How Do You Do

Agender and queer. They/Them, It/Itself, or no pronouns. Literally just chilling. Ao3- YourLifeIsNotYourOwn

[digitalkiddo]

If you're writing anything involving cons, scams, heists, or morally questionable characters who are very good at lying, here are some free resources I've been using for research. Saving you the "why is this in my search history" anxiety.

1. The FBI's Famous Cases & Criminals archive (fbi.gov/history/famous-cases) has detailed breakdowns of real fraud cases, Ponzi schemes, and confidence operations. The language they use is clinical and precise, which is perfect for getting the procedural details right.

2. The FTC Consumer Sentinel Network publishes annual reports on the most common fraud tactics in the US. Great for understanding how modern scams actually work and what makes people fall for them.

3. The Smithsonian's American Art Museum has a free digital collection of forgery case studies. If your character forges documents or art, this is gold.

4. Court Listener (courtlistener.com) is a free legal database where you can read actual court transcripts from fraud trials. Want to know how a real con artist talks under oath? This is where you find out.

5. The Internet Archive's collection of old newspaper crime sections. Search for "confidence man" or "swindle" in papers from the 1920s through 1960s and you'll find incredible real stories that would feel too dramatic for fiction.

Bonus: The Psychology of Fraud section on the Association for Psychological Science website has accessible articles about why people trust, how deception works cognitively, and what makes someone a convincing liar. Essential reading if you want your con artist characters to feel psychologically real.

Reblog to save for later. Your WIP will thank you.

[lullay5479]

Not me immediately using this for Louie and Goldie teaming up research. Most definitely not me!

[izamon]

A key part of both Crowley and Aziraphale's characters is that they absolutely love Earth and Humans. They have lived there for millenia, consistently broken countless divine laws for the sake of humanity. Above all else, they love humanity and want the best for it.

In S2, the world is broken and Crowley doesn't see a way to fix it (because there isn't one). So he wants him and Aziraphale to run away and be happy in the way they can never be under the regimes of Heaven and Hell. He doesn't think it's possible for humanity, so he at least wants it for themselves.

Aziraphale wants that same happiness for humanity, but has yet to realise that Heaven is complicit in humanity's suffering, and he is trying to put the fire out from inside the house.

In the finale however, Aziraphale has realised this, and that his mission was futile. He has also realised how much Crowley completes him, and now knows that all he needs for himself to be happy is Crowley. So when they get the choice, he leaves it up to Crowley, because he's all that matters. Aziraphale has always been the selfish one of the two, if only to a very minor degree.

Crowley meanwhile, now sees the opportunity he never saw before. He was always the one asking questions no matter the cost. Finally they have a chance to make it right for humanity, and Aziraphale leaves it up to him and so he says so.

And Aziraphale realises that yes, that is the right thing to do (he's always been trying to do the right thing), and it's what Crowley wants (his problem in S2 was not considering his side) and that means it's what he wants, even if it means their end.

Because they give to humanity the things that they could never have. Free will, no social and religious pressure (from Heaven and Hell), no narrative and no end times, just existence, for better or for worse, good and evil coexisting. And they give this gift to humanity together, at each other's side. They don't need to kiss to show it, they've been in love for 6000 years and never have (and in general couples don't need to kiss to prove they love each other), but they hold hands as this version of themselves gets erased.

And then the universe is made anew, as in many mythologies, and the same souls are reborn into it, with free will to be who they wish and to meet once again, and watch the stars beneath an apple tree as the nightingale sings.

[lifblogs]

Crowley’s entire storyline was about how unfair the whole system of destroying everything after 6,000 yesrs was, hating the lie of free will. Aziraphale’s entire storyline was about trying to do the right thing, and trying to save the world from the destruction Crowley had always questioned, because deep down he didn’t think it was right either. Season 2 ended with them not at all on the same page, with Aziraphale not able to understand Crowley. The universe ended with them exactly on the same page, standing side by side, and deciding that humanity deserved better. They had both always felt that, but could finally come to the same decision about how to do so. In a way, they were an us at that moment, thinking the same, willing to sacrifice the same, and reaching something they had always strived for. And in the new universe, with free will, and all the odds against them (and honestly, the odds of them ever meeting again, with so many humans on the planet, so many decisions humans make, and an entire planet to live on, were extremely low), they met, they fell in love, they got married, they got their cottage on the South Downs. They had the peace to choose to be an us.

[bucky-barnes-at-221b]

Yknow what?

I liked the ending.

It wasnt the ending we wanted, sure, but it was an ending that kinda made sense.

And I dont understand why people are mad about them not kissing? Its obvious that they love each other, they dont need to kiss to prove that to each other or us.

[kairithemang0-fm]

you know what i loved?

the hand hold

i loved that

i loved that so much i got so giddy and started punching my pillow

[ez-with-a-fez]

So obviously I like everyone else in the fandom have a lot of opinions about the finale.

I knew there wouldn't be a kiss. Not because they just wouldn't do it, but because it's not in character to me. The one kiss they did have wasn't supposed to happen. They're angels. They don't feel emotions the same way humans do. This has been confirmed time and time again. The reason for the kiss was a last ditch effort. A show of passion that is used by the humanity they know and love in a last chance to get him to stay.

Would it be nice for them to have had a nice kiss rather than their first awful kiss? Yes. Would it have been good in the real world to have that kiss on screen? Yes. Do I feel like Aziraphale's little finger kiss made more sense? Also yes.

Of course there were better ways to end it. There always are. Like they could have had a thing where they tell God they don't believe her, and how will they know if she kept up her end of the bargain? So they become human, not get a random human AU of themselves. Or if they used their own book of life like they literally set up with the whole god thing. They could have made their own world.

But faced with the options they had they couldn't just go back to normal. The angels and demons hated humanity. They were never going to stop trying to destroy it. Humans were a pawn to them to just get to the next armageddon, the next end times, the next war. They wouldn't get peace even if they were alive. So they realized they finally had each other the way they wanted. They were finally together even for a brief time. Which, btw, they had each other for centuries earlier. Sure, it wasn't outright "I want to kiss you and be with you" but they were comfortable. They went to each other at every twist and turn. They always came back to the other. It was Maggie and nina that put the idea in Crowley's head for smthn more.

So they had each other. They got their ending. They had their bookshop. But that didn't matter because the thing that brought them together in the first place was humanity. Crowley's one question to God was in defense of humanity. Aziraphale lied to God for humanity. The entire show is them stopping humanity from being wiped out. Like. They were always going to sacrifice themselves for humanity.

Idk. They did what they could with what they had. I absolutely hated time after time but that's just me. Could it have been better? Absolutely. But I don't hate it and I actually find it to be very in character. But that's just my read of them. Everyone's will be different. But I don't think them not kissing is necessary worth all the hate.

[justice-for-adam-milligan]

I actually really liked that ending guys but I also slightly want to stop existing right now

[klikandtuna]

Crowley: “I wish for my miracling powers back.”

God: “Okey dokey, done.”

Crowley: “Miracle time, angel, let’s fucking go.”

Aziraphale: “Miracle?”

Crowley: “Together. No holding back.”

A: (catching on) “Oh, yes! We can channel remarkable power together!”

(They hold hands)

God: (suddenly regretting this) “Wait what”

A: “Thank you both for your services, but they’re no longer required. Cheerio.”

C: (huge toothy grin) “Wasn’t nice knowing you. At all.”

(They move their free hands, just as God and Satan are both lunging toward them; screen flashes white, holds there)

And instead of the human AU, we use that time to have Crowley and Aziraphale strolling through that blankness together, discussing the parameters of rekindled existence without Heaven and Hell. They decide to allow their fellow angels and demons to be resurrected as shepherds, guiding human souls to redemption after death.

Closing scene is cozy domesticity in the bookshop, maybe a brief consult with Dagon and Uriel about a specific human soul, A and C give them sage advice to guide the soul toward an epiphany of empathy and compassion. They look out the window together at a restored Whickber Street, arms around each other’s waists, A rests his head on C’s shoulder, long pan back, ROLL CREDITS

VAVOOM, SORTED, LOVE FUCKING WINS YOU UNBELIEVABLE TOSSERS

[theonevoice]

For a moment I thought they were going to spend eternity together in the cosmic bookshop writing the whole universe back in existence in the blank books...

[kairithemang0-fm]

"they didn't get a happy ending" BUT THE WORLD WAS HAPPY THE WORLDDDDD THE WORLD THEY CHOSE THE WORLD THEY CHOSE THE PEOPLE WHO THEY GREW TO CARE ABOUT AND THE HUMANITY THEY'VE WATCHED GROWWWWWWWWW

maybe somewhere in the middle of nothingness they're there and watching two men who look like themselves fall in love

[thestoryteller-thedreamer]

Jay's eyepatch.

It is a common headcanon of many Ninjago fans, including me, that Jay loses his eye during Skybound. With great angst potential and relatively low stakes since everything is reversed at the end of that season (or is it?), it is shown in a lot of art and fanfics.

The show actually counters this, explicitly showing us Jay's functional eye for two episodes (The Last Resort and Operation Land Ho!) before he very clearly puts it back on for the final battle in The Way Back.

And I actually really love this symbolism.

In the show, Jay might not actually need an eyepatch. He might still have both eyes. However, he saw the eyepatch in his vision. It is a physical reminder that destiny has already given him a happy ending.

With the world crumbling around him and Nya in Nadakhan's clutches, Jay deliberately puts his eyepatch back on. He is holding onto hope that he and Nya might still have a chance together.

[pb-s-corner]

I was always mad with how he didn't lose his eye, but this makes so much sense and functions so well...

[violetdaphne]

whatever you do don't think about june and bosco and charlie taking photos of anything and everything, every outing, every night in, every tiny inconsequential memory, every trick gone right, (even the tricks gone wrong), snapping selfies in front of sunsets and candids in cafes and pictures of each other doing the most mundane things (bosco staring intently at the monopoly board with a depressing amount of fake money in his hand, june eating an italian ice on the fire escape while scrolling through tiktok, charlie half asleep at his work desk, ink marks on his cheekbone from where he lay on his notes), don't think about them taking pictures because they want a physical reminder of the importance to each other, a permanent keepsake of their presence in each other's lives, something to look to when they're feeling anxious or put out or overwhelmed. don't think about how they get these pictures developed and stick them up around their apartment hideaway, taping them to pillars and tacking them to corkboards and covering their shared space with evidence of their forged connection. and especially don't think about how after exposing veronika these pictures begin to include the horsemen with an increasing frequency (june mid-laugh, running off with merritt's hat, the mentalist himself looking panicked in the background, bosco and lula flipping off the camera in a sun-drenched selfie at the beach, june trying and failing to give jack bunny ears because she barely comes up to his shoulder, henley and charlie wandering the aisles of a second-hand book store they dragged bosco to, atlas mid-lecture about the importance of privacy, bosco mimicking him from behind). don't think about how these pictures make their way into the ponies' apartment, taped up with the same reverence as all the others, and don't think about how atlas will visit them in bushwick and go to their probably stolen coke-cola fridge for a drink but freezes with his hand on the handle because taped up front and center is the selfies taken at the chateau, bosco leaning over june's shoulder, charlie just visible in the corner, all three of them with beaming, sly grins and atlas himself in the background, looking at the three of them with something akin to fondness, something that makes him go all warm and fuzzy and soft because these kids grew up with nothing of their own and now that they do have something worth losing, they're going to do everything in their power to keep it alive.

[ez-with-a-fez]

🥹

[eliassimp]

THIS is the best theory I've seen yet

[ello-ol]

Never underestimate the bond between a teenage girl and the fictional non-canon bl couple she found in 2020 that altered her brain chemistry forever

[calladraws101]

First encounter

[rookenby]

If you're going to waste time arguing about the fans sexualizing Alastor, I am begging you, as an aroace person, to stop saying it's bad because of his sexuality (which inevitably leads to 'it's a spectrum') and say it's because he's canonically touch-averse. It's still a stupid hill to die on, but at least it's a more defensible one.

[pretty-thief]

Does anyone else ever think about how Veronica Mars fandom kick-started enough money to make a comeback movie, and they ended up repaying us by killing Logan lmao

[ez-with-a-fez]

I DO. I DO A LOT, ACTUALLY