jotun-philosopher

[jotun-philosopher]

ao3 and wattpad gang where you at

[jotun-philosopher]

For all of the northerners that stood up for Texas during our freeze and said, "Don't make fun of them, they've never dealt with this before. Their infrastructure isn't made for snow and freezing."

This one is for you.

Where I live 108°F with 80% humidity with no wind is normal.

Pacific North West is dealing historic best waves 35-40°C or 95-105°F.

First of all. Don't make fun of them for bitching about the heat. Just like Texas isn't built for a freeze and our pipes burst, Pacific North West isn't built for heat and a lot of their homes don't have AC.

If you live somewhere with a high humidity like 80+ HUMIDITY IS NOT YOUR FRIEND. The "humidity makes it feel cooler" is a lie once it gets beyond a point.

If you live somewhere with a lower humidity, misters are nice to cool off outside.

Once you get over 90°F (32°C) a fan will not help you. It's just pushing around hot air. (I mean if you can't afford a small AC unit because they're expensive as hell, by all means a fan is better than nothing).

If you have pets, those portable AC units aren't safe. If your pets destroy the outtake thing, it'll leak CO2. Window units are safer.

Window AC units will let mosquitoes or other small bugs in. Sucks, but that's life.

Now is not the time to me modest. If you have to cover for religious reasons, by all means. If you don't, I've seen people wear short shorts and a swim top. It's not trashy if it keeps you from getting heat stroke.

If you do have to cover up for religious reasons, look for elephant pants or something similar. They're made with a breathable material.

Shade is better than no shade, but that shit it just diet sun after some point. Don't think shade will save you from heat stroke.

I know the "drink your water" is a fun meme now, but if you're sweating excessively you need electrolytes. Drink Gatorade, Powerade, or Pedialite PLEASE. I don't care if you're fucking sitting in one spot all day. That shit WILL save you from heat stroke.

Most importantly. RESEARCH THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HEAT STROKE AND HEAT EXHAUSTION PLEASE!

If you're diabetic and can't drink Gatorade, mix water, fruit juice, and either lite salt or pink salt

If you can afford it, cover windows with thick curtains to insulate the house

If you have tile floors, lay on them with skin to tile contact. If you don't, laying your head on cool counters works too.

If the temperature where you're at is hotter than your body temperature, don't wear heat wicking clothing. Moisture wicking is safe though.

Check your medication labels. Many make you more susceptible to sun and heat

-Room temperature water will get into your body faster. This is something I learned doing marching band in high summer in Georgia, and it saved all of our asses. Sip it, don't gulp it, especially if you're getting into the red; same goes for whatever fluid you're drinking. And just in general drink during the day.

-If you are moving from an air conditioned space to an un-air conditioned space, if at all possible try to make the shift gradual. When my dad and I were working outside and in un-ac houses a few years ago, he'd turn the air down to low in the truck about ten-fifteen minutes before we got where we were going. This way your body doesn't go from low low temps to high temps. S'bad for you.

-If you can, keep your lights off during the day. Light bulbs may not generate a lot of heat, but the difference is noticeable when it gets hot enough. I literally only turn my bedroom light on in the evening when it gets too dark.

Don't be afraid to just like... pour water on yourself if you need to. The evaporation will cool you off.

Put your hand to the cement for 15 seconds. If you can't handle the heat, it'll burn your dog's paws. Don't let them walk on it.

Dogs with flat faces are more prone to heat stroke. Don't leave them out unsupervised.

Frozen fruit is delicious in water.

Wet/Cold hat/handkerchief on your head/neck will help you stay cool.

Pickle juice is great for electrolytes! You can even make pickle juice Popsicles!

Heat exhaustion is more, "drink water and get you cooled off." Heat stroke is more "Oh my god call 911."

Image Description provided by @loveize

[Image description: an infographic showing the difference between heat exhaustion and heat stroke. The graphic is labeled "Heat Dangers: First Warning." Signs of heat exhaustion: faint or dizzy, excessive sweating, cool, pale, clammy skin, rapid, weak pulse, muscle cramps. If you think you or someone else may be experiencing heat exhaustion, get to a cool, air-conditioned place, drink water if conscious, and take a cool shower or use cold compress. Signs of heat stroke: throbbing headache, no sweating, red, hot, dry skin, rapid, strong pulse, may lose consciousness. If you think you or someone else may be experiencing heat stroke, call 911. End description]

Be safe.

-fae

[jotun-philosopher]

I can't do much but maybe this will interest someone. This cookbook is by a classically trained autistic chef, made for people with sensory issues. It's sold 1/6th of its initial run because apparently no one wants to have an autistic person interviewed on TV.

Apparently it's also very funny.

Spread this around! I bet someone here can use this.

[jotun-philosopher]

Finally figured out how to permanently disable google assistant on phone

[jotun-philosopher]

Which is more likely: Crowley heard Jimbriel's snoring from his couch, which is downstairs and on the opposite side of the bookshop from Jim's bedroom... or... Crowley heard Jimbriel's snoring from his bed, which is also Aziraphale's bed, which is located in their bedroom, which is presumably the room next door to Jim's? The one at the top of the stairs to which we've been shown the door but not yet let inside? 🤔

[jotun-philosopher]

@vidavalor

Drew this in January, my first Good Omens Fanart — I love them SOOO much oh my goodness

[jotun-philosopher]

Happy Terry Pratchett Day, on what would have been his 77th birthday.

To mark the occasion, we are putting our focus on reading for all, so we invite you to pick up a book, celebrate those championing literacy and access, share the stories that impacted you most, and celebrate your local libraries, who make this accessible across the country.

Terry was a firm believer that reading should be for everyone, and we continue to champion this ethos. No matter the age, format, or genre, there's a power in words and stories to transport readers.

For those looking to bring a little bit of Discworld into your, or younger readers', lives, Gollancz have given us some free sample colouring pages from the Discworld colouring book to share and print at home: https://terrypratchett.com/free-to-download-discworld-colouring-pages/

A continued and hearty thanks to all who keep Terry's work and legacy alive, and mark days like today in his honour. And to those who continue to fight for access to reading, for the importance of libraries, and the worlds that await within the pages of books - we thank you.

[jotun-philosopher]

Ugh, so I really hate doing this but I had a couple of pretty big unexpected expenses this month and I could use some help - either a ko-fi or getting something from my shop would help so much.

Thank you.

[jotun-philosopher]

Love this analysis! And the gif -- do you think Crowley uses the recollection of Az going to town on that meat when he's, uh, "taking a nap" in the present day?

Why do you think Crowley was awake in the 19th century in the show but not the book? 🤔

Hi there 💕I think that the simple answer is that sleep passage in the novel isn't just about sleep. If you look at how it is worded, it is also using sleep-- rest and relaxation-- as euphemistic for sex. It's a pretty funny part of the coding in the novel so let's take it apart. The parts that I bolded are what we'll look at, in particular:

"Evil, in general, does not sleep, and therefore doesn't see why anyone else should. But Crowley liked sleep, it was one of the pleasures of the world. Especially after a heavy meal. He'd slept right through most of the nineteenth century, for example. Not because he needed to, simply because he enjoyed it."

The first line in the paragraph establishes that Evil-- Satan and the demons of Hell-- don't really literally sleep and therefore do not see the point of it. This line is also a joke on what Aziraphale puns about elsewhere-- the "evil never sleeps"/"no rest for the wicked" idioms. The second line in the paragraph shows us how Crowley is different and tells us something else about him that then helps to set into motion the euphemistic nature of the paragraph:

"But Crowley liked sleep, it was one of the pleasures of the world."

If it had just said that Crowley enjoyed sleep, the paragraph would just continue to seem to be only about sleep. By mentioning, though, that Crowley enjoyed sleep because "it was one of the pleasures of the world", the paragraph is now also telling us that Crowley enjoys not only sleep but the pleasures of the world... which is a noticeably erotic way to put his enjoyment of sleep lol. The phrasing immediately reminds us that sex is one of the pleasures of the world and gives us the impression that this paragraph is saying that Crowley enjoys sex, too, which sets up for the next line really hammering home the euphemistic layer of the paragraph.

The following line adds that Crowley enjoys sleep-- literal sleep lol-- "especially after a heavy meal." Ah, yes. Food is here. This being Good Omens, we're now for sure also talking about sex. 😉

In reality, they aren't doing anything terribly original with food-as-sex here-- the very first sexual euphemisms ever were food-related-- but that was also sort of the point. Nightingales Cant is not an impenetrable bit of coding. And if you can't see food as also sex in Good Omens, well... I'm not sure we're watching the same show. This topic giving me a fun excuse for this amusing gif I came across the other day...

So, now we've switched back to talking about literal sleep in the first half of the sentence-- but only because Good Omens' favorite sex euphemism of food has now entered the paragraph to take up the innuendo torch for a moment. Crowley enjoys literal sleep after a heavy meal-- and after a "heavy meal", if ya know what I mean? 😉

In fact, the paragraph continues with further details...

"He'd slept right through most of the nineteenth century, for example." Stop 😂... The first time I read this line I snorted an iced mocha up my nose laughing.

So, Crowley had plenty of literal naps in the 19th century-- following what he also had during that time period and many others, which was plenty of food and quite a lot of sex. The wordplay in this sentence is also made funnier by the inclusion of "for example"-- ample amounts of x/sex was had in the 19th century for our sleep-loving Crowley. 😂

Why did he sleep so much in the 19th century and continues to do so, in general?

"Not because he needed to, simply because he enjoyed it."

The words simply and simple are also used repeatedly in The Arrangement passage in the novel, which is all using wordplay to detail aspects of Crowley & Aziraphale's relationship euphemistically as well. The story is shouting the word IMPLIED at the audience as a wink to read the double-meanings there on the page.

In the t.v. series, they flip back and forth between having the word implied itself and using the word simple in scenes that have an element of sex involved in them-- Bildad's "... and, to complete the process, a simple embrace."; Aziraphale's "It's perfectly simple. You just aim for my mouth but shoot past my ear." The 1601 scene, which is echoing aspects of The Arrangement from the novel, has Aziraphale helping people to get it by saying imply where the book said simple and simply in the "what I infer that you are implying" line.

The choice of the word enjoyed in the sleep paragraph here is also relevant for the etymology of joy, which I've included in the post linked below. Its original definition was sexual ecstasy, which adds to the wink-wink nature of sleep in this part of the novel.

The paragraph is saying that it wasn't required that Crowley slept-- or "slept"-- since he was a supernatural being who could, technically, go without either but the paragraph tells us that he doesn't go without sleep or sex because he enjoys all forms of rest and all the pleasures of the world. He leans into the desires of his particular human corporation which, for him, includes sex.

This is also why Aziraphale ties that dry joke about virtue being ever-vigilant to discussion of sleep in the novel-- because they use sleep as euphemistic for sex between them. For other sleep-as-sex, see: Good Omens: Lockdown, where Crowley refers to jerking off as "having a nap."

The etymology of joy, also relevant to Crowley's flirting in 1941:

[jotun-philosopher]

They are so incredibly MARRIED!!!!! <3

Nobody does it like Aziraphale

[jotun-philosopher]

@vidavalor

*hugs Crowley*

Good Omens 1x05 The Doomsday Option

[jotun-philosopher]

You can't take it with you, as they say.

Come to Heaven, Aziraphale. You don't need your shop... which is also the thing that has metaphorically been both your body and your life for the entire story to date. Just leave it all to Muriel and go to Heaven, a place we say that people go to when they die. Won't that be a relief?

Isn't it nice here, with just Death looming, waving adorably outside the window, just waiting to be given the keys?

[jotun-philosopher]

[jotun-philosopher]

There's this sort of anthropomorphizing that inherently happens in language that really gets me sometimes. I'm still not over the terminology of "gravity assist," the technique where we launch satellites into the orbit of other planets so that we can build momentum via the astounding and literally astronomical strength of their gravitational forces, to "slingshot" them into the direction we need with a speed that we could never, ever, ever create ourselves. I mean, some of these slingshots easily get probes hurtling through space at tens of thousands of miles per hour. Wikipedia has a handy diagram of the Voyager 1 satellite doing such a thing.

"Gravity assist." "Slingshot." Of course, on a very basic and objective level, yes, we are taking advantage of forces generated by outside objects to specifically help in our goals. We're getting help from objects in the same way a river can power a mill. And of course we call it a "slingshot," because the motion is very similar (mentally at least; I can't be sure about the exact physics).

Plus, especially compared to the other sciences, the terminology for astrophysics is like, really straightforward. "Black hole?" Damn yeah it sure is. "Big bang?" It sure was. "Galactic cluster?" Buddy you're never gonna guess what this is. I think it's an effect of the fact that language is generally developed for life on earth and all the strange variances that happen on its surface, that applying it to something as alien and vast as space, general terms tend to suffice very well in a lot more places than, like... idk, botany.

But, like. "Gravity assist." I still can't get the notion out of my head that such language implies us receiving active help from our celestial neighbors. They come to our aid. We are working together. We are assisted. Jupiter and the other planets saw our little messengers coming from its pale blue molecular cousin, and we set up the physics just right, so that they could help us send them out to far stranger places than this, to tell us all about what they find out there.

We are assisted.

And there is no better way to illustrate my feelings on the matter than to just show you guys one of my favorite paintings, this 1973 NASA art by Rick Guidice to show the Pioneer probe doing this exact thing:

"... You, sent out beyond your recall, go to the limits of your longing. Embody me. ..."

Gravity assist.

[jotun-philosopher]

Whoa! Awesome work! :D

I figured it was time I posted them all together. <3 Seeing them all together is so nice. Thanks to everyone for the love I've received over these! I appreciate you all so much! (Seriously it's been overwhelming, thank you!!) * Prints Available Here *

[jotun-philosopher]

"He's Just An Angel... I Know"

"He's just an angel... I know" is not Crowley saying that he and Aziraphale are not romantically involved. It's actually saying the exact opposite of that and telling Nina that he and Aziraphale are lovers.

How so?

Crowley's significant beat in pause, followed by the verbal italics putting emphasis on the word know. Plenty of other scenes show that Crowley loves to use the verb to know in its Adam & Eve-rooted, Biblical meaning as an euphemism for sleeping with someone. As in...

Crowley's last words to Aziraphale when Satan was coming and he thought they were going to die: It was nice knowing you.

Crowley's "I love you" to Aziraphale at The Ritz at the end of 1.01: And if you weren't just enough of a bastard to be worth knowing.

Crowley laughing in 1601, amused at Aziraphale's euphemism-laden lies that he and Crowley didn't know each other...

Those are just a few of the instances of Crowley and Aziraphale using to know as a dry and comically Biblical euphemism for sleeping together-- the way that many humans have also done for a long time. Just made funnier by the fact that Crowley and Aziraphale themselves are of Heaven and Hell.

This very same scene between Crowley and Nina that many are using in support of the idea of 2.06 being Crowley confessing feelings and his and Aziraphale's first kiss is, amusingly, really a scene in which Crowley is actually saying that they're already lovers, which supports all of the many, other scenes suggesting that Crowley and Aziraphale have been sleeping together for a long time.

Like, for a very, very long time...

"He's just an angel... I know" really meant that they're lovers in love who are partners in every way there is to be but for openly. The tone showed how evident it is that Crowley longs to be able to offer Aziraphale more than that.

He'd love to make an honest frequently-man-shaped being out of that angel but he can't because he's been damned to spend eternity as a bride of Satan over here, remember?

So, at present, Aziraphale is just the angelic sweetheart he loves and knows. They are a couple in secret who are well-aware of how much they love and adore each other and who are each other's partners in every way anyone would define it but for openly. They know they are that and they also know that, by this point in their relationship, they have no desire to be with anybody else. They're well-aware that, for all intents and purposes, they are partners, and have been for ages.

So, why not just call it that? How are they flirting with words related to this-- king, queen, spouse, wife, etc..-- and plenty related to love and so admitting to one another that they are a couple but... also then, at the same time, not admitting that they are one?

Here is where in the Nina scene Crowley explained why he still refuses to acknowledge that Aziraphale is his partner when everyone in the known universe can tell that's the case:

[TW: Satan harming Crowley discussion.] Pure of heart means free from sin. Crowley and Aziraphale correctly see no sin in love or sex. Their relationship isn't a sin to them. They do not see their relationship as an affair, either, the way that some in Hell and Heaven would, because Crowley's abuser is owed exactly zero loyalty. Loving one another and sleeping with one another is not sinful and they don't see it that way. So, where does the sin that Crowley is bringing up with "pure of heart" come into this?

The reason why Crowley cannot bring himself to admit that Aziraphale is his partner is because the moment they go from being madly in love best friends who have great sex and support each other through life (you know... partners lol) to being admitted partners?

Then he's Aziraphale's partner and Crowley, madly in love with Aziraphale, would only think someone a partner worthy of Aziraphale who would be faithful to him. Assault is not infidelity by any stretch of the imagination but that doesn't stop plenty of survivors from equating the two. Crowley, in his mind, believes that he cannot promise Aziraphale fidelity because he cannot free himself of Satan.

It goes without saying that Aziraphale would not, in any way, shape or form, view Satan's abuse of Crowley as Crowley cheating on him-- but Crowley does.

It's not an uncommon response for people who have been raped by someone outside their partnership to feel like they've been unfaithful to their partners. Part of the violation of rape for people who have a partner is that the survivor has been robbed of choice when it comes to who to share their body with. It's especially difficult if the survivor's preference is to only do so within their closed partnership, which is what pretty much everything in the story says would be Crowley's preference. He would be perfectly content sleeping with only Aziraphale for the rest of eternity and he would want to be able to offer him a partnership where that was possible.

If they view their relationship as their own but unable to be a full, open partnership because Crowley isn't free to offer that-- as they have been viewing it-- then there is no sin to it to Crowley. It's two people in love and who gives a fuck about Satan because his abuse of Crowley negates any need for fidelity.

But if Crowley were to allow he and Aziraphale to admit that they are the partners they really are? Then, because of Satan, he'd never be able to see himself as a faithful partner to Aziraphale, and that's really all he wants to be.

Crowley feels like he wouldn't be able to offer Aziraphale a true partnership without first being free of Hell-- and the whole thing with damnation has been that he is supposed to never be free of Hell.

In Crowley's mind, how can he promise to be only Aziraphale's when, aside from when he's with Aziraphale, Crowley's body isn't even his own?

He can't.

So, they aren't partners.

Even if they also absolutely are.

Crowley would love to be free of his messy entanglement with this evil asshole enough to marry Aziraphale, even if he thinks that Aziraphale could do much better than him for a partner, and it sounds all a bit like the drama of a certain someone's novels 😂...

Nina didn't understand that, though, because she lacked the context we have for their relationship. Yet, she also kind of nailed the truth about their relationship, anyway: You've got a husband? Or a boyfriend? Is the bookseller your bit on the side?

We might think this is ridiculous-- of course, Crowley doesn't have a husband or a boyfriend, other than Aziraphale!-- except that, well... Satan and others in Heaven and Hell might view what Crowley has going on with Aziraphale as an affair. It isn't one-- Crowley owes his rapist nothing-- but how Crowley & Aziraphale's relationship would be viewed depends upon whose point of view we're talking about-- and this scene is also by far not the only mention of this during S2.

Nina's hair falls in the above scene in such a way as to cut off one side of her t-shirt and make only the word tings visible-- side ting is MLE slang for bit on the side. Lindsay's abuse of Nina is stirred up by the idea that Nina is having an affair with Maggie. By the time we're in The Final 15, Mr. Carpet is even walking around with a newspaper [new/knew/know] that has been bit on the side, as if underlining and highlighting in neon this phrase. (Aziraphale, earlier: "I'm what's known as a newspaperman.") Beez also used the word affair to Crowley earlier in the season when trying to get his help with the Gabriel disappearance.

Crowley is just one of several characters loving angels in secret in S2, with the paralleling Beez and Nina emphasizing this as an important aspect of the story. The story getting into the perspective Satan would have and having parallels (Lindsay) to him in S2 (where all the flashbacks also revolve around Hell) is the setup for his return, which some of us think has already happened in the end of S2 but which is definitely going to happen before the story is over.

This is also then partially what leads to the confusion between Crowley and Aziraphale in The Final 15. Crowley proposing doesn't raise alarm bells to Aziraphale, though-- even after what we just looked at here-- because they had both just seen Gabriel and Beez try something different. Aziraphale thinks that maybe Crowley wants to follow suit, even if his situation is a bit different.

They don't have any space to talk alone, though, because they're being watched-- very likely by the very being at the heart of why this team, group, group of the two of them have been trying not to admit that they know they are the partners that they have been all along.

Bonus, related scene: that time that Crowley highlights the meaning of what he said to Nina to us by saying the same line-- without the emphasis implying innuendo at all whatsoever 😂-- to Muriel.

[jotun-philosopher]

Here's to Satan and the Metatrash getting righteously kicked up the jacksie! It's the least they deserve...

Gabriel defended Crowley in shutting down Michael's "Shua" slander...

Just after Bildad joined the group scene to help Sitis, Michael was bothered by how Gabriel was willing to allow Bildad to join them. She saw herself and the angels as superior to whoever this bedraggled, black-clad interloper was and was irritated by the fact Gabriel didn't just instantly dismiss Bildad's presence.

Michael-- a character who, in the present in S2, ordered the death of a pair of humans for simply being in the room with the immortal beings-- thought she would try to remind Gabriel with a little hint that they were superior beings to Bildad the Shuhite and that he didn't have to treat him as an equal.

Michael did this by jumping in with a know-it-all tone to draw attention to the etymology of Bildad's self-professed surname. She said: "'Shuhite', of course, means 'from the land of Shua"... which is an example of an angelic-world microaggression because what it was really doing was bringing up among all of them-- without directly saying so-- what it is that the word shua means-- and calling Crowley one.

While shua can mean prosperity, it apparently derived that meaning from an earlier sense of "sinful" opulence. It also means a series of other things, like... to cry out for salvation, to prostrate oneself, to have low morals, to drown, to be at the bottom of society, and to fall to a lower position.

Some of the definitions of shua indicate that she might have suspected he was a demon but, either way, it didn't matter to her because her point was that she thought Bildad wasn't someone she and the other angels should be associating with. Bildad wasn't "their kind" because he was from "the land of Shua"-- the bottom rungs of society.

She seemed to be saying to Gabriel that this Bildad person who had just arrived was likely a demon in the supernatural sense or, if not, was just a similarly low class, immoral, human person of no consequence, and that, either way, he was beneath them and not worthy of their time and respect.

This comment was both classist and racist and she said it aloud to Gabriel, right in front of Crowley, adding to the insult by assuming that Crowley wouldn't be as intelligent or educated as she is (lolololol) and so maybe wouldnt understand that she was insulting him. She didn't seem to care if he did.

That is why Aziraphale looked ready to murder Michael for saying that. He was glaring at Michael, furious, his teeth grinding from anger at one point. It was not just that Aziraphale was irritated that this could have gotten in the way of saving the kids-- it was that she was insulting Crowley to his face.

Unlike Gabriel and Aziraphale, Michael reacted to Crowley's presence the way that The Metatron would have expected them to behave to anyone they suspected was outside of their species or rank. She was trying to telegraph to Gabriel a warning that she thought he should not be willing to listen to whatever this Shuhite person had to say. She wanted Gabriel to shut this down.

Instead, Gabriel shut Michael down-- hard.

Gabriel threw up a hand and one of his patented withering looks and said "yes" in that fuck all the way off, Michael tone that said he knew what 'shua' meant, thanks, and it didn't bother him there might be someone from a different part of society in their midst.

His response was just instantly a reaction of don't even with the bigotry, Michael. Bildad is a person and we will be treating him respectfully.

This is the Jim in Gabriel showing up. Jimbriel had no issue with spending time with and befriending people of different species and social classes in the present of S2, just as Gabriel didn't think it inappropriate in the past that they should allow Bildad the Shuhite into their conversation.

Gabriel was always walking a tightrope with his position, trying to throw suspicion off of him long enough to hold onto the role that gave him just enough power to help as many as he could, even if it was really always The Metatron who was in charge.

Gabriel was the only one with power enough in this scene to put a stop to Michael's bigotry and he did so without a single hesitation.

Without Gabriel being open-minded and principled enough to stand up for Bildad? Job and Sitis' kids would have died because Aziraphale needed Crowley's help to save the kids and Gabriel was in control of who was in the room. Without Gabriel being fundamentally decent and overriding Michael to ensure that Bildad was treated with respect, there would have been no path for Aziraphale to help Job and Sitis.

It's also clear that none of Michael's insult escaped Crowley's sharp notice-- not that we would expect someone as clever and into words as he is to have not understood what she was saying. What Michael's bigotry blinded her to was the fact that, in trying to use etymology to insult Crowley? She had basically challenged Serena Williams to a tennis match. 😂

Crowley's response to Michael was to easily beat her at her own game. He had the space to do so after seeing that Gabriel might be a lot of things but he wasn't a bigot. Gabriel supported it by not interjecting and was probably pretty bemused by the response.

"Indeed, it does," Crowley told Michael about how being Bildad the Shuhite meant that he came from "the land of Shua", with a tone and an eyebrow raise that said he knew exactly what Michael was saying about him by bring up shua's etymology...

...where, as it happens, I am a leading shoemaker.

The Serpent of Eden, bitch. Prince of Hell. Not just a Shuhite, Archangel Michael, but *the* Shuhite. 😂

Crowley was pointing out that there's are whole worlds in various lands of Shua, too-- in Hell and places like it on Earth-- and that where Michael comes from is not the center of the universe. "What, you think they don't wear shoes in Shua?"...

You don't think we aren't people, too, Michael? You don't think we have social classes and prejudices and power struggles and all the same bullshit on Earth and in Hell the way you have them in Heaven, Michael? The same wants and needs of all people? Gabriel seems to have clued into the fact that we're all the same but it doesn't seem like you read that memo yet...

What's also of note here is that, during this reply of Bildad's? Gabriel didn't say a word. He didn't interject. He didn't tell Crowley to knock it off. He didn't flex any political muscle in the scene here at all. He thought Crowley was within his rights to sass Michael a bit and his way of supporting that was to not say anything and let him speak. He also then did something else helpful: he basically handed control of what was happening in the scene over to Aziraphale.

By the time Crowley was on "shoes in Shua," Aziraphale had his plan so he interjected with the "yes, well, it would be really helpful if you were an expert in human births" that ranks in the Top Five Most Obvious 'Shenanigans Are Afoot' Moments Imaginable. Gabriel, quiet, was just raising his eyebrow at Aziraphale but letting him run the show.

Gabriel didn't have to be basically just standing there for this moment and, at any time, he could have said enough was enough but he let it all play out. His response to the leading shoemaker suddenly maybe also being a midwife was basically just to turn to Crowley and wait patiently to find out if he was going to declare himself a birthing expert. 😂

Gabriel was just going with it by that point, letting it be The Aziraphale and Bildad Show, tacitly helping them by prioritizing Crowley's sense of safety and actively choosing to protect him over pandering to Michael's bigoted discomfort.

He used his power to defend Crowley and help him and Aziraphale save Job and Sitis' kids from Heaven, taking on great risk to himself in doing so.

That was obviously the right thing to do but it came back to bite Gabriel in S1 when Michael took a swing at him by going after Aziraphale and Crowley and showing Gabriel pictures that forced them into not ignoring the fact that they both knew that Bildad the Shuhite had been the demon Crowley.

Michael was letting Gabriel know that she knew that he had known that for a long time-- that she remembered his empathetic response to Bildad and support of Aziraphale and suspected Gabriel of having known Aziraphale was in a relationship with Crowley and having been protecting them from being caught by Satan and The Metatron.

These actions of Gabriel's during Job also add an interesting layer to the recurring thing in S2 about Crowley's long-held little pash on The Supreme Archangel that Crowley otherwise does enjoy mocking-- even if he will admit, a little moony-eyed, that he thinks Gabriel is beautiful.

It could be argued that said pash might have been helped along a bit by the fact that, from what we've seen? Gabriel was pretty much the only angel not named Aziraphale to ever really treat Crowley with respect after his fall. Crowley appreciated Gabriel standing up for him to Michael and admired the risk he took in doing so.

It adds additional layers to all the emotions he has over how S1 led to a lot of misunderstandings and missing context between them that begin to get worked out during S2.