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economicsresearch · 4 days

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page 562 - Do you ever feel overwhelmed scrolling through all the pictures you took, that you transferred from one phone to the next, backed up on a laptop or locked up in the cloud? Memories that could have been left to fallow, instead rise up zombie-like into your emotional present on a random Tuesday night when you scroll back too far?

There is so much and you don't need most of it. Most memory is meant to disappear after all; maybe only rising up when the light and the smell of an evening combine just so, or a photo falls out of an old notebook. Save the very few -- privileged or damned -- we all have corners and rooms that stay dark. You are meant to forget. It is not natural to scroll and be reminded of every 20 minutes from the last 15 years.

And so you feel feel sick from remembering. And you feel sick because you can't remember, because the remembering you just subjected yourself to isn't really remembering. It's forced and unnatural; a decisive moment abstracted from the life that surrounded it. There was smell and touch and emotion present when the photo was taken. Gone, killed by the visual. Another memory tried to surface, spurred by the photo in front of you. Gone, recall smashed apart by distraction. Only the remorseless engine remains, the piston of the scroll as a new picture is stamped over the old and again and again and anything gnawing at the edge of consciousness never has a chance. You're left with the feeling that you've lost something before it was even in your grasp. That you had finally remembered the combination to the safe where your most precious treasures are stored but the door was slammed, the dial spun and the numbers changed again.

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jtavington · 7 months

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It just dawned on me that the Sabiorine I've been outlining is UE with a different cast and more mental stability on my part. Romance between terrorist and symbol of the regime they hope to destroy. Actual leader of terrorists is a monster manipulating the protagonist. Terrorist protag uses a mask and a voice disguiser. Princess character is awakened to massive social problems and tries to work the status quo. Status quo refuses to be worked. Couple break up when the terrorist is unmasked. Terrorists overthrow the government but become something worse. Protags reunite to overthrow them in favor of social democracy.

What is wrong with me?

#unstable equilibrium #sabiorine #sabina fardin #miorine rembran #fanfic woes

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tanglepelt · 4 months

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My submission for EctoImplosion! This was a super fun event! I had an amazing partner @artistfingers go read their fic to find out what's going on!!!! An Unstable Equilibrium

#danny phantom #danny fenton #ectoimplosion2023

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maplewozapi · 2 months

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Cookie! Despite Neptune’s work combining pegasus and unicorn magic will never work without a dragons equilibrium. Unicorn and pegasi were once regular ponies but the conflicting magic between unicorn and pegasi is too unstable.

#my art #originalcharacter #mlp #mlp fim au #mlp fim oc #my little pony #my little pony friendship is magic #digitalart #oc

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artistfingers · 4 months

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an unstable equilibrium [ao3] by artistfingers

Danny Phantom | T | Gen | 12,002 words

Tags: No One Knows AU, Hazmat AU, mild morbid imagery, ghost senses, Banter, Bad Parents Jack and Maddie Fenton (well. morally gray parents jack and maddie fenton), Morbid Imagery, Discussions of death, lots of nature metaphors and similes

Here it is!! My fic is up for @ecto-implosion 2023!! I worked with the amazingly talented @tanglepelt, whose two (two!!) illustrations for this project can be found here as well as in the fic <3

#tanglepelt #ectoimplosion2023 #danny phantom #danny phantom fanfic #danny fenton #sam manson #tucker foley #jack fenton #maddie fenton #art writes

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phasmophobia-territory · 1 year

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The Ultimate YANDERE TYPES List (part 2) | POSSESSIVE YANDERE

(this is PART 2 of a 4 Part Post. Click HERE for part 1)

Full sources and links to further reading will be below in the notes!

Remember to read the trigger warnings and content warnings. This is Yandere fiction we’re talking about, so it’s going to get messed up.

Themes + Trigger Warnings + Content Warnings:

Possessiveness, Obsessiveness, Unhealthy relationships, Religious themes, themes of sociopathy, themes of mental illness, hallucinations, delusions, hallucinations and delusions due to drugs, mentions of: physical abuse, sexual abuse, brainwashing, murder, suicide, murder-suicide, self-harm, stalking, panic attacks, cannibalism, necrophilia.

P O S S E S S I V E

Maintains emotional equilibrium by completely controlling their love interest.

SUBTYPES AND THEIR VARIANTS:

♡Controlling:

Physically Violent: Usually short tempered. Can be physically abusive and sexually abusive. Susceptible to being suspicious of and untrusting towards their Darling.

Brainwashing and Conditioning: Wants to make their Darling more obedient through brainwashing. Darling’s personality may become drastically different from when they and their Yandere first met.

Murderous: May kill their Darling to fulfill their possessive needs. They’re the ones who took their Darling’s life! Now nobody can have them!

♡Removing Nuisciances:

Physical: Will use physical means to get rid of anyone trying to get close to their Darling.

Isolating: Will have their Darling become mutually dependent on them, usually through attacks on the Darling’s self-evaluation by criticizing their Darling in public, then praising them when they’re alone.

♡Adam and Eve (Absolute Isolation):

Enclosed World: These Yandere wish to be absolutely isolated with their Darling. May commit murder-suicide with the Darling so that they really will be alone together. Forever.

♡Deprived

Loss: Will do anything to get their Darling back if they lose them. Anything.

Clingy: Clings to their Darling and has to be around them 24/7. Will become mentally unstable if they lose their Darling.

♡Collector’s Habit

Sampling Urge: As long as they can appreciate their Darling’s body, they don’t care if they’re alive or dead. Darling is like a butterfly, and they’re the butterfly collector.

Collector: Obsessed with the love interest being their property. Wants to collect everything from the love interest, regardless of its value.

♡Attention Seeking

Self-harm: These Yanderes try to bind their Darling to them by harming themselves.

Making an impression: Will do things that the Darling hates on purpose and try to remain in their memories even in the form of hatred or fear.

♡Observing

These Yanderes simply watch and observe, usually from the shadows. Their Darling is often not aware of the Yandere’s actions.

♡Monitoring

Confinement: Will place their Darling under their monitoring, usually by hiding them somewhere others cannot find.

Keeping Tabs: Will do actions such as bugging their Darling’s phones or taking photos in secret for the sake of collecting information. These Yanderes are meticulous.

Sources:

This does not belong to me. I only gave a summary of what I read. ORIGINAL SOURCE LINKED HERE.

This information is from an English translation of material from an upcoming game called Yandere Town. UNTRANSLATED, ORIGINAL JAPANESE SOURCE LINKED HERE.

(Original translators, I have no problem with taking this down if you don't want me reposting your translation to my blog! ^_^)

♡If you want to see more content like this check out the Writing and Yandere Masterlist and if you want to learn about this blog check out all things sketchprincess02!♡

♡Please consider REBLOGGING and COMMENTING if this helps you!♡

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delicatestones · 10 months

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Having to stop mid-Worm reread to brace my hands on my knees about how much they were friends.

By the end of my first full read of Worm things have, of course, gone so horrendously badly that no one remaining will ever really recover enough to come back together again. Worm is a tragedy. The loss and grief they all experienced tore them apart in the same ways it means they're forever bound together.

But because Worm is so long, and so much happens between the start and the end, I think some of the finer details of the tragedy eluded me. And that tragedy is, while this was never, ever going to end well (because they're capes, because they're who they are, because the world is built to eat teenagers like them), there was a brief period of time where the Undersiders had something that was working for them.

Like, yes, all of them are hideously traumatized violent unstable teenagers, but they had an equilibrium that was closer to functional with each other than they'd ever had anywhere else before. It was a nightmare of unevenly balanced, inherently doomed dynamics, riddled with the Psychological Problems, but anywhere they ended up they would have still been themselves. Only in the Undersiders did they accidentally form a unit that could, ever so fragilely and briefly, nourish some of their emotional needs for a suspended instant of time.

They watched alternate universe Star Wars Episode 1 and 2 together on the couches and ate Thai food in the loft together and it was good, for a minute. God, but it was good. And they'll never have that again.

#shrike rereads worm #the undersiders #lisa wilbourn #brian laborn #alec vasil #rachel lindt #taylor hebert #parahumans #worm spoilers

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etirabys · 10 months

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The only China-related blog I read posted something that deviates from its usual "just translate the top posts on Weibo" post format. It's about the position of women in China:

https://weibo.substack.com/p/feminism-and-the-position-of-women

It and the (extremely fucking dark) post it links to in its second paragraph have been on my mind for several days. I've kept the browser tabs open despite having finished reading & having no desire to reread them.

I found the feminism post illuminating – things I'd 80% understood about the CCP's "strategy" wrt gender snapped into place, and I feel foolish for not having clearly seen that angle before:

The problem, of course, is that the gender ratio in China has been off for a very long time now. Inevitably, there are going to be a lot of men who will never find a wife. And inevitably, those men are going to be precisely the most unstable elements of society—the poorest, working the most menial of jobs, with the least hopes of ever getting promoted, with the least education. Under these circumstances, relying on market forces is not an option. Women would never willingly marry those people when they have perfectly good careers of their own. So the first step, then, is to fuck women out of careers. ...

China is in an equilibrium that it cannot coordinate to get out of: if you have a daughter, you don't want to invest in her when the norms are that her husband will provide for her / that she won't have a career after marriage. If you have a son, you need to to invest in him, because his marital/reproductive prospects aren't great unless he has a job, a car, and an internal passport that lets him live/work in a city, where he can have a future.

It might be a little unbelievable to you, that a country can just sacrifice half its population to stabilise the other half. ... China doesn’t pass laws or enforce laws to protect women for the same reason they don’t pass or enforce laws to protect sweat shop workers. China is competitive on the international stage precisely because it is willing to look the other way while you make a sweat shop of people work unpaid overtime 80 hours a week while you pay them a quarter of minimum wage and don’t give health insurance or retirement benefits. China is competitive on the international stage because it’s willing to look the other way while you dump industrial waste right into the ocean.

#rambl #// china

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axewchao · 1 month

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"Let's see if you can handle... THIS!"

A different Dalwig fight, where despite the two halves regularly being at odds, they've reached their own little equilibrium: defeating a shared foe! With Dalex's stamina and Ludwig's magic skill, this Dalwig is sure to come out on top, no matter how long it takes them!

Think you're in trouble? The best way to get out of it is to find a way to make them bicker; despite their appearance implying otherwise, this hybrid is actually a bit unstable, with Dal's aversion to causing major injury being at war with Lud's inherent desire to go all out. Once they start an argument, Dalwig falls apart, giving you a chance to either turn the tables or make a run for it.

Dunno how far you'll get, especially if an angry Ludwig starts chasing after you, but it's worth a shot. =w="

#Super Mario #Koopalings #Ludwig Von Koopa #Dalex Rathmore #Real Worlder!Dal #fusions #Dalwig #the first time they fused was a complete accident-#crashing into each other during a boss fight is one hell of a way to discover a new spell ain't it? XD #axewchaoscribbles

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economicsresearch · 1 day

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page 562 panel - But on a happy note at least I'm buried and crushed by my own photos and memories. I had a role to play in their creation. At least it's not a pile of text and images churned senselessly from the gaping maw of an AI machine. At least that. We aren't designed to sort the clutter we can produce and store for ourselves and we certainly aren't ready for a fire hose of nonsense imaginary. Even if its benign, and a lot of it won't be, at the very least we will be distracted by it, weakened, grumpy and confused. And that's a best outcome.

Also, this vacation was great.

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myrddinmirror · 4 months

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The Lost Treasure Theory

A far-fetched detective investigation in ten parts. Conspiracies, secret places, mysterious signs… and a missing treasure.

Introduction

Let's imagine the first season as a heavy rock that stands firmly, and the third season as something that is hidden in the fog. The second season turned out to be strange, with many hints, vaguenesses, mirrors (in which everyone sees something different) and lines hanging in the air (some people call them Chekhov’s guns). I like to think of it as a wobbly rope bridge connecting the first season to the third. It is stretched over an abyss, at the bottom of which the sharp stones of fan kinks and fetishes await, it is strewn with glass shards of the spectator's hearts, and anyone who steps on it will inevitably slip on wet traces of tears of those who tried to pass here before. The wind of unbridled fantasies coming from the ocean of theories shakes this already unstable bridge, making the task of preserving the mental equilibrium and the ability to reason almost impossible for any impressionable traveler. My investigation rests on very ephemeral grounds, so I try to hold on as tightly as possible to the nearly invisible railing that Neil handed out for us. I cling to any available clue, trying not to fall into the abyss, and after each careful step I freeze for a while and catch my breath. Everything around is hidden in mist.

Part 1. Conspiracy

Let's take a closer look at the scene of Gabriel's trial (1).

-I see. You're casting me down to Hell. Well, I accept my fate. Sometimes an angel just has to say, "Guys, enough."

Gabriel is absolutely calm. This is not at all sudden for him. He was ready for the Fall and doesn't mind. Why? Because Beelzebub is waiting for him in Hell, everything is fine. Probably, the couple agreed in advance that they would not stay in Hell, but would immediately escape when they had no other choice.

-You are not going to Hell.

We look closely at the changing expression on Gabriel's face as the Metatron reads out his sentence.

He's nervous, he thinks fast. And judging by how quickly he figured out what to do, he's not as stupid as he seems. Or he already had a PLAN thought out in advance for such a case.

-These clothes are tailored. Can I keep wearing them?

It would seem that this is not the most relevant question right now. But he pursues several goals at once: a) to distract attention (see, I’m an idiot and only think about clothes) b) we know that he has a Fly in his suit c) he guesses that they will answer him, and he needs an excuse to materialize the Big Box and not arouse suspicion.

-Well, I'll just need to take off my clothes and clean out my desk, then. I'll be right back.

We can feel the relief in his voice and he smiles again. Now let's move on to the final conversation with Beelzebub (2).

-You. Thank you. -Silly, silly angel. Why? -I was coming to you, but… I… forgot.

Looks like they actually had a plan. Why does Beelzebub give him the Container Fly? They could not help but realize that sooner or later either their relationship would be detected, or he would be punished for refusing to start Armageddon. The fly was part of the plan. Most likely, "Thank you" was said precisely for this gift. But if Beelzebub assumed that Gabriel would reset his memory, then what does "Why" mean? Why did you come to the bookstore? Why didn't you come to me (as we agreed)? "I was going (was going to go) to you, but my memory was already in the fly, so I forgot where I had to go".

(1) 12:47 Ep.6 (2) 28:10 Ep.6

Part 2. The box is heavy - the box is empty

Naked Gabriel with a box in his hands walks down the street to the bookstore. We are clearly shown that he did not arrive in the elevator that materializes in the Dirty Donkey (1).

Is that a hint that he was somewhere else on Earth before he came to Soho? Let's remember. Let's fast forward to Gabriel's first conversation with Aziraphale (2):

-My arms were aching 'cause I had to carry that box for so long.

Where he was? Why did his hands hurt? One fly doesn't hurt anyone's hands. One fly doesn’t need a BIG box. At first, I had the idea that someone stole "the thing" from the box while it was outside the store door, but this is not the case. If one looks closely at how Gabriel carries it one can see that he barely holds it in his palms (3).

Later he throws it at the front door (4) and it is quite obvious that it is empty and light. Well, let's move on to Gabriel's escape from Heaven (5):

14:50 - he puts a matchbox with a fly in an empty box, leaves the box under the camera and goes somewhere 15:07 - he is undressed and carries the box easily (i.e. it is still empty, so he did not put his clothes in there, for example) 15:10 - he is in front of the elevator, reaching for a matchbox with a fly (his memory is still with him), and the box already seems heavy, he has to hold it by the bottom.

He pulls the fly out, losing the matchbox. 15:18 - he is in the elevator, elbowing the Earth button. He's holding the box with both hands, and he's gripping it with his fingers because it's obviously HEAVY.

While he is going down in the elevator, his memory resets, since Saraqael does not see him on Earth. 15:32 - it turns out that Gabriel does not have a desk, so he could not take anything from it. Whatever he put in the box is not his personal belongings. So he took something, then forgot about it, then… lost it?

(1) 14:18 Ep.1 (2) 19:00 Ep.1 (3) 14:08, 14:30 Ep.1 (4) 14:57 Ep.1 (5) Ep.6

Part 3: Insurance and a Reliable Plan

So what the Archangel took was not his personal item and hardly a souvenir. It’s something really important. Realizing that with the memory cleansing he would essentially lose himself, Gabriel had to take something to protect him. What about emergency insurance? In case you get caught? Crowley, if you remember, had holy water as an insurance against Hell - a demon-threatening thing that can both save and destroy. What could be so useful and possibly so terrible to other angels that Gabriel could take with him? It could be either a very powerful artifact, or it could be an important dossier, like compromising someone from the Archangels. There is a lot to speculate about, but let’s start with the fact that, as in a good detective, authors always give the viewer some clue. What is so important, so significant in the series that you might consider a good prize for an Archangel on the run? I think you have already guessed that I mean the Book of Life. Gabriel and Beelzebub had a great plan. They were supposed to meet secretly while they could, and then run off with the Book. If Gabriel had been brought down to Hell, it would have been easy, and in case of force majeure, he had a fly. It is obvious that both the Archangel and the Prince of Hell are well aware of the punishment of erasing the memory. A fly is a container for memory, a gift that matters. Of course, the plan did not involve any bookstore. Who in their right mind would entrust themselves and the Book of Life to the "traitor" whom you just recently ordered to be killed? It is also obvious that it would be very unwise for a naked Archangel with a big box to take the elevator down to the hall of Hell. Therefore, the plan was very simple: Gabriel gets to a familiar bar in Scotland, Beelzebub learns about his disappearance and goes there. Then they go off into the sunset together. Happy End. However, in the world of Good Omens, nothing can go according to plan. As they say, watch your hands. The Almighty again lays out three cards. And now the boy… I mean, the Book is lost, and the fugitive is missing. How did this happen? Let's think about what Gabriel had left when the fly reset his memory in the elevator. He still has an idea of himself ("I’m me. I just don’t know who me is") and he still has his angelic powers. Angels can feel love. He forgot Beelzebub, forgot the bar, and when you don’t remember anything, you get instincts. Angels have no instincts, so he was led by a sense of love. Very strong, truly great. He might have ended up in Tadfield, but Adam is still powerful(1), so Tadfield is closed to outsiders. And where else in Britain there is a knock-down love? We all know where (2). Gabriel came to the bookstore, Aziraphale, whom he vaguely remembered (3), opened the door, and for lack of a better one, the Archangel thought that it was him he was going to (4). An ordinary cock-up, as Crowley would say.

(1) 10:37 Ep.1 Crowley sits on a bench reading the Tadfield Advertiser. On the first page is a large article "According to voters of latest: "Best Village in England" poll Tadfield really is the loveliest place to live." And on the blue background: "Entirely perfect weather AGAIN for Tadfield".

(2) 20:25 ep.1 "You’re funny. I love you." A farting song emerged from the overfed zombie, and confessions emerged from Gabriel. Overflowed, too much love. (3) 14:57 Ep.1 "Hey you!" (4) 17:07 Ep.1 -You don't recognize me? -No. Sorry. -Then… why did you come to my shop? -I don't know. I just thought I should. You know what it's like when you don't know anything at all, and yet you're totally certain that everything would be better if you were just near one particular person? … I had to come here and give you the thing.

Part 4. Lying or not?

I’m no brain scientist, but when Gabriel comes to the bookstore, he’s acting like a real memory-loss person. You believe that he doesn’t know who he is, where he is, or what he’s doing here. He has the reactions and behavior of a curious child. At the same time, he has a vague sense of anxiety, as well as a vague sense of recognition of Aziraphale, and it all seems quite natural. However, at some point I began to think Gabriel was lying. To begin with, he suddenly stopped having questions, he no longer asks: who am I? How do you know me? Who are you? What the hell is going on here? A person who has lost his memory is only interested in bookselling and gravity, seriously? Review the episodes listed. Don’t you think the same as I think?

-And now I will make a noise when I move around (1).

He is the outspoken troll of Aziraphale, grins and walks away, very pleased with himself, it is clear. Not a child, but a smug bastard.

Aziraphale talks to the Archangels on the street in front of the bookstore (2). The door swings open and Gabriel appears, loudly and joyfully declaring that he is Jim, the bookseller's assistant. Why would a memory-losing person who knows he’s in danger of something terrible, rush out into the street so loudly in front of strangers? Maybe because this is Gabriel-with-memory, who, of course, recognized the visitors, realized that a hidden miracle of great power had been created, and now just checks the boundaries? When the miracle passes the final test (Michael does not recognize Gabriel at point-blank range), he mocks the angels:

-What about me? Uh, guys, shouldn’t you keep a close eye on me too?

Typical Gabriel's insolence and self-confidence.

There is an idea that you cannot punish an angel outside of Heaven. After all, in the first season, Aziraphale had to be kidnapped first and then executed. This means that Gabriel, who has regained his memory, must realize that on Earth, with all his powers, he is practically invulnerable. This is indirectly confirmed in episode 6, when representatives of Hell and Heaven demand that the escapees be handed over to them. It would seem, here they are, punish on the spot. With humans, by the way, there is no such problem, only Crowley’s intervention saves Maggie and Nina from immediately turning into salt pillars. But maybe Gabriel is just a very brash son of a bitch.

There are also more obvious signs that the fugitive is okay in the head:

You can't fool Crowley that easily (3). He listens very carefully to Gabriel’s nonsense and says:

-Ah, you can do better than that. Come on, think! Think hard!

I think at this point, the Archangel realizes it’s better not to push Crowley, he "shines" his eyes and pop out a biblical phrase. Think about it, if ALL his memory is in a fly, where did this piece come from? Well, the trick was a success, and they are leaving him behind.

The prophecy of the Second Coming (4) is coming out of Gabriel. Is this a conscious attempt to warn? Or a random trigger on the word "tempest"? The only thing that’s clear is he’s got his memory back.

Conversation with Crowley (5):

-You have no idea of trouble you’re causing, do you? -No. Or yes. Or… no. -Year. I’ll tell you something Jim, or Gabriel. If any harm comes to Aziraphale because of this, I will…

And Gabriel is listening. VERY carefully. And he looks like he understands everything.

Crowley arrives in the Archangel’s room (6). The demon openly attacks. Gabriel is frankly nervous. When Crowley says that Aziraphale was not at the execution, Gabriel surprisingly asks "He wasn’t there?". Not the kind of reaction you’d expect from someone who doesn’t know what you’re talking about, is it? And it’s no less strange when Gabriel almost jumps out of a second-floor window. For a person, with or without memory, these are guaranteed injuries (the floor is high, and the bottom is asphalt), and the act is absolutely senseless. The archangel is not in any danger of such a jump, but it is a great way to avoid a very unpleasant conversation. Crowley then demands that Gabriel remember. He replies:

-I don’t have my memory. -Well, where is your memory, then? -In a matchbox. No, I took it out, first. And I put it in the box and brought it here. And it’s everywhere.

First, how do you know all this? Second, what do you mean, everywhere? It’s not in the fly anymore? You don’t want to admit you already got it back, do you?

I have an idea why the memory (partially) might have leaked back into Gabriel's head. And also why he’s not in a hurry to get away from the store when Heaven is already on his heels.

(1) 06:25 Ep.2 (2) 12:45 Ep.2 (3) 20:54 Ep.2 (4) 38:45 Ep.3 (5) 41:35 Ep.3 (6) 14:20 Ep.5

Part 5. Memory Leak

If we consider ourselves sufficiently convinced that the Archangel is no longer as unconscious as he wants to appear, we will have to look for some moment when his memory may have returned. The first assumption. Several times we see that Gabriel tried to catch the fly, and that it often circles around him. The interaction with it may have caused a partial leak, but we’re not seeing any specific episode. Second assumption. It was a side effect from "the tiniest, most insubstantial, fractional, half a miracle". The chair Gabriel was sitting on was on a portal to Heaven. Crowley, Gabriel, and Aziraphale were holding hands, and the miracle was directed at the Archangel, so that a huge power passed right through him. I mean, some kind of electroshock therapy. And immediately after the miracle there was such a dialogue (1):

Aziraphale: Good news, Jim. Nobody’s going to notice you. You’re safe here. Crowley: While we figure out what’s actually going on. Gabriel: I think I know what’s going on.

And I think your memory is partially coming back to you, but you really need to keep it a secret.

In Ep.6 we see what memories actually return to Gabriel from the fly, and there is nothing about the Beginning nor about 6000 years of service as the Supreme Archangel, and only briefly the events of the Armageddon't (2). Gabriel truly remembers only the most dangerous, most well-encrypted moments of his life - his relationship with Beelzebub. Everything about their feelings and the alleged conspiracy, including the theft of the artifact. Why did he not leave the bookstore? Because he did not remember the reasons why Heaven sought him, he did not remember Beelzebub. But he knew that he was in some terrible danger. And where should he run? Here he is protected, cared for - but only as long as he pretends to be a helpless fool. However, there is one thing that is so powerful in itself that it affects Gabriel even when he has forgotten about it. The Book.

(1) 41:50 Ep.1 (2) Of course, maybe this doesn’t matter, the authors just didn’t have enough timing, but we agreed at the beginning that we would consider the script well thought out, right? If it is written poorly, then such theories make no sense at all.

Part 6. Hide a tree in the forest

So, it’s not even matter if Gabriel remembers something about his previous life or not. The catch is that the Book disappeared between the memory erasing in the elevator and his appearance in the bookstore (i.e. this piece is not recorded in the fly), and this period remained with Gabriel only in the form of vague sensations. He carried the box somewhere for a long time, his hands hurt… the rest is unknown. When the Archangel walked along Whickber Street, the box was already empty, so there is no Book in the store. However, if you don’t know or remember this detail, you might think it’s there. It’s a very logical decision to hide a book among books, right? And guess what? There are at least three person looking for the book in the series, and all three of them think Aziraphale has it somewhere. The trap of the obvious. Let’s start with Gabriel. Yes, he doesn’t remember it, but he’s looking for it. I don’t know why. Perhaps it would be appropriate here to recall Octavo (1) and other Terry Pratchett grimoires with the ability to strangely influence people. There are two things in the series that indirectly indicate this search. First of all, a very strange thing Gabriel found himself doing in the store: placing books by the first letter of the first word in the first sentence (2). Occupation, at first glance, the most absurd. But! Aziraphale’s permission allows Gabriel to open all the books without raising any question or suspicion. He doesn’t remember what the Book of Life looks like, but he obviously recognizes it when he starts reading. The second point is the dialogue about gravity (4). Yes, here again, we’re paying attention to the fly, but at the beginning it’s about the books not staying where Gabriel puts them. Maybe it’s a hint like, "I remember putting the book in the box, but now it’s gone, where could it have gone?"

(1) Octavo - A Magic Book that the Creator himself has forgotten on Discworld. It contains the Eight Great Spells, which have their own consciousness and are designed to help the Discworld in important situations. The book is located in a specially sealed room in the basement of the Unseen University's library chained to a lectern, for safety of the browsers, not the book. The wizard Rincewind who had once accessed the Book, read it, and one of the Spells, the Change Spell, settled in him, preventing Rincewind from ever learning any other magic. (2) 06:05 Ep.2 -What exactly are you doing? -I thought I'd make the books easier to find, so I thought if I put them in alphabetical order… -By author? -What's "author"? (3) No, I was shelving the books by the first letter of the first sentence. (3) He really may not know this, because the only book he knows has an obvious "author". (4) 16:17 Ep.3 Gabriel drops the book on the table. Crowley says it's gravity, it needs things to stay where they are ("So things would stay where you put them, not just drift off".) -But it doesn't stay where I put them. It goes down (5). Except for flies, they go up. (5) It is still possible to speculate a little bit that the book dangling in space near Crowley when he launched the nebulae was the Book of Life, and it certainly did not fall anywhere. This idea is interesting because it could suddenly take off in the third season if Neil decides to somehow develop the plot about the Book.

Part 7. Saraqael

The second investigator is Saraqael. She’s the head of Heaven’s security, an angel who needs to know everything but prefers to stay in the shadows. She is so underhanded that Gabriel has difficulty remembering her name (1). I believe that she was the one who provided the compromising images of Aziraphale from the Earth in the first season. And unlike the other Archangels, she immediately recognized the Metatron in human form (2) .

Neil wrote (3) that Saraqael does some secret things in the second season, and is also an angel you do not want to mess with. I would point out that it is she who executes the sentences like erasing memory or turning humans into salt pillars, i.e. she has real power and authority in Heaven. We are not shown what "secret things" Saraqael does, which means that it is not about some covert actions per se, but about motives. The secret motive is to find the lost Book of Life without anyone in Heaven or Hell knowing it was missing. Besides, the Book’s disappearance is extremely enough to force her out of the shadows. Saraqael doesn’t seem to believe for a second that Aziraphale himself performed a powerful miracle, and it is she who sends to him an inspector, and in fact a spy: a naïve angel who sniffs out at the bookshelves all the time. It is possible that Muriel reporting to Saraqael separately on everything that’s going on in the bookstore. When Crowley sneaks into Heaven, Saraqael spots him, but doesn’t stop him. Why? Because she’s running a similar investigation herself, and it is extremely important to her that the insightful demon notices something interesting. Much more important than just turning on the alarm. Saraqael prefers to keep her mouth shut for the last general conversation, but she listens very carefully to what others have to say, and I think she will give us more surprises in the third season.

(1) 27:52 Ep.6 (2) from 34:00 Ep.6 (3) answering questions

Part 8. The Metatron

It will be very funny if in the third season it turns out that the Voice of the Almighty all this time was the only positive character from the side of Heaven all along and sincerely wished good to our angel and demon. In the meantime, we can assume he’s the third investigator on the missing artifact. No proof, of course, but there are some observations. The Metatron, entering the bookstore, hears Michael's threats to erase Aziraphale from the Book of Life and gets very, very angry (1). It can be assumed that it was precisely the words about the Book that enraged him, and not about the actual powers of Michael, because in fact, she really is now performing the duties of the Supreme Archangel. What if the overreaction is caused by the fact that he is aware of the loss and absolutely does not want to draw attention to the Book once again? By shutting Michael up and sending the angels to Heaven, he shuts down the discussion about the Book before it even begins. He asks Muriel to stay ("except the dim one"), saying: "I may need you". That is, at this point he is not yet sure that his plan will work. Of course there is a plan. Many say that the Metatron thought to separate Aziraphale and Crowley, because on Earth they are said to be a danger to Heaven. And supposedly he was sure that Crowley would refuse the offer. But isn’t it much more dangerous to give Aziraphale enormous power? What if Crowley agreed? No one set the condition that there is only one attempt. What if the demon suffers a few days alone and changes his mind? Since the Metatron was watching Aziraphale, and he openly mentions it (2), then he must know that Crowley ALWAYS returns to the angel. So, it seems to me, the plan was exactly the opposite: to drag them both to Heaven, where firstly they would be under constant control, and secondly, they would have neither the time nor the opportunity to endlessly wander around the store. It is for this case that the "naïve" Muriel is needed, who, as it turns out, just successfully addicted to reading books (3). She remains the "caretaker" of the bookstore, but at the same time she can carry out a "stocktaking", and no one will ask why she is scouring the shelves so diligently? When the Metatron returns for Aziraphale and discovers that Crowley has refused, he seems more vexed than satisfied (4). And then he asks: "Anything you need to take with you?" and glances quickly towards the bookshelves. When the angel answers "No", he makes a strange sound (5). I think this could be a test - does Aziraphale know something about the Book, is he hiding it in the store? Maybe he will somehow give himself away now? No? Well, we'll look without you. There is one more thought. As the Metatron takes Aziraphale away to talk, he glares at Crowley (6). Many have decided that he has something personal against the demon. Perhaps, but we have not yet been shown anything that could serve at least a hint of reason. But if we assume that the Voice of God is looking for the Book, and Crowley is one of the few who knows what it looks like, because with its help he "launched" the Universe (7) (not the fact that this is the same Book), then the look becomes clear: the Metatron may fear that the demon has pocketed it or is ready to pocket it for himself on occasion.

(1) 33:56 Ep.6 -You're talking utter balderdash. I mean, complete piffle! You don't have the authority to do anything like that. … Right, you, you, you, back to Heaven, spit, spot, not another word. (2) 42:28 Ep.6 (3) 40:23 Ep.6 -What's that you're holding, Muriel? -I'm reading a book. -Excellent! What a perfectly splendid thing to do! (4) 47:47 Ep.6 (5) 48:19 Ep.6 (6) 36:14 Ep.6 (7) 01:13 Ep.1

Part 9. Secret place

Do you remember in Part 3 of this theory, three cards were mentioned on the Almighty’s gaming table? The first card is a bar with a jukebox in Edinburgh, a secret rendezvous between Gabriel and Beelzebub, a place where the conspiracy was ripe and where the memory-deprived Archangel with the heavy box was likely to come. The second card is a bookstore in Soho, a place of strong love, where the Book could be so safely hidden if someone brought it there. And now the time has come to reveal the last card - the place where, perhaps, the Book of Life was actually hidden. I’ll start a bit from afar. As Gabriel drank hot chocolate on the first day of the rest of his life, he said to Aziraphale:

-I'm me. I just don't know who me is. But you know me. You recognized me. -I know someone who LOOKS like you. -That's probably me then. I think that's one of the main ways you can tell (1).

I think you know where I’m going with this. There’s one place on Earth Gabriel loves more than anything else combined. The place where he spent his hours admiring (2) what he held most dear in the world. If an angel can be attracted by a feeling of intense love, then, of course, for Gabriel it will first of all be a monument to himself in the Edinburgh graveyard. It’s scary to imagine how many total years he spent there. An egoist and a narcissist, to whom could he entrust the most powerful and dangerous artifact? Obviously, only to himself. The statue is mentioned 3 times in the series (3). And it's also in the opening credits. I don’t believe that all this is just for the sake of one joke against Gabriel. In part 4 of the theory, which talked about the possible restoration of the fugitive Archangel's memory, or at least about some flashes of enlightenment, I deliberately kept silent about one more episode. It happened at the moment when Aziraphale called Crowley from Edinburgh right from that very graveyard and happily reported on the hard work done. Among other things, he said, "Do you remember the statue of Gabriel in the graveyard? I’m looking at it now." An unnecessary detail, what does it have to do with the bar? None, but Gabriel heard these words, and we are shown how he, seemingly in deep thought or even in a stupor, suddenly reacts (4). Does it really matter? God knows. Now you have to ask: but we don’t see any Book at the statue, where exactly could Gabriel have put it? We are given two clues. First: the statue either has a large cross in its hands, or it doesn’t.

Given that the statue is not CGI and the props were installing it in the graveyard, there’s very little chance it’s a mistake. It looks like a sign. Just look at this:

Cross marks the location of buried treasures, right? There is a second clue. We’ll talk about that in the final part of the investigation.

(1) 16:46 Ep.1 (2) 24:45 Ep.6 (3) First time in 1827: Crowley showed it to Aziraphale (09:01 Ep.3). Second time: Aziraphale comes to Edinburgh to investigate (34:03 Ep.3). Third time: Gabriel showed it to Beelzebub (Ep.6). (4) 35:20 Ep.3

Part 10. Ben Gunn

In one of the posters for the series, Treasure Island is in a stack of books to read.

If you remember, there was a map with a cross. But when the pirates arrived at the designated place, the treasure was gone. Some clever guy (by the way, "retired" by his side) solved the puzzle, dug up and hid the valuable prize. We know that Aziraphale (our "retired pirate") is brilliant smart. Not knowing why the fugitive Archangel was in danger, he could draw his conclusions from the facts he had. So, Gabriel has a box in which he carried something heavy for a long time. He is in danger from Heaven - for what? Because he stole something very valuable. Jim looks with frightening enthusiasm at the books in the store, strange for the Archangel, who earlier called a book just a "material object" (1), right?

Knowing what artifacts are in Heaven, it is not difficult to deduce what was in the box. Further, having analyzed the dialogue with Gabriel ("I’m me"), knowing his love for himself, remembering the statue (namely, one of the most exciting episodes in Aziraphale’s life began with it) and getting a CLUE in the form of a song from the Edinburgh bar (the statue is located right there!) the angel only had to go and check his hunch. We have a hint. When Aziraphale leaves the Bentley in Edinburgh, he has a briefcase (2). What could he have stored in it? He puts a pen and a notebook in his pocket. From his pocket he also takes out a portrait of Gabriel (the briefcase is on the floor at this time). Aziraphale didn't spend the night at a hotel and doesn't need a change. Apparently the briefcase was empty. The angel leaves the bar with a briefcase and we never see it again. And so he stands at the graveyard and looks at the statue. He looks strange, thinking about something (3).

Why did he come here? This place has nothing to do with the bar and the song. He could have called Crowley from any other location. Showing a moment of nostalgia is very expensive for extremely limited screen time. Therefore, all this has a separate meaning. By the way, at this moment there is a cross on the statue, but there is no briefcase with Aziraphale (4).

But it seems there is a FRESH HOLE in the ground right next to the statue (5). That second clue.

Well, here’s the thing: Aziraphale found the Book, took it, put it in the briefcase and hid it on the same graveyard in a crypt we know. Exactly the same way as Ben Gunn hid the treasure, moving it from the original location to the cave. The crypt is the perfect hiding place. No one knows about it (except the Masons?), but it is a very memorable place for Crowley (the demon immediately recalls the story of Wee Morag as soon as Aziraphale SPECIFICALLY mentions the surgeon). It is extremely dangerous to take the Book to London: the Archangels are trampling around the bookstore, and on his way to Edinburgh, Shax broke into the car. Right now neither the angel nor the demon needs the Book, but it is easy to take away if needed (6). I have no doubt that Crowley KNOWS where the Book actually is. This alone explains his absolute calm when Michael proceeds to a direct threat to immediately apply the "Extreme Sanctions" (7). And the Metatron, who at that moment enters the bookstore, sees and hears everything.

He can't help but realize that both Crowley and Aziraphale KNOW. That’s one of the reasons why he’s so alarmed and casts such a stiff stare at Crowley, who is calmly lounging in a chair. He knows, but he can't do anything yet. The big game is just beginning.

(1) 00:48 S1Ep.2 (2) 21:22 Ep.3 (3) 34:02-34:08 Ep.3 (4) 36:37 Ep.3 (5) 36:54 Ep.3 (6) Neil mentioned that Aziracrow can move between locations by miracle, they just don’t like to do it because they’re used to imitating people. (7) 33:41 Ep.6

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens meta #good omens theory #crowley #aziraphale #aziracrow #ineffable fandom #goodomens #gomens #gomens 2

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artbyblastweave · 2 months

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So on balance I generally do enjoy Mark Millar, and a big part of why I enjoy Mark Millar is that a lot of his superhero stuff demonstrates the same awareness about the genre that Worm does- the sense of an unstable equilibrium, that the center cannot hold in the superhero universe as typically presented. Jupiter's Legacy, Super Crooks, Old Man Logan, Wanted, The Ultimates. Arguably Civil War. I have a whole other post buried in my drafts about how that bleak throughline keeps cropping up in his cape work. Specifically in his cape work, also- the man has written a lot of lighthearted, at times almost cloyingly sincere and optimistic one-off miniseries in other genres. Starlight: The Return Of Duke McQueen, Huck, Chrononauts, Beyond. In tension with this cynicism about the capes is the fact that he also clearly believes that superheroes are really cool, and on some fundamental level a really deeply noble and empowering idea. Even Wanted, which is probably the most thoroughly tasteless thing of his that I've read all the way through, I recall as having had this interesting subtext of anger over the fact that there's an audience for a superhero work as cynical and grotesque as Wanted. ("Fine. We took all the whimsy and wonder and derring-do you claim to have outgrown out back and shot it. The corpse is cooling. Are you happy yet? Dark enough yet? Mature enough yet? This is what you wanted right?") Anyway, I think Kick-Ass the comic suffers gigantically from a failure to break in one direction or another, in regard to that tension. It gets very, very close to saying useful and interesting things about the genre at several points but keeps undercutting itself by transforming back into the object of its own attack. There's this initial line of questioning, right, which is, "what kind of person, in real life, might actually try this? How would it go?" And the comic has some compellingly miserable answers to that question! Everyone in costume is chasing the same power fantasy, clinging to the idea of being somebody. Dave is, in his own words, motivated by "the right combination of loneliness and despair," and he's not competent. He alternates between minor wins and brutal hospitalizations, the first two issues and change is just the world punishing him for being dumb enough to try this, and for the most part he's a LARPer, a self-identified asshole. Red Mist is a rich kid playing with his father's money. Big Daddy and Hit-girl are framed as the "real deal", genuinely competent in their ability to dish out violence, and the comic to some extent has the self-awareness to recognize that people who were actually any good at this would be even more horrifying than the LARPers. The Reveal that Big Daddy was an accountant- that he made up a tragic backstory and made his daughter a human weapon in order to pursue an escapist fantasy- genuinely lands like a meteor! But it fucks it up, because it also needs to be cool, cool enough to keep our attention, and so it pulls an about face. The horror of Hit-girl gets subsumed by the realization that she's also the coolest thing in the whole book, almost loadbearing in terms of having actually cool and interesting things happen on-panel, and so the end of the book turns into the exact kind of superviolent revenge story it was initially skewering as unrealistic and disconnected from the much more grounded grief and loss Dave is experiencing at the start of the book. Dave's costumed escapades goes from being an obviously stupid and egotistical attempt to claw back control of his life to... an actual method by which he claws back control of his life, and not in a way that feels terribly well-earned!

The sequels double down on this- alternating between "in real life this would be cheap and stupid and tinged with anticlimax" and "woooo! Let's ape Tarantino until something cool happens!" and honestly, that feels less worthy of analysis because what I'm pretty sure happened there is that the movie blew up and created A Demand For More Kick-Ass. In general what it feels like fundamentally happened here is that you ask, "what if superheroes were real," you land on the answer of "they'd look stupid, be stupid and die badly," but what does that leave you with? It's not like that wasn't the obvious answer already and it's definitely not eight issues of material. He can't pull the trigger on having everyone involved die badly in meanspirited ways to drive the point home, and he never quite threads the needle back to the reconstructive middle ground he badly wants the book to inhabit, the "real heroes work in soup kitchens and look out for their neighbors" area. Things just happen.

That said, the gag about the astroturfed swear-word "Tunk" is fantastic. 10/10, no notes

#kick-ass #thoughts #meta

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naphiatra · 1 month

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Hatch today that I thought was a stinker, but fits the new skin I bought surprisingly well

At least the eyes and teeth match

Say hello to DIGITALGHOST

Skin is unstable equilibrium

#flight rising #dragon share #scrys #aether #fr skins and accents

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ferrocyan · 2 months

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division - for the single word drabble prompt!

thanks for the prompt! i gotta admit to just, uh, kinda running w this vibe bc it sort of fits my obsession with the edw caster role quest, haha. this is really unpolished but i hope you enjoy!

he hears someone walk near, each of their footsteps carrying a throb of pain in his head.

"how are you, my friend? are you feeling better?" aymeric asks.

his eyes closed, brows knit in concentration, he chants for equilibrium. deep breaths, inhale, exhale.

nothing. there is a hole in his head, though not physical, and its gaping maw tears at the rest of his mind.

"c'astarhte," aymeric calls. tart opens an eye.

"so you know," he huffs.

"yes. i know that you don't want me to notice. but i must say, hiding your face only makes your identity more obvious."

aymeric's smile is irritating. tart buries his head under his pillow, which earns him a sigh.

"for once, please just let me know how you feel," begs the lord speaker.

tart considers. this is not something equilibrium can fix; neither can chirurgeons. the ache howls, echoing the blasphemy that caused it. he props himself up on his elbow. glaring at aymeric, he grits his teeth and lets out the words.

"ishgard has ways of denying certain people's existnce. mean really, completely erase them, unlike the shite that bishop was spewing about himself. my family no longer exists. how dare he accuse me of not understanding how it feels to be rejected? and how dare you take my prey?"

aymeric listens. he makes people understand, even without telling them, that he has heard and understood their words. he excels at his job in this way.

but this isn't work. "even after cutting down bishop vartinoix, for a moment i felt the presence of danger behind me," his jaws set, aymeric purses his lips before continuing, "the presence of another blasphemy. and even now, your aether is unstable, partly burned off. that means that you would have joined your prey had i not intervened. am i wrong?"

tart conceals his surprise with a scowl, but the flapping of his ears gives it away. so the lord commander bites back now. "settle this outside. now," he gets up and off the bed, then walks out of the infirmary.

aymeric follows, uncertain. "have i crossed a line?" he asks. tart ignores him. the two enter the proving grounds, empty for the day.

"have been dealing with this for a while. aetheric instability." tart puts on his coat and hood, then unsheathes his rapier. "practicing red magic helps in finding balance. but need a target dummy, of course, which is you," points at aymeric, who chuckles in return.

tart holds his focus in his right hand, blade in the left. his tail flicks uneasily. "go easy on me, won't you?"

"what? oh my, i never thought i would hear that from the warrior of light!" aymeric laughs as he readies his own sword.

"i'm ill, you blackguard."

"then maybe you should rest properly."

"hasn't helped. this might, so stand still and let me cast magic at you."

aymeric nods. tart kicks off the fight by stepping back and keeping his distance. throws quick spells and darts away.

it's clear he isn't serious either as none of the attacks amount to much to aymeric. he approaches and returns the offense.

tart blocks his sword with his own. the strikes are heavy, and his defensive tendencies fail him. he starts to parry, then evade, stepping aside to chant a spell and strike back. he laughs, pleased with himself.

aymeric picks up his pace. his azure blade flashes as he strikes close to tart, again and again, but none reaches. tart grins wider.

focus attached to the rapier's hilt, its magic flows through the thin sword. tart stops evading and rushes toward aymeric. spells now strengthening his blow, he pushes back against the lord commander. finally, a feint and a low strike manage to disarm him.

aymeric drops his sword obligingly. "well done, my friend! you really are magnificent."

tart rolls his eyes even though he can't stop grinning. "say that when you aren't taking it easy against me."

"please, any such notion was dispelled by your swordmanship. i took our battle seriously, i assure you," aymeric chuckles. the two of them sheathe their swords and exit together.

he really does feel lighter, tart thinks to himself. his head has quieted down. he considers thanking aymeric for his help, but refrains since it would make him happy.

on their return to the temple knights' strategy room, tart glances toward his companion. "not scared i'll turn into a blasphemy too?"

"no. are you?" aymeric asks in return. tart looks away. "i refuse to accept that--if you'll pardon me for saying so." that earns him a bark of laughter.

"right. get out of my sight, then," tart swats at him with his tail. "find me at the forgotten knight if anything comes up."

aymeric nods. "certainly. but please do try to take it easy for the rest of the day."

tart pays him no mind and waves goodbye.

#my writing #tart the wol #hough im rusty as hell. this is so late too but whatever #squishes tart btwn my hands. i like when he is a disagreeable little bastard. sorry aymeric for being the main target of his bastardness

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