#terry pratchett's aunty

[homoqueerjewhobbit]

I emphatically don't want a live action adaption of any of the Discworld Witches but I do really want to see Miriam Margolyes play Nanny Ogg.

#You know she'd be so fucking good #I haven't fancast the other two #I guess I just love my radical Jewish lesbian auntie #miriam margolyes #Nanny ogg #gytha ogg #gnu terry pratchett #terry pratchett #Discworld

[esthermitchell-author]

(6/6) The Stars Within His Wings (Fan Fiction based on Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett)

Part VI: A Gift of Stars

A.Z. Fell and Co. Bookshop, Soho, London -- 4 Days Before Christmas

The cheerful strains of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite provided subtle atmosphere in the bookshop. Aziraphale hummed along as he finished wrapping tinsel and lights around the banister while he waited for Crowley and Jem to return. They always decorated the tree together -- it was Jem's favorite part of the holiday. Every year, she found new questions to ask about every one of the ornaments they hung on the tree.

He turned as the bell above the door chimed, just before Jem skipped into the shop, squealing when she saw the tree he'd miracled into place while she and Crowley were out delivering invitations. She ran to him, chattering away like always. "Fafa! Guess what? Justine gived us boots in oil and maybe lines!"

"Satan save me," Crowley muttered good-naturedly, as he off-loaded an armload of what looked like pastry boxes from Marguerite's French Bistro onto the counter, before removing his shades and shooting Aziraphale a wry smirk and a roll of his eyes. "Justine sent over a Buchê de Noël and madeleines for the party. And your daughter slaughters French even worse than you, angel."

Aziraphale narrowed his eyes at Crowley in mock disdain. "I haven't a clue what you're implying. My French is flawless."

"Maybe, but it's painful to watch, angel," Crowley teased with a small grin.

"I'm not going to dignify that with a reply. Perhaps I should start giving Jem French lessons."

Crowley groaned as he leaned back against the counter and tipped his head back before quipping, "If I have to spend another two centuries listening to the pair of you wittering on about aunts and gardeners you don't have..."

"Maggie says I can call her and Nina my aunties," Jem argued less than helpfully, her expression both serious and concerned as she looked up at Crowley, gripping his hand in both of hers. Aziraphale sensed her worry, even though he knew Crowley was just being Crowley, and was plenty happy to grouse about a holiday -- and a situation -- he found highly amusing.

Aziraphale met his husband's gaze and tsked lightly, shaking his head, before glancing down at their daughter with a patient smile. "You know to ignore lee-lee, precious. He does this every year. He enjoys acting like--"

"A Grinch!" The grin splitting Jemima's face just then was an exact copy of Crowley's wicked grin -- Heaven help them all -- as she named the character from her favorite holiday stories. The angel wasn't quite sure if Jem liked that the story had a happy ending, or that the Grinch was so terrible to begin with.

Either was a possibility. Which was, incidentally, why he was in absolutely no hurry to introduce her to the likes of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and Ebeneezer Scrooge. He preferred to think she'd connect emotionally to Tiny Tim, but as she liked to remind them on the regular, she was half-demon.

Aziraphale sighed to himself in fond exasperation, then laughed at the mischievous grin creeping across Crowley's face just before he made the most ridiculously silly monster noise and swept Jem off the floor, tickling her sides while she squealed with laughter.

"Well, sounds like someone's having fun in here."

Aziraphale blinked as a new, but familiar, voice broke through the loving bubble of happiness he always experienced whenever Crowley let himself be a little silly and enjoy life. Still smiling, he shifted his gaze toward the doorway, where Nina stood paused, her arms crossed over her middle. She always looked a bit wary whenever she entered the bookshop, and guilt tugged at Aziraphale, knowing he was at fault for that. After all, he'd been the one to manipulate a situation he really shouldn't have, even if his heart was in the right place at the time. He'd already apologized to everyone involved -- and even more so to Nina and Maggie -- for that ill-conceived attempt at matchmaking.

"Nina. What a lovely surprise! Do come in."

She rubbed her arms nervously, which is when he noticed the envelope in her hand. "Can't stay long. Mags is watching the shop. I just came over to--"

"Fafa!" Jem's squeal interrupted what Nina was saying as the starling wriggled free of Crowley's grasp and pelted for Aziraphale, looking up at him with childish glee as she half-hid behind him. "Save me, 'fore the Grinch gets me!"

Nina smirked at Crowley. "Guess that'd be you, then. Fits with the eyes, I suppose. Here," she held out the envelope in her hand. "This came to us by mistake. Looks like it belongs over here."

With that, and a small wave, Nina left the shop, pulling the door shut behind her. Aziraphale laughed tenderly as he looked from the curious expression on Crowley's face to their daughter where she was half-hidden behind him. "I think it's safe to come out now, Jem."

Jem was instantly out from behind him, skipping back over to Crowley as the demon opened the envelope Nina gave him. "What's that?"

"A letter, poppet." Crowley tugged lightly on her ponytail with a smile that always melted Aziraphale's heart to see. From the moment Jemima came into their lives, no one could possibly love her more than Crowley did. Anyone who might ever have a doubt Crowley was meant to be a parent only needed to watch him with Jem. There'd be no more doubt, after.

Curious as always, Jem ducked her head and contorted herself enough to look at the outside of the envelope after Crowley removed the single sheet of paper inside. Aziraphale watched her mouth move as she silently sounded out the letters, her brow furrowing in confusion. "Lee-lee, what's a d-r-s?"

"It's how people shorten the word 'doctors', nosey," Crowley replied, bopping her lightly on the nose with the envelope, an easy smile on his face. How Aziraphale loved that smile!

Jemima giggled. "That's silly! Why's it haves our name on it?"

Now curious himself, Aziraphale crossed the room to join Crowley. "Doctors? That won't be the British Legion. I already sent them a large donation."

Crowley smirked at him, but the demon's gaze was affectionate as, in a wry undertone, he replied, "Of course you have."

Aziraphale knew they were both thinking of that Christmas he served in the trench Casualty Station in 1914. He'd already been there for months when Crowley finally tracked him down, and even everything he could do without drawing Heaven's attention to where he was hadn't been enough to stem the tide of death. Aziraphale's gaze went to the boxes of decorations, waiting to be put on the tree. In there, somewhere, was a small, crude ship made out of an unused round of ammunition -- a gift made during the Christmas Truce and given to him bare days later, from the shaking, bloody hands of a young stretcher-bearer who'd been little more than a boy, and far too young to die.

Grief tugged at him along with the memory. He'd fought so hard to save that young man, and in the end...

"You did what you could, angel," Crowley's voice murmured against his ear, even as the demon's arm came around him, tugging him close. "You did more than any human could have possibly done."

Aziraphale blinked his way free of the memories of that dreadful war, and glanced around. "Where's Jemima gone?"

"Angel, you--"

"We're supposed to decorate the tree."

"Aziraphale." Crowley's voice was still caring, but threaded with the tone he always got when he was looking for Aziraphale's undivided attention.

The angel sighed heavily, turning toward his husband. "Yes?"

Crowley released his hold, lifting his hand to brush at tears on Aziraphale's face he hadn't even realized were there. "You need a moment, angel. Jemmy's over there," he nodded toward Aziraphale's desk, "finishing the maths assignment she begged her way out of, earlier."

Tenderness tugged at Aziraphale's heart as he turned to see Jem with her head bent over her assignment, looking for all the world as if she'd been sentenced to hard time. He smiled, giving his head a tiny shake. "Poor lamb. I suppose she got her distaste for maths from the both of us."

"Thank Whoever I have to for that. I'm really fucking glad we won't have a repeat of the nightmare we had with Warlock." The backs of his fingers brushed Aziraphale's cheek again, and the angel let his eyes fall closed with a tiny, blissful sigh. He so loved Crowley's touch. Then the demon's voice whispered over him again, "You gonna be okay, angel?"

He wanted to lie and say no, just so Crowley would keep stroking his face. Instead, he gave a little nod and opened his eyes, only to find himself staring into a goldenrod-yellow gaze as beloved as it was familiar.

"Pity," the demon hissed under his breath, his attention dropping to Aziraphale's lips.

Aziraphale wasn't in the mood for their normal back-and-forth. Right now, he was emotionally raw, and absolutely famished for the intimate connection of his husband's kiss. Reaching out, he twisted his hand in Crowley's loose tie and pulled him in for a proper, deep kiss.

When they finally broke apart, Crowley looked a little dazed, and the hellfire in his eyes telegraphed loud and clear what he'd be doing right now, if they were alone, and not standing in the middle of the bookshop with their highly-inquisitive six-year-old just a handful of steps away.

"I'm going to be just fine," Aziraphale murmured back, aware of the smug, triumphant expression spreading over his own face. "And you know damned well you don't need an excuse to kiss me."

"Clearly." Crowley still looked like he was one bad decision away from just pouncing. Then, after a long, hungry stare, he shook his head, blinked, and the familiar, wry smirk returned to his face. "Right. Not the time or place, angel."

Aziraphale just smiled and shrugged. "Felt like it, to me. Now, who's the letter from?"

Crowley lifted his hand and stared at the letter he'd managed to hang onto in clear surprise, before he scrubbed a hand over the center of his chest and muttered, "Right. Letter. It's addressed 'To the descendants of Drs. Crowley and McFell'."

Aziraphale's eyes widened. "You don't suppose..."

"Given the letter mentions 'McKinnon Family Farm and Inn," Crowley held the invitation out to him. "I think we can safely assume it has something to do with our wee graver robber."

Delight flowed through Aziraphale, and he reached to take the letter from Crowley. "Oh, I'm so glad to hear young Elspeth did as she promised!"

His gaze darted over the few brief lines of printed text, inviting them to visit -- that "rooms would be made up" for them to visit, shortly after the New Year. He glanced up at Crowley, a thread of unease working through him.

"They don't say why they want us to visit."

"So I noticed." Crowley's smile might fool someone who didn't know him well enough into thinking he was unbothered, but Aziraphale knew better. There was subtle tension in the demon's jaw and around his eyes, which were more yellow than usual -- a sure sign he was under stress.

"You think it's a trap, don't you?"

Crowley's arm slid around him again, as the demon pressed a kiss to the side of Aziraphale's head. "I don't know what to think, angel."

"We should go." Aziraphale wrapped his arms around Crowley's waist, letting out a sigh as he rested his head against Crowley's shoulder and looked over to where Jemima was now clearly doodling on her maths assignment. "Jem will love the train ride, and I prefer to think that it's an honest offer, love. I hate to think of that young woman ending up in Hell."

He felt Crowley's chest rise and fall against him, before the demon muttered, "Yeah. Okay, angel. We can head to Edinburgh straight after New Years."

Aziraphale smiled, disengaging one arm to lift his hand and pat the center of his husband's chest, before easing away.

"That's settled, then. Now, we need to finish getting ready for tonight's party." He glanced toward Jem, to find her staring out the window, chin propped in her little hands and a bored, glum expression on her face. "Jem, sweetheart. Done with your assignment?"

She turned, nodding. "Maths is boring, fafa."

Aziraphale elbowed his husband at the demon's chuckle. "Well, we'll just have to find a way to make it less boring, won't we? If you're finished, why don't you come help us decorate the tree?"

Jemima was on her feet in a flash, excitement shining from her eyes as she skipped over, latching onto Crowley's hand with a pleading look. "Will you teached me how to put the star on top, this time, lee-lee?"

Crowley glanced his way with a lifted eyebrow -- one of the silent communication techniques they developed over the years, to check in with each other and make sure they were both okay with whatever needed, or was about, to happen.

Aziraphale shrugged in return. Potentially dangerous pyrotechnic events were Crowley's department. Aziraphale trusted him to do whatever was best for both their daughter and the greater London area.

"Sure, poppet. C'mere." Crowley dropped down to sit cross-legged on the floor, scooping Jem into his lap, and bent his head near hers. His long fingers shaped her small, delicate fingers into the correct alignment, her middle finger pressed against her thumb and her index finger resting in a light curve against the top, while he made sure her other two fingers were tucked carefully under. Aziraphale watched them silently, aware of the concentration needed to pull starlight. Until a few years ago, he hadn't even been aware Crowley could still do it. Crowley had been surprised when he'd done it. When Aziraphale questioned the Almighty about how it was possible, She -- in Her enigmatic way -- reminded him of the other gift Crowley had been given.

A gift Aziraphale still hadn't found a way to explain to his beloved demon. Even after all this time together -- or perhaps because of it -- the angel knew it would absolutely gut him if Crowley rejected his gift, no matter how inadvertent it was.

"Now, move carefully, poppet." Crowley's quiet instruction to their daughter sent concerned tension stuttering through the angel. Still, he held silent. If any being in Creation was capable of teaching their little girl to create starlight, it was Crowley. He would make sure she did it properly and safely. Aziraphale trusted him to never put Jemima in danger.

"Like this, lee-lee?"

"Just like that, starling," Crowley praised quietly. "Remember, we want just the light. Nothing else. Move your hand like this," he demonstrated with two small, side-to-side motions, then a standard downward flourish meant to draw power from Heaven. The motion looked stiff and unnatural from Crowley. Whenever he performed this miracle, Aziraphale noticed the demon drew power from below, not above. Of course, Jem could draw from either, but neither he nor Crowley wanted anyone in Hell to notice her, so of course Crowley would teach her to draw from somewhere safe. "And then, nice and clear, you say," he whispered the command words in her ear. Spoken aloud into the room, they would finish the miracle he'd begun with his motions, and this was about Jem learning.

"You ready, poppet?"

Jem nodded, her expression excited but just a little nervous.

"That's my girl." Crowley pressed a kiss to the side of her head. "Aaannnd... go!"

Jem, brilliant little starling that she was, followed the instruction she was given flawlessly, ending with a sweetly commanded, "Let there be light!"

There was a small popping noise, and then the twinkling glow of starlight filled the room as a bright little light settled, spinning slowly, in the air just above the top of the tree.

"Well done, sweetheart!" Aziraphale praised, finally able to join them, now that his presence wouldn't be a distraction.

Jem squealed with joy and turned in Crowley's lap, flinging her small arms around his neck in a hug. "I did it, lee-lee! I maked a star!"

"You sure did, poppet." Crowley hugged her back, and Aziraphale met the yellow, reptilian gaze that sought him out. The angel smiled at the loving pride in Crowley's eyes at what Jem just accomplished. Really, Crowley never gave himself enough credit as a mentor. After all, the demon had been teaching humanity everything it needed to better itself for millennia.

"Now that we have a beautiful star for the top, I think we should decorate the rest of the tree, don't you?" Aziraphale smiled when Jem nodded excitedly and bounced up from her seated position to go to the boxes filled with decorations waiting to be hung on the tree.

"I was really expecting to have to manage that one," Crowley admitted, once their daughter was out of earshot.

"I had absolute faith," Aziraphale assured him with a smile, reaching to take Crowley's hand in his own. "She had a brilliant teacher, after all."

The demon loosed a small, self-conscious laugh. "Now we just have to keep an eye out she doesn't create a supernova in her bedroom and burn down London."

Aziraphale's worried gaze went to their offspring, where she was happily pulling out decorations from the box she knelt beside. "Oh, dear. I hadn't thought of that."

Crowley laughed, bringing Aziraphale's captive hand to his lips. "I'll have a talk with her, angel. It'll be all right."

With that, Crowley unfolded himself gracefully from the floor and drew Aziraphale to his feet as well. Fingers intertwined in a familiar motion they both took comfort and joy in, they stood there, watching their daughter as she sorted ornaments into some arrangement that no doubt meant she was preparing to ask at least a million questions about one pile or the other. Maybe even both.

Aziraphale bit back a small laugh. Hopefully, they'd actually manage to get the tree decorated before their guests arrived, this evening.

******

Later That Night

Crowley leaned his head and shoulder against the doorframe to Jemima's room, crossing his arms over his chest and his feet at the ankles as he drank in the sight of the two beings who were his entire world -- his everything -- bathed in the muted lavender light of the room's lamps.

Aziraphale sat on the edge of the small bed, near the headboard, with Jemmy -- snuggled up in her blankets -- curled in the circle of his arms with her head resting trustingly against his chest, passed out, as the angel read her favorite Christmas story. A small, tender smirk crossed the demon's face, watching them. Something about seeing the dignified, proper Supreme Archangel of all Heaven -- who read Dante in its original Italian and turned his nose up at reading the Iliad in anything but Greek -- reading the nonsensical rhymes of Dr. Seuss just struck him as humorously implausible and utterly beautiful at the same time.

As a demon, he'd never expected to love anything. Demons weren't supposed to love. He'd always been told they were incapable of it. Yet, from his first breath of Earth's air, he'd known love. First, for the beauty of the planet on which he'd found himself, and the innocent humans he'd been sent to betray -- he still wondered if he'd actually done that, or simply been a tool of their brighter future. And then, standing on the wall of Eden beside perhaps the most adorably awkward angel he'd ever met, he'd found himself enchanted by the pure love and absolute worry simultaneously radiating from Aziraphale. He'd been so fascinated he couldn't bring himself to go back to Hell. He'd stayed, telling himself and Hell both that he was looking for more opportunities to cause trouble for both humanity and Heaven.

He hadn't even realized he was lying to himself until 1941. The night he realized Aziraphale's survival was the only thing he cared about, his entire world changed. And it kept changing. Sometimes for the better. Sometimes, so painfully he thought at the time he wouldn't survive it. Through it all, one thing kept him going. One thought.

He could love. He did love. So deeply he risked annihilation over and over again, just to be near Aziraphale. As long as his ability to love stayed true, he was better for it, even when he ached so bad from missing Aziraphale he'd tried his best to drink himself into oblivion.

These days, he rarely thought about that time. His gaze skimmed over the soft, luscious form of his angel as Aziraphale smiled down at their sleeping daughter, shifted her carefully into the bed, and tucked her in, brushing a kiss over her temple with whispered words Crowley could hear, but didn't need to. He could feel the love radiating from his husband, from here. Watching them, he knew he'd never felt so absolutely alive with love as he was in moments like these.

He laughed quietly and shook his head as he studied Jemmy, currently a curled-up ball of gangly, childish limbs beneath her blankets. His gaze flicked to Aziraphale, to find the angel watching him with questioning eyes as he drew near where Crowley stood.

"How do you ever get all those limbs to stay in one place, angel?" He murmured, careful not to wake their daughter. Not that waking her was very likely. Jemmy might be a ball of energy when awake, but when the poppet crashed, she slept with utter abandon.

Aziraphale shrugged, a small, wry smile tipping his lips. "Luck, mostly. I imagine about two minutes after we're gone, she'll look like a landed octopus, again."

Crowley hummed his agreement, following the angel back downstairs, where he'd already cleared up from the party and poured them both glasses of wine. Sprawling out on the settee, he patted the spot beside himself, arching one brow expectantly at Aziraphale.

Confusion and a cold wash of fear crawled through him when the angel moved to turn the chair at his desk and sat there instead, facing Crowley somberly.

"Angel?" Crowley jerked forward, worry and panic cutting through him. Aziraphale never put distance between them. Not unless he was either angry or had something to say he already knew Crowley wouldn't like.

"Crowley, there's something we need to discuss," Aziraphale started quietly, his expression anxious and his eyes downcast in a way that drove Crowley's own anxiety even higher. He didn't like it when Aziraphale drew in on himself.

"If I've done something, angel, I'm sorry. Whatever it is, I'm so sorry."

Aziraphale blinked, surprise and concern filling his eyes. "What? No, it's not... whatever made you think you'd done anything?"

Which meant he had something to say Crowley wouldn't like. Not exactly an improvement, or a relief, but he'd take it, for now.

"It's nothing," Crowley tried to wave off his disquiet, forcing himself to relax. "Just the way you looked so serious."

"Oh." Aziraphale's expression smoothed, and a wave of love so great it momentarily took his breath away rolled over Crowley. "No, my love. This is... just difficult. After all, I know how you feel about Heaven."

Crowley froze, fresh fear pulsing through him. Was Aziraphale being forced to go back to Heaven forever? Around a throat steadily closing with panic, he rasped, "No."

"No?"

"You can't go back to Heaven. You can't leave me. Or Jemima. I'll do whatever I have to, to stop that from happening."

Aziraphale tsk-ed faintly, shaking his head as he rose from his seat and moved closer to Crowley. The warm touch of his angel's hand against his face, the feathering touch of those fingertips against his skin, shuddered through Crowley, releasing him from his fear. "You're letting your imagination run away with you, my love."

"It's a curse," he managed, his attempt at a joke falling flat.

"I'm so sorry I made you worry." Aziraphale sank to his knees beside Crowley, his hands falling to smooth gently against the top of his knee and thigh. "I've been trying for years, now, to come up with the words to talk to you about this, and either the timing was always wrong, or I feared you would be too hurt or angry to listen. And I so badly want you to be happy with this, Crowley. I love you so much, and all I want is for you to be happy. I hope you can understand that."

"I am happy. As long as you're not going off to live in Heaven, I'd go so far as to say I'm deliriously happy. What's this all about, angel?"

"I'm not going back to Heaven." Aziraphale laughed quietly. Then, he sighed, his somber demeanor returning and apology entering his blue eyes. "There isn't an easy way to do this, so I'm just going to say it, all right?"

Crowley tensed again, not liking those words, but nodded. He didn't trust himself to speak, right now.

"I know you were surprised the first time you created starlight. I mean, not the first first time, but the first time in thousands of years, I guess I should say."

Crowley relaxed at the flustered tone of Aziraphale's voice, and his stumbling words. The familiarity of his angel's awkward ramble soothed his frazzled nerves a bit. "I understood what you meant, angel."

Aziraphale sighed in clear relief. "Right. Well, I... I asked the Almighty about it. I just wanted to make sure She wasn't trying to change you against your will."

Crowley's brows lifted in surprise. He honestly hadn't considered the possibility God might do something like that. "And?"

"She reminded me of what happened when you were injured saving Heaven."

Crowley rolled his eyes. "I wasn't saving Heaven, angel. I was saving you."

"Yes. Well... The point is, you've never opened your wings, since then. And then I overheard what you said -- and what you didn't say -- to Jem the night she asked about your wings." Aziraphale suddenly looked hesitant. "Can I ask... why you think your wings aren't beautiful? Have you even looked at them once, since you saved me in Heaven?"

Crowley sighed, even as his heart clenched in pain he didn't want to share.  Still, this was Aziraphale. They shared everything. Maybe it was time to come clean.

"Angel, my wings haven't been beautiful, like yours, since I Fell. You saw them, at Eden, and then at Tadfield. You know what I..." he shrugged helplessly, unable to find words to make his angel understand how much looking at his wings hurt. "I just don't like to be reminded. And no, I haven't looked at them since. They've felt different since the battle in Heaven. I'm afraid to look at how trashed they must be."

"That's the only reason?"

Crowley met his angel's gaze, curious when he saw the relief and hope there. "What else would there be?"

Aziraphale shook his blond head, a doting smile inching across his face. "My darling, wonderful demon, you have this all wrong."

"Explain."

"I will," Aziraphale assured him, climbing back to his feet. "But to do so, I need you to trust me."

Crowley reached out, snagging his husband's hands. Lifting the angel's left hand to his lips, he pressed a small kiss to the ring on Aziraphale's ring finger. "With my entire existence."

Aziraphale tugged lightly at his hands. "Stand up, then. Stand up and open your wings."

Sighing in fond exasperation, Crowley followed his angel's instructions, careful not to knock into anything as he slowly unfurled his wings. They felt weird... Heavy. Yet, the weight felt like it should be normal. Like a memory he couldn't quite reach.

He heard Aziraphale's instant indrawn breath and scoffed. "See? I told you. They're probably--"

"Beautiful." The reverence in his angel's voice had Crowley craning his head around as he folded his wings forward, so he could see them. He froze, his eyes widening in shock.

Those were his wings?

Couldn't be.

His wings, from the day he Fell, had been burned with the pitch of Hell, scarred and blackened, the feathers ragged in places. They'd been dull, ugly. A source of shame for him, and something for others to either be disgusted by or to pity. He'd seen the flicker of shock and pity in Aziraphale's eyes, that day on the wall of Eden, and he'd hated it. He'd kept his wings carefully hidden, after that, until he was forced to reveal them in order to stop time at Tadfield.

There hadn't been time, then, to worry about how anyone saw his wings. And even he hadn't been thinking about how they looked during the battle in Heaven. They'd shielded Aziraphale, let Crowley be there in time to save his angel. That was all he cared about at the time. He'd barely felt the strikes, the burn of holy water across the radial and ulnare structures. His only thought had been saving Aziraphale.

His wings hadn't felt the same, when he woke up a week after the battle, but he'd just assumed they'd been more broken and marred by the battle and his wounding, and he'd made sure to keep them tucked away. At the time, he was pretty sure they were useless, and he wasn't about to give his angel a reason to pity him.

Then, after Jemmy came along, he hadn't wanted to frighten her. He never wanted her to have to know the level of cruelty capable of taking away an angel's -- or a demon's -- wings. He suffered enough for all of them; he was content to continue suffering, if it meant his beloved angel and precious child never had to.

He assumed his wings were hideous, broken, and no longer usable.

He'd kept them completely tucked away, until now.

What he could see of his wings, however, wasn't hideous at all. They were still black, but not the dull, flat black they were before. Now, they were the iridescent black of an oil slick, shimmering with flashes of blue and purple and pink as they caught the light. The feathers were thick, luxurious, and healthier than they'd ever been. And scattered across the shimmering darkness were a thousand points of light, laid out like a sky full of stars, where silver and gold speckles danced in the light.

"But that's... they're... How?"

"I've wanted to tell you, to show you, for so long, now. It seems, when I was trying to heal you, the love I have for you and my desperation for you to live, restored some of what was taken from you. I've wanted to give you back the stars you lost for so many centuries, my desperation to make you whole -- as you -- gave you the universe in the form of your wings, instead. I first noticed it when you were recovering from your injuries. You couldn't control your wings, because of the damage, and the more I tended them and tried to heal them, the more they healed and changed. Then you were up and about, and I was never sure how fully they healed. I just remembered how they were healing, and was hopeful they would heal as the rest of you did." Aziraphale was there before him, his cerulean eyes shining with tears of love and hope. "I thought, perhaps, the Almighty had gifted you back the ability to call starlight, again, after you did it that first time. However, She informed me in Her own way that I was mistaken. It was your return to the starlight chamber that restored your ability to touch the stars."

Overcome, Crowley stared at his wings as he tried to absorb what Aziraphale was saying. He couldn't speak, but that was fine, because there were no words capable of expressing the love and gratitude swelling within him, right now.

Love and gratitude for the angel who never gave up on him, and was currently looking at him as if he was deserving of all the love in the universe.

He knew Aziraphale always lamented his loss of the stars almost as much as he did. His angel had spoken the wish aloud at least once every time their paths crossed, over the millennia. Just a small, quiet I wish I could give you back the stars.

For a long time, Crowley had simply shrugged it away, not letting the words touch him deeply, afraid it might destroy him to think such a beautiful creature pitied him that much. Then, after he realized what he'd been feeling all those years was love, the knowledge his angel was hurting for what had been taken from him became capable of breaking him.

Now, staring at the physical manifestation of his angel's unaltered wish, the symbol of every moment of love and devotion Aziraphale had poured into healing him, both body and soul, he was unable to speak more than a single, whispered word. A benediction of love and devotion spread over the span of 6000 years.

"Angel."

He wasn't sure who moved first, but somehow, Aziraphale ended up in his arms, held to his body by trembling limbs and the fold of midnight wings, as he tipped his head down and worshipped his angel in loving kisses pressed to warm, eager lips and flushed, delicate skin. He knew his angel would find it scandalous -- and most likely blasphemous -- but the world could have its altars and churches. The only heaven Crowley needed was the one currently whimpering muffled sounds of desire into his kiss.

THE END

#good omens #good omens fandom #aziracrow #azicrow #aziraphale x crowley #ineffable husbands #aziraphale #crowley #ineffable spouses #fanfic #go fanfic #Jemima Crowley-Fell

[godzilla-reads]

And with this final day I contemplate the end to February and celebrate the entrance into March (and hopefully Spring).

In February 2023 I read 16 books, bringing my yearly total to 36! My top three reads of Feb. have golden stars beside them.

Here’s the wrap-up!

⭐️ Ironside by Holly Black

💙 The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde

💕 Lore Olympus Vol. 1 by Rachel Smythe

🐊 My Buddy, Killer Croc by Sara Farizan and Nicoletta Baldari

💛 The Legend of Auntie Po by Shing Yin Khor

🦜 Eric by Terry Pratchett

🦋 Monotone Blue by Nagabe

🕊️ Pulling the Wings Off Angels by K.J. Parker

⭐️ A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

🐉 The Book of the Dragon by Ciruelo Cabral

🍓 Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market by Omar Rayyan

⭐️ Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi

🎼 Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey

⚔️ Once Upon a Time There Was a Very… Slack Wyrm: His First Book by Joshua Wright

🌊 Little Lost Dragon by Wayne Anderson

❤️ How to be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals by Sy Montgomery

#godzilla reads #book blog #reading wrap up #books read in february #books read in February 2023 #books read in 2023 #reading #booklr #bookworm #bookish #booklover #bibliophile

[brendaonao3]

Tag Game: Get To Know Me

I was tagged by the lovely @alakeeffectgirl for this one <3

Name: Brenda

Pronouns: she/her

Star sign: Capricorn

Number of siblings (+ any fun facts): One totally amazing sister

Number of pets & their names: None of my own, but I do have a few fur babies that I claim as family - my mom has two cats & a dog who I love very much (even when one of the cats is trying her best to be a total bitch), and several besties have dogs and I get to play Auntie to all of them

Fandoms: Like, which ones am I active in or which ones have I been in, because no one's got time for the latter :D Let's just say I'm currently writing in Top Gun and the DCEU at the moment, and call it a day. Mostly Top Gun.

Favorite song: Like, ONE song??? ONE??? Not possible, it'd be like picking children or blorbos - but Idk, if you held a gun to my head, I guess I'd go with "Tomorrow Never Knows" by The Beatles or maybe "We're In This Together Now" by Nine Inch Nails

Favorite author (books, fanfics, zines, webtoons, etc): That's like choosing a favorite song, why would you make me do this??? I mean, I love a lot of authors. Maybe Terry Pratchett? Or Kimberly Cates? Or Dennis Lehane? It's an impossible question.

Favorite fic type: Found family, probably. Or fake dating. Or just good old-fashioned Dumb Boys Being Dumb For Each Other

Favorite holiday: Gotta be Christmas, but I also love the Fourth of July a lot

Do you have a partner (romantic, qpr, etc)?: Not permanent, no

Hobbies: I run, I do yoga, I write fanfic, I'm a very mediocre guitar player, and I do a lot of cooking

Fun facts about you: (Just picking one at random) A very famous actor taught me how to throw a punch - not naming names, but his lessons have come in handy over the years

low-pressure tagging: @icemankazansky, @malewifebillcage, @laikawriter and @cuddlybitch (and anyone else who feels like it)

#about me #meme

[thenightling]

So what the Hell does Disney’s Hocus Pocus have to do with The Sandman?

 Some people have questioned why I have shared Hocus Pocus content to my “Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman” Facebook group. It’s not just because it is Halloween related and Halloween aesthetics turn up a lot in The Sandman.  It very much all has to do with the Hecate.  

In Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman we have the Three-in-One, the Triple Goddess.  Hecataea (goddess(es) of witchcraft and magick, who also doubles as The Fates, and The Furies AKA The Kindly Ones.     

Back in 1969 DC Comics introduced “The Three Witches” as the hosts of one of their horror anthology comics.   Cain, Abel, Lucien, Eve (The Raven Woman), The Mad Mod Witch (Fashion Thing), Destiny, and The Hecateae all started as hosts for the old horror anthology comics.  Cain hosted The House of Mystery.  Abel hosted The House of Secrets.  Lucien hosted Tales of Ghost Castle and the three Witches (Hecataea) hosted The Witching Hour.

Here the Maiden, Mother, and Crone used the “Modern” names of Cynthia, Mildred, and Mordred.  To reaffirm that these are their new names, they tell these names to Morpheus in issue 2 of The Sandman.  Cynthia’s look was likely loosely inspired by Sabrina the Teenage Witch. 

Three witches, or “Weird sisters” was a image popular in literature and folklore soldified thanks to the cultural influences of the likes of William Shakespeare with his own Weird Sisters.

The maiden, Mother, and Crone turn up a lot in pop culture, often unnoticed.   

ere are the Wyrd Sisters from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld.

Granny Weatherwax (Crone), Nanny Ogg (Mother), Magrat Garlick (Maiden).  

Disney’s Gargoyles The Weird Sisters are   Luna, Phoebe, and Selene (a moon theme which is common with the three in one.  Waxing, full, and waning.)

Though the age distinction isn’t there it’s still a representation of the Three-in-One.  They are never separate and they function as one.  They also tend to appear the way they want to be seen or the way people expect them to be.  For example, when Demona was looking at them, they were a set of elderly female gargoyles but that is not how MacBeth saw them.

Sabrina and her aunts.   This one might be a bit of a stretch but you have three witches who are rarely apart so you have the trifecta and Sabrina, herself, is clearly the maiden.  Though the Netflix Chilling Adventures of Sabrina ironically uses the aunts to pay homage to DC”s Cain and Abel I’ll use the sitcom version here.

In the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina The Weird Sisters are literally Prudence, Agatha and Dorcas.

The Addams Family features it, but it might be pure accident.   You have Wednesday (Maiden), Morticia (Mother), and Grandmama (Crone).

Now we have the Hex Girls from Scooby Doo.  I Love this little “Eco Goth” band.  Not quite the conventional Maiden / Mother/ Crone however you could argue that Thorn is the Crone in this instance, Dusk is the maiden, and Luna is the mother. I pick these roles for purely superficial reasons here since Dusk has the child-like pigtails and Thorn is clearly the most dominant / leader and I perceive her as the oldest.      

There are the sisters of Charmed.   Not quote Maiden / Mother / Crone but definitely meant as a trio of witches who aren’t complete without the others.  

Adelaide (Crone), Auntie Whispers (Mother), and  Lorna (Maiden) from Over the Garden Wall.  This one is hard to spot until you realize the connection between Adelaide, Auntie Whispers, and Lorna.  Once you make the connection and realize the family bond and magick which binds the three you start to see the Maiden / Mother / and Crone aspects in their depictions.    Adelaide being the older sister, Auntie Whispers who is the mother figure for Lorne, who is the innocent maiden possessed by an evil spirit.  

Another trio is The Witches of Eastwick though not quite Maiden, Mother, and Crone, it felt worth a mention.

Marvel attempted it’s own version of “The Witches” with Jennifer Kale, Satana and Topaz.  

Though speaking of the Virgin Mary one could argue that it was actually a a subversive triple Goddess mention at the end of Goethe’s Faust Part 2.  When Faust ascends to Heaven we get this line:  (Translation from A. S. Kline)

“Virgin, Mother now, and Queen, Goddess, grant your mercies!“

and

“Here, grows to reality: The indescribable, Here, is done: Woman, eternal, 12110 Beckons us on.“

The Norns (Marvel’s depiction of the three Fates).

And now to Hocus Pocus.

In Disney’s Hocus Pocus you have The Sanderson Sisters.  A bungling group of witches who feel like they came crawling out of a horror anthology comic book with their antics and dark humor. Sarah is the Maiden, Mary is the Mother, and Winifred, The leader, is obviously the Crone.   (Note: Queen is a more polite alternate name for the crone aspect of the traditional three-in-one).

With Hocus Pocus, though I cannot prove it, I strongly suspect The Sanderson Sisters weren’t just inspired by the traditional Maiden, Mother, and Crone, but rather specifically the version from DC’s The Witching Hour comics, which in turn were used as the Hecataea in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman.

#The Three-in-One #The Sandman #Neil Gaiman #Hocus Pocus #Maiden Mother and Crone

[moons-and-suns]

regularly scheduled sarah sends you qs from an ask meme

what was the last compliment you received?

whats your favorite candle scent? 

do you read a lot? whats your favorite book? 

my auntie who lives ages away messaged me the other day and called me a "beautiful soul" and 🥲🥲🥲

umm probably vanilla tbh or cinnamon

read less than i want to, should and used to, unfortunately, and i rly rly miss it but my favourite book is either Mort by Terry Pratchett or ASOIAF (yes, all of them) by George RR Martin lmao

#asks #thank u!!

[ofliterarynature]

AUGUST 2022 WRAP UP

Total Titles Read: 14

Favorites: My Volcano by John Elizabeth Stintzi, Forget the Alamo by Burrough, Tomlinson, & Stanford

Rereads: Faerie Lord by Herbie Brennan, The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison, A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers

Book Club: My Volcano by John Elizabeth Stintzi

DNF: Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q Sutanto, The Starless Crown by James Rollins, The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

What a mixed bag this month! I actually forgot I finished the Faerie Wars series this month, but wow was that ending bad - I can see why the author wrote another one even though the series was supposedly finished (I don’t plan on reading it atm). At least I had low expectations, because I did have some high ones that left me very disappointed! Stormsong and A Half-Built Garden didn’t live up to the picture I had in my head :/ But!!! I DO need to do some more shouting about My Volcano, it’s so weird! I’m not sure if I like it but I need more people to read it so we can ?????? at each other. It’s fascinating. I’m also looking forward to trying some more Terry Pratchett and Dorothy Sayers, but in the meantime I’m going to keep obsessing over The Angel of the Crows a little more 💕

#book log #monthly wrap up #wrap up 2022 #2022 #bec posts #my volcano #terry pratchett #Kingston cycle #faerie wars #Katherine Addison #I will say FYI anyone else looking @ Sayers this one has a lot of antisemitism

[curieincali]

Year In Review - BOOKS - 2022

Audiobooks read:

• Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir • The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett • The Big Short by Michael Lewis • Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto • The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman • The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis • The Minority Report and Other Stories by Philip K. Dick • 4:50 From Paddington by Agatha Christie • Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie • The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie • The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie • They Do It With Mirrors by Agatha Christie • A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie • The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side by Agatha Christie • The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin • The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers • Be a Triangle by Lilly Singh • Atomic Habits by James Clear • The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke • Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier • A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher • The House of Gucci by Sara Gay Forden • The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien • The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien • The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien • I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy • How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis • The Communist Manifesto and Other Writings by Karl Marx • Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks • Book Lovers by Emily Henry Regular books read:

• Shot by Shot by Steven D. Katz. (FINALLY FINISHED THIS AFTER ~3 YEARS) • Princess Jellyfish Volume 2 by Akiko Higashimura • Several floppy comics (catching up on years worth of FCBD haul)

Overall a good year for reading. As usual, this list isn’t necessarily an endorsement, just a list of everything I checked out from the library. (Some of these I don’t even remember reading, for the opposite of an endorsement - maybe I should make a GoodReads account lol).

I started reading Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple series for a palate cleanser between every other book. Can’t go wrong with sugar-coated murder mysteries. LOTR was a re-read since I haven’t read them since I was 11. I’ve heard good thing about Iain M Banks’ The Culture series but I really didn’t like Consider Phlebas, so I’ll mark more books down as a “maybe” for 2023.

I’m so glad I can finally say I finished that giant Storyboarding textbook (Shot by Shot). I have now started....another art textbook, lol. I’m going to stop putting my “In Progress/Incomplete” books on here - just what I’ve finished! Also gonna try to read more physical books in 2023.

Happy New Year!

#books #audiobooks #about me #life interruption #year in review

[catblog-weatherwax]

I posted 9,652 times in 2022

38 posts created (0%)

9,614 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@yourozness

@lhinelle

@queenanne1532

@thesummoningdark

@drakatzen

I tagged 239 of my posts in 2022

#0 - 2 posts

#gnu terry pratchett - 26 posts

#glorious 25th of may - 22 posts

#yes - 4 posts

#discworld - 3 posts

#yup - 2 posts

#i love you! - 2 posts

#omg - 2 posts

#i thought it was just a trauma related coping mechanism learned from having parents i couldn't trust as far as i could throw - 1 post

#webb is a new telescope - 1 post

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#is work over yet? can i go pet the kitten? i need to call the dr and schedule that appt. why is that bird outside so loud go away. ugh i ha

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Aunty @lightbenderlin over to play and Sasha got treats!

11 notes - Posted April 17, 2022

#4

Let's see what the public has to say about this case...

Guilty or innocent?

16 notes - Posted February 14, 2022

#3

Don't you just love when i have a super shitty day and do that thing where in my dark despair i reblog a TON of baby kittens or puppies or animal of the day to make myself feel better and so new people follow me because they think i just post kittens and then they find out this is just the personal blog of some freak who's been here since 2011 and has NO THEME?!?

so anyway....

Hi new people!

25 notes - Posted January 19, 2022

#2

GOOD NEWS!

We're getting a baby! I'm so excited! My wife's aunt found him. He's about 4 weeks old. We had already planned to visit my MIL in about a month, so she's going to foster him until we visit.

That means we have just under a month to try and get to a good spot with our home renovations, get all the new supplies we'll need, and get a kitten room set up.

Gods all help me.

30 notes - Posted May 8, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I am so fucking done with this day. Why the fuck am i processing handwritten timesheets in the 21st century? And where did these people learn how to write?!? Under "Total Hours" this person appears to have written "Q°30mD".

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK DOES THAT MEAN?!?

You know how Vetinari likes to hang out in the dead letter office when he's bored? He should try his hand at payroll sometime!

35 notes - Posted August 8, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

[ao3feed-ineffablehusbandz]

Would I Lie to You?

Would I Lie to You?

by FeralTuxedo, TawnyOwl95

Anthony Crowley and Aziraphale Fell are rival team captains on popular comedy panel show Don't Lie To Me, where they exchange insults and banter to an audience of millions. But behind the scenes, a whole other game of truth and lies is being played.

A comedy panel show AU

Words: 3853, Chapters: 1/8, Language: English

Fandoms: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley (Good Omens), Agnes Nutter

Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Angst, Smut, Pining while fucking, Secret Relationship, Happy Ending, British Culture, Inspired by Would I Lie To You, Internalized Homophobia, Scottish Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale isn't as posh as he seems, Crowley Loves Aziraphale (Good Omens), Aziraphale Loves Crowley (Good Omens), but won't admit it, Auntie Agnes knows what's what

From https://ift.tt/rkQInwR https://archiveofourown.org/works/41445999

#ao3feed ineffablehusbandz #ineffable husbands #good omens #aziraphale #crowley #anthonyjcrowl

[reddy-reads]

state of the bookshelf: feb 19

Finished recently

Going Postal and Making Money, Sir Terry Pratchett

Cheddar Off Dead, Korina Moss - this one was fun!

Four Aunties and a Wedding, Jesse Q. Sutanto - also fun!

The Dragon Princess, ED Baker - Loved it!

The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros - this one was a gift

In progress

Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens - this is my self-assigned reading (it was a parental gift)

I Shall Wear Midnight, Sir Terry Pratchett

Jingo, Sir Terry Pratchett

Reading Up A Storm, Eva Gates - this one has its charm

Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble, Alexis Hall - this was another gift

Coming up

The Art of Teaching Children, Philip Done - parental gift

The Black Tides of Heaven, JY Yang - March book

Dragon Kiss, ED Baker

#state of the bookshelf

[abitbatty]

I posted 11,499 times in 2022

That's 105 more posts than 2021!

52 posts created (0%)

11,447 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@phoenixfire-thewizardgoddess

@kaldurcalm

@battywitch

@cyclone-rachel

@everythingfox

I tagged 381 of my posts in 2022

#b. dylan hollis - 21 posts

#this made me cackle - 15 posts

#food - 14 posts

#knitting - 12 posts

#recipes - 12 posts

#sewing - 9 posts

#sparklies - 9 posts

#thank you goth auntie! - 9 posts

#personal - 7 posts

#gnu terry pratchett - 5 posts

Longest Tag: 92 characters

#there are definitely a few more people i'd like to see face consequences for similar actions

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

My new embroidery hoop holder arrived today. I was just going to sand the edges... then, my brain asked: "how can we make this sparkly?"

3 notes - Posted May 10, 2022

#4

I really do love that it is October.

3 notes - Posted October 2, 2022

#3

3 notes - Posted November 2, 2022

#2

I am currently, quite inexpertly, crocheting eyeball granny squares to make a desperately desired cardigan. I have plans to knit a cauldron shaped bag to go with it.

29 notes - Posted July 29, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Anyone else label their craft supplies this way?

45 notes - Posted June 8, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

From the DVD commentary, episode 1:

Douglas: Now this graveyard and this church, which is in England, was interesting, because we... I think it was the second location I ever saw in preproduction and we went through a whole process on not being able to film on there because we couldn't get the lights in and it was the wrong schedule and everything else so we looked at on other churches... but eventually we went to film there and I remember that on the night we were filming our amazing DoP [Director of Photography] Gavin Finney said to me, 'Come round the back of this church, there's something I've got to show you.', which I would normally not want to go and do with DoP and he took me round the back and showed me a gravestone, which was Terry Pratchett's aunty, I think it was, who was buried in the grounds of this graveyard. Did you know that?

Neil: I knew once you told me but I didn't know that and I love the weird and beautiful coincidences.

#good omens #goodomensedit #douglas mackinnon #neil gaiman #terry pratchett #good omens dvd #commentaries #ep1 #1i4 #fun fact #bts #terry pratchett's aunty #the graveyard #the weird and beautiful coincidences

[cosmicrhetoric]

all of vetinari's night watch bits are just Tomfoolery, Dame Energy, or Wow That's The Biggest Gay Awakening I've Ever Seen. havelock bro lmao this is going to be so embarrassing in twenty five years or so

#18 yr old vetinari like omg 🤭 auntie he can read the street and the city with such clarity im going to build core values around this #i date him realizing who keel was circa men at arms or feet of clay but havelock I'm embarrassed FOR you #discworld #night watch #havelock vetinari #terry pratchett

[aeshnacyanea2000]

She was even worse after a glass of wine, and she had one joke: ‘What does a man stand up to do, a woman sit down to do and a dog lift its leg to do?’ And then, when everyone was too embarrassed to answer, she’d triumphantly shriek, ‘Shake hands!’ and fall over. Auntie Hattie was an Abomination all by herself.

Terry Pratchett - Monstrous Regiment

#Terry Pratchett #discworld quotes #GNU Terry Pratchett #Monstrous Regiment #Auntie Hattie #embarrassing relatives

[goodgrammaritan]

Ponder Stibbons was the quintessential, all-time holder of the one-hundred-meter note from his auntie, which also asked for him to be excused from all sporting activities on account of his athlete's ear, erratic stigmatism, a grumbling nose and a revolving spleen.

Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett

#gnu terry pratchett #unseen academicals #ponder stibbons