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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

[It's never a surprise when Aziraphale picks up the thread of a since passed conversation, and Crowley's just relieved it's about the bar and not the whole 'doing nice things for kids' situation.]

Yup. [With the trademark David Tennant 'pop at the end of the p'.] They've got a great whiskey collection. Even make their own pop in house for the whiskey sodas.

[He won't admit that he's had an eye on it because he thought Aziraphale would find it charming and hoped maybe to take him there on a not-date.]

Not to mention that cheap drinks and good food make a great spot for doing a bit of tempting.

[That's a good excuse for knowing about it.]

[ Aww. They make their own pop. That's lovely.

It would have been a little bit funny to watch Crowley be grumpy if he'd brought them all this way and nothing was here, but this is nicer than that timeline overall. The hand touching alone, let alone drinks and food and ambiance... wouldn't trade that. ]

For tempter and tempted, I'm sure. [ A tiny flirt. Because if not now, when.

It's a nice thought, though, sort of. That every once in a while, maybe Crowley just got to do a bit of light work in a lovely little place and cap off with a drink. Aziraphale supposes that being a bit tied to an association with the job (former) explains why Crowley wouldn't have told him about this restaurant before. Two different tracks. ]

[The flirting economy is so real and true; Crowley has no idea what to do with it aside from looking a bit delighted and amused by it all.]

I'd been meaning to ask if you'd want to check it out — back home, you know — but there's so many bloody Thai places right in Soho that are just as good.

[Look, he didn't even make a dig about Aziraphale being stuck in his ways! Even though that his partially true, since they often stick with familiar places rather than try something new, but it isn't like Crowley couldn't have suggested it, so he can't tease Aziraphale about it.]

[ Wow... not even a little poke at being a creature of habit. ]

Just one of the many reasons to enjoy being in Soho. [ He says, like he doesn't plan to simply avoid going to Soho the entire time they're in this reality because he doesn't want to see Not His Shop and confront feeling bad emotions about that. ] Still, I suppose this makes a fair case for stepping out on occasion.

[ Practically a proper date in all but name and stated intention. One day Aziraphale will work up the nerve and even hit those qualifiers. One day. ]

The cafes aren't half bad, either.

[Also the bookshop and therefore Aziraphale are there, which is reason alone to spend a lot of time in Soho. He can't just say that out loud, though.]

We ought to have a list, restaurants and the like that we've been meaning to visit.

[With each other is implied. That's the best he can do, because actually stating it feels far too dangerous.]

[ Don't look like you've been working on precisely that sort of list recently, don't look like you've been working on precisely that sort of list recently.

No it's fine, he'll direct all that energy into looking dumb and delighted. He loves Crowley so much he can't stand it. Normal life events. ]

I'd like that. Really adds up over time, these things, you know. Humans. [ ~Humans~. Oh how they go on. ] Never stop building.

[ Aziraphale has refused to learn to google if places are still open and/or extant, but he'll give it 100%. ]

[The urge to chew his own arm off is rising, mostly because having emotions is so damn uncomfortable, especially when they revolve around Aziraphale looking at him all dumb and delighted.

He does genuinely consider bringing the vape back into existence, but knows Aziraphale would fuss at him about it, and the joke stops being funny after a while.]

Honestly, I don't think even other humans can keep up. [That makes no sense. Two immortal beings without jobs (the shop doesn't count) should really have an easier time of it.] There was this pub in Ireland a few centuries back that I never did get the chance to try. Still haunts me, it does.

[He's being silly. To distract from Feelings.]

[ Forced to just sit there, feeling things, like a lobster waiting to boil. Couldn't be Aziraphale. He operates on his own bespoke brand of idiocy.

Gosh. Going places together on purpose just to go to them. In public. Not that the human public has ever been much concern, but in the sense of the larger implications of the public...ness. What a concept. ]

Nothing quite so tragic as a pub untested, is there? Dreadful business. [ Silliness is allowed to sit at the table. Even if he's poking fun at it. ]

[Sitting in discomfort with his feelings temporarily relieved by the waiter returning with drinks and what's likely the first appetizer that Aziraphale ordered.

Always nice to have a moment of breathing room. Even nicer to have alcohol, now that the weed is wearing off.]

Rumor had it they had some of the best ales in the countryside, and I never got to have 'em.

[Truly a tragedy of the highest proportions.]

S'been a while since I've had a decent ale, actually. We should put that on the list.

[ If Aziraphale goes into a restaurant for a meal and doesn't do appetizers, something is horribly wrong. Appetizers are part of the fun. And, so importantly, they're tasty. ]

When you put it like that... [ Still silly, yet fair enough. ] Should be fun. We'll keep that towards the top of the list, shall we? Suss out some of the other best ales still available.

[ RIP to all the ales that came before... ]

[It's a tiny bit novel to be indulged; not that Aziraphale doesn't give him the occasional opportunity to follow a whim, but it's more often the other way around.

It's nice.]

There's always Germany and Belgium, they're known for their beer. Bet we could come up with an excuse for needing to check out the area.

I've always got a spare excuse in my pockets somewhere.

[ And spare peppermints, but that's beside the point. ]

They don't seem terribly formal at the North Pole, though. So long as the supplies stay replenishable and we're not in the middle of a quest, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that a bit of travel is fine.

I'd hope so, 'cause I reckon I'm about to start climbing the walls if I don't get out a bit more.

[The best part is that he means this literally. Aziraphale has probably wandered over to his room at least once to find Crowley asleep on the ceiling.

Normal behaviour.]

Best if we keep those scuff marks to a minimum. No need to offend very generous hosts.

[ He will NOT be forcibly retired from this Guardian thing to follow his situationship out of the North Pole and into a parallel world that doesn't even have his bookshop. Not if he can help it.

Of course, if scuffing from literal wall-climbing got them booted, are the hosts really generous after all? Wow. Deep. ]

Oi.

[A gentle oi, but a dreadfully offended one. It even comes with Crowley putting a hand on his chest, to demonstrate exactly how wounded he is.]

I'm not a bloody animal, my shoes wouldn't dare to leave scuff marks.

[ True to form, Aziraphale looks not-so-secretly delighted by the offense. Maybe Crowley should have thought about future ramifications before being a person whose grumpiness is a charm point?

This is such a lovely night. No small feat considering how long Crowley spent vaping directly at him earlier, obviously. ]

Of course. How very presumptuous of me. [ Unscuffed and unbothered walls. In their lanes. Moisturized, flourishing. He dabs at his mouth with a napkin, like a bitch. ] If you wanted to menace them, you'd do it without lowering your standards.

Exactly.

[He's doing that thing he does, where it sort of sounds like he's chewing on the word, just for fun.]

If I'm going to muck up the walls, I'll draw on 'em properly. Rude pictures or cuss words, your standard sort of business.

[Apparently that sort of thing is up to his standards. It's just a classic, you know.]

Well, do keep your hypothetical vandalism out of the library, my dear. I like it in there. [ Grass is green. The ocean is salty.

But wait! That reminds him! ]

Oh! I've finally finished going back over Shakespeare's works, by the way. They're all precisely the same. To the letter.

[ And it's not that Aziraphale would have been about forty percent closer to breaking down crying if any of his favorite Shakespeare plays had been significantly (to him) different, it's just...

Well, alright. It was that. But no longer. He has Crowley and Hamlet in this reality. He even has Winnie the Pooh. So basically literally everything is going to be completely fine forever from now on. Phew! ]

[There's a vaguely contrary and threatening look from Crowley, as if he's about to just starting his vandalism in the library, but he's too much of a coward to actually say that out loud.

He doesn't want to get smote.]

Even Two Gentelman? 'Cause honestly, that one could use a few changes. Or several changes.

[Throw out the whole play, frankly.]

[ Crowley flirts with danger, 2023. He lives for the thrill, to a reasonable extent. ]

What? Why would you want to change it? [ ok purist ]

Proteus is a bloody nightmare, for starters.

[Would be rapists shouldn't get happy endings, in Crowley's opinion.]

S'just a bit of a mess of a play. It was his first, so I can excuse it, but if there was an opportunity for changes I'm sure Will would happily make them.

[ Aziraphale continues sitting here, nibbling his appetizers, still not getting it. Or, well, getting it but not getting it, in that way that he does. Proteus being a nightmare makes the overall work more interesting to talk about. With Crowley specifically, who is beautiful and grumpy and opinionated.

What is the downside? Is it in the room with them? ]

But... [ Dumbass forehead crease: activate. ] That's what the other plays are.

[ Changes. Improvements of skill. New stories and ideas. What will work better here than it did last time, what spark is being struck for the next one? Not iterations or retreads, but- growth. A bold stance for an angel who's worn the same waistcoat for decades on decades and dislikes most change on a personal level, and yet. ]

First steps are always messy. It's just how humans work.

[That isn't the point that Crowley expected Aziraphale to make, and it's one with enough merit that he does actually pause to consider it for a moment or two.]

I suppose there's something to say for preserving the early works so you can see the improvement.

[Especially since he literally has a draft of the Mona Lisa hanging in his flat. Or he did. It's in a storage unit now, but that isn't the important part.]

But humans do go back and make improvements. If they can. That's what a Director's Cut is for.

[Aziraphale isn't going to know what that is.]

[ At least Aziraphale gets to bask in the smugness of Crowley admitting he made a fair point for a few seconds. Incredible feeling. ]

A "Director's Cut". [ Hmmm.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

The context he has isn't enough to bridge the context that he doesn't have on that term. ] You're having me on again.

[ The words of a statement. The tone of a question. A prank? On Miette? ]

M'actually not for once.

['For once', admitting that he does frequently make things up just to tease Aziraphale.

They both already knew that, to be fair.]

It's a thing in films, sometimes. 'Cause the director doesn't actually have the final say, that'd be the production company or whoever's got all the money, so they'll release a second version of the movie, usually with a couple extra scenes or a few things a bit different.