A Heaven Of Hell, A Hell Of Heaven

I’m Nim Wallace. I write. A lot. This blog is for my Good Omens writing. For Sherlock stuff, see @nimwallace :) Ao3 is NimWallace.

[onceuponapuffin]

Just putting it out there for the record,

I, personally was devastated by the ending. But I want to hear and absorb ALL the takes.

You loved it? Amazing. Please tell me all the things you love about it. I find it healing.

You also didn't like it? By all means, vent. We can be hurt and frustrated together.

Ambivalent? Indifferent? Also fine.

All takes are welcome in my books (though I will raise a hefty eyebrow at people who hate on Aziraphale).

I also definitely want all the Asanthony art. Those two are cutie patooties and I wanna hug them.

[iusedtobecharming-deactivated20]

Do we have a franz kafka diary entry for july 1st, i want to know what he thinks!!!

[rehearsing]

happy too tired July everyone

[letmeliedown]

[image text: "July 1. Too tired." end text]

[aheavenofhell]

Randomly slept an extra five hours today. Glad to know I’m being possessed by Kafka.

[tami-taylors-hair]

I was in line at Aldi and this girl with two toddlers in front of me had her card declined and she looked so fucking sad and said “let me call my husband real quick” and it was only 18 dollars, so I just paid for it, and she was very sweet and then as she walked off, the lady behind me said `”You know that was probably a scam, right?” and like, even if it was, like what a sad fucking scam, right? 18 dollars at the Aldi. If you’re “scamming” me for some Tyson chicken and apple juice and cauliflower, then just take my fucking money. 

“A scam” people are fucking wild.  

[dragginage]

This happened to me, too. A woman had used WIC for the majority of her stuff (which I say from personal experience is such a long and embarrassing process) and to buy the remainder of her groceries, which included diapers and wipes, she used a card, and it got declined. I bought the other $30 of her groceries because hey, I’ve been there, and now I’m not. She was extremely emotional and began to cry and even hugged me. My mom called me on the drive home and could tell I had been crying myself, asked what was wrong, and when I told her what happened, she berated me for being “duped.” I couldn’t believe she could be so disappointed in one of her children for doing something- nice? Is that the hill you want to die on? Getting mad about people needing groceries?

[systlin]

I once paid for a woman’s bill at the vet…it wasn’t a big one, but she was trying to pay for some medication for her dog, and her card was declined. And her lip started trembling, and she says “I don’t get paid until Tuesday, would he be ok until then?” 

So I just told them to add the $20 something onto my bill, and I thought she was going to break down crying right there.

And I don’t care if it was a scam or not. Just do nice things for people sometimes. 

[flurrin]

Do good recklessly.

[solarpunk-gnome]

I think “Do good recklessly” would be fantastic word art to hang on one’s wall. Artistic people, go!

[7faerielights]

So this has happened to me but from the other side. Several years ago when my oldest was around three or so, I had my debit card decline at Walmart. It wasn’t a scam or a mistake, I was genuinely broke. Out of money. I checked my bank and discovered I had something like 7 dollars left to my name and a hungry kid and nothing to eat at home. So I sat there trying to come up with the best way to stretch that tiny amount of money to feed my kid. Not even to feed me. I can live on popcorn or something if I have to but my kid was three and he had to eat. So there I am trying really hard not to cry while I slowly take things out of my basket to get it down to under 7 bucks, when a lady tapped me on the shoulder. I looked up and she smiled at me and started putting the things back in my cart. I opened my mouth to tell her that I didn’t have the money for them but she stopped me right away and said “Don’t worry about it. It’s gonna be fine.” Then she handed the cashier her credit card and said “Ring up all of it.” My kid got to eat because of her. I got to eat because of her. I had laundry soap and deodorant because of her. She could’ve just ignored me silently struggling in that line. She could’ve decided I was a scam and gone home feeling good about avoiding being duped. But instead she chose to help me and she saved us. So maybe the person struggling in front of you is trying to put one over on you or maybe they are just sad and broke and trying to figure out what to do. You get to decide which you want to believe and what you want to do. But I’ll tell y’all, no one has ever been more beautiful to me than that lady in that line who saved me and my baby. Be like her. Be beautiful.

[29-pieces]

Do good recklessly

[lightningchaserarts]

DO BETTER. BE BETTER. STRIVE TO BE BETTER.

DO GOOD RECKLESSLY

[averagemarvelbitch]

One time, my dad and I were living the grocery store and there was a guy outside asking for money to buy some stuff to take home for his kids. It was around Christmas time. My dad asked him if he could give him groceries instead of money, and the guy immediately said yes, so my dad gave him one of everything we bought (meat, rice, some chocolates, milk, oil). At that time, my dad hadn’t gotten his paycheck because the company he worked for was going through a tough time, but he didn’t care, he saw an opportunity to help someone and he did.

Another time, my dad gave 50 bucks to a guy who said he needed to buy medicine for his kids. I told my dad he was probably going to spend the money on alcohol or something, but my dad said that “whether he was lying or not says something about HIS character, but hearing someone in need and choosing not to help when I have the means to says something about mine”.

I never forget that.

[tisfan]

“whether he was lying or not says something about HIS character, but hearing someone in need and choosing not to help when I have the means to says something about mine”

louder, for the people in the back

[imfemalewarrior]

Part of being a Warrior is doing good recklessly. 

-FemaleWarrior, She/They 

[kendermouse]

About a decade ago, I was trying to figure out how to put together a holiday meal for my little household, with only $7 to my name. We were joking around about it and stuff, because it’s better to laugh than cry, and this very nice older lady noticed us, and said it looked like we were having fun. I laughed, and told her what we were doing, and she insisted, then and there, on giving us $20 to help us out. We tried telling her we’d be fine, but she would not take no for an answer. It’s not the first time a stranger’s kindness has helped me during a rough time, but every time it’s happened, it’s made such a huge difference. If I refused to help out in turn when I can just because the person in need MIGHT be a scammer, it would feel like spitting on the kindness that was shown to me.

[unexpectedyarns]

[aheavenofhell]

God, I don’t know if a single act of generosity I’ve ever committed hasn’t been scolded by other people. It’s a wild phenomenon.

[gaylienz]

happy PRIDE i’m here i’m queer and i believe the land should be given back to the proper indigenous stewards.

[gaylienz]

Non-Natives reblogging this are great and wonderful

[lierdumoa]

Please remember that "land back" does not mean "indigenous people are mystical elves with innate epigenetic wisdom of land stewardship and they don't belong in big cities," nor does it mean "non-indigenous people can't be farmers." What it DOES mean is that "non-indigenous farmers should be paying the equivalent of property taxes to the native governments their land was stolen from." It means, "there's a great deal of indigenous scholarship on sustainable agricultural practices that farmers should be taking into account, because indigenous agriculture was more advanced than European agriculture at the time Europe invaded the Americas and western agriculture *still* hasn't caught up in terms of figuring out how to produce equivalently high crop yields without compromising the ecosystem." It means, "non-indigenous farmers should be in an intellectual discourse with indigenous agricultural scientists and indigenous peoples that still do traditional farming, figuring how to repair the damage western farming practices have done to the ecosystem."

[red-dead-revival]

It also means that indigenous peoples should regain the right to sustain themselves on the land according to the practices they want, and they should have free reign to perform their cultural practices and protect their holy sites, as opposed to the current model where if they try to honor their dead on public lands they get violently removed.

[aheavenofhell]

Was Crowley afraid of ‘Jimbriel’ in S2?

Yes, he was genuinely scared of him

No, but he was wary

No, not at all

Voting ended onJun 28, 2024

Curious on others opinions on this one.

[neil-gaiman]

Hi Mr Gaiman,

how are you doing?

I was reading the Good Omens book when I found this:

"Like eggs without salt, you said. Which reminds me. No salt, no eggs. No gravlax with dill sauce. No fascinating little restaurants where they know you. No Daily Telegraph crossword. No small antique shops. No bookshops, either. No interesting old editions. No"-Crowley scraped the bottom of Aziraphale's barrel of interests-"Regency silver snuffboxes . . ."

So what does Aziraphale need a snuffbox for?

I do not see him 'snuff' tobacco so I thought he might use it to keep his travel sweets. I'm imagining it honey-flavoured with a tinge of lemon and ginger and in winter time he switches them for minty ones and on Christman they're butterscotch and candy-cane-flavoured.

Since it's 'Regency', is it a bookshop opening gift from Crowley?

You don't have to answer. I just like to ask questions and probably have my own story in mind of how things went anyway. I should write but I still don't let me do it.

Anyhoo I read The Ocean at the End of the Lane and boy oh boy I cried. Now I know why people cried. It's the feeling of missing something that you did not have experience and still accepting the aftermath of something that needed to happen, I guess? I loved it.

Have a nice day :) Bye

He collects them.

[embracing-the-ineffable]

From another of Neil's posts, "Some of Aziraphale's snuffbox collection:"

[aheavenofhell]

Guys that is literally one of his SPECIAL INTERESTS. Pls respect him.

[aheavenofhell]

They mirrored the Job story

I don’t know if this has been said yet, but during the Job episode I was extremely preoccupied with the “sounds lonely” arc, preoccupied with Aziraphale changing, but I noticed something else.

There is something about that scene in the villa, where Aziraphale asks Crowley not to destroy Job’s children. Now, we know Crowley never had any plans to do this, so why would he lie to Aziraphale instead of just admitting it? Does he actually want to seem that demonic to him, does he want him to think he’s evil?

I don’t think so. At least, that isn’t the way I interpreted it.

I think Crowley was testing Aziraphale’s faith in him. He looks him in the eyes, he tells him he’s going to go through with it, and he watches his reaction. Aziraphale is on the verge of tears when he walks away, and when Crowley goes the opposite direction, you can see he looks a little disappointed.

Then Aziraphale finds out he didn’t kill the goats. And like that, his faith in him is restored.

So what does Crowley do? Just like God with Job, he escalates. He raises the stakes.

Next time, it’s the fire. The “are you sure, angel?” gets me every single time. He is looking Aziraphale in the eyes and asking for his faith, and Aziraphale looks back at him and this time, he gives it resolutely, firmly. Quite sure. And after that, Crowley doesn’t test him again.

It’s just so interesting to think about the state of their relationship at this point—the fact that Crowley is, relative to the rest of their existence, newly fallen. They’re treading this new ground, and Crowley doesn’t know where he stands in Aziraphale’s eyes. So in his own weird, definitely-not-trauma-fueled way, he decided to find out.

[aheavenofhell]

Coming back to this meta with more thoughts. Crowley is testing him in more ways than one, isn’t he? That little clap and nod when Aziraphale lies to the angels, when he does the right thing despite orders. He wants to know if Aziraphale is like him like he thinks he is, if he cares enough about doing the right thing to ‘thwart the will of God’. That makes the Job parallel even clearer.

[stanarrators]

‘unreliable narrator’ but it’s ’narrator is deeply in love with the person they are narrating’

[aheavenofhell]

Great Gatsby

[mysteriouslypleasantcat]

you know i have never heard a convincing arguement as to why AO3 should not moderate the content that is posted to their website and i think a lot of the arguement against moderation on AO3 boils down to, terminally online people thinks community moderation is the same as government censorship and personally sending the cops to someone’s house to arrest them irl/

[unpopularfanopinion]

Just because you don’t agree with an argument doesn’t mean it’s a bad one. When it was founded the people made a promise to its users. “We will host all transformational works(fanfic) allowed by US law.” This promise came about after other sites had routinely purged fanworks without warning. Not just the same things people call for moderation on now but far more reaching and random. Like FF.net purged ALL mature/NC17 fics from their site, they also purged and banned the ENTIRE genre of songfics(written equivalent of fan made music videos made by putting song lyrics between paragraphs of story prose)

Ao3 bringing in any sort of content moderation or limits on what fics they will host would be breaking that initial promise to their users.

I guess if you’ve never woken up and found chunks of your fave fandom, some fanworks you yourself created just gone, because whoever was hosting it decided to change the rules on you, you wouldn’t understand. And unless you primarily read fics at sites other than Ao3 because of their determination to keep that promise you won’t have to.

[mysteriouslypleasantcat]

see that is the thing that i really do not get, Like the thing that i cannot understand about this arguement is that bad moderation means no moderation should be allowed? It’s ok for AO3 to host racist fanfics and child porn, because the alternative is just random deletions? Like why is the alternative to no moderation bad moderation? Why do AO3 defenders keep on acting like the only options are either no moderations at all, or else it will be fanfics deleted without rhyme or reason? Like why is the argument always in black and white extremes?

[unpopularfanopinion]

One. Ao3 does not host child porn. You can stop with that lie right the fuck now. Child porn(or the more correct term Child Sexual Abuse/Exploitation Material) is when someone has a child under their control and forces them to perform sexual acts and either photographs or films it. It is a recorded documentation of abuse and is in fact illegal(and therefore not allowed to be hosted on Ao3) It is wrong, immoral, and illegal because a real live, breathing child with thoughts, and feelings is being hurt and will have to live with the memory of their abuse for the rest of their lives.The term does not apply to non-photorealistic fanart, or to written words depicting events that did not actually happen(meaning there is no victim and no-one has to live with the memory of the events).  Treating either fanart or fanfic as the same as  real life abuse is an insult and dis-service to every single child that has ever been sexually exploited because you think their suffering is equivalents to lines on paper.  That you think the immorality of CSEM is because it makes you feel “icky” and not because they were being hurt and exploited.  People writing fanfic of two teenage characters making out is in no way equivalent to a real life child having their rape recorded, but I routinely see people calling for moderation on Ao3 acting like it is.

Two. As for the racist(and every other kind of bigotry that can be depicted) I’m going to be honest. I don’t trust the various fandom communities to make a set of standards that aren’t just one group of fans forcing their will and preferences onto the rest of fans. I don’t know what fandoms you’ve been in, but I’ve seen fandoms with interracial ships where if you have the black character top you’re being racist because it’s playing into racist mandrigo tropes. But at the same time you would have people claiming that having the black character bottom you’re also being racist for making the black man submissive. So are both depictions/options racist, are neither of them, or are people just trying to make their personal fic preferences/interpretations some sort of moral issue and force people to cater to them?  I’ve been in fandom communities where the admin/moderators refused to let anyone post fics that didn’t match their preferences(despite claiming to be friendly to all fics) So it’s very much coming from a place of experience that says trying moderate Ao3 based on racism, or any other problematic metric/rubric you want to use will just end up being used to silence people(including other fans of color)

Racism exists in fandom because we live in a racist society and that will filter into ALL media, including fanfic. Trying to remove so called racist fanfic won’t make society any less racist. All it does is give a tool for bullies to try to control and harass people. Everyone has their own personal biases some conscious, some only in their subconscious that they haven’t bothered to unpack  Trying to moderate content based on standards like racism, homophobia, xenophobia, etc… will inevitably lead to the moderators own personal biases leaking through resulting in uneven, inconsistent moderation resulting nothing but hurt feelings and fighting. 

Third. I would just like to mention just how heartless and unempathic you sounds when you act like random mass deletions and purges are no big deal. You have no idea how much it hurts to wake up and find something you created just gone. To find large swaths of fics that you enjoyed again and again, that you found comfort in, deleted never to be recovered. To say nothing of when Livejournal caved to a bunch of right-wing christian evangelical trolls and deleted a bunch of users and communities. People were devastated. people lost support communities and were frantically trying to find the friends they had made in those communities.

I know it may be hard to believe but fiction and art do not cause harm just by existing. A story that may be upsetting and triggering for one person, may bring healing and comfort to another, because everyone brings their own set of experiences and persepctives into every story they read, and therefore each takes something slightly different from it.  But you and every other person calling for moderation on Ao3 act a story causes harm to everyone, again just by existing.  It’s an insane perspective that makes no sense to me. A story I am not forced to read can’t hurt me any more than someone practicing a different religion can hurt me.

[blueinkedfrost]

There are several ways that you can moderate AO3.

Use filter tags to browse for tags you want to see, and exclude tags you don’t want to see.

Use blocking functions to hide authors you don’t like so you don’t have to read them.

Make your own curated collection of works that you want to share with others as stories that have passed your personal editorial standards for good writing, appropriate character being on top/bottom, etc. Or you can use your Tumblr blog or other spaces to make recommendations!

Use bookmarks to mark works you like.

Subscribe to works you like.

If you read a story and have strong opinions on it, e.g. you think it’s racist to write Adeline as a bully when she’s such an amazing hero character in the source material or you think that author CerseiFan69 writes such creepy stories that you never want to interact with them ever, it’s great that you’re thinking for yourself and trying to do some critical analysis.

You deserve the power to control your own reading experience, which AO3 gives you. However, I don’t trust you to tell the difference between a badly written story by a young writer who is black and wrote Adeline as a bully because Adeline’s accent reminds her of her real life high school bully, versus a badly written story by a writer who’s actually horrible. Likewise, you shouldn’t trust me to tell you which authors you should read as spine-chillingly excellent takes on dark content versus authors who make you want to scrub out your brain with steel wool.

I love the freedom of AO3, where I might write a bad story but at least I know that some moderator won’t judge me harshly and take it down.

[elismor]

Listen. The 11th Commandment is not “Thine beliefs are codified and just”. It’s “Don’t like, don’t read.”

You have no right to censorship. Period.

[aheavenofhell]

I will say it again and again. Ao3 has a million tools so that you can self censor what you don’t want to read. The big difference is that you aren’t taking it away from anyone else when you do that.

[ceilidho]

btw this isn't a vague/subtweet (post?) or anything but just so y'all know, there's a way to mark things as "inspired by" on ao3

you don't have to just put it in the notes!! very cool under-utilized feature

[peachesofteal]

This is an underutilized feature of AO3, and a great way to credit the work you might be taking inspiration from.

[thebaconsandwichofregret]

It's also useful because it will link your work on the work it's inspired by! A little section pops up to say "Works inspired by this one:" and a hyperlink at the bottom of the original fic.*

And then anyone who finds the fic that inspired you will have the option to read your fic too and anyone reading your fic has the chance to go read the fic you loved so much you had to write about it! Everyone wins!

*The author does have to approve that link, it doesn't just pop up on it's own, but in my experience as someone who enjoys gifting fic it's usually well received.

[scifikimmi]

PLEASE use this feature! Its so cool! And it is a great way to drice traffic to both the original and inspired by work since it automatically provides a direct link. You can also connect translations! Which is amazing! This is a super great feature on ao3!

[aheavenofhell]

A lot of my fics have linked translations because of this feature! Absolutely go use it!

[sugaldean]

Tagging this with gay fandoms sorry

There's currently a European proposition to ban conversion practice in Europe

If you're European please sigh it

If you're not please reblog

European Citizens' Initiative

Give your support !

[sugaldean]

Did you sign it?

Yes, I'm european

No, I'm European (scroll back you can still do it!)

No I'm not European (please rb)

Voting ended onMay 25, 2024

[aheavenofhell]

I think a massively underrated part of canon is the Arrangement. Like. Really think about it for a second. Not only was Crowley out here doing good—Aziraphale was out there doing bad. I NEED more fics of Aziraphale’s temptations. Someone feed me lest I feed myself.

[rimonoroni]

“imagine caring so much about fiction” imagine being so lame that you scoff at the timeless human practice of falling in love with art and stories

[aheavenofhell]

Seeing the “if you care about (fiction) enough to feel a real emotions over it you’re mentally ill” take a lot on my dash lately so here’s a lil reminder.

[ladybracknellssherry]

Why didn't anyone tell me this is a play on a bible quote? First time I regret being raised by atheists.

Can't believe some gay ass show got me reading the bible.

[aheavenofhell]

My little Evangelical raised brain wondered who had gotten this joke. It made me crack a smile.

[lookitsstevie]

how was the eclipse : (

[katiefrog217]

It was cloudy

[aheavenofhell]

I was hoping someone would do this

[aheavenofhell]

Do you know what happens to ducks when you feed them bread?

They develop a syndrome called angel wing. Their feathers stick out, and they’re unable to fly away from predators.

In other news—

[aheavenofhell]

If anyone super special and nice wanted to reblog this post with that one clip of musical Crowley on his knees pouring Aziraphale a drink. It literally lives rent free in my mind every day.