yall ever heard about ao3s next of kin policy

..hmmm..

Who wants to be executor of my smut?

…is this supposed to be considered weird? I don’t get it.

I think it’s more that it was an unexpected feature. I’m glad it’s there.

Yeah I actually found it while prepping for brain surgery, and was incredibly relieved that it was a built-in feature and not something I’d have to leave convoluted instructions about or whatever. It’s a bit morbid, sure, but it’s a great feature.

…an unexpected but very appreciated feature.

This is a feature designed by women who’d been in fandom for decades, and who had faced the issue of, “X is dead, and we know she loved fandom, so… can we reprint her stories? Who can decide? Her family knows fuck-all about fandom. Who was her best friend? Do they know if she would’ve liked her story to be reprinted in the Best Of OTP Fic zine?”

Running across that once doesn’t make you think about a policy, but by the time it’s five to ten times, and then you’ve seen people vanish from the internet (might be dead; might just be not interested anymore) and nobody knows whether it’s okay to collect their fic in an archive or transfer it to a new one….

Yeah, the FNoK policy is one of the awesome things about AO3.

Meta: Reflection

Lucifer Season 5 Part 2 Spoilers & some for S6 perhaps

First let’s go back to 2x03-Sin Eater where Lucifer in the network room comments that:

“You know, if you take away the blinky lights and add some lost souls, this place bares a striking resemblance to Hell.”

The place was dark, bluish and solemn. It was the place where human experiences were judged and ended up torturing the selected individuals for a very long time according to what was ‘funny’.

Sure enough Hell back in S2 was a bit like that…

Now take a look of the interrogation room not just in 5x10 but in general. Dark, Bluish usually but highlighted for 5x10.

Even the concrete pillars are similar to the ones of Hell. Perhaps it acts like a foreshadowing down the lane but for now, let’s see how the musical made us realise that in the interrogation room Lucifer is in Hell while Dad is in the light with only a thin piece of Glass separating them.

Dad can see Lucifer but Lucifer cannot see Dad. That has as a result Lucifer not being able to make a comparison. Hell like Heaven as we know in 5x16 has rooms. In both cases the doors are open but in Hell, the occupants of a door are self-trapped in there.

Now, Dad sees Lucifer as his reflection for some reason. Dad has given Lucifer a realm very similar to Heaven to rule he does not see him as an equal but as someone who can rise on the occasion perhaps.

But again Lucifer cannot see Dad the way Dad can see him. Lucifer can only see his own reflection and that one is usually distorted by the dimness of the room he is in. He cannot fathom there can be light as the banished there are undeserving.

Perhaps that is why only the side of the possible suspects is lighted blue usually.

But still, in 5x10 we see the interrogation room is an echo of Hell. We can wonder what that means in the series as a whole and what it means for that episode.

For the episode, it means that:

A) Lucifer feels trapped again like he did in Hell and he expresses that many times in the beginning and at the end of this particular episode. Especially since Dad is back and he feels constantly watched.

^(Remember Lucifer admitting his growth in 5x15 when talking to Zadkiel?)

B) We see the duality between Dad and Lucifer. Behind the Glass in the dimmed room there are the guilty the ones who are judged waiting for evidence that can allow them to walk away. It is a Hell in its own right. On the other side of the Glass is where the judge is waiting, observing calmly. It’s where decisions are made, in a dim lit room and where Dad is calmly standing watching his son. Evaluating perhaps if he is ready.

So in the end we see that Lucifer is his father’s son. They are not perfect and Lucifer as a God he will not be perfect or even all-powerful like Dad wasn’t to a point. He will be fallible but will also be loving. So in P2 the reflection of Dad in Lucifer is explored and cannot be seen more perfectly than in that moment. They are not the same but they reflect similarly in several circumstances.

For the series, it means that:

Lucifer ends up in a room that reflects Hell. In a weird way, it is like a training area for him for what may come but one thing is sure, Hell can be something different and Earth provided Lucifer with the best traineeship.

And if all the above are but a meta, Chloe confirms it by saying in 5x11 that: “Children are a reflection of us, aren’t they?”

Lucifer Meta: Nothing Lasts Forever

This post contains S6 spoilers

I would like us to go back to S5 for a while specifically to an episode called ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’.

There was a finality about that episode that all things come to an end and there is nothing you can do about it. There is an uncomfortable feeling about it but recently I realised that the meaning was not what we assumed it to be. 

Lucifer begs him to stay for a little bit longer and that was Dad’s reply. But it does not mean that all things need to come to a bitter ending. Now I see them as words of encouragement than a goodbye. 

Lucifer in the same episode demands to know how far Dad’s plan went. Was Dad’s plan to be reunited with Mum eventually? In S6 and particularly in 6x10 Lucifer exclaims on how his Father was a cheeky bastards. Dad knew all along that Lucifer would not become God. So what else was his plan? Better yet how much he knew based on how he assumed his children actions once he was gone?

Have you ever thought how Mum and Dad’s arc is so similar to Deckerstar? 

For two omniscient beings they seemed to be often unaware of things but I do not believe it was to the extent we perhaps were led to believe it was. Sure free will aids fate but we saw that there are many different components that make a being omniscient when Dad didn’t have his powers. 

So we have to ask a very simple question here. 

Did Mum and Dad had to do the same thing that Lucifer and Chloe did for/to Rory? 

In 3x26, Dad says that a parent wants what’s best for their child. True, but Hell? 

For two beings that are omniscient very much like Chloe and Lucifer were in the end of 6x10 on what has to be done until a certain point, they saw where Lucifer was heading along the series. They knew he was a rebel, they knew he was also very sensitive. They knew that Lucifer would eventually ruin himself beyond repair to a sadistic & edonistic being. We met that Lucifer but we also met a Lucifer in 3x11 who still waited for his parents, who still had faith until he lost it. Very much like Jimmy waited for his mother in 6x03. 

So what if there was a plan there? What if Mum and Dad decided to sacrifice themselves for their child. Just one child mind you out of a myriad Angels. But one child that held their strengths and flaws in a perfect blend very much like Rory did according to Lucifer in 6x10. 

In the comics Lucifer asks himself in Sandman’s presence, if he had not rebelled would that Plan be over? Perhaps someone else would have done it in his place. In Murder Mysteries a not so cannon but still connected to Sandman and Lucifer comics, novel (and illustrated novel later on) by Neil Gaiman, Lucifer sees so much injustice over punishment, a punishment that had to do with love but also a twisted form of love, one of the two in that story, so eventually Lucifer rebels there. 

Let’s say that Mum and Dad planned Lucifer to Fall. They also planned for Mum to stay in Hell for millenia. Whether she was aware or remembered that deal when she went to Hell is unknown but I would like to believe that in the years of her confinement she forgot the purpose of her stay there or at least something was off. Or she was a better liar. Perhaps she expected that it would not have been so long. Chloe didn’t expect she would live around 40 years without Lucifer for example. 

But why for just one child again? Because Lucifer sets in motion all his siblings change and growth. He triggers Amenadiel’s and as we saw in 6x10 Amenadiel promotes growth in Heaven. Before S6 Angels were deemed to be sloths and rather uninterested in human matters. Because though Lucifer loved a human and won a war they started applying themselves to also love humanity and it seemed by the various miracles they performed they found it rather gratifying. However, Amenadiel offered a better structure to this. 

Therefore Lucifer was the locked door for the Celestials change but Chloe as Mum very well said was the Key. 

Mum and Dad also had flaws in Linda’s eyes. Again the issue was the lack of growth which again was promoted only by Lucifer’s growth. Lucifer was able to help others grow even after their death, his parents to seek peace in a different universe, his siblings to do more, be more. So yes, they had to focus on that one child. And they probably hated what happened next especially with Lucifer and the ones that were lost along the way but Lucifer like Linda said, had to seek the answers alone. Of course dropping him to Hell without a manual was a bit overboard but it worked. It was harsh, unjust but it worked. As it did for Rory. 

Chloe had to spent decades in a prison that resembled very much the one of Mum’s. Lucifer had wondered, if Mum could explain herself over his abandonment what would have she said? Chloe was kept in close quarters with Rory, gave her a minimum of answers and she had to wait for Rory to realise the majority of them when it was time for Chloe to pass away. Of course Rory is unaware of her own Calling but in the end of S6 we realise that Dad had again already gave a compassionate word to Lucifer, a clue if you like. ‘Nothing Lasts Forever.’

Both sets of parents made their choices. Lucifer and Chloe’s choices led to several distinct achievements. 

Dan managed to go to Heaven. If Rory had not dropped him on Earth it would have never happened. Nor would Lucifer would have been able to help as he would have been unaware of his Calling. 

Forcing Lucifer to take the throne could have also been catastrophic. See Hell as an example and his conviction that he had to be a punisher there. How long would have passed until he burned out? How long before he tried to imitate his Father? Would have led to Rory taking the same path he did? With the same catastrophic results? 

Lucifer had been banned from Heaven and we saw what it took to get there and survive. But here is the thing he never got to Hell until he felt he had to go. Even then Heaven was protected from Lucifer perhaps just in case so there were barriers erected (I thought Lucifer would have loved it… erected :D ). But what about Rory? When she got her wings why didn’t she try to go to Hell and find her father? Why didn’t she go to Hell to demand he gets to Earth and see her mother on her deathbed. Why did she travel in time and why did she landed in Hell and not Earth when she jumped?

As far as I see things I believe that Lucifer made sure that Rory would never be able to reach him in Hell in hopes the time loop would not be broken. So like his father he probably had similar but less harmful barriers in Hell to keep her out. It is why the only solution for Rory to see him was going in the past and not seek him out in her own timeline at any given time. It is why Rory also held a lot of guilt over perhaps her existence which made Chloe be reminded constantly of Lucifer who she never denied, she always said how much she loved him. 

Rory also carries the guilt of not only her mother’s abandonment and hers but in 6x10 for a brief second, the one of realisation and the one which almost turned her to Miss Crispy, that she was wrong. Her father loved her, he wanted her, he wished and desired for her presence and existence but for some reason she was the one who drove him away even though it takes her a while to understand how that happened. 

Lucifer also held a lot of Guilt over what he had done against his Father and Mother. Over what he believed he was. Rory resembles him a lot so we saw how easy it would have been for her to be consumed by Guilt and there would have not been a way back. Does that mean that if Mum and Dad had not taken the set of actions they did, Lucifer would have ended up worse? 

I wonder if Mum’s words were true whether Dad wanted to destroy him because he feared the alternative, especially one that would have cost him the Goddess he loved, Uriel down the road and so much tribulation. But as we said even if it was a fleeting thought, that one child was the answer. The only problem was time. But nothing lasts forever. The same applies to Deckerstar. 

The setting was perfect if you think about it. Hell’s time does indeed run in a slower pace than Earth’s. That helps dealing with more cases of damned souls than the number of incoming souls to Hell. Meaning that the ratio favours Hell and Lucifer. It means that Lucifer and now Chloe can solve hell loops, help souls redeem themselves and eventually one day, perhaps, they can have a day off. Hell can become something more than a constant occupation but also it will always provide Lucifer and Chloe with a new case as an interview noted. 

In conclusion, Dad’s words echoed to the understanding that Lucifer would have to go through a long time of solitude without his child and without the woman he loves. Both Mum and Dad have experienced that for a time longer than Lucifer has but now at least there is hope, the ending of that seperation is near and the bad days will not last forever. Only love and faith is eternal and Deckerstar held both until that knock in 6x10 and beyond. 

Imagine you want your child to grow up to be a therapist.

In order to do that though, you decide they need to experience some of the hardships their future patients have, in order to assist them successfully. They must fall, and then learn to rise again, before helping others do the same.

So when they become a teenager, you kick them out of the house. Not onto the streets, but into a shelter you built below ground in your backyard. It is dark and desolate, devoid of hope, life, and even music. There, they are assigned a task, which they repeatedly do, in the hope of pleasing you.

Neither you, nor their siblings, speak to them again until they've spent the majority of their life down there. The only contact they have with their family is with one brother, who takes it upon themself to force them back into the basement whenever they manage to escape.

You're aware of this, but you do nothing. You're also aware when your child is distraught, despairing at a parent who refuses to acknowledge them. You're aware that most of their siblings hate them, and that everyone who knew or has even heard of them does too. You're aware when they're forced to kill their brother after they attack them, you're aware when they start to self-mutilate thinking they can escape your control, and you're aware when they start to hate themselves so much that they think they're a monster, incapable of love. And still, you do nothing. You always do nothing.

Not until the day you decide they're ready to leave, at which point you introduce them to someone who will guide them towards them being the therapist you always wanted them to be. Eventually, they do, but it means leaving that guide, the woman they fell in love with, and their unborn child, devastating them once again.

Still, they find happiness in the work, and help a great amount of people, even though they have to return to and work out of that very same shelter they grew up in. Just like you always planned.

Was it worth it? Are you a good parent?

Because as far as the writers of Lucifer are considered, you are. Your child is Lucifer, and you are God. Which makes the situation even worse, because that shelter is Hell, that job is torture, and that self-hatred physically manifests in a monsterous appearance.

But hey, it was all for a reason.

And traumatising your child is acceptable if you think it's the best thing for them.

I believe that outlook is not correct. I will not go over the my perception is right but that Lucifer was about choices and finding a life course through them. 

You have a child that you know will be the happiest in a certain place. You see them struggle to dominate the house in their quest and see the family breaking apart as that child is lost. At that moment whether you keep them in the house or send them away will have the same result. So in hopes they will find their way you send them to the place where you see the being the happiest and well for good. 

The first son will inherit the estate, the second will go to the military and the third will take over the estate’s parish. You do not want your  second son to be killed but with the chances of his birth and education they might get a fortune, a title, a estate of their own. You do not want your son to be in solitude with God -necessarily- but in case they cannot thrive outside their privileged lifestyle, you give them a way to survive but also help the rest of the family. 

In Lucifer’s case God knew what was going to happen. However as he said in 3x26, it’s all about choices. Sooner or later by sending Lucifer to Hell, he would have met Chloe. Lucifer appeared to be unable to find his way without Chloe and eventually Rory. He had million of years to make the choice that would have given him his purpose. There was though no initiative. 

No matter how many times we want to go through Dad’s actions or the writer’s ability to craft a story, as individuals we get through life through luck, chances and choices. Lucifer had all three. In 6x10 he picked to go to Hell, wait for Chloe there, not see his child grow up for what he believed would not interfere with Rory as the person he got to know as well as what it meant for what he sought for a very, very, very long time. 

I’m sure that like 3x26 suggests there is a universe of multiverses of different choices, something that we are even aware in real life as well according to certain theories. That means that Lucifer could have taken several other choices, which would have led to several other outcomes. Make no mistake though, just because something can happen differently it does not mean it can happen better or lead to a joyous end.  It just means that we have a variety of decisions to make but unfortunately no succession of choices will always be good. That  can be explained by statistics when it comes to the throw of the dice, the hand you get from a 52 deck or even a flip of a coin. 

Therefore no it was not tragic, Lucifer would have refused the very word as he distastes goats. It had a painful salty aftertaste but as they say salt is the main ingredient of life so, it’s good that it was a story about life before and after death. 

- God didn't send Lucifer to where he thought he would be happiest. He sent him to Hell. Yes, he may have been 'happy' eventually, but not before being put through the trauma of that for most of his existence. - Being sent to the military is not the equivalent of being sent to Hell as shown in the show. (Some soldiers may disagree with this, but many others wouldn't.) - God's 'doing the best for the family' results in two of his children being killed. - Lucifer only didn't 'find his way' towards completing God's plan, and the purpose God decided on. Being allowed to continue on his own path would have been free will. Inside he puts Chloe in his path, designed to intrigue him and influence him otherwise. - Which leads me on to the fact Lucifer didn't meet Chloe because he went to Hell. He met her because God put interfered. Otherwise, she wouldn't have even existed. - Lucifer didn't seek a purpose for 'a very, very, very long time'. It was established he wanted a calling two episodes before the end. He wanted a family, a home. He had both on Earth, and lost both. Eventually he got his family back, but only by, again, suffering an unimaginable pain for who knows how many thousands of years. Pain God's plan put him through. - Lucifer has no free will, by the very nature of a fixed time loop. He is put in a situation where he always makes the same 'choice' because of who he is. My post is about God being a bad parent. Apart from wanting the best for their kid (emphasis on wanting, not deciding on) this is not good parenting. This is choosing to traumatise your child, and the fact that the show finishing by framing this as a positive thing is shocking to me.

-Parents do not send their children out to a concrete happy future. Also children that acted out were sent away to places which in their parents perception could help them.  Whether that happened or not it’s a different subject. 

-War only led to honours if that side what won and in a spectacular way which often meant great sacrifices, more often than not a limp for the high ranked second borns. 

-Knowing what will happen in which path, which path will be taken and what choices your children will take is a different thing than saying that Dad effectively picked the path that would lead to two of his children dying. Let’s also not forget that this is not the Biblical God we know well the New Testament one, the Old one surish but an entity very different based on the work the show was. 

-Lucifer’s free will remains. Like Dad, Lucifer makes a choice that will lead to a very short term unpleasant future. Free will does not mean evading pain. Painful choices are always on the table whether we like them or not. Free will does not constitute good outcomes. Also free will is not making choices freely without being influenced from the world and the people around you. Example if you raid a public building how much can we blame an ex president and the media propaganda?  

-We always see Lucifer’s story as being solely based on Chloe’s existence at that time. In reality it was about Delilah, Linda, Trixie, Charlotte, Ella, Marcus, Father Kinley, Malcolm, The Viper, Father Frank, Eve and so so so many others being present at the right time, in the right place. So no we do not care only about Chloe’s existence. We care about the whole deal because Lucifer’s decision in the end was not made just because of Rory. He was influenced by everyone above and their lives and actions. Father Frank died to protect a boy he felt he owned a life to, he died preserving the memory of his lost daughter. Every character mattered Chloe as Mum said was just the key so she had to be placed at the right time for the right people to make the right environment for Lucifer’s ‘vacation’ to work. 

Dad was a bad parent as we are all at some point. Some more, some less. He was also a man with the plan which led Mum to Hell and in her own universe in a story in which we see a parallel between the two couples. 

Imagine you want your child to grow up to be a therapist.

In order to do that though, you decide they need to experience some of the hardships their future patients have, in order to assist them successfully. They must fall, and then learn to rise again, before helping others do the same.

So when they become a teenager, you kick them out of the house. Not onto the streets, but into a shelter you built below ground in your backyard. It is dark and desolate, devoid of hope, life, and even music. There, they are assigned a task, which they repeatedly do, in the hope of pleasing you.

Neither you, nor their siblings, speak to them again until they've spent the majority of their life down there. The only contact they have with their family is with one brother, who takes it upon themself to force them back into the basement whenever they manage to escape.

You're aware of this, but you do nothing. You're also aware when your child is distraught, despairing at a parent who refuses to acknowledge them. You're aware that most of their siblings hate them, and that everyone who knew or has even heard of them does too. You're aware when they're forced to kill their brother after they attack them, you're aware when they start to self-mutilate thinking they can escape your control, and you're aware when they start to hate themselves so much that they think they're a monster, incapable of love. And still, you do nothing. You always do nothing.

Not until the day you decide they're ready to leave, at which point you introduce them to someone who will guide them towards them being the therapist you always wanted them to be. Eventually, they do, but it means leaving that guide, the woman they fell in love with, and their unborn child, devastating them once again.

Still, they find happiness in the work, and help a great amount of people, even though they have to return to and work out of that very same shelter they grew up in. Just like you always planned.

Was it worth it? Are you a good parent?

Because as far as the writers of Lucifer are considered, you are. Your child is Lucifer, and you are God. Which makes the situation even worse, because that shelter is Hell, that job is torture, and that self-hatred physically manifests in a monsterous appearance.

But hey, it was all for a reason.

And traumatising your child is acceptable if you think it's the best thing for them.

I believe that outlook is not correct. I will not go over the my perception is right but that Lucifer was about choices and finding a life course through them. 

You have a child that you know will be the happiest in a certain place. You see them struggle to dominate the house in their quest and see the family breaking apart as that child is lost. At that moment whether you keep them in the house or send them away will have the same result. So in hopes they will find their way you send them to the place where you see the being the happiest and well for good. 

The first son will inherit the estate, the second will go to the military and the third will take over the estate’s parish. You do not want your  second son to be killed but with the chances of his birth and education they might get a fortune, a title, a estate of their own. You do not want your son to be in solitude with God -necessarily- but in case they cannot thrive outside their privileged lifestyle, you give them a way to survive but also help the rest of the family. 

In Lucifer’s case God knew what was going to happen. However as he said in 3x26, it’s all about choices. Sooner or later by sending Lucifer to Hell, he would have met Chloe. Lucifer appeared to be unable to find his way without Chloe and eventually Rory. He had million of years to make the choice that would have given him his purpose. There was though no initiative. 

No matter how many times we want to go through Dad’s actions or the writer’s ability to craft a story, as individuals we get through life through luck, chances and choices. Lucifer had all three. In 6x10 he picked to go to Hell, wait for Chloe there, not see his child grow up for what he believed would not interfere with Rory as the person he got to know as well as what it meant for what he sought for a very, very, very long time. 

I’m sure that like 3x26 suggests there is a universe of multiverses of different choices, something that we are even aware in real life as well according to certain theories. That means that Lucifer could have taken several other choices, which would have led to several other outcomes. Make no mistake though, just because something can happen differently it does not mean it can happen better or lead to a joyous end.  It just means that we have a variety of decisions to make but unfortunately no succession of choices will always be good. That  can be explained by statistics when it comes to the throw of the dice, the hand you get from a 52 deck or even a flip of a coin. 

Therefore no it was not tragic, Lucifer would have refused the very word as he distastes goats. It had a painful salty aftertaste but as they say salt is the main ingredient of life so, it’s good that it was a story about life before and after death. 

Watch the video of this man giving away his software for free to help people with degenerative diseases communicate

but…. but…. profit motive! infinite houses!! this doesnt fit in my narrow victorian framework for understanding human nature!!

@thebibliosphere @vaspider

Oh. Oh dang. I know several people who this could help.

Link’s broken, so here’s the website: http://www.optikey.org/