Last Seen Blogs
Text
I'm really not sure why people think that Crowley telling Aziraphale about 1) "shut your stupid mouth and die," 2) the Book of Life threat, or 3) the Second Coming would have changed anything about his decision. Those things are held up as like Crowley's Major Sins this season but genuinely. What would it have changed?
Aziraphale already knew Heaven was going to execute him in Hell fire. That was why they switched. Crowley says as much to him in the scene where they're fighting about Gabriel. And he knows probably better than Crowley does that the archangels are horrible and condescending; they've been saying things like that to him since at least Job. Why is the specific language so important? It would have just reinforced his view that the archangels as individuals are the problem, not Heaven itself.
Crowley doesn't tell him specifically about the BoL threat, but he's very clear that hiding Gabriel is putting both of them in incredible danger (a fear Aziraphale tells him is "silly.") And when he DOES try to warn Aziraphale of an active threat--the demons attacking the bookshop--Aziraphale brushes him off. ("I think you're overestimating how much trouble we're really in.") Plus, Aziraphale learns about the BoL threat later anyway, from Michael.
Theoretically there's more legitimacy to the argument for Gabriel's trial and Heaven's plans, but: I'd argue first that Crowley doesn't really have time to tell Aziraphale what he saw in Heaven in detail. The first moment alone they get, he's worrying about telling Aziraphale he loves him, and Aziraphale interrupts with the Metatron's offer. He could have brought it up during their fight, but...he kinda did?? "When Heaven ends life here on Earth it'll be just as a dead as if Hell ended it." And Aziraphale doesn't respond at all, not even to deny it. The one thing that MIGHT have swayed him was hearing that Gabriel was being punished specifically for opposing the Second Coming, but...I'm skeptical. Maybe he might have gone in a little more aware that he might be in danger, but he still would have thought that the problem was Gabriel, not Heaven. He would have thought he could reason with them. That's what he always thinks, when it comes to Heaven. And again, he should already know that Heaven would punish an angel for trying to stop the apocalypse—because they tried to execute him last time.
Other people have said this much more articulately but like. Aziraphale genuinely Was Not Listening to anything Crowley said in the final fifteen, and also the entire season. ("The angel you knew is not me." "Is it wicked? She needed the money!" "Are you sure you're sure?" "Look, there's something wrong, there's something really wrong!") The entire series, really. We saw this in S1, right? When Crowley tells Aziraphale that Heaven wants the war the same as Hell does, he tries to work with them anyway, and only decides to fully rebel when he's told by the Metatron himself that "The point is not to avoid the war. The point is to win it."
When this kind of information comes from Crowley, Aziraphale just doesn't hear it. He rationalizes, he makes excuses, he accuses Crowley of lying. Of course Crowley has given up on telling him things. Of course he's just started handling things himself. He could have told Aziraphale everything he’s seen and experienced down to the smallest detail since Armageddon and Aziraphale still would have left.
Anyway. Just me tapping the "this is more than a lack of communication, it's a conflict that's been going on since literally Before Time" sign.
148 notes
·
View notes
Text
I need to talk about the Edinburgh minisode, because I have SO. MANY. THOUGHTS.
It's sort of an afterthought minisode in some ways. Before the Beginning gives us so much giddy joy (despite the ominous foreshadowing). 1941 gives us all the giddy romance. Job gives us so much insight into both characters histories and how they came to be who they are and work together...
The Resurrectionists gives us a morality play, basically, but also gives us Crowley high (and HIGH) on laudanum and plenty of bright shiny bits...
...so the morality side maybe doesn't get as much focus.
Which is a shame. Because the Edinburgh episode demonstrates perfectly the flaw in Aziraphale's understanding of the world that leads to him going to heaven.
When we start out in 1827, we are introduced to grave robbing and Aziraphale immediately decides that it is Bad (a sin). He does all he can to prevent the young woman he meets and likes from doing Bad (sinning), assumably to try to pave her way into Heaven. And Crowley tries to help her with her grave robbing, much to Aziraphale's chagrin.
Grave Robbing = Bad; Crowley supports Grave Robbing; Crowley=Bad
When they meet Mr Surgeon, and Crowley starts to ask some pointed questions meant to poke holes in Aziraphale's certainty, he flips entirely the other way, without noticing any of the other moral greyness (like the fact that Mr Surgeon would never take the risks or do the dirty work himself. Which is pretty important, since we learn in Edinburgh in the present that Mr Surgeon was so convinced of his own superiority and importance later on in his life that he started murdering people (probably "unfortunates" like Elspeth) when he couldn't get corpses fast enough).
Grave Robbing = Good; Crowley supports Grave Robbing; Crowley = Good
When he is then confronted with the idea of selling Wee Morag's body, and Crowley points out it is different when it's someone you know, Aziraphale is basically frozen in indecision. He doesn't know what the good thing is anymore.
He spouts the party line about the fact that starting off poor somehow gives Elspeth an advantage when it comes to Heaven, but is unable to explain why or how, not even to himself. And when he's put on the spot as Elspeth tries to kill herself, he doesn't have any arguments to offer.
CROWLEY: Say something! That... convinces her that poverty is ineffably wonderful and that life is worth living. Go on!
But despite all the moral ambiguity present throughout the episode, Aziraphale still sees everything as black and white. First, grave robbing is bad, then it is good. First, Crowley is bad (when he has the opposite position to Aziraphale), then he is good (when he has the same position). Aziraphale never understands Crowley's constant questions are a challenge to the very idea that there IS a 'good' in this situation. He never examines or questions the complex systems of class and sexism and capitalism which force Elspeth to this desperate recourse, or the laws which prevent Mr Surgeon from accessing bodies for research via legal means.
He doesn't see the systemic injustic. He just sees individual moral actors making either good or bad choices.
(and just to deviate slightly from the Edinburgh minisode -- while he says he understands that sometimes things are not just black or white but also grey, in 1941 - I don't actually think his grey and Crowley's grey mean the same thing. The 'greyest' thing that Aziraphale does in 1941 is help a showgirls theatre and hide information from Hell - this is not the same thing as truly seeing that some situations simply don't have a Right Thing to do, or understanding that systems shape and control individuals' decisions, so the idea that humans all have the same ability to choose Right is an illusion.
AZIRAPHALE: You know, they cannot be truly holy unless they also get the opportunity to be wicked.
So it is no wonder at all that when the Metatron offers him the opportunity to run Heaven, he doesn't see a broken institution or systemic oppression/injustice, but rather a series of bad actors preventing Heaven from achieving the Goodness it is meant to represent.
264 notes
·
View notes
Text
The Being Unknown
THAT scene was not heartbreaking because of miscommunication
I’ve seen a lot of posts lamenting that Crowley and Aziraphale just needed to TALK to each other. That if they hadn’t been speaking past each other in that S2E6 ending, it would have been okay. That they have major MISCOMMUNICATION issues.
And that’s bullshit.
(No, I’m being inflammatory. Miscommunication is part of it, but not the meat of it.)
The crux of that conflict was NOT miscommunication. Rather, the heartbreak came from Aziraphale’s fundamental misunderstanding of Crowley. Let me elaborate.
It's More the Being Unknown
(just listen to it okay)
Before Crowley can confess and make known his desire for them to explicitly be a couple, Aziraphale tells him to hold that thought because, “I have some incredibly good news to give you”.
The good news? “I could appoint you to be an angel. To come back to heaven and everything. Like the old times, only even nicer.”
As a viewer, I knew without the shot cutting to Crowley how he would react. In absolutely no world would Crowley ever interpret that as good news. I bet you didn’t think he would either. It was sickeningly obvious to everyone apart from Aziraphale that Crowley would never want to go back to heaven or be an angel again.
And how does Crowley react to this news? “And you told him just where he could stick it then?”
So despite Aziraphale’s evident excitement and framing the news as “incredibly good”, Crowley is still holding onto hope that Aziraphale knows Crowley well enough to know he would be disgusted by such an offer.
They go on, Aziraphale describing heaven as “the side of truth, of light, of good”.
Panicking, Crowley presses, twice, “Tell me you said no?”
But Aziraphale can’t reassure Crowley. He completely misjudged how Crowley would take the news. He emphasises that, “If I’m in charge, I can make a difference”.
Let’s pause there.
Why did we as audience know that Crowley would have never taken up this offer or responded positively to the invitation?
Firstly, because we AGREE with him that both heaven and hell are toxic. That is the position we are encouraged to take up throughout the show.
The Job minisode was a key moment depicting the evil of heaven this season. It showed us Aziraphale’s discomfort and distress over heaven’s role in human suffering, and his first small act of rebellion by saving Job’s children and lying to the archangels. We are meant to see this as positive character development for Aziraphale. So Aziraphale’s supposed backslide this episode is meant to feel bad.
Secondly, we know that Crowley would never have responded positively to this news because we KNOW Crowley as a character. We saw him furious with Gabriel for wanting Aziraphale to shut up and die. We saw him alone, lamenting that he never meant to fall, he just had questions. We saw him time and time again pull Aziraphale towards a morality that eschews dogma and accounts for “shades of grey”, especially throughout the minisodes. Fuck, the first season centres on Crowley working together with Aziraphale to defy the Great Plan espoused by heaven and hell both.
It should be OBVIOUS to anyone who knows Crowley that he wouldn’t want to rejoin heaven.
That’s why it’s so fucking gut-wrenching that Aziraphale doesn’t know this. He doesn’t understand this fundamental core of Crowley. It’s the Being Unknown of it all that hurts.
Going unknown as any angel to me
So, Crowley is reeling over the fact that his de facto partner of 6000 years fundamentally does not know or understand him. But what also fucks Crowley up is he thought he knew Aziraphale better than this. He thought at least since the antichrist saga that he and Aziraphale were on their own side. He was wrong.
Because the second horrifying aspect of the bomb Aziraphale has just dropped is that he thinks he can make a difference if he is in charge in heaven. He is naïve enough to thing that they can do good as angels. And Crowley is so very disappointed in that naivety, after all they’ve seen and been through. “You’re better than that.”
At this point, I think Crowley is trying to lay all cards on the table to save Aziraphale from himself. From his incredible naivety and religious brainwashing. Despite being gutted by how badly Aziraphale misjudged him, Crowley loves him and wants him to know that, and hopes wildly that Aziraphale will drop this misguided plan and run off with him.
Yeah okay some miscommunication
At this point in the conversation, I think there is merit to the miscommunication argument.
Aziraphale fails to engage Crowley on the crux of what he is saying, i.e. that they are an “us” pretending for their whole existence that they aren’t. Aziraphale honestly looks confused while Crowley pours his heart out.
Aziraphale brings the conversation back to the invitation, “I’ll run it. You can be my second in command. We can make a difference”. Thus framing the relationship in terms of allyship, a partnership working towards the greater good, rather than take up the romantic framing that Crowley has introduced.
And then Aziraphale’s, “nothing lasts forever” comment. Yes, definitely, Aziraphale meant one thing with that and Crowley heard another.
But still mostly not a miscommunication issue
As Crowley walks away, Aziraphale tries to make their disagreement about miscommunication. “I don’t think you understand what I’m offering you.”
But Crowley does understand the offer. He’s not reacting this way due to miscommunication. His reaction arises from his experience with heaven, because of how it has shaped him. It’s only now become obvious that Aziraphale wasn’t in agreement with Crowley about eschewing heaven for their own side. It's a misalignment of worldview and values. “I think I understand a whole lot better than you do.”
Was the kiss a miscommunication? I think it was Crowley making a last ditch effort to make Aziraphale confront the crux of what he was confessing. To strip away the pretense they'd maintained their whole existence. (What Aziraphale meant with the “I forgive you” line is somewhat ambiguous. But I don’t necessarily think that means Aziraphale and Crowley were miscommunicating with each other there. I’ll think on it some more and post later…)
In summary
Suffice to say, the outcome of the conversation (going their separate ways) and the desperate, charged, heartbreaking tone permeating the scene was not set into motion by any miscommunication.
Aziraphale wanted to restore Crowley as an angel to heaven. He clearly communicated that. Crowley hated that idea. He clearly communicated that.
The issue was that Aziraphale didn’t understand a fundamental part of Crowley, while Crowley assumed that Aziraphale did.
It was the being unknown :’(
...
P.S. I’m not arguing for Aziraphale being “in the wrong”, or saying he’s bad for not knowing this about Crowley, or that he doesn’t have his own justifications for why he thinks working with heaven is good, etc. This meta is purely about locating the source of devastation and heartbreak within the interaction, and pushing back against the claim that miscommunication was the decisive factor.
693 notes
·
View notes
Text
thinking about Aredhel—she goes to Celegorm and Curufin's lands and stays there for a while waiting for them to come back, then gets bored and wanders off and eventually comes to Nan Elmoth (and we all know how that goes) but I was thinking: what if Celegorm went after her? He tracks her to Nan Elmoth eventually, and…
Eöl's sorceries are powerful, but Celegorm has Huan with him and is blessed by Oromë, so I don't think he gets nearly as turned around as Aredhel was. He finds her and Eöl, murders Eöl and burns down the forest behind him rescues her from his enchantments, and sends a letter to Maedhros going "found Aredhel, might have caused a diplomatic incident, also I may have a son now."
717 notes
·
View notes
Text
The Being Unknown
THAT scene was not heartbreaking because of miscommunication
I’ve seen a lot of posts lamenting that Crowley and Aziraphale just needed to TALK to each other. That if they hadn’t been speaking past each other in that S2E6 ending, it would have been okay. That they have major MISCOMMUNICATION issues.
And that’s bullshit.
(No, I’m being inflammatory. Miscommunication is part of it, but not the meat of it.)
The crux of that conflict was NOT miscommunication. Rather, the heartbreak came from Aziraphale’s fundamental misunderstanding of Crowley. Let me elaborate.
It's More the Being Unknown
(just listen to it okay)
Before Crowley can confess and make known his desire for them to explicitly be a couple, Aziraphale tells him to hold that thought because, “I have some incredibly good news to give you”.
The good news? “I could appoint you to be an angel. To come back to heaven and everything. Like the old times, only even nicer.”
As a viewer, I knew without the shot cutting to Crowley how he would react. In absolutely no world would Crowley ever interpret that as good news. I bet you didn’t think he would either. It was sickeningly obvious to everyone apart from Aziraphale that Crowley would never want to go back to heaven or be an angel again.
And how does Crowley react to this news? “And you told him just where he could stick it then?”
So despite Aziraphale’s evident excitement and framing the news as “incredibly good”, Crowley is still holding onto hope that Aziraphale knows Crowley well enough to know he would be disgusted by such an offer.
They go on, Aziraphale describing heaven as “the side of truth, of light, of good”.
Panicking, Crowley presses, twice, “Tell me you said no?”
But Aziraphale can’t reassure Crowley. He completely misjudged how Crowley would take the news. He emphasises that, “If I’m in charge, I can make a difference”.
Let’s pause there.
Why did we as audience know that Crowley would have never taken up this offer or responded positively to the invitation?
Firstly, because we AGREE with him that both heaven and hell are toxic. That is the position we are encouraged to take up throughout the show.
The Job minisode was a key moment depicting the evil of heaven this season. It showed us Aziraphale’s discomfort and distress over heaven’s role in human suffering, and his first small act of rebellion by saving Job’s children and lying to the archangels. We are meant to see this as positive character development for Aziraphale. So Aziraphale’s supposed backslide this episode is meant to feel bad.
Secondly, we know that Crowley would never have responded positively to this news because we KNOW Crowley as a character. We saw him furious with Gabriel for wanting Aziraphale to shut up and die. We saw him alone, lamenting that he never meant to fall, he just had questions. We saw him time and time again pull Aziraphale towards a morality that eschews dogma and accounts for “shades of grey”, especially throughout the minisodes. Fuck, the first season centres on Crowley working together with Aziraphale to defy the Great Plan espoused by heaven and hell both.
It should be OBVIOUS to anyone who knows Crowley that he wouldn’t want to rejoin heaven.
That’s why it’s so fucking gut-wrenching that Aziraphale doesn’t know this. He doesn’t understand this fundamental core of Crowley. It’s the Being Unknown of it all that hurts.
Going unknown as any angel to me
So, Crowley is reeling over the fact that his de facto partner of 6000 years fundamentally does not know or understand him. But what also fucks Crowley up is he thought he knew Aziraphale better than this. He thought at least since the antichrist saga that he and Aziraphale were on their own side. He was wrong.
Because the second horrifying aspect of the bomb Aziraphale has just dropped is that he thinks he can make a difference if he is in charge in heaven. He is naïve enough to thing that they can do good as angels. And Crowley is so very disappointed in that naivety, after all they’ve seen and been through. “You’re better than that.”
At this point, I think Crowley is trying to lay all cards on the table to save Aziraphale from himself. From his incredible naivety and religious brainwashing. Despite being gutted by how badly Aziraphale misjudged him, Crowley loves him and wants him to know that, and hopes wildly that Aziraphale will drop this misguided plan and run off with him.
Yeah okay some miscommunication
At this point in the conversation, I think there is merit to the miscommunication argument.
Aziraphale fails to engage Crowley on the crux of what he is saying, i.e. that they are an “us” pretending for their whole existence that they aren’t. Aziraphale honestly looks confused while Crowley pours his heart out.
Aziraphale brings the conversation back to the invitation, “I’ll run it. You can be my second in command. We can make a difference”. Thus framing the relationship in terms of allyship, a partnership working towards the greater good, rather than take up the romantic framing that Crowley has introduced.
And then Aziraphale’s, “nothing lasts forever” comment. Yes, definitely, Aziraphale meant one thing with that and Crowley heard another.
But still mostly not a miscommunication issue
As Crowley walks away, Aziraphale tries to make their disagreement about miscommunication. “I don’t think you understand what I’m offering you.”
But Crowley does understand the offer. He’s not reacting this way due to miscommunication. His reaction arises from his experience with heaven, because of how it has shaped him. It’s only now become obvious that Aziraphale wasn’t in agreement with Crowley about eschewing heaven for their own side. It's a misalignment of worldview and values. “I think I understand a whole lot better than you do.”
Was the kiss a miscommunication? I think it was Crowley making a last ditch effort to make Aziraphale confront the crux of what he was confessing. To strip away the pretense they'd maintained their whole existence. (What Aziraphale meant with the “I forgive you” line is somewhat ambiguous. But I don’t necessarily think that means Aziraphale and Crowley were miscommunicating with each other there. I’ll think on it some more and post later…)
In summary
Suffice to say, the outcome of the conversation (going their separate ways) and the desperate, charged, heartbreaking tone permeating the scene was not set into motion by any miscommunication.
Aziraphale wanted to restore Crowley as an angel to heaven. He clearly communicated that. Crowley hated that idea. He clearly communicated that.
The issue was that Aziraphale didn’t understand a fundamental part of Crowley, while Crowley assumed that Aziraphale did.
It was the being unknown :’(
...
P.S. I’m not arguing for Aziraphale being “in the wrong”, or saying he’s bad for not knowing this about Crowley, or that he doesn’t have his own justifications for why he thinks working with heaven is good, etc. This meta is purely about locating the source of devastation and heartbreak within the interaction, and pushing back against the claim that miscommunication was the decisive factor.
693 notes
·
View notes
Text
I have a disorder that makes me want to headcanon every nonhuman character with the ability to purr regardless if it makes sense for their kind or not. It's called being right. With enough research i could justify a tree purring if i wanted to
61K notes
·
View notes
Text
if you've ever used the London Underground you might have noticed that it often gets uncomfortably hot. the reason for this is actually that its builders dug too greedily & too deep and as a result the trains are very close to the fires of hell. hope that helps.
6K notes
·
View notes
Text
Far worse, in my opinion, than the famous “he wouldn’t fucking say that” is “he WOULD fucking say that, as part of his facade, but you seem to think he would mean it genuinely”
32K notes
·
View notes
Note
hi!! 🍄 for the WIP ask game 👀 did I see something about uncle4uncle?
I just think it would be kind of romantic if Lan Qiren, still suffering from the wound he took when the Wen burned the Cloud Recesses, was instructed by his personal physician to go spend a year in a warm climate, gentler on his lungs, like oh say I don’t know. Lotus pier.
And Shufu’s old student, now the Jiang sect leader, is eagerly rolling out the red carpet and inviting his former teacher to come stay as long as he’d like, we’ve made up such comfortable guest quarters for you, no one’s allowed to clown around this pavilion at night when you’re trying to sleep! Don’t worry, I remember the Lan cooking and I’ve given the cooks personally hand-written recipes that don’t involve six cloves of garlic and a whole chili pepper in the morning congee! This is because one time Lan Qiren told Jiang Fengmian within Jiang Cheng’s hearing that Jiang Cheng was a pleasure to have in class, so dutiful and attentive and eager to learn. (Jiang Fengmian: 😕 I’m sorry to hear he was such an uninteresting pupil.)
Lan Qiren has a very nice time chilling in Lotus Pier, on vacation from once again de facto running the Lan sect on behalf of an incapacitated family member, and is enjoying daily quiet morning time with Jiang Wanyin, having regular conversation with him where he’s reminded how much they have in common, and playing his guqin for him every night in a private pavilion while Jiang Wanyin actually relaxes enough to sprawl and listen to the sound of the music while they look over the lake. They kind of fall in love but in a really quiet way where no one says anything but the very idea of giving up the peaceful daily companionship they’ve found with one another feels like a knife to the heart.
Forces opposing this union: A) neither of them would ever make a move unless something dramatic happened. Jiang Cheng is not a shifufucker and Lan Qiren would not overstep. B) Lan Xichen is still a basket case and Lan Wangji is not equipped to substitute for Xiongzhang indefinitely. At some point LQR is going to have to go back home.
I think maybe what happens is LQR goes back home but his health takes a turn for the worse once he’s back on the cold mountain doing the stressful work again; LQR’s personal physician bitchily reveals this to the general Lan family, like how much longer do you expect him to do this before he dies of it, and they’re all fighting about it when Jiang Cheng, who’s been informed of the health relapse, shows up with a sedan at the bottom of the mountain to take him back to Lotus Pier, and argues with everyone and reveals personal knowledge about Lan-laoshi that makes everyone’s eyes go wide because damn. He shared some shit with you, didn’t he. Lan Wangji is not okay with this—I think he probably takes LQR for granted, but more importantly, I think it’s extremely funny if Jiang Cheng continues his CQL tradition of upsetting the hell out of LWJ while having no clue he’s doing it—and Lan Xichen is like no, no, we’ll muddle through somehow, uncle, go be with the one you love (and then collapses back into a puddle as soon as Shufu is gone).
JC and LQR then go back to Lotus Pier and continue having an ambiguously queer gay pseudo marriage unless I feel like making them kiss. (Jin Ling, after having spent one day together with Jiujiu and Lan Qiren: 🧐 uncle it’s kind of gross, but..do you maybe want to kiss that old guy the way Da-Jiu kisses Hanguang-jun? *Jin Ling has been ejected from the server and yeeted back to Lanling*)
150 notes
·
View notes
Text
Bad news guys it appears my braincells are starting to resurface after being on standby mode since saturday so i'm going to try stringing some words together. Sorry in advance.
(10 image upload limit, my beloathed)
I've talked before about how much Vegas enjoys Pete's defiance, it's something that fascinates him and something he goads Pete into showing him more often. Food is a particular point of contention. Vegas uses food as a humiliation tactic and Pete responds by rejecting it, multiple times.
The line above kind of confused me on first watch but now with the benefit of comparison it makes sense. Not eating isn't a choice because it's a non-action, it's passive. Pete is resisting Vegas's dehumanisation attempts by retaining his agency in this one small area, something Vegas literally can't force him to do.
Anyway, fast forward
Pete's confession had to come at this time. This is the most equal he and Vegas have ever been: Not only have they been through so much together, but Pete is no longer a bodyguard of the main family. Vegas is no longer heir to the minor family. They are just Vegas and Pete ("Just you and me").
And this Pete is choosing Vegas. You know I love how the show handled episode 12 to make it 100% clear that Pete chose to go back to Vegas, chose to kiss him, handed him the ropes and I don't want to discredit any of that. But we know from Pete's reaction in ep 13 that the whole situation was (unsurprisingly) a real mindfuck for him, one that it's taken until this point for him to unravel.
And the conclusion that he's come to is that he's hungry now. Not only that he's willing to take whatever Vegas will give him, but he desires it. Even further than that: he needs it, it's as necessary to him as food. He's gone from passive non-action (refusing food) to active (hungry for it). And not only just the act of being hungry, but the act of stating it, making his desires known, putting them out into the world, begging Vegas to satiate them. And that is what Vegas responds to.
(someone give Build an award because I tear up just looking at the still images)
There's just so much here. Like before when he stayed on his knees, he's (actively) casting himself in a submissive role. And not just submissive but dependent, no it can't be anyone else but Vegas. No-one else can give him what he needs.
"I'm your pet, aren't I?" you made me need you, cracked me open and discovered this desire, you need to take responsibility now. "So I had to come find my owner" Not just wanted to, he had to. Again he is assigning roles, making them real and tangible by speaking them, telling Vegas this is what he needs from him. He is the one actively calling back to that part of their relationship and saying not only is Vegas not a freak for wanting that, he wants it to. He knows what Vegas will respond to but that doesn't make it equally Pete's own desire, because we know how Pete feels about honesty.
And in the midst of this declaration of submission, we also have this
This Pete! Defiant Pete! The side of Pete that Vegas was always so drawn in by. But now his defiance isn't because he has no other option, either resist or lose his humanity, now it's his choice totally. Pete is asserting his agency not only through being the one to (re)establish the roles of their relationship but also by, again, making Vegas face up to his responsibilities to Pete. By making it something selfish. Even in his desperation for Vegas to see him, stay with him, there's no weakness in his submission. He demands and gets angry, but none of it is said to hurt, just to kick Vegas into seeing him again, the way only he can.
And finally, pleading. Please turn around to see me. Because Vegas hasn't looked at him once since he ran out of the garage, not even when he pushed past him in the office. And Vegas and Pete are all about seeing each other [insert montage of VP staring scenes here]. So I think Vegas knows when he does see Pete, and sees Pete seeing him, there's no going back. He cannot leave when Pete needs him, will starve without him.
This had to be Vegas's choice. Pete can beg and plead and speak aloud his desires but he cannot force Vegas to turn and see him. But he does, he makes his choice in the slow, hesitant turn with a look of disbelief that Pete really is there saying these things. Then the utter relief and smile when he does see Pete, his mirror and other half, seeing him back, desiring him, loving him, demanding him, following him, choosing him.
2K notes
·
View notes
Note
Maybe a chengxian' meeting post-canon? Platonic or romantic, as you prefer
100 years later, I have given up and concussed Jiang Cheng in the name of love and yunmeng shuangjie reconciliation. You know, if it's not working, give it a smack!
-
This wasn’t precisely the way that he had imagined this reunion going, reflected Wei Wuxian. Jiang Cheng lay across his lap, blood smeared dark against his forehead, face illuminated by a streak of moonlight.
Not that he’d imagined seeing Jiang Cheng again. Well—not on purpose—sometimes it crossed his mind, when he saw Jin Ling out of the corner of his eye. Something about the posture was very like Jiang Cheng as a teenager, if a little more brash and impulsive. Jiang Cheng had always been more hesitant in public, aware of the eyes on him.
Anyway, it had occurred to him, mostly against his will, when he saw Jin Ling or he smelled the sword oil Jiang Cheng had favoured (still favoured?) or someone mentioned Lotus Pier. He’d flung it away each time for some future version of him to deal with. Now the future was here, and it sucked.
Wei Wuxian squinted at the ray of moonlight. At least they wouldn’t be suffocated. The section of the cave they were trapped in had at least one opening that went up to the outside world.
They had tracked a very strange yao back to the cave where it lived, him and Lan Zhan and the juniors, and crossed paths with a Jiang team led by Jiang Cheng himself following the same kind of yao. Unfortunately, it seemed that they lived in packs. The resulting fight had gone badly. An over-eager hit from Lan Jingyi had smashed one into the wall, and that had triggered a cave-in, and now Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian were alone in the dark together behind an enormous pile of rocks. On top of everything else, Jiang Cheng was unconscious, which Wei Wuxian really did not like.
The only thing he could think of to do was prop Jiang Cheng up in his lap and wait for him to come to. He didn’t know what Jiang Cheng would make of it when he woke up, but Wei Wuxian decided that he would cross that bridge when he came to it.
Jiang Cheng groaned and opened his eyes. “What happened?” he asked.
Wei Wuxian looked down at his face, and winced. Those pupils were not supposed to be different sizes.
“You took a hard hit to the head,” said Wei Wuxian, as cheerfully as he could. “Just stay still, will you? Rescue is on the way!”
He assumed, anyway. Lan Zhan wouldn’t just leave him here. He was very reliable like that.
“Rescue? Why the hell are we being rescued? What did we do this time?” complained Jiang Cheng. Something about his voice tugged at Wei Wuxian. It was less assertive that it usually was, tired, almost—whiny?
“You don’t remember?” said Wei Wuxian. This was bad. This was very bad. “There was a yao. Actually, there were quite a few yaos…”
Jiang Cheng let out a disapproving little huff. Distantly, Wei Wuxian noted that he had made no effort to get up from Wei Wuxian’s lap.
“If we’re late to dinner again, A-jie will be upset,” he mumbled.
Wei Wuxian froze. This was very bad indeed.
124 notes
·
View notes
Text
every day i am plagued by visions (thoughts about a dunmeshi restaurant au)
part 1
bonus
31K notes
·
View notes
Text
Someone asked me to expand a little on a topic that was buried down in a big chain of reblogs, so I'm doing that here--it's about the use of the archaic "thee", "thou", "thy", etc. in LOTR and what it tells you about characters’ feelings for one another. (I am NOT an expert on this, so it's just what I've picked up over time!)
Like many (most?) modern English speakers, I grew up thinking of those old forms of 2nd person address as being extra formal. I think that's because my main exposure to them was in the Bible ("thou shall not...") and why wouldn't god, speaking as the ultimate authority, be using the most formal, official voice? But it turns out that for a huge chunk of the history of the English language, "thee," "thou," and "thy" were actually the informal/casual alternatives to the formal "you", “your”, “yours”. Like tú v. usted in Spanish!
With that in mind, Tolkien was very intentional about when he peppered in a "thee" or a "thou" in his dialogue. It only happens a handful of times. Most of those are when a jerk is trying to make clear that someone else is beneath them by treating them informally. Denethor "thou"s Gandalf when he’s pissed at him. The Witch King calls Éowyn "thee" to cut her down verbally before he cuts her down physically. And the Mouth of Sauron calls Aragorn and Gandalf "thou" as a way to show them that he has the upper hand. (Big oops by all 3 of these guys!)
The other times are the opposite--it's when someone starts to use the informal/casual form as a way to show their feeling of affection for someone else. Galadriel goes with the formal "you" all through the company's days in Lórien, but by the time they leave she has really taken them to heart. So when she sends them a message via Gandalf early in the Two Towers, she uses "thee" and "thou" in her words to Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli because now they're valued friends and allies. And--this is the big one, folks, that was already alluded to in my previous post--Éowyn starts aggressively "thou"ing Aragorn when she is begging him to take her along as he prepares to ride out of Dunharrow. She is very intentionally trying to communicate her feelings to him in her choice of pronoun--an "I wouldn't be calling you "thee" if I didn't love you" kind of thing. And he is just as intentionally using "you" in every single one of his responses in order to gently establish a boundary with her without having to state outright that he doesn't reciprocate her feelings. It's not until much later when her engagement to Faramir is announced that Aragorn finally busts out "I have wished thee joy ever since I first saw thee". Because now it is safe to acknowledge a relationship of closeness and familiarity with her without the risk that it will be misinterpreted. He absolutely wants to have that close, familiar relationship, but he saved it for when he knew she could accept it on his terms without getting hurt.
So, you know, like all things language-based...Tolkien made very purposeful decisions in his word choices down to a bonkers level of detail. I didn’t know about this pronoun thing until I was a whole ass adult, but that’s the joy of dealing with Tolkien. I still discover new things like this almost every time I re-read.
2K notes
·
View notes
Text
It’s crazy how low self-worth fucks with peoples lives
83K notes
·
View notes
Text
An extremely belated birthday gift for my bestie @twilightarc-gm! Per request, Jin Ling and his jiujiu being extremely judgmental. (insert John Mulaney voice here) Jiang Cheng is a bitch and I love him so much.
Cheers to another year of friendship, twi!
245 notes
·
View notes
Text
Maia
drew this at the end of last year and still like it a lot
2K notes
·
View notes