#hinted!1827

[crystalice067]

There are many reasons the fandom has explained away why, of all his Guardians, TYL!Tsuna only told TYL!Kyouya.

Whether it's because he has the Foundation, rarely interacts with the Main Familia, or just that he's a Cloud - there are a lot of reasons.

There's also the ones about how TYL!Kyouya would be the only one to keep a clear head when TYL!Tsuna has just died, how he's the only one both cold enough to be steady enough to train Tsuna, but cares enough to actually do it.

There's also the shipping ones, how TYL! Kyouya is the only person TYL!Tsuna both truly knows and cares for, how he knows his lover will train his younger self.

I think this can all be true, but there's also something else. Of all his Guardians, Kyouya is perhaps the only one that doesn't expect Tsuna to do things he doesn't want to do that doesn't benefit him. Nor forces him in a role he does not want.

Gyokudera, from his first interaction with Tsuna, revolves around the fact that Tsuna will be Vongola Decimo. It's likely, even on their deathbeds, he will call Tsuna Jyuudaime, and even after that. Tsuna will never actually be able to be himself around him, especially once he's truly Vongola Decimo.

Takeshi will always seen Tsuna as the boy who saved him from suicide, who gave him a purpose. Tsuna gave Takeshi his Will to live - and this colours all their future interactions.

Lampo is the kid he took in, who looks up to him, who he always has to be the role model to.

Ryouhei is always so bright and genuine, dragged into the Mafia only because he's the strongest Sun Namimori has.

Chrome has always called Tsuna Boss. While she may be one of the few he actually would've truly Harmonized properly without outside influence, their relationship has long been tainted by outside perspective and opinions long before they met.

Mukuro is another he would've naturally Harmonized with, without tampering. Still, Mukuro doesn't try to bond with Tsuna. Can't, when he's been in Vindicare for so long in the TYL.

Kyouya is the only one who both never forced him into the Mafia nor anchored him as his Will to live. Tsuna is simply the Sky his Clouds drift through. It's just as simple and as complicated as that. Kyouya just wants Tsuna strong enough to both protect himself and to be a better sparring partner. Kyouya doesn't care if Tsuna is a Boss or a Lackey. In the end, Tsuna will most likely always be Little Animal in Kyouya's eyes.

[nofomogirl]

We need to talk about body snatching

I'm not a massive fan of the 1827 minisode - if you're curious why it bothers me, I've explained it in my post about two GO canons - but there's no denying it does an amazing job at exploring the complexity of morality and moral choices. It starts with a very black-and-white two-dimensional image and gradually adds shading and perspective, making it harder and harder to judge as we go along.

I think it's worth digging into (pun not intended but I'll take it).

Layer 1: body snatching bad

We learn someone did something

It's those first few seconds where we see a person robbing a grave, and since we know that robbing graves is a crime and generally not a good thing to do, we can quickly form a tentative conclusion that this is wrong.

Okay, in this exact instance, we immediately get enough context clues to see that this kind of judgment would be oversimplistic and superficial. Only Aziraphale, who for some reason acts as if it was his first day on Earth after a thorough memory wipe, is ready to condemn Elspeth based on just that.

Nevertheless, this is the first layer - the deed itself with no context.

Layer 2: body snatching acceptable

We learn about the person who did the thing

That's the whole journey with the first dug-up body where we get to know Elspeth and become privy to her circumstances - she's desperately poor, she has another person depending on her, she robs graves to survive. Aziraphale's suggestions that she might earn her living by selling books, weaving or farming just serve to prove how inaccessible more honest and dignified professions are to her. In turn, her comment about how she's not hurting anybody who isn't already dead hints that from the realistically available options, Elspeth could have chosen something much worse.

Technically this layer is a significant step up from layer 1 but it still isn't really challenging. Things are spelt out really loud for us, and most importantly everything we learn about Elspeth is just attenuating circumstances. To top it off both she and Wee Morag are immediately endearing. The takeaway is that sometimes things that in theory are bad can be excused which is important but the verdict still comes without any second thoughts.

Layer 3: body snatching complicated

We learn the larger context around the thing

This mostly happens when Aziraphale and Crowley discuss body snatching with Mr Dalrymple. We learn that the stolen corpses are used for a medical study that can advance human knowledge and make it possible to save living people and that surgeons have no legal means to obtain enough of them for their research - hence their need to buy them from body snatchers.

At first glance it's just more of what we got in layer 2 - more agruments in favour of body snatching that aren't all that nuanced and don't really give us any pause - just from a larger perspective, beyond Elspeth's individual experience. But if you glance more than once you'll notice this is when things stop being straightforward and easy to judge.

The moment we enter a proper grey area is when Aziraphale asks why Mr Dalrymple doesn't acquire the bodies himself. This is a very valid question - while we might easily agree that studying the human body to further medical knowledge is a good thing, and with just the slightest hesitation admit that it's acceptable to resort to using stolen bodies if that is the only way the research may continue, it's not as easy to excuse taking advantage of the poor and the desperate to do the actual stealing that we know is very dangerous.

The moment we know without a doubt we are in a proper grey area is when Mr Dalrymple laughs at Aziraphale's concern.

Objectively, the surgeon is right that it's more effective if he doesn't risk his own life in the graveyard and uses his time on actual research, teaching students and saving lives. But it's also clear he doesn't exactly see people like Elspeth as actual human beings and feels he has every right to use them. On the one hand, he is paying, on the other, he happily benefits from the cruel class system and is not even one bit remorseful about it. On the one hand, he takes risks too, on the other he has a chance of rewards Elspeth will not benefit from. It's not the poorest whose lives will get bettered by the progress of medicine, even though they're the ones who pay with their lives for that progress. And if Mr Dalrymple gets lucky and is knighted for his work (we know he wasn't in the end but it was a possibility), the poor still won't be pardoned for stealing for him. Nevertheless, he has no issue with that.

As I said, things get nuanced.

Layer 4: it's different when it's someone you know

The thing actually happens in your life

I think you'll all agree that the turning point of the minisode is when Elspeth decides to sell Wee Morag's still warm body. This is what finally leaves us speechless.

That's because up until now we've been approaching the issue intellectually. It's not that we didn't care about the characters, but we were allowed to keep a safe distance. The whole thing was like a problem to be solved - "Is body snatching right or wrong? Discuss in 500-1000 words" - and everything we've learned so far was data for this assignment. I believe that one of the reasons why this detachment came naturally was that there was a very thick line between people involved in body snatching and the bodies that were being snatched. The former were, well, people, obviously. The latter were inanimate objects.

It isn't until Wee Morag is to be sold that we are forced to see a person in a dead body. This is also when real emotions enter the equation.

This shift forces us to question our judgment for the first time. It was easy to justify Elspeth when she was selling a nameless corpse. But the fact that she decided to sell her closest companion - and most likely lover - shocks us. Something inside us strongly objects to how quickly she makes the decision.

And then there's the transaction, and it is also different when it's someone we know. The fact that we knew Wee Morag fully exposes Mr Dalrymple for the heartless jerk that he is. The way he treats Elspeth is the absolute worst and if you haven't realized he was a hypocrite earlier, you should be disillusioned by now.

But at least Elspeth is not a hypocrite, right? It may seem cold that she sold Wee Morag but it just proves she simply believed it's all right to sell a dead body, doesn't it?

Well, about that...

Layer 5: it's different when it's you

You are forced to face the thing happening to you

This layer is reached when Elspeth plans her suicide and asks Aziraphale and Crowley to bury her "somewhere where no ghouls will ever dig her back up again".

It turns out Elspeth McKinnon really was a filthy liar.

Not long ago she was insisting that body snatching doesn't hurt anyone who isn't already dead, and asking why she should let Wee Morag rot in the ground when she starves. But she wants to make sure it doesn't happen to her own body. The idea that someone might dig her up terrifies her and she calls people who do it ghouls. So why was digging up other people okay again? Why should she rot in the ground while other people suffer? There were other people living in the street where she and Wee Morag hid. Why not ask Aziraphale to give the money to them? Or just anybody in need? Why not ask to sell her body as well and use the earnings the same way?

Also, if you look at it from a certain perspective, Elspeth betrayed Wee Morag in the worst possible way. Wee Morag believed that if someone's body gets cut, that person's soul cannot enter Heaven. Yet Elspeth sold her to Mr Dalrymple, claiming that Wee Morag would have wanted her to have the means to survive. Perhaps she was right. Perhaps Wee Morag would have made that sacrifice. But then Elspeth decided to kill herself and use the money she got for Wee Morag's body for her own funeral.

But does it make Elspeth wicked? Certainly not. She's simply torn by grief. I seriously doubt she's been planning to commit suicide when she was taking Wee Morag to Mr Dalrymple. She might have genuinely tried to carry on but the reality of what happened caught up to her. Mr Dalrymple's cruel words certainly didn't help her cope with a personal tragedy. I even suspect one of the reasons she sold her friend was that she had no idea what else to do with a dead body.

Does this excuse her actions? Kind of, but not really.

Elspeth was a tragic character, not an innocent lamb with a heart of gold.

The point is - can any of us really judge her?

Which, coincidentally, is a question that the original Good Omens book toyed with quite a lot.

If you've reached this far, thank you for reading!

[ineffable-suffering]

Why Aziraphale is an unreliable narrator

Part 2: The Story of wee Morag

This is Part 2 of 3 total metas. Here are:

Part 1, in case you want to read about my analysis of the Story of Job first

and Part 3, in case you're impatient and want to jump ahead.

Fair warning though, for the sake of understanding some of the references, you're probably better off reading this chaptered meta chronologically. However, every part should work just as well as a standalone! I'll do my very best to make it so.

Alright, off or on you go beyond the cutty cut!

I'll start this second part off with a very brief summary of the main take aways and points from Part 1, which go as such:

Memory, as opposed to a third party's narration, is not a factual, objective retelling of a story or event. It's mingled and mangled with emotions, imaginations and exaggerations, projecting both the feelings and impressions you had back then as well as those you might have now in the present time back on whatever it is you are remembering. (Which is why we need to put everything that Aziraphale is remembering into the context of what he might have felt in the past, as well as what he's feeling right now.)

While this doesn't mean his (or anyone's) memories are lies, it does mean they're a very subjective and sometimes factually distorted representation of what actually happened, which, in our case, gives us a lot of subtext and a lot of not-there furniture to figure out and look at.

So, let's continue with S2E3 and the Story of wee Morag. We start our flashback with a scene of Aziraphale writing his diary entry on the 10th of November, 1827. Immediately, it's firmly established that this is once again not an outside-point-of-view narration, but rather what Aziraphale remembers and wrote down.

One thing that immediately stuck out to me here, is how helpful and kind Crowley is to Elspeth, pretty much from the very beginning when they meet her in the graveyard. Not only does he take on a Scottish accent so she won't perceive him as English (as she does with Aziraphale), but he also helps her drag the barrel that has the fresh body in it and, in the end, even pulls it all by himself while Elspeth simply follows behind them. Here's a rather poor-quality picture, for reference:

Now, we know that despite not showing it very often, Crowley has always been very fond of the humans and never really put himself on a pedestal simply because he's an immortal being himself. He likes humans, just like Aziraphale does. But, just like this story will tell us, Crowley knows that on top of liking humans, you can't just put them into boxes of good and evil and expect them to always do what is supposedly the "right" or "divinely good" thing to do. (Which is what differentiates him from Aziraphale in the way he understands and treats them, as we're shown in this minisode).

Him immediately and unspokenly helping Elspeth with dragging the barrel therefore might also be a first sign of a tiny projection from present day Aziraphale, as opposed to what Crowley might have actually done (probably just walked beside her, like Aziraphale) because he has the knowledge that Crowley really was so very kind to her in the end, wasn't he? And that he's kind to humans in general. ("Not kind! Off my head on Laudanum!" Sure, babe.)

Most of this minisode, in my opinion, is actually there to establish how Aziraphale's view of morality and good vs. evil used to be quite flawed and elitist –– and how Crowley has always been there to gently nudge him towards questioning his black and white view of heavenly right and hellishly wrong. That's why I think there's not as many hints in this minisode about Aziraphale's memories not being an accurate portrayal of what happened, as there are in the Story of Job or the magic show in 1941. (And, fear not, the latter will definitely be the most hint-heavy one). Alas, there's still a few bits and bobs in the Story of wee Morag that stuck out to me, that make a brief yet good case of the whole unreliable narration thing.

First of all: The way Aziraphale describes all of it in his diary is so different from the way we see him actually remembering it. It's almost like he tried to write this entry (and possibly all of his diary) as a bit of a thrilling short story, with himself as the main character. Which makes sense, given the fact that he adores books and would certainly be keen on dabbling in the art of capital-w Writing himself. It's yet again hinting at the fact that sometimes people (and angels) try to polish and bedazzle stories (and memories) to make them seem more exciting and adventurous, often to distract from the not-so-fun parts of it.

Like when Aziraphale's diary narrates:

"It was with heavy heart we arrived at Elspeth's destination. I was determined to thwart her monstrous plan!"

... and yet we see Crowley and Elspeth casually walking down the alleyway, very obviously not heavy-hearted in the slightest, while Aziraphale nervously scurries on behind them, very obviously not determined to thwart. (Timestamp-wise, it's around 17:38 in S2E3, in case you want to see for yourself.)

We get another cinematographic/auditory hint at the fact that Aziraphale's memory is heavily influenced by what he's feeling that very moment, when Dr. Mister Dalrymple –– FRCSE, thank you very much –– shows him the tumor he removed from the seven year old boy. You can see the shock and horror on Aziraphale's face once he learns of this child's cruel fate. We then proceed to hear Mr. Dalrymple's voice grow sort of echo-y and far away as the sad music swells up and drowns out his voice almost completely. It's awfully similar to what it feels like when really horrible news are broken to you and you dissociate and drift into a state of shock. Here's the clip of it, so you may listen for yourself:

It's clear that this is a very subjective portrayal of what Aziraphale is going through during this part of the memory. He's deeply horrified and saddened about the little boy having passed away so early in life – and we hear and feel this shock with him. Through him, because this is his memory. Whatever it is he's feeling and thinking, we're feeling and thinking it too because we're seeing it through his lense.

Another (less sad) hint at a possible exaggeration is the abnormally deep hole Crowley makes the two graveyard watch keepers fall into. I'm pretty sure he's very much in charge of his miracles, making this random slip-up seem a little silly – which is why I'm also pretty sure the "Might have slightly overdone it on that hole" is a wee bit of a meta hint at this just being another one of Aziraphale's dramatic bedazzlements of this story. For the *flings feather boa around neck* drama!

You know what else might be exaggerated? Hm, I dunno, maybe Crowley growing into the size of a tree for no apparent reason. Sure, yes, he's pretty high on Laudanum which is making him a bit loopy. But apart from that, it does seem an awfully big cinematographic euphemism for him being the metaphorical (and, once again, for the drama of it) literal bigger person in this scenario. He's the one who ends up saving Elspeth and who manages to secure a safe life without poverty and grave robbing for her. While Aziraphale was so tangled up in his own moral journey and main character-ism, missing that wee Morag was seconds away from death already, Crowley is the one who actually ends up growing stepping up for the human in need and saving them for good (pun intended).

In a way, it might just be Aziraphale's view of/feelings for Crowley in this very moment. Watching the demon outgrow what, according to Aziraphale's heavenly logic, is supposed to be a foul fiend, bestowing evil upon humanity – and growing into someone who does the exact opposite and saves Elspeth instead. Another larger-than-life character development, in Aziraphale's eyes. Literally.

Let's switch back to the topic of the diary entry one last time, so I can make my final point of the this minisode's unreliable and a smidge over-dramatic narration of Dr. McFell. If you pay close attention, Aziraphale starts the entry we're all getting to experience with: "Last month, Crowley and I both happened to be in Edinburgh." Which means it didn't actually happen on the 10th of November, but rather at some point in October, 1827. Once we see Crowley get hydro-pumped back to Hell after rescuing Elspeth, the minisode ends with, presumably, the last sentence of Aziraphale's diary entry: "And that was the last I would see of Crowley for quite some time."

Take my hand and let's look at where the furniture isn't: This very clearly means that Crowley couldn't have been gone for more than a month, at best. Read again: "It happened last month and that was the last I would see of him for quite some time." This, albeit indirectly, clearly implies that when Aziraphale had sat down to write the diary entry, he had already run into Crowley again. Otherwise his phrasing would have probably been more along the lines of "... and I haven't seen Crowley since" or "... and Crowley has yet to return from wherever it is Hell's currently keeping him".

What's the point I'm trying to make? Good question. I guess my main point of storyteller Aziraphale being a bit over-dramatic in his narration is simply backed up by this, since A Single Month would barely pass as "quite some time" for an immortal being like him. And yet that's how he puts it, in his little Confidential Journals of A.Z. Fell, Vol. 603.

And another point that has absolutely nothing to do with the topic of this meta (but I'm still gonna make it 'cause this is my memory post): The meeting at St. Jame's Park in 1862 that so many, post-S2, took to be their first run-in after the Story of wee Morag, actually wasn't that at all. They saw each other at least once only a month later, as Aziraphale's diary lets us know. Which explains why he wasn't very surprised or concerned when he met Crowley in London, 1862. If there really had been 35 years in between those two events, the first one ending with Crowley being sucked back Downstairs to receive more than three decades worth of hellish punishment, wouldn't Aziraphale have been at least a tiny bit worried or more interested than:

Just saying.

Alright, let's string this inflated hot air balloon of a post back together so we can outline some invisible furniture. This time with only two humble points:

Crowley through Aziraphale's lense Backed up by how we are introduced to Bildad the Shuhite in the Job minisode (suave, cheeky, smart, passionate in shoemaking and obstetrics), it's growing quite clear that Aziraphale's memories and impressions of Crowley are very fond and impressed ones. He sees him as someone who's not only witty, funny and cool, but also as someone who has figured out way sooner and faster than him that nothing's ever black and white. Not God's plans and not the human's choices either.

Aziraphale as a bit of an exaggerating adventure author With the direct parallel we get of inkslinger journalist!Aziraphale in the present day, it's quite apparent after this minisode that Aziraphale's memory is not only deeply influenced by his emotions, but that he also tends to have a bit of a dramatic touch to him. Although, you gotta give it to the guy: A month without seeing the love of your life, even if said life is eternal, can indeed seem like "quite some time".

Well, would you lookie here, we've reached the end of Part 2! What a journey it was. I hope you forgive me for the fact that I drifted off-course a few times. I just can't seem to reel in my silly little observations, even if they've got nothing to do with the point I'm trying to make. But hey, doesn't that just make me a little bit like Aziraphale's storytelling, in a way?

I'll let you be the judge of that.

See you in Part 3! And in case you haven't snuck a peak yet: here's Part 1 again.

Ta!

[theminecraftbee]

so a thing this fandom does that remains FASCINATING to me, as a function of the fact a lot of this fandom is people's first fandom or only current fandom, is just... assume a lot of things it does is a scourge that this fandom has invented or doesn't exist outside of it? or like, is uniquely bad here? and i won't deny that sometimes mcyt fandom is a bit more intense by virtue of numbers, but like...

duo names: confusing fandom-injokes to describe duos and groups tend to be an anime fandom thing specifically for many historical reasons, but they're not uncommon. hey quick--if you haven't been in KHR fandom, can you guess what 1827 is? no? i'll give you a hint: that's actually a ship name. or, ygo fans, tell me the difference between puppyshipping, prideshipping, violetshipping, and rivalshipping. my hint is that they're all kaiba ships and two of them are actually the same ship. good luck!

reducing characters to a specific trait: have you read fic in another fandom before? i would recommend you go do so and come back to me. my example here is "sasuke likes tomatoes", for the record.

common au fanon that's confusing to outsiders: my deep cut here is "when i got into certain tv fandoms i was baffled by the existence of sentinel/guide fics", which is a slightly older tv fandom thing so many of you probably don't know what i'm on about. but trust me: in certain fandoms it's ubiquitous and unless you've watched a completely different tv show you're gonna have to entirely pick it up from reading fic. oh hey, hybrid aus and watcher!grian, nice to see your relative here,

fanon being treated as canon: did you know there's this whole bnha character, naomasa, who is treated as canonically having a lie detector quirk? did you know that, best i can tell, that's not in canon anywhere, it just got echoed through fanon enough that everyone treated it as canon? 'fanon trait becomes so ubiquitous everyone assumes it has to be there' is not a new thing. also, batfamily fans, i have been lead to understand the tim and coffee thing is also this.

characters being treated badly to make a different dynamic look better: the fact we have the term 'character bashing' tells you all you need to know, here. if anything my one complaint on this front isn't even that it's happening--it's that i wish bashing and/or "not [character] friendly" was tagged a little more frequently, haha.

characters being reduced to their family dynamics: tale as old as time. "even the family dynamic thing" yes even that. just because this fandom tended to be particularly ship-adverse in the past didn't mean it didn't do basically the same behaviors as any fandom with shipping did with those dynamics, just gen. and other gen fandoms also do that. yes, down to the "and shipping reduces them to a ship, unlike my gen dynamic, which is very in-character; why can't people just be friends?" thing. some of you have to have been marvel fans right.

characters being reduced to their ships: some of you have to have been marvel fans right.

The Discourse: yeah this is an "actively running show" fandom thing, but also a hiatus fandom thing. ask a homestuck about vriskourse sometime. as much as i hate to say it, it probably made doomsday discourse look cute.

and those are just like... some things i've seen people complain about on my dash recently. idk it just hit me there are probably fans in mcyt fandoms who are assuming that some things (like hybrid aus or duo names) are the kind of things that only happen here, so i thought i'd offer some examples of other places they happen! i also have even more examples if you'd like.

to be clear: this isn't shaming anyone for complaining about any of these things. lord knows i go complain to my friends about it all the time, just the other day i was complaining in the category of 'they keep bashing my guy'. it's more of just... a gentle reminder that maybe we're big, maybe we're loud, maybe we have problems... but these problems aren't always unique.

so uh. we're all suffering together i guess...?

[chronologicalerrors]

Why Crowley Was an Archangel, And Why it Matters: A Fan Theory

Neil Gaiman has said that Season 2 is a bridging season, setting up what is to come in Season 3, which will be based on a story he and Pratchett outlined many years ago. This season is therefore moving characters into place and establishing facts and mechanics of the Good Omens universe that we need as an audience in order to understand what comes next. It moved Aziraphale back to Heaven, and removed Gabriel and Beelzebub. This season has also been heavy on the references to Crowley’s past as an angel.

Season 2 of Good Omens has been practically inviting us to speculate on who Crowley used to be. If we’d just been given that one glimpse of him in the first scene I wouldn’t make so much of it, but we also saw him return to heaven in disguise and reject an offer of being returned to full angelic status. We have to conclude that there’s been so many sustained hints at this because it will be important next season!

Some of this has already been suggested by others, but GO2 has taken over my brain and I need to write this all out. So, let’s have a look at what we already know about Crowley’s angelic past in-universe, and what else we might be able to guess at from that. 

What’s special about Crowley’s powers?

Crowley is the only demon or angel who is shown being able to stop time. When asked about this Pre-S2, Neil Gaiman said the following:

We first see him do this in Paris in 1793, and the second time to speak to Adam to avert the apocalypse at the end of S1. The first time was something he did casually, while the second required a huge burst of power – it needed to hold off Satan, after all - and happened at Aziraphale’s urging.

A: Come up with something or… or I'll never talk to you again.

(GIF from fyeahgoodomens. There’s a collection of gifs of Crowley stopping time through S1 here.)

When we see him stop time this season, in Edinburgh in 1827, it’s also directly at Aziraphale’s request:

This bit is absolutely key to me, as this establishes that stopping time is something Crowley can do that Aziraphale cannot.

This also seems tied to the crank handle of his Bentley. When Crowley has stopped time to hold off Satan, he is gripping the handle in the same way Aziraphale carried his flaming sword, and spins in when he comes to restart time.

C: I'm going to start time. You won't have long to do whatever you're going to do.

By itself, this doesn’t mean anything. Until we see the same handle at the start of Season 2, in the hands of Angel Crowley. He uses this to start up his nebula, as a tool for setting time into motion.

Is this the same handle? It certainly appears this way. Like Aziraphale’s flaming sword, was this a gift from God that he’s managed to hang on to for thousands of years (And it just miraculously happens to fit his Bentley)? It certainly seems that the Bentley crankshaft handle is more than it seems, and that Crowley can use it as a conduit for power – as he needed to when stopping time to hold off the ruler of Hell himself.

The link between this object, a relic from his time in heaven, and his rather unique ability to stop time, suggests that Crowley was once an angel of great power.

What rank did he hold?

We saw Crowley return to Heaven, in disguise, in S2 E6, with events hinting that he was once a very high-ranking angel:

So, we know for a fact he was above the level of Thrones and Dominions. So where does this place him on Heaven’s organisational chart? My analysis here is metatextual – I don’t think looking at external hierarchies of angels is that helpful to understanding the Good Omens universe, so I will only focus on what Neil Gaiman has confirmed when asked, or has been demonstrated within the world of the show itself.

Good Omens has its own Hierarchy of Heaven, but Neil Gaiman has clarified that the Archangels we see are amongst the most senior personnel in Heaven. This runs counter to many hierarchies of angels (which are often contradictory in and of themselves) but is consistent with the depiction in John Milton’s Paradise Lost as well as Jewish tradition, where the highest ranking Archangels are given the title of “princes” of heaven. “Prince of Heaven” is also a term that Metatron applies to Gabriel in S2 E6.

Of the heavenly entities mentioned in the show, we can infer the following angelic hierarchy:

God

Metatron (NG confirms here)

Supreme Archangel (Gabriel, now Aziraphale)

Other Archangels (Michael, Uriel, Sandalphon, in that order – See NG here)

Cherubim (Aziraphale at the Garden of Eden, when he was the Angel of the Eastern Gate –NG Confirms here)

Thrones & Dominions

Principalities(?) (Aziraphale after the Garden of Eden – NG doesn’t state if this is a promotion or demotion, but it feels very demotion-y)

Other lower-ranking angels (As a Principality, Aziraphale was supposed to lead a platoon of angels into battle in S1 – so there must be many levels below him – see NG here)

Scrivners (Muriel and the level Gabriel would have been demoted to. Appears to be the lowest rank in Heaven, suggested by NG here)

There are likely many other levels in-between these that have not yet been mentioned onscreen. Saraqael, for example, seems lower down than an Archangel (addressing Michel and Uriel as “your beatitudes” before approaching them in Episode 1), but above Aziraphale. You’ll notice Seraphim aren’t in this list, because they’ve not been mentioned on screen – but I suspect they do exist in this universe and are a class below Archangels but above Cherubim.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that Crowley was an Archangel, but confirms pretty explicitly that he was once near the top.

So who was he?

Neil Gaiman has stated that his name when he was an angel was not Crowley/Crawley, and the first scene of Season 2 sees a bit of redirection when Aziraphale tries to get angel-Crowley’s name:

This is quite deliberate, and sets up his name as something important to be revealed later. However, I can’t see why his name would matter to the narrative, unless it’s something recognisable from biblical canon – or, that it’s not necessarily his name, but his rank as an angel that was important.

There are numerous pointed references throughout Season 2 to Archangels, in such a way that feels like the show is setting up for this to be revealed in the future. The misdirection about Angel-Crowley’s name may have been because Aziraphale was likely to have recognised the name of an Archangel.

More than this, I personally do think, that before his fall Crowley wasn’t just any old Archangel, but the Supreme Archangel. This is based on the following 7 points (you know God likes sevens):

The very deliberate way the camera pans to Crowley’s impassive face after Gabriel says “I’m the only first-order Archangel in the room or, you know, the universe.”

2. Metatron’s statement, “For one Prince of Heaven to be cast into the outer darkness makes a good story. For it to happen twice, makes it look like there is some kind of institutional problem.”

While it’s quite clear that we’re supposed to associate this line with Lucifer himself (and yes, I know NG confirms that's who this was alluding to!), it’s interesting that ‘Prince of Heaven’ is a title associated with Archangels in Jewish tradition and very specifically with Gabriel on screen in the universe of the series. That Jimbriel also repeats this line to Crowley in the bookshop specifically feels significant...

3. Crowley also recognises Metatron in the bookshop, where no other Archangel does. Metatron deliberately avoids using his name in this scene, calling him ‘demon’. Which is not inaccurate, but may suggest the Metatron remembers Crowley’s angelic name. It may also explain Metatron’s very dark look at Crowley as he exited the shop – the two of them have some history.

4. It’s never stated explicitly that Gabriel hasn’t always been the Supreme Archangel since the beginning, but there’s enough vagueness in the text to guess at this. When Michael and Uriel are discussing what to do in Gabriel’s absence, Michael and Uriel have this exchange:

M:There is, of course, no question of replacing the supreme archangel. I am the Archangel Michael, you are the Archangel Uriel. U: We aren't in charge. Right now, as of this moment, Heaven does not have a supreme archangel. M: There is always a supreme archangel.

“There is always a Supreme Archangel!” not “Gabriel has always been the Supreme Archangel!” According to some traditions, the Supreme Archangel was the first angel ever created, which would support Michael’s statement: There is always, and there always has been, a Supreme Archangel, since the time of creation. It’s possible that someone else held this role pre-Fall, and Gabriel was appointed as successor after the War in Heaven.

5. The way the other Archangels behave around him. There’s a wariness, but also a strange deference. On being discovered by Saraqael in heaven, they don’t immediately throw him out, but let him watch Gabriel’s trial – even ordering Muriel to show him it. Michael and Uriel then follow him back to Earth without much fuss, giving him quite a look, while Crowley seems to be enjoying himself:

(This also feeds into why I think Crowley looked so different during the Job segment. He knew he might encounter a few Archangels he’s not seen for a thousand years or so, and so appears in disguise.) 6. The lightening! I’ve seen someone point out that Crowley’s electric temper tantrum in S2E1 mirrors the lightening used by Gabriel to travel to Earth in S1E6. This could be a coincidence of VFX, or it could be a Clue.

7. That last conversation between Aziraphale and Crowley:

A: I don't think you understand what I'm offering you. C: I understand. I think I understand a whole lot better than you do.

That’s such a weighted statement, and could be interpreted in so many ways. But, viewed in this light, it sounds like a warning from a former angel who used to be very high up in Heaven indeed – and has absolutely no desire to return there.  

Why does any of this matter?

Obviously just theorising here…

The story is setting us up for a reveal here – Crowley’s status as an angel, and who he was before the Fall is clearly going to factor into Season 3 in some way. Why tease us with it so much and so often if it’s not important?

In terms of the narrative, a powerful revelation would be that Crowley used to have Aziraphale’s new job. That it led him to asking questions about the Almighty’s plan and then, ultimately, falling. And that the Supreme Archangel, for one reason for another, eventually turns against Heaven – it happened to Crowley, to Gabriel (after a few thousand years), and then will have to happen to Aziraphale too.

I could be way off here, but at some point the show needs to explain why Crowley is so different from other demons and has powers that no other demon or angel seems to possess. A reveal that he was once very, very senior in the organisation of Heaven, before asking too many questions and being cast out, would serve as a explanation and be a meaningful development to the narrative of Season 3.

I don’t think we’ll necessarily get a name (because we don’t need one) – but I do think we will get a rank or some idea about who he used to be, and that’s what’s going to be significant. TLDR: Supreme Archangel Crowley!?

[thesherrinfordfacility]

look i know that this is not a new revelation but i want to draw attention to the fact that at the bandstand - when crowley was screaming literal blasphemy - aziraphale was not looking up. he was not in fear of god, but in fear of whomever could be strolling around the park - taking a jog or tending the gardens - that could overhear.

granted, this was before aziraphale trying to speed-dial god and try to get her to intervene, but a good portion of his fear has always been rooted in what heaven could do. what heaven probably would do.

on the lookout, vigilant and twitchy, and whilst that may be in the interest of aziraphale's own safety at being not only seen in company with a demon conspiring to thwart said Great Plan, but also hearing it without challenge... i imagine it would be a smidge in fear of what heaven would do to that demon in the process. they're nothing to heaven, the lowest of the low and at best a means to an end. if they came to haul away aziraphale, what on god's green earth would they do to crowley without a second thought? actually, no, let's not be silly; heaven wouldn't bother - what would hell do?

he knows what: 1941 proved that. 1827 proved that. and as would be shown to him directly later that day, after the bandstand - the abduction and subsequent bathtub trial in hell proved that too.

so then take aziraphale's behaviour here (and throughout the whole segment):

im not personally of the mind that aziraphale was deliberately hurting/manipulating crowley in order to protect him. at the bandstand? maybe. maybe out of (understandable) self-preservation, but also to protect crowley. but the final fifteen? aziraphale was - to his mind - being given the opportunity to protect crowley from within, in a position where he had the confidence, or at least the optimism, that nothing could happen to him.

he had to go, had to take the chance to change heaven so they, and anyone else, could be truly free. and if he could take crowley with him? out of the reach of hell, and equally so close to him that heaven wouldn't dare? of course he would offer what he did.

in any eventuality, the very likely notion remains, from aziraphale's perspective, that there is a very real threat from heaven. it may not have been overt, it may not have even been vaguely hinted at by the metatron, but aziraphale has never lost sight that heaven is dangerous. and they are lurking in disguise in the bushes, just as they are watching from just outside the door.

[drconstellation]

Judgement Day

Aziraphale's Edinburgh Journey: Part 4

Aziraphale's trip to Edinburgh - and most of S2 - is filled with hints and references to the Second Coming. Once you are clued into this, they are everywhere, with some clues more obvious than others. Gabriel's statue is one of them, but it has another role as well (and it's not for hiding anything under, sorry.)

We also have a lot of references to the Freemasons in S2, particularly in Edinburgh, but you can see related symbolism elsewhere - they use some of the same symbolism used around Memento mori, and they also believe in working towards upholding values in life to be rewarded in the afterlife. Judgement Day looms large for all, not matter what their belief.

Judgment in the Tarot

Judgement is the penultimate card of the Major Arcana in the Tarot - the final card is The World, where the journey ends and everything comes together in harmony. But first, one must be summoned to their reckoning, and the past weighed up. It marks the completion of a karmic cycle; its time for renewal.

Three naked figures, a man, a woman and a child, rise out of the darkness of the underworld. Their nakedness denotes their spirituality, they have thrown off the clothes and material things of a physical life. An angel in the sky with a trumpet summons them to be reborn.

But which angel is it on the card? The book I'm favoring to do these card interpretations says its Michael. The information I have about cemetery angels (below) would indicate it to be Gabriel, who is sometimes depicted on headstones blowing a horn. Yet other lore says it's Raphael/Israfel that will blow the horn to start the Day of Judgement. And reading further, on some texts it just says it will be an archangel, they don't specify which one.

Cemetery Angels

The statue of Gabriel in the Edinburgh cemetery is an example of a cemetery angel. The type and pose of the angel is supposed to give some indication of the life that was lived. Small cherubs for children, a lily held for purity, a circular wreath for everlasting life, for example.

Gabriel's statue is doing several things at once: its wings are open, indicating its ready to take flight upwards for the resurrection, and its holding a cross. This is because this statue is a replica of one of the angels on the Ponte Sant'Angelo in Rome and they all hold something relating to the Passion. A cross is probably the most recognizable symbol of all, and instantly connected with Jesus. Everything here is pointing us to the Second Coming.

The Missing Cross

But the cross isn't there in every scene. It's been pointed out that its missing when Gabriel shows his statue to Beelzebub in the present.

This only appears to be the case when we view this scene from a distance. When we see the statue from between their shoulders, the cross is still there.

This is an inconsistent message, and casts some doubt on what its trying to tell us. Can Beelzebub see the cross or not? It can't be a demon thing, as Crowley has no problem seeing the cross in 1827. Is it instead a comment about Gabriel and Beelzebub as a pair?

There are a multitude of meanings that could be applied here around that missing cross: is it do with death and resurrection or is to do with having your sins forgiven and achieving eternal life? If its the latter, then the demons have always been excluded from that, right from the start.

Gazing in Parallel

Then there's this parallel in acts of admiration of the statue:

The very first time I watched S2 and I heard Crowley say "he probably comes here to stare at it," I knew yep, he sure does, and so he did.

Parallel pairs like this usually give us a nugget of information about the characters or story, and this one seems to be another thing pointing us to Gabriel being the peacock mentioned in the Job minisode (i.e. "Did you give wings to peacocks, Job...") An old slang definition of a peacock is "a person, especially a man, who is arrogant or likes dressing or behaving in a way that draws attention to themselves" and "a man who is very proud of his appearance and gives a lot of attention to his clothes and the way he dresses."

Let us not forget at this point that Crowley is linked to Gabriel in S2 as both a parallel and foil, and he, too, takes some pride in his appearance. But while Gabriel admires the creation that is himself, Crowley tends more to admire creations that he has had a hand in working on himself.

But there is a curious moment here that links us up with a scene from the beginning of S2, in Before the Beginning. Notice how Aziraphale looks back at Crowley as he he says Gabriel "Probably comes here to stare at it. Marveling at his own beauty."

Aziraphale has the same jealous look on his face as angel!Crowley marvels at the beauty of his newly created nebula and stars.

We have to remember that Before The Beginning was one of the last parts of S2 to be written, even though its at the start, but it includes a repeated parallel to the dates at the statue - angel!Crowley admires his creation, and Aziraphale looks a little jealous that he's not getting that same attention from Crowley.

Demons in the Mist

There is another, larger, parallel sequence that the statue plays a part in as well, and this connects us to S1, and I suspect to S3 as well. This is one of the mobius strip parallels that I sometimes talk about, where the story history repeats itself ad infinitum. Notice the misty nature of the present day scene below; this is an indication we are seeing more than two times and places at once.

It starts here, as we switch suddenly from 1827 back to present, just after Crowley is sucked down into Hell, leaving Aziraphale gazing up at the statue.

The parallel scene to this is the sushi restaurant in S1E1.

In that scene Crowley has been summoned to the cemetery to receive the antichrist and start Armageddon. He was supposed to be on a date with Aziraphale at the sushi restaurant, but Gabriel turns up instead, on the other side of Aziraphale - the same side the statue is on in S2.

Next, there are two demons. The first time, Crowley was summoned to meet with Hastur and Ligur to start Armageddon. Only this time, in S2, its Aziraphale talking to the demons, not Crowley.

We have an indication that the Scottish pair are demon-related with the taller one having a misspelled tattoo on his forehead (and aren't there many stories of badly spelled tattoos?)

I think they also roughly match the height and size of Hastur and Ligur, too. And it's the Ligur-parallel that offers his phone - just like its Ligur that chats to Michael on the back channels that don't exist in S1.

Free phone call? Not a problem. It's been pointed out that when Crowley hangs up the phone handset in S1 after calling Aziraphale you can hear a coin falling into the coin return box - apparently there was a thing done in the old days of leaving some change in the coin return for people who didn't have any money and needed to make a call; a kindness for strangers, if you will. So it's not a worry that there is no credit on the phone when Aziraphale needs to make the call.

Lastly, we have some S3 foreshadowing, because this an Aziraphale scene and he connects us with the future. The old phone is looking worn and tatty, with the Union Jack on it, a sign of the Empire that is slowly fading, and is well past its peak. After he hands it back with a blessing, it looks renewed, with the St Andrews Cross of Scotland on it. I might live on the other side of the world from the UK but even I'm aware of the political debate around Scottish independence that has been ongoing for, well, many years now.

I can't help thinking we are going to see a parallel to this scene in S3 as well, with Aziraphale demanding some form communication from Hell or some demons for which he does "ask nicely" about. This is all working towards a change in the way the authoritative structure works for the angels and demons (the death and rebirth theme.)

Masonic Symbols

We are alerted to the presence of the Masons when Aziraphale does his detective cosplay and speaks to the barman in the Resurrectionist pub. If you are quick, you can also notice the square and compass symbol on the windows next to the pub as Aziraphale approaches, although most of us are looking at Jesus on the sign (and a reminder that we are looking out of a deliberate copy of the Eastern Gate of Eden here on the sign, too, into the deserted distance.)

The square and compass are a reminder of balance - the square at the bottom is about honesty and integrity, and the compass at the top represents wisdom and keeping one's desires within reach.

But why are we looking at Masons? I think this is because they represent a similar but different alternative to the Abrahamic religions the Good Omens AU is built around - they believe in a Supreme Being (God) and they believe in upholding certain virtues and doing good deeds in life so that they will be rewarded in the afterlife, and that there is an eternal afterlife; they just don't believe in going about it in the same way the church does.* The Catholic church doesn't allow one to be a Mason and a member of the church at the same time because of this clash in ideologies.

The other thing to note about Masons, is that Masons wear black tie evening dress to their Lodge meetings, like the corpse in the next image below. The barman in the present even says to Aziraphale "It's the first time I've seen one in a fancy grey suit, though." This is a big Clue - but you all missed it, because you latched on to the fancy grey suit part of the sentence that screamed "GABRIEL WAS HERE!!" at you and didn't hear the silent part that the barman was saying - that the other person that was with Gabriel was wearing a black suit.

Hello? Anyone paying attention here? No? Just me shouting into the void...right, well, carry on then.

We see three dead bodies in the Resurrectionists minisode, much like the three bodies on the Tarot card for Judgement. The first is this Mason, clearly identified by the apron he is wearing (the other two bodies are a priest and wee Morag.) The decoration on it would indicate what rank or degree of mastery he held within his lodge. The background was always white, for purity.

Coffins were a reminder that one day every one would die and return to dust. They were also a sign of leaving their previous life behind from before they joined the Masons and taking on their Masonic duties.

Skulls and cross bones were part of Memento mori - reminders that life was short. They also appeared on Mason tracer boards.

The hourglass was a particularly special symbol. While it, too, was a reminder that life was finite, it was also a reminder that life and death was a cycle. By turning the hourglass over, one started the cycle again. This also demonstrated the need at times for one to turn one's thoughts and actions around on their journey through life.

It was also a reminder that time was the great equalizer - it didn't matter your station in life, time always moved forward, and death would come for us all.

Onward to Part 5, dear readers! Time to see if we really know where we're going with all this!

Thanks once again to @vidavalor for pointing out the parallel between the statue of Gabriel and the sushi restaurant in S1, where Crowley is pulled away by Hell both times and Gabriel appears on Aziraphale's right.

@kimberleyjean has also put together a collection of all the infinity loops and mobius strip references in GO here.

*I'm not sure what it was like in other countries, but I know in Australia during the mid 20th century to get anywhere in certain jobs and industries you either had to be a Catholic or a Mason. Without the backing of one of those organizations you wouldn't get far. My grandfather was a Mason, but not religious, and consequently rose quite high in the government dept he worked for - took me a long time to put all those pieces together, because it was never talked about in my family. I just knew he went to Lodge. It was only listening to some podcasts about history that I was able to work it out.

The other posts in this series can be found here:

Part 1: Detective Aziraphale Part 2: Aziraphale-Beelzebub Parallels Part 3: Stocktaking in the Basement Part 5: I Know Where I'm Going

[vidavalor]

Your custom meta index!

Crowley actually says a barely-coded 'I Love You' in S2E3

Vavoom, or when the show is hinting Crowley & Aziraphale first kissed

Wily Luring Enticing Thwart

The History of Eccles Cakes

Why Aziraphale Wants Crowley's Absolution

Aziraphale's 1827 Look and Why He Hasn't Changed Since

The Blitz Part 3 Theory

Why does Aziraphale ask Maggie if She Can Hear the Arrival of the Angels?

Foreshadowing a 1960's Femme Scene in S3

Aziraphale: A Force to be Reckoned With

Drinking Wine in 1941 <- one of indigo's favorites!

Jane Austen and the South Downs Cottage

I Lost My Best Friend

Jiggery-Pokery

Leave Your Hat On

Proof that the Ineffable Husbands have had Sex

I'm sorry it took me (checks watch then quickly hides it behind my back) a while to put this together for you. It is very incomplete and a poor testament to your momentous and ongoing contributions to the meta community, but you needed at least the beginnings of an index!

Thank you so, so much to @indigovigilance for taking the time to and surprising me by making me a starter meta index! 💕💕💕 I appreciate the effort to help me get this place a bit spring cleaned and organized. Very kind of you, dear.

[minervas-hand]

Ineffable May Day 16: 1827

Day 16 for @blairamok's Ineffable May 2024

AO3 link here

[S2 Ep3. 1827 Edinburgh (The Resurrectionists minisode). Crowley is high on laudanum and is standing giant-sized in the ruined crypt, right after Elspeth has left.]

"Come down, you silly demon," Aziraphale called. 

Giant Crowley just looked down and around at his own feet a moment, as if confused what he was supposed to get down off of. "Oh!' he hiccuped, and suddenly he was at eye-height again.

"Angel!" he cried and wavered toward him, crowding him right up against the wall of the crypt.

He caught at Crowley's waist to steady him, hands slipping under his open greatcoat. It was so slender, bound with satiny brocade. He was - he was wearing some kind of corset under his waistcoat. Aziraphale's knees suddenly weakened and he had to steady himself against the stones. 

"Really, Crowley, " he chided, forcing the waver from his voice. "You are making a scene even Hell can't miss."

"Nah," Crowley drawled. "Wankers, all of them." The demon swayed and threw his head back. "And you lot too!" he yelled, flipping two fingers on each hand up at the sky. 

Which left the stretch of his long, pale throat a breath away, the rumble of his voice buzzing where it pressed into his chest. Aziraphale swallowed. 

Then Crowley looked down, glasses still askew, and his nose crinkled up in an expression Aziraphale knew very very well boded ill for his peace of mind. He saw the demon's eyes blaze and drop to his lips. He leaned in and Aziraphale let out a squeak -

 - and the demon swept in and rubbed his cheek full across the angel's,  like a cat. Chuckling maniacally.

Then he slumped, boneless, trusting Aziraphale to hold him up. Hands gripping Aziraphale's shoulders, he buried his nose in Aziraphale's neck and breathed deeply.

The hairs on Aziraphale's nape rose. The background terror warred with an expanding nova in his chest as he stood there helplessly, simply having no idea what to do with two handfuls of sloppy demon.

No, he knew what he wanted to do. But while Crowley might be dumping everything into his excusing cup of poison, that meant - well, someone had to be a gentleman. Someone had to be safe. 

Annoyance shot through him. For once, they weren't in this together, inhibitions and plausibility left drifting on too much wine. But either could be relied upon to pull back. It was their slow, terrible game over centuries. But one of them was definitely not playing tonight.

"Crowley." 

All he got was a muffled "Mmhph."

He shook the slumping thing. "Crowley!" 

The demon raised his head, glasses very askew now. He peered at Aziraphale. "What!"

"We should go." 

Crowley straightened, pulled his glasses down further, and looked right into the angel's eyes. "Should we, angel?" he asked softly. Not a hint of drunkenness sullied those lambent eyes as he let his hands drift to grip the angel's lapels.

Aziraphale stood absolutely still, forgetting to breathe. His thoughts fled as his blood hissed white noise in the hush of the graveyard. 

Then Crowley spun right out of his arms and away. "Wheee!" He did a little jig outside the crypt door and lurched down the gravel path towards the street. 

Aziraphale stood for a moment, adjusting his collar. Pain and longing stormed within. 

Then he hurried off after him.

[purgatory-of-assbutts]

Regarding this post by @assiraphales saying that a separation between Aziraphale and Crowley would be beneficial for their development as individual entities in addition to being an “us”;

Exactly this! I mean, if you look at Prime's official character description for the two of them, you can see how skewed it is insofar as the dependence they have on what defines their indentites

They've been side by side for so long they can't imagine life any other way.

Even though this is about both of them, we know how much more this resonates with Crowley, if only because he’s the one who is at least consciously acting on it (there’s a whole universe out there and we could have been an “us” just to pick the most obvious ones)

Aziraphale, though, has never quite come to terms with how the world actually is and lives within the bubble of the world he has created

Where Crowley is idealistic but pragmatic, Aziraphale is (to a certain extent) naive, deluded, and in denial from sheltering himself away from the realities of, well, reality. He enjoys letting Crowley rescue him as much as Crowley enjoys playing rescuer, but this dynamic has snowballed into something else by the time we get to the end of Every Day. Granted, Aziraphale has millennia of religious and institutional trauma to work through, but so does Crowley. The thing is, their traumas manifest in different ways.

For Crowley, who was cast down for asking too many questions, does not tend to directly verbalize his wants. Instead, he hints and wheedles. Crowley, being a kindhearted demon—an idiosyncrasy in itself—does not accept compliments. In fact, he actively reacts from even a slight acknowledgement from Aziraphale (nice is a four letter word and do you know how much trouble a demon can get into?) (also if you haven’t seen it you should look at that one post by @edgarallennope on how being punished after 1827 was the reason why he asked for holy water in 1862). So, a) the talking and b) the being nice/being with an angel. Despite this, we see how hard Crowley tries to work through his confession at the end, only to be, as he sees it, thoroughly rejected, as he is every time he tries to move forward with Aziraphale (you go too fast for me and there is no our side, Crowley and nothing lasts forever).

Aziraphale, whose relationship with Heaven has a clear parallel with Nina and Lindsay, needs to learn to truly separate himself from Them and heal. Despite the ridicule and the ostracism he’s experienced, it’s nothing compared to Crowley’s Fall (not to compare traumas, of course) and as Crowley said, he understood what Aziraphale was asking from him far more than Aziraphale did in wanting him to return. Aziraphale remembers how much Crowley used to smile and how he’s done so less and less over time (not even just from angel → demon but during their time on earth) and probably attributes that to The Fall. He still has to unlearn the major heavenly conditioning doctrines and work against his bias against Hell.

Anyway. They need to learn to communicate. And they need to work together. It has been three days and I am unwell.

[trashboatprince]

Here's something silly for my mad scientists in 1827 Edinburgh au with Crowley and Aziraphale.

Warning: they're humans, they're idiots in love, they have done very unethical practices in the name of science. And 'science'. This right before they start their man-plant project that'll be named Jim.

Remember, this is a dark comedy au.

On with the fic!

--

McFell shook out the newspaper after turning the page, continuing the interesting article about the goings on in London, filled with a few snarky comments about Londoners, when he heard a familiar petname for him echoing through the halls.

"Aaaaangeeeellll~!" Came the boisterous, sing-song tone of Dr. Crowley as the door to the study opened. "There you are! Figured ya be up here, it's tea time, isn't it?"

"Yes, and you're late." McFell sniffed and reached for his cup, sipping the perfect combination of tea and just a tiny bit of milk. Nothing like the horrendous combination of mainly sugar and milk with just a hint of tea that Crowley and their assistant Muriel enjoyed.

"Oh, come on, I'm not that late. Just late by..." Crowley looked at the grandfather clock. "Forty five minutes. Right, well! I was busy workin' on my latest project and finally figured out the perfect way to- oh, the paper! Let me see!"

The newspaper was suddenly ripped right from McFell's hands, and he turned to shout at Crowley, who was quickly flipping through the pages. He stopped and grinned as he read over something, muttering as he went. "Excellent! Just what we need, and so many in one week, lots to pick from!"

McFell frowned, and then realized what Crowley was commenting on. "Oh, no, nonononono! We are not going grave robbing!"

"Come ooooonnn!" Crowley was grinning. "You love to grave rob!"

"I certainly do not!"

"Course ya do! You're usually the one who was come rushing into the lab, holding up cutout articles, and funeral notices, lettin' me know that there was a fresh body, just waitin' to be dug up!"

"Yes, and the last time we attempted to obtain a body, poor Muriel nearly lost their head!"

Crowley winced and McFell glared, knowing that Crowley remembered that night all too well. They hadn't exactly noticed that a nearby grave had a trip wire. Poor Muriel hadn't seen in it the dark and had almost gotten shot by the grave gun! And if it wasn't bad enough luck for them, a guard almost got 'em right in the head!

Just missed by a hair.

Literally, there was still a small portion of their curls that looked off due to the bullet.

McFell snatched the paper back and attempted to straighten it out once more. "Really, Anthony, we can just buy bodies if you need them so badly for... what exactly are you attempting again?"

"My plant man! You know, the one I had designed while drunk and was actually weirdly scientifically creative about how to make it come to life?"

The blond frowned and nodded. "Yes, I am aware. Are you really trying to make that a reality?"

"Couldn't hurt."

"Fine, just... find a person to go about digging up the bodies, alright?"

Crowley sat down in his seat and leaned forward on his elbows, chin in his hands. He was pouting, and trying to make his golden brown eyes wider. "But... but I wanna go out diggin' up graves with you, angel."

"My grave robbing days are over."

"But you love it! You love being excited about the prospect of finding fresh bodies so you can cut them open and study them!"

"And I can do that by simply paying someone."

"But you're so picky...! You open the casket and then either have me haul the body out, or you're all 'nope, not right', and act all sniffy about it and have me rebury it!" Crowley was still pouting as he looked away. "It's so cute when you're picky."

McFell glared deeply, but it wasn't working, and he wasn't feeling it. "But we could get hurt."

"But we could also not get hurt."

"We could get caught."

"We could also not get caught."

They stared at one another, McFell trying to keep his glare in place, Crowley was trying to look all doe-eyed to win.

And damnit, he was winning.

McFell sighed loudly and folded the paper. "Fine! But this is the last time!"

"Oh, you're the best!" Crowley was out of his seat and kissing the life out of McFell's lips, then kissed him all over before running out of the room. "Muriel! Dig out the shovels, we're gonna go snatchin' in a few hours!"

"On it, sir!" Came the cheerful shout of Muriel from somewhere else nearby.

McFell stared at the door and slumped in his seat, sighing loudly as he pinched the bridge of his nose. What had he agreed to now?

[revolutionarywarhistory]

Michael Marshall's correction and the story of Moses Orme

Page 1 of deed between William Murdoch and Moses Orme in July 1778, via MDLANDREC

Reprinted from my History Hermann WordPress blog.

Recently, a man named Michael "Mike" Marshall, who is a transcriber/abstracter, and evidently the owner) for a website called Early Colonial Settlers of Southern Maryland and Virginia's Northern Neck Counties commented on my blog, saying

RE: [4] Deed between William Murdoch and Moses Ouno, Montgomery County Court, Land Records,July 13, 1778, Liber A, p. 195, 196 [MSA CE 148-1]. Courtesy of mdlandrec.net. Not sure how pages of Liber D, 166 and 167 [MSA CE 148-4] relate to this topic as one source suggests. === Moses Ouno is Moses Orme Montgomery County Land Records, 1777-1781; Liber A1, Page 195. Jul 30, 1778 from William Murdoch of Prince George’s County, merchant, to Moses Orme of M, planter, for 492 £ 12 shillings and 6 pence, a tract of land called Shawfield, being part of a tract of land called Discovery, bounded by John Coffee’s land, Samuel Blackmore’s land, containing and now laid out for about 281-1/2 acres. Signed – Will:m Murdoch. Wit – Chrisr Lowndes, Rd Henderson. This deed was ack. by William Murdoch in Prince George’s County. John Read Magruder, Clk, Prince George’s County, certified that sd Christopher Lowndes and Richard Henderson, Gentlemen, were JPs for sd County. Recorded Nov 10, 1778.

I responded by saying that I may have read the name wrong, then looked back at the deed itself, showing, yes, the name is Moses Orme, not Moses Ouno as I had written in a previous post. In that previous post, focusing on the life of Benjamin Murdoch, a captain within the Extra Regiment of Maryland, I was referring to that fact that in Benjamin "later settled some of his deeds in Montgomery County in the Orphans Court with his relatives there reportedly," hinting that the William Murdoch who "bought a part of a tract named Discovery from Moses Ouno" was related to Benjamin because he would buy this land "in later years."

Page 2 of Deed between William Murdoch and Moses Orme, via MDLANDREC

The question that comes out of this is obvious: who is Moses Orme? Marshall's website lists three men named Moses Orme. The first was born on Oct 31, 1755 in Prince George's County, MD, and dying in November 1827 in Lewis County, Kentucky, and is likely related to another (his father?)who was born in 1693 in Prince George's County, and had his probate on December 17, 1772 in the same country. While the first one could be him, he had no abstracted wills in Montgomery County. The last Moses Orme does: he was born about 1730 in St. John's Parish, Prince George's County and had his probate in Rockville, Montgomery County Feb 12, 1782.

Abstracts on Orme's page, show that he had three sons (James, Moses, and Samuel Taylor), a wife named Priscilla (Verlinda seems to be his first spouse), eight daughters (Mary, Ursula, Verlinder, Rebecca, Harriet, Eleanor, Priscilla, and Charlotte). It also notes that when he wrote his will in 1772, he owned 100 acres, stock, and had at least eight enslaved Blacks, if not more (possibly four more), along with varying farm animals.He began such a lifestyle by buying, for "30 pounds sterling" a "portion of the two said tracts containing by approximation 50-1/2 acres" in 1761. By 1774, he gained more land through marriage. After his death, his son Moses, "sold by these presents part of a tract called "Taylorton" alias "Taylor's Rest" and containing 51 ¾ acres" which had been bought by his father in 1761. This Moses may the same one living in Annapolis by the 1830s.

Nothing else is currently known about this man except what is written by Florence Bayly DeWitt Howard for the Montgomery County Historical Society  in 1994 (uploaded here), also noting the history of  the Orme  family in the area:

William Murdock Junior in 1778 conveyed Shawfield, “281.5 acres,” to Moses Orme for 492 pounds 12 shillings 6 pence and in his will of 1782, Moses Orme gave “Shawfields known by the name Discovery” to his wife, Priscilla (Taylor) Orme during her widowhood, and after her death to his son James Orme. Priscilla Orme was left with three sons, one married daughter and seven younger daughters, a large family. It is not known exactly when the Ormes moved onto the tract Shawfield but Moses Orme is listed in the 1777 Montgomery County tax list in Rock Creek Hundred with four taxables. The early owners of Discovery were residents of present-day Prince George’s County and had patented and purchased it as an investment, expecting that the land would increase in value as settlers moved into the area, which it did...In 1787 William Murdock Junior, who by this time was a merchant in London, executed a deed to Priscilla Orme and her son James, which stated that Moses Orme in his lifetime contracted to purchase 281.5 acres, part of the tracts “divided between brothers William and Benjamin Murdock by virtue of a judgment in partition...all that part of said land so willed to him by his father William Murdock which was assigned to him upon the execution of the partition aforesaid.” Priscilla and James Orme had paid 500 pounds for the land and it was conveyed to them...Shawfield, the western half of the northern section of Beall and Edmonstons Discovery, was still the home of the Ormes at the time of the 1793 county tax assessment. Priscilla Orme was listed with 285 acres of Shawfield and eight slaves. By 1810, the land was assessed to her son, James Orme. James made his will in 1829, several years before his death in 1832, leaving Shawfield to his wife Rebecca during her lifetime and after her death to their three sons, Jeremiah, William and Patrick Addison Orme. He instructed his children to free his slaves when the female slaves reached the age of 30 and the male slaves at age 35. Rebecca Orme must have died by June 11, 1841, when William Orme and his wife Anna Maria Orme of Washington, D.C., Jeremiah Orme of George Town, D.C., and Patrick A. Orme and his wife Anna R. Orme of Baltimore sold the land. They conveyed, for $2800,their 281.5 acres of Shawfield to Edward Stubbs...Although the conveyance from the sons of James Orme to Stubbs did not mention it, in 1827 James had sold one acre of Discovery, just inside its north line, to William Beckett for $30, the deed stating that the land was commonly called “The Old Cabbin” and was “in the tenure of said William Beckett.”...Many families have lived on this land that was once Beall and Edmonstons Discovery: three generations of Ormes, four generations of Stubbs, and so many other families. Today the land belongs to the residents of Montgomery County and is visited by people from far and near. It has become our treasure and part of our heritage, to be cared for and enjoyed and passed on to future generations

We know from other sources that the Orme family lived in Montgomery country. We also know that Moses Orme, on the pauper list in 1783, came a "well-known, financially stable" family, and was living "in the Lower Newfoundland district."

That is all that is known, but it adds a little more to Maryland history.

© 2018-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[dr-snik]

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Dr. Snik: The Sonic Surgeon presents some of the darkest classical music of Satie, Chopin, Beethoven and Bach all in the style of Walter/Wendy Carlos with a hint of John Carpenter and Vangelis. NOCTURNES IN NEON Available NOW on Bandcamp only.. (Spotify and all other streaming sites coming soon...) https://drsnik.bandcamp.com/album/nocturnes-in-neon #nocturne #chopin #beethoven #eriksatie #bach #october #wendycarlos #johncarpenter #vangelis #darkwave #halloween #halloweenmusic #halloweenparty #halloweentown #halloweenforever #halloween🎃 #halloweeneveryday #halloweennight #halloween2022 #halloweensongs #horrorcommunity #creators #creepy #horrorlife #horrorgenre #indiehorror #soundtrack #horrorsoundtrack #musicforfilm #SpreadtheHorror https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci_AJYgpY6K/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[clove-pinks]

I was in the Metropolitan Museum of Art fashion plate library, looking for the narrow waisted, hourglass figure male silhouette of the early 19th century (in response to some fashion dolls of the period with a similar shape), and I got distracted by sleeves again.

The 1830s are, of course, one of the most outrageous and goofy-looking fashion epochs, as far as women's sleeves (bad) and voluminous hair (good). And you can absolutely see the 1820s building up to this, every year more puffed-up and padded. There was a major financial crisis in the 1830s (The Panic of 1837)—preceded by Sleeve Inflation.

1819: a hint of things to come?? (source):

1822: sleeves are demure, but the trousers are gaining volume (source):

1825: suspiciously large sleeves on this jaunty fellow (source):

1826: what is going on? (source):

1827: A sportsman, but how does he breathe with that waist? (Or that stock?) (source):

1828: how are his arms attached to his body?? (source):

Plate labeled "Gentlemen's redingotes, 1828 or 1829", he owns this look (source):

[wintermelonbear]

Into the Lion's Den

Team: Damian Dominance

Type: Fic Outline

Word count: 1827

Summary:

“Fu had warned me,

Su Han had warned me,

and yet here I am standing in the lion’s den”

A/N: Hello hello here’s an outline of a daminette fic I would love to write if I had the time or talent Obligatory Note: written for MGI Civil War 2022!

Intro:

There were three types of people to Damian wayne: the fearful, the ignorant, and the loyal.

The fearful consists of those intimidated by his wealth, power, and physique; those who averted their gaze in the hallways. To the fearful Damian was less Damian and more of a frightening Wayne, one unafraid of using his leverage in Gotham society to shut down the woefully ignorant. This group knows not to cross him, and for this reason Damian much prefers this group over the ignorant.

The ignorant constantly clung to Damian, trying to become someone to a man they knew nothing about. The girls who cling to his arm at any chance and the boys who try to start small talk with him see neither Damian nor Wayne in him. They see a prize to be won. They acknowledge his wealth and status, but in a way where it has become all consuming, overcasting any hint of Damian’s personality in the process. Growing up a tool to the league, seen as an heir and not a person, Damian has had enough of being an object.

Those loyal to him shaped Damian into the man he is today. He is not the same boy he was at 10, attempting to kill Grayson, rather now he would kill for Grayson even if his father forbids. Damian has grown to love and understand the meaning of being a part of a team and a family. From being saved mid mission gone awry by Jon or even Tim –no matter how much Damian still struggles to admit needing help to his extended family– to babysitting young Mar’i or Helena. He has learned how to cherish and be cherished by those around him. This is not to say Damian has become easy to love or agreeable even. While he has learned to let people in overtime his walls are still as high as Notre Dame itself.

Marinette’s world was much more black and white than Damian’s. To her everyone was either an enemy or ally, a toxic trait only reinforced by her role as a hero. Sure people could change, but change is not easy. It is a long and treacherous role from enemy to ally.

At 12 she had been chosen to be Ladybug, super heroine of Paris. In the following months she would be reunited with a man who apparently did know how to cross the streets.

At 14 she became the guardian of 19 small gods, almost entirely unprepared. She then learns she is not the only young guardian after becoming acquainted with others like Fei and Jessica.

At 15 after a year of struggle The Temple of the Miraculous, renamed as The Order, sends her some guidance in the form of Su-Han. They struggle to understand each other at first, but they acknowledge that the other will do anything to protect the miraculous from the hands of evil.

Master Fu and Su-Han had vastly different teaching styles. Fu encouraged Marinette to dive head first and be experimental with her role as Ladybug and Celestial Guardian of The Order. Su-Han was much more rigid in his teachings, focusing on the fundamentals, discipline, and tradition. As a guardian Marinette was somewhere in the midpoint between the two. She understood the importance of learning the basics, but sometimes rules need to be broken, and as a soul of creation her desire for innovation was never ending.

One thing Fu and Su-Han shared in their teaching was their fear of The League of Shadows. Between the temple and the league prior to Feast there was an on-going feud for control of the miraculi. In a way Fu’s mistakes were a blessing to The Order as The League, for all they knew, were still under the belief that the majority of the miraculi were gone.

From the age of 12, under the influence of these men, Marinette was taught that any members of the league were her enemies.

At 17 she had won against Hawkmoth, but lost her partner in the struggle. He now lies comatose alongside his mother in the annex of The Temple.

At 18 she meets Damian Al-Ghul Wayne and unexpectedly he turns her life on its side.

Her loyalty to the Miraculous would send her to Gotham, New Jersey for a couple of years. Gotham, the home of four league affiliates, including the demon head’s heir himself, Damian Al-Ghul Wayne. In this city and the others in surrounding states lay dormant miraculi put on display in Museums. The Order had tasked her to uproot herself and recover the Miraculi in America in a bid for grand guardianship.

She convinces her parents to let her move to the most dangerous city in America for Gotham University’s mixed business and fashion design program. Her parents insist on helping her with the move, but Marinette convinces them to stay and man the bakery, insisting that she has learned to be vigilant in the years that Paris was plagued by Hawkmoth’s reign of terror.

Their first interactions:

Damian and Marinette first cross paths at the botanical garden run by Dr.Pamela Isley herself. There is an attack, a cloud of toxins hangs in the air, and conditioned from years of vigilantism Damian wraps his hand around Marinette’s mouth in an attempt to protect a civilian, from his viewpoint most likely a tourist, from the toxins. Marinette, who has been raised to avoid any member of the League, is confused and panicked, emotions that are only intensified by the paralytic toxin she has inhaled.

Damian is unable to speak with his other hand around his own mouth and he tries to signal to Marinette that they need to get out of the area, and quickly. Marinette, unable to think clearly under the effects of the toxins, believes that Al-Ghul has sent his heir to kidnap her and begins to thrash against him. Despite her resistance Damian knows his father would never forgive him for letting a civilian throw themselves into danger and he quickly makes a mad dash towards the exit with her in his arms and quickly delivers her to a nearby ambulance before dashing off to join his siblings in the fight against Poison Ivy.

At the hospital following the attack Marinette, not wanting to seem suspicious for fighting a millionaire’s son for seemingly no reason, and also because of her guilt, ends up searching for Damian in order to apologize. He accepts her apology because he assumes it was from the influence of the Poison Ivy’s toxins.

The relationship building phase:

The second time they crossed paths was in their introductory business course. Where Damian and Marinette are partnered together. Overtime Damian notices her hesitance around topics concerning him, his father, and his older siblings Jason Todd and Cassandra Cain. At first he brushes it off as her being amongst the fearful, but then he begins to observe her actions around those considered traditionally scary, and notices her lack of fear. This confuses him further when he sees her caught up in villain attacks remaining remarkably calm.

He wants to get to know her better mainly because of his unresolved trauma of being seen like a monster in his earlier years instead of being seen as a kid.

Group Project Sub-Arc:

Fu had warned her, Su-Han had warned her, and yet here she is standing in the lion’s den itself, the Wayne manor’s living room.

She had been invited to the manor for their group project and could not find a way to worm her way out because all other coworking spaces like the cafeteria, local cafes, and library were closed early due to covid protocols, and her apartment had 19 or so little gods roaming around at all times. She runs into Jason and mildly freaks out. Jason is surprised by how scared she was of him considering her interactions with Dick, Tim, and Alfred moments early. He also has a moment of considering whether or not the Lazurus pits are still guiding him towards the path of being a monster.

Ladybug and Robin meet:

Since Marinette knows that Bruce Wayne is associated with the league of shadows she also knows that he is Batman. That means she knows that Damian Wayne is Robin. At this point she knows Damian a bit better and is a bit apprehensive about whether or not he is actually evil, and so she’s extremely cautious around Robin, but she is also professional.

As Ladybug and Robin they are work colleagues, occasionally fighting crime together with polite, curt conversation.

As the guardian, Marinette stands against Batman’s team as she steals the miraculous from various history and art exhibits as well as from private collections. They have a dynamic similar to Cat Woman and Batman.

The aftermath: At some point Marinette realizes that Damian Al-Ghul Wayne can’t be that evil, nor is most of his family, and what is that oh fuck she’s in love. She has known him from various sides: as a fellow hero, as a civilian, and as a villain.

She got to know him more and his struggles with his maternal family. Eventually she patches things up with him and they get together in their civilian lives. Damian still doesn’t know that she is Ladybug and the guardian. He also doesn’t know that she knows he is Robin.

The Reveal:

As the guardian Marinette is running from the batfam after her latest heist. In order to escape she decides to jeopardize her role as the hero Ladybug, and transform into Ladybug to escape. This is a failure and they still manage to capture her. After some time her transformation gives out, unveiling Marinette, a girl the family thought they knew well, was not only Ladybug, but also the mysterious guardian.

There is initially a lot of yelling especially between members of the batfam who are split between whether she is evil or good. Damian, personally, is a bit overwhelmed by this and can’t make a decision on either stance. Marinette eventually convinces them to give her the chance to explain and she walks through her entire journey as a hero from her recruitment at the age of 12, something the older members of the batfam wince at, to her current role as guardian. This opens a new can of worms as Marinette admits to them that she knows about their involvement with the league and that was why she was wary of them. At first those who were formerly associated were taken aback, but they understood. She couldn’t have known how they currently felt about the league without knowing them personally.

Bruce helps Marinette legally obtain the remaining miraculous using the influence of his money, Diana Prince’s role as a historian, and a couple of pseudonyms, and for once in her life Marinette has a bit of peace and normality, well minus the near weekly villains, but that was essentially her new normal.

[storiesforallfandoms]

soulmates ~ paul lahote;twilight

word count: 1827

request?: yes!

“i screamed in joy when i saw that you write for twilight as well! can i request a Paul Lahote imagine with a witch!reader? the pack are patrolling & comes across the reader who was using her magic, then Paul imprints on her while on his wolf form & he just starts rubbing his head on her? it’ll be great if the reader has a feeling that Paul is her soulmate/imprint. they meet for 2nd time after that but this time Paul is human. just a bunch of fluff!”

description: in which she meets her soulmate in his animal form and tries to find him to know who he really is

pairing: paul lahote x witch!reader

warnings: swearing

masterlist

There wasn’t much to know about her soulmate after their first meeting. He had approached her with his pack while she was trying to cast a protective spell on Forks. The pack were angry when they first saw her, baring their teeth and ready to attack. She was preparing a get away when one of the wolves stepped forward. His eyes were wide, as if he were in a trance. He had approached her, slowly and cautiously, before rubbing against her.

She wasn’t sure how she figured out that he was her soulmate. She just knew. There was a feeling she had the moment he began to rub his giant head against her, like all she wanted to do was to protect him and keep him safe. There was an unspoken agreement throughout the pack that they would not hurt (Y/N), and left instead, running as fast as possible in the other direction. Her wolf stopped long enough to look at her, longingly, over his shoulder, before he followed the pack.

Under any normal circumstances, (Y/N) would’ve thought she’d never meet her soulmate face to face, unless it was a chance encounter. But, lucky for her, both of them were anything but normal.

(Y/N) found a hair from the wolf left on her clothes, which was all she needed to cast a tracking spell. She waited until night fall as to not draw any attention to herself, and night made her spells more dramatic sometimes. She sat on the floor of her small house and closed her eyes. She focused solely on her memory of the wolf; his dark silver fur, his light brown eyes, his towering form as he approached her.

In her hand, (Y/N) held the hair that the wolf had left on her. She whispered the spell, her voice soft but focused. She began to see a vision of a house, a small house. She could see young men approaching the house, and a woman with a horribly scarred face; she was young but she was like a mother to them. She could see that the house was surrounded by forest, and there was no clear number or address of where it was.

“Come on,” she whispered to herself before continuing her spell.

Before she knew it, she was seeing the exact path from the small house to her own. She frantically grabbed for the pen and paper she had left for herself and quickly drew the route as it played over for her once more. Once she had it drawn, her eyes snapped open and she gasped. As she tried to regain her breath, she looked down to see a perfect map from her house to the place where her soulmate was. She looked at it for a long time before smiling.

In the morning, she would embark on her adventure, and she would find her soulmate.

~~~~~~

(Y/N) slowed the car to a stop in front of the house from her vision. There was barley any sign of life besides smoke coming from a chimney. There were no cars, none of the young men from her vision, nor the mother like woman. It seemed empty and she wondered if she was too late.

She got out of the car and approached the house. Her mind was screaming at her to turn around and to leave again. There was a chance she was at the wrong place, or her wolf soulmate and his pack had already up and left before she found them, but she had to know for sure. She couldn’t leave without getting some form of answers.

She knocked on the door and waited for any movement inside. (Y/N) mentally cursed at herself for not bringing the hair in case she had to do another spell. It would’ve been easier to find him from there and not to have to go all the way back to her house for a stupid hair. Luckily for her, however, the scarred woman answered the door.

(Y/N) was shocked and realized she hadn’t prepared anything to say. How did she explain why she was there without sounding insane? Lamely, she managed to force herself to say, “Hi.”

The woman looked her up and down a moment before saying, “So, you’re the one Paul won’t shut up about.”

(Y/N) was taken back by the comment. So his name was Paul, and he hadn’t stopped talking about her since their brief meeting? “I think so, I haven’t exactly gotten to know much about him yet.”

The woman smiled warmly at her. “Come in.”

She poured (Y/N) a cup of tea and introduced herself as Emily, the fiancee of the pack leader, Sam.

“The silver wolf that rubbed against you was Paul,” she explained as the two women sat at the table in the kitchen. “He’s the third in command of the pack, and the most impulsive one. The boys were shocked that he didn’t go right for an attack when he saw you.”

“That’s comforting,” (Y/N) said with an awkward chuckle.

“They didn’t know what you are,” Emily explained. “You’re a new entity to them, and you were in their territory. They were willing to protect the territory from whatever you were.”

(Y/N) nodded. That did make sense, but now she felt uncomfortable sitting in the house of a pack of werewolves if it meant they might attack her.

The sound of male voices approaching the house drew the attention of both women. (Y/N) was tempted to flee before they arrived, but she wanted to meet Paul face to face. She wanted to see the human face of her soulmate, to learn more about him, and she didn’t want to fear his friends.

The men came into the house, roughhousing and laughing. They all seemed to stop simultaneously when they noticed that Emily wasn’t alone, and they came to recognize who was sat with her.

“Gentlemen,” Emily started, smiling softly at them. “This is (Y/N).”

One of the men stepped away from the group to approach her. (Y/N) rose from her seat, looking deep into his brown eyes. It didn’t take long to clue in that this was her wolf, her soulmate. She could tell just by looking at him.

“You found us,” he finally said. His voice sounded like music to her ears.

She chuckled. “I did. You left a helpful hint behind on my clothes.”

(Y/N) held out the silver fur that Paul had left on her. He looked at her in amazement, wanting to reach out to touch her to prove that she was real. He hesitated. This was the first time they were truly meeting, he didn’t want to scare her away so quickly.

“How did you find us?” one of the pack members asked.

“And what are you?” another added. (Y/N) could tell by the authority in his voice that he was the alpha, Sam.

“I’m a witch,” she responded. “As far as I know I’m the only of my kind here in Forks.”

The pack looked skeptical, except for Paul, who was still entranced by (Y/N).

“I’m not here to hurt anyone,” she continued. “When you caught me in the field, I was casting a protective spell over Forks. I’ve heard of the animal attacks, the ones that aren’t exactly animals. I was hoping to cast a spell to protect the people of Forks and to cast whatever, or whoever, is behind those attacks out. You interrupted me when you arrived.”

“Forks doesn’t need your witchy voodoo, they have us,” one of the younger members of the pack spoke.

“Embry,” Sam said, sternly. He turned to face Paul and the two of them shared a look. “I think you two should talk in private.”

Paul turned to (Y/N) to ask, “Want to go for a walk?”

~~~~~~

The two walked in silence through the woods for some time. Neither really knew what to say. What do you say when you’re meeting your soulmate for the first time?

“I feel like we both have a lot of questions,” Paul finally said, breaking the tense silence.

“Not many I can think of, but I’m sure more will come up,” (Y/N) agreed. “What do you want to know?”

“Why did you come find me?”

“Witches believe that everyone has a soulmate, but when you’re a witch or a wizard, you actually know when you’ve met your soulmate. There’s this feeling of electricity when you touch for the first time, a desire to spend all your time with that person, to know as much about them as you possibly could. I was hoping to be able to actually talk to you, but you and the pack ran off so quickly. I was left to my own devices to find you.”

“A spell, I’d assume.”

(Y/N) nodded. “There’s a spell to track people, but only to where they normally reside. There’s no way to track them to their exact location, which is why I took a chance coming here to see if I could find you.”

Paul moved in close enough that his arm brushed (Y/N). She felt another spark of electricity, confirming her suspicions that he was supposed to be her soulmate.

“About the pack,” she continued. “Emily mentioned that I was in your territory, and usually the pack attacks non-humans in their territory. Why didn’t you guys attack me? Why were you so reserved when you approached me?”

“Shifters also have something like soulmates, except we call it Imprinting,” Paul explained. “It came happen whenever, to whoever. There’s never a warning, a premonition. You see the person and you just...you know. You’re connected to them for life, whether it’s romantically, platonically, in a sort of brotherly way. However the person they’ve imprinted on wants them to be. Once someone in the pack has imprinted, there’s this rule that the rest of the pack leaves that person alone. Even if you were something dangerous, the pack would have to leave you be since I imprinted on you.”

(Y/N) nodded along to Paul’s explanation. “Anything the imprintee wants to be, huh?”

Paul stopped and turned to look at her, causing (Y/N) to stop walking as well. “Anything, which leads to the question of us. What do you want us to be?”

(Y/N) didn’t take much time to think it over. Instead, she took Paul’s face in her hands and pulled him to her, pressing her lips against his. It caused that stereotypical feeling of fireworks that is always mentioned in romance novels, except (Y/N) new that was the electricity of their soulmate bond.

Paul held her to him as he pulled away, resting his forehead against hers.

“Is that a good enough answer?” she asked, a cheeky grin on her face.

Paul smiled back. “That was the answer I was hoping for.”