Happy Halloween to those who celebrate!
So just a short life update before we get into the
newsletter. I am on vacation from work this coming
week. Originally, I'd hoped to spend it writing "The
Advocate" but then after Danika passed away, my mom pointed
out that it would be a good time to get rid of my very gross
carpet in the living room and hallway. Since that's a
rather big job, I decided that would probably take up the
whole week. However, now my grandma is in the hospital
and she's expected to be all right but that means my mom
probably won't be able to help as much with the flooring
issue. And I really don't know what I'm doing.
I've pulled up carpet before but never laid tile. So...
all this to say that maybe I will be writing "The Advocate"
this week but the carpet really has to go so that could mean
my next few weekends are taken up with tiling. I just
don't know. All this to say, there is a possibility the
JABB newsletter will go on hiatus for a bit and "The Advocate"
could get pushed to 2023. I am committed to writing a
Christmas story, however, because that's tradition. But
if "The Advocate" is pushed back to 2023, expect it to be a
much shorter story only dealing with a handful of characters
(namely Joshua, Andrew, JenniAnn, Ed, and Steve) because it
would be too spoilery of "The Advocate" to include a bunch of
characters. Anyway... I'll be sure to keep you
informed of what's going on. If I do put the newsletter
on hiatus until Christmas, I'll be sure to let everyone
know. I won't just disappear. And I may do
re-runs. We'll see!
I hope you're all staying well!
God bless,
Jenni
Undeath
Always Ends- Eventually, all the vampires in the Dyeland
stories were cured and restored to, roughly, the state they
were in when they were turned. They now have normal
lifespans and are just as susceptible to disease and aging as
anyone else. With the ultimate healer running around, it
didn't make sense to me that they wouldn't be cured.
Theatre
Phantom- Yehuda and Ed were low-key versions of
this. For the most part, they just hid invisibly in St.
Genesius' and spied on Joshua and the Friends during
rehearsals and performances. Ed eventually took it a
step further when he and Steve detained JenniAnn but,
ultimately, even that was pretty lacking in menace. I
mean chocolate milk and Pop-Tarts were involved!
Supporting-the-Monster
Loved One- Monster is harsh here but anyway...
Even though Joshua never supports actual bad behavior, he does
continue to support some of the demons in assorted ways.
He lines up a few things to make Crowley more
comfortable. He arranges it so Ed meets Steve, hides Ed
from Iggy, and then gets Ed a passport so he can come visit
him.
Succubi and Incubi- They come up in "Shadowlands" where
Reuel reveals the truth (at least in the Dyelandverse) about
them. As with all angels and demons, the succubi and
incubi are asexual themselves. Reuel explains here:
"All these years later and I remain shocked and horrified
by what my brothers and sisters did..." he [Reuel] lamented.
"But you had other brothers and sisters, ones like
you?" Cody comforted.
Reuel nodded and offered a small smile. "Oh
yes. A great many more than there are of the
others. We grieved together, combated the fallen ones
together. With our God. We still do. And,
thankfully, the succubi and incubi have never again known
the power they had in those days. You've studied human
trafficking in your morality and social justice classes?" he
checked.
Surprised by the apparent change in subject, Cody
nodded.
"Unfortunately, that is exactly what the succubi and
incubi excelled at. Like many modern traffickers, they
charmed their targets. They built up their trust...
and then they exploited it. Once they had ensnared
their victims, they forced them to mate with each other and
then, when children resulted, the succubi and incubi took
them and raised them, if male, to be warriors and, if
female, to breed more warriors... the Nephilim. I told
you the wicked people were not only humans..."
Yikes.
In "The Lost Sheep," Ollie initially thinks Ed is an incubus
in the traditional sense. Steve shoots this idea down
and asserts that incubi and succubi were myths invented to
explain away adultery and out-of-wedlock pregnancies.
This is actually what I personally believe as the origin of
the myth... well, that and sleep paralysis. In any case,
Ed is definitely not an incubus and can't, as either an angel
or a demon, have sex.
So, yes, incubus and succubus exist in the Dyeland stories
just not in the usual horror trope way although I think the
version in "Shadowlands" is in some ways more terrifying
because it's more realistic.
Protect This House- In "The Lost Sheep," after Steve and
Ed are accosted by a demon, the housemates all put barriers
around the yard based on their various religious and cultural
beliefs. This is led by Ollie and Jess, displaced
Catholics. The former had also been a priest and
exorcist.
Nightmarish
Nursery- In "Shadowlands," the demons torment Andrew by
showing him a rundown version of Willowveil. He sees
Belle's nursery overrun by cobwebs and moss. Her blanket
is moth-eaten and the whole thing is just dispiriting.
Holy Burns Evil- Literally true in the Dyeland stories,
emphasis on the word evil as opposed to demonic or
vampiric. In "Shadowlands," Andrew's sword causes pain
to Nen and Tzila. It doesn't actually kill them, it just
hurts and makes them think about how far they've fallen.
Similarly, Jess' knife hurts Iggy, Ed's supervisor in "The
Lost Sheep." Meanwhile, even though he's also a demon,
Ed is unharmed by holy water. He literally just gets
wet. He does scream in pain but later realizes he only
did that because he expected to feel pain. Ollie later
surmises (correctly) that the holy water didn't impact Ed
because while he's a demon, he's not actually evil. He's
just troubled and made a bad choice. Meanwhile over on
the vampire side of things, Mick, Isolde, and Marco were all
Catholics who entered churches and wore religious jewelry
without any issue because, again, they weren't actually
evil. Also, in "The Lost Sheep" the aforementioned
religious and cultural items placed around the perimeter of
Steve's house repel the evil demons yet pose no problem for
Ed. It's unclear which of the items are doing the heavy
lifting as there's an assortment of Christian and pagan
symbols mixed with rainbow Pride pinwheels and
windchimes. Personally, I think they all worked because
they were chosen and placed with love and love is holy.
Demonic Possession- So I'm sure there are other examples
out there but "The Lost Sheep" contains the sappiest demonic
possession scene that I am aware of. After Iggy tries to
drag Ed back to Hell, Steve suggests Ed possess him since
that's what Iggy wants and it might get him off Ed's
back. Ed hates this idea because he's in love with
Steve, doesn't know where Steve would go during the
possession, and has never possessed anyone before so who knows
if he might not screw it all up. But they have little
choice so Ed tearfully complies. He then proceeds to
vomit while possessing Steve's body because he's so
upset. Thankfully, Ed is able to bring Steve back
without any trouble and proceeds to cling to him for the rest
of the evening. It turns out Joshua used the whole thing
to give Steve a glimpse of Ed's cell so he could better
understand what his boyfriend went through. So
yeah... Not very scary.
Ascended
Demon- Eben, Crowley, and Ed are all demons who
eventually returned to their angelic roots. For Eben and
Crowley, that mostly involves returning to some version of
what they were doing before. Eben is back to
caseworking, albeit with some guidance. Crowley kind of
just goes with the flow. Ed... Well, Ed's on his
way to becoming the only being ever to have been an angel,
demon, and human. In all cases, love brought them
back. Eben's redemption began by seeing how devoted
Andrew and JenniAnn were to each other. Crowley found
his way back in an attempt to keep Aziraphale safe. And
Ed fell in love with the guy he was sent to possess. In
all cases, God had been waiting and gently pursuing them.
Creepy
Cave- In "The Lost Sheep," during the possession, Steve
gets to see the cave where Ed was held following his
fall. While Steve expected hellfire and screams of the
damned, the cave is silent and barren. The most
upsetting part is the more he advances through the long
cavern, the more Ed's artwork deteriorates as an indication of
his mental deterioration. Beautiful depictions of people
and animals give way to random scribbles.
Halloween
Costumes 2022
So I couldn't think of costumes for everyone but here's a
selection of what I think the Friends will be dressing up as
this year!
Andrew and JenniAnn- Given they've had quite a busy year, I
think they'll just reuse previous costumes and given A
League of Their Own premiered as a TV show this year, I
think JenniAnn will bring her Rockford Peach costume out of
the back of the closet and Andrew will be a coach. Also,
since Halloween season 2021 was pretty rough for Andrew, I
think JenniAnn would have wanted to choose something that's
more reflective of his interests versus hers.
Belle, Shelby, and Violeta- Given Shelby and Violeta share my
admiration for the work of Mike Flanagan, I think if they were
going out and about on their own they'd probably go as the
Bent-Neck Lady and the Lady in the Lake. However...
Andrew would probably not love that for the family and Friends
Halloween party. So I think, at the request of Belle,
they'll go as fairies... and maybe save the Flanaverse
costumes for an outing with just the older kids.
Avi- I think when asked what he wanted to be for Halloween, he
said "Daddy." And thinking maybe he didn't entirely get
the concept, Andrew was like "Don't you want to be a superhero
or a baseball player like Mama or..." And he's just like
"No, I wanna be you Daddy." And then Andrew got choked
up. So Avi spends the night dressed in a beige suit and
lit up by a flashlight... with tools tucked into his pockets.
Ed and Steve- Given they met at 70s Night at their local gay
bar, I think they'll honor that by dressing up in fashion from
that era. I think they'd mimic the style of the
Fleetwood Mac guys specifically.
Crowley and Aziraphale- Because Aziraphale has become a huge
fan of the show, they'll dress as Edward and Stede,
respectively, from Our Flag Means Death. It'll
have the added bonus of messing with Ed and Steve who look an
awful lot like those fellows.
Emma, Peter, Sawyer, and Mercy- The Addams Family. Yes,
I mostly picked this because I think Peter (who in my head is
played by Oscar Isaac) would be so handsome as Gomez.
And, yes, I know the original Gomez from the comics was not
considered hot but I grew up with Raul Julia Gomez.
Thanks to Sierra for helping me brainstorm some of these!
This newsletter is dedicated to John Dye
for giving us such a positive view of death... something I
really appreciate during scary movie season.
JABB Portal
JABB TOC
JABB
636
(Photo Credits: The photographs used on this
page are from Touched by an Angel and owned by CBS
Productions, Caroline Productions, and Moon Water
Productions. They are not being used to seek
profit.)