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teyamsatan · 10 months

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𝕄𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕀𝕟 𝕄𝕖 | ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕍: 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕊𝕥𝕦𝕡𝕚𝕕 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 ℂ𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕕 𝕃𝕠𝕧𝕖

Pairing: Neteyam x (f)Omaticaya!Reader

synopsis: Memories flood Neteyam's mind as he deals with your accident, making him relieve your history and all the reasons he can't shake you from his life, no matter how hard he tries.

warnings: 18+ minors DNI, aged-up! Neteyam/Reader, enemies-to-lovers, angst (mentions of violence, battle, blood, death)

wc: 5.1k words

a/n: I'm actually really nervous about this chapter, because while I love it, it's different than any other Monster in Me chapter so far. This is also the only chapter I've ever written entirely from the MMC's POV, and I hope you enjoy finally finding out why Neteyam's been acting the way he has, and why he's so adamant in his quest for vengeance. As always, thank you for asking to be tagged, I'd love to hear your feedback, your replies and asks and reblogs make my life, so thank you! Thank you to @cinetrix for her amazing Neteyam art, ilysm bestie x and thank you to @draiochtwrites for listening to me talk about my stupid ideas for hours every day, i love you x

na'vi compendium: txepvi - spark, ite - daughter, srane - yes, Olo'eykte - female Olo'eyktan, tam-tam - calm, oare - moon, tewng - loincloth, torukspxam - octoshroom, ngaytxoa - I'm sorry, 'itan - son, angtsìk - Hammerhead Titanothere, yarik - herbivore, ftang - stop, tsantu - good guy, tsìltsan 'eve - good girl, kali'weya - arachnoid used in Uniltaron

: ̗̀➛ previous chapter (x) : ̗̀➛ series masterlist (x) : ̗̀➛ series playlist (x)

And maybe in another life We fight all day, kiss all night But I don't wanna break your heart You keep yours, I'll keep mine

Neteyam, for the first time in his life, couldn’t have cared less if he tried that there was a battle underway, that there were humans screaming and charging at the Na’vi around him, that the explosions happening every time a helicopter went down in flames deafened his ears - none of it mattered anymore, not as he heard the screech of an ikran he knew all too well, that he loved, that was now lifelessly falling towards the ground, taking the woman of his worst nightmares and biggest fantasies along, not when, with every second passing where he ignored the rest of his surroundings and dove as fast as his own ikran could possibly fly in order to make it to you in time, another memory flashed across his mind, so many memories he thought he left behind, so many memories that would haunt his every waking moment if he wouldn’t catch you, if he was too late.

“Teyam, do you trust me?”

“What kind of question is that? You’re my best friend. Of course I trust you.”

Your mischievous smile, although more devious than Neteyam liked, always had power to put his heart to ease… after all, it was you. You, his best friend, the girl who knew everything about him, that helped him withstand every challenge life threw at him, just a couple 11 year olds who had gone through more than most adults do, who have been forced to grow up a lot faster than any kid their own age should ever do. But Neteyam didn’t mind. Maybe he used to, back when he was young and naive. Back then, he cried a lot, each morning a dreaded reminder of the pain and ache that awaited him each day, all for a purpose he couldn’t quite understand yet, that made no sense in a child’s mind, that had no way of truly understanding the concept of a future littered with war and loss, a future where he would carry the burden of being the next leader of his clan, the eldest son of the mighty, revered Toruk Makto and Palulukan Makto, the grandson of brave, respected leaders, the next in line of a ruling dynasty filled with great people he had to follow and to live up to.

Now, he no longer cried, because no matter how hard life got, he was never alone. Because, even though you didn’t have quite the same pressure on your shoulders, you carried your own burdens and a sadness deeper than Neteyam could ever imagine or could ever want to. In his mind, the sting from a few bloodied gashes and the headaches that tried him each night were a small inconvenience compared to the pain that you struggled with and braved every moment since your parents died. When his father told him that you would be joining him for training in the weeks after the accident, Neteyam didn’t know what to expect. But day after day, you managed to blow not only his expectations, but his entire family’s out of the water, each day just another opportunity for you to prove to everyone that your future would be as bright as all the stars in the night combined, that you were special and unique, that you were a talent that only comes once in a few lifetimes.

Now, years later, Neteyam still found it hard to believe how strong you were, how capable and skilled and fearless. Whereas he’s always been more withdrawn and temperate, your fire burned strong and untamed, and you always managed to get both of you in trouble - if he were to be honest with himself, though, he would never mind, not with you.

“Good. Then let’s go.”

You didn’t bother looking behind you as you started sprinting, your flowy top and tewng, always one-of-a-kind, undulating in the wind, making Neteyam’s heart flutter in his chest. You were so beautiful. The most beautiful. A purple flush rising in his cheeks was all that was needed for Neteyam to be grateful for the way you always ran ahead of him, too impatient to wait for a boy that liked to take his time and enjoy the moments few and in between in which life didn’t have to go too fast for his comfort.

"Where are we going, Vi?"

"Shhh, more walking, less talking, 'Teyam. You need to learn to embrace the unknown." you chuckled as you stopped and waited for him to catch up, before taking him by the hand and pulling him until he stumbled softly onto you and you both fell, him on top of you, with a gasp that turned into loud giggles from your side and unflinching groans from his.

"Vi..."

"The mighty warriors have fallen, what will the clan do without us?"

He couldn't help his own exasperated chuckle and the roll of his eyes as he spoke.

"I don't think we're quite there yet."

You shrugged, sure of yourself as always, a trait Neteyam admired and tried to emulate, to little avail most days.

"Soon. Your dad's already talking about the Iknimaya. We're almost ready, Teyam. And if we do it soon, we'll be the youngest Na'vi to ever do it. You and me."

Before he could say anything, you reached for him until your lips made contact with his cheeks, and it didn't help his blush, that was now deep periwinkle and burning his skin from the inside out, like a fire that wanted to escape his body, too powerful to be contained inside it.

"And just like today, if you ever fall, I'll always be there to catch you. You and I, we're meant to fall and rise together."

Those words rang painfully in Neteyam's ears as his ikran dove at full speed towards the ground, as his open, stretched out hand was just outside of your reach, as he watched your body disappear through the trees, where it would inevitably crash, where it might be lost forever.

His heart, that was going as fast as his ikran was, watching your unconscious form collect deep, bleeding scars like Kiri collected pebbles in the woods with every hard branch your body made contact with, stopped racing in his chest as, by the grace of Eywa, your fall was broken by the plush, attenuating force of a torukspxam right before you hit the ground. Despite the fear, so deeply embedded in him, it was impossible to know if he would ever be able to fully detach himself from it again, a seed of hope bloomed in him that maybe he wasn't too late. That maybe, despite not being able to catch you, not now nor for the past 7 years in which he's left built up resentment prevent him from wanting to, maybe he wasn't too late.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

He didn't wait for Seze to land before he jumped and approached you, pushing with all his might against the drag of his own heavy body that felt like it was experiencing the world in slow motion, until one of his hands found the back of your neck, propping you up gently and his other hand placed two fingers on your pulse point, trying to feel for a heartbeat that would either calm his own or stop it altogether.

"Please, Txepvi. Please..."

When the small, barely-felt flutters registered in him, he let out a breath he didn't even realise he was holding and wasted no time in picking you up bridal-style and running back to his beautiful ikran. He had no time to dwell on the cracks deepening in his heart as he watched Seze bumping her snout on the side of Oare's lifeless face, sorrowful trills filling his ears, no time to dwell on the red liquid spilling out from multiple points in your body, dripping down his body and onto the ground, no time to stop yet another memory fighting to come to the forefront of his mind.

Fickle as you are That's exactly why I keep on running back 'Cause I'm brittle at the parts Where I wish I was strong

“I can walk, Teyam.”

Neteyam decided to ignore you as he grabbed you by the back of your knees and carried you back to the village, the gash in your leg large enough to have hit a couple veins and stain your thigh red, but not deep enough to make it life-threatening - still, Neteyam wouldn’t take any chances. Taking chances… that was the reason for keeping you so close to him, your face buried in the crook of his neck… that was the only reason.

“Can you, Vi? Isn’t that how this happened in the first place?” He chuckled, yelping a little when your fist made contact with his chest.

“It was an accident, you know that.”

“Yeah, well, you have a lot of accidents. And so close to the Iknimaya, too…” the shake of his head was mostly a teasing one, and although he tried to push away the nagging fear eating away at him, the one that told him you might not be able to take it with him, the one that screamed he’d be all alone once more, like he was before you, the one that urged bad memories and ugly scenarios into his mind, the one whose ugly head appeared as though from around the corner, staring intently to see if he’ll allow it to approach or banish it from existence. He couldn't decide yet.

He couldn’t do this without you. He needed you to be his first flight. Like you told him last year, and like it’s been solidified in his soul every day since, you and him were meant to rise and fall together. You were meant to fly together, to soar together. And that couldn’t happen if a tiny accident delayed your progress.

“Aw, it’s sweet you’re worried, although I think it’s mostly selfish and you’re just too scared to do the Iknimaya by yourself.”

The tinge in his cheeks is enough validation for you to start laughing at him, your head thrown so far back, he had to readjust his grip on you, so that you wouldn’t fall out of his arms.

“I knew it! You scaredy-cat. Why would you be scared, Teyam? Out of everyone here, everyone who’s gonna do this next, out of all of us, you are the best. You’ve always been the best.”

“No. You’re the best." As much wasn't up for discussion to him, and never will be. "And you promised.”

Your smile softened taking him in, the little pout he tried his best to conceal, the little scrunch of his nose, the way his ears twitched in slight annoyance and slight embarrassment… he couldn’t tell for sure, but he thought you found it… endearing?

“I know what I promised. And I intend to keep my promise. You don’t have to worry, Teyam. You and I have always been two sides of the same coin. And as long as you want me by your side, nothing could ever pry me away.”

"Just hang on, please. Shit. Please don't die. Please don't die."

And maybe when you need my help I like myself when it's over But later in the light, you go Dark and rogue, and I need closure

“Ma ‘ite, you have to be more careful.” The quiet, teasing admonishments of his grandmother do little do deter you, although you keep your eyes on the ground, slight embarrassment visible in the swish of your tail and the flatness of your ears.

“Srane, ma Tsa’hik. Ngaytxoa.”

The thick cream paste made its way from Mo’at’s fingers to your thigh, where it was spread in a hefty layer until the cut was no longer visible. You winced as it made contact with your skin, but said nothing as you accepted the help, and Neteyam saw his grandmother nod in approval at your bravery and inclination to suffer in silence, to not let anyone know you’re in pain at any point. Strong heart. Him, on the other hand, wished you were a bit more forthcoming, wished you didn’t feel the need to go through suffering alone. With a pat on your head and a soft smile, the Tsa’hik raised from her spot on the floor and turned her back on you both.

“You’re all done. It’s just a scratch, this time. I feel like I always have to have extra healing salve at the ready just for you. Now go, and be careful. Your Iknimaya is soon and my grandson would never forgive you if you missed it.”

“Neteyam, quick, put her on the mat. I need all the help I can get, now! Go get all the healers in training, we don’t have a lot of time.” The barking of orders did little to ease Neteyam’s fear, as he very rarely has ever seen his grandmother this agitated. After sending away the trainees, she turned to her grandson and took a deep breath, to calm herself. As serious her voice was, as rushed and violent the atmosphere around them, she still found the second to put her hand on her grandson’s chest, feeling the erratic, loud, trepidous heartbeat that refused to settle in him.

“Ma ‘itan, she’s very weak. I know you haven’t been close in a long time, but she is your intended mate. I need you to prepare yourself for the worst. Now go back to the battle.”

“No. I’m staying here.”

Neteyam didn’t get scared often. A whole lifetime of being raised like a soldier made his skin as thick as an 'angtsìk’s, and little ever managed to get under it. You did. You had unmatched prowess to make him feel so many things, too many things, all too intense, all too powerful, all too overbearing. When he was young, all of them were good and pure, all exciting and hopeful - love. It was love. Now, he feels anger and resentment, vengeful spite and deep arousal, all of which poison his mind and make him a version of himself he hates. Hate. That’s it. It’s all hate, isn’t it? So if it is… why are his limbs trembling and eyes watering, why is his mind jumbled with all these memories, why has the blood coursing through his veins been irreparably polluted with so much deep, earth-shattering terror and grief at the thought of losing you? Why was there a crater in his chest where his heart usually resided when he imagined his life without you in it?

Maybe it's because, for better or for worse, you were a constant in his life. From the second your presence made its way to him, you never left. There hasn't been a day that he hasn't seen you, that he hasn't been in your vicinity, not a day in which you haven't trained together, side by side, friends before, enemies after, but always together. Your words, that he drowned for years, came back like an undying echo ringing in his ears.

"You and I, we're meant to fall and rise together..."

I don't need a reason to keep on dreamin' That we don't lose, yeah, what's the use?

More and more, it felt like you had been right all along. He didn't think about it for so long, so desperate in his attempts to hurt you like you had hurt him, to sour your life like how you soiled his most precious memories, all of you and him, all of a childhood long left behind, all of fantasies he's harboured at the time that long dissipated from the version of future he used to dream about. Nothing about his life now was how he once envisioned, and that was because of you. He would never forgive you, but he couldn't let you go, either. No matter how the visions differed from his current reality, he couldn't shake you, couldn't let you go. Because despite it all, he couldn't part with the girl that used to be his partner in crime, his training buddy, his best friend, his first flight.

"Are you ready?"

Neteyam watched in awe as you confidently nodded at his father, smiling as if the hardest challenge an Omaticaya Na'vi would ever undertake, one that most people did when they were much, much older, was nothing to you, like it was just another yarik hunt that you've done a thousand times before. You turned to him and the smile you gave him dazzled him, left him breathless, not a good thing for the trek he was about to undertake, but still, not something he would could ever find it in himself to be upset about. You turned your attention momentarily to the bowl of paint in your hands before you brought a finger to his face, completing the pattern that was the same as the one you were adorning, one that he painted on you.

You both took turns saying goodbye to everyone, paying special attention to the little bundle in Neytiri's arms. Neteyam couldn't believe this was his little sister, and couldn't believe how attentive you were with her, how careful and loving. Some of his personality must be rubbing off on you, because to the Sully family's surprise, you didn't drop Tuk once in the year she's been born. In fact, you haven’t dropped anything in the last couple of months, including yourself from high places, which used to be one of your favourite past times, and Neteyam couldn't help blush at the thought that he was the reason you were being a little more careful.

As expected, the climb was the hardest thing Neteyam ever put his body through, and he felt suddenly grateful for all the years of torturous training that now felt like a peaceful breeze of the wind in an otherwise unyielding hurricane. Still, seeing you in front of him, not once complaining, not in front of the multiple 15 to 19 year olds that were also taking their rite of passage today, not in front of your Olo'eyktan, made him push through, too. If you could do it, so could he. Because you would do it, so would he.

The rookery was hidden behind a waterfall, and Neteyam watched as one by one, the few Na'vi joining you both either failed or succeeded, and with each attempt, his fear grew stronger, his mind more restless. Eventually, it was his turn, and with a deep breath, he started walking towards the slippery ledge that would lead him to his fate. A hand on his chest not only stopped him in his tracks, but also stopped his heart momentarily, just momentarily, because before he knew it, it started booming again with enough intensity to dizzy him.

"Ma tsantu... you got this. Remember, you and I, we're meant t-"

"-to fall and rise together, I know." you smile, your fingers smoothing the deep frown that gave Neteyam a headache without even realising and he sighed, trying to calm his mind and soul, focusing on you and only you.

"Exactly. So you can't fall, because if you do, I'll have to follow you... and I don't intend to fall yet, Teyam. Not yet."

"How did this happen?"

"Oare... got shot. She's dead. She... fell. I couldn't catch her." I couldn't catch her...

Neteyam couldn't bear to look at the way his grandmother was ripping you apart, although he knew it was all with the purpose of putting you back together again. Her trainees, all girls he knew, some girls he knew more intimately than others, all flocked around you, with wet cloths and trays of balms and powders, of plants and tinctures, and it all hurt, the guilt of knowing to some extent, to a large extent, this was all his fault. This ongoing war between you, never-ending and harrowing, reached a nadir that resulted in the death of your ikran, in your accident, and indirectly, because of your removal and his from the battlefield, might result in the deaths of good na'vi men and women, all of whom had families and a life, and a future they would be robbed of.

Neteyam couldn't leave you and go back. If he did, he knew that much like you, he wouldn't be able to focus enough to matter, and the thought of his mother, of his father, losing one more loved one was too much to bear. Neteyam couldn't leave you, but he couldn't stay here either. It hurt, being here, watching flashes of the girl he hates intertwined with the girl he loved more than anything else in the world, it hurt, having to deal with feelings he buried deep down and memories that came to him like summer rain, uninterrupted and warm, but powerful enough to flood and leave damage their wake.

With one last look at your unconscious form, Neteyam left the village on the back of his Ikran, knowing there was one thing he needed to do, he had to do. His mind was overcome with agonising sorrow as Seze's mourning was felt through his entire being, and the full weight of what transpired came crashing down on him like a tidal wave he could do little to stop, but had to power through, hoping that by the end there was something left of his heart to go on. Oare, much like Seze, has been in his life every day for the last 7 years, and he loved her. She was playful and sweet, and she always played with him when he snuck out at night to give her pets and treats, refusing to let your declining relationship affect their bond. Oare was Seze's best friend, her companion and life partner, and Neteyam knew her death would affect his ikran for a long time, perhaps forever.

With a squeal that matched the banshee, Neteyam watched from the air, on the back of his new mount, his new friend, his new spirit sister, as you made Tsaheylu, and his heart, that has been barely beating in anxious fear, felt finally awake again.

"Ftang! Tam tam, tsìltsan 'eve." your smile was wide and relieved as your eyes searched the sky until they found his, and he swore he never knew it was possible to love someone so much, to feel so connected to a soul, so much so it felt like he could hear you, your heartbeat and your mind, like tsaheylu would have been redundant because he knew. He just knew.

"I did it, Teyam!"

"Yes, you did, Vi! Come, first flight seals the bond."

That day was Neteyam's happiest day. That memory is still something that he cherishes deeply, that he'll never be able to shake, that haunts him at night, that shakes his resolve whenever he's thinking of a new way to make you pay. That memory is still untarnished in his mind, and it will always remain so, especially today, as he's fastening Oare's lifeless form onto Seze, petting her one last time, allowing the tears he's been stubbornly pushing back this entire day to finally fall from his cheeks onto her face, almost like she was the one crying, one last time.

"I'm sorry, girl. I'm so sorry."

"I'm sorry that I beat you... again. You're gonna have to do much better than this to beat me, Teyam."

The floating rock you landed on, hours after you finished your Iknimaya, was alit with biofluorescence, the colours reflecting in your eyes and on your shiny skin, covered in a light layer of sweat from the flight.

"Give me a break, Vi. It's my first time doing this."

"Yeah, cause I've been doing it for ages." you say, chuckling and rolling your eyes. You prop your body on your elbows and point to the two banshees playing in the air with each other, a mass of ravelling green and purple, so beautiful, and so, so free.

"I can't take all the credit. She did most of the work. I love her already, Teyam. Do you have a name in mind for yours?"

Neteyam didn't have to think about it too much. Ever since he's first found out about the Iknimaya, a story told to him by his mother consolidated a name in his memory that he's never been able to forget.

"Seze. Like my mother's ikran that bravely gave her life in the war against the Sky People."

"That's pretty. And fitting. She's a beautiful flower."

"What about you?"

"Oare."

"Why?"

"I used to look at the moons every night and think I'm so far away from this, from my destiny, from who I've always known I was meant to be, the Iknimaya might as well have been the moon - unreachable, untouchable, a world away. And now, I'm here, with you, way past curfew, and we're gonna get in so much trouble and I couldn't care less because I did it, I reached the moon. And I did it with the only person I ever wanted to. So.. Oare."

"Thank you, Teyam. I learnt a lot from you in these years. Ever since I met you, I knew you were special. And I think, even without realising, I wanted to be more like you. I've looked up to you for so long, I don't even remember my life before the Sullys took me in. If I'm here today, it's because of you. You helped me become more temperate and understand the weight of my talent and my power, and that I have a responsibility to the clan, that this is bigger than me, and my life."

Neteyam was taken aback at your words. You were never this forthcoming with your feelings normally, but he couldn't say he wasn't happy about it. He was so happy.

"I love you, Vi. I may have made you more responsible, but you made me better. Braver. More creative, more inventive. I almost couldn't finish the Iknimaya today, and then one of your crazy ideas popped in my head, and it worked. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't have done this without you, without your influence in my life. Thank you."

You smiled softly, and put your head on his chest, just watching the dance of the banshees, and he prayed that this moment would never end.

"I guess we really are meant to be together then, huh?"

"Yeah. I guess we are."

Neteyam placed Oare in the village, where the elders and Tsa'hik would be able to perform Eywa's funeral rituals, before making his way back to the tent. He couldn't help the gasp that escaped him as he was met with your drowsy, blood-shot eyes, so much sadness in them, it broke him. They were so different then the ones that have haunted Neteyam's mind today, so devoid of the innocence and love he remembered, so filled with anger and spite and hurt, so much like his own, such a bitter reminder that the past was only that, the past, and there was nothing left of you, or of him, of the love you shared and the future he envisioned. With one last memory, Neteyam felt the walls surrounding his heart, thick and unflinching, growing harder with every year since the Iknimaya, fortify yet again, as one last memory emerged uninvited and reminded him of why, despite your history, Neteyam would never look at you the same way again.

And I know whatever this is ain't love So I'm goin' I'm gonna let you go, let you go

"I'm going to go back to my tent. I had too much of a good day to spoil it by Jake yelling at me for 2 hours straight. I'd rather save the pleasure for tomorrow."

"That's so unfair, why do I have to suffer by myself?"

A shrug was all the answer you felt was necessary to give him, and he felt his heart drop at the notion of going to his family's tent so late, so far past curfew, without your much more argumentative presence, that his father could never resist. He walked cautiously, silently, praying that his family would be asleep so he could just sneak in and postpone the yelling until tomorrow. To his surprise, he heard whispered voices coming from right outside the tent, whispers he quickly recognised as his father and grandmother's.

"... that it should be her. She should be the next Olo'eykte. That she is the most deserving of it, has been since she was young. It took a long time to see it for myself, but... I don't know. Maybe he.."

...Olo'eykte? You? Neteyam couldn't believe his ears. He couldn't believe how quickly his father was willing to replace him, how quickly he considered you better and more worthy of the title than his own son, than the rightful heir. You were both 12, for Eywa's sake. How could a decision be made so early? Neteyam felt tears gather in his eyes, the betrayal's sting more painful than a kali'weya's, and yet, still, a part of him knew this already. A part of him couldn't find it in him to be upset, because you were better. And you deserved to lead, you deserved to fulfil your destiny, that was made for greatness, made for the songs and the ballads, made for history.

"It's Neteyam's birthright, Jakesulli. It wouldn't be right, no matter how worthy the girl is. What about a mateship? They have been inseparable for years anyhow."

"Ah, she would never want to be Tsa'hik. And she wouldn't be good at it anyway. Besides..." the silence felt like it dragged on forever, and he clung on to it, afraid of what was waiting for him at the end of it.

"I mentioned it to her. She said she... doesn't want to mate with Neteyam. That she couldn't ever love him the way a mate would. She was... very adamant about it."

As Neteyam looked into your eyes, those words forever embedded in his psyche, playing in his ears like a cacophony of sounds that rattled him every time he saw you, even so many years later, solidified in him by all the times you continued to hurt him, continued flaunting your relationships and skills to him, your connection and closeness to his own family, that sometimes he felt like he didn't belong in anymore, like he was the adoptive one... he was reminded that every time, it hurt, every day, it broke him further, and those eyes that were once his guidepost and the reason he got up in the morning, were now empty and bleak, and enough to make anger bubble in his soul once more, until it drowned everything else, until it was all that was left.

I don't need a reason to keep on dreamin' That we don't lose, yeah what's the use? I don't need a reason to keep on dreamin' That I can win this stupid thing called love

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vidavalor · 24 days

Note

Ok fine, I brought milk and chocolate chip cookies this time 🥛 🍪 and also some eggs from my lovely chickens! 🐓 🥚

I hope you accept this apology, and I’ll try my best to behave 😜

So, I wonder how you interpret 1.03 where, just before the flood, one of the unicorns makes a run for it and Crawley says ‘you still got one of them’? Some people seem to believe this means she didn’t understand the process of procreation (at the time). Do you have any thoughts on that?

Please don't behave. Why would you want to do that? Would make this all very boring lol. 😂 Thank you for the very fun ask. I love this question.💕

I think the scene you're talking about is more than a funny aside about whether or not Crowley had finished reading Demon's Guide to Reproduction of Beings on Earth yet... and that might not be the question the scene is really asking. I think it also has a ton to do with the Final Fifteen of 2.06, too, so *slices pie* let's get into the unicorns and the professional midwife/cobbler and what, imo, these two moments have to do with one another:

In S1, in the scene set just before the beginning of The Flood, we have two questions emerge from Crowley's dialogue, both of which are then picked up again in S2. One is what Crowley meant by "kids" when he said "you can't kill kids" after looking at a group containing both small goats and children. The second question is the one you're talking about, which is whether or not he understood at the time how human reproduction works. The question is born out of the fact that, on the surface, he might appear to not exactly be grasping the concept of Noah's Ark when he says that Shem's "still got one of them" after one of the pair of unicorns takes off and doesn't get on the boat. Both things show back up together again in S2 in the Job minisode and that sort of continuation of story, in a way, might suggest that there's going to be a third layer to this that emerges in S3 as well. I think, though, that we might have enough to look at some potential answers already.

While the "kids" bit is, essentially, answered and was always more of a language joke anyway-- Crowley wishes to kill no kids, be them goats or humans-- the fact that this question returned in S2 and was tied once again with a plot centered around sex and reproduction shows that the questions raised in The Flood scene in S1 are interrelated and pretty important overall. The entire Job plot ultimately comes down to who knows what about human reproduction. Saving the kids comes down to fooling Gabriel and fooling Gabriel can only be done because Gabriel, at least at the time, did not have the first clue how human reproduction normally works. He had only seen this one, initial, very atypical version of it that has basically never happened since and because he didn't spend time on Earth at that point in the story, he didn't know he had it all wrong. This whole story is built around what someone's understanding of reproduction of another species is and it isn't Crowley who doesn't know how it all works by 2500 B.C., it's Gabriel. But what does this have to do with The Flood and Crowley and the unicorns?

In the Job minisode, we are told that Gabriel was in The Garden at the start of it and witnessed Eve's birth from Adam's rib. We find this hilarious because we know that this isn't how sex works and this time, in this scene, Crowley is more than in on the joke with us. What makes the scene funny is actually Crowley's knowledge in it of how human sex and reproduction work. Unlike Gabriel, he wasn't there for Eve's super-weird birth and so he's visibly trying not to be like what the actual fuck? this is how Eve was made? at Aziraphale as Aziraphale's gestures lead Crowley to telling Sitis to pull out one of Job's ribs-- absolutely not a feature of any sex Crowley has ever had or seen. Aziraphale then is flirting with a Crowley who totally gets the joke when Sitis pulls the ox ribs "out" of Job. It's very evident between this scene and the prior night in the cellar that, circa 2500 B.C. at least, Crowley absolutely knew how human sex and reproduction worked.

The key bit here to understanding what Crowley was saying about the unicorns back during The Flood is actually in the reminder in the Job minisode about The Garden that the minisode gives us through making the plot equally about what Gabriel saw in The Garden-- Eve's weird conception and birth-- but also about what Gabriel didn't see-- Adam and Eve have more human-typical sex-- which is something that Crowley set into motion and then something that he and Aziraphale both witnessed.

By bringing up how Gabriel doesn't know what human sex and reproduction normally look like because of what he saw (and missed) in The Garden of Eden, the show is also reminding us that, after Gabriel left, Crowley was sent up into The Garden and tempted Eve into eating the apple. Eve then shared the apple with Adam. Adam and Eve figured out sex not long after that, during a period of time in which both Aziraphale and Crowley were also in The Garden and Eve's pregnancy was one of Aziraphale's motivations for giving them his flaming sword.

Mah point is that Crowley absolutely knew about sex and sexual reproduction during The Flood because Crowley and Aziraphale essentially watched the first humans have sex on Earth in The Garden of Eden.

The show also has about a half-dozen jokes about Anthony J. "Can I watchchch?" Crowley's voyeuristic tendencies and roots some of it to the fact that he's the Serpent of Eden and gets off on watching his temptation labors bear fruit. (It's been a long day. I have earned that joke😂). Ya know, such as:

This whole unicorn and sex thing is also part of the Job minisode by way of the ox ribs, further making it all kind of part of the same story. The inclusion of unicorns in ancient history in GO feels like a nod to the re'em, an animal mentioned a few times in The Bible (including in The Book of Job), which has been frequently translated as "unicorn" and is part of the origin for from where our idea of unicorns comes in the first place. The same word has been translated as meaning other animals-- among them? The wild ox.

Making things even more interesting is unicorn lore. The unicorn was said to be a wild, secretive creature who lived in the forest and who could only ever be captured and tamed by a virgin maiden. Aziraphale, in 2500 B.C., is shown to not eat or drink before the night in the cellar began so odds are also good on the food-and-alcohol = sex show that Aziraphale definitely qualified as a virgin maiden when he went to absolute town on those ox ribs. Anyway...

...what I'm saying here is that it feels extremely unlikely that, by the time of The Flood in 3,004 B.C., that Crowley didn't know how human sex and reproduction worked when he saw it play out in The Garden. Other than Eve's speedy stages of pregnancy meant to get the ball rolling on humanity, Adam and Eve's sex was typical of humans. So, Crowley knew about sex and sexual reproduction when he made the comment about the unicorns... but then how does that make sense, right?

In order to think that Crowley didn't know how reproduction works during The Flood scene we've seen, you would have to assume two things are true: 1) that unicorns reproduce via sexual reproduction and 2) that unicorns went extinct as a result of one of them making a run for it and not making it onto Noah's Ark, right?

The thing is... the show might be subtly trying to show that unicorns do still exist in GO. But before you say 'but, Vida, seriously?! We've never seen an unicorn after The Flood!', I'm going to argue that maybe we actually have one as a major supporting character and this S2 scene might be hinting in that direction:

The parallel to the "Oi, Shem!" scene is Nina-as-Crowley telling Aziraphale-as-Shem that that unicorn (The Bentley) is running of its own accord. Unicorns are magical beings. How magical beings present, as God pointed out in S1, is up to them. Human forms are just one option, right? I don't know exactly where this is going but this bit in S2 was a direct tie to The Flood's unicorn moment and it would explain a thing or two about Chitty Chitty Bang Bang if it were somehow tied to the unicorns. Can Crowley actually make them, the way Beez can make flies? Can Aziraphale? We really have no idea how the unicorn thing works in GO so we can't really use it as an example that Crowley didn't know about sex when it's more that we don't know about unicorns...

The unicorn that we saw during The Flood tracked with what we think of as the mythical being of an unicorn in our real world so we could make the assumption that some of the same aspects of them are/were true in GO. Unicorns are magical horse/donkey-like beings (which couldn't possibly be more Crowley and Aziraphale if it tried.) They are few and far between, are hard to spot and mostly keep to themselves. Human beings have no real actual proof that they ever existed in the first place and generally consider them mythical beings but Good Omens shows us that they at least did exist in GO ancient times-- and might still. In modern times, unicorns have become a LGBTQIA+ symbol and, for that reason and that reason alone, it seems unlikely that they actually went extinct in the world of *Good Omens*...

So, let's presume that Crowley said the existence of unicorns would continue even if Shem only had one of them on Noah's Ark because he knows that unicorns are not like other beings on Earth. Think about what else Crowley is then saying here with this line to Shem:

Noah's Ark, to us, is a story about continuing the existence of life for beings on Earth, right? It's about pairs, about mates, for the purpose of continuing species on earth via sexual reproduction. That's why we consider what Crowley's saying in this moment of this scene through the lens of it being entirely about sexual reproduction. When it comes to the unicorns, though, you could argue that Crowley is not actually talking about reproduction but about romance. We don't actually know how unicorns work-- but Crowley does.

What Crowley is actually telling us in this scene is that paired unicorns can survive the death of one of them because they're a part of each other. What Crowley is actually saying is that the pair of mated unicorns in the scene are two beings who share a single existence.

You couldn't permanently kill one of a pair of unicorns without killing both of them. So long as one of them still exists, they both do.

One unicorn could make a run for it for any reason and bolt away from his mate and die in the storm but Crowley knew the bolting unicorn was a part of the one that Shem got on the boat and so could be brought back.

In S2, we see something like this with other magical beings-- Ineffable Bureaucracy.

Oi, Shem, that purple-eyed unicorn's gonna make a run for it...

It's too late, too late...

Oh, well, you've still got one of them...

The Fly is Gabriel and Beez together; it's their shared existence. Without it, Gabriel would not have survived. The one of them still left-- Beez-- is the one who can put it together and bring Gabriel back into a full existence.

Ineffable Bureaucracy are unicorns who parallel our main two, though, and Oi, Shem...

...that bow-tied unicorn's gonna make a run for it...

Oh, well, you've still got one of them...

#ineffable husbands #good omens #good omens meta #crowley #aziraphale #aziracrow

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scekrex · 14 days

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Adam X Male Reader. Who's been cheated on, in the past and is slowly starting to trust Adam more as time goes on.

Okay okay okay hear me the fuck out: they both struggle bc both Lilith and Eve left him and they both had something with Lucifer (Eve presumably cheated - in this fic it's implied that both cheated on Adam to spice things up a lil)

There's a darkness at the heart of my love, that runs cold, runs deep

pairing: Adam x male!reader

warnings: language, hurt, cheating (mentioned)

note: not beta read bc fuck you I don't have beta readers

When Adam decided to play a role in your silly little afterlife and you realized that you wanted him in a way that you’ve only ever wanted one person before, the sweet taste of your platonic relationship soured. You had developed feelings for the first man, that you couldn’t deny any longer, but you hated yourself for it - because who were to promise you that he wouldn’t fuck with someone else while dating you like your ex partner had done? The only person who could do so was Adam, yet you had learned the hard way that many promises people made - winner or human didn’t matter - were empty.

They told you what they thought you wanted to hear to simply get their way and while you wanted to trust Adam, and maybe your heart already did trust his sugar coated words, your mind strongly disagreed and doubted every little promise spoken by him - not just by him though, your mind told you that every promise was just a bunch of empty words, that way you were keeping yourself safe, you protected yourself from getting hurt again.

Adam, on the other hand, felt similar. He had been cheated on twice, back in his early days as a human, back when he had blindly trusted Lucifer’s and Lilith’s words, back in Eden when Eve had promised him that she and Lucifer were just friends. But they had been so much more than just that - just friends weren’t fucking each other. The two women that had been created for him and only him had turned against him and chosen someone else, why shouldn’t you do the same? God had never truly intended for Adam to date guys, hadn’t he? Yet you were there and Adam wanted nothing more than to call you his. But surely a person who wasn’t even meant for him would leave him just like the women did that God had created for him. They had been meant to love and desire him, but they hadn't done so. They had crushed Adam’s heart, shattered it into pieces and stepped on the shards until it had been nothing but dust. And then you had been so quick to glue the tiny pieces back together, you had fixed something deep inside of him without even knowing it but there was the risk of losing you again - he told himself that if he’d keep himself distanced, it wouldn’t hurt as much. That was bullshit though and deep down he knew that.

And then there was Lute, she was not only Adam’s lieutenant and best friend, she was also the self claimed couple therapist Adam and you desperately needed. So when the three of you sat in the living room of the house you and Adam shared, and Lute waited for one of you to begin talking, you took that chance, “What if his promises of staying forever and not fucking someone else are empty?” You felt a little bad, voicing your thoughts so harshly with Adam sitting right next to you and you noticed how he flinched a little at your words, how his wings rose a little to hide himself behind them. Lute tilted her head a little, “Why would they?” And to that you had no answer so you remained silent while Adam’s curious eyes were watching you carefully from the side. “I’ve known Adam for a long while now,” Lute continued, she gently placed a hand on your knee and your eyes met hers. There was honesty in those golden orbs of hers, honesty and made your concerns seem so unwarranted. “He has never looked at someone the way he looks at you,” you turned your head towards the first man, the man mumbled something inaudible but nodded - he was not used to being so vulnerable, to talk about his fears openly. “What if he fucking finds someone like Lucifer and decides to fucking drop me like those whores of ex-wives did?” Lute sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, “Look at him, he’s seen your crybaby tantrums and yet decided to stay - he’s not gonna leave Adam.” And while Lute’s words were true and both of you logically knew that the other wouldn’t cheat because they know what it’s like to be on the other end of it, it wasn’t that easy to change an entire mindset.

It would take a lot of time and work, even more energy to fix the both of you. But you and Adam were willing to work this through. Together, side by side and hand in hand. And maybe one day the both of you wouldn’t have to struggle with that fear anymore, today was not that day though.

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel adam #adam x male reader #male reader #adam x y/n #adam x reader #adam x you

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dw-writes · 2 months

Text

Angelic Rip Off - Chapter One

Summary: It didn't take much for you to be kicked from Heaven. Ask the wrong question, see the wrong person, bad place, bad time, etc. Heaven as a paradise sounded like a scam when you factored in how easy it was to fall. What a rip. Word Count: 9,649 Chapter Summary: You're booted from Heaven because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Genre: Fantasy, Romance. Slow Burn. Eventual Lucifer x Reader Warnings: Angst, swearing, mild body horror, screaming, violence. A/N: I'm actually really excited for this story!! And I'm really hoping that you guys are going to enjoy it :) Tag list at the end. Using a read more because it's very long and i dont like cluttering the tag :) Enjoy.

Chapter One

There weren’t rules about being out so late in Heaven, but it wasn’t common.

You always were a weird one.

You brushed off the thought as you walked, wings tucked close, following the winding road through the center of Humility Square. It wasn’t silent, far from it – the hum of the elevator in the distance, the quiet chatter in the Prayer Palace, the buzz of electricity, and the few people that always walked during the night.

It almost didn’t surprise you to see Adam and Lute out walking, either. They often did – claimed that it was to ‘patrol’ and ‘keep Heaven safe’ but you had a feeling it was a weird kind of date for the two of them. You almost waved but stopped yourself at the sight of Sera walking with them. The three of them were making a beeline for the Angelic Council building behind you, whispering amongst themselves.

You waved for Sera’s attention and flew to close the distance.

“Shit,” Adam muttered. Lute stiffened.

Man cannot school his features for anything.

“Is there an emergency council meeting?” you asked Sera as you approached, pulling your phone from your pocket to check. The only thing you saw was a notification from FaithBook, and no text about a council meeting.

Sera waved for the two Exorcists to go ahead, and they left with uncharacteristically little preamble. She waited until they were inside, and you watched them push the doors open. Inside the building were two figures, one drastically taller than the other, who turned when the doors opened. You tilted your head, hoping to see more details, but the doors closed before you could.

“What are you doing out so late?” Sera asked.

You frowned. “I normally take a walk this late,” you replied, crossing your arms, “It’s nice. It’s relaxing.” You glanced at the Council building again. “Should I ring the Council? Do you need anything?”

“I need you to go home,” she firmly stated.

You paused, laughed a little, frowned. “I’m a senior member of the Council, same as you. If there’s a meeting, I should be informed of it,” you said. You squeezed your arms, watching her as her eyes darted for the doors. “Not Adam, certainly not Lute. You know as well as I do that the leniency he’s gotten with his ragtag para-military group is getting dangerous, and allowing him—”

“It doesn’t involve you,” Sera cut in, holding up a hand.

You reeled back.

She flew past you, positioning herself between you and the door. “You need to leave.” You watched her turn and head inside, and she was quick to shut the doors behind her. But you could have sworn you saw two familiar faces inside.

Impossible. They can’t ever come home.

Your nightmares started that night and continued for weeks: of the brightest star in creation falling from the Heavens and taking a third of the sky with him. Lucifer’s fall was a real nightmare for you; a friend from the start, someone you made the universe with, who told you all his dreams and things he could change; who told you about Lilith, and Eve, and the apple, and what he did in a flurry of fearful tears when talks of “expulsion” first started.

Lucifer, whose brothers dragged him down silent streets in the middle of the night for an emergency council, who you followed with promises that you would help him, that you’d make sure nothing happened to him.

Lucifer, who fell from Heaven and past Earth with the woman he loved wrapped in his arms. You remembered the smell of his flesh burning as he kept her safe through the fall. You remembered your stars clinging to the edges of his feathers as he dragged them out of sight.

The whole ordeal plagued you, and it had taken centuries for the nightmares to stop.

And then, as if out of nowhere…

You walked the streets while attempting to rid the remnants of your most recent nightmare from your mind. You passed peaceful homes, the Prayer Palace, and the empty Angelic Council building, trying to rid Lucifer’s pained face from your eyes.

You turned a corner and almost ran right into Sera. You swallowed a swear, apologizing profusely, “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you—”

“Why are you out?” she demanded, her voice sharp, uneven, the eyes of her hair cracking open, “Again.”

“Just out for a walk,” you slowly replied. Familiar faces walked around the corner behind her, heading back the way you’d come from, towards the Heavenly Elevator – Adam, Lilith, Lute, then Sera following behind them.

You turned around, eyes wide, staring at the familiar tall blonde.

“Lilith?” you weakly asked. She turned, her eyes flat and blank as she met your gaze. She had to have known who you were, right? You stepped closer, feeling the panic rising in your throat like sticky acid. “Lilith, what’re you—”

“Go home,” demanded Sera.

The first woman still watched you, her eyes darting over your face, familiarity slowly rising from the depths of her irises. She closed the gap between you both, grasping your hands tight between hers, pleading, “Take care of them.”

Lute’s hand pressed flat against your chest and shoved you back. Hands were torn from yours, and the four of them were gone. You stared down the road where they disappeared, your lungs seeming to shrink in your chest until your vision tunneled at the edges.

Abandoned.

You couldn’t remember how you got home, or when you fell asleep, but you were shaken away by the Exorcists breaking down your door. They dragged you out of bed with little warning and flew down the busy morning streets with you locked between their arms until they kicked down the doors of the Angelic Council and threw you inside.

You remembered being on the other end of your situation – when you stormed in after Lucifer, watching them sling accusations that had no merit – and you trembled when the same words were shouted down at you from the Council.

“Traitor!”

“Snake!”

“Liar!”

You rose to your feet, holding your hands out in front of you as your wings lifted you to be level with the Council. “Wait, what’s going on!” you demanded, “What are my charges?! Why am I here!?” You tilted your head back to look up at Sera in the top bench. “Sera?”

She folded her hands in front of her, declaring your name for the Council to hear. “You’ve been accused of treason, and of conspiring with Hell to lead a rebellion against Heaven,” she stated, “How do you plea?”

You dropped your arms, watching her, your chest tightening all over again as you whimpered out a faint, “What?” Your eyes darted across the familiar faces of the Council as your face tingled with adrenaline.

“How do you plea?” Sera demanded again.

You tried to swallow, but your mouth was dry. Your ears rang. You couldn’t think. You shook your head. “Not guilty, you know that!”

“Do we?” hissed a voice on your left, one pushed through an Exorcist mask you couldn’t recognize.

“There’s evidence,” came another voice on your right, from another mask and another nameless Exorcist.

You’ve failed.

You couldn’t argue as the evidence was read. Weeks and weeks of incidents, of things you know you never did, would never do, could never do, and yet there was evidence being read and being played and being presented that made you out to be the next Great Rebel of Heaven.

Weeks of them.

What a coincidence.

You looked up at Sera, your eyes pricking with tears. “Is this because of who I saw?” you whispered.

She didn’t move.

“Are you framing me?” you rasped.

“Hard to frame you when there’s so much evidence, babe,” Adam commented from his box seat.

Sera rose from her seat. “Is this all you have to say in your defense?” she asked, “That this is a ‘frame job’?”

You swallowed, then nodded.

She waved her hand. “Then this court finds you guilty and moves for immediate exile.”

It was a blur – the streets were cleared as you were dragged from the Council building, limp in the arms of the Exorcists, trembling harder as the gate grew closer and closer.

“Sera, you know this isn’t true!” you begged as you were led to the expulsion point of Heaven. You glanced down through the hole, your throat closing at the distance between you and Earth and the pinpoint that would be Hell further past it. You turned back to Sera, your eyes burning. “Sera, please—”

“Shut your mouth, traitor!” the familiar voice of Lute cut through Sera’s loud silence. Her hand shoved hard against your chest and sent you over the edge. Gravity sucked you through and sent you careening through existence.

It hurt. The heat against your back, the yanking of your feathers from your wings, the cutting of the wind and the dirt and ice as you passed Earth and entered the atmosphere of Hell.

The last thing you saw before you hit the ground were the few stars that you dragged from the skies with you.

Stolas thought the light that flashed in the sky was just those pesky Exorcists leaving Hell again, after their most recent attack on the Sinners of the Pride ring. It was enough for him to consider moving – it would be safer for Octavia, at the very least.

However, his feathers ruffled as the light grew closer and closer to his manor, and he threw his hand in front of his face as it became too blinding to look at.

The ground rumbled, and he lost his footing. He was quick to stand, running from the room and peaking in on an equally startled Octavia to ensure she was alright. A screeching from the upper floors informed him that Stella was, at the very least, unharmed. The Prince slowed his travels through the manor until he opened the front door.

His yard was destroyed – it would take months of work to get it back to its pristine landscaping – by the massive crater that sat in the middle. It smoldered, and something sharp assaulted his senses as he crept closer.

Wings peeked out at odd angles from the crater.

“Octavia?” he called as he quickly descended upon the crater, “Call for a medic!”

Word spread, and quickly, once a private medical team had been dispatched to the manor. Asmodeus was the first to arrive – a concerned friend, of course, but one who couldn’t stop talking when he had rung Satan up. He called Bee, who called Mammon, who bribed Bel to show up at the gates of the manor.

“Why’re we here?” asked the sin of Sloth, who yawned and stretched, smacking his lips together, “Woke me from a nap.”

“Like you have anything better to do,” Mammon argued, leaning over the smaller man. He leaned back after a moment. “Actually, you have any outstanding bills? Anything from your patients that I can kindly take care of?” he asked with a slimy grin.

Bel eyed him for a moment, then pulled out his phone. “Yeah. We’ve got a list. You pay ‘em, I can help more people, and you can do as you please to get your money back,” he said with a sigh, “If you want.”

“Why’re we here, Ozzie?” Bee asked.

Asmodeus waved to a van parked inside of the manor gate. “Heard from F—” He coughed, thumping his chest with his fist, “Heard from a friend of a friend that there was private doctor called.”

Bee arched an eyebrow. “Friend of a friend?” she questioned.

“Yes,” Ozzie hissed back. He turned, waving at an approaching figure, “Anyone call Levi?”

“She can’t make it, apparently,” replied the last sin, Satan, causing Mammon to jump. He grinned a familiar pointed grin, tilting his head. “What? Scare you?”

“Fuckin’ hate that you look like Lucifer, you know,” swore Greed, scooting away from him, “You might not be blonde, but doesn’t make a fuckin’ difference from the side.”

“Speaking of, is he comin’?’ asked Satan.

“Sent me to voice mail,” replied Bee, “Twice.”

“So, why we here?” asked Bel, rubbing his neck, “Seriously.”

“Well—”

“Why,” cut in the high screech of the Lady Stella, “Are there people LINGERING at my GATE?”

The door of the manor opened not one moment later, a frazzled Prince looking out, and making eye contact with the Sins at his stoop. He stepped out, rubbing his hands together, frowning. “Not that I don’t mind visitors,” he said, “But you’ve impeccable timing with something fragile.”

“Ozzie called us here,” Bee tattled, pointing to the mammoth man closest to the gates, “Said a friend told him that a doctor was called?”

Stolas stopped short of the gate, closing his eyes to an ache that grew behind them. He’d hung up on Blitzø when the doctors had arrived, and he’d said as much. He wasn’t surprised that the news somehow made its way back to Ozzie. Most probably through a one-off frantic phone call to Fizz. Or an attempt one.

While it warmed him from beak to talon, it caused too many issues.

“Well?” asked Mammon, stepping closer to the gates, craning his neck to and fro, “What happened? You finally kill the bitch?”

“Really?” sighed Bel.

Stolas pulled open a smaller door to the side of the grandiose wrought iron entrance. “Well, since you’re here,” he tittered, “I could use advice.”

Advice appeared in the form of being ushered through the winding halls of the Goetia manor, to a small back room meant to serve as servant’s quarters.

And to you.

Carefully laid upon a threadbare mattress was you. You were face down on a series of already stained towels, your leg set in a hasty cast, and your arms wrapped in splotchy bandages. The biggest concern, which made the Sins fall silent, were the six wings that the paramedics were quickly working to stabilize and bandage. One of them, a siren, would occasionally stop and rub your shoulder, whispering a song in his low bass that quieted your whimpers. The second paramedic, a lanky spider demon with needle sharp fingers, expertly wove your bandages in place with medical grade silk slung over her shoulder.

“What happened?” murmured Satan, shoving his hands deep into his pockets to hide his tightening fists.

“A star fell from Heaven, could you believe it?” Stolas sighed. He rubbed his temple, his eyes following the intricate webbing of your bandages.

“Cut the shit with the metaphors, Stolas,” huffed Bel, “What happened?” He stepped closer to keep an eye on the medics.

“Would you believe me if I said I was serious?” Stolas replied. He turned to them, blocking your form with a lift of his caped shoulders. “An angel fell in my front yard,” he hissed.

He blinked when a flash went off next to his face, squeezing them shut and rubbing them with his fists. “Wha—”

“We need to tell Lucifer,” Satan said as he stepped away, sending the picture he’d taken through a message that Stolas couldn’t see.

“Wait a moment, this is a delicate situation,” Stolas argued.

Ozzie held up a hand, hesitated, then gently placed it on the Prince’s shoulder. “How many fallen angels have you heard of landing in Hell?” he asked.

“O-One, Ozzie, but—”

“Augh, fuck!” Satan snapped, dropping his head back, “Fuckin’ message won’t go through. Can someone’s inbox be full? I haven’t ever heard of that!”

“Someone’s gotta go over there,” Bel sighed, rubbing his neck.

The Sins exchanged looks. Bee raised a hand. “I vote Levi,” she said.

“I also vote Levi,” seconded Mammon, “Bitch avoids us, she gets to go meet with the big guy.”

“First thing is the angel needs to heal,” cut in the siren medic, wandering over as his partner finished with your wings, “Anyone attempts to move our patient, and I will personally come after them, do you understand?”

Bee tilted her head, nodding, then patted Ozzie’s shoulder and headed for the door.

Mammon sneered at the siren, “Are you threatening a Sin?”

“Protecting a patient,” Bel argued absently, trailing after Bee.

“Calm down, Mammon, it’s not that deep,” interrupted Ozzie. He ushered the King of Greed out of the room and after the rest of the Sins. “Stolas,” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose, “What do you need?”

Stolas looked between him and the medics that were finishing aligning your wings in a way that would allow them to heal properly, then at the Sin he could almost call a friend. “Would you like to explain to my wife what’s happening?” he drawled.

Ozzie clapped the Prince’s shoulder so hard he stumbled forward. “Perks of marriage, my feathered friend!” Ozzie crowed, grinning as he turned away, “Anything else, though, and you know how to find me.”

Stolas sighed, turning back to watch the medics finish their job. “If you manage to get a meeting with the King of Pride, Asmodeous,” Stolas called over his shoulder.

The door leading out into the hall creaked. Stolas squeezed his elbows and turned, watching Ozzie’s shoulders sag with a sigh. “You’ll be the first I call,” replied the King of Lust. He nodded to Stolas and left the room.

Taking a breath, the Prince turned back to the medics for information on your condition. They explained that you would need assistance with everything while you were healing, until they returned in a few weeks to check the base of your wings for stability. After that, you could move on your own, then they’d remove your casts and you could work on getting your wings in order.

“I trust that silence is something we could trust on this matter?” Stolas asked, eyeing your prone body as the medics shuffled past him.

“Of course,” replied the spider demon, “Boss would kill us if we breeched oath.”

Stolas felt a thread unravel in his back as he sighed. “Thank you.” Then, he turned before they left. “I’ll ensure payment is sent to you before day’s out.”

As the weeks passed, you slept, dreaming of the fall, of the trial, of the memories of creation that came before.

You had all of that, and you let it go.

A memory swam up to meet the voice of doubt, as though summoned from the depths.

You pulled yourself up to the edge of the gate surrounding Eden, eyes darting around the trees in search of movement that wasn’t an animal. “Did Michael say what a human was?” you asked, setting your chin on your arms.

You folded your wings against your back as your partner in crime hauled himself up next to you, grunting as he leaned on the top of the gate. “No,” Lucifer answered, huffing, “Just that Dad was making them soon. Two, he said, so they wouldn’t be alone.”

“Wonder if they’ll have tails?” you asked, “Or, wings!”

Lucifer snorted, burying his mouth in his arms to muffle his laughter. “He said they were like the monkeys,” he said, setting his chin on his fist, watching you with a smile, “But he didn’t say anything else beside that.”

“That doesn’t mean much, there’s so many monkeys and monkey adjacent creatures. Michael even made a few, you know, so I don’t trust his opinion on this,” you muttered, “You convince him to let you add the ducks?”

“It’s so difficult!” Lucifer hissed, dropping his hand, “He said Dad has to approve of them being added to the Garden!”

“And?”

“And I haven’t seen him in a while, so I can’t ask,” he huffed.

You kicked your feet behind you, setting your cheek on your arms as you watched him. “Is that why you wanted to come with me? To see if you could ask him yourself?” you asked.

He pursed his lips, looking anywhere but you, and finally smiled. “Maybe.”

“Luci, you used me!” you gasped, pushing away from the gate, your wings fluttering behind you. “I’m wounded! My heart is broken!” He laughed at your dramatics, catching your arms as you drifted past him.

“Stop that, you know that’s not the only reason why,” he said, pulling you back up to the top of the gate, “You gotta be quiet. If the guard catches us, we’ll be in trouble with Michael.”

You leaned on the gate as you watched him. “Because we’re not supposed to be spying on the little Earth project, right?” you muttered. You returned to your previous position, staring out into the vast array of trees that creaked and groaned as they grew. “I’m making a new constellation today. Do you wanna help?”

“Of course.” A hand slapped against your shoulder, pointing through the trees to a familiar tall figure near the center of the garden. He molded the dirt at his feet, building it up and up and up, sculpting features into it until, once satisfied, he breathed into the figure’s molded mouth.

Lilith.

You opened your eyes.

Wide red eyes were inches from your face, partially hidden beneath a dark fringe of styled feathers. The owner choked on a squawk and scrambled back, knocking over a tray that clattered noisily in the silent room.

“Via? Are you alright?” came a voice from somewhere past your feet. The young owlet scrambled away and disappeared out of sight, leaving you alone for a moment to regain your boundaries.

“Angel’s awake,” replied a smaller voice.

You shifted your arm beneath you and pushed yourself up, gasping as weight pressed against your back unkindly. Your eyes pricked with tears as you dropped back onto the bed. The skin around your wings seared with white hot pain.

Thin arms looped around your front and readjusted you. “Careful, my dear, you’ve suffered terrible injuries,” whispered the first voice. A cool rag dabbed your face and neck and trailed down to sooth the burn between your wings. “Octavia! Call the medics please. Inform them our patient is awake.”

“Where am I?” you rasped.

A hand brushed over your face and fixed a straw against your lips. “Drink. You’ve been unconscious for a long time, you need to drink properly,” he said.

You did as you were told. The first few swallows hurt, but you quickly finished the glass and waited for him to fetch you another. “Who are you?”

You watched the tall owl man hesitate as he refilled your glass at the edge of your vision. He stirred the ice in the glass with the straw as he moved back to your side. “My name is Stolas,” he said slowly as he sat again, “I am a Prince of the Ars Goetia, and you are in my manor in Hell.” He held the straw up to your lips again. “Specifically, the Pride Ring,” he added.

Your eyes burned for another reason. You squeezed your eyes shut and pressed your cheek against the pillow.

“I’m sure that’s not what you wanted to hear,” Stolas whispered as he smoothed a hand over your hair and down your neck.

Fell all the way to Hell. Broken. Rock bottom. You deserve it.

He set the glass aside and picked up a tissue from the table, dabbing your eyes. “You’re alright. I know the best doctors – they’ve been keeping an eye on you and they’re on their way now that you’re awake,” he murmured.

“I don’t understand,” you hiccupped, shifting to rub your tears on the pillow, “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Stolas squeezed your neck lightly, leaning back out of your view for a moment. “Oh,” he gasped, a smile in his voice, “Here, this is my daughter, Octavia.”

You swallowed the lump growing in your throat as you looked up. The owlet from before stood next to Stolas, fidgeting with her sleeves. You tried to keep the burning tears from crowding your eyes as you gave her a smile. “Hi.”

It wasn’t long before the medics arrived, and they ushered Stolas and Octavia out of the room to tend to you. They carefully removed your wings from the contraption they’d set up to let them heal, then removed the bandages to check your burns and injuries. They dressed your wounds in freshly spun wraps and gave you instructions on how to stretch your wings and gain strength back in all your limbs. Stolas lingered, being sure to listen to any instructions.

“If you need anything, give us a call,” said the siren demon, giving your shoulder a gentle squeeze.

“There’s medication left with the Prince, to assist with your pain,” added the spider demon as she tied the last of your bandages, “It’s all you get, alright?”

You nodded, wrapping a blanket around your back to squeeze your wings against you. It ached, like trying to shake feeling back into your arm, but you needed it. The two accepted a roll of cash, then paused at the door before disappearing out of sight.

Bel rounded the corner, leaning on the door frame.

Stolas stiffened as he sat next to you but waved a hand. “This is Belphegor,” he murmured, “King of Sloth.”

You were quiet in your introduction, and Bel nodded.

“Heard you were awake,” he said, tilting his head, “Good. I overheard them tell you everything about your condition, and that you need to be careful.” He pushed away from the door and held out a small bottle of pills. “For the pain,” he said when you stared at it, “A little better than what they gave you, Stolas.” You gingerly accepted the bottle and nodded.

“Not that the house call isn’t appreciated, Sir,” Stolas murmured, “But what brings you by?”

Bel smiled. “Letting you know personally that I couldn’t get a meeting,” he said, shrugging one shoulder, “Figured, but I thought I’d try.”

The Prince nodded, and stood to show him out, then returned to your side with a sigh.

The following months were rough. Stella glared at you every time she saw you limping around the manor, so you kept to the three halls that led to the servant’s quarters where you slept. You often heard her and Stolas in screaming matches about why you were there, that he was keeping you as some sex toy, and he would bring up your physical state multiple times. It was frustrating. It made you angry that someone’s kindness could be taken in such a way. It sat in your chest and kept you up at night long after the screaming stopped.

When you were able to start putting more weight on your leg and test your wings, Octavia would follow you like a shadow. She’d ask you questions as you practiced your steps and carried her books to regain a modicum of strength, both from curiosity at the fact that an angel crashed into her home and about what you did in Heaven.

“I made stars,” you said as you sat on the floor, stretching your legs out in front of you.

Her already wide eyes grew, and she sat cross legged across from you. “Can you tell me?” she whispered, pulling her knees up to hug them. “You know, my dad’s specialty is astronomy. It’s what a lot of his magic focuses on.”

“Really?” You smiled. “Funny that I crashed here, then.”

“Can you tell me a story about them?” she asked.

So many stories.

You nodded.

There was one story you knew you wanted to tell. It was you and Lucifer, leaning over the parchment and trying to decide which stars needed to go over the Garden.

“What do you think will be the best?” he asked as he flipped through the designs, “It’s gotta be perfect.”

“For Lilith?” you teased.

His eyes snapped up to yours, his cheeks glowing pink. You scrunched your nose at him, trying not to smile too large at his embarrassment. “She’s pretty,” you said.

He swooned, rolling onto his back. “She’s beautiful,” he sighed.

You tapped his forehead with your finger. “C’mon. We have to decide on these constellations and you can pick the one that goes right over the Garden,” you said.

Lucifer sat up. “I know which one!”

“The duck?” you asked with a smile.

“The—” he pouted at you, “Not now.” You laughed. “Besides, I messed up that design, remember? Its neck is too long,” he said.

You flipped through the pages until you found it, tilting your head at the layout of the very specific stars you both had picked for it. “A swan is what Michael called it,” you commented.

Lucifer snorted, waving his hand, rolling onto his back again, his wings spread wide beneath him. “Stupid name,” he muttered.

You rolled your eyes and took the papers, rolling next to him. His swings folded into his back, as did yours, and you laid shoulder to shoulder with him as you threw the papers into the air. The many constellations you’d made stuck to the space above your heads. “Okay, which one,” you asked, looking between them, “Which ones would you want to see if you got to star gaze with her?”

He choked next to you, sitting up to cough, and you watched him. He met your gaze eventually.

You were stupid.

It wasn’t hard to read his intentions in his eyes. You’d known him long enough to be able to read every single thought that lingered in his stare no matter how long you watched him. You knew every plan he had to head down to the garden, and you did nothing.

You smiled, instead.

“Which ones?” you asked again.

He flopped back, sighing, and finally grinned. He guided stars into place where they’d be brightest above Eden, and you pulled him from the ground to fill in the rest, until the two of you were surrounded by a globe of light.

“What were the stars above Eden?” Octavia asked.

You blinked the memory of Lucifer’s smile out of your eyes and looked over. She still sat in front of you, where you stretched your legs, watching you a wide and curious stare.

You smiled. “Depends on the time of year, time of day,” you said, “Scorpio rises in the morning, along with Taurus, and Leo. And Aquarius marks the winter solstice.

“Via?” came Stolas’s voice from around the corner. You looked up, waving as Octavia scrambled to her feet and jogged towards his voice. “Oh, you didn’t have to…” He trailed off as he appeared in the hall. He was quick to meet you, kneeling as he held out his hands. “Do you need help?”

“No,” you said, “I was hurting, actually. Wanted to stretch.”

Stolas sat just behind your toes, stretching his own legs on either side of yours, and offered you his hands. You smiled, taking them, and he gently pulled you forward. “Should we call the medics back?” he asked as he pulled you carefully, “I can. Bel is rather good about making sure they come with everything they need for you.”

“King of Sloth,” you said, nodding, “Right. I remember him.” You tilted your head as you stretched towards your legs, relaxing the tension in your back. “He mentioned a meeting?” you asked.

Stolas squeezed your hands. “Uh, right,” he said, clearing his throat, “A meeting with the King of Pride.” He waved a hand towards you and coughed again, “Considering what happened, we thought it was important that he know.”

“Luci,” you whispered after a long moment. You released his hands and sighed. “Lucifer,” you repeated.

“Right,” he agreed with a curious tilt of his head, “Strange to hear him referred to in such a casual manner, of course.”

You smiled. You drew your legs up as you leaned on them, and felt the weight of your wings slowly sinking into your back. Stolas sat up, a bright look on his face. “Look at that,” he pointed out, “You’re making pro—”

“Have you been able to set up a meeting with him?” you cut in. Your face warmed at you interrupting him, and you apologized. “Sorry,” you murmured.

The prince’s excitement shrank into a faint smile. “Sorry,” he apologized in kind, “I haven’t. Rather difficult to even get in contact with him.”

You shook your head. “It’s alright.” Then, you sighed. “I’ll do my best to get out of your hair soon enough, Stolas,” you commented, “I’d hate to keep causing problems.”

“Nonsense,” he said, shaking his head. He stood and offered his hand, which you took, and hauled you off the floor. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you need to,” he continued, “Stella be dammed.”

He helped you piece together a proper identity in Hell over the many weeks that followed – worked through the proper paperwork a new denizen would need when they arrived, got you a phone, clothes, and even said he could find you a job, if you wanted it.

You laughed a little as you programed Octavia’s number into your phone. She leaned over to make sure you got the picture of her and her dad to use as her contact photo. You even showed her to approve it. “What happened to taking it slow?” you asked as you handed Stolas your phone.

He was quick to add his own number, and continued to add Bel, and a few other numbers you were unsure of. “Well, you’ve been making such progress, I almost forgot you were hurt,” he mused. He handed the phone back. You scrolled through the names. Bel, Levi, Ozzie, Luci with a star next to it, Satan, Via, Stolas, Bee, Blitzy. You didn’t know half of them, but he must have had a reason to include them in your phone.

“Thank you,” you said, tapping the phone on the table, then stood. “I’m gonna go for a walk? Via, you wanna join me?”

“Su—”

“Are you sure that’s safe?” Stolas asked nervously. Via wilted next to you. “I-I mean…”

You patted her head and smiled. “It’s okay. We can do something later, okay, V?” you asked.

She smiled at that, nodding, and you picked up the phone. “I’m going for a walk then,” you said, shoving it in your pocket.

Stolas’s feathers bristled. “Be careful then, if you don’t want to stay,” he said, “And be safe, and call—”

“I’ll be okay,” you hurried to say. You patted Octavia’s head as you walked past her.

You were quick to leave the study, sticking to the back halls and waving at the butler when you saw him, until you slipped out through the back door that was almost always unlocked. You pulled your phone back out of your pocket once you were outside, and searched for a map of the Pride Ring, then of Pentagram City, and you started to walk. The light from your screen hurt your eyes the longer you stared at the tiny image, and mixed with the low red ambient light of the sky and the yellow-white glow from the distant portal to Heaven made it worse. You adjusted your map once you were done messing with your eyes, following the streets out of the east section of the map and looking around.

You lowered your arm, gripping your phone as you stared at the Heaven Embassy a few blocks away.

They framed you.

You rubbed your neck, swallowing down the rage that boiled in your throat, looking down as your phone buzzed.

You could push it. Fight back.

A text appeared at your notification bar.

“It’s Satan,” it read, “Wanna talk?”

“How’d you get my number?” you asked as you followed the road away from the Embassy.

“All that rage you got is like a beacon,” he quickly replied, “And I asked Stolas.”

“Right.” You shouldered past a few Sinners as they talked on a corner, and watched a car zoom past to go down towards the southern exit of the Pentagram.

“Want company?” came the next message.

You stopped at a light, staring at it, then hit the automated reply of, “Yes” before shoving the phone in your pocket.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” said a man to your right.

You looked up, blinking at the man next to you. He smiled, tilting his head. His brown hair wasn’t styled in the same slicked back way, but more relaxed, with pieces hanging in his golden eyes. He wore a red suit jacket, opened to show the black and grey pinstripe shirt that was partially unbuttoned beneath it, and black slacks that matched his shirt. He had the same relaxed smile, and the same tilt to his head, and you had to rub your eyes to finish taking him in without seeing a blonde standing in his place.

“Satan, right?” you asked when you finally dropped your hands.

“Right on one,” he replied. He waved a hand ahead when the light turned green, and the two of you walked across the street. “You’ve been the talk of the town, angel,” he mused.

You gave him your name. He repeated it.

Sounds just like him.

“Get it out,” he teased as he led you down the street.

“You look just like Luci,” you blurted. He laughed, throwing his head back with the sound. “It’s unnerving!”

“It’s an evolution, actually,” he said when his laughter passed, “Since we get mistaken all the time up there.”

“But you’re the King of Wrath?” you asked.

“The one and only,” he answered with a smile, “And, I figured, I’m the best one to keep you from losing out to those thoughts.”

You tilted your head. “Why do you say that?”

“It’s not productive to give in to them,” he mused, “You lose every other thought, and you lose your sense of self.” He arched an eyebrow. “It’s okay to give in when it allows you to propel yourself forward.”

“You’re awfully introspective for a King of Sin,” you said.

“I will try not to take offense to that,” he laughed.

You smiled, hugging your sides as you walked. “You said I was the talk of the town?” you asked.

Satan motioned for you to turn a corner, and you did. “Oh, yeah. When you crash landed in Stolas’s front yard, we all saw you. Well, most, Levi and Luci weren’t there for some reason.” He tilted his head, “Ozzie’s fuckin’ thrilled to meet you. Same with Bee. Bel already had the pleasure, and Mammon is on the fence.”

“And Levi and Luci?”

Satan’s pace slowed. “Levi’s a hard sell. She’s not really fond of anyone, if I’m being honest,” he replied, “And no one’s seen Lucifer for about a year.”

You frowned.

Maybe he’s dead.

“Why’s that?” you asked.

He hummed, keeping a leisurely pace as the two of you walked. “Rumor is because his wife disappeared,” he quietly answered, “No one knows for sure, though.”

Lilith. In heaven. She’s in heaven.

You stopped. “Hey, uh, you’re above the Goetia, right?” you suddenly asked.

Satan turned to you, brow furrowed. “Yeah. Why?”

“So, it’d be easier for you to set up a meeting with Lucifer if you needed it?” you continued.

He rocked back on his heels, nodding with a slow smile. “That I can,” he said, “I’ll even escort you myself.”

“You would?”

“Absolutely,” he said, winking. His smile turned wicked and he hooked his arm through yours. “C’mon. We’ll go now.”

“What!” You tugged your arm free, stumbling off the curb, “No! I—I cannot see him right now, but I—”

“Why not?” Satan stared down at you, sliding his hands into his pockets as he watched you, “‘s not like you did something wrong to get here, right?”

Traitor.

“No,” you answered, rubbing your arms, “Just not ready.” You swallowed, squeezing your elbows, then sighed. “Thanks for walking with me. I’m going home.”

“Want me to—”

You held up a hand. “I can walk myself, thank you, Satan,” you replied with a smile. He nodded. “Have a good night.”

“Hey,” he called before you got too far. You looked back. “Find me in the Wrath Ring if you wanna talk, alright?” He waved a hand. “Elevator’s out the southern gate. We can hit Luci’s on the way back,” he said with a sly smile.

You nodded. “Yeah. Alright.”

Your phone beeped before you got too far, and you glanced at the screen. A text from Satan flashed across the top, with an address disappearing in the tiny message field. You opened it as pulled it up on the map to see it was the address for a gym in the Wrath Ring.

You smiled, shoved your phone into your pocket, and went home.

It took you a while before you contacted him again – weeks of testing your wings around the cramped halls, sitting in the library with Stolas while he gossiped, hiding in the study with Via when her parents started screaming again.

When one particular screaming match got too loud, you asked if she wanted to head out of the house with you.

She shook her head. “No,” she mumbled, “I’ll be alright here. I’ve got the new VoxTek headphones, they work wonders.”

You nodded. “You call me if it gets too bad, alright?”

“Where are you going?” she asked.

You stood, pulling your phone out of your pocket. “Uh,” you trailed off, staring at it, then gave her a small smile, “I’m gonna go see a friend.”

She nodded. “Alright,” then she sighed and tried to smile, too, “Be careful.”

You hugged her gently and made sure she knew to call you if she needed you before you left.

Leaving a babe to the wolves.

You slowed as you walked away from the house, glancing back with second thoughts, but kept heading for the closest bus station. It didn’t cost much to catch a bus out of Pentagram City – you had to show your I.D., prove you weren’t a sinner before you were allowed on the bus – and it was a short ride to the Elevator. A ticket down was another small price, as was the ticket in the Wrath Ring to get where you were going, but it wasn’t terrible.

You would have to thank Stolas later for allowing you to use his card places. And think of a way to pay him back.

Once you were close to the address of the gym, you sent a text to Satan.

He was at the stop when your bus pulled up. His suit was burgundy. You had to rub your eyes to clear the image of his blonde twin from them.

“Coulda told me you were on your way,” he mused as you approached.

You shrugged and took his offered arm. “It was kind of a whim,” you said, “Needed to get out of the house.”

“Not all great in paradise?” he asked.

You snorted. “Paradise doesn’t exist anymore, Satan,” you murmured.

He squeezed your arm and steered you towards a squat building between two high rises. “You know how to fight?” Satan asked as he held the door open for you.

You ducked under his arm, glancing around the dingy gym, then up at him. “A little. But I’m pretty rusty.”

“Oh, we can get you back into tip top shape here,” Satan mused. He stepped past you, whistling as he led you through the gym. You passed a few rings, some with groups that were teaching each other, some with sparing matches, and one with someone fighting with a robot jester. You paused at that, staring curiously, and hurried after Satan before he got too far.

There was a bag hanging in a back corner, next to an office, and he stopped there, shedding his coat and rolling up his sleeves.

He looks so much like him.

“Do you need to change?” Satan asked as he wrapped an arm around the bag, watching you, “Or did you come ready?”

You flapped your hands, looking down at your sweatshirt and shorts, then back up at him. “Ready?” you asked.

He grinned, then slapped the bag. “Alright!” he exclaimed, “Here’s the thing about anger, there’s not one correct way to redirect it. But, giving in and just going into a blind rage doesn’t benefit anyone.” He leaned around the bag, slowly circling you. “Take it from me. Or you, you’ve had those moments, haven’t you?”

“Is that why you asked me to come here?” you asked.

“Oh, no, that’s not the only reason,” he said with a shrug, “We also needed another pretty face around here besides Sizzler.”

You would have been flattered if you weren’t confused. “Sizzler?”

He threw an arm around your shoulder and turned you, pointing to the robot jester. “Satan’s Fizzbot, A.K.A. my Fizzbot, A.K.A Sizzler,” he explained.

The jester, Sizzler, looked up and waved. You waved back.

Satan squeezed your shoulders and turned you back towards the bag. “So,” he said, his voice dropping into a familiar tone that threw you off, “I can tell you’re holding back something.” He curled his hand towards his chest like he was holding water. “It’s boiling in there. Or freezing. Hard to pinpoint with you. But you’re angry.” He whispered the last voice in your ear.

Traitor.

You swallowed the words.

“What is it, hm? What’s the thing that’s got you rocking on the edge of a completely red black-out?” he cooed.

Traitor.

Your eyes fluttered as a memory snuck up from the back of your mind, one that set your teeth together and hurt your jaw.

You remembered Gabriel flying around Heaven to find you, and barreling into your back when he did. He was babbling, squeezing your arms and pulling you down a road.

“Gabriel, what’s happening?” you finally managed to get in.

He was teary, and ichor dotted his face. “Michael’s beating the shit out of Lucifer,” he whispered, panting, “Dad’s busy and Luci did something and Dad told Michael to take care of it and Michael’s beating the shit out of him!”

“Where.”

Gabriel hauled you after him, flying far faster than you could keep up with, until he brought you to a group of angels. You shoved your way through them and caught a panting Lucifer as he was thrown to the side. You both collapsed, you holding Luci up as his legs buckled under him.

Michael towered over the both of you, chest heaving, his right hand clenched tight at his side. His knuckles dripped gold.

“Do you understand what you’ve done?” Michael hissed, bending at the waist to stare into his brother’s face. “Do you understand?” he breathlessly repeated.

Lucifer swallowed, bracing a hand against your forearm as he tried to get his feet under him.

“Father has restart with a new first woman for Adam because you can’t keep your hands to yourself!” Michael’s voice rose until he was screaming.

“Luci, what did you do?” you whispered.

He glanced at you for a split second, then returned his gaze to Michael. “She doesn’t want to be with him,” he rasped.

“And who told her that she has another choice?!”

“She shouldn’t have to be with him if she doesn’t want to!” Lucifer shouted back.

Michael grabbed the front of Luci’s robes and hauled him off you. “She won’t be allowed here because she directly disobeyed Father’s rules!!” Michael’s voice boomed around the crowd, “And you’ve dammed her to roam or be anywhere else but here!”

“How is that fair!?” Lucifer snapped, “She doesn’t want to be with Adam and now she can’t even fucking leave?!”

He was dropped at your feet. The ring of angels around you all stepped back. Michael stared down at his brother with barely contained frustration. “There is no fair, Lucifer,” he flatly replied, “There’s Father’s rule, and it is not to be broken.”

He proved him wrong, didn’t he?

“Well?” Satan’s teasing growl snapped you back to the gym, “What is it?” He tapped your temple and moved around to the bag. “C’mon,” he sang, “I can feel it brewing in there.”

You swallowed. Your back and shoulders ached and it took you a minute to realize you were tensing at the memory. You rubbed your neck with both hands. “What do I do to deal with it?” you asked.

Satan braced against the back of the bag and smacked a worn section of it with a grin. “Hit it. Hard as you can. And we’ll go from there.”

The last few months of your first year in Hell were spent in a pattern – wake up, talk with Via, talk with Stolas, go for a walk, head to Wrath, avoid thinking about how you still weren’t able to see Lucifer, listen to the nagging thoughts continue to echo in your head until they manifested in gold stains on your hand wraps.

Traitor.

Liar.

How cowardly you must be to hide what happened from him.

You stared at your swollen knuckles as you shuffled to the library one evening, rubbing an ache from between your fingers that you pretended wasn’t also building behind your eyes. Meeting Stolas in the library was a change from your spiraling pattern – he’d asked you to meet him once you’d returned from Wrath, and you were quick to clean yourself up before joining him.

He perked up as you entered the room, standing and waving you over to the large window behind his desk. It was covered in pillows and soft blankets, and a tray of tea was waiting on the desk nearby.

“Oh, you’re in time,” he cooed, his smile dropping as he took your hands. “What is that Satan doing to you?”

You wiggled your fingers in his grasp. “I’m doing it to myself,” you muttered. You cleared your throat and waved towards the window. “What’s this?” you asked.

Stolas skittered past you, waving at the set up. “Oh, this!” he chirped, “I thought we could sit through the extermination together.” He smiled, his shoulders hunching up hopefully. “Try to pass it as best as friends are able,” he added.

You watched him, tearing up a little, and finally smiled. “I’d like that,” you whispered.

He ushered you to the window and lifted the blanket for you to sit. You took it from him and covered your legs, sinking back into the plush pillows behind you. He picked up the tea and hurried back to you with a cheerful smile. “You know, it’s been one year since you’ve arrived in Hell.”

You looked up and took the cup of tea he offered you. “Has it?”

“That it has,” he cooed. He sat next to you, lifting the edge of the blanket to tuck his legs next to yours. He filled the opposite corner and looked out the window. “Well, almost. You arrived after it was over.”

“So, not quite a year,” you teased.

Stolas smiled. “We could count it down,” he mused. His smile faltered when you looked away. “Sorry,” he was quick to apologize.

“Don’t be,” you murmured. You sipped your tea slowly and watched the portal open in the distance. “I don’t understand,” you whispered, “I really don’t understand.”

“The exterminations?” he asked. You nodded. “I’m not too knowledgeable of them myself,” he sighed, adjusting his feet, tucking his knees up and his feet next to your thigh. “From what I understand, they’ve been going on for centuries, indiscriminate. Only recently did people notice that they went from killing everyone they could in an hour to only killing Sinners.”

“Recently?” you asked.

He nodded. “It was actually the extermination that occurred when you arrived,” he said, tilting his head, “That was the first that had been exclusive to the Pride Ring.”

There was a silence as you stared at him, trying to piece together what he was saying.

What did you do?

“Luci let this happen?” you quietly asked, “Just let people die?”

Stolas didn’t speak. He stood up, instead, folding the blanket into your lap, and padded over to his desk in the library. He tugged open the bottom drawer and pulled out a bottle of amber alcohol from it. He returned to his spot, wiggled the cork out with his beak, and tipped a little into your tea.

“I don’t think he had much of a choice, dear,” he whispered. He topped his own tea off and set the bottle on the ground, tucking his legs back under the blanket. “From my position, and this is just a guess, of course, I don’t think even Hell has the power to argue when a Heavenly platoon drops from the sky, armed to the teeth, and killing anyone they can while avoiding my front yard.” He sipped the tea. “Would you? If you were in Lucifer’s position?”

“Would I what?” you asked.

“Fight back,” he clarified.

Beaten down for centuries.

You stared at your boozy tea. “No,” you finally rasped, taking a sip, “He probably thinks he deserves it. Probably thinks his brothers commanded it to happen.”

A light flashed in the distance, and the portal to Heaven opened.

Stolas held out his cup for a toast, swallowing down his sadness as he watched you. “To your one-year anniversary, my angel,” he said with a faint smile.

You snorted, clinking your cup against his. “Your angel?”

“Ah, well, it’s a better nickname than others I could think of,” he replied, “And it’s not wrong.” He wiggled back into the corner of the seat. “Now. Come morning, I have a lot planned – we’ll go shopping, have a nice lunch. We can bring Via.”

“And Stella?”

“Fuck no.”

You laughed a little. The sound died in your throat as the first scream of the extermination reached the window. Stolas scrunched into himself at the sound.

“You know,” you whispered, “I miss him.” You sniffed and took a long drink of your tea, then picked up the bottle and filled it with alcohol. You vaguely recognized Bel’s label on the side. “I’ve missed him for a very, very long time.”

“Lucifer?” he asked. You nodded. “Well,” he trailed off as he finished his own tea, and took the bottle fill his cup, then placed it on the floor by his hip. “Tell me about him?” he asked.

You squeezed your cup between your hands and leaned your head on the cool window. “I uh,” you cleared your throat, “I wasn’t part of the first angels that were made. I think the third? And I was a part of the Dominion that made the cosmos. Michael said that Lucifer wanted to learn a little bit of everything when it came to creation, so after I’d gotten used to it, he said that I would have a student.”

You remembered it fondly.

You spun the heavenly light you were given into a small orb, adjusting the size to fit into a larger spiral galaxy you were piecing together. There were other seraphim creating other galaxies and designing where they were fit into the great span of the universe.

Michael called your name, and you spun so fast that you scattered the stars at the tip of your galaxy.

The other angel with him caught the few stars that rolled past him.

“This is Lucifer,” Michael introduced with a smile, ushering the angel to you, “My brother.”

“Oh, hello!” you greeted with a smile, taking the stars he returned to you. “I’ve seen you, I think. You’re helping with the Earth project, right?”

Lucifer nodded, floating closer to your galaxy to place the stars you couldn’t hold around the frayed end of your spiral. “Yeah! I’m trying to learn a bit of everything.” He grinned. “You’re pretty good at this.”

“It’s my specialty,” you replied. You added your stars to fill in the last spaces of the galaxy.

“There’s been talk of adding stars to Earth,” Michael said, smoothing out the stars to finish the galaxy off, “So, I thought that the two of you could work on that while you teach Lucifer a thing or two about making stars.”

“Can we make them into things?” Lucifer asked as your galaxy was taken away to be added to the large blueprint of the universe, “Like shapes?”

“Why not?” you asked, smiling. He brightened. “Did you have something in mind?”

“Yes, actually, I call it a duck,” he was quick to answer. Michael’s eyes widened a bit, and he shook his head as he turned away. “I thought we could make one with the stars?”

“Can you show me what you want it to look like?”

Stolas started to laugh as you explained details of the multiple sketches of different ducks that Lucifer had. You giggled, squeezing your knees with one arm while you waved your empty cup with the other. “Every constellation would have been a duck if he’d had his way!” you exclaimed.

“Did he make them?” Stolas asked, “Ducks?”

“He did, actually,” you admitted, nodding, “Luci had a pretty heavy hand in a lot of the birds on Earth but ducks were his creation. If I remember right, that’s actually how he first saw Lilith. She was watching a duck in the river.”

“You know, I don’t recall a duck constellation,” he said as he leaned back.

“There’s not,” you agreed, “It’s Cygnus.” Stolas choked on a drink and coughed as he tried to laugh. “He messed up the design and made its neck too long. When I looked at it after, the stars had already settled into place and we couldn’t fix it.”

You thumped your head against the window and glanced outside, finding the portal to Heaven small and closed, and the smoke from their extermination slowly rising into the air.

“Now’s your anniversary,” Stolas said. He took your cup and refilled it, then handed it back. “Tell me more stories.”

You squeezed the cup again and nodded. “I’d like that.”

~*~ Thanks for Reading ~*~ ~*~Tag List~*~

@amarokofficial @gluttonybiscuits

#hazbin hotel #lucifer morningstar #hazbin hotel lucifer #lucifer hazbin hotel #lucifer x reader #hazbin lucifer #lucifer magne #angelic rip off series

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wrengrif · 2 months

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It's Thought Time again

So I've been rolling over this in various posts and reblogs, and I'm finally going to pin down my thoughts and write them here. Some might call this my 'Aziraphale Defense Post', but that's not accurate.

This is my William James take - meaning, everyone's reality is different due to perspective. What is true to me is not going to be true to you, 100% of the time. However, there is a facet of truth in everything we do believe, because we wholeheartedly believe it. That gives us a rainbow of truths from one opinion, each in their own radiant color.

So here's what I believe to be true. 6000 years ago, Heaven and Hell, on two completely different missions, sent the angel and the demon they found the most annoying to Earth. Not the weakest, not the most problematic (not yet anyways), but the ones they all collectively rolled their eyes at. Crowley was too flash. Aziraphale was too soft.

So God plopped Aziraphale in Eden, told him to protect the humans and not let them eat the apple tree that was sitting right there in front of them. Didn't tell him to put up a fence, or wave the flaming sword at them.

Satan booted Crowley upwards and told him to vaguely, 'start some trouble'. Vaguest of orders, no real direction in them. Crowley could have just thrown rocks at Adam and Eve and it would have counted.

We all know what happened from there. However, instead of Heaven and Hell going, 'Okay we're going to really pin down these orders now, sending more troops, let's get humanity really going' ... they basically left Aziraphale and Crowley alone in the office for 6000 years. Oh, the head offices occasionally pop up. Threaten, in their own unique ways. Mostly though, Crowley and Aziraphale were the only immortal beings on a planet filled with human mayflies.

Human mayflies that nine times out of ten would just set fire to themselves, or show greater compassion than either one of them had ever known.

Crowley and Aziraphale were all alone, except for each other. Even among humans, who they clearly understood more than their superiors -- you had to know they both stuck out. Yeah, think on that. Crowley couldn't have been the only one outcast, with his red hair and his yellow eyes. Aziraphale has the most white-blonde, curly hair in existence. Tag along with blue eyes and fair skin and come on. So at the beginning, they only ever really had each other for safe company. As they moved towards Europe, it got easier to fit in but even then you know people were still giving them the side-eye.

They were both transitory - following where-ever a mission went. Probably a home for maybe ten or so years, but then they'd have to move on again. We talk a lot about how Crowley didn't have a physical home until the creation of the bookshop.

That means neither did Aziraphale.

So what happened? They became home to one another. A touchstone in the centuries that passed. Aziraphale never rejected being approached by Crowley, despite being a demon, and Crowley never held Heaven's stupid missions again Aziraphale, so they kept coming together. Over and over again. Think of Rome. Aziraphale is so happy to see Crowley, and it's only been a few decades. Crowley's mood improves the longer the conversation goes on, letting down his defenses, relaxing enough to smirk.

The Arrangement, thought of by Crowley, agreed to by Aziraphale, despite the dangers they both knew they would face, because at least it meant they could see each other without having to make an excuse or just 'happen to be in the area'. Now they could meet up at theatres or in graveyards. They had to be careful - they always, always had to be careful - or the other one could be hurt.

It is the worst thing that can happen to either one of them, if the other one is hurt, or worse, killed. Remember Aziraphale's face in the graveyard, that look of sheer horror when he realizes Hell has taken Crowley.

Remember Crowley yelling as he runs into a burning bookshop.

The bookshop and the Bentley are theirs, but they can lose those and still go on, as long as they have each other. Maybe it is co-dependent, but honestly who else can they depend on, if not each other? That's why I believe Aziraphale begged Crowley to come with him to Heaven, not because he wanted Crowley to be an angel, but because Crowley would be safe - Aziraphale's Home would be Safe. That's why he says, 'Nothing lasts forever'. No Thing.

Crowley is not a Thing, to Aziraphale. Crowley is Aziraphale's Person. His safe place, and he's Crowley's. They both know it. It's why Aziraphale never wants to run away because he knows he's not fighting for a place called home, he's fighting for Crowley. It's why Crowley walks away and always comes back - not because he's weak but because he knows that being with Aziraphale is what matters. It's what makes life worth living.

Which is what makes the Final Fifteen so heartbreaking because they are both saying the same thing, but they're on different wavelengths. Yet, Yet ... as time has passed and I've been able to look at the Final Fifteen with some space, I see that it's not as hopeless as it seems.

Because Crowley came back. Because Aziraphale looks ready to do what he has to do. I don't think it'll be violence, because they've never solved their problems with violence and I don't think they'll start now. I just know that They're Not Talking is not going to last as long as we think, and that anger and betrayal is not going to be the first thing on their minds when they finally see one another again.

Probably going to be that kiss, though.

This why I could never say I can't forgive Aziraphale for his actions, because he did what he had to do to keep his home, his Crowley safe. I know Crowley knows that, too. How is that all going to shape up - how they're going to find themselves in balance again?

Well. I guess we'll have to wait, and see.

#aziraphale #crowley #good omens #good omens meta #my perspective is that love will save the day

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angelthefandomobsessed · 1 year

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Danganronpa Project Eden's Garden: Animal Symbolism

Okay, so I just finished the prologue (adored it, the writing is impeccable), and noticed that each character features an animal on their clothing. I'm sure tons of people have pointed it out already, but I thought it'd be fun to go through the symbolism of each, alongside any other observations I had.

Damon Maitsu:

Damon's signature animal is one of the more obvious ones - it's the big snake on his tie. Biblically, snakes are kind of a big deal... Just one snake, really, which gave all of the others a bad name. In 'Garden of Eden' arc of the Bible (which is relevant for obvious reasons), a snake tempts Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. The snake basically says "Hey queen, the apple won't kill you, it'll show you the truth, God's a liar." Adam and Eve eat the fruit, condemning humanity to eternal suffering.

Painting Damon as the snake tells us a lot about his role in the narrative and his characterisation. The main theme for Eden's Garden seems to be 'head vs heart', or 'logic vs emotion'. While some characters lean towards emotion, Damon leans towards logic... But based on the Pathos system, he doesn't fully condemn emotion - it can be a good tool when it comes to winning arguments, after all.

At the end of the prologue, Damon disagrees with seeing the good in everyone. He argues that the ultimates are more likely to stab each other in the back than to help each other unconditionally... In other words, he argues that ultimates are ambitious, to the point of throwing away their morals - because he himself is ambitious to a fault.

While a lot of people see snakes as creatures of evil (particularly when it comes to THE snake in the Bible), it could be argued that the snake is an agent of the greater good. Yes, the snake was the catalyst for the fall of humanity, but you could argue it was also the catalyst for the first critical thought. Adam and Eve questioned the word of their creator and chose to go against him. That didn't end very well for them, but you could argue it liberated them.

Would you rather be a sheep, at the mercy of your shepherd, or a snake that sees the world for what it truly is?

Wolfgang Akire:

Speaking of sheep... Wolfgang has a pretty neat (very symbolic) sheep pin. The idea of him picking out a sheep pin in like... a Claire's Accessories is very funny to me.

Much like snakes, sheep are also very Biblically relevant. In the Bible, God's people are usually cloaked in sheep imagery. God is the shepherd (fun fact: 'shepherd' derives from 'sheep' 'herd'), and the sheep are at his mercy. In that light, a sheep is a truly powerless thing.

Perhaps Wolfgang's sheep pin denotes him as a follower rather than a leader. Not to a specific person, but rather to an ideology - to his own morals, which he seems very attached to. Sheep are often seen as weak, existing only to be devoured by stronger, more predatory animals.

But this symbolism might exist here to be subverted. One of the most popular sheep-based phrases is (drum roll please): "Wolf in sheep's clothing".

Lawyer man is, quite literally, a wolf in sheep's clothing. His name has the word 'wolf' in it. He has a sheep on his clothing.

Does Wolfgang obsess over justice due to a guilty conscious? Is it a cover to mask his deepest, most despicable thoughts? Only time will tell, but I'm onto you, lawyer man... If that's even your real name.

Eva Tsunaka:

Okay, so I'm not 100% sure if Eva's animal is a raven or a crow, but I don't think it matters too much, people tend to perceive 'ominous medium-sized black bird' in a similar way, regardless of the specifics. Eva has a black feather in her hair and a badge with a bird's head on it. The badge looks a little bit emu-ish (which would be really funny), but the general vibe is more in line with a crow/raven.

For simplicity's sake, I'll mostly talk about ravens, because I think (don't quote me on this, I have not read the actual Bible) crows are never actually mentioned... but ravens are, so we'll go with that.

SO, ravens, black birds. Apparently, the first bird to be mentioned by name in the Bible is the raven, which... lines up with Eva being the first named bird character we meet (there are a lot of bird people, we'll get to it). During the whole Noah's Arc debacle, Noah sent out a raven to scout for dry land - it didn't come back (I think? It gets mentioned, 'tos and fros' and then doesn't get mentioned again, so I think it dipped which honestly, girlboss move).

Other than that, a raven was used as a divine messenger at one point, but I think the much more interesting (and relevant) aspects of the raven is the general symbolism.

Ravens are usually seen as bad news - much like the snake, they get a bad rep. While they are often seen as bad omens, they can also be seen as beings of spiritual wisdom. They see more than others can, much like Eva. When the others start to do the whole 'We'll never kill each other!' it's Eva who disagrees, seeing the reality of the situation.

Based on the word 'Danganronpa' being associated with the game, we can assume she's correct, and that the bodies will start hitting the floor very soon.

Eva is wise and holds a lot of knowledge, but she is distrusted for reasons outwith her control. She didn't ask to be the ultimate liar - some random organisation sent her a letter one day putting that label on her.

Interestingly, ravens are the natural enemies of farmers... and Wolfgang has a distinct agricultural reference on his lapel.

To summarise: people don't like ravens, but they're very smart birds who can (in certain mythologies/cultures, at least), see beyond the surface level).

Toshiko Kayura:

Toshiko's assigned animal is a little harder to spot. Two flamingos are on her skirt as a decal, making them less obvious (especially during waist-up shots).

Okay, so I'm no expert on this, but I'm pretty sure there aren't any flamingos in the Bible. Flamingos played a part in Egyptian beliefs, being associated with Ra, and they might actually be the original inspiration for phoenixes which... is kind of hilarious? The Aztecs saw them as sacred, and in Hindu culture they symbolise hamsa, a divine vehicle, which symbolises the realise from samsara, aka the cycle of suffering.

So... that could be a thing relating to Toshiko. She could be destined to act as a turning point in the narrative (either through death or through character development, same difference).

Or, we could go with the really obvious interpretation of 'flamingo = romance'. Which is very on-brand. Additionally, flamingos represent balance and elegance - mainly because of their 'standing on one leg' trick. Toshiko most likely strives to embody the qualities of a flamingo in these regards.

The use of flamingos in Toshiko's design might point to her being 'the heart' of the group. She's shown to be quite emotional (becoming flustered when challenged, avoiding the investigation, getting into an argument over gremlin-hood with Grace), despite trying to emulate a mature aura. She speaks in frivolous, convoluted imagery, which is peak fourteen-year-old behaviour, and if anything bad happens to her I will cry :D

Ulysses Wilhelm:

Rather than having a picture of an animal, Ulysses wears an owl pendant. Owls represent wisdom, and are particularly fitting for Ulysses due to him being more of a night owl.

Biblically, owls are seen as unclean birds, alongside ravens. They aren't overly relevant, but are (allegedly, according to some random Bible forum) used to symbolise loneliness, desolation, guilt and mourning. In a broader sense, owls are seen as wise, critical-thinking creatures, and independent.

Because of this, I think Ulysses will fall into the Damon/Eva camp of thinking, due to his historical knowledge. Because if history's taught us anything, it's that people can't be trusted, they will self-sabotage, and murder is inevitable.

I don't have much else to say - Ulysses feels like an early victim/blackened candidate, unfortunately, so I don't think he'll be playing a major role narratively.

Desmond Hall:

This one's a little hard to spot immediately (and when I did spot it, I wasn't sure which animal it belonged to), but according to the concept art Desmond has a shark tooth earring.

There are no sharks in the Bible. Sharks, apparently, symbolise protection and guidance, so I think Desmond will probably pair up with another character... which will lead to an untimely death, with a very sad flashback scene at the end of a trial. Or he'll survive, who says Biblical relevancy matters? Sharks are pretty cool and so is Desmond.

I think he'll be an optimist in the situation, but I... don't have much to say regarding his animal motif.

Grace Madison:

This one is pretty up there for the 'easiest to spot award'. Grace's animal is a rabbit, which can be seen by her (adorable) rabbit-eared visor.

Biblically rabbits are pretty irrelevant, but symbolically they're very prominent. Rabbits are probably most famous for their easter connotations (you'd think they'd be Biblical, but no, it just says not to eat them). Rabbits are also known as lucky animals - 'rabbit feet' are seen as lucky talismans...

If Grace ends up with a severed foot, I'm going to lose my mind.

Anyway, since Grace is the resident 'reckless and crude' character, I would theorise her link to rabbits would be 'rebirth'. Rabbits are associated with spring, which is associated with rebirth. I think Grace (who is described as someone who burns every bridge she makes) will undergo the Fuyuhiko treatment and see a lot of character development.

Not much else for me to say here, but rabbits are generally seen as active animals (energiser bunny, the Scorbunny line), so... yay sports..?

Diana Venicia:

I do not trust this girl as far as I can throw her. I saw her across the room and thought, "No, you're evil", and the chameleon bracelet did not help her case.

Like... not only does it suggest she's hiding something, or that she's a social chameleon, but it looks like a handcuff, that cannot be comfortable. And oddly enough, chameleons do feature in the Bible... and it's very odd, and very interesting.

Basically, chameleons conform to their surroundings through their unique abilities. God likes that for them, but not for humans - apparently, they should challenge things rather than just conforming to them. Which like, okay, someone changed their tune from "Don't do this one thing, no I will not elaborate". In actuality, what this means is "you should not be different on Monday to how you were on Sunday", aka, be #authentic.

Also, chameleons are seen as 'not standing up for what's right', so I guess that's where Diana falls on the morality spectrum, maybe possibly?

Diana is hiding something, she's on my mastermind radar but it feels a little too obvious? If she's not a mastermind, she hiding something and is a killer, nothing can redeem her from being shady in my eyes. I'm onto you, make-up girl...

(My guess is the beauty industry/Hollywood requires a degree of fakery, and she hates it, but she wanted to be successful so she gave into the fakery, and lost her true self in the process. And hey, maybe at some point she decided that she had to see the true twistedness of humanity via a killing game, who knows? Plus, make-up, that's very Junko-ish of her, just saying-)

Jean DeLamer:

Okay, so some people got 'owl' or 'flamingo', but this man got a whole dragon. And he cannot be more deserving of it, fly high king.

I really didn't think there were dragons in the Bible, but apparently they get a mention (in all fairness, it's a real big book). Fun fact: Biblically, they are usually mentioned to reference sea monsters. On brand for our sea captain. Bad news though, dragons are pretty exclusively evil (sometimes straight-up Satan), and are vanquished by God. So... Not great for Jean, honestly, that's concerning.

Could he have a connection to the killing game? He could be a traitor of some sort, or he could try to rise up against the KG and get struck down.

Basically: Jean has no power here, he will lose every time, if the Bible-dragons are anything to go by.

Anyways, dragons are pretty relevant in... most cultures, so this is probably the most interesting thing I can dig up.

Jett Dawson:

In my original post, I mislabelled Jett's animal as a wolf. Somebody in the comments corrected me, pointing out that it's a coyote. Coyotes are closely related to wolves, so there's some symbolic overlap, but I'll rewrite the section anyways, because the original didn't shed much light on anything.

Biblically, coyotes are in a bit of an odd spot. They're seen as cunning and dangerous for the most part, but in Isaiah's passage (disclaimer: I haven't read it, I'm doing the deeply unacademic thing of trusting 'straightforwardguidance'.com) he complains that coyotes and lizards are more grateful to him than humans. This is used to demean the coyote; a wild animal is better than people in Isaiah's eyes, placing them at the low end of societal importance (not literally, ofc).

Apparently, the bible also describes these animals as being wise, due to their hunting tactics. Coyotes will hunt rabbits as a team, with one tiring a rabbit out and another finishing it off. This little tidbit does not bode well for Grace, our rabbit. But, to be fair, the presence of a coyote wouldn't go well for most small animals.

I don't have too much to say about coyotes, beyond their obvious similarity to wolves. Wolves tend to hunt sheep (which gave them a bit of a negative biblical rep), but let's be real, a sheep isn't winning many battles out in the wild.

Jett strikes me as a 'tragic killer', like our usual chapter 2/4 killers. There's wildcard energy to him, though - I could see him killing, surviving or dying, but whatever happens, there'll be a plot point surrounding his face, it seems too interesting to not be a thing.

Kai Monteago:

Butterfly, on chest, let's go.

Most obvious interpretation: social butterfly, he's an influencer.

Biblically, they're pretty irrelevant, but symbolically they're all about transformation. This could indicate character development, a change in tune, etc. Not much to say here, it could represent vulnerability (butterflies are fragile), but it's most likely a reference to the phrase social butterfly.

Mark 'Mayhem' Berskii:

His hat is, indeed, an alligator. At first I thought it was a dragon, then a crocodile, but the concept art confirms it to be an alligator.

Google couldn't tell me much about Bible alligators, which was expected. What it can tell me is the symbolism behind them, though.

Alligators are cunning and wise. Which adds up here, Mark seems way smarter than he lets on. He makes a comment at the end of a non-stop debate (something about setting the trash fire) which suggests he's a critical thinker, seeing the misguided logic in the room.

They are also apex predators with a lot of strength which... is concerning, in terms of potential murderers. Since they've been around since the prehistoric age, alligators are seen as having an ancient, primal aura about them.

I feel there's more than meets the eye with Mark - he'll carry a key discovery or two, just you wait.

Wenona:

Wenona is the girlboss we need, as well as the girlboss we deserve, no further questions. Her animal decal is a little less obvious than others', being bear pawprints at the bottom of her coat.

My favourite Bible story ever (because it's hilarious out of context) is the one about Elisha and the bears, where two bears maul forty-two children because they made fun of a guy. So, maybe don't get on her bad side via mockery.

Interestingly, bears are used to symbolise cruelty and self-servedness which... adds up here, I guess.

Symbolically, bears are a little more cuddly than the Bible makes them out to be. They're known for hibernation, making them quite patient and cautious animals. Bears are grounded animals and represent strength, being fearsome predators.

Wenona is very set in her views, and appears to be unwavering, much like a bear.

Eloise Taulner:

Eloise wears a swan pin in her hair, making that her signature animal. Swans are graceful and vicious; a fascinating combination for a character like Eloise.

In the Bible, swans are everything you'd assume a white bird to be. It's all very 'this bird is the serene love of god, do not eat it, but for different reasons'.

Symbolically, swans are loyal birds, being of the 'mates for life' variety. Something interesting to mention is the concept of a swan song - a song that laments death, said to be the most beautiful song ever sung by a swan, despite the birds being far from natural singers. In Greek mythology, swans were sacred to both Aphrodite and Apollo, with Apollo being the god of music.

Which presents the possibility of a friendship between Mark and Elodie, with him being 'music' and her being a swan.

Swans are very powerful birds, so Eloise's character arc will probably involve her becoming stronger in terms of willpower and confidence.

Ingrid Grimwall:

This one's a little harder to spot, but Ingrid's animal symbol is on her bag, in the form of a lion.

Lions are generally seen as brave, proud animals. The main Biblical story that comes to mind is the story of Daniel, who was thrown into a den of lions. A lion's roar is intended to paralyse its foes with fear, but can its bite match its bark? I suspect Ingrid will be a big talker, but less keen to take actual initiative. Male lions are known for being less active than their pride members, with the female lions doing the hunting.

Although, you could argue that a lion is a natural leader. These qualities don't need to be exclusive though - why not be a leader and a layabout?

Besides that, there's pride and family and strength, but the less prominent placement of Ingrid's emblem tells me she'll be less fearsome than her classmates.

Cassidy Amber:

Cassidy's a little bit different from the others. Her animal motif doesn't have a specific portrayal of the animal (much like Wenona's and Ulysses'), and hers is repeated as a pattern - Cassidy wears tights with a spiderweb pattern.

Now, spiders are pretty well known for trapping things. It's kind of their whole deal. This gives Cassidy some serious mastermind vibes to me, especially when coupled with the fact that she's married to the content grind, loves games, and has a lot of money to throw around.

But anyway, the Bible just kind of complains about their webs being fragile, which could be interpreted as 'her fanbase isn't a true connection to others, they'll abandon her the second someone new catches their attention'. In reality, the Bible doesn't hold up for most of these, but like... it's interesting, right?

Spiders could be described as patient killers. They weave intricate webs for their victims and wait for the opportune moment to strike. Spiders are often feared, with arachnophobia being one of the most popular phobias. Cassidy herself is capable of projecting an unsettling aura and might be described as unnerving.

Fun fact: Red spiders specifically symbolise wealth, passion and excitement, which lines up pretty well with our pro-gamer.

In Conclusion:

I spent way too long making this.

Also, the Bible was pretty useless for most of these BUT the Bible reflects a lot of general perceptions (because it set quite a few of them), so it was sometimes interesting, I think, I'm tired, send help, goodnight!

(If you've made it this far, say hi or something, this took three hours and for what?)

#danganronpa #project eden's garden #analysis #theory #damon maitsu #eva tsunaka #toshiko kayura #wolfgang akire #other people I guess #just all the characters #project: eden's garden

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flower-boi16 · 3 months

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Hazbin Hotel Is A Show That Exists

So...after five years of waiting, Hazbin Hotel is finally out. I had very low expectations going to Hazbin - not only because of the current state of Helluva Boss (Its spin-off show) but also because of all the things I was hearing about it from people who saw the leaks - needless to say, it wasn't very positive. I was expecting this show to be a complete disaster on every single level, though deep down, I did want to be excited for this show - as I did used to briefly be a fan of Viv's work until I realized HB's MANY writing issues, so I went in with low expectations, expecting the show to be awful while deep down hoping that MAYBE It'll MAYBE end up being good. And after watching the first four episodes I can say that...

The show isn't awful nor is it that good. It's just...PAINFULLY average. In this post I'm going to give my current thoughts on HH based on the first four episodes that are currently released. Note that these are only my current thoughts on the show - there's a chance that MAYBE the show will improve in the second half of season 1. But for now, here are my current thoughts on the show:

1. The Animation & Visuals

The animation is...fine. The characters definitely look very rigged at times, but the animation is at least pleasant to look at. An issue I have is the camera work - sometimes the camera work can be VERY off at times. The show would constantly cut to different perspectives in some of the scenes and it becomes a headache to look at. It's especially bad at the beginning of the Happy Day In Hell song - where the camera looks like it's having a stroke during the sequence as it constantly cuts to different perspectives a LOT.

That being said - the camera work is mostly fine throughout the rest of the show so it's not too bad. So overall, the animation looks fine. I don't love it, but I don't hate it.

2. The Comedy

The show's comedy is...actually pretty ok. There were a few jokes that got a good laugh out of me, especially in episode 3, the episode that isn't written by Viv, so it therefore is the funniest episode of the show so far. I am surprised by the lack of sex jokes in the show which is at least a plus. That being said, a lot of the jokes in the show don't really land - mainly the ones that Angel Dust makes. So really, the comedy is OK. I don't hate it, but I also don't love it either.

3. Worldbuilding & Plot

So now let's talk about the main plot of the show as well as its world-building. Ok so the main conflict for the show is that due to someone killing an Angel during the last extermination - the exterminations are going to happen twice as fast now (6 months instead of one year). The mystery of what happened to the angel...lasts for about two episodes before we're given an answer in episode 3, and then it's just resolved like that.

Aside from that the series mostly revolves around its premise so far which is good. Alright, now lets talk about the lore and worldbuilding - basically Lucifer used to be an angel in Hevean but was seen as a trouble maker and Adam demanded that Lilith fuck him (or something Idk Idr) and Lucifer and Lilith fell in love blah blah blah Lucifer gave an apple to his new lover Eve blah blah blah the apple was cursed blah blah blah the apple created hell blah blah blah It sent evil to the world and Hevean was pissed about that so they banished them to hell blah blah blah Lucifer became sad blah blah blah Lilith didn't blah blah blah Hevean started doing exterminations because they were afraid of Hell's power.

(Semi-accurate description of the opening exposition dump). Ok so a few things; 1) I already asked this in another post but why did Hell never choose to fight back against Heaven when Heaven shouldn't have any power over hell because Hell was a realm created by Lucifer? Also, why does Heaven even have any power over Hell to begin with? and 2) So Heaven is eeeevil now and is going to kill all of Hell. Like I already said, it would have been more interesting if Heaven wasn't evil, and it also would've been better than this Hevean v Hell war we're probably going to get in the finale.

They even changed the reasoning to why Heaven started doing the exterminations, instead of it being because of an overpopulation problem now it's because Heaven was afraid of Hell's power...

...which contradicts the pilot which is canon to the series. But then the show just goes back to the overpopulation problem as the reason for the exterminations???? Like??? Which is it, is it because Heaven is evil or because of an overpopulation problem??? PICK ONE!!!

Hell is also kinda boring of a setting, it's just our world except red. That's it. So the lore and worldbuilding is kinda eh, Heaven is just evil cuz ofc it is and the lore has some problems. Its funny to how one of the lyrics of Adam's big villain song is "its all black and white", and since Adam is the bad guy and Charlie's goal is to redeem sinners, the show is trying to go for a "it's NOT black and white" message, but that's kinda ironic considering that this Heaven/Hell conflict is very black and white in it of itself; Hell good Heaven evil. That's it. Not saying black-and-white conflicts with a good guy and a bad guy are bad, most shows can make them work and be interesting, but Heaven would have been more interesting if it wasn't evil, at least IMO.

4. The Voice Actors

A lot of the discourse surrounding Hazbin until its release was the new voice actors. Let me just say I don't dislike the voice actors here; I think they are fine and they fit the characters decently well. Their singing is also decent as well. So I don't dislike any of the voices, they are fine for the most part and fit decently well with the characters.

5. The Songs

The songs so far are...fine. If there was one thing that HB consistently got right, it was the songs. Even if I dislike HB, the songs are actually pretty good (for the most part...). Hazbin's songs are...decent. There aren't any songs that I can say are bad, though I have some issues with the show's music; mainly the fact that the show sometimes shoves in songs...for the sake of having a song.

If you want to make a musical with songs you need to make sure each song has a distinct purpose for the story; take "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. Before this song, it's pretty easy to infer that Ariel has an interest in the surface world - with her collecting human stuff and all. But the song further shows us her desire to see the surface - to see what it's like above water. It shows her desire to see the surface in the form of a song - it has a purpose within the story because it tells you something about the character.

Hazbin Hotel meanwhile sometimes has a problem when it comes to shoving in songs for the sake of meeting the song quota; the two biggest examples are "Hell is Forever" and "Respectless", as well as "Whatever It Takes". These songs are all completely unnecessary and they give us information that could have been communicated through simple dialogue rather than characters bursting out singing.

"Respectless" in particular feels less like a song and more like the characters just...singing a conversation with each other. The song is completely unnecessary and is just there to fill the song quota per episode. None of the songs I've mentioned are necessarily bad, but they suffer from being unneeded (HB also sometimes has this problem in season 2 mainly in episodes 3, 4, and 7).

Aside from that issue - the songs are...fine. None of them are bad but some of them are kinda useless and don't serve much of a purpose. I at least liked Happy Day in Hell and Poison, aside from that most of the songs are...ok. I just don't find most of them that memorable.

6. The Characters

Now, let's talk about the characters. First I'll talk about the main cast then the villains.

Charlie - I think Charlie's...fine. I always like overly positive and happy characters for protagonists so I was going to like Charlie anyway. She's fine; she's easy to root for and she's likable enough.

Vaggie - Vaggie's also fine. I do like her snark in episode 3, but aside from that there isn't much that interesting about her.

Nifty - Nifty's cute. Nifty's funny. I like Nifty.

Angel Dust - sigh Ok so I didn't like Angel Dust in episode 1 because of the fact he was another character whose one character trait is being excessively horny. And I also find all his jokes painfully unfunny. I'm not really in a position to judge how well his abuse from Val was handled so since I held a poll asking SA victim's thoughts on episode 4 and most of them voted no I'll just say that they didn't handle it very well and move on. So ya don't care for Angel Dust.

Alastor - Ah yes the creepy radio demon. He's also fine, I like his whole style and stuff.

Husk - Husk's whole purpose in the first three episodes is pretty much just to be pissed off at stuff, I kinda liked the scene where he talked to Angel Dust in episode 4 but aside from that, Husk is kinda just..fine...like everyone in this main cast.

Now let's talk about the villains so far!

Adam - Don't care for him. Sigh look Adam could be an entertaining villain but so far his dialogue and jokes are just painfully unfunny and I don't care for him as a villain. I could talk about his sidekick whose name I forgot but she's gotten so little screen time I can't form an opinion on her yet.

Also isn't it funny how HH was meant to be a female-focused show yet the males get more focus so far (As I've already talked about)? Ya, I thought so too. Anyways, the characters are...fine. I don't hate any of them, but I also don't really love any of them either. None of them are that interesting so far to me.

That's pretty much what I can say about everything in this show so far; I don't hate the animation but I don't love it either, I don't hate the comedy but I don't love it either, I don't hate the songs but I don't love them either, I don't hate any of the characters but I don't love them either.

7. Conclusion

So, that's my current thoughts on HH based on the first four episodes. Well...it's certainly a show that I watched. It's amazing to me how a show could be so consistently painfully average in pretty much EVERYTHING, from the animation to the songs to the comedy to the characters, to the episodes themselves, Hazbin Hotel is the most painfully average show I've watched so far. It's not bad so far, but it isn't good either. Again, maybe the show will improve when the latter half of season 1 comes out...

...or it will just get worse. I'm expecting the latter unfortunately due to the trailers making it look like there's going to be a Heaven/Hell war which means the show is probably going to abandon its premise like its spin-off (...that came before the main show was released). But ya, Hazbin Hotel is painfully average so far, probably a 6/10 so far, expecting the show to probably get worse, goodbye.

#hazbin hotel critical #hazbin hotel criticism #vivziepop critical #vivziepop criticism

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yuikomorii · 6 months

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I know you’ve mentioned how Karlheinz seems to favor Ayato as the candidate for Adam (as seen through his actions/words in YB and DF) and I honestly feel like this is further evidence that Ayato is the most “upright” of his brothers. In Ayato’s MB Ecstasy Epilogue, Karlheinz mentions that vampires are attracted to evil and need to be set on the right path; then again in DF he says a main motive of the Adam and Eve plan was to create a vampire with human sentiments, as the loss of emotion in vampires made them inferior to humans in that sense. In my opinion the reason he seems to favor Ayato is because he’s the one most capable of expressing selfless sentiments, progressing as a person, being “pure-hearted” (as I know Rejet has described him as before), and just overall being compassionate, and these traits fit perfectly into the motives for the Adam and Eve plan mentioned above. Idk if this exact topic has been addressed before (and I’m just beating a dead horse lol), but I just thought your opinions were interesting and wanted to share my own thoughts! Also I love your commentary and analysis on the series/characters, it’s always super fun to read! <3

// Aww, I’m glad you enjoy them! I guess it’s been a while but I’m glad that Anon sent me something that made me return to analysing. 💕

I agree on your take, although I feel like that’s already canon at this point, haha. Ayato has always been highlighted as the most human-like one, even Japanese fans talked about that, but the only reason why some Westerners might disagree is because they know nothing about Ayato to begin with and only judge him based on HDB and MB. While it’s true that he was kinda crazy there, YB revealed that his possessiveness, obsession and blood thirst were due to the curse not trauma. For this reason, comparing Ayato to his brothers in HDB or MB is not fair at all, considering that these are two different situations. His brothers only started getting severe blood thirst symptoms in MB when they were awakening, while Ayato had to deal with those most of his life and even entered in a coma. Ruki's MB route also shows that Ayato is still cursed there and that his brothers noticed how he started going insane exactly after Yui was abducted to the point where they decided to lock him in the dungeon because he couldn't function without her blood anymore.

And speaking of the curse, I think many people don't treat it seriously enough. Imagine being physically and mentally tortured but still attempting to help and sacrifice yourself for others when your kindness is being abused in the worst way conceivable. That fig literally sucked the life out of him and he had to slowly watch himself fall into madness without being able to control it.

Nevertheless, Ayato is still able to be forgiving and compassionate towards those who have wronged him with or without dating Yui. He can be driven by some factors to do bad things, but his purity cannot be taken away; even Cordelia stated that there is something different about him and she’s not the type to say such stuff out of the blue. That’s why his routes are considered the ideal outcome of the story, they make the most sense and Ayato getting the happy ending with Yui is the most satisfying. I mean, every Diaboy deserves a happy ending but in all honesty, I wouldn't want the people whose words and actions have caused my life to be destroyed to find love before me either. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#admin

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kittenfangirl20 · 4 days

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*back in the past Lucifer and Lilith were called to Heaven’s embassy talk about the solution to the alarming rate the population of Hell was growing, the pair walked into the embassy see an angel sitting at the table waiting for them, the angel wore robes with gold spikes at the collar and some sort of design on the robes that looked like an A, he wore a mask with gold eyes and gold fangs as well as a horned headdress, if it wasn’t for the gold halo and gold wings Lucifer would have thought that this was a demon, on each side of the angel were a pair of angels dressed in black and silver who also wore masks except one eye was an x and they had silver instead of gold*

Lilith: We have read over the proposition of Extermination Day and we will not accept Heaven coming down once a year to slaughter our people.

The angel: I am quite surprised that you care about something that isn’t yourself, you were such an unbearable bitch in life and I am sure you still are now that you are the Demon Bitch Queen of Hell.

Lucifer: Adam.

*Lucifer was shocked that his former friend was going to lead the charge against Sinners*

Adam (the angel): Frankly I am shocked you are still with Lilith, I would have thought that you would have eventually seen the mistake you made and dumped her.

*Lucifer flipped the very large table and flew across the room so he could pin Adam against the wall while the two angels at Adam’s side now had their spears pointed at Lucifer*

Lucifer: Don’t speak of my wife that way!!!!!!!!

Adam: You are in no position to make demands, but I can be generous. We only go after Sinners but your family and Hell Born will be left alone. If you don’t agree to this Sera will have the other archangels ask God to destroy Hell, do you want your daughter to be destroyed, I would do anything to protect my children.

*Adam hoped Lucifer would see his plan was preferable to Sera’s plan*

Lilith: Don’t agree to Extermination Day, we can rise up against Heaven.

Adam: That attitude is why is why Heaven must take action against Hell.

*faces Lucifer*

Adam: I know you are not truly evil, sacrifice some Sinners to save your daughter and Cain.

*Lucifer let go of Adam, he saw a glimmer of the man he once was in Eden*

Lucifer: Fine, you can have your Extermination Day for Charlie.

*Lilith grit her teeth as Lucifer signed the agreement and left, Lilith waited for the two angels to leave and cornered Adam just placing one hand on his chest and leaned close to him in an almost intimate manner, it pleased her to feel her ex husband tremble at her touch*

Lilith: Know this, you may have your little victory today, but I still have Lucifer’s love, it’s something you will never have because you were always such a hideous creature. In fact it looks like you have become a bit of a fat ass now.

*Lilith let her hand move down and she squeezed his stomach, she laughed when instead of feeling the firm abs he used to have, his stomach felt a little round and soft*

Adam: Don’t fucking touch me bitch.

*Adam was trying to sound tough, but his his voice was strained as if he was about to start crying, Lilith smiled and kissed Adam’s masked lips knowing he would hate that*

Lilith: Farewell Adam.

*Lilith left and Adam went back to Heaven and quickly handed to agreement to Sera before flying to his home where Eve was waiting for him, Eve gently peeled off only the mask leaving the headdress, tears were falling from Adam’s eyes and more were threatening to fall*

Eve: It’s ok my love, I am here.

*Eve caressed his cheek and Adam just leaned into it*

#hazbin hotel #lucifer #hazbin hotel lucifer #lucifer morningstar #adam #hazbin hotel adam #lilith #lilith morningstar #hazbin hotel lilith #eve #hazbin hotel eve #adam/eve

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ashintheairlikesnow · 3 months

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thoughts about the devil in fiction

I think the amount of stories that feature or even focus on a deeply sympathetic or tragic Lucifer Morningstar who is not so much evil as misunderstood, or someone who broke the rules before anyone understood rules could be broken, are an interesting take on our innate need to believe that literally anyone can be redeemed, or at least have some capacity for desiring or wishing for redemption even if they can never, ever earn it.

The tragedy of Lucifer isn't that he was the first of the damned, but that he simply has no other future, no hint of potential to have existence be anything but what it already is.

His tragedy never results in any significant change to heaven in a positive direction. Usually these stories involve the idea of rebellion designed to take heaven down or make it more similar to hell. Rebellion based on being jealous of humanity's ability to make their own choices, or being so proud of himself that he believed his power could rival God.

Lucifer remains trapped within a prison of his own pride and belief that he knows best, or maybe the story involves him learning that his pride was misplaced, but even so the punishment is never truly lifted. It cannot be. It's eternal.

There's also an element, I think, of many people seeing the unfairly demonized - how impossible it can seem to fight against seemingly arbitrary rules - and sort of painting that in larger strokes using the Devil as a canvas. The first of creation to look at the way things were and wonder why they could not be different than this.

How many of us grow up thinking we will change things on a grand scale, fight against the powers that made us, and instead find ourselves simply struggling to maintain hope in a world we aren't allowed to affect? Who find ourselves stomped down when we stand up, or told our ideas are impossible? Told that we're just jealous of those who have more than we have, or that we're too full of ourselves thinking we could make a difference?

It's a really interesting relatability that we have created out of a handful of mentions in a very old book, similar mythologies from other religions, and sheer imagination.

Even in Dante's Hell, written in the 17th century, Lucifer is tragic, damned by pride and envy of God to reign in Hell but ultimately declaring he would rather rule the worst of creation than serve the best.

Is it the best, though?

What is humanity with all its potential for both bad and good removed?

Is the goodness of humanity worth much if it can't be contrasted with the worst? Does good exist without evil, or is it functionally meaningless at that point? Does Lucifer rule over the way that humanity can define what is good, rather than serve a good that has no evil with which to compare itself?

One of my favorite takes has always been those stories that have Lucifer's damnation be focused on seeing the worst of humanity coalesced, over and over and over again, and never allowed to see goodness in Creation. That his tragedy is that he isn't allowed to see how we can use the free will and knowledge of good and evil to do good, he can only see the way it's been twisted to darkness. Which suggests that he has been blinded to goodness purposefully.

The story of the serpent tempting Eve is always performed or written as the serpent slyly, knowingly tricking her by saying, "Surely you will not die," with a wink and a nudge. But there's another take in which the serpent - often written to be the same as Lucifer/Satan and explicitly stated to be the same entity in Christianity, although Genesis doesn't actually make that connection, it's just a snake who can talk and ask questions Eve and Adam hadn't thought of yet - was genuinely of the belief that humanity wouldn't come to same ruin he had, since they were so clearly and obviously being given a different set of potential than the angels.

In that reading, "Surely you will not die," is said with outright, honest confusion as to why they would think so.

After all, this creation was two people in a garden being given endless paradise. But there was something about the potential of their existence they had yet to touch... the ability to make choices that were truly their own.

His rage, his unending fury and pain, is because he believed once in his hubris that if humans can be given the capacity to choose, so could an angel. But then he realized that it didn't matter... even his rebellion was choreographed. It was just lines written on a page, enter the Morningstar, stage left, give his lines, be thrown into the pit.

If the plan was written from the start by a power he could never begin to equal, that means it was a script whose lines he read thinking those thoughts were his own.

Lucifer's tragedy is that even his pride and his envy, his fall, wasn't actually his.

His rage and his suffering is just one more step in a plan larger than he could ever be.

And he had no idea until it was done.

Punished for playing his part so well in a play he had no hand in writing and no idea was even an act, given the unending absence of the basic foundation of angelic existence afterward, forced to witness the worst of the favored creation given everything he ever wanted only to squander it...

Isn't that a tragedy unlike any other?

So those stories that feature Lucifer or even demons in general who are sympathetic and tragic because they are fighting against a constructed universe that they can barely touch or affect and who are suffering an absence, a chasm inside of them that was once filled with artificially created joy that was removed as arbitrarily as it was made...

You can see why those stories resonate over centuries, take new forms, and are an endless fascination for those of us here.

#lucifer morningstar #literary thoughts #the devil #satan #tragedy #tropes #characterization #demons #demons in fiction #satan in fiction #writing #reading #lucifer

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gregorovitch-adler · 8 months

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A date after the crisis has been averted, at least temporarily.

You know you're down bad, completely fucked up in love when THAT is your reaction when your crush has (jokingly) called you a bastard. What's even the point, now? You're doomed!

So, I've finished watching Season 1 for the first time and here are my thoughts:

1.) I love the writing of this season overall. I haven't read the book, so can't make a comparison, but Satire is one of my favourite genres, and I love it when things like Religion and Righteousness™ are questioned and satirised.

Also, I loved how witty some of the dialogues were. This one, for example:

"I don't see what's so wrong with them (Adam and Eve) knowing the difference between good and evil." (Crowley says).

"It must be, otherwise you wouldn't have done it!" (says Aziraphale).

It effectively calls out the lack of reasoning and blind faith in the real world.

I love how nuanced these two are. Crowley is a demon and pretends to be the Big Bad but time and again proves that he does care. Even when he doesn't want to.

As for Aziraphale, he's a good person overall but it's not like he always makes the right choice. He's fucked up too. And he has said hurtful things to Crowley. For eg. he didn't have to say, "We're not friends and you and I are on the opposite sides," to Crowley. I know he was trying to protect Adam Young at first, but still.

Aziraphale is quite stuck in his own prejudices. He wants to be with Crowley but still feels compelled to be loyal to his own side - even when the other angels have been nothing but arses to him the whole time.

Crowley is more open-minded in that sense. He's got greater vision and clarity about what he wants and the things that matter to him - he's been pretty much upfront about wanting to be with Aziraphale and ditch this nonsense about the good side and the bad.

I guess that was the whole point they were trying to make in this show.

2.) Aziraphale and Crowley are head over heels in love. I know, old news, but let me as a new fan just gush about it for a second.

Ever since they meet for the first time - when Adam and Eve are escorted to Earth - their chemistry is off the charts and it looks like they're perfect for each other.

Since Episode 2, it's clear that they have feelings for each other but they don't talk about it.

I love how even with his prejudices, Aziraphale is totally with Crowley when they want the Antichrist to be a completely normal child. Aziraphale wants the same things as Crowley but doesn't want to say it out loud.

The scenes where Aziraphale dresses up as a gardener and Crowley shows up as a nanny are hilarious. That too with the wrong child because of that mix-up eleven years ago!

This is my favourite scene:

It's ... nothing needs to be said. He's practically glowing with his love for the Demon.

Their banter, and the way Crowley playfully teases him sometimes - it's absolutely perfect. I love them.

3.) Coming back to my point about the other angels, can I just say I hate Gabriel? Fuck that guy.

He's the most despicable character of this show. I don't know if he gets better or worse in the next season, but for now, fuck him.

I guess I hate anyone who bullies and is condescending to Aziraphale lol.

I hate him even more than Hastur. Hastur is at least supposed to be cruel because he's a proper demon. People like Gabriel - who're supposed to be good but are actually assholes - can fuck off.

4.) I don't know if I missed it when it was being explained, but why is Crowley stuck in traffic in E5?

I know there's a huge demon prayer ring of fire set up by Adam Young but Crowley is a demon, and demons aren't bound by Physics, or so the God narrator told us. Couldn't he go to Tadfield any other way?

Also, why did Hastur burn to death in that episode? I thought the only thing that kills a demon is Holy Water.

Maybe I was being dumb when I watched the show lol. Would appreciate it if someone clarified this point for me in the notes.

5.) Whoever did the voice acting of God did a fantastic job. She had a lot of sarcasm in her voice at many points and I loved that.

Also, seeing Michael Mckean as Witchfinder was such a pleasant surprise! I'm a huge Better Call Saul fan.

6.) I loved the humour of this show. These two scenes were the funniest:

7.) Crowley's walk was my absolute favourite thing:

That's all for now. See you again once I'm done with Season 2.

#good omens #good omens season 1 #first time watch #new fandom #new fan #aziraphale #crowley #crowley/aziraphale #aziracrow #ineffable husbands #my thoughts #season 1 review and ramblings #meta #review #show blogging #live blogging

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broadwayfangirl222 · 4 months

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Spoilers for Hazbin Hotel Episodes and my thoughts/initial reactions:

Episode 1:

I adore the opening narration, it genuinely feels like a fairytale being told to a kid and I get the vibe Lilith and Lucifer were trying to help Eve by giving her the apple. And for people worried about her being Stella 2.0 It comes off more as Lilith taking over since Lucifer became low key depressed and while there might be issues between them it might be more communication issues than anything else

Husk's voice sounds a bit gruffer than it initially came off as in the trailers and I really like how it sounds

Angel brings up good suggestions of having a celebrity be a selling point for the hotel and why can't Alastor use his connections to bring more people to the hotel

and their answers (of Charlie not wanting to exploit him and people needing to choose to be there, not be forced to be there) were also really great points

I feel low key dumb for thinking Adam was actually there, he wouldn't bother to bring himself down to their level

Charlie's realization this asshole is her mom's ex is hilarious

Tbh I would've wanted to see more of them making the commercial but it was so much fun to see and I love how Alastor only agreed to put genuine effort in the commercial if he never had to do anything related to TV again

Niffty zoning out when the camera is on her just game me hypnotoad vibes (dumb and obvious comparison but that's where my mind went)

Wow...what the hell, they really are cutting the time in half just as a "fuck you" to Charlie and her idea?! Really harsh and just this whole thing works to show they're not so different than the demons

Is it just me or is there weird audio mixing issues with Brandon Rodgers' audio as Katie Killjoy?

Ohhh interesting the 6 months thing is cause an angel managed to be killed and it's a cover up! I'm genuinely curious where this goes

Episode 2:

Good point with this being something that could make people be willing to hear this idea of redemption out

Omg of course Niffty is into Pentious. Also interesting she didn't know who the V's were.

Vox in the trailer sounded like seth rogan to me but he sounds way more gameshow host to me

VELVETTE'S BRITISH?!?! Also kinda cool to see her being a bit more business focused and not just kinda high energy chaos

OMG! Finally we get to hear Valentino! It's kinda cool how his accent is partly there, like it's thicker when he talks in some parts than others. It's done in a way that's less the VA dropping the accent and more it being a deliberate thing for the character

For Vox and Val's relationship we got this idea of Val being the one in charge and mistreating Vox but Vox trying to calm Val down feels like him and Velvette just let Val think he's the one who's in charge of the V's while Vox is actually the one to plan stuff through

Fun little bit of Val poking fun at Vox's obsession with Alastor and I kinda like it's all of them kinda snapping at eachother and messing with one another

I've seen thumbnails for this song on youtube and i've been trying to avoid it and I'm so glad I can finally see it. This song and Adam's songs were low key my faves of these first couple episodes.

One thing that stood out to me in this song is two lines from Alastor is "Is Vox as strong as he purports or is it based on his support? He'd be powerless without the other Vees" (and cute little bit of Val and Velvette looking kinda smug at that line) Cause it does raise an interesting idea: The Vees essentially all prop each other up, how would they handle being purely on their own

"And here's the sugar on the cream, he asked me to join his team, I said no and now he's pissy" Oh so basically he tried asking Alastor out and didn't take the rejection well?

Is that a robo fizz?!?!

I actually appreciate Angel wasn't the one told to be the spy on the inside but rather Pentious. It's a good way to get him involved with this and just isn't the more obvious plot choice

With Angel feeling jealous and insecure I'm actually really glad there isn't that thing where this new character is suspicious and one character points that out but they keep getting dismissed by everyone else and just accused of being jealous

Poor sir Pentious...And honestly this moment is just really sweet and honestly Charlie's design with her hair and Pj's are so adorable!

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel early access #hazbin hotel spoilers #shut up me #my ramblings

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cobragardens · 8 months

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Self-Therapy in the Form of an Open Letter to Neil Gaiman and My Fellow Ineffables

Dear Ineffables, and Dear @neil-gaiman

I want to talk about Good Omens for a sec, ok? You are not obligated to listen! But if you want to listen, I have a Thing I need to say. And it's important to me and I have a Tumblr, so you can see where this is headed.

I know Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship, book and show, is primarily about the absurdity and tragedy and miraculousness and contagiousness of being human. I know it's about wanting friendship and cake instead of victory and ashes, and I love that. I know it did not start out as an intentionally or unequivocally queer story, and I know that neither the queerness nor the Christianity is the main theme of S1 or the book. And I think those are all good things: one of the big strengths that makes Good Omens so remarkable and so charming is its lightness of touch.

But Crowley did not start out as a demon, and Aziraphale did not start out as a butter-smooth liar, and they are neither of them the angel the other knew, and there are reasons for that. And S2 starts discussing those reasons, and now Crowley and Aziraphale have shared a very human kiss and have started a more overt phase of their ongoing conversation about what they are to each other. So one of the things we need to talk about is what it’s like to love the wrong person in a world like the world of Good Omens.

And I feel like I have some (very small) amount of expertise in this field. I do not have the skill as a writer to tell you what that was like to grow up Christian and deeply in love with my (also female) best friend in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the evangelical Christian Mecca of the United States. But I did it--or, rather, it happened to me--so I'm the person who has to write about it now.

It was Before Ellen. Homosexual sex was against the law in around half of U.S. states. Only one state (Rhode Island, which I am not convinced actually exists) had a law prohibiting discrimination against LGB people in housing, services, or employment. One U.S. state—my state, Colorado—amended its state constitution to prohibit prohibiting discrimination. Same-sex marriage did not exist. Same-sex couples could not adopt children. Being any flavor of queer could cost you custody in family court of any children you did have.

Queer young-adult novels did not exist. Movies and tv shows with queer characters did not exist unless they were serial killers or dying of AIDS. Safe-sex education did not exist, the LGBTQ section of the bookstore did not exist. Social media did not exist, the Internet was in its infancy (I was typing up papers in AppleWorks on an Apple IIe), smartphones did not exist. Porn was in magazines your friend’s older brother or uncle kept under his mattress.

The guy everybody in school thought was gay got beat up daily. The girls I'm not sure about. I only ever saw two girls/women who were out before I was 28 and met an openly lesbian woman in a university class.

In Colorado Springs, bumper stickers for Colorado for Family Values and Focus on the Family, both headquartered in the city, were common. Crosses and ichthys decals proliferated. There were only a few “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” stickers, but “Marriage = One Man + One Woman," or the same message in Ladies and Gents toilets symbols (with a pair of ladies and a pair of gents crossed out) were a regular sight on the backs of cars every day, every drive, my whole life there.

This was a world where there was one very specific God, who has one very rigid Plan, and whose Agents and Enemies fight each other for the eternal souls of every human being. And every player on the board was clear about this.

I was 12 when my dad and I met two women on a hiking trail and, after we all said hello and they three had chatted a bit and the women had walked on, he asked me if I had "gotten any spiritual witness about them." He told me he suspected they were lesbians.

I was 14 when I burst into tears and shouted at my dad when he spoke viciously of the two gay men who had come into his place of work earlier in the day. He called them “flaming” and “faggots.” I told him we were Christians and we were not hateful about people in that way. I didn’t know what the word faggot meant, not for sure (I picked up the meaning of flaming from his imitations), but I could tell it meant they were people who did awful things, and that he hated them.

I had never seen my dad like that before, hating someone. I had never heard him speak that way about anyone.

I was 16 when I rode in the back seat of our next-door neighbors’ Ford Focus on the way to Bible study and listened to the handsome Christian newlyweds up front discuss how awful it was that gay and lesbian couples were now allowed to adopt children in the state of New Jersey. It was bad, they said, that children could find homes with queer people “because children learn from their parents.”

I was 17 when 2 straight men beat and tortured Matthew Shepard and left him tied to a split-rail fence on the side of a road 3 hours north of Colorado Springs as a warning to the rest of us. A scarequeer.

A joke in poor taste, you may feel, this little pun. It is a pun, but it's not a joke.

One of Shepard’s murderers used the gay panic defense in court. In the U.S. the gay panic defense is one of reduced responsibility: a man cannot be held fully legally responsible for murdering another man if he claims he thought his victim was gay and making a pass at him. Because, under U.S. law, it is considered common for men to go temporarily insane and murder men they think may be gay and making a pass at them. I have rewritten this paragraph five times and that is the absolute least bananas I can make this sound. It is real and it is still a thing.

I was also 17 when Pastor Luis, the head of my church, preached in sermon about a member of the congregation who had fallen in love with another woman. He told us firmly: "She is no longer a lady. She is a lesbian."

He refused to counsel or marry them, services he insisted upon performing for the heterosexual couples among his congregants. He said he told the woman and her fiancee that they and their sin were not welcome in his house of God. He told us, the ones left, that we were not to contact the ejected woman or continue any friendships with her.

It was a small church, only about 60 people. Pastor Luis looked right into my eyes and held the eye contact with me (other peoole turned to look) when he said, "And if you don't agree with that, you are not welcome here either. You can leave now and never come back."

I did. For 10 years after that, I thought God had told Pastor Luis about me. That Pastor Luis had gotten the same "spiritual witness" off me that my dad had gotten off the 2 women we met backpacking. That he somehow knew—that any Christian might know if they listened, if they sniffed carefully enough. The smell of evil, I thought, must linger on me.

I was 18 when I got my first tattoo. My parents were relieved when I told them that’s all it was. "We thought you were going to tell us you were pregnant, or gay," they said.

I was 19 when a trans woman at a coffee shop told me about how she'd been fired as a substitute teacher from the biggest school district in the state. She didn't pass, so she dressed as a man when working. One day she made the mistake of wearing a women's button-down shirt (with the buttons on the left, not the right), and someone noticed and complained.

I was also 19 when my boyfriend's parents became concerned that he might be gay. (He had gotten his ears pierced and dyed his clipper cut pink while away at college.) As Christians his parents were against premarital sexual activity of any kind, including masturbation or sexual desire, so my bf couldn’t tell them how he knew he wasn’t gay, and for over a year they wouldn’t believe him. His mother bought some books from Family Christian Booksellers, the biggest Christian publisher in the U.S., about how as a Christian she should respond to her child’s queerness.

Throw them out, cut them off, and do everything you can to make sure your child starves and suffers, said the books. (I read them all.) Hunger and homelessness were the goal, they advised, but any misery you could cause was helpful. Turn other relatives against them, don't let them take their belongings when they go, cancel phone contracts and insurance plans.

When your child asks for help because they can't support themselves, you can force them to leave their beloved and drop their friends in exchange for survival, said the books. They will either eventually see that you and God are right and loving, and repent of their sin, or you will catch them lying to you and sneaking around, which is proof that homosexuality and other sins go hand in hand.

One book acknowledged that cutting them off would endanger teenagers and young adults and leave them vulnerable to rape, murder, and human trafficking (though it called being trafficked "prostitution"). But Christian parents acting in the name of God's love would not be responsible for the harm their kids suffered, it said: the children were bringing whatever happened to them on themselves as a natural consequence of living a sinful lifestyle.

In fact, said the book, being attacked or abused could be good for your children: if they suffer enough they may realize it’s their gayness that has caused all their problems and repent of their disgusting unacceptable love and desire.

In the United States, LGBT children represent 40% of homeless youth under 18. "Family conflict" is the number-one cause of LGBT youth homelessness.

I was 22 when the pastor of my boyfriend’s church received news that one of his congregants was engaged in a same-sex affair. Extramarital affairs were very common in his church—three of the deacons were cheating on their wives with other (also married) congregants, and my bf’s parents had been swingers —but this was the first and only time the pastor ever called a church member to the altar, outed him by described his sin to the congregation (c. 350), and demanded the man apologize to everyone and ask their forgiveness. The pastor told him that if he did not apologize he and his wife and children were not welcome to continue attending.

I was 23 when I heard that same pastor’s sermon on avoiding sexual temptation. Give up affection if it causes you to sin, he said. Scoop out your own eyes, cut off your own hand. He instructed men only to hug other men side-along, one arm around their shoulders, lest a real embrace cause them to feel sexual desire for another man. (No mention was made about how women should hug, or that women might ever feel sexual desire at all.)

I remember listening to this pastor's sermon and thinking, I know something about this man that he does not know about himself.

I was 24 when I went with my boyfriend to Pulpit Rock Church, seeking answers from the sermon they advertised on their signboard about sex and sexuality and gender. My boyfriend loved wearing women's clothes. Transgender and cross-dressing were just starting to replace transsexual and transvestite as the accepted terms for the things he might be. Nonbinary and genderqueer were not words we had. He wasn’t sure yet which thing he was; the thing he was was still, for us, unspeakable.

"Men are created to be men and women are created to be women," preached the pastor at Pulpit Rock. "Men and women are different in a way that can't be explained, and they fit together in a relationship in a divine way. A man and a man or a woman and a woman may love each other, but they'll never have the spiritual connection of a godly relationship that a man and a woman can have. We don't have to understand it, but we shouldn't question it, because that’s the way God made it."

Then he talked about how he and his wife could both make French toast (or maybe it was pancakes), but the way his wife made French toast was female somehow--ineffably--because she was a woman, even though the French toast was the same. My bf and I left in the middle of the sermon.

I was 25 when Ted Haggard, best friend of Focus on the Family founder James Dobson (of “Spongebob is teaching our kids it's ok to be gay” controversy) and pal of George W. Bush (the POTUS who pursued, in his own words, "a Crusade" in Iraq with the U.S. military to fight the influence of demons "Gog and Magog[…] at work in the Middle East"), was publicly outed. Male escort and Mike Jones—whom Haggard hired to sell him meth and give him happy-ending massages—recognized ‘Pastor Ted’ as the leader of Colorado Springs evangelical megachurch New Life Church, a nationally famous preacher who denounced the evils of homosexuality from his pulpit, and Jones, a big damn hero, tipped off the press.

I had heard Pastor Ted preach twice. New Life Church was a lot like Heaven in Show Omens in that it had a lot of open space and bright fluorescent lighting and smiling well-groomed people in it, as well as several giant digital screens floating in the air to either side of its dais on which the face of the straight-passing white man bringing his people the word of God was projected as he spoke. This latter feature also resulted in a slight resemblance to a Hitler rally, but there was more medium-stained oak in play than either Hitler or Heaven would find tasteful.

I was 26 when I acted as an informal lettings agent for one of my landlord's other apartments and the young Christian woman living downstairs asked me refuse shelter to any gay or lesbian people because she didn't want to have to live in the same building with them.

When I asked her how I was supposed to know whether someone was gay, she said, “Well you can just tell, can’t you?”

I was 30 when I came out to my Christian parents. Having read the Christian parenting books, I was hugely relieved when they didn't throw me out of their house, where I was living after college (and a few major depressive episodes and two global recessions). I was relieved that they wanted to continue to have a relationship with me at all, in fact.

"I still think it's a sin, though," my mother gently reminded me. My father has refused ever to discuss it at all.

I was 31 when I moved to the UK. I've spent 11 years trying and failing to scrape a living in the Thatcher-hollowed market towns around Manchester, under the fucking Tories, through fucking Brexit, through fucking May and fucking Boris and that weird little cabbage Liz Truss, in order to stay out of Colorado Springs. I can't get medical care on the NHS and I can't work or leave my apartment bc I can't get medical care and I can't heat my apartment in winter on Universal Credit and I’ve been threatened and assaulted by doctors and raped by a nurse and I’ve tried suicide a few times, and I'm in some smallish danger of dying here in Britain's left armpit, but I am not in Colorado fucking Springs today, am I. So that's something at least.

I was 41 and living in the UK for a decade when a homophobe with Christian parents shot up the only gay venue in Colorado Springs, Club Q, murdering 5 people and shooting 19 more. I'd been to Club Q a few times, on dead nights, when I lived in the city. The shooting was 24 years after homophobes tied Matthew Shepard to a fence and left him dying as a warning to the rest of us.

I never told my best friend I was in love with her.

Instead I had anxiety dreams in which my subconscious warned me I wasn't safe. In one dream, Not Yet appeared tattooed on the back of my hand as I looked at a female classmate who was dating another girl. I had to wear gloves to hide the rainbow that had appeared, indelible, on my ring finger.

My first kiss was with a (Christian) boy.

I knew what I felt for my best friend was effervescent and golden and breath-stealing. I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, knew I wanted to live with her in a little house in the Pacific Northwest in the mist and the trees and make her coffee with a Turkish press anytime she wanted it and cuddle her on the closed porch and gripe about the wool in her sweater prickling my arms when I hugged her. I knew her eyelashes made her eyes look like they had stars in them and that she had the lushest curves and most perfect skin I had ever seen, and that when she smiled or laughed the shape of her mouth made something in me ache like tuning forks must ache when they're struck and made to sing.

I never told my best friend I was in love with her because I didn't know those were the words for what I was feeling.

Not until years later, after she had left my life. I had been told (frequently) by a Higher Authority that queer love was disgusting and ruinous and sinful and ugly and twisted and inferior, not this perfect fragile thing as soft and trembling-alive as a bird in my hands. Why would I think this was queer love?

I didn't catch the worst of it. I wasn't chained to a bed or forced to drink water from a dog dish, like the foster parents of the gay kid in class did to him. (The school asked him to give a talk to our class so they'd bully him less, so he told us about his life as the teachers looked on. He was 12.) I wasn't sent to conversion therapy like one classmate. I didn't spend most of my childhood in Bible School like other devout Christians' children; my family read the Bible a lot, and prayed together, but my parents weren't regular churchgoers. I was so, so lucky.

It destroyed me anyway.

The thesis of my essay runs thus, fellow ineffables: A happy ending for Crowley and Aziraphale is necessary.

It is necessary not just because Bury Your Gays is an overdone trope and an act of homophobia in the hands of straight writers; not just because Good Omens has been crafted with such loving care in both book and show incarnations to be optimistic, even sunny, against a backdrop of Orwellian, cosmic, and Kafka-esque horror; not just because casting miracles of the magnitude of David Tennant as Crowley and Michael Sheen as Aziraphale happen once a generation and it would be a shame and a waste not to write more magic for them to chew on; it is necessary because, in most places here in Shitworld, there are real people having the experience Crowley and Aziraphale are having, and not all of us are able to make happy endings for ourselves.

We don't have ethereal/occult powers or authorial control, so we need stories to show us how to love and when to fight and why to fucking bother. And the harder those things are to see in this world, the more we need those stories. And the more we need people with influence and audience and privilege telling them, not just all us little Tumblr rats and AO3 and Pillowfort perverts.

Crowley and Aziraphale exist in a fascist universe run by the ultimate Authoritarian—not Big Brother, but Big Father. There is nowhere for them to go, not even their own minds, where it is safe for them to love each other openly. I am completely prepared to believe someone in those circumstances could go 6,000 years without realizing the love they feel for their best friend is the kissing kind of love. I know someone can go a whole lifetime without saying it.

The hosts of Heaven and Hell will take away even the words for love when they can. We need people who don't just wield words but the power of the word spreading the message "There is a way to make this work. There is a way to exist. You can make a new world."

Mr Gaiman, I know from reading some of your other work that a big part of your whole Deal as a writer is an ongoing enthusiasm for the immense, even mystical, power stories have to shape individual and shared realities—sometimes to doom people and lock them into a destiny, but as often to let them escape their fate by imagining and conceiving a new way of living, or of living with each other, where none was possible before.

Hate and hope are the result of the stories we tell each other--I know you know this because I know you know that in saying it I am referencing a story you wrote. Like the hate, that hope only exists if an author says it does. And real people’s hearts, real people’s lives, are made and broken by listening to the wrong stories or hearing the right ones.

Crowley and Aziraphale are your characters, and Good Omens is your story to tell. You have written a setup in which, if you want these characters to be able to love each other, you (they) will have to create a world where that is possible. Please write us a romance. Please put enough sweet in with the bitter that we can survive it.

We have such faith in you because you have shown your readers and your audiences that you deserve that faith. Please choose your phrases wisely. ❤️

#good omens #good omens 2 #human rights #Colorado Springs #lgbtq #writing #religion #christianity #aziracrow #aziraphale x crowley #neil gaiman #stories #ineffable husbands #good omens s2 #trauma #mental illness #tmi #say your right words the goblins said

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