The Arrangement: An Essay

[hekateras]

This is just a quick gander into the way the relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley progresses in Good Omens throughout the book, probably in not too eloquent a format.

What strikes me is that at the beginning, it is portrayed as very much a matter of necessity/convenience rather than emotional fulfillment: "they wouldn't have chosen each other

Comments

[hekateras]

I'm sorry I dropped it off like that - I've been kind of stressed with exams/moving lately and what free time I had, my fanfic demons were forcing me to use otherwise. X_X Hope you don't mind me coming back to this now.

I agree completely - I'm not sure if you've read what I wrote as implying romance to be illogical, but that's not what I meant to say. When I said it's 'not like that' for them, I meant only that they have so much *more* going on than the human beings making guesses about them - they've seen the rise and fall of empires, they're busy stopping the Apocalypse, and all that. I do agree that there's no reason they wouldn't take it one step further, it's just that, like you said, I think for them it would be on the same basic level as their enjoyment of other human pleasures - and just like food can mean so much more to them, who've tasted every possible dish since the beginning of mankind, physical intimacy could also be much more meaningful for them, in very different ways than for a human, because of their unique perspective on it, and thanks in part to the fact that it's *not* inherently part of their nature, but something they would *choose* to indulge in. Ahem. Well, and everything you said, of course.

I'm glad you write them, though I've still to read most of your stuff. The fic with the charming 'plaster' line - that was yours too, correct? Because it's by far one of my favourite takes on their relationship upgrade I've seen. And wow, so you were the one who prompted the 'cottage' admission... I am so grateful to you, so grateful. :D

A decade or so of constant association - yes, that sounds good, though I'm currently working through a headcanon, hopefully a future fic, of them taking the plunge as early as the night after the averted Apocalypse, based on 'the world got away with it but we're probably really in trouble'-type of considerations - also mostly because there's that line in the book. "And perhaps recent exertions had a fallout on the fabric of reality, because .... a Nightingale sand in Berkeley Square", remember? I just... I'm having a really hard time picturing exactly what 'exertions' (ahem) could possibly be referring to that would prompt reality to reference a sappy old love song. Oh, and there's them drinking out of the same bottle before that, and all those casual brushes/grabbing-the-arm during the Apocalypse, and awww, now I'm having feels again. I've seen Neil Gaiman say that the idea of Good Omens slash is "mindboggling" to him, so it must've been PTerry who put that in there to mess with our minds, because I refuse to believe that the subtext is unintentional.

EDIT: Hahaha, look, I did a little comic based on a "Crowley just wants to feel the love" type comment: http://kaytara-art.tumblr.com/post/25642083031/so-some-time-ago-i-got-a-prompt-for-an#notes

[irisbleufic]

(Oh, God, the fic with the plaster line is the very first piece of GO fic I ever wrote. I've come on a lot since then, I think *wry grin* It's called "The Last Temptation of Crowley," though, and it was relocated to my fic journal back in 2007 or 2008 because I decided to pull all of the things I'd posted directly to this comm in 2005 and have them hosted in my own space instead. The good omens tag on my journal is a pretty good indicator of just how much more I've written in the years since then; it kind of boggles my mind that, of all my fandoms, this one has never wavered in strength, and I've never strayed from it.)

As it turns out, I've seen your art on DeviantArt; I just hadn't seen your Tumblr account. This sketch is particularly wonderful, for some reason. The contrast of their respective weapons really makes me grin.

And wow, so you were the one who prompted the 'cottage' admission...

Very much guilty as charged, and I've been writing in that vein ever since with CoT 'verse. Leave it to Terry to dodge the question (which he did) and Neil to actually answer it a week later (but not after beating around the bush just like Terry did, possibly just to make all of Boston squirm).

Mind-boggling or not, it makes an ineffable lot of sense, and as long as they're not of a mind to come after us with litigation, I'm very happy to call this a not inconsiderable part of my life's work. It pleases me beyond measure to do...this, just what we're discussing.

Right, so, I'm off to take a look at your fic link. And my adding of your journal seems not to have stuck the first time, which happens on occasion; I have fixed this by adding you again. Bloody thing. I know a lot of people are down on LJ these days, but I've been here for so long, and I'm fond of it (errors and all).