#shax official

[noneorother]

I went dumpster diving into the posters for Good Omens Season 2 and found a few pearls.

I found it odd that this season had SO MANY official posters. Hours and hours of work and real dollars from Amazon went into the production of these things. This one won a freakin Clio award. I know Neil confirmed he didn't have a lot of control of what went into these 21 (Or 22 depending on whether or not you count the umbrella piece that was made before season 2 shooting began. Personally I don't!) pieces, but I will leave no stone unturned, so here we go. I combed through every single season 2 poster I could find so you don't have to. Here's everything I've found so far:

1. The allegiances poster

After having watched season 2, knowing what we know now, this poster seems very much to me like a Game of Thrones style family at war image. We have a perfect mirror down the center, with Aziraphale/Angels/Nina&Maggie on Aziraphale's traditional left side, and Crowley with Beelzebub & Jim as reflections of Maggie/Nina, and Shax and Michael(?) as reflections of the three angels on the other side of the mirror. It seems unbalanced, unless you count the floating white head (conveniently watching in the background) as The Metatron...

Which means Michael is... not on the same side as Uriel and Saraqael? She's also grouped in with the Metatron and Shax, on the side of the demons. How very odd. Gabriel & Nina also have a mirror in that they've both turned their backs to the crowd. Gabriel is willing to go live with Beelzebub in hell, and shut down Michael's plan and the Metatron's scheming for a second Armageddon, so that literal turn towards Beez and away from everyone else makes sense to me. The Nina one however? Not so much from what we've seen. Why is she turning her back on the angels & demons? 2. The individual posters

Interestingly, the individual posters all line up pretty much exactly with the all the allegiances this season. You just have to look at the way the characters are slanted vs. how the backgrounds behind them are slanted. All 3 bookshop posters and all 3 street posters are slanting left, with their characters also slanting left. They are who they say they are, and they're on the same side.

Michael and Uriel have right slanting backgrounds, so odds are heaven is supposed to slant right. Uriel is following the rules and slanting right, but of all the characters on the posters, Michael is the only one really betraying the background slant, and is slanting left against her background. Something's up with Micahel. They're not on the same side as they claim to be. Saraqael is more mysterious, as the only one sitting straight, and the only angel to have a left slanting background. Shax seems to be slanting left with a left slanting background, which puts her in the same pose as Uriel, but mirrored. While Beelzebub is weirdly slanting right with a right slanting background, making them a bit of a traitor, like Michael. Shax, Saraqael and Michael have some explaining to do. Lastly, and I think mostly obviously, there's clearly a missing poster in the set. Why doesn't hell have a third green poster? Is it supposed to be the Metatron, and they didn't want to spoil the surprise? Furfur maybe? Why wouldn't poor old Furfur get a poster when he has more screen time than Uriel? I don't think this is very important other than it's funny : everyone single person is holding something in their right hand, except for Shax and Crowley, who are holding things in their left hands, and Muriel, who's holding fucking NOTHING. Poor baby Muriel lolsob. One thing I do think might be important is that there are 21 posters in total + 1 missing one. So maybe 22 posters for season 2? How appropriate. 3. The triple phone box

In both the Nina street poster and the group street poster, there's are a set of 3 red phone boxes down the street. We never see phone boxes in series 2. Seriously, not once. Every other detail in these ones is from Whickeber street footage: gumball machine, post box, newspapers, coffee sign, puddle, walking extras... The only thing out of place is those blasted phone boxes. As far as I can tell it's literally the only thing in all 21 posters that never appears in the show in some form, and this background plate is used for all the street posters, so the phone boxes are in quite a few of them.

4. Crowley is showing his good side, Aziraphale is always facing away from Crowley.

Crowley is always shown with his head tilted to his right this season, body tilted towards Aziraphale and always with long sideburns. Even in the illustrated poster his default is head to the right, sideburns long.

EXCEPT for this poster. This is the only time he's looking away from Aziraphale, and his snake tattoo is visible. And his sideburns are short. Either nobody noticed this or they refused to fix it. There's also the matter of Aziraphale facing his body away from Crowley in every single image except the allegiances poster, where they face each other. So cute.

5. The sneaky details posters

This one has: 1. Pride & Prejudice 2. Treasure Island 3. A tale of two cities 4. The Crow Road 5. Catch-22 9.

AND whatever the hell this photoshop artifact/invisible thing coming out of the scroll on Aziraphale's desk. I checked every version I could find of this poster and it's always there. It looks like someone tried to edit out something that was there and sort of got it mostly right. Which is completely ludicrous given the amazing amount of flawless photoshopping and collaging going on in this image. These are the magicians linking rings from the 1941 magic shop. Mystery solved!

This one has the yellow book on the bookstand, the record, and : 1. Only one clock hand on the grandfather clock, facing 6. 2. A feather duster on the floor (but weirdly it's grey not yellow). 3. The dark horse statue with Crowley's old sunglasses on it. 4. Aziraphale's bowtie ON THE FLOOR. What. Why. I can only conclude that in this poster either A) Aziraphale and Crowley have left these things behind (meaning no more bowtie for Aziraphale in season 3) B) They are currently not wearing these items somewhere else in the bookshop....

_____________________________________ I ran out of images. So the dome poster will have to be it's own post!

[mizgnomer]

Good Omens 2 - The Character Posters

With the text from the official account when they were posted:

Aziraphale: Intelligent, enthusiastic and sometimes a little bewildered. Our favorite bibliophile Aziraphale returns

Crowley: Honourable, unsatisfied and idealistic. Our favorite demon Crowley returns

Gabriel/Jim: Self-obsessed, narcissistic and frankly, everyone’s worst boss. Welcome back, or should we say meet, Jim

Muriel: Innocent, enthusiastic and unworldly. Muriel joins our ineffable motley crew

Maggie: A dreamer who always follows her heart and runs the neighboring record shop

Nina: A hypercompetent realist who runs the neighboring coffee shop

Shax: Her time has finally come. Meet the ever-ambitious Shax

Beezlebub: Let’s face it, there is a lot more “dead person processing” in hell than in heaven. Beezlebub is just trying to manage the day to day of hell

Michael: Michael is just trying to make sure heaven stays in order. Michael and the rules return when Good Omens returns on July 28th

Saraqael: Ever the perceptive one. Meet Saraqael and their immaculate attention to detail

Uriel: With an incandescent temperament, Uriel just wants answers

[drconstellation]

Obligatory Reminders and Crossing the Lines

Have you been wondering why Shax tries to do a mail delivery to Crowley as he escorts the shop keepers to safety from Aziraphale's Eldritch Ball? It seems a pretty random thing to do at that moment.

SHAX: I brought your mail. CROWLEY: Why? SHAX: It stacks up by the front door. CROWLEY: Keep it for now, not a good time.

It's not the first time Shax has tried to give Crowley his mail. We first see her hand a pile over on the park bench in S2E1, while they have an introductory spy vs. spy catch up, in St James Park.

SHAX: I brought your mail. CROWLEY: Anything interesting? SHAX: Bills, mostly. I don't understand why they won't just deliver them to your car. CROWLEY: Send the bills to Hell's finance office. SHAX: I did. They say they can't accept my signature as your replacement.

Bills, mostly. That aren't being accepted by Hell's finance office, unless Crowley signs them. And they expect to find him in the official residence of Hell's ambassador plenipotentiary to this corner of Earth, in Mayfair.

Next, we see Crowley redefining all that mail as "junk" and discarding it.

uh huh. Lets ignore the conveniently placed disposal unit for the moment...

We need to stop and define what those "bills" actually are. Because they are not actually the financial type of bills. Well, they could be. But this is the GOmens AU, so they have a second meaning as well. Paying your bills is also meeting your duties and obligations to another party, and this is something Crowley is refusing to do right now.

I don't think its as simple as Hell being short staffed and they just haven't got around to doing the change over (I know I suggested the latter recently, sorry) and that's why they aren't recognizing Shax's signature. It's that Hell actually hasn't let Crowley go - he is still "on the books," so to speak, despite all that has been said and done since the Nope-ocalypse. He might call himself a "former demon," and he might call Hell his "former side," but that is definitely NOT how Hell sees it, despite the fact they aren't harassing him or giving him tasks to do.

Actually, that should be haven't been harassing him, because since Gabriel "disappeared," they have been back on his case. The mail is a warning sign, but Lord Beelzebub's summons really should have given you the chills.

Crowley protests that they had a "generalized understanding" that he would be left alone, but Beelzebub declares that "we don't."

Ah. So all is not as it appears. They are just playing nice because they want something (Gabriel) and in reality Crowley's position in relation to Hell really is fragile. Yet outwardly he seems more worried about Aziraphale.

It goes downhill from here. Shax begins to stalk him.

This image of Shax is just delish. The sharp "V" of her her decolletage reminds us of a stork's bill, her avatar animal, and it's stabbing down at the snake on her belt. She might be seeking the Frog Prince who escaped Heaven but she's also got a certain snake in her sights.

Shax can't can't cross the threshold of the bookshop without an invitation from Aziraphale. This plays into the old belief that supernatural creatures such as vampires, demons and faeries can only enter a house if invited in. We also see this extended to the Bentley, once "ownership" is extended to the angel, but the door of the bookshop is the important border here for now.

Then have this threat of war being declared:

War on Aziraphale, not Crowley, as they still consider Crowley to be on Hell's side. They don't see it the way Crowley does as Us and Them, to Shax there is still only Heaven and Hell.

So we come back to the second round of mail delivery:

Crowley is about to escort the human shopkeepers to safety and Shax confronts Crowley right on the threshold with his duties and obligations. He really doesn't want to have that conversation right now, not here and not with Shax. As far as he is concerned, he has no obligations to Hell any more, and he's not taking any notice of their demands in any form, either, so Shax may as well just get out of the way and take the mail with them.

And with that, Crowley crosses the threshold, leading the humans out.

At this point in the story you might be asking what's the big deal about that? Crowley has been going in and out over that doorstep several times a day lately, and has crossed it hundreds of times over the last couple of centuries since the bookshop was built. It's not a barrier to him.

The significance of this boundary line has been highlighted to us in S2. We have Shax actually telling us that she knows she can't cross the "threshold" in S2E3, then she asks again in S2E5 where the boundary line is just before Mr Brown is hauled off into the demon Legion. But its even more than that.

On one level its the line that Crowley has drawn for himself. He's not going back to Hell if he can at all help it, and he's quite resolute about that. It's his side or no one's side, from there on in. He reinforces that when talking to Aziraphale in the Final Fifteen.

On another level, I'm wondering if we could consider this a step on the eponymous Hero's Journey? Crossing the Threshold is one of the early stages of the journey where the hero crosses into danger or the unknown. We're shown things aren't normal outside by the mist and green light. Then he diverts off unexpectedly to Heaven with Muriel. Just throwing it out there to see if its worth exploring a bit further. I'd say we've only got the early stages of the journey in S2, with the remainder to come in S3.

[drag0nalias0]

Happy new year!!!

Day 145

Happy New Year! 2023

[starrieshq]

I've Loved You And You Haven't Known It

Hey guys! This is officially my 100th post here! As a little celebration, here's a Kit Herondale x Ty Blackthorn fanfic for you :)

Kit’s heart almost stopped when he saw the Shax demon poised over Ty’s limp body.

He distantly heard Dru’s screams as she ran over to him, Julian close behind her. Emma was yelling something to them, telling them to get Ty away from the fight, away from the demons-

“Kit?” He heard Ty whisper. “Kit, I-”

He choked back a sob as Ty’s voice faltered, and gripped the Herondale dagger tighter. Everything in him was telling him to run, to go to Ty, to help him. But he had to be strong now. For Ty. For everyone.

As Emma and Mark attacked a nearby Vetis, Kit scoped out the Shax that had injured Ty. Dru had held it back while Julian had carried Ty to safety, but now that they were both gone, the Shax was getting dangerously close to Cristina, who was wildly fending off another demon.

‘Oh no, it won’t.’ Kit thought. ‘Not another.’

He stowed the Herondale dagger and unsheathed a longsword, and despite being very limited in his sword work, he took in a deep breath.

“Kit!” Helen called, wielding a crossbow.

“Helen!” Kit rasped. “Ty was hurt, he-”

She grasped his arm. “Go to the Institute. Go to Ty.”

He frowned and gestured to the fray. “But-”

“Go,” She said. “This fight can be ended easily. But Ty needs you now.” She gave him a determined smile. “The Watson to his Sherlock, right?”

Kit gave her a stunned look.

“Yeah.” He said.

Helen shook her head as she loaded her crossbow. “Go!”

She didn’t need to tell him twice. Kit sheathed his sword and took off running towards the car.

By the time he arrived at the Institute, the adrenaline of the battle had worn off, and all Kit could do was worry.

He dashed inside and ran to the Infirmary, where Julian was tending to Ty and Dru was nowhere to be seen.

“Is he alright?” Kit immediately asked, panic evident in his voice.

“Dru’s trying to fire message Magnus and Alec.” Julian responded, sounding worried. “They’ll know how to help him. There’s nothing I can do as of right now.”

Kit did not take that as a good sign.

“Do…do you think he’ll be okay?” He asked.

Julian remained silent for a moment. “He’s resilient. He’ll make it through.” He raked a hand through his brown curls. “But there’s actually been something I’ve been wanting to ask you.”

Kit immediately ran through all the possible outcomes of what he could ask. What if he knew about Livvy? What if he knew the real reason Kit had gone to Cirenworth? What-

“What’s going on between you and my brother?”

Kit halted, unsure of what to say.

“What do you mean?” He decided to say.

Julian raised an eyebrow. “You know. You and Ty. Sneaking off together, always being secretive? What’s going on?”

Kit internally let out a breath of relief. Not about Livvy.

“Nothing, really. We just-”

At that moment, Ty began to stir, quietly groaning as he shifted. Julian and Kit immediately lapsed into silence and watched Ty.

After a moment, Julian gestured to the hallway. “You stay with him. I’m going to go find Dru.” He said. “I think he’ll be in good hands.”

Kit nodded as Julian slipped out of the infirmary.

An hour later, after Magnus had come and worked his magic, Ty was still asleep.

Kit was stretched out a cot next to Ty’s, and was absentmindedly fiddling with the headphone cord that stretched between their beds.

He looked over at Ty, whose hair stood stark against the paleness of the bedsheets. His chest rose and fell, and his cheeks had a pink tint that Kit knew was usually only present when he had said something funny and Ty laughed almost uncontrollably.

Kit was about to go to sleep when Ty finally woke up.

“Kit ?” He rasped out. “Kit, where are you?”

He shot up immediately and got up. “Ty, I’m right here.” He said, perching at the edge of Ty’s bed.

His eyes scanned Kit, looking relieved. “What happened?” He asked, trying to sit up and wincing.

Kit grabbed onto his torso and gently helped pull him upright. “A Shax demon got you. Julian got Magnus to help heal you.” He said. “You’re in the infirmary right now.”

Ty looked around, taking in the rows of cots, the moonlight streaming through the wall of glass windows, and the disheveled and rumpled bed next to him.

“You…stayed with me?” He asked surprised.

“Of course,” Kit replied, “Why would I leave you?”

The corners of Ty’s lips tugged upwards. “Thank you, Watson.” He said. Then, he tugged the covers down.

“Where did it get me?” He asked quietly. “I can’t really feel any pain right now.”

“Yeah,” Kit cleared his throat. “Magnus gave you a lot of painkillers. So you wouldn’t be in agony.”

He walked over to the other side of the bed.

He motioned towards Ty’s shirt. “Can I-”

Ty nodded, and a slight tint crept into Kit’s face. He gently pulled up the side of Ty’s shirt, exposing an angry red slash that ran from the top of his hip bone and across his chest.

Ty took in the wound. “It’s going to leave a scar.” He remarked.

Kit nodded. After a moment, he pulled Ty’s shirt down.

“I should probably go tell Julian that you’re up.” He said awkwardly. “I’ll-”

“Stay.”

Kit’s gaze snapped to Ty.

“Are you sure?”

Ty nodded. “Please.”

Kit’s throat went dry as Ty scooted over to the other side of the small bed and gestured for him to join him.

“C’mon.”

Kit hesitantly settled into the space next to Ty. Their bodies were squished on the small mattress with absolutely no wiggle room, but they managed to shift around. Kit’s arm was awkwardly positioned above Ty’s head, Ty’s legs were tangled with Kit’s. They settled into their positions.

After several minutes, Kit couldn’t stand the silence. “Ty?”

No response. Kit propped himself up on his arm and scanned Ty. He had fallen asleep again. Great.

Kit stared at him, his calm face, his dark hair, his lithe and pale body pressed against his tanned one.

He took in Ty’s calm expression, a mask of peace blanketing his face.

After a moment of deliberation, Kit finally decided to go to sleep.

By the time Kit woke up, sunlight was streaming in through the windows. He could smell the distant whiff of a frittata, probably Aline’s doing.

He was about to get up, but froze when he looked down.

Somehow, during the night, both Kit and Ty had shifted in a way where Ty was half on top of Kit, using his chest as a pillow. Their legs were still tangled together, and one of Kit’s arms was wrapped around Ty’s waist.

He flushed, but before he could do anything, Ty began to stir.

Kit froze, unsure of what to do. What if when Ty woke up, he saw what had happened during the night and was mortified?

Kit was snapped out of his reverie when Ty yawned and opened his eyes.

“How long have you been watching me sleep?” He asked.

Kit flushed an even deeper shade of pink. “I just woke up. I was about to get out of bed when you started to wake up.”

Ty yawned again. He glanced at Kit, his eyebrows furrowing. “Your hair is a mess.”

Self consciously, Kit raised his hand to try and fix it.

Ty watched Kit struggle for a moment.

“Let me do it.”

He hesitated as Ty reached up and began fixing Kit’s hair, his slim fingers raking through his blonde curls. The tips of Kit’s ears slowly turned red as Ty scooted closer to him.

He could feel Ty’s steady breath against his neck as he said, “Okay, I think it looks fine.”

“Thanks.” Kit said abruptly, his cheeks deepening in color. This, of course, did not go unnoticed by Ty.

“Kit? You’re turning pink.” He noted.

He turned pinker. “Yeah. I know.”

Ty sat up next to Kit, so close that their noses were almost touching. Kit could feel his heart speeding up. “People usually blush when they’re embarrassed, but I don’t think it’s that. Is it?” He asked.

“No.”

Ty looked confused. “Then what is it?”

“You.”

Ty’s eyes widened slightly. “Did I do something wrong?”

Kit shook his head. “No, no. It’s not that. It’s just-”

He cut himself off, refusing to finish the sentence.

“Kit?”

“It’s just that…I really want to kiss you right now.” He said truthfully, his face burning. “But I can’t.”

“And why can’t you do that?”

Kit avoided Ty’s gaze. “Because you don’t want that.”

“Kit.” Ty said. “How do you know what I do and don’t want?”

His eyes flickered in Ty’s direction.

“The truth is, you don’t know what other people think.” Ty continued. “You don’t know if Tavvy is as lonely as he appears. You don’t know if Julian really has everything under control all the time.” His gray eyes pierced through Kit. “And the only way to really know how someone feels is through their actions.”

Kit’s heart sped up faster.

“So how do you know that that’s not what I want?”

Kit’s eyes found Ty’s. “I don’t.”

Ty’s eyes flickered.

“Can I kiss you?”

Kit gave a small nod.

Ty hesitantly leaned forward and gently pressed their lips together.

Kit gave a small gasp, his arms automatically wrapping around Ty’s waist. Ty gently raked a hand through his hair, his curls tickling his palm.

It felt as if they were speaking a language that only they knew. Kit lost himself in the push and pull of the gravity between them, the wordless dialogue tearing down the walls he had spent years building between him, between Ty.

When they broke apart, Ty’s face was flushed pink, his lips slightly swollen.

“Oh.” Kit said.

After taking a hot shower, Kit was still not one hundred percent sure that he hadn’t hallucinated the last hour.

His face told him otherwise. His lips felt slightly tingly, he had a permanent blush fixated across his cheeks and ears, and felt like he drank 20 cups of coffee.

After shrugging on a plain black shirt and his signature jacket, he headed down for breakfast in hopes that he could avoid the rest of the Blackthorns.

To his slight dismay, Tavvy and Dru were in the kitchen, eating frittata and laughing.

He quietly poured himself a bowl of cereal as they chatted.

“Julian said that Diana’s coming today.” Tavvy announced.

“Really?” Dru asked. “Isn’t she somewhere off with Gwyn or something?”

“I dunno.” Tavvy said after a moment of consideration. “I miss Diana.”

“I do, too.”

Kit choked on his cereal as Ty walked into the kitchen, wearing a black sweater and jeans.

Ty, upon seeing Kit, froze.

“Do you feel better, Ty?” Asked Tavvy.

Ty cleared his throat, a slight blush creeping into his cheeks. “Yeah, I’m doing better, thanks.”

Dru raised an eyebrow at Kit, who flushed and looked away.

“Ooookay,” Dru said, nodding. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” Kit and Ty immediately said.

“Uh huh.” She said, putting her plate in the sink and heading out of the kitchen. “See you later.”

“Wait up, ‘Silla!” Tavvy called, hopping out of his chair and running after her, leaving Ty and Kit alone in awkward silence.

After a moment of silence, Ty motioned towards the door.

“Well, I guess I’ll-”

“Stay. Please.”

Ty looked surprised.

“Kit��”

Kit took a step forward.

“Ty…I have liked you. For a long time. Probably since you held that knife against my throat in my dad’s basement.”

His face was bright pink, but he continued.

“And to tell you the truth…that night before the Cohort’s parley, the night you- I mean we, tried to raise Livvy? I meant it. Every word. I love you, Ty. I’ve loved you and you haven’t known it.”

[goodomensafterdark]

Feature Fic Fursday!

FFF - Feature Fic Fursday!

This is a special day of the week: fic recs Thursday (pronounced à la Française)!

Each week, we will browse the Good Omens After Dark official AO3 collection, choose a tag and promote the fics that are featured in it!

Have a tag idea for the next week? Comment it!

Have other fic recs, or your own fic would qualify for the tag? Reblog and throw in the link!

Tag of the week:

For WAMEN WEEK, I have chosen: all the 'She/her pronouns' tags present in the collection!

This includes:

‘She/her Pronouns for Crowley’

‘She/her Pronouns for Aziraphale’

‘She/her Pronouns for Beelzebub’

‘She/her Pronouns for Shax’

‘She/her Pronouns for Uriel’

‘She/her Pronouns for Nanny Ashtoreth’

Promotion time:

Queen Of Hell by OneDapperCat

Rating: Explicit

Genres: Angst, Angst/Fluff, Angst with a Happy Ending

Word count: 89,666 words

Chapter count: 33 chapters (completed)

CW: Minor discussion of prior non-con, minor gore, domestic violence

Summary: With Aziraphale on his way back to Heaven, and Crowley having been unable to tell him what he saw in Gabriel’s file about a new Armageddon, Crowley decides he needs to make a sacrifice to stop what is coming. He returns to Hell, planning to talk his way onto the Dark Council, but Satan has a different proposition.

Nanny Likes to Watch You Eat by Depressedpenguin2, a gift for DisastrousLook5116

Rating: Explicit

Genre: Plot What Plot

Word count: 1,464 words

Chapter count: one-shot

Summary: Sexy times between the Ineffable Wives. Food is involved.

Dance Our Night Away by Kotias

Rating: General Audiences

Genre: songfic (based on Frank Sinatra's 'Polka dots and Moonbeans')

Word count: 2,172 words

Chapter count: one-shot

Summary: 1944, 29th of February - leap year. Crowley and Aziraphale are invited to a ballroom dance party, and will dance- but angels don't dance, do they?

Snex on a Plane by FuzzyGoblin

Rating: Explicit

Genre: Plot What Plot

Word count: 1,855 words

Chapter count: one-shot

Summary: Aziraphale is feeling peckish and she prefers to do things the human way. On board a plane with a hidden stowaway, Aziraphale gets more than she bargained for on her quest for a decent meal.

Thou Shall Not by Depressedpenguin2

Rating: Explicit

Genre: Plot What Plot

Word count: 836 words

Chapter count: one-shot

Summary: Sexy time for Beelzebub and Gabriel -married couple, tentacles are involved.

Infernal Tango by isiaiowin

Rating: Explicit

Genre: A plot exists!

Word count: 7,691 words

Chapter count: one-shot

Summary: After Shax accidentally revealed to Furfur that she could dance the Tango, he planned a grand gesture to sweep her off her feet, resulting in a night of fiery passion.

The Stag and The Scale by isiaiowin

Rating: Mature

Genre: Romance

Word count: 29,679 words

Chapter count: 6 chapters (8 planned)

Summary: Ineffable games reach far and wide. Follow the Demon Furfur and his Angel Justice as memories of the past resurface while they try to find a way to be together. Heaven and Hell have other plans, so will this be their new beginning, or is it the beginning of the end?

Show You Something by whatareyou42

Rating: Explicit

Genre: Slow burn

Word count: 115,618 words

Chapter count: 24 chapters (completed)

Summary: Aziraphale and Crowley were spending time together one night and Crowley had an idea, something to show Aziraphale, mostly for laughs, or so he thinks. Could this be a key in helping them fix things after Aziraphale leaves for Heaven?

BYE LOSERZZZZZ

[mumblers-lobby]

Hey mumb 😊

Dropping in to say thanks for playing the GO Ask Game! How about question... 10, 14, 22 and 34?

Have a great day

OMG HIII THANK YOU FOR THESE! They're really fun >:3

10. What traits do you share with Crowley?

looks like a badass but is a soft cotton ball with people they trust lol (physically I share the legendary one-eyebrow-rise default face with him lmao- and I so have trends of dyed red hair and the manbun 2009 hairstyle lol and I ware sun glasses outdoors! and I can hipnotice people with my eyes/hj)

14. Who is your favorite background character from S2?

If you mean background character as in secondary character then It's Shax!!! She's a baddieee I love her so much!! I love all of her styles and she does work as a good Crowley replacement! She is mean and manipulative but she's also really silly at times and I LOVEE that

22. Bildad The Shuhite: hot or not?

Y E S

34. Have you made connections with other people in the Good Omens fandom, here or elsewhere?

YES THE GOOD OMENS FANDOM BECAME MY NEW FAMILY FJKSDNGKS I love every person that became friends with me, I still have some of the friendships I did when I got into it!!

I think the first real friends I made because of it was in a discord server when EVERY got leaked (picture 2 was for my friend Trenton, he did that crochet sweater and I wanted to draw Azi on it <3!! and picture 3 was when one of those friends called Dory make the big effort to send me GO official merch and I cried about it nkjfgn)

Then my biggest group happen when S2 came out, I hosted a stream for over 200 on our discord server at the time. (picture 1 is the group of friends we had at that moment, I still have most of them in my life!) I found my people there and they helped me out a lot 🥺🥺💖

I also found lovely people here and on twitter!! Big artists that started following me and people I admired became my friends /sobs (pix i'm talking about you KJFSDNF) but over all it was, and keeps being, the best community I've been part of and I don't plan on leaving any time soon >:3 we stay strong in the face of difficulties and hug each other!

[isiaiowin]

A special commission for Hell’s art department.

"if you don't start working on this right now, I will pull out your insides and use them as wallpaper," said Grand Duke of Hell, Shax, to the unlucky, ink-stained demon in front of her. "Oh and add one for Furfur too!" Scared for their corporation, they quickly opened H.S. Paint and went to work on Hell’s first official Realm Portraits. Hours went by, fiddling with squares, triangles and most of all the bucket paint tool. Nervously hopping from one leg to another they presented the end results before the Dark Council.

Grand Duke of Hell Shax - 2024 

Hell's Journey into Abstract Cubism

A profound exploration into the merger of Cubism and the contemporary art movement.

H.S. Paint on screen

Earl of Hell Furfur - 2024 

Hell's Journey into Abstract Cubism. 

A profound exploration into the merger of Cubism and the contemporary art movement.

H.S. Paint on screen.

@goodomensafterdark

[ineffable-suffering]

Why Aziraphale is an unreliable narrator

Part 3: The Story of the Magic Show in 1941

Let me at first put a small index for you here, since this is a three part meta and you might want to read the posts that precede this one:

Part 1: The Story of Job

Part 2: The Story of wee Morag

... and now: Welcome to the final Part 3! We made it! Or well, we will have, soon-ish. Because let me give you a fair warning: This one is definitely the longest one out of the three. And by long I mean literally almost 5k words long. Mainly because there's a lot to work with since the 1941 minisode is less mini and more the entirety of S2E4 and also, in my opinion, needs a lot more context than the others. But! That shan't discourage me, as I am currently stuck in bed with a bit of a sore throat, a steaming cuppa tea and an entire afternoon to spare.

So, for the third and final time in this meta series: Let's get cracking! Under! The! Cut!

I shall spare you another summary of the points I have made so far and, should you not have read or remembered them, I kindly redirect you to the end of Part 1 and the beginning & end of Part 2, where I summarize most of it. Don't worry, the link to this post will be in both of them, so you can hop right back once you're done!

On commence with some needed context.

I think one of the most important things to point out at the very beginning here, is that unlike with the other minisodes, we don't have a direct indicator that this is once again one of Aziraphale's memories or diary entries. In the Story of Job, we see him read the part in the Bible and actively immersing himself into the flashbacks (so deeply, even, that Crowley leaves in between, since Aziraphale seems to be so intensely lost in thought). And the Story of wee Morag is being narrated to us by past Aziraphale's diary entry.

All we see before the start of this episode's minisode, however, is Aziraphale driving the Bentley before Shax unconsensually hitchhikes with him and then leaves again. The title squence rolls and we're in London, 1941. And once the minisode ends, it's also not with Aziraphale looking like he just remembered something or a shot of his diary, but instead with present day Shax going to Beelzebub to request permission for the attack on the bookshop and then Aziraphale arriving in Soho, back from his trip to Edinburgh.

It's safe to say, therefore, that these two somehow indicate why and when the 1941 flashback starts and ends the way it does. And they do! You just have to listen and look closely, because the hint of whose memory this is, is a bit more subtle. Let's take it bit by bit.

Shax reveals herself to Aziraphale, catching him off guard. ("You have the advantage on me." "I do, yes.") She then go on to introduce herself as "former admissions demon" and ...

"Now, a Hell's ambassador planner, potentially plenipotentiary* to this corner of the planet. Replacing the demon Crowley."

*(Thank you for pointing this subtitle error out in the comments, @odonataanisoptera!)

At first sight, this might seem like no new information. We already know this, we have seen Crowley and Shax talk multiple times, we know Shax is Crowley's hellish successor and we know Shax now lives in Crowley's flat in Mayfair and, due to that unfortunate circumstance, Crowley in his car. You know who doesn't know this yet?

That's right: Aziraphale!

Neil himself confirmed that the reason why Aziraphale hasn't yet asked Crowley to move into the bookshop is because he doesn't know Crowley is living in his car! Which also indirectly implies that he hasn't told Aziraphale yet that he's no longer Hell's representative on Earth! Massive communication issues aside, this means that four years after Armagedidn't, Aziraphale is realizing for the very first time that Crowley is no longer officially employed by Hell.

Which is quite big news! We don't really know what Aziraphale's exact state of employment is with Heaven, but we do know from Crowley saying so (to Shax, again) in S2E1, that they no longer talk to him and he no longer reports back to them about his work. We can therefore deduct that he isn't actively operating as Heaven's ambassador on Earth anymore – on Heaven's own volition.

After they pulled off their body swap stunt post Armagedidn't, Crowley and Aziraphale of course secured themselves some temporary freedom from both Heaven and Hell. But it was only ever that, right? Temporary. Crowley says so himself at the end of Season 1: "They'll leave us alone ... for a bit." Sure, they were both sort of free to do whatever they wanted, but up until this very moment in the Bentley with Shax, Aziraphale thought he was the only one out of the two of them who had not only been let off the leash a little but also, so to speak, let go from his former employment. Which really explains his genuine, surprised look once Shax lets him know she's officially Crowley's replacement.

Their body swap trick gave them some breathing space, yes, but that's still entirely different than actually officially being let go from your job obligations and duties. What Aziraphale doesn't know either, however, (because again, Mr. Anthony J. Can't-Communicate-Crowley hasn't let him known), is that despite having been replaced and technically absolved of his hellish duties, Hell still very much relies on and demands things of Crowley. And also that Crowley himself hasn't been able to drop his weariness and worries since he still seems to seek out any and every information he can get on what's going on in the Up and Down. David Tennant said in an interview about Season 2:

"[...] interestingly, when we first meet Crowley, he's on a park bench catching up with the person who's taken his job. He obviously can't quite let go. He still wants the updates, and he still wants to know what's going on."

There's just so awfully much Crowley isn't telling Aziraphale – but that's stuff for another meta.

Either way, it eeks me a bit that we don't certainly know how much and what exactly Crowley has told Arziraphale about Shax – but it clearly can't have been all to much, since the Bentley conversation is their first encounter and Aziraphale doesn't even seem to know what Shax looks like, let alone that she's Crowley's new replacement. Crowley must have mentioned her to Aziraphale at one point or another pre-S2, because he does name-drop her when Aziraphale is about to reveal the appearance of Jimbriel ("You'll never guess who Shax was asking me about").

But it's one thing for Aziraphale to know or deduce that Hell might still occasionally send someone (like Shax) to check in on Crowley and another thing for him to not know that Beelzebub still summons Crowley whenever they feel like it, trying to coerce/blackmail him and that Shax regularly follows, even threats Crowley and lives in his goddamn apartment because she now fully replaces Crowley in his former job.

So, to sum this up: Aziraphale just received quite a bit of news Crowley withheld from him until now, but is also still lacking some other context that neither Crowley nor Shax has given him yet in order to be aware of the full picture.

Now, you're probably wondering: What the f*ck are you on about, OP, what does this have to do with the memory and narration analysis that this whole meta is supposed to be about? Well, dear reader, I'll kindly ask you to just hold onto that thought I outlined here until a little later. Tuck it in your pocket, don't worry, I'll remind you to take it out again once it's time.

Despite looking clearly incredibly surprised and, what is is again– ah, yes, flabbergasted upon hearing of Crowley's replacement, Aziraphale only reacts with a short "Ah", trying not to give away the fact that this is indeed very much news to him. He then continues to try and deflect anything Shax is saying and suggesting about Crowley. Except for the part where Shax says that she doesn't think Aziraphale seems like Crowley's type at all. And I cannot, for the absolute life of me, keep that GIF out of here, so:

God, how I adore you, Mr. Sheen, master of immaculate microexpressions.

Alright, let's move on from the brief flash of sassy angel, onto what Shax says next. Because this is the crucial part:

"You know ... what, sometime in the last 80, 90 years I remember hearing that you and Crowley were an item. I didn't believe it then. Not really. Poor old Furfur. He thought you were his ticket to the big time."

Which Aziraphale replies to:

"I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about."

But you do, Aziraphale, don't you? Of course you do. How could he forget the time he almost got Crowley caught together with him by Hell ("Fraternising!") in what was probably one of their most insane and turbulent adventures (that we know of, at least). And now he knows that Shax knows about it too! At least some of it, because she used to work together with Furfur and was the one who pushed him to do his investigation in the first place.

We end their little Bentley encounter with Shax getting out, cryptically saying "You've already told me where Gabriel is" and Aziraphale hurriedly speeding off back to London.

I'd like to briefly point out that according to Google Maps, Edinburgh is almost an 8-hour drive away from London. Of course we don't know where exactly Shax semi-grand-theft-auto'ed into the Bentley, but it's safe to say that since it's still dark when she does and Aziraphale arrives in London when it's light out and morning already, he must have at least been driving for another couple of hours. All by himself, with nothing to think of other than a) Crowley never having told him that he's been relieved of Hell's duties and –– you guessed it –– b) what happened in 1941.

And here's where it gets interesting: It's not just Aziraphale who's remembering 1941. It's Shax, too. It hit me like a ton of bricks, once I realized. Shax is the one who brings up 1941 and Furfur's mission to get his promotion. So everything we see that happens in Hell, with the Nazi spies being processed, are Shax's memories. Obviously Aziraphale couldn't have known or remembered any of that. But Shax could! And she does. Because this entire minisode is their shared memory of it, stitched together with the parts both of them actually witnessed.

And alas, here you have it: The reason why it makes so much sense that this minisode is so much longer than the last ones and also happens right after Aziraphale's encounter with Shax. They both were just very much reminded of what went down all those years ago. And they're both thinking back on it to come to some sort of conclusion. And funnily enough, it ends up being the same one – but I'll get into that in a bit too.

Aziraphale's got time to kill in the Bentley. A few good and long hours alone, with the knowledge of Crowley's and his own sort-of-newly-found freedom at the back of his mind. (Crowley! No longer bound to Hell! Himself! No longer bound to Heaven! Blimey!)

What else would Aziraphale think of, if not the time he realized, after the demon had saved his precious books, he was utterly and irrevocably in love with Crowley. And what else could Shax think of on her way back to London, if not the time Hell almost got proof of Crowley and Aziraphale being "an item", putting one of her colleagues onto investigating it and only now, decades later, coming to realize that it was true after all – giving her the confirmation that there was only one place Crowley would hide Gabriel while Aziraphale was gone: the Bookshop. Aziraphale's bookshop. Because if there's any demon that would have unrestricted access to it, it would be Crowley – as Shax has just now realized.

Let's just say it's no wonder that this minisode is about to be an explosion (pun intended) of all the things we have seen and realized about how Aziraphale capital-r Remembers things (ft. a bit more behind the scene knowledge, provided by Shax). And yes, it took me this absolutely ridiculous amount of time and words to get to the actual beginning of this minisode. But I'll be as bold as to say that you'll thank me for it because if there's one thing all of this teaches us, it's that context is so very important for memories and decision making.

... let's continue!

Title sequence: Rolled. London, 1941: Begins. Nazis in the church: Bombed. Books: Saved.

(Aziraphale: in Love.)

Right away again, the title card for "London 1941" looks like an old black and white film, similar to the retro hue and colouring of the Job episode in S2E2. We see what we saw already in Season 1, with the bomb dropping and Crowley saving the books. What we didn't know is what Shax's memory will now show us: How the Nazi spies were processed in Hell. And how she offered to help Furfur with being promoted if he could get her some intel on "some demon being up to no good."

I have yet to fully take my time to take a closer look at Shax, but I think she's a lot more competent and smart than Hell gives her credit for (similar to Saraqael in Heaven). How else would she have gotten word of A Certain Suspicious Demon while she was still an admissions demon herself. Or figured out simply by Crowley's Bentley not being at the bookshop in S2E3 that Aziraphale must be the one who'd currently be driving it somewhere. But okay, I really don't want to divert too much from my own plot here, so let's jump right ahead into our next scene: Aziraphale's first memory in this minisode.

I'm just gonna play Captian Obvious for a second here: There's literal sparks flying in the air. Red, firey, passionate sparks. And an angel looking like this:

I'll just let the imagery do the talking.

Now we have that love-birdery out of the way: I was at first going to once again call bullsh*t on the timeline our dear smitten Aziraphale is giving us here. Because I thought: "You're really gonna try and tell me that while there was an actual Blitzkrieg happening just down the block, the girls playing Ladies of Camelot had nothing better to do than to happily perform at the Westend like nothing out of the ordinary had happened?"

But the answer is ... yes. Yes, they literally had nothing better to do – because they were still performing! I chastised our dear angel too soon, because lookie here:

(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windmill_Theatre)

I indeed didn't know that the Windmill Theater remained open during WW2 –– but it did put a smile on my face that the article specifically mentions it remaining open even during the hight of the Blitzkrieg. Neil, you clever man!

Also, one last nugget of appreciation: Aziraphale most definitely having no clue what sort of performances actually happened at the Windmill Theater (in case you don't know, just check Wikipedia for a sec), exclaiming "Sophocles! Shakespeare!" and Crowley simply going "Something like that" just warms my heart infinitely.

Fondly thinking about Aziraphale asking Mrs. Sandwich: "What exactly is it that your girls do?"

Another thing that seemed strange to me at first, that I think I also managed to semi-debunk, is the fact that Crowley's Bad Deed of that day seems to have been to deliver 80-percent-proof alcohol to the Windmill Theater. It made me frown and go: "Huh? I don't think alcohol was illegal in England in 1941?" However, upon googling around a bit, I think it might actually be not so much about the alcohol itself, but who it was given to. Which, in this case, is the American soldiers frequenting the nude shows at the Windmill Theater. All I could find were some books and essays, one of them titled "The Wet War: American Liquor Control, 1941–1945", as well as this short abstract of a paper that seems to talk about how American soldies consuming alcohol while at war/stationed abroad for WW2 were frowned upon by US Army chaplains because "the impact that alcohol would have on the men's moral well-being".

So, it would make sense for Hell to send a certain alcoholic temptation to one of the dens of temptation itself – the Windmill Theater. Enter Anthony J. Crowley, your local Nazi-church-bomber, book-saver, angel-seducer and alcohol-smuggler. (Albeit that last one sort of failing a little. Sorry, Mrs. H.)

(Sidenote: @createserenity gave a lovely and very plausible explanation of the whole alcohol delivery and also who Crowley's character design might have been based on in the comments of this post!)

Aziraphale then of course jumps in, offering to be the magician of the evening to repay his "good friend" (sideye), waving around his little handkerchief like an excited little boy. ("Ah, the ✨theatér✨!") We also get the first zombie!Nazis content, which I believe is probably a reconstruction of what the zombie!Nazis told Furfur once they met up with him again and what Furfur then probably told Shax once he failed his mission. Brains eaten, we continue to this glorious line:

He's just so very excited and giddy about it all – and I think that's partly because he a) just realized that Crowley loves him (and he very much loves Crowley too) and b) because Bentley!Aziraphale who is remembering this, probably remembers it even more fondly and giddily. We've seen his emotions bubble over a lot more during the other minisode-memories – so it only makes sense that in this one, he's remembering himself to be almost out of his mind with happiness and excitement about Crowley the magic show.

Remember what I asked you to tuck into your pocket?

Take it out again. Go on, there's a love! Because what is it that Aziraphale realized mere moments ago during his conversation with Shax? Crowley is free of Hell.* (*and remember, he doesn't know that that's not entirely true because no one told him the rest of the facts. So yes, we know it's not quite as simple – but Aziraphale doesn't.)

For all of S2, he has been trying to bring his relationship with Crowley to a new, more domestically intimate level (our car!), confidently and potentially even a bit carelessly ignoring the still-very-much-there threats of Heaven and Hell. I think one of the things that might have still been holding him back in his attempts to get to the next base (huehue) was the fact that he thought Crowley was still actively employed by and tied to Hell.

In all of S2, Aziraphale does come across as a little bit blinded by his desire to finally be with-be with Crowley (rose-tined glasses obstructing the view and all) but he's not completely carless. He knows Hell to be way more cruel to their employees and has always been careful to not get Crowley into too much trouble by being associated with him. But now he has (a little falsely) deducted that Crowley is in fact no longer in hellish demand – and isn't that just absolutely tickety-boo! Lacking the context that we, the audience, have, Arziraphale.exe is currently running hot on: Heaven and Hell don't care about Crowley and me anymore! We're free of our employers' interest in us and the threat that used to bring!! I've been trying to lock this serpent down ever since the World didn't end – and now I finally can!!! I'm We're able to do whatever I we like which is to finally confess to Crowley!!!!

From Bentley!Aziraphale's point of view, this is the literal green light on their highway to Alpha Centauri! Metaphorically, anyway. More like their country road to the Southdowns. And, for now, the M1 to London– back, back, back to Crowley!

For a minute, I did wonder about why he doesn't seem at all worried or stressed once he arrives in London after his journey. After all, Shax did very clearly threaten him and insinuated that she already knew where Gabriel was. But if you look at Aziraphale all throughout Season 2, it's so very evident that he's completely occupied with being soppily nostalgic of all the memories he recalls of him and Crowley and, even while facing off with Heaven and Hell again, seems oh too happy to ignore all that because he only has eyes for one thing.

Need I say more?

So, of course, realistically Aziraphale should probably be worried and weary of what Shax said (and maybe also a little taken aback by the fact that Crowley never told him any of this). But oh, isn't the world just that much lovelier when you look at it through shades of yellow and rose? And ignore everything else because if you only look at what you want to look at, both you and the serpent of your dreams are finally free to be together? So, of course! Azirapahle should be so! Very! Concerned! But instead, he is so! Very! Happy!

Both back in actual 1941, after Crowley saves his books, as well as in his memory of the story, aka in the current present day – which we don't get to see until he leaves the Bentley, but then it does show.

And it shows even more while he's still remembering 1941:

Crowley doing an American accent? Oh, that must have been so funny and charming, look at him slapping his thigh, unbuttoning his jacket, leaning back all suavely and watching me– I mean ... the Ladies of Camelot.

There's this excellent meta by @cobragardens I read on the colours of red and yellow in this 1941 minisode as well, which further makes a point of how red is clearly Crowley's colour in Aziraphale's mind – and it's so, so vibrant in this memory specifically. Poor angel has really got it bad for his beloved book-saving demon.

I'd also like to point out Aziraphale's tendency to exaggerate again, both when it comes to others and himself. We see this in the other minisodes as well, and here again, when he seems almost overly-clumsy, dropping those big trick-rings twice, making a tower of cards topple over and then dropping even more things on the counter. This is probably just a bit of a projection how he might have been feeling about performing as a magician: Slightly nervous, trying to overplay it and yet very keen on getting it right.

Crowley seems to always just be watching silently when memory!Aziraphale is acting a little out of character – possibly because there was no actual reaction from him since these slightly overdramatic things weren't actually this dramatic in the first place.

Another thing I would very much take with a grain of angelic memory salt, is one of the Nazi zombies actually walking into the shop while Crowley and Aziraphale are still in there. First of all, that would be pretty bold of him/them, given there's only three people in this tiny shop. And second of all, don't you think it's odd that neither Aziraphale nor Crowley would notice a literal undead person sauntering into the shop? I'll give Aziraphale the benefit of the doubt, since he's currently on cloud nine. But Crowley? How on Earth would he miss that?

Unless the zombie never actually went into the shop, put on silly costumes and rings (because given their track record, in my opinion, goofing around is a very un-Nazi-like thing to do) and it's just what the autopilot of Aziraphale's daydream is playing in the background, to fill in the gap for how the zombie!Nazis figured out where his magic show would take place. Because as we already saw, Aziraphale is a bit, well ... busy in that moment.

This GIF is not sped up, by the way, that is indeed the absolute astronomical speed Aziraphale shook Crowley's hand with when he agreed to pretend to shoot him on a live stage. He's my favourite. Of all time.

Alas, the curtains at the Windmill Theater draw aside, ladies and gentlemen: Enter Fell the Marvellous!

Firstly, I would like to point out that Aziraphale is literally being surrounded by all things Crowley – the red curtain to his back, the red and black feathers to his left and right and, well, literal Crowley in the audience to his front.

Just another little ode to how beautifully this whole minisode is done colour-wise.

If you read Part 2, you might remember me saying that how and what Aziraphale is feeling is actually translating directly to what we, the audience, are shown through cinematographic and auditory clues. And this very same thing happens here too. Its starts around the minute mark of 28:31. Right after Aziraphale realizes that his miracles aren't working and he still announces the bullet catch, introducing Crowley, you can tell that the whole frame starts to shake every so slightly.

At first, it's extremely subtle and you could possibly wave it off as simply being filmed with a hand-held camera. However, the further we progress into the bullet catch trick scene, the more the frame starts shaking.

I have taken the liberty to make a little cutdown of how this intense shaking progresses, so that in case you never noticed it before, I can spare you the time of going back to watch it for yourself.

It might be a trick of the eye but it even seems like the edges of the frame grow blurrier the closer the actual firing of the gun comes. And I don't think I have to tell you what feeling this is trying to convey. Anyone who's ever had a panic attack would probably describe it exactly like that. At least I would.

Everything is shaking because Aziraphale was most certainly out of his mind with fear and adrenaline. He wants to do this, he has to because he needs to show up for Crowley the way Crowley showed up for him at the church – but he's also literally risking being discorporated for good. And once again, we feel his panic, we feel like just like it's our own blood pumping through our veins, just like when we ourselves are shaking with fear. Because this is his memory. And a memory of such a tense and dangerous moment takes a long time to feel less scary.

Once they successfully pull of the trick, the shaking stops, of course. Fell the Marvellous nails his second trick by stealing Furfur's picture, the Nazi!zombies wander off to Satan knows where and we get another one of Shax's memories when we see Furfur not getting his promotion. (Almost makes you feel a little sorry for him, poor bugger.)

I don't have much to say about their romantic red wine candle light boogaloo, apart from the fact that it makes me want to punch holes in walls with how smited smote smitten Aziraphale looks at Crowley the entire time. And also there's this awfully sweet post about Crowley deciding to still sit and drink with him despite not knowing yet that Aziraphale had stolen the evidence picture.

HE IS SO IN LOVE I AM GOING TO SCREAM–

Back to reality, whoa, there goes gravity (as we plummet down to Hell).

Because remember: While most of this was indeed Aziraphale's memory, some of it was Shax's as well. And I'm pretty sure she knows most of what went down that night. After all, Furfur was most definitely the one who caused the rumors of Crowley and Aziraphale being "an item".

So, while Aziraphale was in the Bentley, indulging and revelling in his love-struck memories of the night he almost died* (*discorporated) twice and managed to survive both times because Crowley was there and trusted him, Shax also thought back on all of this since it was the final nail in the coffin that confirmed to her that Gabriel was hiding in the bookshop with Crowley.

So, what's the conclusion that both characters have come to during this very long flashback? It's simple:

Aziraphale loves Crowley. And Crowley loves Aziraphale.

There's only one person Aziraphale would trust with Gabriel – and that is Crowley. And there is only one place that no other demon would have access to except for Crowley. And that is the bookshop. Shax knows this now. Which is why it makes so much sense that once we're back in present day!Hell, she immediately requests a legion to attack the bookshop. Because she knows this is the only place Crowley and Aziraphale both consider safe from the outside world, and the only place Crowley would have access to because Aziraphale loves trusts him. Reflecting back on it, 1941 confirmed to her that they have been and still are the item everyone suspected them to be.

Clever, clever Shax!

As for Aziraphale: It's less of a conclusion, to be honest, and more of a reassurance, an affirmation of sorts. As I pointed out in my horrendously long context introduction, Crowley no longer working for Hell is exactly the push Aziraphale needs to finally feel like it's possible to make his move and confess to him.

And what does that news- and memory-induced realisation look like? This:

Ah yes, what a lovely day to confess your millennia-long love!

Too bad Crowley's not really up to speed yet and Aziraphale's rose-tinted little moment is met with:

... a face-full of plants. Whelp.

It's okay, they'll figure it out eventually.

My final little sidenote: The Jane Austen Ball and why it wasn't about Nina and Maggie

By all means, if you're already sick and tired of my tangents, do feel free to just skip this and end the meta early. I hope you had a good time with it, let me know your thoughts!

And for those of you who are up for a last burst of tinfoil-hatting: My conclusion to all of this is that I am 100% convinced that the whole Whickber-Street-Association-turned-Cotillion-Ball stunt Aziraphale pulls off in the next episode, was never actually meant for Nina and Maggie.

Why? Because up until getting a mouthful of plants once he arrives back in London, Aziraphale hadn't even known yet that Crowley's awning of a new age under the canopy had failed! The last time they spoke was over the phone in Edinburgh which ended with Crowley hanging up on Aziraphale to go make the love mission happen. And yet, Aziraphale clearly already has the whole ball thing planned out once he arrives in Soho, because he already calls it 'a night to remember'.

So, riddle me this: Why would Aziraphale plan this whole over-the-top romantic Jane Austen Ball on his ride back to London to make Nina and Maggie fall in love if he didn't even know yet whether or not Crowley's attempt at it had been successful or not?

It's almost like he meant for it to be his ideal way of a romantic confession for someone else.

'member the pub scene in S2E2?

Aziraphale: "People would gather and do some formal dancing and then realize they had misunderstood each other. And were actually deeply in love!" Crowley: "Now that sounds unlikely."

Resolving a deep misunderstanding like, hm, for instance, your "de facto partner" not telling you he'd been let go by his toxic employers just like you and also your quarrel about you wanting to protect your former-asshole-turned-cottage-core-dad boss from your own former toxic employers? With ✨a ball✨? (And that being, well, really unlikely to work? Oh, deary-dear angel. Oh, Aziraphale. Be still, my beating heart. You're a soldier for trying, I'll give you that.)

Are you goddamn done yet, OP?

Yes. I am. The tinfoil hat defense rests. I'm aware this was less focused on the actual unreliable narration and a bit more on contextualizing memories and feelings with decision making, deductions and actions – but hey, the road to epiphany has many winding paths. Or something.

Once again, here are Part 1 and Part 2 and if you made it this far: Congratulations, you have reached the end! Thanks for baring with me. I hope you enjoyed the journey just as much as Aziraphale did his daydream in the Bentley. And if you and me both feel strong enough for it, I might see you around in a cheeky little Epiloge to this meta series!

(Also: @dancingcrowley asked so nicely for me to tag them once Part 3 came out, so here you go!)

Cheers!

[ekelhyiro]

“in behalf of my… good friend here”

“that’s what… friends for”

is it me or is this the first time aziraphale has thought that the title “friends” is no longer appropriate for their relationship?

every time he looks away when he calls crowley a friend. at this point he was not afraid to admit their friendship in front of others (in Shakespeare’s time for example). angel had already gotten used to crowley being around and being trustworthy, so after such a romantic gesture of his... it's hard to continue playing in a purely platonic relationship.

aziraphale knows how love feels! he felt it when he was in Tadfield because adam adored the place. did aziraphale feel love when crowley saved his precious books? most likely. how else to describe his facial expression, romantic music in the background and his undeniable desire to repay him?

in the first season, uriel calls crowley aziraphale's boyfriend, angel smiles shyly, but does not say anything about it. in the second season, shax calls them a couple and tells how at first she did not believe the rumor about them. it's strange to her that crowley sacrifices his entire existence for an angel who’s not even his type.

at the beginning of the second season, when zira introduces demon to nina, he says: “he and i go back a long time”. they are no longer friends. after all they've been through? people have not yet come up with such words that could describe their union.

aziraphale realised everything a long time ago, despite his "you go to fast for me crowley". he is the first to take steps to develop their relationship but is too afraid to say it out loud. he says "our car", "our bookshop", which should suggest that they are partners, but he never says through his mouth: "listen, honey, when are we getting married?" at the same time, our gentle demon, firstly, does not understand that he himself is in love, and secondly, that it is mutual.

crowley knows he loves angel, but he doesn't know HOW. he instantly furious as soon as aziraphale is in danger. no matter how much they resent each other, he will go, run, fly after him anywhere. and he makes romantic gestures. why? because he wants to please his angel. crowley wouldn't lift a finger without a reason, he's too lazy but now we see him performing miracles left and right.

i still don't understand how heaven and hell didn't notice that they were CLEARLY overdoing miracles not for the sake of good and evil but for the sake of each other.

crowley really didn't know it was LOVE. yes, just like in the books. thanks to nina, who, thanks heaven, shows up to ask how long they've been together or maybe an angel is his bit on the side.

and a miracle happens! so many fucking years they exist side by side and this red and, apparently, empty head finally understands that he loves him. maybe it's even mutual, everyone always takes them for a couple.

maybe... in that very moment they were supposed to get an official new name for their partnership but… we all got what we deserved. a portion of glass after 6000 years of pining.

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Hi! Do we have any info on what animals Shax and Furfur are based on? If not, I'm curious of what you think

Hiya! Shax's demon animal is mentioned in the bts on the prime page a it is a Stork! :) You can see it on their battle armour :).

Furfur not sure if is mentioned somewhere official what is his demon animal :). He has a forked tongue, but in our demonology he is depicted as a deer or winged deer :)

[jophiel-extras]

would you be up to writing a piece about crowley protecting human!reader from some of the other demons, leading to reader to realize they’re in love with him? i just love angry crowley 🩷

summary :: Crowley protecting you from other demons

warning :: none, slight obsessive behaviour

note :: turned this into a headcanon list, I thought it might suit the request better

Crowley is keenly aware he’s a rarity within the demons of hell.

No other demon is quite like him and although he would hate to recognise it, it’s because he’s simply good.

Because of that goodness, Crowley is left vulnerable in many ways. Particularly when it comes to you, his great love.

Any demon that sees the two of you knows it. They can practically smell the stench of pining off of him.

And considering Crowley isn’t on the greatest terms with Hell, you’re put in a particularly dangerous situation.

The first demon to ever threaten your wellbeing was Beelzebub. The ultimatum went along the lines of— “Help Hell or we might just have to damn that pretty little thing of yours to rot down here with us.”

After that, Crowley had distanced himself from you significantly, forcing you to be just another stranger he passed in the street.

You were having none of it, of course.

So after a week of Crowley having his (in your mind) tantrum, you’d marched up to his Bentley and had a strong word with him.

Still, he couldn’t bring himself to explain why he’d ignored you.

The second demon to have involved you in demonic affairs was Shax. She had taken a different approach and put you in physical danger, which Crowley was having none of.

You’d never seen him so angry. He was fuming, literally.

After the whole ordeal, things changed instantly. The first time Crowley stayed away, now, he wouldn’t leave you alone.

He’d even go out of his way to find reasons to touch you. Even ghost you with his hands.

It’s like he needed to know you were still there, still real. He had to know you were okay.

This tense doting from Crowley lit up something in you and you began to feel a flutter of butterflies every time he slyly touched you.

The protective nature of Crowley was a little odd and barely comforting. He would stand over you like a starved fox stands over a rabbit, shielding its meal from other predators.

You couldn’t deny the guilty pleasure the dynamic gave you.

Having an ancient demon dedicate his power and time to holding you close, it was electrifying.

After a night with yourself, you had come to realise Crowley would not leave your mind. Finally, you had accepted the feelings that had grown.

With his love returned, you had immediately become Crowley’s top priority and now that you two had become official, he didn’t have to hide his obsession with your safety.

[noneorother]

All the music you didn’t hear: The Good Omens soundtrack is lying to you. *Part2*

The Bonkers Meta Series 2: Electric Boogaloo. This week on the chopping block: The official Good Omens 2 soundtrack album!

Part 1  l  Part 2  

If you, like me, have absolutely no respect for your time (or your 2023 Spotify Wrapped) and are willing to sit with the show and the David Arnold score album running side by side to match up all the songs, then you too can find out what I did: exactly 6 songs in the album go off the rails in the show in a very specific way. And you know what they say about a song…

So let’s break these misbehaving songs down, shall we? 

A Bell Tolls for Thee

There are SO MANY DAMN BELLS in season 2. I think the sound department might have had a competition going. But I want to show you the bells that happen in the music of the show, but not in the album.

Specifically, there are tubular bells all over the score in David Arnold’s orchestration in season 2 (and some in season 1). It’s an instrument used throughout classical music to represent grandfather clocks or church bells, signalling time passing, like striking the hour. But, this season has done something devious: it sets up your expectation by putting tubular bells in all the regular places in the score, so that you notice less when they whack a big tubular bell ring in a place where it should not be, at a key moment in the story. 

Feel free to go back and listen to these time codes in the show, it’s going to become obvious real fast.  

S2E1 - 14:55 l Song : Into Soho Aziraphale answers the door to a naked Gabriel, and recognizes him for the first time. A bell rings once.

If you listen closely to the album version, David Arnold recorded a beautiful and uplifting ending to this track. Too bad we never get to hear it in the show, it splits off into a bell toll and then a reorchestration. We never hear the end!

S2E1 - 42:30 l Song : Tiny Miracle Aziraphale & Crowley perform a class-A miracle, and Crowley pokes the barrier with his finger. A bell rings twice.

Same thing for Tiny Miracle! The ending of the song in the album we never get to hear in the show, it gets interrupted by 2 tubular bell tolls and another reorchestration of other music. 

S2E3 - 33:59 l Song : Reprise - Something Terrible Aziraphale considers the statue of Gabriel in his present day trip to Edinburgh. A bell rings three times.

This one starts from silence with 3 bell tolls as a reprise of “Something terrible” starts just after it. The second and third bells are woven into the music on beats they never appear in those bars on the recording. 

S2E4 - 38:00 l Song : Zombie Dressing Room  Shax asks Beelzebub for permission to attack the bookshop. A bell rings four times.

This one is extra weird (see my first music post). Even though we stretch out Zombie Dressing Room way after the dressing room scene is over and into the Shax in hell scene, it still manages to work in 4 new tubular bell rings that aren’t there in the score, and we never hear the same ending as on the album. 

S2E5 - 00:05 - 10:14 l Song : Reprise - Something Terrible Shax requisitions troops and gathers her legion. A bell rings five times.

This one is tricky because Shax’s scene in hell is cut up 5 times, but you probably see where this is going: every time we cut back to Shax there’s a new bell rings once that wasn’t in the recording.  

S2E5 - 29:56 l Song : Shax Shax arrives from Hell in the elevbator to attack the bookshop. A bell rings six times.

This is the last time in the season when we hear extra tubular bells. In a pretty bizarre turn of events, the demons Shax has mustered have walked in from down the street, but Shax takes the elevator to arrive at the bookshop. What a way to treat your troops. In any case, we get a final song that doesn’t get the ending it deserves, and gets cut off in favour of a reprise.

Taco Bell: Live Confused So why put so much effort into signalling these 6 specific actions with bell tolls? The first three are clearly Aziraphale & Crowley related, while the second three are Shax related. (All the Shax actions accompanied by bells have flashing lights above Shax.) Could this be a way of signalling we are halfway to the second coming, 6 hours until midnight on the armageddon clock? Or something else entirely?

Every time we hear the added bells, the soundtrack in the show deviates from the planned endings written for the album. Are these mistakes in the timeline, that were never supposed to happen in the ineffable plan? I guess we'll all be listening together for tubular bells in season 3... -------------------------------- Thanks to @embracing-the-ineffable for the encouragement, and the Ineffable detective agency for all their hard work. Part 1 is here!

[qe-podfic]

Want To Voice Act In A Massive Multivoice Podfic?

Characters That Still Need To Be Voiced:

AZIRAPHALE

CROWLEY

ANATHEMA

NEWTON

BEELZEBUB

GABRIEL

MURIEL

SANDALPHON

WARLOCK

Quantum Entangled

Fic Summary:

They fit together like the answer to a question they didn’t know they were asking. Two jigsaw puzzles made by the same cosmic company. Each, a distinct picture on its own, but cut from the same lithographic template so that the pieces could be intermingled into amalgam artworks. Monochrome individually, but a beautifully stark contrast together. Contradictive in their antithetical sameness. Crowley was fucked. Oh, he was so utterly fucked. --- AKA the inherent homoeroticism of co-authoring a paper.

Rating: Mature

Words: 51,266

Relationships:

Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale & Anathema Device, Crowley & Newton Pulsifer, Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens), Anathema Device/Newton Pulsifer, Beelzebub & Crowley (Good Omens), Beelzebub/Gabriel (Good Omens), Aziraphale & Gabriel (Good Omens)

Characters:

Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley (Good Omens), Anathema Device, Newton Pulsifer, Beelzebub (Good Omens), Gabriel (Good Omens), Muriel (Good Omens), Shax (Good Omens), Sandalphon (Good Omens), Warlock Dowling

Additional Tags:

Slow Burn, Alternate Universe - Human, Pining, Mutual Pining, academic!au, sloooooooow buuuuurn, the inherent homoeroticism of co-authoring a paper, Schrodinger - Freeform, Quantum Mechanics, Matchmaking, matchmaking the matchmakers, most of the characters are from GO, but there is one friendly Ukrainian grandma OC, Fluff, Miscommunication, Light Angst, Banter, Humor, Crowley is Bad at Feelings (Good Omens), Aziraphale is somehow Worse at Feelings (Good Omens), Requited Unrequited Love, they're so stupid, They're literally scientists but they're so STUPID, The Bentley Ships It (Good Omens), Fake/Pretend Relationship, Jealous Crowley (Good Omens), Jealous Aziraphale (Good Omens), There Was Only One Bed

Language: English

[amagnificentobsession]

Good Morning My Loves,

Well this has been a week. First I’d like to congratulate @angelo-rib-shack @angelo-chuck-wagon for their wonderful Drag Show. What fun!!! I actually think it’s still going on….(but isn’t every day a good day for drag)?

Just look at these beauties! @mr-crawleigh you are a DELIGHT!!!! I think you’ve been in Ashtoreth’s wardrobe 🔥

I’m sure we have all had to take a step back, breathe, and come to the realization that this fandom is OURS. WE create the laughs. WE create the love. WE create the JOY.

Today I want to offer you a soft spot to land, a quiet place to reflect. But I also offer, a place to laugh, to be silly, to spread love and joy in anyway you possibly desire.

A “friend” of mine once said: “Did you ever wonder what’s the point? Demons, Angels, Heaven, Hell…..it’s all pointless.” I think what he meant was why are we adversaries? Why not just get along? We all want the same thing, happiness. And who we find that happiness with is OUR CHOICE. It’s not for anyone else to say if it’s right or wrong.

Funny old world, that a demon may be the kindest of all.

On that note, I offer you food and drink, conversation and love (not necessarily in that order).

And as another friend said, “we’ll be ok.”

And we will. ♥️

@muriel-not-the-dim-one @angelina-rib-shack @the-metatron @docdust @i-dream-of-sheeny @neo-of-sporin @gandalf-big-oos @avis-morningstar @violet-yimlat @ellietheduck @thedemon-crowley @youroneandonlysnakelady @kleenexwoman @pissylittlebirdboy @angel-and-the-serpent @god-wednesday @e-w-w-morningstar @loretta-dont-you-oppress-me @lucifer-and-the-guys @duchess-shax @sliceocheese @thatflatfrog @one-coming-is-enough @curlish @andagon @servusapollinis @darbie-furfurious-consort @furfurs-fotos @dream-of-pain

As always…….please, please, PLEASE invite anyone who might need a hug, a smile, a laugh, or to feel OUR love. ❤️

[otsanda]

I was reading this great meta by @fuckyeahisawthat about Aziraphale and Crowley metaphorically switching places— from Crowley being the giver of Knowledge and the freedom of choice to humanity and Aziraphale being the protector, by giving humans the flaming sword to Crowley being the protector of humanity and Aziraphale granting knowledge and freedom of choice.

But this made something click into place for me that I’d been turning over in my mind for a while: what if it’s not just freedom and knowledge and choice for humanity… what if Aziraphale functionally brings freedom and choice and knowledge to everyone!

I mean, one thing I haven’t really seen anyone talking about is the contrast between the portrayal of angels and demons (generally) in S1 and specific angels and demons in S2. The first season really set Heaven and Hell up as full of a lot of characters who had their own quirks and unique aspects, but still functioned very well as cogs in the same type of machine.

Gabriel and Beelzebub are the most obvious examples, since they had the biggest pivot in S2: suddenly it’s not just Aziraphale and Crowley who are the special ones.

We get to see these two other characters have thoughts and desires and aspirations beyond that of following their angelic/demonic natures or furthering the cause of their respective sides. S2 really humanizes both of these characters who were (in S1) the best real example that we saw of an official representative of the corporate goings-on from each side. God and Satan were there in S1, but in a much less visible way (and even LESS visible in S2).

But even beyond Beez and Gabe, S2 took careful steps to humanize a lot of other ethereal/occult characters as well. We see Michael both confident and shaken, sarcastic and unsure. Strong, but with aspirations to go Higher. Uriel pushes back, questions authority, and asks for reassurance that they’ve not done something wrong. Side note: I really hope we get to see more Uriel development bc Uriel has so much interesting potential to me.

Muriel wasn’t in S1, but is an obvious parallel for early Aziraphale and we see a lot of similarities between them (their enthusiasm and delight at experiencing Earth, being believed when attempting a particular human job, enjoying books, etc).

Even the demons we see aren’t a monolith. Shax feels quite different from the classic evil demons we’ve met before. Furfur and Eric too. Although they’re doing demon stuff, none of these demons act all that demonic. We see even more hints at them struggling and learning and growing. Being… more human.

Heck, even the demon with the scary mouth in E4, Astoreth, was just doing his job.

So then what if the end of S2 is establishing Crowley as the defender of Humanity while positioning Aziraphale to share knowledge and the freedom of choice in heaven. If the ‘big battle’ that Crowley mentioned at the end of S1 is between Humanity and whoever is representing Heaven or Hell, maybe it’s time to give more ethereal and occult beings the opportunity to choose their own place in that fight.

Because I think that Crowley is right that Heaven and Hell are toxic. And Aziraphale is right that they both can do good. And separating the two of them, as painful as it is to watch, could give Aziraphale the space to see glimpses of humanity in the other angels (and even demons?) while positioned in Heaven. And it could give Crowley... probably trust issues, actually. I guess let's put a pin in that part.

But come Season 3, I would love to see Crowley and Aziraphale positioned on opposite sides of the war to end all wars, Aziraphale representing Heaven (and Hell?) and Crowley alongside Humanity. But before anything truly awful happens, they do what they always do.

They’ll come up with a plan. And they'll rescue one another and themselves.

And everything else and everyone else will fall into place around them.