#numenoreanrockopera

[mad-madam-m]

Can you please, please write a full length fic of the extended tags you did for the ‘you didn’t have a trial’ Aziraphale/Crowley piece?

I have enough other stuff to write, so I was going to say no, but 1) this is the second request I’ve gotten for a full(er) fic based on these tags and 2) let’s be real, the amount of prompting I need right now to write a Good Omens fic is approximately zero. So here you go!

“You know, I’ve been meaning toask, what was my trial like?” Aziraphale asked out of the blue after threebottles of wine.

Crowley fumbled his glass and nearlydropped it, and only a minor demonic miracle kept the wine from splattering allover the sofa. “Er, what?”

“My trial. You know.”Aziraphale pointed upward at the bookshop ceiling and then poured them bothsome more wine. “Up there. I mean, you did say they won’t leave us aloneforever, and much as I want you to be wrong about that, I don’tthink you are. If Gabriel or one of the others mentions something to me, Ishouldn’t like to give the game away if I don’t know what they’re talkingabout.”

Crowley’s throat went suddenly dry,and he drank most of his wine in one swallow. “I mean, I could bewrong. It’s been a few weeks. They may be leaving us alone forgood.”

“Crowley, I know you don’tactually believe that,” Aziraphale said in a manner that meant he wouldn’tbe budged on this topic, and then his face softened into concern. “Mydear, what is it? Was it really that awful?”

There was no way to hide it. And he shouldn’t behiding it, but the instinct he had to protect Aziraphale was strong. Theyboth knew how awful the angels could be, but Aziraphale seemed to cling stubbornlyto the idea that there was still good up there, somehow. And Crowleyhated being put in the position to remind him otherwise.

He sighed and pulled off hissunglasses. The least he could do was do this without any barriers betweenthem. “You didn’t have a trial, angel.”

Aziraphale stared at him, eyes goingever-so-slightly wider than normal. “What?”

Crowley rubbed the bridge of hisnose and looked down at his wine glass. “There wasn’t a trial. They justtied me up in a chair until the demon got there with the hellfire. And thenthey only untied me to tell me to walk into it. No prosecution, no defense, nonothing.” He cleared his throat and finished off the last of his wine.“It was just an execution.”

He looked back up from the glass toAziraphale, who had gone uncharacteristically still. The disbelief on his facefaded as the words sank in, and he looked…

Shattered. Shattered and hollow andmore than a little betrayed.

Crowley hated himself for puttingthat look on his angel’s face, even if he was only the messenger.

Aziraphale blinked quickly andsmiled, but it was only a faint echo of his usual one. “Oh. Well. I reallyshouldn’t be surprised, all things considered. Gabriel isn’t one to let thingslike facts get in the way of his decisions. And it does make thingsa bit easier on me, I suppose. Not much at all to remember, is there?” Hegestured with his glass. “Thank you for telling me, my dear.”

No, Crowley didn’t hate himself. Hehated Gabriel, and if that bastard of an archangel came within a hundredfeet of Aziraphale, Crowley was going to burn him where he stood. He’d do it now ifhe thought it would wipe the broken look off Aziraphale’s face. He’d yank themall out of Heaven in a heartbeat.

But he’d known Aziraphale too long.Revenge wouldn’t fix anything, and Aziraphale would probably be upset with himfor even trying it.

Crowley cast about for an idea,something that would help. “Why don’t we go see a movie? It’sFriday. There’s loads of new ones.”

Aziraphale laughed, although itwasn’t so much of a laugh as a sharp exhale through a smile that was breakingapart. “I’m afraid I’m not feeling much for a movie.”

“Concert?” Crowley suggested.“I think there’s one you’d really love.”

Aziraphale shook his head.

“Opera? They’re doing Carmentonight.” Somebody somewhere would be doing Carmen tonight; Crowleycould find a way to get them there. “Or Hamlet?”

Fuck, he would sit through a hundred performancesof Hamlet if it just meant Aziraphale would smile like normal again.

Aziraphale’s smile trembled, and hestood up from his chair and joined Crowley on the couch. “I think,”he said very softly, “I would just like you to sit with me for abit.”

It was both the simplest thing to doand the hardest thing to do. Crowley switched his glass to his other hand so hecould put his arm on the back of the couch, behind Aziraphale. “Of course,angel.”

Aziraphale shifted closer, andCrowley took the invitation to drop his arm around Aziraphale’s shoulders. Hisangel let out a shuddering sigh and leaned fully against him, resting his headon Crowley’s shoulder.

Crowley held him close and pretendedhe didn’t hear it when Aziraphale sniffled. He did, however, mentally catalogall the ways he knew to kill an angel because he would only get the chance touse one of them on Gabriel and he had to pick the best one. Mightas well get started on deciding now, so when the time came, he would be ready.

He wasn’t sure how long they sat together,quiet but for Aziraphale’s shaky breaths. It had to have been awhile, becauseCrowley had finished going through every way he knew of to completely andutterly destroy Gabriel, and had moved on through Uriel and Sandalphon and was workingon Michael just for the hell of it (Michael hadn’t been there, but Michael wasa wanker of the highest order and Crowley would dearly love toshove them into a pillar of fire) when Aziraphale sat up and patted Crowley’sshoulder.

“I’m afraid I’ve made quite amess of your shirt,” he said.

“It’s fine,” Crowley saidquickly. He could not give less of a shit about his shirt. “It’llclean.”

The smile Aziraphale gave him wasstill small, but much closer to his usual one, and the knot of anxiety inCrowley’s chest finally began to loosen. “Well, thank you very much, mydear.”

“Of course.” Crowleyrubbed his thumb along Aziraphale’s shoulder. “Whatever you need.”

It scared him sometimes, the depthwith which he meant that. He wasn’t sure if Aziraphale evenunderstood the true lengths to which he’d go.

Then again, Aziraphale had threatenednever to talk to him again and Crowley’s immediate response had been to stoptime, so maybe he did.

Aziraphale stared at the floor ofthe bookshop, looking not quite as shattered as he had before but stillimpossibly sad. Crowley was torn between wrapping him in a blanket andgetting a head start on his revenge plans.

He compromised on attempting morecomfort. “You’re better than all of them, you know. Bunch ofself-righteous, hypocritical—”

Aziraphale shook his head. “Crowley.”

“What? I’m not wrong. I’ma demon, I can spot self-righteous hypocrisy from several miles away. They’reawful, angel. You aren’t. You’re what they should be.”

Aziraphale did not look at him, butCrowley saw the corner of his lips turn up. “Will you be irritated if Isay that’s very kind of you?”

“Only if you say it loudly,”Crowley muttered. He still had something of a reputation to uphold.

“Hm. Then I shall say this nextpart very quietly.” Aziraphale sat up a little straighter and linked hishands in his lap. “You are my oldest and dearest friend, and your opinionmatters more to me than anyone else’s. It always has, even when I was toofrightened to admit it.”

Crowley gaped at him and scrambledto find a coherent thought, as his entire conscious mind was hung up on oldestand dearest friend. “Hang on, I’m supposed to be the one saying thingsto make you feel better.”

Aziraphale turned to him, and nowhis smile was much closer to normal. “Interesting. It seems like saying nicethings to you helps immensely. I’ll have to do it some more.”

The very air in the bookshop had tobe consecrated. That was the only explanation for why his cheeks were suddenly burning.“You do not.”

“Oh, I really think I do.”Aziraphale patted his knee. “In fact, I think I need to doit.”

The sly look in his eyes told Crowleythat the word choice had absolutely been deliberate. He groaned and dropped hishead back on the couch. “Just keep it quiet, will you?”

“As a mouse,” Aziraphalepromised, but he was practically glowing with the prospect.

The sight of it loosened the knot inCrowley’s chest the rest of the way.

He groaned again, but it was onlyfor effect. He had meant what he’d said, after all.

Whatever his angel needed.

[futuresoon]

Please tell me you scanned that Amok Time script hahaha

it’s come to my attention that it probably isn’t actually a physical copy of the script--apparently fans used to make photocopies of them and spread them at conventions, and given that this one has obvious photocopier marks on some of the pages, that seems pretty likely. so its only actual value is as a receptacle for the words of the script, which are on the internet already--google “amok time script” and you’ll find a couple places. it does seem like the stage directions aren’t all online, but from what i skimmed, most of them aren’t very interesting; it’s only the ones i took pictures of that stood out, and now that i made that post, they’re on the internet too.

in any case, by now the script i found is either 1) thrown away because it’s just a photocopy and no one outside slash fandom cares about a few lines of stage directions or 2) with the rest of my grandpa’s stuff at the college he went to. either way, the only use it has to fandom is for those few lines, so whatever happened to the paper doesn’t really matter. words are cool like that.

[atlantis-is-burning]

@numenoreanrockopera omg baabbee 🥲

let's be mutuals again in our next life

[garrulus]

@numenoreanrockopera said:Take some butter that is not quite room temperature; a little colder is better. Place it in a bowl. Place some of the strawberry jam in the bowl as well. Mash with a fork. Strawberry butter. Perfection on bread. Trust me.

ugh i just saw this now! totally doing it tomorrow!!

[sally-shears]

your terrible 3 sentence fanfiction based on your url: “Who are you?” he gasped, cold steel creating thin threads of red on either side of his neck. The shadowy figure at his back smirked, lipstick a perfect match for his now-dripping throat. “What a stupid question,” Sally whispered in his ear as she closed the shears in her hand.

Oh my god you are amazing. (Are you familiar with the actual William Gibson reference? Because if you are not than this basically makes you a genius)

[sally-shears]

here's the name of your playlist: "So Abe Sapien and Scully Walk Into a Bar..."

1. Astronomy Domine by Pink Floyd

2. I Ain’t Superstitious by Jeff Beck

3. Mistreated by Deep Purple

4. Children of the Sea by Black Sabbath

5. Victim of Changes by Judas Priest

6. Water by PJ Harvey

7. It Could Be Better by Girlschool

8. Heroes by David Bowie

[sally-shears]

When you're a college senior, skipping prom to watch The X-Files and eat extreme grilled cheese sandwiches is probably almost socially acceptable. Shout-out to numenoreanrockopera for coming up with this marvelous lifestyle decision.

In other news, Mulder kissed Scully on the forehead and everyone was happy.

[sally-shears]

numenoreanrockopera replied to your post:Sitting in one of the hipster cafes, reading a...

Cobb Cafe, isn’t it?

Haha, I guess that was kind of easy. 

I'm actually pretty fond of Cobb. It has more character than Ex Libris or Hallowed Grounds and the staff seems pretty cool.

[sally-shears]

numenoreanrockopera said: i’m experiencing something equally nauseating with star trek right now. an original series episode i’d forgotten, “day of the dove”, had the 2 most explicitly rape-y and victim-blaming scenes i’d ever seen in-franchise. truly not okay on many levels.

Tbh, this seems to be something of a trend when it comes to "classic" shows and such. As a kid you get bothered by the things the writers obviously meant to be seen as bothersome but the second time around it's really the supposedly "normal" things that really get you. It's an interesting insight into how far back some harmful notions and stereotypes go but it definitely does take away a lot from the viewing experience.

[sally-shears]

For the music ask: 1, 5, 6, 15, 20, 25, 29. 

— numenoreanrockopera

(I kind of annotated these because I love, love music and also because I'm probably slightly self-centered.)

1: A song you like with a color in the title

Black Future - Vektor

( Vektor is one of my big discoveries for the year and I'm a huge fan of the whole Black Future album. It's some seriously great sci fi thrash metal. )

5: A song that needs to be played LOUD

Goddamn Electric - Pantera

(This is probably a pretty generic choice but also a huge classic by a legendary band so I don't feel all that bad about listing it. It's all about getting high on music and I'm all up for that.)

6: A song that makes you want to dance

Do You Wanna Dance? - Ramones

(This is actually a Beach Boys song but I prefer the punk version. I don't really dance, but this is good jumping up and down material.)

15: A song that is a cover by another artist

My Friend of Misery - Dark Tranquillity

(I'm actually a big nerd for covers since I think the fact that awesome bands cover other awesome band is a typical statement about the metal community and its culture of self-reference. DT is also a really cool band and there's some subtle irony in all Metallica covers since Metallica themselves came out with a whole album of really excellent covers.)

20: A song that has many meanings to you

Running Free - Iron Maiden

(One one hand, I'm very fond of this song since "running free" is a pretty good life philosophy. At the same time, it's one of those typical, energetic songs about being young and loving metal and it is also from IM's very first album. This song used to be a typical closing piece at IM's closing shows and all of their concerts I've seen have been highlights of a lot of my days so that's a pretty great association as well.)

25: A song by an artist no longer living

South of Heaven - Slayer

(Jeff Hanneman died pretty recently so this was a pretty immediate association. It also helps that I've always thought South of Heaven was their best album and the eponymous song is definitely one of its highlights.)

29: A song that you remember from your childhood

Medicine Man - Whitesnake

(My dad used to listen to some 80s heavy metal mix tape whenever we drove anywhere when I was a kid and this is one of the songs I always, always sang along to. Whitesnake is generally kind of cheesy and glamy and not really the kind of music I can seriously get into but this song definitely has a special place in my memories.)