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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. ]

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[ 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.

[ 'For once.' Well, Crowley would either own up to it or clearly be having far too much fun doubling down if he were, so that's that settled.

It's interesting stuff, really. Intended vision versus what gets the final say. ]

I'm not certain that's entirely the same thing as rewriting, but I suppose it does lend to proof of concept. [ To get pedantic. It's all a bit complicated by his way of thinking, because his way of thinking is a bit like "but imagine not having my misprint bibles waiting back home :(", in all honesty. ] Not that I think that makes the idea sound any nicer.

You don't have to get rid of the original version, if you want to be fussy about it.

[Aziraphale is absolutely being fussy about it, so Crowley will change his side of the argument slightly to avoid an actual argument. They're having a nice time, why ruin it?]

But I am pretty confident that Will would be happy to go back and fix some of the messy bits. Kit certainly would have.

[Don't bring him into this.]

[ Aziraphale's face says firstly "well yes, of course I want to be fussy about it," because he's him.

The second thing it says is "oh for goodness's sake." Why do you say Kit like that, Crowley. It's very silly creature on main. ]

If they should happen to fall through time into this reality, I'll ask. [ He can't say nuh-uh outright. Writers can be so mercurial. ] It would make for a fascinating conversation, I'm sure. Especially with how the public perspective on them has changed.

[ He doesn't think this will ever happen, but he'll admit it's a neat thought to have. ]

[He said it like that because he wanted to earn exactly that reaction and the fact Aziraphale indulged him is only going to encourage him.]

Someone ought to write a movie about the two of them so they can become myths here.

[That would be sort of weird since they were actually real people; would the myths be a fictional version with innaccuries to reality? Much to think about.]

I would love t'show Will all the adaptations starring high schoolers. He'd get a kick out it, I reckon.

[They could finally confirm that Romeo + Juliet is the best adaptation.]

I suppose they could do.

[ It would be... odd, though. A bit sad. Myths based on fictional versions of humans from this reality. Can't imagine they'd recognize him, in that case. Aziraphale tips his head a bit. ]

Of course, he might need some forewarning that most performances of his work aren't quite so-- interactive, anymore.

[ Took Shakespeare to a play, got kicked out because he kept encouraging people to shout at the stage. You hate to see it. ]

[The concept that Aziraphale has presented hits Crowley like a freight train and he barks out a laugh.]

Can you imagine? M'just seeing him getting tased by some two bit security guard 'cause he won't stop yelling at the actors.

[ Received a beautiful laugh, at what cost. ]

Crowley, that would be terrible. [ It would be funny and we all know it. That's why Aziraphale doesn't sound all that pearl-clutchy. ] He'd be absolutely beside himself.

It'd be hilarious.

[He puts a hint of teasing into his voice, as a little treat, since he knows Aziraphale knows it'd be funny.]

Once we're back home I'll have to finally figure out traveling through time so I can nab Will and bring him to a Shakespeare Company production.

[ Aziraphale is largely immune to snorting wine up his nose, but that garners such a near miss. ]

Oh, oh, yes, of course, that little time travel project you keep meaning to tinker with in your spare time. Obviously.

[ Is that your first retirement hobby? Crowley??? ]

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