smk_network | a little more inspiration....

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a little more inspiration....

It is late afternoon on the eighteenth, and as the mirror swims to life, it focuses on Aziraphale who is standing about halfway back in the bedroom. He stands, hands tucked in front of him, smiling but looking slightly nervous, his wings arched a bit as if he wants to show them off but not be too obvious. He smiles at the...well...mirror. Fingers clenching a little bit.

When he speaks, though, his voice is low and soothing; warm like honey and pleasant. As if he's happy to see you. And in a way, he is.

"Hello. It's nice to meet you all. My name is Aziraphale and I'm an Angel. Well... Principality if you want to be precise, but that doesn't particularly matter here. First of all, I want to thank everyone who helped me out the other day and apologize for being a bit short with them. This human body is a new thing for me and I rather fear I don't have the hang of it quite yet.

But, we're all a little out of our element here, aren't we? This is a new place for us. A new experience. And a battle we must fight for the good of others who need our help. And sometimes, we can feel stuck, trapped even-- For instance, my wings are rarely displayed and not precisely corporeal when they are. If I need to remove my coat, I can do so with ease. Now, unfortunately, they are as solid as the rest of me.

And yet..." He dips his head and there is a bit of a cheeky smile. "With a little Faith." He hopes. No! Believes! "We can perform miracles."

Then he closes his eyes and focuses, concentrates, believes with everything in him that he still has the capacity for this kind of faith, this kind of miracle. That he will be able to take off his clothes with no problems at all.

All at once he can feel something catch. Something bright and cool and refreshing flow through him and around him.

Anyone looking in would be able to see a faint white gold light beginning to shimmer around him, a wind stirring the curtains and his hair. Perhaps there is a faint vibration, for the mirror slips, so only his head and shoulders are in view. The light seems to flash around him and then--!

He can feel the coolness leave him slowly, like a wave pulling from shore. With a thrilled smile he looks down and notices he did indeed manage to remove his coat as he'd hoped. Or perhaps made it disappear completely. As well as his vest, his shirt, his undershirt-- in fact the only thing left is the fob watch lying helpfully between his bare feet.

"Ah-- Ahem. Well! Slight miscalculation! But as you can see! Everything is just...just tickety...." And then the cold rushes back at once like a tsunami and for the second time in as many days, darkness crashes through him and he pitches forward and out of view.

There is a faint thud as he hits the floor.

But he'll be able to reply to any and all responses in a few hours...

...Probably.

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[ And he smirked, quite pleased with himself. ]

It's fiiine, not everyone is a great public speaker.

It must really suck knowing everything, but suddenly a human comes along who knows more than you.

Did you remember to eat any of that fruit of knowledge yourself, because I bet you really wish you had it right now, yeah?

So snappy.

[ The word was spoken with an amused clipped tone. ]

You have existed for a mere fraction the amount of time I have. I've seen humans at their best and at their worst. I was there when universes were created, I hung stars in the sky... But you know more than I do?

[ The idea made him want to laugh. ]

Humans have amazing egos! You really do!

[ He smiled and shook his head. ]

Not about everything. But I'm not lost. You are.

You helped hang stars in the sky, but you can't save them alone, and you don't know how to save them at all. Sucks, doesn't it?

And it's terrifying and all you want to do is run away. But then you find out, you can't. Because you try it. And the more you run, the less there is to hide.

The only reason you are so confident about it all is that you don't realize how screwed we all are. If you did, if you had any idea... you would feel the same way I do.

[ Terrified might have been too strong a word for it but he had considered escaping. Taking just him and Aziraphale and running off together, hiding out on some distant world. Only that was out because God was apparently destroying everything... They were screwed.]

Do you think I put myself through that personal hell because I'm just a masochist?

[Deep breath.]

[She moves so she's half laying back, with her legs completely braced from the butt up against the door frame.]

The stars are going out.

Entire universes, entire timelines, not just galaxies, not just singular moons. All of it, one by one is falling to the darkness. The only place you could run to is the void itself, and seeing as that's the only thing worse than not existing, real fun time that'll be, yeah?

If you have a better plan, I'm listening. But I'm not panicking, because I just told you how I personally went about solving it. If you can solve even just one universe, one timeline, one death, I'll be more than happy to try it your way too! Anything except give up, because oh no, God must want it? Who cares?! If she came down to tell me to the face, I'd still punch her and stop it! If what you want is to stop it, then stop being so pathetic! Fight against it, and use every tool, every bit of information, every person, every asset you can get!</i? Savvy?

Yes I know, stars, universes... heard all that. Like I said, we're screwed.

[ Though as he said that he wasn't panicking like he was back at the party. He had been having a 'moment' then. It was difficult not to when you were taken away from everything you knew and cared about, conscripted for a war, and told that God's plan was more scorched earth than you had feared. ]

And in order to have a better plan I would first have needed to hear a plan. So far it's only been you being loud. Shouting at God doesn't do any good, if it did I would have solved all this years ago.

[Bites her hand and screams into it, no worries it's very well muffled.]

You are very lucky you have an angel as a shield right now.

[ There were many ways to tempt humans into thinking wicked thoughts or taking wicked actions. It wasn't difficult and after 6000 years it often came as second nature to Crowley just as it had in this conversation. Was there a better way to slightly tarnish a soul than to frustrate its owner to the point of violence?

Rose had been fishing with the wrong bait.

Crowley did like the universe and would prefer see it remain as it was instead of disintegrating back into a pile of ash, he'd like to carry on himself... if only he had some sort of actual idea how to do that! But her arguments had been very, very human. Throw yourself at it and hope that something works? Nah... he needed a plan.

Strangely enough it was that last desperately weak threat, out of everything she said, that Crowley found compelling. Lucky you have an angel? Why did that have him searching Aziraphale's sleeping face and exploring the depths of his mind for a creative solution for all of this? ]

If you feel like punching some one there is this guy down the hall could use it.

I don't punch. And I'm trying to curb my violence in general. It upsets the man I love.

[ Have one incredulous look. ]

You do so! Hit my arm in the ballroom earlier, I haven't forgotten that.

Don't be such a baby, it wasn't hard!

[A beat. And a scrutinizing head tilt.] But I guess any at all is a reminder of you being stuck here physically???

Don't be stupid.

[ He didn't blink, not unusual for him really, and he didn't agree with her assessment but if she were perceptive Rose might have noticed him draw just a little further away from her. There was some truth in that he just didn't want to admit to it. ]

I've had this human body for centuries... right now it's just a little more human than it used to be.

Sleeping. Eating. Time sight. Psychic. Possession. Stop me when I run out, yeah?

[Cheeky smirk.]

[ He was silent... She hadn't run out yet. ]

You've had this body for centuries, but have you ever had any others? Have you even been stuck to one linear time stream? Or stuck in a place you've never been and didn't choose? And the angel, sorry, Aziraphale, said his magic was all changed, I'm guessin' yours is too?

You are free from your bosses though, yeah? But even that can be pretty scary. My first jump with Torchwood, realizing I was in charge, I realized I was going to mess it up. Badly. And it was lonely. Because there was no one I could get for help. And at first I just tried to make friends, but it's agony, because they all die, or they don't remember you, or they think you're just a dream or ghost, yeah?

Not to mention, I didn't know who I could trust. Not that people were usually what I was fightin' with the darkness, but everyone's got an angle, yeah? And not everyone cares enough about the world continuing to exist to put aside petty spats for two seconds.

I've been careful! There's paperwork to fill out if a body should end up being discorporated. One body, one time stream, living through the ages and watching how you humans grow and change over time. That's the way it works.

[ And why was he even telling the girl this? He baffled himself with his openness! ]

[~~Usually Rose is the one uncannily open with Crowley. They have a weird effect on each other.~~]

But you've never been stuck in the moment, yeah?

My friend, the Doctor, he doesn't do well being trapped in one place either. Goes stir-crazy. We spent our who lives runnin' away from everything too serious or un-fun.

Got the pleasure of watching how that bites us in the ass, because of it. Wouldn't change a thing, mind, but... [Shrug.]

I tried to tell Aziraphale to get some sleep. Because... it's been a year since I really slept too. I've been cheating with time and dimension jumping.

Annnnd... I'm sorry for punching you. [Smiles.] I think part of me forgot I even could again. Oooor that's an excuse, I dunno. But I still shouldn't've. [Rubs her face.] It's hard not to want to shortcut, yeah? [Gestures to naked sleeping Aziraphale.] Even with the daft consequences.

Only when I wanted to be.

[ He used to be pretty skilled at stopping time itself. Not for a very length duration usually, but long enough for a conversation.

Crowley listened to the apology but his eyes were drawn back to Aziraphale when Rose gestured to him. ]

He wasn't trying to take any shortcuts.

[ Crowley sighed, a demon having to explain the motivations of an angel. ]

He was trying to inspire, show everyone that with a little faith you can do anything and that this isn't the worst and most impossible situation we have ever been in...

[ His smirk was faint and once again far too fond. ]

He did manage to show everyone.

[Gaaaay. As much as Rose teased the Doctor about molesting the TARDIS... It was very obvious how Crowley felt. Or he was a really good actor, so that was why Rose still wasn't leaving them alone.]

It's not an impossible situation.

But it was a shortcut. You can't just magic your way out of problems like clothes or roommates, yeah? Like me. I didn't want to deal with a lengthy discussion about feelings and such, so I just told him to take a bed, and created a bigger problem, yeah?

[ Nonsense! Rose was being ridiculous and there was nothing even remotely like that going on... just because Aziraphale's arm and wing were still in his lap and hadn't been pushed aside or that he kept smiling in the foolish angel's direction didn't mean a thing. Clearly! ]

We usually magic our way out of problems.

[ Eye roll. Humans... Some times they, well usually they missed the point. For Aziraphale's sake he thought it was a same the meaning had been missed. ]

Is that what happened between you? A fight over which bed to sleep in?

See? [That's what she said!!]

[And then she laughs in a bitter huff over the question.] We didn't even get that far. I kind of panicked in the doorway, because I won't even share a room with my best mate Jack -- mind, that's because he'd bring blokes back and wanna shag 'em, and forget I was there and 21st century, not 51st -- but I offered to clear off, or just take the couch, that I'm used to roughin' it --

[Exasperated eyeroll.] I haven't even been sleeping much for a year. Just cheating with time travel to skip it! So really used to roughin' it. Like I said, the end days o' Britain, this would have held three families and twenty people...

[Haunted eyes, haunted thoughts for a moment, before she shakes out of it.] He just kept doin' the --

[Hand wave.] Really terse snippy trying to be polite and gentile, and it was just...

[Both hands up and a feral wolf growl.] So frustrating! Like just let me--

[She trails or cuts off for a third time in a row and rubs her temples in exasperation.] Okay, yeah I just heard myself, and I get it. Like I said, I really wanted to shortcut the whole... all of it! Discussion. I get that he's not fragile, but you're still both not used to having to sleep or eat, and just because I've been shortcutting it for awhile, doesn't mean I wasn't born doing this. It's easier for me to get back into, than for you two who have to learn it new, after what, thousands of years, you said?

Like, you clearly know him, so let me ask you this, when was the last time he had to share a room with a human, [Holds a finger up.] while having to relearn magic, being forced to sleep and eat, stuck to one timeline, unable to put his wings away, and oh yeah: in a new dimension?

[Both hands up again in exasperation.] But opposite? Being with an immortal who hates having his powers of telepathy and time control stripped, roughing it camping or end of the world situations, and jumping into new worlds to fight the darkness: that's literally my main jam. [Huff.]

[Rubs the back of her neck.] Still think he cleared off so I wouldn't go running to the Doctor, but like I said, joke's on him, I haven't been pure since I was a child.

[ He didn't see how that was a great triumph for Rose because... ]

Using magic is normal for us. We're magical beings, used to be anyway... it's doing things the mortal way that's strange.

[ Those fears and concerns of hers though? Given a laugh. ]

He's an angel, nothing like that would have happened!

[ There wouldn't be any boyfriends brought around for midnight trysts and it had been that way for centuries. Which was a shame really but that is the way it is. ]

We lived among humans on Earth but separate from you. More observers really, coming around every now and then to offer a temptation or perform a miracle to give humanity the choice to do good or evil. We didn't need to ever, share a room with a human if we didn't want to.

Again, you're proving my point. All of it. Except about Jack, that was just a -- Forget about Jack.

My point is it's harder on you than me, so I was trying to make it easier, on him, and he wouldn't let me.

a little more inspiration....

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