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Aziraphale using Victorian Glove Language in 1862

During the Victorian era, a whole visual hidden language emerged around using your gloves to 'secretly' communicate with your suitor(s). In the opening of 1862, Aziraphale uses his gloves to convey a pair of messages to Crowley. What is he saying?

Glove Language was developed as a marketing tactic by a company who took the idea from a fan maker who had seen his sales go through the roof by making up a similar 'secret' language for fans.

While originally developed for women to flirt, Glove Language also proved quietly popular with queer men. They obviously also wore gloves, if not quite as many different varieties, and almost all of the same messages could be conveyed with gloves just as easily by them-- with the extra bonus that, since men were expected to understand Glove Language rather than perform it themselves, no one would notice if men were using it to communicate with one another.

Even any observers who were fairly with it on Victorian social customs would likely not notice any use of Glove Language between Crowley and Aziraphale, likely making it something that appealed to them to use.

So, what is Aziraphale saying in Glove Language in the 1862 scene?

As 1862 opens, we watch from a distance, slowly getting closer, as Aziraphale emerges and walks up alongside the water to Crowley. While walking, Aziraphale takes his gloves off to use them to communicate.

It's of note here that gentlemen normally wouldn't take their gloves off that much when outside in cooler weather, unless they had a practical reason to do so. As we will see, Aziraphale has built a practical reason into his actions that will make sense to anyone who might be observing them-- that being that he needs his hands bare for a few moments so he can grasp the peas that he's going to feed to the ducks. This gives him an excuse to remove his gloves and use them to talk.

As Aziraphale walks up with his gloves, he loosely curls them over his fingers a bit. As we can see from the key above, this means:

Be careful-- we are being watched.

As we know, Crowley also felt this during the scene, as his "trees have ears... ducks have ears" comment indicated-- even if he'd wind up being less that cautious during the scene.

When reaching Crowley, Aziraphale doesn't put his gloves in his pocket. Instead, he holds them loosely in his left hand during the scene. Per the key, this means:

I am satisfied.

It's the Glove Language way of expressing contentment and happiness when being within someone, and letting that suitor know that you found being with them enjoyable and that they were welcome to stay in your company.

Aziraphale, though, can get away with a smidge more, and he's also come up with another brilliant little way to acknowledge Crowley within the social rules of the very society that claims that he shouldn't do so in this way.

In Victorian society, there were very elaborate social customs around how one was expected to use their hat to greet others, especially women. When it comes to acknowledging Aziraphale, Crowley, as a demon, is getting away with pretty much all that he can in the scene. He is sending messages of his own with his walking stick/cane, as I looked at over here, but Aziraphale, being an angel, can be seen getting away with a smidge more, as he's expected to adhere to rules of polite human society, even in the presence of a demon.

There's just that this polite human society doesn't understand gender and so would find it absolutely scandalous and run him out of town should he acknowledge the very masculine-presenting-in-this-scene Crowley in a way that is socially befitting the Victorian customs of how a gentleman is supposed to use their hat to greet a lady.

Yet, this is exactly what Aziraphale feels is most appropriate to do at the start here. As a way of acknowledging that Crowley is a whole gender constellation, Aziraphale wants to greet him as a gentleman would a lady as is appropriate for the initial beginning of an interaction in Victorian England and then allow the rest of their interaction, in which Aziraphale is wearing his hat, to reflect treating Crowley as a gentleman.

Victorian custom would hold that, to greet a lady, Aziraphale would need to use the hand furthest from the lady to lift his hat high enough that it cleared his head, while looking at her and giving a discreet little nod/bow (kind of like what Aziraphale gave Mr. Sushi in thanks in 1.01, if not even that much movement). Only, Aziraphale cannot actually do this in a public park when the recipient of the gesture is, as Crowley was in this moment, presenting in a very masculine way. What Aziraphale does instead is something subtle that's actually even more romantic.

Really the only other way to greet a lady in Victorian society was what's known as a Coachman's Salute. It's to put that same hand furthest away from the lady to the brim of your hat and do a quick, subtle nod/bow. This was only appropriate if you were a servant, like the lady's coachman (hence, the name), and you were basically just acknowledging that the lady had given you a directive. It's a gesture that equates to your servant, my lady.

When greeting Crowley, Aziraphale combines the two class-driven types of hat greetings for a lady together. He does a very subtle Coachman's Salute but then takes his hat completely off, as a gentleman would to greet a lady, and then hides the fact that he's doing any sort of greeting of a lady at all by making feeding the ducks his excuse for why his hat is off in public.

To this end, he then can stand there for a few moments with his hat off in his lady's presence before putting it back on again and standing with Crowley as a pair of gentlemen for the remainder of the scene. He can greet Crowley within the parameters of their human society, even as that very gender binary society does not understand the limitations of those parameters.

There's one last Victorian thing in play in the scene and that's the rules around the interior of hats. You were always supposed to keep the interior of your hat facing you. The idea was that it was very uncouth to show anyone the inside of your hat, even if it was clean, as it was the part that touched your body during the day. Pretty much no one was supposed to see the interior of your hat, especially in public, but, if anyone could, the only (non-housekeeping) person who could be permitted to see something as intimate as this was your spouse.

While Aziraphale technically keeps the interior of his hat facing him while he feeds the ducks for deniability purposes, it also happens to be within the taller Crowley's line of sight the whole time.

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i am so tired

i want to lay down and let the green reclaim my flesh and bones and absorb me

at least then i will be wanted will be needed will feel a last embrace

this beast is so tired

this human body is nothing more than a prison right now

maybe letting the earth take me will mean i could be as i am meant to in the next life

but i must keep going

i must keep going for those select few i love with my entire heart, as weary and worn as it is

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remember kids

Artist 🎨: @vhsdogs

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A Nightingale sang in Berkeley Square🔥✨ (page 1)

Am I insane? Yes.

But we deserve the ✨leg thing✨ (at the VERY least)

Notes: omg this one took my life, took me all day long😭🔥 (the details, the books) I started to cry

Can I just say that... more to come?🫢🔥

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and someday together we'll shine

based on this beautiful art by shirahama kamome!!!!

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...maybe in another life

“Species Dysphoria” (2021)

I’ve been waiting to post this one for a little while now! This comic was made for the Inky Paws Zine, a collaborative fiction zine created by nonhumans and alterhumans!

In hindsight, I should’ve probably leaned a little bit more into making this a fictional piece to better fit the zine’s theme…nevertheless, I’m still happy with it! This was something I created to try and articulate some of my personal feelings about my species dysphoria through the lens of someone who’s also trans, and maybe feels that those two identities are really the same.

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i enjoyed good omens s1 casually now i’m knee deep in the bentley passenger seat

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don't mind me just Feeding into my delusions by wearing skeleton gloves! watch out everyone!! i might encourage you to love and accept yourself!!! (sarcasm)

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golden

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more aziraphale text posts because i miss our favourite angel

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I love him

im actually lowkey terrified but excited for season 3 of Invincible. they better do more with Donald or else im gonna riot. mans deserves to live up to his full potential and be happy.

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I might post a few prompts from this list with my Bad Prophecies idiots 💃

(golswia coming back strong with inktober in december 💪 very fitting, very me)

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I. LOVE. THEM.

SD ver. cute version. 

They in front of the bonfire. may they have come to camp.

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There is still time

A few years ago nobody knew

Now most of my close friends know

One day maybe my familly will know

There is still time

Take care

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Sad puppy boy

I was obsessed with the look of Makoto as a dog. It's like only on 2 or 3 panels of the manga but yet I gave hours and days of my time to honour this sad puppy energy with a candy gore esthetic and some smugy Duke J faces.

I mean, look at that sad pathetic puppy, omg

Bellow, another color test for the background, I could'nt choose properly

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[muffled clawing noises]

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Robot doggo!