#Something about it reminds me of Crowley & the demons in general

[skyborneveggie]

Hmnmnm something about the angel/demon dichotomy and Calvinist trauma.

Something about when you've taken your first baby steps out, and you're angry at a god you don't believe in anymore, because they didn't love you enough to save you. Something about how they chose to let you fall away, & there's nothing you can do about it because you are LESS than, incapable of inherent faith. Something about how faith could only come from God, and they took it away from you. You were never chosen to begin with. You weren't worth saving.

[highseas-swede]

Becoming Real

Recently Good Omens Prime Twitter account posted a BTS photo of Aziraphale and Furfur and it started the gears in my head turning, trying to parse it. It's only just now that it finally coalesced into a proper thought.

I kept thinking Aziraphale reminded me of something, especially when compared to the other angels. Look at him next to pre-Jim Gabriel, Uriel, Michael... heck, even Furfur, who he's standing next to right now.

Furfur is a demon, but his outfit is impeccable, it's sleek and stylish. The angel's suits in heaven are all pressed and flawless and New.

But not Aziraphale. He's dressed in old human clothes, his waistcoat is worn and tattered and long-loved. Aziraphale is, as Michael put it, like an old sofa. Worn and comfortable. He could choose to look basically however he wants, but instead he chooses to clothe himself in actual human clothes, to eat human food, to enjoy human entertainment - books, music, plays, etc. He does this despite the fact that it actively makes the other angels dislike him and find him unpalatable.

And that's what stuck out to me. Because unlike those other angels and demons, Aziraphale doesn't feel distant from humanity. He might be odd or eccentric to humans, but they don't question his humanity. He doesn't stand out to them in the way that the other angels do when they show up.

It occurred to me that this is because unlike the other angels... Aziraphale is Real.

Have you ever read The Velveteen Rabbit? There's a scene in it where they talk about what it means to be Real:

This made me think of Aziraphale. About how the other angels are these pristine things, kept aloof from the world, and then there's Aziraphale, who is worn and shabby, who's lived on earth for millennia among the humans. He's loved and learned and experienced what being human is like and because of that he's Real in a way that the other angels aren't. Humans have personhood, a sense of agency, a sense of self. Angels and demons have only the divine plan, as Beelzebub and Gabriel noted, that's all they live for "if you can call it living".

But what strikes me the most is how potentially devastating Aziraphale's Realness will be to Heaven. They only succeed at keeping angels in line because they're undistracted from the Great Plan. We see how Gabriel - as Jim - takes to cocoa after trying it. We see how quickly Muriel becomes fascinated with books.

Now consider that this is the angel they're putting in charge of Heaven. This worn, shabby, old sofa of an angel who has an endless well of love, for Crowley, for the world and the humans in it. He doesn't seem dangerous in the slightest. He seems Fragile.

But he is dangerous. So very dangerous.

But it's not because he's a guardian, not because he's a warrior, not because he's the Angel of the Eastern Gate who leads a battalion and was issued a flaming sword. He gave all of that away and it's worth noting that this is the first actual choice we see him make in the show, the thing that sets him apart in Crowley's eyes, and it wasn't even Crowley's doing! Aziraphale made a choice to give the mortals his sword out of compassion and it is a sense of compassion we don't see from the other angels.

His deviations all stem from that initial act. It takes him from being this two-dimensional cardboard entity existing only as part of the Divine Plan and set him on the path to actual Personhood.

It doesn't happen right away, of course, because as the Skin Horse says:

"It doesn't happen all at once. You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But those things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

And doesn't that sum up Aziraphale? He's shabby and worn and he's beautiful to the people who understand and appreciate that being Real means being imperfect, and that every imperfection is still beautiful.

No wonder the angels mock his corporation, his flaws, all the things he enjoys that make him less than what they think he should be. We see evidence over and over that Aziraphale is essentially "ugly" to them. But that's because they don't understand.

Aziraphale's Realness, his personhood, what Crowley has helped nurture from the Wall of Eden all the way to that last desperate kiss, is what really matters. Good Omens has always been about People being fundamentally People. It's the underlying current that ties everything together, for good or for ill. People have agency. People have self-actualization. People have the ability to make their own choices, for good or for evil.

And now Aziraphale has that too.

That's the very real danger he presents to heaven.

Because we've already seen that any angel, given sufficient time and interaction with humans could be like Aziraphale. All it takes is one small opening, one bite from the apple. Whether deliberately or not, Crowley tempted Aziraphale into every step, the way he tempted Eve in the garden. He gave Aziraphale the knowledge of Right and Wrong, presented him with the option, the way he did with humanity. Were they even really human before Crowley? Did he give them free will? His actions cast them out of paradise, but did it ultimately set them free? Has he struggled for millennia to do the same for the angel he's loved so well and for so long?

Does Crowley know how horribly, wonderfully well he succeeded?

Bringing Aziraphale back to Heaven, putting him in charge, was the absolute worst thing the Metatron could have done for keeping the status quo and it's not because of Aziraphale's fighting prowess. It's because of the small Human acts of kindness and pettiness that Aziraphale is capable of. That's not going to go away when he's in Heaven. It's going to spread. He's going to infect Heaven with Humanity. It's going to be so slow and gradual that they won't see it coming until it's far too late.

It's not going to be the way that Aziraphale intends to change Heaven and yet, it will surely ultimately be what really makes a difference.

I wonder too, if maybe that's some subconscious part of it. After seeing Gabriel change, seeing Muriel change, I wonder if there's not some part of Aziraphale that realizes that Heaven is a miserable place that makes miserable people. He'll extend compassion to them that they don't deserve and don't know they're missing and he'll surely go on with whatever his own Plan - with a capital P, of course - is and he won't even realize what he's actually done.

And then, like the ending of S1, like the ending of S2, the ultimate deciding factor will not be who is the best warrior, who is the strongest. It will be about the Human element.

Metatron thought he could control Aziraphale, bring him in line by bringing him back to Heaven. He wants to take away the human element of Aziraphale and shove him back into that Obedient Little Angel shaped mold and he doesn't realize it's not possible anymore. Aziraphale's grown. He'll never fit, he'll never be that again. There is no going back anymore.

As the Skin Horse says: "Once you are Real, you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."

And Real things, things with depth and purpose and will, are impossible to ever truly control.

[novthewolf]

Two's company, three's a family - Part one

Summary: As a cupid, an angel of love, your mission was to make sure everyone was paired up with the right person. Yet you couldn't get your two most ancient clients to finally end up together. And despite the 6,000 years spent on the case, you couldn't bring yourself to give them up, not oblivious to the reason.

Pairing: Aziraphale x Crowley / GN!Reader x Crowley / GN!Reader x Aziraphale (polyamorous relationship).

Masterlist : Here

Warnings: foul language, alcohol use, slow burn, english isn't my first language.

Words : +3k word

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

You were mopping around, wondering how the fuck you still hadn't managed to get those two sugar-rotten bird brains to get together ! You ran your hands through your hair and went down to rub your face. You reached for your glass and drank down every last drop.

6,000 bloody years you spent with them, and nothing !

So much work for no true result.

And, just for the record, you wanted to insist that you are really good at your job.

No, you weren't bragging; you really were ! A lot of cupids were cruel little things, and it had to do with the fact that you feed on the love a person feels for another. And since it didn't have to be reciprocated, most preferred to work less—well, smarter—rather than harder. But you just loved love stories. Of any kind, really ! Motherly, fatherly, between siblings, friends... Nevertheless, being able to form a perfect match and seeing the joy you brought to others always filled you with joy.

A cupid is just a specific type of angel meant to spread love all over the world. Which included humans, animals, and supernatural beings such as demons and angels. However, your peers weren't your favourites. They were too focused on their jobs, being either neutral towards each other or straight-up hateful. And hate tasted too bitter to your liking.

Which was probably the reason why you were so interested in Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship to begin with. They were so friendly and caring that something inside you just clicked. Even if their love story was the slowest burn you ever encountered, you couldn't bring yourself to give up.

Hell no ! Mmh, no. You were too stubborn to accept your failure. Yes, failure. Because despite spending every moment with them (well, when they were together) and using so many arrows, those two just wouldn't come together ! And to make sure your bow and arrows worked, you almost paired up every goddamn duck at St. James Park.

Nothing worked ! Nothing !

Ugh, so annoying...

In your case, the only connection you seem to have in this vast universe is with the pub and your drink... And to the generations of barmen you complained to.

"How can someone be so oblivious ?" Your drunken words slipping out of your mouth without anyone to talk to.

"Tell me about it." A voice said next to you.

Oh, you recognised the voice alright; you just didn't feel like engaging in a conversation with anyone right now. Still, you were polite enough to acknowledge their presence.

"Hi Mihael." You mumbled.

"Good evening to you too, Y/N !" She chirped, her voice too positive for you to appreciate right now. You groaned and rested your head on your arms.

"What do you want ? It's not your type to be staying down there once your shift's over," you said before looking up at her.

Her dark pink eyes were scanning the pub warily. You rolled your eyes, her attitude reminding you how atypical you've become. Being among humans, eating food, or even walking on earth was something Cupid didn't do. Flying around was the most common attitude, as was having really limited contact with humans, or "clients," as Archangel Chamuel calls them. But you loved your time on earth with every creature, though eating ex-living animals isn't your thing. And being a freak was actually something you were doomed to be. You knew you were different from other mystical beings, and it was really fucking lonely.

"You're right ; I don't know how you can stand all the smells and, ugh, sensations." She shuddered.

You sighed, waiting as patiently as you could in that moment.

"But I guess you should enjoy as much as you can while you can."

What ? Why would she say that ? Did you do something wrong ? Did they realize you... No. And they never noticed that you spent your time with a demon (angels were obliviously okay) and tried to match up said demon with Aziraphale. Did they finally catch up ? Or were they upset that you mostly lived with humans ? No, you are almost the best cupid, producing so much love, as proved by how many ducks you shot.

"M-Mh.. sure.. but, mmh.. I didn't know my time on earth was on a timer." You tried to joke lightly, which was heavily ineffective in calming your nerves.

"Of course not silly," she beamed. "Armageddon is coming !"

"Wha-" you sat up, almost tumbleling down. "Already ? Are you sure ?"

"Affirmative ! The anti-Christ is being delivered as we speak."

"Oh, great..."

You just wanted to cry right here and now, but you really couldn't afford to. It would be crossing a line.

It wasn't fair. You still had so much to experience on earth and so many love stories to create, and you wanted to spend so much more time with Crowley and Aziraphale. They still needed to be together ! You couldn't let the End begin before you even saw the beginning of their love story. No, uh-hu! You will go down with this ship!

"How long before Armageddon ?" you asked.

"Oh, I would say around ten years."

Alright, you could do it. You just had to help two opposite beings, who spend almost all their existence together without technically being a couple, become one. Because how thing should be. And you had ten years to do so, even if you hadn't succeeded in the last 6,000 years. It could work ! You knew them and their love for humankind and their world. They would certainly team up to prevent the war and apocalypse from happening. And you were there to help. In every way. You scratched your itchy right arm.

"Right, sure... well, thanks, Mihael. Send my regards to Adriel."

"I will, thank you ! Oh, and Chamuel ordered that we lay off all the workers during the last week before the war, so we could be ready to fight."

"Mmh-hm." You nodded. Alcohol was messing up your communication skills.

"Great ! See you at the war."

When you turned, she was gone, leaving you wondering how you'd end up like this.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

(4004 av-JC)

In the beginning, you were in the Garden of Eden. You were here to supervise Adam and Eve's love development; you didn't shoot the arrow, though. They would have never let you do it anyway. Actually, every creature in the Garden had been paired up, but you didn't get the chance to create any of them. As disappointed as you were, you were not the type to overstep and you couldn't express anything. So you decided to be patient and walk around the garden discretely.

You suddenly came to a stop when you spotted something unusual slithering around the diversity of plants. You walked up to a 'lilac' tree, which looked more like a bush than anything else, and you saw an animal that was crawling on the trunk among the beautiful purple flowers. The creature was so long yet flexible that it didn't have any problem staying on such a small platform. His colours intrigued you too—mostly black with touches of red—and you had never seen anything like this quite yet. Your eyes widen, and you slightly rush to observe it further. The snake, while taken aback, didn't move and instead glared at you. His eyes were so beautiful and golden, and his scales were spotless and sleek, but touching the poor thing would certainly scare him away.

"What a beautiful thing you are... I'm glad God decided to make you !"

The creature started to retreat as soon as your words passed your lips, looking flustered. Declining his embarrassment, you chirped hapily. And with a glimmering smile, you resumed roaming around the paradise.

The wall was growing bigger and bigger as I approached one of the gates of Eden, curious to see the border and maybe get a peek on the other side—a glimpse of the barren and dry land. You were an inquisitive thing; your curiosity was way stronger than your fear. Despite anyone says or believe. But as you gently approached the door, someone called you.

"Mh, excuse me ! Little cupid ?"

Oh ! You weren't that small ! Pff, guardian angels could be so strict sometimes.

You rolled your eyes, soared up in the sky, and let yourself turn upside down to see who was interrupting your investigation.

"Yes ?" you sighed. "Mh !"

You weren't acquainted with lots of angels outside your group, but you were sure that you had already seen him before. His appearance was so welcoming, despite the raging, flaming sword that carefully remained in his firm grip. His hair was white and as fluffy as a cloud. You couldn't quite grasp his eye colour, though, which was always changing between blue, brown, and green. His human body was round and large, a body type you'd never seen before. Yet you smiled at his soft appearance. His tunic seemed to be slightly covered with bright purple petals here and there. You turned over, lying on your stomach in midair, looking at him expectantly.

"Hello." He smiled, then took a ragged breath, looking for words. "Mh, I'm afraid I must request that you not go closer to that gate."

You looked away, apologetic.

"Oh, I see... Sorry."

You were conscious of how leaving your station could get you in trouble, and being so close to the door could bring him problems as well. You sensed how agitated he was and went on to leave him in peace.

"Well, mh, good luck with, huh, guarding the door," you said, trying to look less churlish than the way you acted merely seconds ago.

"Oh well, that's kind of you." He smiled, touched by your words. "Good luck with all the love."

Seeing how thrilled he seemed made you happy. Your body was taken over by the intense emotion in your heart, and you began to fly while looping and spinning vigorously.

Suddenly, you stopped. You've never experienced anything like it. Your primary role as a cupid was to make matches between creatures by shooting them with arrows. Your vision allowed you to perceive the chances of happiness and love each creature could produce while bound by the other. There were hundreds of possibilities, and your job is to make sure your "client" finds the perfect match. In order to do so, you had to be able to identify each emotion with clarity and precision. Minimising your own emotions to work in the most efficient way possible Thus, you shouldn't feel too much emotion despite the satisfaction of your good job and all the love you could eat. And in your case, anything...

Feeling such a rush of emotion shouldn't be something you're capable of doing. You shouldn’t be feeling anything. You observed your right hand, confused and visibly shaking. Closing your eyes, feeling irrated at yourself, you marched back to where you came, hoping to find new animals to shoot to occupy your mind.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Adam and Eve were gone. Apparently, a snake—well, a demon—tempted the first human, and now they had to leave the garden. Just because they wanted answers to their questions. Needless to say, you weren't very keen to try and look beyond the wall without permission.

So you were simply floating in the air right next to the wall, waiting for an order from your Boss. Gazing up at the sky, you noticed how its blue colour darkened as the first rain approached. You sighed and decided to just go back to Heaven, hoping you'd finally get the chance to shoot at someone. Some may call you obsessive; you prefer the term persistent.

As you were sitting up and flying up. And the moment you saw the tall structure disappearing in the corner of your eye, you kept going up. But, afraid you might regret not gazing back, you dared to dart your eyes down to the rest of the world.

"Huh?" you softly gasped.

You saw the desert spreading from your heart to the horizon, arid and lonely, with the clouds darkening the land. Your heart ached as you watched what lay ahead. And as you felt your eyes water, you lowered your gaze. And the sight that welcomed me was so out of this world yet felt so... right.

An angel and a demon stood next to each other, talking and fraternising. You didn't really fight the war, but you knew how both sides hated each other. The metallic taste was already way too familiar in your mouth. But the premise of their relationship already smelled so sweet, despite a wisp of sourness.

A wave of euphoria struck you in the most unexpected way, and the sensations it brought you were simply too delightful to feel queer. You saw their bound, so precise and distinct, that you nearly thought you were a part of it. It just felt so real. So good.

You were so excited ! You beamed with all your might as you desperately tried to manifest your bow and arrows as quickly as possible.

As a novice in archery, you wanted to correctly seal the bound, so you decided to place three arrows because, like no one has said yet, "Three times' the charm". You aimed leisurely, breathing deeply and checking the quality of your multi-coloured arrows. The grey head of it is silently hurrying you to shoot.

And so you did. With a faint whistle, the arrows raced towards their target. The first one landed right in the back of the demon, on his left side. The second was pierced lower, in the calf of the angel. It didn't even hurt them; it was a great shot, really.

You retracted your arm, proud of yourself.

Then, you simply went straight back to Heaven. Still, the sky looked so dark, and the rain started to pour down on your cheeks.

And you don’t know why, but a profound need to seek comfort made you look down one last time. The guardian had stretched out his wing for the demon to hide under. So thoughtful, so caring, so warm...

You left after your first match was a success.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

(Present days)

You later learned that matching an angel and a demon was strictly forbidden. You blushed at the thought, embarrassed. Yet you couldn't bring yourself to abandon the relationship. Well, now you had to be super efficient if you wanted that ship to sail at all.

You drank down your last glass of your favourite alcohol, paid for your decent amount of beverages, and wobbled yourself towards the Aziraphale bookshop.

You weren't always invisible when you dealt with them; you gave yourself plenty of time with them along the way. They were aware that you were an angel, just not the exact type. You don't think they mind your company, but you prefer to limit your interactions.

However, you were running out of time, and you really didn't want to miss a thing. You hummed the song that sneaked into your head on your way. Once you arrived in front of the door, you tried to stabilise yourself by resting your whole weight on it. And you tumbled down into the shop. In your defence, the door was always closed !

Aziraphale and Crowley both looked towards you, shocked. Well, Crowley was more amused than anything. You rasped into the carpet and pivoted your head to greet them profusely.

"Hellooo !" you exclaimed, your tone drowsy.

"Y/N ? Why, dear, what are you doing here ?" Aziraphale promptly came to your side, helping you up.

"On the floor ? Well, I obviously just fell," you jested. You felt weightless as Crowley joined you two to carry you somewhere other than the dusty floor.

"So, you heard about the End of the world, I presume?" Crowley asked. They both let you down slowly on your assigned divan. You felt a hand brush a lock of hair out of your eye.

"Mmh." You rolled on your side to face them as they sat down on the opposite side. You'll have to work on that too.

"Yeah, someone mentioned it..." you waved. A few moments passed in silence. You guffawed when you noticed the bottle settled on the table.

"Sorry, it seems I had a bit of a head start, but go on!" You laid down on your back. "I'll wait for you to catch up"

Aziraphale shot a slight disapproving look in your direction, pouting a little, while Crowley reached eagerly for the bottle.

"Don't mind if I do," he said as he poured himself a large drink.

Shortly after, the angel followed you two. Alright, setting up the mood... This silly matter is going to be settled in a matter of hours now! You were perfectly capable of doing so. Aziraphale raised his glass to you, and you flashed your teeth. They don't know what's going their way.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

And they didn't, because your smartass decided to evacuate all the liquor from your body by sleeping.

Now, as you wake up, they're talking about dolphins. Oh, sure, what adorable and romantic sociopaths they are. It's obviously the best choice of conversation !

"Everything will just turn into bouillaba-bouil... bouilla..."

You sat up, pushing away a blanket, and listened to those dorks trying to pronounce bloody "Boui-...llabai...." Well, that dish !

"Fish stew," you concluded.

"Anyway," Crowley said with a weary tone. "It's not their fault. And that's the same with gorillas! They'll say : 'Woop, the sky's gone red! Stars crashing down ! What do they put in bananas these days ?!'" His drunkenness struck you, and you realised what Armagadon really meant.

"All the creatures..." you started.

"Whether they'd be great or small..." Aziraphale ended.

You both looked distraught. You loved all those little things; you spent countless hours discovering every one of them. The first time you saw a whale, you got so emotional that you cried. Thankfully, you were underwater, so Aziraphale, who came with you that day, didn't see your unusual sensitivity.

"And there's worse ! When it's all over, we're going to have to deal with eternity !" he yelled, his voice squeaking like that of a chipmunk.

"Eternity ?" Aziraphale wondered, disoriented. He didn't quite understand why on earth Eternity would be worse than the End itself.

"You're just upset you won't be able to listen to musicals, while we will," you teased.

"And you'll miss my very constructive critics, especially on The Phantom Of The Opera !"

"You utterly roasted it !"

You were ready to argue your arse off, but Aziraphale had his own things to say.

"I don't like it more than you do. I can't disobey... I've got to do what I'm told... right Y/N ?" He asked for your support.

"Mmh nh.. Yes, sure, but I don't think they pay attention to these sorts of things." You suddenly gagged. You weren't sure that giving back the liquor to the bartender was such an idea, but you couldn't afford to throw up.

"Maybe we should sober up."

They both agreed and quickly got sober.

"Listen, even if I wanted to help you, we just can't." Aziraphale explained while glancing at you, once again to encourage him.

"It's true, Crowley, we're angels. We cannot interfere with God's plan," you said, lying back on the couch.

"But what about Satan's plan, mh ?" His red hair framed his head, and your eyes focused on his, snake-like and wide. His whole face was encouraging you to listen further.

"It's your job, right ? Thwarting the demonic plan. Encouraging humans to be "good", mmh ?"

"No need to quote..." you sulked.

"That's broadly what we do, indeed." Aziraphale conceeded.

"With that in mind, it would be totally reasonable for you to act on the birth of the Anti-Christ. To thwart my demonic influence on the child while he grows up. I'm the only one managing his evil upbringing. Against two angels with such pure hearts, I would highly struggle to stand my ground."

Wait up, two angels ? Uh, you were getting way too involved for the two of them to easily seal the deal. You needed a way out. Aziraphale was considering the idea, giving you enough time to hastily prepare a counterargument.

"M-mh, so much good energy would change the boy too much. Everyone will realise it. I think it's too much of a risk. No, it would be best if the two of you took care of him. You know, like, uh, godfathers !"

The pleased and hopeful look on the fluffy angel's face caused you to sigh in relief. Crowley, however, was frowning. You just grinned, gathering all your charm to erase any suspicion.

"Still, he's made to be evil; surely the influence of two angels wouldn't hurt."

Think of something. You had to get those two together !

"I'll be your safety net ! Assuring the Heavens that Aziraphale is doing an excellent job !" You gestured towards him, nervous and frantic. The angel flinched slightly but didn't say anything. You nodded and smiled before turning to Crowley.

"And ! I'll mess with other people's demon jobs ! Giving them plenty of things to keep their minds off the Anti-Christ's childhood." You clapped your hands and tied your lips together, praying it would be enough.

The demon was scanning your face, taking in what you just said and your attitude. Aziraphale then faced his friend and supported your plan by taking a place beside you.

"It would be safer and less noticeable." He placed a hand on your shoulder, and you looked up at him. When he noticed, he smiled in his reassuring way.

Meanwhile, Crowley had closed his eyes tightly, exhaling more air than normal humans actually had in their bodies. The dude's a balloon, apparently. His eyelids opened abruptly, and he offered his response.

"Ngh... fine."

Yay, victory.

"I can't believe I have to convince you to agree to a plan you created," you teased him.

"Er."

"It might work !" said Aziraphale happily. You hoped everything would go smoothly and that you could prevent the Earth from boiling, causing the destruction of either Hell or Heaven. You felt the angel almost wriggle next to you, and the demon smirked his way. Maybe it would be easier than you thought.

"Well, I'll be damned !" he exclaimed quietly. His brighting up the room.

"It's not so bad when you get used to it," Crowley answered mischievously.

And there it is. Hardships. Aziraphale lost his smile and looked at him with a warning. It really stuck in his craw.

"Crowley, don't they say thingz like that !" he scolded vigoursly.

"It's just a joke; don't make a big deal out of it." Crowley finally sat back, waving off Aziraphale's arguments. The angel took a step towards Crowley, standing in front of you. While he continued his rambling, the red head peeked your way and winked, obviously amused.

You rubbed your face with your hand but grinned as well. Easy ? Yeah, right.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

This is the first chapter of this series : "Two’s company, three’s a family"

I hope you enjoyed it and will stay around to see how all of this will play out.

Bye !

Parts : Next

[indigovigilance]

Sovereignty, Citizenship, and the Bookshop

Credit to @flameraven for scripts

Read on Ao3 at: Sovereignty, Citizenship, and the Bookshop (1702 words) by indigovigilance Summary: The rules regarding who may enter the bookshop, and who may give others permission to enter the bookshop, are revealed by events rather than exposition. Parallel themes surround the Bentley. In this meta I generate a theory of sovereignty and citizenship as it pertains to the Bookshop, and what that implies about a statement Crowley makes and Aziraphale's final decision in S2E6.

What actually is the Bookshop?

First, Aziraphale explains to Crowley:

S2E5: AZIRAPHALE: We're perfectly safe in here. Technically, this bookshop still counts as an Embassy.

But then, speaking to Shax, Aziraphale further defines the bookshop:

AZIRAPHALE: Out of the question. Might I remind you, that this bookshop is technically an independent embassy. Being a former outpost of Heaven, and as such…

Which doesn't actually make any sense.

An embassy, by definition, is a satellite of another larger nation. It is usually the residence of an ambassador, and is considered the "soil" and jurisdiction of the home country, regardless of where it is in the world: "An embassy is considered “foreign soil,” meaning that it operates under the jurisdiction and laws of the home country, not the host country (the country where the embassy is physically located)." [ext source]

So an embassy, by its basic definition, cannot be independent. It's an oxymoron. I'll interpret this to mean that the Bookshop constitutes its own nationstate (and that Aziraphale just doesn't say it that way because he's a funky little guy).

Bookshop: A Sovereign Nation of Two

There has been extensive discussion about why Crowley seems never to have told Aziraphale that he was living in his car, and why, if/when Aziraphale figured it out, he didn't say anything about it. (I wrote a meta discussing how we know that Aziraphale knows by the beginning of S2E4 that Crowley is living in his car. Additionally, in S2E6, Aziraphale doesn't seem to look particularly surprised when Crowley announces to the room that he's tired of living in his car; you can interpret this as being distracted and phased out but I don't think Aziraphale is ever so dissociated that he would miss a statement like that and simply not react. So by then, he certainly knows.)

I posit that Crowley did not ask to move in and would have refused to do so even if offered for one very simple reason: moving in would have made him a citizen of Bookshop, and therefore a point of vulnerability for Aziraphale. Because as he explains to Shax in S2E3, he can't technically invite her in:

SHAX: if you won't let me in… CROWLEY: Not technically something I can do.

Of course, Crowley is a demon: he could be lying. But let's take the statement at face value, since Shax, also a demon, who seems reasonably familiar with the rules of entry, doesn't question it. So Crowley, by never establishing citizenship, ensures that he can never be coerced or tricked into letting anyone into the Bookshop. He maintains his foreign entity status on purpose to protect Aziraphale.

One more note, in passing: Crowley stays at the shop in S2E3 and S2E4, but he has been charged by Aziraphale to "mind the bookshop, and Gabriel." His role is more akin to a house-sitter than a houseguest. He's there on work visa, and it does not establish citizenship.

So Crowley isn't a citizen of Bookshop. But someone other than Aziraphale is.

S2E1: MAGGIE: I can be out of here in two weeks. AZIRAPHALE: Out of here? Why? Don't you like it anymore? MAGGIE: Oh, Mr. Fell, I love this shop! I've loved it since I was a baby. But I know how behind I am on rent. (…) MAGGIE: You can't just forgive me eight months' rent. AZIRAPHALE: Oh, I can. I'm very good at forgiveness. It's one of my favorite things. Now, you have paid your rent, I have my music, and I know exactly what I'll be doing for the next 21 minutes. [he giggles and leaves] (creepiest most disturbing giggle in all of cinematic history BUT ANYWAYS)

We've established that Maggie not only is a tenant of land owned by Aziraphale, but that her accounts are all paid up. Her citizenship (or at least, permanent residency) is secure. If simply renting out the space wasn't enough, we learn that she is a fourth-generation resident of the space owned by Aziraphale, which started inside the bookshop itself, and so Maggie may have been born into citizenship. Either way, the consequences of this arise in S2E6:

AZIRAPHALE: Maggie, what just happened? MAGGIE: I… I think I might have just told them they could come in.

Crowley can't tell demons that they can come in. But Maggie can. My explanation for this is because she actually lives (and is up on her rent) in a territory of the nation of Bookshop. It could be posed that Maggie can invite demons in because she is a guest of the ball, and so this is a temporary power, but Crowley was a "guest"/house-sitter and didn't have this power, so I reject this explanation and affirm it as a citizenship/residency power.

The Metatron's Offer

At time of writing, the fandom has spent two months trying to figure out why Metatron offered Aziraphale the job of Supreme Archangel. Was it to get him back into Heaven where he can keep a closer eye on him? Was it to get him away from Crowley? Did Metatron realize that he is a wellspring of power and wants to tap into it for nefarious purpose?

I'm going to propose a different, much simpler reason: he needed to get Aziraphale out of the bookshop. To explain that, we look to a line that Crowley delivers during the Conversation:

CROWLEY: I mean, if Gabriel and Beelzebub can do it, go off together, then we can. Just the two of us. We don't need Heaven, we don't need Hell, they're toxic. We need to get away from them, just be an us. You and me, what do you say? AZIRAPHALE: Come with me… to Heaven. I'll run it, you can be my second in command. We can make a difference. CROWLEY: You can't leave this bookshop.

Hang on, didn't Crowley just say that they should run off together? Why is he now saying that he can't leave the bookshop? These statements seem contradictory, but through the lens of sovereignty, they're not. You see, if Aziraphale goes off to Alpha Centauri without rejoining Heaven, the Bookshop still belongs to him and constitutes the sovereign nation over which he rules. It is the anchor and touchstone of his independent status. What ever new residence they establish will, in turn, be an embassy of that "independent embassy." The Bookshop then (I hypothesize, and posit that Crowley does too) grants Aziraphale protection from Heaven and Hell no matter where he is in the universe.

A Brief Aside on the Mechanics of Satellites

We have some evidence that Bookshop rules extend to wherever Aziraphale happens to be "residing," in that when Aziraphale borrows Crowley's car, Shax must trick him into giving him permission to enter (S2E4):

HITCHHIKER: I'm so sorry, can you be an angel and give me a lift? Only m-my car's broken down and my phone's dead. Just to the next town, there's a garage there. AZIRAPHALE: Oh… yes, well… I suppose you better climb in, then.

Thus establishing that, theoretically, Crowley and Aziraphale could "go off together" and still have the protection of the Bookshop.

The Consequences of Aziraphale's Final Decision

Crowley tells Aziraphale that he cannot leave the bookshop, but then we know that Aziraphale takes the job and ascends to Heaven. Metatron looks extremely relieved. No sooner do they ascend than Muriel enters the bookshop, where we know Metatron has placed them. Let's take this point by point.

The Bookshop is no longer a sovereign nation

By rejoining Heaven, Aziraphale has reclaimed his citizenship as an angel of Heaven. I'm going to go ahead and say (for sake of argument and because it is thematically consistent) that Heaven does not honor duel citizenship. Therefore, Aziraphale has given up his citizenship of Bookshop, but as it still belongs to him, it is now territory subject to the jurisdiction of Heaven. Muriel has been placed there as a representative of Heaven. Having been (we can surmise) the only "independent embassy" in existence where both angels and demons had to ask permission to enter, it is once again a good and proper embassy of Heaven.

This is important because now, neither Aziraphale nor Crowley have any place to go that is protected from both Heaven and Hell.

Muriel has unfettered access to Aziraphale's collection of books

My very simplistic theory for why Metatron went to so much trouble to get Aziraphale to cede control of the Bookshop is that he needs access to his collection of books. Specifically, he needs a certain Scrivener who enjoys reading to set up camp there and peruse every single book. This is because he is looking for something.

Gabriel left Heaven with a large box; he arrived at the Bookshop with an empty box. We can punt around all sorts of possible reasons but let's say, for sake of conjecture, that Gabriel stole the Book of Life on his way out to protect himself and Beelzebub from erasure. We don't know where the Book is now, but Metatron (who doesn't know the box was empty) has good reason to believe that the Book of Life is somewhere in the bookshop. But it's too dangerous to admit that they've lost track of it, so the best way to find a Book in a bookshop is to get the owner out of there, install an avid reader as steward, and wait patiently.

Other consequences of this theory of citizenship

We are given to believe that Crowley and Aziraphale are both outcasts of Hell and Heaven, respectively, yet Aziraphale seems to be the only one of them that benefits from the protections of independence. We could say that it is because Aziraphale owns land, and so that allows him to establish a nationstate, whereas the Bentley does not, but since Aziraphale brings the protections of independence with him when he borrows the Bentley, that seems flimsy. I find it more likely that in S3 we're going to learn something about Crowley that explains why he lacks these protections, and if I dare to make conjecture, it will be the subject of another meta.

I didn't get around to a discussion of the consequences of Aziraphale throwing his halo and "declaring war," or that war declaration being maybe-cancelled by Crowley; suffice to say, that may again be it's own meta.

~~~

If you enjoyed this, you may enjoy: Honolulu Roast: the story of a coup

another meta on the topic of ownership re the Bentley by @ineffable-endearments can be found here.

~~~

edit: I was reminded by @rekishi-aka to note that in S1, Gabriel and Sandolphon walk right in, because at that time the bookshop is an embassy of Heaven. For all of S2 except the final 30 minutes, celestials all have to ask permission to enter, including Michael, Uriel, Saraqael, and Muriel, because the Bookshop is independent. After Aziraphale throws his halo, celestials just appear inside the Bookshop: by declaring war, Aziraphale has relinquished his protection. It's unclear whether it would have been reestablished by Crowley cancelling the war, but it's a moot point because then Aziraphale agrees to become the Supreme Archangel.

[ao3cassandraic]

Angels, demons, language, and culture: part 2

(Part 1, for those interested)

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." --John 1:1, King James Bible

A better theologian than I could perhaps write a meta in which the Starmaker is the Word. I'm not prepared to go that far, honestly. I am fully prepared to say that written words, in the GOverse, are very, very important -- but curiously neither angelic nor demonic. They're human.

I mean, watching s1 I noticed that there's not a whole lot of written words in Heaven, to the point that I was wondering whether angels are even literate. There's the Quartermaster's list (which now I'm wondering about again -- we don't see whether there are words on it; perhaps it's just pictures and maybe checkboxes?), and... and... um... surely there's more... there's got to be more, right? ... huh, go figure.

Word of Gaiman says that angels mostly don't read the Bible; it's not angelic, it's human, and as such rather déclassé. In s2, we do see Gabriel's name written across his file -- but inside it? Not forms, not written documents, but video. There's an Ursula K. LeGuin line -- I think from The Telling? or maybe Four Ways to Forgiveness -- about a society that's postliterate, having left the written word behind for video, and is for that reason extra gullible. Yeah, that line sure does remind me of Heaven.

No wonder Muriel doesn't get much respect from their colleagues or reporting line. If words aren't angelic, how can respect be due to a mere scrivener?

Jimbriel can read, though his grasp on the alphabet is a bit shaky. He can't really read, though -- just as angels can speak human language but not think human thoughts. Only someone who can't quite get his head around the idea that written words convey meaning would try to organize books alphabetically by first word. (Aziraphale does understand this, of course. "But nobody would ever -- yes, fine, go ahead." I love that line. Aziraphale would hate my metadata class -- or he'd love it, just to do the opposite of every organizational principle I teach!)

Hell uses writing, but very inexpertly: the typography on its signs is (with full Doylist intent) execrable, and in s2 we learn that most demons can't spell for beans. What Hell can do with written words, apparently, is contracts, like the one Crowley has to sign for the baby Antichrist -- and after the Job minisode and its miles-long bet contract, I don't actually think contracts come from Hell in general, I think it's Satan specifically who writes them. (Maybe Satan used to be the Word. That'd be interesting. GO theologians, start your engines.)

Hell does seem to have a lot of paper around, shuffled into various overflowing cabinets and stamped at various desks. Hell even has a Lord of the Files! Even so, Furfur relies substantially on a visual display at his desk, a camera, and a surveillance video display. Most of the paper seems to be for handling former humans -- once again, written words and humans are inextricably entwined in the GOverse.

As for angelic and demonic magic, I notice a substantial absence of grimoires, chanting, or incantation, and a whole lot of picture (as we see in the Starmaker's book) and gesture. The Starmaker says "Let there be light" (and so does Aziraphale in s1), but I don't think by internal GOverse logic it'd have worked without the pull-down gesture.

All of which is to say that Aziraphale doesn't need the written word to be an angel; the written word is distinctly unangelic. Writing has to have been something he picked up from humanity, and decided he liked. It's one more thing that distances him from Heaven, as we can see in Gabriel's open contempt for Aziraphale's books, and even the well-meaning Jimbriel's instrumentalist use of books as fans and flyswatters and gravity testers.

Notably, when Nina asks to use Aziraphale's books instrumentally -- as weapons -- she rationalizes it to Aziraphale by indicating that the information in the encyclopedias will still exist online. Aziraphale accepts this! Not without pain, but he accepts it. He, unlike Jimbriel, can separate the meaning of a writing from its carrier. Hi, hello, yes, I am a librarian and I have read my Suzanne "Madame Documentation" Briet and Paul Otlet and Michael Buckland. I've even taught them. Content vs. carrier is a Whole Dang Thing in the history of librarianship. (Also, I am now headcanoning liek whoa that Aziraphale learned French to better understand Briet and Otlet. If he ever starts waffling about antelopes, I will know why.)

But that still leaves @thundercrackfic's actual questions: what exactly attracts Aziraphale to the written word? and how well does he understand it? And my additional question: what about Muriel? I'll get there. I promise! But I still need to talk about rules.

[renidyy]

GOOD OMENS S2 MAGGIE & NINA THEORY(long post, so sorry)

Why is no one in the good omens fandom talking about Nina and Maggie? Something HAS to be up with those two and I suspect they might be a lot more relevant than we think.

Okay, first off, there’s a lot of things that could be going on with those two, and I’m gonna let you decide for yourself what seems most plausible. They could be Lucifer and God trying to mess with their earthly ambassadors/just mess with aziracrow in general(I saw a small acc on Twitter mention this theory), they could be angels/archangels keeping an eye on earth & God’s plans, they could be literally anything!

But let’s take a look at what ACTUAL evidence there is of this.

First, the most notable is that Nina and Maggie were somehow immune to aziraphale’s miracle in the bookshop when he tried to get them to forget about what happened, whereas Crowley was able to pull off the same miracle outside with the rest of the shop owners.

I think the second-most notable point is that Crowley offhandedly mentions that he’s not able to give people permission to cross the threshold in azi’s bookshop BUT Maggie was able to. So, either humans are able to do this, or something a little Heavenly is going on with Maggie.

It’s also important to note the actresses themselves. The characters are NAMED AFTER THE ACTRESSES, and the actresses themselves were notable characters in the first season(Nina played the nun who messed up the baby swap, and Maggie was Sister Theresa). I don’t think it’s coincidental that Neil wanted these two to come back and even named the characters after them, essentially creating a fourth wall break using their names.

& so much more! They were the ones to urge Crowley to confess, Nina confronting crowley about what she thought was a romantic relationship, Maggie having the “Everyday” records. They were the ones who defended the bookshop, they were the ones who gave Metatron Aziraphale’s coffee, they were the ones who witnessed EVERYTHING that went down this season(crowley summoning lightning then returning power to Nina’s shop, they saw Gabriel when he first showed up, they were there for the demon attack, etc), they saw EVERYTHING and didn’t even really freak out about any of this they just,,,accepted it. I’d also like to add the fact that Maggie misspelled “urgency”, which I doubt was just a random quirky detail.

ALL of these point to the fact that somehow, these two are more relevant than we may think. They remind me of the small fly detail throughout the show that seemed random but ultimately ended up being EXTREMELY important to the overall Gabriel plot & resolution. No detail in this show is unintentional, and these details are SO important that there’s no way that these are simply just coincidences or added in just to get the show moving. I have a feeling that Nina and Maggie will be very important to the third season, I just have no idea HOW yet.

[lavendermoonlitskies]

Dream A Little Dream of Me fic series (Good Omens) part 4: “Le Chant du Rossignol (Song of the Nightingale)”

Final part to my Good Omens fic series is live! If you’ve read it thus far I just wanted to say thank you and I hope you enjoy the finale :)

Rating: T (mind the tags!!!)

Here’s a short snippet of it:

It was another nice day at last. A day of perfect weather, and the sounds of a bustling city full of people who went about that day generally feeling good. A day without anxiety, the feeling that everything that made this life worth living could be ripped away again at any moment. Such anxiety was simply a fundamental part of who Aziraphale was, but for the first time, something felt different.

Overtime, they fell back into their routine that they hadn’t known since before Gabriel had shown up at the shop, consequently uprooting their entire lives as one thing led to another. A routine that they had adopted after Armage-didn’t where, for four glorious years, Crowley would arrive at the bookshop in the morning with his six shots of espresso in a large cup and a cup of English breakfast tea for the angel, perhaps they’d dine at The Ritz later on, they might eventually wander down to the park to watch the ducks in the afternoon, then the day would end with the two of them sat at a table that Aziraphale had set (miraculously, with a quick snap of the fingers), talking over a bottle of wine until the very late hours into the night. Aziraphale considered this way of life to be rather perfect.

In the days following Aziraphale’s return to this plane of existence, the two of them welcomed back this routine with open arms. The sun was just rising over the bookshop’s skylight when Crowley backed in through the door, cups of coffee and tea respectively in hand. Aziraphale, a bright smile across his face, beamed as he approached the demon and grabbed one of the cups from his hands.

“Oh- angel, I think that’s the-”

Aziraphale’s face contorted as the bitter taste of piping hot pure espresso with nothing else to dilute it attacked his tongue, nearly spitting out the vile liquid. Crowley laughed.

“I think that’s mine,” he said.

Aziraphale couldn’t help but laugh at himself, wiping his mouth with the napkin that had been wrapped around the cup.

“Perhaps those cups shouldn’t be quite so identical,”

The sound of their laughter together filled the air over the gramophone playing some quiet classical music, just how Aziraphale liked it in the morning. This morning, it was a recording of Chopin’s Étude Op. 10, No. 3 in E major. A hopeful piece, one littered with such wistful romanticism that Chopin himself had claimed he’d never written another melody so beautiful. It had reminded him of his homeland, and such a morning had gotten Aziraphale thinking that his home was never in Heaven, but rather anywhere that Crowley could be found right at his side.

Crowley was his home.

The coffee cup slipped through his fingers and toppled over onto the floor, to which Crowley did protest, but such contempt couldn’t last long before Aziraphale’s hands had cupped his face and their lips had connected. Passionately, desperately, they kissed as if it was the last time they ever could. Aziraphale’s tea was long gone as well, though the mess of spilled coffee and tea mixing at their feet was merely an afterthought as Crowley leaned the angel up against a nearby bookshelf, deepening the kiss. The angel relished in this moment of feeling wanted, a feeling he certainly wasn’t used to until he felt Crowley’s hair between his fingers and that same demon’s arms snugly wrapped around him with the same fervor.

-

read the rest here

And here’s a link to all of the parts in order:

[fallenrocket]

#PirateOmens Watch Party - Season 2, Episode 5

(crossposted from my twitter)

I realize the headline is that Aziraphale is so intent on throwing the ball that he's *giving away books!* to make it happen, but I also love that he knows exactly which book will get each shopkeeper to say yes.

***

Fun fact: Crystal Yu, who plays Mrs. Cheng, previously guest starred on Doctor Who (Whittaker era, not Tennant.) She played the pirate queen Madame Ching, also known as--you guessed it--Zheng Yi Sao!

***

David Tennant's delivery of "He's not my 'bit on the side'!" is perfect, no notes.

***

I can definitely picture Ed and Stede having this conversation about the past-tense form of "smite."

***

Crowley's spidey sense going off before the demon attack reminds me of Ed--"Something's wrong. Feels like a storm is coming, but I can't see it."

***

Different vibe, same sentiment. They love love!

***

What is it about violent enemies interrupting when the main ship is having a romantic moment at a party? At least Aziraphale and Crowley actually get to dance, if only briefly.

***

Crowley uses the classic Doctor tactic of "busking and BSing" to get Shax to let the humans leave the bookshop--it's got to be like muscle memory for Tennant at this point.

***

Also a Doctor move? Alternately hopping on each foot when he's anxious. In generally speaking, Crowley doesn't remind me that much of David Tennant's Doctors, but I can see traces all over the standoff against the demons.

***

Although, while we're on the subject, the Tenth Doctor definitely wore this exact smile while looking at Rose Tyler.

[le-panda-chocovore]

Can I ask from this ask game : https://www.tumblr.com/toomanyfandomsthings/749729499738996736/send-me-a-ship-and-a-number-and-ill-tell-you?source=share

No. 2, 10, 11, 12, 15 for SuguSato, BokuAka, AziraCrow, and Karushuu.....Thanks 🌻

LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!

2. What do their love letters look like ?

SuguSato : Suguru is chill and poetic, he writes normally and puts some cute sentences here and there. He also has to remind his boyfriend to not make a mess while he's away. He signs it with "Love, Suguru" and his writing is super neat. Satoru rambles too much and writes completely irrelevant things and probably signs with "XOXO" and a ridiculously cute thing like "your babe" or "the person you love the most", he changes often. His love confessions are overwhelming because he just says what he's thinking without filter and he really loves Suguru very very much.

BokuAka : Bokuto doesn't know how to write a love letter. He talks about his day and describes everything that reminded him of Akaashi. He also compares Akaashi to random things like a dishwasher or a curtain (it makes sense in his brain, but only his). Akaashi is confused but finds that cute anyway. Akaashi is a bit more poetic, he writes pretty things and says I love you and I hope you're doing fine.

AziraCrow : Aziraphale's love letters are 10 pages long and full of metaphors and poems and comparisons and adoration. He sometimes sends an entire book or a collection of texts with his letter, saying "this represents how I feel about you" Crowley's love letters are 1000 words max but he's very clear about his feelings. It's easier for him to write down things than tell them face-to-face. Sometimes he just writes "Thinking of you. I miss you. Take care." and that's all. Aziraphale loves it.

Karushuu : Gakushuu writes like a general sending battle directives during a war, he signs it with "do not die until my return" or something like that. Karma's letters are... messy. Full of hearts and emojis and petnames (mostly to make fun of Shuu), he's purposely exaggerating to embarrass his boyfriend, he shares random anecdotes then says "are you missing me ? 😔❤". One time he put glitter in the envelope and Gakushuu still holds a grudge against him.

10. What TV shows do they watch together, and which ones do they hide from the other ?

SuguSato : Satoru made Suguru watch Digimon. Suguru secretly likes Barbieverse while Satoru pretends to not like Beauty & Fashion TV shows.

BokuAka : They watch Avatar: The Last Airbender and Percy Jackson & the Olympians together. I don't think they particularly hide anything from each other but perhaps Akaashi enjoys some chill shows on his own.

AziraCrow : Aziraphale watches BBC Sherlock when Crowley's not here, and Crowley watches house decoration or prank shows. When they're together they watch Cooking Shows.

Karushuu : They watch those Quiz Games and compete with each other on their couch, they try to find the answer before the participants. Alone, Gakushuu watches documentaries, and Karma watches telenovelas or reality shows to laugh at dumb people on TV.

11. What was their first impression of each other ?

SuguSato : Satoru -> "Bangs. Earrings. Baggy. Is he... a delinquent ?!" | Suguru -> "Pretty... Is this his natural hair color ? How can he be so pretty."

BokuAka : Bokuto -> "I wanna play with him I wanna play with him I wanna play volleyball!!" | Akaashi -> "Bokuto-sempai... I can't believe I'm going to play with him. He seems cool, I don't want to make a bad impression."

AziraCrow : Aziraphale -> "What are they doing.... Are they talking to me . . ?" *then after Crowley lighted up the stars* "Oh ! Oh that's really amazing and wonderful, they're a genius !" | [angel] Crowley -> "Nice lad" (was too focused on the nebulae to think anything about Azi)

*meeting in Eden Garden* Aziraphale -> "Oh that's- wait have they always been so beautiful ? Wait no I'm not supposed to think of that !" | [demon] Crowley -> "Oh wow they aren't a simple obedient angel at all, they're so daring and unpredictable ! Amazing."

Karushuu : Gakushuu -> "He looks so arrogant, but he never going to reach my level, I won't need to worry about him." | Karma -> "Fucking Nerd, he seems so annoying, I can't want to steal his first place and see his crying face."

12. What do they do for their anniversary ?

SuguSato : Vacations on the beach and long talk about how much they love each other.

BokuAka : Chilling day, staying at home to watch a movie and eat pancakes, perhaps a breakfast in bed.

AziraCrow : Dinner at Ritz and a long night walk under the stars.

Karushuu : They change for every birthday, they have a competition for the one who gives the greatest gift. Gakushuu won by proposing to Karma when they were 24. (Gifts included : Shuu stealing his father's credit card and walking through the town with his boyfriend, buying him everything he wants ; a weekend trip to a hot spring ; a serenade at 5am (Gakushuu almost killed his boyfriend) ; and other things.)

15. What would they change about each other ?

SuguSato : Canonically ? Nothing, they would change themselves for the other. In the AU where everything is fine ? Suguru would like Satoru to be more considerate toward others and Satoru would like Suguru to take better care of himself.

BokuAka : They're married, what is there to change about them ?

AziraCrow : Nothing. They would pretend to but actually, they wouldn't change a thing. (they would just like it if the other recognized being actually nice/a bastard out loud). Okay I changed my mind. They would make the other stop pretending to not be who they really are.

Karushuu : Karma wishes Gakushuu would break more rules and Gakushuu would like Karma to break way less.

_______________________________________

YAY IT'S OVER AND I DIDN'T TAKE 3 WEEKS TO POST IT THIS TIME !! Be proud of me :3

I'm mostly talking about High School BokuAka here, not the post-timeskip where they're both adults.

Next time send me just 1 ship at time because I'm losing myself trying to figure out how to do everyone LMAO

[gabriels-wings-of-freedom]

Ok SO Crowley Request coming in! Could you please write something were Reader shows affection through physical touch and has a habit of like, hugging her brothers from behind when they sit or just hugging Castiel whenever they see each other and just doesn’t need an excuse in general to cuddle the people she likes. And once she‘s seen Crowley a few times she starts greeting him with a hug too and he responds cheeky to kinda brush over the fact that hes caught off guard and kinda likes it? And maybe then eventually she has a breakdown because she doesn’t feel good enough or useful at all and he comforts her with physical touch cause he knows that thats her preferred love language? Id love for Reader to be kind and sweet like in that ‚to make a Deal’ Request. Sorry it’s such a long Request!!

Oh no worries! I like this!💖 I hope I get the reader well! It reminds me of that time in season 12 when Crowley got hugged and was just SHOCKED XD

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Even The King of Hell Deserves Hugs

You love to hug people from your own brothers to Castiel. Even Crowley cannot escape your physical touch, but when push comes to shove, he realizes how important it is.

You knew who he was, but it didn’t matter to you. In your eyes, he was an ally like Castiel despite your brothers’ dislike of him. Crowley has helped you guys plenty of times, even if he denies it. So after getting to see him a few times, you decided it was alright to do your signature thing.

You see, physical touch is a big thing for you. 

Hugs are how you show a lot of your affection. Touching another person just brings such comfort to you. Sam and Dean love your hugs, Sam immediately trying to hug you back while Dean pretends like he wants you to stop touching him even though he is smiling. Castiel soon grew to except your hugs, even though it frightens him sometimes.

“Sam, what are you up to?” You asked as you walked into the bunker’s library where Sam was sitting at the table with his laptop. As you walked over you hugged him from behind, nuzzling your head against his. He lightly chuckled at your actions.

“I’m trying to find some proof on the existence of incubi. Dean says they aren’t real.” Sam explained and before you could explain the man himself walks into the room.

“Because I only want the female sex demons to lure me to bed and kill me. I don’t the swing the other way.” Dean said with a shudder as he walked into the room with Castiel close behind.

“What were you up to?” You asked your other brother before letting go of Sam and coming to hug Dean.

“Just showing Cas some memes-”

“I don’t see why it’s necessary.” The angel interrupted but Dean kept talking.

“-because he needs to get up to speed with people’s sense of humor. It’s starting to get embarrassing.” Dean finished his explanation, causing Castiel to give him an offensive look as you moved to hug the angel next.

“Cas! It’s always so good to see you.” You said, but he still squeaked when you hugged him, taking a few seconds before hugging you back. He was still growing used to your sudden affections, especially since he’s rarely hugged in his life.

Speaking of rarely hugged...

“Hello boys.” The familiar accent ran through the bunker like a chilling wind. All eyes were on Crowley and Dean just groaned.

“Man! Who left the warding down?” He asked angrily. You, Sam, and Castiel just looked at him in confusion.

“You.” They all said and Dean just cursed under his breath before sitting at the table with a pout. Crowley made some comment about how it was nice to see him too. Sam just sighed before looking at the demon.

“Crowley, what do you want?” He asked as politely as he could. You moved from Castiel to eye him. Crowley was standing at the head of the table dressed in all black like usual.

Not having the slightest clue about what you were about to do.

“I wanted to know if you had any-what is she doing?” Crowley’s dark and intimidating voice immediately changed to confusion with a hint of fear as the topic drastically changed. You had moved over while he was talking to give him a hug, something you typically do once you feel comfortable with them.

“Um...didn’t know I was so special.” Crowley said cheekily with one of those smiles that seem unintentional, like he can’t help it. But it disappeared quickly when he saw all the boys staring at him.

“Really Y/N? Him? Why?” Dean accused you as you released the man in black. You gave Crowley a slight smile as he was still trying to comprehend what just happened and how he felt about it.

“It’s just how I greet people Dean. You know that. Even Crowley deserves hugs.” You told him while folding your arms and shrugging.

“Yeah, but he’s not people.” The older Winchester retorted. Normally, Crowley would’ve had something to refute that with, but he was so caught off guard by your sudden gesture of affection that he didn’t have any words at the ready. Perhaps he kind of...No.

No. He doesn’t like it. He can’t like it. You’re a Winchester.

“Well...until next time.” Crowley was quick to clear his throat to brush away any thoughts that he could possibly have. 

“Wait, didn’t you have something-and he’s gone.” Sam started to say as Crowley dematerialized from the room like he was never there to begin with. You expected the cheekiness and slight discomfort from him, but you never expected to catch that small smile. It made you feel all warm inside, and it made you reach a decision no matter if your brothers liked it or not.

Crowley needed more hugs, and good thing it was your favorite gesture to give.

Every time he appeared before you guys, you would greet him with a hug. And every time, Crowley would give you some cheeky response that would result in Dean nearly killing him. But little did you know, he was doing that to hide his own feelings. Crowley was the King of Hell, and the King of Hell cannot like hugs.

Yet, he loved receiving them from you. Perhaps he has grown soft.

He now realizes there are times he comes to you guys and doesn’t even need anything. Crowley just wanted to receive your hug, that greeting you give to people that you deem you care about. The demon didn’t understand how that could be possible in his case, but he was grateful. It became like a drug to him, something that he needed from you even if he could never return it.

So, when he sensed that the bunker’s warding was off, he appeared.

“Hello...boys?” Crowley was surprised to find no one in the room when he showed up. And it was quiet. Way too quiet.

“Moose?” He called out while walking around a bit.

“Squirrel?” He then tried, looking behind things. Crowley knew that they weren’t always here, but something in the air felt off.

“Kitten?” Crowley then called out his nickname for you. Something he adopted after a couple hugs when he struggled to come up with words. It was then that his ears picked up the sound of someone crying.

And since it sounded like a woman, he grew worried. Even more so when it led to your door.

“Y/N...” Crowley didn’t even know his voice was capable of being so soft when he saw you curled up at the foot of your bed, looking sadder than he’s ever seen you. Crowley was used to you being so friendly and sweet, so whatever made you so sad, he was going to find it and kill it. 

But you must really feel down because Crowley didn’t receive his welcome hug.

“Crowley...what are you doing here?” Gosh, you even sounded awful, and your tear-stained eyes made his shriveled heart twist in a weird way. 

“Never mind that...what happened to you?” He asked while approaching you gently, however, his question just caused you to tear up again as you hugged your knees and buried your face in them as you cried. Crowley crouched beside you and hesitated a bit before placing a hand on your back, patting gently.

“There...there...” He said with an uncomfortable look on his face, not used to this. 

After a while, you did compose yourself enough to explain why you were so upset. Apparently, Sam and Dean went on a hunt without you, a werewolf or something. Whatever it was, it was bad. But what really hurt you is that they took Cas with them instead of you. You’ve been hunting way longer than the angel has, and you didn’t care if he was practically immortal. Experience is where it counts. You told him that because of that, it made you feel just awful.

“It’s like I’m not good enough...not strong enough to help them. I mean, I always kind of felt like that...but this proves it.” You ended with your voice choking up on more tears as your shoulders shook. Crowley truly did feel bad for you. As was said, you were too kind to be treated like that.

But as much as he wanted to get involved, he didn’t want to make you more upset. Instead, Crowley did something that he’s never done before.

He hugged you.

It was awkward and not quite right, his arms being kind of lopsided, but he was trying his best. Crowley knew you were one for action and not words. Physical touch is what spoke to you, and if that was going to make you feel comfort, he was damn well going to try.

“Crowley...what are you doing?” You said in a muffled tone as his arm was kind of in your face.

“Hugging...you?” He said in uncertainly, also unsure of what he was doing. It was enough to almost make you cry again, but not out of sadness. They say demons have no feelings, but Crowley was going through such levels of discomfort to make you feel better. He could’ve lectured you, told you how great you were, or went to confront the boys. But instead, he stayed and hugged you because he knew that’s what you loved.

“Thank you...” You said softly through your sore throat as you maneuvered yourself to hug him better. Crowley tensed slightly, but for the first time, he kept his arms around you as you guys basically cuddled.

“Always kitten...I’m here for you...” Crowley struggled to say it, but this was also the first time that a hug didn’t lead to a cheeky comment. You were in too much of an emotional state for him to do that. 

He even moved to grab your hand, shocking you more.

“I know how much touch means to you...and I’m starting to see why. The feeling it gives...makes me so happy.” Crowley confessed, looking away from you to gain enough confidence to even say it. Instead of responding, you just hugged him tighter.

“You’re amazing...A hug can’t express how grateful I am that you are here...” You said while nuzzling into his shoulder. Crowley smirked and resisted the urge to chuckle as he held you tighter.

“I’m not amazing, Y/N...I’m Crowley.”

[darkhighness]

Good Omentober Day 30 - Outfit Swap

Prompt by @disaster-dog

Aziraphale is shocked that Crowley has memorised every single thing about him.

Aziraphale had never been to a haunted house. He’d had plenty of experience with the spooky but that was all for work reasons. The idea that someone would go and be scared for fun was absolutely ludicrous. It was somehow unsurprising that that is exactly what Crowley wanted to do, however.

Crowley had been excited about it all day, constantly reminding Aziraphale of how long there was until they were leaving. 6 hours, 5 hours, 2 hours… He had taken on this Halloween thing in his stride and he truly just wanted to do something he enjoyed with Aziraphale.

He decided to spring the fact that they would have to find costumes for this party on the Angel at the last minute. Originally Aziraphale was going to keep it classy and go as a classic book character. A Hamlet or the such. Crowley however was insistent that they should dress as each other with accurate detail. 

Aziraphale gazed over at Crowley, looking at his napping on the lounge, his arms dangling off the sofa and a slight whisper of drool trickling down his chin. He inspected how the subtly patterned waistcoat hugged his body and how the tight jeans he always wore were like a second skin. There was no way Aziraphale could wear something like that, could he?

He went to the back room of the bookshop, simply to test his little theory out. He would never actually go out wearing anything like that. He snapped his fingers and felt as the denim began to hug his legs and how his whole ensemble suddenly went dark. The massive change was shocking enough but when he caught a glimpse of himself in the small desk mirror, he let out a tiny gasp, shocked at how entirely different he looked.

While at its core it was the same basic clothing, something about the black waistcoat and the dark undershirt made him feel like an entirely different man. Mysterious. Brooding. It almost made sense why Crowley was in a mood all the time. He just needed to borrow some of the demon's sunglasses and he’d be set.

He heard footsteps approaching and before he could miracle his clothes back to normal, hiding his experiment, there was a demon leaning on the doorframe letting out a low whistle.

“Looking good there angel,” Crowley teased lightly, sipping a glass of wine he must’ve poured himself, “You should wear that more often.” 

“Oh shush you. I was just thinking about it,” He quickly explained, trying to hide the embarrassment on his face. He didn’t want to tell Crowley that in some ways it feels like he’d stepped into the demon's shoes or that wearing these clothes made him feel some kind of way.

“Look, let me give it a go,” Crowley grinned, placing his glass down before snapping his own fingers, changing into a tan and blue ensemble with a generous helping of tartan print, “What do you think, angel?”

Aziraphale stared at Crowley, admiring how the brown coat landed perfectly at his mid thigh and admiring how much more golden his eyes looked in this outfit. He was like the perfect picture of autumn with all the warmth of a cosy fire. Had he dared to utter any of this to Crowley though, he knew that he would immediately switch back. He could stare at Crowley forever, getting lost in each tiny detail like he was some kind of renaissance painting.

Aziraphale just reached out, his hands exploring the new clothes on his partner, taking note of every detail. It was all exactly like what Aziraphale would wear. Down to every tiny detail. Even things he didn’t think Crowley noticed like the glasses wipe sewn into the bottom of the coat. His hand lingered on the faux velvet of the waistcoat and he suddenly felt terribly emotional.

“Oh Angel what’s wrong? Do I look that bad?” Crowley asked in his unique teasing tone, trying to comfort Aziraphale. He gently wiped the angels forming tears away and cupped his chin to look into his eyes, “If you really don’t want to go Aziraphale, we don’t have to.”

Aziraphale shook his head and buried his face into Crowley’s chest, enjoying the sweet embrace of his partner. He even got his cologne perfect, “S’not that. I just-“ he sniffled, “I didn’t think you’d notice- I didn’t know you cared that much that’s all.”

The demon let out a breathy chuckle and stroked Aziraphale’s hair, trying to not muss up the perfect halo of curls up too badly, “How could I possibly promise that I love everything about you if I don’t pay attention to the details?”

“Crowley, I love you so much.”

Crowley hummed slightly and reached for Aziraphale’s hand, holding it close. As they swayed slightly, Crowley ran his finger along the metal wedding band Aziraphale’s finger housed. He locked their fingers together, enjoying the comfortable silence they found themselves resting in.

Aziraphale gently rubbed the gold chain around Crowley's neck between his fingers, looking deep at thought, “You know, I can’t wait until we get home after all this…”

Crowley got a knowing smirk on his face and planted a kiss on the top of his head, “Thinking about taking all this off already?”

Aziraphale’s embarrassment grew and he just pulled away from Crowley, dusting off his outfit and preparing to leave, “If I’m being you, my dear, does that mean I get to drive the Bentley?”

Aziraphale had never seen Crowley race to the car so quickly.

[ingravinoveritas]

Crowley is far too pretty to have that god awful beard, I hope Aziraphale shaves it off whilst he sleeps.

Well, I'll tell you, Anon...I felt the same way when I first saw Crowley with that beard as Bildad the Shuhite:

...But in a way, he's grown on me (weirdly, much like that beard itself), and I think I finally know why. He reminds me a lot of the guy I lost my virginity to, lo those many years ago (also known as 2006). Bildad!Crowley has the same stoner vibe/funky goatee thing going on as that guy that somehow attracted me to him in the first place (although his beard wasn't as long as Crowley's, and neither was his hair).

It's actually an interesting sort of mix of emotions that come up, when I see Crowley like this. I fell in love with the guy I mentioned (the first time I'd ever fallen in love), but he ended up breaking my heart. Which is sort of what happens when it turns out he had a girlfriend he didn't tell me about, and was sleeping with a bunch of other women on the down low. Oh, and once the truth came out, he and his girlfriend began harassing me and he also sent me several messages like this one below (CW: ...Everything? Ableism, abuse, general assholeishness...):

"you are an ugly and hideously disgusting mentally retarded whore. i hope you are happy with your life b/c you’ve totally ruined mine. every time you pressured me to fuck you i never wanted to, i just did it to get you off my back. i felt sorry for you … that was all it ever was … me feeling sorry for someone so ugly and mentally retarded. i can’t believe you ever thought we had something, you meant absolutely nothing to me, you were just another fuck and not a very good one.”

Anyway...I do know thatCrowley/Bildad is obviously not this guy, so I'm not experiencing any sort of transference. I think what I'm feeling is low-grade attraction mixed with a strange sense of comfort that comes from knowing that Crowley is a demon, yet I don't think he would ever hurt me the way that guy did. (Which says a lot, really...mostly about that guy, and none of it good.)

So yes, it's been an interesting journey to go from hating that beard/Crowley's entire Biblical aesthetic to feeling like Bildad the Shuhite is some kind of emotional support pet, but here we are.

(And to your point, Anon: Crowley is devastatingly pretty no matter what--which is both to our advantage and disadvantage, as we fight our way through the denial of thinking Bildad!Crowley is hot--and I get the feeling Aziraphale is attracted to Crowley in any form, so he would only shave it off if Crowley is okay with it. That's my feeling, at any rate...)

[olderthannetfic]

Completely putting aside the queer rep thing, I'm curious: Do people who are not book fans generally like the Good Omens TV show? In the book fandom we've been hoping for a live adaptation for decades but myself and a lot of other book fandom olds were very disappointed by the show. I was hopeful and optimistic about it until the trailer with the wall-slamming scene came out, which was the first clue that the characters were going to have a different dynamic in the show. (Book! Azi and Crowley would never. No, I mean it.) And then as soon as I got to the dove scene - which the show messed up completely - I had a really bad feeling that they weren't taking the book's themes very seriously.

(In the book, Aziraphale suffocates the dove through negligence and immediately forgets about it because he's too busy fretting about the Apocalypse and the hellhound not showing up; Crowley notices it and takes the time to resurrect the dove. The seeming role reversal there of the angel carelessly killing an innocent creature and the demon taking the time to care about the sanctity of life even while scared out of his mind that the Apocalypse is coming (which would mean all humans and doves everywhere were going to die) is a wonderful little early symbolism of the characters being more than their official Evil/Good labels, of their flaws and virtues, and of the overarching theme of the book. But in the show, Aziraphale kills the dove and is then the one to revive it, which makes the point of the scene ?????)

There's a lot of little things like that where I wonder if the creators missed the point of those scenes or just didn't care, and the end result is that the characters become a little flatter, a little less like the stereotype subversions they're supposed to be. (I've long been irritated with the show fandom because it felt like many of them just projected their longstanding bad boy/puttering intellectual favorite ship dynamic onto the two and didn't look too closely.) In addition, the angel and demon are very nearly B-list cast in the book. They're scene-stealers but in terms of plot they actually achieve very little, their arcs are about how they accept that they've grown as people, not about how they contribute to the Apocalypse. Because that's the point. The whole point of the book is that humans don't need angels and demons to be good or evil. Humans stop the Apocalypse and arguably start it. When the show puts human characters in the background and both elevates Azi and Crowley and spends additional screentime on new characters like Gabriel, the overall message is retained but makes for far weaker tea.

So like... it is very hard for me to like the show as an adaptation (some manage to enjoy both book and show as separate things, and I'm happy for them). At the same time it feels silly saying that it's a bad adaptation, because things like Eragon and Artemis Fowl and basically most book-to-screen things are out there. But I can't help but look at Neil Gaiman's background and the things he usually writes about and feel like TV GO has been made too much into his work, rather than his and Pterry's, and is ultimately weaker for it.

So for me it's really hard to judge its actual technical value as a standalone thing, but I'm curious what other people think of it. If the above elements of "huh, that scene seemed kinda random, why was it even here?" and general diluted sense of theme was something people picked up on.

--

I tried to read the book a few times in the 90s because it was ubiquitous. I loathed it and never finished.

I thought the show was well acted and had delightful chemistry between the leads. The cinematography and editing were nice. The costume design was excellent.

It isn't a particularly deep show or all that memorable to me, but it looks pretty, and Michael Sheen is hot.

Honestly, I'm not really the audience for the original themes. They've been done a million times by now (and even by the 90s), and they just remind me how much people think I should care about a Christian world view and how much I profoundly don't. It's like when people want me to care about Watchmen because something something deconstruction of 80s comics I didn't read.

The biggest change between the 90s and now is probably that this particular flavor of Cold War spies who are buddies when their bosses aren't watching has faded into obscurity instead of being absolutely everywhere.

Oh, and Queen is cool again.

[inconveniently-discorporated]

What do you think about the theory that it isn’t the real Aziraphale in the last scene of season 2?

Personally, I think it’s true because there was a miracle sound when the metatron handed him the coffee, he was really out of character, and Michael Sheen had a weird expression during the credits that Aziraphale’s never had before (kinda reminded me of the face swapping thing in season 1)

First of all, thank you so much for the ask! It's a very interesting question that has brought up a few different things I've been thinking about, so I hope I'm not giving you more than you bargained for back.

I actually haven't heard that theory yet. Personally, I'm not sure how much I like that theory -- the whole speech by Crowley and the kiss I feel like would be way less emotionally impactful if it was someone else in his place. And I feel like Aziraphale responded to those things pretty consistently with his character, as an angel who is resolved in doing what he thinks is the right thing.

I do think something is up with the coffee. However, I didn't hear the miracle sound as the Metatron was handing the coffee over. I think the miracle sound was right before he approached Aziraphale with the coffee, and I believe that was indicating that Michael, Uriel, and Saraqael had vanished back to Heaven.

But what I do find suspicious about the coffee is that he asks for "a dash of almond syrup" and then tells Aziraphale it's a "hefty jigger of almond syrup". There was A LOT of emphasis not only placed on him bringing the coffee, but what KIND of coffee it was, and I can't think of any reason for that. Earthly pleasures in general are special to Aziraphale, but we never ever see him drink or order coffee or anything that would make that particular order significant for it so be called out twice.

And I wasn't much of a fan of the "Aziraphale was drugged" theory, but it honestly does make sense as an explanation for why they focused so much on that coffee. And they also focus so much on the Laudanum in episode 4 -- specifically zooming in on the label -- and its effects on Crowley (immediately making him act silly and brash). And mentioning almonds is a pretty well-known clue that a character's food or drink has been spiked with cyanide.

And I do think Aziraphale was really... exciteable... when he came back to the shop. He was breathless, it seemed like his head was spinning, and I chalked it up to the excitement of the idea of getting to change Heaven to be what he thought it should be, AND getting to reinstate Crowley as an angel. Which I do think are in line with what he wants deep down, and therefore not ENTIRELY out of character for him. But I also do think... He would have to know that's not what Crowley would want? We could all see Crowley's reaction coming a mile away. But I think he very rapidly talked himself into believing that if he just explained it to Crowley, Crowley would agree and they would all be happy and seraphic in a new and improved Heaven!

So, in short, I think my answer is -- I do believe it is the real Aziraphale. I don't know where I stand on the coffee thing, but I could easily see that perhaps he has been intoxicated against his will, not to the point that I think he's totally brainwashed, but to the point where he's not entirely thinking straight and allowing his deepest desires to overrule his logical thinking.

And I do agree Aziraphale looks really unhinged on the lift Up. To me, I think he's in a whirlwind of many intense feelings in that shot. He's just broken up with the love of his eternity, after their first emotionally-tumultuous kiss. I think his expressions keep bouncing between "what the actual fuck have I done" and "no, you know what, I CAN do that, and I will SHOW that demon that I'm RIGHT".

[commonmexicanname]

We were told visually that Aziraphale would become the Supreme Archangel

When we are first introduced to Aziraphale and Crowley, they are facing the right side of the screen, what a lot of us link to being east. Makes sense since he's guarding the eastern gate.

But Az is on the left and after this, Az faces the left side of the screen. From their introduction, he's almost always to the left or facing the left side of the screen.

"Yes, the angel is always on the left. We've known that! It's supposed to represent the angel being on your left shoulder."

Right, but you know what else is represented on the left?

I can't claim that this was all done on purpose from the very beginning, but it was fun finding this. We were shown from the very beginning that Aziraphale would replace Gabriel and become the Supreme Archangel.

Then again, it could all have just been a coincidence.

What do the hands of God mean?

I asked myself the same thing! Welcome to the brain rot religious rabbit hole portion of this post. Running away is encouraged.

When I found this connection, I decided to delve a little deeper to see what exactly are the symbolisms and meanings behind the left hand of God. I was hoping to see if there was anything about being the left hand of God was somehow connected to Aziraphale and could give us a fun "this is sooo him" description. Kinda like getting the results of a personality test!

Spoiler alert, there isn't much to go off on:

The left hand is paradoxical, you say? It works in indirect and subtle ways? Almost sounds like the actions and decisions of a certain angel! It was a good start, until I kept going.

I couldn't find a lot of bible quotes about the left hand of God. What I did find were people's thoughts and interpretations of the left hand. There wasn't really a consensus because whenever I'd find one speculation or explanation, I'd find something that contradicted it. Some say it represents judgement, some say it represents a "self-deification and bow to no one" attitude. In some beliefs, the left hand represents evil and those who are born left handed were forced to use their right hand instead, although that's mostly a thing of the past now. Simply put, all I found were people disagreeing about what the left hand is all about. (heh) It's all a bit... complicated.

Then I pulled back and noticed that the conversations of the left hand reminded of the conversations around Aziraphale. Then my brain spiraled into thinking that maybe, just maybe, the fact that there's disagreement on the left hand was actually what the creators wanted the fandom to be like with Aziraphale. To cause this whole "actually bad! actually good!" contradictory thinking. That is the left hand is Aziraphale connection my brain latched on, the people's conversation! MIND BLOWINGLY CREATIVE WRITING IF INTENTIONAL!

*deep breath* Anyway!

If I now convinced myself to think God's Left Hand is Aziraphale coded, what about the Right Hand and it's meaning? Well, it just so happens that there are so many quotes about God's right hand:

10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 11 All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. Isaiah 41

That sounds rather protective to me. Almost as protective as a certain demon towards a certain angel. So far so good! Very generally speaking though, the right hand represents the power of a god. The very general consensus is that the right hand of God represents omnipotence. Something an occult being would need in order to say... create stars, galaxies, nebulas and even stop time.

Hmm, I wonder who is the right hand of God...

Ah darn, so close. That could've worked so well with a certain demon always being on the right.

A demon that got to hang out with the right hand of God...

Jesus said to James and John: "but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not for me to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared." Mark 10:40

It could all still just be a serendipitous and unplanned coincidence.

[ao3cassandraic]

Do you think Aziraphale would like -- or at least could be persuaded to listen to -- Steeleye Span's 'Wintersmith' album? (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nmHZ5WT0T9SopikxmG1mdP3vftuuUdfWQ) It's been on my mind lately, because the Dark Morris song is an absolute bop, and 'The Good Witch' reminds me a lot of what you've written previously about Aziraphale and compassion fatigue

(In general, as far as Discworld characters go, Azzy reminds me a lot of Magrat Garlick -- especially the bit in Lords And Ladies with the crossbow bolt and the keyhole!)

I think Aziraphale could get along with Steeleye Span, yeah, perhaps with a little nudging from a certain demon. The folkie influences make it a little harder for Zira to dismiss them as "bebop."

Crowley's best move would be to take the angel to a live show, I think. Aziraphale's liking for recorded music seems to be something like his love for books -- the older the better.