Open Post: Hooked On A Feeling

[rememberettersberg]

What hobbies have you got? Susan had asked him, and he had to admit to not being sure. At school and for some time after, he played rugby. More recently, he only watched it on the television Peter had set up in the tech cave. Here at the mansion, he has books and research and the beginnings of mentoring, but it occurs to Nightingale that he has been building himself a facsimile of work and very little else. He's survived that way for half a century and been perfectly all right (though others may disagree with that assessment) but here, in this hinterland between realities, he is feeling a growing itch for... whimsy, perhaps.

At this moment, propping up the bar with a pint of bitter and a crochet hook, no one would dare accuse him of being whimsical. Nightingale is scowling fiercely at the hook, the yarn, his pint, and the book sitting open beside it. Company would be more than welcome.

Comments

[rememberettersberg]

"Apparently her job is to catch book characters gone rogue," Nightingale says drily.

[wickedwit]

"An idea I would've dismissed out-of-hand as absurd, were we not thinking along these lines already. At this point, in order to avoid thinking of myself as a character from a fiction, I've had to come up with so many ad hoc justifications that accepting it seems simpler." Claudius nearly mutters something about fictional status again but he restrains himself. "But let's be gentler to your sense of self and say it's possible we all come from authored worlds. Crowley told me he lived through the predicted End of Days, which is more or less a plot penned by God and prophecy. He spoke quite passionately against letting such things rule our lives. You'll find many others here who were once set on some pre-determined path -- those are the paths I'm afraid a book-policing agency will lead us all down again. I'd rather we figure out how deep this connection goes before she does."

[az_fell]

"A book-policing agency," says Aziraphale with simultaneous skepticism and distaste. "Book characters gone rogue." He draws himself up a bit with enough assurance that one might be able to see the principality shining through the absent-minded bookseller. "Crowley isn't the only one who lived through an intended apocalypse. That little debacle involved horsepersons of the apocalypse, the Voice of God, and the Antichrist himself, and yet the world didn't end, did it? Can a jurisfiction agent arrest an angel, do you think?"

[rememberettersberg]

Nightingale feels that little shiver that comes from being in the presence of true power, the prickling of the short hairs on his arms and the back of his neck rising. He inclines his head respectfully. "We are very lucky to have you both here," he says, plain and sincere.

[wickedwit]

“Agreed,” Claudius says, with some appreciation. “I underestimated you, Aziraphale. We’ve a powerful ally in you — all of us, here, in this mansion — and I’m thankful for your assistance and protection.”

[az_fell]

"Ah, yes, well." Aziraphale waves a dismissive hand. He has a great deal more on his mind, suddenly, than magical texts from other worlds or whether he should ask Crowley to join him for a drink tonight. If anyone ought to be invested in fictional characters seeing out their plots, it should be him -- but these people are, abruptly, real, or real enough. Claudius is Crowley's friend¹. Aziraphale likes Nightingale very much. Ineffability, all over again.

"I'll need to speak with Crowley about this," he says, then.

¹Sigh.