#can someone tell this idea to Michael Sheen?

[cheerful-magnet]

Look, I have an idea.

We got 90 minutes of S3 Good Omens? No problem. Just put 6x45 mins footage in it and we have to change the settings to 3x slower.

Bum, sorted.

[beerok23]

D: And then he came to offer you the part in Good Omens? M: Yeah, well, we became friends and we would, you know, whenever he was in town, we would meet up. And then eventually he started. He said, you know, I'm working on an adaptation of Good Omens. I remember at one point Terry Gilliam was going to maybe make a film of it. And I remember being there with Neil and Terry when they were talking about it. D: Were you involved at that point? M: No, I wasn't involved. I just happened to have met up with Neil that day. D: Right.

M: And then Terry Gilliam came along and that was the day they were talking about that or whatever. And then eventually he sent me one of the scripts for an early draft of, like, the first episode of Good Omens. And he said, we started talking about me being involved in doing it. He said, 'Would you be interested?' I was like, 'Yeah, of course I would. Oh, my God.' And he said, 'Well, I'll send you the scripts when they come.' And I would read them and we talk about them a little bit. So I sort of was involved. But it was always at that point with the idea, because he'd always said about playing Crowley in it. And as time went on, as I was reading the scripts, I was thinking, I don't think I can play Crowley. I don't think I'm going to be able to do. And I started to get a bit nervous because I thought, 'I don't want to tell Neil that I don't think I can do this'. But I just felt like, I don't think I can play Crowley. D: Of course you could play Crowley. M: Well, just on a sort of - on a gut level, you know, sometimes you have on a gut level, you go - D: Sure, sure. M: I can do this. D: Yeah. M: Or I can't do this. M: And I just thought, you know what? This is not the part for me. The other part is better for me. I think. I think I can do that. I don't think I could do that. But I was scared to tell Neil because I thought, well, he wants me to play Crowley. And then it turned out he had been feeling the same way as well, and he hadn't wanted to mention it to me. But he was like, 'I think Michael should really play Aziraphale'. And neither of us would bring it up. And then eventually we did. And it was one of those things where you go, 'Oh, thank God you said that. Oh, I feel exactly the same way'. D: Yeah. M: And then I think within a fairly short space of time, he said, 'I think we've got David Tennant for Crowley.' D: *Chuckles* M: And we both got very excited about that. And then all these extraordinary people started to joining up. And then off we went. D: The other thing about Neil, he collects people, doesn't he? So he'll just go, oh, yeah, I phoned up Francis McDormand. She's up for it. Yeah. And you're 'What-Wait-What?' M: I emailed John Hamm. D: Yeah. M: And you realize how beloved he is and how beloved his work is. And I think we would both recognize that Good Omens is one of the most beloved of all of Neil's stuff. D: Yes. M: And had never been turned into anything. D: Yeah. M: And so the kind of responsibility of that, I mean, for me, for someone who has been a fan of him and a fan of the book for so long, I can empathize with all the fans out there who are like, oh, they better not fuck this up and this better be good. And I have that part of me, but then, of course, the other part of me is like, but I'm the one who might be fucking it up. So I feel that responsibility as well.

D: But we have Neil on site. M: Yes. Well, Neil being the showrunner - D: Yeah. M: I think it takes a massive difference. You feel like you're in safe hands. D: Well, we think. Not that the world has seen it yet. M: No, I know. D: But it's been a joy to work with you on it. M: Oh, my goodness. D: I can't wait for the world to see it. M: Well, I mean, I've done a few things where there are two people. It's a bit of a double act, like Frost-Nixon some more, and The Queen, I suppose in some ways, and I've done - Amadeus or whatever. This is the only thing I've done where I really don't think of it as my character or my performance as that character. I think of it totally as us, the two of us. D: Yes! M: What I do is defined by what you do. That was such a joy to have that experience. And it made it so much easier in a way as well, I found, because you don't feel like you're on your own in it. Like it's totally us together doing this. And the two characters totally complement each other. And the experience of doing it was just a real joy. D: Well, I hope the world is as excited to see it as we are to talk about it, frankly.

M: You know. Having talked about T. S. Elliott earlier, there's another bit from The Waste Land where there's a line which goes, "These fragments I have shored against my ruin". And this is how I think about life now. There is so much in life, no matter what your circumstances, no matter where you've got, what you've done, how much money you got, all that. Life's hard. It can take you down at any point. You have to find this stuff. You have to find things that will. These fragments that you hold yourself, they become like a life raft. And especially as time goes on. I think as I've got older, I've realized it is a thin line between being surviving this life and going under and the things that keep you afloat are these fragments, these things that are meaningful to you. And what's meaningful to you will be not meaningful to someone else. But whatever it is that matters to you, it doesn't matter what it was you were into when you were a teenager, a kid. Doesn't matter what it is. Go and find them and find some way to hold them close to you. Make it go and get it. Because those are the things that keep you afloat. They really are, like doing that with him or whatever it is. These are the fragments that have shored against my ruin. Absolutely. D: That's lovely. Michael, thank you so much. M: Thank you. D: For talking today and for being here. M: It's a pleasure. D: Thank you.

This podcast is so underrated. I heard it tonight for the first time, and it blew my mind. The episode was published back in April 2019 (recorded after a photoshoot for Good Omens season 1). Listen to these babies, starting to knowing and respecting each other *_* Of course, Michael Sheen was probably the greatest fan of Neil and Good Omens out there, but the joy and the excitement was already there to feel, from both of them!

And Michael saying "The Two of Us" 4 years before July 2023... My heart - just - can't.

[inhonoredglory]

A Wartime Footing: An Explanation for Aziraphale's Elevator Smile

(Based on an ask from @sabotage-on-mercury in response to my meta on why Aziraphale had to go to Heaven)

The creepy smile was one part of the ending I couldn't quite put my finger on either, until someone pointed out on a Twitter response to my meta:

The reason why its scary is bc azi is becoming properly angry at the system and is 101% determined to set things right (Source)

In season 1, Aziraphale was determined not to kill anyone to stop the Apocalypse. He wouldn't even tell Crowley where the Antichrist was, because Crowley's only solution was to kill him.

And because Crowley consistently didn't have any ideas ("not one single better idea??"), Aziraphale took it on himself to pursue the only option left––to ask God to intervene and stop both Heaven and Hell from destroying Earth. Therefore, Aziraphale had to keep the integrity of his angel status by distancing himself from Crowley, while the world was still in danger.

Despite this dedication avoid bloodshed, when God didn't have an answer, Aziraphale went against one of his core beliefs to help save the world. He was willing to murder a child.

For Aziraphale, that takes guts. And (seeing how he reacted at the end of the Job minisode), I wonder that if he had killed Adam Young, Aziraphale would have checked himself into Hell.

Going to Heaven for Aziraphale is ultimately a conscious choice, one that he is clearly afraid of. We see him constantly steeling himself again the Metatron in the end, covering his fear and hurt from losing Crowley with a placid smile and a flippant attitude. He's wearing so many masks, to Crowley, to himself, to the Metatron...

All season we've seen him playing roles (detective, magician, doctor, landlord). But the final role is warrior. Going up that elevator, we first see Aziraphale's eyes searching, worried, panicking, but unable to show it because he's not in a safe space. He swallows, blinks, he's breathing hard (you can see his entire shoulders rise and fall).

But as he goes up, his expression steels. He's quite literally putting on a mask (to himself): a vengeful, hardened expression of pure anger and rage (to drown out the fear and uncertainty he so clearly still has).

Michael Sheen conveying contained anger in both Good Omens and Masters of Sex.

Cuz this isn't just him scrambling to kill a kid, this is him walking calmly and knowingly into sacrificing everything he loves most (Crowley, the bookshop, his entire life on earth) to create a world that will always be safe for him and Crowley and humanity for the rest of time. Where he would have to go up against the most powerful angels, the Metatron, and God Themself to change things. He can't be the kind, sweet angel he was on Earth. That won't cut it in Heaven if he wants to make a difference in any real way.

He wanted to do it with Crowley, with the love and support and strength of his demon. But without him, Aziraphale has to channel something else to keep his resolve afloat.

Something he had when he was a warrior, fighting on the front lines of a battle between Heaven and Hell, when he very likely led a platoon into divine fields of bloodshed before the earth was born. When he was an avenging angel.

I haven’t done this since the Great War.

It was a time and an identity he had chosen to leave behind, because it wasn't the kind of angel he was anymore ("I'm not fighting in any war!"). In this context, you can read Aziraphale's passionate unwillingness to take a life (his pacifism) directly into his past experience as a warrior. It is often the veterans of terrible wars who are the most earnest advocates for peace. (And especially in Britain and Europe, where the violence of the world wars is still such a powerful and painful national memory.)

As he goes up the elevator, he's breathing so hard we can hear it mirrored in the soundtrack, and he is so hyperfocused on steeling himself that he doesn't even care that the Metatron is watching him. He doesn't rest until he's psyched himself into that warrior mindset necessary to carry out this mission entirely by himself, to be both the moral advocate and the uncompromising leader of angels who had intimidated him his entire life. To demand respect and to talk to the very face of God and tell Them they are Wrong.

(Please read this Neil-approved meta for further thoughts on God and Aziraphale.)

That creepy smile is clearly not there because Aziraphale is happy to fall into a toxic parent's false love. There's no comfort or wistful nostalgia in that face. There's no "it'll be so much nicer" in that smile. It's not a happy smile. It's an I'm-gonna-fuck-shit-up smile.

Because it's a warrior's smile before they go into battle, before they put on that armor and, for a while, become something they're not in the name of some greater good. He's fucking furious and it's downright frightening.

Because I have no doubt that the angel Aziraphale we get in Season 3 is the angel Aziraphale who can say this:

He's not quite there yet in the TV show. But this bravery, this anger, this flaming rage is how it starts.

Or as he's described in the book when Aziraphale mysteriously does away with the local mafia:

Just because you’re an angel doesn’t mean you have to be a fool.

[body-face-words]

Let's look into "Maybe I should've married Michael Sheen" and "And he's my lover!"

Thank you @killerqueen-82 for providing the links!

I made gifs of these two instances slowed down and zoomed in to see them better, but tumblr is not letting me upload them so here they are.

Starting with David:

In the video, you can see him think, staring off for a split second and answering with 'maybe I should have married Michael sheen.

He pushes himself back, resting on the chair, shuffles, and crosses his legs. In previous interviews, he crosses his legs because he's getting comfortable and shuffling around. That's normal for him, but when we take his face into account, this action has more meaning behind it.

He's aware of what he's saying and probably thinks he's said too much. His lips are pursed, eyes opens, brows raised as leans away while crossing his legs.

His eyes are wide with a serious look on his face. His mouth is in a straight line, with the corners horizontal. This wasn't meant to be funny or a joke. Like in other events, he shuts himself off before anymore comes out.

The wide opened eyes are because he's (consciously or unconsciously) trying to watchout for any threats/danger OR trying to get his point across (look into my eyes, I'm saying the truth). His leg crossed and arm went in front of him in a defensive position. I don't think he was protecting himself from the audience or the person next to him. It's most likely something personal. Shielding himself from what he said because he feels vulnerable.

David then looks down, takes a breathe in trying to soothe himself, thinks and continues with his answer.

Overall, Davids reaction to his answer is of caution. It was not a joke or something he found amusing/funny. It's something that made him feel vulnerable in some way, yet decided to say it anyways.

This takes place from 7:15 - 7:29

Michael is more telling on his face than body. His legs/feet shuffle, plays/grips the bottle cap.

Outright, he is ticked off about not knowing this information.

Michael during this section of the interview, snaps his head 4 times in total. This action is usually done when anger, disbelief, or astonishment is felt out if nowhere.

For example, when someone tells you information about your bestest friend in the world that you had no idea about. You'll probably be confused as to why your best friend didn't share that with you, then maybe be annoyed/pissed off that they didn't.

Michaels last smile is fake. It's stiff and his movements, especially his head, are sharp and snappy. His cheeks don't reach his eyes, causing them to become smaller which means a forced smile was made. When he first looks off, his thinking with a smile, then second before"he never mentioned that" his smile stiffens and falls. His instant reaction was think and put a good face on.

When he says "and he's my lover" Michael grips the bottle cap he has in his left hand. Not knowing this information really did throw him off. After stating the David is his lover, Michael takes a drink from his water. It could be that he was thirsty or unconsciously stopping himself from talking. Drink or eating is also something done to calm ourselves down, whether we're aware of it or not.

Michaels tone is playful and, the best way I can describe it is stiff/rigid. Playing it off and not making a big deal. The body flinch (an instant reaction done usually without thinking) at the end is kind if like a kid when they say "its mine!" and stop their foot or shake their arms up and forth. Or it could also be disbelief "He's my lover! Why didn't he mention this?"

Edit: I forgot to mention! The knee squeeze has different meaning - excitement, control of energy, and (this next one doesn't apply to Michael here but I'll include it) nervousness/protection.

Neither of them, from my point of view and analysis, neither was joking about what they stated.

David was serious and his micro expressions and body language only transmitted seriousness and defensiveness while Michael was more ticked and trying to play it off.

Neither of them took the idea of being in a relationship with the other as a joke or something to amuse other people. Perhaps Michael waa trying to play it off as a joke, but it makes me doubt with how personal he took this.

[krakensdottir]

Fav Aziraphale Moments in S2

Okay, I admit, I'm more of a Crowley blogger. He's my blorbo. But you literally can't love him without loving his other half. It's time to show some Aziraphale appreciation.

In no particular order, here are things Aziraphale did in S2 that made my jaw drop / breathing stop / otherwise really stuck with me:

Cradling the jar

Who would've thought hugging a jar of formaldehyde with a tumor floating in it could be heartbreaking? The look on Aziraphale's face when he learns it came from a young child, one that couldn't be saved, and the way his body language shifts as he tucks the jar close and precious against his chest, trying too late to protect it... Listen, I have really stubborn tear ducts, the final scene of S2 didn't make me cry (though it made a valiant effort), but I teared up at this.

Standing up to Crowley in the Job flashback

Really, the entire Job flashback is 10/10 for both of them. But Aziraphale especially shines when he steps in front of Crowley and says 'Tell me you want this.' They've only met a handful of times since the Fall at best, but Aziraphale is confident enough to call him out. And he doesn't falter or hesitate about it, either. He gets right up in the demon's face and makes him say it. Makes him lie outright that he wants to hurt anyone.

And then, of course, in front of the children, Aziraphale - no longer asking, now absolutely certain he's right - steps into Crowley's space again, looks him dead in his sinister eyes, and says he's dead sure those children are safe. Buddy, I had chills.

SPEAKING of chills...

I didn't know his voice could go that deep (Furfur scene)

Okay, I actually knew Michael Sheen could sound like that. But I admit, I 100% did not expect to hear it come out of Aziraphale. In the form of his own name, no less. I guess that's what happens when someone threatens Crowley right in front of him.

The sassy eyebrow

We've all talked about this but it's never a bad time to bring it up again. Shax really says 'You don't seem like his type' and Aziraphale's eyebrow says 'Honey you have no idea' right back at her. She can pry at his defenses in a lot of ways, but making him doubt his importance to Crowley is clearly not one of them. And that's really good to know.

Telling both demons and angels to fuck off

I was already giddy from seeing him go full Protective Principality at a horde of demons, but telling off the Archangels took it to a new level. He has had ENOUGH. Screw the angelic hierarchy, this is his bookshop and he's done. (Crowley giving him that oh-so-proud smile through the window without Az even knowing it was the icing on the cake. Yeah Crowley, I feel exactly the same.)

Honorable mention, again from the Job flashback: when Crowley says 'See you in Hell' and Aziraphale, instead of hesitating or having a crisis over it, defiantly sinks his teeth into the ox ribs again, tearing out another hunk of flesh. There's such a mood of 'Fuck it then, if this damns me I might as well enjoy it.' Fuck yeah, Aziraphale.

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

STAGED LIVESTREAM SUMMARY S1

BABYGIRLS, BITCHBOYS, AND BOYCOTTERS OF THE BINARY, HELLO MAGGOTS OF MINE. Can you tell it is past 5 am and I just took my sleep meds? We all know how well that goes for my post-making prowess *stares at my good omens part 1 update on Neil's blog*.

BUT that is a regret for post-sleep me to have. When the sun rises I'll go to bed, it's a fucked up sleep schedule but hey the sun and I can't be up at the same time we'd all combust from the hotness. Oh I'm going to regret this so much. But I feel like it's only in this state that I can do justice to that goddamn livestream.

STRAP IN BECAUSE THIS IS A LONG POST AND I WILL NOT CUT IT BECAUSE I WANT EVERYONE WHOSE DASH IT LANDS ON TO YEARN FOR SPIRTUAL EYE-BLEACH.

Soooooo without further ado, or should I say much ado about nothing (see I can reference Shakespeare):

The stream starts, and we are witness to David Tennant being pointy and chaotic, Michael Sheen being adorable and enraged, and Simon looking close to tears at all times, which is a fucking mood.

I am witness to a disturbing degree of thirst every time Michael turns to the side. Michael in profile, they all swoon. I am concerned.

I'm reminiscing about my lockdown memories. David looking confused in a hoodie is very fucking relatable. Once, I started sobbing because my wardrobe looked like a wardrobe. It was a time for us all.

However, everyone else is busy yelling about different showings of Hamlet, Richard the Something Number, etc etc. No one is paying attention to me and my poor poor memories.

Now, I read original Shakespeare when I was like 13, .I like him. But I do not have this level of expertise. FRIENDS, ROMANS, COUNTRYMEN, LEND ME YOUR EARS, I beg.

No one pays attention. I am sad.

I go off to sulk.

By which I mean I actually pay attention to the show. So maggots reading this and wanting an actual summary, this is the only time you're going to get it, because it was when I was watching.

Basically, Simon (I'm gonna refer to their characters as them but for the record it's scripted, I'm being so considerate to the people who're here for an actual summary) digs himself into a hole, Michael does not like him and makes that very known, David offers to get Simon out of the hole and in the process digs both of them into an even deeper hole, and Samuel L Jackson (is that his name) and Michael become unlikely allies to get revenge on David.

Rather than an apology dance, though, David has to stand in a corner. Meanwhile, Georgia and Anna are the only ones actually functioning at their lives, Michael gets blackmailed into servitude by his neighbour, and Simon holds back tears. Judi Dench is involved (that's her name right).

Now as you can see, I am paying full attention to the show until this point. At this fucking point though, I make the poor choice of opening the stream chat.

@thescholarlystrumpet's profile picture is a certain angel. Focused on... the lower half.

Everyone in the chat is talking about Aziraphale's thighs.

This derails. Everyone is now talking about Aziraphale's dick.

Strumpet insists vehemently that the thighs are the focus.

Everyone says the thighs are only there for framing purposes.

You know me, maggots. I'm drawn to chaos, shark to blood. So I end my sulk at not being the centre of attention, and delightedly hop into the chat.

Someone (@vitrilol it was you, I believe? until confirmation, I'll refer to them as Ari) says they wish someone liked their thighs.

So naturally I say I like your thighs.

Oh, swoon, the flirting, you maggots would be scandalised. I'm quite the charmer. It is delectable. We take it to the bedroom. The bedroom is the stream chat. There are gasps.

Another maggot says that this is simply mine and Ari's room, and they're just in it. So then I tell them, why simply stand and watch? They should join in.

They say they have mixed experience with threesomes. I ask who said we're capping it at three?

They are far more comfortable with the idea of an orgy. An orgy has now been initiated. Some people express concern. Others are entirely on board.

Some say they are afraid they're too old for the said orgy, they're old enough to be my aunt. I say nonsense, you wanna orgy, you orgy.

Ari takes this opportunity to wonder if I'm old enough to be their aunt. They then hasten to assure me that they like MILFs.

I find this hysterical, because I am a nineteen year old guy whom people have said gives off tiktok fuckboy energy in real life. I make that fact known. I'm glad that being a man and being 19 does not exclude me from being a MILF, however.

At this point, Ari points out that at least people find me attractive, even if it's a tiktok fuckboy way. I am unsure that being attractive is worth giving off tiktok fuckboy energy. (Thank god, this is not my only vibe. I also have unkept stinky teenage boy, witch and Jane Austen debutante princess, but weird).

Someone else says that hey, I'm closer in age to their son than them. I am about to ask whether their son is eligible and how many pounds he has a year, when they add that the son is 12. I tell them I am glad I did not ask those things. They agree.

The show is still going on. Someone is gasping on Georgia's phone, and I assume it is labour (I learned my lesson about assuming orgasms after the good omens pilot). I am correct. A maggot says that labour and orgasms do not sound the same.

I'm a clueless aspec boy. I don't know about labour or orgasms.

There is some debate then about whether screaming in pain is a difference or a possible common ground for those two things.

The orgy is expanding. Strumpet has to step in to say that while thirsting about the actors is entirely fine, please everyone refrain from sexting in the stream chat.

I feel like I should state here for the record that no one was sexting.

Well. Okay. That's a dubious stretch of the truth, but I love dubiously stretching the truth.

David abuses chairs and beds and his limbs with his posture. I relate.

The neighbour nearly dies, then does not.

The internet gives up on the stream. This is fair. Poor internet.

But while the video is lagging, someone mentions that one of their favourite fanfic authors passed away.

Comfort is offered, as is my brand of aggressively gentle love. Basically DON'T FUCKING APOLOGISE, sweetheart, your grief is valid. Strumpet says how in case she should disappear she's given a friend the authority to post her WIPs as a precautionary measure. And now people are crying.

I ask Strumpet to pause the stream. We all get really fucking emotional about the beauty of writing, of art enduring past the lives of the artists, and whether the author knew how much they were loved. This is getting really sad, but in a beautiful way.

We go back to the stream. Who knows what happens? Not me.

But what matters to me isn't what's on the stream, it's what's in the chats. The people I get to talk to. The hope that I can, at the very least, ensure that they are never, ever unheard. That they get the love they deserve.

I'm too sleepy to reread that. Meds have kicked in. Eyes shut time. If I fucked up somewhere in the post do forgive me maggots of mine, it's past 6 am which means the sun has risen and I need to go the fuck to sleep till noon is over at least.

I love you. Love love love. Send me anything you want anytime. My ask box is open. Go wild. You will not be fucking unheard. Yeah? Good. I love you, again, for good measure.

@howmanyholesinswisscheese ya proud of me, dad?

[invisibleicewands]

Michael Sheen Talks Becoming Prince Andrew for ‘A Very Royal Scandal’: “It’s a Hall of Mirrors With Him”

Michael Sheen confesses it was daunting becoming Prince Andrew in Amazon Prime Video‘s A Very Royal Scandal, a series following the infamous BBC interview with the Duke about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Sheen (Good Omens, Twilight, Masters of Sex) stars alongside Ruth Wilson (The Affair, Luther), playing British journalist Emily Maitlis, after she and Andrew came together for one hour on a fateful night in 2019 to produce what is now mostly considered a huge stain on the monarchy’s already-blotted reputation. The Duke of York was probed on accusations he had sex with Virginia Giuffre (then Roberts) at Epstein’s house when she was just 17 in the early 2000s.

The Welsh actor tells The Hollywood Reporter that portraying any real-life person is “daunting” in itself, but a royal family member even more so when the research involves a lot of guesswork and relying on “the person who used to be a security guard.”

“One of the big challenges with with playing Prince Andrew compared to a lot of the people I’ve played,” he begins, “is it’s a hall of mirrors with Prince Andrew. The royal family is so controlled with what gets out. So you’ve got, on the one hand, very stage-managed photographs and interviews and personal appearances, and then you’ve got, gossip and rumor and, ‘The person who used to be security guard said…’ And you don’t know what people’s agendas are.”

Sheen explains that it gets particularly tricky portraying a royal because there’s “a mystery at the heart” of who Andrew is – and, crucially, “what he did or didn’t do.”

“I mean, we can have strong feelings, instincts, opinions about what that might be, but in terms of the nitty gritty, the nuts and bolts of what he did, we don’t know,” he says. “So given that I don’t know, I did still have to make certain choices myself, just so I could play something specific in the scenes. Now, I will never tell anyone what those choices are because they have no bearing on the reality of it one way or the other, really, and it could only really serve to maybe influence the way people watch what I’m doing, and I’d rather that it retain its sort of ambiguity.”

But the star steered clear of impersonating the Duke for as long as possible as he found it makes a better experience for viewers. “Ultimately, you want the audience to engage with what’s going on for the character, not to be too bothered about what’s on the surface and all those things like mannerisms, vocal and physical things,” he says.

“For someone who the audience feels they know so well, they’re coming at it with preconceived ideas and preconceptions about what they look like, what they sound like, what they come across as,” Sheen explains to THR. “So, that’s daunting, because you know you’re going to be judged by that.”

Sheen recalls watching the interview himself, all the way back in 2019 – before the Duke settled out of court with Giuffre for an undisclosed fee. “It is now harder for me to remember what I thought or felt at the time because, because I’ve obviously watched it literally hundreds and hundreds of times now,” he says. “I do remember not having a hot take on it, I just felt the way everyone felt about it: ‘What was that? How on earth did that ever happen?'”

Now 55, nine years Andrew’s junior, Sheen has grown up following the Duke’s generation of royal family members. “Back when I was growing up in the ’80s, he was tabloid fodder all the time,” the actor says. “‘Randy Andy’ and, you know, his relationships. And he was this ruggedly handsome war hero, a prince who was the most eligible bachelor on the scene. [But that] has diminished, he’s one of the least known in that respect, and yet, at the same time, one of the most seemingly familiar because he had that reputation.”

He enjoyed grappling with a man who has lost so much over the years, one who was once incredibly “attractive” and often regarded as Queen Elizabeth II’s favorite child. “So popular, thousands of women shouting and screaming when he comes off the dock, coming back from the Falklands War with a rose in his mouth,” Sheen continues. “To see a man age, put on weight and start losing all that whilst getting further and further away from the center of power, to have money problems when you’re seen as having everything, and to feel like you don’t get treated the way you should get treated for a man of immense privilege, that contradiction is golden for an actor and to have.”

“I mean, he clearly is a character and that was part of the treasure hunt for me,” he adds.

[onceuponapuffin]

Fanatic Intervention Part 14!!!

Happy Birthday to regular reader and commenter @ritz-writes !! :D

Here's the sculpture mentioned in the fic: https://noma.org/collection/history-of-the-conquest/

You'll notice that the poll at the bottom isn't anything suuuuper important. There's just some plot things that I want to get running in the next section, so I'm gonna be writing it up and posting it tomorrow. But I promise you that it's still an important choice to make (also idk what to pick so that means you all get to pick lol ).

Okay! Here we go! Back to New Orleans with The Anti-Apocalypse Crew!

Beginning || Previous || Next

*************************

Now that you all were in the city, it only took Anathema the next morning to hone in on her signal. To Aziraphale's delight, it led you all to the sculpture garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art. To your delight, it led more specifically to a sculpture of a person riding a snail (to victory no doubt).

"I think this might be my favourite statue ever," You say aloud (because this author is assuming you would agree with her opinion). There is a person you don’t know standing in front of the statue. He gives a dissatisfied huff.

"It's called 'History of the Conquest,'" he tells you, despite not being asked, "The ever-slow and over-confident march of the entitled towards a future where they're in charge. Everyone else suffers while they promise glory and prosperity."

Your jaw drops open. This person looks like a 'surfer dude,' but is talking like someone who's spent most of their life in a cubicle changing 1s to 0s for 8 straight hours a day.

"WOW! That is BLEAK," is what finally comes out of your mouth. "Proper ray of sunshine, you are."

Okay, that sounded really British. You briefly wonder about the effect of spending so much time around Crowley and Aziraphale before Surfer Dude starts to laugh.

"I've seen a few things, human. Been 'round longer than you've been alive, will be long after you die. You're no more than a moth in my eyes."

"Wow," You can't help but repeat yourself, "Again, bleak." Also rude, but priorities.

"It is what it is," Surfer Dude replies. You shake your head and turn to Aziraphale and Crowley.

"You're up," You concede. You have no idea who this is, but he called you "human," and compared you to a moth. Whoever this person is, they’re probably the one Anathema’s had you looking for. He doesn’t look like Jesus, but maybe he will know where Jesus is. Either way, Anathema doesn’t get things wrong. If her work brought you to this person, then he’s the person you need to talk to.

That being said, whoever this is, he's the Ineffable Husbands' department and not yours. Sometimes you just gotta tap out and let the celestials handle their own kind. Now, this doesn't mean that you're not going to sit back and watch. Oh no, you want to see how this plays out.

"Can I have some popcorn?" You stage-whisper to Crowley as you pass him.

"Piss off," Crowley stage-whispers back. Despite his complaint, you notice a tiny Michael-Sheen smile on Aziraphale's face, and you return to Anathema, who looks surprised and is holding two small cartons of popcorn. You gratefully take one and have a seat on a convenient bench that is located conveniently within earshot. This is gonna be good.

"Hello," Aziraphale begins as he approaches, "I'm Aziraphale."

"Right," Surfer Dude says with a roll of his eyes, "The Angel of the Eastern Gate. I'm so honoured."

"Here I thought manners were important to angels," Crowley replies, sidling up next to Aziraphale. Surfer-Dude-Who-Is-Apparently-An-Angel takes in Crowley and raises an eyebrow.

"And here I thought demons didn't make a habit of hanging off angels' arms," Surfer Dude scoffs in in return.

Crowley snarls.

"Yes, well, each of us seems to be an anomaly in our own right," Aziraphale says with an appeasing smile, "This is Crowley. Might we have the pleasure of knowing your name?"

"No."

"Ah, right. Well, that is to your own discretion I suppose."

"Rude is what it is," sneers Crowley.

"Regardless, we've come to this garden with the guidance of our friend here, hoping to find, well, Jesus as it happens."

Surfer-Dude-Angel-Person throws his head back and laughs outright.

"You're looking for who now? JESUS? HA! Bit of soul-searching for you, is it? Spiritual journey? Pilgrimage to the Holy Land? You're in the wrong place for that!" He keeps laughing.

I mean, you get the laughter. It definitely sounds weird to a third party. Crazy even. But if this guy is an angel, then shouldn't it sound perfectly reasonable?

"Oi," Crowley interrupts, clearly impatient, "We're trying to save the world here. And since angels don't normally take holiday time, I'd think helping us might be in your best interest."

"You think you can stop the Second Coming? Ha! There isn't another technicality that you can throw around this time. This one's it. Enjoy the giant snail statues while they last, because it won't be for much longer."

"You know an awful lot," You call from the bench, "And you like to talk. So just get to the part about Jesus so we can leave you to be miserable on your own." You popcorn is already almost finished, and you frown into your carton. If only you could do miracles. You'd refill it yourself.

Surfer-Dude-Angel-Person laughs again.

"Yeah, okay, I like this one," he says, nudging a thumb in your direction. He turns away from Crowley and Aziraphale and strides towards you. Suddenly your popcorn carton is full again, so you look up. Okay, maybe he's not so bad. He reaches out a hand to you.

"Call me Sardis, Little Moth."

After a moment of hesitation, you shake his hand. He turns back to Crowley and Aziraphale.

"I can see why you've adopted this one," he says, then turns his attention to Anathema, paying no mind to the garbled protests coming from Crowley. "And since we're doing introductions...?"

"Anathema Device," says Anathema with a nod. She would probably shake his hand, but between her equipment and her popcorn, her hands are full.

"Lovely to meet you, Miss Anathema," Sardis nods at her before finally looking back at Aziraphale and Crowley. "You won't find Jesus here. But meet me for drinks later and I'll tell you what you need to know to find him."

"You're unnecessarily cryptic, Sardis," You say with a raised eyebrow and a mouth full of popcorn. He laughs again.

"Well, Little Moth," his eyes have a sparkle in them now as he looks at you, "Gotta keep myself entertained somehow."

Sardis insists on giving you all a tour of the sculpture garden, but refuses to say anything more about Jesus, or how he knows about Armageddon, or why he isn't in Heaven, or anything else that you actually WANT to talk about. He insists that such talk isn't for a quiet garden full of art. It isn't until he lays a cryptic finger beside his nose and winks at you that something clicks in your memory.

Remember, back before JK Rowling turned out to be an awful person, back when everyone read Harry Potter? EVERYONE, RIGHT?? Perhaps, dear Reader, you remember the chapter in book 5 where Hermione calls a meeting at The Hog's Head because it’s less crowded. Hermione figures the sparse crowd means that there are fewer people to see them together. Perhaps you also remember when, later in the book, this action comes back to bite them, and they are told very sternly that they should have met at the Three Broomsticks precisely BECAUSE it was busier. A busy pub meant they would have been less likely to be overheard.

Suddenly you look around the garden and notice the sparse, but very much there, collection of people. Just the right number of people that could listen to your conversation if they wanted to without you being any the wiser. Oh.

Oh.

Maybe the cryptic is a little bit necessary after all. He’s still overdoing it in your opinion, but whatever floats his goat.

You part ways after his tour, agreeing to meet at a local bar at 9pm. There’s enough time to go back to the hotel, freshen up, and get something to eat before you make your way there.

“Well,” Aziraphale says back at the hotel, “This Sardis certainly is a character.”

“I know the name from somewhere,” You trail off in thought. Where have you heard it before? Sardis…Tardis…Sardine….You’re not sure, but it rings a bell.

Anathema is already flipping through notebooks. Aziraphale has picked up his copy of the Bible, and Crowley is on his phone. You figure everyone else has it covered, and sure enough, it’s Crowley who finds it first. Google, no doubt.

“Ha! Found the sod! He’s in Revelation.”

“Oh!” You practically jump as recognition finally hits. “He’s one of the seven angels! The ones we didn’t think were here!”

“You didn’t think any of them were here?” Anathema asks, “Did you even check, or did you just assume?”

“Well Muriel said…” You go quiet, before clearing your throat and trying again. “We didn’t look into it far at all, no.”

“So exactly what work did you do before you called me?”

“Umm…….” You say.

“Nnngggh” Crowley adds.

“A great deal less than we thought at the time, apparently,” Aziraphale finally admits with a sigh.

“You are all really bad at saving the world.” Anathema shakes her head.

❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ 🖤

Beginning || Previous || Next

[ingravinoveritas]

The people that keep saying not to ship Michael and David together in real life because of their relationships to Georgia and Anna are also the same ones who keep begging to have the two girls appear in the next season of GO as a couple because of Anna’s little joke of making out with Georgia. Seriously people saw that tweet of hers and immediately decided to ship them together and call them the “ineffable wives” but Michael and David have come out with soooo much more adorable moments of the love and joy they have for each other and everyone starts saying that it’s disrespectful to ship them when their “married” to females in real life 🤷‍♀️ I mean…. The hypocrisy is astounding and disturbing on levels I can’t even comprehend. The fact that Georgia, who is known to search her and David’s name on Twitter and answers back to anyone that tags or even mentions her didn’t even acknowledge Anna’s tweet says sooooooo much about this “best friend dynamic duo”. The fact that Anna is resorting to jokes about kissing another woman just for attention also…. WHEW. If this isn’t the biggest cry for attention I don’t know what is. And the fact that people feed into her attempts also and are petitioning for them to kiss and show up in GO!

Lord. I've seen so much talk about casting female actresses in regard to fem-presenting Aziraphale/Crowley over the past week, and while it is disappointing, I am not at all surprised. The first inkling I had was upon seeing the reactions when a behind the scenes photo of Crowley as Bildad the Shuhite was posted just before the release of GO 2:

It seems that a lot of folks were expecting/hoping for fem!Crowley, as we saw in Golgotha in season 1 (on the right), and when that turned out not to be the case, the reaction was to call Bildad!Crowley ugly, to say that he should shave, and other comments essentially making fun of this particular look. Obviously, much of this could have (and likely was) made in jest, but the overall consensus was clear: You can't be feminine with a beard.

(Which...I'd like to see someone tell that to Michael Sheen, because yes, the fuck you can...)

So from the outset, I was already bothered by what seemed like the hypocrisy of on the one hand celebrating a show where the characters are genderfluid/nonbinary by definition, and then on the other hand getting upset when one character doesn't fit into a prescribed, conventional idea of femininity.

When Neil subsequently mentioned that there had been a storyline for female-presenting Aziraphale and Crowley in the 1960s, it was dismaying (but again, not surprising) to see these same fans casting female actresses in the roles. Never mind that you already had David playing female!Crowley and Nanny Ashtoreth in season 1. Never mind that both Michael and David have played...well, "drag" doesn't seem like exactly the right word, but they've played women, and brilliantly subverted gender roles in their own ways. There is no reason to think that they couldn't do a fabulous job as fem!presenting Aziraphale and Crowley, except that (again) some fans seem to have a specific idea of femininity that they think does not or cannot apply to Michael and David.

Which then brings us to the apparent clamoring for Anna and Georgia as female Aziraphale and Crowley, which has again left me scratching my head. In all of the tweets and hubbub, I have not seen one person say why they think AL and Georgia would do a good job in said roles--like, "Oh, Georgia was so good as [insert role]" or "I loved Anna as [insert role]"--only that they would be "so amazing." This leads me to think that the only reason these fans want AL and Georgia in the roles is because they are Michael and David's partners. They are assuming that this is somehow a guarantee of the same profound understanding of the characters and their connection, despite there being no evidence of such a correlation. (I mean...I fooled around with my former grad school professor last year, but that doesn't mean I have a PhD...)

What it also seems to indicate is that these folks are not thinking of what is best for the characters, either, or indeed if playing female!Aziraphale and Crowley is something AL or Georgia would even want to do. Neil recently said that Georgia turned down a role in GO 2 supposedly because the character was older than her and she didn't feel it was appropriate. If this is the case, why would Georgia want to play the role of a middle-aged character? Because that is what Aziraphale and Crowley are--ageless celestial beings, yes, but beings who have chosen to present as middle-aged. That is a key part of who they are, so to have the female versions of them played by younger actresses makes no sense and seems downright disrespectful.

There is also what you said, about AL's cringey tweet from a little over a week ago. Georgia could have absolutely responded to or acknowledged it by now, as she has responded to several other tweets since then...but she hasn't. Not a reply, not even a 'like.' And I agree with you that that seems to speak volumes, and that it would probably be a good idea if people looked beyond the Staged-driven narrative of "Georgia and AL are BFFs" to see how Georgia actually seems to feel about her.

(And to echo another thing you said, I will never understand how it is somehow completely fine for fans to ship Georgia and Anna/want to see them make out despite neither of them showing that level of affection toward each other or having any visible chemistry, yet not okay to ship Michael and David who do have that chemistry and have been making their feelings for each other very obvious for the last several years...)

So yes, those are my thoughts on the whole female Aziraphale/Crowley fancasting situation. I just hope that if we do get them as fem!presenting in season 3, that it is Michael and David, because there is no way any other two actors could give us what we got with Aziraphale and Crowley the way Michael and David did. I guess we'll see what happens...

[amagnificentobsession]

Seems like a war has been waged.

Someone threw their halo.

I’m seeing more and more venomous posts about the shipping of Michael and David. Aziraphale and Crowley have left the building for now it appears in this argument.

What is written here is MY opinion, no one else’s.

Choose to read it or not, it’s fine. But be respectful.

Not just of me, but of anyone.

The recent explosion of interactions between Michael and David completely and utterly enthralled us.

After the Twitter(X) debacle and the absolute HATE that Michael received for “not choosing a side”, his then attempt at explaining his thoughts (that he didn’t owe to anyone) for wanting it all to end, and civilian casualties to stop. Nope, not good enough Michael, you HAVE to pick a side. He was done. He didn’t want to do it anymore.

He’s working, has a family, came to (X) for a bit of fun and silliness. That was now gone. So he left. Probably in sheer and utter disgust. How can anyone blame him?

Now we have David Tennant, blooming like the most beautiful orchid, petals wide, labellum in its full GLORIOUS expansion, the likes of which we’ve never seen before.

Good Omens, Staged, Litvinenko, Dr. Who, Macbeth, being a DILF (3 goes into 6 twice Michael 🤭) it just continues.

From his choice in clothing, the dignity and eminence with which he carries himself. This comes from a deep self-assurance and self-worth.

Seeing the reviews for Macbeth, his stance onstage, the PURE divination on his face as he looked out and saw Michael. The LOVE in that moment would steal the last remnants of air from an exploding supernova.

No one can tell me there isn’t a pure, abiding LOVE between them. PURE. In whatever way THEY choose to categorize it.

Michael Sheen, we can all agree, holds NOTHING back. If he felt in anyway infringed upon with these ideas, can you imagine him saying nothing? Can you imagine him allowing his BEST FRIEND, someone he deeply LOVES, to be accosted with lies and misinformation?

I certainly cannot.

Michael Sheen has always been a powerhouse. Barreling through on whatever chosen path he decided.

David Tennant has been a softly caressing wave on the beach. Doing as he desired, quietly, without much fanfare. Happy to be low profile.

That has all changed with the adjoining of these two humans.

As others have stated many, many times, “the biggest shippers of these two, are Michael and David.”

Does this keep them in the public eye?

Absolutely.

Does this keep them trending and on topic?

Absolutely.

Do I think they would continue to be this same way with each other if the world looked the other way and didn’t care?

ABSOLUTELY.

[greeneyed-thestral]

I BOOKED A TICKET TO SEE MICHAEL IN NYE

so here's the thing

I went to London for the first time last october and going to the theatre there was a wake up call, as if a voice in my head that had been silent for a really long time whispered 'hey this is actually all you need to feel better? to sit in the dark and experience something special with other people that love it as much as you??'; so I wanted 'London at least once a year' to become a thing

right now I don't know what I'm doing with my life and some days I just feel like I want to hop on a plane and forget everything and everyone, sometimes I just stop and turn my head and realize oh I'm... not in London, but I remember who I was there??

one january evening I kinda mentioned to my sister that Michael would be doing a play at the National this spring; she got me all excited like we looked for planes, hotels and possible dates that could work for both of us and I literally couldn't switch off my head, which scared me, for I stayed awake all night 'till five o' clock writing a detailed schedule for this hypothetical crazy weekend

and then I kinda gave up the idea 'cause I don't have a job at the moment but what if someone calls me?? what if I'm away and I lose the chance of a lifetime? should I even go back so soon like shouldn't I wait for a better opportunity or something special?? but c'mon it's a weekend I mean who is going to need me AND YET--

my sister kept insisting for weeks but I didn't want to be bothered anymore 'cause I've been feeling really down and I didn't want to fool myself like last time, and everything felt pointless anyway

but last night she sent me screenshots of a plane and hotel option for a weekend in march when there's nothing going on here that binds me to stay, and I said you know what... maybe?

so she rushed into my room and not even two hours later we had booked the plane, the hotel and a theatre ticket for me to see Michael Sheen in Nye anD I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO TELL YOU BUT I HAD A BREAKDOWN and started crying

'cause moments earlier there was nothing and now there was this thing and I felt overwhelmed like-- I'm actually going to London just for a day, but I get to see Michael?? like I'll be in the same room as this person that is so so special???

and I felt guilty and scared even though I never leave the house and I don't really do nice things just for me, yet still I ask myself if it's worth it and if I deserve it

there are actually many pros: I had a plane voucher to spend within the year, this is the last weekend my sister can come with me, we get to see London in spring, the hotel is great and very close to the theatre and to the underground, if everything goes according to plans we get to see another play in the afternoon as well, also it's not like Micheal performes live so close so often, who knows when I'll ever get the chance to see him again, and c'mon these past months are proof that I clearly love him in everything he does, don't I owe him this?

on the other hand I get so scared of what might happen like what if I go all the way there and then Michael can't perform that day, what if I wasted the voucher, what about delays and unexpected problems, also the show is going to be filmed, maybe I should have said no and stream it instead of choosing to go there...

I just feel like I'm always waiting for a perfect moment, the perfect occasion, and maybe this is one and I can't seem to see it; must it be that I need others to push me this way otherwise I would never do anything? I mean to me it's scary that I have to reach this breaking point to experience something when I'm well aware that booking a plane to a place that is two hours away it's the norm for other human beings

I just need someone to tell me I did the right thing. 🥺

[lovesosweeet]

KNOW IT ALL x THE BAND CAMINO

part 4

a calum hood songfic

read 1 / 2 / 3

Tillie wasn’t avoiding Calum. At least, she didn’t mean to. She just didn’t know what to say. So instead, she stuck to her safe zones whenever she found herself near him. Mostly, she just talked to Michael or whomever she was with that night as a romantic interest. For the last three months or so, that’s been Nick. Tonight will be no exception.

Tonight is the night of her annual Halloween party. Even before her music took off, Tillie always went all out for Halloween. Nowadays, it’s a scene filled with tons of other young musicians, influencers, models, and general creatives in LA. It was the event of the year in her social circles, and she loved it. 

She normally goes all out for her costumes, and this year, although the costume was basic, was iconic. She had found a vintage red lace corset on Ebay a few months ago and ordered it instantly, deciding she’d build her costume around the piece. 

She paired it with a matching red miniskirt, rhinestone-covered platform boots, and a sparkly pair of devil horns. Tillie knew she looked good, and she wanted everyone to see. 

Per her request, Michael came early with his wife, looking very cute in their matching Avatar: The Last Airbender costumes. Nick had a training session today, so she knew he’d be late, and Tillie hated it when the first person who showed up was someone she didn’t know that well. Michael and Crystal filled the role quickly and brought a 12-pack of Tillie’s favorite beer: Pabst Blue Ribbon. 

Now that the party has been going on for a few hours, Tillie’s condo is full of people and the space is vibrating with the music she has blasting. She lost Nick about thirty minutes ago when his teammates showed up and needed help finding the bathroom. Most of the thirty minutes she has spent on her balcony, both taking puffs from a joint and sipping her now empty can of beer. 

Calum steps out for a smoke break, feeling claustrophobic and stressed about being in Tillie’s home since they’ve still not spoken in over a year. He’d seen Nick arrive an hour or two ago, so that confirmed she was still seeing him. He regretted taking shots before leaving his home once his stomach started to let him know it was unhappy with that choice. 

He’s clammy and nauseous as he pulls his cigarettes out of his back pocket, lighting one up.

His heart nearly stops when he looks to his left and sees the devil sitting on a patio chair. 

“Uh, hey, Tills,” he says. His mouth is so dry suddenly. It takes a lot of willpower not to stare at the sheer material of her corset top or the slight glossy sheen on her lips. His nausea feels amplified at the sight of her and the fact that they’re now trapped with each other. There’s no turning back now, for either of them.

“Hey, Cal.”

He doesn’t know what to say after that.

“I like your costume,” she says after he doesn’t say anything else. 

He stares at the lit cigarette held between his fingers. “Thanks.” He felt incredibly basic putting his costume together. Clark Kent. Not exactly an original idea.

He wants to tell her she looks incredible, because, well, she does. 

Tillie sighs, not sure how much else she can say with his limited conversation. She puts out her joint and stands up, pulling down the hem of her skirt. “I’ll leave you be,” she says quietly before she retreats to the safety of the dozens of people inside, being swallowed by a million more conversations that don’t include the awkwardness that is any interaction with Calum. 

When she re-enters her home, she finds Michael talking to Ashton, both of them looking concerned.

“What’s wrong?” She asks, her eyes looking back and forth between the two of them. Strobing multicolor lights and an obnoxiously loud remix of ‘Thriller’ are the backdrop of their seemingly tense conversation. 

They turn to face her and both of them go pale. 

“Uh,” Ashton starts.

“Um,” Michael says, a panicked expression formed on her best friend’s face. “Nothing.”

Tillie rolls her eyes. “You’re both useless.”

Normal people would be curious about their conversation, but not Tillie. If they don’t want to tell her, she doesn’t particularly care. She sidesteps them, scanning the room for Nick so she can catch up with him. He’s tall enough that he’s easy to spot.

As she walks away, she catches a fragment of Michael and Ashton’s conversation.

“Guess they didn’t talk out there.”

She approaches Nick and his teammates, and they all start cheering and clapping. “There’s our stunningly sexy host!” Nick says, holding his arms out for Tillie to hug him, which she gladly does. 

“Tills, this is great,” one of the guys says.

She flashes her smile at him. “Thanks, it’s my favorite part of the year.”

“Makes sense,” one of the other guys adds. 

“Tillie’s been freaking out all week about getting everything in order,” Nick explains, which makes Tillie pinch his arm, hard. She doesn’t want people to know the painstaking effort she went through to put the party together. That’s not her vibe.

“I haven’t been freaking out. Just excited for the party of the year!” She reaches for Nick’s cup as she cheers, taking a big gulp of whatever concoction he has in the plastic container. “I’m gonna go get a refill, care to join me?”

Nick follows her like a lost puppy to her kitchen. Tillie grabs herself another can of PBR from her fridge while Nick just stands beside her. She also grabs a handful of peanut butter M&M’s and pops one into her mouth. Her man follows her lead and grabs a piece of candy. They stand there for a few minutes, their silence masked by the general chaos of everyone else in the kitchen, but Tillie freezes when Calum and Luke enter the kitchen.

Cal freezes in the doorway.

“I’ll grab you a vodka soda, Cal,” Luke says, knowing Calum is about to run away.

Calum stares at Tillie for a few seconds before ducking out of the room quickly, making Tillie sigh. She’s not going to do anything or say anything. She wishes they could just have a normal conversation again. 

Tillie throws the last three of her M&M’s into her mouth before she grabs a solo cup and pops the cap off the large bottle of vodka on the table. She pours an ounce or so of the liquor in and then grabs a can of La Croix from the fridge, filling up the rest of the cup with it before handing it to Luke. 

“I know how to make a vodka soda, Tillie,” Luke says. He’s laughing, making himself a rum and Coke.

“Can’t I do something nice for my friend?” She asks.

Luke eyes her. Tillie is a lot of things, but she is not the kind of person who just does something nice for people without being asked. It doesn’t make her a bad person or even a bad friend, but it’s something that sticks out to Luke when Tillie just makes a drink for Calum. 

“You’re Luke, right?” Nick asks. He’d hung out with Michael a few more times since the VMA’s, but he hadn’t seen the rest of the 5SOS boys since then.

Luke smiles and nods. “Yeah, that’s me. Sorry, I know we haven’t really gotten to talk to each other yet, but I’ve heard great things from Tillie and Mike.”

Nick grins. “Well, she speaks highly of all of you. Her ‘four children’ is what she says whenever she talks about you.”

Tillie rolls her eyes. “I don’t speak that highly of them.”

“I mean, I feel like I know all of you based on how much she talks about you,” Nick adds. Tillie smacks him on the arm, wanting him to shut up. She hates talking about emotions and her feelings. She’d rather not have Nick share all her love for the boys of the band she’s spent so much of the last few years with. 

“Aw, Tills! I knew you loved us.”

“Yeah, she does!” Nick says. He’s not great at taking hints. “Except, she doesn’t say much about one of you… I know you’re Luke, and there’s Mike, obviously, and then… Ashton? But there’s a fourth one.”

Tillie wants to kick him in the balls right then, but instead, she puts her beer can to her lips and chugs half of its contents. 

“The fourth one is Cal,” Luke says. He’s smirking as Tillie squirms with discomfort. “He and Tillie were pretty close for a while there. Interesting that she’s not said much about him.”

“Lovely chat, Luke. We’ll see you later,” Tillie says, grabbing Nick’s hand and pulling him to the makeshift dancefloor in her living room. She places his hand on her waist and raises hers up to the ceiling while she starts dancing to whatever bass-driven beat that’s playing through the speakers. 

Music thuds through her veins, mixing with the alcohol from her beer nicely enough to make her lose herself in the crowded room. Tillie isn’t sure how long she stays on the dance floor with Nick, but eventually, he just stops dancing as an alarm on his watch goes off. She pouts up at him, and he looks vaguely apologetic.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “I’ve gotta go. Early flight tomorrow.”

Tillie frowns. Why hadn’t he mentioned that before now? 

“Oh.”

Nick smiles at her as reassuringly as he can. “I’ll call you when we land tomorrow?”

Tillie regroups mentally and nods, taking on a fake smile for the billionth time in her life. “That works. You can stay here if you want, you know?”

He shakes his head. “No, I don’t have any of my gear and I don’t want to disturb you when I leave in the morning.” He bends down to kiss her before he starts to leave the party. 

Tillie tries her best not to be disappointed, heading straight back to the kitchen for another beer to try to mask her feelings and put on a show for everyone. People like Tillie for being confident and brash and funny. They don’t like her for being sad or emotional or sensitive.

She wants to step away from the mass of people for a minute, so she ducks into her bedroom for a moment to herself, but as she crosses the threshold, she’s welcomed the sound of someone gagging in her bathroom. She’s annoyed that someone took it upon themselves to use her en suite bathroom, meaning they had to walk through her messy bedroom, and they’re puking in it. She walks up to the slightly ajar door and lightly raps her knuckles against it.

“Okay in there?” She asks.

Her only answer is the sound of the person vomiting again. At that, Tillie opens the door, deciding the person probably needs some help if they’re throwing up more than once. None other than Clark Kent is doubled over on her bathroom floor.

Fuck, she mouths to herself.

“Shit, Cal,” she whispers. She springs into action, grabbing her bottle of water from her nightstand and kneeling down next to Calum. He’s speechless as she hands him a wad of toilet paper to wipe his face off and holds the water out to him. Stunned, he wipes his face before tossing the paper into the toilet, Tillie flushing it alone with his puke as quickly as she can. 

Tillie stands up straight, once again adjusting her mini skirt as she does, and then she holds her hands out to Calum to help him to his feet. He requires far more assistance than he does when sober.

“Can I lay down for a bit?” Cal asks with a meek voice that nearly makes her heart stop beating.

“Of course,” she says, guiding him back to the bedroom, where she helps him into her unmade bed. She kneels again, untying the shoes on his feet and pulling them off. 

Once Calum is situated in her bed, she pulls a blanket over him. His eyes are screwed shut in discomfort. Tillie takes that as a sign that she should leave him be, so she slowly retreats to the door, but then Calum stops her.

“Wait, Tills.”

She sighs. “What’s up, Cal?”

“Why do you hate me now?”

“I don’t hate you,” she says, almost too quickly. 

Calum laughs bitterly. “Could’ve fooled me.” 

“Calum, I promise, I don’t hate you.”

“You haven’t spoken to me in a year, Tillie. A whole year.” His voice cracks and Tillie feels a knife in her heart, but she’s the one who put it there. She doesn’t know how to reply. He’s not wrong, but, at the same time, she knows that he hasn’t spoken to her either. She knows that it’s on her, even if it’s a two way street.

She’s the reason there’s a divide between them, and they both know that fact very well. 

“I’m sorry,” she says quietly.

Another bitter laugh comes from Calum. “No, you’re not.”

Fuck. Fucking hell. That’s all Tillie can think. She wishes she could run away and end this conversation here, but she knows she can’t. They’re having this conversation in her bedroom, which is where, ordinarily, she’d escape to. 

Is she sorry? She doesn’t know, but she knows that’s what she should’ve said in that space, so that’s what she said.

“I don’t know what you expect me to say,” she confesses. She thought she should apologize, but that’s not good enough for him. 

“Maybe start with whatever the fuck made you just dip out of my house one morning and leave me with just a sticky note that said, ‘I need some space. I’m sorry.’”

Tillie makes a sharp intake of breath, her own words coming back and biting her in the ass. She knew it was a low blow when she did it, but she didn’t know how else to handle that situation. She knew she wouldn’t be able to look him in the eye and tell him it was over. Whatever ‘it’ was. 

She can’t tell him why. She hasn’t told anybody why.

“Cal, I just did what I thought was best and it was at your expense. Again, I’m sorry.” Now, she at least partially means it when she apologizes. She isn’t sorry that she hasn’t spoken to him. That much he should’ve expected, but leaving the note, she is sorry for that. 

“Doesn’t matter now, though, does it? You’ve got Mr. Famous Basketball Player now.”

Tillie sighs frustratedly. “Those two things are unrelated. Don’t circle this back onto Nick.”

“They seem pretty related to me.”

She groans, running her hands through her hair. “I’m not doing this right now, Calum.”

As she exits the bedroom, she hears Calum mumble words that hurt her just as badly as she’s sure she’s hurt him.

“Sure, run away instead of actually owning up to the mistakes you’ve made like always. You’re a fucking one trick pony, Tillie.”

Tillie holds back tears as she runs to Michael, grabbing his hand and pulling him to her balcony for some privacy. She doesn’t say anything before she hugs him, needing him to help calm her down. He’s happy to help, and gives her the hug she needs. Even Michael doesn’t know what happened between Tillie and Calum, but he knows Tillie well enough to know that whatever decision she made regarding Cal, it wasn’t ill-intentioned. She's a self-preservation girl to her core, but she doesn't ever mean to harm anyone.

Calum is one of the only people he’s ever seen her actually love.

read next part

a/n: anyone have theories of what happened betw tillie and cal to cause all this ~tension~????

[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".

[inhonoredglory]

Hey, I reaaally love all your meta analysis, especially the one on Aziraphale's morality. You truely have a wonderful writing style! And you expressed the feelings I had about the S2 finale I couldn't put into words and had me in tears again. I never really believed in the coffee theory (although a part of me hoped for it since it would be way less painful). But there is one thing I can't wrap my head around. The coffee theory is partly supported by the final scene of Aziraphale in the elevator and his creepy smile. Even when he looks forward to his new position and is convinced he does the right thing, I can't believe he wouldn't smile like that (and Michael Sheen is to talented for it being am accident). He still lost his soulmate Crowley, he still had to give up the life he loved so dearly and we know how much he struggled with that in the first place talking to Metatron. So why this smile, which aside from that, really did not look like him? I fear, that his memories were wiped out in this elevator. But since you have so a great understanding of Aziraphale's character, I would like to know your theories about that? Thanks a lot!!

(In response to my meta on why Aziraphale had to go to Heaven)

Thank you so much for your kind words, @sabotage-on-mercury (truly means the world to me). Honestly, the creepy smile was one part of the ending I couldn't quite put my finger on either, until someone pointed out on a Twitter response to my meta:

The reason why its scary is bc azi is becoming properly angry at the system and is 101% determined to set things right (Source)

In season 1, Aziraphale was determined not to kill anyone to stop the Apocalypse. He wouldn't even tell Crowley where the Antichrist was, because Crowley's only solution was to kill him.

And because Crowley consistently didn't have any ideas ("not one single better idea??"), Aziraphale took it on himself to pursue the only option left––to ask God to intervene and stop both Heaven and Hell from destroying Earth. Therefore, Aziraphale had to keep the integrity of his angel status by distancing himself from Crowley, while the world was still in danger.

Despite this dedication avoid bloodshed, when God didn't have an answer, Aziraphale went against one of his core beliefs to help save the world. He was willing to murder a child.

For Aziraphale, that takes guts. And (seeing how he reacted at the end of the Job minisode), I wonder that if he had killed Adam Young, Aziraphale would have checked himself into Hell.

Going to Heaven for Aziraphale is ultimately a conscious choice, one that he is clearly afraid of. We see him constantly steeling himself again the Metatron in the end, covering his fear and hurt from losing Crowley with a placid smile and a flippant attitude. He's wearing so many masks, to Crowley, to himself, to the Metatron...

All season we've seen him playing roles (detective, magician, doctor, landlord). But the final role is warrior. Going up that elevator, we first see Aziraphale's eyes searching, worried, panicking, but unable to show it because he's not in a safe space. He swallows, blinks, he's breathing hard (you can see his entire shoulders rise and fall).

But as he goes up, his expression steels. He's quite literally putting on a mask (to himself): a vengeful, hardened expression of pure anger and rage (to drown out the fear and uncertainty he so clearly still has).

Michael Sheen conveying contained anger in both Good Omens and Masters of Sex (gif by @julielilac)

Cuz this isn't just him scrambling to kill a kid, this is him walking calmly and knowingly into sacrificing everything he loves most (Crowley, the bookshop, his entire life on earth) to create a world that will always be safe for him and Crowley and humanity for the rest of time. Where he would have to go up against the most powerful angels, the Metatron, and God Themself to change things. He can't be the kind, sweet angel he was on Earth. That won't cut it in Heaven if he wants to make a difference in any real way.

He wanted to do it with Crowley, with the love and support and strength of his demon. But without him, Aziraphale has to channel something else to keep his resolve afloat.

Something he had when he was a warrior, fighting on the front lines of a battle between Heaven and Hell, when he very likely led a platoon into divine fields of bloodshed before the earth was born. When he was an avenging angel.

I haven’t done this since the Great War.

It was a time and an identity he had chosen to leave behind, because it wasn't the kind of angel he was anymore ("I'm not fighting in any war!"). In this context, you can read Aziraphale's passionate unwillingness to take a life (his pacifism) directly into his past experience as a warrior. It is often the veterans of terrible wars who are the most earnest advocates for peace. (And especially in Britain and Europe, where the violence of the world wars is still such a powerful and painful national memory.)

As he goes up the elevator, he's breathing so hard we can hear it mirrored in the soundtrack, and he is so hyperfocused on steeling himself that he doesn't even care that the Metatron is watching him. He doesn't rest until he's psyched himself into that warrior mindset necessary to carry out this mission entirely by himself, to be both the moral advocate and the uncompromising leader of angels who had intimidated him his entire life. To demand respect and to talk to the very face of God and tell Them they are Wrong.

(Please read this Neil-approved meta for further thoughts on God and Aziraphale.)

That creepy smile is clearly not there because Aziraphale is happy to fall into a toxic parent's false love. There's no comfort or wistful nostalgia in that face. There's no "it'll be so much nicer" in that smile. It's not a happy smile. It's an I'm-gonna-fuck-shit-up smile.

Because it's a warrior's smile before they go into battle, before they put on that armor and, for a while, become something they're not in the name of some greater good. He's fucking furious and it's downright frightening.

Because I have no doubt that the angel Aziraphale we get in Season 3 is the angel Aziraphale who can say this:

He's not there yet in the TV show. But this bravery, this anger, this flaming rage is how it starts.

Or as he's described in the book when Aziraphale mysteriously does away with the local mafia:

Just because you’re an angel doesn’t mean you have to be a fool.

[sinner-sunflower]

Good Omens 3 Imagine

We know from season 2 that angels flying look like shooting stars.

Imagine the next season starting with a shooting start across the night sky. As it is flying through the sky, the voice of a child overlaps it. "Star light, star bright, First star I see tonight; I wish I may, I wish I might. Have the wish I wish tonight."

It ends with the star crashing into the ground, forming a crater. A figure lays on the center, in pain. It sits up, wincing, bright, blue eyes blinking tiredly, and familiar white-blonde hair. Black wings spread out as it continues to smoke.

There's no doubt about it. Aziraphale has fallen.

And he's not the only one. (cue camera panning to the sky as a meteor shower is happening)

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

I wanted like a slight de-aged Aziraphale take on it. Just imagine a younger Michael Sheen.

I've had this idea in my head for a while and the next part is him walking, back (wings) all bloody, until the front of the bookshop.

The fallen angel is discovered by Maggie who is concerned that someone is just standing in the rain. She was about to tell the person that the shop is closed and to get out of the rain until she sees all the blood.

Only then does Maggie have a good look at the stranger. It was Mr. Fell but younger?

Cuts to Crowley in his car at some location and receiving a call from Nina to hurry the fuck up back because there's a problem that probably concerns him.

Arriving at SoHo to Maggie's record shop, Crowley is still hurt by the events of last season, so he just wants to get this over with asap.

M: thank you for coming

C: what's the problem?

N: let's just show you.

And then Crowley was face-to-face with someone who hurt him deeply.

C: A-aziraphale?

Crowley could feel that something is different, and it is not just the different corporation.

The person in question suddenly had tears falling to which Maggie freaked out about.

A: o-oh im sorry. I don't know why Im - um they just came out as I saw you. Apologies.

M: This is Crowley, he's here to help. Why don't you get him tea?

--------

that's about what I can type for now lkasdkla if anyone wants like more elaboration or a part 2 then I'd be more than happy

[aleserzal]

Things I'd like to see in the third season of Good Omens.

Hello y'all! I'm sure you all share with me that the second season has been a delight and a rollercoaster of loving and sad feelings. So, these days depressed in my room… I've been thinking about things I would like to see in the third part of this wonderful story. And please, don't be shy, leave me in comments your thoughts or other ideas/things you'd like to see in the third season. I'd love to read it!

Crowley and Aziraphale talking in whispers about the first time they met (S2x01)… and Crowley tells/whispers him his name when he was still an angel.

Aziraphale comes over and gives crowley a plant… and talks a bit, but Crowley wants a proper apology… the apology dance.

A HUGE breakfast with lots of alcohol, both happy, at the RITZ.

A kiss and may we hear nighingales at that moment. Crowley: "That's what I meant, angel.

Nina knows everyone's taste in coffee… In the season two finale she said she wants to take it slow and not out of spite, so Maggie starts by asking her what her favourite coffee is. Nina smiles and answers.

Aziraphale continues because of his taste in yellow. Crowley realises it is because of him and his "pretty" eyes.

Crowley back at his home.

Crowley continues to visit the bookshop just to make sure that no books are sold and everything is going well with Muriel. Maggie and Nina visit him over coffee to ask him how he is doing/feels.

We saw in season two that Muriel and Crowley can perhaps be good friends, perhaps develop that friendship a little more as Muriel keeps him informed about Aziraphale in heaven.

Nina and Maggie's first date

Aziraphale, being so innocent, is being used for the Great Plan, he REALLY thinks he can change things (second coming) and Muriel finds out. Maybe Crowley can borrow Muriel's body and sneak in to rescue him (imitate Muriel's voice and suddenly say "Angel" in his own voice in front to Aziraphale). They'll get him eventually… and Crowley will need someone's help to get in… Gabriel's. One more last time.

Aziraphale misses his books and the food of human beings very much… in one of those memories Crowley's face and smile appears. He shakes his head to get rid of that image, but he knows very well… (and so do we) that he is hopelessly fallen in love with that demon.

Crowley's car ends up being black with yellow parts.

Clearly the coffee was a "threat" because of the name where it was bought. It will be called "The Judas Kiss".

Aziraphale realises how much he's been used, which makes him totally savage, he explodes in rage and we see immeasurable power, Halo and glowing eyes included. We always saw him as cute (and we ADORE that part of him), but there is a whole being of great power inside Aziraphale for sure. This will surprise Crowley in a very good way. (Imagine Michael Sheen enjoying and giving it his all in that scene)

Aaaaaand done!

Thanks for read. I look forward to your ideas or comments