nightlogs | (no subject)

Who: Aziraphale and OPEN
What: Just vibing around the North Pole tbh. May also serve as a general catchall for other bits and bobs through the month.
Where: Several places! Library, dining hall, Vaguely Around, etc.
When: The post-arrival pre-next plot zone. The settling-in zone, even.
Warnings/Notes: None yet, will update as needed/requested!

library.

[ Realistically, this is probably the number one place most guaranteed to get results in the Aziraphale sightings economy. The library is equal parts enrichment in his enclosure and a decent simulation of his native environment. Well, as long as he ignores the DVDs and CDs and such. Which he does.

If someone wanted to make a very posh zoo enclosure for a wild Aziraphale it would basically be this premise. He's in the library on the daily. Around the same time each day, probably, and winding up in the same specific chair, because he feels better when he can have one or two reliable little rituals on his schedule.

What he's got picked out tends to vary. Largely classic literature or stageplays, which he mostly thumbs through purely for the sake of seeing if they're very different in this reality. The ~big ones~. Austen, Wilde, Dickens, Shakespeare, Shelley, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis. Arthurian folklore but only when he's positive Crowley isn't in the library with him. For normal reasons. Some comically ancient guide of some sort about embroidery, because he's got it on the brain now.

(The very, very first thing that he makes sure to sit down with is a 'Winnie-the-Pooh' collected works, of course. It's actually so important that he knows they're the same as the ones he has memorized.)

While in the library, Aziraphale is largely open to socializing. If he's not open to socializing he'll simply not be in the library at all. He'll say friendly hellos every time he first walks in! He's happy to get introduced and talk literature and ask people about what they're reading if they seem amenable!

Although he does have a habit of hitting long stretches where he just sort of zones in on a book and stops paying attention to literally everything and everyone around him. Give him like an hour. He'll blink again, honest. ]

communal relaxation area.

[ Also a decent bet on places to find Aziraphale! It's cozy. He loves cozy. Coziness is in his top three favorite concepts humans came up with. Heaven is too minimalist to take the credit and Hell is too claustrophobic.

He might be reading by a very pretty window, as prophecy foretold. He might just be having some pastries and people-watching, like a cool normal person. An angel practicing his fancy shuffling and other card-based magic tricks? In your North Pole? It's more likely than you think. Important to note: the shuffling and sleight of hand are performed very poorly. Aziraphale is still thriving.

He's even more willing to socialize out here. It's what the whole setup is built for, truly. Come get your free "oh hello!"s and "how are you getting on?"s. Or if you like, in full 'old silly being an old silly' intonation: ]

Lovely weather we're having.

[ It's a low bar, being the funniest angel Heaven's ever turned out. But by god he's doing it. ]

wildcard.

[ for whatever other options! Aziraphale straight up doesn't do sleep, so he can theoretically be found at any hour in these locations, or like... out for a stroll or getting a snack or paging through a book. Doing everything in his power to not learn how to use the network or a modern phone or anything of the sort. If he recognizes anyone from the Wilderlands or the intro event, he's also likely to want to say hi and see how they're doing.

Possibly just having some cocoa and regarding the Globe of Belief with a very real sort of fondness. (A guardian is a guardian and Earth is Earth, even if this isn't the Earth he was made for and he's not the sort of guardian made specifically for it, technically. Always been a problem of his, he supposes. Getting attached.)

hmu with whatever or gimme a poke at

comatoseroses and we can work something out! i'll do closed starters idc. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Puss can walk on two legs and speak human language. He's an expert in swordplay and even wears clothing. Sort of. It would almost be easy to forget he's a cat.

But Puss has certain instincts, certain feline urges, that simply can't be ignored. He's felt that call, and he must obey. He feels it now and he answers the call:

He must lay down directly across something someone was working on. He must get in the way of someone's work. He must.

Aziraphale won't have to look away for long before Puss is draped across the book he was reading. Of course, it being Puss he's not laying like a typical cat would, instead opting to fold his paws behind his head and hook one knee over the other, like it's a hammock and not a classic work of fiction.]

...Hola.

[Not malicious, but totally unapologetic.]

[ ???

Every day a new experience. Not literally. Figuratively. This is the figurative new day, because Aziraphale has never had a cat lounge across a book he was reading while he was looking away, and he's also never met a cat that spoke human language and wore adorable little clothes.

Goodness. There's not really a social protocol for this sort of thing. ]

... Hello.

[ He is, at least, very familiar with a similar brand of "unapologetic minor inconvenience" to what Puss is exuding. Which helps a little. It also helps that none of the books here are Aziraphale's personal property. He's not apt to get territorial. ]

You know, I can't imagine it's actually very comfortable down there at all.

Perhaps not, buuuut... [He shrugs.] You see someone focusing that hard on something, the instinct takes over, you think "hey, why aren't they focusing that heard on the cat," and, well...here we are.

[He holds his paw out.]

Puss in Boots. Pleased to make your acquaintance.

Edited 2023-10-03 23:07 (UTC)

[ On one hand, can't relate to the instinct as someone who's never been a cat. It could be said, in fact, that he doesn't know enough about cats to dispute it.

On the other hand, Puss is very cute and the tactic did net attention, so.

If Aziraphale didn't know how to operate while mildly confused, he'd have never gotten anywhere or accomplished anything in the past few millennia. So he smiles and very gently shakes Puss's paw with his thumb and forefingers. ]

Aziraphale. It's a pleasure, Mister Boots. [ Even the name is adorable... madness. ] If you'd rather get more comfortable now that we are here, by all means.

[ Only seems polite to say as much. ]

[Puss nods his thanks, then languidly rolls off the book, mission accomplished. He stretches like a cat, back arched and toes outstretched, before getting on two feet and stretching his arm over his head like a human.]

I came in here because I wished to see how this world chronicled my many adventures, but I can never seem to stay awake in a library. Perhaps it's another cat thing, I'm not sure. I can see you are not here for a nap.

[Puss knows no avid readers, he doesn't run in those kind of circles. It's kind of a novelty to see someone who actually enjoys a large tome without falling asleep.]

[ Who could be mad at someone so adorable? It's just not possible. Aziraphale fishes a bookmark out of his cardigan pocket and marks his page before closing it properly. He's given the implied promise of attention and he'll make good on it. ]

Oh, I'm never anywhere for a nap. Especially not if I'm in a library. [ Sleeping isn't on his list of hobbies right now. By choice. ] But it is very cozy in here, isn't it? Perhaps the atmosphere agrees with you.