Okay, I have to: 33. “Tear off the mask. Your face is glorious.” for ineffable husbands
(Read at AO3)
It was in Egypt that he encountered Crawly again. The floodwas millennia in the past and the return of Prince Moses from his desert exilewas still several years in the future (not that Aziraphale could foretell thefuture, but the schedule Head Office had provided him had been very detailed),and he found the demon in a tavern in Thebes, looking rather miserable.
But the yellow eyes lit up at the sight of a familiar face.“Buy you a drink?”
“Oh, thanks awfully,” said Aziraphale, beforecommon sense could assert itself, and gladly drank the wine the serving girlbrought him. “It’s so dreadfully dry and sandy in this country at thistime of year, it makes one so very thirsty.”
“Nngh,” Crawly agreed. “And it’s about theget more dreadful.”
Aziraphale frowned. “Oh?”
“Mhmm. I’m here to oversee a demonic plague of somesort. Something new from R&D. Beastly thing. Fevers, boils, pustulentsores…”
“You don’t seem happy about it. I thought your lot wentin for suffering.”
“We do… as a rule.” Crawly sighed and reachedfor the pitcher. “I don’t think I’m quite cut out for the plague-spreaderrole, though.”
“No… no, from what I’ve seen of you, on the whole,you don’t seem to be a very good demon.”
“Thank you – oh, wait, you didn’t mean that as acompliment.” Crawly’s face fell. “I think I do a decent job.”
“You do! I didn’t meant to imply – I mean, you don’tever seem to enjoy…” Aziraphale made anawkward gesture. “Demon-ing.”
“Oh, sometimes I do. When it’s just winding humans upand letting them go, that’s fun. They’ve got much better imaginations that Helldoes – I take notes and send all sorts of memos downstairs with suggestions,and then I get commendations for them. And you can’t tell me that taking creditfor someone else’s work isn’t evil.”
“It certainly is,” said Aziraphale, wanting tohumour him.
“But indiscriminate mayhem and agony and death… well,I need to be in a proper mood for that. And it wouldn’t involve kids.”
Aziraphale drank his wine thoughtfully. “I suppose youcould always… not spread the plague.”
Crawly looked at him in surprise, and then grinned.“Trying to tempt me into good behavior, angel?”
“No, tempting is your job. I just makesuggestions.”
“And you’re suggesting that I be completelyinsubordinate.”
“Well… yes…”
Crawly leaned back precariously on his stool, smiling andeyeing Aziraphale with something that looked almost like fondness. “I’mfairly sure Hell would notice if this plague just didn’t happen. And thennothing pleasant would happen to me. But thanks forthe suggestion, all the same.”
“You don’t have to do this,” said Aziraphalequietly. “You could—”
“I could what?” The smile vanished. “Stand upto my bosses, say ‘This is wrong!’ and end up being torn limb from limb for thenext ten thousand years? No thanks. I’m not that broken up about some humans dying. In ten years, there’ll be five times as manythat died, and history won’t even remember there was a plague in the firstplace.”
“But you’ll remember. And so will I.”
Crawley leaned forward, thumping the stool softly on theclay floor of the tavern. “Listen to me, Aziraphale: I can’t be betterthan I am for your sake. I’m a demon.”
“Why would it have to be for my sake? Why couldn’t itbe for your own?”
“That sounds suspiciously like repentance. But I’ve gotnothing to repent. No ways to mend. This is who and what I am – you won’t findanything else underneath.”
“I wonder, though,” Aziraphale said, blithelyignoring Crawly’s groan. “About who still lies under that demonic mask youwear.”
“…Mask, what mask? This, uh… this is my face.”
“It’s a metaphor.”
“And what’s that when it’s at home, some kind ofinsult?”
“No, it’s a dramatic device – look, all I mean is – theangel you were, the face and form that God gave you,must still be there.” He was astonished at how hopeful he sounded, eventhough he knew that was he was saying was ridiculous. And yet… “You cantear off this mask, Crawly. Your face is still perfect.”
Crawly looked at him steadily. “God took back the facethey gave me, Aziraphale. What you see is all I’ve got left.” He rose andtossed a few coins on the table. “Thanks for the company. I’ve got torun… plague starts at sunset in three days.”
Aziraphale slumped on his stool and set to work finishingoff the rest of the jug of wine.
It wasn’t until he could see the bottom that he realizedwhat Crawly had done.
Three days after their meeting, at sunset, the demon-drivenplague struck Thebes. But it struck at a city entirely and mysteriously devoidof people.
“My orders were to infect the city of Thebes,” explained Crawly blandly, when he next encountered Aziraphale,“not the people of Thebes. S’ not my fault ifHead Office isn’t keeping track of population movements.”
Not a question, but I wanted you to know that, as an ace/aro person, your commentary about the new platonic ideal made me cry. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Oh, thank you. <3 It’s actually from a couple years ago, it just crossed my dash again and I read it and said ‘oh yes, that’s correct’ and reblogged it again.
thetrashiestoftrash replied to your photo “Creatures wild and domestic in Texas this morning!”
Is that the drive through zoo?
My friend, that is my parents’ backyard :D The fence you can see is the enclosure they built for the dog.
omglawd replied to your photo “We make a tradition of going to Mighty Fine Burgers when I arrive in...”
I have missed Mighty Fine terribly since we moved away from Austin... ��
I really love their burgers. And I just found out they have a “chicken fried” burger that’s breaded and deep fried and I REALLY want to try it.
theironfrogg replied to your photo “We make a tradition of going to Mighty Fine Burgers when I arrive in...”
...Oh my god if I walked into that restaurant I'd be walking out blind and in tears two minutes later. GD Onions.
It’s difficult to tell, but that is actually behind glass -- there’s really good ventilation because of all the grills and all the prep is walled off, so we couldn’t smell them at all, but it was definitely a Big Pile Of Onions.
themiscyra1983 replied to your post “Sam -- don't have an account, can't figure out how to comment...”
Wait is RDJ the old one? I mean I guess he'd have to be, I guess that's what we're all expecting.
Well, he is roughly 20 years older than Evans. Not a HUGE gap, but big enough.
howarethosenuts replied to your post “Sam -- don't have an account, can't figure out how to comment...”
The Sting would be wonderful with them
OH MY GOD. YES.
lewstonewar replied to your post “Sam -- don't have an account, can't figure out how to comment...”
I can see it. Norma Desmond is perceived as a crone. When in reality she was just Hollywood old, barely 50 and looked younger. The age difference is less than 20 years.
I mean, I can totally see it, like it makes sense, it’s just not what would come to my mind first. :D
nefersitra replied to your post “Sam -- don't have an account, can't figure out how to comment...”
I want to see a Pygmalion Adaption with Chris as the Eliza character and RDJ as Henry Higgins. Bonus points if we get RDJ singing "I've grown accustomed to His (Her) Face"
I think Evans might allllmost be too old for Pygmalion/My Fair Lady, but I do love the idea.
froofie replied to your post “Everyone keeps talking about the theme of the Met Gala being “camp”...”
Yeah, I kept waiting for the bedazzled Boy Scout uniforms.
Oh my god, perfection. Yes. Imagine a boy scout uniform with the little shorts, covered in glitz.
And also ineffable husbands 23. “When you realize you can tell someone your truth, when you can show yourself to them, when you stand in front of them and their response is “you’re safe with me” – that’s intimacy.” I started reading from the bottom!
(Read at AO3)
They still met often, but almost never outside. It wasunfortunate to lose the easy familiarity of St. James’s Park, to lose theirbench and the swans that looked for them, but there was only so much glancingover one’s shoulder that either of them could handle.
“It isn’t quite the same, is it?” A fork nudged bits ofangel cake around the small plate, nervously reducing the cake to crumbs.
“Not particularly. But it does feel a bit better, havingwalls about. Less likely to get snuck up on.” Long sensitive fingers fidgetedwith the white café mug full of tea. “Better than waiting to get bashed overthe head again and dragged off.”
“It’s not likely to happen again, though. Not in the sameway.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. It’s still waiting around for something tohappen, even if it never comes.”
“Maybe.”
The fork busily mashed cake crumbs against the plate, andthen was laid down abruptly. “It’s still sad. This place is all right, but itdoesn’t have the history, you know. Our history. We have to start all overhere, right from the bottom, to make it ours. We’ve been visiting that parksince it was founded.”
“Mm. It was a very different place, in those days.”
“Yes. Oh, yes…”
They lapsed into thoughts of the past, and between the twoof them, their shared memories were warm, dark, and close.
“Well, the bottom’s not so bad. I started from the bottom.”
“I started at the top, and have been working my way downever since.”
“You’re exaggerating.”
“Am I? Look at me now.” The fork was picked up again andtwisted absently between shaking fingers. “There was a time when that park wasone of the foulest places in London.”
“Morally foul, certainly.”
“It wasn’t considered ‘safe.’ You know. I never thought it was anything to be afraid of. But then, there are somany things that humans have to be afraid of.”
“They’re right to be afraid.”
“Perhaps. But compared with us? Compared with the things wehave to be afraid of?”
“It only really differs by degrees, I think.” A handstretched across the small round table to grasp the other, bare fingers againstonly mostly bare ones. A ring of winged gold glinted between them. “Whateveryou’re afraid of, you’re safe with me.”
“Don’t say that. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
theironfrogg replied to your post: I just re-discovered all the world building for...
I would love to see notes/outlines/etc on unwritten works. As for myself, I have learned that I have to write by the seat of my pants, otherwise my brain goes “BUT YOU ALREADY WROTE THAT” even if it’s a two sentence placeholder for a ten page scene.
I seem to go back and forth on this. Having a pretty detailed chapter by chapter outline saved my butt working on the last RBBs I did, but maybe that was because I was treating it more like an assignment since it had a due date.
Most of the reason I write, I think, is because it’s a story I want to *read,* so maybe having super detailed notes for stories that aren’t “due” is not a great idea from a motivational stand point. xD
Okay, so I haven't even read or watched but am gleefully consuming all the meta and I have had an Idea for a PREENING fic that would go so so so well with your nesting idea(s) but I don't know if you'd want to hear about it especially since I'm a stranger just sitting over here shouting into the wind. If/when I get around to August (after my MCU projects are...over, if not done) I might steal an idea or two. If that's okay.
It’s not stealing if I’m giving away the ideas for free because I’m too busy to do them justice myself LMAOOOO (and also because I want more Nesting content than a solitary person could ever possibly produce by themself lol)
Preening fic is very good, yes, probably fits into the general category of WingFic which has a Long, Glorious, Noble History in this fandom *sage nod*
katsdisturbed replied to your post “Okay, so I’m going to have to replace Ivy, my lovely laptop. Her hard...”
Don't you have a dvd player hooked to the tv? Then no my dear, you do not need one on your laptop.
knitwritezombie replied to your post “Okay, so I’m going to have to replace Ivy, my lovely laptop. Her hard...”
If you haven’t already, do some checking on the feedback of Lenovo online. The last one I bought had a keyboard fault that I wish I had known about first.
theironfrogg replied to your post “Okay, so I’m going to have to replace Ivy, my lovely laptop. Her hard...”
No, you do not. Totally agree with the USB external drive if you need one.
ilygwilym replied to your post “Okay, so I’m going to have to replace Ivy, my lovely laptop. Her hard...”
Agreed, you can buy an external USB one for pretty cheap, and just plug it in the few times you need it.
Thanks for the advice!
@knitwritezombie Ivy, my current laptop is a Lenovo, so yeah, I’m aware. This one I’m looking at is ranked pretty high in those “best of 2019″ lists but I’m def going to check it out before I buy. :)
