#geoff ernstmann

[cherrychan-0110]

Girls on Girls

🫐🪽🍰

[eidolonlathi]

About Ernstmann, Uriel and Barachiel

It just gets to me how everything about Barachiel’s creation is driven by vioIence and force. The mere act of Ernstmann to create an artificial angel, the act of willfully replicating a messenger of God, is so full of hubris and pride that one can only shudder, and the way the story frames this is reflective of this.

It’s really interesting how Ernstmann collecting Uriel’s DNA is presented here. It looks like someone holding a gun to the temple of his victim, executing him, and really, that’s what this is: Ernstmann always intended to kiII Uriel the moment he had his artificial angel created and got him to function as a replacement.

We know that it hurts Ernstmann’s pride that critics of the angel engine project claim that his invention only has value thanks to the angel fueling it. It’s due to two reasons he created Barachiel: To shut those critics up and to prove them wrong, because if there is something Ernstmann can’t bear it’s being perceived as stupid and inferior. The second reason is that he wants to get rid of Uriel and a blasphemy of this sort can only be achieved through a specific sort of weapon: The only being able to kill Uriel seems to be Barachiel. You’d think the most reasonable thing would be to keep two angels around for your miracle machine that needs them as fuel, but if you take into account that Ernstmann collaborated with the antichrist since some time it would make sense the presence of a truly divine and good being would unsettle the deceiver.

By the time of Barachiel’s creation Ernstmann was fully on board when the media called him “the father of the angel” in the articles that put him back into the spotlight. Fading into obscurity after getting recognition when winning the Nobel Prize in is twenties wounded his ego greatly.

And now his attempt to create an artificial angel succeeded he’s ready to replace his first son with his second one. Ernstmann must have felt so clever when he gave Barachiel his name, and I really love how both of their names interconnect. You see, Ernstmann’s first name, Geoff, respective the full form Geoffrey is a variant of Godfrey, meaning “God’s Peace”. The name he’s going by, Geoff, it just means God. A fitting name for a man who has the hubris to create his own angel. And the name Barachiel is Hebrew for “God’s blessing”. So, when Ernstmann presents Barachiel to the world with the words here’s my blessing to this world, that is literally what Barachiel means in this context: Geoff’s blessing, God’s blessing for this world. Ernstmann is fully and consciously playing God, and he lets the world that he felt abandoned and shunned by know.

Everything we have seen so far about Barachiel’s creation is a blasphemy, an act of pride and hubris. Creating Barachiel was an act of revenge for Ernstmann and it was proof to himself that he was not a failure. And it hurts me so much that every time we see a glimpse of Barachiel’s personality it reflects none of these vices. The motivations that drive him are loneliness and a search for belonging. He craves human connections, he wants to make friends. He wants nothing more than the love and recognition from Ernstmann, who Barachiel sees as his father. But Ernstmann only ever treated him like a tool and a weapon.

And in one of the most easily overlookable scenes we see this artificial Angel search for his connection to God. The episode that shows us the cold and clinical creation of Barachiel ends with a shot of him being introspective, looking lost, uttering the simple question How can I find God? I’m going to cry. This is an individual that was created by using the DNA of a captive and tortured angel, a being born in blasphemy. And yet Barachiel wants to find God. There is something in him that yearns for the divine and wants to find it. And the worst thing is that we don’t know how we’re supposed to answer his question. I don’t know how an individual that was created under such abysmal circumstances, forced into being through the connection of a divine angel and a human, can find God. I don’t know if Barachiel’s soul is treated the same way a human’s or an angel’s is, I don’t know if he can repent, if he can find forgiveness. Nothing we have seen in the story so far answers these questions. Can he find God? Seeing the humanity and compassion he has shown on many occasion I hope for him that he can.

Remember how I pointed out above that part of Ernstmann always intended for Barachiel to kiII Uriel? Well, Barachiel refused to follow this command. He did not want to kiII his brother. He stood firm in his refusal. Uriel appeared to answer humanities plea for help and got betrayed. Barachiel tries to lessen Uriel's plight instead of adding to it. This caused the cruelest verbal reprimands by Ernstmann and Ecklebloom, they called out the insecurities that would hurt Barachiel the most. They called him a failure and mutt that is neither human nor angel, told him his wish to find friends had to go nowhere and that his only place was in the laboratory. Mutt? Hey, Ernstmann, who had the genius idea to mix angel DNA with that of a human?

POV Ernstmann: That feeling when the sentient weapon you created is refusing to kiII his brother you intend him to replace.

For a man who loves to get called “the father of the angel” Ernstmann sure loves to physically and mentally torture both of his sons. Do you know how the minions of the antichrist manipulated Barachiel into helping them to destroy civilization as we know it? By promising him these actions would turn him into a real angel and that it would make Ernstmann proud. That manipulation never would have worked if Ernstmann hadn’t given him the feeling he failed to live up to his expectations.  

Ernstmann uses him, and yet Barachiel loves him. Ernstmann is the only consistent emotional connection he has. How to cage an angel? In the case or Uriel trap him in the angel engine. In the case of Barachiel, use his insecurities and need for love to keep him on an emotional leash. And everyone in the laboratory knows and exploits that fact. A flashback shows us Marquez who has strapped Barachiel into the Angel Engine, trying to silence his pleas to stop the painful procedure with the promise that he “needs to be brave if he wants to see Ernstmann again.” This is Barachiel’s deepest wish and motivation. He doesn’t know how to find God, but if he behaves he can at least be with his father. The same episode shows us an insight into his dreams when the laboratory wakes him from an artificial sleep between experiments: Barachiel dreams about getting the love and attention of his Dad. It’s all he wants.

What do artificial angels dream about when they sleep? To be loved and appreciated by their father.

And now that the world has fallen into the clutches of the antichrist Barachiel is no longer even getting scraps of this. With Ernstmann overpowered and caged by the deceiver, Barachiel lost what little he had left of his Dad, flawed and calculating as he might have been. Newer episodes let me think this is a loss and absence that festers heavily on Barachiel’s mind. Witnessing Seila going through the murder of her father resonates with something in him. He tries to comfort her over the loss, clumsy as his attempts are, he apologizes for failing to save her father. It’s also here we witness one of the very few instances where Barachiel gets angry. When a soldier of the Second Tower of Babel tries to pressure Seila to reveal information about the Gate of Ishtar by telling her she could see her father afterwards, Barachiel very resolutely tells him to stop telling lies. Getting stringed on with the lie that you can see your beloved father if you just behave, even though that promise will never happen… it’s a manipulation tactic Barachiel knows too well.

He doesn’t want Seila to go through the same pain he did. At this point it’s been two thousand years since Barachiel lost what little he had left of his father, and yet he can still empathize with a little girl who is going through the same kind of pain. Seeing the compassion he can still show here, it makes me want to believe that there is still hope that Barachiel’s soul can be saved. And that he eventually gets the chance to reunite with Ernstmann. It's what Barachiel wants, you know?

[everett-fornow]

Am i crazy or is this so damn ernstmann coded (about uriel)

[cherrychan-0110]

You'll change your name, or change your mind

And leave this fucked up place behind

But I'll know, I'll know

[cherrychan-0110]

I know it doesn't matter

You need to get off him

I know it doesn't matter

I don't do it that often

🫐🪽🍰

[cherrychan-0110]

Where All the Saints Adorned the Walls (Angel Engine - Blueberry Angelcake)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/87350596

An unusual meeting.

This takes place while Geoff is still working at CERN (Original headcanon by @nagarehoshi-testfest ). I like to headcanon that Geoff and Steven have known each other many years before the events of the main series. In this fic in particular, it takes place 7 years before main events, Geoff here is 35, and Danica is 29, a college professor in Criminology.

Danica stalked past the window with a cat-like grace, their gloved hand ran lazily against its surface, condensation leaving a trail behind their fingertips. They were in cool weather clothes that resembled what a person from the 1940s would wear rather than one from the late 2020s; dark overcoat, ribbed black turtleneck paired with sleek black trousers, black ankle length boots, all topped off with a wide brimmed black fedora. A gentle, yet dark kind of beauty. One that appeared to Geoff like this many times before, like an overcast at night, but it shouldn't have comforted him as much as it intrigued him.

They waited for the man they've heard Geoff call “Steven” to leave before staking their claim, a careful dance of dissection of the man's body and mind. Danica played this game well with many others before him, yet, they knew Geoff was letting himself be drawn in for reasons they couldn't fathom. It made it all the more interesting, enough to break the rules their ‘progenitor’ had instilled in them since their youth. They… wanted him to be their friend. Not like the others they've had in their years, short-lived and meaningless, but someone they think is worth letting into their life, and in turn he lets them into his, allowing them to claw their way into his very being, do with him what they pleased. It shouldn't have been so simple, and yet… he approached him with a willingness that made him all the more tempting.

——————

Geoff had stayed behind after shooing Steven off, drinking himself away in the booth of the Pub. Maybe it was his alcohol addled body, maybe he was letting his emotions get the better of him, but he felt childishly angry and dejected. Maybe he was justified in this, his life leading into nothingness despite his many achievements all those years ago. He let himself spiral over and over again, until it was what felt comfortable, familiar.

Then they appeared.

Again and again. Invading his space like they were entitled to it, yet, he allows them. For reasons he wasn't ready to admit to himself. Geoff didn't say anything at first, but his eyes immediately set on that cheshire grin on their black painted lips. Danica pulled their hat off, their piercing hazel eyes inspecting him, their mouth smoothing into a frown.

Blue turtleneck, khaki pants, and his jacket draped loosely behind him. He looked out of sorts but he was admittedly a very handsome man, and they wouldn't let said handsome man drink himself to death. At least not tonight. They rested their head on a hand, leaning towards him, before they took his drink out of his hands, smooth and swift. He blinked, and before he could register the action, they downed his drink.

“I.. paid for that…”

They ignored that. "I'm getting you out of here." they reply instead.

Danica stood up, briefly looking back at him with an unreadable expression. As if they thought he'd simply follow along.

"I'm not.. going anywhere with you??"

“Why not?” They offered. “Got anything better to do than be in this filth?” Their free hand gestures around the empty pub. Geoff's lips pierced into a thin line, face indignant, but his silence seemed to be exactly what they wanted to hear.

“That's what I thought.” And off with him he went. Into their car.

——————

“Where are we going?" Geoff asked as silence stretched between the two. As is, he's listening to them like a dog being promised a treat. They could at least give him this … He's talked with this person for not even a full year and still knew fuck-all about them. What is he doing? Why is he here?

Danica’s eyes were intensely focused on the road in front of them, hands comfortably on the wheel. "Home." Then their eyes focus on him, momentarily, studying his face. Home? Geoff's face contorts into confusion, as if he hadn't thought about that possibility; as if they were merely an entity that incessantly, yet conveniently appeared in his darkest moments, rather than accept the notion of a person having his best interest in mind.

It was funny! He's a funny man.

——————

Danica invited him in without a word. Their house was dark, clean, yet messy, the room filled with an eerie green light. Greenery lined the walls, tanks filled with strange things he couldn't even begin to question as they put a deceptively gentle hand on his back. They let him lead them to his sofa and sat him down, and they followed suit.

The hat that was just sitting on their head moments prior was suddenly on the coffee table behind them.

Then, an intense bout of vertigo washed over him as they came in close proximity to him, forcing him to lean into gentle hands that he hardly noticed reaching for him until he felt them, and he allowed them to, unable to pull away, either from to his physical state, or that expression on their artful face. Like they revered him even as he was weak beneath him. Then that voice calls to him.

"Drink up." They ordered calmly.

And he obeyed, letting them grasp his chin, tipping his head back like a mother would her child. He wasn't angry, offended, not even a little confused as water was being poured into his mouth from.. where? They placed the cup on the table behind them, before they gently grabbed his cheeks. Geoff's hands lay limply in his lap, unsure of what to do, before slowly reaching for their forearms. Their eyes were intense, searching, and he felt an inkling of nervousness, suddenly feeling like a specimen beneath their gaze rather than a man.

In what felt like a second or two, in the corner of his eye, in the dimly lit kitchen, he saw.. something. Someone. But before he could react his ears were viciously drowned in voices, loud, pounding into his skull. He groaned, feverish chills raking his frame, forcing him to grasp harshly onto the first thing in front of him. Danica hugged him protectively towards their frame, their chin resting on the man's hair. They saw him. A tall, brooding presence in their kitchen: his beautiful, golden hair a complete contrast to his sunken blue eyes, tattered robes, his broken, bloody, decaying wings. His smile. Impossibly wide, threatening, malignant.

The first thing Danica felt was fear, soaking into their very bones. They couldn't breathe. Unable to curb the shaking they felt throughout their body. Their controlled demeanor completely shattered by this incredibly familiar, yet unexpected visitor. Then came the anger. The nerve of him.

“What the fuck?!”

It was barely a scream, barely a whisper from Danica. And he was gone before Geoff could pick up his head.

——————

Geoff's breathing was a brittle, shallow thing that reverberated through his chest. The vertigo slowly dissipated into a hollow, nauseating pit in his gut, accompanied by a lingering sense of dread. His hands squeezed tightly on their hips from his place in their lap, trying to anchor himself. Right then he felt a tremor running through them, a break in their composure he'd rarely seen, if ever.

“Danica..?”

His hands reached for their face, their usually fixed, short curly hair fell uneven around their face. A shaky hand smoothed over their temple, tucking their curls behind their ear. His voice wavered.

“What.. happened? What did you see?”

Danica’s body went rigid beneath his touch, and attempted to pull away, hands dropping from his shoulders to their sides in tight, clenched fists. He carefully observed every action, slowly watching them crack, and for the first time their dynamic shifted; now he was the one watching, waiting, vulnerable.

“I…” They started, their voice small and strained. Their eyes scanned the darkness of the kitchen. “I… don't know. I-I.. I thought… It's nothing.” They sighed, exhausted. “I'm .. just seeing things…”

Geoff felt a cold surge of curiosity. He didn't believe them.

"Nothing?" he repeated, the word tasting bitter.

He let his hand slide down from their temple to their chin, his thumb grazing the underside of their jaw with a firm, grounding pressure. Danica seemed to already be losing their composure at this line of questioning.

"Yes, nothing." They spat back.

Geoff’s eyes narrowed, the irritation prickling at the back of his neck. He hated being lied to, especially when the lie was so transparent it felt like an insult to his intellect. He didn't pull his hand away; instead, he leaned in closer, crowding their personal space.

"Don't lie to me, Danica." he murmured, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous silkiness. "What was it?" he demanded. "What did you see?"

Danica seemed to have had enough of him, their voice raising in octaves. "It was NOTHING.” They seemed to catch themself. “...It was nothing." They swatted his hand away from their face.

Geoff watched the frantic motion of their hand, the sting of the rejection barely registering compared to the sudden spike of adrenaline in his veins. The defiance wasn't insulting, it was intoxicating. "You're a professor of criminology, aren't you?" He prompted, his voice a low purring sound. "You spend your life dissecting the truth from the lies of others. Why are you performing such a mediocre act for me?"

He reached out again, not for their face this time, but to catch one of their hands in his, not letting them retreat. Danica sighed. "I don't have to tell you anything, Ernstmann." Their eyes meet his.

"We're friends, aren't we?" Geoff spoke, calculated manipulation Danica could read through with ease. Danica glared at him, their mouth curled downward in what almost looked like a pout.

"If we were really friends you'd cease this line of questioning.”

Geoff let out a short, dry laugh that lacked any amusement. “A generous term for two people that only poke at each other's curiosities, don't you think?” He released their hand, only to trail his fingertips down the center of their palm. “But, you're right.” He conceded, his voice softening into something dangerously intimate, a soft, velvety thing.

Danica observed this only with a soft quirk of their brow, but was ultimately too exhausted to question it, instead raising their hand to gently cup his cheek. Geoff leaned into it, the coldness of their palm sending pleasant shivers down his spine, and he couldn't think of any reason to pull away from their soft, cool hands.

He still didn't know how he let them drag him here like this.

——————

[cherrychan-0110]

Angel Engine | Blueberry Angelcake (WIPs)

"I'm not your wife!"

"Stay in character!"

"I've never even met her!"

"STAY IN CHARACTER!"

"Destroy Danica

And let them taste the fires of hell

Or else let them be mine and mine alone"

Danica's Inferno

[eidolonlathi]

About the Parallels between Ernstmann and Abraham

It’s interesting to see how Angel Engine keeps comparing Ernstmann to Abraham. More exactly, it keeps referencing the episode where Abraham was fully ready to follow God’s command and sacrifice his son Isaac. The comparison has become a pattern by now. The first time the story makes this comparison it directly quotes the Bible passages of Abraham getting ready for the journey to sacrifice Isaac while showing the audience a scene of Ernstmann and Uriel that is resonating with these words. Clearly the writing wants the viewer to pay attention to this point.

After the apocalypse Uriel tells the people who can still hear him to repent. And from what we are seeing of Ernstmann’s mental state he is doing just that. He feels immense guilt towards Uriel, constantly remembering him. And there is good reason for this guilt. Ernstmann always fully intended to use and abuse Uriel’s power, putting him through abysmal pain for the sake of letting his miracle machine run. To this treatment it stands in contrast how he proudly let himself get celebrated as “the father of the angel” by the media, feeling he was getting the recognition back he had lost. Fading into obscurity after winning the Nobel Prize in his twenties really wounded his ego. And after he had caged Uriel he was ready to use his older “son” for the sake of creating his younger one: He created Barachiel with the intention to replace Uriel. He wanted a source of power for the angel engine that only belonged to him. Calculated as these actions were, we know that already by the time of the apocalypse Ernstmann felt guilty about it. There are even vague hints he started to feel regret earlier, around the time he vanished. With the collapse of civilization having arrived, we see this guilt in how his mind confronts him with the image of his two sons he never treated as anything but tools to reach his own goals.

“You knew.” And yet you did it anyway.

The only reason Uriel is still alive is because Barachiel refused to kiII his brother, even though that provoked the wrath of his father. Ernstmann was ready to sacrifice his older son, and now that it’s too late and the world has fallen in the clutches of the antichrist he regrets. We can see how the memory of what he has done to Uriel haunts him and interestingly the story uses yet again references to Abraham when it shows how Ernstmann is going through his guilt. And once again it quotes from the Bible, the part where Isaac – here Uriel – is asking his father where the animal for the intended sacrifice is supposed to be. Pay attention to the ram, it will come up in a second.

I’m pretty certain the landscape we are seeing is supposed to show the area around Mount Moriah, the mountain Abraham went up to sacrifice Isaac. It is in the Negev desert near Beersheba, where Ernstmann built the Second Tower of Babel. Abraham was from Beersheba. Coincidence? I think not.

Remember how when God commanded for Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac this only was the first part of what happened there? Before Abraham could go through with the sacrifice, God intervened and send him an angel, commanding him to stop. The thing was that God never had intended for Isaac to die. Instead a ram was sacrificed that Abraham spotted in that moment. How does that connect to Ernstmann’s situation? Well, just like Isaac survived Uriel has to this day survived his ordeal. Ernstmann tortured Uriel, but he did not go through with his sacrifice. He was stopped. There was an angel who intervened: Barachiel. He refused to kiII his brother. There is nothing malicious or evil Barachiel’s personality. He is a person who yearns for human connection and friends. And for the love and recognition of his father. More, Barachiel is an individual who is asking himself how he is supposed to find God in the desolate situation he is stuck in. He asks himself this question, even though there is no one around who is willing or interested to engage with this question. KiIIing an Angel – who also happens to be his brother – it is a line he never would have been able to cross.

The motif of the ram is important in this context. The ram taken in Isaac’s stead was a promise of for what God already intended: He would offer his own son to free humanity from its sins and from death. The world of Angel Engine already got this promise fulfilled. It’s no coincidence the story of Angel Engine starts in 2033 AD. In this year it’s been exactly two thousand years since Jesus Christ died on the cross. But the world of Angel Engine forgot about this, going so far as to cage and use the Angel sent by heaven when humanity prayed for a miracle that would help them out of the crisis they found themselves in.

Angel Engine wants you to know this. Ecklebloom is framed here by a painting of Titian that shows the motive of Abraham, Isaac and the Angel. On the other side you see Babylon-1. On the one side you have a God who loves you and prevents you from sacrificing your child. Instead he will send you a ram and eventually his own son to die for your sins. On the other side you have the forces of the Antichrist who hate you and will try to lead you into ruin.

Titian: Abraham and Isaac

The question remains what exactly was motivating Ernstmann wanting to kiII Uriel. It’s not easy to find an answer to this, because it’s important to keep in mind that he was starting to get influenced by the antichrist since before he even built the angel engine. And since his resurrection Ernstmann has been truly possessed by the antichrist, so whenever we see him after this it’s not always that easy to say if we see his personality or if the antichrist is acting through him. I’m pretty certain though that kiIIing Uriel was the antichrist’s idea and that he convinced Ernstmann to go along with it. Because think about it, from Ernstmann’s perspective it would be way more logical to keep two angels around for his miracle machine that uses them as their fuel. Hurt ego over having to rely on Uriel or not, getting rid of him could hurt Ernstmann in the long run. In contrast, an Archangel being present in the Second Tower of Babel could eventually pose a serious danger for the antichrist. Someone could eventually listen to Uriel’s pleas to set him free. The antichrist has every reason wanting to get rid of Uriel.

That Barachiel spared Uriel when he was ordered to kiII him tells us something about Barachiel’s personality and I suspect it’s a moment that eventually is going have a broader meaning. If Uriel would have been kiIIed, I suspect that would have been the moment all hope of redemption for humanity would have been lost for forever. I think the reason Uriel never made an attempt to escape is because only by a human freeing him can the world prove that there is still something good in it, something worth to be saved. As long as Uriel stays alive humanity can still redeem itself. And I hope that salvation will also include Barachiel and Ernstmann. For Barachiel because despite being created as a blasphemy he keeps proving that there is genuine good in him. And for Ernstmann because for all the despair he has brought over the world, he is showing signs of feeling true regret and a wish to repent. I don’t know if the man who willfully collaborated with the antichrist deserves redemption and forgiveness. But I would like to see that even for someone like him there can be hope that even the vilest forces of evil cannot touch.  

It’s easy to point with fingers at Ernstmann and judge him for his hubris. But the reason the antichrist could take advantage of him is because Ernstmann’s flaws are human flaws that are shared by many. If he would have refused to cooperate, the antichrist eventually would have found someone else for his plans to lead humanity into ruin.