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lenaellsi · 8 months

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i've mentioned this before and it's a Hot Take maybe but. i don't think it's fair at all to characterize crowley's "you and me, what do you say?" speech from s2 as being equivalent to "fuck the earth run away with me to the stars right now" a la season 1

i guess i can see why it might come off that way, with gabriel and beelzebub having just left and crowley drawing the comparison to them, but a lot of people have sort of extrapolated from that this dichotomy where suddenly aziraphale is the one who cares about saving the world and crowley only cares about himself and aziraphale. and while i think crowley certainly prioritizes their mutual safety and is more likely to get spooked when faced with threats from heaven (i wonder why) crowley also loves earth?? he talks about it all the time.

the last time there was an apocalypse, crowley was the one who proposed saving the world, and he had to talk aziraphale into it. and like...he was planning breakfast at the ritz, wasn't he? he didn't want to leave. obviously "you can't leave this bookshop" meant "you can't leave me," but it also LITTLE bit meant the bookshop, and earth.

the circumstances of s1 were very different than the end of s2. crowley only wanted to run in s1 when 1) the end was about 4 hours away, 2) from his POV he and aziraphale had no idea where the antichrist was, so they wouldn't be able to stop anything even if they did stay to die with the humans, 3) aziraphale was about to Talk To Heaven the same way crowley tried to before the Fall, 4) demons were actively pursuing him for purposes of torture and annihilation. and in the end, he STILL stayed.

idk. if we're going to give aziraphale the benefit of the doubt for the Many Things he said in that convo, then i think we can afford to give crowley the benefit of the doubt that "we need to get away from them" and "go off together" might mean something more along the lines of "please don't go back to heaven, stay with me, it can be the two of us against them all." THAT was what crowley's emotional arc this season was leading to, with the flashbacks and his big revelation in ep 5, the same way aziraphale's was leading to leaving. every single one of the flashbacks had crowley choosing to help someone else at great personal risk--why would that lead to the conclusion that he actually wants to leave without trying to help? (of course, he did want to abandon gabriel. but I don't think that was even a little bit irrational after aziraphale's failed execution. walking away from the heavenly host who has done nothing but hurt both of them is not the same as walking away from earth. it's still a problem--ignoring heaven and hell will not, ultimately, fix anything--but again, it's not the same as abandoning humanity on a whim.)

TL;DR I don't think it's a fair reading to say that crowley's proposed solution to The Heaven And Hell Problem is "fuck humanity, let's give up." i think he was proposing working together against heaven and hell with the option of an exit strategy if everything went wrong, which is what he ALWAYS tries to do. (see: arrangement + holy water.) his need for an escape route and his tendency to prepare for the worst is something that is definitely hindering him in, for example, his relationship with aziraphale, but it also makes sense. because, you know. the last time he tried doing anything about heaven he got his wings lit on fire. so.

#good omens #good omens season 2 #gos2 spoilers #crowley #good omens meta #call me a crowley stan but it's not fair to him to say that he doesn't care about anything but himself and aziraphale. he cares so much.#he didn't have to help job's kids. he didn't have to help elspeth. but he did #even though hell punished him for it when he got caught in edinburgh #he went back up and continued to do things his own way #but he also asked aziraphale for insurance. that's how crowley operates #push and push and push until you cross the line #and then run like hell to try to get out of the fire

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rosykims · 3 months

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it will never not be funny thinking about the hero of ferelden coming back to the wardens after they did All That in inquisition

#tay plays dai #oc: elspeth #oc: ashara #i cannot bring myself to exile the wardens no matter how unfathomably stupid ashara thinks they are #she doesnt really get the blight like maybe if she'd seen it she'd have more sympathy but yeah #she lets them stay but with absolute meanness/contempt/cringe in her heart :(#and tbh. i feel like elspeth would be like ok fair #god. IT MAKES ME LAUGH SO MUCH. ELLES IS ALREADY SO SO SO MISERABLE SHE DIDNT NEED THIS #its good clarel fucking eats it bc if she had to reconcile w elspeth after the fact it wouldve been. so bad. so so bad #elspeth voice STEP OUT. STEP OUT. GET THE FUCK OFF MY EXPO CHEF NOW.

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heartsdefine · 2 months

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…i mean, it’s true but hey.

#re; elspeth cousland. ( you are a brutal thing made of flowers )#re; vasilisa the fair. ( seeker of the knowledge that lies hidden )#crack; elspeth.#crack; vasilisa.

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taurielofmirkwood77777 · 6 months

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Just a thought. When Crowley prevented Elspeth from comitting suicide, we as a fandom assumed that it was because he didn't want the girl to end up in Hell. But what if it was more than that? We have confirmation from Neil himself that Elspeth and Wee Morag were intended to be a couple. And seeing how Wee Morag saw grave robbing as a morally wrong thing, and she only agreed to do it to help Elspeth, I think it's fair to say that when she died, she ended up in Heaven. As such, if Elspeth would've comitted suicide, the two of them would have ended up in differite afterlives. And maybe Crowley knew that. And maybe the reason he persuaded Elspeth to live a good life was that so she could be reunited with Wee Morag in the afterlife. And if he did do that, what a romantic gesture.

#no i won't talk about how aziraphale tried to do the same thing in the last episode #otherwise i'd be here the entire day #good omens #good omens 2 #good omens s2 #good omens season 2 #good omens season two #aziraphale #crowley #aziracrow #ineffable husbands

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xsaltburnx · 3 months

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Don't leave me

Comforting Farleigh after Felix's death

Farleigh Start x female reader

a/n: I really wanted to write this because I feel like Farleigh needed someone to comfort him and tell him everything's going to be alright after he got yelled at and he definitely deserved better, poor baby, (also that's what I think the scene is about, if I got it wrong, sorry)

warning: Felix dying, swearing, everybody treating Farleigh like shit, drugs, Farleigh crying a lot

word count: 3,299

You have known Farleigh for as long as you can remember. He's always been there for you. Your rock, your shoulder to cry on, someone who knew all of your secrets and all your problems, always ready to help you. Even if it was 4 pm or 4 am, you called and he was there.

And you were always there for him. Even though most of the times you two were on different continents and hours and miles away from each other, you never let something like that ruin what you two had. Then things started getting a lot easier because Farleigh came to live in England and since then you were inseperable. Yes, you did spend quite some time at Saltburn even when Farleigh wasn't here because you were really good friends with Felix and then later met Venetia, who you've clicked with just like that. Yes, sometimes they had their own opinion on Farleigh and sometimes you hated the way they talked about him but he somehow learned how to shake that off and not take it too seriously, so you did exactly that even though deep down it hurt to listen.

When you joined Oxford university, you and Farleigh became even closer and you eventually fell in love with him. You kept it a secret for quite some time because you were afraid to talk about your feelings because you didn't want to lose him. He was your home and you weren't planning on losing that, but luckily he felt the same and that was it. He was everything you always wanted and you swore you would never let him go or do anything that would harm him or let him battle his problems alone. No fucking way.

Everything was going great. You finished another year at Oxford, celebration obviously planned there and then later at Saltburn. Summer was about to begin and you had a feeling this summer was going to be one to remember. And oh boy it was.. but for very different reasons.

"Hey baby." Farleigh walked into your dorm, closing the door behind him, his arms immedistely wrapping around your body, hugging you from behind. "Did you finish packing?" He aks gently as he looked around the room, your clothes still splatered across the floor and your bed, messier than the first night you came here.

"Shut up." You playfully hit his arm as you heard him chuckle in your ear, his lips connecting with the top of your head in a gentle kiss. "I still have so much to do, I'll never make it in time."

"Yes you will, I'll wait for you, you know I'm not leaving." He spun you around, his hands resting on your waist as he pulled you closer and hugged you tightly, one of those as you called them grizly bear hugs.

"Then help me pack?" You batted your eyelashes at him and made a pouty face, hoping it would work.

"Oh no, that's not fair, don't do that, you know I can't resis that face" He said and kissed your lips swiftly, his fingers tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. "Of course I'll help."

"Is anybody else coming with us?" You asked while folding your t-shirts, placing them neatly inside your suitcase.

"Oliver fucking Quick." Farleigh trailed off.

"What?" You quickly turned around to look at him, unsure if you heard that correctly. You obviously didn't like him, I mean Fekix though he was a very inspiring person but you and Farleigh? You didn't get the hype and always held him on his toes.

"Yeah, Felix invited him. I don't know why, something about him not wanting to go home because of his parents."

"Do Elspeth and James know that?" You asked, crossing your arms.

"Yes, apparently Elspeth is extremely excited to meet him. That'll be interesting." Farleigh closed one of your bags and placed it on his shoulder. "Damn, what do you have in here, rocks?"

"Very funny, no, all the vibrators you gave me." You said, laughing, seriousness washed over his face.

"Oh really?" He dropped the bag on the floor and grabbed your waist, hoisting your body up on his shoulder, his large hand smacking you on the ass. Your laugh echoed throughout the room, probably audible outside too, but that's how Farleigh always wanted you to be. Such beautiful laughter, it was like music to his ears, like daisies adorning a beautiful meadow. He gently put you down on the bed and laid on top of you, his thumb caressing your soft cheek.

"I love you." He whispered, a special kind of sparkle in his eyes, a smile plastered on his face.

"I love you too, Farleigh." His hot breath washed over your face, his lips slightly brushed yours before he kissed you gently, a moment of bliss before the big storm.

~ ° * ° ~

Summer at Saltburn? Always crazy and busy, but the busy part? Partying and laying out on the freshly cut grass or swimming in the pool. That was all you did there every summer. Not a bad life, you always thought to yourself, but sometimes it was nice to go back to reality and to a real life.You'd be lying if you said you didn't get used to this kind of life, the glamour, the dinner parties, dressing up,it was quite fun to a certain point. When it was too much, you and Farleigh packed your bags and left for a week or two, all alone, away from all of it. But to someone, this life was inviting them in more and more as each day passed.

And then the Cattons decided to throw Oliver a birthday party. 200 people? 300? You lost count. I mean if it's a party then it's a great idea, but for the entire night Farleigh had a very strange feeling about everything that night. He watched Oliver just skulk around almost every room in the house, people not paying too much attention to him. Most of them only knew him as "the birthday boy" but only a few of them knew his actual name. There was something strange about him, Farleigh always kept an eye on him.

...and he was right...

Around 11 am you felt someone shaking your body, trying to wake you up. You opened your eyes and saw Farleigh standing in front of you and you immediately knew something was wrong. His eyes were wide and his hands were shaking, his mannerisms completely different than how he usually is.

"What is it?" You asked and instantly sat up on the bed, fear in your eyes and in your voice, your heart suddenly picking up its pace, a sudden wave of ringing filling up your ears.

"Felix is missing." Farleigh trailed off.

"What?" You quickly got up and didn't even bother to put on shoes. You ran outisde and saw Venetia in the water, walking around, waving her hands underwater. You ran towards her with Farleigh, both of you joining her, hoping he's not in here and that he's fine. Then you heard a gut wrenching scream coming from the maze. You looked at Farleigh and instantly felt tears well up in your eyes. You shook your head and walked as quickly as possible to the edge, climbed and got up, the three of you running towards the maze.

You knew the maze like the back of your hand so it was easy to get to the center, but at that moment you wish that you could just get lost in there because what you all saw was something you would never be able to forget as it was buried inside you mind very deeply.

Felix was laying there on his stomach, golden wings still attached to his back. His body a pale colour, almost a hint of blue, his beautiful eyes now without that incredible spark that you got so used to seeing. His lifeless body was something you never thought you would have to see in your life nor did you want to but for some reason you couldn't look away.

Venetia, you and Farleigh fell to your knees, grasping onto one another, looking for comfort as tears just started coming out, the pain in your chest unlike anything you've ever experienced before. It was as if someone ripped out your heart, a huge hole right in the middle of your chest. Your ears started ringing and you felt like you were going to pass out. You suddenly felt like you weren't on this planet anymore, completely disoriented and if Farleigh and Venetia weren't grasping onto your body, you don't know how you would have dealt with this alone. You let out a loud scream, your chest convulsing from all the sobs that kept coming out of your body.

You don't know how or when you got up, left the maze and changed your clothes or when on earth did everybody gather for lunch, but there you were, sitting at the table with James, Elspeth, Venetia, Farleigh, oh and yes, of course, Oliver.

The curtains shut as the room plunged into darkness, making it look red like blood, not a hint of daylight. It somehow looked terrifying and gruesome, very unpleasant. You were sitting next to Farleigh, his face kind of emotionless as he kept staring at the table, not moving his gaze from the same spot. You reached out to him, grabbing his hand and squeezing it, making him snap out of his thoughts, a sob suddenly falling from his lips. On your left was an empty chair and an empty plate. Felix's spot and when you first walked in and saw it, you broke down again.

Suddenly there was a hint of a squeaking gurney on the outside, meaning they were passing the window with Felix's body and then there was a sound of doors closing. A tear rolled down your cheek as you closed your eyes, your hand suddenly slipping away from Farleigh's.

"Oh my God... May I be excused, please?" Farleigh whimpered and got up from the table, his cheeks stained with tears.

"No. We haven't finished lunch." James replied, not even looking at Farleigh.

"Lunch is cold. You want me just eat it like nothing is happening?"

"What else is there to do, darling?" Elspeth looked at him, sadness noticable in her eyes.

"Anything! Anything-" You looked at him as he screamed out, a whimper escaping your lips as tears started falling from your eyes again. The pain was unbearable and seeing Farleigh like that broke your heart and how everybody acted like nothing ever happened, like Farleigh was the only one who actually cared and the only one who saw how messed up it was that everybody was acting like this. James slammed his fists on the table, the plates clattering. You jumped, your body shook from fear, the sudden change in tone almost too much.

"Farleigh! Will you be quiet?! Sit down and eat the bloody pie! Just eat it! Eat it and shut up! Eat the bloody pie!"

Farleigh sat down and grabbed his fork, placing the pie in his mouth but unable to chew through the meat. Small pieces flew out of his mouth and onto the plate, a tear rolling down his cheek.

"You're not the only person here with feelings. None of us wants your bloody American feelings!" James trailed off and suddenly there was silence inside the room. You didn't even try to put anything in your mouth because you felt like you were going to throw up.

"I think it’s delicious." Oliver suddenly said, Farleigh snapping at him.

"What the fuck are you still doing here?" you look at Oliver and his expression and there was nothing on his face. Like he didn't care. You wiped away your tears and placed your hands in your lap.

"Wait, does no one else find it weird?.. No one else finds that weird?"

"Farleigh.." you whispered and placed your hand on top of his, your fingers grazing his in a comforting way.

"I wouldn’t throw stones if I was you, Farleigh." Oliver replied in a strict tone, a fork in his hand.

"Excuse me?"

"Please stop." Venetia sighed and said quietly.

"What is he saying?" James asked and looked at Oliver.

"I..I've no idea." Farleigh said, clearly confused what Oliver wanted to get with all of this.

"What I'm saying is that I'd feel guilty too."

"Guilty?"

"If I was the one racking up lines the night someone died."

"Fuck you." Farleigh stared back at him, cursing, only hate for Oliver in his body at that very moment.

"That's not a denial." Oliver replied as he leaned forward a little bit, his gaze moving between you and Farleigh.

"You took it too far, Oliver." You interrupted them, defending Farleigh.

"Is that true?" James asked, pale with fury. He looked towards Duncan signaling him to leave. "Search Farleigh's room."

"No." Farleigh crumpled into his chair and started sobbing. Now you were a little bit scared. Your eyes widened, not surely understanding what they were going to do about this situation. Seeing and hearing what was happening was making the situation even harder. You couldn't take your eyes off Farleigh and when you saw tears continuously welling up in his eyes, you couldn't help but start sobbing as well. Your heart was breaking.

"Get out." Sir James said angrily.

"Please, he didn't do anything.." You looked at Sir James, begging, trying to make him see that it really wasn't his fault and that he had nothing to do with all of this. Of course he didn't believe you, he didn't even acknowledge you.

"No, wait-" Farleigh whimpered and wiped away his tears with the sleeves of his jumper.

"What's happening?" Elspeth asked after wiping her mouth eith a linen cloth.

"Aunt Elspeth- Elspeth-" he said desperately but got interrupted by James.

"Don’t you dare look at her!"

Elspeth looked liked she was now ignoring Falreigh, not wanting to look at him at all. Could she ever look at him again after this? Who knows.

"Get out!"

Farleigh looked around the table, searching for somebody to look at him, to see they were making a mistake but no one looked at him except for you. Not even Oliver. He got up your hand slipped off, hanging next to your body. Your lip trembled at the sudden empty feeling, your head hung low as you kept staring at your fingers. Farleigh grabbed onto the chair, picking at the stitching.

"I won't mention this to the police. That's all you get. Nothing more. Ever again." James trailed off and that was the last thing you heard from him that night. Farleigh turned to the side and left the room, leaving you alone with the Cattons and Oliver. You wiped away your tears with the back of your hand.

"You didn't have to do this. It wasn't his fault." You snapped back at Oliver, his eyes quickly looking back at you. A hidden smirk adorned his face, a sinnister look in his eyes.

"You know he did it. He was racking up lines the whole night. Felix could've taken whatever Farleigh was using." Oliver replied, his plate now half empty. "Even when you two were fucking outside. It was like a freak show."

"Fuck you." You quickly got up and threw the linen clot on the table, your legs feeling like jello. "If you'll excuse me, I can't be in the room with someone who cares more about a fucking stranger than a member of this family."

You turned around on your heels and walked out of the room. The second you closed the doors, you let out the biggest sob, a long hallway making it echo throughout the house. You felt like you were falling apart from the inside out.

You stood outside Farleigh's room as you quietly knocked on the door, only a quiet sob audible. You silently opened the door and what you saw broke your heart completely. Farleigh was laying on the floor, his knees pulled towards his body, his arms wrapped around them as loud sobs fell from his lips.

You looked around his room and saw how big of a mess it was. Everything was scattered on the floor. His clothes, his books, all of his belongings on the floor. You bit your lip in hopes it would stop you from crying, but it didn't help.

You walked over to his sobbing figure and knelt down, your arms immediately wrapping around his body.

"Farleigh... baby.." you whispered, his body shaking.

"They think I killed him." He whispered through his cries, his tears soaking the carpet underneath him. "I didn't do it." His cries kept getting louder and it was harder for you to stay quiet because you couldn't stand him being like this, broken, like he didn't mean anything to anybody. Like it was all his fault. You wanted to fix everything and make it all okay for him because that's exactly what he deserved. He deserved better and to be treated right.

"No, Farleigh, you didn't do it. It's not your fault, please don't think that. You didn't kill Felix." You told him, your hands caressing his arms, comforting him, hoping it would help him even just a little bit.

"Now I feel like I did." He cried out, his face now buried in his hands.

"Hey, come here." You grabbed his arm and gently pulled him, moving his hands from his face. You intertwined your fingers with his and helped him sit up, his knees once more pulled towards his body. You wiped away his tears with your thumbs, gently caressing his cheeks before you cupped his face, making him look at you directly in your eyes.

"You didn't do it, why would you think that? Because of Oliver?" He just nooded and closed his eyes, a single tear rolling down his cheek. It felt like someone was sitting on your chest, the pressure and the pain in your heart from seeing Farleigh like this was unbearable.

"Fuck him, Farleigh. He's a nobody, a fucking leech and if I could get rid of him, I would. You're so much more than all of this. You deserve everything in this world and if they can't see it, fuck 'em." You trailed off, tears welling up in your eyes and your voice breaking every other word.

"Everybody is leaving me, pushing me away like I mean nothing." He sobbed and quickly got up as he started pacing around his room, his cries so loud that it seemed like he was fighting for air. You jumped up and stood there in place for a few seconds, somehow unable to move.

"Are you also going to leave me?" His voice cracked and right then he looked like a little kid. You dare to say that he looked absolutely defeated. "Please don't leave me."

A loud cry fell from your lips, his words hurting you, hurting how he thought that you would actually leave him after everything. You shook your head and practically ran towards him, your body smashing into his

You wrapped your arms around him tightly, your face buried in his chest as you sobbed quietly. His arms squeezed you, almost as if he was afraid if he held you lightly or if he let you go, you would somehow slip away.

"I will never leave you, Farleigh. I could never. You're a part of me and if I lose you, I'll lose myself. Please don't ever think that I would leave you." He kissed the top of your head, one hand still wrapped around your body while the other gently caressed your hair.

"Now let's get out of here. Okay?" You kissed him on the lips gently, his arms resting on your hips. You had to get out of this house, had to get away from Saltburn as soon as possible. The only good thing about all of this? Farleigh by your side.

"Okay."

#farleigh start #saltburn #farleigh start x reader #saltburn x reader #farleigh start smut #saltburn smut

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bowtiepastabitch · 5 months

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Historical Analysis: class and injustice in 'The Ressurrectionists' minisode

Alternate title: why we're tempted to be upset with Aziraphale and why that's only halfway fair

Okay so first off huge thanks to @makewayforbigcrossducks for asking the question (and follow-up questions lol) that brought me to put these thoughts all together into a little history nerd ramble. That question being, Why is Aziraphale so clueless? Obviously, from a plot perspective, we know we need to learn some lessons about human moral dilemmas and injustices. But from a character perspective? A lot of this minisode is about Aziraphale being forced to confront the flaws of heavenly logic. This whole idea that "poverty is ineffable" basically boils down to 'yeah some people are poor, but their souls can be saved just as if not more easily that way, so it's not our problem and they probably deserve it anyway for not working hard enough,' a perspective that persists in many modern religious circles. Aziraphale isn't looking at the human factor here, he's pretty much purely concerned about the dichotomy of good and wicked human behavior and the spiritual consequences thereof, because that's what he's been told to believe. His whole goal is to "show her the error of her ways." He believes, quite wholeheartedly, that he's helping her in the long run.

"the lower you start, the more opportunities you have"

So here's what we're asking ourselves: Why did it take him so bloody long to realize how stupid that is? Sure, he's willing to excuse all kinds of things in the name of ineffability, but if someone in the year of our lord 2023 told me he was just now realizing that homelessness was bad after experiencing the past two centuries, I'd be resisting the urge to get violent even if he WAS played by Michael Sheen.

Historical context: a new type of poverty

Prior to the 19th century (1800s), poverty was a very different animal from what we deal with now. The lowest classes went through a dynamic change leading up to the industrial revolution, with proto-industrialization already moving people into more manufacture-focused tasks and rapid urbanization as a result of increasingly unlivable conditions for rural peasantry. The enclosure of common lands and tennancies by wealthy landowners for the more profitable sheep raising displaced lots of families, and in combination with poor harvests and rising rents, many people were driven to cities to seek out new ways of eeking out a living.

Before this, your ability to eat largely would have depended on the harvest in your local area. This can, for our purposes, be read as: you're really only a miracle away from being able to survive the winter. Juxtapose this, then, with the relatively new conundrum of an unhoused urban poor population. Now if you want to eat, you need money itself, no exceptions, unless you want to steal food. Charity at the time was often just as much harm as good, nearly always tied deeply up in religious attitudes and a stronger desire to proselytize than improve quality of lie. As a young woman, finding work in a city is going to be incredibly difficult, especially if you're not clean and proper enough to present as a housemaid or other service laborer. As such, Elspeth turns to body snatching to try to make a better life for herself and Wee Morag. She's out of options and she knows it.

You know who doesn't know that? Aziraphale.

The rise of capitalism

The biggest piece of the puzzle which Aziraphale is missing here is that he hasn't quite caught onto the concept of capitalism yet. To him, human professions are just silly little tasks, and she should be able to support herself if she just tried. Bookselling, weaving, farming, these are all just things humans do, in his mind. He suggests these things as options because it hasn't occurred to him yet that Elspeth is doing this out of desperation, but he also just doesn't grasp the concept of capital. Crowley does, he thinks it's hilarious, but Aziraphale is just confused as to why these occupations aren't genuine options. Farming in particular, as briefly touched on above, was formerly carried out largely on common land, tennancies, or on family plots, and land-as-capital is an emerging concept in this period of time (previously, landowners acted more like local lords than modern landlords). Aziraphale just isn't picking up on the fact that money itself is the root issue.

Even when he realizes that he fucked up by soup-ifying the corpse, he doesn't offer to give them money but rather to help dig up another body. He still isn't processing the systemic issues at play (poverty) merely what's been immediately presented to him (corpses), and this is, from my perspective, half a result of his tunnel-vision on morality and half of his inability to process this new mode of human suffering.

Half a conclusion and other thoughts

So we bring ourselves back around to the question of Aziraphale's cluelessness. Aziraphale is, as an individual, consistently behind on the times. He likes doing things a certain way and rarely changes his methodology unless someone forces his hand. Even with the best intentions, his ability to help in this minisode is hindered by two points: 1)his continued adherance to heavenly dogma 2)his inability to process the changing nature of human society. His strongest desire at any point is to ensure that good is carried out, an objective good as defined by heavenly values, and while I think it's one of his biggest character hangups, I also can't totally blame him for clinging to the only identity given to him or for worrying about something that is, as an ethereal being, a very real concern. Unfortunately, he also lacks an understanding of the actual human needs that present themselves. Where Elspeth knows that what she needs is money, Aziraphale doesn't seem to process that money is the only solution to the immediate problem. This is in part probably because a century prior the needs of the poor were much simpler, and thus miraculous assistance would never have interfered with 'the virtues of poverty'. (You can make someone's crops grow, and they'll eat well, but giving someone money actually changes their economic status.) Thus, his actions in this episode illustrate the intersection of heavenly guidelines with a weak understanding of modern structures.

This especially makes sense with his response to being told to give her money. Our angel is many things, but I would never peg him as having any attachment to his money. He's not hesitant because he doesn't want to part with it, he's hesitant because he's still scared it's the wrong thing to do in this scenario. He really is trying to be good and helpful. So yes, we're justifiably pretty miffed to see him so blatantly unaware and damaging. He definitely holds a lot of responsibility for the genuine tragedy of this minisode, and I think Crowley pointing out that it's 'different when you knew them' is an extremely important moment for Aziraphale's relationship with humanity. Up until now, he's done a pretty good job insulating himself from the capacity of humans for nastiness, his seeming naivity at the Bastille being case in point.

In the end, I think Aziraphale's role in this minisode is incredibly complex, especially within its historical context. He's obstinate and clueless but also deeply concerned with spiritual wellbeing (which is, to Aziraphale, simply wellbeing) and doing the right thing to be helpful. While it's easy to allow tiny Crowley (my beloved) to eclipse the tragic nature and moral complexity of this minisode, I think in the end it's just as important to long-term character development as 'A Companion to Owls'. We saw him make the right choice with Job's children, and now we see him make the wrong choice. And that's a thing people do sometimes, a thing humans do.

~~~

also tagging @ineffabildaddy, @kimberellaroo, and @raining-stars-somewhere-else whose comments on the original post were invaluable in helping me organize my thoughts and feelings about this topic. They also provided great insight that, in my opinion, is worth going and reading for yourself, even if it didn't factor into my final analysis/judgement.

If I missed anything or you have additional thoughts, please please share!!! <3

#this was a monster of a post to write #in no small part because I was relying more on my own historical knowledge than usual so I had to double check myself constantly #but I had a lot of fun and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did #good omens #good omens 2 #neil gaiman #good omens analysis #good omens meta #the resurrectionists #good omens season 2 #good omens minisode #nerd shit #ineffable husbands #aziraphale good omens

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ineffable-suffering · 7 months

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Why Aziraphale is an unreliable narrator

Part 2: The Story of wee Morag

This is Part 2 of 3 total metas. Here are:

Part 1, in case you want to read about my analysis of the Story of Job first

and Part 3, in case you're impatient and want to jump ahead.

Fair warning though, for the sake of understanding some of the references, you're probably better off reading this chaptered meta chronologically. However, every part should work just as well as a standalone! I'll do my very best to make it so.

Alright, off or on you go beyond the cutty cut!

I'll start this second part off with a very brief summary of the main take aways and points from Part 1, which go as such:

Memory, as opposed to a third party's narration, is not a factual, objective retelling of a story or event. It's mingled and mangled with emotions, imaginations and exaggerations, projecting both the feelings and impressions you had back then as well as those you might have now in the present time back on whatever it is you are remembering. (Which is why we need to put everything that Aziraphale is remembering into the context of what he might have felt in the past, as well as what he's feeling right now.)

While this doesn't mean his (or anyone's) memories are lies, it does mean they're a very subjective and sometimes factually distorted representation of what actually happened, which, in our case, gives us a lot of subtext and a lot of not-there furniture to figure out and look at.

So, let's continue with S2E3 and the Story of wee Morag. We start our flashback with a scene of Aziraphale writing his diary entry on the 10th of November, 1827. Immediately, it's firmly established that this is once again not an outside-point-of-view narration, but rather what Aziraphale remembers and wrote down.

One thing that immediately stuck out to me here, is how helpful and kind Crowley is to Elspeth, pretty much from the very beginning when they meet her in the graveyard. Not only does he take on a Scottish accent so she won't perceive him as English (as she does with Aziraphale), but he also helps her drag the barrel that has the fresh body in it and, in the end, even pulls it all by himself while Elspeth simply follows behind them. Here's a rather poor-quality picture, for reference:

Now, we know that despite not showing it very often, Crowley has always been very fond of the humans and never really put himself on a pedestal simply because he's an immortal being himself. He likes humans, just like Aziraphale does. But, just like this story will tell us, Crowley knows that on top of liking humans, you can't just put them into boxes of good and evil and expect them to always do what is supposedly the "right" or "divinely good" thing to do. (Which is what differentiates him from Aziraphale in the way he understands and treats them, as we're shown in this minisode).

Him immediately and unspokenly helping Elspeth with dragging the barrel therefore might also be a first sign of a tiny projection from present day Aziraphale, as opposed to what Crowley might have actually done (probably just walked beside her, like Aziraphale) because he has the knowledge that Crowley really was so very kind to her in the end, wasn't he? And that he's kind to humans in general. ("Not kind! Off my head on Laudanum!" Sure, babe.)

Most of this minisode, in my opinion, is actually there to establish how Aziraphale's view of morality and good vs. evil used to be quite flawed and elitist –– and how Crowley has always been there to gently nudge him towards questioning his black and white view of heavenly right and hellishly wrong. That's why I think there's not as many hints in this minisode about Aziraphale's memories not being an accurate portrayal of what happened, as there are in the Story of Job or the magic show in 1941. (And, fear not, the latter will definitely be the most hint-heavy one). Alas, there's still a few bits and bobs in the Story of wee Morag that stuck out to me, that make a brief yet good case of the whole unreliable narration thing.

First of all: The way Aziraphale describes all of it in his diary is so different from the way we see him actually remembering it. It's almost like he tried to write this entry (and possibly all of his diary) as a bit of a thrilling short story, with himself as the main character. Which makes sense, given the fact that he adores books and would certainly be keen on dabbling in the art of capital-w Writing himself. It's yet again hinting at the fact that sometimes people (and angels) try to polish and bedazzle stories (and memories) to make them seem more exciting and adventurous, often to distract from the not-so-fun parts of it.

Like when Aziraphale's diary narrates:

"It was with heavy heart we arrived at Elspeth's destination. I was determined to thwart her monstrous plan!"

... and yet we see Crowley and Elspeth casually walking down the alleyway, very obviously not heavy-hearted in the slightest, while Aziraphale nervously scurries on behind them, very obviously not determined to thwart. (Timestamp-wise, it's around 17:38 in S2E3, in case you want to see for yourself.)

We get another cinematographic/auditory hint at the fact that Aziraphale's memory is heavily influenced by what he's feeling that very moment, when Dr. Mister Dalrymple –– FRCSE, thank you very much –– shows him the tumor he removed from the seven year old boy. You can see the shock and horror on Aziraphale's face once he learns of this child's cruel fate. We then proceed to hear Mr. Dalrymple's voice grow sort of echo-y and far away as the sad music swells up and drowns out his voice almost completely. It's awfully similar to what it feels like when really horrible news are broken to you and you dissociate and drift into a state of shock. Here's the clip of it, so you may listen for yourself:

It's clear that this is a very subjective portrayal of what Aziraphale is going through during this part of the memory. He's deeply horrified and saddened about the little boy having passed away so early in life – and we hear and feel this shock with him. Through him, because this is his memory. Whatever it is he's feeling and thinking, we're feeling and thinking it too because we're seeing it through his lense.

Another (less sad) hint at a possible exaggeration is the abnormally deep hole Crowley makes the two graveyard watch keepers fall into. I'm pretty sure he's very much in charge of his miracles, making this random slip-up seem a little silly – which is why I'm also pretty sure the "Might have slightly overdone it on that hole" is a wee bit of a meta hint at this just being another one of Aziraphale's dramatic bedazzlements of this story. For the *flings feather boa around neck* drama!

You know what else might be exaggerated? Hm, I dunno, maybe Crowley growing into the size of a tree for no apparent reason. Sure, yes, he's pretty high on Laudanum which is making him a bit loopy. But apart from that, it does seem an awfully big cinematographic euphemism for him being the metaphorical (and, once again, for the drama of it) literal bigger person in this scenario. He's the one who ends up saving Elspeth and who manages to secure a safe life without poverty and grave robbing for her. While Aziraphale was so tangled up in his own moral journey and main character-ism, missing that wee Morag was seconds away from death already, Crowley is the one who actually ends up growing stepping up for the human in need and saving them for good (pun intended).

In a way, it might just be Aziraphale's view of/feelings for Crowley in this very moment. Watching the demon outgrow what, according to Aziraphale's heavenly logic, is supposed to be a foul fiend, bestowing evil upon humanity – and growing into someone who does the exact opposite and saves Elspeth instead. Another larger-than-life character development, in Aziraphale's eyes. Literally.

Let's switch back to the topic of the diary entry one last time, so I can make my final point of the this minisode's unreliable and a smidge over-dramatic narration of Dr. McFell. If you pay close attention, Aziraphale starts the entry we're all getting to experience with: "Last month, Crowley and I both happened to be in Edinburgh." Which means it didn't actually happen on the 10th of November, but rather at some point in October, 1827. Once we see Crowley get hydro-pumped back to Hell after rescuing Elspeth, the minisode ends with, presumably, the last sentence of Aziraphale's diary entry: "And that was the last I would see of Crowley for quite some time."

Take my hand and let's look at where the furniture isn't: This very clearly means that Crowley couldn't have been gone for more than a month, at best. Read again: "It happened last month and that was the last I would see of him for quite some time." This, albeit indirectly, clearly implies that when Aziraphale had sat down to write the diary entry, he had already run into Crowley again. Otherwise his phrasing would have probably been more along the lines of "... and I haven't seen Crowley since" or "... and Crowley has yet to return from wherever it is Hell's currently keeping him".

What's the point I'm trying to make? Good question. I guess my main point of storyteller Aziraphale being a bit over-dramatic in his narration is simply backed up by this, since A Single Month would barely pass as "quite some time" for an immortal being like him. And yet that's how he puts it, in his little Confidential Journals of A.Z. Fell, Vol. 603.

And another point that has absolutely nothing to do with the topic of this meta (but I'm still gonna make it 'cause this is my memory post): The meeting at St. Jame's Park in 1862 that so many, post-S2, took to be their first run-in after the Story of wee Morag, actually wasn't that at all. They saw each other at least once only a month later, as Aziraphale's diary lets us know. Which explains why he wasn't very surprised or concerned when he met Crowley in London, 1862. If there really had been 35 years in between those two events, the first one ending with Crowley being sucked back Downstairs to receive more than three decades worth of hellish punishment, wouldn't Aziraphale have been at least a tiny bit worried or more interested than:

Just saying.

Alright, let's string this inflated hot air balloon of a post back together so we can outline some invisible furniture. This time with only two humble points:

Crowley through Aziraphale's lense Backed up by how we are introduced to Bildad the Shuhite in the Job minisode (suave, cheeky, smart, passionate in shoemaking and obstetrics), it's growing quite clear that Aziraphale's memories and impressions of Crowley are very fond and impressed ones. He sees him as someone who's not only witty, funny and cool, but also as someone who has figured out way sooner and faster than him that nothing's ever black and white. Not God's plans and not the human's choices either.

Aziraphale as a bit of an exaggerating adventure author With the direct parallel we get of inkslinger journalist!Aziraphale in the present day, it's quite apparent after this minisode that Aziraphale's memory is not only deeply influenced by his emotions, but that he also tends to have a bit of a dramatic touch to him. Although, you gotta give it to the guy: A month without seeing the love of your life, even if said life is eternal, can indeed seem like "quite some time".

Well, would you lookie here, we've reached the end of Part 2! What a journey it was. I hope you forgive me for the fact that I drifted off-course a few times. I just can't seem to reel in my silly little observations, even if they've got nothing to do with the point I'm trying to make. But hey, doesn't that just make me a little bit like Aziraphale's storytelling, in a way?

I'll let you be the judge of that.

See you in Part 3! And in case you haven't snuck a peak yet: here's Part 1 again.

Ta!

#good omens #good omens season 2 #gos2 #go2 #good omens 2 #good omens meta #ineffable husbands #aziraphale #crowley #good omens analysis #aziraphale is a storyteller #but not a very accurate one #story of wee morag #my own meta #aziraphale the Drama Queen #shakespeare who #unreliable but beloved story teller aziraphale

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masqueradereveler21 · 25 days

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Hogwarts Legacy Character Sheet - Gwendolen Hedera

General Information

Full Name: Gwendolen Hedera

Nicknames: Gwen, Wendy, The Hero of Hogwarts, The New Fifth Year

Gender: Female

Date of Birth: April 26th, 1875

Zodiac Sign: Taurus

Personality Type (MBTI): INTJ - The Architect

Species: Human

Blood Status: Unregistered

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Nationality: British

House: Slytherin

Wand: Fir wood with a phoenix feather core, 11 3/4”, rigid flexibility

Patronus: Stoat

Boggart: The mutilated corpse of Professor Fig

Amortentia: Bread pudding, wax candles, old books, fresh linen

Physical Appearance

Hair Colour & Style: Black; occasionally wears down but is most often seen sporting it braided or in a ponytail.

Eye Colour: Grey

Skin Tone: Olive with neutral undertones

Height: 167cm (5’6”)

Weight: 55kg (121 lbs)

Clothing Style: Neat and presentable; favors skirts, ruffled blouses, vests, and heeled boots. Almost never wears her robes.

Accessories: Black painted finger nails. A necklace gifted to her from Natty.

Personality

Positive Traits: Adaptable, determined, loyal, resilient, compassionate, curious, diligent

Neutral Traits: Independent, reserved, ambitious, rational, observant, competitive

Negative Traits: Arrogant, cunning, stubborn, sarcastic, defiant

Strengths: Capable of thinking outside the box and extremely quick-witted

Weaknesses: Thinks she knows what’s best and struggles to let people in

Likes: Cats, Summoner’s Court, Quidditch, organization, leadership, exploring the highlands, reading

Dislikes: Spiders, Gobstone’s, dugbogs, failure, meat, laziness, clutter

Background and Family

Gwendolen Hedera was born on April 26th, 1875, in East London to parents of unknown wizarding heritage. At the age of five, Gwendolen was in a carriage incident which tragically took her parents lives and left her with amnesia. She was ultimately raised at Mission of Love, a Muggle orphanage where she was subjected to mental, verbal, and occasionally physical abuse. Once she grew older, she was shuffled from household to household and learned that in order to get what she wanted she had to manipulate the people around her. She earned a fair education living amongst some of the wealthier families in London but never had the one thing she truly wanted - familial love. When she was fifteen, Gwendolen found herself whisked away from the orphanage by Professor Eleazar Fig, never to be seen again.

After Professor Fig’s death, she found herself under the guardianship of Matilda Weasley, Deputy Headmistress and Transfiguration professor. It took some convincing from Ominis for her to accept the offer, and she kept herself at arms length around Professor Weasley, secretly fearing that she would abandon her when things became too difficult. During the summer between her fifth and sixth year, she met the rest of the Weasley clan and grew closer to Garreth Weasley, who she begrudgingly helped with his experiments. With time, she came to view Professor Weasley in a maternal light (the feeling was mutual on Matilda’s part).

Biological Father: Unknown (Deceased)

Biological Mother: Unknown (Deceased)

Guardian/Adoptive Parent: Matilda Weasley

Adoptive Uncles: Graham Weasley, Phillip Weasley

Adoptive Aunts: Dorothy Weasley (née Button), Lydia Weasley (née Hawthorne)

Adoptive Cousins: Theodore Weasley, Oscar Weasley, Garreth Weasley, Florence Weasley, Millicent Weasley, Francis Weasley, Edmund Weasley

Relationships

Love Interest: Ominis Gaunt/Sebastian Sallow…ehhh it’s complicated…

Best Friends: Natsai Onai, Poppy Sweeting, Garreth Weasley, Imelda Reyes, Amit Thakkar

Acquaintances: Nerida Roberts, Grace Pinch-Smedley, Lucan Brattleby, Isaac Cooper, Adelaide Oakes

Rivals: Leander Prewett, Charlotte Morrison, Samantha Dale

Enemies: Ranrok, Victor Rookwood, Theophilus Harlow, Ashwinders, Cassius Caine (OC), Elspeth Iris (OC)

Pets: Vivarium beasts, eleven cats, a barn owl named Minerva

• Artwork done by the incredible @millyillus •

#gwendolen hedera #ominis gaunt #sebastian sallow #natsai onai #poppy sweeting #garreth weasley #amit thakkar #imelda reyes #matilda weasley #hogwarts legacy mc #slytherin #slytherin mc #hphl mc #hogwarts legacy oc #the girl with the resting bitch face #character sheet

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alphacentaurinebula · 5 months

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So God is the baddie in Good Omens, right?

Like I know the Metatron is a midlist baddie, a manipulative dickhead apocalypse enabler. But the real Evil Doer is God herself.

The evidence:

a) the Fall - nobody deserves eternal damnation. Not even Hastur.

b) the Apple - what's so wrong with knowledge, anyway???

c) the Celestial System - NOBODY DESERVES ETERNAL TORTURE NOT EVEN VERY BAD HUMANS AND CLEARLY HELL IS NOT FILLED WITH ONLY VERY BAD HUMANS. (Ahem. I have a thing about 'deserving' and fairness. See: whole separate meta on the topic)

d) the Flood - I mean come on. That was clearly evil. Murdering a bunch of people is usually a good way to establish a character is a baddie. (Not the kids! said Crowley. Yes, Crowley, the kids too.)

e) Job - As any 90s/early 2000s romcom will tell you, making a bet about someone else is a good route to becoming a baddie. Or else a romantic lead, but I think we're safe on that front. (But really, God was just like, hey I know, let's fuck with this guy's life and kill his kids! And satan was like...wow God, that's a bit far even for me.)

f) the Whale - technically still about Job, but when someone basically arranges the murder of your children and you ask why, the response 'fuck off with your questions until you're a superior being like me' is a real dick move God. A real dick move.

f) the Human Systems (aka Elspeth and poor Wee Morag) - Crowley is clearly correct in the Edinburgh minisode - some humans starting off with less means they have less (if any) good choices available to them. There's no good answer in actual christianity for the question of evil, and the unfairness of the world. There's no good answer here, either. (The only way Aziraphale repeating "Ineffable" works is if ineffable is code for God is a massive knobhead.)

g) the Metatron - God is all powerful and all knowing, right? so God's upstairs going...yeah, this the Metatron, he seems right on, I'll let him fuck around with humans and also break up Aziraphale and Crowley. (EVIL).

ahem. Ok so I may be taking this part of the show a tiiiiiiiiiny bit too much to heart?

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens meta #crowley #aziraphale #ineffable husbands

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silvertonguedtiefling · 2 months

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the moment Elspeth was like, “ok this loser could get it.”

#baldurs gate 3 #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate #bg3 durge #bg3 tav #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #tav #elspeth the fair #zariel tiefling #tiefling #dark urge x gale #durge x gale #gale x dark urge

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lenaellsi · 8 months

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on aziraphale's insecurities in S2

i'm pretty sure one of the lines in the end scene where crowley shoots himself in the foot the most is "i think i understand a whole lot better than you do," and i don't even think he realizes how badly aziraphale takes it.

it's just a fact to him: he knows better than aziraphale what heaven is like. it's also a fact to the audience, who knows that the metatron is doing this for bad reasons and that aziraphale is walking into a trap. but it's not a fact to aziraphale. and that's the moment aziraphale goes from panicky and anxious to angry.

aziraphale's self-doubts and anxieties concerning his identity as an angel are shown frequently in s2. we start 2x01 with him deeply insecure in his 'retirement': crowley mentions that aziraphale frequently calls him to "tell him about something clever he did," and aziraphale confirms that he is essentially using these conversations as a stand-in for reporting to heaven. he misses being on The Good Team and doesn't know what to do with himself now that he's not.

so aziraphale doesn't know who he is if he's not an angel, but he also knows that he's a bad angel. he was frequently mocked and condescended to in heaven (by seemingly everyone, not just the archangels; even the quartermaster in s1 called him pathetic). he lied to heaven, he lied to god, he enjoys earthly pleasures, he loves works with a demon, and he doubts the Plan. he never fit in with them. lonely, remember?

and later in the season, we learn that shax, for all that she apparently is not great with sarcasm, is remarkably perceptive when picking up on insecurities. she mocks aziraphale twice, first in the car for his relationship with crowley (which, interestingly, doesn't faze him a bit--remember the eyebrow? he's not at all insecure in his knowledge that crowley loves him. crowley has always been the thing he's most sure of, even very early on--look at how much faith he has in him with job.) the second time she hits much harder: "crowley's emotional support angel," "shall we send in the sushi?" "the softest touch" etc. it hurts him, you can see it.

and there's another tiny moment in 2x05 I don't think I've ever seen anyone talk about, where crowley has just bluffed to the demon horde and is trying to get all the humans together to leave. crowley says, "I won't leave you on your own," and aziraphale says, "I know. But I have a suggestion--" and crowley brushes him off, saying "I got this." aziraphale looks very frustrated by this exchange, which--yeah! fair!

and over and over, we just--we see crowley be right. right about job and god, right about elspeth, right about the magic trick, the nazis, the arrangement, the apocalypse. "you were right, you were right, i was wrong, you were right." crowley's never done the dance before, he says. how many times has aziraphale had to?

and crowley's not just right, he's confident in it! he moves through the world and makes choices that fly in the face of everything aziraphale knows about Good and Evil, and it seems to come so easily to him. he's loud, and he's brave, and he's full of conviction, and aziraphale often feels overshadowed by that surety, because he's so often full of doubt. "you sound jealous, angel," is what crowley says at job's mansion, and i think he's more right than he knows.

all this to say: when crowley says "I think I understand a whole lot better than you do," what aziraphale hears is you idiot and how can somebody as clever as you be so stupid and I was right, I was right, you were wrong, I was right. and he's fucking sick of it.

and so he doubles down, and he gets in the stupid elevator, and he makes the worst mistake of his life, because he's sick of being treated as heaven's lackey or crowley's sidekick. the metatron knew exactly what to say to get him there, and crowley had no idea he was playing directly into it.

#good omens #good omens season 2 #good omens meta #aziraphale #crowley #gos2 spoilers

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rosykims · 4 months

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cannot believe i fumbled what could ve been the most annoying dragon age liveblogging experience ever documented online by forgetting to make a single cillian post during my da2 replay .

#tay plays da2 #im literally abt to start the last mission now like #JKFVHKJFDH #i genuinely could not physically shut up about elspeth last month and now ? crickets !#to be fair. its been a long decembuary :/ i took a break from playing bc back pain among other things #and focused more on reading the books/getting thru the comics #also idk what it is about hawke but they are just so impossible for me to make without them just being default hawke. like who ARE you #so ya im gonna finish da2 today then hopefully RACE thru asunder/the other one im so soryr weekes ik im going to like it but ! JKFDHJKFGD #THE COURT ONE. YKNOW. FELASSAN. THAT GUY.#AND THEN IM GOING TO BE SO HEINOUSLY ANNOYING ABOUT ASHARA. im talking full stream of consciousness no punctuation block text <3

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nutteu · 1 month

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Gold-digger Oliver

inspired by that one post about oliver fucking every catton available except for felix (still can't stop laughing about it, will find the post later) (EDIT, I FOUND THE POST: HERE). but here we go:

What if, Oliver was a gold-digger, and what if this wasn't his first rodeo? Like, he had done this before and that was why it was easy for him to understand the whims of the wealthy, the filthy rich, because he had experienced how it felt like being an arm candy for some elder man, hiding this from his parents and accumulating wealth and properties he had gotten from his previous sugar daddies and mommies. Especially, he understood how bored and lonely they were, and he learned how to shape himself into something they liked, something they could play with to pass time. It wasn't the first time he had ever been someone's toy, and he didn't mind the notion. Let them think that way, as long as Oliver got what he wanted.

So, with his previous knowledge, he played chess with Sir James, talked about the goddamn ceramic and artifacts scattered all over the estate; had a tea party with Elspeth and Pamela, before she left, dialed up the compliments to the nine because he knew that it would be easier to get Elspeth's attention and interest. It was easy enough, because Sir James was lonely, and Elspeth wanted to be seen and appreciated, made her feel she was still in her youth, brimming with beauty and unattainable to those who desired her.

All the while, he approached Venetia when she offered herself, pushed it further by interrogating her about what she liked, what she wanted to be; ate her out and let the blood stain his mouth, his fingers, and let the memory linger as he pushed more food onto her plate; lay his head on her chest, counting the heartbeat as she told him some complicated equations that they solved together as they giggled and teased each other. And of course, Farleigh and all the chips on his shoulders, his prickly nature which Oliver unearth with brutality and insistence; jerked him off and whispered encouragement, assurance, praises as Farleigh came on Oliver's fingers, let himself submit underneath Oliver's touch as Oliver rode him until he was spent; spending the afterglow trading cigarettes and insults, talked about rich people and how ridiculously out of touch to reality they were, Oliver teasingly offered a sliver of truth to Farleigh about his past with the rich and smiled as Farleigh gaped and laughed; waiting for the sunrise as Oliver promised him a place in the house after he got his name in the inheritance and Farleigh wouldn't need to beg with a bowl anymore.

He charmed everyone and even got Duncan softening a little at him after he offered to cook his own meals, talked about the layout and the history of Saltburn with him, be at awe for Duncan's impeccable schedule and his brutal way of wrangling problems before lunch time. Oliver befriended the maids and other helpers, memorized their names and where they came from, so they wouldn't bat an eyelash if he were to own this estate someday.

Everyone and everything was within his palms, dancing to his tune, except for Felix, who increasingly grew upset because he finally found out that Oliver not only had bedded Venetia, but Farleigh as well, and his parents were smitten by Oliver's encyclopedia of a brain and his endearing twitch of nose, the summer in his eyes. It was just a bad form, that Oliver came by his invitation, yet leaving him out of the loop Oliver had created with literally everyone in this estate but Felix.

Ah, but Felix didn't want Oliver, did he? He called him Ollie, kissed his cheek and his forehead, whined at him and took all of his attention, but he didn't want Oliver. He was just upset that everyone had gotten the attention of his toy, and none was left for him anymore. It wasn't fair, was it? That Felix was the one who brought Oliver here, yet it seemed that everyone had gotten their private time with Oliver, everyone, except for him. So, like he always did, he threw a tantrum, and Oliver sighed in exasperation and tried to fluff it up with Felix, playing into his savior complex by saying that he wouldn't have had this chance of being in Saltburn and knowing everyone if it weren't for Felix. So, really, thank you, Felix, and perhaps, we can spend some time together, yeah?

And Felix, still a little miffed but was willing to go along with Oliver's idea this time, nodded and started planning, getting all excited when he thought about bringing Oliver home, because his mum had called and she sounded sober as well! It would be a surprise for Oliver, that was for sure, and no one else had thought of it, because they only cared about themselves and not to Oliver. Felix was the only one he could call friend, the only one who cared. So, Felix told him to dress up, smiling at the sight of Oliver giggling shyly, and sang until his throat hurt as they drove by the roads.

That was, until Oliver realized where they were going, and begged him to turn back, to stop. Felix thought that maybe Oliver was afraid of reliving the traumatizing memory of his family's downfall, to face his drunken mother and the tombstone of his father. He smiled to himself and reassure Oliver that it was fine, that he'd be there with Oliver and that Oliver could lean on him, could depend on him, for the onslaught of bad memories and pain.

Until-- Felix's world collapsed into itself as Oliver curled into himself, faced with the genial and worried faces of Mr. and Mrs. Quick. Felix almost couldn't speak, his mind a tornado of questions and anger, of regret and disbelief, of rage and disappointment. They still went back to Saltburn, for the sake of the fucking birthday party, but the road to the estate was spent in excruciating silence, interjected by Oliver groveling and apologizing, and Felix stone-walling him because he couldn't think right now, couldn't think past the torrent of hurt that he felt so acutely in his chest.

He left Oliver to his own device once they arrived at Saltburn, ignoring the pang of something when they were greeted by Elspeth, and her face fell when she saw how close to tears Oliver was. How could anyone still wanted to pity Oliver, after what he had done, after the lies he had spewed out so easily to Felix? Or was it just that obvious to anyone but him, but they were too polite to tell that he was a dumbass who got manipulated so easily? Well, no more of that. Felix didn't care about Oliver anymore, everyone could take him because Felix wanted nothing to do with that wretched guy anymore.

Except that he still felt a burning rage within his chest when he saw Oliver being consoled by his parents, saw him smile shyly and hold Elspeth's hand in his, accepting the pat on the side of his face from James. What the fuck did Oliver do to make people this... malleable to him? This- this devoted? God, was Felix like them too, before he knew the truth?

He was hurt-- Oliver was his best mate, and he had lied, and it seemed like he wouldn't get retribution for his sin because everyone was too busy babying him within an inch of his life. Even Venetia and Farleigh only sighed and exchanged looks ladened with secrets as Felix told them the reason he was so agitated before the party. He had expected them to be upset in his behalf, but all Farleigh said was, "Well, it's Oliver, what can you do about it? And I don't think it's about you, Fels. Have you seen your parents with him? Even if you told them the truth, I doubt they'll kick him out of Saltburn."

The worst thing was, that it was true. Because the hours leading to the party, Oliver was stuck to Elspeth's side and occasionally glancing at him, before his gaze skittered away. Felix couldn't believe the audacity of this small, twitchy man. How dare he lied to Felix and not reap what he sow? How dare he bewitched the whole estate and had them by his side, no matter what he did? How dare he have someone else to console him and not Felix? Wasn't he his friend, the one who brought colors to his life, excitement to the dull everyday's life? Was he not the person Oliver was supposed to be faithful to, loyal to a fault? Then what the fuck was Oliver doing in Venetia's room, chuckling gently as she brushed his face with make-up? Had everyone gone crazy except for Felix?

What the fuck was happening?

The scene in the maze still happened, but instead of killing him, Oliver just closed his eyes, let the bottle fall and whispered the last 'I'm sorry' to Felix, before going back to the party, so he could tell Venetia and Farleigh to console the upset Felix. I'd like to make it that Venetia and Farleigh weren't on a witch-hunt for Oliver because, yes, they were charmed, but they also knew what Oliver really was and was entertained by his audacity in swindling Sir James and Elspeth into becoming another one of his walking wallet, making them putty underneath his hands. Of course they were worried about Felix, but really, it was so easy to see and Felix should've seen that coming, no matter how harsh and cold it seemed.

And so, Oliver wasn't kicked out from Saltburn the next morning, spending his breakfast trading stock predictions with James and ignoring Felix's burning stare in front of him. He still got the Cattons' attention and, eventually, money, even if Felix wasn't one of them. It was alright, this was something Oliver had done before, and he knew how to play it even with a few pieces gone from the board. He could still do whatever he wanted with these filthy rich people, and it was okay that Felix hated him. At least, Felix would still be here, confined within the estate and, later on, the campus, where Oliver would be there as well.

Slowly, he'd try to reconcile with Felix, because he, too, knew what Felix truly wanted. Perhaps, later on, he'd change his plan, according to the chess board, take off some figures out of the board and continuing his plan to make Felix forgive him. But not now, when he had other agenda, and he was confident that his name would be within the Cattons' will by next summer. Of that he was sure.

(No happy ending for Felix because he ought to suffer once in a while, also because I got too lazy typing this lol. Hope you enjoy!)

#shiki writes #saltburn #cattonquick #felix catton #oliver quick #ramblings #saltburn 2023 #farleigh start #venetia catton #quickstart #venetia/oliver #sir james/oliver #elspeth/oliver #all the cattons except for felix lmao

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aquickstart · 4 months

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pls may i have some saltburn takes. i saw u liked my post abt oliver never having read the reading list and it made me giggle.

OH YES DUDE oh i Loved that post because it brings up actually something that for some reason i haven't seen discussed much. oliver's unreliable narration.

i have a brilliant, i think, genius four-question plan for making people understand saltburn, and it has worked before and i will maybe elaborate on it, but not right now. right now i'll talk about one of the questions.

who is oliver telling this story to, and why?

we've established that he's an unreliable narrator at least because it's the logical conclusion for a movie shot in a way that opens and closes with his narrative. but what does oliver being untruthful actually mean for what we know about anything and everything that happened. have you ever obsessed over this particular question. well. i have.

my hot take, first of all, is that oliver is not that smart. he's clever, but the point of the movie is that he's caught up in and driven by desire; desire, pointedly, in the moment, merging desire, adapting to circumstance and leading him on. his want is not concrete from the beginning. his want is insatiable hunger that grows.

so, okay, from the top. the whole meet-cute with felix? because of a punctured tire? eh. idk if that's true. the money thing at the bar, pretending to not have any while he actually did? eh, perhaps. chronologically he then lies to felix about his dad, and this is big, this is deliberate, this is what ties felix to him for good.

what if the first two instances were coincidences? like, felix genuinely in trouble then, oliver genuinely out of cash. makes sense to become attached and actually do something, something impulsive, drastic, when felix seems to be drifting away, and lie about his dad.

interjection: you might be saying, nadia, he lied about his family from the get-go. well of course. i didn't say he's not smart enough to clock what image of a damsel in distress felix would gobble up. i'm saying he didn't do it for the long game, because there was no long game to speak of, as narrator-oliver would have you believe. i think he wanted felix so badly in that moment of several months in oxford, i think he was so blinded that he would've said anything. and he did.

now, i've briefly talked about oliver's feelings about the invitation to saltburn, and i think this is very important here. in the moment, he couldn't possibly know what exactly this invitation could mean, in the long run, only that it is definitely the next step in progression of desire for felix. present-day oliver interjection, and i believed him, after felix said he could leave anytime, i read as a slip up, an admission that oliver didn't plan shit, or at least from the beginning he didn't. it lured him in as soon as he got there, gothic house driving mad-style. he held on to a dream of something elusive (felix as a friend? lover? forever-partner in whatever capacity? i want him so bad i don't care what he is as long as he's there? please? please?).

the other obvious hole to poke at is in the end. venetia very conveniently takes the razors he places for her, and while sure, it could be read as him just hinting at how he conveniently read her fragile state and took advantage of it, i don't buy it. (i'm honestly even tempted to suggest he met elspeth on accident, to then spin a pretty story for his own sake, but him keeping tabs on the surviving cattons all those years tracks with what we know about obsessive oliver; he's definitely known about her flat for a while.)

but those are all minor stuff. i get completely if you think i'm reading too much into it and this is all just a headcanon after all, to be fair. BUT. but.

my second big take is that oliver was/is madly in love with felix. i know, shocking. but you have probably seen people say he wasn't. i will elaborate.

i wasn't in love with him. i loved him. i hated him. what does this sound like. have you ever had a friend come to you after a breakup fuming and telling you how they'll never end up with this asshole for sure and then get back together with him and then break up and say the same thing again.

i loved him, but i wasn't in love with him. i know everyone thought i was, but i wasn't. have you never told anyone something of the sort, specifically the last part, to emphasize just how it's everyone around you that's kinda hung up on whatever it is, and you've moved way past it, actually. have you never told yourself that.

i have. i know many other people who have, too. so, who is oliver telling this story to, and why? there's no one but dead elspeth in front of him. there's no one but himself. fun fact: each time you recall an event, it distorts under the influence of the mix of past and present emotions. each time you recall, you mold memory (source, e.g., x). the way i personally see it, oliver, for whatever reason, retells the story in order to solidify his own memory of it in the way that he wants to remember it. whatever he says, this is his final word, and this is his final truth.

this is also why details slip through, like my beloved i believed him, like the emotional i hated him growing into self-convincing, misleadingly dismissive, definitely unsure i hated him by the end. those are the true emotions that he recalls, those are the times that are hard to rewrite, for whatever reason.

of course, he hated them all. but before that, he loved felix to the point of blindly following where felix's desire led oliver, at least the way oliver perceived felix's desire. it failed, crucially, when felix's desire brought them to the center of the labyrinth, where oliver could not be the desired anymore.

my third hot take in connection to this is that oliver did not know he would kill felix until the very night he did it. he didn't know it, i think, until the last hour, until felix refused to reconcile completely, until he made his blood run cold. i also briefly mention it here, specifically how farleigh is tragically connected to felix's death, in my opinion. this tracks with, again, my strong belief that oliver lies, lies and lies throughout this whole story about wanting to take everything from felix from the beginning; no, he fucking didn't. he wanted felix. he wanted felix to be his. that was number one priority. he wanted felix and whatever else came with it, undoubtedly, but not the other way around.

paradoxically, he also wanted to be felix; he wanted to be him and be with him just as us tumblr people can often relate and the tragedy is that you always have to choose. felix pushed him away, so there was no other choice but to take what was left of felix that oliver could take. hence the clothes wearing, the table scene talk, the refusal to leave.

felix chose not to choose oliver, so oliver became felix. it's his fault. felix promised oliver could leave. felix left instead. what was oliver to do.

but to your point about the books, i think it could be either way, actually. i think he could have lied about it because technically that's also in character for him, he was performing for an audience of his tutor. but i also think that he was, genuinely, a nerd before he came to oxford, and he didn't, and still doesn't, have any friends, and he hates his sisters and his mother and is miserable. he's the perfect profile of someone who'd read king james' bible over the summer, and then some, imma be honest.

so, yes. i think oliver lies about most things in saltburn and i think he's pathetic, lost, confused, grieving, angry, horny, down bad and in denial. and i fucking love him. i so fuckin do.

#saltburn #oliver quick #saltburn meta #thank u so much for ur ask. this was my excuse to finally vomit this up.#honestly i think asks are the only format in which i will actually write out all of my thoughts coherently esp the longer stuff #bc i feel obligated to answer #and when i dont i just abandon stuff. i know all my saltburn meta. vika does. finn knows ALL of it and more. i dont feel like sharing much #when unprompted. but if you ask me?? i'll never shut up. literally never #anyway. this is it. thank u again. fun.#ask #horrorsequel #saltburn journaling

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thesherrinfordfacility · 7 months

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woah hang on a second, pause one moment. we are all fairly agreed, right, that the pre-fall scene and the minisodes are all slightly off, that they don't quite ring true, and certainly indicate the work of an unreliable narrator... but why are we assuming that it's aziraphale?

the openings

opening title cards read like movie epics, compared to the neat little white placards in s1, and also all open with crowley as the first character in screen, with the exception of the resurrectionists - which has neither*.

now god knows that my film knowledge is probably rather limited, but if nothing else, i definitely got space odyssey-type glee from the pre-fall scene opening, and maltese falcon definitely sprang to mind for 1941 (and godzilla, weirdly). this... seems like the little bit of pizaz that crowley would employ in telling his own flashbacks.

this, to me, is even more apparent when compared with the white placards in s1, which feel more like aziraphale - orderly, and neatly filed. now, arguably you could say it's god's narration, and that certainly may be true, but the kicker for me is that the majority of the hard times flashbacks, and the eden scene, begin with aziraphale on screen.

in fact, iirc i think only 1862 and 1967 open on crowley, but with 1862, aziraphale is walking towards him in the opening shot anyway, and 1967... well, it doesnt surprise me that we don't get a shot of aziraphale before crowley is in the donkey. these are pivotal scenes for the both of them, but in some respects more so for crowley. it makes sense that the perspective would shift slightly here.

hero role

but back to s2; we then have the fact that crowley is portrayed, arguably, as the hero in each of these minisodes. he does have a tendency, i think it's fair to say, to assume the role of the hero especially in response to aziraphale placing himself, thinking that it's what makes crowley happy, into the part of the damsel-in-distress. but it goes beyond this; it's his scheme that saves the children/job's plight, he prevents elspeth from suicide, and then, yeah, he overcomes the miracle blocker and manages in a feat of well-timed skill to miss shooting aziraphale in the face.

he then is also the one to teach aziraphale certain lessons, especially around the nuance of faith and morality, and whilst it makes sense for this to be told from aziraphale's perspective, it's equally viable from crowley's; that he is the mentor in these minisodes, helping aziraphale to develop his own sense of right and wrong - particularly in the job and resurrectionist minisodes.

the 1941 minisode is different, because it feels more personal; crowley starts trying to teach aziraphale conviction in himself. but it all goes awry when he withholds the truth about having shot a gun, and when he is unable to save himself in the dressing room. crowley has a tendency to monkey-paw himself, and this is never more evident that in this minisode. his hero narrative unravels, aziraphale saves the day, and crowley plays it off smoothly and suavely back at the bookshop, without a word of thanks (if anything, he doubles down on insulting aziraphale - a contrast to his attitude at the beginning of the minisode - and the very trick that saved his hide).

but why does all this suddenly read to me like crowley's perspective? tbh, i can't quite put my finger on it; it's not like crowley doesn't deserve a positive light in the story, because he absolutely does, and in many ways is an incredibly good influence on aziraphale, but these minisodes... feel like crowley is trying to prove something. to himself, aziraphale, the audience, all three - idk.

this is compounded for me, however, in the pre-fall scene. no doubt, aziraphale did in fact develop an instant crush on this genius and brilliant angel, and again this would ring true if this scene is in fact being told from aziraphale's perspective. but in a way, to me, i think it is more sensical from crowley's; he's a bright and likeable angel, building stars, has another angel fawning over his brilliance, and - the kicker - it's of course set up to suggest to the audience that he fell 'just for asking a few questions", when we're equally led to believe from s1 that this is, perhaps, not the whole truth.

dramatics

this is another where i can't quite put my finger on it exactly, but - the minisodes feel... different. there was a brilliant meta on the job minisode, that i will find and link back, where the op remarked on the stark costume difference between the relatively simple costuming for crowley in mesopotamia and golgotha, and even that for aziraphale, compared to the biblical glitz and glamour of uz.

and if we look at the job minisode especially with his perspective in mind, he even takes stabs at gabriel (the lord farquaad haircut and arguably dumber-than-usual that i don't-quite-believe-he-was-this-dumb demeanour), that he doesn't seem to extend to michael - to the point that it feels like a vendetta against him... which tracks, given his less than favourable disposition towards gabriel/jim throughout s2.

in the resurrectionist episode, he doesn't have such an outlet or target, but some of his lines feel almost needlessly funny/over-exerted - "might have slightly overdone it on the hole" is one that springs to mind. im not even going to go into the specifics of the whole laudanum-induced state of ridiculousness, that ultimately feels way more amped-up than it maybe ought to have been, but in a way, it almost feels like crowley has started telling this bit of the story to a child. the immediately sober way in which he remarks on the "stunning view", contrasted to him growling down at elspeth and aziraphale, feels like this was a catch-moment of 'present-crowley' remembering on just how nice it actually was.

1941 again feels different, mainly because it doesn't quite follow the same narrative tone and pattern of the other minisodes, but his interactions with aziraphale in the car and bookshop, the fear at firing the rifle, and his not remembering furfur all feel that he's remembering this flashback a little more deeply - that not only is their fondness because of what the events of that night meant for him and aziraphale personally, but also it reminds him that his memory is still not wholly complete*.

memory-wipe theory*

this is relatively short and sweet, but... i think we can all agree that crowley has some issues with what he remembers of heaven and/or his fall. this feels so obvious when you - again, if we assume this perspective hypothesis is true - look at the way he portrays heaven; it feels very deliberate. god does not appear to be present in heaven, this is even somewhat confirmed within the god-job scene itself, but the Lighting Is Everything.

is this what crowley remembers of heaven of old, before he went up there on reconnaissance? did the change come as a surprise to him in 2023? the golden glow, the white and gold spangley robes? and muriel - why does aziraphale not seem to recognise muriel in 2023, if his memory is still intact and, by all accounts, accurate? does crowley actually remember muriel, and that's how he knew their rank? or did crowley just fill in the blanks, give muriel a starring role when retelling this flashback (given he was, obviously, not there)? is he telling it to muriel themself, in the context of s3? are these the clues that muriel is patching together, like the crow road?

the diary*

when we look at the following lines for the opening and closing of the resurrectionists minisode, and read it like it's aziraphale's retelling, the wording seems... odd. it implies that a month - a month - is a long time for aziraphale and crowley not to see each other.

"Dear diary,

Last month, Crowley and I both happened to be in Edinburgh. And he insisted I visit a local graveyard... at midnight. He had come upon something, he said, that 'might amuse me'..."

"...and that was the last I was to see of Crowley... for quite some time..."

of course, we can take this as aziraphale being dramatic, and goodness knows that he leans into his own brand of flair in s2... but is it completely in character? to assign a month as being a long time?

and does it really fit with the tone of the canon? because, we see at the end of 1827 that he gets sucked down into hell. and then in 1862, he's shaken and nervous and paranoid, and asking aziraphale for holy water. this seems too much like cause-and-effect. it could well be that crowley returns from hell after a month, meets aziraphale, shrugs it off etc., but then... keeps getting sucked back into hell? tortured? enough that he breaks in 1862, and asks for a weapon?

it reads to me more that, if this is from crowley's perspective, that he is essentially taking the piss out of aziraphale in the opening, painting a picture of him practically lying on his belly on his bed, legs kicking, writing his diary with a pink glittery gel pen. and aziraphale's lines at the end of 1827, about crowley getting into trouble, are delivered so... fondly, and adoringly. now, that's not to say it's impossible for aziraphale to have delivered it like that, couldn't have been seeing/feeling for crowley like that, and god knows aziraphale is mercurial, but... on reflection, i can't say that it doesn't seem like an exaggerated version of himself.

the self that (yes, theres a lot of context missing between 1827 and the below moment that would account for aziraphale 'regressing' in character, i realise that) reacted like this to getting shot, compared to crowley's reaction:

so let's read those lines back again - is it possible that the opening lines are crowley speaking with aziraphale's voice, imitating and making a caricature of him, leaning emphasis on the spooky, dramatic words (similar to how aziraphale actually does when he's a 'newspaperman') and then the 'quite some time' trailing off is, in fact, quite some time?

#good omens #s2 meta #flashback meta #crowley meta #memory wipe theory #s3 narrative spec

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