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Google “Naked Man Orchid”. Just do it. Now you know that’s a thing that exists. You’re welcome.

Ghoulneedle made past a 1000

I’d say it’s more of a hamlet… http://languagelearningbase.com/87791/metropolis-city-town-village-hamlet-whats-the-difference

Next up, one from @InvidiaRed Thank you! I actually revised that somewhat between the first draft and the one I uploaded. I think in the original it was just “but she would not give up,” but I really felt like it could be phrased better, and I’m glad it worked out! I wrote that bit where Luzurial throws the machete into the Crawler, and almost immediately thought “Cue ‘Is She with You?’” Couple that with the fact that Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman is my superhero crush and I had to make that joke.

Part Eight is now up, and we have two reviews already! First up, @JayDee Thank you! It’s kind of strange for me too, getting this close to the end. Although, while I won’t spoil anything, should the ending go over well enough, there may be what I’m calling the Holiday Special. Presented, one assumes, by Rankin/Bass; the sex is going to look really awkward in that limited stop motion of theirs. I think it’s just one of those moments, sort of like “There’s an angel eating pizza on our sofa,” where the characters get to acknowledge how amazingly weird their circumstances are. As did Abdul, obviously (“That joke was gold and you know it!”), though I really liked writing Kevin’s immediate reaction: “We can’t be friends anymore, Abdul.” A similar gag might (emphasis on might) appear elsewhere in the story’s universe. “Ambruratem...is that Egyptian?” “No.” Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this in the Author’s Note, but for anyone reading this now, Private Flynn may or may not be (but probably is) related to the Flynns of Twinpregnation and Mike Rapes a Dyke. Interestingly, digging back through the reviews on Twinpregnation, I discovered that The K-Team originally made an appearance, which would put all of those stories in that universe. Granted, that was an earlier draft, so I don’t need to feel like I screwed up, or at least that’s the story I’m going with! In a deleted scene (as in “I got partway through and then deleted it”) Private Flynn was almost going to be captured by a sin creature I was calling the Shrieker, a roughly avian horror with a sonic attack. This was to end up with Luzurial fending off a biting attack by grabbing its jaws and holding them open, and then Gibbs was going to pull a Gungnir headshot while she was holding it. However, I cut that scene short because… ...That was the important part. I realized that detailing the battle was just distracting from what I feel is the core of the scene, which is the decision Luzurial makes here. I wanted that line, specifically the “trust us” bit, to be emotional, because that’s not just Chloe asking Luzurial to trust her team and the battalion they’re with, it’s Chloe asking the archangel to trust humanity. The following moment where Luzurial elects not to craft the virtue creatures is where she chooses to do exactly that. Well, in-universe, it’s literal: the task that was entrusted to her by God, the duty that defines her, is the protection of Earth and its people. Out-of-universe, if you want to go down this rabbit hole...Luzurial exists because someone wanted to see a beautiful angel get raped and tortured by a demon. She’s here because I felt absolutely terrible for her, but the reason I felt absolutely terrible for her is because of what you just said. I felt awful for Luzurial because I do admire her character, her compassion, her courage, all of it, and because it felt so profoundly unjust for her to spend the next 120 trillion to 30 tredecillion years alone and in agony because of a well-meaning mistake. That wasn’t what she deserved. What she deserved was to be standing right where she is, between the mortals she cares for and the evil that threatens them. Apologies to those who really liked the original ending of Whore of Heaven, by the way; this is just my opinion. Thanks. I was always going to have an LAPD PoV character there, but then it occurred to me that instead of spending time creating someone new, I could just bring back one of the detectives from Part One. I can’t remember if that was an intentional reversal of what happened to Bernice, but if it is, then it worked better than I had anticipated. Bernice dies when she’s shot in the head by one of the hybrids because she’s trying to help Luzurial (given what happens to the other prisoners, though, not helping Luzurial wouldn’t have saved her). Lilia kills a hybrid by shooting her through the head, in large part because Luzurial helps her. It’s almost like, in some small way, the archangel gets to pay Bernice back for her efforts all those years ago. Not that I did that on purpose, mind you, but sometimes you have to take a moment to appreciate when things just fall into place like that. They’re flattering lies, though. Well, for the moment, anyway. You never know, though...

I’m sure someone, somewhere, has a thing for ‘on fire’ at least. Maybe she’s developed a thing for guys who’re prepared to sacrifice themselves for the greater good, and if such a guy somehow survived and strove for atonemnet and redemption, no matter how bad he was before… Plus, T-Dog has an enormous schwanzstucker, and maybe she’s into that kind of thing. As I said, an awful inappropriate thought.

I am away for a week and will be without internet… wish me luck! Hopefully, I will get some writing done. I plan to extend and write more of an original story that @CloverReef has helped me with – thank you so much! If all goes well, I may start posting that upon my return. Later!