Open RP - Insert your favorite Queen song title here

[rarebookangel.livejournal.com]

One of the main benefits of being sorted at Hogwarts was having access to the library. Aziraphale spent most of his time there, reading on a variety of subjects. His interest wasn't entirely theological, and he found wizarding history fascinating, because it was both similar to and vastly different from the history of the Muggles.

Today, though, Aziraphale had taken a few books with him outside, and was sitting by the lake, reading. He had a dictaquill set up to take notes, and he'd brought out some tea and biscuits to munch on during breaks from his studies. He knew the weather got terribly damp in Scotland, and he wanted to enjoy the weather while he had it. Idly, he hummed a song, not realizing that Crowley's influence apparently still ran to corrupting the songs in his head.

There was plenty of tea, and lots of biscuits, so Aziraphale was hoping for company, even if that company did want to offer up opinions on the musical stylings of Queen.

Comments

[omg-sunflora.livejournal.com]

Sunflora wouldn't know Queen if Freddie Mercury came walking into the Sorting Room. (Which considering he might or might not be in Cromartie High School, is a distinct possibility.) However, she DID know singing when she heard it, and she did like dancing a lot.

So, she did.

[rarebookangel.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale happened to glance up when he noticed Sunflora dancing. He hadn't even realized he had been humming at the time, and now he let the notes fall away, offering her a wide grin.

"Hullo," he said brightly, unconcerned about the novelty of a dancing flower. "Care for some tea?"

[omg-sunflora.livejournal.com]

"Tea? Is it good?"

You know, I can't remember if Sunflora ever had tea. She had coffee, I know that.

[rarebookangel.livejournal.com]

"Well, it's good British tea," Aziraphale answered. "Hot, served with milk, and with no awful artificial chemicals like what passes for tea at those Starbucks places Crowley's so keen on." He figured that was a satisfactory answer, and so he summoned a small cup for Sunflora.

[omg-sunflora.livejournal.com]

Sunflora took the cup and took a sip. "It tastes...like leaves!" Which...yeah, makes sense. Both that it tastes like leaves and that Sunflora would know what leaves taste like.

[rarebookangel.livejournal.com]

"Leaves? Well, yes, I suppose it would," the angel mused. "Is that a good thing?"

[omg-sunflora.livejournal.com]

"I don't mind. But I bet a Bug Pokemon would like this better!" Sunflora was still drinking it, mind you.

[rarebookangel.livejournal.com]

""Ah, so you're a pokemon?" he guessed. "Hmmm. You'd think I would have remembered that part of the creation, since I was there. Must have been around the time I decided to have a bit of a lie-down. Watching the universe take shape isn't nearly as interesting as you might think."

[omg-sunflora.livejournal.com]

"You saw the world being born? Are you a human version of Arceus?" He ain't. Arceus is God.

[rarebookangel.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale shook his head. "I'm afraid not," he said. "I was supposed to guard the east gate of the garden, you know. It didn't quite work as well as planned, and now I sell rare books in a shop in Soho and try to prevent the apocalypse." That was probably the most understated life story ever.

[omg-sunflora.livejournal.com]

"What's an apocalypse? And can I have more tea?" Sunflora held out her cup.

[rarebookangel.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale poured more tea. "An apocalypse is... well, a rather destructive way in which the world will end," he said. "Really quite unpleasant, and entirely too much of a bother."

[omg-sunflora.livejournal.com]

"Eek! That sounds like what happened when the Time Gears were not put back in the Temporal Tower!" Or something like that, she only knows secondhand from Team Pokepals.

[ancient-adam.livejournal.com]

Methos was restless. The prefect elections were still going on and most of the students were still buzzing about the strange debates. He had little use for politics and outside of hoping a particular warrior maiden would win, he had little interest in the discussions going on in the Ravenclaw bar.

He tucked his new journal under one arm and headed outside to enjoy the weather. It was a lovely afternoon, and he found himself heading back towards the lake. The immortal stopped midstride as he approached the humming man and his own pile of books. It had been almost two hundred years, but there was no mistaking that profile.

"Funny, I never would have figured you for a Queen fan," he commented with a grin.

[rarebookangel.livejournal.com]

"Queen? What?" Aziraphale had stopped humming mid-note. Then he sighed and muttered, "Oh, Crowley," as if that explained everything, which it did.

Then he happened to recognize the person standing over him and his face broke into a grin. "Oh, Methos! It's good to see you here! Care for some tea?"

[ancient-adam.livejournal.com]

Methos chuckled and sat down beside Aziraphale, "I won't tell and yes, I'd love some tea, thank you."

He accepted an offered cup, "It's been too long. The library here is astounding, I'm surprised I haven't run into you there yet. The collections are remarkable," he enthused.

[rarebookangel.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale poured the tea, still smiling. "Oh, yes," he agreed. "There's so much knowledge stored here. I daresay the collection is comparable to the one I have in Soho." From a man who specialized in antique books, this was indeed a high compliment. "How long have you been here?" he wanted to know. "I really am surprised I haven't run into you before if you've been here a while."

[ancient-adam.livejournal.com]

"It's close to your collection, but it's not quite the same," he agreed with a smile. "I've been here a few weeks. I was apparently popcorn and only recently 'unpopped'. So if I was here earlier.. damned if I can remember when or for how long."

Methos nodded at Aziraphale's dictaquill, "How do those work with the more ancient languages?"

[rarebookangel.livejournal.com]

"Ahh. I suffered the same fate," Aziraphale answered. "I'm still trying to figure out exactly how giant kernels of popcorn figure in the ineffable plan. So far, sadly, I've come up with nothing."

At Methos's question, he shrugged. "It seems to work reasonably well in Latin," he observed. "But, admittedly, I don't know how these quills would work with non-Roman alphabets. I haven't tested them out properly, though it's one of the things I want to try. I've some documents in Sumerian I'm having sent over." He glanced over at the quill, which was still dutifully recording his remarks, and ended the spell with a muttered, "Blast! I'll have to start that page over again!"

[ancient-adam.livejournal.com]

Methos grinned and opened his journal while his old friend fiddled with the dictaquill. "I'd be happy to help with the Sumerian, my last journal was in Akkadian."

"As for the popcorn, it doesn't seem to make much sense beyond allowing us to possibly return to where we were before we were called here. At least that's what I've been told. Since I can't remember, it's hard to tell if that's correct or not."

[rarebookangel.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale grinned. "I wouldn't turn down the offer of help," he said enthusiastically. "Especially from someone whose competence I can vouch for. As for the popcorn, you might be right. One moment I was in my shop in London, and the next I was here. I've been trying to figure out what I've done here before, but I haven't had much success, and I suppose it doesn't matter, really, as long as I didn't embarrass myself by..." he shrugged, "I dunno, marrying Crowley or something."

[ancient-adam.livejournal.com]

Methos snickered into his tea. The two certainly could bicker like an old married couple. "Speaking of the old snake, how is Crowley? I haven't seen him since since that ah... incident in Vienna."

He shrugged out of his coat, setting his sword out of the way, but still keeping it well within reach. From a pocket, he produced a pen and began to write in his journal. Closer examination would reveal he was writing in Demotic Greek.

[rarebookangel.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale looked pensive. "I actually haven't seen him much lately," he murmured, expression becoming nonplussed as this occurred to him. "I know we were both kernels of popcorn, and then we weren't... and... I don't know what's become of him." He glanced over at Methos' journal, trying unobtrusively to read what he was writing. Crowley's lack of presence bothered him a good bit more than he would have wanted to admit.

[ancient-adam.livejournal.com]

"Damn shame. I was hoping to see him again. But if we could both come back from being an oversized snack, I'm sure he'll find the opportune moment to come strolling back just to rankle you. It's all about timing with Crowley."

It's happened again. I saw her walking towards me and I was completely thunderstruck he wrote, his hand becoming swifter with every word. It normally took a little pratice before he was able to write fluently with the older languages.

[rarebookangel.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure you're right," Aziraphale murmured. "Anything is possible here."

His eyebrows shot up as he read what Methos was writing. As a distraction from his sadness about Crowley, it had been effective. "You... are talking about a woman there, right?" he asked. It would not surprise him if the subject of Methos's writing had been something else--Aziraphale had entertained such thoughts regarding the copy of The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter when it had fallen into his hands. Well, technically, the prophecies hadn't walked, but still... "Are congratulations in order yet?"

[ancient-adam.livejournal.com]

"We'll have to see about the congratulations, old friend," he answered with a small smile. "It's only been two years since I lost Alexa. I wasn't expecting it, but when I saw Brienne she simply took my breath away."

Methos nodded at the piles of books around the angel, "What are you working on?"

[rarebookangel.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale nodded in what he hoped was an understanding manner. Truthfully, he'd never entertained any particular desire for the sorts of relationships humans got up to. The closest he'd ever come was his relationship with Crowley, which was less romantic and more just antagonists who were so used to each other that the idea of antagonizing anyone else was simply too much trouble. But that was hardly going to provide reassurance, so he said, "Well, I wish you both luck then."

At Methos's other question, he grinned sheepishly. "Oh, you know, more of the same," he answered with deceptive lightness. "I'm trying to figure out how wizards figure into the ineffable plan. I'm not having much luck, though, really."

[ancient-adam.livejournal.com]

Methos nodded. He had abandoned religion early in his life and even after meeting both Aziraphale and Crowley, he wasn't inclined to take it up in any of it's various forms. Still, he found the angel's search intriguing.

"Given the nature of this place.. I wish you good luck, old friend. Any new insights or wisdom?"

[rarebookangel.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale shook his head. "Sadly, no. Not as yet, but the reading is proving quite a distraction." In another reference to some off-s creen socking, he added, "Though I did meet a young man recently who had some interesting thoughts on the nature of the universe... something about how God 'groks', and people 'grok' so therefore people are God. It was quite heretical, but at least he wasn't going on about our galactic overlord Xenu." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenu)

[ancient-adam.livejournal.com]

While his experience with languages was extensive, this was a word he was unfamiliar with. Methos cocked his head, "Well, people carrying a spark of the divine is hardly a new idea...but I wonder what 'grok' means."
He laughed, "Ah, Xenu. You know the first time I heard of him, I thought it was a joke?"

His journal entry finished, he tucked it back inside his trenchcoat. "I wouldn't worry too much about it. People and faith are a fickle mix. What's fashionable to belive today will be considered ridiculous in a few decades."

[rarebookangel.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale nodded, allowing himself a slight shudder. "That's certainly true. At least people aren't going around starting inquisitions these days. Ugh."

[ancient-adam.livejournal.com]

Methos shuddered as well, "Mortals hold onto faith too tightly for my comfort, really. They should put their faith in something closer, more tangible. Nothing personal," he added hastily. Immortal atheists and angels made for odd friends, but somehow they had made it work.

"So, how many other of you are floating about besides the pretty one in red?"