#GO AU Crawley

[androids-insides]

Behold, the result of my procrastination:

Good Omens Swapped Universe

Remember that stream from ages ago? That’s when I made these designs. Since then, I haven’t made much about them, but I’ve recently thought about them quite a bit! I’ve been doodling them now, and I’m constructing a story in the back of my mind! Does this intrigue you?

I did recently realise that you can’t actually download the images from Tumblr, which is sad because I name all of the images in very silly ways and no one gets to read them. If you would like a transparent image, I request that you message me! I’ll give you a nice version with my signature and everything :] (it may take me a bit to respond)

[zero-is-nebulous]

Uuuh here's my art dump for the reverse omens au I made

I can't remember which artist came up with the moth demon Aziraphale but credit goes to them, I just liked it and decided to run with it (I'll see If I can find them to drop a name sometime l8r)

Text ver under the cut

Aziraphale - really a quite terrible demon (original temptor)

Moth broach

Walking stick

Same outfit p much

Hair pattern silly

Majic man style coat

Eyes...

Moth antenna

Raphael - bored Archangel, human expert and healer (Crowley)

Outcast Archangel

Azi's pocket watch

Moth pendant

Devious smirk

How 2 draw skinny jeans?

Shoes...

Snake tattoo

(Text pages at the end, typed out below)

The story goes like this...

Aziraphale, thinking that keeping the diffrent between right/wrong from life is silly. He believes it's the right thing to do to introduce it to the humans. He is past looking to the all-mighty for morality, and really just does what he thinks is right. He disguises himself as an angel to offer the fruit to Adam + eve, and then discorporates the angel of the Eastern gate (unnamed angel, soon to be demoted for being bested so easily) to give the humans their flaming sword. He watches them go from the top of the Eastern gate, now non-disguised

Archangel Raphael is bored, hating how heaven is run but not wanting to ask questions after the fall of their last 'example'. He loves his stars, and wishes the world would be as interesting as them. He often visits the garden, so he sees Aziraphale on the wall and, bored, goes to be nosey

Crowley: the principality for this post taking a break?

Aziraphale: looks it, doesn't it? Whoever they were, they did quite an awful job. The humans are already a mile beyond the wall. Perhaps heaven is doing it all wrong then, hm?

It turns out, demons are quite talkative. And interesting

Crowley: hm, so you're saying you don't know what happened here?

Aziraphale: not a single clue. I suppose that's to be expected though, no?

Crowley: oh? What makes you say that?

Aziraphale: well, it's as she said. I'm not quite meant to ask questions. Her plan is ineffable, after all

Crowley: ineffable?

Aziraphale: quite. Silly, isn't it?

Crowley: I never said a thing, uh,

Aziraphale: Aziraphale

Crowley: Aziraphale

Crowley: how tf did u get captured by the Spanish inquisition?

(Dressed 2 the nines)

Crowley: I'm gonna myrical u outa this bc I have a heavenly duty but let it be known I think you're one of the dumbest motherfuckers I have ever met

Aziraphale: teehee

(No longer a fashion icon)

Crowley: dramatic ass demon

Sorry this is so terribly layed out tumblr kept changing it after I posted

[ellecdc]

All's Fair in Love & Chaos

1st instalment ( II - III - IV)

a short blurb style mini-series in collaboration with @unstablereader no real plot, just vibes and comedy.

Synopsis: soulmate au, everyone's soulmate's initials become visible on their wrist when the last person in the bond 'comes of age' (I've left the age ambiguous because their may be mature insinuations later on in the story). As luck would have it, and much to everyone's horror; it appeared that you, Barty Crouch Junior, and Sirius Black were soulmates

poly!DeathStar x fem!reader

The day that every witch, wizard, and wix alike waited their whole life for finally came for Sirius Black; the day that their soulmate’s initials became visible on your wrist.

The mark becomes visible when the last person of your soulmate bond comes of age. For example, much to Lily’s chagrin, the initials J.F.P became visible on her wrist on March 27th, as did the initials L.J.E on James’ wrist.

Much to Sirius’ chagrin, on June 25th, the initials R.A.B became visible on Remus’ wrist, as did the initials R.J.L on Regulus’.

And so it went for the rest of his friends and classmates.

Except for poor Pete, whose wrist adorned the initials of someone who - after much research and triple-checking by all of their friends - clearly didn’t go to Hogwarts.

Sometimes, however, soulmate bonds took place between more than two people, and though it was possible for it to happen among all blood statuses, the odds were higher amongst Pureblood’s.

So when Sirius woke up this morning to a weird burning/itching feeling on his wrist, only to see not one, but two sets of initials, he was feeling pretty chuffed.

That dissolved very quickly, however.

“No…. nononononononono.” He muttered in agony as he saw two people approaching him; one looking almost as horrified as he did and one looking awfully sinister.

“Well, well, well.” Barty Crouch Junior drawled as he made his way to the Gryffindor table, dragging you over with him - seemingly without your consent – by your arm. “I thought it must have been a mistake when I woke up to find out I had a Son Of a Bitch as a soulmate, but alas; here you are.”

“This can’t be.” Sirius whispered disbelievingly, causing Barty to cackle maniacally.

“Oh, but it is.”

Any words that Sirius had died on his lips at the wheezing of his younger brother.

You, Barty, and Sirius all turned to see Regulus hanging from Remus’ shoulder as he clutched his stomach.

“I…I – oh Salazar, I think I finally believe in gods! All of them! Oh…” He stuttered in between fits of laughter.

Sirius looked between him and his supposed best mate, but Remus only looked at Regulus as if Regulus was his most beautiful when he was laughing at the expense of his brother.

Bastards; the both of them.

“Happy birthday, Y/N!” James offered, his face clearly trying to smile though it took on a pained expression in comissery.

“Thank you…” You accepted timidly, eyes darting between the group of people you suddenly found yourself emmersed in.

“Now look what you’ve done, Black.” Barty sneered as if Sirius’ last name was a dirty word. “You’ve worried our poor girl.” He cooed as he pulled you tight into your side, causing you to squeak in surprise.

“I hardly think I’m the one worrying her.” Sirius sneered back.

Barty’s face turned stony. “Just what are you insinuating?”

“Uhm, that you’re certifiably insane?” Sirius responded simply. 

“Oh, come now; Junior’s not that bad.” Remus tried to reason; his boyfriend still hanging limply off his shoulder as he tried (and failed) to repress his laughter. 

“Not that bad?” Sirius screeched incredulously. “Did you not see what he did to Crawley?”

Peter snorted at that. “Mate, you literally did the same thing to Snape.”

“That was you?” Barty asked in surprise, looking Sirius up and down skeptically.

“Sure was.” James answered on his behalf.

“Huh.” Barty chuckled in thought. “That’s where I- never mind that. I only did that because he groped Y/N’s arse.”

Sirius felt his own face turn stony as he turned his attention to you. “Is this true?”

You seemed to pale at the attention. “Well…yes? But-”

“Ha ha. Black’s just as bad as me.” Barty sing-songed from beside you, looking at Sirius with a look of faux innocence.

Sirius heard a thump, and he looked over to see Remus looking behind the bench where Regulus had apparently fallen in his fit of laughter.

“I – I’ve died, yeah? I’m dead? Fuck, I must’ve done something right in my past life to be rewarded with this. Sirius is – is bonded to Barty Crouch Junior.” He howled with laughter, so uncharacteristic of the young, stoic Black. 

“I am not!” Sirius argued petulantly. “I’m bonded to Y/N, Junior just…happens to be there.”

“If you’re only bonded to Y/N, why are my initials decorating your wrist, hm?” Barty asked salaciously, pulling Sirius’ wrist towards him to see the evidence for himself.

“Oh, sod off.” Sirius barked, shoving him aside and offering you an apologetic glance before storming towards the exit.

“Oi! Where are you going, future-Mr-Barty-Crouch-Junior!?” Barty taunted.

“To jump off the astronomy tower!” Sirius called back.

“Ou! We should go watch.” He said, turning to you before following Sirius out. “You should try to do a flip!”

“Oh, Y/N.” Lily cooed after the boys finally disappeared out of the Great Hall. “I’m so sorry.”

You let out a long-suffering sigh as your eyes stayed focused on the place where you last saw your two new soulmates. “If Regulus did something in a past life to be rewarded with this, I must have done something right horrid.”

[dee-morris]

Aziraphale's Anxiety

There's something I feel like we don't talk about enough when it comes to things that Aziraphale is afraid of. Fanfictions, especially human AUs, interpret his fears and his "rejection" of Crowley as a form of internalized homophobia, and given the strict oversight and corporate-megachurch-coded supervisors I get it. A lot of us have had similar experiences with religion, except Aziraphale gets the added perk of knowing that what they're threatening him with is actually real and not an abusive power play.

But anyway.

Setting side the Final Fifteen for the moment because I stand by my hypothesis that we don't know everything that was happening in that scene or exactly why the characters behaved the way they did, Aziraphale's fears have been primarily guided by a desire to protect. Usually Crowley, but not always. He meddled in Elspeth's situation to try to protect her from going to hell. And if you do the math, he wasn't wrong to do so. A couple of years of misery and poverty against an eternity of torture? For an immortal creature who actually understands the concept of eternity, it checks out.

When he said no to the holy water he wanted to protect Crowley. When he gave him the holy water, it was to protect Crowley, in a lesser of two evils kind of way. When he broke up with Crowley at the bandstand, I think several things are going on: he wanted to protect the earth, he wanted to protect Crowley, and he knew that ultimately leaving the planet wouldn't guarantee their safety because when the end came the ENTIRE universe was getting shut down, not just the earth.

And here's my favorite example: the Job minisode. We really do not talk enough about the fact that Aziraphale could have walked away from this situation at any time without consequences. He never broke the rules. Gabriel told him, All we're doing is not stopping hell. And Aziraphale didn't stop Crawley, technically; Satan's diabolical minister had already decided he wasn't killing anyone. All Aziraphale did was help him, which wasn't the same as stopping him. Rules lawyer Aziraphale my beloved.

So he didn't lie to the Supreme Archangel's face to protect himself or the kids (unless he thought they'd off the kids if they knew they had survived, but that seems unlikely, the trials were over at that point); he did it to protect Crawley. And he was fully prepared to go to hell over it. Not happy about it to be sure, but resigned. And I believe that it wasn't losing his status in heaven that upset him but losing his role as Earth's protector.

Anyway, that's just something that's been kicking around in my head. We've spent so much time between seasons reveling in fanfiction that it's easy to lose track of the canon characters. Aziraphale's anxiety has rarely been on his own behalf, and higher self esteem won't fix his problems.

I stand by my belief, however, that a roll in the hay might help. There fanfiction and I are in complete agreement.

[aziraphales-library]

hello!! i love you all so much (platonic) and appreciate the work you do. do you have any recs where one/both of the ineffable husbands/wives is getting out of a relationship and goes to the other for comfort and maybe realizes they've been in love with them the whole time? thanks so much <333333

Here are some break-up friends-to-lovers fics for you...

I'm All Yours by FeralTuxedo (E)

Anthony J. Crowley knew he looked like a walking mid-life crisis. The tight jeans, half-up bun and sunglasses positively screamed ‘I left my wife for the babysitter and bought a vintage car just to feel alive again.’ In an adaptation of his life, he’d be played by Hugh Grant. He looked like a divorcee desperate for action, and it didn’t help that he was currently standing outside a nightclub surrounded by drunk twenty-year-olds. But Crowley wasn’t here for a good time tonight. He was on a rescue mission. Crowley has been rescuing his friend Aziraphale over and over again for a decade. Hopelessly in love, ready to jump at a moment’s notice when he was needed. When Aziraphale finally breaks up with his partner, Crowley is there to help him through what’s looking to be one hell of a mid-life crisis. Things could finally change. If he manages not to mess it up again. A human AU with a whole forest’s worth of pining squeezed into a single day.

…And They Were Roommates by Mimsynims (E)

“You know… I just remembered that Richard and I were going away for a few days next month.” Something devious came over him. “Richard paid for it, but the booking is in my name.” Crowley quickly caught on to what he was getting at. “Ooh, I see. That’s convenient.” He grinned. “For us." When Aziraphale's boyfriend Richard (Dick) breaks up with him, he and his roommate Crowley hijacks an intended couples' vacation and uses it for themselves. Lines that had started to blur even before their trip gets even more blurry - which perhaps isn't the best thing when both are hiding a crush on the other (and communication isn't their strong suit).

Ezra at the Wedding by tenandi (E)

Ezra's ex is moving on but he's determined to stop the wedding. With his handsome neighbor masquerading as his new love interest, will he win back his true love and rewrite the happy ending he deserves? - Crowley was leaning against the doorframe, obviously hungover and running on about two hours of sleep. A ripped t-shirt hung off one shoulder over a pair of boxers with devil ducks printed all over them. To top it all off, he was wearing black velvet slippers embroidered with his monogram. In any other instance, Ezra would have laughed but he was too busy being wrapped up in his anguish. “What do you want, Crowley?” Ezra fumed. “I am having a moment here!”

You are HoMe (Half of Me) by angelsnuffbox (T)

Aziraphale had gotten dumped, plain and simple. But that small detail wasn’t nearly as important as all the things that happened after he’d gotten dumped - such as coming to a few realisations about his best friend of sixteen years.

Hooped Earrings by OfEden (E)

After 29 years Azira comes out. While her family and ex boyfriend don't support her, her life long best friend is there by her side every step of the way.

Crawling Back To You by madrabbitwrites (NR)

College-age Aziraphale pushed his closest friend away and moved out of town with his married Literature professor in a panicked attempt at escaping his family’s rampant homophobia. Years later, devastated by a dreadful break-up, he’s returned to his small hometown to live with his brother and attempt to heal his broken heart (and broken life, if he were being honest with himself). What he didn’t count on was his old friend Crawley- now calling himself Crowley and looking dashing as ever- to have returned as well. Crawley’s wounds from their last argument are deep and Aziraphale may never be able to regain what they once had, but he’d certainly like to try. The two of them need to have an actual conversation, but that’s not really how these plots go, is it?

- Mod D

[ineffabildaddy]

call for writing prompts (◠‿◠✿)

edit: this call is now closed, purely because i want to do justice to as many of these wonderful ideas as possible!!! thank you so so much to everyone who reblogged and/or sent one in<3

hi all!!! so i’ve been struggling to write fic recently (mainly bc of life stuff and feeling a bit burnt out from having so many event fics to work on within quite a tight timeframe). i’ve got a fic going up later this month, and a big project i’m chipping away at, but i really just want a lighthearted, fun oneshot to write to get me back into the rhythm of things and really remind myself that i do this for fun and not to meet deadlines!!!

so, my question is: do you have a prompt for me?

though it’d help if you knew the sort of thing i write, this is my only criteria:

aziraphale/crowley

human au

a&c as 18 years old or older

as i say, lighthearted and fun! (no common triggers etc)

simple enough to work as a oneshot that’s roughly 15k or under

if you like, specify gender identity (e.g. ineffable wives, genderfluid crowley), but pls no physical sex characteristics!

can be sfw or nsfw;-)

drop em in my ask box! thank you in advance!!! of course, i’ll credit you for any ideas of yours which i write<3

tagging the usual taglist, + few ppl who like my stuff and may be kind enough to help hehe. no pressure tho!!!: @omens-for-ophelia @crowleyslvt @voluptatiscausa @foolishlovers @bowtiepastabitch @sabotage-on-mercury @crowleys-bentley-and-plants @tangerine-ginger @greenthena @and-his-hands-were-24-crows @amagnificentobsession @iammyownproblematicfave @ineffable-rohese @cottagecore-raccoon @crowleyholmes @createserenity @queer-reader-07 @nimbusalba @adverbian @ingenio-ira @idliketobeatree @eybefioro @dontbotheraziraphale @lolalu16 @captainblou @fellshish @crawley-fell @portraitofalonelydyke

[createserenity]

Master List of My Fics and WIPs

Been meaning to do this for ages, so here we go. All titles link through to the fics on AO3. Sunlight In Your Smile (M, 12k - wip)

Aziraphale has to attend a family wedding and he may have told a bit of a white lie. Of course he doesn't actually have a boyfriend. So now he needs to find one and in despair he turns to an escort agency for help.

Waking Up With You (G, 1.6k - complete)

Crowley has just left the shop for the night and Aziraphale is locking the door when it hits him out of the blue. Why are they doing this? Why is Crowley leaving?

After six thousand years together and free from Heaven and Hell, Azirpahale realises they need to take the next step in their relationship. Fluffiness all round!

All The Pieces of You (E, 73k - wip)

Aziraphale had known he found Crowley attractive for a long time, but there was nothing wrong with that. The Almighty had done a very nice job when she’d made Crowley and surely appreciating the work of the Almighty was what angels were supposed to do? It was nothing more than that.

Except now Aziraphale knows what lust feels like and that might be a problem.

A mixture of smut, fluff and ridiculous historical adventures.

In The Beginning (E, 8.9k - complete)

In the beginning there was a garden and the Angel of the Eastern Gate and the Serpent of Eden decided that there are better things to do than stand around in the rain getting wet.

Shameless smut, in which Aziraphale and Crowley learn what all the fuss is about sex.

Better Than Today (E, 4k - complete)

Whenever they fucked Crowley said, “I love you.”

It would probably help if they talked about it, but somehow they just keep ending up having sex instead.

Smut with a fluffy ending.

Give In To Desire (E, 4.4k - complete)

Crawley hadn't actually meant for this to happen. He'd thought he'd tempt the angel into eating and the angel would maybe have a few bites and discover that it wasn't so bad after all. He hadn't expected to be setting himself up to be tempted into the sin of lust.

Just another fic speculating on what happened in the basement during the Job minisode, because you can never have too many of those, right?

A Day For Magic (T, 3.4k - complete)

In which there is a bench, a park and a coin, which leads to silliness and fluffiness all round.

Fic inspired by these kisses.

A Time of Wanting (T, <1k - complete)

Crowley wants.

He wants so badly and he's wanted for so long that it's a physical ache in his chest now. Short ficlet that's fluffy and happy, despite how the summary makes it seem. Also inspired by the kiss picture linked above.

Goodnight Angel (E, 14.4k - wip but also works as it is)

Post lockdown-phone-call fic.

Aziraphale had told him not to come over, but he was a demon and obviously he wasn't going to listen. Besides he was going out of his mind with boredom and going to see the angel was a much better idea than a long nap.

WIPs

Apart from my main wip All The Pieces of You I've also got a follow up to In The Beginning in the works and eventually I'll go back to Goodnight Angel as well. Apart from that I'm going to list my wips here and try to keep track of them with tags and get a bit better at posting about them. Some of these will probably never get written, especially since a few days ago there was only 12, then I scrapped one altogether taking it down to 11 and now somehow I'm up to 15. Too many ideas in my head and too many half writtten fics on my computer.

After The Swap

Blind date

Dance for Me

End Times

Entertain Me

Here's to the End Times (yep different to the above fic despite the similar working title)

It's You (This one is a one shot human AU and might be posted soon)

Run Away Together

Sunlight In Your Smile (I've started posting this finally!)

Lockdown Lifted

So You Can Take It Off (Desperately want to finish this because it's different to anything else I've written)

South Downs

University

Run Away Together (very much a working title!)

This Land of Ours (fits in the Pieces of You universe)

Waking Up With You (This is now done and posted!)

Job (This is finished and posted as Give In To Desire - linked above - although technically there are more chapters in the works)

[drconstellation]

i'm sorry i'm a bit slow when it comes to reading comprehension...i thought crowley saves the goats because he doesn't want to kill them, not because they're associated with demons? or did i get that wrong? 🙈

Angelic Sheep and Demonic (Scape)Goats

[Just for reference, the question above was prompted by another meta: Goats, Crows and The Flood]

Thank you for the question. This gives me a chance to write up a sheep and goat meta at length - but I hope you're not going to regret asking it, because its not a simple answer. While I am always saying "it never is in the GOmens AU" I have to admit this one took off with a life of its own (the metas do that sometimes) and has ended up much longer than I thought it would and went to places I didn't expect it to go, but sometimes that is the joy of writing these.

Crowley doesn't want to kill them because he thinks they are innocent and blameless, just like the children of Job - and by extension, we are meant to see he thinks he was unfairly blamed and condemned to be a demon as well. That's it at its most simple level, but by understanding why there is an association between demons and goats will give you a much deeper insight into Crowley's story and why he would act this way. S2 of GOmens is like an onion, you need to peel that thin dry skin off and then slice through several more juicy layers to get the full depth of flavor into the complex meal that has been created for us. Its worth the tears that the chopping of the onion releases in the end. Are you brave enough to find out?

Take the conversation above, between Sitis and Bildad/Crawley. Sitis is a parallel-character to Aziraphale here, wearing the angel's signature teal green, and she questions the demon about the children being threatened with destruction. Then let us put these two parallel scenes side-by side: Sitis vs Bildad and Aziraphale vs Heaven

AZIRAPHALE: Oh. So just his worldly goods. MURIEL: Exactly. Oh, nothing important, no. Just his farm, his camels, his goat, his oxen, his children, his geese… AZIRAPHALE: His WHAT?! MURIEL: His geese. You know, big cross ducks.[flaps arms] AZIRAPHALE: His children?

So we have Sitis looking in horror at a demon at the potential death of her children, and then we have Aziraphale looking in horror at Heaven acting demon-like, not caring if children are destroyed in pursuit of victory over Satan. "Trust in God's plan, Aziraphale. Always," admonishes the shoulder-demon Gabriel (he is so often a shoulder demon - I have words to say about this! - in another meta) In other words, be a good sheep, Aziraphale, and have faith in the Almighty. Don't worry about the goats, or kids. They aren't important.

If you listen carefully during the Job minisode, A Companion to Owls, you'll notice Gabriel prefers to emphasize the number of sheep that will be returned to Job in the end. The Christian church is very big on the sheep imagery! Sheep are considered to be modest, humble, obedient (because they follow one another - you need to be a good follower!) and patient. They follow their shepherd's voice and goes where he directs. (Uh huh...) Followers are described as being part of a flock.

Goats, on the other hand (ah, yes, we'll talk about that in a moment) are considered to be a bit on the nose. Literally. A rutting billy goat is described as having a 'fetid' smell, they can be promiscuous, capricious, devious (wily?) and contrary. Their strong-mindedness, singleness of purpose and leadership qualities (!*) make them the opposite of sheep. While going your own independent way is frowned upon by Heaven, this leading quality of the goat is sometimes used to lead the sheep.

"There are three things that are stately in their stride, four that move with stately bearing: a lion, mighty among beasts, who retreats before nothing; a strutting rooster, a he-goat, and a king with his army around him." Proverbs 30: 29-31

Did you get a good whiff of that sinister archangel, Shax?

(oh boy, some of the stuff I found researching this for more detail...such as "going your own way creates disunity...this leads others astray..." wtf! Looking at this in context with the show makes it kind of, well, some things make more sense to me now? I guess that's a big reflection on the kind of culture I personally grew up in, because I know there are cultures where unity and togetherness is looked upon as happiness and harmony.)

In the tv show, we know the scene blocking - where the characters stand - has great importance. Standing on the right-hand shoulder of another character makes them a shoulder-angel (the dexter side), standing on the left a shoulder-demon (the sinister side.) By watching who stands where usually tells us what moral stance they are taking in that scene.

If we take the example from the Job minisode below, we can see quite an interesting dynamic from the scene blocking. On the left, we have Sitis and Job, who is crouching down. They are an Aziraphale-Crowley parallel-pair, and they are even colour-coded with their colours! Sitis, in Aziraphale's teal on the angelic right of yellow tunic-wearing Job, who's modelling Crowley's suffering for sin but without understanding why. Job has crouched down to highlight Crowley's entrance. On the right the glowing angels are arrayed - Michael on the angelic right shoulder, Gabriel in the middle (more often than not he stands on the demonic left) but this time Aziraphale is taking the far left demonic position, and we know why - he's about to lie like a demon! But even on a grander scale, Sitis, Job and Crowley all stand on the angelic RHS of the visiting angels, making the archangels and Aziraphale all collectively LHS demons in this scene. And Gabriel thought they'd won the bet...*snort*

You should all take a moment to appreciate this piece of Art. Go on. Do it.

Sheep and goats had this right- and left-handedness meted out to them long ago in the bible. The sheep belong to the morally righteous right-hand side, of course, the side of angels, and the goats to the demonic left.

But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Matthew 25:31-33

This passage and the following lines from Matthew describes how Jesus will judge the righteous from the sinners, and those who have been deemed good will be saved, but those who are deemed unworthy will be treated like goats: "Then he will say also to those on the left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the the devil and his angels" Matthew 25:41

So we've established the link between goats being demons, and the left-hand side, so they have an affinity with Crowley. We can do a bit of humorous visual and word play between kids and children.

Children.

ah.

oh. OH. Hang on a minute...

Lets just take a step back to the beginning of the minisode, where Crawley delivers his short monologue to the assembled goats.

CRAWLEY: You should know why you're about to die. God has abandoned you. The God who claims to love you, who demands your praise, has given you up to be destroyed.

They're rather small goats, aren't they. The kind of size that makes you wonder if they are goat children or grown goats... you know, it doesn't matter - they are little, cute and innocent. You are meant to associate them with kids, now, and in the past. (Like, in the way, way back past. Like not just the Flood, but the Before the Beginning past.) What matters is Crawley's speech to them, because it sounds very much like him repeating his own experience about his Fall from Heaven. We already know from S1 there is a conflict around Crowley's Fall involving wanting to ask God questions. We get to explore this further several times in S2.

Then later, after emerging from Job's cellar, they witness God talking to Job.

AZIRAPHALE: I don't suppose he's getting any answers. CRAWLEY: No. But just to be able to ask the question.

We don't hear all the lines God speaks to Job, but we hear enough to them to understand that they come from the Book of Job 38 and 39. The context behind these two verses is...interesting. I was going to delve into them a little more but I think that will get us off track on this meta, so perhaps I should come back and revisit it separately, but we can note that several ops have pointed out that the lines we do hear God speak clearly to Job can be connected to Crowley. There are no coincidental accidents in S2.

But just look at Job in that last image - the light of God shining brightly down through a hole in the clouds, darkness all around...

Hmm. Remind you of anything. Like maybe... another Voice from above?

Who we've seen has shown a particular dislike for a certain demon, even though most certainly remembers what his name is.

METATRON: Ah, well, always did want to go his own way. Always asking damn fool questions, too.

Well, doesn't that sound just like a demon goat.

That withering look the Metatron gave Crowley in S2E6, the comment about asking "damn fool questions," - just about the only conclusion you can come to is that the Metatron had something to do with Crowley's Fall. What and how exactly is still unclear, but there are some clues in Gabriel's story, as Gabriel is acting as both a parallel and foil to Crowley in S2. At this point we should also talk about the scapegoat ritual that was widely practiced around the near Middle East regions for quite some time.

The scapegoat ritual involved two young goats being chosen for sacrifice, but one of them had the sins of the community spoken over them then set free to wander into the desert wilderness to die, while the other was sacrificed as a Burnt offering to God. This was a symbolic way of removing sins from the community.

It is also applied to the Passion of Jesus. When the gathered crowds are offered the choice between letting Jesus or Barabbas go free, they choose Barabbas. I've written at length how I see this applied to S2 in this meta here: The Passion of Jimbriel: Resurrection and while Gabriel and Crowley share the role of Jesus fairly equally throughout the Passion story line, there is one point it can be split and Gabriel becomes the Barabbas and the goat that was released into the wilderness and Crowley becomes Jesus on the cross - but he turns into the sacrificial lamb! Perhaps that needs to be changed to the burnt offering...

I know there are quite a few meta ops that are aware of the scapegoat ritual, and more often than not I see Aziraphale being suggested as the current scapegoat. But the way I see the ritual being used in GO is not so much in the present story but in the past, and Crowley was the unwilling scapegoat for the rebelling angels that fell.

OK, I think I've run out spoons on this meta, but seeing how its managed to be at least twice the size I initially envisioned it to be, and its since generated two more meta ideas in the writing of it on top of the ones I'm already trying to do, that isn't too bad.

I'll wrap it up by saying no matter who the scapegoat is, Aziraphale needs to let his inner lion out so he can be The GOAT in S3. I'm sure the original nanny-goat will applaud that.

*talking about that topic...I should have a meta out soon centered around Crowley and Gabriel that will cover this. I will probably come back and edit a link in to it.

[moo9395]

My Ghosts headcanons

I've had these sitting in a google doc for ages so I might as well hand them over.

I've split them into stuff that 'could take place in canon' and 'modern au' stuff

Robin:

Fluent in multiple languages (kind of canon but whatever)

He has a PhD in astrophysics 

Humphrey:

He gets migraines

He’s a teacher (this is quite popular), Headteacher humphrey is cool as well

Failed his driving test 4 times in a row

Coffee gives Humphrey headaches so he drinks more of it. 

Mary:

She was a girl guide (me coded) (Credit to @kingofthefrogs swapped au for inspo)

Welsh (me coded)

Dyslexic

Kitty:

Can be heard on a spirit box (Credit to kingofthefrogs)

Likes Call the Midwife.

She is a Nurse or Doctor, possibly a paediatrician. Haven’t seen this done yet but I think it could be fun given her fascination with Maddocks’ injury.

She loves iced coffee.

Thomas:

He is scared of dogs (channeling me right now) Dante is a weird exception to this that Fanny often complains about but secretly is proud of.

He can experience temperature as a ghost. (Credit to Ailendolin) He is susceptible to heat stroke and sometimes gets a cold, especially after going in the lake.

He's left handed

He is dyslexic and/or short sighted. Bonus if he refuses to wear glasses. Double bonus if this gives him constant headaches.

Studied abroad in Holland for 2 years and developed a weed addiction, he moved back to the UK to get over it

Coffee gives Thomas headaches so he doesn’t drink it. 

Fanny:

Hypochondriac. 

Incredible at Netball (she's such a netball girlie) she plays wing attack or centre

Captain:

He has reading glasses.

Scared of chickens (Alektorophobia) (Inspired by @upsetslingshot on ao3)

Cap was in army cadets (me coded) and loved it.

Pat:

He's claustrophobic, he was in life and the fact that he died while struggling to breathe has worsened that.

He’s basically blind without his glasses. (like Velma type blind)

Road rage.

Julian:

Has hemophobia (fear of blood)

Julian was in army cadets and hated it.

Multi Character (mostly modern au stuff):

Thomas, Fanny, and Mary love watching Downton Abbey. Thomas is a passionate fan of Edith, Mary likes Sybil, and Fanny is a big fan of Violet Crawley (as she should be).

All autistic (Julian and Robin AuDHD).

Cap, Thomas, Mary, and Julian are cat people

Pat, Robin, and Fanny are dog people

Humphrey and Kitty passionately refuse to pick a side.

Thomas, Cap, Pat, Fanny and Julian are tea people.

Humphrey, Kitty, Mary and Robin are coffee people.

Robin and Humphrey as siblings/ twins.

Thomas and Kitty met in school. Thomas was being picked on and Kitty defended him.

Julian and Robin met in Cambridge Uni, Robin was doing an astrophysics PhD, Julian was doing his classmates a masters in politics.

Cap and Fanny play badminton together.

They have a group football team (more on that later)

Mary and Robin hooked up once (I know its canon but I love when it also happens in modern au's)

Hogwarts houses:

Hufflepuff - Humphrey, Pat, Mary

Gryffindor - Robin, Julian

Ravenclaw - Fanny, Thomas, Kitty

Slytherin - Cap

I'm very willing to elaborate and hear other opinions on this.

Mario Kart mains:

Robin - Bowser

Humphrey - Shy Guy

Mary - Yoshi

Kitty - Daisy

Thomas - Peach

Fanny - Toadette

Captain - Luigi

Pat - Koopa Troopa

Julian - Donkey Kong

The football team (my pride and joy):

Robin - goalkeeper, he once scored from a goal kick

Humphrey - defence, very good at headers (lol) but is frequently injured mainly due to being clumsy

Kitty - defence, she gets very invested in the game and will break knees (while apologising) 

Cap - defence, it took him a while to pick up the sport but he’s thriving, works very well with Humphrey and Kitty

Thomas - surprisingly good left winger, other teams generally see him (being himself) before the game  and write him off as a weaker player - he loves proving them wrong

Fanny - right wing, her and thomas make a weirdly good duo, she's absolutely incredible at penalties 

Pat - central midfielder and the team captain (Cap conceded that maybe Pat was a little bit better than him at football and should take the lead ‘just this once’)

Mary - Striker, really strong with both feet, closes her eyes when she takes a shot but somehow is still usually on target 

Julian - Striker, solid player but is frequently sent off for inappropriate celebrations

I had way too much fun re-reading these.

PLEASE USE THEM AND SEND ME THE FICS IM OBSESSED.

[dragonss-in-the-north]

I’ve had a certain interview with Rob James-Collier and Allen Leech pop back into my brain after lying dormant for years - the one in which they suggest that Thomas run a gay bar, and Tom run an Irish bar, and they be business rivals. My first thought: “Oh! That would be a fun modern AU!” But then I thought: “What if canon era though????” So... uh... this is what I’ve got:

At some point after the events of the first film, Tom decides to run an Irish pub instead of the car business he was managing with Talbot (Mary/Henry divorce mayhaps?). He’s desperate to get some space from the Crawleys and find himself again.

Meanwhile, Chris has been recently released from prison. Thomas has been exchanging letters with him on the quiet for all the months he was locked up, and they have become good friends. Chris wants to arrange meet-ups with the rest of the Turton’s crew, but everyone is understandably skittish about squatting in another abandoned building.

Tom finds out about all of this because of [muffled sounds behind hand] reasons, and he’s like, “Wait! I think English cops should go fuck themselves, as well. You fellas should use the back room of my pub for your parties. We can stick it to the man together.” Thomas is... not impressed. But Chris is not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

And perhaps Tom bizarrely, impossibly finds himself drawn to this new Thomas, who dances and laughs and drinks with his fellow gays. Maybe that funny, happy, beautifully alive man is... sexy? But even if Tom really did feel that way - which of course he doesn’t - it wouldn’t matter. Because obviously Thomas and this Chris guy are some sort of item. Neither of them have ever actually said that, but clearly they are. Probably? Maybe?

Branrow shippers, is this anything??? Genuinely do not know at this point.

[androids-insides]

Yea. Sure. "A Conversation."

[spontaniousmusicalnumbers]

Downton Abbey Ficlet

Prompt: Edith is convinced that Mary is exaggerating about her marriage (Season 3 AU)

“It really is the most amusing sight, Mama,” Mary was saying to Cora while sitting in the drawing room one afternoon. Mary and Matthew had been married and living in their “cottage” for several months now. Edith half listened. She hated that Mary always felt the need to gloat about her happy marriage. Mary didn’t seem to care at all that Edith might not want to listen to all her stupid stories while she was still hurting from the humiliation of Sir Anthony jilting her at the altar. How could any of Mary’s stories even be true anyway? Surely no one really acted the way Mary described.

“And then, he knocked over the lamp!” Mary exclaimed as Cora began laughing.

“Really, Mary,” Cora said, “What do you tell the servants?”

“Well, I tell Anna everything anyway, so she didn’t even ask when she saw the lamp.” Mary laughed. “And since Matthew doesn’t use a valet, that’s not much of an issue. And the other staff know to keep their distance if we haven’t rung for them. And of course, they’re usually out of the house most of the day on Mondays since we’ve designated it our private day.”

“Doesn’t Matthew have to go to the office?” Edith injected suddenly.

Mary looked around, “Oh, Edith, I forgot you were here, you were sitting so quietly. No, actually, Matthew brings home files on Friday to read through at home on Mondays and then goes back into the office on Tuesday. It was one of the compromises he made when we got married so that we could have more time together since he spends Saturdays with Papa working on the estate and Sundays are taken with church.”

“Well, isn’t that lovely for you.” Edith huffed and left the room. She just couldn’t sit and listen to Mary any longer. As she stomped off up the stairs, she began to think of a plan to prove to everyone that Mary was completely exaggerating about her marriage, and then Edith would be the one laughing.

* * *

The following Monday Edith decided to put her plan into play. After breakfast, she got ready to go out and pay calls.  As she headed down the drive, she turned off toward the village first. She had planned the whole day. Mama had needed some invitations delivered to Isobel, Granny and Mary so she offered to deliver all of them; a perfect cover for her to stop in at Mary’s. She went to Crawley House first and had a lovely visit, Isobel chattering away happily about her newest charity. Next, she went to the Dower House to see Granny, who also seemed to be in high spirits, though she seemed a little surprised when Edith mentioned going round to Mary’s next. “Does Mary know you’re planning to visit?” she asked with raised eyebrows.

“No,” Edith said stubbornly, “I wouldn’t have thought that I need to have an appointment to visit my own sister.”

“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you when you’re not received,” Granny said.

Edith picked up her bag and bid her grandmother goodbye, quite confident that even Mary wouldn’t be so rude to refuse her sister entry. She made her way over to Thistledown Cottage, the recently refurbished house on the estate that Matthew and Mary had moved into after their honeymoon.  She had to admit that the house was quite cozy looking, though much smaller than anything she ever would have expected Mary to be comfortable in. Edith had been rather surprised when listening to Mary and Cora’s conversations about Mary’s staffing needs. They had chosen to have a rather small household: Anna as a lady’s maid; Daisy as a cook; a new butler, Molesley having stayed on at Crawley House; and only two maids who lived in the village.

She took a breath as she approached and rang the front doorbell. It was only a moment before Borodin, the butler answered the door.

“I am here to see Lady Mary.” Edith said with a haughty air.

“I am very sorry, milady,” Borodin began, “but Lady Mary and Mr. Crawley are not available at the moment. If you leave your card, I will inform them that you stopped by.”

“I know she’s here,” Edith protested. “She told our mother last night that she would be home all day.”

“Be that as it may, they are indisposed just now and are not receiving visitors.”

“I’ll wait then.” She insisted, raising her chin.

“I cannot permit that milady.” Borodin said. “Mr. Crawley and Lady Mary will not receive any visitors today, but you may visit tomorrow.”  He shut the door without any further fanfare. Edith stood on the doorstep in shock.  She had never been treated this way before. Well, there was more than one way to skin a cat. Afterall, she still needed to deliver the invitation.

She took a minute to regroup and decided to go round to the kitchen. It was undignified of course, but she could always say that she had wanted to give her regards to Anna and Daisy. However, as she approached the kitchen door, she was horrified to hear voices coming out of the open window.

“He shut the door in her face?” Daisy was saying incredulously.

“Yes, that’s what Lizzie was saying,” Anna replied. “She was dusting the hall and heard the whole thing.”

“I thought the whole family knew not to visit on Mondays?” Daisy said.

“Yes, but I don’t think they know the real reason.” Anna answered. “I don’t think Mr. Matthew is out there telling everyone about ‘Naked Mondays.’”

The two women dissolved into laughter as Edith was left to puzzle what “naked Monday” could possibly mean. And how dare they laugh at her. If she had thought she was insulted before, it was nothing to how she felt now. Now she had to find out what Mary was doing.

She left the kitchen yard and looked back at the house. It had quite a pretty garden, and Edith noticed a tree growing close to what she was fairly sure was the drawing room window. It would provide a decent cover if she happened to sneak over and peek into the room. It was getting close to luncheon but knowing Mary she’d probably be sitting in there at this time of day. Edith glanced around and seeing no one else about, decided to take her chance. She crept up close to the tree and leaned around to get a good view into the room. She could see the back of Mary’s head over the back of a sofa with her back to the window. She seemed to be lounging in a rather relaxed position and, if Edith was not mistaken, it looked as if her hair was down. How odd.

Suddenly, she heard a noise and pulled her head back behind the tree. She listened intently as the drawing room door opened and closed. “My darling,” she heard Matthew say. “Have I ever told you how absolutely breath taking you are?”

“Every day,” Mary replied happily. “And I never tire of hearing it. You’re quite breathtaking yourself. But you know how I feel about that dressing gown. I suggest you get rid of it before I get cross.”

Dressing gown? Why would Matthew have a dressing gown in the drawing room? Edith ventured a quick peek around the tree and to her horror saw Matthew stripping off his dressing gown in the middle of the room in broad daylight. If Edith had thought it couldn’t get any worse, she was mistaken as she saw Mary rising, also completely naked and going to meet Matthew. She clapped her hand to her mouth and fled, Matthew and Mary thankfully too distracted by each other to notice her.

* * *

At tea the following afternoon, Edith stared intently into her teacup while the conversation went on around her. Both Matthew and Mary were there and talking with other members of the family. Violet was sitting next to her on the sofa and noticed her strange behavior. “So, how was your visit yesterday? Was it productive?” She asked.

Edith startled. “What? Oh, yes it was fine.” She said blushing.

“Was it?” Violet pushed. “You seem so jumpy. What’s wrong with you today?”

“Nothing’s wrong with me.” She glared in Mary’s direction.

“Edith, what’s new with you?” Edith jumped as Matthew sat down across from her.

“Nothing,” she replied too brightly, blushing again and struggling to find a place to look. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Matthew, not after what she had witnessed the previous day, and she could feel her grandmother’s sharp eyes watching her. “You know, I think I might be getting a cold. I have an awful headache. Maybe I’ll go lay down until dinner.” She got up and rushed from the library.

“Whatever is the matter with Edith?” Matthew asked Violet.

“She probably tired herself out yesterday, running errands for Cora. When she left me, she said she was on her way to Thistledown to see Mary. Did you not see her?”

“No,” Matthew replied, thinking. “I do think Borodin said she stopped by, though.”

* * *

Edith remained jumpy and uncomfortable around Matthew and Mary for the next few weeks. Mary joked that it was an improvement to her normal behavior, but the sudden change bothered Matthew, though he couldn’t quite figure out why. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and resolved to find out what was going on. He cornered her after dinner and asked her point blank.

“Edith, I must know, have I done something to offend you? Why won’t you talk to me anymore?” He began without preamble.

Edith jumped. “Oh, no, you haven’t done anything to me…. No, I can’t talk to you about it, it’s too embarrassing.” She covered her face in her hands and moved off to another part of the room.

“What was all that about?” Mary said, appearing at Matthew’s shoulder.

“I have no idea.” Matthew shrugged. “She says it’s too embarrassing to talk to me about. I have no clue what I could have done to make her so jumpy around me.”

“Hmm,” Mary thought for a moment. “I have an idea. I’ll talk to her.”  She walked over to Edith. “You know, Matthew is very concerned about you.”

“Why would he be?” Edith asked defensively.

“Because you have barely spoken to him in weeks?” Mary shrugged. “I don’t understand why, but he likes you and doesn’t like the thought that he’s offended you somehow.”

“He hasn’t done anything to offend me.” She paused. “I just, I saw a different side of him recently and it was rather shocking, is all.”

“A different side?” Mary asked, then suddenly she understood. “Have you been spying on me again? Haven’t you learned by now that nothing good comes from that?”

“Of course I haven’t!” Edith protested.

“Then what ‘different side’ could you have possibly seen that makes you so uncomfortable?” Mary pressed. “You do know that Borodin told us that you called on us and were very upset that you weren’t admitted. I think you were spied on us and saw more than you wanted to.”

“Well, what were you two thinking being in your drawing room like…like that?” Edith hissed.

“You mean in our own house?” Mary asked. “We can do whatever we want there. It’s one of the main reasons we moved to our own house: so we can do whatever we want without you or anyone else being underfoot.”

“It’s indecent!”

“So what if it is? We’re married and can enjoy each other’s company however we choose.” Mary paused, “perhaps one day you’ll be lucky enough to understand, I hope so anyway. It’s much more fun than being so prudish. If you don’t want to know what we do behind closed doors, don’t peek behind them. Live by the sword and die by the sword, or didn’t you learn that lesson?”

“I…” Edith tried to interject but Mary ignored her and continued.

“Now, please do whatever you have to do to be able to move on. I don’t know what you thought you’d achieve but it has clearly backfired. Now, I don’t care if you’re too embarrassed by your own idiotic fancies to talk to me, but Matthew clearly does. I don’t like him to be unhappy, so figure it out, or perhaps we’ll have to have more private days that I suggest you respect in the future.” With that, she left Edith and went to rejoin the others.

[goodomensgotmeeffedup]

Here's a snippet of a GO Mafia au I'm working on that nobody asked for. Would you read it? What do you think?

GO Mafia AU

"Crowley, boss wants to see you."

The man in question sighs. "'Course he does." He doesn't say thank you, just stands and tosses back the rest of his drink before walking towards the kitchen. 

It's not a large bar, and they rarely serve any food, but a kitchen is good cover. No one really questions the oddly timed delivery trucks that come by early in the morning or late at night. Got to have groceries after all. That's not what Crowley is after though, no, he's heading for the freezer. 

The inner circle of a hellish crew found at the bottom of some stairs hidden within the walk-in freezer of a bar called Dante's?

A bit on the nose for his tastes. Lucifer loves his dramatics though. He read <i>Dante's Inferno</i> once as a young lad in school and has stuck with the theme ever since. He got it honest though; the previous head of the family went by the codename God.

Now, <i>she</i> had a flare for the dramatics. 

Crowley remembers the first time he ever saw her. She was tall and stunning, so pretty he was convinced that he'd died and she was the angel sent to collect his soul for Heaven. Not that he had been far off. A couple more nights on the streets of London and he really would have died. She saw him there, a ratty little boy, starving and cold, crawling through dirty alley filth looking for a single scrap of food, and kneeled beside him. He remembers the pretty velvet of her dress soaking up the gray water of melted snow as she gently lifted his chin to meet her eyes. 

"Hello, little crawley," she'd said, painted red lips stretched into a smile. "Would you like to come home with me?"

He nodded and she draped her expensive fur coat over his shivering body and gently lifted him up. It was the warmest he had been in weeks. He couldn't even remember his own mother's arms being as warm as this. 

She fed him, nursed him back to health, sent him to school, and adopted him as her own. She never treated him any differently from her own sons. It was a far better life than he ever imagined. And when he was old enough to leave, she asked him to stay. She could have asked him for anything and he would have said yes.

That's when he found out about the family business.

[thesherrinfordfacility]

LWA: Regarding the halo: we see a variant in the Job minisode. When Aziraphale does his "avaunt" speech, he has a full-body aureole, which unlike the halo around the head is /not/ an angelic attribute in religious painting and sculpture. The design of Aziraphale's aureole, with golden rays emanating from his body, looks like it was modeled on Marian iconography, as in the case of the Virgin of Guadalupe (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/635401). There are a bunch of other examples, like the Madonna of Humility at the Getty Museum, where both the Virgin and God have ray aureoles. I am not sure where the design team thought they were going with this, although it fits with the Madonna pose they used for that promotional photo of Aziraphale in his Job robes.

ahhhhh this is so interesting!!!✨ i had no idea before this that there was such a nuance between aureole and halo, and their individual meanings in iconography (and thats not even taking into account different individual depictions like mandorla etc!). given the - as ive now learnt - very subtle but definite distinction between the two, and their individual meanings in religious contexts, it seems reasonable that the design team might have gone to some lengths to research it similarly!!!

(and now i shall spam you all with research because i am excited and Must Share)

so as LWA, the oracle of all truth, has said - ep2 where aziraphale appears to crawley shows him with an aureole surrounding him, much like the multiple depictions of Our Lady of Guadalupe (above is the Virgin of Guadalupe, by Salcedo, 1779). other depictions/notable copies of the original however include:

(L-R: de Arellano, 1691, Gonzalez, c. 1698, and the original from cy/16th, upon which they're based which, as far as i can find, has no confirmed artist?).

and coming back to italian renaissance (which im slightly more familiar with), the following works show the same:

(L-R: Madonna and Child with Two Saints, Pisanello, c. 1445, The Last Judgement, Michelangelo, f. 1541, and Baptism of Christ, Verrocchio and da Vinci, c. 1475)

it is especially prevalent in christian religious art, but as LWA said it does appear to be mostly used for religious figures, and not necessarily angels or saints (most of those are depicted with halos instead). most examples, like the ones above, that ive found seem to be used exclusively for jesus and mary. in other religions such as buddhism, aureola appear to be shown in the form of a mandorla (an almond-shaped field) that surround enlightened beings, such as Buddha.

let's move onto halos; ep6 shows our funky angel removing his, and is shown in the form of a ring, emitting the same kind of light as the aureole. disks have been depicted in art from well before the time of christ, including in ancient egypt (ra) and in iran (mithra).

funnily enough, finding depictions of ring halos rather than disk/plate ones was actually quite difficult? either way - above shows Virgin of the Rocks by da Vinci, f. 1486, shows a subtle but clear ring halo over Mary's head. keeping with the cy/15-16th onwards for fair comparison, showing a combination of disk and ring halos:

(L-R: Branchini Madonna, di Paolo, 1427, Madonna of the Book, Botticelli, c. 1481, and Deposition of Christ, Raphael, 1507)

these all again are examples depicting christ and mary, so what about angels? i found the best example to look at is the annunciation to mary, as this was the subject of a number of notable pieces in the same time period:

(L-R: da Vinci, f. 1476, Fra Angelico, 1450, and Botticelli c. 1490)

all show gabriel with a halo around their head, as opposed to an aureole. the one that fascinated me though is botticelli; there is relatively little known about his depictions of the annunciation, but there are multiple - the above is in glasgow, there is another in new york, and the last is the Cestello Annunciation). however, in the first two, glasgow and new york, there is a clear feature of an aureole-type shaft of light coming from behind gabriel, and shining upon mary.

i certainly think that it's mostly representative of god's gift being bestowed on her, ("The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee.", Luke 1:35) but the perspective of the glasgow painting almost shows like the light comes from a crack in the wall, and would suggest that aziraphale stepping out from the aureole as some sort of glorified portal is a mirror of this.

anyway, because ive rambled on long enough about nothing truly insightful; what is the point in these two different displays? well, from my research, it seems to be that aureola are used to surround the head or the body, and iconographically represent divinity, glory and, depending on the subject/context, enlightenment.

but given that it has largely been reserved in art for the depictions of the holy trinity as well as mary, to outright use it in connection with aziraphale seems... strange. in this particular scene, or part of his story, why has he been purposefully elevated to the same level of importance and power? we have no reason to suspect from the ensuing dialogue that god sent aziraphale deliberately in her name to thwart crowley, carrying her power... or did she?

the halo however appears to be specifically used for instances of depicting angels or saints (in the case of gabriel and various apostles in multiple artworks), as well as jesus and mary. so that to me would suggest that halos are somewhat specifically meant to represent innate saintliness and holiness, inherent divine nature. were specifically touched by god's grace and love, and were embodiments of god's will.

what this necessarily means in relation to aziraphale though, beyond him obviously being an angel, a representative of the heavenly host, and a messenger of god's will etc... im not entirely sure.

there is presumably no reason for him to be depicted with an aureole unless, as LWA suggests, it's to draw parallels to artwork where mary is especially shown as having one. but in the context of s2 (and the job minisode), isn't this a little out of field?

another thing - aziraphale does seem to be able to turn it on and off like a tap, suggesting that it's there in the narrative for sheer Impressiveness, to Look The Part, in front of a demon... so, is it only for design purposes, because cinematically it's bloody cool to look at? or is it meant to give insight into aziraphale's thoughts and beliefs?

with it, would he (in aziraphale's mind, bless) look intimating enough to thwart crawley's 'nefarious plan' with minimal effort? possibly, but i doubt it; im a pretty firm believer in Reasons for certain design choices, especially ones that would take a lot of post-production work to animate. so, could aziraphale have chosen to appear with the aureole, to be suitably intimidating, but after having his faith in god's will shaken after the events of job, chose not to manifest it again, because its symbolism no longer rings true for him?

[ilariyalavorowrites]

To be started list

I have more than a few stories waiting to be started in the pipeline. I'm sharing the list with you guys. Some have titles and summaries, others don't, so suggestions are welcome. I will likely start with my Bridgerton story.

Once (9-1-1)

Pairing: Eddie Diaz x reader x Evan Buckley

It was only meant to be a one time mistake but then why did it keep happening over and over again. Maybe it was time to discover what this truly was.

What would neighbours think (Downton Abbey)

Pairing: Cora Crawley x Reader x Robert Crawley

Imagine: O’Brien misinterprets you, a housemaid training to be Lady Edith’s Lady's maid returning in the wee small hours as an attempt after her job. A few well-placed threatening words when she catches you alone, one evening whilst staying at Crawley House in London results in your disappearance which is soon noted.

Poly CM Beyond Borders

Pairing: Jack Garrett x Reader x Karen Garrett

Over the Horizon Epilogue

Pairings: Shawn Michaels x reader x Chris Jericho

Scorching - Poly Chicago Med

Pairings: Connor Rhodes x Reader x Ethan Choi

Imagine: Imagine after a series of heated nights together, what you thought was becoming something more seems to fade as Ethan and Connor distract themselves from you. Only for you to walk head first into a dangerous situation when a patient turns hostile.

Delirious Happy Endings Epilogue

Pairing: Connor Rhodes x Reader

Time enough for Love (Bridgerton Poly)

Pairings: Kate Sharma x Reader x Anthony Bridgerton

Imagine: A mission to ensure Kate and Anthony find each other during the social season of 1814. Time travels into the past to ensure that crucial moments occur. However, you find yourself falling in love with the pair. It breaks your heart when it comes to leaving and returning to the future.

Sweet Enough (Fated to you sequel)

Pairings: Elliot Stabler x Reader

Imagine a soulmate AU where newly divorced Elliot Stabler has a soul mark wrapped around his wrist and finds out that it’s the newest member of the SVU team, before awkwardly asking you to go get a coffee with him

In the cold harsh light of day (CAOS poly)

Pairing: Nick Scratch x Sabrina Spellman X Fae!Reader

Imagine: Imagine being a member of the face court, living in the mortal realm where you find yourself in a poly triad with Nick and Sabrina. With the threat of void on the horizon, your family wishes to return to the forest but you wish to remain. Unhappy with this choice, you are tricked into returning at the bequest of your Fae King and Queen. Only to be shackled whilst the events of Season 4 play out until Death presents itself to you with a new choice. A way out or salvation?

Lone Rider (9-1-1 Lone Star)

Pairings: Owen Strand x Reader

Imagine: Imagine crushing on your boss Owen Strand since starting at the firehouse. Never having the courage to admit your feelings. Until you wake up one morning to find yourself in bed with him. In a panic, you make yourself scarce. No awkward conversation follows in the days after but every decision has consequences.

Crossing that line - (Power Rangers Dino Thunder)

Pairing: Tommy Oliver x Reader

Summary: After a strange encounter with one of the victims of Mesogog’s most recent monsters. You find yourself alone with Dr Oliver as you both begin to experience strange symptoms. Not knowing that this monster whose DNA was combined with an aphrodisiac plant. Buried and denied feelings rise to the surface.

If anyone wants to be tagged for any of the above. Please let me know either comment or message me

[peridot-tears]

We don't even know if Arno lived to his seventies, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility that he was very much alive (and a senior citizen) by the time Jacob was born. Maybe if he was lucky, he could have even been alive during the events of Syndicate, but we don't all get to live to a hundred, especially back then.

So the possibilities are ENDLESS.

Time travel!AU where Jacob goes back in time, falls in love with Arno, then comes back and realizes his love is the crabby old man upstairs.

Time travel!AU where ARNO goes forward in time, falls in love with forty-year-old Jacob with an awkward age gap that they work out (because Arno's in his twenties still) and goes back to his timeline, always yearning for his love, only to hit his seventies and find his boyfriend literally being born in a Crawley hospital.

Or instead of being awks, we do some Bu Bu Jing Xin shit where Jacob blacks out after killing Roth, goes back in time while unconscious, and lives out the events of the French Revolution with Arno. They have an uneasy relationship but Jacob learns what healthy love looks like, and he and Arno die together holding hands (or we go full Bu Bu Jing Xin and he dies thinking Arno sent him away, who knows). He wakes back up in his current timeline with Evie next to him, thinking it's all a dream...until he enters a museum where he sees himself and Arno in paintings from the French Revolution and realizes that he actually inserted himself into that time period and changed it, and that Arno actually is long dead.

Immortal!AU where Arno gains immortality after Elise dies (I desperately wanna SOMEHOW go the xianxia Chinese immortality route instead of western vampirism, but to each his own), and spends several decades witnessing empires rise and fall, unsure if he'll ever love again...until Jacob. But make it mildly slapstick, and he initially mistakes his own feelings as liking Evie instead, because something something she's so focused, just like Elise.

ENDLESS, I tell you.