Good Morning, You Have To Be The Thing That Saves You

If it keeps you from killing yourself it's not stupid. This applies to anything btw.

Let's talk about Shax and Furfur

I don't see a lot of discussion about them, but I think these two are worth paying attention to.

Shax is one of those demons who is not inherently evel, she is more of a "make the best of the current situation" person, she is trying to make a career not by stepping on others, but by forming alliances. She offers a mutually beneficial alliance to Crowley, a traitor hunted by hell, but she's like, that's fine, I can try and work with him, I have a lot to learn from him. Formally, Crowley does not agree to an information exchange with Shax, but nonetheless he is talking to her: helping her fix the boiler, telling a bit more about the Earth, telling her that they'll work on her sarcasm recognition skills next time. They are not friends, but Shax tries to keep it as civil as it can possibly be.

And then there is Furfur, with whom Shax is at least a friendly colleague, but more likely they know each other well and are actually friends. This alliance is formed in the same way of doing favours (and we know who else formed their alliance at least in part based on favours). Note, she never actually breaks her promise to Furfur, and she tries to pull him along where she can: she promises to get him an audience with the Dark Council and she does, she is sympathetic when it does not go well. He shows up in the bookshop, so he did get a bit higher in the hierarchy, but also note how it is Furfur pointing out the opportunity for Shax, while Dagon (who you would think would be the one to be promoted by Beelzebbub) just stands there.

If Shax takes over the throne, with Furfur as her close alliance, this opens a good setup for Crowley to come in and influence them. He might bring in the news that Heaven is planning a war to erase them from the book of life, or that if there is a second coming the amount of soul-processing workload might increase exponentially! The point is, both Shax (already offered him beneficial alliance) and Furfur ("We've done loads together!") would be open to Crowley's influence, and they might indeed want to let Earth continue its existence.

I suppose we shall have to wait and see, but I think we will yet see more of these two

Destiel is so good bc its love as corruption and love as salvation at the same time for both of them. Dean is corrupting cas he's making him feel emotions hes making him feel doubt he's leading him astray from the heavenly purpose he's had for millions of years but dean is saving cas, he's teaching him love and empathy and free will even if its in his incredibly flawed, human way. Cas is corrupting dean he's threatening to crack the facade dean has worked so hard to construct he betrays dean he leaves him he makes him confront things about himself he never wanted to. But he's also saving dean, he sees the good in him when dean himself cannot, he softens him and makes him laugh and he literally rebuilt deans soul and gave him something new to believe in. They ruin eachother and yet they saved each other from what they both almost became.

lady Lydia (Teen Wolf)

"Men would come. Men would threaten. Aziraphale would nod and smile and say that he’d think about [their suggestions]. And then they’d go away. And they’d never come back. Just because you’re an angel doesn’t mean you have to be a fool.”

Masterpost here.

Crowley here.

Book!Aziraphale was the one to suggest killing Adam. He did not bother reviving the dead dove in his sleeve, so Crowley did. He does have some inner conflict regarding his beliefs, but more subtle. Regularly spends evenings talking human nature, God, Divine Plan with Crowley. He is practical to the point of cruelty.

TV!Aziraphale always seemed softer, more manipulative than direct, and more nervous. He looks so soft and smitten towards Crowley, or thirsty af, that the image of softness stays. But what is there really? Besides that visceral feeling when he did not restrain himself, and devoured an ox.

We got stern Aziraphale when he made Crowley dance for him. And like shown at the top of this post. His demeanor opposing Furfur was a bit nervous at times, but he refused to back down even a little.

He was willing to protect Gabriel the Asshole. I wouldn't have blamed him if he had shoved Gabriel in the trunk and dumped him somewhere. But Aziraphale is a Guardian.

He is not close with humans. He couldn't give a shit about the people in the shops around him on a personal level. He'll protect them, but only really socialises with them when he has to. Or needs them as set dressing during an Eldritch Ball. I love that about him, he protects because it is the right thing to do.

He is more direct. Season 1 he'd play coy so Crowley would miracle away paint stains. Now he claims the Bentley for a roadtrip. I can't find a good gif, but we see him having trouble restraining himself at times when he's standing between the humans inside and the demons outside.

The Job minisode showed us he's been having doubts for a very long time. Not only about Heaven, about God. "I don't think God wants you to do this." Only to later hear God give a demeaning lecture to Job. Those seeds of doubt will blossom in Heaven.

We see Crowley taking pride in seeing his angel silencing a room of angels and demons. We see Crowley impressed when he heard Aziraphale did the thing with the halo. We saw how he looked when Aziraphale was gorging on flesh unrestrained.

How will he look when he sees Aziraphale, standing between Heaven/Hell and humanity? Determined fury in his eyes and blade in hand. Aziraphale guarding his world. His bookshop. His demon.

Crowley seeing his angel, completely prepared to kill God if that's what it takes to keep them safe.

I am completely normal about the hale family.

I’m totally not obsessing over any of the characters

Like Laura hale who haunts the narrative. Hell she’s was the creation of the narrative, her death is the reason that Scott and stiles were in the woods that night. She was a means to an end. She was an older sister. The girl who stays with her brother even after her death. We know nothing about her, and everything we do know is forever tainted by the biases of the characters that remained. The Aphla Heir, the first victim of the show. A body in the woods, a girl in a grave

Or Peter hale, who is a walking contradiction and Manipulator. He cares for his family but he sacrificed Laura and Derek (Paige) for power. He kills his niece, then later on he wants to save her (Cora). Peter who died in the house fire, all Derek was doing was putting down a corpse. Peter who died engulfed in flames in the house haunted by death and fire. Peter who knew how to bring himself back, who knew about necromancy and banshees. How young was he when he created a plan to bring himself back to life?

How about Cora?? A girl who lived in the shadow of her families death for years. Believing that she was the only one who lived. A girl who only knows how to run, who keeps her bags packed always ready to leave. It’s how she grew up. Cora who returned to her burnt out shell of a home at the mere mention of a hale alpha. Who leaves beacon hills once again but this time with her brother at her back. (Laura and Derek leaving after the fire parallel)

And last but not least, Derek fucking Hale. The man who blamed himself for the death of his entire family. Who lost everything, and despite that, got up every single day. Who never got to bury his family members, but never wanted to bury Laura. Who killed his uncle and buried him in the grave of their house, so he could rest among the rest of forgotten Hales. What’s one more grave to dig, One more family member to bury. Who helped people even when they didn’t want him to. Derek who was used and abused over and over again. Who was nothing more than a body. Someone with one foot in the grave and one on a train. He just wanted a pack again and had that taken from him as well. He leaves beacon hills, and comes back to once again help those in need. Who dies and comes back. Who drags himself with bloody fingers to a happy ending, with a son. Who takes care of a car for fifteen years as an act of repentance and love. And who still dies in a fire like the Hales that came before him.

What about Eli, whose legacy is pain, fire and death.

The hales who are tied so fucking tightly to beacon hills and to each other. They can never leave this place but they can’t stay. Nothing will ever be the same again. The fire is gone but the wood is still charred. There’s still an open grave

Obsessed with Furfur being offended about Crowley not remembering and saying they did loads together (and Crowley used to jump in his back?) when they were in the same legion, because it implies that Hell's dynamics where actually different and transformed through the centuries. Unlike Heaven which seems to have been white, horrendous and question-hating since before the Beginning. I mean, they had to have some camaderie with each other or otherwise there wouldn't have been rebels. The different dynamics that this season offered in Hell is so much compelling that just Crowley and Aziraphale being friends and Hell being full of monsters that kill each other. I mean Ligur and Hastur seemed to be friends but they were also pretty sadistic and unlikable, Shax and Furfur are social climbers at worst and even Crowley doesn't seem to consider Shax too threatening because he sort of mentors her.

This is such a difference with the dynamics we saw with the angels in Heaven. Those people have no bonds with each other. Michael and Uriel are catty and competitive, Saraqael is like... there? None of them gave a shit about erasing Gabriel's memories, not a peep of sympathy. Then we have the more lower angels like Muriel, who are just alone and living in totally-not-solitary-confiment for centuries.

And this seems to be the thing since before the Beginning, they show us Aziraphale being scared about Crowley getting into trouble because Heaven was already fucked even then. It's like... So static, so unchanging and awful. And this is supposedly the place some people say Aziraphale totally has to change for the better? Why? What is there to save? The best thing he could do is to free the most defenceless angels from that toxic white infinite-torture chamber.

I'm not saying Hell is not bad but... Hell is Hell. They sort of accepted their role as the bad guys since they were kicked out by Mummy Dearest to fulfil the role of the black pieces in her sadistic game of chess. They are also in more contact with humanity than Heaven has ever been (because I'm convinced that Heaven doesn't have dead humans anymore because they don't consider humans worthy since they have such sticks in their arses) so of course they commit to the Aesthetic™ of what Hell shoiuld look like. Heaven in the other hand pretends to be paradise but looks more like a Hell without meaning it.

Heaven hasn't changed through the years, it has always wanted blind obedience and doesn't care about doing everything just because it's the Arsehole's Will. Hell seems to have started as a real bond between angels that rebelled and slowly became the place everyone identifies as bad,... by sort of mirroring some of Heaven tactics but not their hypocrisy. Because they are the bad guys, they don't need to be fake.

Words from On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

when i grow up i want to be frank iero

i don’t think we talk about the way frank utilizes costume, and specifically uniforms, enough. white pants and shirts with sharpied ø’s, the death spells striped sweaters, white standard low wage “salaryman” looks with black ties, the boiler suits, the scrubs, the hospital gown. that frank has always emphasized that he liked “bands that look like a band,” that he stated the jumpsuits were a kind of mindset, that they wore them to understand themselves as technicians, that they would go to work and work on their craft, it was a type of dedication to their artistry. that frank tends to lean towards blue collar workers, towards the unglamorous reality of everyday healthcare workers, towards the unglamorous reality of being one of their patients. that when frank wears white, there’s nothing to hide. all the dirt, all the filth, all the sweat, all the blood, his vulnerability will always be visible, apparent. i think there’s something so important there in his solo work, not only with the content of his music, but that he spent so long dressed in black, dressed in red, in colors that absorb all the filth because they needed to be bulletproof. but that frank chose white as a common thread amongst his solo work, that he would force us to confront all of it there on that canvas, all the blood in joyriding, all the confetti and cake and glitter in great party, all the filth from on stage, all the sweat and dedication, that in a way he made himself a canvas for all that passion and all the scuffs along the way.