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leftduck9986 · 4 months

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A Somewhat Staged Conversation, Wittering On About A "Wittering" and "The Plume of Your Imaginary Tante"

A Somewhat Staged Conversation

S2 E5, 8 mins 31 secs: Crowley circles around to position himself opposite Aziraphale, so that they may appear to have the conversation, "What's with the French?"

I believe that Crowley initiates this conversation, to have Aziraphale confirm seeing potential spies across the road.

Not doubting that Crowley already knows why Aziraphale chooses to learn some things the hard (human) way, this may be a perfectly recalled, or at least modified conversation from their past, loudly re-enacted for the sole purpose of keeping an eye on the people not-so-discreetly peering into the bookshop.

Or, Crowley just needed an unnecessarily obvious statement, long enough to start the conversation, in order to position himself in-front of Aziraphale; to have him stop and look over Crowley's shoulder.

From Aziraphale's point of view, he is looking to his left to begin with - 3 times, alternating with pretend glances at his clipboard - and appears to become increasingly annoyed at whomever he has spotted.

But he is also physically aware of Crowley's orbiting as an all-too-familiar action for sensing spies in the vicinity and as Crowley starts the conversation with, "You speak every language in the world. We both do", Aziraphale recognises this, either as a statement too obvious to be worth making aloud (though still for our benefit) and/or, the beginning of a conversation they've already had. What need is there to re-visit this topic? ah, it's a signal, a call to action...

And this all happens in the first few seconds! Just check out these selected frames and ALT image descriptions (GIFs are beyond me):

Crowley, now a few steps ahead of Aziraphale, stops at the street edge/on the street, out of frame, and by facing Aziraphale he is almost blocking him from moving on any further, as if to say, "Wait a minute, amateur spies. Do you see that one behind me?"

Notice how Aziraphale appears to answer both Crowley's statement and his implied prompt, confirming, "yes," seeing the first person, at 08mins34-35s, before we see them (or someone else) peering in the front North-East window, at 08mins54-56s:

Had Aziraphale stayed another minute, he would have seen the second person casually leaning/awkwardly slouching against the bookshop at 09mins 26s and 09mins 36s:

Backtracking slightly, at 09m02s, I reckon that Crowley panics for a teeny weeny moment - his tiny "what?" - at Nina's "Bravo!", then relaxes at her tone-of-voice after she replies, "just enjoying the show," having determined that she was not catching them in the act of an actual performance. Two shots later, he appears to have recovered while continuing to watch Nina, not quite with suspicion, or relief, but something in-between?

Though by then, had Crowley and Aziraphale already moved on from checking for spies? Their last four "lines" seem to be relaxed banter ...

Wittering On About A "Wittering"

So, for the last 250+ years Aziraphale has been "wittering on" about his imaginary Aunt's pen, eh? Not that specifically - well, maybe so in recent days and possibly making witterings about it - but most certainly blathering on in imperfect french, since taking night classes in 1760.

(That's why Crowley can understand his French at all, from pro-longed exposure, in hearing Aziraphale practice and/or show off all the time. It could come in handy in future I guess, as Crowley is the only one who can understand him - quickly enough that is, if in a pickle - from all that quality "us" time. Noice! Neat!)

It felt like more than a coincidence that the word "wittering" was used firstly by Mr. Arnold a few scenes prior - perhaps to draw attention to what he meant to say? I know that I had not heard the phrase, "wittering on" before, however in context, gathered that he meant "waffling on."

Turns out that it's the same thing - wittering as a verb seems to be synonymous with waffling. However, it's this one search result from Merriam-Webster, providing a definition for wittering as a noun that caught my interest:

So upon hearing Crowley use "wittering on", I thought, "'Ello, 'ello, 'ello, what's all this then?" Could this be a potential "[Paul] Grice" situation here? Does Crowley mean to use "wittering" as in offering a hint/hinting at, or just as in "wittering on/waffling", to blather on indecisively, not reaching a conclusion? No, Crowley does say, "wittering on" just as Mr. Arnold did, and not "making/offering a wittering" or "making witterings" instead.

Shame, I really liked the idea, especially with it being "chiefly Scottish." Hearing a Scottish Crowley say something like, "Let me offer you a few witterings", or "here's a wee wittering for you" would have been a hoot. It would have also been a precursor for the episode 5 cold-open, where, had Scottish Crowley first used wittering as a noun, followed by Mr Arnold's use as a verb ...

... Then, as if a "closer," after being presented with two people using "wittering", we get the alluded antonyms: Nina was not planning on making witterings or wittering on about the Christmas Lights, for she claimed to have had complete and decisive (as implied by her tone) "Things. To. Say."

What of "plume" then? It has a few different meanings in English. Unless a plume of smoke, or even a plume of miraculous activity, I'm going to go with plume as in feather. More on that toward the end of this final section ...

"The Plume of Your Imaginary Tante"

I've previously had a go at learning some Italian on Duolingo. and had gotten as far as learning phrases like, "her sister's umbrella" (literally, "the umbrella of her sister"), "their brother's cat" (lit. "the cat of their brother"), "my mother's son" (lit. "the son of my mother").

They were all phrases where something or someone is stated as belonging to another something or someone. Aziraphale's statement in "French" was more advanced, as it involved a second person in the string or chain of belongings:

"My aunt's gardener's pen." (lit."the pen of the gardener of my aunt.")

I'm not even going to pretend to know what Aziraphale actually said in French and will just go by Crowley's translation/interpretation here, keeping it innocent. This is especially because Aziraphale is "far too pure of heart" while also occasionally being "unintentionally funny".

(Though I now recommend reading this naughty article, (Non-Frozen) Peas by Vidavalor, who does offer comprehensive insight to, and a proper translation back to French.)

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While Aziraphale's uttered statement sounds fine in context - as well as Crowley's reply - that which would normally fly under the radar no longer flies. There's meaning to be found and I'd like to explore how the key words pen, gardener and aunt are of personal significance to Aziraphale, how there may be a reason he chose this particular phrase, and how Crowley's seemingly derogatory use of imaginary may be more like "imaginary".

The first two may already be obvious enough -

pen = to do with Aziraphale's love for books and the written word. The care he takes in penning a journal with his beautiful white feather calligraphy pen (plume);

gardener = his time as god-father/gardener (not that he was seen to be doing much). Could it be assumed that in addition to being the Guard of the Eastern Gate, that he also carried on as gardener of Eden? (explore Irish "garda")

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As for Aunt -

There is one person who has looked out for Aziraphale the same way she looked out for the rest of her family - the book was her idea of a family heirloom after all, so Aziraphale could be affectionately known as an honorary member of her family, possibly by all other descendants as well. Two prophecies were for Aziraphale and Aziraphale & Crowley respectively - would Agnes Nutter also consider Crowley an honorary great nephew?

In turn, as they are both experienced in all of Earth's languages, Aziraphale may already refer to Agnes by the informal "Aunt" honorific, perhaps since end of Summer 2019. Or, he may begin to refer to her as such in the present day of Season Two, (set in 2023), if he suspects her as being the ghost who warns him of the event requiring the urgent 25 Lazarii miracle. This is where Crowley's use of "imaginary" potentially comes into it, as in "imaginary friend", or ghost. Adding his use - what was my initial hope - of "wittering" and we get:

"[For what feels like two-hundred-and-fifty years] you've been hinting at the feather of your ghost-aunt."

Yes, I was being cheeky before, in using the example, "My mother's son", where, If I were the only child, then my mother's son is me! So, is Aziraphale attempting to say something similar, where he refers to himself as "gardener" -

"The feather of my aunt's gardener is mine."

And yes, coincidentally, I have been wittering on, which may have seemed intentional, just to build up to this moment. Though I assure you it wasn't, I just couldn't bring myself to chop this up into three separate posts. If you're still here reading, thank you <3

You lot deserve a reward!!! ;)

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The Further Nice and Accurate Prophecies were not yet accessible to Aziraphale, for reasons speculated in my "Watsit featuring Mary Poppins" and so it became necessary to get a message to him another way, in time for the urgent 25 Lazarii Miracle.

Now, some additional speculation -

"Aunt" Agnes has to resort to moving object(s) in the bookshop at some point after Gabriel's arrival. Aziraphale flees, so she tries to warn him in the coffee shop. When he and Crowley both return to the bookshop, there may have been just enough time for Crowley to suggest lowering the blinds so that they might deal with the situation, but meeting Jim delayed that for a few hours. Upon Crowley's return, "Aunt" Agnes finally comes across what she needs - her original medium, a plume.

Aziraphale the gardener, DOES have a pen, but Aunt Agnes prefers a simple feather quill.

There's one of those in the bookshop, yes? We thought it wasn't yet canon though right? It was only shown in the lock-down video:

youtube

And yet there are at least two on the "Unravel the Mystery" poster:

Where could it be?

Below is a still image, but you'll really need to go back to the video for this:

(Crowley returning to the bookshop in season two episode one, "I'm BACK", 39 minutes, 14 seconds.)

At least I THINK that it's a feather. All eyes are needed on this to verify (don't blink, it's real quick), especially in ultra high quality, slow motion GIFs.

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Finding it easier now, to ignore the sad music and harsh lighting, I really want for Aziraphale's final smile in the lift to be a more gooey "aww, there's a note in here for me and it's signed, Hugs and Kisses, Aunt Agnes." (for that to make sense, again, refer to the "Watsit featuring Mary Poppins" linked earlier)

How lovely would it be, for Agnes Nutter, on behalf of humanity her great family, to accept both Aziraphale and Crowley as an honorary human Nutter?

All in good fun,

leftduck9986 xo.

----- DO NOT ASK OR TAG NEIL GAIMAN ON FAN THEORY -----

#Obsessing over facial expressions and eye-direction contained within 3-4 seconds - does this even count as a scene analysis???#good omens 2 #spotting spies on Whickber Street #Aziracrow: master spies #wittering: noun vs. verb #Here's a wee wittering for you #languages: informal honorific “Aunt”#Agnes Nutter's choice of Plume #misdirection with lighting and framing #classic low-tech special effects #speculation upon speculation #Aziracrow: honorary “Nutter”s?#good omens

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lillotte17 · 9 months

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So, at one point after the season 1 release there was a post floating around somewhere with this idea that Crowley wrote Aziraphale letters and hid them in various books in his shop. I don't know how plausible that idea is, but I thought it was extremely cute, regardless. So, I wrote one of the letters!

It's just been hanging out on my computer for ages because I didn't know what to do with it. It's not really a fic. And I never feel like I get his voice quite right. BUT I still like it, so here you go. <3

You know that I am not very good with words. Well. Generally speaking, anyway. I wouldn't be even halfway decent at my job if I couldn't sell a line or two, but it turns out that it is much easier to talk someone else into going for something that part of them already wants deep down than it is to admit things that we might want for ourselves. Funny, that.

At any rate, my point is that I am not going to sit here and write you a sonnet or something. Wouldn't even know how to go about it, truth be told. But I know that you seem to enjoy words, especially written ones, since you've set yourself up to be surrounded by them almost constantly, so I thought that this might be easier for both of us.

It doesn't feel easier.

I understand why you didn’t want to help me the other day, really, I do. But you didn't even give me a chance to explain why I asked, so I'm asking you to listen now. Well…you know, read. Can't really listen to a letter, can you? Not yet, anyway. Who knows what humans will think of next.

From the moment we met, you have always been…something different. Something I didn't expect. In mostly good ways, though I suppose you can't help that. I think I was just curious to start with. Wanted to see what would happen if I poked at you a bit. I didn't expect you to be so…well. You.

We came to an understanding, and I told myself it was just business. Business and lunches. Business and lunches and the odd night out on the town. For someone who lies as much as I do, you'd think I'd be better at lying to myself. Sometimes I wish I was.

I've had a sneaking suspicion that I might actually like you for a frankly embarrassing amount of time, but it had only occurred to me recently that I am... we might…

I don't want things to change.

It's precarious to leave things the way they are, I know that. The people I work for are not known for their forgiveness, and yours have been known for dealing out their fair share of wroth as well. But I used to think that if things went south, I could just talk my way out of it and then avoid you however long until things died down again. I'm an optimist, you know.

But I don't want to avoid you. And our dealings have stepped beyond the scope of plausible deniability at this point. And if they come for me over that… I'm not sure what will happen. Nothing good, though, I'm certain. Maybe they’d kill me, maybe they wouldn’t. Hard to say which would be worse, really. But I thought, if you helped me, I could put together a sort of fail-safe. Just something to give us me enough time to come up with a plan of action. Find a place to hide. Run off somewhere.

You could come with me. If you wanted.

I know you wouldn’t want to go now, of course. It’d be too big a change. Breaking all sorts of rules. I wouldn’t mind, though. Never did mind too much about breaking rules, as you so often like to remind me.

It’s just… I think you might be the only being in this whole cosmos that I’ve actually managed to make happy. A few times, anyway. Maybe. At least, you seem happy. Most of the time. When we aren’t having a row.

It was a shocking revelation; I can tell you. To imagine that I’d be any sort of good for someone. And that I might even enjoy being 'good' for someone. It’s sort of nice though. And terrifying. And frustrating. I wasn’t really sure I was capable of this sort of thing. At least, not anymore. Maybe I never was. Maybe that’s why I ended up working the sort of job I’ve got.

The world is full of so many soft words for soft emotions and soft people. Bright ephemeral things. I can’t say they don’t suit you, but they aren’t enough either. Well, maybe ‘enough’ isn’t the word for it. They just…don’t fit exactly right. And how could they? Man can hardly conceive of a word for something that he has little no understanding of. Bet you thought I’d say it was ineffable. I am not a good messenger for that sort of expression, regardless. Bit outside my wheelhouse. Just the sort of thing I’d cock up, really.

Look, I don’t really know where to go with any of this. I can’t even fathom a reason why things might change between us. Well, I can, but none of the changes would be good. I only know that, as of right now, you are my best and oldest friend. Perhaps my only friend. And maybe that’s a small thing to most people. But not to me. To me it’s everything.

You’re everything.

But I can see now just how easy it would be for all of it to go wrong. And maybe a smarter person would take that as a sign to cut ties and move on to better things. Keep things safe and simple. Black and white. And maybe you should. I’m selfish, though, which I’m sure you’ve worked out already. And well…

It’d be an awfully lonely world without you.

Yours.

#good omens #crowley x aziraphale #crowley #aziraphale #fic #sort of??#honestly i think if he wrote something he'd have to do it really fast before Big Feelings caught up with him #and it would be largely unintelligible #filled with blots and angry cross outs #but Aziraphale is absolutely POURING over these nonsense letters #like he does with Agnes Nutter's prophecies #because SOMEWHERE in this mess there is a truth he has been trying to get at for HUNDREDS of years #and he is going to FIND IT #And HANG IT IN A FRAME ON THE WALL #And NEVER let Crowley live it down for the rest of their existence

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