#good omens threshold tricks

[sonkitty]

The Pocket Trick Touch #2 - Triple Part 2 - Between Cars

Find the newer version here: The Pocket Trick Touch #2 - Triple Part 2 - Between Cars

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(For reference: The Pocket Trick - Basics)

Touch #2 (Episode 2; Triple Part 2; Short sideburns; Between Cars)

This post was last updated 04/18/2024.

Nina Intermission

Before Triple Part 2 is an intermission scene with Nina that I will go ahead and include in the post here.

This scene looks to alert us of some possible qualifiers when pockets are used more than once in an episode. However, episode 5 does not follow these methods exactly, so it's still going to be really confusing later. The retying of the Tied hands is never going to look as simple as it does here, among other things.

When that scene starts, a human is behind Crowley with their back to the camera. They are using one pocket and walking away. They are wearing an orange vest and brown hat. Orange is the current color in the Rainbow Connection. This human will re-appear as a significant presence in Triple Part 3. They are also holding a phone. A different human holding a phone will be part of the Pocket Frame in Triple Part 2.

In the first video frame of Crowley, his head is fully obscuring a yellow light that is going to be relevant for the switch to Yellow later. When he turns around, the light is behind him and otherwise to his left. It looks like a guest book. Visually, this yellow touches Crowley's left shoulder and is not above his left ear. His left sleeve and jacket make a slender pocket between each other that don't reveal much of anything except perhaps some concrete behind Crowley.

When Crowley replies to Nina, he has humans visually behind his right shoulder while the yellow is behind his left shoulder. His tie strands swing within the jacket, and some of the jacket's inner parts are shown.

The scene cuts to Nina to call Crowley, "Mr. Six Espressos in a Big Cup." I suspect that qualifies as a name.

The scene cuts back to Crowley. He had already turned as if he was walking away, so he turns to address Nina again. His turn also made it so that most of the tie strands were hidden.

Here is a GIF of the turn discussed next:

In turning to address Nina again, the strands collectively move to strike an outer part of the jacket. One of the clasps ensures a strike on the edge of Crowley's left lapel. The other meanwhile strikes outside of the left lapel and still on the jacket. Then the strands swing back inward to the jacket and swing a little more before settling down.

The part with at least one of the clasps hitting the lapel seems to be the key moment of the tying here. Such things happen in other times I think the Tied Hands retie.

During the turn, Crowley's left arm allowed for a pocket to form between it and the torso of the jacket. Imaginary pocketing here would include the concrete of the steps, the vertical part of the railing aligning with the yellow guest book, and part of the rug running along the steps. Otherwise, setting silly imagination aside, there was an opening—a pocket, formed during the key moment of the tying process.

Another human passes by during Nina and Crowley's conversation. That human is quite likely a woman holding a light blue shopping bag during the incoming cut that shows the actual touch for Triple Part 2.

When Maggie is seen from the window, Maggie's watch is visible. There is a human using a pocket there too. That human is holding a phone in his hand that is not pocketed. Strangely, as a car began to pass, it obscured part of the phone just as Maggie's watch became visible.

Nina is implied to touch her own pocket or pockets.

Nina eventually moves her right hand in a way that her thumb is partly visually behind Crowley's jacket with all her fingers visible and other times fully visible. At a given point, the fingertips are not visible. At yet another given point, her right thumb does a vertex touch between Crowley's jacket and Nina's own clothing. Her own thumb tip is not visible. It is behind Crowley's jacket.

Nina does a self-mouth touch of her own. During this entire scene, Crowley is implied to still have his pocket touch active without actually showing either of his hands. Additionally, there are building windows visible here but not visible in the next immediate cut after this intermission.

In Crowley's last cut of the scene, the yellow guest book is shown to have switched within the framing. It is behind Crowley's right instead of his left, even specifically aligned to have its edge by Crowley's ear. With no red alerts available for this particular scene, that is the visual cue that the Rainbow Connection has switched from Orange to Yellow.

Crowley says, "Gotcha." It allows for the meaning understood in the story of acknowledging what Nina just said to him but then another meaning that he got what he wanted for the pocket trickery in the game.

Likewise, Nina's look at him could mean that she sensed what he was doing after it was done.

Said meanings are optional, of course. Use your imagination as you see fit.

So, basically, I think the scene is setting in some foreshadowing and qualifiers for the incoming touch.

...

Here is the GIF of the main cut in question for this part of this post:

Overhead Light

Not long after Crowley encounters Nina, a view from behind him shows he is approaching the Bentley with a clear shot of the Bentley's own rear window.

There are indeed lights still that can be found in the upper areas to both sides of his head. The more prominent single light fixture is on the camera's left. It is also on Crowley's left. Crowley's left seems to be the one that gets the stronger lights in general, presumably a specifically desired Overhead Light.

In front of him is a human using a cell phone. That human is going to help box him in for the Pocket Frame in the next cut.

Further ahead of that human is another human using pockets. Well, only one pocket use is truly confirmed, but one could make a good guess that the other pocket is probably also being used. As the scene progresses, it becomes evident that this pocket user is framed as between cars, serving as yet another clue for the incoming Pocket Frame.

Their reflection can be found in the car to the left. With small Yellow lights being around that reflection, they could also be flipping the mirror of the Tied Hands back.

Before the possible flip, Aziraphale's head popped up with him being in front of the car that is currently being viewed from behind with Crowley's head. I don't have it in me to figure out what his framing and timing mean. He's visually between two large open archway frames behind him at least. Plus, the Overhead Light for Crowley is actually to Aziraphale's right.

Near the end of the cut through closely examining where to best find another red alert, Yellow switches to Green in the Rainbow Connection.

...

Between Cars

Here is the GIF of the main cut in question for this part of this post:

Once the cut switches to being in front of Crowley, a sidewalk is behind him, suggesting a threshold should have been passed before trying this next part of the touch.

It's even far enough away that any edge touches will not be happening there.

For imaginary pocketing with just Crowley's arms and hands, we have a blue bag, wet spots on the road, a shoe, a shadow of a leg, maybe even a bottom part of one of the cars that's the actual Pocket Frame, and the road itself.

We can imagine even more pocketing thanks to a nearby human puppet. I can't read his shirt with a screenshot, and I don't have the energy to hunt him down in other parts of other screenshots. He's going to help manage the Rainbow Connection and clue us in to watch Crowley's arms.

Much like before, Crowley has his four right fingers in the pocket with the thumb not in the pocket. A jacket sleeve pocket for the right arm is already in place.

The left hand is positioned downward as if it's grabbing nothingness. It has its thumb straight down, hiding the fingertips of the pinky and index fingers. The middle and ring fingers peek out behind it. The left thumb joint conveniently aligns itself almost with a presumably more wet spot of the road.

The left front of the jacket is aligned vertically with the pants.

This clip is quite strange. The humans are moving in a way that syncs with Crowley himself. It's not direct in steps, but it's enough to be noticed. One of them is quite close to him and the earlier mentioned puppet.

My current theory is that this particular touch is a special way to trap the Green of the plants in the car to be used later in The Door Trick for the end of the Rainbow Connection. It's based on little things like the findable rainbow here seeming to just plain target the plants. Black and White together seem to do some kind of trap. The lighting in this cut allows Crowley's dark clothes to seem even darker, so they are set to Black. Meanwhile, the nearby human puppet has a decent amount of White on his shirt. The touch itself has a unique end compared to the others because the Pocket Frame is allowed to be specifically when the mirror flips, based on my own guess. Plus, the right-pocketed hand is off-screen. The left hand is mainly seen through a reflection. That's not how the actual touch points go for the other touches.

I hesitate on this theory because hey, it's pockets, we can just do whatever we want and imagine things because we know what happens in the end. I'm mainly just guessing because of how the game plays itself while I try to make sense of what it means based on what I've figured out in the past.

Anyway...let's get back to some details in slower motion...

The puppet is going to not quite match the movement of Crowley's own reflection. He has no visible shadow in front of him, but after looking at the rest of the scene, I might just not grasp shadows and lighting properly to determine if a shadow should be there. The human's hands are weird too. The left hand allows a self-pocket to be made, and his watch is visible. Nonetheless, humans behind Crowley do have shadows, as does a car.

Well, anyway, we're here for the touch in this Trick. We're not going to solve all the greater mysteries of Good Omens 2 in this post. I can't even figure out what's really going on here anyway.

The shadows behind Crowley are still a hint since they are all moving. Indirectly, that informs us the wet spot is a wet spot since it is not moving. The car mentioned earlier has light reflecting off it that feels like more of a bother than a hint for this touch.

But it's a hint for the touch.

This time, Crowley's Pocket Frame is Between Cars.

For the right thumb, the shading and lighting make it impossible for me to see if it's touching the edge of anything. At a guess of just where things are on Crowley's clothes in general, the right thumb joint is probably touching somewhere on the belt but not an edge. The thumb tip is touching the pants. Due to how this scene goes, it seems to transfer or share a link with the vest.

Instead of having so much of the right hand hidden, the jacket is actually behind the right hand. Since things in this Trick can never be simple, that part of the jacket is also folded, such that a tiny bit of the back of the jacket is there, in addition to the front that is touching behind the hand. This front is touching behind the metacarpal for the pinky finger, so it's like the opposite end of where the thumb joint is.

Both tie strands (Tied Hands) are on the right side of the jacket, and one of them is going to swing more than the other. The one further to Crowley's right is the one that is going to do that. It's going to be linked with Crowley's actual left hand for most of the sequence. The one further to the left might indeed align with an edge of the jacket, but there is no way for me to tell with the lighting and dark clothes. If there is any such edge touch, it's quite likely involving the tassel tip or about to be.

Only one frame in, and things have changed. That thumb is no longer hiding the pinky fingertip or the index fingertip. The tie strands have slightly moved, and the clasps are not as shiny.

Crowley starts to talk. His line is "Do you need a lift somewhere?"

This touch is the only one in the Trick with dialogue where he speaks, and we can see that he has part of his hand pocketed into his pants when he talks. It turns out the line is also a clue about what to look for in this pocket touch because of the Pocket Frame being Cars.

It has an additional meaning since "lift" is the word actually used for the Heaven elevator in the story by Muriel when referring to where they found the matchbox. The Heaven lift will be across the street from where this interaction takes place in episode 6 where Aziraphale does "need a lift somewhere".

Starting from here on out, much of this group of posts is simplified because I truly cannot keep up with the details. It is overwhelming.

The right jacket sleeve pocket closes.

As soon as the left thumb hides itself behind the jacket, the strand closer to the vest moves to then reach the vest.

Meanwhile, the other strand soon follows but swings more strongly such that it's off the vest and over the other side of the jacket—Crowley's left side—the next time the left thumb becomes visible. It swung so far as to be visually over the left arm.

Something like a left jacket sleeve pocket formed, but it included the hand, specifically a blurry left thumb joint and thumb. This brief sleeve pocket lasted only one frame, then re-opened.

Additionally, now the thumb is not obscuring the parts of the fingers like it did before. A tip of the pinky is shown before the other fingers are shown touching each other and with their tips visible.

This strand that swung more strongly to Crowley's left side continues following along with the left thumb.

It starts to swing back toward the right. After being over the sleeve and reaching the border of the left torso of the jacket, a tiny white dot appears over the belt that must be an intentional light reflection added into the mix. The only thing that sticks out is that the human puppet that's eerily almost following along with Crowley has his arm aligned just outside the edge of the car. In the next frame, he will pass it. That seems to be a clue regarding arms for a visible over-the-rainbow touch that's eventually going to happen and further confirm the exact frame that the Pocket Frame touch point is likely to be.

Another left jacket sleeve pocket with the hand takes shape. It lasts all of one frame. Then the hand moves out of the way, for this sleeve pocket to consist only of the jacket. That also lasts only one frame.

As soon as that left thumb tip is not on screen, that strand tip that swung back is on the border of where the jacket meets the vest area. The joint of the left thumb is touching the front of the jacket. The back of the jacket behind that front can also be seen.

The tie strand then keeps swinging back toward the right side of the jacket. At that point is where the left thumb joint is doing another vertex thing with the jacket, akin to the first touch, but it's still not really the same due to the front angle and part of that front visibly in front of the back behind it. That tassel hitting that arm likely transferred a touch from the left hand digits that didn't really touch anything but visually each other. For imaginary touching, it was wet spot. This vertex touch is part of yet another sleeve pocket shared between the left hand and the left jacket sleeve, now with the watch added into the mix.

The tie strand still generally syncs with the left hand too because it doesn't really settle into the vest area with the other strand until the cut is nearly over when the actual left hand is no longer on screen. Then it still moves just a little bit more to make sure it's on the left side where the bottom of the left lapel is for the jacket.

The strand that did not swing as strongly looks to be somewhere in the middle of the vest. It's hard to tell with Crowley's clothes being as dark as they are, even when a video clip is brightened.

The touch on the belt itself may have changed in subtle ways too, but even brightened, I can't really tell what's going on, let alone describe it.

During all of this swinging and digits showing and hiding accordingly, Crowley had a moment where he had not yet passed the edge of his car. I believe that is the Pocket Frame touch point.

The earlier mentioned human has a shadow behind Crowley that helps box him into a frame with the car behind him, such that is he is between his car and that other car visually from the front. Not only that, his head ends up conveniently framed over a part of the bookshop with its own set of windows from across the street.

There is some lighting to clue us into the over-the-rainbow touch happening between both Crowley's right arm and the human's right arm. It doesn't seem to be exact, but that could be a requirement or allowed because of the lighting and probably the alignment with the car wheel behind both.

The woman with the shopping bag when Crowley was talking to Nina has her shadow connecting to the human using the cell phone. I don't know the purpose of connecting her shadow to that extent since I am relatively certain she is not part of the Pocket Frame. It could be that it helps the bags thing be part of the Pocket Chain because several humans carrying a bags are crucial to the end of The Door Trick. No other woman with bags do anything like this visual for the other scenes. It could also be that her left hand is fully visible and a little bit of her right hand is visible. The human connected by Crowley's arm has some of his right hand visible. The scene wants these specific different hands connected to Crowley even if one of the humans with those hands is outside the frame itself.

Crowley's left shoulder is also doing an imaginary touch with a human along the sidewalk near the bookshop. That human has their legs open to make that an imaginary extra pocket for Crowley with Crowley's own imaginary touch.

In this particular touch, Crowley's own visible digits don't seem to touch anything except for the visual of the thumb over them at the start, which seems to have been enough. After that, the tie strands did their thing, from one arm to the other. Since the human behind Crowley was holding a phone in his hand, that might be a relevant touch that still counts because of the over-the-rainbow touch between arms.

The jacket itself must have been positioned as necessary to receive credit for the touch.

Even though both Crowley's hands are not on screen, his watch is visible through the reflection in the car's window. Not only that, there is a left jacket sleeve pocket in the reflection that reaches down to the car's window frame. It includes one of the leaves of Crowley's plants from inside the car.

An actual rainbow has been present since the cut started and moving toward the camera's right. If this rainbow has a target, it is the plants inside the car. As stated early, it's just a theory that this touch is a special way to trap this particular Green. The rainbow is mostly visible in front of the window, and the plants can be seen through that window.

I think, as a general default, Black blocks. So with that in mind, for this touch, I think the Black on Crowley's clothing is helping to block the rainbow in as it is visually pushed that way with Crowley's own movement. While I also think White keeps or holds something, the White on the human puppet is no longer visible before the trap itself is done. While not grasping the finer mechanics, I still think the human puppet is holding off the switch from Green to Blue due to his movement and neck position as part of a pocket shared with Crowley. I'll credit the watch since its reflection visually touched the rainbow before the White disappeared and was presumably still part of the reflection, just harder to be sure until the end of the cut.

Here is the video frame I suspect is the exact frame that should be found as the Pocket Frame touch point due to the way Crowley is framed with his arm, the bookshop building lined up with his head, and him being at the edge of his own car:

Here is what my gut tells me the pocket frame is supposed to look like based on cars, humans, and Crowley's head against the bookshop itself, likely thanks to the pocket chain:

The red lines are for the cars and humans. The yellow lines are for the bookshop.

The Pocket Trick: Basics

[youryurigoddess]

Welcome to the Magic Shop

Or why Will Goldstone’s Magic Shop might be more important than it seems to be and why the Bullet Catch isn’t the only trick in its stock that should interest us in the context of the Good Omens plot.

Let’s start with very first thing Aziraphale saw and literally ran towards after crossing the shop’s threshold. It’s nothing else but the legendary sword Excalibur (foretelling the divinely appointed ruler) and a prop for a spectacular illusion called the Excalibur chest.

But wait, there’s more to it! During the handshake besides the Excalibur itself, placed right between Crowley and Aziraphale, there are three more swords struck into the angel’s back. It’s Tarot symbolism: reversed Ace of Swords (miscommunication, clouded judgement) and reversed Three of Swords (recovery from a difficult patch in a relationship or heartbreak). I’d say it checks out for the angel in this minisode! Reversed because they suddenly switched sides for this particular scene.

Insane how the Good Omens crew found a cobra from the snake-charming act and put it on the counter in front of Aziraphale — as if it wasn’t clear enough that this angel is a professional snake charmer, right?

I wanted to make a joke about Aziraphale buying the cobra afterwards, just like Crowley bought the eagle lectern as a souvenir of that night, but then I remembered… this stupid, sentimental snake HAD IT IN HIS BEDROOM IN S1.

Just imagine how many Aziraphale-related memorabilia he had accumulated over those six thousands years, when only one night out with the angel led to two new items in his collection.

The only way for Crowley to be more obvious would be covering the walls of his apartment with Aziraphale’s pictures like in a classic Stalker Shrine trope.

And since our thoughts are already in the present, there’s also something super interesting in the background between Crowley and Aziraphale during their visit in the shop in S2. Look to the right!

As you can probably suspect at this point, nothing in this shop is what it seems to be. This isn’t just any piece of rope, but a prop for the Indian rope trick, sometimes described as the world’s greatest illusion.

The story behind it revolves around someone going to Heaven and the magician bringing them back in the most spectacular fashion! And one of the Good Omens producers, Catriona McKenzie, shared this BTS photo with it some time ago.

The classic trick looks like this: the magician’s assistant climbs the rope until he’s lost to view, as if ascending to Heaven. The magician calls him and feigns anger upon receiving no response. He arms himself with a knife or sword, climbs the rope, and vanishes as well. An argument is heard and then human limbs fall, as if cut from the assistant’s body by the magician. When all the parts of his body land on the ground, the magician climbs down the rope, collects the severed limbs, and puts them all in a big basket. The assistant resurrects/reappears from it uninjured.

Not that it means something in particular, but this scenario would be extremely fun to play in the context of getting the Supreme Archangel Aziraphale back to Earth.

[goodomensblog]

Afterward - Part 17

A Good Omens Choose Your Own Adventure Fic

Here’s how it works:

I’ll write a scene.

At the end of each scene, you’ll be presented with 2-3 options for what the characters will choose to do next.

Comment or reblog to vote for your choice. I’ll count all votes after the first 24 hours after each update is posted.

Read: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, part 12, part 13, part 14, part 15, part 16

(#2 definitely won - but #4 was a pretty close second, so we’re doing the classic punch and run!)

Afterward - - - Part 17

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Entropy, rising up, tilts its head and smiles a wide, infinitely deep grin. Pale, ephemeral tendrils squirm where the creature’s head and neck are rapidly reconnecting.

Gabriel has picked up the sword and is twisting it up.

Beelzebub, however, beats him to the punch. Literally.

“Mine,” is all Beelzebub manages, a low, rasping shout. Pushing roughly in front of the archangel, Beelzebub winds a bloodied fist back and strikes.

Their knuckles smack between its eyes - and with a wet sounding squelch, the head which hadn’t yet fully re-attached, flies off Entropy’s shoulders.

This time, however, Entropy seems to retain consciousness, and the head screeches in outrage as it careens across the room.

“Shoo, bitch,” Beelzebub spits.

“My angels,” the head shrieks, rolling across the floor. “Your master commands you! Attack!”

From the top of the courtyard, where tiled roofs curve above stone carved archways, movement draws Beelzebub’s gaze up.

Angels line the tile rooftop, their formidable white wings spread wide. In the place where the angels’ eyes should be, dark, sunken pools hauntingly stare.

From behind Beelzebub, Gabriel makes a low noise of distress.

Beelzebub scans the faces. There are none they readily recognize - Michael and Uriel, at least, are absent. But surely most of the dark eyed angels are - or were - under Gabriel’s command.

“No…” the archangel breathes.

Forcibly ignoring the pain they feel radiating off Gabriel in cold, nauseating waves, Beelzebub shakes their head and, squeezing their hands into fists, cracks their knuckles one by one.

“What are they?” Aziraphale asks, horror lacing his words.

The first angel steps from the rooftop. Where it lands, stone splinters around its feet. From its eyes, black ichor drips, trailing like tears down its pure, celestial skin. It takes a second step, and the floor cracks anew.

“That,” Crowley says, speaking up from the back, “looks like an angel on steroids. Bloody evil steroids.”

Another angel drops. Then another. Gray dust from pulverized stone rises in an ominous cloud.

“I - I have to-” Gabriel is muttering, and Beelzebub can feel him moving behind them, probably making up his mind to do something stupid.

“Yeah,” Beelzebub says, surveying the hoard of freaky angels. “Fuck this noise.”

Turning right the hell around, Beelzebub grabs Gabriel roughly by the arm. 

When he doesn’t move - like the absolute asshole he is - Beelzebub grits their teeth and yanks, violently hauling the lead-limbed archangel with them. When they look up and see that Aziraphale and Crowley are still standing there, waiting, they yell, “Oi! Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum! Fucking move!”

Crowley and Aziraphale retreat through the doorway, but go no further.

Beelzebub is panting, blood from a cut they didn’t even realize they had dripping into their eyes, and the room is tilting as a frankly annoying whine picks up in their ears - but this is no time to pass out, so Beelzebub doesn’t. 

At least Gabriel is finally moving; Beelzebub, all too happy to release him, shoves the archangel through the door. 

Upon crossing the threshold, Beelzebub is hastily elbowed out of the way by Crowley; Aziraphale, bracing a hand on the wall, traces glowing symbols on the floor.

“What’s-”

“That’s why we were waiting,” Crowley snaps.

Beelzebub reflects that if the room were spinning any less, they would have happily smacked that smug look off his face.

Instead, they crouch, bracing their hands on their knees.

Aziraphale straightens up with a satisfied nod. “That’ll do the trick.”

Then Crowley is swinging the door closed. Hand on the handle, he melts the lock. 

“If Aziraphale did what I think he did, we do not want to be here when they cross that threshold,” Crowley says.

“I did,” Aziraphale says with a grim smile.

Gabriel, who Beelzebub thinks is looking more like his usual insufferable self by the minute, claps his hands together. “Then let’s fucking go!”

“Right!” Crowley crows, pointing at Gabriel, “Your illicit sneaking out of Heaven door!”

Beelzebub and Aziraphale turn to look at Gabriel.

“Okay it’s really not as weird as he’s making it sound.”

 “It doesn’t matter-” Aziraphale says with a wave, but Beelzebub isn’t listening.

Blinking rapidly, they frown at the black dots blossoming across their vision. They immediately blink harder because they are not going to pass out; It is a fucking bad time for losing consciousness - and besides, they’d honestly rather die than look weak in front of these morons.

Crowley is turning, leading the way, and Beelzebub starts to step after him - when everything takes a sharp and sudden dip. 

And shit - Beelzebub thinks, consciousness slipping as a roaring white noise fills their ears. Blackness is spreading, sweeping across their vision.

They see outstretched, reaching hands - and then darkness swallows them whole.

Reality narrows to individual, isolated moments.

The press of fine, soft as silk fabric against their cheek.

A long hallway lit by a single flickering light.

Aziraphale, pale with purple bruises beneath his eyes, pulling a tapestry aside - pushing a doorway open.

Crowley’s hands cupped around that strange, blue flame.

Then white light - at the end of a long, dark tunnel.

Beelzebub stiffens, crying out in protest - because they know the saying about light and tunnels, and they straight up refuse to let that prick Death lay those frigid hands on them now.

This is followed by the soft, hesitant brush of fingers over their forehead and a whisper-soft murmur. “Don’t worry. It’s not that kind of tunnel.”

Again, darkness.

And then Crowley is exclaiming, shouting excitedly, and Beelzebub squints their eyes open to glaring sunlight - and a sleek black car, parked on what appears to be a random London street corner. 

When someone swings one of the rear doors open, Beelzebub has a sense of deja vu as they are laid down on black leather seats.

Voices drone, someone shifts beside them, and the car awakens with a reassuring purr; Beelzebub’s tired eyes close.

- - - 

Brushing his hands over the steering wheel, Crowley sits in the Bentley, taking a moment to enjoy the car’s energetic rumble. She doesn’t handle long periods of idleness very well. And though Crowley hasn’t been gone all that long, he imagines it must have been rather demoralizing to have been abandoned on a lonesome countryside road. He’ll have to make sure she’s still in working shape. 

“Just cause I gave you a little vacation,” Crowley says, tapping the dashboard admonishingly, “is no excuse for any slacking off, you understand?”

The car rumbles, and Crowley sighs, rolling his eyes. “See? I leave you for half a day and now I’m getting back talk.”

“Can we please just fucking go?” Gabriel snaps.

A glance in the rear-view mirror reveals the altogether unpleasant sight of Gabriel’s frowning face. 

The archangel is pressed up against the door, his large arms folded impractically in front of him. 

Beelzebub, in the few minutes after they’d been set down, had somehow completely rotated, and now they stretch out, arms flung out in either direction. Their booted feet are kicked up - one jabbing Gabriel’s side and the other shoved up against his face.

The archangel glowers.

From the passenger seat, Aziraphale clears his throat.

Crowley’s attention is immediately diverted.

Aziraphale is battered. Deep scratches scatter over the entirety of his person, and a bone deep exhaustion shows in his overall pallor and the bags like dark bruises gathering beneath his light eyes. 

Crowley has the impulse to stroke a thumb beneath that gentle gaze and burn a miracle to soothe some of the exhaustion marring his skin. 

He doesn’t.

Because he filled Aziraphale’s veins with demon blood, and Crowley isn’t entirely sure Aziraphale won’t come to resent him for it. 

The desperate transfusion had worked. Aziraphale is here. That is what matters. But the fact that the cost of this gamble - the cost of mixing that which was never meant to join - has yet to reveal itself, leaves Crowley deeply on edge. 

“Dear,” Aziraphale says, mercifully interrupting Crowley’s rapidly spiraling thoughts. “We fled the bookshop earlier because we believed we were dealing with a threat who knew us, personally. Entropy does not know us. And I presume that it does not know where I live.”

“...you want to go home, don’t you?”

“Yes I want to go home!” Aziraphale says in a rush, hands folded, his fingers twisting together. “It’s been a really long day.”

Crowley considers, drumming his fingers on the wheel. “I suppose we could ward the hell out of it.”

Aziraphale is eagerly nodding, “I already have a good few around the foundation as it is.”

“Is it defensible?” Gabriel asks.

“Better,” Aziraphale replies. “It’s hidden.”

“Though adding a few defenses wouldn’t hurt,” Crowley adds.

“As long as we get off the damned street,” Gabriel says with a weary sigh.

“That, we can do,” Crowley says, shifting the car into drive. 

“Wait!” Aziraphale says, grabbing Crowley’s arm. “First, we need food, Crowley.”

“....right this second?”

“As soon as possible. You do realize that we should avoid using powerful miracles at the moment, right?”

Crowley glances in the rear-view mirror, only somewhat mollified to see that Gabriel is also staring at Aziraphale with an expression of blatant confusion.

“Er - yes? I mean, we don’t want to go around putting beacons on our heads,” Crowley replies. “But what in the world does this have to do with food?”

Aziraphale is staring at him like he might be stupid - which he’s not. Right?

Crowley checks the rear-view mirror again.

Gabriel is squinting at Aziraphale. “Aziraphale. What are you talking about?”

Aziraphale looks between them, mouth agape.

From the backseat, Beelzebub groans. 

“Angel,” Beelzebub says, cracking an eye reluctantly open, “They’re both idiots. Don’t… strain their brains.”

Aziraphale glances back, relief evident. “You know what I’m talking about.”

“Of course I know what you’re talking about!” Beelzebub replies, and the other eye opens to a menacing slit. “Food strengthens your bloody corporation. You. Are. Living. In. It. So fucking feed it. The stronger your corporation is - the stronger you are.”

Aziraphale is nodding vigorously. “And we are all very injured. Beelzebub especially. A good meal will help kick start our angelic - and demonic - healing.”

“Ah,” is all Crowley manages.

“Honestly, dear. You really didn’t know that?”

Crowley, who will frankly never admit that he played hookie during the body orientation seminar to check out the strange angel he’d seen walking up on Eden’s wall, adjusts his glasses and shrugs. “I’m a demon. What’s the archangel’s excuse?”

“Corporeal bodies are not my department.”

Beelzebub blows a raspberry.

“Since you’re awake, your highness - mind moving your foot out of my face?”

Beelzebub’s only reply is a long, deep snore.

Crowley shuts both of them up by jerking the car into motion.

Food it is!” Crowley says, foot sinking satisfyingly down on the gas pedal. “And I know just where to take us.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The angels and demons have managed to escape Heaven and flee from Entropy. Before holing up at Aziraphale’s bookshop and deciding their next move - Aziraphale insists they get something to eat. Crowley decides the best place to get a couple of angels and demons lunch is….

The grocery store! Crowded around a single cart, they will shuffle round the aisles of the local grocery mart, exploring the strange wonders of fluorescent illuminated human cuisine. 

The Ritz! Sitting elbow to elbow around a pristine white tablecloth, they will be sipping at champagne and making awkward small talk. Probably nothing will catch fire.

The drive thru! Packed in the Bentley, Crowley will drive them all to the greasiest of fast food establishments. With all three speaking at once, Crowley will attempt to order.

Please comment or reblog to vote! :)

Part 18

[ditherwings]

Magic Trick—A Good Omens Secret Santa Gift Fic

This is my belated GO Secret Santa gift for @hardly-functioning-morals! I’m sorry it’s late, but hope you like it!

Sorry about the odd formatting; I had to post this on mobile, and it came out a bit wonky. I expect I’ll cross post this to AO3 once I have a chance, and clean it up. My account there is bastet_in_april.

***

Magic Trick

by bastet_in_april (ditherwings), for hardly-functioning-morals

Aziraphale had always developed fascinations for peculiarly specific bits of human culture, and Crowley usually enjoyed indulging even the ones that he found a bit odd. What was the draw in Regency-period silver snuff boxes, for instance? It wasn’t as though Aziraphale had any particular use for them--he didn’t use snuff, and so had no reason to wish for a dainty container as a means to carry the stuff about in a pocket. Crowley saw little interest in collecting ancient leather-bound first editions with cracked spines and dusty pages, either. He didn’t read, he liked to insist, and, if that was a lie, then surely glossy coffee table books full of remarkable photos were more his style.

Still, Crowley loved to indulge Aziraphale’s fascinations. He enjoyed the excitement on his face as he examined a new find for his bookshop, turning the pages carefully with gloved hands. He loved the surprise on Aziraphale’s face when Crowley present him with a beautifully engraved little snuffbox, with mother-of-pearl inlay. He loved the way Aziraphale would expound on the delights of a new patisserie shop, and the way his eyes would roll up ever so slightly at the ecstasy of a perfectly prepared piece of nigirizushi.

Stage magic, though, was where Crowley drew the line.

It had happened while Crowley was asleep. In 1871, an up-and-coming stage magician named Alexander Herrmann parted ways with his brother Carl, in order to establish his reputation via a solo act. While Carl continued to tour Europe, Alexander headed for London.

In 1871, Aziraphale was still an angry, terrified recluse. It had been nine years since his fateful meeting with Crowley in St. James’s Park. He hadn’t seen Crowley since their argument, and he wasn’t sure whether he was more likely to dissolve into tears or shouting if he saw Crowley again, or, frighteningly, if he didn’t. So he stayed in his shop, fretfully conditioning old leather bindings and being increasingly curt with the few customers who dared cross the shop’s threshold. Perhaps the neighborhood noticed. Perhaps it was a concerned neighbor who thought that odd Mr. Fell really ought to get out of that dusty old shop more often who slipped the advertisement under the shop’s door. Perhaps it was simply a paperboy who’d been paid a bit extra to distribute the fliers. Perhaps it was chance. Perhaps it was ineffable.

Regardless, Aziraphale picked up the flier and was charmed and arrested by the image of the thin man with the goatee and curling mustache, dressed smartly in a black tailcoat and brandishing a magic wand. “Herrmann the Great!” it proclaimed. “Master of the Magical Arts! Now Performing at the Egyptian Hall!” The man was surrounded by whirling petals, playing cards, and doves in flight, and comically outlandish cartoon demons peered from the edges of the playbill to marvel at the magician.

Helpless, Aziraphale’s first thought was that this was exactly the sort of show Crowley would love--a perfect chance to see humanity’s remarkable capacity for imagination at work, while the demon snarked and snickered into his hand at the feats of “magic,” from where he sprawled into his seat. Aziraphale crushed that thought down into something small and sad, like a crumpled ball of paper, and tucked it neatly away. He took a deep breath. There was no reason not to attend the show on his own. He couldn’t hide in his shop forever, as the world continued to move around him. And perhaps Crowley would have the same thought, and Aziraphale might yet see him in the crowd at the Egyptian Hall, heckling the performer and downing expensive wine.

So it was that Aziraphale found himself in a packed theater, its ceiling bedecked with pseudo-Egyptian frescoes complete with strings of artistic renderings of hieroglyphic text (having resided in Egypt for a time during the Ramesside period, and categorically unable to resist reading anything with words on it, if it was within view, Aziraphale was rather bemused to find that the hieroglyphs on the column to the left of him read, “your mother keeps house with water buffalo, and your father smells of lotus root”). Aziraphale was disappointed not to spot a familiar shock of red hair, or a distinctively sauntering gait, amongst the theatergoers.

The crowd buzzed with excitement as Herrmann took the stage, looking theatrically dapper in a tailcoat and tophat, and slightly malevolent, with his goatee and curled moustache like a villain from a penny dreadful. He produced a deck of cards, seemingly from thin air, fanning them out in flourishes, conjuring them from audience members’ pockets, and then turning them into an explosion of colorful ribbons that streamed through the air. Aziraphale felt himself get drawn into the show, as pieces of set dressing--grand fruit trees, ruby-colored lamps, even a burbling fountain--appeared in puffs of incense-scented purple or green smoke. The crowd gasped in wonder or shock, as Herrmann unveiled each new wonder. He produced a dove from a woman’s evening glove, making her laugh with delight. To the surprise of the crowd a rabbit leaped from his tophat, after he tapped it twice with his wand. The onlookers erupted into delighted laughter, as the conjurer tried and failed to convince it to return to his hat, finally turning it into a monogrammed handkerchief, instead. Aziraphale marvelled quietly at the ingenuity of humans, to create miracles of their own. This was so different from the times he had witnessed angelic miracles being performed before crowds of humans. That had been a thing of terror, each witnessing mortal made small and helpless before the gaze of Michael or Gabriel. The magician, conjuring marvels and wielding powers the crowd did not comprehend, instead welcomed them into the experience with humor and charm, sharing the wonder of it with them, and delighting in their reactions.

Aziraphale thought again of Crowley, and bit his lip.

The magician waded a bit further into the crowd, pulling a shiny coin from behind a boy’s ear, and offering him the prize. He paused before Aziraphale, and doffed his silk top hat, offering it to Aziraphale, “You, good sir! Look into my hat! Can you confirm for the crowd that it is empty?” Aziraphale stood, peering into the hat, before agreeing for the rest of the audience that it was empty, and an ordinary hat, as far as he could perceive. “Thank you! Now I see by the lines of care and worry upon your brow that something troubles you, so I have the spirits to deliver a wonder to set your heart at ease. The imps and spectres have told me that what you fear shall not come to pass! Now, reach into this empty hat, and see the wonder the demon has delivered as a sign!”

Aziraphale reached into the silk hat, and felt his hand close around a smooth, round shape. He pulled forth a perfect, shining red apple.

***

Mrs. and Mr. Device were celebrating their anniversary by going on a short trip to the seaside, and needed a babysitter to look after six-year-old Magrat. Adam and the Them had each been given due consideration as potential sitters, but it was nearing end-of-term at school, and university applications and exams were making the teens look increasingly unglued. While Madame Tracey might be trusted with a small child, both parents agreed that Witchfinder Sergeant Shadwell (retired) was a last resort, only in case of impending apocalypse, option. So, after some deliberation, and after Anathema’s cousin had begged off due to plans involving concert tickets, the professional descendant (retired) and witch (current) rang up Crowley’s mobile.

Crowley always sounded hunted when he answered his mobile, as if he were a bit worried about whose voice might be on the other, but was pretending at nonchalance. “Yeah, who’s this?” he asked. “Anathema Device,” Anathema answered.

“Book Girl!” Crowley exclaimed, relaxing. He’d attended her wedding, and known her for years, but some nicknames stuck. She rolled her eyes.

“Are you and Aziraphale free on Thursday evening? Newt and I are going on a day trip, and need someone to look after Magrat while we’re away.”

“And you thought you’d ask a demon to babysit?”

“I thought I’d ask my friend. Don’t pretend you don’t adore babysitting her. She told me that you read her stories, last time, and did all the voices.”

“What can I say, she’s a little hellion. What’s not to love?” Crowley hummed thoughtfully. “Give me a moment.” There was a pause in which Anathema could hear Crowley having a murmured conversation with Aziraphale, before Crowley lifted the mobile again, voice coming through clear and audible. “Sure, we can take her for the day. You two kids go have some fun.”

Anathema breathed a soft exhalation of relief. Promise secured, she began to let Crowley know exactly what he was in for.

***

Magrat Device did not want a babysitter. She was very certain that she should be allowed to stay up late on her own, thank you very much. She knew how to work a microwave, and had her parents on speed dial, and wouldn’t eat ice cream for dinner (honest!).

Her parents disagreed, which was why Crowley and Aziraphale were currently poring over a takeout menu, on her parents’ couch, trying to determine what one might order in to feed a six year old.

Anathema and Newt had named their daughter Magrat because Anathema knew the value, to a growing child, of being able to read one’s name in a book. Newt was pleased that this book, at least, while full of witches, fools, kings, and mistaken identity, did not involve an apocalypse.

It wasn’t that Magrat didn’t like spending time with Crowley and Aziraphale. The last time they had babysat her, they had gone to the park and Aziraphale had showed her how to feed the ducks, and Crowley had gotten her an ice cream, and then they had gone home and read from her favorite book--the one that had her name in it. But, the thing was, that had been when Magrat was five. Now, Magrat was six, and that was different. Six was grown up. Six year olds didn’t need babysitters, because six year olds weren’t babies.

“What would you like to eat, dear girl?” Aziraphale asked. “Is a curry too spicy? Or would you like some of the smoked trout and quiche from that lovely little cafe down the street.”

Magrat scowled, shoulders hunched up near her ears. “I don’t want anything to eat.”

“You’re a growing child. Can’t you try to eat something?” The angel looked pleadingly at her. “It’s alright if you don’t finish it, but I shouldn’t like to think of you going hungry.”

Magrat shook her head stubbornly.

“Tell you what,” Crowley said. “How about we order a sampler of a few things, and if anything piques your interest, you can try some of it. If not? Well, we’ll just leave the leftovers for your parents--save them having to cook tomorrow.”

When the takeaway arrived, it smelled enticingly of saffron, spices, butter, and fresh bread. Magrat stubbornly turned away, even as her stomach growled.

“Right,” Crowley decided, clapping his hands and straightening up out of his artful sprawl. “I know you don’t want to be babysat. Why would you? You aren’t a baby, and babysitting just sounds a bit demeaning. Or painful. The thing is, though, we aren’t just your babysitters, Magrat.” He tilted his head down to meet her hazel-colored eyes. She could just catch a glimpse of his bright yellow ones beneath the dark lenses of the sunglasses. “You’re a witch, so we’re your magic babysitters. Like when Hagrid took Harry Potter to Diagon Alley for school supplies.”

Magrat came slowly out of her slouch, considering this. “You’re not magic, though,” she argued. “Not like wizards, or witches, anyway. You’re an angel and a demon. You don’t have magic wands, or pointy hats, or cauldrons. You don’t pull rabbits out of hats. You might as well just be boring old regular babysitters, like Wensleydale or Auntie Sue.”

Aziraphale perked up, looking triumphant. “Oh, you think so, do you?” he asked. “Find me a hat, my dear, and we shall see!”

Crowley groaned. “Oh, angel, please not that. If she wants a rabbit, just miracle one up! Don’t you remember what happened last time? This is going to end in cream cake stains and tears--mostly mine--you mark my words.”

Aziraphale smiled serenely. “Nonsense, my dear. Now, Magrat, a hat, please?”

Magrat pulled a baseball cap from where it had been tossed onto the end of one of the umbrellas in the stand by the door. “It’s not the right kind,” she said.

“Oh, any hat will do. Now, I want you to check that it’s empty.” Magrat reached into the hat, feeling only the canvas material it was made from. “It’s empty,” she confirmed, interested in spite of herself.

“Right, now I need a magic wand.” Aziraphale looked around himself, as if expecting one might conveniently appear. It didn’t, so Azirphale snatched up a fork from the bag of takeaway on the table. He puffed out his chest, and cleared his throat theatrically. “Abracadabra expecto patronum bibbity bobbity expelliarmus!” The angel tapped the slightly rumpled baseball cap three times with his magic fork, and then picked it up and put it on his head. He wiggled his fingers, his eyes theatrically wide.

Magrat leaned forward, despite herself. Crowley covered his face with his hand.

With a dramatic, “Ta da!” Aziraphale whipped the cap off of his head and presented it to his audience. “One rabbit, as ordered!”

There was a pause. Aziraphale looked into the still-empty hat with bewilderment. Magrat and Crowley, however, were unable to tear their eyes away from the furry, bewhiskered little bunny rabbit that was perched comfortably amidst Aziraphale’s fluffy curls. His little pink nose twitched.

Slowly, Aziraphale’s eyes turned upwards towards his hairline, and he yelped, and made a grab for the rabbit, which leapt off of his head acrobatically and right onto the table, upturning the dish of eclairs, sending them flying through the air.

“What did I tell you?” Crowley asked, snapping his fingers. The eclairs settled back onto the plate on the table. And the rabbit was rather confused, but ultimately pleased, to suddenly find itself in the middle of a heavily guarded and carefully fortified garden of prize-winning vegetables (inciting wrath and suspicion of sabotage in the gardener, when he discovered the ensuing damage).

“Mmphghhahaha,” a peculiar half-strangled noise escaped Magrat’s mouth, like the first bit of water springing through the crack in a dam, presaging the deluge. She laughed until she had tears running down her face. Aziraphale, his face softening from bewildered shock to delight and fondness, laughed with her. Crowley, despite himself, let go of his second-hand embarrassment to join them.

The real magic trick, Aziraphale would explain to Crowley after the angel, the demon, and Magrat had finished their dinner, and demolished a respectable number of chocolate eclairs, was not pulling the rabbit from the hat. The real magic was surprise, wonder, and laughter.

[idreamofhazeleyes]

Ties in Blood -- Chapter 21

Here’s chapter 21, which wraps up season 2 and maybe tying into one of my early drabbles.

@mrswhozeewhatsis @percussiongirl2017 @winchestergirl-13 @impala-dreamer @squirrelnotsam @optimisticpeacecollector5

Chapter 21

Aaliyah stepped out of the bathroom, feeling a little better after washing off some of the mud. Bobby offered Dean some chicken, which was refused. The fried food had some appeal to her, but even she passed up on it. She shifted her eyes between the two as Bobby suggested first burying Sam, then giving him a Hunter’s Funeral.

“Something big’s going down,” Bobby said, finally getting Aaliyah’s attention. “End of the world big.”

“Then let it end,” Dean shouted.

“You don’t mean that,” Bobby replied.

“You don’t think so? Huh?” Dean pushed himself from sitting on the bed to his feet. “You don’t think I’ve paid enough? Given enough? I’m done with it. All of it. And if you know what’s good for you, turn around and get the hell outta here.”

Aaliyah looked over to Bobby and took his lead. She grabbed her bag and headed for the door while giving Dean a small smile. “Keep my number.” Aaliyah knew better than to argue with Dean. She stepped out of the motel room and closed the door behind her. “I’m worried about him, Bobby.”

“I am too, kid,” Bobby said. “You get ahold of any hunters you know. We’re gonna need all the help we can get. Come on back to my place. We’ll figure something out.”

***

“Yeah, I know it’s late, Xander,” Aaliyah countered. “Things are …. Getting messy here and we’re gonna need help.”

“So you expect me to dump the vamp case and come help … with what exactly?”

Aaliyah glanced over to Bobby who was prepping something. “The Yellow Eyed Demon. We’re so close, Xander.”

“I’ll be that way when I get the vamp,” he told her. “I should be that way come dawn.”

Aaliyah made a noise before ending the call. She squeezed her hand around it while contemplating the thought of throwing it across the room.

“Not so good?”

Aaliyah sighed. “Amanda’s busy dealing with demons in New York. Nissa and Leo are off dealing with a pack of werewolves in Texas. I half expect those to be Chupacabras. And Xander’s got a vamp to deal with. He claims to be on his way when dawn comes around.” She walked into the kitchen, putting the phone on the table, and went to pull a beer from the fridge.

“Go get a shower first,” Bobby told her. “And some shut eye.”

“I’m fine on sleep.” Aaliyah closed the fridge without grabbing a beer. “But a shower sounds nice.” She found her clothes bag and pulled out some clean clothes before dumping the rest into the washer.

Alone in the bathroom, Aaliyah double checked to make sure the door was closed and locked. With the water running, she stripped off the clothes she had worn since the Michigan asylum and dumped each piece in a pile. Something caught her eye in the mirror. Her eyes narrowed as her eyes shifted their focus as if they were glazed over. In her sleep deprived state, Aaliyah swore it was a trick of the light. The light reflected in the mirror showed a shadow on the wall behind her. The shadow didn’t match the outline of her pale body. It seemed to be more like angel wings.

Shaking her head, Aaliyah rubbed her eyes and stepped into the shower. The dirt and dried caked mud washed off her body and down the drain. She worked the shampoo and conditioner through her hair, keeping the conditioner in while she worked through the grim on her body. Finally free of the dirt from the past few days, Aaliyah washed off the conditioner and soap. Drying off and dressing, she headed downstairs to see Sam and Dean were in the main room talking with Bobby. Stopped in confusion, Aaliyah attempted to mentally trace back the past several hours to figure out how Sam was walking and talking.

“Wyoming?” Dean questioned, his voice breaking into Aaliyah’s thought process.

“Yeah,” Bobby answered. “That one area’s clean – spotless. Almost as if…”

Aaliyah crossed over and looked at the spot on the map Bobby pointed out.

“What?” Sam asked.

“Demons are surrounding it,” Bobby said.

“But you don’t know why?” Dean asked.

“No, but my eyes are swimming,” Bobby said. “Sam, would you take a look at it? Maybe you could catch something.”

“Yeah, sure,” Sam said.

“Come on, Dean, Aaliyah,” Bobby said. “I got some books out in the truck.”

“Sure,” Aaliyah said. “Give me a sec for shoes.” She went and dug out a pair of socks and tossed them and her boots on before ducking outside.

Even before she could reach Dean and Bobby, Aaliyah heard the latter yelling at the former. Dean’s voice was low when he answered with one year.

“Are you crazy?” Aaliyah asked, trying to keep her voice calm.

“Damn it, Dean,” Bobby cursed.

“Which is why we gotta get this yellow eyed son of a bitch,” Dean said. “That’s why I’m gonna kill him myself. I got nothing to lose.”

Bobby grabbed hold of Dean’s jacket near his throat before Aaliyah could jump in between them. “I could throttle you.”

“And send me down a head of schedule?” Dean countered.

Bobby let go of Dean. “What’s with you Winchesters, huh? You and your dad. Both itching to toss yourselves into the pit.”

“That’s the thing, Bobby. I’m not even meant to be here,” Dean said. “At least this way something good will come of it. Like my life could have some meaning.”

“And it didn’t before?” Bobby asked. “Have you got that low of opinion of yourself? Are you that screwed in the head?” He grabbed Dean again.

Aaliyah glanced around, thinking she heard a noise from nearby. She moved away from the two men toward the area the noise came from. Ignoring their voices, Aaliyah came up along a car and hunched down to stay out of view. Footsteps crunched on the dirt behind her even as Aaliyah moved around the car and grabbed hold of the other person. The other person fought against Aaliyah’s hold even as she pinned them against the car.

“Ellen?” Dean’s voice called out.

“Mind calling your guard bitch off?” she requested.

Aaliyah reacted out of pure instinct by punching the car. “Wanna try again?”

“Liyra,” Bobby cautioned.

“I didn’t haul ass from Michigan dealing with ghosts to come here and be called a …”

“You’re a hunter?” Ellen asked.

“One of the best,” Bobby complimented. “Though she’s taken on the mentality of the boys at times.”

“One of the best?” Ellen echoed.

“Been hunting for … about four years now,” Aaliyah said, letting Ellen go.

“Oh God,” she said.

Aaliyah trailed after them back to the house where she grabbed a beer and leaned in the threshold between the kitchen and living room. There she listened as Ellen told how she survived the fire that took out the roadhouse by running to the store for pretzels.

“Ellen,” Bobby chimed in. “You mentioned a safe.”

“Hidden in the basement.”

“Demons get what was in it?”

“No.” Ellen pulled a folded piece of paper and unfolded it on the table.

Aaliyah stepped in and looked at the map that had X marks drawn on it.

“Wyoming?” Dean said. “What does it mean?”

Aaliyah tilted her head for a minute before going on a search for a marker while Bobby got up and went into the living room. He returned with a book when Aaliyah gave a small ‘ah-ha’ on finding a marker.

“Each of these X’s mark an abandoned frontier church, all mid 19th century,” Bobby said. “All built by Samuel Colt.”

Aaliyah returned to the table. “As in the demon killing, gun making, Samuel Colt?” She leaned on the table with one hand after uncapping the marker.

“Yep,” Bobby answered. “And he also built railroad tracks connecting the …”

Aaliyah heard him trail off when she started connecting the X marks into a pentagram.

“Tell me that’s now what I think it is,” Dean requested.

“It’s a Devil’s Trap,” Aaliyah said, straightening and admiring her work. “A hundred square foot Devil’s Trap.”

“That’s brilliant,” Dean said. “Iron lines demons can’t cross.”

“I’ve never heard of anything so big,” Ellen said.

“No one has,” Bobby said.

“And after all these years, it still works,” Aaliyah said.

“How’d you know?” Ellen asked, shooting her a look.

Aaliyah flicked her gaze over to the older woman and swore the look on her face screamed she doubted Aaliyah and her hunting ability. “All those omens that’s been popping up,” Aaliyah said. “The demons must be circling looking for a way in.”

“They’re trying alright,” Bobby chimed in.

“What’s so important that Colt’s trying to protect?” Sam asked.

“Unless…” Dean said. “He’s not trying to keep the demons out, but something in.”

“That’s a comforting thought,” Ellen said.

“Is it possible, Bobby?” Aaliyah asked, looking up at him. “Could they get inside?”

“This thing’s so powerful you need an A bomb to destroy it,” he answered. “No way a full blood demon can cross it.”

“No,” Sam said. “But I know who can.”

**

Aaliyah stepped off into the house while the others went through what might be needed for the trip. She dialed Xander’s number and started pacing when the ringing went past thirty seconds. The call finally went to voicemail. Confused, Aaliyah hung up and redialed the number. It went to voicemail again.

“Guys, something’s wrong,” she called out before she walked back into the room. “I can’t get ahold of Xander.”

“Vamp coulda gotten him,” Bobby suggested.

Aaliyah looked between the others while she attempted to grab hold of the several different thoughts that ran through her head. “I gotta go find him.” She started for the door even as a couple of them called after her. She pivoted, her body flared a little in the sudden movement, and went over to where her bag of clothes had been dumped. With the bag in hand, Aaliyah turned back for the door. She ignored the sound of the door opening and closing behind her as she headed for her car.

“Aaliyah, wait,” Dean called after her.

“Why? You all got a handle on it.” Aaliyah opened the back seat and tossed in her duffel and closed the door. “Besides, I’m just gonna have to prove myself to another hunter.” She turned around and found Dean a foot away from her. “You can’t do this without Sam; yeah I heard that. I can’t do this without knowing what happened to Xander. I know where to go after dealing with Xander.” She closed the distance between her and Dean. “Just … be careful, huh?” Aaliyah flashed him a smile before climbing into the car and driving off.

***

Aaliyah killed her headlights well before she turned down the drive. Something didn’t sit right. That feeling didn’t go away when she pulled up to the dark cabin. She climbed out of the car after getting it into position for a possible quick getaway. She armed herself with her preferred handgun with a couple back up clips and a machete before starting for the cabin. The front door was closed most of the way as she approached; like someone could pull it open without fighting against the knob.

With gun at the ready, Aaliyah eased the door open and scanned the dark room. There was a faint smell of blood in the air. She fought against the panic that rose up as she cleared each room one by one. In one room was a decapitated vampire. So where was Xander? Aaliyah moved for the kitchen just as a scuffle like noise stopped her on a dime.

“Who’s there?” a voice called out.

It was low, almost too low, for Aaliyah to hear. Her eyes narrowed and her head tilted in a way of trying to figure out the voice.

“I’ll shoot,” the voice called out again.

“Xander?” Aaliyah gasped.

“Aaliyah. Oh, God. I almost shot you.”

Aaliyah lowered her gun in her move over to her brother. The gun and machete hit the floor even as she reached out to Xander. “What the hell happened you couldn’t answer the damn phone?”

“That was you? I musta been outta it for a minute.”

Aaliyah moved her hands over Xander, feeling for any obvious wounds that needed to be dealt with. “Think you can move? The sooner we get outta here, the better. Shit’s about to hit the fan out in Wyoming.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Xander said, waving her off. “You go save the world.”

“Xander, what’s gotten over you?”

“I can’t move my legs.” His voice rose above a hush. “I don’t know how it happened, or what I hit during the fight, but … I can’t …”

“That’s bull.” Aaliyah put the gun in her pants waist band and put the machete where she could grab it. She pushed herself to her feet and offered a hand to Xander. “Come on. I’ll get you outta here and to help.”

Xander batted the hand away. “No, just let me die here.”

Aaliyah adjusted her footing and hunched down before grabbing hold of his shirt and brought him within inches of her face. “I’m not leaving you here to die. Not with that vamp out there. Now, you can feel sorry for yourself later.” She pulled herself back enough to have room to pull Xander up. There wasn’t much fight in him as she looped one of his arms around her shoulders. Aaliyah grabbed the machete before half dragging him from the house.

***

“Bobby, I promise I’ll be there,” Aaliyah kept her voice low, signing the last piece of paper. “Xander had a nasty fight with a vamp and I had to get him to a hospital.”

“We’ve got a serious problem and you’re worried …”

“Xander wanted to die there at the house when I found him,” Aaliyah cut in. “I wasn’t gonna let him do that. I’ve already called Nissa and Leo and they’re on their way in.” She adjusted the phone away and looked to the nurse. “What do I have to fill out for a seventy two hour psych hold on him?” She pulled the papers the nurse offered up and signed away. “Is there anything else?”

“No, ma’am.”

Aaliyah gave a brief nod before she turned away and saw herself from the hospital. “Bobby, I promise I’ll be there.”

“You better be here,” Dean answered.

“God, Dean. I swear I’ll kick your ass when this is through.”

“Like you’d be able …”

Aaliyah slammed the car door behind her. “I swear Dean, you’re making it difficult for me to wanna help.” She started the car and headed out for the highway. “Now, I can go off and do my own thing or I can see this hunt through along with you guys. I know what’s at stake here.” She hung up when no answer came from Dean.

***

Aaliyah pushed herself. She had parked next to the Impala and found the immediate area deserted. A note had been left on the windshield of the Impala in Bobby’s handwriting telling her where to go. That note had been dropped and forgotten when Aaliyah realized shit was going down. At one point gunshots had echoed in the air, spurring her on. A foot hit a broken headstone in mid stride, sending her flying. It took Aaliyah a few minutes to catch her breath from the fall before she picked herself up. The foot that hit the stone throbbed a little, either bruised or pulled muscle somewhere. She could put weight on it, which was good. Something glowed some feet away from her, grabbing her attention. She closed the distance to recognize the building as a crypt.

“Guys,” Aaliyah called out, her eyes focused on the crypt doors.

“Aaliyah,” someone shouted in surprise.

A hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her down behind the tombstone with them. It had to be perfect timing since Aaliyah heard the doors burst open and the sound of who knew how many demons escaping. She pressed her body against theirs in the attempt to have some sort of protection from the demons.

“What the hell just happened?” Aaliyah shouted.

“It’s a devil’s gate,” Ellen’s voice called out in reply. “A damn door to hell.”

“We gotta shut it up,” Aaliyah called out. She pried herself off her tombstone partner and started for the open doors. The heat from beyond the doors was blazing, still Aaliyah fought against it. She struggled against one of the doors even as Bobby came up behind her. A quick glance over to the other showed her Ellen and Sam in the same struggle.

“Dean,” Sam yelled, leaving the door.

“Sam,” Aaliyah called after him even as she looked back over a shoulder.

Dean was slumped against a tombstone and Sam was pinned against a tree. In between them was the person the yellow eyed demon used as a vessel.

Aaliyah looked between Bobby and Ellen in a silent debate between leaving them to deal with the door or to help the boys with the demon. She pushed herself off the door and darted for the demon. There was a small piece of hope that she’d reach it before getting noticed. That hope went out the window when Aaliyah hit an invisible wall and was lifted two feet off the ground.

“I’m surprised you’re still around,” the demon said to Aaliyah. “I mean, after all the mess you’ve gone through just to get here. And the way the other hunters look at you, like you don’t measure up to something.”

Her eyes flicked between Sam and Dean. Was the demon right about how she didn’t measure up against. She stared down the demon.

“You and your pathetic self worth,” the demon continued. “Trying to prove that you can make it in the wide world of hunting. Tell me, kid, how’s your brother doing?”

Aaliyah caught movement just beyond the demon and swore it looked like … She dropped to the ground and gasped for breath. She got a better look at the ghost struggling with the demon and smiled. Even dead John came back to fight. Shifting around, a hand brushed against something hard. It was the Colt. Picking it up, Aaliyah glanced over to the boys even as the thought of shooting the demon herself passed through her mind. It wasn’t right. She crawled over to Dean and held up the Colt in front of him.

He glared at her.

“Hey, I coulda shot it myself,” Aaliyah argued. She nodded when Dean accepted the gun before standing. “Oi, Yellow Eyes,” she called out when the demon regained its vessel. “Over here.”

It turned toward her and started toward her. Aaliyah rooted herself where she stood and froze when a gunshot went off beside her. The body lit up before dropping backward to the ground. Aaliyah heard the sound of Sam hitting the ground as she started off in the direction she came in. She got a few feet from where Dean picked himself up.

“Wait,” Sam called after her.

She turned around to see John approaching her from where Sam and Dean stood. John smiled and nodded before disappearing. Aaliyah half shrugged, dismissing what happened before she turned and left the cemetery.

She could hear three different voices call after her. No, now wasn’t the time for them to assure her that she was doing right by hunting. If she hadn’t gotten involved back in college, Xander wouldn’t be held up at a hospital in the same situation she was a year ago.

“Aaliyah, wait up,” Sam’s voice called, closer than the others. “Don’t let what the demon said get to you.”

“But he’s right,” Aaliyah shouted, spinning around to face him. “Every hunter I meet will have the same barely hidden judgmental look Ellen had. I had to race here from the hospital I left Xander at because he got fucked up going up against a vamp. But, yeah, you’re right, the demon didn’t mean what it said.” She turned back around and started for her car as Dean and Sam started talking. Her paced slowed before she stopped completely and turned to watch the brothers. Daring to get close, Aaliyah heard Sam ask if Dean sold his soul and how much time he had.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Sam said.

“Don’t get mad at me,” Dean said. “Don’t you dare, I had to do it. I had to look out for you; it’s my job.”

“And what do you think my job is?” Sam countered, catching Dean off guard.

“What?”

“You saved my life over and over again,” Sam said. “You sacrificed everything for me. Don’t you think I’d do the same for you? You’re my big brother and I’d do anything for you. I don’t care what it takes, I’m gonna get you outta this. My turn to save your ass this time.”

Aaliyah barely shook her head when Dean glanced over at her. “He’s got a point.”

“Well, your yellow eyed demon might be dead,” Ellen cut in as she walked up. “But a whole lot more got through that gate.”

“How many do you think?” Dean asked.

“Hundred or two,” Sam said. “It’s an army he unleashed.”

“Hope you three are ready,” Bobby said. “Cause the war’s just begun.”

[upyrica]

Ukrainian winter traditions 2, the 1st-the15th of December

With the holiday of the The Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple, the 4th of December, the true winter starts. Much like with other big holidays, the first person to enter the house suggested the nearest future of the household, so people generally would abstain from visits not to be blamed for bringing bad luck. Lending something was also a bad omen. Late at night, some women would sit on the threshold undressed, spinning fibers gathered from wild hemp to ensure a good quality for yarn that year. Cows’ udders were rubbed with the oil of the plant so that they produce good milk. Starting about this date, it was believed that spirits of the dead were released back in the world to see their family and their own body.

St. Catherine’s feast, the 7th of December, is a day dedicated to the fate of maidens - young women prayed for marriage and performed divination. Traditionally, young people gathered for vechornytsi, where certain divinatory rites were performed, as well.

In that way St. Andrew’s feast (the 13th of December) is somewhat similar. On this day traditionally young men played tricks on the girls, scaring them with scarecrows or even stealing gates by their houses. During the vechornytsi, they all played a game called kalyta: a large flat bread, sweet but dry and solid, baked by the girls, is hung from the ceiling, high enough to be reached by a tall person only if they jump. Then “Sir Kaletynsky”, a man skilled in jokes, invites “Sir Kotsubynsky” to bite the kalyta. Sir  Kotsubynsky, riding a stick, has to jump up to reach the bread with his teeth. The job of  Sir Kaletynsky is to make him laugh, for then he looses -and to tug on the rope by which the bread is hanging so it is even higher.

I shall add that the 14th is Naum’s feast, when children were sent to school or to skilled professionals as apprentices and prayers for their intellectual success were said, and save descriptions of the divinatory rites for the next post.

[oleanderblume]

Kishnu'uula a religious guide

Hello! My name is Karissa Tul'tipanta and I am here to share with you a complete guide to my mother faith, Kishnu'uula. ● What is Kishnu'uula? Kishnu'uula or in english, tree-worshiper is a polytheistic faith founded in what could be considered environmentalism and spiritualism. ● Where did it come from? Kishnu'uula or Kish for short is a fairly nuanced pagan faith, country of origin is north America. ● Are there dieties? Yes and no, there are three main Gods, if you will, Mal'tra (the mother), Kaluhan (the father), and Tsutsukal (the son) • Mal'tra, is the mother of the earth and of life and the soul, often portrayed as a large humanoid stag made of wood, she is the mother of all spirits, and a guardian of safety and life, trees are said to be her some of her first children. •Kaluhan, is the father and bringer of death and change, portrayed as a humanoid four horned bull with 5 eyes and a bloodied crown of thorns, he is also the patron of serenity and calm, the mother and father created the first child. •Tsutsukal, the giver or the trickster, Tsutsukal is a genderless being that appears as a raven, a snake, or a mixture of the two (see amphithere) they are a giver of gifts to the first humans, fire, strengrh, cunning, and magic. ● What did you say about magic? Kishnu'uula uses heavy practices of Magic in rituals and ceremonies for holidays and for every day means, magic and the practice of it is a part of everyday life. ⊙ Types of kish magic • Malt'cha, or song magic, is the most commonly used form of magic in kish practices, it may or may not involve instruments and vocal spells. In kish culture music and song are derived directly from the soul and thus incredibly powerful, to use music in magic is to use the most inner power inside of you. It also brings you closer to the mother of souls. • Sul'cha is the practice of artwork in magick, art meaning anything handmade with a magic and emotional purpose, this includes sigils, runes, weaves, crafts, drawings, paintings, pottery, sculptures and more. • Crystal magic, garden magic, bone magic, "kitchen" magic, and blood magic are also pracriced. ⊙ who can practice magic Anyone can practice magic, those who show artistic or musical talent are encouraged even more so. ● Other spirits of importance • Uther, a cow or bull spirit, generally black having multiple eyes and horns, bring calm and peace to anyone who beholds it, is an omen for change, death, or famine. • Uhu'ula, the moon spirit, rabbit like creature with two tails and four arms, collects coins and gold brings prosperity and good fortune. • Galkun, wooden faun-like creatures that protect forests and those who dwell in them, wary of outsiders, if one accepts you in its domain you are welcome by all spirits. • Fiel'la, fairy like creatures made of flowers, said to bring the first blooms of spring, enjoy sugared milk and caramel. • Toopits, threshold dwelling spirits that play tricks on those who upset them. Bringing dirty shoes indoors from the outside is bad luck and allows the spirit to enter your home. • Kishnu, tree spirits, supposedly the first children on earth of Mal'tra, infinitely wise beings. Before cutting down or building onto a tree one must ask first, bring an offering a week in advance before cutting or building, every time a tree is cut a seed should be planted in repentance of killing a child of Mal'tra. ● Is there anything else? If you have questions or want to know more about Kishnu'uula and practices don't be afraid to reply, or ask! ♧Karissa♧

[notsofly]

Ties in Blood Chapter 21

@mrswhozeewhatsis @impala-dreamer @winchestergirl-13 @percussiongirl2017 @idreamofplaid @squirrelnotsam

Chapter 21

Aaliyah stepped out of the bathroom, feeling a little better after washing off some of the mud. Bobby offered Dean some chicken, which was refused. The fried food had some appeal to her, but even she passed up on it. She shifted her eyes between the two as Bobby suggested first burying Sam, then giving him a Hunter’s Funeral.

“Something big’s going down,” Bobby said, finally getting Aaliyah’s attention. “End of the world big.”

“Then let it end,” Dean shouted.

“You don’t mean that,” Bobby replied.

“You don’t think so? Huh?” Dean pushed himself from sitting on the bed to his feet. “You don’t think I’ve paid enough? Given enough? I’m done with it. All of it. And if you know what’s good for you, turn around and get the hell outta here.”

Aaliyah looked over to Bobby and took his lead. She grabbed her bag and headed for the door while giving Dean a small smile. “Keep my number.” Aaliyah knew better than to argue with Dean. She stepped out of the motel room and closed the door behind her. “I’m worried about him, Bobby.”

“I am too, kid,” Bobby said. “You get ahold of any hunters you know. We’re gonna need all the help we can get. Come on back to my place. We’ll figure something out.”

***

“Yeah, I know it’s late, Xander,” Aaliyah countered. “Things are …. Getting messy here and we’re gonna need help.”

“So you expect me to dump the vamp case and come help … with what exactly?”

Aaliyah glanced over to Bobby who was prepping something. “The Yellow Eyed Demon. We’re so close, Xander.”

“I’ll be that way when I get the vamp,” he told her. “I should be that way come dawn.”

Aaliyah made a noise before ending the call. She squeezed her hand around it while contemplating the thought of throwing it across the room.

“Not so good?”

Aaliyah sighed. “Amanda’s busy dealing with demons in New York. Nissa and Leo are off dealing with a pack of werewolves in Texas. I half expect those to be Chupacabras. And Xander’s got a vamp to deal with. He claims to be on his way when dawn comes around.” She walked into the kitchen, putting the phone on the table, and went to pull a beer from the fridge.

“Go get a shower first,” Bobby told her. “And some shut eye.”

“I’m fine on sleep.” Aaliyah closed the fridge without grabbing a beer. “But a shower sounds nice.” She found her clothes bag and pulled out some clean clothes before dumping the rest into the washer.

Alone in the bathroom, Aaliyah double checked to make sure the door was closed and locked. With the water running, she stripped off the clothes she had worn since the Michigan asylum and dumped each piece in a pile. Something caught her eye in the mirror. Her eyes narrowed as her eyes shifted their focus as if they were glazed over. In her sleep deprived state, Aaliyah swore it was a trick of the light. The light reflected in the mirror showed a shadow on the wall behind her. The shadow didn’t match the outline of her pale body. It seemed to be more like angel wings.

Shaking her head, Aaliyah rubbed her eyes and stepped into the shower. The dirt and dried caked mud washed off her body and down the drain. She worked the shampoo and conditioner through her hair, keeping the conditioner in while she worked through the grim on her body. Finally free of the dirt from the past few days, Aaliyah washed off the conditioner and soap. Drying off and dressing, she headed downstairs to see Sam and Dean were in the main room talking with Bobby. Stopped in confusion, Aaliyah attempted to mentally trace back the past several hours to figure out how Sam was walking and talking.

“Wyoming?” Dean questioned, his voice breaking into Aaliyah’s thought process.

“Yeah,” Bobby answered. “That one area’s clean – spotless. Almost as if…”

Aaliyah crossed over and looked at the spot on the map Bobby pointed out.

“What?” Sam asked.

“Demons are surrounding it,” Bobby said.

“But you don’t know why?” Dean asked.

“No, but my eyes are swimming,” Bobby said. “Sam, would you take a look at it? Maybe you could catch something.”

“Yeah, sure,” Sam said.

“Come on, Dean, Aaliyah,” Bobby said. “I got some books out in the truck.”

“Sure,” Aaliyah said. “Give me a sec for shoes.” She went and dug out a pair of socks and tossed them and her boots on before ducking outside.

Even before she could reach Dean and Bobby, Aaliyah heard the latter yelling at the former. Dean’s voice was low when he answered with one year.

“Are you crazy?” Aaliyah asked, trying to keep her voice calm.

“Damn it, Dean,” Bobby cursed.

“Which is why we gotta get this yellow eyed son of a bitch,” Dean said. “That’s why I’m gonna kill him myself. I got nothing to lose.”

Bobby grabbed hold of Dean’s jacket near his throat before Aaliyah could jump in between them. “I could throttle you.”

“And send me down a head of schedule?” Dean countered.

Bobby let go of Dean. “What’s with you Winchesters, huh? You and your dad. Both itching to toss yourselves into the pit.”

“That’s the thing, Bobby. I’m not even meant to be here,” Dean said. “At least this way something good will come of it. Like my life could have some meaning.”

“And it didn’t before?” Bobby asked. “Have you got that low of opinion of yourself? Are you that screwed in the head?” He grabbed Dean again.

Aaliyah glanced around, thinking she heard a noise from nearby. She moved away from the two men toward the area the noise came from. Ignoring their voices, Aaliyah came up along a car and hunched down to stay out of view. Footsteps crunched on the dirt behind her even as Aaliyah moved around the car and grabbed hold of the other person. The other person fought against Aaliyah’s hold even as she pinned them against the car.

“Ellen?” Dean’s voice called out.

“Mind calling your guard bitch off?” she requested.

Aaliyah reacted out of pure instinct by punching the car. “Wanna try again?”

“Liyra,” Bobby cautioned.

“I didn’t haul ass from Michigan dealing with ghosts to come here and be called a …”

“You’re a hunter?” Ellen asked.

“One of the best,” Bobby complimented. “Though she’s taken on the mentality of the boys at times.”

“One of the best?” Ellen echoed.

“Been hunting for … about four years now,” Aaliyah said, letting Ellen go.

“Oh God,” she said.

Aaliyah trailed after them back to the house where she grabbed a beer and leaned in the threshold between the kitchen and living room. There she listened as Ellen told how she survived the fire that took out the roadhouse by running to the store for pretzels.

“Ellen,” Bobby chimed in. “You mentioned a safe.”

“Hidden in the basement.”

“Demons get what was in it?”

“No.” Ellen pulled a folded piece of paper and unfolded it on the table.

Aaliyah stepped in and looked at the map that had X marks drawn on it.

“Wyoming?” Dean said. “What does it mean?”

Aaliyah tilted her head for a minute before going on a search for a marker while Bobby got up and went into the living room. He returned with a book when Aaliyah gave a small ‘ah-ha’ on finding a marker.

“Each of these X’s mark an abandoned frontier church, all mid 19th century,” Bobby said. “All built by Samuel Colt.”

Aaliyah returned to the table. “As in the demon killing, gun making, Samuel Colt?” She leaned on the table with one hand after uncapping the marker.

“Yep,” Bobby answered. “And he also built railroad tracks connecting the …”

Aaliyah heard him trail off when she started connecting the X marks into a pentagram.

“Tell me that’s now what I think it is,” Dean requested.

“It’s a Devil’s Trap,” Aaliyah said, straightening and admiring her work. “A hundred square foot Devil’s Trap.”

“That’s brilliant,” Dean said. “Iron lines demons can’t cross.”

“I’ve never heard of anything so big,” Ellen said.

“No one has,” Bobby said.

“And after all these years, it still works,” Aaliyah said.

“How’d you know?” Ellen asked, shooting her a look.

Aaliyah flicked her gaze over to the older woman and swore the look on her face screamed she doubted Aaliyah and her hunting ability. “All those omens that’s been popping up,” Aaliyah said. “The demons must be circling looking for a way in.”

“They’re trying alright,” Bobby chimed in.

“What’s so important that Colt’s trying to protect?” Sam asked.

“Unless…” Dean said. “He’s not trying to keep the demons out, but something in.”

“That’s a comforting thought,” Ellen said.

“Is it possible, Bobby?” Aaliyah asked, looking up at him. “Could they get inside?”

“This thing’s so powerful you need an A bomb to destroy it,” he answered. “No way a full blood demon can cross it.”

“No,” Sam said. “But I know who can.”

**

Aaliyah stepped off into the house while the others went through what might be needed for the trip. She dialed Xander’s number and started pacing when the ringing went past thirty seconds. The call finally went to voicemail. Confused, Aaliyah hung up and redialed the number. It went to voicemail again.

“Guys, something’s wrong,” she called out before she walked back into the room. “I can’t get ahold of Xander.”

“Vamp coulda gotten him,” Bobby suggested.

Aaliyah looked between the others while she attempted to grab hold of the several different thoughts that ran through her head. “I gotta go find him.” She started for the door even as a couple of them called after her. She pivoted, her body flared a little in the sudden movement, and went over to where her bag of clothes had been dumped. With the bag in hand, Aaliyah turned back for the door. She ignored the sound of the door opening and closing behind her as she headed for her car.

“Aaliyah, wait,” Dean called after her.

“Why? You all got a handle on it.” Aaliyah opened the back seat and tossed in her duffel and closed the door. “Besides, I’m just gonna have to prove myself to another hunter.” She turned around and found Dean a foot away from her. “You can’t do this without Sam; yeah I heard that. I can’t do this without knowing what happened to Xander. I know where to go after dealing with Xander.” She closed the distance between her and Dean. “Just … be careful, huh?” Aaliyah flashed him a smile before climbing into the car and driving off.

***

Aaliyah killed her headlights well before she turned down the drive. Something didn’t sit right. That feeling didn’t go away when she pulled up to the dark cabin. She climbed out of the car after getting it into position for a possible quick getaway. She armed herself with her preferred handgun with a couple back up clips and a machete before starting for the cabin. The front door was closed most of the way as she approached; like someone could pull it open without fighting against the knob.

With gun at the ready, Aaliyah eased the door open and scanned the dark room. There was a faint smell of blood in the air. She fought against the panic that rose up as she cleared each room one by one. In one room was a decapitated vampire. So where was Xander? Aaliyah moved for the kitchen just as a scuffle like noise stopped her on a dime.

“Who’s there?” a voice called out.

It was low, almost too low, for Aaliyah to hear. Her eyes narrowed and her head tilted in a way of trying to figure out the voice.

“I’ll shoot,” the voice called out again.

“Xander?” Aaliyah gasped.

“Aaliyah. Oh, God. I almost shot you.”

Aaliyah lowered her gun in her move over to her brother. The gun and machete hit the floor even as she reached out to Xander. “What the hell happened you couldn’t answer the damn phone?”

“That was you? I musta been outta it for a minute.”

Aaliyah moved her hands over Xander, feeling for any obvious wounds that needed to be dealt with. “Think you can move? The sooner we get outta here, the better. Shit’s about to hit the fan out in Wyoming.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Xander said, waving her off. “You go save the world.”

“Xander, what’s gotten over you?”

“I can’t move my legs.” His voice rose above a hush. “I don’t know how it happened, or what I hit during the fight, but … I can’t …”

“That’s bull.” Aaliyah put the gun in her pants waist band and put the machete where she could grab it. She pushed herself to her feet and offered a hand to Xander. “Come on. I’ll get you outta here and to help.”

Xander batted the hand away. “No, just let me die here.”

Aaliyah adjusted her footing and hunched down before grabbing hold of his shirt and brought him within inches of her face. “I’m not leaving you here to die. Not with that vamp out there. Now, you can feel sorry for yourself later.” She pulled herself back enough to have room to pull Xander up. There wasn’t much fight in him as she looped one of his arms around her shoulders. Aaliyah grabbed the machete before half dragging him from the house.

***

“Bobby, I promise I’ll be there,” Aaliyah kept her voice low, signing the last piece of paper. “Xander had a nasty fight with a vamp and I had to get him to a hospital.”

“We’ve got a serious problem and you’re worried …”

“Xander wanted to die there at the house when I found him,” Aaliyah cut in. “I wasn’t gonna let him do that. I’ve already called Nissa and Leo and they’re on their way in.” She adjusted the phone away and looked to the nurse. “What do I have to fill out for a seventy two hour psych hold on him?” She pulled the papers the nurse offered up and signed away. “Is there anything else?”

“No, ma’am.”

Aaliyah gave a brief nod before she turned away and saw herself from the hospital. “Bobby, I promise I’ll be there.”

“You better be here,” Dean answered.

“God, Dean. I swear I’ll kick your ass when this is through.”

“Like you’d be able …”

Aaliyah slammed the car door behind her. “I swear Dean, you’re making it difficult for me to wanna help.” She started the car and headed out for the highway. “Now, I can go off and do my own thing or I can see this hunt through along with you guys. I know what’s at stake here.” She hung up when no answer came from Dean.

***

Aaliyah pushed herself. She had parked next to the Impala and found the immediate area deserted. A note had been left on the windshield of the Impala in Bobby’s handwriting telling her where to go. That note had been dropped and forgotten when Aaliyah realized shit was going down. At one point gunshots had echoed in the air, spurring her on. A foot hit a broken headstone in mid stride, sending her flying. It took Aaliyah a few minutes to catch her breath from the fall before she picked herself up. The foot that hit the stone throbbed a little, either bruised or pulled muscle somewhere. She could put weight on it, which was good. Something glowed some feet away from her, grabbing her attention. She closed the distance to recognize the building as a crypt.

“Guys,” Aaliyah called out, her eyes focused on the crypt doors.

“Aaliyah,” someone shouted in surprise.

A hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her down behind the tombstone with them. It had to be perfect timing since Aaliyah heard the doors burst open and the sound of who knew how many demons escaping. She pressed her body against theirs in the attempt to have some sort of protection from the demons.

“What the hell just happened?” Aaliyah shouted.

“It’s a devil’s gate,” Ellen’s voice called out in reply. “A damn door to hell.”

“We gotta shut it up,” Aaliyah called out. She pried herself off her tombstone partner and started for the open doors. The heat from beyond the doors was blazing, still Aaliyah fought against it. She struggled against one of the doors even as Bobby came up behind her. A quick glance over to the other showed her Ellen and Sam in the same struggle.

“Dean,” Sam yelled, leaving the door.

“Sam,” Aaliyah called after him even as she looked back over a shoulder.

Dean was slumped against a tombstone and Sam was pinned against a tree. In between them was the person the yellow eyed demon used as a vessel.

Aaliyah looked between Bobby and Ellen in a silent debate between leaving them to deal with the door or to help the boys with the demon. She pushed herself off the door and darted for the demon. There was a small piece of hope that she’d reach it before getting noticed. That hope went out the window when Aaliyah hit an invisible wall and was lifted two feet off the ground.

“I’m surprised you’re still around,” the demon said to Aaliyah. “I mean, after all the mess you’ve gone through just to get here. And the way the other hunters look at you, like you don’t measure up to something.”

Her eyes flicked between Sam and Dean. Was the demon right about how she didn’t measure up against. She stared down the demon.

“You and your pathetic self worth,” the demon continued. “Trying to prove that you can make it in the wide world of hunting. Tell me, kid, how’s your brother doing?”

Aaliyah caught movement just beyond the demon and swore it looked like … She dropped to the ground and gasped for breath. She got a better look at the ghost struggling with the demon and smiled. Even dead John came back to fight. Shifting around, a hand brushed against something hard. It was the Colt. Picking it up, Aaliyah glanced over to the boys even as the thought of shooting the demon herself passed through her mind. It wasn’t right. She crawled over to Dean and held up the Colt in front of him.

He glared at her.

“Hey, I coulda shot it myself,” Aaliyah argued. She nodded when Dean accepted the gun before standing. “Oi, Yellow Eyes,” she called out when the demon regained its vessel. “Over here.”

It turned toward her and started toward her. Aaliyah rooted herself where she stood and froze when a gunshot went off beside her. The body lit up before dropping backward to the ground. Aaliyah heard the sound of Sam hitting the ground as she started off in the direction she came in. She got a few feet from where Dean picked himself up.

“Wait,” Sam called after her.

She turned around to see John approaching her from where Sam and Dean stood. John smiled and nodded before disappearing. Aaliyah half shrugged, dismissing what happened before she turned and left the cemetery.

She could hear three different voices call after her. No, now wasn’t the time for them to assure her that she was doing right by hunting. If she hadn’t gotten involved back in college, Xander wouldn’t be held up at a hospital in the same situation she was a year ago.

“Aaliyah, wait up,” Sam’s voice called, closer than the others. “Don’t let what the demon said get to you.”

“But he’s right,” Aaliyah shouted, spinning around to face him. “Every hunter I meet will have the same barely hidden judgmental look Ellen had. I had to race here from the hospital I left Xander at because he got fucked up going up against a vamp. But, yeah, you’re right, the demon didn’t mean what it said.” She turned back around and started for her car as Dean and Sam started talking. Her paced slowed before she stopped completely and turned to watch the brothers. Daring to get close, Aaliyah heard Sam ask if Dean sold his soul and how much time he had.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Sam said.

“Don’t get mad at me,” Dean said. “Don’t you dare, I had to do it. I had to look out for you; it’s my job.”

“And what do you think my job is?” Sam countered, catching Dean off guard.

“What?”

“You saved my life over and over again,” Sam said. “You sacrificed everything for me. Don’t you think I’d do the same for you? You’re my big brother and I’d do anything for you. I don’t care what it takes, I’m gonna get you outta this. My turn to save your ass this time.”

Aaliyah barely shook her head when Dean glanced over at her. “He’s got a point.”

“Well, your yellow eyed demon might be dead,” Ellen cut in as she walked up. “But a whole lot more got through that gate.”

“How many do you think?” Dean asked.

“Hundred or two,” Sam said. “It’s an army he unleashed.”

“Hope you three are ready,” Bobby said. “Cause the war’s just begun.”

[sonkitty]

The Pocket Trick Touch #1 - Triple Part 1 - Between Building Windows

This post was last updated 01/27/2024.

Touch #1 (Episode 2; Triple Part 1; Between Windows)

Newer version: The Pocket Trick Touch #1 - Triple Part 1 - Between Building Windows

The first of these pocket touches appears in episode 2 as Crowley is walking by himself and before Nina will notice him.

Alright, let's take a look at this thing brighter and slower, much like my post about the Tied Hands. I'll be reusing a lot of the images from that post since it helps to slow things down and give a closer look at given moments.

The first thing to get out of the way is that this touch introduces us to the concept of the Tied Hands, the Rainbow Connection, and that a Rainbow Connection Reflection can flip the mirror of the Tied Hands.

Yikes.

Since that's a lot to cover, even beyond what was already noted in the Basics, here are some links:

Tied Hands

The Pocket Chain Rainbow Connection

...

Alright, so we covered those things.

What else does the GIF tell us?

It tells us that Crowley possibly pocketed some black bars, a bush, some concrete, a long green bar that's like a frame with nothing to frame, a sign, a garbage bin, and maybe even his own pants if we use our imaginations. All we have to do is watch his left arm move, what his left hand digits are up to, the rest of his body, the background of the scene, and just let those imaginations run wild.

But let's reign it in a bit because maybe he didn't do those things since we're just imagining them, and we're getting ahead of ourselves. Only some of these make a faint appearance within an apparel-to-car pocket at the start of The Door Trick in episode 6.

I am logging a lot of details further below in the hopes to give myself a chance at better figuring out this massive puzzle. My chance is slim, but I still want it.

...

When the scene initially starts, the right thumb is visible, and it's not clear just yet that the other four fingers are in the pocket. The left hand is partly visible but not showing its fingers yet. The watch is visible.

The part of his thumb that is visible is touching over the snake belt while being touched under the vest.

Due to how everything is positioned, visually, with a brightened screenshot to make things more apparent, there is a pocket between the vest part that is touching the thumb, the belt part that is being touched by the thumb, and the left front side of the jacket that is definitely not touching the thumb.

Since the belt is connected to Crowley's head, let's go look at Crowley's actual head in the first frame. There is a pocket of light due to the shadows on his left cheek and then more light outside the shadowy border of that pocket of light. That is...right, okay, fine, that's something we can just note. This group of puzzles is so silly.

Even still, the inner part of the front of his jacket's hanging out along the side edge of all of that, making sure it is not touching the pants.

One tie strand is attached to the right side of the jacket, and it's the one that will be more obviously following along with the left hand soon. The clasp that is its thumb joint is conveniently hidden at that exact moment. This tie strand will act as if linked to the jacket as well.

The other strand is down and looks strongly aligned to the left lapel of Crowley's jacket. The top clasp before the tassel tip even seems to start at about that point. Despite that, it's also generally over the edge of the vest. The vest is what this tie strand will act is if it is linked to.

Behind Crowley is a window that is to the camera's right. The window's right window frame is aligned to be be just to the right of Crowley's left arm. It's an edge, a threshold, to alert us that this touch is going to be putting Crowley between Building Windows. That is the designated Pocket Frame. He's going to do certain things before reaching the physical threshold of the next window that credit him the touch within this Pocket Frame.

Ahead of Crowley and to the camera's left is a door. This touch is the first one, so it's not chained to past touches. As such, we start from the basic understanding that thresholds are doors. He is going to be in front of a threshold eventually that seems to allow him to do certain things once his fingertips are more clearly visible.

But not yet.

Crowley moves in a way that eventually his left hand becomes more clear and on screen.

Here is a brightened GIF for further assistance:

With that one little movement, a few things happened.

The tassel tip on the right side of the jacket disappeared behind that part of the jacket. The left thumb tip did not become visible and is more understood to be behind the left hand. The right thumb disappeared behind the watch.

Quite early in the overall movement, the snake belt disappeared behind the left front of Crowley's jacket. Let's check this Belt Head thing. Did anything happen to that pocket of light on Crowley's actual cheek on his actual head? Yes. It fully disappeared at the point of stronger clarity for this part of the cut with the watch and the fingers. You have got to be kidding me. What is that supposed to mean? Well, we're still going to see that belt without that pocket of light once the belt is seen again.

So, with that pocket between the vest, belt, and jacket gone, instead there is a large shadowy area within the jacket itself except the an edge where the vest meets the shirt that's presumably supposed to be yet another pocket. Likewise the left jacket sleeve has its own little hole indicating a pocket by the watch.

All four "thumbs" are off screen so that we can look at four fingers that aren't showing their fingertips yet. Those fingers just so happen to be in the area the jacket was avoiding with the area between the ring finger and pinky finger visually over the edge of the pants.

It is probably not a coincidence that there's some sunlight hitting the edge of the hand and pinky along with the edge of the ring finger, the two fingers at that edge.

Based on what happens, that's like marking the target for the illusionary touch that is going to happen on the pants with the index and middle fingers eventually. It will be passed along when the time is right. For now, with no magical left thumb joint vertex touch, that's what this thing seems to do.

Pocket touches use lighting as clues, and a little light seems to tell us one of the black bars behind Crowley is broken. These black bars are in front of a bush. I haven't figured out how or why that might be relevant to anything anywhere.

Time to move again.

This time we're starting with a GIF to see some movement:

And now a specific brightened screenshot from near the end of what the GIF itself is showing:

Crowley moves some more such that the left hand is not clear, but we should certainly stop at this point because something important is clear anyway.

The left thumb became visible even if blurry.

The blurry thumb joint is now by the edge of the jacket. In fact, it's by where the lower edge of the bottom jacket meets the edge of the back that's receiving the sunlight. This part is a blurred vertex touch from the left thumb joint to the jacket. Is it an actual touch? It doesn't look like it is, but everything's responding as if the illusionary nature of it doesn't matter.

Blurs in Earthly Objects mean something like pass or share. We are going to see a different type of vertex later involving the thumb joint, so this part is, again, like marking a target for what will eventually happen.

Both the actual hand thumbs are on screen and now so are the tie tassel tips. The strand that was on Crowley's right side of the jacket—that's going to follow along with the left hand—is still on that part of the jacket. Its tassel clasp is at the edge of where the sleeve meets the jacket. Yes, we found another edge, which makes sense because its parallel hand has the thumb joint on an edge.

Meanwhile, for the right hand, it's doing edgy stuff as well. That thumb joint is now touching the edge of the vest, which is touching the edge of the snake head of the belt. The tip of that vest is positioned between the right thumb joint and the snake belt to give us yet another vertex.

The part of the jacket that was along the side edge of so much happening is now showing its outer part, and it too is at the edge of something. Visually, it is at the edge of a nearby garbage bin.

Edges! Edges everywhere! Now with vertices!

The vest now also has a visual pocket between itself and the snake belt over part of the shirt.

That tie strand linked with the right hand is hanging out over on the right side of the vest, and its tip just so happens to be along the edge of the vest and the shadowed area in the jacket. Shadows seem to allow leniency, so it must be doing its job of keeping that tip at an edge when it needs to be.

Are there any other edges that we missed? Probably. For instance, the left front outer edge of the jacket is covering the left pocket, probably at its edge. Crowley's left side of his vest has its tip slightly past the bottom edge of the snake belt. It is partly touching a belt loop too.

The top tips of Crowley's lapels of his jacket are just past the edges of that part of the jacket., Fascinating.

Not long before this vertex touch took place, a jacket sleeve pocket formed. There was a little space between the left elbow of the jacket sleeve and the torso of the jacket itself. That space grew and is still present in the vertex touch itself.

I'm all out of energy looking for edges so instead am going to bring up that it is now more clear that the right hand fingers are in the pocket.

As for lighting, the left hand has lighting up until the index finger, and yeah, there's going to be something with the index finger soon. The left sleeve and left back area of the jacket are also receiving light.

During this pivotal moment, Crowley's partly in front of that first door mentioned earlier. That door is acting like permission for this part to initiate.

Let's move on.

Here is the earlier GIF again since the above screenshot is where that GIF ends.

In the next more clear shot of movement, part of the left hand is partly off-screen. It seems to cut off at where the middle phalanges would be visible for the fingers and keeping the proximal phalanges visible. The thumb does not have a middle phalanx so is basically cut off from showing a thumb tip. As such, the tie strand corresponding to the left hand has decided that its tassel tip should shift its tip off the jacket to be partly over the vest since the left thumb tip is indeed part of what has become off-screen.

The tie strand linked with the right hand is on the right side of the vest and just along the inner middle border of that vest. A tiny bit of its tip has ventured over to the left side. The tips of both sides of the vest seem to be content along the lower edge of the snake belt. The right tip that was at the snake belt's edge has shifted a little more to Crowley's left, so it's not directly on the edge anymore. It also has more shadow over its own right side.

The left jacket sleeve pocket that formed has opened. It is no longer fully closed in within the jacket, though it is fully closed in between the jacket, Crowley's left hand, and the bottom of the screen.

Indeed, everything probably still matters, but a lot of edge-concerned items are no longer at their concerned edges.

The first door behind Crowley has not been passed yet. In fact, if we take an extra look, we can see that Crowley's shoulder aligns itself with a panel edge on that door.

Onward.

GIF for some extra assistance:

Crowley moves some more, and we're going to stop when the left hand becomes clear again, including those pivotal fingertips.

They have at last revealed themselves perhaps thanks to the blurred thumb from earlier.

Since so much happened before, let's take a look.

An overhead light to the first door is shown on screen. It is to the camera's right. While it is not directly above Crowley's head, we can tell that it is above his head. Eventually, Crowley is going to turn his head, and that might be significant in making sure an overhead is assuredly to the left side of his actual head.

Meanwhile, another light is more visible on the camera's left. This light is not above Crowley's head, but it is above where the snake belt buckle would be, if it were visible. The lighting in pocket touches is quite intentional, so we should take note.

The left thumb is not visible at all. The right thumb is only partly visible, but its thumb tip is obscured by the left hand. In fact, the part of the hand obscuring it is where the left thumb joint should be, if we could actually see it. With both thumb tips and both thumb joints not visible, the tassels and the clasps have hidden themselves too. The belt is not visible.

The left jacket sleeve pocket is gone.

Is there an edge we should concern ourselves with?

Yes, indeed. We have some lighting to help remind us of where to look. Three fingers are visually over the right pant leg. They are the middle finger, ring finger, and pinky finger. The index finger just so happens to be not over the pants with them. Instead it's visually over the edge of some edge of the building behind Crowley. Now we have to look at the index fingertip and the middle fingertip because do you know what is visually in between those? The right edge of the front of Crowley's pants! The pass from earlier is done.

The first door behind Crowley is still partly visible as behind him. He has not finished passing it yet and reached the next door.

I want to move on again, so we will.

This time we're stopping when the left hand is blurry again because of a thumb joint thing again.

Crowley has turned his head. Things have changed.

The overhead light is now given a chance to be to the left of his left side of his head.

From the Tied Hands post, relevant enough to be re-stated here:

There is a pocket between Crowley's left hand, the watch, the left jacket sleeve, and the left jacket side-to-back area. It's a lot like our previous vertex touch but not quite. This pocket is special because the left jacket sleeve is more evident to be over the edge of that back area of the jacket. Their connection is not direct edge-to-edge, or close enough anyway, like the earlier version. One edge extends over the other. Other parts of the apparel were more evenly lined up with edges before too, but here, they are not trying so hard. Due to the lack of a helpful manual for The Pocket Trick and the need to use my imagination with word play, we are calling this thing an over-the-rainbow touch.

End quote.

This part was where the tied hands' mirror flipped with a Rainbow Connection Reflection.

A human using pockets has become visible. They are facing the window pane. I have only one guess on their significance. They are a clue for the touch point of the Pocket Frame. I'll wait to explain then.

Let's move on.

These frames are more clear, so I'm using my best judgment on the next place to stop.

I've chosen the frame where the line between the left thumb and the rest of the hand is no longer visible.

The tie strand on the right part of the jacket is still on the right part of the jacket, mostly. The clasp is at the edge of a lower part of the right lapel of Crowley's jacket. The tassel has swung enough so that its tip is over the right side of the vest. The right thumb tip is still visible, even if only slightly.

The tie strand on the vest has also shifted over, now finding itself on the left part of the vest instead of the right. Its clasp and some of its tip is still visible, but it takes only 1 more frame for that to change. That clasp meets the edge of the bottom of the left lapel. Given what's happening with what is and is not visible of the left thumb, this makes sense—only if you catch that the strands swapped with the joint movement and mirror flip.

Crowley's right front of his jacket is covering up a good amount of space over the right thumb, leaving at least its thumb tip visible. That jacket's shadow also seems to be over the snake belt head some. The belt itself is visible, especially more of what's between the back of the snake head up until the left bottom tip of the vest. That first door can no longer be seen. We are not going to see those fingers do any more illusionary touches.

The lighting is suggesting we pay attention Crowley's left side in general, so we will.

Moving on.

After some more movement, I've decided the next clear shot where we should stop is after Crowley's head has moved even more, and the left hand itself has hit stronger clarity.

The edge of the left thumb is quite likely behind the index finger. The tassels are really sneaky here. They switch so that the strand tied to the right hand gets hidden, and the strand tied to the left hand comes out again. It's easy to miss if you're just looking for the more key frames and not watching them do that. I speak from experience. So, is our visible tie strand at an edge? Yeah, go find the shadow of the jacket by the vest, and the tip of that tassel is probably at the edge of the right side of the vest and the jacket, which is positioned in just the right way to allow it.

It is really hard to tell with the dark clothes, but there does appear to be a vertex touch between the little bit of left thumb visible with the belt and vest.

Much like earlier, there is now a pocket between the vest and the belt itself. Likewise, the pocket of the left jacket sleeve near the watch is visible.

The index finger is not showing its tip. Both it and the middle finger are showing part of their middle phalanges with the index finger showing more. The ring and pinky fingers are not showing their middle phalanges.

Some of the snake head on the belt is visible with a little hidden on each side of that head but not much.

Now let's look for more edges.

The left jacket sleeve is layered over the more general left side of the jacket itself. At the exact point where their edges meet is that same garbage can from earlier, just its other edge from a front view of it.

We have found another vertex.

There's also a little stand of some sign that's near the elbow. I can't figure out why that's important or going to be important beyond maybe it was a clue to the Rainbow Connection Reflection earlier due to framing and timing. If I go back a few frames, I can lighting hinting there is tiny unseen pocket between the jacket and the sleeve where they meet. Going over that bit again and again, it looks like the right thumb joint is at the vertex of the vest and the jacket. However, the edge of that vest is ever so slightly over the edge of that right thumb. So, there's still more left to happen.

Crowley is in front of the second door for this part.

The right pants pocket just passed the edge of some visual thing on the building behind it.

We are so, so close to being done.

Okay, Crowley has moved, and things happened.

GIF for some assistance. This one actually covers movement from after the mirror flipped:

What happened?

So much happened.

The most crucial thing to know is that the Pocket Frame touch point happened. I will show it later. For now, we'll go over numerous other things.

The thumb and fingers of the left hand have collectively moved themselves out of the way and are no longer on screen. In the process, that left thumb joint hit that same vertex area it had before, or was very close to doing so.

Early in the movement, both tassels revealed themselves together, swapping their tips back to what they were before the tip tied to the right hand was hidden. Soon after, there was a frame of both on the vest. The left tie strand was more closely aligned with the left part of the jacket though, from the clasp down, not touching the edge. Above the clasp, it does look aligned with the edge of the lapel. The right tie strand, meanwhile, was more close to the inner part of the right side of the jacket and the vest. The actual left hand was mostly off-screen.

Only one frame after those tassels were on the vest, the watch met with the edge of the light on Crowley's left side of his jacket that was just behind that hand.

At that same time, both tassel tips started to leave the vest and swung so that their tips moved over to an area of the right front of the jacket, not quite reaching any edges.

Generally, the actions by the tie strands indicate those hands were being untied. I think that is the case because I think they re-tie themselves when encountering Nina soon.

That right bottom vest edge moved itself even further onto the thumb while making sure to not touch the thumb tip. It landed about the center of that thumb before deciding to go back up and then touch the edge of the thumb. When it was centered along the thumb, the tie strands were centered along the vest itself. The tie strand for the left hand on the left was a little further down than the right. Interestingly, that matches the camera positions of the visible hand parts. The left actual hand is further down than the right actual hand.

Once that vest edge finally touched that right thumb edge, the touch finished.

By that point, Crowley is just outside the edge of the next window.

The human mentioned earlier is providing a clue to further confirm that this touch is at the Pocket Frame touch point. The human's reflection is in the upper right torso area of a suit jacket. If you look toward the upper right torso area of Crowley, you can see that the tip of his right lapel is lined up with an edge of the structure behind him. It is an edge that is not at the second door or the second window, but a large frame around that second door. This frame sticks out and connects to the overall outside from of the window.

The overhead light above the first door is slightly visible. It will no longer be visible in the next video frame.

We have cues that the Pocket Frame has reached its touch point even if Crowley's going to pass that window frame edge with just a few frames left.

Here is that point:

After passing by the human using pockets and facing the window pane, the car hit another red alert to inform us that Orange in the Rainbow Connection is ready.

Yet another thing that happened, as if we didn't have enough to deal with, was that still another human entered the scene. That human is blurry, and their clothing, presumably a shirt or something like that, is blurry. That clothing has multiple colors. The purple is the hardest to find, but otherwise, this piece of clothing is the rainbow. The colors are not in the order of a rainbow, but they are there. There is red, orange, green, yellow, purple, and blue. They are also using a phone. Phones show up again, and if they have a specific function or meaning within this Trick, it is beyond me.

Another human entered the cut behind the rainbow one.

I am going to talk about another human not mentioned earlier. Way, way back at the start of the scene for this touch, all the way to the camera's right was a human holding a red purse. That human was never fully seen. They disappeared fully from the camera's view before the first vertex touch and re-appeared as the fingertips were reaching clarity for their illusionary touch. Once Crowley reached the presumed exact frame of that touch, the human had not passed the window frame of the first window.

Their red purse was at least a clue about the Rainbow Connection. Beyond that, they might be yet another clue because there are several humans, especially women, with bags in The Door Trick that seem to act as a chain reference to this one and probably others in other touches.

That's it for this post.

The Pocket Trick - Basics

[djsamaha-blog]

Modern Men’s Sperm Levels Are Falling; Here’s How to Protect Yours

Several years ago researchers presented modern males with some pretty bad news: men today have 20% less testosterone than men did at the same age just two decades ago. On the heels of those unfortunate findings has recently come another bad omen for male virility: sperm counts have dropped by more than half over the last 40 years. The average man from the mid-1970s had about 99 million sperm per milliliter of semen; today, that number is down to 47 million.

Unfortunately, there are no solid conclusions about the why behind that drop. Theories abound, of course: maternal chemical/plastics exposure while the baby boy is still in the womb, increased adiposity (fat percentage) in men, a more sedentary lifestyle, cell phones in men’s pockets, etc. The causal factor may be one of those things, or more likely, a combination of them.

You’ll actually find many researchers and scientists claiming to not be too worried about the drop, as normal fertility is considered to be anywhere above 40 million sperm per milliliter; we aren’t yet in danger of a Children of Men scenario where humans are no longer able to conceive at all. But sperm counts are getting awfully close to that critical threshold, and if you extrapolate that same fall over the next 40 years, you’re looking at a real problem.

Even if the current population-wide drop in sperm doesn’t yet affect fertility, every man who has even a glimmer of interest in one day having a kid should know how to protect the health of the sperm he does have.

While fertility is a subject most often aimed at women, it takes two to tango, and you ought to understand your role in the equation. When the time comes that you’re ready to beget some progeny, you’ll want the process to go as smoothly as possible, and while you can’t control all the factors at play in reproduction, you can take steps to raise your chances of a quick conception that results in a healthy baby.

Below we’ll get into the details of how to keep your swimmers in tip-top condition, but first let’s take a look at how sperm is made, and the three elements of sperm health.

How Is Sperm Made?

When Brett did his series on testosterone, sperm was also briefly covered because the beginning process for the two is the same. Each shares several steps before the processes diverge into their own unique systems. Let’s then take a brief look at how sperm (and T) is created in the testicles (from Brett’s article a few years back):

The process gets kicked off in our brain. When our hypothalamus detects that our body needs more testosterone, it secretes a hormone called gonadotropin-releasing hormone. The gonadotropin-releasing hormone makes its way over to the pituitary gland in the back of our brain.

When our pituitary gland detects the gonadotropin-releasing hormone, it starts producing two hormones: 1) follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinzing hormone (LH). The FSH and LH hitch a ride down to our testicles on the freeway that is our bloodstream.

When the FSH and LH reach our testicles, they tell them to do two different things. FSH kicks off sperm production, while LH stimulates the Leydig cells in our testicles to create more testosterone.

While the processes by which sperm and testosterone are created are intimately connected, it should be noted that low T does not necessarily mean low fertility — though one does make the other a little more likely. The inverse is also true — high T does not necessarily make for a very fertile man. There could be damage to the testicles or other problems that are unique to the sperm-production process. In general though, the testosterone and sperm producing systems work in a feedback loop.

There’s much more to it than that, of course, but we’ll be concentrating more on the practical side of things in this piece. If you’re interested in more of the science though, here’s a good resource.

3 Important Health Metrics for Your Sperm

The average male produces 1,500 sperm every second. Over the course of a lifetime, that’s 500 billion sperm. While that’s obviously a ton of little swimmers, only a tiny overall percentage of the billions of sperm created are actually able to make a little human.

Whether your sperm can get the job done depends both on their sheer numbers, as well as a couple other metrics:

Count (Quantity). A man is considered “fertile” if he has a sperm count at about 40 million per milliliter or higher (it can be all the way up to 300 million!). Under 10 million/ml is considered “poor” fertility. Numbers in between may be okay, if the factors below are in good shape.

Health (Quality or Morphology). A man is considered fertile if more than 4% of sperm have a normal shape and structure. That means the sperm has a nicely-shaped oval head without irregularities, and a long tail. If the head is too large or small, or tapered in any way, or if the tail is kinked or too short, the sperm is not considered healthy.

Swimming Ability (Motility). A man is considered fertile if 40% or more of his sperm are swimming. Even if you have a lot of healthy sperm, they need to be able to travel those few inches up the cervix to the egg. In short, they need to be able to wiggle really well to make a baby.

Now that we have a few basics covered, let’s get into what you can do to increase the count and general health of your sperm.

How to Boost the Health of Your Sperm, and Your Chances of Conceiving

Just because you’ve had problems conceiving in the past doesn’t mean you’re doomed. Sperm production takes about 2.5 months, meaning there are plenty of lifestyle changes you can make that will have an effect on your sperm count and health in a relatively short span of time. The below tips should really be followed at all times for your overall sperm health (primarily in the years before trying to conceive; if you’re done with kids some of these things don’t matter so much!), but especially starting a few months before you officially start trying to conceive, and of course continuing throughout that process. 

NATURALLY raise your testosterone. As noted above, T and sperm production are connected. When your body makes more T, it’s generally also going to make more sperm. With men’s T levels at a historical low, it’s really no surprise then that sperm count levels are as well. So, if you take steps to naturally raise your testosterone, you’ll also naturally raise your sperm count (again, generally — it’s no guarantee, but it’s a good bet). That said, I can’t recommend enough reading Brett’s article on the topic. He goes deep into diet, lifestyle, and vitamin/supplement recommendations that are proven to boost your T. Heed his advice. (And much of the below in fact piggybacks on those recommendations.)

One additional note: Testosterone replacement therapy (or TRT) in any form tricks your brain into thinking you have enough T in your system, and will therefore stop giving orders to the testes to make both testosterone and sperm. In fact, up to 90% of men doing TRT have sperm counts that eventually drop to zero. And even when you stop TRT, sometimes the body doesn’t go back into natural T production for up to 2 years (if at all). The research isn’t quite there yet to make any sweeping pronouncements about what happens to fertility after coming off TRT. If you’re on it now, though, and want to conceive in the near future, consult your doc ASAP.

Avoid nicotine and other drugs altogether. If you’re trying to conceive, it’s best to avoid nicotine entirely (regardless of how it’s delivered — smoking, chewing, vaping, etc., though smoking may have even more deleterious effects than nicotine alone), as it comes with a host of problems for your swimmers. It not only decreases your sperm count, but also the quality and motility of the sperm (and even lowers your libido and increases your chances of impotence). On top of that, nicotine can harm the sperm’s DNA, potentially causing problems for your unborn child.

Marijuana, even though legal in many states now, can decrease motility and diminish sperm quality. Harder drugs like heroin and cocaine cause all kinds of systems in your body — including all parts of the reproductive system — to do weird things. Not only are those drugs illegal, addictive, and harmful in numerous other ways, but they’ll screw with your chances of conceiving a child.

Limit alcohol. While not as damaging as nicotine, too much alcohol consumption diminishes both the quantity and quality of your sperm. For men, limiting alcohol means sticking to 1-2 drinks per day.

Cut down on your caffeine intake (mainly in soda form). Some researchers theorized that caffeine intake could be a driver in the declining sperm counts of modern men. Upon initial testing, there was found to be some correlation between caffeine and lower sperm counts/quality. However, further research revealed that it was not coffee or tea that was the problem, but rather the sugary soft drinks that were delivering that caffeine. Limit your sodas, but also don’t go crazy with coffee or tea. One of the general rules is that whatever is good for your overall health is good for your reproductive health. So even though it’s not proven specifically, guzzling down half a dozen coffees probably isn’t going to be great for your swimmers. Limiting your overall caffeine intake is bound to have some other benefits as well.

Lose a few pounds. There is a correlation between being overweight and having a low sperm count. While not proven to be causal, it would be a good idea to lose a few pounds for numerous reasons, let alone the possibility of it impacting your chances of conception.

There are a couple reasons being overweight may lead to lower sperm production: 1) inside the body, fatty tissue can negatively affect the secretion of gonadotropin (which, remember, is what tells the testes to produce sperm), 2) outside the body, fatty tissue in the groin area can actually be heating up your testicles above the ideal ~93 degrees. And of course there may yet be other reasons that extra poundage is affecting your sperm count. Either way, the point remains: make an effort to lose a few pounds, and your sperm will likely be happier for it.

Hit the gym/pavement. Not only do you want to lose fat, you want to put on some muscle. Research has shown that men who work out regularly (7+ hours a week) have 50% higher sperm counts than men who don’t work out at all or sparingly (1 hour or less a week). Specifically, as Brett noted in his testosterone series, lift heavy things and do HIIT cardio workouts. Not only do you get benefits directly from the workouts, you also get lower stress (good for reproductive health) and vitamin D if you’re working out outside (which may help boost your sperm count).

Eat well. Eat not only for optimal testosterone, but for antioxidants as well, which are shown to improve the quality and quantity of sperm. Fruits, vegetables, a glass of red wine with dinner — all of these will help your swimmers.

Also avoid soy, which contains phytoestrogens that mimic estrogen. Your body may respond by producing less T, which means less sperm. Soy sauce, edamame, tofu, veggie “burgers,” etc. This is especially important for guys who may already have lower sperm counts. It’s unlikely that soy would make a fertile man infertile.

Learn to manage your stress. Cortisol — a stress hormone — decreases testosterone production. And when that slows, so does sperm production. In short bouts — the way stress was biologically meant to be experienced — this isn’t a problem. After the stressful experience, your testosterone production goes back up to normal like nothing happened. But when stress is chronic, and you’re feeling it in high doses every day, your sperm production is going to take a major hit. Learn to manage and decreases your stress levels if you’re trying to make a baby.    

Keep your balls cool. One of the most important factors in maintaining the production and health of your sperm is maintaining a cool temperature for your man parts. This is in fact why male reproductive organs are on the outside of our body, differing from the ladies. Your residual body heat is too much for sperm to thrive in. Heed the below tips:

Limit or eliminate hot tub/bath times. Don’t spend more than 10-20 minutes in a hot tub, bath, or sauna at a time, and no more than a couple days per week. Many experts even say you might as well skip it altogether when trying to conceive.

Limit bike time. Spending more than 30 minutes on a bike seat, especially when wearing tight bike shorts, will increase scrotal temperature and possibly harm your sperm.

Don’t keep your laptop on your lap. Computers get hot. When they’re on your lap, your man parts will also get hot. Keep computers on tables and desks, or put a lap desk between your crotch and your laptop.

Skip the tighty whities. At least while actively trying to conceive. They constrict things down there and heat up your groin area too much.

Stand up more! If you sit all day for work, it’s likely your groin is getting overheated from being compressed by your legs and abdomen. Get up and walk around, move a little, air out your man bits.

Consider keeping your phone out of your pocket. Partially due to radiation from electronic and radio waves, and partially due to the heat that phones create with high use and charging, some experts recommend that men keep their mobile devices in shirt pockets or on the desk/table when trying to conceive.

Avoid lubricants during sex. Lubricants and lotions can interfere with sperm motility, making it harder for your swimmers to find their target. Certain chemicals in certain lubricants can also actually kill your sperm. If lubrication is needed, use natural oils instead.

Ask your doctor about the medications you’re on. Some medications can have an effect on your sperm production and sperm health. If you’re trying to make a mini-me and are taking medicines, make an appointment with your doc to discuss it.

This is especially true for cancer treatments, which may render you permanently infertile. So even if you aren’t trying to conceive, but are dealing with cancer, ask your doctor about saving and freezing your sperm.

Take fertility-boosting vitamins/supplements. No, not that “Fertility Magic” stuff you might see on the web. That’s probably marketing baloney with jacked-up prices. It is shown, though, that deficient levels of vitamin C, zinc, and/or folic acid can contribute to not only low sperm counts, but also chromosomal abnormalities in your sperm, which can result in miscarriages. It’s in fact estimated that more than half of first trimester miscarriages are due to these abnormalities (which come from deficits on both the female and male sides of the equation).

First, zinc. It’s necessary for all three facets of sperm health, and while important for women, it’s even more crucial for men. Boosting your zinc has been proven to boost sperm count, quality, and motility. Good zinc-heavy foods include oysters, beef, lamb, sesame/pumpkin seeds, shrimp, and yogurt. Unfortunately, cooking these foods reduces zinc levels by up to 50%, so for things you can safely consume raw, do it that way.

Next, folic acid. While you’ll often see that women trying to conceive need to be taking a multivitamin that includes folic acid, it helps if dad does too. You can also eat folate-rich foods like beans, leafy greens, and whole grain breads and pastas. In total you should be getting about 400 milligrams daily.

Finally, vitamin C. Studies have shown that 1,000 milligrams (aka 1 gram) a day of supplementation can boost sperm count, health, and motility. Beyond just improving the sperm itself, vitamin C protects the DNA from chromosomal defects, possibly protecting against early miscarriage.  

Avoid xenoestrogens and other chemicals. Brett covered this topic very well in his article and experiment in naturally raising his testosterone, so I’ve cribbed and modified a large chunk below. Just as xenoestrogens hurt your T levels, they hurt your sperm count as well:

Many endocrinologists are sounding the alarm about the damaging effects that come with exposure to common household chemicals. Called “endocrine disruptors,” these chemicals interfere with our body’s hormone system and cause problems like weight gain and learning disabilities. One type of endocrine disruptor is particularly bad news for our testosterone levels. Xenoestrogen is a chemical that imitates estrogen in the human body. When men are exposed to too much of this estrogen-imitating chemical, T levels drop significantly. The problem is xenoestrogen is freaking everywhere — plastics, shampoos, gasoline, cows, toothpaste. You name it and chances are there are xenoestrogen in it. The ubiquitous nature of this chemical in our modern world is one reason some endocrinologists believe that testosterone levels are lower in men today than in decades past. It’s also a reason doctors say the number of boys born with hypospadias — a birth defect in which the opening of the urethra is on the underside of the penis and not at the tip — has doubled. Despite the stacked deck, there are still steps you can take to avoid xenoestrogens the best you can: Store food in glassware and never, ever heat food in plastic containers. Most modern plastics contain phthalates. Phthalates are what give plastic their flexibility, durability, and longevity. But they also screw with hormones by imitating estrogen. So prepare/store your food in glassware, and never heat it in plastic containers, as heat increases the transfer of phthalates into food. Avoided exposure to pesticides and gasoline. Gas may be a manly smell, but it contains xenoestrogen. Same goes for pesticides. Limit your exposure to these products. If you do come in contact with them, make sure to wash it off thoroughly. Eat organic when possible. Pesticides and hormones that are used in our food can imitate estrogens in our body. When possible, eat organic. If budget doesn’t allow, at least make sure to wash your fruits and veggies before eating and find meat and milk that comes from cows that haven’t been treated with hormones. Use natural grooming products. Most grooming products these days contain parabens, another type of xenoestrogen. And by most, I mean more than 75% of all products. When possible, choose natural, paraben-free grooming products. Avoid BPA. Studies suggest that BPA, a chemical that lines food cans and thermal printer paper, may reduce testosterone. Look for foods and products that are BPA free.

Concluding Thoughts

While there are hacks and different plans out there for protecting the health of your sperm, you actually tend to see the same wellness advice over and over from experts: eat plenty of fruits, veggies, good fats, and proteins; avoid processed foods/sugars as much as you can; work out regularly with a good variety of exercises (but don’t workout too much); don’t drink or smoke or get too stressed. Doing these things will of course not only make your reproductive system healthier, but all of your body’s other systems as well. A few things — keeping your testicles cool, avoiding lubricants, taking some supplements — are directly sperm- and fertility-related, but a lot of this is stuff you should be doing throughout your life anyway.

You can’t control all the factors out there that are diminishing men’s sperm counts. Nor can you can control all the factors that go into conceiving a healthy baby. But you can do everything possible to nurture and protect the seed you have and may one day contribute towards the creation of new life.

http://www.successwize.com/modern-mens-sperm-levels-are-falling-heres-how-to-protect-yours/

[darkshimmeringworld-blog]

Purgatory

October 31st, Eternity

“Bill Wyman the Hymen Man is here, dressed as a highwayman.”

October 31st, Eternity

It was All Hallows Eve, “Bill Wyman, the Hymen Man is here, dressed as a highwayman.”

October 31st, Eternity

It was All Saints’ Eve, “Bill Wyman, the Hymen Man is here, dressed as a highwayman.”

October 31st, Eternity

A figure in a cape, a detail in infinity. He knocked three times at the door of No. 6. “Bill Wyman, the Hymen Man is here, dressed as a highwayman.” In the rutilant light he a-waited.

October 31st, Eternity

Suburbia unrolled in twilight trampled noddy houses. A figure in a cape, a detail in infinity. He walked past the packs of wolf-men-children and bloody faced tricksters and knocked three times at the door of No. 6. “Bill Wyman, the Hymen Man is here, dressed as a highwayman.”

October 31st, Eternity

Suburbia unrolled in twilight trampled noddy houses. The sky was green, and it was pink-orange-red. Then a deep mauve that overtook. A figure in a cape, a detail in infinity. He walked past the packs of wolf-men-children and bloody faced tricksters and knocked three times at the door of No. 6. “Bill Wyman, the Hymen Man is here, dressed as a highwayman.” The costume was itchy, and made Bill feel like his body was burning. In the orange glow he a-waited.

October 31st, Eternity

It was Halloween. Suburbia unrolled in twilight trampled noddy houses. The sky was green, and it was pink-orange-red. Then a deep mauve that overtook. A figure in a cape, a detail in infinity. He walked past the packs of wolf-men-children and bloody faced tricksters and knocked three times at the door of No. 6. There was a discarded burrito down by his feet, cut in half like the Black Dahlia. Perhaps the work of a fox, or boy, dressed as fox. It made Bill both simultaneously hungry and repulsed. His costume itched like a hair shirt.

October 31st, Eternity

“Bill Wyman, the Hymen Man is here, dressed as a highwayman.” 

“Je suis un highwayman”

October 31st, Eternity

A lone figure in a cape. A detail in infinity. He took a pocket knife to his face, removed both of his eyes and stuck them to the house. 

October 31st, Eternity

Bill Wyman, the Hymen Man, was dressed as a highwayman, creeping in the creeping hours. It was All Saints’ Eve, virgins, for all their feathers, were a-cold.

October 31st, Eternity

In the rutilant light he a-waited.

October 31st, Eternity

. . . he bumped his head on the way in.

October 31st, Eternity

. . . he bumped his head on the way in.

October 31st, Eternity

. . . he bumped his head on the way in.

October 31st, Eternity

Bill Wyman, the Hymen Man, entered No. 6, dressed as a highwayman. He bumped his head on the threshold. Trick, and treat.

October 31st, Eternity

. . . Bill was adamant that his costume was based on the glory days of Dick Turpin et al, and not 1980s popular culture.

October 31st, Eternity

. . . Bill was a door to door salesman, of bespoke, designer hymens, and he was adamant in his belief that he could stand and deliver in a competitive autumn market.

October 31st, Eternity

. . . “Je suis Bill Wyman, highwayman”

“My name is M”

“Are your parents at home darling?”

October 31st, Eternity

. . . “Je suis William Wyman, gentleman highwayman”

October 31st, Eternity

. . . “Je suis Wyman Wyman, salesman of hymens”

October 31st, Eternity

. . . the young girl looked about 14. She wore a cat-woman costume.

October 31st, Eternity

Wyman Wyman walked up to the door of No. 6. past mutant packs of sugar high children. With one step he appeared to be forgetting something, the next remembering, the next forgetting, then remembering again, though in this act he could never grasp hold to what this thing was. In the rutilant light he a-waited.

October 31st, Eternity

“My parents must have gone out Mr Hymen Man, but I can let you in.”

“Very good Milady . . . just call me Wyman.”

October 31st, Eternity

M walked Wyman into the living room, and he tripped on his cape comically.

October 31st, Eternity

Wyman took a seat in the corner with all the fake cobwebs, and spoke his trade tongue with magic words which could sour milk. 

October 31st, Eternity

. . . there was the idol of a Phoenician cow on the mantelpiece, and the television was flickering with mischief. News report: “A young boy has died tonight in the Welsh countryside. It is believed he had taken ecstasy at an illegal Halloween rave. The boy who has not been named, was rushed to A+E by local police, after overdosing on circular tablets described as having a black seal symbol”

October 31st, Eternity

Barbie and Ken dolls littered the floor, arranged in overtly sexual poses, and the television flickered with mischief. Wyman itched at his costume, which was not regulation hymen salesman apparel. Wyman just enjoyed dressing up, a flamboyant side he retained from his earlier showbiz years. The burning sensation would wax and wane, and his mind would drift, a-drift, in the strange house of No. 6.

October 31st, Eternity

. . . there was the idol of a Phoenician cow on the mantelpiece, and the television flickered with mischief. Wyman glanced at what was playing: It appeared to be a Roman Polanski movie. But not one he had not seen before. Roman Polanski was also one of the characters. It appeared he had been kidnapped by a group of radical vigilantes, in a dark-lit warehouse structure. There was a massive bovine idol, that loomed over Polanski. Bill intuited the big, evil looking cow was not a good omen. Wyman thought this was not appropriate entertainment for a 14 year old to be watching, but M seemed pretty engrossed. For a second, in that weird room, the television felt less a domestic object and more a portal to a plane of undefinable pain and torment.

October 31st, Eternity

Temporary reality and eternal figmental.

October 31st, Eternity

“Must be the weather, very mild autumn so far” . . . Wyman itched at his collar. “Anyway, down to business”

October 31st, Eternity

. . . Wyman pulled a facial expression, that for half a wicked second, revealed the infestations of his mind, that gave the impression of some sort of internal cancellation process or culling of disavowed thoughts.

October 31st, Eternity

. . . M wore a cat-woman costume. Her parents were not at home.

October 31st, Eternity

. . . Wyman was losing track of his sales talk. In the doldrums of his mind he had become a-drift. Fiddling with his costume, he looked up at the mantelpiece, then at M, then at the floor. He looked inundated with shit ideas.

October 31st, Eternity

“Here the details change, but it will always be the same”

October 31st, Eternity

“What does M stand for darling?”

“It’s an old name. But I’m thinking of changing it anyway. I like the sound of Madame Rutabaga instead. We are the Rutabagas, me, my father and my mother, née Neep. They aren’t here tonight. Do you like words Wyman Wyman? Have you looked up the etymology of grub?”

October 31st, Eternity

. . . “We have top of the range hymens, bespoke, tailored, luxury things . . . we provide a modern service that I am sure your parents would approve. Perhaps I could show you some models, M, even try some on for size . . . whilst it was an issue with earlier models, we have reduced the effects of the Uncanny Fanny”

October 31st, Eternity

. . . in the rutilant light he a-waited. A teenager walked past dressed as a vampire. They had a visible love-bite on their neck, that looked like it could have come from a lamprey. Wyman could not recall, what he was doing on the doorstep.

October 31st, Eternity

. . . he bumped his head on the way in.

October 31st, Eternity

. . . he bumped his head on the way in.

October 31st, Eternity

Wyman walked up to the door of No. 6 . . . trick or treaters were a-frightening. Wyman felt he could walk this street a thousand times, and not be bored with it’s particulars. He also felt that the warm, itchy feeling, which caused him such discomfort, could be itched a thousand times, and he would still get no satisfaction.

October 31st, Eternity

. . . Wyman dipped his hand in the bowl of candy corns. He distantly chewed, his thoughts were of an errant, fleeing nature, like a fool galloping on a mule.

October 31st, Eternity

. . . M wore a Joker costume. She offered Wyman a Soul Cake.

October 31st, Eternity

. . . Wyman Wyman, sat in the comfy chair, hand in the sugar bowl.

“M . . where . . . what is . . .”

M smiled at Wyman.

October 31st, Eternity

. . . “But it’s like the thing with the bloody monkeys isn’t it? You give four or five apes, guitars, bass, drums, and all of eternity, they ain’t gonna come up with Sticky Fingers are they?”

October 31st, Eternity

. . . “Are you of the knowledge that if you leave a raisin out in the sun, eventually it dissolves completely?” 

“Christ . . now you mention it” 

“Look on the window sill” 

“I see five! One still there and four that have completely vanished!”

“Yes, now you see”

“Erm, that door there . . hmm . . . why are we here again?”

October 31st, Eternity

. . . M was dressed as a cow. An evil looking cow. She had an arrangement of pockets on the front, that looked like little doors that opened. She stood by the fire that glowed beneath the mantelpiece. In the rutilant light she a-waited.

October 31st, Eternity

. . . the evil looking cow, offered Wyman a drink of Halloween punch. He itched at the warm, highwayman costume and glugged down the potion. It had quite the kick. Soon it will be Bonfire Night, the burning of an effigy. Good old fashioned fun, thought Wyman.

October 31st, Eternity

. . . the evil looking cow, stood by the mantelpiece, and watched the effigy of an old man burn hydrochloric flames out of his pallid eye sockets.

October 31st, Eternity

. . . the evil looking cow, stood by the mantelpiece, and watched green sparks fizzle out of the highwayman’s head.

October 31st, Eternity

. . . the evil looking cow, stood by the mantelpiece, and watched the hunched figure of Wyman Wyman, shoot to the ceiling like a cartoon. Spurting hot, burning brain matter, like a micro aurora, noxious fissures escaped from his skull and clouded the room in strange raptures of green.

October 31st, Eternity

The evil looking cow offered Wyman a drink.

October 31st, Eternity

“Come back tomorrow, Bill?”

October 31st, Eternity

“Come back tomorrow, William?”

October 31st, Eternity

“Come back tomorrow, Mr Wyman?”

October 31st, Eternity

A little girl stood outside No. 6 . . . she pointed at a rock. 

“Rock!” she said. Wyman was confused. The little girl ran away.

October 31st, Eternity

. . . Wyman itched, and his head hurt. He left the house of No. 6. He surveyed the street in it’s gaudy haze. If there were birds, for here there were none, they would not be tweeting, but the absence of song would be the same, or perhaps differently silent. Sometimes an absence is felt greater, by the presence of something that is only half there, Wyman half-thought. He had never quite noticed till this very moment, that the ends of the street seemed incomplete. 

At the edges of his vision everything seemed rubbed out. Examining the houses closer gave him a shiver of unfamiliarity. They were built with exactitude to the blueprint of uncertainty. Underfoot, the crunch of the leaves seemed pre-recorded. What was this? Where was he? As he itched at his garment, threads came back to him . . . of a strange, vivid other place . . . Braintree, Essex.

He had been out with his metal detector, digging around in the dirt for Roman broaches. In the cold autumn morning, which he remembered as if a dream, the crunch of the leaves had more vitality and realness. He had felt a surge of pain, and dropped the metal detector. It was as if his body was on fire. The field beget a figure from another time. This shape approached Wyman. It was an odd peasant looking man, who introduced himself as Thurkhill.

“Are you lost?”

“Are you?” replied the peasant.

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“No . . .”

“I’ve sent many stone rollers on their course . . . up there . . . follow the track when it bends, may St. Julian be your guide.”

“You what?”

“Today is October 27th, you will pass through many chambers, when you are ready your wandering will end, but that is up to you sir.”

“I go up there?”

“You are dead, aren’t you?”

Wyman appeared shocked. He muttered something about Keith Richards under his breath. The peasant continued:

“There will be a spirit realm. A place where souls are bartered. You will stay in this realm till you are claimed by one of them. This is the journey for many a penitent thief. Whatever you bring with you, will manifest up there. When they are finished with you, may your soul find salvation.”

“How long will that take exactly?” questioned Wyman with unease.

“Well . . . All Souls Day is November 2nd, but you will experience time differently . . . you need to break the surface good Sir . . . superficial digging does not find the treasure”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Wyman started scratching at his neck in discomfort.

“I’m just a peasant mate!” said Thurkhill with a look ‘ere mate shrug.

Wyman shrugged. The peasant shrugged. Wyman felt a chill. Wyman felt an itch. The peasant disappeared.

October 31st, Eternity

In the rutilant light he a-waited.

October 31st, Eternity

In the rutilant light he a-waited.

October 31st, Eternity

In the rutilant light he a-waited . . . he bumped his head on the way in.

[sonkitty]

The Pocket Chain Rainbow Connection (Good Omens 2)

(Theory)

Rainbow Connection Initial Notes

Part 1 - The Pocket Trick - Triple Part 1 and Intermission with Nina

Part 2 - The Pocket Trick - Triple Part 2 and Double

Part 3 - The Pocket Trick - Triple Part 3 and Single

Part 4 - The Door Trick and The Door Catch

If you read only one of the above, please read Part 4. I put a lot of time and energy into it.

.. Updated simplified summary compared to "Initial Notes" post: The rainbow goes down from red to purple, then up from purple to red, on a super basic level.

...

The Pocket Trick: Triple Part 1 - Starts on red; orange is ready by the end.

Intermission with Nina - Starts on orange; yellow is ready by the end.

Tripe Part 2 - Starts on yellow; switch to green; blue is ready by the end.

Double - Starts on blue; switch to a double purple; blue is ready by the end.

Triple Part 3 - Starts on blue; switch to green; switch to yellow; switch to orange; red is ready by the end.

Single - Starts on red; orange is ready by the end.

...

The Door Trick:

-Starts on orange.

-Problems ensue with needing a full mirror flip and keeping yellow.

-Special trickery that's probably a skip-to-purple-and-back to keep yellow but the connection is set to go up instead of down when going down is still wanted to reach green.

-Yellow.

-Connect to get Aziraphale on yellow; it ends up connected to the Metatron as well.

-The Metatron makes mistakes. He inadvertently sets everything back on track for the connection to go down again with deflection, redirection, and disconnection of himself.

-Crowley's Green is ready.

... The Door Catch:

-Aziraphale's Green is ready.

-Switch to blue and purple at the same time.

-Special trickery to get or keep green thanks to the shadows on Aziraphale's coat.

-The Metatron makes mistakes. He inadvertently blocks out yellow, allowing green to be maintained.

...

The Rainbow Connection ends at green thanks to a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

The green was connected through the plants in Crowley's car and the green leaves of a tree near the pub. The leaves represent Earth and a shared love for Earth.

The green connection is then seen as maintained during The Window Trick and during the credits.

[sonkitty]

[sonkitty]

The Pocket Chain Rainbow Connection Part 4 (Good Omens 2)

Last Updated: 04/18/2024

(For reference, start here: The Pocket Trick - Basics | The Pocket Trick Visual Representation | GIFs | The Pocket Trick - Tied Hands)

Main post:

The Pocket Chain Rainbow Connection

Here are Parts 1-3:

The Pocket Chain Rainbow Connection Part 1

The Pocket Chain Rainbow Connection Part 2

The Pocket Chain Rainbow Connection Part 3

This part covers The Door Trick and The Door Catch.

Theory. So much theory.

Problems

I will admit freely, my understanding of what is happening here is quite limited.

Still, I will share it as I think it's enough to hold some value nonetheless.

There are two left hands with desirable traits that pass by Crowley's right.

One left hand has a left thumb joint touching a lapel edge. Another left hand has a full set of visible digits. Both of these things are requirements in The Pocket Trick touches of a similar nature.

I believe using both of them requires a full 360-degree flip of the imaginary mirror for the Tied Hands while at the same time trying to make sure that Orange goes to Yellow and Yellow is what connects first, not Green or any other color. That means hitting Yellow twice in a row.

Because of such complications, there is something akin to a color wheel with humans and their bags fully pocket-framing the "Life begins after coffee" sign. It's not a full color wheel because it lacks green and has such limited blue, but one human who is probably representing the Tied Hands in Crowley's place with her arm swinging, has a blue-green strap on one of her bags and blue-green stripes, of a lighter shade the than the bag strap, on part of her shirt.

There are 4 non-rainbow shades around that do various things in this Rainbow Connection mechanic. I'll go into my struggles with them more deeply later with the Heaven elevator itself.

As things are now, I don't know which color goes where and how, but I believe the result is changing the direction of the connection with a skip to Purple and back up to Yellow.

Orange does get to Yellow, but then because of the skip-and-back to hit Yellow a second time, the next intended color is Orange again instead of Green. The goal is not Orange again. The goal is to hold onto Yellow until Crowley's Green is ready. So, that requires a deflection that lets the connection redirect back down instead of up.

Such a thing is inadvertently resolved by the Metatron. It took some time for me to get it, but there is a hidden message about him in this part of the game when considering the word play mechanics: "The Metatron makes mistakes". That's alliteration and a rhyme. Without that message, I've described the Metatron's play as feeling like "cheating without realizing it or the story is not letting him play fully, just partly."

Without meaning to, he sets the connection back on track. That's why Aziraphale is stuck at Yellow for so long and what the blinking red lights mean. Aziraphale himself doesn't seem aware through his voice and manner of what is happening, but the actions he takes do otherwise look like an effective stalling tactic for the Rainbow Connection.

I am pleasantly taken aback by that hidden message, but I still think it's there since it fits within this puzzle.

Alright, here goes...

The Door Trick

Orange. Based on the way this scene starts, I think the Tied Hands' imaginary mirror flips right away.

Crowley's pants are reflected in the Bentley. Although Orange is not visibly reflected in the Bentley's surface yet, it will be. At the start of the cut, the Orange of an orange bag is visually touched by one of the Bentley's mirrors. I think Car Mirrors is Crowley's Pocket Frame for this Trick and contributing to so much of what is happening. The hood ornament looks like it's trying to be important for its role to play as well.

In the initial two touches of The Pocket Trick, each has something I consider over-the-rainbow touches, and I have long struggled to find the over-the-rainbow touches here.

Here, there is at least one of the car mirrors touching over the Orange. Crowley's legs are crossed with one of his shoes over the shoe of a different human behind Crowley's shoe. So, these tactics are considered sufficient, along with anything else I missed.

Crowley's left hand fingers look to be claiming Yellow, Green, and Black for use. The index finger is visually over a Green and Yellow sign. Zoomed in, I can't actually tell if the index fingertip is on one more than the other. His other fingers are visually over a human's Black attire.

The human holding the Orange bag might be the "Fish" in looking for Bullet Catch magic word references. The pattern on her skirt looks like scales. My instincts had been to look at the cars and a human on a scooter, but visually, this pattern still looks like the closest match. I can't find the fish anywhere else. Because of the other guesses and references I found, I also think these are all supposed to be done no later than Aziraphale being linked into the Pocket Chain. The "dash of nutmeg" will be last even though the order before it will not match the exact order the words are said in the 1941 minisode.

...

There is an actual rainbow found between the left side of Crowley's torso and his left forearm. The rainbow places itself over closed rear car window, the open front car window and well past the edge of the left forearm, questionably all the way to the other edge. This rainbow helped emphasize something happening with the shoes I will not cover here, but this part also looks to be the game's cue that this rainbow is either what allows the incoming flips or is telling an audience player that the over-the-rainbow touches are due to how Crowley's apparel-to-car pocket is structured.

According to this post, the rainbow "doubles up," and there is two of them. Honestly, that's not what I see. The second seeming-rainbow is almost certainly contributing for whatever it is because great care is taken with the lighting overall, but I personally would not fully qualify it as an "official" rainbow because I can't distinguish its color set well enough, even with some tweaks in trying to edit the screenshot with brightness or saturation. Still, there is going to be a link to the Pocket Chain, and two characters are going "up" later.

...

Red alert. Although a red alert is given, the available Yellow is limited. The car itself blocked the nearby yellow lines to it before the red alert was on. The main Yellow on screen is like an Orange-Yellow on a license plate to further add to the confusion. More clearly later within this Trick, Gray will be shown as what can shade a color to a proper form in the Rainbow Connection. There is no nearby solid Gray to this license plate.

Otherwise, there are some yellow lines near the pub and the letters for The Dirty Donkey. I don't know which factors are keeping them at bay, but I do believe that's happening and can at least point out a few things. For instance, there is a human on a scooter between the car giving the red alert and the one with the orange-yellow license plate. This human is making a pocket with their legs and hinting at whatever is going on with the shoes. They have a patterned shirt and black pants.

The human with the black hat is who I call "Nutmeg" though her colors are strongly associated with Black and some Red. She is who is going to link the Pocket Chain to Aziraphale later. I'm making this Bullet Catch reference based on the color of her bag strap and the small part of that strap that will link to a pocket user near Aziraphale.

Since I suspect Yellow is hit twice later, is it my very uncertain hope that something here is delaying the switch long enough for what needs to be done. That most likely seems to be the red alert being boxed in by Nutmeg and humans on the other side of it. Black can block under the right circumstances, and Nutmeg has notable Black. There's a human wearing purple in front of the car with the red alert. He's probably important here for the eventual skip-to-Purple-and-back, and he is definitely important later for Aziraphale's part.

If you look behind the human girl with the cell phone and a light pink sweater and the man with a cell phone next to her, you can catch glimpse of another human with a Black hat. I don't know if she contributed to this Connection part or not, but she is, I believe, the "Gorilla" in Bullet Catch magic word references due to her movement within this cut itself. She wears mostly Black and was hunched over as she hurried along early on into the cut. Every other found reference contributes, so I would think she does too.

Orange. The human with the orange jacket has a lovely touch between her left thumb joint and the lapel edge of her jacket. The blur thing on the car is probably putting in a pass for her, so we can take that touch in with the first hit to Yellow. I believe she is "Shoelace" when searching for magic word Bullet Catch references. She is relevant to the non-rainbow thing happening with the shoes. Her shoelaces aren't visible here, but they are visible later. If the shoe links to the Rainbow Connection, I haven't figured out how, and it's a lot to go over. So, for now, I've set it aside. But it is happening, and it is relevant to something I'll mention further down.

While Shoelace is by Crowley, a pocket user wearing a yellow shirt and dark gray open vest is in a window pane reflection near Crowley and Yawning Yellow. His reflection is going to appear again in the upcoming window pane for him. The main clue his reflection isn't causing the switch here and now is there are no red alerts, and there is going to be something soon. So, this part is, just guessing as usual, preparing for that first switch to Yellow. Due to the shade of his yellow and visible left arm, I think of him as "Banana" when looking for Bullet Catch references.

The tie strands are never shown as moving with Crowley standing so still, but they do move while off camera between each of the three cuts given from in front of Crowley. That can be found through comparing screenshots of each cut.

Orange. This part is probably linking up the human fully blocking Crowley's left hand with his tie strands, so she can represent their swinging in how her left arm swings. We'll call her Tie Swinger.

Yellow #1. Orange is reflected in the car with red alert lights at the same time. The earlier thumb joint touch is received with the switch. With the suspected 360-degree flip, this part is the 180-degree place in between, and something about the color wheel will finish the trickery rather fast. The human who seems to be most likely responsible for such trickery is the one wearing a purple jacket and holding a yellow bag. He has a little bit of blue visible in the collar of his shirt.

The visual cue for this being the 180 is mainly Yawning Yellow's right hand becoming visible, further supported by the nature of the arm-swinging happening by Tie Swinger.

For over-the-rainbow touches, the same mirror that was over the orange bag is now over the yellow jacket. While the actual rainbow from the first front-facing cut of Crowley is gone, this one does show the car hood ornament in front of Crowley, acting as the bottom of his top apparel-to-car pocket and being over a front edge of the car itself.

Yellow #2. Tie Swinger is pocketing the yellow of a yellow bag, holding the line for it and sending it over through the connection. If White is needed for that hold, it can be found with the visual touch on the white letters to the "Life begins after coffee" sign. Yawning Yellow has a lighter shade of Yellow in her jacket, and the Gray in her pants is compensating for it to still qualify as a proper Yellow. The black in her jacket may be doing something too. She is further assisted through Banana, whose reflection can now be found in the other window pane near her.

A human wearing Black and White, including a white turtleneck, is further solidifying things where they need to be. I am yet to find a relevant pun or word play with what a turtleneck does for pocket trickery, but I assume it does something because Crowley wore a Black turtleneck for the first two touches of The Pocket Trick. Conceptually, turtles are slow, so maybe it slows things down. Something probably worth mentioning is that in Terry Pratchett's Discworld, there is a very famous turtle, the Great A'Tuin, that the four elephants holding up the disc of Discworld stand on.

Anyway, Banana's reflection can be found in the window pane behind Yawning Yellow. The big blurry head on the right of the screen is probably giving Green a pass, so it's not sent too early. Yet another human has a mirrored-head thing happening behind Yawning Yellow that probably does something too.

The human most directly behind Crowley has a brown jacket and an excellent alignment of his arm with Crowley's existing pocket between himself and his car. That human's elbow is like the other side of a diamond from what can be seen of Crowley's left hand. I think of him as "Diamondback". He's also a pocket user himself.

So, if his Brown is necessary for the following wording to borrow, it's there:

Yawning Yellow lends Crowley a hand with a full set of visible digits.

Yellow. Here is the actual link to the Pocket Chain from Crowley to Aziraphale. It's through Nutmeg and the pocket user wearing a white fur coat. There isn't much yellow here, but there is a yellow light that is going to be Aziraphale's overhead light eventually...but not yet. The blue car goes on a stronger red alert after this part. Due to how things go, that alert is probably more for getting the Metatron linked in as well because he looks to be putting his hands in his pockets at that point.

There are also yellow lines touching Nutmeg, but as noted, Black can block under the right circumstances. Are those circumstances here? If they are, the overhead light makes up for it because there is going to be Yellow on display for quite a bit in the incoming cuts.

The "Donkey" sign is questionably yellow as well, but there's no nearby solid gray to assure that to be the case. The Metatron's coat could look dark gray in the lighting, but it's actually a dark brown.

So, given all of the surrounding circumstances, my own guess still looks to the overhead light as the Yellow of relevance for everything that's about to happen.

Please take a look at this post: More evidence.

I have a lot of thoughts I haven't fully processed on what that thing is, but I do believe it is generally relevant to this particular cut. I suspect Aziraphale puts it back in his mouth after Nutmeg passes by him visually and before the actual link to the Pocket Chain.

Yellow for both Aziraphale and the Metatron. They are sharing the connection. Each one is going to keep having a touch on Yellow for a bit. Aziraphale receives focus, but the Yellow is visually touched by the Metatron, not Aziraphale. The Metatron is allowing himself to be visually touching Aziraphale here.

Yellow for both Aziraphale and the Metatron. The Metatron receives focus. Aziraphale visually touches the Yellow, not the Metatron. Aziraphale is not visually touching the Metatron as the Metatron did for him. A human wearing orange passes by behind the Metatron though yet another human passes by more closely to the Metatron. The orange is gone from the cut by the time the cut itself finishes.

Yellow for Aziraphale. He has Green nearby and not ready. He also has some Orange up near his head. With both him and the Metatron having visually touched Yellow, Aziraphale now has yellow lights visible by his head. He's visually touching those this time

The Green is touching that Yellow too. Aziraphale's still stuck on Yellow for awhile though. A small bit of Yellow touches the Metatron during the cut. Meanwhile, someone wearing what seems to be Black is pocketed between the two by the end of the cut. I can't figure out what they might block in this moment. Instead, it might be relevant to how Crowley's touch will be on black between edges in his own final cut for The Door Trick.

Yellow for both Aziraphale and the Metatron. The Metatron receives focus. Aziraphale visually touches Yellow without the Metatron again. He is not visually touching the Metatron again either. The Yellow starts to walk away.

Deflection. I suspect due to the nature of the game and the trick with the words that deflection happens first here, redirection happens in the next cut of the Metatron, and disconnection happens in the cut after that.

The red alert lights blink once, giving a warning about the status of things. The Metatron starts to turn around while they are blinking.

The Metatron has no overhead light, or even the little yellow lights Aziraphale had. He was not seen with green in his front view shots after being linked through the Pocket Chain. He doesn't block Aziraphale's head completely, but he does block Aziraphale's face. Aziraphale's right ear is still visible, which probably helps with Aziraphale's own overhead light later.

The shadows of the green leaves hit the Metatron's face. That's the front. Crowley had help from "Diamondback". Aziraphale was linked in with his back to Crowley. Aziraphale's back is what's going to get the shadows later.

The red alert lights blink again with their warning. The blink is done before the end of the cut with Orange still visibly on the screen. Hopefully, that's the deflection.

A switch to Orange for Aziraphale does not happen. Did it happen for the Metatron? I suspect not because they are still connected. It was technically on screen by the end of the cut, but the Metatron was making mistakes in the process.

Yellow. Aziraphale's still on Yellow himself thanks to the deflection. He's still not ready yet, so again, he probably needs a redirection. Two sets of red alert lights are on. There are yellow lights by Aziraphale's head and a human with blurry yellow clothing. This time, with the Metatron out of the way, the blurred clothing touches Aziraphale behind him. The first set of red alert lights go off with that blurred yellow behind Aziraphale. When the yellow reappears on the other side of Aziraphale, the second set of red alert lights go off. Yellow has been properly received or maintained. Aziraphale does his mixed emotions facial expression. The red alert is still off at the end of the cut.

Redirection, I hope. The Metatron is heavily lacking in rainbow colors. There is maybe a little blue in his tie, which is not enough, or with mechanics as complicated as these, is actually just blue enough to move things where they need to go for the incoming disconnection. The camera work and movement suggest that the redirection in this cut is from the patterned interior of the Metatron's coat. Look at those shadows on Aziraphale's coat that will somehow help keep Green later.

Disconnection. If the blue helps disconnect, it happens here. Another contributing factor could be the visible darker straight lines on the white shirt.

Yellow. Even though this cut does not have blurred yellow clothing as others have done, it still seems to be enough to maintain Yellow thanks to the Metatron. Orange passes and is gone. Another shade that's hard to really call yellow passes the other way. Due to its timing, it and the yellow lights near Aziraphale's head are enough. That might have been helped by the gray in the elevator and its more colorful buttons not being shown yet. Aziraphale's bow-tie being tartan probably helps something somewhere.

Aziraphale turns his head with the red alert light still on by the end of the cut. This time it's for the look to Crowley. I really don't think the Rainbow Connection switches to Green until after we see Crowley.

Yellow. Despite the nearby reddish clothing and orange-ish clothing, no switch happens here though Green is being gathered or kept for the incoming switch through the nearby humans. I assume Aziraphale is maintaining Yellow thanks to the Overhead Light.

The human with the white shirt and brown backpack is probably helping or the extra blurs from humans in the foreground are helping so that said brown-backpack human can help later. He's blocked in the shot I chose, but he is there.

I consider this moment, Ground Zero for The Door Catch. It has not truly started until we see Aziraphale's shoes on the ground. That's part of the shoes thing I mentioned earlier. A lot of effort is being put into the shoes not being shown to help communicate this Ground Zero moment.

The challenge from the game is to guess what he's thinking or saying, and many audience players will opt for "Trust me" because of The Bullet Catch. That's an understandable choice because this Magic Trick is so deeply inspired by The Bullet Catch. The sequences at the end are designed to give the audience that impression. You'll find it is one of the most commonly played puzzles people remark on in the entire thing.

But it's a Trick. So, the answer is not "Trust me". Crowley is already trusting Aziraphale by setting the stage for him. The answer is actually, "Here goes nothing."

Sure, that's still a guess, but it is one of my more certain guesses the more I play the game.

One of the rules I've noted in the Threshold Tricks is, "Never do the same trick twice."

So, "Trust me," was already done. Been there. Done that. It's a no-go move. Yes, I'm playing with the words on purpose here.

Here are some other reasons I grow more and more sure:

The concept of zero or null is showing up in my readings of Terry Pratchett's work. Aziraphale says "nothing" at least three times during season 2. He says "nothing of the sort" when Maggie calls him an angel in episode 1. He says "nothing for me" when at the pub in episode 2. He says, "Nothing lasts forever," to Crowley earlier this episode. I suspect that particular line, "Nothing lasts forever," is significantly linked to this answer to the puzzle.

In one of the "Episode 0" Behind-The-Scenes specials for Good Omens 2, Neil Gaiman says something to the effect of he is trying his hardest to tell people "absolutely nothing" when they ask what's going to happen.

Moving past the hidden "Here goes nothing" line, Aziraphale's right ear is not visible. It was shown earlier with the deflection and the cut between the deflection and redirection. On the redirection, it was not clear. Aziraphale was blurred from the back. However, the Metatron had two because his right ear was shown and reflected in the window pane. Then for the disconnection, the Metatron's right ear disappeared from view. Meanwhile, Aziraphale's right ear was shown in the cut after the disconnection.

That last part was the cut before this Ground Zero moment.

In addition to all the ear things happening above, the two humans who pass over him both have their right ears available.

All of those things are supposed to help allow—or even require—Aziraphale to not show his right ear with the Overhead Light on screen.

Green. Crowley's Green is ready. Not long after this part, Crowley has an illusionary touch on Black to the bag being carried behind him. That touch will be between edges, which is unusual. That moment is Aziraphale's cue to begin.

...

The Door Catch

Green. Aziraphale's Green is ready. The overhead light is gone—or moved. There is some yellow light near his head, but it's not the same and through a different window. This cut is the official beginning of…The Door Catch.

Blue and Purple together. There was a small pocket of light that this pair of humans reached together. The one with the darker blue pants is who covered it fully with one of his legs. That light suggests that the blue and purple switch at the same time with these guys looking like they have three legs for two people.

The Blue connects to one of Aziraphale's shoes. The Purple connects over by Aziraphale's right hand and various parts of Aziraphale's clothing, including notably the edge where the coat meets the pants.

In the previous iterations, there was a double purple in The Pocket Trick's Double and then a possible double red in The Pocket Trick's Single. Since a skip-to-purple-and-back already happened with The Door Trick, connected to The Door Catch, my guess then is that a double purple to start going back up is not required.

I don't think the Rainbow Connection is at Red or Yellow despite those colors being on-screen in this cut.

This part is for Aziraphale to take a deep breath and make sure his bow-tie touches his skin.

Remember that thing from earlier that I said I thought Aziraphale put in his mouth?

Here is my preliminary guess:

That thing is a shrunken version of one of Crowley's own "thumb joints" of his Tied Hands, so that Aziraphale can have one here.

I don't know a lot about the logistics, but here are clues for why I think that. When I first saw that post, a clasp "thumb joint" was my first guess, but then I contemplated those things are too big.

However, in reviewing the minisodes for other reasons (my Sideburns Scheme posts), I noticed that Crowley uses his tongue when readying himself to make himself bigger in The Resurrectionists. He also used his tongue to make himself smaller in season 1. So, if he can shrink his general self, he could theoretically shrink this special part of himself.

I'm still mentally working through some other questions and ideas so am not sure. That's still where I am for now.

Plus, this possible "thumb joint" lines up with the knot in Aziraphale's bow-tie. When the bow-tie touches the skin, that is when it is most shiny.

Since Aziraphale's not going to have his actual hands doing certain things on screen, he's going to have to rely on his own version of his own Tied Hands. This thing being where it is suggests Aziraphale's Tied Hands are going to need at least one thumb joint. He might even need only one thumb joint because the other hand is "tied behind his back" for word play silliness. Only his left hand was visible by the end of the preceding cut, for example.

For Crowley's touches, Crowley himself needs a clothing contact on his right-partly-pocketed hand for his own touches.

So, this is something like that. A crucial mistake the Metatron is going to make is not having a thumb joint visible in a particular cut.

If the Yellow serves a purpose, as well as the colors on Aziraphale's own clothes, it's to help reach for the Green from earlier.

The red alert is off before Aziraphale is shown to enter the elevator.

Green. Somehow, many things leading to this moment are letting Aziraphale keep his connection at Green, thanks to the shadows on his coat. The words that come to mind are "stretch" or "share". The "stretch" seems more likely because I think of it as Aziraphale reaching back for the Green. See, his back on screen is even telling me so. I mentioned other "back" things earlier.

Pocket Frame. This video frame contains Aziraphale's Pocket Frame. It also contains the Metatron's Pocket Frame.

However, thanks to the disconnection, the Pocket Frames themselves are different.

I believe Aziraphale's is Elevator Edges. Thanks to the Metatron's pocket use and finger being exactly where it is, he is such an edge himself.

Meanwhile, the Metatron's Pocket Frame is Doorknobs.

The Metatron is properly framed between doorknobs of the pub doors, but...the Heaven elevator buttons are the equivalent of doorknobs for its threshold. The framing from the scene itself is strongly suggesting that to be the case due to how the buttons are shown with the Hell button further to the camera's left and visually behind one of the doorknobs where they all generally are on the camera's right.

The Metatron's finger is on the Heaven button. He is touching his Pocket Frame with the tip of his index finger. I suspect that is a mistake on his part due to the implied message from the game that's what he's doing in general. While we're at it, he never revealed a thumb shown from his right hand on the clothing when using his right coat pocket.

In the window pane, there is a reflection of Aziraphale's head over the Metatron's.

I am missing some valuable words I wish I could tell you about this significance. I sense from the nature of the game and what is happening with this special Magic Trick, that reflection is supposed to be to Aziraphale's advantage and the Metatron's disadvantage.

During the cut, the reflection switched from the Metatron's head being on the window pane closest to him to being the one closest to Aziraphale. His reflection is caught in a specific place with the back of Aziraphale's head in a move called The Door Catch.

The manuals and tutorials this game provide are hard to read, especially in the later stages. At this point, I'm mainly looking to past patterns and precise framing to guess at these types of things. My imagination and my word play skills can only get me so far, and right now, that's as far as they get me.

As for why I'm talking so much about the framing here, it's because there is a little more to this Rainbow Connection, I am led to believe.

Non-rainbow shades and colors do things. I don't get them as well as I would like and will go over that in further detail soon. For now, here is some of the older wording of this post before I add the newer stuff.

Black-and-white together seem to do something like a trap. Meanwhile, gray seems to allow some leniency on a lighter or darker shade counting for a proper color. Brown does something like borrow. Even though brown is in this screenshot, something about it is supposed to be wrong. That something is probably that the thumb joint of the hand seen—and the only hand seen in the cut, becomes extremely close to being seen and doesn't quite get there.

The elevator has plenty of Gray, but the Heaven button is a full circle Black filled with White and a Gold "H" button. That "H" would qualify as Yellow thanks to the Gray if it weren't for the black or black-and-white blocking it out.

So, when that button is pressed, the gold is disqualified as a yellow and trapped. Hence, the Rainbow Connection is further maintained at Green.

...

Now here's the newer stuff that is some review of the above in a lot more detail:

Well, it's been weeks and this bit is the best I've got, so here we go.

In the Heaven elevator with the Metatron, I do believe the following is supposed to apply:

Black blocks.

Brown borrows.

Gray shades.

White keeps.

I like "white keeps" in the rhythm better than "white holds," but that is the same general idea and why I've said I think Muriel's white helps hold things for assisting Crowley in other Threshold Tricks.

There are two huge problems I encounter with this idea, but I can't let it go. It still sticks with me.

The first one is that I cannot figure out what Black is blocking in Triple Part 3 and the Single of The Pocket Trick. Inside the elevator, the Black is blocking out the elevator's Gray. I am as sure as I can be that's the intent.

The White is holding the Gold to keep it as Gold.

Together, that allows the Black and White to effectively trap the Gold, so that it cannot be switched to Yellow despite so much Gray outside the Black circle.

There actually is a little Gray in the White but it's not enough or inaccessible because the Metatron makes the mistake of using a zoomed touch and not showing either of the two types of thumb joints he has on the hand doing the touch. So, the dark Brown he wears can't use the Gray to qualify the Gold as Yellow.

However, if I go and look at The Pocket Trick for what Black might do, I struggle to figure out what it's blocking. In Triple Part 2, I think it's helping trap the Green for eventual use in The Door Trick. It's part of how I got the idea that Black and White together can act as a trap. What needs to be blocked to make the trap? By now, I think it helps block in the rainbow.

Crowley and Aziraphale stall Blue switching to Purple for the Double, and the lighting is not setting Crowley's clothes to Black as obviously as it is in Triple Part 2. Maybe there is White helping that time but not Black.

The problems go on from there in similar ways. In Triple Part 3, that's where I got the idea because I was like "Okay, I guess the human wearing suspenders mean the Black and White suspend something". Well, they do in that part at least. Then the word is "suspend" instead of "block" though it's based on the idea of the trapping.

In The Door Trick, Crowley's illusionary touch is on a Black bag between edges and it essentially acting as a cue for Aziraphale to Begin. So, then, it doesn't seem to actually block anything. There are three other words other words that start with "b" around though! Between. Bag. Begin.

So, the Black's meaning itself switches, depending on what one's imagination requires it to do or I'm just incapable of finding what is being blocked.

That imagination part is the second huge problem. So long as I can see pockets in the right places and a goal in mind for what Crowley might want to accomplish, it doesn't seem to really matter. I mean, it does because I'm supposed to find the logic and the patterns. I wouldn't know these shades do what they do if they didn't show up in certain places at certain times.

But in both Triple Part 1 and the Double, I can say that the color didn't switch until a given time because of how Crowley and whatever assistance he got managed the timing, framing, and pocketing. If non-rainbow shades happen to be there, that's fine. I still don't know what Black is blocking or White is holding a lot of the time, if anything. I don't really think Brown is necessary to borrow either. Is there someone on-screen using pockets while Crowley himself has something he wants from his play in the game? Then it's done!

So, this bit:

Black blocks.

Brown borrows.

Gray shades.

White keeps.

This bit is more like a default with a limited imagination or limited available pocket assistance.

It's not exactly that way though because Aziraphale gets someone with White and Brown. What does that do? What does he need to borrow that needs a hold? The Green from the nearby humans in the preceding cut until the shadows on his coat can do the Trick?

I guess!

The thumb joints also matter. I can imagine what the Metatron would want—if he even knew this part of the game was being played—but since he's making mistakes, my imagination isn't going to fix it for him. He's not getting it done because I've progressed enough to figure out that part.

So, if my play further improves, I'll update accordingly.

I sincerely believe the 1941 minisode does actually give clues on these shades as well.

For Black, the miracle blocker blocks the turnip from turning into an inkwell. Ink is black. Black blocks. In this case, black is blocked, but I still think that's the clue. There are other colors involved, including a white handkerchief, but, again, I still think that's the clue for the Black.

For Brown, the clue is gross—and I am not a fan of gross things, so you're really going to have to use your own imagination because I am not going to spell it out completely. The old man the zombies kill is singing about farting. They kill him and one of them ends up borrowing that guy's voice to sing some more. You figure it out from there. Okay, fine, I will give you one more hint: it is a crappy joke. Nonetheless, Brown borrows.

For Gray, the clue is much more pleasant and is found near the end of the minisode at a lovely candlelit table while Crowley and Aziraphale are drinking wine. The "shades of gray" are mentioned in conversation, including darker shades and lighter shades. Gray shades.

I'm not as sure on the eventually named clue here for White. Aziraphale waves a white handkerchief around with "prestidigitation" in his dialogue when offering to help Crowley to Mrs. H. With the miracles being blocked later in the minisode, the problem keeps happening while he uses the white handkerchief over the turnip. White keeps.

And that concludes this updated part about these shades.

...

There is possibly some word play or joke in here to be made about leprechauns and their pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I generally leave off the leprechauns part and just say it like this from the main post: "The Rainbow Connection ends at Green thanks to a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow."

Nonetheless, the button being pressed is theoretically the end of the The Door Catch despite the two extra cuts of the Metatron and Aziraphale after that moment.

If you missed my simplified post of notes, my theory is that the green leaves by both Crowley and Aziraphale represent Earth and their shared love for Earth.

The Green is shown to be a maintained connection because of the plants being on screen with Crowley while playing the nightingale song during The Window Trick, then again during the credits.

The emotions at the end are, I believe, still supposed to be real. There is supposed to be heartache. The message from the hidden games is that even with this heartache, things are not as bleak as they seem. There is a bigger plan happening in the background. These two have been doing things separately together during Good Omens 2, and they will keep doing that after. They have made and maintained a connection.

[sonkitty]

The Pocket Trick Rainbow Connection Latest Notes

(For reference, start here: The Pocket Trick - Basics | The Pocket Trick Visual Representation | GIFs)

JUST in case someone out there is secretly trying to solve this Pocket Trick thing too...and wants some of my latest notes...or maybe others just like seeing my thought process anyway...

I am not ready for a full-blown image-based post, but I want to get this out of my system.

The rainbow connection, and yeah I am reasonably sure there is one at this point, goes like this...again, according to my latest notes. I get things wrong sometimes, but this is where I am today.

The rainbow connection goes down from red to purple, then it goes up from purple to red on a super basic level.

More thoroughly, without pictures...These things are not exactly sequential, but each color is present in some form as I am describing that they have a switch.

Triple Part 1-Red...orange is ready by the end.

Intermission with Nina-Orange...yellow is ready by the end or at the beginning of Triple Part 2.

Triple Part 2-Yellow...a switch to green...a switch to have blue ready.

Double-Blue...a switch to a double purple...a switch to have blue ready.

Triple Part 3-Blue...a switch to green...a switch to yellow...a switch to orange...a switch to have red ready.

Single-Red...a switch to have orange ready.

The Door Trick:

Starts on orange...switch to yellow...connect to get Aziraphale on yellow...Aziraphale is stuck at yellow for awhile before he can be ready...green is near him, but it is not ready....

He gets a hold on his yellow after the miracle sound probably thanks to an overhead light...he looks over to Crowley...then Crowley's green is ready...then Aziraphale's green is ready...switch to blue...switch to purple...

Likely thanks to the shadows on Aziraphale's coat, he extends or keeps his green despite purple being reached. It could be "extra" blue reached back since the connection could go up, but the shadows, to me, make more sense on a gut level.

The rainbow connection ends at green. Why? My theory is the leaves by each represent Earth and their shared love for Earth. Plus, that helps the connection be visible even during the credits because the green is connected through Crowley's plants.

Red lights are often used to indicate the switch is "ready" ("red is ready"), but you can't count on it every time. It's usually more of a clue to keep an eye out for when a switch might happen. When red lights aren't available, look for red, as in the color red, look for movement and framing, look for other lighting clues.

There is some extra blinking red in The Door Trick that I am not sure what it means. I have some ideas, but it's too distracting from the stuff above and too new to me.

[sonkitty]

Crowley S2 Hair Post #19 Redone

(For reference: The Sideburns Scheme)

Crowley, Good Omens 2, Episode 2, The Clue, the pub

...

Introduction

This scene!!! Pay attention (if you like this kind of stuff). This one is important. This sideburns thing is a game, and this scene introduces us to one of the most difficult rules to grasp of that game (beyond "What is exactly is your point with all this, Crowley?").

...

Sideburns Check

The sideburns are longer than expected to be found in a human space. The pub is crowded with humans. If we've figured out the nature of the game by now, it has us on guard because the basic premise has been proximity to humans makes them shorter with time required from the car and distance required from the bookshop. No Gabriel is around to make them longer. We don't know how long Crowley drove before arriving, only assume that he did. We later learn he parked across the street from the pub instead of the coffee shop in this episode.

This length, as best I can tell, most closely resembles his sideburn length from being in Hell (which would then include before and after summoning but difficult to compare with much darker hair at night in the car). The left one is not as full in hair. The lighting of the scene favors Crowley's left side when he sits down at the table.

That sideburn length is a demon-space length, not a human-space length.

So, what happened?

This space's threshold is bigger than Crowley. There's more to it than being bigger, but we have to start there because of things that will happen later.

The pub's threshold starts with a door frame when entered. It has two wooden doors with windows. It also has a panel along the right door frame's right side. The panel does not end with a door. It ends with a post. Across from that post is yet another post on the wall.

The length between the door and this panel is the threshold. That's enough space to be bigger than Crowley. This bigger threshold has no roof.

Because the threshold has two doors and two different types of ends, it also has two lanes, one for each door. The right door has a lane from it to the end of the panel with a post. The left door has a lane from it to the post on the wall.

While we do not see Crowley's sideburn length before he entered, the camera zoom onto the pub sign actually does show us, below the sign, that only the right door is open inward to the space itself. That will be re-confirmed on exit.

Eventually, I figured out, and had to make the assumption from the clues, Crowley switched lanes on entry in this threshold that is bigger than him. Later on, with the music shop the story will show short sideburns before entering another bigger threshold.

I figure that's enough of a clue that the sideburns would have been short before entry here. Given the clues from this episode itself, Crowley drove for some time, and he had the plants with him in the car.

When Crowley and Aziraphale are shown walking in, Aziraphale is closer to the panel and the post there. Meanwhile, Crowley is to Aziraphale's left and walking along a rug. That's the indication Crowley's in the left lane while Aziraphale is in the right lane.

That's the trick for this bigger threshold: "switched lanes".

When Crowley exits, he sticks to the lane by the panel and door that will make them short. If it makes any difference—and it probably does given how particular the game is—the door that is open, is open inward toward the space of the threshold instead of outward toward the street.

The blocking and framing of both Crowley and Aziraphale on exit may further contribute. Aziraphale's head is shown as being to Crowley's right, then blocks Crowley's face, then is shown to Crowley's left as Aziraphale himself is shown near and eventually in front of the doorknob. He then moves to Crowley's right again after Aziraphale himself has cleared the way out of the door frame.

A possible factor I don't understand is that Crowley parked his car near the pub instead of the coffee shop that particular episode.

I will go over this part of The Bigger Thresholds Trick a little more in the Earthly Objects section.

...

Brighter Red Streak Check

Crowley's hair is notably more saturated from the last scene in the car, so the streak can be hard to find just because of that. The streak starts a little further to his left of where we often see it starting above the center of his left eye. Now it starts more at his left end of his left eye. Instead of going upward from that center, it ventures to Crowley's right, then still managing to actually be above the center of his left eye.

...

Hairstyle Changes

Even through the sideburns, the left one has less hair than before, matching more like Crowley's being summoned to Hell.

The biggest difference at first glance is the saturation. The story has hinted that the Bentley, when isolated, may generally make the hair darker as it is, even if Crowley hasn't zapped red lightning out of himself.

Otherwise, the actual shape is quite similar from the last present day scene. Styles change even during scenes. One I am able to find and check swoops in on both sides, just like in the car, with possibly being a little more centered in how the sides curve out from the top. From the front, there is a slight tilt to the right. The curving hair also looks more smooth.

...

Earthly Objects

(For reference: Earthly Objects)

We have arrived at our third Threshold Trick!

Here are some GIFs to start us off:

This one is The Bigger Thresholds Trick. In addition to being the third to start overall, it's the second Complex Threshold Trick to start. It will be the first Threshold Trick to conclude in episode 6, making it the second to conclude overall.

This Threshold Trick is the second one I found though it is the one anyone studying the sideburns is likely to start to sense first. That's primarily because there are so many humans yet the sideburns are long.

The first one I really found was The Door Trick, and I do think the game is designed that way on purpose. That way, an audience player circles back after finding The Pocket Trick to play the intense Rainbow Connection portion—among other things—to solve The Door Trick further with its connection to The Door Catch.

All the same, with The Door Trick in mind, that meant I should take a good, long hard look at the thresholds and overall spaces throughout the story.

I kept looking at this pub's space. There had to be something special about the place. Was it with where Mr. Brown was when? Was it with how a car outside the pub moved as Crowley moved?

It was the threshold!

The threshold is bigger than Crowley. That explained this one but not the music shop since I hadn't figured out that one's threshold was bigger too. An audience player is unlikely to realize the Heaven elevator is one of the three until figuring out the music shop's threshold is also bigger than Crowley but has a different solution for the trick ("never let go of the door").

This pub visit is the Double of The Bigger Thresholds Trick. The visual marker for the Double is the two posts to mark the end of each lane for the bigger threshold.

How do pockets work with this one? Besides a certain pocket touch that will happen during the scene itself, probably something to do with the shadows. My play isn't good enough to determine more than that at this time. Crowley's leg shadows are making a pocket on the rug itself and a human's back of their jacket at some point. The pocket disappears over the course of the entry. Shadows and backs are really important later for The Door Trick and The Door Catch.

On exit, Aziraphale's head switch, switches the pockets Crowley is in. First, Crowley is pocketed between Aziraphale and a human wearing a hat. After the switch, Crowley is pocketed between the entry's left door and Aziraphale. Then, in turn, Aziraphale ends up pocketed between Crowley's actual head and the shadow of his own head that ends up on the entry's right door frame.

What does it all mean besides general trickery? You got me. Still, they're doing stuff. I've said I think Crowley is the top tier—the best—player of the game. I think Aziraphale is probably second best. As good as Crowley is, he can't do these more advanced moves for The Bigger Thresholds Trick without an assistant at the level of Aziraphale and later Muriel.

Crowley trusting Muriel is one of the special traits about this Threshold Trick. It starts with recognizing that Aziraphale is acting as the assistant the first two times, then really shines through once a player understands how important pockets are and what Muriel is doing for the third bigger threshold.

Anyway, let's set the threshold trickery aside and take a look at what actually happens during the visit to the pub. Then we still have to pay attention to the pockets a little more.

I'm not going to name each set as a set since I'm not sure. But there are multiple sets in this scene.

The walk on the rug is its own earthly object touch.

Crowley saying, "Ah, we're going to the pub," is like a "Hello".

Aziraphale is doing a self-touch with his hands.

Crowley asks a question, "What's wrong with the coffee shop?"

When Aziraphale touches Crowley's chest, I think that counts as an acceptable touch since Crowley makes no visible effort to deny it. Supernatural beings are allowed reciprocal touches between each other. As in, when Gabriel hugged Aziraphale in episode 1, Aziraphale didn't hug him back but also had an uneasy look on his face. That ensured no point for that touch. Crowley doesn't touch Aziraphale back here, but that's not what's expected from the nature of the touch. At the very least, he doesn't pull away. The scene establishes it is Aziraphale who removes the hand at some point with a human obscuring the removal of the touch when that happens.

Aziraphale has a miracle touch on the two humans he gets to leave. His vendetta against the backs of chairs is active here, so the story cuts away when he actually sits down. This vendetta is possibly related to how utterly important Aziraphale's back is during The Door Catch and using the shadows of the green leaves on his coat to maintain the Rainbow Connection at Green.

Crowley's arm on the counter while ordering the drinks is another touch for him. The human he speaks to is holding a rag or towel. Crowley uses the name, "Lady Bracknell" He makes a brief pocket with his left arm, and it's the most clear shot of his watch during the visit.

Mr. Brown is holding both a newspaper and a cup when he arrives. He says, "Mr. Fell!" so that's a name.

Aziraphale looks him over, sees the earthly object touches, and replies with, "Oh...Hello".

Mr. Brown introduces himself by name and is shown seating himself. We'll cover him more later in the story commentary.

There is a question from Aziraphale with, "I did?"

When Crowley arrives at the table, he sets Aziraphale's glass down on the table. He already has his own glass of whiskey. He uses a pocket touch and greets Mr. Brown with a "Hello". The pocket touch is the four fingers of his right hand going into the pocket while keeping the thumb outside the pocket. The result of this touch is the most familiar form of the pocket touches in The Pocket Trick. Only the Double doesn't use it. The Door Trick uses the result of this form too. Those touches never show the fingers going in.

Now something important here that happens—and I've never named it in my pocket posts because I've never figured it out—is that Crowley smiles during this pocket touch.

For every touch in The Pocket Trick, he is not smiling when the pocket touch is on screen. The same goes for The Door Trick, where he is standing extremely still. One of the reasons I think this smiling and lacking smiling is important is the ending credits. It stands out that Aziraphale visibly smiles before he and Crowley are blurred away from being seen in the credits.

It also stands out that Crowley doesn't smile. On its own, that gives me a sense of unease and discomfort.

With the game, I have to consider he might not be smiling because he is still following some advanced pocket trickery rules. Even though he doesn't smile, the lighting lights him up enough that if you take your eyes off Aziraphale long enough and look at Crowley instead, you can see that he has a self-made pocket of hair containing part of the edge of the roof briefly. There actually is a second even smaller self-made pocket of hair. Look for it about when "Health" is near Crowley's shoulder.

Crowley closes his eyes, re-opens his eyes, and then narrows his eyes with a look toward Aziraphale's side of the screen. He does these things before he is blurred and faded from view.

Are these good things or bad things? Well, if the credits scrolling over Crowley are any indication, they are good things because "Good Omens" appears over Crowley's shot twice.

Still, Season 3 isn't going to start off saying everything is fine, never mind, no problems, or whatever. The emotions during the argument were tense and presumably real.

Another reason I consider the smiling important is that my absolute favorite smile of Crowley's in the entirety of Good Omens 2 is when he is standing with his back to the edge of the elevator doors in Heaven. Those are different pocket circumstances compared to what's in The Pocket Trick and The Door Trick. He has the thumbs and thumb joints of the Tied Hands pocketed in his vest, his actual hands not pocketed, and his back to the edges of where two doors—pocket doors—meet. Pocket doors are sliding doors, and elevator doors slide. So, for some reason, that set of circumstances allows him a smile.

Alright, so back to the pub scene.

Mr. Brown uses Aziraphale's "Mr. Fell" name when talking to Crowley.

When Aziraphale drinks, he's shown from the back, shown from the front, and shown from the back. His fingers obscure much of the drink itself and are enough so that a touch would be more credited toward the cup itself. If he gets any credit for the drink, it's from the three different shots of him drinking, I would guess. He's shown finishing off the drink before leaving the table

Various names and questions continue during the conversation. Both do self-touches at times, and sometimes Crowley's touch on his glass of whiskey is seen.

Crowley is shown drinking the whiskey just before getting up to leave. He ensures the index fingertip and middle fingertip are shown on the glass but not the tips for the other digits. The thumb is obscured by the glass itself. Like the coffee in episode 1, that's probably Crowley's way of preferring credit for the drink than for the touch on the glass.

For paying attention to the pockets, there is of course the pocket touch Crowley did when talking to Mr. Brown. He actually moves the thumb tip on the pocket a bit after Mr. Brown talks to him and before sitting down.

It doesn't look like a big deal on its own, but it's happening in the first touch of The Bigger Thresholds Trick and in the episode where The Pocket Trick officially starts. So, it's probably some silly prerequisite to The Pocket Trick itself while ensuring a pocket touch of some of a hand is going into a pocket during this particular touch in The Bigger Thresholds Trick. The CMC right thumb joint touches the jacket's edge in the process. The metacarpophalangeal joint is touching the belt loop. Plus, there's that smile. The music shop will get The Pocket Trick's Double where thumbs go into pants pockets instead of fingers. Heaven will get the Tied Hands with their thumb joints and thumbs pocketed into the vest.

When Aziraphale sits down, there is a human to his right with their hand in a pocket. That pocket touch is still active when Crowley arrives and makes his pocket touch. The scene cuts to Mr. Brown, then back to Crowley. The nearby human no longer has their pocket touch active. That's also when Crowley's thumb tip does its little movement on the pants.

When Crowley brings up the idea of a sudden rainstorm, he makes a pocket between his right index finger and thumb. As he talks about realizing "they were made for each other," his elbow can be seen touching his jacket. From there, I can then notice a pocket exists between the jacket sleeve, jacket torso, and arm chair for what's not touching the jacket.

The Tied Hands are quite shiny and pretty in the scene overall. A tassel is touching the Belt Head before Crowley says, "We've got a real problem..." Once Crowley starts talking about the 1810 Clerkenwell Diamond robbery, the tie strands can be seen touching each other on the vest while they have a pocket formed between them on the shirt. They'll show up as touching each other in more cuts after that point.

Once Crowley is seated, the lighting favors his left. Sometimes to his right is a smaller light that can be found, and sometimes to his left a set of more lights from a chandelier can be found as a potential overhead light, or set of overhead lights. Aziraphale actually also gets a possible overhead light, or set overhead lights from a chandelier, to, to his right. These things don't strike as big of a deal is as the one I commented on for the miracle to hide Gabriel, but so long as I'm looking and found them, I'm passing it along.

Various light reflections appear in Crowley's sunglasses, sometimes with a greenish tent. Even the window frames here get a moment of reflection, before Crowley turns his head and says, "Why?" I'll repeat that I think these reflections are clues about The Window Trick as the last Threshold Trick of the season.

...

For my tangential reading in my desperate attempt to improve my play, I've actually been re-reading the Good Omens book since it was published in 1989, which is the same year Guards! Guards! was published.

The word "imagination" is used plenty of times, and using one's imagination is certainly a requirement of Earthly Objects, especially once you find The Pocket Trick.

I picked up The Sandman Volume 3 from the library so will start on it soon.

...

Story Commentary

The pub is one of two human-specific locations that make it quite difficult to develop theories like the one about the connection and the other about the existence of a supernatural zone. See the main Sideburns Scheme post if you don't know what I mean by either of those things.

The music shop is the other human-specific location.

Before figuring out the thresholds, the main common thread found between them that is not the longer sideburns or the pocket touches, is that both locations have an encounter with a human who remembers a meeting from some years ago and say as much to Aziraphale. Here, the wording is "several"; Mr. Arnold will specify "ten". The encounter also brings up lights. This one refers to "winter street lights". Mr. Arnold in the music shop will mention "Christmas lights".

The special encounter here is Mr. Brown.

He has memories that do not match Aziraphale's and leads into Mr. Brown setting Aziraphale up to host the upcoming Thursday night meeting (which will become the ball).

The general issues are as follows:

1. Mr. Brown expects Aziraphale to know him. Aziraphale does not recognize him. Mr. Brown gives his name.

2. Mr. Brown claims to have met Aziraphale at a shopkeepers and street traders meeting several years ago. Aziraphale politely says, "Of course," but looks like he is just trying to be polite.

3. Mr. Brown claims that Aziraphale said he would be delighted to host a meeting. By then, Aziraphale is truly caught off guard. "I did?"

4. Aziraphale is hesitant and does not say he's looking forward to hosting this meeting. He is preparing to say that he can't and is busy or something along those lines. When Crowley arrives with drinks, Mr. Brown disregards Aziraphale's manner entirely and tells Crowley that Aziraphale was saying how much he's looking forward to hosting the meeting. This remark could certainly be a presumptuous lie on Mr. Brown's part, to just get what he wants, but it is suspicious with everything else above.

My initial sense is that Mr. Brown has fake memories from the Metatron, but the encounter with Mr. Arnold in the music shop later seems far more deliberate on the part of Crowley and Aziraphale.

In this one, in the pub, Crowley is busy getting drinks and away for much of when Mr. Brown recounts his memory. However, Crowley is still being read as in the threshold space as a demon no matter where he is in the pub, so how much does this distance matter?

Anyway, longer sideburns and memory stuff happened in the same scene. This factor is noted but still not really understood by me.

...

One of the odd little clues from the story about a possible book with humans who have a fake dimension to them is how some of the names are, like so: Mr. Arnold, Mr. Brown, Mrs. Cheng.

These names are more clear if watching the show with the official subtitles.

My point is that the group goes A, B, C. It doesn't apply to all humans of course, but I noticed.

...

The pub and music shop have strong contrasts between each other, when it comes to the nature of the space. The pub is a large space compared to the smaller music shop. There are a lot more humans here in the pub and just the one human, Mr. Arnold, in the music shop.

...

Still, no one is shown paying with money for anything in the present day. If it were to happen anywhere, you'd think it would be here.

...

Aziraphale uses Gabriel's name in conversation here despite his caution of using the "Jim" name in the bookshop space. He'll say Gabriel's name again later this episode out on the street near the car.

...

Regarding the drinking of alcohol, The Magic Trick You Didn't See theory has a part that I think is worth considering, so please do look it over if you're interested. It's about suspecting the Metatron disapproves of alcohol, and that's one of the clues he's messing with Aziraphale's memories. You can find it under the header, The Devil's Drink.

...

I enjoy the conversation overall in the pub. I know they aren't supposed to be messing with humans in the way they end up doing, but I still find it really sweet how Crowley reacts to the idea of helping two people fall in love. He is quite likely referring to his own experience.

I also love his reaction to Jane Austen, both as he remembers her and the news to him that she wrote novels.

Basically, I love Crowley here. I love him so much.

...

That's it for this post. Sometimes I edit my posts, FYI.

...

Main post:

The Sideburns Scheme

...

Past version of this post:

Post #18 (the pub)

The numbering no longer matches because I went ahead and covered the first minisode scene with Crowley this time around. I'm almost caught up to where I left off before I put this project mostly on hold to study Earthly Objects. Only one more to go!