels in the show in season 3.

4. Another thread on religious symbolism in Season 3 and Claire and Syd / Carmy's relationship kicked off by @vacationship.

5. Another reblog add on I made in response to @glitterslag about the episode Review in Season one possibly representing/parodying the biblical "Fall of man".

6. A fan edit that I made for clairecarmy with the intent of being humourous at first, but unexpectedly turned out pretty nightmarish / psychological horror-esque without much work because the material/ dark imagery is there; including an eye opening parallel between Claire and Donna.

7. A post on the Bear being a super deconstructed Shakespearean pastoral comedy e.g. like As You Like It.

8. The religious symbolism of Carmy's red string of fate dish for Syd possibly being a visual allusion to the sacred heart of jesus, which is an emblem of God's long suffering and passionate love, an add-on to @twokisses post

Tagging @ambeauty @angelica4equity @imliterallyjustablackgirl @devisrina @ripley-stark @bootlegramdomneess @gingerylangylang1979 @outmakingmoonshine @pureseasalt @augustmonsooning @brokenwinebox @whenmemorydies @mod-doodles @bioloyg @caiusmarciuscoriolanus @post-woke @myloveismineallmine @turbulenthandholding @anxietycroissant

@moodyeucalyptus @ago0112 @unbeweavvveable @blackjack-15 in case anyone wants to chime in.😭

[the-ineffable-dance]

Holy Palmers Kiss

Throughout their history together, the romance between Aziraphale and Crowley has mostly been expressed through incredibly subtle ways. It's been centuries (if not millennia) of nothing more obvious than a surreptitious brushing of hands or yearning looks when they think no one is watching. And of course, when they have plenty of deniability.

Good work, Aziraphale... hand on the chest of the Thin Dark Duke, and if anyone asked, you were just making sure that young lady didn't get bumped.

And this is for a very good reason. It quite literally isn't safe for them to be openly romantic with one another, even now. Demons like Hastur and Shax are constantly popping up... Michael and Uriel are always watching... eyes are everywhere.

They have certainly gotten closer to being open in the years that separate the two seasons. Crawley sprawls all over that bookshop like he has a personal vendetta against chairs - removes his glasses as soon as he steps foot inside (which is an incredibly coded action that I would love to take a more in depth look at in the future) - gives up the keys to the Bently... And Aziraphale himself has those longing looks - calls him up to talk enough that Crowley knows his "tones of voice" - and then, we get The Ball.

Technically, The Ball is for Nina and Maggie... or at least that's what Aziraphale says. We get the lovely little moment in the pub where he and Crowley try to come up with the best ways to get humans to fall in love with each other. But the moment Aziraphale mentions Jane Austen having characters dancing with each other and realizing how in love they were, I think at least for him the focus changes to this... THE BALL IS FOR CROWLEY. And once he starts giving away books to make sure the ball will be perfect, there can be no question. The entire idea is a way for him to be able to dance with Crowley.

That's why, for me, the most romantic moment in all of Good Omens, at least from Aziraphale's point of view, is this moment right here.

Vavoom! Sorted! Look at the way Crowley even curls his fingers around Aziraphale's hand! This is peak Aziraphale romance as a fan of Jane Austen.

But he's also a fan of Shakespeare. Even the gloomy ones. And every time I watch this scene, I'm reminded of a different ball from one of the gloomy plays that Crowley would hate and Aziraphale would swoon over. Romeo and Juliet. A fitting parallel to an angel and a demon being in love.

In Romeo and Juliet, at the end of the first act, is another ball. Romeo tries to get Juliet to kiss him, and she turns him down with this...

"For saints have hands that pilgrim's hands do touch/ And palm to palm is holy palmer's kiss"

There's quite the back and forth here between Juliet and her Romeo about hands and lips and such, (and eventually Romeo gets his way) but the parallel for Aziraphale in this exchange is unmistakable. He, as the angel, is the saint (and stand in for Juliet), Crowley his pilgrim. Snogging in public would be absolutely out of the question for our dear prim and proper Aziraphale... but this is a chaste kiss, and one that he is showing the world. A public declaration of his love for Crowley. A Holy Palmer's Kiss.

It's certainly debatable if Crowley would have picked up on it. Like a lot of their coded language there are times when one of them misses what the other is trying to say. But in my opinion, this was not only a public declaration, but his confession to Crowley. This is his "I love you" as much as "I forgive you" is.

Just for fun, here's how Romeo finally gets his kisses (but let's have Crowley stand in for Romeo and Aziraphale for Juliet, shall we?)

Cro. Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged. (They kiss)

Azi. Then have my lips the sin that they have took.

Cro. Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urged. Give me my sin again. (They kiss again)

[sepublic]

Everyone jokes that Pit is the unpaid intern who depends on tips to survive, but in a way, Palutena is also that amidst the godly pantheon; So it's fitting her personal champion reflects those same frustrations. Because if you think about it, Palutena is the only god actually trying to do her job in maintaining the celestial balance and helping humanity, and without really asking for anything?

You have Medusa, Pandora, Thanatos, Hades, and Pyrrhon, whom are all self-explanatory. You have Dyntos, who is neutral and does lean towards the greater good every now and then; But his general inaction is still enabling, and Palutena is scared of him for a reason.

We have Poseidon, who actually DOES help Palutena, but also admitted to wiping out a bunch of humans casually, and otherwise doesn't do anything else to participate. And while Viridi does try to maintain the balance of nature, she also massacred countless humans and contributed to the chaos that attracted the Aurum. And humans are a part of nature themselves, too!!!

And it's interesting because Palutena doesn't seem to demand anything in return; It seems she really is doing this out of the goodness of her heart, more or less. She does have her issues and occasional petty condescension towards humans, but otherwise Palutena's the only member of the pantheon committed to keeping things together. And while humans do sometimes praise and worship Palutena, it seems that she'd help them anyway even if she didn't; She calls Magnus a jerk but that's really it.

That ties into how sometimes, Palutena does admit that she feels pressured and overwhelmed with her duty, and the way she thanks Pit for insisting she does a great job in Chapter 4 kinda feels like... Well, maybe she's fishing for compliments sometimes, because Palutena could genuinely use the validation and it's lonely. This is also why she admits she's honored that Hades knows who Palutena is, because Hades is presumably a big deal in the pantheon, and I think Palutena craves validation, as much as she wants to be pure and selfless about her work; She does genuinely care too, these two things aren't mutually exclusive.

There's the Chaos Kin arc, and while Palutena's possibly just saying she's sick of doing the dirty work for humanity because the Chaos Kin makes her... There could be a hint of truth, just how Dark Pit reflects the truth in Pit's heart; Again, parallels between Goddess and Angel. She admits she's tired of constantly having to protect and take care of the humans, which is like Pittoo being frustrated with doing Palutena's dirty work.

Which then gets me to another point; Pit being a reflection of Palutena's light, because I can kinda see her venting her frustration through him? If Palutena feels beleaguered as the only goddess protecting humanity and the world in general, then she might really appreciate having a devoted angel with infinite energy, who will jump to any task for her. Which makes Pit a way for Palutena to treat herself, let someone help her handle the load, etc.

But there is a darker side, with how Palutena will sometimes demean Pit, even appealing to Viridi and Hades in Chapter 15 this way; It kinda reminds me of people who are bullied, only to turn the bullying towards someone else and participating in that so they can be part of the in-group, not be laughed at themselves, etc. Plus her shutting down Pit's disagreement with "Are you the goddess here?" Especially since she might feel that she deserves more respect for her work, and isn't always given that by those 'below' her (AKA humans, usually). It feels good to at least take pride in what Palutena DOES have, right?

And that's Palutena dropping her filter around her own 'Palutena' because admittedly, Pit is in a subordinate position to her. And I guess it feels good, deep down, to be the one letting someone else handle the work, and exercising that power over them because Pit is someone Palutena can get away with being unpleasant around. Part of that is trust, because Palutena feels comfortable being herself, expressing her own insecurities and true feelings.

But the other part is expression frustration at someone who won't talk back, who Palutena doesn't have to worry about holding up an image towards; With other gods it's obvious, and to humans, she has to be their perfect, noble paragon of virtue. In the end, it reminds me of how some people tired with their jobs might take it out on their assistants, or others who are below them, to feel like they're the ones in control and who are being asked for recognition from.

That ironically leads to Pit's own latent frustrations with Palutena, which is furthered by him being unable to fly on his own. And that manifests as Dark Pit. And then Palutena's frustrations manifest through the Chaos Kin's manipulation of her. Imagine if Pseudo-Palutena returned in a sequel to genuinely be the Pittoo to Palutena's Pit, lol. Although her dialogue paints her as more of a mad religious fanatic than someone secretly tired of that work.

In the end, I wonder how much of this has to do with Medusa's betrayal; In the original NES manual, it's mentioned that Palutena and Medusa both ruled together, they're two sides of the same coin, Light and Darkness. But when Medusa neglected her own duties to attack humanity, that forced Palutena to exile her into the Underworld, which basically left her working double, perhaps. Again, like how Pit has to often do all of the work, despite there being centurions who can come back from the dead like he does.

In Pit's case, this comes from a fierce loyalty and protective attitude towards those he cares about; He's a good friend always there for others who wouldn't dare to ask anything of them, but that wears him out ragged. In the case of Palutena, she had to lose that option entirely when Medusa went on a rampage; But shortly afterwards, Pit rescued her and became Palutena's champion.

So Pit has a lot of work dumped on him, and maybe that's because he's essentially taking over Medusa's duties in being someone who works directly alongside Palutena to maintain balance. That could make him a fun parallel to Medusa in a way. And maybe Pit is aware of this, adding to his refusal to ever question or betray the Goddess of Light, because he knows she's already been hurt and is also doing more work than she's supposed to. His loyalty comes out of empathy and compassion towards someone he can tell really needs it.

But that selflessness can be self-destructive, because Pit will forget to consider what he's getting in return, and that gives us Pittoo, whose selfishness is framed as not inherently bad, and even good for him. But Palutena does care for Pit in return, in big and little ways, such as preparing a cold drink for him after Chapter 10. She cares a lot for Pit too, she'll cook a delicious vegetable stew for him!

You know if Medusa returns in a sequel, I'd like to know more about her and Palutena's falling-out, if there was actually anything more to it than just "Medusa looks down on humanity." After the Chaos arc, I could see her insinuating to Pit that Palutena will betray him for real, just as she did her... Only for Pit to redo that same speech about how Medusa is an unprompted murderer of helpless innocents, ya dingus.

TL;DR Palutena is the only goddess doing her job and it's exhausting and she takes it out on her secretary who is also in the exact same position, ironically.

[amuseoffyre]

Just had GO s2 on in the background while I was doing some craft and some percolating thoughts came out of the first Maggie and Nina exchange.

Nina: See anything you fancy? Maggie: Oh. Yes. Coffee. Nina: The usual, then? Don't tell me, it's in here. You're a skinny latte. Maggie: You remembered :) Nina: A lot of people in this head, and a lot of coffees, but I only remember the regulars.

Now bear with me on this mental ramble as I try and put these thoughts in order. I'll divide it into three points:

Mind-altering and memory muddles

There's a running motif through the whole season about memory and the loss thereof:

Gabriel removing his memory ("all the bits that make you you")

Crowley forgetting who Furfur was repeatedly

Aziraphale and Crowley's miracle basically casting confusion over the bookshop and muddling everyone's minds

the threat of erasure of memory and demotion (and am still sure Muriel is a previous demotee on account of the 37th level thing. 3s and 12s! Those are the recurring numbers in the book! 37 doesn't make sense! 36, yes! 37, no!)

putting memories somewhere else (Gabriel's fly but also Aziraphale's journals)

Coffee

As with the memory element, coffee is a running theme through the whole show as well.

Crowley chugging espressos like there's no tomorrow

Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death - "does anyone ever choose death?" asks the Metatron, when the answer is obvious

Coffee's symbolism in the final 15. Let me yell about the symbolism of Coffee = Crowley and all things mortal and living and human and earthly. OR DEATH. ("I have ingested things, you know")

The flavours in the Metatron's coffee order also having allegorical symbolism - almond branches in various parts of The Book are a reminder that God is Watching.

The human avatars of the angelic and divine

Initially when I started watching S2, I assumed the parallels between Maggie and Nina were obvious: Maggie, the sunshine one, is the Aziraphale, while Nina, the grumpy one, is the Crowley. But I was wrong.

Nina is the human avatar of Aziraphale.

Maggie: how can you think about that after all this? Nina: People need coffee, I sell coffee, it's my coffee shop.

Nina defines herself by the place she works, it is who she is and she does it because people need it (coffee), much like Aziraphale defines himself by the place he worked (Heaven), it's who he is (an angel) and he does it because people need it (goodness).

Likewise, when they go and tell Crowley off for the way he's interfered in their lives, Nina says she's just getting out of a messy relationship and isn't ready for something new yet (again, Aziraphale and Heaven vibes because that fully impacts every decision Aziraphale makes through S2) and if Maggie is around when she's ready, then maybe, they can try. ("If she's there" "I will be :) ")

And then we have Maggie, the Crowley avatar. Useless at saying what she wants to say, tries to express herself and her emotions with gestures and gifts, offers her company and time when Nina needs it, happy to help her despite the way Nina is wary of the kindness being shown.

By the end of the season, Nina is caught behind the bar of her coffee shop, working and serving ungrateful people, while Maggie is alone in her empty shop, asleep on her counter, paralleling Aziraphale going back to work in a place where he will run himself off his feet to do the right thing, while Crowley is left with an empty shop.

But now to spin back to the original quote from 2x01, it feels like all of these motifs are tying together and foreshadowing something, very possibly an Aziraphale who has lost his memory/had his memories stripped away.

Let me rewrite the lines with only a tiny couple of changes:

Aziraphale: See anything you fancy? Crowley: Oh. Ngk. Company? Aziraphale: The usual, then? Don't tell me, it's in here. You're the demon Crowley. Crowley: You remembered :) Aziraphale: A lot of angels in this head, and a lot of demons, but I only remember the regulars.

If I'm right, he remembers Crowley, but only the surface level like Nina remembers Maggie. Nothing about who they were to each other, nothing about what has happened. But have no fear, Muriel has the bookshop and the thousands and thousands of years of Aziraphale's memories bound up in text form.

Especially prescient since Muriel is given a book by the Metatron Crowley which is a novel where a man pieces together a story from documents that have been left behind. Schroedinger's journals will be making a return in S3, I have no doubt.

[projectbluearcadia]

Weird shower thought fantasy / crossover idea / headcanon

Partially in honor of the WHB devs finally releasing Lucifer (Selfie)

What In Hell Is Bad and Obey Me! actually take place in the same world, but WHB takes place before Obey Me, in the bad old days.

And God was upset that the kings had it so rough and reflected on himself a little. "Damn, I feel guilty about how those beautiful creations of mine died due to my negligence."

And so he decided they should be one big happy family.

He scoured Hell for what remained of the demon kings after a massive war that damn near destroyed both Heaven and Hell and gave their essence to his new creations. So, basically, he reincarnated them.

The birth/creation order was mostly determined by whose essence he was able to find first. Of course, that essence was mostly their sins that they left behind, so when they all fell from Heaven, they essentially resumed their duties as the seven kings.

And, purely because WHB Satan was (obviously) practically obliterated, God said "A'ight Luci's got a festering angie monster inside of him, so I'll just put what consciousness I could find from WHB Satan in there so it'll be kinda reasonable when he has to let it all out. Thank me later, son :P" <- the reason Luci became a single mother father.

Luci: Thanks a lot, God. First the virgin Mary and now this??

Funnily enough what God found was mostly WHB Satan's sweet side, which is the reason that OM Satan resembles (and likes) cats. The only one who didn't inherit the sin from his predecessor got it anyway because of his dad. Go figure.

The countries (Abyssos, Tartaros, Gehenna, etc.) no longer existed after the war, and Diavolo's lineage, which was probably descendent of one or more of the WHB's kings' vassals, was the one trying to pick up the pieces. The war continued because many of the angels were still complete dicks, but Diavolo's family eventually eradicated what had survived from The Big War™.

Excluding Gabriel, because Gabriel is a prick.

Which may or may not have been a factor in Lucifer falling from Heaven because he killed Gabriel on his way down. You know, because Gabriel was probably Lilith's executioner, given his history.

Then Diavolo, to signal the fresh start, said "We're not calling it Hell and Heaven anymore, now it's "The Devildom" and "The Celestial Realm." Less stigma. Very good."

And our dear Solomon? Well, you know how he is... I think there's definitely some things he hasn't told you...

Like how he was technically dead for a hot minute because of some magical mishap, which translated into a few thousand years in hell because of the way time flows there. His experiment gone wrong is also the reason why his appearance changed so drastically.

You'll ask him one day, "Hey, did you have purple hair in the past?" and he'll just start sweating profusely because he's very embarrassed about how often he did some *ahem* interesting things with the former demon kings. Asmo is the only one who still has that feeling from his past life :)

And, as far as how time flows and MC frequently traveling between the human world and hell in OM!, the travel is actually magically controlled by Barbatos, our resident overpowered god, who was annoyed by the time dilation/contraction and wanted to just visit his favorite tea shops in the human world whenever he wanted without f*cking around.

I mean, all of the demon kings knew how to go back and forth, but they had to do overly complicated shit to do it, so Barbie just said "sharing is caring" and perfected the magic by the OM! time period.

Of course there's an implication here that all events in Heaven/Hell are technically happening simultaneously from a human world perspective. Which isn't trippy at all.

And yes, OM! Barbatos and WHB Barbatos know each other. Because OM! Barbatos is (obviously) from a parallel dimension and took WHB Barbatos' name since he enjoyed the rose gardens WHB Barbie tended to. It's out of respect since he faithfully died for Leviathan in the bad old days.

Flawless joining of the worlds without a hint of plotholes (sarcasm).

(This is so random, but I hope y'all enjoyed my fever dream.)

[drconstellation]

Aziraphale-Beelzebub Parallels

Aziraphale's Edinburgh Journey: Part 2

I've already written a series on how Crowley and Gabriel act as parallels and foils to each other in S2. Their other halves - their partners - also act as each other's parallels. I mentioned this briefly in the second post in that series, but here we need to expand on this.

We also need to talk about Maggie.

I think most people identify that there is good case for a many parallels between Aziraphale and Maggie as well. But when you consider Aziraphale-Beelzebub-Maggie together in a character triangle, Maggie suddenly starts to make a lot more sense. And I believe there is one more peculiar element thrown in that she is reflecting back to us as well about Aziraphale that has made her particularly hard to understand on top of all that.

But let's look at the Aziraphale-Beelzebub related parallels first.

They hold the highest ranking position

Beezlebub holds the highest ranking position in Hell under Satan, as the Grand Duke. They leave a vacancy at the end of the series, that we are yet to see filled.

For most of S2 the Supreme Archangel is missing - and it is only right at the end that we see Aziraphale step up and accept the offered role.

Two things to mention here:

One might argue that the Metatron is higher in ranking than the Supreme Archangel, but for purposes of this discussion he doesn't seem to have much to do with the day-to-day running of things like the Supreme Archangel would. Gabriel was also the one who appeared on the tarmac at Tadfield Airbase opposite Beelzebub when things weren't going to plan in S1.

Secondly, this is where I would like to start introducing the concept that we are being shown Aziraphale's future story in S2. Such as Aziraphale's future role as Supreme Archangel, however long he holds on to it.

I don't know how difficult it will be to demonstrate this as we go along from here, but I'm going to try and point out places where I think we are being shown glimpses of the future - foreshadowing - and a lot of them come through Maggie. Not all, though, there are exceptions, but we'll discuss them in due course. Such as in the next parallel.

They need words of affirmation

Crowley isn't the most loquacious character but he's not shy of boosting his angel's ego when it's needed. Whether it's encouraging Aziraphale to go big on stage in 1941 or supporting his detective efforts in Edinburgh Crowley is still going to put in a good word or two for Aziraphale's sake.

AZIRAPHALE: [over phone]: I think I've found some clues. And do you remember the statue of Gabriel in the graveyard in Edinburgh? I'm looking at it now. CROWLEY: Mmm, good job. AZIRAPHALE: Oh, do you really think so?

We know Beelzebub needs words of affirmation as well because they ask Demon Josh this:

BEELZEBUB: Do you ever think, wouldn't it just be nice if someone told you what a good job you're doing? DEMON JOSH: In hell? BEELZEBUB: Yeah.

Hang on, just a minute...Demon Josh...?

The demon who appears to be acting as the Personal Assistant/Secretary to the Grand Duke of Hell?

There is an old thread that points out that Greasy Johnson's name is basically another form of Jesus Christ. The TL:DR version is that Joshua aka Oily Josh is another form of Jesus.

So Beelzebub has Demon Jesus as her assistant.

Remember I was trying to tell you we are seeing future echoes of Aziraphale's story in S3 here? Jesus as the right hand of the Supreme Archangel, perhaps?

They give gifts

A S1 crossover, Beelzebub gives Gabriel the Tardis-like fly storage container, and Aziraphale gives Crowley the thermos of holy water in 1967 to stop the crazy caper he was planning to steal some. Both acts were done unprompted at the time.

They enjoy music

We've seen Aziraphale with his phonograph in action several times, and in S2E1 we see him in the midst of listening to the Shostakovitch records he got from Maggie when the arrival of Gabriel interrupts him.

We learn Beelzebub also has an ear for a good tune when they mention they like the song they hear in the American bar during the recap scenes of their meetings with Gabriel in S2E6.

They make an offer of "betterment" to Crowley

Beelzebub's offer to Crowley that he could be a Duke of Hell if he finds Gabriel for them, all while he is lounging across the two horned thrones in S2E1, is widely seen as a prominent piece of foreshadowing for S3.

Really, the only question should be is will that be just a plain Duke or will he somehow end up in the Grand Duke of Hell position opposite of Aziraphale?

Aziraphale also made an offer to Crowley - to restore him to angelic status.

At the time, neither offer was accepted with any enthusiasm - especially the latter.

They have a date at Gabriel's statue

I have pointed out elsewhere that this is a triple-parallel with a shot from Before the Beginning, but then I remembered that the parallel with Aziraphale looking jealously at angel!Crowley was written after this date pair with Gabriel's statue.

I intend to talk about the significance of the statue in Part 4: Judgement Day, as it makes a bridge between all three seasons and it needs some thorough and lengthy discussion around it.

They go to the pub

This is another triple-parallel between the two pairs. (I think @kayleefansposts first brought this up but I can't find the post it comes from now, even though it wasn't that long ago.)

First, they both meet in a cafe:

Then they meet in a pub:

And lastly, they meet - well, lets say with alcohol on the table and an option of food?

Their partners make a reference to the absurd creativity of humanity

For some time I wondered why when Crowley came back from the pub with Aziraphale, he plucked the Jane Austen off the shelf and shouted that inane line at humanity: "You people, I will never get the hang of you lot."

Eventually I realized it was a parallel moment to when just before Gabriel miracles the jukebox in the Resurrectionist to play Every Day the first time.

GABRIEL: What's that? BARTENDER: A classic 1960s jukebox. You don't see many of them these days. You just put your money in and tell it what you want to hear. GABRIEL: Oh… You people. Amazing. [hands over money] [miracles] Ha!

Both incidences are inspired by their partners - Aziraphale inspires Crowley to look for Austen's novels and Gabriel miracles the jukebox to play the music that Beelzebub likes.

Their partners accidentally leave them on their own

Crowley was only going to take the human shopkeepers to safety, then return - but he got sidetracked with Muriel all the way up to Heaven. Thinking he would be back soon, Aziraphale didn't plan very far ahead, and that eventually led to a problem - and a long, anxious wait for the demon's return.

On his way out of Heaven, Gabriel was on his way to Hell and Beelzebub - we presume. But as soon as he put himself in the fly, he forgot, and headed to the next most memorable location in his remaining working neurons, which happened to be on Earth. Beelzebub was left wondering where he was - and very alone down there in Hell while their minions were out searching for him. @noneorother shows what happens to the thrones while they wait.

So, about Maggie, then...

Understanding Aziraphale and Beelzebub as a parallel pair helps us to understand Maggie a little better, as Maggie is actually a mix of the two characters, reflecting both of them back at the same time. I think that is why she sometimes seems like an angel and a demon at the same time - because she actually is!

I believe this would also explain the "ugrency" spelling mistake, as well as putting an emphasis on the word urgency itself for us. What is becoming urgent?

For example, Maggie always wears a combination of colours from both characters. Here we can Maggie is wearing Beelzebub's signature colours of orange and light blue, but with a white background as the angelic component.

At the ball, she wears a blue blouse - blue is a colour associated with Heaven - but its a dark, demonic shade of blue.

She tries to give a gift to Nina, that doesn't quite work, but the thought and effort is there. She's very forgiving. And she says she says she'll still be there when Nina is ready to start seeing her again; she's reflecting the future Aziraphale to us.

She doesn't want to leave the scene of danger with Crowley when its offered (sounds familiar, doesn't it? Let's go to Alpha Centauri - No! I Can't!)

She's done with being scared, she's ready to stand up and be brave and fight.

She doesn't want to leave Aziraphale on his own (even though Aziraphale still has faith Crowley will turn up any minute now and have a plan - !!) She comes up with ideas on how to fight back. This is someone who steps forward and takes control. These all look like future echoes and set-ups for parallels in S3 to me.

There's another line that no one ever talks about that I've always thought was a foreshadowing line that Crowley says to Nina:

NINA: He's never hosted a meeting, ever. Why the change of heart? CROWLEY: He's unpredictable. He's discovered his civic obligations.

The parallel to this comes from Maggie, when Crowley goes to tell her its time for the meeting/Ball, she says she never misses a meeting. If that's not part of fulfilling your "civic obligations" I don't know what is.

If there was one aspect of Beelzebub I would perhaps just mention here briefly, but not discussing at length because I want to do it elsewhere again as well, is that they twice show restraint of their power and authority - they don't pull Crowley in for punishment as a traitor, even though they could (they pulled him down to Hell for a chat pretty easily) and they don't bother to rip out Demon Josh's tongue and send him to the dung heaps that day for being talkative and annoying, even though we get the impression it happens on a regular basis. In contrast, Aziraphale and Maggie both step up a bit and take some authority on themselves towards the end.

The lists above are not exhaustive of all the parallels between the three characters, but I hope it helps to get you started in thinking about them in a different way to how you might have been.

Next we try to tie the past<-present->future parallels together as we start getting our hands dirty.

The other posts in this series can be found here:

Part 1: Detective Aziraphale Part 3: Stocktaking in the Basement Part 4: Judgement Day Part 5: I Know Where I'm Going

[alice-after-dark]

One Day I'll Do a Proper Ship Meme But for Now Here Have My Vox Agenda

Thoughts/headcanons/rambles under cut

TW for abusive StaticMoth and Vox having been a bitch to Sir Pentious.

Alastor/Vox - Do I really need to explain this one? Are you new here? I'll just direct you to search "radiostatic" on my blog. I̸͎̝͛́ ̷͙̲̊̄͐l̴̮̲̭̍͌͆ȏ̶̜v̵̞́̑͒̆e̷̡̡͉̰̍̽́ ̷̇͝ͅt̶̡̛̬̖͓̆h̴̠͎̞͕̑e̵͕̼̜̘͆̈́̃̔m̷̤̜̒

Valentino/Vox - Again, unless you're new here, you'll pretty much know my thoughts on them. Check out my "staticmoth" tag and you'll understand.

Charlie - I see so many parallels between these two and I desperately want them to officially interact in season 2. They're on completely opposite ends of the spectrum and aaaahhhhh I just want to see Vox's cynicism clashing with Charlie's idealism and it could be so good you guys. So good. I do also really like the idea of Charlie being the catalyst to Vox realizing just how much he's changed since arriving in Hell (like he used to enjoy the TV scene for the pure creativity of it and now that's all been replaced by the cold corporate greed).

Vaggie - Honestly, I just think it would be interesting. Also I really hope Vaggie doesn't have a carbon-copy reaction to him like she did Alastor. As I mentioned in a previous post, while yes, she might be cautious, she has less of a reason to be so hostile towards him. Plus their mutual dislike of Alastor would be a bonding moment, but also presents an opportunity for Vaggie to find out more about Alastor (albeit from a biased party).

Angel - I've brought up inklings of these two before, but I think them having a very complicated relationship due to their mutual connection and experiences with Valentino would be interesting, especially in regards to how they both handle it in similar yet different ways. They both bury their pain, Angel by leaning into the sexuality, drugs, and alcohol to forget how much he hates it and Vox by refusing to even acknowledge that he's in pain at all. And Vox's refusal to acknowledge it also makes him complicit in Angel's pain as well. He could do something, could try to stop it, but he doesn't to protect himself. I think seeing the two of them try to heal side by side, both from their issues with Valentino and the issues between each other, would be fascinating.

Husk - Knew each other from back when Vox and Alastor were still friends. Husk calls him "kid" (Vox was in his 30s when he died in the 1950s while Husk was in his 60s when he died in the 1970s) which annoys Vox as he doesn't think he's that much younger than Husk to warrant being called a kid. Vox knew him as an Overlord and was very shocked and kind of sad when he found out about Husk losing his soul to Alastor some time after their falling out (just one more thing to embitter him towards the Radio Demon).

Niffty - Anyone who has been on my blog when I started posting about Hazbin Hotel knows it started with these two. I think a dynamic between them would be fun and interesting to explore. Like Husk, she knew him from back when he was friends with Alastor. I like to think that Vox was literally there when Alastor brought her home with him ("What is that?" / "I'm calling her Niffty! Isn't she precious?" / "She is actively biting your arm." / "What a darling little thing!"). He was a little weirded out by her at first, but has since grown to care for her as much as Alastor does. Despite her size and lack of power, Vox fully trusts in her ability to take care of herself...he's seen things that can't be unseen.

Rosie - Vox definitely respects her for her ability to keep such tight control of a horde of bloodthirsty cannibals and actually turn them into a polite society. Despite not being very physically strong, her charisma and drive keep her on top and well respected. I like the idea that he met her through Alastor when they were still friends and though he hasn't really engaged with her too much since the fallout, he does still hold respect for her and frankly won't tolerate anyone disrespecting her. She is the only one outside of the Vees who knows about Vox practicing using his electrokinesis to heal.

Mimzy - They're not exactly friends, but she will not hesitate to approach him if she sees him. It's Mimzy so she absolutely expects special treatment. She's way more up front with him about wanting something than she is with Alastor simply because she knows Vox operates differently than the deer demon. If she wants something, she's gotta be prepared to pay up in some capacity, but Vox is usually willing to be flexible in terms of payment because she has her uses.

Sir Pentious - Okay, so I know this one is a bit awkward cause it would involve Vox actually apologizing to Sir Pentious for the cruel things he said and telling him to unalive himself, but I really think they'd be interesting. They're both innovators and creators and the two of them combining their skills would be both awesome and terrifying. I do think that Sir Pentious, while he does think all the Vees are incredible, idolizes Vox specifically for these exact reasons.

Velvette - They're both bitches, but they love the other for it. Can snark at each other for hours. They're the two who get shit done, even if Velvette can sometimes take her bitchsona a bit too far and Vox has to reign her in. Politics aren't her strong suit, but he can always count on her to take care of the business side of things.

Zestial - Based on my recent post about them, I like the idea that Vox has a respect for Zestial that he doesn't give to most other Overlords (Rosie being the other exception). Sure, he'll play nice and professional with them, but he doesn't truly respect them like he does Zestial and Rosie. I honestly see them having a mutual respect for each other (though Zestial wouldn't say he approves of Vox's choice in colleagues) and we do see in that Zestial can be a little sassy so I 100% believe if Vox had been present during the Overlord meeting in episode 3, Zestial literally would have ignored Velvette entirely to speak to Vox about the angel's death instead (and we all know how much Velvette would have just loved that).

[actual-changeling]

I’ve been obsessing about Crowley not taking his glasses off for that 1941 memory for ages 😂 thank you for articulating that so clearly. It’s so painful slowly realising some of the differences between how they’ve experienced all the flashbacks. I dread (a little) to think what happened next in 1941 especially with how they next meet in 1967 and are very fragile. Maybe one of the few times they are on a similar, painful, page?

It's one of those things that just kinda built in the back of my brain every time I looked at that scene until it just. turned into a full puzzle.

The thing is that what we have seen so far does not explain the way they behave in 1967 and it's honestly driving me insane when I think about it too much. Because they're not on the same page in 1967!

When Aziraphale says no to a lift and then tells Crowley to not look disappointed—yeah, there's disappointment, but he is mainly surprised. He expected Aziraphale to say yes to a drive.

Maybe Crowley is the one who pulled the breaks in '41 and thinks that Aziraphale still wants him to initiate something, so when he immediately puts up walls instead he doesn't understand why.

OR actually, after another rewatch (or five) of that scene, let's say Aziraphale rejected Crowley in '41 since Crowley seems somewhat cold-ish right up until the holy water shows up. Then he does a complete 180 and is suddenly very soft, he keeps looking at Aziraphale (who is now looking AWAY after keeping his eyes on him before that), and seeing the holy water as a peace offering, offers a lift in return.

To Crowley, the holy water is an apology, an I'm sorry I rejected you (or whatever went down), so he thinks it is also Aziraphale saying he's ready now—and then he makes it very clear that he still isn't. Bringing up the Ritz with "perhaps" and "someday", and so Crowley tries to compromise.

"Anywhere you wanna go" is please, just give me something here, angel, and when Aziraphale looks at him NOW, he KEEPS looking at him, and his eyes flit between Crowley's glasses and his lips. Aziraphale looks and he hesitates, and then rejects him again.

"You go too fast for me Crowley" is so fucking painful, and there's so much in that one sentence, but it is also quite literal in regards to time. Aziraphale is literally 105 years behind because that's when Crowley asked for holy water and said no—he's giving him the water in 1967 when it should have been in 1862.

They have somehow once again ended up living on parallel but displaced planes of existence.

Sorry, this ended up being way longer than intended because you magically compelled me to go look at the 1967 clip and it all spiraled from there jshdkad

In conclusion, Neil i NEED to know what happened.

[challenger-fan-club]

roommate!tashi dry humping blurb PLEEKK

You couldn't believe your luck when Tashi fucking Duncan was your Stanford roommate. She was gorgeous and kind and when she smiled, the whole room lit up. You knew she was seeing Patrick... who came around once every so often. You had no idea why she was with him. You knew Art felt the same. One night, after far too many tequila shots, you help Tashi back to your room. "I don't think I'm a good kisser." Tashi confesses. You don't, COULDN'T believe that Tashi would be bad at anything, in this entire world. She was an angel and she breezed through everything so effortlessly. Sure you had thought about kissing her. You had dreamed about kissing her but never thought anything of it. You didn't think she was into it really. I mean, she was with Patrick.

"We should practice." You rolled your eyes. You were slightly drunk too and so it was hard to say no. "Cmon Tashi." She holds your face slightly close to hers. She smells like vanilla mixed with the alcohol, sweet. Tashi is almost liking her lips. "This is what college is for isn't it?" Tashi gets very close to you, your noses almost grazing each other as she gets closer. You wonder if she tastes as sweet as she smells. "Cmon, kiss me." she whispers. "You know you want to." You're frozen still. You want to jump on her, pull each others clothes off but you physically can't move. And then she does it. She places her lips against yours. You still can't really move, knowing that you were kissing Tashi Duncan. Knowing that she was pulling you closer and underneath you. Only a few layers of clothes in between your naked bodies. "Are you sure about this?" You whisper. "Just shut up and kiss me already." Tashi almost commands. She pulls you parallel on top of her as she deepens the kiss. You're almost breathless as she gently licks the inside of your lip.

You have to stop yourself from moaning as she switches the position and now shes on top of you. She does it so quickly and effortlessly. You can feel her hands start to explore over your clothes and rub against your bra. Tashi starts to grind her hips against you, almost moving her knee in between your legs to give you something to push against. She position her other legs in between you so you're comfortable and connected. Tashi lets out a moan. It's the most beautiful moan that you've ever heard in your life. Sexier than anything you've ever heard from porn and definitely not a sound that you've heard from the tennis court. She pushes herself against you and you let her use you, however she needs. She kisses you, rough but sweetly but you can't stop thinking about how close she is to your wet underwear. You regret (and was very thankful) that you were wearing a skirt. You wanted to beg her to touch you, beg her to fuck you whenever and however she wanted. Tashi was almost as breathless as you when she pulled herself away. "So?" The room is dark and you couldn't see her face. "So...?" You say. You didn't really know that this was happening and didn't know what she was asking. All thoughts had gone out of your head. "Am I good kisser?" She was holding herself up. "Of course you are Tashi." you are slightly relieved that was all she wanted to know. "Are you sleeping in my bed tonight or?" She asks as she moves behind you, pushing herself against the back wall. "Do you want me to?" She pulled an arm around your waist and pulled you closer. "Stay with me." She whispered.

[ineffable-baker-street]

Metatron's Evil Plan

Starting with Gabriel's trial. Metatron said, "No speeches Gabriel you're not going to Hell.

He then adds "which there isn't."

It would obviously be an issue if Heaven were to be viewed as problematic and out of control, with fallen angels left, right and centre. So they tried to manage Gabriel, make it so he just faded from his place of power, but he outsmarted them. And suddenly there were two former high-up's down on earth, and we all saw just how desperate they were to get Gabriel back. It's clearly A Concern.

So unfortunately Gabriel has escaped from their clutches, with a Prince of Hell no less.

Very much not a good look. So Heaven needs to act and it needs to be now. Mere minutes after Gabriel and Beelzebub leave together, Metatron is on earth.

Then he goes to the coffee shop. He asks Nina, "Do people ever ask for Death?" and the subtitles were capitalised which I do think further supports my point. We already know that seeing Death is a bad omen, since at the end of Season One right after they saw him they were both dragged away to their would-be permanent discorporations.

There is also something to be said for the mirroring of the first season and second season. I've seen theories, as well as noticed myself that many things line up. I can't find the post that laid a lot of things out but here's a few that I've noticed.

The mention of Death in the final episode, right before something bad happens (they both get taken to be punished/Aziraphale leaves Earth.)

Aziraphale and Crowley both holding someone's hands with the person in between them (Adam in S1E6 and Jimbriel in season 2, episode one or two i can't remember which)

The Nightingale reference. Pretty obvious, but ending the season on that song holds significance. I think most people have seen the theory that that's a message from Aziraphale, but I won't go into that here or this will never end.

The nightingales plus the plans to go to the Ritz being gone I think is definitely symbolic of the fact that they've lost something. Again, an obvious option, but it's an important place for them, so the fact they had similar plans, that were then interrupted, reflects Season One while also telling us that things are clearly not going to be good.

But then you also consider that it's perhaps exactly what the Metatron wanted all along, for Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship of love and trust to completely fall away, symbolised by the hopes of dining at the Ritz disappearing.

Therefore I think a pretty reasonable conclusion from the mention of Death - and the parallels with last season - from someone as sinister as the Metatron is that something is going to happen to most likely both of them. Metatron is also almost surprised that people never ask for death, as it is "so predictable." There was definite intention in that scene, and makes me wonder if he thinks whatever he's trying to make happen will make them wish for death?

This next point is a big one. At first you might think its coincidental but if you go back and watch the scene I think you'll be convinced. When the Metatron enters the bookshop, the lamps with the candle looking bulbs and the glass decorations jingle and move. I can't find a good GIF to show it but if you rewatch I promise you'll notice it. And yes, since the door has just closed and there's potential wind they might move for a few seconds, but they continue moving the entire time Metatron is in the bookshop. This scene goes on for approximately 2.5 - 3 minutes, definitely too long for them to be moving. But, I suppose you never know, could be coincidental. Until he leaves the shop with Aziraphale. They move more vigorously on his way out, but by the time (about three seconds) Crowley walks towards the window to watch them go, they've completely stopped moving. Not a coincidence. Metatron has some sort of energy that's powerful, or influential enough, that it cause material objects to move vigorously when he's near them. They didn't even move nearly as much when literal demons entered the shop, at the beginning of episode six.

Considering the fact that those lamps were completely conjured by Aziraphale for his ball, I have a strong suspicion he's particularly influential over magical objects... or magical things (entities) in general. (This is important later)

Metatron also says, "just you and me, Aziraphale, eh?" which is honestly something that sounds more like enemies facing off in a battle, than friends going out for a chat. It's like when a murderer is alone with their victim, and while Az and Metatron are talking there are no witnesses. I definitely think this is foreshadowing for next season when Aziraphale has to face off with the Metatron.

When they're leaving the shop the Metatron is all lovely smiles while Aziraphale is looking, and he seems a bit like a harmless old man, but as soon as Azi's back is turned he gives Crowley the most hateful, sinister, conniving glare, with [tense music playing] according to the subtitles and also my ears. He is up to something. This is a very strong piece of evidence that the Metatron Does Not Like Crowley.

He tells Aziraphale, "you are just the angel for the job." It could be an ordinary thing to say, but no I don't think so. I think the Metatron has been carefully considering this for quite some time, and I think this is all about Crowley. He says there are "huge plans afoot, enormous projects," and he's so careful to be extremely vague, while talking Aziraphale up. Then he uses a tactic knows will work, which is playing with Aziraphale's heart and using Crowley.

"I've been looking back over a number of your previous exploits, and I see that in quite a few of them you formed a de facto partnership with the demon Crowley."

He has done meticulous research, and it's made clear earlier that he hates Crowley. But, he knows that Aziraphale loves Crowley, and that he wouldnt be able to resist the chance to try and do what he thinks is the right thing. Metatron mentioned that he was a 'Prince of Heaven' and that it could be seen as an 'institutional problem'. Well Heaven can't really been seen to have problems can it? And Crowley has been doing whatever he pleases for six thousand years, not on the side of Heaven or Hell, and I think that they're sick of it. He's already 'corrupted' one angel, who knows what's next? They don't want someone to hold that kind of knowledge and power over them, and Crowley holds a far greater knowledge of earth than any of the rest of them do.

And so the Metatron offers Aziraphale something he knows he won't refuse:

And I have to ask, why, why would he ever have Crowley reinstated to "full angelic status?" Two seconds ago he just described him as a demon?? The answer is that he wouldn't. Somehow I don't think heaven makes a habit of restoring fallen angels. He has a master plan, and that involves getting to Crowley, which means getting Aziraphale out of the way. Eventually I think they'll attempt to use them against each other, but the first thing for them to do was gain some control over Crowley. The Metatron had offered for Crowley to come to Heaven, which does of course provide easy access to him and if Crowley had chosen to do that it probably would've worked for them. But I think the Metatron was counting on Crowley not wanting to go back, and that Aziraphale suggesting it would even drive a wedge through their relationship (which it did).

And now Aziraphale is off somewhere busy working, they aren't speaking to each other and Crowley is alone on earth, no one is going to notice if something happens to him or he goes missing.

Aziraphale also really isn't that special to Heaven, he's just another angel, and one who doesn't always do as he's told, which begs the question of why Metatron would make a whole trip to earth, just to give him Gabriel's job. It could go to pretty much anyone honestly. So when Metatron says 'The Job,' I'm certain he does not mean taking over Gabriel's position. He means the job of getting demon Crowley back in order and control, so he stops causing problems for Heaven. Because wherever there's a problem, Crowley is at the centre of it.

Finally. Aziraphale's insane smile in the elevator.

DO YOU SEE HOW CREEPY THAT IS?? It's so off putting, and given he's just effectively broken up with Crowley you wouldn't expect him to be too cheerful. That is the least genuine smile I have ever seen, like it does not even look like Aziraphale anymore. At first I thought it was just him trying to make himself feel okay about everything, and it technically could be, but I'm not convinced of that. There's obviously the theory that Metatron put something in Aziraphale's coffee, but I just don't buy that (no hate to the theory ofc, definitely still a possibility). It's so simple, so human, and this brings me to my point about Metatron having influence over objects, particularly magical ones, and potentially entities as well. I think it is far more likely that Metatron is either brainwashing Aziraphale or simply has an element of control over him, but isn't entirely controlling him. Could be persuasive power, which he uses to influence Aziraphale, but technically if Az fought really hard he could fight him off. My mind influence theory is supported on multiple occassions, where Aziraphale seems to want to change his mind, or act a certain way, and then suddenly snaps back to acting like everything is okay. Examples of that are:

- Aziraphale straight up says he doesnt want to go to Heaven. He tries to play it off as a bit of a joke but he looked pretty damn serious when he says it. He looks so doubtful, but between then and speaking to Crowley, his attitude does a complete 180 flip

- "Well obviously you said no to Hell, you're the bad guys." Aziraphale would NEVER say that if his mind was completely his own. He has spent almost their entire existence saying that Crowley is nice and good and kind. He doesn't think for a moment that Crowley is grouped in with Hell anymore, but that's certainly what the Metatron would think

- Metatron walks in right after Crowley leaves and isn't at all surprised by the fact that Crowley refused, more evidence that it was what he'd hoped and planned for. "Ah well always did want to go his own way. Always asking damn fool questions too." Which is a tiny bit of further background into fallen angel Crowley.

- When Aziraphale is heavily considering changing his mind, Metatron keeps talking as though Aziraphale is saying different words. "It should be in safe hands." "Anything you need to take with you?" He's suddenly really pushing Aziraphale, even though he said there was no need to answer right away.

And that is all I have for you!! If anyone has anything to add I would LOVE to hear, this is my theory, definitely not the only possibility but I do think it's a candidate. Please let me know if there's any major points I've missed, I'm sure there probably is 🤍

@a-hearts-a-heavy-burden let me know what you think!!

[cursedalthoughts]

SHIPGIRL APPRECIATION DAY - Kearsarge

USS Kearsarge. Let's start this post strong: Kearsarge is single-handedly the most unique character in the game (for legal reasons, in my opinion). Her design should already let you know why, but if you aren't seeing why, I will explain.

This post will divert a little bit from the formula I established post-DoY post (the first I did). It will include very, very heavy use of headcanons that are in no way supported by the lore, but I think are neat.

Personality-wise, Kearsarge knows she is superior. She is better than those other shipgirls that have decades of experience. That's simply a fact to her, and since it's a fact; all her actions do not come as arrogant. She just does things - she disregards your orders if she thinks they're not very efficient, she organizes your documents in a way she finds to be perfect regardless of what you prefer, she charges by herself or stays behind depending on the situation.

On occasion, I neglect your will and prioritize the here and now on the battlefield. While you are the Commander, sometimes you have to let your soldiers handle things – the sooner you accept this, the better.

Her approach isn't necessarily wrong, either. Despite this, Kearsarge is a very reliable shipgirl. She is, indeed, strong - her twelve 406mm main guns are accurate and devastating by themselves, but she also has access to a squadron of five F8F Bearcat attack aircraft. Her firepower is incomparable among Eagle Union backliners.

However, her personality doesn't stay like this forever. When you as the player character get closer to her, you discover she's just autistic. She deeply cares about you, but is so expressive about her emotions and trains of thoughts, it's easy to think she's just a self-centered arrogant woman who speaks with a detached tone. She will not outright tell you she's in love with you, but she will make you some borscht! (I should point out Kearsarge is, originally, a ship commissioned by the Soviet Union, hence her Russian influence). That's her love language.

USS Kearsarge, steel version.

Design-wise, I adore how the artist YD managed to take one of the ugliest ships in World of Warships and turn her into such a beautiful, unique, one-of-a-kind shipgirls. An angel descending from the machine, a seraphim clad in steel and powered by steam. A herald from another timeline, where the Eagle Union necessitated the construction of Kearsarge. Her rigging divided symmetrically in half, her turrets and their support structure taking the shape of 4 wings of white metal, the faux wings and herself connected to a floating halo device to act as a mediator between the flesh and the steel. Her planes up in the air, a ghostly echo. Her arms stretched outwards, "fear not".

In the event Parallel Superimposition the commander visits a simulation based on the anomalous data from the hull of Anchorage. We learnt a lot about Anchorage, Dr. Aoste, Dr. Anzeel, and the Type-II hulls. We also learnt Bon Homme Richard exists in this simulation. Now, I believe this realm to be strictly speaking a simulation - not a real universe. However, when the event ended; TB had managed to gather enough information on Yorktown II, Northampton II, Hornet II, Hammann II and Langley II. Laffey II, as much as she made an appearance, couldn't be studied. I am guessing the same goes for Bon Homme. Who is to say Kearsarge doesn't come from this simulation? Or that she comes from a universe that parallels this simulation?

Hopefully I shouldn't have to point the obvious similarities between Anchorage's rigging and Kearsarge's rigging. Anchorage is like a cherub accompanying the cyber-divine orchestra of Kearsarge's guns and planes.

-------

THIS WOMAN WILL NOT LEAVE MY MIND I HAVE SO MUCH BRAINROT FOR KEARSARGE

hopefully it's entertaining to read and y'all can see why i like her.

[tangerinesgirl]

Black Heaven

Chapter 1

Adam 'Frank' Barrett x FemAFAB!Reader

Rating: 18+, dubious content, NSFW

Word count: 700, bite size chapter as a lil tease

Summary: Set in an AU after the events of Abigail, but Frank survives. He starts making his way up the ladder and wants to start a war between him and an existing crime boss, so he kidnaps his daughter; the reader.

Warnings: rape/non con (for now! maybe reader gets more into it later, who knows), mobster elements, smut, exhibitionism, sadism, masochism, sunlight kink, spit kink/spit as lube, lewd acts in a church/religion kink (more on this later)

Notes: This is pure filth I'm sorry (plot what plot). And I have a lot more in mind, so buckle in. I'm still using the name Frank instead of Adam as I'm kinda imagining him keeping the name.

🦇

You start to regain consciousness as your feet drag painfully across the stone floor. Two men dragging you by your arms. You squint, realising you're in a church, being roughly escorted down the aisle of pews. You yelp in pain as the men slam you down onto your knees as you reach the altar.

Your hair falls over your eyes, as you flick your head back to move it out of the way, you see Frank. He's sat on the steps. Well, sat is putting it politely. His legs are wide open, the deep red robe he is wearing barely covering his modesty. His bare feet separated by three different steps, one pointing to the ground and the other one parallel to his arm, resting on his knee. His other hand caressing his chest underneath his robe. He praises the men for their work as they walk away, laying low in the shadows against the church walls, in case of trouble.

The light streams in from the stained glass window above the altar, lighting you angelically. Frank takes a moment, drinking you in, thinking. You decide to break the silence, "Where am I?".

"Do you like it? I thought it was pretty ironic". Frank gets up with a groan, his feet pattering on the stone steps, walking towards you. He lifts a finger towards the light from the window. It starts to steam up instantly as Frank pulls it away quickly. He swears under his breath, but not in a painful way. "Do you know why you're here?", he asks.

You roll your eyes, "Money". This isn't your first abduction being born into a crime family, it's always about the ransom money, it never ends well. Frank laughs, he opens his arms and spins around looking at his place, "What makes you think I need the money?"

Sunset starts creeping in, the light from the window starts to sink, the same time your heart does. You're confused what you've ever done to Frank, "then what?".

Frank bends down to whisper in your ear, "I just want to have some fun with you, send you back to your daddy, maybe in a box, if you decide to behave or not".

You turn your head to face his, "You really don't want to do that. You'll start a war".

Frank tilts his head, "Maybe that's what I want sweetheart. Besides, I haven't broken the place in yet". The last of the sunlight skims across your body as Frank drags his hand across your chest, exposing your breast. His hand smokes a little at first, but completely stops as the sun sets. He rolls your nipple between his fingers as you look up at him, defiantly. He smiles, he can't wait to play with his new toy, break it, and hopefully fix it. Moulding you into something else, something useful, infiltrating and feeding information back to him. You could rule over the empire together, and maybe give you a little upgrade.

Frank snaps out of his thoughts when you suddenly grab his arm and twist it backwards. The two men draw their guns, but Frank holds up his hand for them to stop. He releases his arm from your grip and squats down in front of you. He takes a moment, observing you.

You decide to break the silence, "Are you going to say some cliché shit about joining you?"

Frank shakes his head, "I wasn't planning on asking".

An anger brews deep inside you, drowning out the pit of fear in your stomach. Before you can even think about what you're doing, you spit in Frank's face.

You can hear the two men release the safety locks on their guns, holding steady.

Frank wipes the saliva from his face and starts palming his cock with the same hand. He never breaks his gaze from you while doing this. You try to remain somewhat calm watching his little show, not giving him any satisfaction. You plaster a scowl on your face as he uses your spit as lube.

Suddenly, Frank stops to grab your hair, bending your neck backwards. He invades your space, you can feel his cock through his robes brushing against your exposed breast. "I ought to teach you a lesson for that". He forces your mouth open and spits into it in retaliation. You writhe under him as he forces your mouth close, whispering for you to swallow. You have to eventually. When you do, he pats your cheek with a little "good girl".

[roxannepolice]

I guess brainrot over the idea of an ineffable husbands style tensimm kiss won't let me sleep so.

I think, leaving aside the general collective unconscious and David Tennant in a telepathic mode of transport, the main reason the dynamic hit as so similar is this kind of. Absolute versus relational morality? I mean, this is what's on the deepest level, because the most apparent aspect is the idea that one of these semi immortal entities believes the other can be kind of restored to the state of goodness? And not just this person specifically, I think Aziraphale in general and the Doctor mainly as Twelve tbh just have this worldview where good is somehow definite and in a way natural for the universe? Oh yes, Twelve will be making speeches about whether he's a good man but the very asking of such a question implies "good man" is something definite, something that one can be. And oh yes there may be villains and monsters but you know if we all just sat down and talked then sure everything could be figured out. And this is more obvious than ever in his attitude towards Missy, where y'know. She just never heard the music. Whatever that metaphor means. Just as Aziraphale assumes Crowley can just be restored to the angelic status, because sure it was just a misunderstanding right he means he's not actually evil right? In a sense, pre-time angelicness and childhood are parallel in that they both assume a mind that hasn't developed individuality yet and I guess this is why Moffat is obsessed with throwing children at the audience 24/7.

And I find it fascinating that where everyone sees Aziraphale is wrong (or, indeed just needs to figure out Heaven is evil), Twelve's clockwork orange vault is generally hailed as reaching out to the truth behind the Master that Missy got closer to than any regeneration we've seen. For some reason, because sure as hell not because of anything that happened in EOT. And that's writing for you: if it's intelligent enough you'll look at something fundamentally similar and see completely different things.

Now, Crowley and the Master have more relational relational ethics - and relational is not the same as relative. And sure as hell don't think the universe or any individual will "naturally" veer towards good. In fact, they're both pretty cynical about, at least human, nature. Difference is Crowley needs to get drunk from Spanish inquisition, while the Master thoroughly enjoys letting future humans go murder their ancestors for fun. I mean, Missy even calls the Doctor out for his absolute and sentimental idea of good, except that's framed as her being in the wrong. And then there's the whole "Paradise. You've destroyed paradise! - They were lazy. I made them hungry" exchange between War and Saxon Masters in Masterful. Serpent in Eden, anyone?

And I think that this is why tensimm give off those vibes that they were closer to understanding each other than ever before. Obviously, the moral divide is still there, as it has to be, but I think Ten, especially in EOT, is more aware of how easily one can slip into a vengeful god, and all this to SAVE someone, than ever before. So while the moral divide is arguably widest it's ever been, the perceptual differences between the Doctor and the Master are almost gone in those episodes. And I suppose the metaphor of the Doctor hearing the drums is pretty pertinent here.

Now, before there's any accusation of moral nihilism on my part - no, there isn't. I specifically wrote of moral relationality not relativism. An action or attitude can be good or evil, the thing is that every individual exists in a net of their relations to others that they can't get out of through spontaneous epiphany. And at the same time the idea of absolute good is necessary, precisely because the general momentum is towards... the opposite. At the same time, there is nothing vile that hasn't been done in the name of higher good. Again, dialectics.

Which is why I say the Master (the Simm!Master, reduced as he was) fell where he stood no less that the Doctor in season 10. Like, this absolutely wasn't the intended point and I still say the mutual suicide was peak contrivance, but. work's intent. And all of this goes back to platonists vs. sophists, you know.

So anyway, it's still Ten that desperately grabs Saxon's lapels and kisses him in hopes of making him stay where they can be happy together.

[y2ksnowglobe]

Guess who's still thinking about Birdie Oak?

In light of ep. 52, I'm struck by the parallels between Normal and Birdie.

Now Snowglobe, I hear you say, Birdie has zero canon characterization, what are you talking about? Okay, you're not wrong, but she's got a decent bit that can be inferred, so hear me out.

We start with Henry and Sparrow's perspectives on Code Purple. At it's core, it's a disagreement on whether or not protecting your family is worth sacrificing strangers (there are posts that go into this with a lot more nuance and I love those, but I don't want to get sidetracked). I don't think either Sparrow or Henry have the wrong viewpoint here, I think it's pretty much a trolley problem, but the point is we see a Henry that feels that helping those hurt by what he feels are his actions is a higher priority than his family. Heck, we even see this in Season 1 when they go back to Neverwinter and Henry wants to stand trial for what happened with the pyramid at the cost of rescuing their sons. We also know that Henry went on to build his little refugee camp Oakvale on Earth. I don't think it's too much of a jump to suggest that this wasn't a project he would have waited until Mercedes died to start.

HOWEVER, we see through Normal's teen facts that he still sees Mercedes and Henry post-code purple, Henry didn't just pack up the family and move to Earth, so we then get the scenario of Henry bouncing back and forth between the two realms, and in the process, maybe not being around a whole lot while Birdie is growing up. This , logically, gives us a Birdie who would be much closer to Mercedes than Henry, and that isn't a big problem until Mercedes dies.

Even though we don't see Birdie in Oakvale, it is the only logical place she could be, but it's pretty clear from just the description of Henry's hut that they're not close. There's zero indication that he shares that space with anyone else (my personal feeling is he gave her a different hut, since his was already constructed), and he doesn't bring her up to the rest of the teens/Lark and Sparrow while they're there, and would it be weird to the flow of the story if he went and found her to explain what was about to happen while waiting for the ten minutes to be up before the angel eats him? Yeah, but it does seem to indicate that Birdie tends to slip his mind sometimes in the face of everything else.

So where does this leave us? It leaves us with Birdie, losing the parent she was closest to, only to then have to be taken care of by her more distant parent who she has really complicated feelings about.

Okay, so let's look at Normal. It's been mentioned in Teen Talks that he's closer to his mom, and we can see their relationship pretty well in the episodes at their house. Meanwhile, even though hearing that Sparrow isn't proud of him takes him off guard, he mentions when they're in the calzone, that he never got the impression that Sparrow really liked him all that much. Add in the feelings of being left behind while Hero got to go "get ice cream"? Yeah...

So now, with the loss of Rebecca, we have Normal, losing the parent he's closet to, only to then have to be taken care of by his more distant parent who he has really complicated feelings about.

And I know it won't happen in canon, because pulling Birdie out now would be a really odd narrative choice, but...I want Normal and Birdie to talk.

[wellofdean]

This is old news, but I just read it for the first time and really loved it:

Rewatching Supernatural has been an interesting experience. I first watched most of it (from the start of season 2 on) in real time as it aired, and I have to admit that I did not take it very seriously. I gave it no thought whatsoever between episodes, and thought of it as an hour of indulgence in something dumb and pretty: two handsome brothers and their angel who fought monsters and melodrama every week. I never missed an episode and did love it, but I didn't truly engage with it.

It seems, however, that Supernatural worked on me in some kind of subterranean, unconscious way, because when it ended, I found I couldn't let it go. Part of that was the terrible narrative malpractice of its ending, but when I really thought about it, I realised that I also just missed Dean. He had been a weekly visitor for more than a decade, and I just didn't want my time with him to be over. I started watching Supernatural again, and the experience has been really interesting. A lot of things about my perception of it have shifted, and one of the main shifts has been in my apprehension of the serious artistic intelligence, nigh-on unbelievable range, and sheer excellence of Jensen Ackles' performance of Dean.

I keep thinking about what an incredible undertaking Dean is -- a 15-year-long development of one character! About how different the actor who played Dean in episode one is from the actor who played Dean in episode 325. How age, experience, and depth are reflected in both the character and the performance. It is just impossible to watch it and not see that there is an incredible evolution there, and at the same time, a kind of devastating psychological and emotional continuity.

Supernatural is a show that requires you to suspend disbelief and agree to go along with it. It can be silly and schlocky, and it's emotional strokes are often broad ones. It started airing in a time when our society was very different from the way it is now on issues surrounding social justice and inclusion. It isn't 'prestige TV' and it puts on no airs of being anything beyond what it is, but when the whole story is in your mind and you revisit it, and you aren't engaged with taking in plot and anticipating (or desiring) outcomes, you start noticing its subtlety, its themes, motifs and story parallels, the liminal spaces of its setting, the subtler play of emotion in moments without dialogue, and it starts to feel much deeper, more epic and just straight up BETTER than you ever thought it was.

All of that is mirrored in Jensen's performance. He grew into Dean and grew into an artist who could play Dean. He's not afraid of a little schtick, he's very capable of being obvious, but he's even better at the subtleties that allow Dean's inner life to rise up in his face without words. I love how this article positions Jensen's performance as being like that of so many classic film stars, the idea that he used his own essence -- the full range of his psychology, emotions and physicality with skill and intention to achieve what he did with Dean. His long commitment to and investment in the character, and the way he fully embodies Dean because Dean is a character that he built from pieces of himself.

Anyway. I have a lot of respect for his work. I love Dean and think he is magnificent. I hope Jensen Ackles knows how good he is, and is suitably proud of himself, and I am very grateful to hear that by all accounts, Dean is not over for him, because Dean is not over for me.

Sheila O'Malley wrote a few really nice pieces about Jensen's performance as Dean and one about Soldier Boy, and I recommend them. Very much enjoyed.