“It’s not—” Aziraphale hesitates. “There is, after all, precedent. The – the sacredness of, of slaughter. Lambs, and such. And – and the notion of bounty.” He waves a heavy arm. “The symbolism, therein.”
“Oh, sure.” Crowley nods, and his curly beard moves with him. “The symbolism therein.” Along the ground, his leg is bare where his robe falls away.
Or: after his first experience eating food, Aziraphale is persuaded to try another one of earth's pleasures.
Words: 2,329
Status: Complete
Rating: Explicit
By @focusfixated
Art Credit: Still Life with Cooking Utensils by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, 1728-1730
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
these are some super interesting thoughts on book v film and i will put both of these on the list and take your recommendations into consideration!
One of my boldest stances, I know! To expand, I recently read another book where I'd seen the movie first, Thomas Savage's The Power of the Dog, and I was so struck by how the tone and just, idk, feel? energy?? of the writing was sooo similar to that same quality in the movie, one of the most indefinable aspects of adaptation that Jane Campion fucking nailed, and I'm sure if I'd already read the novel I would have found seeing that translated to the screen so thrilling.
And yet! In the book was also this whole other side plot that does not appear in the adaptation (naturally, time constraints are different in these mediums), and if I knew of that I would have undoubtedly been having moments of stepping outside of the experience of watching the piece of art that Campion made to be thinking about how it seemed to be skipping that bit, as opposed to just being In It (and Staggered), as my not having read the book first allowed me to be. Nothing was taken from her movie, and then when I read his novel, I just got more of it than I even expected.
But then there are other times like The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie where I do think reading the novel first would be the superior experience order, so it's not strictly cut in stone!
bakingblues replied to your post:
Have you read gentlemen and players by Joanne Harris? It’s one of my favourite indulgent reads and it references this book (which I have not read and have now immediately added to my list for this years Campus Novel September)
I have not and this sounds very engaging. Campus Novel September is perfect and beautiful, I am actually doing an Academic Winter moment myself with this and my to be announced (intrigue!) next title, incidentally another where I've already seen the movie, which is how I know it is February-set.
hey so look okay here i am standing shamefaced outside your door asking you if you wouldn't mind sharing or re-linking if you've shared before the names/numbers of the handful of spn episodes you've watched so i can get a slightly more informed flavour of the show when i inevitably capitulate to reading fanfic without giving up too much of my finite time on this earth to watching multiple seasons of supernatural.
GOOD NEWS - here are All Ten Episodes of SPN I Have Watched So Far, In The (Correct) Order I Watched Them. They are also rated for gay angel content, which tbh is mainly what I’m watching for, for the benefit of anyone else who may be in a similar situation.
15x20 Carry On - I maintain that watching the finale of this show first is the funniest thing you could possibly do, if you’re happy for it to be a completely incomprehensible experience. Witness Dean getting nailed to death. Cas content: 0.5/10, for one line in which his memory is briefly invoked at some kind of pie festival the Winchesters are attending
1x02 Wendigo - I only watched this because I was coming off a Due South jag and I thought it was funny that Callum Keith Rennie was in a very early episode. This is probably only worth watching if you too want to check in on how Callum Keith Rennie was doing c.2005, and/or if you are interested to see what the two leads looked like before they became the exhausted 40-year-olds in most of the gifsets, though I imagine there are probably better S1 episodes to do that with, not that I know what they are. Cas content: 0/10
4x01 Lazarus Rising - this is the Castiel introduction episode, although he only shows up in the final scene, and most of the rest of it is prime Men Stand In Rooms Talking To Each Other. When he shows up it’s good though. Cas content: 5/10, and all 5 of the points are for making the line “I am the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition” somehow even more intense than it looks written down
10x05 Fan Fiction - I maintain that trying to understand the first 200 episodes of the show by skipping to the one in which a girls’ high school puts on a musical summarising everything that has happened so far is the funniest thing you can possibly do. This episode is stupid, but I do recommend it, if you can stand to hear the word “Destiel” come out of the mouths of the actors. Cas content: 2/10, in that he isn’t in it, but he’s being played in the musical by a teenage lesbian, which seems Right
4x16 On The Head of a Pin - watched this in an attempt to watch “a good Cas episode”, although the (interesting) conceit of Cas experiencing doubt for the first time was overshadowed by the discovery that this show thinks that the way angels fight is that they just punch each other. Sure. Cas content: 6/10, not enough interaction with Dean, but strong points awarded for the beginnings of a crisis of faith and also being forced to his knees with a bloodied face
3x11 Mystery Spot - @the-omnishambles (who watched the first few series of the show in the 00s) kept telling me this was the one good episode she could remember. This was literally the first episode I thought was great from start to finish, and the knowledge that this show is capable of an episode that is good all the way through makes almost every other episode so much more of a shame in comparison. Anyway, this is a Groundhog Day conceit and it’s genuinely very funny. Cas content: 0/10
4x02 Are You There God? It’s Me, Dean Winchester - I thought that since Cas didn’t do much in the first episode of S4, maybe he started doing more in the second episode. He doesn’t, and this episode is boring, apart from literally the final scene (again), when Cas shows up to tell Dean he should show him some respect, which - according to most of the fanfiction I’ve consulted - sends Dean sexually insane. Cas content: 4/10, and all 4 of the points are for nobody realising they should have cut this scene if they didn’t want billions of words of Dean being dommed by an angel to exist on the internet
4x06 Yellow Fever - this is another silly episode, because by this point I was getting the hang of the fact that the silly episodes seem to be the most watchable. Dean gets a ghost disease (?) that makes him scared of everything. It’s pretty funny. Bonus points for a scene where he is hit on by a (male) deputy sheriff for literally no reason. Cas content: 0/10
5x03 Free To Be You And Me - this is the “Bert and Ernie are gay” episode, in which Cas shows up in Dean’s bathroom because Dean is The Only Person Who Will Help Him, and Dean agrees to help him but also insists on being present for his first sexual experience. Seems a bananas decision to make Cas very awkward about sex - rather than just uninterested in or intellectually curious about it - if you don’t want to make it clear that angels can fuck, do fuck, and might want to fuck Dean. Also seems a bananas decision to have Dean appear to fail in his extremely solemn promise to get Cas laid, if you don’t want to make it clear that he presumably just had to sort Cas out himself in the car afterwards. Cas content: 8/10, two points removed for not showing whatever happened in the car afterwards
5x04 The End - this episode was the second one that I thought was good from start to finish, so honestly it’s great to know that the show managed this at least twice in the 320 chances it had. Anyway, in order to convince Dean to do what heaven wants him to, another angel projects Dean into a vision of a nightmarish, post-apocalyptic future in which Dean has become a ruthless killer, Sam has been possessed by Lucifer, and Cas has got into yoga, orgies, and weed. I thought at least some of this was a joke every time I saw it referenced in a shitpost, but it isn’t. Cas content: 9/10, point removed purely because he’s not in the whole episode, but he’s high, sad, and dressed in a big baggy shirt when he is. Bonus points for the canonical creation of a self-contained AU for people to write depressing but very explicit fanfiction about. Extra bonus points for the insanity of airing this episode directly after the Bert and Ernie one.
Hi dears, I can identify 3 lost fics that some anons recently asked about! "with all your delights" by weatheredlaw = Crowley is a king and Aziraphale is a consort sent to him during trade negotiations; "to steal light from dawn" by focusfixated = the one where they try out long-term orgasm denial and Crowley becomes distressed but doesn't know how to ask for what he needs; "You, Soft and Only" by thehoyden = pretending to be married in Florence, with Aziraphale posing as the wife
This just appeared in the bottom of the inbox all of a sudden, so these posts were probably awhile ago. Oh well, thank you for your help, dear!
with all your delights by weatheredlaw
Crowley laughed. “I thought you’d have realized by now. I am no ordinary king.”
“No,” Aziraphale said. “You certainly are not.”
or: aziraphale is sent as a gift to the southern king to smooth over trade negotiations. they both find themselves in over their heads.
to steal light from dawn by focusfixated
Aziraphale put his manuscript aside, instruments perched daintily on a knock-off Charles and Diana commemorative dish by an artist who couldn’t seem to decide whether he was painting the Princess of Wales or a young Aled Jones. “I believe the general consensus is that the fun of sexual activity is to enjoy climax, not to be deprived of it,” he said.
“Well, you would think that, angel.” Crowley stood up, unfolding himself in a sinewy deployment that Aziraphale followed with his eyes. “A right little hedonist you are, if ever I saw one.”
(Or: Aziraphale and Crowley try something new. Crowley learns to ask for what he wants.)
You, Soft and Only by thehoyden
He hadn’t expected a sudden lapful of angel.
“Very sorry about this,” Aziraphale said, and kissed him.
i think i know the 'long term orgasm delay' fic the anon earlier was looking for. 'to steal light from dawn' by focusfixated on ao3. essential summary is crowley wants zira to stop him from coming but he still wants to make zira come & feel good & there's some miscommunication w that but it ends sweetly
Thank you, dear!
to steal light from dawn by focusfixated
Aziraphale put his manuscript aside, instruments perched daintily on a knock-off Charles and Diana commemorative dish by an artist who couldn’t seem to decide whether he was painting the Princess of Wales or a young Aled Jones. “I believe the general consensus is that the fun of sexual activity is to enjoy climax, not to be deprived of it,” he said.
“Well, you would think that, angel.” Crowley stood up, unfolding himself in a sinewy deployment that Aziraphale followed with his eyes. “A right little hedonist you are, if ever I saw one.”
(Or: Aziraphale and Crowley try something new. Crowley learns to ask for what he wants.)
Charming librarian, Do you have any fics with edging and or orgasm denial to suggest? A devoted reader
I’ve asked around and found a few for you, dear!
to steal light from dawn by focusfixated
Aziraphale put his manuscript aside, instruments perched daintily on a knock-off Charles and Diana commemorative dish by an artist who couldn’t seem to decide whether he was painting the Princess of Wales or a young Aled Jones. “I believe the general consensus is that the fun of sexual activity is to enjoy climax, not to be deprived of it,” he said.
“Well, you would think that, angel.” Crowley stood up, unfolding himself in a sinewy deployment that Aziraphale followed with his eyes. “A right little hedonist you are, if ever I saw one.”
(Or: Aziraphale and Crowley try something new. Crowley learns to ask for what he wants.)
For the Longest Time by darlingred1
“You…” Aziraphale sounded baffled, and suddenly quite sober. “You liked that? But, my dear, you said it was torturous. ‘Six thousand years of torture,’ as I recall.”
“Yeah. Yeah, but the anticipation, and the yearning, and…and how every moment with you was so maddeningly intense, and…”
And what else could Crowley say? How could he expect Aziraphale to understand that after six thousand years of torture he’d actually got a bit used to it? That he’d felt like a band strained further and further, and now he found himself permanently stretched, flopping about with too much slack and no way to hold on to what he’d been reaching towards for so long?
(Crowley kind of misses the pining when it's gone. Aziraphale comes up with a solution.)
Possession and Other Hauntings by robynthemagpie_writes
From the moment they swap, Aziraphale and Crowley are aware of the echoes of each other's lives that they sense whilst living in each other's skin. These memories, these ghosts, will haunt them until they face them.
very basic but I go back and forth between blue and green. no doubt due to my yearning to touch grass. I love the color of every single body of water but in particular the colors of lake michigan and lake ontario just before the sun starts to set—that bright, solid, almost gilded blue—and the leaves in summertime when the sun is shining through them.
28. do you collect anything?
WIPs ceramics by goatpierrot
after many years I have finally scored a pantomime horse and I am so delighted
30. what’s one thing that never fails to make you happy/happier?
the real and irritating answer is going for a walk, because I never want to do it yet grudgingly I must admit that there are Certain Benefits
3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?
Oh no...like...none of them this year. 😂 Lake Cycle was the most fun, and The Rehabilitation of Northern Foxes spawned a novel wip, but overall I'm feeling a bit meh about the fic I wrote this year.
12. How many WIP’s do you have in your docs for next year?
Three! One for Matthias & Maxime, one for Tom at the Farm, and the eternal Star Wars kylux wip that I'm probably never going to finish, but it's still banging around. I seem to open that one every March, but it's grindingly bleak (despite a ghost sex scene lol) so I quickly shove it back in the drawer.
29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?
Tie between this scene from The Ever After, because I think it's a funny scene that echoes the ensemble vibe of the movie and one that captures this universe's version of Sarah well
“Did something happen? Tout va bien avec ta maman?”
Nothing happened, Kevin says, Mum’s fine. They’re not subtle, are they, he adds, nodding over his shoulder: Matt’s friends have piled up shamelessly on either side of the doorway; even Sarah, elbow-jockeying with Brass, which is how he knows she belongs to them. Only Raf has a sense of decorum and is hanging back from the group, looking embarrassed: for La Bande, for himself, maybe for Kevin.
Matt shuts the door in their faces: allez vous crosser, criss.
and this one from the last chapter of Tailwind, because it's my favorite description of an orgasm that I've written to date 😂
The sensation is overwhelming; his eyes roll back; Christ, he breathes. The world shrinks down to nothing but this single point of contact. His body inside Max’s body. His body swelling and bursting with joy.
