#go anathema

[the-anathema-device]

Adam runs up to Anathema, skidding to a stop beside her.

"'Nathema! What happened?"

He stared at the frozen man in the circle, slowly taking a step towards it.

"..What."

@adam-n-dog

ADAM! Why are you here? What are you doing here? Where’s Newt?

Don’t touch him.

[captainfantasticalright]

1967: you go too fast for me Crowley, or the year the Wolfenden report actually came into effect.

It is no secret that in 1957 the Wolfenden Committee recommended the decriminalisation of private homosexual activity between consenting adults over the age of 21, but with heavier penalties against homosexual activity in public places.

This is precisely what Anathema thinks of when she comments in the book that her book had been left in the back of the car of 'two consenting cycle repairmen'.

Not only does that inform us as readers that the characters within the book perceive Crowley and Aziraphale as being a couple, especially by the (arguably) cleverest witch in the book, but also that their appearances (physical corporations) do in fact look older than 21 years old. (the age of consent)*

*It would take until the 2000s for the age of consent to be equalised, and for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender personnel to be able to serve openly in the armed forces.

But coming back to the term 'consenting' and the significance within the overall plot of Good Omens series-wise is the fact that they chose 1967, precisely 10 years later after the Wolfenden report and the year the Sexual Offences Act was passed (which decriminalised private homosexual acts between men aged over 21 in England and Wales, while at the same time imposing heavier penalties on street offences) as a crucial point in storytelling.

This is the last scene we see of them after the montage; this is precisely the point where Aziraphale makes that big, first move towards Crowley and manifests himself inside of the Bentley to protect him from a burglary that could have ended in disaster. This is Aziraphale stepping outside from his own box and venturing into admitting that yes, he would enjoy Crowley's company as more than just an Arrangement. He would like the picnics, he would like to dine openly with him.

And this comes precisely at a time, a real world setting where even the Archbishop of Canterbury agreed, saying: “There is a sacred realm of privacy ... into which the law, generally speaking, must not intrude" (referring to homosexuality).

Although we know Aziraphale and Crowley are not men, but rather men-shaped beings of the world, there is something to be said about how the 1967 act reflects on Aziraphale's 'heavenly' beliefs and how that can be attributed not only to homosexuality*, but also a realm of privacy where neither Heaven or Hell (religion itself) need to interfere with his affairs.

*we do know, however, how much the book and tv series lean into Aziraphale being 'gay', at least in our human understanding of labels and categorizing even though he is not; "pansy" "nancy boys" "gayer than a treeful of monkeys on nitrous oxide" (this one specifically marking Aziraphale canonically in the book as appearing to be a homosexual) "you've got the wrong shop" among others.

A real life anecdote from the time says: John Carter was 17 at the time and doesn’t have a clear memory of the bill passing; he only realised the significance of the change with hindsight. He came out in the early 70s, after making contact with his university’s gay society, which wouldn’t have existed were it not for decriminalisation. “It meant that people could meet … and freely associate.” That was crucial, he says, because, “if you don’t even have a space where you can go, then people are cruising, they’re cottaging * ... It took many years for people who had been constantly looking over their shoulder, being worried, to develop proper ways of relating to each other. Ways that were not just based on sex or compromise or fear.”

*(No, cottaging is not living in a cottage)

No matter that the law had been passed, there was still a lot of stigma surrounding the word 'homosexual'. It wasn't until the 80s and 90s that it stopped being a crime in Scotland and Ireland; being further stigmatized with the AIDS crisis in the late 80s.

Regardless of the nature of the open confession Aziraphale lays bare to Crowley in 1967, it most definitely can be read as a 'coming out' for him. Perhaps not dealing with sexuality directly, but with religion layered on top of that. It is still too fast despite of the year, in spite of the millennia worked together under false pretenses. But it is an exterior, real life push that reinforces the idea for him to see that- if humans are able to recognize that man could be with man and not call it a crime, why could that same thinking not be applied to an angel and a demon living on Earth?

Aziraphale is doing more than blurting his heart out, he is openly hoping for the time that matches 1967 in its decriminalisation of homosexuality to one that applies for him and Crowley. So the thermos, the "better not" say thank you just yet, is a lingering promise to be there for when it finally happens. One which Crowley accepts with bare, open hands.

[fexalted]

good omens + text posts (part 9)

an assortment i made last year with some season 2 mixed in for variety :3c

[serenity-the-firefly]

i think carpenter and hayward should have some kind of ghost hunting youtube channel but for unlicensed gods. they go around snarking at each other and arguing over what kind of god this is and how best to deal with it. hayward ALWAYS thinks its an old harvest god and they have NEVER once made a situation better

[the-anathema-device]

Hello Crowley… I’ve been told by a lot of people that you need help with a book. And, you know, I am Book Girl…

Would it be alright if I popped down to the bookshop for a while? You seem like you could use some company.

If anyone needs me I will be on the sofa.

[aethersea]

I saw a post proposing that the reason the Doctor always ends up on Gallifrey at a time after he last left it but before the next time he'll visit, and other Time Lords similarly are all showing up on Gallifrey in a chronological manner, is that the TARDIS just handles it. and that is great! but I would like to propose that, as well as and alongside this, Time Lords have a biological like-calls-to-like thing going on that means they're extremely unlikely to encounter each other out of order. it's like how birds can sense north. Time Lords can sense each other, and are repelled (like magnets) by other Time Lords who are at a mismatched point in their chronology.

the TARDIS is handling it, but she's doing that partly by avoiding any time & place where the Doctor's spidey sense starts tingling. (the Doctor is not aware of this.) that's why the Doctor and the Master don't run into past/future incarnations of each other: any time one of them aims for a planet the other is already on, if they'd be running into each other out of order, they get the heebie jeebies and turn around.

[yetrop]

I’ve been playing a lot of DnD lately, so it got me thinking about what characters these two would play.

I like to think they’d both use it as a chance to express parts of themselves that they usually don’t, and everyone around them would be very confused.

[the-anathema-device]

//anathema’s rp-er here!!! i’ve been suffering from a lot of mental health issues and adhd/autism burnout, plus i’ve had exams, so everything’s been super intense recently.

//however, i’m starting to get some more spoons, and i’ve been really missing this community, so here i am, back, hopefully for good this time!!

//if anyone could catch me up on the stuff i’ve missed that’d be really kind <33

[the-anathema-device]

Why on earth - or I suppose, why in heaven - are there two Gods? Help me out here, I’m more than a little lost.

And - am I going to have a to be a professional descendant again? Well, I suppose it was inevitable.

Delivery for you from uh. Frances? No last name.

*a t-shirt that says “Agnes Nutter is My beta reader.” *

I had an extra, so this one’s for you. - @the-unmighty-god

Thank you for the t-shirt, @the-unmighty-god. It's lovely.

Agnes Nutter was one of my chosen humans. I'm glad she was able to say her piece, even if no one listened in her day. Her bloodline, and perhaps a little miracle of my own, made sure her message got to to the right people at the right time.

[windsweptinred]

You can't change my mind. Any attempt shall be futile.

[apeldille]

Memories of late summer at Shearfell

Lord Galnat and his seneschal out riding.

[the-anathema-device]

That’s very nice of you. Thankyou.

And we will all be safe one day soon. Or at least as safe as it gets. I’m sure of it.

Oh, and yes. Apparently I do have a piece of God in me. Nobody will tell me what’s up with that.

At this point, perhaps it’s best if you adopt me too. @nutty-and-accurate seems to have disowned me. At any rate, I’m a disgrace to my own family name - I burned my history, my mother doesn’t want to talk to me, not since I had to leave to help save billions of people at eighteen. With your former biological son, by the way.

I’d only just begun to figure out who I am without my family and now, within the space of an hour, I’ve been rediscovered and disowned again.

I’m sorry. I shouldn’t’ve said all that. I’m just a bit shaky right now, is all. I’m sure I’ll regain control soon.

So. Yeah. Also, we’re all worrying about you and your children. According to dear old Agnes, you might be in danger.

- Anathema (sans Device)

...I assume this is @the-anathema-device? You're the witch with a piece of my Mother in her, are you not?

Well. I don't mind adopting you either way - though this does make it a bit. Complicated, to say the least. Regardless, I'm perfectly willing - though, of course, I do need to consult the lovely @chloe-decker-lapd.

....is it weird that your potential mother is similar to you in age? Actually, forget that, Eric's a million times older than Chloe.

It's not a disgrace to want your own identity, dear one. I understand what it feels like. To have a purpose, predestined by Someone who doesn't seem to give two shits, and do all can to escape it and make your own.

Besides, I'm quite certain you exceeded all expectations. It's no mean feat to be among the only competent ones in a bloody Apocalypse, you know?

You don't need to gain control over something like this, dear. Whatever you feel right now? Don't let anyone tell you it's an overreaction - not even the culprit behind it, Agnes Motherfucking Nutter.

...when are we not in danger? Seriously, I ask for one day.

[ineffablyruined]

Good Omens + Text Posts

Bonus: The Earth is a Libra

[kippitykappitycheerio]

Unrelated to south park, but I absolutely loved Good Omens, great show-- Sad it got a movie instead of season 3 :C Anyways, expect random doodles of GO characters on this account.

(Mainly Shax, Furfur, Crowley, Anathema.. Newton, I guess. And the n-z- zombies! I absolutely adore those guys)

[the-anathema-device]

Who are you? Do you have something to do with Aziraphale and Crowley’s… breakup? thingy?

Crowley seems quite upset about it.

YOU. YOU SIR. YOU MADE MY PARENTS DIVORCE😭😭

Whoever your parents are, if they divorced it was their own choice to do so. Some relationships don't last. Some relationships never should have started in the first place. So I have no doubt that their divorce was in service of the Great Plan.

[rustic-ghoul]

I’d love Anathama to meet the Whickber Street people.

Nina would be so sceptic (even though she now knows about angels and demons).

Maggie would just be so excited that there was another human to talk to about Mr Fell and Mr Crowley.

Mrs Sandwich would try to recruit her into becoming a “seamstress” because she is bloody gorgeous.

Mutt would ask her if she could do real magic.