#mr neil himself will write

[the-bisexual-and-damned]

you have not fucking WATCHED dead poet society if you didn't beef with your english teacher about it

[flintandpyrite]

people making lists of famous people tumblr accounts on here to follow. NO! If I follow someone famous it’s entirely by accident. thats how we do things around here

[neil-gaiman]

Hey, Mr. Neil Gaiman! I'm about to write you a bunch of messy logic as I'm a 19-year-old student who is gaslighting himself into thinking he slept today.

I'd like to think I'm creative in some sense. I enjoy politics, philosophy and overly wishful analysis of media. I do a lot of writing, whether it be via tabletop games where I expose groups of people to this weird collaborative writing via roleplay, my university essays, or worldbuilding if I ever get the time.

I still get this weird sense, that I'm not actually... creative, and everyone secretly dislikes my ideas. Sometimes I feel like I'm stealing, like having a king with a very similar attitude to Tywin Lannister means I'm a plagiarist robbing from George R.R. Martin. I guess I wanted to ask, did you ever experience this sort of thinking? Second guessing your prose, your ideas, and the summation of your literary abilities?

Sure. You're 19 and the sum of all your influences. Keep writing and reading and making things.

[i-only-ever-asked-questions]

Map of Soho Good Omens Season 2 - Part 3 (the intersecting street)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 4 Update: Map and pictures further down now have Lucky Snake, and the description of both the Lucky Snake and The Chinese Buffet Restaurant have been updated too.

We don't know the name of the street that crosses Whickber Street. It starts between the market and the furniture store, and after a crooked crossing of Whickber St., it continues between the bookshop and the Dirty Donkey Pub until it ends on Wardour Street. On that upper block we have: -A. Z. Fell & Co. The bookshop has a backdoor that leads to this street. -Bilton Scaggs Hats and Caps This shop has been here for centuries. Originally Bilton and Scaggs was a publishing firm that printed among other things "The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, witch." Neil believes they went out of business in the late 19th century and the hat makers took over. Their shop was called Bilton and Scaggs Milliner & Haberdasher for a while and eventually they changed to Bilton Scaggs Hats and Caps. But honestly, only Aziraphale knows the whole story.

On the other side of the street we have: -The Dirty Donkey We don't know how long this pub has been in business, but we know that it was already there in the 40's when the zombies used it to hide and spy on the heroes. And then in 1967 Crowley used a private room to set up the caper to steal holy water from a church. The set was also used to set up two of the pubs where Gabriel and Beelzebub met. Both scenes were filmed on the same day! After the tour, the first episode of Season 2 was screened inside the pub for those lucky enough to win spots. The Dirty Donkey Pub has also appeared in Neil's "We Can Get Them for You Wholesale" and "Sandman: Overture." In the show, one of the elevators to Heaven and Hell opens inside the Dirty Donkey, maybe this supernatural ability allows it to show up in many different Neilverses ;) -"Model" This is Mrs. Sandwich mysterious establishment. Nobody really knows what happens there. We know the upper floor has lovely pink curtains, presumably for her girls who also love coffee. -Will Goldstone's Magic Shop Named after Will Goldston (not sure why an extra "e"), a stage magician who wrote many books on magic. The store existed in 1941 when it was run by Pat (who met a gruesome end at the hands of zombie nazis). Will Goldston himself died in 1948. So, was he the owner of the store and Pat just an employee? Did someone use his name? Or is that the reason behind the additional "e", to claim it wasn't him? We don't know. In current times it is operated by Mutt.

This street ends on Waldour Street and because we don't see much of it, I included those shops in this post: -Chinese Buffet Restaurant (updated) The English sign just says "Chinese Restaurant", Google translate gave me "Chinese Buffet Restaurant" for the sign on either side (if you look closely both sides say the same thing). There is no other writing that I could see so I would say that we don't know if it has another name or where is it written (inside maybe?). @embracing-the-ineffable raised the question of how do we know Mr. and Ms. Cheng own the restaurant. The truth is that we don't know for sure. We have assumed it probably because Aziraphale and Ms. Cheng are in front of the restaurant when he invites her to the meeting, but for all we know she was just walking on the street when they met. The Chengs could easily own the Herbal Pharmacy or the Grocery Store. We just don't know for sure -Lucky Snake (updated) To the right of the restaurant (our left) there is another store with yellow walls and red lanterns. It was brought to my attention (thank you!) that this is the infamous Lucky Snake we see in Aziraphale's typed list of shops. In Season 1 it was called "Oriental Delights" but this season it is a grocery store. -Herbal Medicine and Pharmacy - Traditional Chinese medicine appointments To the left of the restaurant (our right) we have the herbalist/pharmacy. This is written in English while "traditional medicine appointments" is written in Chinese. There is no other name outside either.

Turning around and looking towards Whickber Street, we can get a peek all the way to Great Windmill Street, between the news agency and the market. -Windmill Theatre Today it is called Windmill Soho but the name Windmill Theatre is equally recognizable. In 1941 it was owned by Mrs. Laura Henderson. The theatre was famous for 1)not closing at all, even during the heaviest of bombings and 2)its motionless nude girls (tableaux vivants) called the "Windmill Girls". Because of this, it used the motto "We Never Closed" (although people modified to "We Never Clothed"). In the set, the doors are not props, they are the real doors to the internal docks of the studio, which honestly it is very clever.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 4

[indigovigilance]

Anthony, Anthony, Anthony

What does your Anthony mean, exactly?

I feel like your Anthony and my Anthony are different Anthonies…

In 1941 we learn that Crowley has named himself Anthony J. Crowley (Aziraphale doesn’t pronounce the H but closed captions write it and Neil Gaiman hashtags #Anthony and also it’s Anthony the script book so I guess Michael Sheen is just doing a thing idk). I haven’t seen extensive discussion of this topic but I’m going to jump in with both feet.

I propose that Anthony actually has a double meaning; that is, Crowley chose this name for one reason, but Aziraphale believes he chose it for another.

(I cite as indirect inspo a wonderful Tumblr meta about how the ineffable blockheads have completely different interpretations of Jane Austen and how this informs their S2 decision-making).

Read or bookmark for later on Ao3 because this got away from me and now it's a 2,888 word meta on people named Anthony what am I doing with my life

~~~

First and foremost, let it be stated that there is no canon for when Crowley anti-christened himself Anthony. Neil Gaiman himself won’t know until he writes it.

Secondly, let it be known that I am not an historian nor a literary scholar of any kind. So people who actually know these stories may find themselves cringing at my surface-level summaries and inaccurate interpretations: I’m just piecing together what I could find easily. I invite someone else to revise and republish if they can delve deeper on these topics. 

Part 1: Mark Antony

There is a bust of Marc Antony in Mr. Fell’s bookshop as of S1E1 modern day (2019) which is still there at the end of S2E6, where it features prominently in the center of a shot. In 2019, the bust is adorned with yellow ribbons; in 2023, it is naked. The flashback to 1941 doesn’t give a good view of the part of the shop where the bust would normally be located so I have no idea when the bust actually got added to Aziraphale’s collection. I’m going to assume, for argument’s sake, that Aziraphale acquired this bust after the Blitz. I’m going to further propose that he acquired this bust because he believes that Crowley named himself Anthony after Mark Antony.

Why would Aziraphale think that? Two reasons.

1) Mark Antony was the loser of a civil war for liberty

Mark Antony was a good and loyal Roman citizen, serving Caesar with distinction, even attaining the title of Master of the Horse (Caesar’s second-in-command). See additional metas on horse symbolism seen throughout S2. After the death of Caesar, however, Octavian and members of the senate turned on Antony, starting a civil war. You know, much like a certain someone we know that was involved in Dubious Battle on the Plains of Heaven.

Mark Antony was loyal to Caesar’s political mission, which was to establish a Roman republic, where the voices of the citizens would be heard through their representatives [a suggestion box, if you will]. But Antony’s defeat marked the end of the republic, ushering in an age of autocracy. Octavian, following his victory over Antony, crowned himself the first Emperor of Rome.

2) Mark Antony was a libertine, but also the loyal, ardent lover of Cleopatra

Mark Antony was an infamous, lascivious, debaucherous, womanizing lush. He was also Cleopatra’s lover and closest ally. Though Mark Antony could not often meet with Cleopatra, their affair was allegedly very romantic, and from afar Antony did everything in his power to support Cleopatra politically, expanding her territorial holdings even while they were apart for years. 

So legendary was Antony's wanton hedonism that when he went to Athens, he was deified as the New Dionysus, mystic god of wine, happiness, and immortality. Religious propaganda declared Cleopatra the New Isis or Aphrodite (mythic goddess of love and beauty) to his New Dionysus. The ineffable emperors, if you will. [source: Encyclopedia Britannica]

Parallels arising after 1941:

After Antony had officially divorced Octavian’s sister, Octavian formally broke off the ties of personal friendship with Antony and declared war, not against Antony but against Cleopatra. Much like how Shax, after her S2E1 “you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours” proposal, threatened Crowley that if he did not assist her search for Gabriel, Hell would declare war not on him but on Aziraphale.

The legacy of Mark Antony, therefore, is one of hedonism, romance, fighting for a cause that you believe in, and losing that fight. It’s easy to see how Aziraphale drew the conclusion that Anthony J. Crowley took his inspiration from this historical figure.

Part 2: Antony & Cleopatra

How is this a part 2? Weren’t we just talking about Mark Antony and his relationship with Cleopatra? Hear me out.

Crowley has never expressed much interest in politics. Every time something of political import happens, he declares that the humans made it up themselves while also taking credit for it with Hell. This includes 1793 Paris and the Spanish Inquisition. If I forgot any, drop them in the comments. 

But Crowley has a deep and pervasive interest in stories, especially romance stories. If he can keep the Bentley from turning it into Queen, he listens to the Velvet Underground. He watches Richard Curtis films (to the degree that he identifies them by director rather than by title). Though book canon is not show canon, it’s worth mentioning that his favorite serial is Golden Girls; while not a romance, it is certainly heartfelt storytelling at its finest and a homosexual staple.

We know, too, that Shakspeare stole a line from him, with an adjustment for pronouns:

"Age Does Not Wither, Nor Custom Stale His Infinite Variety”

Let’s first talk about Crowley’s context for the quote.

Picture it: the Globe Theater, 1601, the house is empty because it’s one of Shakespeare’s gloomy ones and an irritated young Burbage, in the role of Hamlet, is droning out his lines like he would rather be anywhere else.

Burbage: To be or not to be. That is the question.

Aziraphale: To be! I mean, not to be! Come on, Hamlet! Buck up!

Aziraphale looks at Crowley, grinning with delight. Crowley stares back at him, shaking his head slightly, but a smile tugs at the corner of his lip. He wants to be embarrassed, but cannot help being charmed.

Aziraphale: He’s very good, isn’t he?

Crowley: Age does not wither nor custom stale his infinite variety.

Crowley is looking up at the stage, and speaks immediately after Aziraphale has made a comment about Burbage. But is Crowley talking about Burbage? Does it stand to reason that age would not have withered, or custom not staled, this twenty year old (yet somehow jaded) stage actor?

I propose that this is a poetic inversion of the S2E1 cold open, wherein the Starmaker, looking out upon creation, says: “Look at you, you’re gorgeous!” and Aziraphale erroneously thinks the statement was directed at him. Here, even though Crowley isn’t looking at Aziraphale, I believe that Crowley is actually talking about Aziraphale when he delivers that iconic line. Unlike Burbage, Aziraphale is old, very, very old, and we know that he has a penchant for custom, wearing the same clothes and listening to the same music for century upon century. Yet here is this precious angel being a cheerful little peanut gallery of one, continuing to surprise the demon after all this time. Neither age nor custom has staled Aziraphale’s infinite variety.

When Shakespeare commits the line to a play written 1606-1607, a few years after this event, Crowley will recognize his own sentiment about Aziraphale issuing from Antony’s mouth about Cleopatra. The actual historical events will not have left much of an impression, but the immortalization of his own admiration of the angel in human romantic fiction will have.

It must be mentioned that Antony & Cleopatra is a tragedy, where the star-crossed lovers are kept apart by warring factions that demand loyalty to the state at the preclusion of each other.

There are also some (as far as I can tell) nearly copy-paste plot points from Romeo & Juliet about a misunderstood faked suicide followed by actual suicide and the lovers dying in each others’ arms. It does not have a happy ending. Anthony Crowley deliberately choosing his “Christian name” from this play embodies not only his deep love but his hopelessness that he can ever get the happily ever after he desires.

In Summary

Crowley was an admirer, in one respect or another, of Mark Anthony, though he relied more heavily on Shakespeare’s portrayal and reimagining of the character than Aziraphale gives due credit. Nevertheless, the difference…

Wait a minute…

What’s that?

Is that…

A piece of canon evidence that completely undermines my argument??

This screenshot will only be visible to Tumblr users (sorry Ao3), but at some point we get a good look at the Mona Lisa sketch that Crowley has hanging in his apartment. It is signed (translated from Italian) “To my friend Anthony from your friend Leo da V.”

The problem with this is, the Mona Lisa was painted 100 years before Shakespeare penned Antony & Cleopatra.

However, Neil Gaiman reblogged this transcription and translation, posing the hypothetical, “I wonder if Crowley knows what the A in A.Z. Fell stands for.”

Could it be that the Notorious NRG is jerking us around and sending us on wild goose chases? Absolutely a possibility. But. Let’s give a little grace for a moment, and assume that this comment was made in good faith. A bold assumption, I know. But humor me.

We know that Crowley and Aziraphale both knew Jane Austen, but from completely different perspectives. It stands to reason that Crowley knew da Vinci the scientist, but that Antonio Fell knew Leo da V., an artist with a heart that yearned for an unavailable lover. I’m just making wild conjecture that Lisa Gherardini (aka Mona Lisa), the wife of Florentine cloth merchant Francesco del Giocondo, was a love interest of da Vinci, but it could be true in the GO universe and would make for a great story.

Aziraphale also collects signed items from famous people; the inscribed books of Professor Hoffman to a wonderful student, and the S.W. Erdnase book, signed with his real name, come to mind. The Mona Lisa draft fits in much better with that collection of souvenirs than with anything in Crowley’s apartment. So it stands to reason that it could actually be addressed to Aziraphale.

There remains the question of how or why Crowley has it, but I won’t subject that to speculation here. All to say. Neil Gaiman’s implication-by-redirect is… possible. So let’s assume that it is the case, just for a moment.

If the Mona Lisa sketch is signed to “Antonio” Fell, then this allows the above theory regarding Crowley’s self-naming to remain intact. But it brings up a few questions regarding Aziraphale, not the least of which is: why did he name himself Antonio/Anthony?

Part 3: Saint Anthony of Padua

Anthony was the chosen name of a Portuguese monk, taken upon joining the Fransican order. Anthony rose to prominence in the 13th century as a celebrated orator, delivering impassioned and eloquent sermons. He is also associated with some fish symbolism, since he preached at the shore and fish gathered to listen. He was, incidentally, a lover of books:

Anthony had a book of psalms that contained notes and comments to help when teaching students and, in a time when a printing press was not yet invented, he greatly valued it.

When a novice decided to leave the hermitage, he stole Anthony's valuable book. When Anthony discovered it was missing, he prayed it would be found or returned to him. The thief did return the book and in an extra step returned to the Order as well.

The book is said to be preserved in the Franciscan friary in Bologna today. [source: https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=24]

This miraculous incident, wherein the thief not only returns a valuable book but also has a change of heart and returns to the bosom of organized religion, smacks of angelic intervention. But that is neither here nor there. 

Saint Anthony is the Patron Saint of the Lost, and is prayed to by those seeking to recover lost things. What is “lost” in this context is usually an item, rather than a person or an intangible concept, however he is also “credited with many miracles involving lost people, lost things and even lost spiritual goods,” such as faith. [Edit: @tsilvy helpfully contributes that "Here in Italy Sant'Antonio is commonly not just the saint patron of lost things, but, maybe primarily, the saint patron of lost *causes*."] He died at the age of 35, and in artwork is typically depicted with a book and the Infant Child Jesus.

It’s a defensible position that the thing that gives Aziraphale the most consternation across the millennia is Crowley’s loss of his angelic status, and it could even be framed such that Aziraphale does not consider Crowley actually fallen, but rather simply lost. It is a fact that he finds difficult to reconcile and, depending on your reading of the Final Fifteen, the offer to restore Crowley’s angelic status is one that is so pivotal to resolving his internal conflict that he cannot refuse. If this conflict is so central for Aziraphale, perhaps he did name himself after a booklover and the patron saint of lost things, hoping that the name would carry with it some of the power of the blessing, and return Crowley to the light, and in turn, to him.

But wait.

Because I googled “St Anthony” to look for some images and….

St. Anthony of the Desert

I shit you not there are multiple St. Antonies and we’re going to talk about another one of them with respect to Aziraphale because this guy is bonkers. The story traces to the Vitae Patrum, yet another fringe biblical text and I cannot even get a quick answer on whether it is canon or apocrypha because it’s so fringe. Anyways. I think the best way to explain St. Anthony of the Desert comes from the wikipedia page on the Desert Fathers: 

Sometime around AD 270, Anthony heard a Sunday sermon stating that perfection could be achieved by selling all of one's possessions, giving the proceeds to the poor, and following Jesus. He followed the advice and made the further step of moving deep into the desert to seek complete solitude.

[He] became known as both the father and founder of desert monasticism. By the time Anthony had died in AD 356, thousands of monks and nuns had been drawn to living in the desert following Anthony's example, leading his biographer, Athanasius of Alexandria, to write that "the desert had become a city." The Desert Fathers had a major influence on the development of Christianity.

Let’s all agree that this guy is not Aziraphale; this whole becoming an ascetic and living alone in the middle of a desert thing? Not his cuppertea. But St. Anthony is interesting not just for his decision to go into the desert, but what happened when he got there.

The Torment of St Anthony is a 15th century painting commonly attributed to Michaelangelo. It depicts demons crawling all over and attacking a hermit.

But the first round of demons are scraping the bottom of the barrel, practically the damned. Anthony’s journey continues and he meets another demon. Actually he meets two; a centaur, who is not very helpful, and then a satyr who is. It is much easier to find paintings of St. Anthony and the Centaur than of St. Anthony and the Satyr, so you don’t get an image, but I find the satyr to be a much more interesting character, so you get that story instead:

Anthony found next the satyr, "a manikin with hooked snout, horned forehead, and extremities like goats's feet." This creature was peaceful and offered him fruits, and when Anthony asked who he was, the satyr replied, "I'm a mortal being and one of those inhabitants of the desert whom the Gentiles, deluded by various forms of error, worship under the names of Fauns, Satyrs, and Incubi. I am sent to represent my tribe. We pray you in our behalf to entreat the favor of your Lord and ours, who, we have learnt, came once to save the world, and 'whose sound has gone forth into all the earth.'" Upon hearing this, Anthony was overjoyed and rejoiced over the glory of Christ. He condemned the city of Alexandria for worshiping monsters instead of God while beasts like the satyr spoke about Christ.

St. Anthony, then, is entreated by a demon to ask forgiveness from God upon the demons, and St. Anthony, seemingly, agrees to do it. He’s overjoyed to ask God to forgive demons. In connection to my analysis of the origins of the Metatron, and how Aziraphale and Crowley’s potential beef with him is that, as a human put in the exact same situation, he did the opposite, refusing to take the demon’s petition for mercy to God but instead taking it upon himself to confirm their unforgivability (yes that’s a word now) and damnation.

That seems like it would be pretty important to Aziraphale.

In Summary

I give up. I have no idea what’s going on with this show anymore. Here are two options each for both of our ineffable husbands to have given themselves the same God-blessed/damned name. You guys tell me what you think, I just have a pile of evidence and no spoons to evaluate it. 

[soullust]

my miscellaneous dps headcanons (including some background characters)

neil

has HORRIBLE eyesight. like wayy worse that meeks but he hates wearing his glasses

loves scavenger hunts

charlie helped him realize he's gay (they made out once to 'check' but never had any actual feelings for eachother)

is diabetic but doesn't know it

todd

is so incredibly competitive it's ridiculous. he'll die before he loses a bet

selectively mute

gets his poetry / writing published at least twice. the first time was even before he turned 18

scrunches his nose when smiling

not a morning person. he's dead until noon

knox

is a huge gossip and his grandma's favorite bc of it

can't lie to save his life

loves horseback riding

can't cook. at all. like he burns water

charlie

loves spicy foods and smells

his parents mostly ignored him and his younger sister during their childhood and basically raised his sister himself

but it also gave him a lot of freedom, especially during holidays and school breaks, since his parents always either pawned him off to family or just didn't care where he was 90% of the time.

like, really, they only care about appearances so they get on his back about being disrespectful every once in a while and ignore him the rest that's one of the reasons he acts out all the time he desperately craves attention he never got

tina INSISTS on doing his make-up everytime they hang out. he likes make-up and she's pretty good, so he just lets her

meeks

like todd, he's very competitive, but, unlike todd, he's not a sore loser

has a huge sweet tooth smells like it

was obsessed with nordic mythology in middleschool

matthew ("spaz") was his childhood bestfriend, but they grew apart over the years

is allergic to bees. somehow never remembers to take his epipen anywhere. it's a miracle he's survived this long

pitts

he's a car guy. wants to be a car mechanic

had a crush on neil in like 6th grade

scared of birds

has a stutter and used to have a lisp

gamer boi

not exactly a hc but yall can we acknowledge how sarcastic and bitchy he is??? he's hilarious

knows how to sew

gives the best hugs

cameron

once got arrested and had to call charlie to bail him out. charlie was so proud he bought him ice cream on their way back

has lexical-gustatory synesthesia

his bio dad is dead and he hates his step-father with a passion

is besties with gloria and she finds him hillarious

other

mr keating used to work as a line cook in his teens. also he was a lot like charlie during his highschool years (chaotic & funny)

chris used to do ballet as a kid, but has moved on to cheerleading and gymnastics. her parents are divorced. she lives with her mother and younger half-brother

ginny really should be wearing glasses but she hates them and her parents refuse to buy her more flattering frames. she can't swim. people always share their secrets with her bc she seems like she can keep them, but she’s actually a huge gossip

stick has a twin sister. he is nonverbal and communicates thru asl

gloria is training to be a hairdresser

tina can’t walk in heels taller than half an inch

hopkins has a huge crush on cameron

matthew is an origami master

mr mcallister knits in his spare time. he married a chinese woman who, when he met her, didn’t know any english

i take headcanon and one-shot requests btw

[mimisempai]

It's invisible but it's there

Summary

A funny accident between him and Aziraphale, leads Crowley to a moving discovery and causes them to discuss their relationship.

Notes

50 Types of Kisses - Writing Prompts

Kiss #48: One person has to bend down in order to kiss their partner, who is standing on their tip-toes to reach their partner’s.

Completely inspired by one of Neil's recent answer on tumblr

On Ao3

Rating G -  1098 words

"Muriel, would you be so kind as to hand me the book I left on the sideboard by the door?"

Aziraphale, perched on a stepladder, stretched his arm back without turning around.

"I'm not Muriel, but I'm happy to bring you the book."

The angel shook his head and turned to see Crowley approaching, book in hand. When the demon was close, Aziraphale reached out to grab the book, but Crowley, a mischievous smile on his lips, shook his head and said, "No, no, Mr. Fell, if you want this book, you'll have to pay first."

Crowley tucked the book behind his back and, standing on tiptoe, held his face toward Aziraphale, leaving no doubt as to the currency required.

The angel rolled his eyes at his lover's antics, but leaned over to the demon and dropped a fleeting kiss on his lips. Then, just as he was about to pull away, the demon held him back with one hand and said playfully, "Angel, I'm sure this is a valuable book, so you'll have to put the money in."

"Idiot..." the angel grumbled before pressing his lips to the demon's again, making the kiss last a little longer this time.

They soon had to stop, however, as Aziraphale leaned a little too far and the stepladder tipped dangerously, causing the angel to fall.

Crowley dropped the book and caught the angel, but not fast enough to keep his own balance, so they both ended up on the ground.

Trying to right himself, Aziraphale panicked, "Crowley, are you okay, are you in pain?"

He knelt down beside Crowley, who was holding his face in his hands, and now, the angel, genuinely concerned, grabbed the demon's hands to see that he was laughing.

Aziraphale nudged him gently and said, "Idiot, I really thought you were hurt."

Between laughs, the demon replied, "Sorry, Angel, but I'm fine, I swear."

He reached behind him and brought his hand back in front of him, holding the book, and continued, "But I'm not sure your book is undamaged."

The demon looked at it more closely and frowned, "Oh, I think a page is torn."

He opened the book and added, "Ah no, it's a note."

Aziraphale panicked and reached for the book, saying, "Oh, it's nothing. Give it to me-"

But Crowley had put the book out of reach and, looking serious, asked Aziraphale, "This is your handwriting. This note is about me. What does it mean?"

The angel shook his head and replied, "I told you, it's nothing, it was a long time ago and I..."

"Does Crowley feel that connection too? If we stay away too long, will that bond break?"

Crowley held the note out to Aziraphale and asked softly,"What did you mean when you wrote that, Angel?"

Aziraphale grabbed the book and replied, his throat slightly tight with emotion, "It's Jane Eyre."

"Yes, I've seen it."

The angel opened the book, searched for a page, and turning the book to Crowley, showed him a paragraph, "Read this."

Crowley read aloud, “I have a strange feeling with regard to you. As if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly knotted to a similar string in you. And if you were to leave I’m afraid that cord of communion would snap. And I have a notion that I’d take to bleeding inwardly. As for you, you’d forget me.”

Crowley murmured, "I see..."

Then he read the note again before placing it in the book, closing it and setting it down beside him. Still sitting on the floor, he leaned against one of the bookshelves and motioned for the angel to come and sit between his spread legs.

Aziraphale slid down and once his back was pressed against the demon's chest, Crowley wrapped his arms around him and, resting his chin on the angel's head, asked softly, "When did you write this, Angel?"

Aziraphale placed his hands on the demon's intertwined hands on his stomach and replied, "In 1941, I had just realized my feelings for you, and we had never been as close as we were that day, so when you left, I began to wonder if I was the only one who had imagined this bond between us. If I was the only one who thought about you all the time when we were apart."

He felt the demon shake his head before he said with an emotional tone, "You weren't the only one."

Aziraphale took one of Crowley's hands and brought it to his lips as Crowley continued, "And lately, you seemed to be thriving, and I felt like I was treading water, and I was afraid that one day that bond would be gone."

He felt the angel about to protest, but pressed a light kiss to the fluffy hair to calm him and continued, "Let me finish, Angel. That's how I felt, but not anymore. Now, this invisible bond, I'm firmly convinced that nothing can break it. I mean, even Metatron tried, and he couldn't. In fact, looking back, I'm even sure that if you had followed him, it wouldn't have broken."

He couldn't help but smile as he felt the angel nod repeatedly to show that he shared the same conviction.

Crowley leaned forward and said in his lover's ear, "Then you can throw away this little note."

Aziraphale replied, "Yes, I now have the answer to both questions. This bond is real and here and unbreakable."

He turned his head and their lips met in a tender kiss that lasted until a slight cough caused them to part and look up.

Muriel, hands on hips, one eyebrow raised, asked them, "What are you doing?"

Crowley grabbed Jane Eyre and held it up, saying, "We're just arranging books."

Muriel shook their head and replied, "And to think I'm the one who's supposed to be learning from you."

Crowley and Aziraphale looked at each other before breaking into a chorus of laughter, then the demon stood and reached out to help the angel to his feet.

Then he put his arm around Muriel's shoulders and said, "Come on, my little bee, I'll buy you a hot chocolate at Nina's to celebrate."

The angel asked, confused, "To celebrate what?"

Crowley took Aziraphale's hand with his other hand and as their fingers intertwined, he said in a softer tone, "To celebrate an unbreakable bond."

"A bond? But I don't see anything."

Aziraphale replied to Muriel with a smile, "It's invisible, but it's there."

Muriel thought to themself that they did indeed have a lot to learn.

_________

Still not beta'd

Still not my native language

Still hoping you'll enjoy this story  🥰

Still thanking you for bearing with me 😝

Ineffable kisses series : here

Ineffable Husbands masterlist : here

Ineffable Growing Love - Series post S2

Part 1 Story 1-99

Part 2 Story 100-?

[puckspoetry]

DPS: Neil’s Window of Freedom

Throughout the entirety of the film, we can see Neil shut behind glass windows, looking out from behind. It’s seen a lot when Neil is contemplating his relationship with his father or when he is experiencing a negative situation. We know that Neil is a contemplative character who strives for social inclusion and acceptance but as the film goes on these parts in his life start to fracture.

Neil’s father forces him to quit the annual and the play, which destroys his social inclusion and isolates him from what brings him joy. The play is a significant part of Neil’s life and one of his main sources of relief and happiness, however, after his father tells Neil he has to quit, the play becomes a source of stress.

Whilst Neil’s happiness is a result of the play, in the scenes with him and Todd writing the letter, the window remains closed; even though Neil is happier than ever, the window remains closed and he is still trapped under his father’s thumb - the play is the best secret he could ever keep. After Mr. Perry finds out about Neil, Mr. Keating is the next mode of comfort for him. Neil says to Keating “I’m trapped” to which Keating contests, unaware of Neil’s true situation. Keating tells Neil he isn’t trapped whilst the windows remain shut and the room closed off from the world.

Neil’s acceptance of himself stems from his insatiable need to please his father as seen when he says he went to summer school for Chemistry and his inability to stand up to his father in the following scene. As the play goes on, Neil’s acceptance for himself grows and he begins to engage with other activities, most notably the Dead Poets Society. Neil’s acceptance now stems from his individuality and love for life and art. The entire film builds up Neil’s self discovery yet it comes crashing down in his final interaction with his father. By the time the play is over, Neil has learnt to love himself, however his father thinks differently to him and strips away his joy and passions. Neil’s world starts to fracture and fall around him as he is accepted less than ever before.

Neil has nothing more to live for and it is made clear that if he is to live another day, it is with his father’s intentions. His life does not belong to him anymore and this is the last time we see Neil commit an act that represents his best interests. Prior to his suicide, he opens the window for seemingly no reason. However, after directly comparing previous scenes, this is the first time Neil is able to look out at the world freely without glass in the way. His suicide is often regarded as his inability to act, but looking critically at the situation it is because he was no longer alive. Neil is finally able to look out and see the world for what it is. When Neil commits suicide, the windows are open and he is no longer trapped and takes his place amongst the world.

[weird-an]

It's just a tiny scratch.

A tiny scratch from Neil's wedding ring. Luckily the skin isn't bruising much, just feels a bit tender and shines a bit red. He has chosen his tightest pair of jeans, just in case. It's so easy to distract people with his body to actually make them look away from it.

Because no one ever really looks, so why should he bother covering it up? And he's only buying himself a beer to numb the pain, so what does it matter?

He walks over to the to the register, gifting the cashier his most charming smile which allows him to buy whatever he wants and most of the time includes a telephone number.

The cashier is the mother of one of Max' friends. That will be so easy. Mothers in Hawkins seem to be all lost and alone, looking for someone pretty and young. Someone just like Billy.

Her big brown eyes don't linger on his exposed chest. Instead they find the scratch on his face.

"Oh, honey, what happened?" Mrs. Byers sounds concerned. Honestly concerned.

Billy stumbles a bit backwards, hit by the surprise. He can feels the smile crumbling on his lips. No one has asked that before. Not even his coach last month when he came to practice with a black eye. Neil doesn't usually go for his face anymore, but he didn't get his promotion which was somehow Billy's fault.

He can't think of a lie. He only stares at the woman in front of him, pulse hammering in his ears.

"It's.. nothing," he finally says. "Just a scratch."

Mrs. Byers tilts her head, stares at him. Not like the women at the pool. Not like the girl's at school. More like Argyle's mom, back in California, when Billy didn't have any lunch, because Neil forgot to give him money.

"Do theses... scratches happen often?" she asks.

Billy feels so small. Like he's fucking ten again. His throat constricts and it is hard to speak. Like he has to recite a poem he doesn't now the words of.

"Sometimes," he admits. A crushing weight on his chest makes it difficult to breathe. Just like when Neil's holding him down. It doesn't happen often anymore, but Billy won't ever forget the feeling.

She grabs the receipt and writes something down. A phone number and an address.

"If you need help." She hands it to him. Billy takes it. It doesn't feel wrong and dirty like the piece of paper the lady from the gas station gave him. "You can come over any time."

He puts the receipt in his pocket. He doesn't know what to say. So he just grabs the beer and leaves.

He checks his face in the Camaro's mirror. The scratch is still tiny.His fingers find the receipt. A wave of relief floods through him.

He won't call her, but it's the first time he ever feels like calling one of the women that gave him their numbers. Not for a date.

Someone knows, he thinks. He leans his forehead against the steering wheel. Someone cares.

[sweaty-toothed-mad-woman]

Hopkins

a case study

(isn’t this a wonderful screenshot)

I love Hopkins sm for no real reason but he had a character arc that I love

With this analysis I am assuming three things:

Cool Guy ™️

Rich parents

Gives zero shits about school

ok starting with the third one bc idgaf

we get this from one of the first shots we see of him, when Neil is reading the j Evans Pritchard crap, and it pans across the classroom and he is staring off into the void, retaining absolutely none of what Neil is saying, which leads me to the conclusion that he really doesn’t care that much about school.

similarly he didn’t care about what grade he would get for writing the poem badly, which leads me to my second point

his parents are probably rich as hell, and he has made it his life goal to disappoint them in every way possible, in true Keefe Sencen fashion (hopefully his parents aren’t that bad tho lol). he takes pride in doing badly because it makes his parents mad, and he thinks that it is cool, which brings me to my third point

he is kinda the Cool Guy of the school, or at least one of them, and his whole thing is “too cool for school” and all that shit, specifically when they went outside and read the lines and then kicked the soccer ball, and he did minimum effort and kinda thought he was stupid. this is the first time we really notice that he’s “too cool” to try hard and then in the next class we see it again with him writing an AMAZING poem in my personal opinion, but it isn’t super deep or well thought out, and he doesn’t seem to give a shit and takes pride in it being not great, but THEN

Mr Keating does his magic. he might be slightly disappointed, but he is more supportive than anything, encouraging Hopkins to work harder and not make his work “ordinary” and in that moment Hopkins makes this face

he is disappointed in himself for not meeting Mr Keating’s expectations (that sounds super aggressive but idk how else to phrase it) and this is where we see the character development

and then at the end he stands on his desk and idk how to describe the expression on his face but it is exactly the expression I would expect him to make considering his and Mr K’s relationship

so this was the character analysis absolutely nobody asked for and is probably half wrong but who cares 👍

[asteroidtroglodyte]

“Oh no my Writing is too niche and weird and not relatable maybe I should dial it back a bit and play it safe-“

Grabs you by the shoulders

Look at me. Look! Look at this book.

Holds up copy of Snow Crash (Neil Stephenson, 1992)

This is a landmark work of fiction! If you like 21st century science fiction or anything Cyberpunk then you have read something that was inspired by this, I assure you.

Within these pages you will follow the adventures of Hiro Protagonist, a beautiful and talented computer programmer with a Cool Sword who Delivers Pizzas for The Mafia (the Cosa Nostra Pizza Co, to be precise), and Y.T. (short for “Yours Truly”) a Totally Radical Mail Kourier with an all-terrain skateboard, a magnetic harpoon gun, and a tendency to refer to herself in the third person.

Together, they must thwart the likes of Bob, (a megalomaniacal telecommunications executive and evangelical cult leader) as he attempts to take over the world by hacking people’s brains using a weaponized version of an ancient Sumerian script (the text of which is from before the fall of the Tower of Babel and which will grant him Administrative Privileges to the minds of those who witness it).

Along the way they will be variously helped and hindered by colorful side characters such as:

Uncle Enzo: Mafia Don, Delivery Pizza Mascot, and Family Man, Uncle Enzo is a bit like if Ronald McDonald wore a black suit and killed people.

Mr Lee: a handicapped robotics magnate who took the idea of weaponizing bodily autonomy to its logical extreme and built himself a Mobile Command Center / Tank armed with mechanical hounds, rockets, lasers, and Freon-powered air conditioning (He explicitly refers to the tank as his “body,” and Hiro muses that he might therefore be the only person in the world who is physically addicted to Freon)

and

Raven: a gigantic and practically unstoppable Aleutian Chief with long black hair, a pair of superlatively sharp obsidian glass knives, and a thermonuclear weapon tucked away in the sidecar of his motorcycle (for a special occasion) Desires nothing more in life than to nuke the USA. Succeeds.

So.

Get “relatability” out of your head as a metric. Tell the story you want to tell. Have fun with it.

I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

[lillieslibrary]

"Well, What do you love?"

anderperry one-shot !!

summary: todd kisses neil, flees the scene, and sits on the dock in a ball of his own anxiety. neil finds him and ends his worries.

warnings: internalized homophobia, self-depracating thoughts

Todd is sitting quietly on his bed, trying to convince his pencil to write the poem for Keating's class, on its own. He can't think of anything to write as his mind is pre-occupied with his other unwanted thoughts. Neil walks in and Todd decides to call it a day, he will write more later.

The bed dips as Neil sits down beside him. "Whatcha doing?" he says, in a sing-songy voice. Todd shrugs. "I'm trying to write a poem for English, nothings working," he sighs and throws his journal onto the bed next to him. Neil looks at him with a hint of sympathy.

"Well I'm sure you'll think of something, you're a great writer!"

Neil leans over him to pick up the journal and Todd almost screams. His face is warm and he has to take a subtle deep breath. Neil flips through the pages, skimming over the work Todd has done so far. Todd lets him, he has gotten more comfortable with people reading his stuff, so he just takes this time to settle his nerves.

"Everything in here is great! Why don't you just use one of the poems you haven't shown yet?" Neil asks, still looking down at the pages. "Mr Keating said it has to be about love, and I don't usually write about that so I have to make a new one," Todd looks down at his lap, talking about love is not something he particularly enjoys, especially when the person he's talking about it with is Neil Perry.

Neil finally looks up from the journal, and shuffles to face him on the bed. Todd turns as well, looking up into his friends eyes.

"Well, what do you love?"

Todd looks down at his lap. He has only just realised how close in proximity they are to each other. He can feel his palms becoming sweaty. He looks back up at Neil, who is smiling right at him.

Before Todd can think it through he leans in and kisses him. The kiss lasts a couple seconds before Todd pulls away. His eyes are wide with the realisation of what he has just done. Before Neil can get a word out, Todd jumps up from the bed, and runs out the door.

He runs through the dorms. He runs down the stairs. He runs away as tears well up in his eyes. He had ruined it. He had ruined everything. Neil was probably up there telling everyone. Telling everyone what he was, what he had done. He couldn't bare to imagine the outcome. He would be kicked out of Welton for sure. Todd keeps running until eventually he reaches the doc where he and Neil had gone to run his lines for the play. Oh god, he had made a huge mistake. Why can't he control himself? Why can't he be normal and like girls just like everyone else. He was a disappointment. To himself, to his friends. To everyone.

Tears were streaming down his face now as he sat, feet dangling off the edge. He pressed his hands to his eyes, trying to stop the tears from flowing.

He can't hear the footsteps getting closer to him on the doc. A hand rests on his shoulder.

"..Todd?"

It was Neil.

Todd can't face looking up at him. "I- I'm sorry, I'm so s-so sorry!" Todd's voice cracks, as he is trying to hold back the sob bubbling in his throat. Neil pulls him into his chest and wraps his arms around him. "Its okay Todd, its okay," Neil's voice is enough to break him. Todd buries his head into Neil's chest and lets out a sob.

After a few minutes the sobbing dies down, and Todd finally picks up the courage and looks up at Neil through teary eyes.

"I'm r-really sorry, I shouldn't have done something like that, especially to you. It's okay if you're gonna report me I'll completely understand and I-"

Before Todd can say anything else Neil leans in and kisses him. Todd's eyes grow wide, but eventually he relaxes into it.

Neil eventually pulls away and looks at Todd with a smile, wiping a leftover tear from his eye. He swings his legs over the side of the doc as well and pulls Todd into his side.

"I think I know something you can write about."

[neilperryismine]

dps rewatch thoughts: part 1

(just my random + film student thoughts)

It’s so beautiful with the lighting, candle, pictures

First neil sighting!!!! (seeing him actually makes me so sad)

Is knox okay?

Old guy spotted

mr perry🤬

bells. bells. bells. birds. and more birds. queue the start of the school term = they are ready to fly and be free.

knox threw paper at sp*z!!!!

Cameron is the first to stand and follow Keating, followed by spike, neil and Meeks

Cameron didn’t laugh when Keating talked at the beginning, but he looked around

☝️🤓 “carpe diem? that’s ‘seize the day’”

The “carpe diem. Seize the day boys” with the shots of the pictures followed by silence was eery and not only spoke to the boys but to the audience. We weren’t watching them, we were them. This is followed by silence that is broke by the sound of the door opening, as the boys walk outside, and a loud bell.

“Do you think he’ll test us on that stuff?” “Come on Cameron, don’t you get anything?”

“Hey, you coming to the study group tonight?” 😔😐👀

Todd writing seize the day shows that before he does anything he has to reassure himself of it.

CHRIS spotted!! Knox: 😳

Todd sitting alone🥺

*guy who’s name I can’t remember* is hilarious

NEIL IN GLASSES

so real

Keating speech😭 he looks at neil when he says “that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse” and then he looks at todd and pauses and then says “what will your verse be?” because todd is quiet and hasn’t become anything yet. Neil can run off the first sentence, but he aimed the second at todd to make sure he heard it.

FOUR SCOOPS OF MASH WHAT

“But only in their dreams can men be truly free. Twas always this, and always this will be.”

This is the face of brewing trouble

Spike spotted playing football and with the dog!!!

“Well no shit Sherlock”

This film is split into sections, like chapters of a book, by the sound of bells.

“I’ll try anything once.” “Accept sex.”

Boob touch!!!!!!😭😭 “women swoon”

ANDERPERRY “gosh you really have a problem with that don’t you” “no- no”

Spike spotted talking!!!

Charlie🤭

Cameron 👍🏻

Charlie being scared by a bird🤭

“Arrrgh I’m a dead poet” “your funny, real funny”😭

Pitts hitting his head on the cave

Todd and Meeks attempting to make a fire

To be that cigarette

[neil-gaiman]

Hello Mr. Gaiman!

Idk if it has been asked before, and sorry if it has, but whose idea was it to include footnotes in Good Omens? I'm guessing Sir Terry's, mainly because his books usually have them in abundance while yours usually don't (haven't yet read Stardust, Neverwhere, Norse Mythology and Anansi Boys - hope to get to them soon! - so don't know about those, but i don't think i remember any in American Gods, Coraline, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, The Graveyard Book, or in The Neil Gaiman Reader).

Also, once you agreed on including them, who wrote more footnotes? Or was that also a collab thing, to get to the next funny bit, even in footnotes?

Thank you for your books and being. Hope the WGA strike comes to a good end, however long it takes.

I used to be really big on footnotes -- you'll find them all the way through Don't Panic! (1987). You couldn't really do them in comics, and by the time I got to Neverwhere it felt like Terry had sort of claimed Footnotes for himself, so I didn't use many after that -- I think there's one in Anansi Boys.

There were already footnotes in William The Antichrist, the first 5,000 words of Good Omens I showed Terry, that he asked if he could co-write with me, so they were already part of the style of Good Omens.

Sometimes the one of us writing the bit would also write the footnote. Sometimes the other one would notice a bit that would footnote nicely, and write it.

[wordssricochet]

Writing is my way of grieving. I can't take it anymore, I NEED A HAPPY ENDING.

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

After The Play | D. P. S |

by wordssricochet™

Neil bows down to the audience as the dark red curtains close. His exit was followed by unanimous clapping from the watchers.

He was greeted by compliments from his co-actors at the backstage. One girl even kissed his cheek, which earned a laugh from him.

His friends, including Mr. Keating, waited for him with the other actors' friends and relatives as the guests hurriedly exited the theatre.

The moment that he came out of the backstage, he was greeted with hugs from his friends, and a pat on the back from Mr. Keating.

"You did good, real good. " Mr. Keating smiles delightfully.

"Thank you, Mr. Keating, " Neil says with gratitude. He turns around to face his friends with a proud expression plastered on their faces.

"Way to go, Neil! People loved your play! " Charlie says while shaking Neil's hand.

"It wasn't MY play, Charles," He answered with a chuckle. Charlie hugs his friend and moves aside so the others could also congratulate Neil.

"I'm so proud of you, Neil, you did excellent. " Knox gives a side hug to Neil. Neil looks behind Knox's shoulder.

"You brought your girlfriend? " He glances and smiles at Chris.

"She's not my girlfriend yet. " Knox shrugged.

"Let's emphasize the 'yet' there. " He laughs as Knox rolls his eyes at him. He walks past Knox, he gives a little "Thank you for coming" to Chris as he walks by toward Todd and the others who were having a conversation (mostly Meeks and Pitts speaking).

They notice Neil and immediately give him a hug.

"Congratulations, Neil! People loved the play, probably because you're in it. " Meeks compliments, which made Neil's cheek turn a very light pink.

"Stop with the compliments, I know I'm good, alright. " They both chuckle at the boastful statement from Neil.

Todd didn't say much, he just hugged and congratulated him. Same as Gerard and Cameron.

On the way back to Welton, they somehow made the 5 of them fit in the backseat of Mr. Keating's car, with Neil at the passenger seat. Knox drove Chris home.

Pitts was at the left window seat, Cameron in the middle, Todd sitting on Cameron's left thigh and Pitts' right thigh, and Meeks at the right window seat. For some reason, Charlie was laying on the floor of the backseat because he refused to sit at any of their lap (which resulted in a friendly banter between Charlie and Todd because Todd accidentally stepped on Charlie's head).

Neil was looking out the window when he spotted the woods trailing to the Indian Cave where the dead poets would read poetry every night.

"Mr. Keating, would you mind joining us in the Indian cave? " Neil asks out of nowhere, which made the boys at the back quiet down and look at him.

"Did any of you brought the book then? " Mr. Keating asks, his eyes never leaving the road.

"We don't need that, we can create our own poetry! " Charlie interrupts the conversation between the two in the front seats.

"Dalton's right, I've already memorized what we say before the meetings after all. " Meeks chimes in.

"I'm glad that you already know what verse you are, kids. " Mr. Keating smiles to himself as he parks his car near the woods.

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

💬 — I'M SO SORRY FOR THIS. i literally need to cope and this is what i came up on (which made me cry more).

[amorisastrum]

Queer subtext in dead poets society

Formality sucks I'm never writing anything this formal for you lot again /nm. I had more points and then I got stressed out and upset and I didn't want this to become worse than I already think it is. There is no conclusion! Sorry! I will bring up my future points in future posts with a more rambly style because I am clearly not made to write stuff like this. I have tried my very best to do this as well as I can considering my current circumstances so I hope you all enjoy it!

The 1989 film “Dead Poets Society,” directed by Peter Weir and written by Tom Schulman, is a coming-of-age film that follows the stories of a group of boys at an American all-boys school in 1959. It explores themes of individualism, conformity, the pursuit of passion, and living a good life. Many fans believe “Dead Poets Society” has strong queer undertones and queer subtext, particularly following the two main characters (Todd Anderson and Neil Perry). I believe that the thought of queer subtext adds to the depth of the narrative and adds to the beauty of the story it is telling. In this essay I aim to dissect the queer undertones present throughout the story.

Narrative themes:

As previously stated, the themes explored within the film are individuality, conformity, the pursuit of passion and living a good life - Or rather “seizing the day” - but how do these themes link in with the idea of being queer?

The themes of individuality and conformity pose a significant contrast to one another. We see this juxtaposition several times throughout the film. Individuality is shown through the rebellion of the boys and Mr. Keating’s unorthodox ways of teaching, while the theme of conformity is shown through the presentation of the school and how the other teachers, as well as the parents, act. At the beginning of the film, we see the school’s four values, one of these being tradition. Some may argue that tradition is a confining value, preventing these boys from expressing themselves authentically. Mr Keating, on the other hand, is pushing them to have some degree of freedom and to accept who they really are. This could symbolise the conflict between heteronormativity and homosexuality.

Mr Keating is a key part in the breakdown of traditional values for his students. He is encouraging them to pursue their own interests. In Neil’s case, this is theatre. Mr Keating wants these boys to be individuals and to explore their own identity, ignoring the rules that are put in place for them. This is what queer people have been doing through history.

Filming and writing decisions:

We know that in this film everything is of importance. This is shown through the consistent foreshadowing (such as the shot of Neil as Mr Keating is explaining that everyone will die). So, if everything is of importance, why would a shot of Neil Perry staring at Todd in such awe be included? This film constantly shows through foreshadowing that everything is important, so to include such a shot for no reason would seem unusual. With the closeness and the longing looks shown between both Todd and Neil, it would seem there is something more than just a friendship between the two of them.

As well as this, the extremity of Todd’s reaction after Neil’s death is quite peculiar. Todd had the most intense reaction out of all the poets towards Neil’s death, despite having only known him for a couple months. This suggests that there was something much deeper in the boy's relationship than just friendship.

Cultural references:

Throughout this story, Walt Whitman is mentioned consistently, posing a significant purpose towards the story. Out of all the poets mentioned and referred to, he is the most often brought up. Whitman himself is notoriously known for writing homoerotic poetry. This could symbolise the queerness of characters within the film with lines such as “I’m being chased by Walt Whitman!” spoken by Neil, in direct reference to Todd.

I apologise greatly for not being able to do an amazing essay. There's lots going on for me at the minute so the stress and upset that it started to put me through was simply not worth it. I will continue to share my thoughts and ideas but good lord they will not be formal. This took a lot of my energy and I'd rather write in a more talkative tone, as I would normally! I hope you guys understand.