#waffley

[ursulapaddington]

Post Waffles

© 2023 Ursula Paddington

⇄  &  ❤  !

[blossoms-phan]

dan’s music taste is soooo sexy I genuinely listen to a playlist someone made of his recs mostly from when he talked about it more often in like 2017-18 liveshows all the time I get it’s topical but I’ve heard enough about charli xcx and chappell roan i need to hear him talk about the current range

[candychameleon]

IT'S THE ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF WHEN BOTBOTS FIRST AIRED!! 🎉🎉  to celebrate, I drew the squad that means so, so much to me: the Sugar Shocks!

Happy 1 year to one of my favorite cartoons ever, I'm so grateful this show exists, I love all these characters so much

[bha3ls]

using that idea i had earlier about rinn not losing her memory as the basis of her companion verse so. recruiting info and quest below.

companion quest: the surface drow

korinn can be found in two places to recruit- first near the chapel entrance where she is watching the looters from cover. at this time she's disinterested and dismissive of the party, and states that the looters have stolen some items that belong to her. not looking at or speaking to the party directly, the tadpoles will not connect. she will not volunteer any personal information and is evasive if asked about the ship, but an insight check will reveal she is hiding something and her hands are twitching.

if the party promises to attack the looters then she will offer to join as a temporary companion, otherwise there's no way here to recruit her. assuming the party takes her as a temporary ally, then after killing the looters she will offer a token of gratitude where the tadpoles will connect.

if not recruited, the party will come across her again in waukeens rest being threatened by one of the flaming fist survivors who think she was with the goblins and attacking drow. she will have retrieved her armour and weapons. if the party found the body of a looter when leaving the crypt then they'll notice that there's smeared blood across her torso and arms that someone has tried to wash away. this time the tadpoles will connect, and the visions that appear are disconnected flashes of her torture at kressa's hands.

it is much easier to recruit her here, the party only needing to defend her by saying she wasn't a part of this attack and then stating they're searching for a cure for the tadpoles. once recruited, she will be very insistent on going to moonrise "for the cure" and will feign amnesia, claiming that the head injury has caused her to forget nearly everything except being kidnapped from baldurs gate by the mindflayers. if passing certain checks, then she will go to the extent of revealing she has always lived in baldurs gate and works in a temple in the lower city.

she takes a similar role to astarion and lazael in camp, generally approving of evil choices and disapproving of helping others. will comment on how they don't have a lot of time to fix their affliction and shouldn't waste their time on anything but finding a cure.

her companion quest will generally note that she's never lived in the underdark, is unfamiliar with actual drow culture, and that she seems to know more than she lets on about the absolute. if she's in the party when going to the goblin camp, and thus experiencing the vision, then she can be questioned about her anger over the voices of the absolute.

following the goblin camp, after a long rest the party will find the brutalised corpse of a bard somewhere along the road similar to the dead boar. if she's present, then a successful check will note she seems amused by the body. you can either roll a persuasion or (a much higher) intimidation dialogue here, if successful then she will admit it's certainly a ritual sacrifice but claim the symbol is too damaged to recognise who its for.

in act ii, on visiting moonrise she will be recognised enough to be pressed about it by the party. if there's a high enough approval here then she will admit that she is a bhaalspawn and was a part of masterminding the tadpoles but was betrayed before the plan was enacted, otherwise ketheric will reveal it before their fight and question if they know who they're fighting beside.

there's two options here besides her becoming hostile; depending on the approval levels and type of playthrough then either the party can convince her to take revenge on the three who betrayed her and destroy the absolute plan...or to take revenge by killing thorm/orin/gortash and taking control of the absolute with them rather than for bhaal. in subsequent conversations she can reveal that she was initially using the party to get back to moonrise and hopefully just kill orin, finding them interesting enough allies that she stuck with them even after that, and that she lied about the amnesia as she knew they wouldn't help a bhaalspawn/the person who caused their condition.

[guesst]

i have like . one scene left and maybe an extra one i moght add and then edits and then fake grandson au is Fini FINITO finished ! yipee

[partlyironic]

Steven was trying sooo hard to defend Shane it was adorable, but in the survival mode episode we can see how much both Steven and Ryan when together can really fuck with Shane and it’s so fun. I need more of this lmao

YESSSSSSSSS ok but Shane and Steven are SO cute and this dynamic comes up a lot where Ryan, a gremlin and a menace, will poke at one of them and the other will jump in and defend them. or sometimes when Ryan gets in a 1v1 convo with one of them, they will make an effort to bring the other back into the convo (usually this is Shane to Steven).

it is so cute. they're so... sweet with one another??? in the way where you can tell it is borne of genuine affection but also because it isn't a relationship where that kind of harder teasing would occur often, unlike the one they both share with ryan. its why seeing moments where they DO tease one another is so novel. and special. to ME.

[thewolfruns]

okay idk how long it's gonna take me to start crying, but i've started tlou over again to get me in the mood for ... heartland. a thewolfruns/@someotherdog joint. it's a zombie apocalypse indie group verse. are you interested? hit the heart.

[buckyschair]

just popping on here to manifest a cozy affordable apartment in the town i want 🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️

[magiclilybean]

Stroopwafel mention! I remember when most Americans had never HEARD of stroopwafels!

[baited-beth]

I just had an interesting realisation.

The friend who cut me off 2 years ago for my crimes of terfism was always super judgemental when people didn’t abide by social mores, whereas my mentality was more live and let live/ let’s consider why they’re acting as they are. E.g. there was a grad who she always judged for being ‘unprofessional’ when it turns out she was really struggling to fit in and was trying her hardest without being given appropriate support. My ex-friend’s attitude did used to really bug me because she would dismiss people who had a lot to offer because they didn’t follow her strict ‘this is how you should act in social situations’ rules.

It’s unsurprising that she couldn’t cope with me refusing to abide by the new social more of gender ideology, even though I had made clear I was quite happy to remain friends who disagreed. Belief in gender is a rule book for how to act in social situations. I’ve never been good at following rules if I can’t see the reason for them.

[musicalsiphonophore]

67 :3

67- what are your hobbies?

Playing flute is my main Thing. atm I am learning

no 8 from tricky jazz singles by russell stokes. there is no actual recordings online so all i can give you is this weird midi snippet. it’s super pretty. the flexibility it requires though, is a bit scary, those jumps between registers are beyond me at times.

vivaldi concerto no 2 which is just lovely. i especially like the fourth movt (starts at 5:03). and the second movt (starts at 2:28ish). though i play it quite differently to ol’ Mr Galway in the second movement, my articulation and dynamics is far less stylistically accurate for baroque music, but sounds far better.

allegro malincolico by poulenc (though with great reluctance, it’s such a boring piece and I hate it and wish I could do the Burton sonatina instead but that’s significantly harder so I must stick with this 😔), for which I will not provide a link because I wish not to impose the horrors on you all as well! I didn’t used to hate this, but lately I’ve just grown so sick of it.

And those are all ones I’m learning properly for my grade 8 so i’m all formally doing them. (Can you tell that I just choose pieces based on what has lots of double / triple tonguing? 😂 I find double tonguing fun and i’m getting pretty good at it now. partially due to it becoming a stim to just go TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKKTK.)

I’m also learning

the first movement of the Burton sonatina. very very beautiful. also it’s fortissississimo a lot and I like to play loud so that’s good. but this is seriously a stunning piece, listen to it to give your ears bliss.

the great train race by ian clarke. SO FUN I FUCKIG ADORE IT it involves making train whistles with the flute and humming while playing and all sorts it’s so fun. my flute teacher has a model train big enough to sit on and he said one time i should play this piece while going round on the model train and i agree wouldn’t that be fantastic

and the chaminade concertino! SO FUN BUT SO FRIGHTHENING! I accompanied somebody else playing this piece a few months ago, which was great. Music starts at 2:18 in the vid. I’m very proud of how well I can play the scary fast middle section at 5:53 (well. “well” in this case is messy, out of tune and tonally inconsistent, but i’m still proud because it’s very very difficult).

Though those are more me doing extra things so my teacher’s less involved in them, I really love all three of those pieces.

I actually had an orchestra rehearsal this morning! In that, I’m playing the Farandole by Bizet (from Arlesienne), which is very exciting as the flute part is big and important, and as I’ve played it a lot it’s no longer embarrassing to play it and fumble over the semiquavers.

I also play the piano, but I’m bad at that, whereas with flute I play well sometimes. I’m learning a bunch of Tom Lehrer music on the piano atm (masochism tango I can do, and we will all go together when we go I’ve been struggling to learn because it’s hard, and poisoning pigeons in the park i’m in the process of learning).

Also, I’ve not been doing it as much lately due to exams, but I like to edit wikipedia and research / study things in my spare time a lot because I’m a nerd. not sure if that counts as a hobby but i think it probably should count.

I also really want to get into spec bio. That’s something I shall try out after exams.

[kelticangel]

Psychology tidbit of the day

Social influence and power are categorized as:

- coercive: influencer has control over punishment

- reward: influencer has control over rewards or resources

- expert: influencer is believed to have superior ability, skills, or influence

- referent: target person is attracted to, likes, or identifies with influencer

- legitimate: target person believes influencer has legitimate authority

- informational: influencer possesses specific information needed by the target person

What I found super fascinating was how each of my relationships line up with this. Friends, husband, parents, in-laws, etc. Accepting influence from another person is a way to create more connection. When I think about how often I feel disconnected and which ways I allow myself to accept influence, it creates a really interesting picture

[avaloniaofficial]

this is the last image of me yall will ever get lmao

[ineffable-suffering]

Why Aziraphale is an unreliable narrator

Part 1: The Story of Job

I'm absolutely not the first one to talk about this on here and I probably shan't be the last either. Alas, here's my take on why all of the minisodes in Season 2 should be enjoyed with great care – and taken with a grain of angelic salt.

I'm gonna split this into 3 parts, aka the three minisodes we are shown, since I tend to get a bit waffley in my posts and want to still be able to include all the little details. Once I've written them, I'll link Part 2 & Part 3 here as well!

Alright, let's get into it under the cut of doom.

Episode 2 opens with the Story of Job. Right off the bat, I noticed that it sort of looks like an old film playing. At first I didn't read that much into it, but once we see the cut-away to Aziraphale at the bookshop, currently reading that part of the Bible (presumably), I immediately thought: "Oh! It's because it's his memory. He's remembering how it went down and therefore it plays like a figurative film in his head."

This, I then came to realize, is a very crucial difference to all the flashbacks of S1, which were exclusively told and narrated by God. May her intensions be as ineffable as they are: She did tell us all of these stories from an objective outsider's point of view. Now, however, it's Aziraphale who's re-telling those stories to us from memory.

And if there's one thing that's for certain, it's that a memory is something entirely different to an objective narration of a story. Just think about how you yourself remember things. Especially things that happened years, maybe even decades (or, in an angel's case, millenia) ago. What is it, that you really remember? Can you know for sure, that a conversation was held with those exact words? Are you 100% certain that the clothes someone wore weren't different? Had it really been snowing or would that make very little sense given what you're remembering happened in May? And did it even happen in May? Or does that just happen to be your favourite month, the current weather, your preferred style of clothing and what it was that you would imagine someone would have said to you?

What I'm trying to say is: The further away it is that something happened, the more your brain has to fill in the gaps. This is why, for example, your parents will remember the family summer holiday entirely different when you ask them about it 20 years later.

"No, it was Sarah who puked on the car ride home!" "Nonsense, Sarah never puked as a child. Bobby had that gone-off pizza, he's the one that was sick the whole ride long!"

We've all been there. Bobby made it out alive. Don't buy gas station pizza.

Alright, back to the plot: Naturally, Aziraphale is not actually human, so it is a pure assumption on my part that the way his memory works is similar to ours. However, the whole topic of "memory" is actually quite a recurring one on Good Omens.

Crowley seems to have lost his in the Fall, yet somehow managed to get most of it back. Not all of it, though, he clearly has some major gaps ("You used to jump on me back, little monkey in the waistcoat!"). Beelzebub helps Gabriel store all his memories in their little fly container before they get wiped entirely too, by the Metatron and/or Saraqael. Crowley and Aziraphale (and possibly Jimbriel) perform a miracle together that makes everyone in Heaven and Hell forget who Garbiel is or what he looks like. And we know that the Book of Life apparently has the ability to completely erase someone from existence – ergo also erasing them from everyone's memory and making it is as though the person had never been in them at all.

So, clearly, angels and demons being able to remember, forget, reconstruct and, if you're the Metadork, wipe memories, is very much canon. Apart from that very last one, it does make them quite human-like in a way. We too can forget or (wrongfully and incompletely) reconstruct memories, due to things like trauma, illness or simply a lot of time having passed.

So, just like Crowley remembers going into battle but doesn't remember Furfur being there, or just like Jimbriel has entierly forgotten who he is but still remembers the tune and lyrics to Buddy Holly's song Everyday, and just like archangel Michael was miraculously made to forget Gabriel and yet says "Don't I know you?" when seeing him again – just like that, Aziraphale's memories of the story of Job, the story of wee Morag and the story of the magic show in 1941, might not actually be the whole truth.

So, time to look at where the furniture isn't.

Now, it could very well be that the costume designers of S2 thought: "Fuck it, let's go crazy" – but given that this show has a track record of meticulously making sure to stick to accurate and cohesive character design, doesn't it strike you as odd that Crowley would go from this look at the Flood in Mesopotamia, 3004 BC:

... to the (very iconic, don't get me wrong) Bildad the Shuhuite drip in 2500 BC:

... back to this at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in 33 AD:

I mean ... I mean– come on, that seems like a bit of a far stretch, even for someone as enthusiastically experimental with fashion as Crowley.

And it's not just that: Where did the sunglasses come from, all of a sudden? And why do they look like some sort of obscure, ancient optometrist's device? It's a known historical fact that the Romans were the ones to have invented sunglasses, somewhere around 50-ish AD. Which actually matches perfectly with when Crowley and Aziraphale meet again in Rome 8 years after the crucifixion (51 AD).

So, where do the weird spectacles come from, over 2000 years too early? Maybe from Aziraphale's brain filling in some gaps? Hasn't Crowley always worn those ridiculous sunglasses? Was it Rome? Or Golgotha? Wessex? Oh, blimey, what does it matter!

And it's not just Crowley: Aziraphale's own clothes, as well as the other angels', seem to be very different from the rather plain linen we see him wear before and after the story of Job.

They're laced with golden embroidery along the neckline and sleeves. The remind almost of the clothes angels are depicted wearing in biblical and historical drawings. Ornate and decadent. Not at all like we see Aziraphale in the other flashbacks of S1.

Even Bildad the Shuhite's hair within the minisode keeps changing, going from all pouffy and voluminous to rather deflated and straight-looking:

The costume department either had to fix up two seperate wigs or manually straighten out the volume of the one again to give it a more sleek look. I'm not a professional in this field, but if there's anything I've learned from watching hours of behind-the-scenes material of movies and shows, it's that very little about costume, character, prop and set design is purely coincidental.

You know what it could be, though? An accurate representation of how memories aren't linear, historically correct and objective representations of a certain event, but rather an ever-changing, jumbled mess of impressions, emotions and exaggerations.

More specifically: Aziraphale's impression, emotions and exaggerations.

Like "remembering" Crowley with sunglasses because he's been wearing them for so long.

Like "remembering" himself wearing more luxurious, angelic clothes because that's how he thinks of the difference between Heaven and Hell.

Like "remembering" the permit as a ridiculously long scroll that folded out over an entire valley.

Like "remembering" Job's children to be weirdly sassy in an almost Aziraphale-esque way (Enon: "Don't be silly!") for the fact that Job would have probably taught them to be more humble and obedient in the presence of a literal angel.

Like "remembering" eating an entire fucking Ox after having just one bite of it while Crowley watched him lustfully, sipping on his wine.

Like "remembering" Crowley calling him 'angel', despite them having barely known each other back then.

There's a reason why the flashbacks in S2 seem so much more alive, quirky and, at many points, confusing and all over the place. Because they're not objective stories being told by a third party. They're Aziraphale's. So much of his own thoughts and feelings at the time get projected onto them because that's simply how memory works!

It's subjective. It's unrealiable.

It's not that I'm calling Aziraphale a liar. He's no more a liar than your parents are, mixing up Sarah and Bobby. Or you, remembering snow instead of sunshine. Memories aren't lies. They can simply be faulty, focus on things that you thought were more important and leaving out or changing things that weren't, to you.

The real challenge in all of this, is trying to filter through Aziraphale's stories to see what it actually is they're telling us. Where it is that the furniture isn't. And I think in this case, that's 6 main things (eff you, God, I know you like sevens, but I don't care):

God and Satan (still) talk to each other We see that Aziraphale is quite surprised when Muriel mentions that the whole Job thing is God's bet with Satan. But clearly, despite having made him and the rest fall, God still converses with Her number one traitor about whether or not the humans simply love Her because she gives them nice things or because they truly believe in Her.

God and Satan (and Heaven and Hell) can and do collaborate with each other when they feel like it So much for choosing sides, huh? Truthfully, this is not the first time this is shown to us, but still. It's another piece of evidence on the growing pile.

Aziraphale understands the World and humans way better than any of the other angels "Well, you see ... Citis is 58 ..."

Aziraphale, despite having troubles voicing it, absolutely disagrees and even condemns God's plan of destroying Job's children (and goats and camels and––)

Aziraphale is willing to lie and thwart the will of God Also not the first time we're being shown this but again, piiiile of evidence.

Angels don't automatically Fall simply by doing the above To me, this is one of the most important take aways. It's already hinted in S1 as well that 'Falling' seems to have been a one time even back when the first war broke out in Heaven. And I actually believe that ever since then, no other angels have Fallen again. Aziraphale is the best example for this. He has gone against God's plan numerous times and even lied to her very face (voice?) about it. And yet, nothing ever happened to him. Why exactly that is the case remains a topic for another meta (that I might or might not be working on already, teehee).

Alright, that concludes this first look at the Job minisode! If there's anything I missed, feel free to share it with me. I'll try and add Part 2 (the story of wee Morag) and Part 3 (the magic show of 1941) soon.

Update: Part 2 and Part 3 have officially been written, you can find it them right here:

Part 2: The Story of wee Morag

Part 3: The Story of the Magic Show in 1941

Hugs and kisses, (God)!

[humbledragon669]

S2E2 - The Clue Write Up P3 - London (Present Day) the Dirty Donkey meeting up to Land of Uz (Crowley speaks to Job)

Alright, so it’s been a minute. As I write this, it’s been two weeks since I posted the last of this episode’s write up instalments. My apologies about that, I’ve been pretty nose to the grindstone trying to get a Uni assignment finished so that I could enjoy a few weeks of socialising in the lead up to Christmas without worrying about getting it done in time. I finished this afternoon, a little over two weeks ahead of the submission date, which I am over the moon with. Honestly, it’s been pretty intense. I’m not ashamed to say that the first thing I did after I hit the “Submit” button was open up all the bits and pieces I use to write these posts, and I am definitely not ashamed to say that I was quite emotional as I did it. I’ve missed these goofballs. Like… a LOT. And I’ve missed engaging with the fandom with anything more involved than doomscrolling. I still have some reading for the trimester to catch up on, but I am largely free of Uni work now until mid-January (did someone say filming will be underway by then? Not me…) and I intend to throw myself into this beautiful little community wholeheartedly whilst I can. Who knows I might even manage to some more fic writing done/completed… So. With that self-indulgent waffley intro to this post out of the way, let’s get started, we have a pub to get to.

I didn’t think there was any point in delaying the inevitable, we all know that this is the moment that everybody wants to squeal about in this scene. There are a couple of bits and pieces (and they’re all pretty small) I just wanted to point out before I talk about it proper, and even then I probably won’t talk about it all that much because it’s been covered by just about everyone already. Firstly, I just wanted to give a little nod to the sound editors (who knew the first thing I would be pointing out after a short hiatus would be a sound thing. Oh that’s right, everyone did) for the donkey braying noise we can hear in the lower layers of the soundtrack when the camera focusses in on the pub sign. I don’t know why it’s there (I think we all know what a donkey is when we see one), but I think it makes it sounds like the sign is roaring. I don’t think it’s important, I just appreciate the effort.

Next up I want to say how much I wish there was an alleyway of space that leads directly from the door of a pub to a table in every busy pub I went to. There will be a bit more to talk about in regards to our hero couple having an “aura” of free space around them in a little while, but here I think it’s probably there for logistics more than anything.

Last up, I can’t help but feel like there’s something to be had in this little exchange:

CROWLEY: Ah, we’re going to the pub. You never go to the pub. AZIRAPHALE: We’re in the pub now. CROWLEY: What’s wrong with the coffee shop?

So, we hear Crowley moving from the collective “we” to the singular “you” in the first line, followed by Aziraphale immediately reverting to the collection “we” (which is in and of itself notable - I think it points to his not being able to think of himself as a “singular” where Crowley is involved). I actually wonder if this might be a reference to 1967 - we know that Crowley uses this same pub to conduct a covert meeting. Did he choose a pub knowing full well that Aziraphale doesn’t frequent them, supposedly safe in the knowledge that he could remain in the angel’s vicinity without the risk of bumping into him? I think it’s likely this would have factored into Crowley’s choice of meeting place, but what I find curious about the delivery of these lines in the present day is that he firstly sounds amused about this turn of events and then immediately asks Aziraphale why they can’t just do what they normally do. Don’t get me wrong, I love this little exchange, partly because we get to see a little of that mischievous Crowley that I mentioned is a little lacking in this season (at least in the present day scenes), I just can’t quite fathom Crowley’s thinking processes at this point.

Alright. Here we are at last.

I’m going to try and make this short and to the point. Three things about this:

Crowley does not respond to this touch at all. It’s quite rare for us to see this pair consciously touch one another, so if this was out of the ordinary for them, you’d expect to see some sort of shock from him but that is most definitely absent.

Aziraphale doesn’t just stop at putting a hand on Crowley chest, he actually strokes it a little, in a downward motion, and that’s not a response to any movement from the demon, who is completely stationary. That little downward stroke is all sub-conscious Aziraphale (or totally conscious and mischievous Michael, as we came to find out).

There is a little flash of shock on Aziraphale’s face in the split second after he strokes Crowley’s chest. I think this is him realising what he’s just done. Distracted as he was trying to find a table, he’s revealed the true nature of their relationship in a room full of people.

There. That’s it. That wasn’t too drawn out now, was it? Well, if that was a little too shallow for your tastes, shall we have a look at the miracle noise we’re about to hear?

OK, so this is very familiar territory for us by now, and just to prove that point, let’s compare this noise with the one from episode one:

Almost exactly the same, I think. Perhaps some slight difference with the levels, but that could just be the recording I’ve produced. As a reminder, I’ve started playing around with the idea that the miracle noises are more to do with need than the person who casts them - see this take from the episode one write-up:

This would stand up for the scene in the pub too, seeing as the miracle has been cast out of a “need” for somewhere to sit (and for that “aura” of space I mentioned earlier, this time around the table), rather than to achieve something with a moral aim. On the other hand, if you’re still of the camp that believes that the sound is tied to the caster, this would almost certainly drive the hammer home for my theory that Crowley didn’t do anything for the miracle in the book shop - these two miracle sounds are exactly the same, and the one in the pub is definitely only cast by Aziraphale. On a non-sound related note, it has not escaped my attention that the angel is incredibly nonchalant about performing a miracle here, despite how cautious he has been in previous scenes about doing “a very minor miracle”. How does one go from not wanting to perform half a miracle to hide someone in need to openly performing a full one just to guarantee yourself a seat? I suppose it’s possible that he thinks he has little left to lose now that he has Heaven’s attention, but that doesn’t sit right with me. Perhaps this is just another one of those instances, like with Aziraphale’s comments about the arrival of the Heavenly hosts, where the writing is perhaps a little thin in order to provide convenience for filming.

There’s a little Easter egg here in the headline on the newspaper (there will be another one shortly):

It’s not easy to make out the top bit, it looks to me like it reads “Modern, efficient, healthy and pleasant living accommodation in Milton Keynes”. To those of you who don’t know about Milton Keynes, it’s a town that was deliberately developed from scratch in the 60s to try and help address the housing shortage in the UK. It’s one of a handful of so-called “new towns” in the UK. Its most notable feature is that it has a lot of roundabouts. It’s also the one place that neither Crowley nor Aziraphale would take responsibility for, according to the book:

Crowley had been allowed to develop Manchester, while Aziraphale had a free hand in the whole of Shropshire. Crowley took Glasgow, Aziraphale had Edinburgh (neither claimed any responsibility for Milton Keynes*

The footnote for the town in the book also provides us with the text for the headline:

It was built to be modern, efficient, healthy, and, all in all, a pleasant place to live.

Lovely little Easter egg that one. Here’s the other:

This one comes from the book too, this time as part of Newt’s dialogue:

Daily Mail.  ‘Letter from America.’  Um, August the third,” said Newt.  “Just after the story about the woman in Worms, Nebraska, who taught her duck to play the accordion.

You really have to hand it to the prop and design team - they know how to sneak in those cheeky treats into newspaper headlines, don’t they?!

Alright, let’s jump into another oft-discussed moment.

As with so many of the moments in this show that are highly treasured and talked about by the community, I’m not going to talk about this a great deal, I just want to touch briefly on the vibe I get from this little moment. The bottom line for me here is that this is another Crowley rescue going on. I’ve talked about this aspect of their relationship quite a lot already I know, it’s just that I think it becomes so desperately important later, to the point that it’s explicitly stated. But I’m jumping ahead of myself. Breaking this rescue down, we can see how quickly Crowley becomes aware that his angel might need rescuing - when he looks over at the table to observe the odd man that just sat down. We also see how quickly Aziraphale is to signal to the demon that a rescue is required - with his look back to Crowley at the bar. This little moment is so beautiful to me - it shows how completely aware they both are of the other’s presence and role without a single word. And that position Crowley takes up when he does get to the table? It’s so very territorial, isn’t it? Reaching across Aziraphale to put the glass down, rather than just placing the glass down. It’s like a proverbial shield. And that you really can’t pretend not to hear the “what the fuck are you doing in my seat” in that “hello”, can you?

There are two additional minor points I want to point out here. The first is to do with one of Aziraphale’s tells - his hands.

You can see that as soon as he starts to feel seriously uncomfortable, he starts fiddling with his hands. We’ve seen him do this on multiple occasions before, so it shouldn’t be news that this is something he does subconsciously, I just think it’s worth noting that this behaviour comes into play even with situations where the risk of peril is low. The other thing of note is this tiny lip and eye movements we see when he takes a sip of his sherry:

The lip movement is tricky to read and interpret. I have seen a post that suggested this is a bit of non-verbal communication from him to Crowley, where he says “thank you”. I don’t think this is an unreasonable suggestion, and certainly plays to the non-verbal theme that runs through this entire season. It would also tie in nicely with the eye flick we can see, which makes it seem like the words are being projected at Crowley with his eyes. What’s important is that this gratitude isn’t for the drink (otherwise it would be spoken aloud) - this thanks would appear to be for the rescue.

There’s something about this line I really love, almost like he thinks he’s speaking from a wealth of experience. Which he blatantly isn’t, but you gotta love him for trying claim some knowledge in the area. Crowley looks as convinced of that as the rest of us though:

I also love this little insight into Aziraphale’s character:

AZIRAPHALE: I told them I made Nina and Maggie fall in love. CROWLEY: Why? AZIRAPHALE: It was the first thing I could think of.

To me it shows that ultimately he’s always instinctively drawn towards love. When you compare that mindset to the one shown by Gabriel earlier on in the episode when talking about Job’s children, it really shows how wide the gulf between Aziraphale and the rest of Heaven actually is. Here’s a little script thing I do have an issue with though:

AZIRAPHALE: Oh, miracles don’t work like that.

Um. OK. So why would you have gotten away with telling the rest of the Heavenly host that your miracle worked? This feels like another moment of flaky writing, it just doesn’t really hold up to any sort of scrutiny. But as quickly as I have a moment of doubt about this show, a little moment comes in to bring me back in line:

There’s something so showy about this. Like he’s giving Crowley the gift of “we”. There’s such emphasis on the “we”, with a set-up and a pause. This is interesting to me, because it almost sounds as if the suggestion here isn’t that they “fix” a problem, but that they rescue it, except this time it won’t be Crowley doing the rescuing on his own, this time it’s a “we” thing. Really cute.

There’s another fandom favourite coming - the fall-in-love-in-a-rainstorm speech. As usual, I won’t go into huge detail here, just highlight some of my favourite aspects. It goes without saying that the scene described is essentially an exact description of the events of the wall scene from the Garden of Eden, and what makes that particularly interesting is that it suggests (or perhaps confirms) that this was the moment that Crowley fell in love with Aziraphale. More than that, it suggests that he believes that the same can be said of Aziraphale. I am not unaware of the similarities of the description with the Before the Beginning scene, but if we’re talking actual watery rain, there is only one scene of the two that we can apply it to. The layers of subtext in this micro-scene are what really engage me, because not only do I love that Crowley’s speech says that he truly believes the way he fell in love to be the only and best way it’s possible to fall in love (and can we say “made for each other”? Swoon), the way that it’s delivered suggests he’s completely unaware he’s talking about himself. And it definitely hasn’t registered with Aziraphale either:

I also love how Crowley stands his ground on this one.

And just when you think this demon couldn’t get any more saccharine, he pulls this out of the bag:

There’s a tiny hesitation before the “Richard Curtis” that tells me everything I need to know about his little speech - this is the moment where he realises what he’s just said. Whether this is a realisation for him about exactly when he fell in love with Aziraphale I don’t know, largely because his eyes are covered and we don’t get to see his face for long enough, but I find something really charming in this idea. I’m sure there are some that would say that hesitation is because he’s about to give away the fact that he watches Richard Curtis films (Notting Hill is hardly demon-worthy content now, is it?), but I am not one of those. As a point of note, has Crowley’s description ever actually happened in a Richard Curtis film? Personally I haven’t watched an awful lot of his work, but I’m pretty sure it hasn’t happened in any of the stuff I have seen.

Final note on Crowley’s side of this discussion goes to this expression, the response to Aziraphale telling him that they should “invoke fiction … properly”:

I mean, he’s pissed at this point isn’t he? And rightly so I say. He’s just recounted his incredibly romantic tale of how he fell in love, and he’s told, by the recipient of that love, that he hasn’t done it “properly”. I think it’s fair to say that the non-verbal communication that was working so effectively earlier in this scene has well and truly gone off the rails by this point.

Quick side note about this 1810 Clerkenwell diamond robbery - not a real historic thing by all accounts. I find this interesting because so many of the historic things referred to in this show were actual events, or at least loosely related to one. This one seems to have been entirely created though. What I will say is that, from Crowley’s description and the way he says her name, it seems he may have been on a first name basis with her. Now wouldn’t that whole thing make for a fascinating spin-off/minisode?

I love the complete opposites we see in Aziraphale’s description of the perfect way to fall in love, the most obvious being that we haven’t ever seen this particular scenario play out between them in the way that we say Crowley’s. Perhaps this is meant to reinforce the difference in the types of personalities between them - the angel being the fantasist, the angel being the realist (which in of itself would open up a huge can of worms for discussion). At the heart of his speech is the only common aspect between the two descriptions:

AZIRAPHALE: …and then realise they had misunderstood each other and were actually deeply in love.

Essentially the two descriptions boil down to the same thing - two people coming together and, based on apropos of nothing but being in close physical contact with one another, fall deeply and desperately in love. How ironic that Crowley feels the same way about the Austen-scenario as Aziraphale did about the “Richard Curtis” one:

Right, I think that just about covers the pub scene, let’s see if I can get to the start of another flashback scene without too much trouble.

Tiny thing, but does anybody else find the idea that Crowley has never heard “Everyday” before highly unlikely? With his broad music tastes and the fact that he would actually have been around to hear the song when it was released, this seems like a really strange thing to claim, even if it sounds convincing. Maybe it’s just a me thing.

Next tiny thing (aside from noting that, despite the fact that Aziraphale is hiding a much sought-after archangel inside the shop, the door isn’t locked) - how is it that Crowley knows exactly where to find the Jane Austen books? Maybe that particular bookshelf is the start of an A-Z of fiction by author (I highly doubt this, as it would mean customers can actually find books they’re looking for). Even if that was the case, it would mean that Crowley has paid enough attention to the system at hand to know where to look. Given he himself claimed he doesn’t read books (see season one, episode two), there’s something about his familiarity with the shop layout that says more about the amount of time he spends there (and helps out there?) to me. What I do find interesting here is that he doesn’t instantly remove his glasses when he enters the shop. This might just be a set-up for their removal in just a moment, but it may also be that he’s less comfortable there now that Gabriel has set up camp. Talking of the removal of the glasses, there’s another one of those hiss noises here, just to really hammer home how threatening he wants to be to Jim. Lovely bit of subtextual sound editing.

Alright final point here - I’m sure there’s something to be said about Jim’s eyes turning purple when he remembers things. Maybe it’s just a special effect to show the audience that this is a genuine moment of remembering, but if not, it raises questions for me around what the purple eyes signify, which is emphasised by the fact that the words Jim recalls were not only not spoken by him, but he wasn’t even present to hear (at least as far as what we see can testify to). Some things to ponder on there for a later time perhaps.

I think it’s time to call it a day on this part. It’s run a little longer than intended, but that’s what happens with Aziracrow-rich content I’m afraid (so… all of season 2 then?). As always, questions, comments, discussion: always welcome! See you for the next one 😊

[hollowwrites]

✨Drabble Masterlist✨

✨ Link to Regular Masterlist ✨

My masterlist got too big so here’s where all the waffley, cutesy stuff goes.

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🤍 The Bois 🤍

Oh… and keep an eye on the staircases, they like to change. - How the bois would tackle the girl dorms being inaccessible

I’m Bothered by these Boggarts - Headcanon of what our bois Boggarts would be

All aboard the Hug-Warts Express - How our lads comfort MC

Where has my Cardi-gone - How our bois react to pilfered clothing

Proper Proposals - The lads discussing how they proposed to their significant others

And a Happy New Year - The bois celebrating at a New Year’s party

The Serpent Sisters - Anne, Imelda and Evelyn defending the bois

Medusa’s Vipers - Ominis and Sebastian being protective of Evelyn

🔞 Character AI Screenshots 🔞

Ominis, Garreth and Sebastian, Sebastian again

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🎁 Gift Giving 🎁

In game ideas for a relationship system. Like Dragon Age!! Plus I want give my favs gifts Okay?!

Sebastian, Garreth and Ominis

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🕯️ Trio Chatter 🕯️

- Based on game files showing we could have had TWO companions. Little conversations between possible combos

Sebastian and Ominis

Ominis and Misc

Garreth and Sebastian

Garreth and Sebastian…again

Sebastian and Imelda

Garreth and Ominis

Poppy and Amit

Trio Chatter for when MC is in a relationship, how each person would behave:

Sebastian and Garreth | Sebastian and Ominis | Garreth and Ominis

Three’s a Crowd - Trio Chatter for a party with all the same house

Trio Chatter for my Ships: Part 1, Part 2

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🔮 Random Headcanons 🔮

Garreths’ Nicknames for people

Spell Practise - Ominis and Garreth dialogue for in-game

Class of ‘91 - Ideas for classes for all our favs

Leaving Hogwarts Grounds - Dialogue for dragging our babes out of hogwarts. and some more!!

Hallway Antics - Leander trying to bully Ominis and failing feat. Garreth

Hallway Antics - Garreth and Ominis discuss the origins of Hobhouse hatred

Hallway Antics - Sebastian and Ominis contemplate Garreths’ house

House Pride (and Shame) - MC talking about their different Houses

Parseltongue-tied - Ominis teaching MC Parseltongue (suggestive 🔞)

Mother in Laws Tongue - Ominis can talk to plants too apparently…

A Very Ominous Christmas - 🎄Garreth has a surprise for Ominis

A Magical Christmas - 🎄 Gift Giving amongst the gang

A Weasley Good Christmas - 🎄Garreth giving gifts cause he’s baby boi

Crossed Wands Headcanon - Different duelling styles for our favs

A Summary of The Houses - The difference between my MCs

The Adventures of the Sallow Twins - Garreth and Sebastian discovering they look VAGUELY similar

Tis the Season - 🎃 Pumpkin spice Drabble for Ominis, Sebastian and Eve