#lwa imagine

[zafirosreverie]

You’re not her (Ursula Callistis x F!Reader)

warning: spoilers for the series (even though you could see it coming since the first chapter) So don't read if you haven't seen the anime.

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"Blue suited you better"

The woman in front of you jumped and turned quickly, you didn’t bother to suppress the smile on your face at her little squeal. You might be furious with her, but you couldn't help but admit that she was still just as adorable as the last time you saw her.

"Y-Y/N! H-hi" she awkwardly greeted you

"Hi" you smiled

You crossed your arms, your smile never fading, and you watched her squirm uncomfortably under your gaze. She didn't even have to say anything for you to know that she was thinking the same thing as you: I missed you.

You had met Chariot when you were traveling in France, although she was using another name at the time. The details of the beginning of your friendship were fuzzy, probably because it had been in a bar and you had a couple of drinks on you, but the intensity was something that would stick with you until death.

Your dry sense of humor had captivated the other witch, and you couldn't help but be drawn to the mystery in her eyes, a pair of crimson gems laden with guilt, sadness, and a hint of dull hope. You hadn't known it at the time, but it was the look of someone who had had everything, lost it, and hurt so many people along the way, including you. You had fallen for her trick like the rest of the world, and although the story was already known everywhere, the truth was that your mind could never get used to the idea that Chariot Du Nord and Ursula Callistis were the same person.

And maybe it was better that way. You had loved Ursula as you had never loved anyone before, her simplicity had amazed you and you would always remember with great affection the afternoons you had spent reading, cooking, or simply cuddling with her, doing everything on your part to make her feel loved, important and safe.

But Chariot...Chariot was a complete stranger to you. You knew her legend, the character who had captivated children and adults alike, but you had no idea who she was, and it hurt to lose the love of your life in such a way.

"Y/N?" she asked carefully

You blinked a bit, coming out of your reverie and feeling how the last ghosts of your smile disappeared completely. You had known that it would be difficult to come to Luna Nova, to see her again, but you had thought that you would be strong enough not to break.

"I'm sorry" you said, looking away.

"N-no, no, it's alright" she smiled awkwardly.

"It’s just-"

You sighed, you didn't even know why you were trying. She had made it clear where she was with you, that she hadn't loved you as you loved her, that your presence in her life had been a stop on the road and nothing more. And yet, you felt that you at least deserved a proper goodbye.

"You still have that look" you said more to yourself than to her

"H-huh?"

"The same broken look, guilty but intensely hopeful" you smiled sadly, looking into her eyes again "It was my Ursula’s" you whispered

You could feel the second that she registered the meaning of your words because the air around you changed as if a current of magic passed through you and linked you to her. It didn't matter if the woman couldn't fly anymore, you still felt her as intensely as when you first met her.

"Y/N I-" she gasped, clenching her fists against her chest "I’m s-sorry. I-I shouldn't have left like that, I-I meant to tell you, b-but-"

"It's okay" you interrupted her "...I'm glad you can at least rest now, that you don't have to hide anymore, and well, that you're back to being who you really are...Chariot"

Pronouncing that name left a terrible taste in your mouth and you immediately felt the magic around you turn sour. Seeing the tears pool in those crimson eyes that you loved so much took you by surprise.

"Are you alright?"

"No" she cut you off, raising her voice more than she intended to "Sorry, just...d-don't call me that"

"It's your name...your real name"

"It doesn't feel like that" she admitted "...at least not when you say it"

You stared at her for a few seconds, feeling your blood warm with a mixture of guilt, sadness, and deep down a bit of anger. This woman had given you the whole world only to cruelly take it from you, she had no right to sound so broken and helpless.

"...I knew it was a bad idea to accept teaching here" you sighed "but I can't back out now, so... lets at least try to be civil"

She looked at you as if you had just slapped her and the tears were already running slowly and silently down her cheeks. You wanted so badly to clean them, caress her cheek, hug her and tell her everything would be okay. But it wasn't your place anymore and you could barely breathe, much less take care of her.

"Do you really think blue suited me better?" she asked, her voice barely audible

"yes...but that was my Ursula" you smiled sadly "it's not you, Chariot"

"Don't call me-"

"I can't call you something else" you cut her off "it's your name, and even if it hurts both of us, I'm going to have to get used to using it"

"I could go back to blue"

"We both know it's not about your hair" you said "She's gone...the idea I had of you, what I thought was real...I fell in love with a person who never existed. Ursula is gone and I...I don't know who you are, Chariot, but I do know that you're not the woman I fell in love with"

You could feel the temperature drop suddenly as if all the winter that had settled in your heart since the day she left had finally found its way out and was threatening to engulf the entire world in a new ice age.

She looked at you with an intensity that mirrored your own, and you both knew you were crossing a sacred line, that you were undoing what magic had brought together. But you had no other choice, simply, she was not her, even though she had the same face, the same eyes.

"Y/N-"

"I'm sorry" you said, brushing past her when your tears began to come "have a nice day, Professor Du Nord"

You walked out of there quickly, heart racing, head spinning, and not the courage to look back. You couldn't, not when you could perfectly feel the other woman's heart breaking, and especially not when her voice was Ursula's.

__________________

a/n: you can tell I loved her more as Ursula and it broke my heart to lose her ;-;

[rawrroarart]

seeing if I can still draw

[tanuki-pyon]

What up LWA fandom :) I got something here I've been working on for almost 4 years now, started like kind of a silly thing I wanted to make for aesthetics and ended up being my biggest project so far. I wanted to share them here, but I'll be uploading them without a watermark on my patreon soon too.

This is kind of a love letter from me to the show and the people I've shared this interest with. LWA has helped me to grow so much as an artist and a person since back in 2020, when I first joined discord and met a lot of wonderful people who welcomed me as a fellow fan and a friend :)

Idk what else to say, I know the fandom is currently not as active as it was a couple of years ago, but I'm happy I got to finish these, at least for myself and the people still going around who love these characters as much as I do.

[vinzul]

Part 15/?

Happy Diakko Week's Eve everyone ✨✨✨

I changed the inking process, lmk if you like the other one more!

Flats and plotting to overturn systems by @almoris

kofi

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[blee-bleep]

Little does everyone know - Diana has a small cache of objects she took from Akko; even Akko doesn't know.

anon, you are so fucking correct

[sharkbatez]

Ursula trying to teach Akko magic, defending her from co-teachers wanting to expel Akko for not being able to do the most basic of spells, skirting her teaching responsibilities to cover for Akko because Ursula's afraid of having another thing taken away from Akko because Akko can't do magic at all because Ursula unknowingly stole her magical ability when they were younger.

I gotta lie down.

[widdlediddle2]

Akko sneezed

Okay wanted to share my royalty au and the change to akko i did

now that akko was born from the stars she actually holds very powerful magic but she doesnt understand it therefore she doesnt know how to control it.

so often chariot or croix would find her doing something weird like floatin around the castle, making her toys levitate or even making one of the maids float!

both chariot and croix have not seen this type of magic before and try their best to help her but unfortunately it grows with each passing day.

But strangely now that akkos a teenager she doesnt have that problem anymore heck she cant even fly on a broom but for some reason akko doesnt remember having magic in the first place. eh it was probably her imagination

[ace-the-fox]

Me: Already has a wizard oc for Andrew's other parent

Also me: Omg wait what if Daryl Cavendish was his mom–

[revveyimagines]

Masterlist

Requests: Open!

Attack on Titan

-

Black Butler

-

The Case Study of Vanitas

-

Chainsaw Man

-

Code Geass

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Danganronpa

-

Death Note

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Demon Slayer

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Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss

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Hellsing Ultimate

- Yandere!Captain x reader - https://www.tumblr.com/revveyimagines/760703110764216320/

- Yandere!Alexandere Anderson x reader - https://www.tumblr.com/revveyimagines/760704208325558272/

JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure

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Jujutsu Kaisen

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My Hero Academia

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Soul Eater

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~

[haminjago]

Imagine All Might (or Small Might) eating an ice cream cone and getting some melted ice cream on his badonkers

some toshi doodles and an answer to an ask lol

also recently started rewatching little witch academia... if I had a nickel for every anime I've watched so far that has a mentor figure who used to be a massive deal and has since become a school teacher, a lovable main character that doesn't have powers but still manages to prove themselves regardless, ✨magic✨, rivalries that blossom into more, and the fact that both shows have the word 'academia' in it, i'd have two nickels. which isnt a lot but its weird that its happened twice.

anyways might post some lwa fanart soon who knows :3

[thesherrinfordfacility]

LWA: I was thinking this afternoon about Aziraphale's plot trajectory in S2, and along the way stumbled over a different Crowley problem. Namely, this: what is Crowley /actually/ modeling for Aziraphale when it comes to working out his relationship to Heaven? Because there does seem to be a vague fandom consensus that Crowley embodies a radically oppositional relationship to "the system" (hence the meme that was going around about "the system must be dismantled" over Crowley's photo), whereas Aziraphale thinks of himself entirely within the system and can therefore only imagine reforming it. In this model, Aziraphale's inability to disentangle himself from Heaven can be conceptualized sympathetically, as a trauma response to abuse, or negatively, as moral obtuseness. But this doesn't map onto either the scripts or the novel, and definitely doesn't take into account that in the novel, the character who finally sets out the possibility of actual resistance is...Aziraphale.

The Crowley problem is that Crowley /at no point/ articulates any way of dismantling the system and rarely imagines himself existing outside of it. Instead, what Crowley tries to teach Aziraphale how to do is to construct himself as an individual negotiating the system through technicalities, rules-lawyering, outright deceit, and sometimes full compliance. In other words, going along with Heaven or Hell as far as he can, as per the Job minisode. The Arrangement subverts the Heaven/Hell dichotomy only up to the point that it exposes how both "sides" are structurally and even morally identical--"the Authorities didn't seem much to care who did anything, so long as it got done" (44)--but it doesn't provide a means of undoing Heaven or Hell as political entities. Arguably, the Arrangement lends itself to political cynicism and stasis: if the sides are interchangeable, and there is no movement except from one side to the other, then why bother moving at all? Crowley's resistance explicitly occurs /within/ the constraints of his work, which he canonically enjoys doing when it doesn't involve killing people (see: his pride in both the series and the novel over the telephone network takedown and the M25). In the Job minisode, he offers Aziraphale the possibility of disidentification and disaffection as a means to "carve out" (to borrow from S2e1) a space within an oppressive system, while still belonging to that system and even taking satisfaction from it. As of S2, he is /still/ indirectly working with Hell by tutoring Shax in exchange for information, and during the backroom discussion about Muriel he twice dismissively refers to Aziraphale and Heaven as "you lot." (Aziraphale calling Crowley and Hell the "bad guys" in S2e6 mirrors this moment.) He still, at some level, has not thought himself out of the Heaven/Hell dichotomy. Moreover, the speed with which he retreats to "carved out for myself" in S2e1 suggests that extending the language of "sides" to the two of them continues the problem instead of solving it: any major argument leads to the dissolution of "the side."* In the novel and S1, part of Adam's complaint at the airfield is that the whole concept of sides squaring off against each other is ridiculous; it's never been clear to me that the writing endorses Crowley's decision to just conceptualize them as yet another side, if the side needs to be in lockstep agreement in order to function.

Crowley's only alternative is full exit, "going off" somewhere. This poses two problems: there's "nowhere to go," as Aziraphale wearily points out in S1e3, and it leaves the system intact to oppress another day. In S2, it's unclear if Gabriel and Beelzebub will successfully "go off" for long, as they are warned onscreen that Heaven and Hell will hunt them down. Moreover, Crowley's enthusiasm for following in their energy trails is a sign of his moral limitations, which have not improved since s1 (in which, as per Gaiman and Tennant, he has no real character arc): in wanting to emulate the two "awful" characters who decide to pack off and enjoy themselves with no gratitude to Aziraphale for endangering himself, no sign that they think of anything they did over the millennia as /wrong/, and no care for anything they leave behind, Crowley inadvertently reveals that he is still trapped in the "responsibility for my actions? what responsibility?" mentality he has in both the novel and all through S1. *drags the unresolved child murder subplot from S1 out of storage, shakes it around, throws it back into storage* I know that since S1, some fans have objected that there's nothing wrong with "going off" like this, but while that's no doubt true in a general real-world sense, that has nothing to do with Crowley's narrative function as a character.

I think you can see where I'm going with this. Aziraphale's decision to return to Heaven to "make a difference" is, awkwardly enough, absolutely compatible with Crowley's own example. Crowley has not taught him how to fully resist the system, let alone dismantle it: he has taught him that the only two options are creating a fiction of personal independence within the system or packing off entirely, both of which leave Heaven and Hell fully intact. Nothing about returning to Heaven to "make a difference" conflicts with "going. along" with Heaven until he can't, as "making a difference" implies that it may be possible to expand the "going along" until there is no "can't"! Aziraphale's insight in the novel is that even as disaffected, disidentified workers, they are still complicit in Heaven's and Hell's violence and are therefore obligated to remain in order to resist Satan. This is a "hard saying" (John 6:60), but TV!Aziraphale's not-entirely-free decision** to leave for Heaven in order to "make a difference"--a decision that he certainly doesn't execute well!--rests on a sense of moral obligation that moves him further along the road to this point.

/Pace/ Nina and Maggie, through S1 and even S2 they mostly communicate just fine. What they do not do just fine is serious disagreement. The only major S1 miscommunication occurs in 1862/1967, and it occurs /because/ they're represented as not knowing how to work through this kind of argument without immediately jumping to conclusions, losing their tempers, failing to hear each other out, etc. See also S1e3, S2e1, and S2e6.

** This is an epic-length ask, so I'll stop, but the Metatron's proposal looks /back/ to Crowley's conversation with Beelzebub in s2e1 and /across/ to Maggie's and Nina's conversation with Crowley in s2e6. Nina calls Aziraphale Crowley's "partner" and the Metatron refers to their relationship as a "partnership"; both of them insist that the solution to the problem is to talk; and the resulting car crash results from selective hearing and misunderstanding on /both/ Crowley's and Aziraphale's parts (Crowley fails to apply Nina's message about abusive relationships to both Aziraphale and himself; Aziraphale misinterprets Crowley's dislike of Hell as a desire to return to Heaven).

hi LWA!!!✨ as an unrelated aside, you wouldn't believe the sheer amount of illegible notes ive had to take in order to plan out a response to this - there is so much to unpack! will try to keep things as coherent as possible, but will be jumping around back and forth a fair bit.

so the first thing that springs to mind is that by definition, crowley does not at all strike me as a radical in any sense, whether as a personal attribute or as political ideology (so to speak). i want to go into this later on, but i completely agree with your assessment - crowley seems to actively like being a demon, is a successful one, and/or at least takes unbridled satisfaction and enjoyment from it. he benefits from his place in the system, which i still think (by the by) is reasonably well-established in the hellish food chain, and he even goes beyond being a 'standard' demon by completing his work to a higher 'class' of diabolicalness than his contemporaries. he takes pride in this, as you said (another demonic trait, if we want to reductively categorise 'demonic-ness' solely by the seven sins), and is implied to see it as a particular skill or craft.

aziraphale on the other hand (as, again, i want to look at later on, but i think given the length of this ask might need to be a separate post? idk let's see how we go), seems to be the one of the two that actually resists his inherent and traditional (ie. angelic) nature, and presents as the most radical out of the both of them. he constantly toes the company line, and does things outside the scope of being an angel that his own contemporaries have outright mocked or condemned. if anything, aziraphale seems to be oppressed by his being an angel. the issue is that because of aziraphale's usually prominent nature of being a good person (note: not a good angel, but person), he still endeavours to see the best in everyone. it highlights his occasional naivety, although i do think he has become less and less naive than the audience gives him credit for. the fact that he still believes in heaven's mission statement of being the side of good isn't stupidity, i don't think it's even naivety - i just seems to me that he's holding out hope that there is still good at all. i would like to think that this hope holds; reality is, and GO would be, a depressing place without it.

back to crowley, however, and his place in the system. look - i don't want to go so far as to liken crowley to champagne socialism, but fuck it - im going to. crowley eloquently countered the concept of poverty being a virtue in the resurrectionist minisode, does it to teach aziraphale a lesson. but he doesn't, at any point as far as i can recall, pursue any avenue in which he combats this or any other unfairness existent in the world, despite evidently thinking that it is unfair. he is quick to reproach aziraphale for his ridiculous purview on human suffering, but does not do anything to set an example to aziraphale on what the alternative, 'right' thing is.

wilde made a valid point on his essay on socialism, in that elaborate and contrived altruism is a symptom of capitalist society; it's all very well to remedy the injustice and suffering forced upon those with little means to rectify it themselves, but if you don't resolve the root of the issue, the issue will persist. it's not a stretch to consider that crowley might see heaven in similarly cynical way; that they will act with charity and righteousness, but it means nothing when it does not right the wrong in the first place.

but crowley does not do this either; he recognises that the system is redundant, and that both spell equal disaster for all under its shadow... and yet a) he continues to directly benefit from it, even in s2, and b) when given an opportunity to change or even remove it, he resolves that the only solution for him (and aziraphale) is to run from it altogether. it's understandable why he wants to run, but it doesn't place him in a standing where he has any credible superiority over aziraphale choosing to make a difference (even if it may, likely, end up being futile). so, yes, as you said - crowley has once again shot himself in the foot by highlighting to aziraphale the very problem that means they cannot be free to exist as they want, and then acting *shocked pikachu* when aziraphale decides he wants to change that very thing.

continuing with a laboured political analogy here, crowley's actions, his speech, and his behaviour absolutely marks him as an individualist. despite what i think the fandom likes to portray him as, he does not appear to represent any indication of collectivism (and imo is worlds apart from acting in any capacity that would place him on the marxist-communist spectrum). aziraphale, despite his aesthetic appearances and tastes - and possibly even more impactful because of this - is much more the 'anti-capitalist' in his actions, particularly by the end of s2. i don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that he may even be teetering on the edge of social anarchism, which could be an exciting development for his character going into s3.

but getting back on track with the narrative; crowley is still working within the system, yes. i think in some part it comes back to crowley thinking that he is smarter than everyone else in hell, which is manifestly not the case. at best, he has scored a couple of hits against slightly less able (?) demons in s1, but both shax and furfur demonstrate in s2 that they have some ability in keeping up with him, even on occasion out-manoeuvring him. he seems to labour under the misapprehension in s2 that hell will leave him alone after the apocalypse, because of what aziraphale 'negotiated' for him at the end of s1:

so, thinking that hell itself is no longer interested in him, and at best is terrified of him, he thinks he can exploit them by trying to get intel from shax (who is doing the same to him - and, if the end of ep3 is any indication, does it arguably better than he does). ultimately this leads him to knowing that something is going on in heaven, but aziraphale knows about this anyway by the time crowley has an opportunity to spill the tea (another excellent irony).

what i also think is particularly insightful is that in response to beelzebub offering him a high-position in hell (possibly, given the gabriel-beelzebub context, even the highest position), crowley doesn't exactly reject it based on any preconceived notion that he is outside the system/has any moral or radical objection to it. his immediate response to the implied offer is:

"Doesn't actually sound like the sort of thing you're likely to say..."

i think it's clear that crowley is the one with the actual power, here, given how adamant and desperate beelzebub acts in the scene for a sliver of intelligence on gabriel's whereabouts... even without knowing the romantic subplot context, i don't think crowley could fail to pick up that he could literally do or say anything, and beelzebub would probably let it slide, because they need him. so, why doesn't he outright reject the proposal they put before him, in the room? why does he skirt around an answer? well, it's a card that he can put in his back pocket, and it literally keeps his foot in the door despite his protests to the contrary in ep6:

"I certainly don't need them! Look, they asked me back to Hell, I said "no!" - I won't be joining their team; neither should you!"

... crowley, literally or figuratively, does not say this when beelzebub makes their offer. so, if this - what he says in ep6 - is how he viewed said offer, why didn't he say that? why does he continue to entertain being within the system? (foreshadowing for s3? to mirror aziraphale? hmmm...)

the simplified dynamic proposed to us, at the very beginning of GO (albeit the narrative immediately launches into depicting the irony of this), of angels vs. demons, of heaven vs. hell, is that they represent good and evil respectively. so, the fact that aziraphale is presented as an angel with a bastard streak, and crowley as a demon with a hidden goodness, would suggest that they are both going against the factions that they - in the general sense - belong to. however, in a lot of respects, this is almost a double-blind.

from this introduction to modern-era crowley, you could even infer that he is in agreement with hell on armageddon, at least until the point that a) it is suddenly, actually happening, and crowley is forced to consider what it would mean (i.e. rather a crucial Dead Whale to be confronted with), and b) he is being directly dragged into it; he doesn't to be involved, nor bear any responsibility for it.

the world ending is an okay prospect for him when it's in the abstract, but when he realises that it would mean losing the world and humanity, and specifically all that it offers him, does he consider thwarting it - and enlisting aziraphale to help him do so. he doesn't suggest any notion of the apocalypse being unfair or cruel on humanity itself*, from a truly altruistic perspective that would actually put him in direct contrast to what a demon 'should' be; his only resistance to it appears to be out of what he personally stands to lose.

(*the only time he, as far as i can remember off the top of my head, shows any strong moral objection to the apocalypse is in his monologue to god about testing humanity to destruction. but this feels, in this context, to be borne less out of selfless empathy for humanity, and more as a projection of his fall, and a personal criticism of god... interesting thought, especially when you also look at how he talks to the plants/job's goats)

and that's the thing - he does ultimately seem to enjoy being a demon. he takes pride in working at what he considers a higher, more sophisticated level - the phone network, for example, in contrast to hastur and ligur's acts of lustful temptation and corruption respectively, which just like the M25 comes round to bite him on the arse. it's interesting to note ligur's line about craftsmanship because, really, despite crowley falling afoul of his own work, the 'pranks' he plays are particularly fiendish to the modern human (as is, of course, being set on fire on the motorway, but we move).

satan himself explains that he values crowley's specific brand of demon-ness, thought the M25 was an excellent idea, and even seems to deliberately feature it in the end crescendo of armageddon... crowley never intended that, sure, but by his very nature? he's a rather good/talented demon without even really trying... and seems to relish it. his perception of being a higher class of demon, as a direct result of his experience of being on earth and around humans, is equally shown in the two below statements:

because look; the way crowley puts this across is that he has a hard line when it comes to murder... but given the antichrist incident (*shakes it like a magic-8 ball, as if it's going to tell us anything different*) and various other examples (french guard, graveyard watchmen) where crowley just seems straight-up chilled about people being killed, even a child, i think we can reliably surmise that it's not exactly out of any hidden moral meaning (or at least, not entirely so). no, i think it's more to do with his statement to ligur - he literally just thinks it's beneath him.

death isn't enjoyable for him, it's not as fun, but not because he has any moral objection to it; it's just not as inventive or clever. with the tadfield manor scene, the fact that he thinks nothing of leaving the humans to be arrested for his prank (which he literally did in the first place just to prove a point to aziraphale) speaks more that this kind of result is what he considers to be more refined in terms of demonic activity, rather than out-and-out slaughter.

then we consider the pride he seems to take in his temptations - particularly of aziraphale. interpretations of sexual subtext aside for a moment, he is evidently proud of his tempting aziraphale to eat in s2, but also his ability to manoeuvre him into accepting the arrangement, by means of playing on their mutual sloth tendencies (another sin for the bingo card), and convincing aziraphale to thwart armageddon, by means of playing into aziraphale's fastidiousness to be seen as thwarting 'evil wiles' in the eyes of heaven (and yeah, the threat of hearing the sound of music for eternity - understandable).

but none of these have been for aziraphale's benefit, not entirely. he exploits the angle where aziraphale could benefit from it, but he doesnt read as doing any of these things out of solely wanting to open aziraphale's eyes to the world; it's not out of kindness or selflessness. as time goes on, he ends up doing things for aziraphale without there being benefit to himself - hamlet, the paintball stain - but then again, you could argue that it's entirely so that aziraphale would be pleased with him, would be grateful to him, and equally like him as crowley, as well as owe crowley a favour down the line. his line about owing aziraphale a lunch in recompense for 1793 suggests that crowley does, in some part, think transactionally.

suffice to say that after all of this (and tbh i could probably go on for longer), crowley isn't teaching aziraphale anything about being outside the system. crowley in fact seems to revel from being inside it. he doesnt state at any point that hell is right or wrong, but is very clear that he thinks heaven is the bane of their existence. that's not necessarily untrue, but the only time he even flickers on the concept that maybe the whole circus is redundant is at the very beginning of s2... and revisits it again at the end.

there is a very fine line between acting individualistically within the system and exploiting certain aspects of it, and "going along with hell as far as [he] can". the latter suggests that there is a breaking point to be had, the 'far as he can'. and to be fair, it does appear that crowley has one - the end of the world. three times, under the knowledge that the end times are nigh, crowley proposes they leg it; twice with the apocalypse in s1, and with knowledge of the second coming in s2 (which, as a reminder, he doesn't inform aziraphale about). as you say though, aziraphale still hasn't reached his.

but crowley's reason is intertwined with aziraphale himself; aziraphale has always demonstrated up to this point his sense of obligation to stay behind to fight, to try to resolve things and work out a way to save everything and everyone - even to the sacrifice of his own personal happiness. even beyond a sense of obligation, i think aziraphale just feels that it's, ultimately, the right thing to do - another lesson that crowley taught him; to do what aziraphale considers to be right, despite what anyone else tells him.

aziraphale wants to be with crowley, that is never in question, but the method in which either of them ever sees this as being a reality is so irreconcilable that there's no solution to it. aziraphale was, absolutely, asking something inconceivable of crowley - but the fact remains that crowley demonstrates that he will not sacrifice himself for any concept of a future where there is no necessity to simply 'go along as far as he can'. it's a boundary crowley has drawn, and rightly so, but that doesn't automatically mean that aziraphale must surrender his own boundary in kind.

crowley's response to reaching this point is to abandon the situation altogether, which not only shows that he has learnt nothing about aziraphale from s1 in this respect, but it also doesn't change a single thing about the circumstances they find themselves in... and it would only be a temporary solution. even if he and aziraphale were to run, to essentially seek sanctuary elsewhere... well, where could they possibly go, and what force exists that could grant it to them? aziraphale recognises this, and i think crowley secretly does too, but doesn't - once again - want to address it.

last note, before i continue talking myself in circles - i find it interesting how flimsy the concept of 'their side' seems to be; in s1, aziraphale is the one to reject it when crowley pushes it at the bandstand, when aziraphale is still very much hanging onto the faith that heaven might see reason. and then, in s2, when it seems that, in the four years that has passed, aziraphale has relaxed enough re: clapback from heaven to fully accept what 'their side' means. however, crowley quickly retracts it in ep1 when aziraphale isn't acquiescing to him re: sheltering gabriel, out of what im perceiving is self-preservation.

but the hurt with which aziraphale remarks on this retraction seems like it was a rather cutting betrayal (that, surprise surprise, is not even addressed), and it's not really any wonder that aziraphale withdraws, offering crowley instead an opportunity to leave, whilst making plain how disappointed he is. crowley then reacts with indignation that aziraphale would essentially dismiss him, "oh, right, this is how you wanna do it?", as if that's not the very thing he himself was intimating a moment previous. as you noted is remarked by adam - the concept of having a side at all, if it's this weak and delicate (and frankly, outgunned by heaven and hell collectively), is patently ridiculous.

[rockofeye]

And what now?

I accidentally became a bit of a hermit. It certainly wasn't intentional or even really desired, but life moved in and sat squarely on my chest for the last few years. The load has lifted and shifted a bit, and so it is time for me to stretch out the places that became a bit atrophied and find my feet again.

For just over three years, most of my energy and mental effort went towards battling US immigration on behalf of my husband's visa. I tend to keep the things that are hard private, but...boy, the battle of a life time. It wasn't that there was something to do every day (more of a hurry up and wait situation), but more that trying to balance two households in two different countries with jobs, spiritual responsibilities, and generally trying to remain a person versus a screaming wraith on top of the creeping horror that is processes with the United States government was about all I could handle.

Dealing with USCIS and the National Visa Center and their general lack of fucks for the lives of US citizens and their families was way more than I could ever have imagined it would be. I would wait months and months for an acceptance letter, and then months and months for another acknowledgement, and then almost two years for the interview that would give approval for my husband to come live here. I spoke with senators and representatives and lawyers and advocated and basically anyone who would listen, and the reality is that USCIS and the National Visa Center operate extralegally and are not held accountable by anyone.

Double down with that the US has a real shitty mindset towards Haiti and Haitians, COVID, and the rapid crumbling of infrastructure in Haiti, and it took me taking my case to federal court to get them to give me the goddamn date for the interview that, by the time they gave it to me, was a formality. We've been married for just over 5 years and the stacks of proof of our relationship go past my waist, and he went into the interview with a suitcase full of receipts and photos and documents so they could not say no.

Alongside all of that, Haiti has suffered. There's no electricity, no water, sometimes no phone signal, the price of food skyrockets, hospitals had no doctors, and sometimes there was not even money to be found to fulfill transfers sent to support the people you care about. I'm honestly impressed that I made it to the other side, because there were times I really didn't think I would and where I spent a lot of time on the proverbial floor unable to do more than propel myself through my daily responsibilities.

However, in June, I spent a few weeks in Haiti while my husband went to the embassy, got his visa, and then folded his life in Haiti into a suitcase and got on a plane back to Boston with me. Another type of work unfolded as we both begin to adjust to new life; him to a new country and new culture and new language and new weather, me to having a new physical presence in my life. It's something that I wasn't sure would ever arrive, honestly, and it's arrival gave me the opportunity to fall on the floor in a new way: I don't have to hold everything up anymore. I spent the first few weeks looking at my husband and occasionally poking him because none of it seemed real.

My lwa are the only reason this became a reality. I pushed them hard to resolve the situation how I wanted. There were a lot of barriers (A LOT) and working up against an government juggernaut is fucking hard as hell, but they did it. I wasn't great about it all and there were more than a few times when my prayers started with 'listen, I am tired of bringing this to you' and yet they still entertained my exhaustion and frustration with not too much eyerolling.

I won, and I am grateful.

I recently sat with my lwa and told them it's time for something new. I finished this work, and there are some new things on the horizon, known and unknown. I have the mental space to create again and there is renewed studio space in the room where my lwa and his lwa live. I get to read books again. I get to plan for a future that I wasn't sure would arrive.

There are new things almost ready to come to fruition. There's a website getting built and there will be a SubStack and classes coming. While all of this was going on, a new book was published with one of my pieces in it, detailing my religious history and conversion to sèvis lwa. It feels good to journey back to my Self and to journey to what my Self will be.

[almacambiondaughterofsaleos]

This is a weird idea and I don’t know if it’s good but here goes.

Imagine a version of Alastor who has this crazy overlord magic but it’s not voodoo, but he does have some voodoo jewelry under his clothes, and it turned out his mother was a priestess of Haitian voodoo who immigrated to Louisiana because that’s the only part of America that also has a notable voodoo culture, and he regularly attempts to contact Lwa, but he doesn’t feel them here. He describes at one point the afterlife of the Voodoo Religion, a place in Africa that they don’t actually know anything about, and reflects on the nature of Christian heaven and hell a bit, and that’s a whole thing. At the end of his character arc he saves everyone and dies and they think he’ll be reborn as a heaven spirit, and the angels know his soul passed, but instead of it ending up in heaven it’s a metaphysical boat to Africa and her mother is there ushering him in, and no none of them know where he’s gone.

I dunno, it’s a concept. Better than using Voodoo as creepy symbols to make him seem evil when no one even knows what they are without googling them.

In my opinion, at least Kalfu should have ties to hell due to being tied with Lucifer and Satan.

[the-girl-who-didnt-smile]

Retconned Names for “The Loa” (Hazbin Hotel)

I’ve decided to retcon the names of my DeviantArt OCs. These are their new names: 

Papa Legba (Papa Lébat) → Big Papa / The Doorkeeper

Damballah → Sir Duke / Grandfather Serpent

Baron Samedi → Baron of the Dead

Maman Brigitte → Gran Maman

Erzulie Dantor → Lady Love

Ogun (Ogou Feray) → Ironman

Erzulie Freda → Lady Rose

("The Baron of Death" and "Maman la Vie" are Scrapped Concepts. They are now demons named "Lanmò" and "Lavi")

They mostly have song-themed names now.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure!!!

To signify their importance to 19th century New Orleans Vodou, the characters inspired by Papa Legba and Damballah each have two names. Sir Duke is also called Grandfather Serpent, as a reference to “Grandfather Rattlesnake”, who probably has a common origin with Damballah. 

For now, I am still calling them “The Loa”, but I’m fine with changing this to “lesser gods” if that’s offensive. It’s pretty obvious who inspired the lesser gods!

I rant about the rationale behind this decision below the cut: 

After thinking about this seriously, I think it is irresponsible to name these characters after the actual deities.

I’ve grappled with this dilemma, since this really does break the naming convention of this show. If the St. Peter-type character is still named “St. Peter”, why should an exception be made? Because Vodou isn’t like Christianity. Christianity is the majority religion in America, and many other places in the world; Vodou is a minority religion that has this horrible history of demonization and mischaracterization. This goes all the way back to the 1800s (and earlier!), and has continued into the present day, with pieces of popular media like The Princess and the Frog and American Horror Story.

Whenever they appear in popular media, the lwa (or, characters named after them) are usually designed / written by people outside the Vodou community. As a consequence of this, outsiders have spread misinformation about Vodou and damaged the reputation of the community. Fans of Hazbin Hotel understand that these characters aren’t actually the deities they’re named after. But this context is not readily apparent to those outside of this fandom. If you don’t change their names, people will think that this show is trying to present commentary on the actual deities. Criticisms of cultural appropriation would be warranted.

We have to consider the popularity of a show like Hazbin Hotel, and the effects this has. If you search “St. Peter”, you’re not going to find “St. Peter (Hazbin Hotel)” in the top results. Again, Christianity is the majority religion in America. But if they existed in the cast, it is likely that images of “The Loa (Hazbin Hotel)” would pop up when someone searches for [insert name of actual lwa]. 

And this isn’t just any fandom... Let’s be real here. The Hazbin Hotel fandom is just full of horny little bitches (CAN”T RELATE!!!!). THE GOD OF WAR MASCULINITY AND BLACKSMITHING has no shot at ever appearing in the canon of Hazbin Hotel. But if he ever did, and his character design was actually good, there would be a shitton of bara porn of him…!

DUDE!!!!!! WHAT”S THE OPPOSITE OF A JIMMY NEUTRON BRAIN BLAST MOMENT????

IMAGINE someone going online, just trying to find information about how to pray to / perform a sacrifice for the lwa, and yeah. A bunch of Hazbin Hotel hen ties and hot ass yaois pop up!!!

STOP LAUGHING!!! 

In all seriousness, it’s legitimately awful!

This is why I think it’s just irresponsible to name them after the actual deities. It’s just really disrespectful to the people who worship them!

On top of this, let’s consider Papa Legba specifically. Here, my “Papa Legba”-type character is clearly this weird Steven’s Universe fusion of Papa Legba and Dahomean Legba. I actually think it is completely warranted to pay tribute to Dahomean Legba, as he is the spiritual father of all jazz and blues musicians.

It’s a show about singing and history!!!!!

But this is how Papa Legba is portrayed in New Orleans Voodoo:

Look at how he’s portrayed in art from the Vodou Renaissance!

Not only has he been widely misrepresented in popular media! He is arguably the single most important lwa from New Orlean Vodou, especially to someone like Alastor who was born at the end of the 19th century!

It must be COMPLETELY sacrilegious to equate Papa Legba with Dahomean Legba!!!

I love him so much….but if you’ve seen what Dahomean Legba looks like…you know what I’m talking about… (THERE”S A REASOIN HE”S LIKE THIS, OK???!!!!)

It is not AT ALL my intent to equate those two deities, but if this character is named “Papa Legba”, that intent is not readily apparent!

I’m also afraid that I made “Big Papa” look too goofy. THIS IS GOING TO BLOW YOUR MIND but not everyone reads One Piece. It pains me to say this…b-but even Edwar D. Newgate looks a lil fuckin stupid to people who don’t read One Piece…!

To people who don’t read One Piece, this really could be read as “Holy shit!! You’re trying to make Papa Legba – arguably single most important lwa from New Orleans Vodou – look like a goofy fucking idiot!”

NO!!!!! I”M TRYING TO MAKE HIM LOOK LIKE MONKEY D. GARP BECAUSE I LOVE MONKEY D. GARP!!!!!!

…But yeah. This is why I decided to just change his name. He’s just called “Big Papa” now. I’m also going to try to tone down the goofiness a bit more. I’m really not trying to make him look like a goofy fucking idiot. My intent is to give him range, where he can be playful but also dignified and imposing when the situation calls for it. I actually want him to be a cool character!

Anyways, here’s trivia regarding the new names:

For the most part, they have song-themed names. “Big Papa” is derived from The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Big Poppa”. “Sir Duke” is derived from Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke”. “Lady Love” is derived from Lou Rawls’ “Lady Love”.  “Lady Rose” is derived from Louis Armstrong’s “La Vie En Rose”. The two Erzulie-type characters are both “Lady–” something, and their names are references to love songs because they are goddesses of love.

Originally, I was going to call the Ogou Feray-type character GOD WARRIOR because I love Marguerite D. Perrin, but that’s a stupid fucking name, and you can’t give who is arguably the single most important lwa a stupid fucking name! He is now named “Ironman” as a reference to Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man”. I don’t know if Tony D. Stark would let you get away with this…but this is what he’s named in my fanfiction.

When I have time, I do plan to go back and fix up the tags and issue a notice on my AO3 account. It just might take me a while to get around to this.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE PORTRAYAL OF VODOU

Because I am FULLY INSANE, I love to think to myself “What if the boys were actually in the canon of Hazbin Hotel?”

OBVIOUSLY no NSFW merch should be sold of them. As far as merch is concerned, they should be treated like St. Peter (Hazbin Hotel). If any merch of them was sold, the profits should be donated to the New Orleans Vodou community.  Not the commercialized side of it, that’s full of white people who are bastardizing Vodou. The ACTUAL keepers of the tradition, who are going to be of African descent. The thought THE LWA getting turned into commercialized products is just horrible to me… Donating all profits to the people who should actually receive it would really make the world a better place!

I share these thoughts, but ultimately it really doesn’t matter AT ALL what I think should be done. What actually matters is the opinion of people in the New Orleans Voodoo community. If the approach is not to retcon Alastor and to add more Voodoo-related elements to the show, surely the creative team behind Hazbin Hotel should hire consultants with expertise and connections to this community.

For example, I imagine my depiction of The Baron of Death is controversial. I REALLY tried not to emasculate him, but I think his depiction could be read the wrong way. There is a side of Vodou that is accepting of the LGBTQ community; there is another side that is very much not accepting of it. The consultant should have the final say on whether it’s OK to make one of these characters an actual trans headcanon. If the consultant is like “this is really uncomfortable and disrespectful”, then this should go on the cutting room floor. As I’ve touched on before, even LGBTQ communities have a problem with misrepresenting minority cultures. It is more important to portray this culture accurately, and their deities respectfully. There are other creative ways to work in LGBTQ (specifically, trans) rep into the show!

Another example: The inclusion of Ironman. I’m so CRAZY for even thinking about this… Kratos (God of War) has no shot at popping into Precure! But yeah. I would not want to exclude him due to his chief importance, but it is in fact inevitable that the horny ass bitches (like myself…) in this fandom will draw bara of THE BLACKSMITHING WARRIOR GOD OF MASCULINITY.  If the consultant is like “don’t include him” for this reason, then just don’t include him.

Thanks for coming to my TEDx Talk!

[vinzul]

Part 14/?

Yeah, they like each other, that doesn't mean they'll stop bickering. The will be happy forever

Flats and mountains of chisme by @almoris

kofi

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[onhirel]

Hello there. I remember there being art for your wonderful " a knight and her lady" fanfic and I was wondering if you had a link to it as I can't find it for the life of me. Also your writing is wonderful, the characterization always feels on point but makes sense for the story the characters are in. There are subtle changes in each au but at the same time they never really change personality and and I can imagine that's quite difficult to manage. The writing is always easy to read and flows well, It's hard to explain but I guess I Can compare it to a melody that sounds nice and you want to keep listening to it. Also do you have update schedules? Or is there a fic your focusing on now before continuing the others. Lastly are there any other aus your interested in for lwa such as pirates for example?

Yes, I do have the AKAHL art!

Thanks very much for the lovely compliments! As far as capturing characterization goes, it’s difficult to describe? The best way I can describe it is I have a feel for the core beliefs and values for the characters, the things that make them who they are. With that knowledge, I then apply the lenses of their environment for each story. I’m glad I’m doing a good job!

I also try to write cinematically, relying on visuals to carry the weight of the story. I love that it’s melodic to you.

Updates. Hhh. Okay, so, I’m very involved with writing a lot of stories ( and I mean a LOT of stories) with the incomparable @ameliamircalla. That said, I am going to finish all my stories. I think A Knight and Her Lady is first, followed by That Which Brings Us Together. After that? We’ll see. I really want to finish the Decade trilogy.

As for new AUs… it’s not likely. Maybe a drabble or a one shot? It depends on if I have the time, which is a dubious prospect. I’m a mother of two with a full time job and more. I hate that I don’t have more time for writing…