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sonkitty · 2 months

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Bookend Buddies - Crowley and Muriel

Introduction

Alright, I'm going to talk about Crowley and Muriel.

My starting theory was that these two knew each other as at least acquaintances, not necessarily friends, in the first draft of the story. This first draft would have resolved the matter of the cardboard box Gabriel brought much sooner. Then a second draft, or even more drafts, act as the cover for whatever happened the first time around.

After looking over Crowley and Muriel scenes, something like that could indeed be true, but certain other messages from the story emerged that seem to make that idea secondary when looking at the pair specifically together.

Trust

For one, a far understated thing about their relationship is that these two trust each other, even if they don't seem to know each other very well. It hits really hard once you get the level of trust Crowley has to have in Muriel for their assistance in the Triple of The Bigger Thresholds Trick. Their part together is for the Heaven elevator, and pockets are involved.

Pocket usage combined with threshold usage in Good Omens 2 amounts to a nightmarish puzzle that I will never truly solve. I have solved just enough to know what to look for, and I see it all over their entry into Heaven. Pockets require precise framing, and they both have it.

This trust level would put their relationship as much more likely to be actual friends despite Crowley's intense claim to the contrary in episode 5 when he tells Gabriel that Aziraphale is the only friend he has.

Bookends

The other weird message was something I found in looking for a small pattern I noticed. That pattern was that Crowley scenes tend to bookend Muriel scenes. I started to log and verify that pattern. It's not on both ends every time, and I could find only one Muriel scene where there's no bookend of a scene with him on either side.

When they both get back from Heaven in episode 6, this pattern goes into hyper-drive. It becomes a game in and of itself to see how Crowley can bookend or share Muriel scenes all the way up to the end of the episode and overall season.

Along the way, Muriel likely assists Crowley in the Single of The Pocket Trick. Muriel then ends up having bookend scenes to all 6 of Crowley's own Threshold Tricks.

Memory

I don't know how both their memories were edited or altered, but I'm left to guess that it happened and was partly voluntary with making sure they remembered just enough to maintain their trust in each other or have a way for that trust to quietly activate, as if it has a switch.

Boxes

Boxes are a theme with these two, so I'm going to discuss the boxes among the other stuff below.

...

Episode 1: The Arrival

There are 3 Matchbox Muriel scenes. Two of them happen in episode 1.

Before Muriel is shown on screen, there is a cut of Gabriel with the fly that's implied to be an extension of the scene where Aziraphale called Crowley to invite Crowley to the coffee shop.

Then Muriel finds the matchbox. I'm not going to get too much into the quote and stuff, but one could easily link it to Crowley if what I've read of its relation to "leviathan" is true since leviathans can be associated with snakes. There's also the fire-breathing Crowley pretending to be Aziraphale in season 1. Then of course that hopping and shouting with the lightning forcing the power outage on the coffee shop that comes later. The matchbox itself might be evil or borderline evil.

Muriel's hand is just as deliberate as Crowley's can be when it comes to managing the touch because part of a thumb is shown with the thumb tip itself hidden and the thumb obscured specifically by the end of the touch.

After this scene, the immediate next scene is Crowley's arrival at the coffee shop, which is also The Perfect Entrance Trick.

So, that's one Muriel scene book-ended with Crowley scenes. One could find the first part debatable, and indeed, that will happen again. Still, almost every time, there will be a Crowley scene at least before or after a Muriel scene.

That's also the first scene for Muriel to bookend one of the Threshold Tricks.

Take note.

These things add up.

We're going to take a quick break from Muriel because of the cardboard box.

In episode 1, there is an extremely important sequence of at least one Likely Fake Crowley, possibly two, storming out of the bookshop. In that sequence, the fake who looks most likely to be Aziraphale passes by a prominently displayed cardboard box and does not touch it.

Actual Crowley is a top tier player in Earthly Objects who is incredibly deliberate in what he touches, especially with his hands. He's also someone who tends to ask questions.

Remember the cardboard box and that the fake did not touch that box and did not question it. Both Crowley and Muriel are going to follow this pattern with the exception of Crowley retrieving the box during episode 6 of course.

Let's get back to Muriel.

The next debatable front bookend Crowley scene to a Muriel scene is that after Crowley shoots out lightning, his torso is shown and does not include his head. The scene cuts to Nina and Maggie realizing they are locked in. For some reason, a blurry red-headed figure wearing black is ensured to be shown in the background as if it could be Crowley. This figure is a possible fake because we later find out that Crowley lost so much of his red in his hair. Plus, there's some general confusion about the car being parked in front of the coffee shop. The car itself seems more bluish. He doesn't enter or leave and is shown to be with the car later on a different street. This possible fake allows for a stronger bookend connection to the incoming Muriel scene nonetheless.

The next cut is of Michael and Uriel for a bit before Muriel enters, but it is the same scene. Now we are at Matchbox Muriel Scene #2.

When the matchbox is set down, it does not make the sound that an empty matchbox makes. In fact, it sounds like a disguised magical book. The music gives more of a mystery vibe than a stronger intensity and possibly evil vibe it will give later in episode 5.

We learn the name of the game, Earthly Objects, and are shown an extensive touching sequence. I don't know if it's a tutorial. If it is, I can't tell you what it teaches. I can mainly tell you it makes sure to show most of Michael's digits during the sequence. Thumbs are shown, but the thumbs don't actually touch the matchbox itself. Thumbs are a big deal in Earthly Objects. A thumb tip can even set certain things into Door Mode. If that matchbox is an evil book hiding in disguise, a thumb tip could be like a password that would have accessed it. Muriel avoided doing that or avoided it in just the right way.

As this Muriel scene wraps up, Uriel says, "I think he's gone to Earth."

We're supposed to guess and assume they mean Gabriel, yet the story cuts to Crowley entering his car before he is summoned to Hell. So, this Muriel scene is given a clear back bookend Crowley scene.

Muriel does not show up again in episode 1.

But...let's get back to the cardboard box.

When Crowley returns to the bookshop, the prominently displayed cardboard box is no longer prominently displayed where it was. In fact, for a good long while, I thought it had disappeared as much as the plate of Eccles cakes, but no, it was just moved out of the way in a less obvious spot.

Now, here's something I found interesting while drafting this post. My own question to myself was, "Was the box moved out of Crowley's line of sight?" for the scene.

I was quite surprised to find out that in almost the entire scene, the box is not in his line of sight. There is only one tiny part of the scene where it is.

The box is in Crowley's line of sight briefly during the apology dance.

So, the dance might have been a clue to Crowley to know where the box was but still not visibly touch it or question it. Remember, later in episode 6, it's going to be weird when he acts like he knows about the cardboard box he never acknowledged in the whole story up to that point.

...

Episode 2: The Clue

Not that it's hard being one of the two main characters of the story, but Crowley has another front bookend scene before a Muriel scene in the minisode that starts off the episode. He is at least prevented from having a back bookend scene this time.

The episode opens with the scene of the big giant scroll and pretending to kill off the goats while actually turning them into crows instead, as Crawley.

Muriel is later shown reading a big giant scroll. I don't know if it's the exact same scroll, but it's at least supposed to be about the same thing.

Muriel does not appear again for the rest of the episode.

...

Episode 3: I Know Where I'm Going

At long last, Muriel arrives on Earth. They have a scene without Crowley scenes book-ending either side of it.

The front bookend is Gabriel drinking hot chocolate. Soon after, Muriel is the subject being seen through the window for Mrs. Sandwich. Then they start their scene with Aziraphale. One could probably estimate this scene's end as Aziraphale closing the door. So, finally, no Crowley though Crowley himself will be part of the scene immediately after.

It's possible that Muriel has had a memory wipe though how recent is hard to guess. My own guess would be that it's actually relatively recent because as stated, I think they and Crowley knew each other in the first draft of the story.

Aziraphale seems to have a moment of quiet recognition, that could be either from the recent Job minisode or if he knew Muriel in the first draft as well. I would guess that he did, but this bookend thing Crowley and Muriel have is not quite the same as what can be found between Aziraphale and Muriel. Aziraphale moves the story along without any further acknowledgment.

After Muriel enters, the cardboard box is given more focus from its designated place than usual with a blurred Muriel in the foreground. The camera work forces a shift such that Muriel receives focus, and the cardboard box is blurred. While I'm sure many people have picked up on this thing happening, I'm going to add that that particular type of blur was used in the first shared complex window scene Maggie and Nina had looking at Crowley through a window in episode 1. The blur type share was also done with Crowley and Gabriel in episode 1 when Crowley finds out Gabriel is in the bookshop. So, Muriel is given a notable share with a cardboard box instead of an actual full other character in the story. It's also a box that keeps having no touching or questioning from Crowley. Muriel doesn't touch it or question it either.

When Crowley arrives, he does sound grumpy as he complains about Aziraphale not taking the train. He soon stops, realizes Muriel is there, and says, "Who's this now?"

Take note of the "now" because this story is both deceptive and deliberate in its methods. These are the types of little clues it scatters around compared to the bigger ones. The "now" hints he knows of a "who" Muriel was from some other time.

Just as Muriel glows, Crowley is actually more cast in shadow than he already often is upon stopping to find them there. His body makes sure to stop with the shadow covering much of his upper body area in a diagonal manner.

Crowley has short sideburns despite Muriel being an angel because the bookshop literally took their claim as human. Interestingly, Crowley is also lacking his more saturated streak of red hair that is often found over the center of his left eye during the present day story.

Crowley himself quickly warms up to Muriel in a more friendly manner.

Muriel's body blocks the cardboard box from our line of sight for a good amount of the scene but not the entire time. In turn, Crowley is bound to have it in his own line of sight much more easily than in episode 1 when he returned to the bookshop. So, by now, Crowley probably knows it's there and is still just generally ignoring it while being near its presence.

There's some kind of light near Muriel that keeps flickering. While neither Crowley nor Muriel use pockets here, they both do at other times. Pockets use lighting as clues. So, I'm not going to log every single line and every single flicker, but I did notice the flicker when Muriel said "200 years". That number could mean something like when these two actually met or became friends.

Another noteworthy thing about this scene involving both characters is that it is one of the few times the story shows a person reflected in Crowley's sunglasses before The Window Trick at the end of episode 6. Muriel's reflection can actually be found, quite likely because they were intentionally showing off their cup of tea.

Crowley exits first, allowing for a scene between Muriel and Aziraphale. After Aziraphale leaves, Muriel is left alone momentarily. While they do not get the same blurred share from earlier, they are still shown specifically with the cardboard box while not touching it or questioning it.

Later, Muriel intrudes on Crowley and Aziraphale. I've actually written about the scene in my "Rule Following" section for Earthly Objects.

So, I'll mainly say that this scene does not really have a hint of them having known each other. Instead, it has Crowley manipulating the scene and Muriel to do what he wants so he can give Aziraphale a proper pass of the car keys. The toss is incredibly precise because he waits until Muriel's eyes move to the notepad, not just for them to get out their notepad. The only possible hint is if Muriel actually looked at Crowley before their notepad intentionally as a cue for when he should be ready for the toss. Then the toss isn't as impressive, so my bias prefers to think that was not the case. Head canon as you please.

Even though the two had an actual scene together, the story makes that scene a front bookend Crowley scene of yet another Muriel scene with Muriel's stop at the coffee shop.

Muriel is not seen again for the rest of the episode.

...

Episode 4 does not have Muriel. It does have Crowley touching the cardboard box of the plants. Sorry, I couldn't help notice that cardboard boxes are a thing because of the matchbox and the mainly featured cardboard box, so we may as well take note since Muriel was given that shared blur with such an important cardboard box.

...

Episode 5: The Ball

During episode 5, there are two important scenes shared between Crowley and Gabriel. The first scene is where Crowley ultimately tells Gabriel to jump out a window, then stops Gabriel from doing so. He offers to make hot chocolate. This scene is a front bookend of the last Matchbox Muriel scene. It also includes mention of an actual matchbox.

Finally, we are back to our ominous borderline evil matchbox itself with Matchbox Muriel Scene #3. This scene further manages to act as a back bookend to a touch of The Sunglasses Trick. In this matchbox scene, the subtitles say "intense music" and it is intense. The matchbox is given immediate focus to introduce the scene.

The intensity settles. Muriel is giving their report to Michael and Uriel with no Saraqael around.

In this report, Muriel says Crowley's name, including calling him, "Mr. Crowley," and describes Crowley as Aziraphale's "grumpy friend." Well, Crowley was grumpy when Muriel first saw him yes, but most of the time we saw them together, he was not grumpy. In fact, he was rather friendly. Muriel is also shown to be unaware that Crowley is a demon. When they say Aziraphale's "Mr. Fell" name, Uriel gives Muriel a look that makes Muriel definitely not say Crowley's name—not even partially.

Aside from Aziraphale, Shax, and any character involved in the 1941 minisode, the story itself seems to have some rather strict rules on who can say Crowley's name and when. If I remember right, Muriel never says Crowley's name again.

We, the audience, were never shown anyone giving Muriel Crowley's name before that point either. In addition to that, mysterious music plays while the angels stop in confusion as they grasp at the assistant bookseller they can't quite remember. The matchbox is not easily seen during all of this time, but we know we saw it first with the intense music.

We never saw Muriel see or speak to an assistant bookseller, Gabriel going by Jim, in the scenes given. Muriel's memory and the story's memory do not match with what we have been told is happening. And some possibly evil matchbox is making that happen...maybe. That thing gives off "trying to get back to its master" evil ring vibes towards Crowley. It's creepy. No, I'm not venturing too far down that road. I'm admitting it's just vibes.

The back bookend scene here is Crowley actually giving Gabriel hot chocolate.

After this point, Crowley's sideburns stay a medium-to-long length until right before the credits at the end. Part of my sideburns scheme theory is that Aziraphale and Crowley borrowed each other's homes to form a special connection that affected an invisible supernatural border that existed between the car and the bookshop. They then made their preparations for the ball through the invitations, and Crowley had his scenes with Gabriel to force this sideburn status into place.

That means a lot of pieces were moved around so that the next time Crowley encountered Muriel, his sideburns were longer despite Muriel's earlier claim of being "human" and the bookshop's reading from that.

Let's skip ahead to that Crowley and Muriel encounter.

Crowley finds Muriel near the pub. In fact, he finds Muriel at, I believe, where he parked the car in episode 2. That's quite the coincidence.

After he convinces Muriel to "arrest" him, for some reason, Crowley makes sure to enter the elevator first. Ever since I realized Crowley's sideburns respond to thresholds, I have taken note of Crowley's deliberate decisions in so much of what he does, especially in season 2. He is rather strategic overall. Him entering first sets off alarms in my head. That is not the typical way he does things. He goes alone or Aziraphale leads. In the Edinburgh minisode, Elspeth entered first, followed by Crowley, then Aziraphale. Not long before this Muriel encounter and probably not a coincidence, Crowley left with Mrs. Sandwich first. They went together. He still did not go first as only himself.

But for some reason, at this particular threshold, it is a priority that he be first. I wish I knew why instead of just constantly sensing it.

This entry into Heaven is the first part of the Triple in The Bigger Thresholds Trick. It is also the only one that expands over two episodes.

When looking at Crowley and Muriel together, here are some things I think are worth noting.

First of all, Muriel was convinced to begin with. Why would they trust him? He's a demon, and they were even given a specific look of not even saying his name. Yet still, they find Crowley convincing enough to do this arrest. Crowley told Shax in episode 2 that he was a "former demon," but when it comes to Muriel, he actually drops the "former" part of his own self-description.

Now, I do have this theory that when it comes to the longer sideburns, they are like a mark of rank on Crowley when he is around angels. I usually associate that theory more with their longest length and specifically when in the bookshop. If that theory has any merit even outside the bookshop, then latent memory in Muriel could actually be recognizing Crowley's rank from before his fall and why they ultimately abide. If I'm wrong, then Muriel still finds a way to put their trust in him, such as a latent memory of whatever they did together in the first draft of the story or past friendship they had. If there is no latent memory, Muriel just trusts him anyway.

Crowley himself is having to trust Muriel here. It is no small amount of trust either. This segment is incredibly important to performing the Trick. He trusted Aziraphale for the other two, and with Aziraphale not here, Muriel is the one he turns to for help.

Unfortunately, I do not have a desired simplified explanation of how this threshold is being tricked, but I can at least tell you I know what to look for and the deliberate methods both characters use for entering. The more simplified ways are that Crowley manages to not touch the buttons and not touch the pub doors before going up. Muriel is the one who both summons the elevator and closes the pub doors for him. When he is later seen going down, he maintains touch with his back at where the edges of the elevator doors meet.

Well, that's the easier stuff. There is something far more complicated happening with shadows, lighting, and pockets. I don't know what it is. I'm just going to tell you I see it, and I know it when I see it because I at least know what to look for. With pockets involved, that also means framing.

I won't bore you with too many of the details. It was hard to write in my initial draft. Muriel is deliberate in how they get themselves framed alongside Crowley. Probably about the most noteworthy things of such framing are a look down as if to check they are positioning themself properly and getting their right arm so close to being over the middle edge of where the elevator doors meet and still not doing that. That part might have to do with whatever was necessary a to align with a reflection in a window pane, and that reflection being over a lock.

Speaking of windows, they are both deliberately framed through the window panes. I'm not going to describe it. If you're interested and can see, I advise you just go take a look. It is assuredly intentional. Their heads and upper bodies are in a grid or something. "Gridlock" might be the simplified word I'm looking for, but I'm not fully convinced and couldn't explain it to anyone.

Here, I have at least made a GIF because the glance down helps show it's intentional:

Pockets of light were involved. Muriel used a pocket. Crowley made touches on his clothing suspiciously like when he uses pockets. His tied hands might have been tied. His belt head might have activated. It's ridiculous. I can't believe this Earthly Objects game.

Before Muriel entered, they looked at Crowley and asked, "You aren't trying to trick me, are you?"

Now a lot of people would see that question and be, like, yes, of course he is.

It definitely looks that way.

But...these two are actually tricking a threshold together. It is likely a clue to the audience to look for the Threshold Trick that's happening right in front of their eyes instead of Crowley tricking Muriel.

Even though we saw Muriel close the doors, we did not see any miracle touch to activate a button. We just see the elevator go up.

...

Episode 6: Every Day

As the two arrive in Heaven, Crowley makes sure to exit the elevator first. His foot decidedly makes sure to not touch the lower threshold of where the doors slid open. His shadow can be seen to his left side. When Muriel follows, they don't have a shadow to their left side at all.

Now on they go where probably a million important things happen since pockets were involved on the way up, but let's focus on three things.

Crowley quickly refers to Muriel's rank when asking about records. We've already seen Muriel know Crowley's name without us knowing how they got it. Now we see Crowley know Muriel's rank without us knowing how he got it. We're even going to see both of them receive each of these pieces of information later on this trip in Heaven.

Not long after the rank reference, one of the lines Crowley says is, "You're forgetting about the bees."

Crowley, how many times has Muriel helped you break into Heaven by this point?

I hope it's not more than one, but it's going to be awhile to get such an answer.

Muriel's "forgetting" are they? Does he know that Muriel knew about the bees before? Did they talk about it? Did they work together?

As the conversation continues, it leads to Crowley changing his appearance. Of note in this appearance, his newly manifested gold tie is...pocketed into his newly manifested gray jacket. If his "tied hands" activated at the entry, he's putting those hands in a pocket here and now. And he's doing that because Muriel led him to that decision.

Neither one seems to truly remember the other, but both are guiding each other to certain ends.

At some point, Crowley asks Muriel a question about if they knew why Gabriel would not want another Armageddon. They shake their head and answer "not yet". We were never actually shown Muriel's assignment for why they were on Earth. We were just led to believe it was to confirm the miracle that Aziraphale performed since all actions shown by the characters said so. Muriel has no problem admitting this "yet" part of their answer to Crowley.

Saraqael arrives and shows us one way Muriel could have gotten Crowley's name by addressing Crowley by name.

Later on is when Muriel actually gives the rank. Crowley gives them a friendly fist bump to the shoulder. They smile. Both of them are shown to be on friendly terms in what might be an earlier draft of the story. Even if it's not an earlier draft, I'm glad to see Crowley be on friendly terms with an angel who is not Aziraphale. He reached somewhat friendly terms with Gabriel, but the story made sure that Crowley and Gabriel had zero direct interaction on Gabriel's side once Gabriel recovered his memories. The same could be said of Muriel, now that I think about it.

There's footage of the cardboard box they both watch. Muriel's memory of the matchbox is shown in focus as an assumption it was whatever Gabriel really dropped.

On the exit to Heaven, I've long theorized that Crowley is invisible and Muriel looks scared and amazed by such a thing at the same time. I haven't really changed my mind. If Muriel is doing something to help because Muriel is in the middle on one side, and Crowley is in the middle on the other, I don't know what it is. I can just tell you that a pattern is indeed found between the two if one looks for such a thing.

I can also bring back the pockets.

When the light goes up and Crowley's appearance changes, something about his re-manifested clothes is decidedly different than usual. His tie strands are pocketed into his vest, which then means his thumbs and thumb joints are hidden. I don't know exactly what that means, but it's deliberate on the story's part. Thumbs do things to doors, and these thumbs are hiding themselves while Crowley has his back to a door. That's somehow doing whatever needs to be done for this Threshold Trick and Muriel convincing Crowley to change his appearance earlier contributed.

Also, there was a rainbow when the light went up.

We missed whatever led to Michael and Uriel joining Muriel, Saraqael, and Crowley in the elevator.

When Crowley and the angels arrive at the bookshop, Muriel quietly closes the doors without anyone asking. I'm left with the impression that those doors being opened when they were and while Crowley was in Heaven is supposed to be important. So, the timing of this closure and who is doing it is also important.

Muriel stays out of the way and on their own quite a bit throughout their time in the bookshop as they turn their attention to a book.

In turn, that means their attention is not on the cardboard box when it is retrieved to help Gabriel recover his memories.

When Gabriel recovers his memories, something strange happens. If Crowley is where the story told us he was—next to Aziraphale, Gabriel is acting like Crowley isn't there. Aziraphale glances where we were told Crowley was. Gabriel briefly follows this gaze, then changes course. In the next cut, he blinks as he passes over where Crowley would be. He names more characters, including Michael and Uriel. While he doesn't remember Saraqael's name, they are given an interaction. With Muriel on their own further back—just like Crowley—they, too, are ignored during this sequence. They are at least shown on screen. Eventually, Gabriel reacts to seeing Beelzebub, and we are informed that Crowley is still there by Aziraphale. Of course, with the scene cut the way it is, maybe he wasn't there, and all of these drafts are blending together but still telling us Crowley was ignored, possibly invisible, cloaked, or forgotten.

Even with Crowley visibly on screen as Beelzebub refers to Aziraphale by name, neither Gabriel nor Beelzebub acknowledge Crowley as having played any part in helping to look after Gabriel—or anything else for that matter.

Again, the cardboard box was notably ignored by Muriel. They were given a specific shared blur with the box. Why give the focus if nothing of fruition was to come from such a thing? That was a shared blur that Earthly Objects uses in its game, and that box went untouched.

Things move on with Crowley escorting Maggie and Nina out.

Now it really gets hard to track how Crowley is book-ending Muriel in the scenes at the end, but he is. I think he is doing it every time. He is shown to approach a window and look inside while several angels and demons are arguing. Aziraphale rings his bell, which is enough to grab Muriel's attention as well. Soon after, Crowley is shown looking through the window again and smiles.

Then they actually have a scene together where neither one of them talks. It is the Single in The Pocket Trick. The Pocket Trick is a difficult, confusing collection of puzzles that uses word play. Because Muriel wears all white and The Pocket Trick has a Rainbow Connection mechanic that uses non-rainbow shades, there is a very strong chance Muriel is helping Crowley with yet another Threshold Trick. Whatever it is, it probably has to do with the alignment of Crowley's sleeve and jacket through a window frame since that's when Muriel's white can be seen and then when Crowley's sunglasses appear in one of the window panes at a certain point since that's the exact frame where all-white-wearing Muriel is no longer on screen. Muriel's white probably held onto something the Trick needed during that part.

Muriel ends up bookend-ing both sides of the Single of the The Pocket Trick while also being in it. That means Muriel is pocketed into the last touch of The Pocket Trick.

From this point, I consider them both part of a much bigger scene between several characters that ends with the demons leaving. I also consider it the back bookend to that Pocket Trick Single.

The story cuts away to the Metatron and then back to another scene that Crowley and Muriel share with other characters. By the way, the angels and Crowley seem to have generally changed positions overall.

Eventually, everyone leaves, giving Crowley and Muriel a chance to have their own scene together.

Now Crowley is more grumpy. Even so, near the end of their scene, he throws a book at Muriel and says, "Go for it. Here, you'll like this one." How does Crowley know Muriel would like the book? Has he known that book to be liked by a past version of Muriel? Does he just generally know Muriel because they are either friends or decently acquainted even before this scene ever took place? Even if both answers are no, he is probably guiding Muriel to read that book. I have never read that book, The Crow Road, but I have read what other people analyzing Good Omens 2 have had to say about it. That book has characters who communicate in non-verbal code with each other.

That's something both Crowley and Aziraphale do frequently during Good Omens 2. Crowley is actually giving away how he and Aziraphale communicate to Muriel by choosing that book. That could be dangerous with someone he doesn't trust...but he trusts Muriel. He trusts Muriel so much he is trying to tell them something about himself without saying it out loud—or is reminding them.

The story moves on.

In the next Muriel scene, at first glance, it looks like Crowley does not get a front bookend scene with it. Instead, that's given to a mix of the Metatron and Aziraphale as Aziraphale walks away and enters the bookshop. Blended with that scene, Maggie and Nina leave the bookshop with Nina shown to be passing by the Metatron. If one goes back and looks very closely—and I definitely would have missed this part were it not for a Tumblr post I'm happening to remember, a small bit of Crowley can be found in the background when Maggie and Nina were leaving the bookshop.

Muriel has their scene with the Metatron about reading a book. This part allows Muriel's scene to be a front bookend to the last two touches of The Sunglasses Trick, which take place while Crowley and Aziraphale have their argument.

At the same time, Crowley's scene of those touches becomes the back bookend of another Muriel scene. This stuff is happening on purpose as a game from the story.

Crowley leaves. Sometime after, Muriel can be seen looking through the window with a big question of how much they saw of the argument. They saw enough to look sad—like someone who cares about Crowley as a friend would.

Muriel is barely part of the scene with the Metatron and Aziraphale yet still gets book-ended between Crowley scenes.

After that scene, Crowley is shown standing alone as he starts The Door Trick. So, again, we have Muriel acting as a front bookend to a Threshold Trick, and Crowley acting as a back bookend to a Muriel scene.

Muriel is not on screen during the entirety of The Door Trick, The Door Catch, and The Window Trick. They manage to stay out of the way during these important moments in the story even though, as best we can tell, they are somewhere nearby.

In Muriel's last scene, they still get book-ended by Crowley scenes. The Window Trick finishes. Muriel opens the door and enters the bookshop. That makes their scene a back bookend to the last Threshold Trick. Crowley's car is seen driving away. Before the credits start, Crowley is shown driving with short sideburns as the last scene of the season before the credits truly start to roll.

If I understand yet another pattern from this little game, starting from when I said this bookend thing went into hyper-drive, Crowley's supposed to be a front-and-back bookend to Muriel scenes whereas Muriel doesn't do that for as many of Crowley's scenes. They have a special pocket version for The Pocket Trick and a front-and-back bookend to the argument, which was the conclusion of The Sunglasses Trick. One could find Aziraphale's moment alone before the Metatron arrives as debatably its own scene, then Crowley just doesn't front-and-back bookend Muriel at that point. Otherwise, Muriel's supposed to bookend one side or the other of Crowley's scenes but not both.

I wasn't even looking for yet another game, but I found one.

Anyway, I think they're friends—good friends even. It's hard to say how long the friendship existed before season 2. This trust they share would also explain Muriel's last scene with Crowley trusting them to look after the bookshop as he leaves.

...

More here:

Bookend Buddies Part 2 - Crowley and Muriel

#good omens 2 #crowley #good omens #good omens s2 #david tennant #good omens season 2 #good omens analysis #good omens meta #good omens crowley #crowley good omens #muriel #quelin sepulveda

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doshmanziari · 2 months

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Hi, everyone. I have a new article up on Substack looking at the Backrooms meme and some related media. It's entitled "Heavenly Purgatories: The Postmodern Labyrinth."

The images above are some of the photographs I took over the years when I lived in Boston and which, for me, convey a kind of atmosphere that I feel is vaguely adjacent to the subject matter.

Here are a few responses to the piece from elsewhere:

I think I like the comparison to purgatory. To me this kind of stuff has a deep appeal, since I often have dreams like this, and enjoy physical spaces with the feel of being haunted by absence. Something about finding beauty in bleakness maybe. But also it can be truly nightmarish and I associate it with the labyrinthine recesses of the Unconscious. The idea of a dreamy maze-like space which I associate with Chamber's The King in Yellow, some of Stephen King's work, and House of Leaves. A piece of Dream Country constructed from the bones of human artifice. I deeply enjoy melancholic feelings a lot of times when I'm having them tho, so this is probably why it resonates so much.

The assessment that it's like the inversion of feng shui is very accurate. An interesting piece of media that explores this thematically is Shadowrun: Hong Kong, in which an eldritch demon attempts to use a perversion of feng shui to break a hole in our reality.

have I pushed "Junkspace" on people here? it's a 1999 essay about architectural design - the author is very negative about a kind of open plan modular nonspace that was expanding then and is ubiquitous now - that I think Backrooms (mostly unintentionally) taps into. the essay has kind of a poetical expression, I think you'll like it. he has another essay out there, that I can't remember exactly but he says sort of "there's no Public Square any more, the symbols of 'Public Life' are things like trash and theft of construction materials and the smell of pee in the urban environment, because that's the remainder of human life that can't be made private and paywalled while more and more of the built environment is anonymized and dehumanized." I feel like the Backrooms Monster is a very similar sort of spectre. What lives in this environment where nothing can live??

#backrooms #liminal space #poolrooms #dreamcore #dream space #horror media

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mothwingwritings · 5 days

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Dreaming Of World's End

Reader X Zenos Yae Galvus

Waaah it has been so long!!! I apologize for the absence! I have been working on and doing all kinds of stuff (fics included) as of late so I did one of my classic dip outs there for a moment, but I’m here! Just plunking away as usual. :)

With Dawntrail coming up I have been focusing a big chunk of my free time on trying to beat Endwalker (I am slow in all things, video games included lul) because I wanna be there with the herd with Dawntrail comes out!!! I have no idea if I am gonna make it, but I am doing the best I can to catch up!!!

That being said: Zenos brainrot propelled this fic from my brain, to my computer, to you. Was I and am I also writing a bunch of other things? Yes. Is this the only thing I could momentarily focus on writing-wise because I have been compromised by my love for this fucked up man? Also yes. I’m sorry. It’s bad. I was already obsessed with him in Stormblood and now that I am deep within the clutches of the Endwalker msq… It’s over for me guys. It was a good run, but rip to me. My WOL may be playing hard to get, but I’m sure not. Zenos if you are reading this, you can just have me.

So without further ado, here is a Zenos fic I have been working on! My love for him aside, I think Zenos is a super fun character to write for, so I really hope I did him some justice! This is a reader insert fic, but you are the Warrior of Light in it so feel free to insert your OC’s and WOL if you like! I tried to keep the reader neutral, but I will say it’s def aimed more at a female reader/character and if you are a shorter race like a Lala it will probs be a little wonky, so my apologies. Also, I am about half way? A little over half way? through the Endwalker main story, so potential spoilers up to that point. This fic takes place sometime between post Shadowbringers and the first part of Endwalker.

Nothing overly explicit, but due to the nature of this fic it is 18+ please!

Thank you so much for reading!!! <3 I truly hope you enjoyed!

WARNINGS: Unhealthy relationship (if you can even call it a relationship), intense infatuation, implied noncon, noncon mentions, a lot of fighting and mentions of fighting, mentions of death and the end of the world, unwanted touching, Endwalker spoilers.

It was always the same dream.

Amaurot. The end times. Death, destruction, chaos. Streets tainted by endless misery, stifling woe permeating the air as people ran about frantically, picked off left and right by horrendous, nightmarish monsters. Screams pierced the air as the remaining survivors struggled in vain, desperate to escape a fate that they could not avoid.

Just as any other night, he would watch it all unfold with cold indifference. Walking through the crumbling, fire charred lanes of this shell of a once bustling city, he would take it all in at a leisurely pace, maintaining a stride no more rushed than if he were taking a pleasant stroll. His features would be void of distress or malaise, his face a blank slate as he paraded down roads lined with bodies and devastation.

Zenos could say it was because he had grown accustomed to it, have the same dream each night and the grisly scenario that laid in wait past your closed eyes was bound to no longer shock you. But that would be a lie, as this ghastly nightmare had never truthfully bothered him to begin with. He simply didn’t care, not about the dying planet, nor its inhabitants that suffered the same fate. This scene from another time, this moment from a faraway place that no longer existed, he couldn’t bring himself to feel any form of remorse for the phantoms left to wallow helplessly in this endless, hellish loop, even if his own star was on track to share the same fate.

An echo of the past was just that, to dwell on it was a fool’s errand.

But tonight, it was not the end of times that greeted him when he closed his eyes. In its place stood an immaculate hall appearing to belong to some manner of grandiose castle. Pristine and orderly, he sat upon a large throne questionably positioned in the middle of the walkway, facing so that a vast expanse of the hall was clearly within his view.

Had he been here before? It was hard to say, having been trapped by palace walls most of his life they all blurred together after a certain point. Perhaps this wasn’t even a castle, but some manner of fortress. The varying weapons displayed neatly along the surrounding walls certainly made it feel as if this was more than just a mere abode for royalty to live out their boringly opulent lives, perhaps it doubled as an armory of sorts? Every sword, spear, and battle axe looked immaculately cared for; their blades so sharp simply looking at them made you feel as if you had been sliced.

His time to dwell upon the mystery of his surroundings was quick to dissipate however, as he felt a familiar presence approach him from behind. He remained still when a delicate hand was placed upon him, crawling from his arm to slide unhurriedly across his broad shoulders. The caress occupied the entirety of his thoughts, manicured nails scratching lightly against his flesh as they raked across his back, pressing just hard enough that they left a pleasant burn in their wake.

“There you are,” a deceptively alluring voice purred in his ear. Phantom arms draped themselves loosely over his shoulders, their fingers moving to trace a swirling pattern upon his chest. Goosebumps littered his arms at the brief contact. “Were you hiding from me?”

A small smile spread across his lips. What elation merely hearing your voice caused.

Were he not already aware of it, he would recognize he was in a dream from this interaction alone. You, only you, would be welcomed to touch him this way. But even were he to offer invitation, you would never do so of your own free will. There was a mixture of pride and revulsion that kept your interactions with him void of skinship, save for the fleeting contact that occurred when you were locked in combat.

His motivations, the way he chose to experience the world, your differing values and opinions. Like night and day, they barred you from reciprocating his feelings towards you. Because of this, he was left to revel in your touch exclusively in the realm of dreams.

“On the contrary,” he hummed, “you have been the one to keep me waiting.”

A low chuckle reverberated from your chest, sending a shiver down his spine. You rose to your full height, pulling away slowly until you disconnected from him completely. Even if the contact was nothing more than an attempt at provocation, he missed your touch the moment you detached yourself.

“Well then I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me, my lord,” you enunciated his title tauntingly, the playful lilt in your voice exciting him further. He heard you take several languid steps away from him before you spoke once more. “That is, if you even have a heart that can offer forgiveness.”

Zenos rose to his feet, turning to finally face you. Your back greeted him as you stared up at the myriad of weaponry covering the back wall, the hand that was moments ago atop his chest now gracefully running across the hilt of a long sword. Your fingers lingered on the handle, moving as if you were going to grip it, but never completing the task.

Zenos smiled. You were toying with him.

“You jest,” he spoke, taking a measured step your way, “if anyone has intimate knowledge of the existence of my heart and whom it beats for, it is you.”

Your posture stiffened in acknowledgment of the insinuation, yet you refused to turn his way.

“Is that so,” your voice seemed distant, as if you were unwilling to accept the burden of the intense desire he held for you, “Forgive me, I must have misread the situation. Due to the nature of how our meetings always end, I figured you only ever wanted one thing from me, and that is my blood.”

A low chuckle rumbled from within him, his eyes crinkling in amusement. For all that you were, all the skills and knowledge that you held, you could certainly be dense.

“I desire all you have to offer,” he answered plainly, “Your fury and malice, your rage and rancor, your disdain and desire,” he continued to approach you, each step slow and deliberate as he closed in on your staunch form. “Your love and affection are no different. I want to consume your every thought, just as you consume mine. I want you to taste me in the air you breathe and feel me crawling under your skin, even when I am far removed from your presence.”

He stopped several steps away from you, keeping his distance but lingering close enough that it bordered on intrusive. He raised his hand calmly, reaching out to grab a stray lock of your hair between his fingers. He gingerly caressed the silky strands, smirking when he noted that even such slight contact caused a shudder to lurch your otherwise statuesque form.

“You can play the fool all you want, but you cannot hide the fact that the same beast that dwells in me is also within you. They call out, craving each other to the point of madness. We need each other. This dance we share must continue in perpetuity, lest our fierce yearning for each other’s presence turn us to savages incapable of rational thought, driven to the point of committing mass, undiscriminating destruction as a means to appease ourselves.”

He smirked, placing a gentle kiss atop the tendrils in his hand, before letting it slip from his grasp completely. “And you would do anything to divert that misfortune, would you not hero?”

Your shoulders began to quiver, shaken by the threat of violence he could and would commit simply to be by your side. An impatient sigh escaped his lips, “So come, what better way is there to quench each other’s thirst and prevent calamity than through a mutually beneficial rendezvous? Surely even someone as set in their way as you are is in agreeance.”

“I was under the assumption that you planned on battling me until the world was torn asunder, regardless of if I entertain your perversions or not,” Your voice dripped with disdain as you spat your response at him, “If that is the case, pray tell why I should not cut you down where you stand? Why must the dance continue if the outcome is all the same?”

Your words made the smile on his face grow, stretching his lips to an unnatural degree. Taking another step forward, he leaned in until his mouth grazing the shell of your ear. Placing his hands firmly atop your shoulders, he gave a tight squeeze as he responded.

“Because we share one destiny,” he pressed his cheek flush against your head, inhaling deeply before releasing it in a slow, shaky sigh, “even now as you try so hard to deny me, our fate is intertwined, my warrior. You cannot escape me, and I have no desire to escape you. The dismantling of this world as a result of our conquest is all but inevitable and I welcome it with open arms.”

“I won’t let the world crumble to ash.” Your bold declaration was spoken as if it were fact, the conviction in your voice sending a surge of wanton excitement coursing through his veins. “Say and do as you like, the future you seek will never come to pass.”

Oh, how he adored you.

“Hmm,” he hummed, “You can try and stop me, but you cannot escape what has been predestined.”

During the course of the conversation, your hand had had traveled to the base of an axe, your fingers wrapping around it to grasp the handle in a constricting hold. All of the anger that had been bubbling up reflected in the whites of your knuckles, the tremor of your hand becoming more apparent as your composure slipped further and further. The cool demeanor you initially donned had completely shifted, overridden by the immense agitation his presence was inviting.

The axe was ripped swiftly from the wall, lacking fluidity. There was no care for keeping the wall in tact or making sure all the other weapons that surrounded it stayed in their spot. You ripped it down with one great tug, bits of stone and surrounding armaments clattering noisily into a massive steel heap on the ground as you finally spun around to face him. Zenos had seconds to react as you swung down in a wide arc, the finely sharpened blade slicing easily through the decorative tiling that coated the floor, decimating the ground where he once stood.

“There we are,” Zenos growled in anticipation, sizing you up with a bloodthirsty grin, “you are a vision to behold when you let your ferocity consume you.”

You deigned to answer him, your icy countenance his only response as you straightened your posture, considering your next move. Your distaste for him was clear as you hefted your axe from the ground, dust settling around you as it was freed with a mighty yank. Weapon in hand, you came for him in a relentless torrent, striking at him in a flurry of breakneck swings. In the ensuing madness, he grabbed the nearest weapon he could reach-a sword that was more ornate that functional, but it would serve its purpose for the time being.

The enmity increased as he reciprocated your attacks. Parrying each blow with a steady hand, he responded to your blows with calculated strikes of his own, expertly countering your aggression. The air around the two of you had become electric, charged with hostility and fervor as you hacked away at each other time and time again.

Though frantic, the assault was far from inelegant. Each swing of your axe and swipe of his blade was an orchestrated maneuver befitting the couple who performed them. It was as beautiful as it was fierce, a true force of nature. To an untrained eye the activity would appear as nothing more than a blur of chaos, annihilating all that was in its wake. But to Zenos, a man who had dedicated himself to your study, it was a sight that made his heart ache.

He was witnessing a glorious preamble, a promise forged in battle between himself and his righteous and powerful hero, the only person with whom he ever felt a true connection. This battle, amongst all of its other perks, gave him purpose.

Fighting you, he felt alive. To be the sole receiver of all your ire, your discontent, your undivided attention… it was like a dream. He realized this encounter was most likely just that, a conjuring of your presence from his sleep addled mind, a side effect of his constant ruminations of you. You already occupied each of his waking thoughts, it only made sense that having you visit in his dreams would soon follow.

Be that as it may, the knowledge that this moment lived solely in his mind did little to dissuade his desire to get lost in it, to get lost in you. If he couldn’t have you in the waking world, his dreams would have to suffice, at least for the time being. Besides, there were things he could accomplish in his dreams that would never be plausible elsewhere, moments of intimacy he could forge that would never present a chance of happening in reality.

A particularly rough blow sent Zenos reeling. The sword knocked from his hand scattered just out of reach, his body lurching to an abrupt stop as he collided with rubble that had piled up behind him. A quick glance your way revealed a small smirk ghosting your lips, a hint of satisfaction shining through your hostility. He could see the assurance reflected in your eyes, a swell of pride over the victory you would soon be relishing.

Zenos mirrored your glee, pleased you were having as much fun as he was.

As you hoisted your axe high, thoroughly preoccupied with your pending achievement, Zenos took the moment to strike. Launching himself from the ground, he rammed his body against yours, hitting you hard and fast. The speed at which he closed the gap astounded you as much as the collision had, causing the axe to topple from your hands, skittering out of your reach. A pained grunt escaped your lips as you collided with the ground, Zenos following suit atop you. His hand cradled the back of your head as you fell, catching hold before it could crack against the stony floor. It would do no good to have you suffer injury and pass out now, not as things were about to get truly interesting.

Positioning himself atop your prone form, his body caged you in as you lay beneath him, panting and exhausted. Splayed amongst the rubble, your confusion morphed into a look of annoyance as you realized your situation had drastically changed. Your success had been stolen from you and now the thief had you cornered, trapped right where he wanted.

“I wish you could see yourself as I see you in this moment,” Zenos spoke between his own labored breaths, pressing into you ever further as his face hovered inches from your own, “Disheveled and feral, transformed by your bloodlust, you have never been more breathtaking.”

“I’m not like you,” you retorted sharply, “I don’t revel in such acts of savagery.”

Zenos chuckled, “And yet you seemed quite delighted moments ago when you were convinced victory was within your grasp.” You frowned as his hand found purchase on your chin, gripping it in a tight pinch to keep your focus fixed his way, “But here you are now, bested and at my mercy.”

You grimaced, “I have yet to lose to you. I refuse to concede defeat.”

In response to your bold declaration, he gave a throaty, booming laugh. How was it that you always knew just what to say to drive him absolutely mad with desire?

Unable to contain himself any longer, Zenos smashed his lips to yours, capturing you in a heated and hungry kiss. Your brain took a moment to comprehend the abrupt action, but as it did you began to struggle against it, thrashing and clawing at him in an effort to create distance. Zenos remained firm, making it clear that you had expended far more energy than he had, leaving your assault lacking the power needed to stop him. Whines of displeasure snaked from your mouth as his grip tightened on your chin, squeezing so roughly you couldn’t help but gasp in pain. Eagerly seizing the opportunity, he muscled his tongue inside of you, lapping at the inside of your mouth aggressively. He groaned as he savored the taste of you.

When a need for air arose, he pulled back slightly, staring down at you with lidded eyes. Your saliva coated his lips, giving a glossy sheen as they curled into an offputtingly tranquil smile. His hand moved from your chin to drag languidly across your cheek, the brief touch of his rough finger tips sending a shiver down your spine. Your gaze wavered the longer you stayed trapped in this awkward position, your eyes brimming with uncertainty. You seemed unsure of where to look, what to do, how to escape. In his wishful thinking, Zenos wondered if perhaps you were even unsure if you truly wanted to escape.

Amongst your numerous charms, Zenos found your enigmatic personality to be one of your most appealing. Being such a virtuous being, your motivations, ambition, and drive were all easy enough to sort out. You are Hydaelyn’s chosen, the Warrior of Light, the people’s champion, and you live up to those titles and more. You are a hero through and through, a source of salvation for those you protect and a complete nightmare for those that offer opposition. There is no doubt that you are a force to be reckoned with, no matter what the encounter or situation may be.

And what good hero is without a nemesis? It’s a role the disgraced Prince and betrayer of his kin plays well. In his illustrious life he had gone through the motions, donned many hats, played countless roles, many of which were not of his choosing. But of all his grand titles, your adversary is most certainly his favorite, the only one that gives him any sense of pride. Your existence gave him purpose, and for you alone he kept up the hunt.

But he knew it was different for you. Though cut of the same cloth and driven by destiny to engage him, your feelings did not completely align with his own. You were driven by more than barbarity, more than a duty to save your people and your planet. There was something inside of you, something that made you YOU, that he could never truly know, no matter how desperately he wanted to.

You were his greatest conundrum, a true mystery, and when you look at him as you were now with those eyes that swirled with anger, uncertainty, grief, and something yet unspoken… What was he to do but become a slave to this maddening, consuming attraction?

He gloated about being the victor, but it was clear you would always have the upper hand.

“Get off of me.”

The demand brought him back to the present, sheer determination replacing the conflicting emotions that fought for dominance within you. He could tell by the bite in your voice that your vigor was returning, and given a bit more time and provocation, the battle would gloriously resume.

“Eagar to carry on with our dance, are you?” He responded, an almost teasing lilt to his voice, “Or is it that you just can’t stand the thought of defeat at my hands?

“I already told you, you didn’t defeat me,” you glowered, your rage becoming palpable the longer his unwanted presence loomed, “I came here to end this farce and I plan to do just that.”

A beat of silence passed, followed by a sigh. Parting your lips to speak, your voice came out quieter, more desperate than it had previously.

“I wanted to keep this is civil as possible and respect your wishes as best I could, no matter how twisted they may be. But even for your own benefit, you refuse to entertain the notion of making this situation even the slightest bit amicable. You speak of such lofty things as fate and destiny, but all I am witnessing is you causing unnecessary suffering, hiding behind my name to do so.”

For a split second, another flash of uncertainty danced across your features. You bit your bottom lip in vexation, a glimmer lighting your eyes as they swept across his handsome face, “There is more to this world, more to this life, than waiting for its untimely end. To live out your days perpetuating death and blind havoc is no way to exist, it’s a tragedy. Why can’t you see that? Zenos, I-“

As if taken by surprise, you cut your own words short, silencing the previous thought that had been brewing. Zenos felt as if you looked pained, staring at him with pleading eyes, face scrunched up in frustration. Even with all the hate you carried for him, you were still trying to understand him, still clinging to the hope that maybe you could save him too.

Here, on the cusp of annihilation, you were doing all you could to fulfill the role of hero and protect the people that you loved. In order to fulfill that duty, it meant he must be defeated. There could be no other ending, the inexorable conclusion to all of this was always cold and endless death. Whether it would be all of humanities or just his own was still to be determined, but it did little to change the fact that there was no future to plan for, only a violently rapturous and melancholic end.

To be cherished by you, to feel your love as if he were one of your dearest companions… It was a thought not meant to be dwelled on, but one he found hard to completely shake from his head. How would it feel to be earnestly and unequivocally loved by you? Perhaps in another world, another time, your souls would be reborn and given another chance. A fresh beginning to grow together, an opportunity to nurture something more than the misfortune this world had thrust upon you. Maybe in some alternate telling of this tale the two of you were together and happy, with nothing but a bright future awaiting you on the horizon.

But that was simply a foolish daydream. All that he had, all he could hope for, was the here and now.

You sighed again, steeling your resolve with a shake of your head, “Never mind. You have already proven to me mere words cannot move you, so I will save my breath.”

Raising your torso as much as his hold on you would allow, your eyes bore into his, fully accepting the challenge that lay ahead. Though still restrained, there was an aura of dominance that surrounded you. It was a warning to Zenos that your binds were temporary, whether he released you willingly or otherwise was his decision, but regardless the outcome would be the same.

“If it’s the end you want, it’s the end I will bring you,” your soft words clashed with the look of malice reflected in your eyes, your breath fanning his face as your noses nearly touched. For an instant your eyes darted to his lips, and Zenos wondered if it would be you to instigate the kiss this time.

“I will fulfill my role. I will be your end and your salvation.”

Your words pierced him, the proclamation sending sparks of excitement to course through him, igniting his soul. His whole body burned for you, intense and consuming, his need for you was beginning to show itself in ways beyond his control. Pressing his hips flush between your spread legs, he made his intentions known to you, a shiver wracking his body when you released a small gasp of surprise.

Clutching the remaining shreds of his sanity, he grunted as you writhed against his growing arousal, pulling your body up towards him until he had engulfed you in a tight embrace.

“Enough time has been wasted,” he snarled into your neck, his chest rumbling as his grip on you tightened, “let us deliver a ruin unto ourselves so extraordinary, so beautiful, that naught will remain but the scattered fragments of this forsaken world.”

Loosening his grip, he pressed his lips to your forehead in a chaste, yet gentle, kiss. Your brow furrowed at his touch, shoulders tensing as you drew yourself back from him, recoiling at the small display of adoration. He found the reaction endearing, even with his intentions laid bare and and his hardened cock pressed firmly against your core, it was the smallest token of his affection that caused you to squirm.

Repugnance, hatred, scorn- whatever you felt for him in this moment, none of it mattered, none of it deterred him. He loved you, and he would make that love known in the only way he knew how, while he still had time to do so.

“This shall be my final gift to you,” he purred into your ear, his grip latching securely to your tunic. With nimble hands he started to pull, exposing yourself to him bit by bit as the fabric turned to tatters in his hands. “Let us relish it my friend, my warrior, my beloved. Destroy me, and I shall be your devastation in kind. ”

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obsidiannebula · 25 days

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Been a little busy so I'm just getting around to talking about it, but the other day ALL ANTI-LGBTQ+ BILLS in Georgia were defeated when the legislature adjourned!

Republicans tried to push anti-trans legislation including bans on puberty blockers for trans youth, bathroom and sports bans, and an end to legal recognition of transgender people, by amending these policies into completely unrelated bills. Despite the house being controlled by Republicans, all measures failed to pass before the Georgia legislature adjourned on March 28th.

Though some truly nightmarish stuff has passed in places like Utah and Wyoming this year, the resounding defeat of anti-trans legislation in Florida, West Virginia and now Georgia this year might be indicative of the anti-trans movement losing steam in the face of trans joy and advocacy.

#good news

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verytallfox · 8 months

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THE SOUNDS OF NIGHTMARES EPISODE 4 OBSERVATIONS

CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of suffering and death of children, mention of suicide (none in super graphic detail, but you have been warned)

So tragically the Ferryman does not appear in the latest release directly. However, we do get more of Otto’s further violations of ethics. He’s getting less restrained with concealing his pursuit of the Nowhere and the Ferryman.

We also get a look at what will likely be the fairground in the upcoming third game! That was a pleasant surprise. I’ve seen a few theories that the entity described there, the man in the purple suit and his dummy, are going to be enemies in the game. I could easily see that happening!

I wonder if we’ll meet any of those children while we’re there or if they’re long gone (dead, corrupted, or escaped). It seems like they might have had an idea for how to escape the Nowhere, and I’m wondering if escape will be on the table for Low and Alone. I sure hope so. The kids torn between these two planes of existence could really use a win.

Also, it’s worth noting just how good Noone is at putting the pieces together once Otto comes clean. She states it pretty succinctly: even if he wants to help her, he’s still using her suffering to figure out how to break into this nightmarish world to save someone else. She’s a means to an end. I don’t think she has long until the Ferryman or whatever higher power he serves (more on that in a bit) comes to collect her. Her panic attack and despair were also both really painful to listen to. Poor kid.

Moving on from the episode:

I’ve seen more and more stuff on the mirrors and the theory that Otto is the Mirror Man. Lemme offer a slight alternative that might be connected or the same: what if he’s the hanging figure in the Maw? This is more of a what-if than anything. I’m going on the assumption that Otto will eventually succeed in reaching the Nowhere (which has been shown to have normal-ish looking adults here and there), get trapped, and take his own life rather than be corrupted.

This same argument can be applied to why he might be the Mirror Man: Upon reaching the Nowhere, either through the same means as the children or another supernatural means of entry he’ll find himself trapped. Maybe it will be whatever he uses to enter the Nowhere that corrupts him or maybe it will be getting stuck there for a prolonged period of time. Either way, the darkness wins in the ends.

Both are totally conjecture on my part! If he does appear, it would probably make more sense that he be linked to mirrors than the hanging guy.

Finally, onto the Ferryman! I think he does operate as a fully sapient being and I do think he’s either received or taken (perhaps by force) the power he has. He can move about the Nowhere’s interconnected planes freely. Also going off of another Tumblr poster @queen0fm0nsterz (hellooo, sorry to @ you your idea is so goddamn good), I agree that he wasn’t human to begin with.

I also agree that Otto is probably wrong to assume the Ferryman can’t reach him in his own world. At the very least, if anyone from the Nowhere could cross over it would be him.

I feel that the Ferryman does not control the Nowhere either (perhaps nothing truly does), he simply has access that most other residents do not. So is he as free as the monsters that live there can be, or is he subservient to something else? I don’t think his purpose is limited to the Maw. Honestly, I think it’s a side gig. He might not have ulterior motives but if anything it feels to me like it’s just to pay the bills figuratively speakinf.

I don’t think the Maw or the Signal Tower rule the Nowhere. They both have similar functions, just on different scales and in different environments. But they both exist to feed and feed on those with insatiable desires (presumably), and it feels like there are probably older things than them that exist there.

So in short, I believe the Ferryman has his own agenda and that he may serve something else. I simply just don’t know what that might be.

Anyway, thank you again for your post @queen0fm0nsterz !!! It was really thought provoking and I hope you share more ideas as the series goes on.

Very good episode overall! I look forward to the remainder of the series!

#the sounds of nightmares #little nightmares #the ferryman little nightmares #little nightmares 3

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bookthroneking · 5 months

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Book Review: Burning Chrome by William Gibson

Oh, man, I'm in love.

It's not that I don't mean to ever read Neuromancer, William Gibson's influential cyberpunk novel, I've been looking forward to that book for years... I just don't often find the headspace to read that kind of sci-fi, so I keep putting it off for later. However, I really needed some fresh brain fuel recently, and a friend of mine suggested reading short stories. So I picked up Gibson's first short fiction collection, set in the Neuromancer world (a.k.a. the Sprawl series), on a whim. And it cured my every ill.

This story collection opens with an absolute banger: Johnny Mnemonic, which the Keanu Reeves movie was based on (haven't seen that one, but I've heard things). It's a fast-paced bite of cyberpunk sci-fi awesomeness that sets the bar very high right from the start, with stolen programs, cyborgs, Yakuza assassins, crime-ridden underworlds, and an incredibly cool female character who shines even through such a short narrative. The other stories were all excellent, but I'd like to point out the borderline-cosmic horror tale Hinterlands as my newest favorite: it's at once unsettling, nightmarish, and a beautiful gutpunch that left me with an aching sadness in my chest for a long time after reading. The title story, Burning Chrome, is the last in the collection and no less good than the rest: it contains what might just be THE coolest description of hacking and virtual reality I've ever seen... and considering that this collection was released in 1995, it's pretty goddamn impressive that none of the technobabble feels dated at all. If anything, it's still futuristic.

Really, I think the prose is what truly brings this book together for me, even more than the excellent worldbuilding. The future-past dystopia of the Sprawl universe is described at once with no-nonsense grittiness and with some surprisingly lyrical turns of phrase and imagery, the kind of stuff that wouldn't look out of place in a Raymond Chandler book if Chandler had ever written sci-fi: a really impossible cup of black coffee, a holographic rose postcard, some dead flies in a display window wearing fur coats of dust. There's a real sense of imagination and melancholy to each of these stories, which grounds them beautifully and makes them stay with you.

Or at least... I know they will stay with me.

StoryGraph rating: 4.75

#book review #2023 reads #science fiction #cyberpunk #short stories #william gibson #bookworm #booklr #my posts

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everythingispirates · 8 months

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What is One Piece

ONE PIECE is the best pirate media I've ever consumed which should tell you how warmly I recommend it considering the like. blog you're on rn. it's a manga, anime and upcoming netflix series and I'd recommend checking the live action out if you're curious abt it since the anime is kind of horrid pacing-wise (tho with great va's and music so if you think you can stand it be my guest). if the la sucks then check out the manga instead it's some of my favourite character work and worldbuilding of all time. everything abt it is just so incredibly vibrant and FUN like a central theme of the story is just like. joy and laughter and all that but it is also about defeating fascism with the power of incredible violence so it's multifaceted. the story is like so so much but very basically it's biggest treasure known to man is on an island only one crew has ever been able to reach and our mc is going to get his rubbery little hands on that thing. on the way he picks up a zany crew all of them are fantastic characters and together they make me cry with how much they love each other and are a family and all that it's beautiful. cw for like one million instances of child abuse bc everyone has a tragic backstory, also like a few genocides bc like I said fascism. cw for freak stuff is there's an imo rlly clunky racism metaphor don't care for that shit and also the way the story handles queer ppl specifically trans ppl is just a fucking. rollercoaster so beware of that I think it's nuanced but there are some really low lows. also art style is kind of nightmarish sometimes between the loop lips and the female anatomy but that's rlly all I can warn for off the top of my head and bear in mind this is a genuinely giant piece of literature so you can basically find like. anything in it. anyway sorry it's like p late and this is the kind of subject that will get me absolutely chatting so I'll stop for now. watch one piece on netflix when it drops this thursday or read the manga if you're truly based. my final message. goodbye

#ask

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chihirolovebot · 2 months

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i made. a PHYSMAKI!! pinterest board!!! i hope it is in character :’) but i wanted to share it with you anyways

https://pin.it/1WXZeDHsN

i made a few about phys & other characters too. and OFCOURSEEE physouma aswell!!

fyi its always me sending asks about physmaki,,, i love them so much actually toxic yuri FTW!!!!

IM LITERALLY SO ILLL OHHGHG MY GOD ARE U KIDDING ??? putting some faves under the cut

FIRST OF ALL just want to go crazy bonkers stupid over the amount of dog / rabid dog imagery and pins in this board since i went so hard on the coding for harukawa and dogs in sleep awake . shes so rescued fighting dog to me and it makes me sick. the nightmarish black and red ones are so perfect for just what i imagine the inside of her head to be like the 'do not forget what i am' with the bared teeth oghhhhgh harukawa u think ur so cruel and unlovable u think u are but a weapon but phys sees u as a person</3 what the hell .

this one first i hc that harukawa is very incapable of hiding her emotions like ANY emotions even though she tries . because i figure she never would actually have much practise hiding them as an assassin bc it was not strictly necessary + we see in the game that shes actually pretty expressive , even when it comes to stuff like being flustered by her friends or being angry ( mostly at ouma and momota lol ) . so yeah anyone this one is real harukawa's soft side for phys comes through a lot ( i hope ) .

this is so hangar coded . oughghhhggh oh harukawa u thought u were doing the right thing at any cost and now look . look how its all fallen apart around you. 'i did it for you' and the worst part is she did !!! she truly believed she was recusing phys from someone who had kidnapped and tortured them !!!!!!! she thought she was doing the right thing + who's to say someone in her shoes wouldn't do exactly the same . i can literally imagine her saying this . of course there is a flipside which is that harukawa only thinks she's doing stuff for phys because she doesn't believe they have agency of their own ( to an extent ) and they are blinded/brainwashed by ouma so it's a pretty awful double-sided coin . 'i did it for you' but only because i didn't believe you could do it for yourself .

well this one was just frankly evil and i think it's cool to read this from both perspectives actually . from phys's perspective this is fairly clear-cut; lover ( if we're going romantic physmaki ), hunter ( when they used to be afraid of her in the earlier chapters ) friend ( middle chapters ) and enemy ( right at the start and during a lot of chapter five ). YOU WILL ALWAYS BE EVERY ONE OF THESE because their dynamic changing and shifting doesn't discredit their journey from one sort of relationship to another . i think the nature of phys and harukawa's relationship is that it's always in danger of losing its equilibrium and sliding back into something slightly toxic or unhealthy or doomed . they probably have the most inconsistent relationship in the fic ( physouma is debatable ) and i think it's because they're never totally sure what to make of each other or where the other stands , as a threat or a friend .

slightly repeating myself on the hangar point but this just epitomises what harukawa was trying to do in ch5 . she doesnt really know how to love and have faith in other people which is a part of why she thought phys needed saving . if she had realised like chabashira , kiibo and saihara did that phys had more agency than they were letting on , it probably wouldn't have escalated resulting in their fallout and phys' fury towards her in the investigation + trial chapters . deep sigh . in conclusion harukawa fighting dog who had to use her teeth despite not wanting to . in conclusion ouma and harukawa both thinking they had no choice other than to do the worst thing possible that they truly did not want to do because they both believed it was in everyones greater interest . only to find out that if they just paid closer attention , believed a little more , there was a choice all along .

anyways im going to go vomit . genuinely amazing board , i checked out your other ones as well and OH the physouma one was genuinely fantastic . so sososo thankful u sent me this as u can see i went bananas over it + i hope ur having a wonderful day :3

sidenote i have a bunch of pinterest boards that u may or may not have seen . if u would like i can post the link to my own physouma board :o

#dear venus.#🏚.sleep awake

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turtle-paced · 1 year

Text

Revisiting Chapters: Samwell I, ASoS

Surprise!

The story so far…

Three blasts on the horn means Others. That’s the last time we saw the main force of the Night’s Watch. Let’s give Sam Tarly a warm, warm welcome to the PoV roster!

Retreat

Sam’s not having a good time of it. He’s crying from the instant we open the chapter, staggering through snow up to his knees. He’s been doing it for some time. His lack of physical fitness is hampering him. The footing is treacherous even for the healthy. And there are other dangers out there.

But if he stopped, he died. He knew that. They all knew that, the few who were left. They had been fifty when they fled the Fist, maybe more, but some had wandered off in the snow, a few wounded had bled to death…and sometimes Sam heard shouts behind him, from the rear guard, and once an awful scream.

He hasn’t slept. He’s only walked. It’s still snowing, to the point where the only difference Sam can tell between night and day in terms of visibility is whether the sky is black or white. Sam is freezing cold and in pain. The survivors have a ring of torches, which Sam begs to be allowed to join, but since he dropped a torch earlier he’s knocked back. They’re low on fuel for heat and light, it seems.

Sam pleads for mercy as he walks. His first thought is for his own mother, his next for the Mother Above. He’s all too aware that he’s in a place where neither mother can help him. The flashbacks aren’t helping. At last, when Sam trips and falls, he’s done. Someone tells him to get back on his feet, but nope.

After Sam flashes back pretty extensively to the battle causing this retreat - I’ll get to that in a second - we realise Sam’s been doing all this flashing back while collapsed in the snow.

He smiled. “No, truly, I’m good here. You just go on. I’ll catch you after I’ve rested a bit longer.”

“You won’t.” Grenn’s thick brown beard was frozen all around his mouth. […] “You’ll freeze, or the Others will get you. Sam, get up!”

This shattered retreat is almost as dangerous as the battle. Sam narrates the end of the battle and the start of the retreat in a disjointed, nightmarish fashion halfway through the chapter - fitting, really. The non-linear storytelling really works to convey Sam’s exhaustion and confusion, the sheer emotional and sensory overload of what’s happened to him in the past few days.

Eventually, when Sam’s flashbacks catch up to the main body of the chapter’s narrative, the Watch is only half mounted. Mormont does what he can.

The Old Bear made them redistribute the loads [from the surviving packhorses], so that the loss of any one horse and its provisions would not be such a catastrophe. He took garrons from the healthy men and gave them to the wounded, organised the walkers, and set torches to guard their flanks and rear.

But while this works from a numbers perspective, from the perspective of others it looks like they have to walk through the snow and carry more stuff to save people who maybe can’t be saved at all. And as Sam’s narration mentions, the snow’s still falling, getting deeper all the time.

Rout

So this raises the question - if the retreat’s this bad, what are the Watch retreating from? It goes without saying that their fight on the Fist was not very successful. Sam remembers the gruesome death of a watchman named Maslyn, killed even as he screamed for quarter. The Others accept no surrender, and the Watch can’t win, so the only option is to flee.

Sam gives us the ‘how we got here’ as he lies in the snow knowing he’s going to die if he doesn’t move. He was brought along on this expedition for the sole purpose of looking after the ravens, and that was what he took care of when the fighting started. Conscientious and diligent, he had his messages written out and ready to go as instructed. That’s when we cut back to pick up where the prologue left off. Sam even notes that Chett has a dagger in hand.

Despite the dire situation, including a narrowly avoided murder attempt, Sam gets the first raven and message off even as he hears the warning horns have silenced and that there’s fighting on the Fist. After that he’s at a bit of a loss, this being his first experience of battle.

He remembered turning in a circle, lost, the fear growing inside him as it always did. There were dogs barking and horses trumpeting, but the snow muffled the sounds and made them seem far away. Sam could see nothing beyond three yards, not even the torches burning along the low stone wall that ringed the crown of the hill.

Good writing, here - good use of flashback to give us an idea of the traumatised detachment present Sam is looking back with. Good use of sensory description to further GRRM’s key points about the horrors of war, without getting involved in tactical description GRRM tends to use sparingly and only when there are important strategic points in that description.

In any case, Sam ends up at the top of the hill where archers have organised. But the army of the dead don’t care about volleys, and even as wave one doesn’t falter, more zombies appear from the trees. Jeor Mormont calls for fire arrows and sends Sam away, to stand by at the raven cages and write updates. He writes a note when the first wave is driven off by fire, and another as they’re surrounded. Sam’s updates are good ones, including the weather, what worked to drive the wights off, the direction the wights were approaching from, and the type of wights - including the giant and the maybe-a-bear - until finally he has to write that the wights are over the wall and the battle is lost.

And then the call to mount up is heart, which Sam knows means the battle is lost.

The fear bit him so strong then that it was all Sam could do to open the cages. Only as he watched the last raven flap up into the snowstorm did he realise that he had forgotten to send any of the messages he’d written.

Yeah, Sam screwed that up in his panic. There’s no time to fix it, though, because Sam’s flashback continues as the wights break over the wall. Despite the panic that just caused that significant screw-up, Sam’s still observant. He might wish he hadn’t observed the way in which conventional weaponry is not terribly effective against wights, but that’s his bad luck. He also notes that although most of the wights were once Free Folk, some are wearing Night’s Watch blacks.

Sam continues to flash back as Small Paul hauls him through the snow, recalling instants as the Night’s Watch shatters and is forced into retreat. There’s one particularly gruesome moment:

He remembered one of the Shadow Tower men shoving his spear through a wight’s pale soft belly and out his back, and how the thing staggered right up the shaft and reached out his black hands and twisted the brother’s head around until blood came out his mouth.

The wights just don’t stop for conventional weaponry. It’s one thing for the wights not to fall at the barrage of arrows; it’s another to have to watch up close. Sam’s not the only one who breaks. Ser Ottyn Wythers is out of it to the point he gets kicked in the face by a passing horse.

Eventually Sam somehow ends up on a horse. He can’t tell the reader how that one happened. Observant or not, trauma is most definitely a thing in play here. Dolorous Edd’s still got time for a quip. Mormont calls for a retreat down a zombie-infested slope, the only one shallow enough for the horses. There’s another named character fatality as Thoren Smallwood tries to take on a zombie bear. Sam makes it through the Watch cutting its way out of the Fist - only to be promptly mugged for his horse by another member of the Watch, who gallops off.

And that is how Sam got to the start of the chapter. Fun times were had by all, it seems.

Courage and Brotherhood

Sam’s self-loathing is a terrible thing to read. Even as Mormont’s raven croaks out repeeated apologies,

Sam was sorry; sorry he hadn’t been braver, or stronger, or good with swords, that he hadn’t been a better son to his father and a better brother to Dickon and the girls. He was sorry to die too, but better men had died on the Fist, good men and true, not squeaking fat boys like him.

Sam started to do exactly what he needed to do, a job that someone had to do, and he did it when the pressure was on. Throughout his flashbacks of the battle, he focuses heavily on his own experience of fear. Which he blames himself for.

He was such a coward. His father had always said so, and he had been right. Sam was his heir, but he had never been worthy, so his father had sent him away to the Wall. […] He wondered whether Dickon would shed a tear for his brother who died in the snow, somewhere off beyond the edge of the world. Why should he? A coward’s not worth weeping over. He had heard his father tell his mother as much, half a hundred times. The Old Bear knew it too.

At least we know that Sam’s mother was crying over how her husband treated her son. Nevertheless, Sam’s pretty sensitive to the rejection from relevant male authority figures. When he falls in the snow, he also thinks of Jon Snow (still missing).

But when Sam is out of courage and out of endurance, there are still people there for him. Grenn begs Sam to get up, tries to pick Sam up, and at last literally kicks him into getting up.

“Leave him,” the man said to Grenn. “If they can’t walk, they’re done. Save your strength for yourself, Grenn.”

But Grenn refuses. That’s quite an amount of energy for Grenn to use in the bitter cold and deep snow. It’s actually quite tragic that Sam can’t recognise Grenn’s heroism in this moment because he’s sunk in his own self-loathing:

[Grenn] was stock and thick-necked and strong - Ser Alliser Thorne had called him “Aurochs” in the same way he had called Sam “Ser Piggy” - but he had always treated Sam nice enough. That was only because of Jon, though. If it weren’t for Jon, none of them would have liked me.

Sam can’t get his head around the fact that Grenn might, just might, have seen someone who was picked on by an authority figure the same or worse as he himself had been, and honestly empathised. The ‘none of them would have liked me if not for Jon’ I suspect is a self-loathing twist on a truth. Without Jon’s effots the others might not have been able to relate to Sam (at least not so quickly), but for Sam to think he’s so inherently unlikeable? Ouch. It also does a disservice to Grenn and the others, who as we can see, have their own compassion.

Grenn does his best to pick Sam up, but can’t, which is where a second black brother steps in. Small Paul, a Steinbeck reference no longer involved in any mutinous plots (which seem to have been put on the backburner in the immediate chaos of the retreat). Small Paul is plenty capable of picking Sam up and carrying him. Which is not to say Grenn stops helping - he starts trying to keep Sam’s morale up while Sam begs to be left behind to die.

Of course, not every member of the Watch is like Grenn, and even Small Paul’s help can’t keep them level with the group.

Some torch bearers went by as well. “You’re falling behind,” one told them. The next agreed. “No one’s like to wait for you, Paul. Leave the pig for the dead men.”

That turns out to be the rear guard, as Grenn realises ‘a while’ later. By then it’s just Sam, Grenn, and Small Paul - and Small Paul is utterly spent. There’s a quiet moment of ominous almost-beauty, then.

The wind sighed through the trees, driving a fine spray of snow into their faces. The cold was so bitter that Sam felt naked. He looked for the other torches, but they were gone, every one of them. There was only the one Grenn carried, the flames rising from it like pale orange silks. He could see through them, to the black beyond.

I love this bit of description. After the noisy chaos of most of this chapter, suddenly it’s quiet. Too quiet. The soon-to-be-revealed presence of an Other comes with an almost sensual menace - the wind sighs its anticipation, Sam feels naked and unprotected by the ‘silks’ of the flame, utterly vulnerable to the dark and the cold.

That’s when an Other appears, the first on-page appearance since the prologue of book one. I’d say detailed, but Sam doesn’t have much for us in terms of appearance. Slim, very pale, rippling armour, and its feet don’t break the snow when it dismounts. Unsurprisingly, as Sam quickly notes, the Other isn’t hampered by the snow or the cold, but is “light as snow on the wind.” It quickly disposes of Grenn’s torch, the fire causing a screech when it makes contact with the Other’s sword, and then kills Small Paul. Sam, meanwhile, grabs for the only weapon he has - the dagger Jon gave him.

The Other isn’t totally immune from physics, as Small Paul’s weight on the sword is enough to wrench it from the Other’s grip. Sam takes the opportunity as best he can.

Do it now. Stop crying and fight, you baby. Fight, craven. It was his father he heard, it was Alliser Thorne, it was his brother Dickon and the boy Rast. Craven, craven, craven. He giggled hysterically, wondering if they would make a wight of him, a huge fat white wight always tripping over its own dead feet. Do it, Sam. Was that Jon, now? Jon was dead. You can do it, you can, just do it. And then he was stumbling forward, falling more than running, really, closing his eyes and shoving the dagger blindly out before him with both hands.

It’s Sam’s memory of Jon - the supportive one - that’s most proximate to Sam getting up and fighting as he really, really needs to fight in that moment. Not his various abusers and detractors, whose memory drove him into giggling hysterically in that moment. It’s also Jon’s gift that does it. Sam’s courage is so apparent here. Grenn does not survive this one without Sam. But it’s also apparent that without Jon and Grenn and Small Paul, Sam would not have made it either.

Selfishness isn’t going to work to defeat the Others. It’s all connected, and the first person to kill a White Walker in the series isn’t some magic destined hero, it’s a frightened kid with a knife he got from a friend, doing his best to defend himself. The efforts of ordinary people are going to be important here too.

But even though the Other is dead, Small Paul as well, Sam and Grenn are still in danger. Grenn retrieves Sam’s knife, and they finish the chapter much as they started: another step in the snow, and then another. This time, however, they’re heading towards the light of dawn - and Grenn’s got a renewed belief in Sam’s courage, even if Sam himself doesn’t.

Chapter Function

The battle does some important work setting up what it’s like to fight masses of wights and what’s needed in pure physical terms to defeat both wights and White Walkers. The White Walkers can make wights of anything and anyone, regardless of political faction, and send reanimated bears into battle. Meanwhile, the living can’t rely on tactics that work against living beings; wights don’t stop just because someone’s killed them. The physical integrity of their bodies has to be significantly disrupted in order to stop them. It also seems likely that wight morale is a non-factor, where the living can mentally shatter.

And of course, the White Walkers themselves can be killed by obsidian weapons…and nothing else that humanity knows of yet. Good luck finding enough.

While the mutiny’s not happening in the retreat, the original plot is referenced in Small Paul’s desire to have Mormont’s raven and the caches placed on the game trail. In addition, we also see Mormont making some decisions that are good for the survivors as a whole, but maybe not so fantastic for individuals within that group. Imposing discipline on this lot is going to be a bit more of an issue next time we see Sam. The retreat and rout also continues clearing the way for Jon Snow’s election to Lord Commander, as other potential candidates die en masse in this battle.

On a character level, this is Sam’s first chapter as a POV character. We’re at the start of his personal arc here. Sam’s told Jon, and through him the reader, about the abuse he’s suffered. Now we see how Sam’s internalised that and how that affects his actions. We’re also introduced to the nature of Sam’s particular unreliable narration - he tells us that he’s a craven, and he shows us otherwise. Sam working out that that’s happening is the work in progress.

Miscellany

Look, Sam screwed up ‘sending’ those messages real bad, but nobody can say they didn’t see that coming. Brave Sam might be. Battle is not the place for him. Everyone knew that. What does this tell us about the Night’s Watch? They’re that bad off for literate recruits. One panic attack from an overwhelmed and not battle ready new recruit, who they knew was green and not especially suited for battle when they took him out there, and they were completely unable to communicate with Castle Black while in the field.

If Jon ever gets Sam back from the Citadel, the very next reform after that happens should be to start up some adult literacy classes, is all I’m saying.

Small Paul wants to know why the Other they confronted hurt the (gutted) horse it was riding. There’s no answer for him there. The Others did not need to kill the horse. They did not need to reanimate the horse - hell, if they can walk on the snow without any sort of equipment, the horse represents a pretty marginal benefit. (Imagine the White Walkers held up because a bunch of horse entrails got tangled in the undergrowth. Hang on, Bob, I’ll catch you up - this zombie horse’s ribcage snagged on a branch.) But they did anyway.

Clothing Porn

Sam’s got three pairs of hose, two pairs of smallclothes, a double lambswool tunic, a quilted coat, chainmail, surcoat, triple-thick coat with a bone button and hood, heavy fur mitts over thin wool and leather gloves, a scarf, and a fleece-lined hood…and he’s still cold.

Food Porn

None.

Next Three Chapters

Cersei VII, AFFC - Catelyn VI, ASoS - Bran II, ASoS

#asoiaf #valyrianscrolls #cw: violence #revisiting chapters #sam tarly #the night's watch #a storm of swords

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ferociousconscience · 7 months

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Hi! Hope its ok to ask, and sorry if its already been answered before: Do you have fav Les Mis adaption? Or a few?

Thank you for asking me!! I've not watched all of them, considering how many there are floating around out there and how many are sadly lost, but. I have spent this year hunting down and watching every adaptation I could. A special thanks to @ueinra for a lot of help in that regard. I recently made a Letterboxd account and a List just for Les Mis. I've plans to go through and review them properly, (Currently I only have Shoujo Cosette reviewed!) but I'd be happy to try to coalesce my thoughts on my absolute favorite for you, that being the four-part silent* Les Miserables (1925) under this read-more! Hiyah!

It's... Hard to grasp my feelings on LM1925, considering how special it is to me. These films really made me love the idea of cinema again. I had never seen a silent movie before, and frankly I thought they were one of those things that were a bit out of reach for me, but wow I am so so happy I watched LM1925. Not only is it a fantastic adaptation of LM, it's also just a fantastic set of movies (miniseries??) in general. The casting, the acting, the sets, the locations, the attention to detail, the quality of the visuals (which often are just frankly stunningly beautiful), the pacing, the atmosphere. Everything just works and is faithful to the feeling of reading the novel. (I will say I watched it without the accompany music at first, but have since gone back and listened to it overtop on a rewatch, and wow what a cool oddity it is. The Sims 1 soundtrack but with a surreal and often nightmarish twist.) I adore Gabriel Gabrio as Valjean. He really captures the idea that Valjean can both be noble, kind, and fearsome all in one. And Jean Toulout as scrunkly and lively Javert...!! I truly love him. I think them and Sandra Milovanoff as Fantine (less so as her playing Cosette, too, wish they would have cast another person) give absolutely amazing performances. This is also a great adaptation for the Gorbeau part of the book, ESPECIALLY Suzanne Nivette as Eponine, wow! What an Eponine! Probably my favorite Eponine. Same with Thenardier, both the Eponine and Thenardier in this one are tied with LM1972 for me. I also just like the... what I'll call "Theater Acting" performances I've seen in this and in the other early films I've watched since. The thick makeup. The funny expressions. The dramatic poses. All this would be considered overacting in the modern day, but to me it just feels alive. It reminds me of a lot of animations, I suppose, and that delights me. I also love love love that they didn't attempt to make big changes to the material at hand (Hell, they even touch on Waterloo in a way I thought was cool!). LM1925 and Shoujo Cosette made me realise that the longer a Les Mis adaptation is, typically the better it is to me. (with. One exception off the top of my head...) I think by the time I had watched all the other adaptations of both the novel and the musical, I had grown fatigued over the different ways films would try to condense things into 2 hours, and leave a lot on the cutting room floor (even if that usually means they focus more on the J vs JVJ aspect that I always have a weakness for), or when they try to cram everything into said 2 hours and turns it into a pacing nightmare. LM1925 avoids all that!

I feel I'm rambling on, so I'll rapid fire some stuff off. I love that they filmed in the actual msurm. I love that they kept things really grungy when the film calls for it. I love the scenes of the barricade, especially the scenes with the national guards spilling in. I love the subtle changes to the valvert side of things, it's truly one of the better adaptations for the shippers. I need to get on making some gifsets. If you love Les Mis, or just film in general, I think you owe it to yourself to watch LM1925. It's free! It's on the Internet Archive! There are download buttons or you can stream it! Please do! And tell me your thoughts on it!

#fc consternation tag #thank you againnnnnn!!

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mask131 · 9 months

Text

A fantasy read-list: B-1

Part B: The First Classical Fantasy

1) On one side, the British Isles...

We looked at the most ancient roots of the fantasy genre, which are... well, literaly antique roots - the texts of the Antiquity, the myths and mythologies of the world, the legends of the so-called “pagans” and the tales of long-gone societies, cultures and civilizations. Plus the true, literal “medieval fantasy” and some Arthuriana sprinkled at the top. Now I want to explore the Renaissance fantasy - or rather the first wave and apparition in literature of true “proto-fantasy”. These classical works that are still heavy influences and inspirations on modern fantasy pieces, but are younger than all the mythological and medieval stuff.

Given this huge read-list promises to be very big, very long and span over several years, I will try to restrain myself here to two nation-tied phenomenon. And in this specific post I will look at a given wave of “classical proto-fantasy” in the British Isles... Beginning with none other than...

# Shakespeare. William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avalon, the greatest playwright of England and a man whose work shaped our common imagination and popular culture today. Of course, since this list is focused about the wide genre of fantasy, I must start by listing his more openly supernatural and fantastical plays. On one side you have a lighter, more colorful and whimsical world of wonders and magic, in the shape of supernatural comedies, be it A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with its now world-known depiction of the fairy court as the Titania-Oberon-Puck triangle, or The Tempest, which implanted archetypal figures such as Prospero the wizard, Ariel the aerial spirit or the monstrous Caliban. On the darker side of fantasy, you have the grim and nightmarish tragedies that are Hamlet, one of the most famous cases of royal hauntings and madness in the history of theater, or Macbeth, which changed forever the way people view witches throught its iconic trio of Weird Sisters.

But the beautiful thing with Shakespeare is that even in his more “mundane” and “realistic” works, the magic never truly goes away. Thanks to his poetic writing and his love of symbolism and mysticism, Shakespeare maintains throughout his work a fantastical ambiance, an ambiguous tone that opens the door for many oniric sequences or supernatural readings. The description of Mab, queen of fairies, in Romeo and Juliet was just as influential on fairy folklore as A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The abnormal storm and pagan madness of King Lear leaves one wondering about the true cosmic powers at work here. And even in historical works witchcraft is never far away - such as with Richard III, where devilish forces and hellish characters are at play in an well-recorded historical event...

# But beyond Shakespeare, or rather all around him, there was a constellation of other poets and playwrights who helped conceive, flesh out and develop this “wonder-wave” that swept across Elizabethan England. Take Shakespeare’s most famous rival for example, Christopher Marlowe, who wrote The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, the first ever adaptation of the Faust legend for the stage. You have Edmund Spenser and his mystical fay epic, The Faerie Queene, which influenced not just Shakespeare but many more authors of knight adventures and fairy works. I can also mention Michael Drayton’s Nimphidia, The Court of Fairy (or Nymphidia depending on how you write it), a poem drawing from Shakespeare’s fairy characters to depict all the affairs, treacheries and secrets at the otherworld’s court ; or the various Elizabethan retellings of Ovid’s Metamorphosis written by John Lily (Endymion, Midas, Galathea...).

# And of course, I have to point out here that beyond specific authors, Shakespeare’s fantastical works drew from a lot of various sources, all representing different fragments or aspects of the way people approached the supernatural, folklore and legends in their time. For example, the more Jacobean play The Witch by Thomas Middleton, which had elements reused for Macbeth ; or the Daemonologie of King James, which also influenced Shakespeare’s writing of demons and witches. I can also drop here names going from quite obscure today, such as The Spanish Tragedy of Thomas Kyd, to behemoths of culture, like Dante’s Divine Comedy.

# Speaking of a man of the Isles who explored and influenced the fairy literature... I have to mention Robert Kirk, and his treatise on fairies and ghost known as The Secret Commonwealth. To this day, Kirk is still considered one of the greatest folklorists and collector of supernatural tale and fairy/ghost/witch beliefs of the 17th century, and The Secret Commonwealth stays one of the major “fairy books”.

# Leaving a bit the topic of fairies, I will conclude this post with one name... Ossian. During the 18th century, James Macpherson discovered and translated ancient Gaelic texts of Scotland - a series of epic poems attributed to a legendary bard by the name of Ossian. He started by translating Fingal, An Epic Poem in Six Books, and then worked on Temora, An Ancient Epic Poem, before collecting it all as The Works of Ossian. This discovery and translated was a HUGE phenomenon, and a revolution in the world of culture. Up until that point, people had praised the Homeric epics and thought the “Homeric phenomenon” was a one-time thing that couldn’t have happened anywhere else but Ancient Greece... And yet here were these great, glorious, excellently done, epic poems of mythical heroes and ancient witchcraft and gods, attributed to a mythical god-inspired bard and poet, part of another form of Antiquity than the Greco-Roman one. People jubilated upon discovering the “Celtic Homer”, and praised these grea poems proving that the Greek epics could be challenged by Gaelic sagas...

... But the thing is that James Macpherson probably never translated those works, and that maybe Ossian was a purely fictional invention. You see, James Macpherson was a poet himself with not much success before “discovering” the works of Ossian, and he was deeply passionate about ancient Scottish poetry and Celtic texts and the like, collecting them and imitating them. Despite their enormous importance and influence for literary movements, and painters across Europe, and poets for centuries to come, the poems of Ossian are clearly artificial in nature, written by Macpherson alone without any “translation” required. The poet purposefully created a “Celtic Homer”, as a way to sell his work - and selling it did! Mind you, the Ossian poems stay true to the texts and essence of ancient Celtic legends and myths. Macpherson knew his sources, as I said was passionate about ancient Gaelic poetry, and he took inspiration and influence from works such as the Ulster cycle, the Fenian cycle, the Book of the Dun Cow, the Book of Lismore or The Yellow Book of Lecan... The very fictional character of Ossian was actually shaped after the mythological character of Oisin. But Ossian and his poems stay an artificial creation of an 18th century poet, even though they fit perfectly alongside antique Celtic texts. It is similar to how nowadays Titania is an integral part of fairy folklore, and yet she was a literary inventon of Shakespeare for one of his plays.

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