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thetwstwildcard · 3 months

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"Ah, my dear esteemed benefactor... My proud, beautiful flower of evil. You are truly the fairiest one of all. O magic mirror, thy wisdom I entreat... Reveal unto me the visage I seek.. You, whose image the Dark Mirror did beckon forth... If your heart bids it, take the hand of the one reflected in the mirror."

Meet Lark and Lanner Crowley, "children" of Crowley who help Yuu

Full Name: "Lark Crowley"

Gender: Female

Age: Unknown

Sexuality: Pansexual

Birthday: September 13th

Star Sign: Virgo

Height: 5'10 (roughly 178 cm)

Eye Color: Periwinkle and purple

Hair Color: Ombre black to silver

Homeland: Our World

Affiliation: Crowley's assistant

Favorite Food: Pupusas Revueltas

Likes: Disney, helping fix Yua's rewrites in the story, rewriting the story to make it slightly easier for Yuu, her family and her memories of her life

Dislikes: Remembering her death, being reminded that she can't return home, being unable to fully help send Yuu home and overblot migraines

Hobby: Combing through ripped pages to bring characters back to life

Personality: An obedient girl who is quick to tease and giggle. Much more serious than her old form. While her origin is unknown to Yuu, she often unintentionally drops hints and knowledge about the world Yuu was from. But she's a fictional character... Right??

Unique Magic: Composer's Farewell: the ability to make keys that open or close the coffins of both Yuus and characters that allow them sentience/a way home

Trivia:

• The form the former Yuu, Lacie Reyes, now takes as she took Yua Misaki's role

• While her name is still "Lacie" she has rewritten the story so that Yuu will only hear her called "Lark"

• Older twin of Lyre Reyes/ "Lark Crowley"

• Chose the name "Lark" after the songbird as she can often be found humming/lightly singing to herself down school halls while everyone else is asleep

• May slip spanish words into her vocabulary (or when she cant remember the word)

• Will mention media and locations of our world to Yuu but will continue as if she didn't and brush off Yuu's assumptions

• As she is dead in her own world she had no problem staying in the world of TWST and has written herself into the story

• While his assistant, she's quick to threaten Crowley

• The keys she wears are the keys that correspond to the coffins in which she sealed many Yuus of her time so that they can return home while she cannot. She has given copies to "Lanner" so that they may have mementos of people forgotten by everyone else

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Full Name: "Lanner Crowley"

Gender: Male

Age: Unknown

Sexuality: Pansexual

Birthday: September 13th

Star Sign: Virgo

Height: 6'4 (roughly 194 cm)

Eye Color: Periwinkle and purple

Hair Color: Ombre black to silver

Homeland: Our world

Affiliation: Crowley's Assistant

Favorite Food: Chile Verde

Likes: Messing with Yuu, seeing how the story plays out, disobeying Crowley and reminiscing with "Lark"

Dislikes: Being unable to lighten Lark's burden, missing his friends, having to control what he reveals to the characters and the fact that he is growing fond of Yuu

Hobby: Wadding through blot to find the hidden pages to return them to Lark

Personality: The more talkative twin between the two of them. Like Lark he seems to know more than he lets on. He often refers to the world as a story, but maybe you're just mishearing him

Unique Magic: Composer's Blessing: the ability to heal fatal wounds, can also be used to fully cleanse blot

Trivia:

• The form the former Yuu, Lyre Reyes, has taken to assist his sister

• His name is still "Lyre" but "Lark" has made it so Yuu will only hear "Lanner"

• Younger twin of Lacie Reyes/ "Lark Crowley"

• Chose the name Lanner after the lanner falcon as like them he is often found in a pair and helps "hunt" rogue overblot monsters

• The idea to pretend to be children of Crowley came from him

• Has scribbles of the Yuus of his time to not forget them

• Unlike Lark/Lacie, there is a part of him that hopes the Yuus of their time can find a way to re-enter the world of TWST and take them home

*Neither twin will reveal their full face to Yuu until their true identity is known

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willow-lark · 9 months

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when you’ve been acting like a married couple for 6,000 years and you know each other inside and out and literally everyone who witnesses your dynamic is fully under the impression that you’ve been in an established relationship for decades. but also you are simultaneously a pair of middle schoolers trying and failing to ask their crush to the school dance

#did i get their dynamic right #good omens #ineffable husbands #aziraphale #crowley #aziracrow #go2 spoilers #posts of lark

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tossyouforedinburgh · 1 month

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good news deviants, I've got another one for you; lovely British slang time.

"Kraken. Great big bugger," said Aziraphale. "S'posed to rise up, right at the end."

Aziraphale's not wrong to use bugger in this sense; that is one of the meanings. like, a guy, but in a vaguely derogatory sense. but I believe that comes from the word as a verb rather than a noun: to bugger someone, being, well, if you were to rise up, as it were, and put it right in their rear end. it's a fairly old fashioned word now, you wouldn't hear someone asking on Grindr to get buggered, but someone who was rather old-fashioned in a tartan bowtie sort of way would absolutely use it. so you tell me why you think when Aziraphale's drunk he likes to look Crowley in the eye and say bugger with delight on his face.

in context usage:

"You filthy bugger," Aziraphale tutted, looking at the sculpture in the hallway and wondering if this was why he'd never been invited to Crowley's flat before.

"Oh, that. That's just... that's Evil Triumphing Over Good," he said, very convincingly he thought. "They're wrestling."

"Crowley, bugger off. That demon is buggering that angel," Aziraphale said crossly. "Just because I'm an angel doesn't mean I'm a fool."

#good omens #crowley #aziraphale #aziracrow #ineffable husbands #ineffable idiots #ineffable spouses #neil gaiman #ineffable British slang #toss you off #bugger this for a lark

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dreamofademondetective · 3 months

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I cannot decide which pair of code names I prefer for these two:

Dove and Crow

The Nightingale and The Lark

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phoen1xr0se · 2 months

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No Nightingales (a Clue!)

Um.

I don't know why it took me THIS LONG to remember that this line is from Romeo & Juliet.

ROMEO: It was the lark, the herald of the morn, No nightingale. Look, love, what envious streaks Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east. Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain-tops. I must be gone and live, or stay and die.

Can I please just draw your attention to the last line, please?

I must be gone and live, or stay and die.

Romeo is telling Juliet that he has to leave now before he is discovered and they are forced apart/he is killed.

Hmm, sounds suspicious to me...

They've been talking in coded messages since... well, always. No nightingales means Crowley is trying to tell Aziraphale that has to go, he's trying to tell him that it's dangerous - but what's promising about this is that if he's speaking in code, Crowley knows they're being watched.

I still can't say for sure what's going on at the end of the Final Fifteen, but I do believe this is a Clue.

#good omens meta #good omens thoughts #crowley #no nightingales #romeo and juliet #good omens #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #good omens fandom #neil gaiman #shakespeare #ineffable divorce #final fifteen

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demontobee · 8 months

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Nightingales and Romeo and Juliet in Good Omens S2E6

I’ve been thinking about the many symbolisms of the nightingale since the end of S1, but especially since the whole “That’s the point. No nightingales” conversation between Crowley and Aziraphale at the end of S2. Nightingales feature in a lot of literary texts symbolizing a whole bunch of things, but I found this particularly interesting:

In Romeo and Juliet (you know, the play where two star-crossed lovers from rivalling families try to overcome all boundaries in the name of love), there is a scene (Act 3, Scene 5) where Romeo and Juliet have a conversation (or a little row/misunderstanding) about nightingales and larks. It is the night/morning after their secret marriage (!) and Romeo has to leave before the morning comes. Otherwise he will be in great danger as he might get caught by Juliet’s relatives. Juliet, who does not want him to leave yet, argues that the bird that they hear singing outside the window is a nightingale. Since nightingales sing by night, she hopes that this will convince Romeo that it is still night and thus make him stay a bit longer. Romeo, on the other hand, is convinced that it is a lark, a bird of dawn, that is singing, which would mean that he has to leave soon. When Romeo suddenly states that he does not care if he will be killed or not and that he wants to stay with Juliet, Juliet caves in and explains that the bird they hear is actually a lark and that Romeo has to flee.

So, a few things to point out here:

It is the night after their “secret marriage”

The nightingale is a night bird whose song indicates darkness and a world asleep, which protects forbidden love from being found out

Juliet does not want to face the harsh reality of the day approaching, which is why she tries to convince Romeo that they are hearing a nightingale while, in fact, a lark is singing, indicating danger

When her lover unexpectedly declares that he wants to stay with her, even at the risk of losing his own life, she tells the truth in an attempt to usher him out to save his life

Okay, back to Good Omens:

It is the morning after The Dance™ (you know, the one Aziraphale organized only to be able to make a move on Crowley and dance with him; the one during which Crowley tried to open Aziraphale’s eyes to the dangerous situation they were in while Aziraphale refused to give up on his little fantasy-bubble of love and romance). Aziraphale tries to convince Crowley to go back to heaven with him. We don’t know exactly what went on in the conversation between him and the Metatron, but there was probably some threat involved, which means Aziraphale thinks that they will both be safe(r) in heaven. In a way, he is the Juliet in the situation, trying to make his Romeo stay/come with him by convincing him that the nightingale is still singing – that they can still be safe that way. Like the night before, he does not (or at least does not seem to) realize the danger they are in and will be in and that heaven will never let them be “an us”. He does not want to part with Crowley. Crowley, on the other hand, knows exactly that going to heaven is not an option for him and he understands that they are in danger. His statement, “that’s the point. No nightingales,” means that the protection of the metaphorical night, the indifference of heaven and hell concerning their situationship, is over, and that they can either flee together or have to part. Aziraphale, judging by his expression, seems to understand what Crowley is implying here. This seems to be where his parallels with Juliet end, since he does not agree with Crowley in the end. However, there is a version of events that would make his actions similar to Juliet’s in the end: Assuming that Aziraphale knows that one of the two options to keep Crowley safe(r) is out since he knows that Crowley will never agree to going back to heaven, his only other option is to ensure Crowley leaves without him (and without the impression that he needs to save Aziraphale and their relationship). He does this by driving him out if the bookshop.

In any case, the nightingale seems to symbolize the temporary safety of their forbidden love, and Crowley’s statement at the end signals the end of this precious period, and that they must part (for now).

#good omens #good omens s2 #aziraphale #crowley #ineffable husbands #good omens meta #crowley x aziraphale #neil gaiman #go2 #good omens 2 #romeo and juliet #no nightingales #nightingales #thank you neil gaiman #shakespeare

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ducklingart · 1 month

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Romeo: "It was the lark, the herald of the morn, no nightingale. Look, love, what envious streaks do lace the severing clouds in yonder east. Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops. I must be gone and live, or stay and die".

Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare) 1595

Illustration of ineffable husbands, the statue of the supreme archangel and the longing for the kiss of 1941.

#goodomens #goodomens2 #ineffablehusbands #aziracrow #aziraphale #Crowley #Divorceineffable ❤️🐦

#good omens #aziracrow #ineffable divorce #ineffablehusbands #aziraphale x crowley #goodomens fanart #crowley x aziraphale #good omens 1941 #good omens 2 #good omens 3

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thelarksang · 2 months

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Clues on Neil Gaiman's Tumblr

Three identical posts of a script preview with one changed word

Crowley's Present-Day Filter

No nightingale

I'm still combing through Neil's Tumblr and I'll add to this if I find any more.

Case 1: Neil posting this message about the script three times; twice with the word "Dailies" and the most recent one with "Sides". Neil claims it was a Tumblr error but it's too fishy to not be intentional.

Case 2: Anytime the screen is slightly darker, it's considered "Crowley's present-day storyline".

For example, Tiffen Bronze Glimmerglass were paired with bookshop scenes; Black Pro-Mist was used for Hell; and Black Diffusion FX for Crowley’s present-day storyline.

Neil mentions there are a lot of secrets in that article and this stood out the most. I'm going to rewatch the series and see which scenes are dark.

The Gabriel memory scene seems to also be a clue which I'll expand on at a later time.

Case 3: There was indeed "No nightingale" but there was a lark

There's a huge emphasis on Crowley saying "It's too late" throughout the series (plus Anges Nutter and her time of execution) and the "No nightingale" line comes from Romeo's speech to Juliet. which is another metaphor for lateness.

It was the lark, the herald of the morn, No nightingale: look, love, what envious streaks Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east: Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops. I must be gone and live, or stay and die.

Which seems to mean:

"No nightingale; the lark was there instead. It is morning and it is too late. I must leave."

If the lark was there instead of a nightingale, does this point to a wrong timeline? Or maybe that their story doesn't end here and they must continue on?

The lark can be heard when Crowley leaves the bookshop.

Scene:

youtube

Lark sound:

youtube

Morever I feel like "Night's candles are burnt out" can go hand-in-hand with Job's passage on the matchbox which is "Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out."

Side Thoughts:

Is Crowley the key to all of this? His memories being different from everyone else's, the oddly specific filter for "his present-day" scenes, the fire needed to light the lamps/keep the lamps going, him noticing there is no nightingale singing... (Btw, he is now one step closer to be eligible to ask God questions after fulfilling the ostrich question; not too sure about the peacock part though.)

What if there are actually three timelines if you consider the rule of three in a lot of scenes? Including the three concept art illustrations of the bookshop, the three telephone booths on the promo posters, etc.

#good omens #good omens meta #good omens 2 #go meta #good omens analysis

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thesherrinfordfacility · 8 months

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i did not break my own heart last night thinking about the missing 1941 scene and have it sat in my brain all of today spinning around like a fucking microwave in order to not make you lot suffer with me. and i somehow feel i may be right about this so buckle up and lets break it down.

so yes, following on from this post, i think that there is going to be a third 1941 scene. twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern. it's been literally set up like that by even bringing back 1941 into s2 in the first place. but we're missing a crucial detail because it does not - at all, really - explain how they went from evading danger from hell and having a cosy candlelit bottle of red to celebrate, to the bastard 1967 scene. we all know this, this is nothing new.

the symbolism of nightingales is probably going to cast a shadow on this. these two excellent analyses look at the meaning of nightingales in the context of R&J, and the relation that the song has to this point in time, respectively. in summary; it's a song that should be around in 1941 courtesy of vera lynn and others, and the nightingale itself carries the meaning of love being hidden and forbidden by way of it singing under the cover of darkness, before being replaced with reality and soberness - represented by the lark. the Dinner of '41 scene is set in the bookshop at night; this would parallel - that they are safe and concealed, and truths can be shared, but the writing is on the wall that stepping outside would be to shatter the illusion, so to speak. it might be that the song itself gets miracled up onto the record player, or a wireless lying about - whatever. note: i don't think they'll dance though, not given crowley in ep5, "you don't dance"... but then again, if there ISNT a kiss in s3-1941, an aborted dance seems like the next best option... the cowardly one, but i'll take it

this would also track with aziraphale having his epiphany after the church in s1-1941; specifically, in my eyes, that he doesn't necessarily just realise he loves crowley, but that crowley by way of saving his books loves him too. this is only supported by the whole of the s2-1941 scene of trusting in each other as the only way to pull off the trick, the subterfuge. this is then, again, also important in the context of what i think happens in s3-1941.

i do think aziraphale is going to bring the books up again, and what crowley did, because it needs to be addressed. the Nazis/furfur confrontation has scared him, regardless of whether he saved them both, more than he realised. its put things into startling perspective. i think he's going to bring up the books, and actually question crowley a little more as to why he did it. the repeated use of, and subsequent weird reaction crowley has to, the use of the term "friend" in s2-1941 would indicate that this is going to be a focal point in s3-1941. are they just friends? is crowley disappointed that aziraphale is still referring to him as that, after what he did? 'saving' aziraphale in the church, and then saving his books? or is aziraphale just saying 'friends' so hesitantly in both instances because he's not completely sure where crowley stands?

we as the audience know the answer to this, but they obviously do not. if one of the crucial themes of s3 is going to be resolving miscommunication, it makes sense for this scene to be the first, and last, time they communicate properly... at least, until they sort out the issues that culminated in the Final Fifteen.

so let's say they start getting into a very roundabout way of discussing what they mean to each other. there will need to be the sobering, ice-water-over-the-head realisation however, as s2-1941 demonstrated, that they cannot belong to each other, because they manifestly belong to heaven and hell respectively. crowley is still being spied on, and it firmly places aziraphale in their line of sight too. it's going to bring up the holy water discussion; why crowley asked for it - to protect himself, whether by taking out demons or taking out himself, as long as it means he - and most importantly, aziraphale - does not get hurt.

they actively confess that they want to be together, in a way that is more than they are now. aziraphale wants to, but says that they can't, because it's too dangerous. crowley suggests that no one ever has to know, they can hide it (there, in the bookshop, whilst the nightingale is singing), and even if they are found out, they can run. "hell won't just be angry; they'll destroy you..." // "no one ever has to know".

aziraphale doesn't want to have to hide it, doesn't want a halfway measure- is still thinking in black and white. crowley however thinks that something is better than nothing - thinking in the grey. but ultimately, as long as they are still shackled, they cannot do what they want, and it puts the other in danger. "surely the great thing about being a demon is that you can do whatever you want" // "you sound jealous, angel...". instead, aziraphale promises that the day that they are no longer tied to heaven or hell, they can be together; crowley scoffs, thinking that that will never happen, so they will never happen, "you're so clever! how can someone as clever as you be so stupid?!"

the reason they can't right now is because they could be caught. they would have to skulk around, be ashamed, feel guilty - and aziraphale is tired of feeling like that. because only having crowley in secret would hurt more. not being able hold his hand, or dance with him, or kiss him, unless it was in the bookshop. if hell were to find out, crowley would be killed, true, but if heaven were to find out, aziraphale could be cast out. and if crowley survived hell long enough to see aziraphale fall - he'd never forgive himself, and in a way, i don't think he'd ever forgive aziraphale either.

it's tearing them to pieces, but they have to stop whatever is happening between them in its tracks. it's acknowledged, but it's not named. this gives them plausible deniability; if they called it 'love', it would be undeniable. so, aziraphale asks for crowley to go; asks him to leave before they do something they can't come back from. crowley doesn't listen - crowds him, gets in close, and aziraphale is powerless to stop it. doesn't want to stop it. he's selfish by nature, a selfless kind of selfishness, but he wants this with all his being. and then - "this is too fast, crowley, please don't..." // "im sorry, angel. please... please, forgive me". aziraphale never gets to answer, to grant him that, because boom - the actual first kiss.

so. now that i've had to make you read that, i'm going in for the kill. let's look at everything that follows - and look at how the above might recontextualise it.

1967: the offer of the picnic, the Ritz? ie. the literal lyrics of berkeley square? aziraphale has caved in the interest of giving crowley a weapon to use if all else fails, to protect him, but that's as far as he's willing to progress. everything else is still too painful; he's on the brink of tears, promising that one day they'll be able to do what they want, to be open about how they feel, but not yet. they can't. crowley tries to push, "ill give you a lift, anywhere you want to go..." (him offering again to run away? a second chance to leg it?), and aziraphale reminding him that they can't, he can't... don't make him go too fast again, it's not fair. it also sets up perfectly that aziraphale and crowley don't speak for the next 40 or so years (as far as we're aware) until armageddon is threatened.

bandstand: mostly this is still centred around the apocalypse contextually, but i think with the above hypothetical scene in mind (the offer to hide, to run away, to be together), aziraphale is sent back to remembering their mutual confession that they've nonverbally agreed not to bring up, because it's not safe, and it's too painful. they've skirted around it, and returned instead to a tentative kind of friendship at the beginning of s1, but they're still not safe to address why seeing each other again, being so close to each other and not being able to touch is so painful. anyway - aziraphale refuses their side, but the above scene would re-view this as 'our side can't exist yet, you know this! you know why it can't!', and crowley leaves, again after pushing a bit more than aziraphale can stand.

alpha centauri: basically a facsimile of the above; same steps, same dance. but this time, crowley harks back to aziraphale's foolish (?) hope that they will be together, without having to run away, when the day comes that they don't have to answer to heaven or hell. and aziraphale smacks him right back, echoing crowley asking for aziraphale's forgiveness in kissing him, "i forgive you." crowley knows exactly what aziraphale is getting at, there - he's answering crowley's whispered plea to forgive him for pushing, for trying to force him, for acting in desperation. but he's also not answering that - he's skirting around that very thing, forgiving him like a knife would, slicing back at crowley for not only insulting aziraphale on something that is likely a genuine insecurity of his, but also putting him back in his place, for their safeties, because them being together just cannot happen. not yet.

and "please forgive me" in 1941 might seem out of character, but idk if it is; crowley knows that doing what he's about to do will hurt aziraphale, aziraphale has (hypothetically) told him as much, but he needs to do it - and seeks not benevolence or forgiveness as crowley-the-demon, but actually seems aziraphale's forgiveness, as crowley-the-person. the echo would certainly match the tone given here, in multiple ways:

the ritz: i mean, what is there to say? yes, their song is literally playing on the piano, and heralds the shift in their being out from heaven and hell, the day has finally come where they can - again, going by this entirely hypothetical scene that ive concocted - actually be together as they want to. and the nightingale literally singing outside, but as @shoemakerobstetrician beautifully pointed out, god remarks that it's covered up by traffic. so actually, if we again refer back to R&J interpretation of the nightingale, the love is still hidden, still somewhat under wraps, but can only just about be heard over the noise of the streets outside. the prohibition of them being together, of loving each other, is dwindling. and one day, it'll stop singing altogether. that day is coming, it will come, and then they can do what they please. so whilst the ritz scene may well be a mark of them starting the next chapter, it's slow to take hold, there's still hesitancy - which absolutely makes sense when we see that they are still very tentative with each other come the beginning of s2.

s2 general: aziraphale realises their freedom first; he gets excited by the dance, and being able to show his love to crowley, completely and without barriers, in the form of the ball - what he has read to be the best way to do so. he touches crowley more. he shares his bookshop with him, gifts it to crowley as being his as well as aziraphale's, this safe space that is so wholly theirs that crowley has the power to grant entry. the same with the bentley - aziraphale sees it as theirs, and crowley silently agrees, granting aziraphale the same power. crowley is comfortable in the bookshop to remove his glasses, has a place for them. the bookshop becomes tidier, more minimalist, to make crowley more comfortable in it (it is more cluttered in s1, im certain of it). it might just be the grading between s1 and s2, and lack of clutter, but the yellow is more prominent - his literal favourite colour. everything just screams that aziraphale is ready to make good on his promise from s3-1941.

crowley... for once, is the one not quite catching up. not realising the little dates here and there are literally poses them as a couple (although yes, the coffee shop one is to prep crowley for the goob jumpscare), that aziraphale has granted him the power to grant entry. aziraphale literally asking, practically begging, crowley to help him hide goob. the mf colour of the walls. the colour of the bentley. it's not until nina outright asks him if they are together that he realises how careless they've been - but wait, is it careless if they have nothing to be careful of? well, arguably crowley does, hell are still hanging around him like a bad smell... but this is what he wanted! this is what he was pushing aziraphale for! so, does he risk it? he's not sure, but he's certainly realising that aziraphale is ready, if nothing else. and by the time the ladies stage their little intervention, crowley finally realises that the confession he started in 1941 now can be fully aired, can come out into the open.

the Feral Domestic: *fingers at temples* i know i have been fairly vocal about my interpretation of this scene, and frankly - until we get this hypothetical s3-1941 scene, i stand by it - but let's say this speculation about the scene is true, and re-examine the key points in the Final Fifteen that would completely turn on their heads in terms of meaning:

literally, harking back full circle to what aziraphale promised in 1967 as what they would do when they could fully acknowledge their love, and what they did as soon as - on paper - they were free at the end of s1. this is however before he's spoken to by nina and maggie, so maybe this is what crowley was planning in terms of confessing fully to aziraphale, but after their meddling he realised that yes, they need to actually talk about it again. he doesn't understand why they're telling him what they are - because he's existed so long in gestures and gifts and not talking, literally dismissed it now as a viable option, that it doesn't even occur to him to try talking again.

which is why he does something brave, and tries to tell aziraphale instead (say it out loud, make it undeniable, put a name to it, "i love you", something that i think was crowley's actual intention before aziraphale interrupts him) when he comes back to the shop... he's so nervous, because it's vulnerable, and because the last time he did, they ended up hiding for 50-ish years.

next up:

now, im reluctant to think that aziraphale lied in the Feral Domestic, because i do think the key thing at work is his paramount need to do the Right Thing (ie. make a difference in heaven). whilst metatron obviously manipulates him, im not entirely convinced that aziraphale wholly sees through it. i don't think he knew that metatron was up to something, i think the shaking off of this naivety is going to be part of his s3 character development. but this sentence - again, especially in context of the hypothetical s3-1941 scene - must on some level frighten him. especially if you take this meta into account, aziraphale must realise at least that they were never safe, even when they were denying what they were and how they felt, it didn't make a bit of difference. now, metatron could have just been talking about the arrangement, not referring to any romantic elements of any kind, but the threat of it? no wonder he pushes for crowley to join him in heaven; he could keep crowley safe there. they could be together, and heaven - in his eyes - would be able to say a word against it.

then:

the fear sets in; crowley was too late in telling him, acknowledging that they could be together, realising what aziraphale was saying to him without words, and now heaven has come for him. plonked them right back where they were in s2-1941, but perversely mirrored; instead of hell coming for crowley with violence, heaven came for aziraphale with kindness. crowley doesn't have a magic trick he can just do on the fly, perform it perfectly when the need for it is greatest, and has to cling to the hope that aziraphale still sees them as the barrier to them, the reason they can't be together. and in true miscommunication fashion, i think aziraphale does see it, but what metatron said lingers, and in addition to being inside the institution, changing it from the inside out, in order to make a difference... he knows that whilst it's exactly the opposite of what they wanted, he needs to make them safe. better to be inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.

but aziraphale doesn't tell crowley what metatron said, because instead he either deliberately tries to deny the implications of it (cognitive dissonance king behaviour), or he doesn't want to panic crowley and is trying to convey to crowley that he can't speak his concerns, not when the metatron could still be watching, and instead just needs crowley to trust him, take his hand, and join him in heaven where they can be safe. doesn't tell crowley that heaven hasn't captured him in shackles again, but he's willingly held out his wrists because it's the safest thing for him, and them, to do.

so it's one thing to look at what crowley's saying, but aziraphale's reaction? before, i just found it to be out of confusion, him not really understanding what crowley was saying, but tbh i never paid much attention to it (david stole this bit of the scene - not to put down my beloved michael here, but he did). and i know others have remarked here that aziraphale is flitting his eyes to the window and looks scared and stressed, but i don't completely think that its because he's scared that metatron is watching (although, now, i will accept with the rug thing and hypothetical s3-1941 in context it is definitely playing a part), but also because he's just starting to recognise that this is a repeat of the s3-1941 scene, "this sounds familiar, we've been here before... oh, we've definitely been here before... oh shit. i still can't do this, not unless he comes with me. we still can't be together, not in the way crowley wants. the way he's trying again, now, to ask for."

but the issue is: crowley wants to run away together. again. and i totally get why, but once again, going back to 1941: it's exactly the solution that will not work. they cannot run from this. heaven, and hell, will find them. they will come for them. it wasn't an option in 1941, it wasn't an option in 2019, and it isn't an option in 2023. aziraphale begins shaking his head - crowley is confessing, but a) aziraphale doesn't run from things, it isnt in his character, and b) it's just putting them back where they started - something that they have to hide. it defeats the purpose.

and this? yeah, im sure on neither side it was meant the way im about to interpret it, more of an unspoken thing, idk... but if the bookshop is indeed their place of safety, and is where they (as far as crowley sees it) can speak and keep their love, it makes sense that crowley is telling aziraphale he needs to stay. the bookshop can be interpreted so many ways - it represents their relationship, or that crowley means him, himself - but what if we looked at it like crowley is trying now to covet it, because it's protecting them? what if he's saying, "well, if you won't run away with me, we can't be free to have our relationship as we wanted it, not unless we stay here... heaven has come for you, has come for us, and whilst they're here we can't move. so what other option is left remain in this bookshop? to never leave it, and what we have inside it, because there's no other option in which we can be together if you won't run with me."

and what if aziraphale is saying, "no, i have an option, and that's to be together in heaven! they won't be able to do anything, not when im in the position the metatron has offered me, that can be our new bookshop... nothing lasts forever - this bookshop won't last forever, it's compromised, and we can't continue to secret away what we feel inside it, it's time to move forward."

welcome to the line that breaks my heart the most in this whole goddamn scene - and tbh i think is fairly self-explanatory in the hypothetical s3-1941 context. that aziraphale is trying, once again, to tell crowley that he is offering himself, letting them be an 'us', as crowley says shortly after - that before he couldnt do it, and these arent the best of circumstances, but they can finally do it and not have to hide in the bookshop. but crowley reminds him, "hey, i was in your shoes, remember. i wanted us to be together then, and you told me you couldn't, didn't want a halfway measure - well, now i don't either. and this will be a halfway measure, because i don't think us being together in heaven is going to go the way you hope it will. i understand a whole lot better than you do." in any case, it would explain why aziraphale choses this moment to look so devastated. this is what he promised crowley, but now crowley - to his mind, in the things left Unsaid - doesn't want it... him.

and then... back to the nightingales. they're not singing at all, not even under the rumble of traffic, like they were at the Ritz. they're completely absent - day has broken, the things unspoken have now been said, and there's no denying them anymore. from crowley's point of view, there was nothing to stop them this time, but if aziraphale won't run with him, then they have to go separate ways, because there is no other way. aziraphale knows there's the possibility that the only place they could actually be safe is heaven itself, that the bookshop was never as safe as they hoped it had been, but that crowley might actually come to see that. but the fact that crowley is resigned to just... returning to 'reality', to a world that's still turning where they aren't together? despite everything they've just said? "we could've been... us." well, that hurts.

and then... the kiss. now. im still of the mind that the kiss was an Issue. i definitely think it was meant out of love and desperation, and out of possibly being a goodbye. this would echo the hypothetical s3-1941 kiss... but it was hurtful. it was abrupt, and harsh, and not at all romantic (imo). it was possessive, and almost cruel. i do think still it was a last ditch attempt, a temptation, to get aziraphale to change his mind, before crowley leaves the shop and returns to the 'real world'. but it hurts aziraphale in many different ways - but with 1941 put in there, too? crowley is just testing his resolve, trying to push him, come around to giving in. crowley asked him to forgive him the last time he kissed aziraphale, and this time - this time, aziraphale is giving him what he asked for.

#did i just do a whole ass meta based off of a completely hypothetical non-existent hc of the third part of 1941?#yes - yes i did #but the Implications would not leave my brain #make of this what you will if you even got to the end and if you did frankly congratulations #good omens

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gayratinahat · 5 months

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Something something a link to nightingales in Romeo and Juliet. In act 3 scene 5 after their wedding night, the couple bickers over whether they can hear a nightingale, meaning it’s still night and Romeo can stay, or a lark, which means it’s morning and he must leave. Crowley saying “no nightingale” could symbolise their blissful time together is over, there’s no debate to be made over whether he can stay, they both know the lack of the bird’s song signals their separation. I wonder if this Shakespearean allusion was intentional.

#good omens #go2 spoilers #crowley #aziraphale #azicrow #no nightingales #go2

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blueskyandpudding · 9 months

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the nightingale symbolism in the relationship between Crowley and Aziraphale

"Do you hear that? ... No nightingales."

The nightingale is a metaphor that has been associated with Crowley and Aziraphale's love story from the beginning. In season 1, during their romantic dinner at the Ritz, the love song "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" played, accompanied by God's narration:

"While they were eating, for the first time ever, a nightingale actually did sing in Berkeley Square. Nobody heard it over the noise of the traffic. But it was there right enough."

“That certain night, the night we met,

There was magic abroad in the air,

There were angels dining at the Ritz

And a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square.”

The finale of Good Omens season 1 brought the song's lyrics to life with angels dining at the Ritz.

This love song, written in 1939 during World War II by Eric Maschwitz, music by Manning Sherwin and sung sweetly by Tori Amos in the film, evokes memories of a couple's first meeting, where the narrator imagines hearing the nightingale's song in Berkeley Square – a rare and magical occurrence.

The nightingale imagery has existed in art and literature for ages, symbolizing the arrival of spring, the serenade of the night, or accompanying mourning, later becoming a symbol of love. In English literature, the nightingale is often paired with the lark, one sings at night, while the other sings at dawn. For instance, in Romeo and Juliet, after spending the night together, the two lovers hear a bird's song and debate whether it's a nightingale or a lark, which ultimately symbolising their differences due to their families opposition.

In the context of the song and the show, the nightingale's song, a rare sound in modern-day London, becomes a symbol of the celestial love beyond the chaos of war or the division between Aziraphale's and Crowley's affiliations.

The moment Crowley leaves after confessing his feelings and abruptly returns to ask Aziraphale if he heard anything and kisses the angel, it's like his final attempt to evoke the most magical moment in their relationship (saving the Earth from Armageddon and then enjoying a luxurious dinner at the Ritz without interference from Heaven or Hell). It showcases the wonder of their goodness as they follow their hearts' guidance, even when no authority acknowledges it, much like the nightingale's song that was there but unnoticed.

When Crowley gets into his Bentley, the car itself starts playing "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square", but he deliberately turns off the music before driving aimlessly. Before leaving, he glances at Maggie and Nina, continuing with their own life without being together for the ordinary, objective, and practical reasons. Life goes on, and the Earth quietly turns; there's no other choice but to keep living.

The scene where both of them stand looking at each other, the music of the love song resonates again. The song's ending marks the moment the lovers bid each other goodnight with a kiss, departing into the night, and their date lives on as a beautiful memory. The angel and the demon part ways like the couple in the musical notes.

The nightingale may be in hibernation, but the brokenness in the music may foreshadow that one day it will be played again.

Complete, tender, and intact as it was from the beginning.

#good omens #ineffable husbands #aziraphale x crowley #crowley x aziraphale #azicrow #anthony j crowley #meta #nightingale #a nightingale sang in berkeley square #good omens 2 #blueskyandpudding

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cannebady · 9 months

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Crowley has a bad habit of being the architect of his own misery.

From what he's sure was Earth's first (and, in his opinion, worst) hangover, to shutting down London's mobile networks only to have to make an urgent call himself, or purchasing the cheapest plant mister and using it in a bluff only to have it leak giving the damn game away, Crowley is frequently frustrated and frequently so at himself.

Now is no different.

He's sitting alone in his car (it still smells like angel and yellow and good lord he didn't know he could be this miserable) with only his plants for company and running through the last few days in his mind and wondering exactly where he cocked the whole thing up.

There was progress, he's sure of it. There were touches, moreso than usual. Hell, he thought he was going to drag the angel off to, well, somewhere, when they were at the pub and he just oh so casually placed his hand over Crowley's useless heart.

He can still feel it, those thick, strong, warm hands that even through layers of fabric felt divine and it made him want things. Tangibly want.

Imminently want.

How was that mere days ago? How had it gone so pear shaped so quickly? He went slow, he did the right things, he tried to protect his angel like he's always done. Well, bugger him for a lark considering how all that turned out.

He knows things now, like the depth of commitment Aziraphale had to the almighty and certainly not to him.

He knows what it's like to love and hate someone in a moment in equal measure. Knows what it's like to have someone awfully close but never further away.

He knows how the angel tastes, the love of his damned pointless, interminable existence, but only when tinged with fury and betrayal and desperation. (It was never supposed to be like that, it wasn't). He knows how soft those lips really are and he knows how those hands would grab him and maybe, in the right circumstances, pull him closer and then maybe-

He wishes he knew less. He'd like to know nothing at present.

But there's nothing for it now, Aziraphale's gone where Crowley can't follow and for the first time in six millenia, Crowley is untethered and entirely alone. Not the kind that protects you but the kind the hollows you out.

He had always promised himself he'd never tell Aziraphale howhe felt, would never break that boundary. Now that he knows how it plays out, he can't help but think he was right, Maggie and Nina be damned.

For the original tempter, the being who brought knowledge to humans and defended that with his entire infernal being, he's currently questioning if this is just one, big, awful joke with him as the natural punchline.

Knowledge, it turns out, is a real heavy burden.

#good omens #crowley #aziraphale #Good omens 2 #Go2 spoilers #Good omens ficlet #My fic #Good omens minific #Crowley-centric #Here be some sad thoughts

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bildaddyanduziraphale-aremarried · 6 months

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Wedding List for Bildaddy's and MrAZFellco's Wedding

First Draft Faithfully recorded by @loretta-dont-you-oppress-me

Wedding Planning Team @amagnificentobsession @docdust @loretta-dont-you-oppress-me @bil-daddy & @mrazfellco

First Prophet and Officiant @ineffablemossy

Flower Girls @adam-n-dog @ar1mas @jobsblamelessgoats

Ring Bearer @theinsanelycoolconnormurphey

Catering

@sayeverythingwillbefineplease (cookies) @70snasagay (lots of food, allergy friendly) @sparkly-s0da (phở - viet rice noodle soup) @violet-yimlat (most gorgeous wedding cake) @bil-daddy (ox ribs (platonic)) Brian (larks' tongues, otters' noses, ocelot spleens, wrens' livers, badgers' spleens) + Judith Iscariot (tbc)

Dove Releaser @one-coming-is-enough

Crow Releaser @lady-without-name

Wedding Car @imthebentley

Children's tamers @sitisonmyface @heartofawitch939

Sword training for the kids (human) @ennonymous-twink @mrazfellco (if available)

Music @magicaltrevah (harpsichord, cotillion ball backing tracks)

Tom Cardy

Monty Python minstrel group including the Pied Piper

David Tennant singing under the shower

Photography

Furfur (@crrrowley)

@greatsouthernpansy

Wedding Gardener and florist A certain Anthony J. Crowley (tbc)

Security @bagelofchaos (Security Director, trained in jiu jitsu) @greatsouthernpansy (Assistant Security Director) @helphowdoiusethis (Assistant to the Assistant Security Director, will get drunk and dance on the table) @raven-hellish-imp @b1mbap-b3b0p @snedbee @professional-termite (destroyed @pret-a-metatron the Metatron's café) @janeway-lover @iceeericeee @sparrowsortadrawzzz @sparkly-s0da

Rammy (where is he?)

Bart Curlish? (maybe too unhinged)

Loki? (trustworthy?)

Aro Volturi? (trustworthy?)

Lucian (Lycan)

Wedding Guests (in alphabetical order)

@70snasagay @amagnificentobsession +1 Lucian (vampyre) @actual-changeling @archangelcrowliel @archangelscorner @ar1mas @aziraphalalala @bagelofchaos @brinnybee @celticseawych @carbonarok @crazypigeonenjoyer @ex-supreme-archangel-gabriel @fellshish @former-prince-of-hell @god-in-the-basement @historian-crown @i-dream-of-sheeny (body or +1 of @docdust) @ineffablegays13 @ineffable-suffering @justmori @morningbloodystar plus family @raggedy-spaceman @rainbowpopeworld @sassasafreeaction @seraphblood @snedbee @sweetlittledisasterpink @theangelyouknew @the-almighty-lucifer @trainwreck-transgender-3dysporia @trenchcoat-of-bees @velvetvulgarities @weasleywrinkles

Guests of Honor

Freddie Mercury

Betty White

#wedding planner goals #ineffable husbands #bildaddy #@bil-daddy and @mrazfellco's wedding #bildaddy and mrazfellco’s toy #doc dust #aziraphale #good omens

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demonsandpieohmy · 4 months

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To Light Thee On Thy Way

Here’s my slightly angsty version of 1941 part 3.

Rating: T

Word count: 3k

After returning to the bookshop at the end of their night in 1941, Aziraphale grapples with a new realization about his relationship with Crowley.

Crowley looked down at the record in his hand and studied the cover. “‘It was the nightingale, and not the lark, that pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear,’” he quietly recited.

“You know I hated that one.”

Crowley whipped his head up, as if surprised Aziraphale could hear him. “I thought you liked the tragedies? Or did I go through all that trouble with Hamlet for nothing?”

“Romeo and Juliet was simply too horrid for me,” Aziraphale said. Back when it premiered he'd gone without Crowley to see the opening performance, grateful to be alone when he fled the Globe in tears. “At least Hamlet had some sort of vindication before he died. Romeo and Juliet killed themselves for absolutely nothing.”

“They got to be in love, even if just for a short while.”

“One single night of passion, for which they sacrificed the rest of their lives. And you’re forgetting the rest of that scene: ‘It was the lark, the herald of the morn. No nightingale.’”

“Well, tonight there’s going to be nightingales, if that’s what it takes to bring your musical repertoire into this century.” Crowley set the pin on the gramophone, and the record started to spin.

“Are you going to perform, then?” Aziraphale asked.

“I’m not one of your Ladies of Camelot, angel. You’re gonna join me.”

#good omens #good omens fanfiction #fanfiction #writers on tumblr #writeblr #writing #aziraphale #crowley #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #aziraphale x crowley #the apology dance #good omens 1941 #a nightingale sang in berkeley square #lilly writes #lilly rants

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rcreveal · 11 days

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An Adjustment

Aziraphale meets Crowley at a crossroads in medieval England because of the Arrangement, but finds that there's something he really wants to adjust. This takes place after the Arrangement started in 1020 and before the Globe Theater. It’s prompted by my writer's group: @theriverspath’s question about how long Aziraphale has been preening Crowley’s wings from a little exchange the two share in my “Spring Cleaning” fanfic, @moons weakness for wing grooming fics and the prompts: “How we began again, with an illicit bargain.” and “The Arrangement”. Also inspired by @skyler’s description of Crowley as “grabable”.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

On a windswept moor a solitary figure trudged up the steep slope using trails of broken slate that slipped under his feet. The late winter sunshine would be brief and the storm crowding the horizon promised to be prolonged. Finally rounding the last bend to see the top of the isolated hill and the person waiting for him, Aziraphale spake thusly to himself, “Blow this for a lark! I pray that I win the toss this time!” before reaching the demon at the crossroads.

Crowley was hopping from foot to foot, grinning madly. When he saw the angel, he threw his arms wide to take in the desolate hill, the threatening storm, and the little village huddled near the local castle down in the valley. “Lookit! This place is perfect! I even found a crossroads and everything! Both the temptation and the …other thing are due to stumble through here at the height of the storm!” Clapping his hands together, he propositions, “So what do you say to a little wager?” the demon was still jigging around, apparently eager to beat Aziraphale at a game of chance…again. It was really getting on the angel's nerves.

“Fine, but I'd like to choose the game of chance,” the angel grumped a little.

“S’fair. You lost the last time.”

“ Three times.”

“Three times, three times, right. Really? So whadda ya chose?”

“Coin toss with my coin this time.” Aziraphale said a bit acerbically, pulling out an old Roman coin.

“Show me both sides, jus’ like I did for you,” Crowley insisted, still gamboling in place.

Aziraphale huffed in exasperation but made a show of demonstrating both sides of the coin, “And look, nothing up my sleeves!” He pushed up his sleeves baring his forearms. Heavens it was brisk out today!

“Call it.” Aziraphale said as the coin sparkled into the air and he caught it and slapped it down onto his bare arm.

“Tails, cuz I'd never ask an angel to choose to be an arse,” Crowley said with an ironic smile, still gyrating about.

“Crowley! That's uncalled for! Serves you right, you fiend, you lost this time! I'll see you at the tavern when you're done for the details. Good day to you!” Aziraphale spun on his heel and started to stomp down to the valley hearing Crowley’s frustrated groan.

Such a stream of swears came from Crowley that the air literally sparked and flared with sulfur and brimstone. Wheeling back on the demon and waggling a finger at him, Aziraphale admonished, “You lost! Swearing won't get you out of it, and will you stand still while I'm talking to you! ” Aziraphale shouted, beside himself at Crowley's continued capering.

“Can't. Stand still. Itches, too much!” Crowley whined, his face strained, moving his neck irritably.

“What is wrong with you!?” Aziraphale demanded, “You're usually more composed than this!” Usually, the demon was smoothly confident, no hair or garment out of place. Now he looked, well he looked haggard, frankly. “You look awful!”

Crowley’s face scrunched and he mumbled, “Got a thing with a feather,”

Cocking a hand to his ear, Aziraphale asks, “Come again?”

Louder this time, Crowley intones, “I have a thing with a feather !

“Well fix it, so you can meet your part of the Arrangement!”

“Can't reach,” explains Crowley.

Aziraphale huffs impatiently, “Then miracle it. Surely you can heal yourself!”

“Yah, but not this one!” complains Crowley.

“That's the absolute last straw!” Aziraphale cries, “Out with them!”

“Wot!?”

“Out with your wings! I want to see this ‘feather!’” Aziraphale stands with hands on hips, mumbling to himself, “If there even is a feather.”

“I heard that!” Crowley stomped around and threw his coat onto the ground, “Don't believe me?” his black wings strain out of his back, “Lookit that!” he stretched his right wing towards the angel. And indeed, in the most awkward place to reach is a patch of feathers that are either broken or twisted.

“Crowley! You're bleeding!” Aziraphale has closed the distance and uncovered a broken feather, bleeding slowly but steadily and some twisted feathers and irritated pinfeathers? Maybe blood feathers? but he only catches a glimpse before Crowley mantles and hisses at him, pulling the wing out of reach.

“I didn't say you could touch it!” the demon snarls.

Aziraphale takes a deep breath through his nose, blue eyes flashing towards the incapacitated demon scratching his wings against each other and the incipient weather. His desire to win this contest warring with his instincts to help. He lets out a long breath and suddenly regains his composure. He can do both!

“Fiend! I’ll thwart your wiles!” he cries.

“What are you nattering on about? We already settled this! I’ll stay out here in the weather and you’ll be cozy indoors somewhere. Fair toss and all that.”

“You may tempt his Lordship with a “falcon”, but I can’t condone leaving it hurt like that! I insist that you bring that creature to the mews so I can mend those feathers!” Aziraphale is pointing at Crowley and winking.

“Wot?”

Dropping out of the pantomime, “I’m his Lordship’s falconer, Crowley!” Aziraphale said a little exasperatedly, “I said bring the “falcon” with the injured feathers to me and I’ll fix them! So the “falcon” can do its duty. Come now!”

“You want to fix my…?”

“Just get the, the “creature” to the mews. Immediately! Or I’ll have to take steps!” Aziraphale blustered.

Crowley looked at the angel open mouthed, then started to hop up and down with his fists balled at the sides.

“Oh, right, you got me, angel,” he says stiltedly, “I’ll bring you the “falcon” and you’ll fix its feathers?” ‘ How?’ mouthed Crowley.

‘Trust me!’ mouthed Aziraphale.

“You go first, demon! I’ve got my eyes on you!” Aziraphale ushered the demon ahead of him. “Pull in your wings!” he whispered.

“But it itches less with them out,” Crowley grumbles. Craning over his shoulder as he walks by, he offersd. “Look, you don’t have to do this. I'll just stand here with them out till the storm comes. Everyone will think it’s just one of those wretched swan cloaks. Really, I’ve got it covered,” he’s reaching back to scratch.

“Crowley!” Aziraphale remonstrates, slapping his hand.

Crowley pulls in his wings and goes back to his itchy dance down the moor to the castle mews with the angel shooing him onwards.

Sitting uncomfortably in the back of the dimly lit mews, having sidled past all manner of hooded raptors, Crowley asks, “You’re really the falconer here?”

Bustling about with pots of glue, dowels, some wicked looking pliers and knives, Aziraphale assures, “Oh yes! I’ve been doing falconer work off and on for centuries!” arranging his tools, “There. Now let out “the falcon’s” wings again. I’ll fix them up, then you go do what you were going to do.”

Crowley unfurls his wings.

Aziraphale reaches for the damaged patch, lifting the feathers gently and sucks at his teeth.

“That hurts!” Crowley snarls. All Crowley’s feathers puff out and he snatches the wing away. Aziraphale spends a fruitless few minutes trying to catch Crowley’s wing, with many a “Will you settle down!?” and “Not if you’re going to hurt!” and “If you’d hold still it’ll hurt less!” and “I am holding still!”

Finally at the end of his patience, Aziraphale raises a hand over the demon as though he really were a tetchy raptor and intones, “ SETTLE DOWN!”

“Did you just try to work a miracle? On m…” Crowley starts, incredulously.

“No! It was nothing like that!” Aziraphale yelps, thinking, ‘It was exactly like that, why hadn’t it worked? Oh right.’

“Even if an angel ever did try to work a miracle on a demon, I expect they would need the demon’s permission. Look, can you do anything to calm “the falcon” down?” Aziraphale asks.

“Got any alcohol? It’s partial to a good red wine,“ Crowley retorts cheekily.

Aziraphale rummaged under his bed and came up with a leathern flask that smelled of apples. “No, but the locals ferment apple cider around here,” the angel tops off a smallish horn cup, and offers it to the demon.

Crowley takes the horn cup with a sneer, “Quaint. You think you’re going to get me drunk on apple juice?” and empties the cup in one gulp. When his eyes water and he coughs, a small fireball erupts over the candles for a moment. Eyeing the liquor through streaming eyes, Crowley wheezes, “What do the locals call this stuff?”

“Scumble. Word to the wise, don’t ever pour it in metal.”

“Why?” asks Crowley.

“Scumble dissolves metal,” explains the angel matter of factly.

“I think I’ll take another draft,” Crowley says with a grin.

Some time later, Crowley was draped bonelessly over the back of a chair, to say he was in his cups was an understatement, but it certainly made him pliant. About the feather work.

Just now Aziraphale had rendered him incoherent with an old joke about a Mesopotamian pastry, a popular Greek play, and a Roman urn.

Shoulders shaking with laughter, Crowley finally dissolved into hiccups,“Ya know wha’ ‘m sayin’, angel? Right?”

“Oh, certainly!” Aziraphale found that he'd been having quite a convivial time. They had been sharing jokes and anecdotes that spanned thousands of years and dozens of civilizations. Burying the thought that he was giving ‘aide and succor’ to the ‘enemy’ was easier since that enemy was acting like any other hurt bird he'd cared for. Crowley had initially mantled, hissed, snapped, rattled his pinions, growled, snarled, and sworn whenever the angel had gotten anywhere near the bad feather. Which was still dripping blood onto the floor. But finally alcohol and Aziraphale's gentle ministrations were having the desired effect. The ‘falcon’ had settled enough that the skin around the bad feather just shivered when the angel touched it. Aziraphale pondered while his hands busied themselves with the damaged feathers: So Crowley couldn't heal that feather himself for some reason, but he could ‘build himself up’ and he hadn't done. That troubled Aziraphale, as he'd seen such injuries take the last of some bird's strength.

A cold little thought suggested itself, ‘What if Crowley…left and didn't come back?’

Lose contact with the only being in heaven or on earth who would reliably laugh at his jokes? That…wasn't acceptable. Anyhow, there were meant to be both of them, endlessly opposite, ah, …opposed to each other.

Aziraphale noted that Crowley had drunk enough that the demon kept forgetting how he'd started a sentence, so on to the hard bit.

Aziraphale opened with, “Now, I’ve cleared out the pinfeathers and imped…,”

“Imped?” Crowley giggled.

“ Splinted the bent feathers. But the broken blood feather will have to come out. You’re…”the falcon” is just going to keep bleeding!” argued Aziraphale.

“Ngghh,” finger raised, “Stops event.. ually. When it grows in,” disagreed Crowley.

“And how long does that take, pray?”

“Praying doesn, doesn’t help, angel. Doncha know? Tha’ featherrrr takes as long as it takesss.”

“Well it needs to come out! Do I have your permission?”

“Wha?” Crowley looked over at the angel blearily.

“Do I have your permission to fix this blood feather?” Aziraphale persisted.

“Yah, do wha’ever you like. ‘S not gonna make it worse,” Crowley laughed, flapping his hand vaguely at his wing.

Aziraphale went very still. That was far more leeway than he thought Crowley intended, but…he grabbed the opportunity (and the demon), anyway.

“Let’s get you comfortable on the bed!” he said airily, grasping the languid demon under his arms. “You might get a little light-headed when I deal with this.” Aziraphale quickly shifted Crowley towards his bed, the demon was anything but steady with the sudden move, chuckling “‘’m flyin’” as the angel steered him around in a controlled fall onto the bed, landing him safely belly down and ebony wings all a clatter.

Not giving Crowley a chance to take back his permission, Aziraphale commanded, “Now, SETTLE DOWN .” Crowley immediately dropped off to sleep, not fighting the suggestion at all this time. That was unsettling in and of itself, Aziraphale had the demon entirely at his mercy.

Aziraphale picked up the pliers that would frighten the life out of anyone seeing them coming. Thankfully, Crowley wouldn’t see them. Aziraphale had been considering what he had to do for most of the time he was working on the other feathers. This broken one was well and truly bolloxed. It looked like it had been injured then grew in worse every time it molted. No wonder the demon was so tetchy today. Who knew how long the thing had been bleeding. Even as tough as Crowley was, that had to be wearing on him.

Right then.

Aziraphale pulled the broken, bleeding feather.

And released a torrent.

Quickly, Aziraphale wove a healing miracle. He’d done it before on falcons, eagles, hawks, whose injured feathers threatened to end their flying. It wasn’t enough to just pull the feather. He had to heal the follicle, or it would never be right again.

The bleeding stopped, but Aziraphale still frowned in concentration. Something was keeping him from completing the healing. It was better. Much, much better. But, he’d have to see to it again. Maybe every time it molted.

So be it.

Crowley snored drunkenly on Aziraphale’s bed, his ebony wings softly furled, every feather gleaming and in place. The promised storm was just starting to pelt the castle.

Aziraphale pulled out two Roman coins from his pocket. One had heads and tails and the other had double heads. Aziraphale palmed each coin in turn and flashed them into the air, displaying first heads, then tails, over and over with the regularity of a pendulum. Flipping a final coin, he gazed down at the sleeping demon.

Waking Crowley and sending him out into the winter storm to uphold his end of the Arrangement would just undo all of the angel’s diligent work! Plus the unguarded look on Crowley’s sleeping face reminded Aziraphale of…Before.

Grabbing an oiled leather cape and a stout walking stick, Aziraphale left Crowley in the warm and headed out into the night.

“Ngghh, my head!” groaned Crowley. His tongue felt furred, his stomach was in revolt, his skin felt too big, his wings…

His wings did not itch or hurt.

‘Nggk,’ he thought between the pounding, ‘what the heaven happened last night?’ He tried to rack his untrustworthy memory: his wings had really acted up, he lost the toss, jokes, alcohol, a fuckery about fixing “the falcon”... The angel got strangely formal and asked permission for…

Crowley needed not to be epically hung over for this, so he expelled the poisons from whatever he’d gotten well and truly sloshed on, and looked at his right wing. Someone had expertly imped the bent feathers, the pinfeather sheaths were out and the broken, bleeding, festering blood feather...

Was gone.

Instead of the usual stinking hole, the follicle was in better shape than it’d been since before it’d been injured so long ago, so very, very long ago. And that was impossible, because that feather was never going to be right again. Only an angel could heal it and no angel would…

“Angel?” Crowley said softly, identifying gentle breathing nearby, looked down to see Aziraphale curled up asleep on a straw mattress on the floor.

Blue eyes opened softly and looked up at Crowley sweetly, until a smile that took on gleeful delight crossed the angel’s face. “You owe me double!”

“Wot!?” Crowley said in surprise.

“I did my blessing and the other thing at the crossroads in the storm last night. And I performed that little service for the “falcon”, so,” ticking off his fingers, “You owe double!” Aziraphale crowed and sat up.

“Is that really chivalrous when you obviously got me completely crocked?” Crowley rolled up on his side, “What the heaven did I drink?”

“Scumble, it’s made from apples.” Crowley finds the empty leather flask and sniffs it dubiously. “Stop changing the subject, Crowley! You. Owe. Me!” Aziraphale sang out happily.

“All right, all right!” Crowley said, amused to think ‘the angel has a bastard streak, who knew?’ “Obviously, for the temptation, but this…” he waves at his wing, “this is…” Crowley looks at the angel at a loss for words.

“Just a little adjustment to the Arrangement,” Aziraphale said airily, “That I hope you remember should I ever meet you in similar circumstances.”

Crowley nodded, “Sure, that’s…Alright, then…but,” he stumbled over his words.

“And if “the falcon” needs any further help, you’re welcome to bring him back here,” Aziraphale said more warmly. “Actually, I insist!”

“Insist, do you?” Crowley asked, face going from unguarded to a wry smile. Aziraphale’s heart melted a little at the brief flash of hopefulness in Crowley’s orange eyes. “Indeed, I do insist upon it!” the angel said firmly, a bit of the bastard in his twinkling smile.

Could they make a subtle adjustment to the Arrangement?

Aziraphale was certainly willing to wager it.

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