It really is bittersweet seeing this finished, because for one there won’t be more cool music history - and also I enjoy beta reading immensely and having such a project to sink my teeth into was <3 After all this, I still don’t quite understand how you do it. Like I watched how the sausage was made, but actually I was just staring with my mouth open, occasionally tucking in the casing where it slipped and then continuing to boggle at Good Words™
Your Crowley is just...so Crowley and the continuous references to the ineffable bureaucracy were funny and amazing :D The opening is just so great, you managed to both keep it vague and let us know exactly who everyone is, it’s such a great portrayal of GO heaven and I’ve said that before, but it was kinda sad seeing how harmless the first signs of non-conformity were :(
Generally in the early chapters, you made me think about music on such a...fundamental level that I had never considered before - the beauty of what it’s made of, not just the finished product. Now and then, Crawly taught Eve's lullaby to another mortal. Just to see how they changed it around, built upon the tune. It was always forgotten again, but that was okay. He remembered. GETS ME EVERY TIME T-T <3
Uruk is such a fundamental chapter for your Crowley characterization! I love how genuinely manipulative he is in this. People kind of tend to defang Crowley and that’s...understandable, he really is not as awful as the other demons we meet and he does have a soft side - and here, his love for music is inseparably entwined his love for humanity, but on the other hand, people are kinda more...instruments than individuals to him, though good useful instruments that create something he enjoys (even though he happens to catch genuine feelings for some later... And it occurs to me only now when revising this long-ass comment, that’s kind of part of his arc, isn’t it? I feel that he absolutely comes to care about the individual behind the music more over the course of the story and that’s such a <3 thought!)
I think the Ancient Rome chapter might be my favorite. The entire scene of Crowley talking to the harpist has so many neat details, A+ historical fict!
Like that mysterious husband of yours. People don't seem to recall anything about him, only that his toga is always black – except when it is always white. I DON’T KNOW, but I got goosebumps!!
"And, and what should I call you? I wish no offense." Aw, I find that weirdly endearing, she’s so pragmatic and respectful. It feels like such a neat segway into a way different world view from the Christian one, in which some powers just govern darker things and it’s appropriate to be cautious about them, but there isn’t like a view that they’re evil and damned and unforgivable etc. And maybe I’m just a ho for mythology, but the way you integrated Plouton - GOOSEBUMPS. AGAIN. So many goosebumps!
I love the idea that some psychic people can feel their powers, both in the Tartini chapter and later in the last one. And I was super psyched about Aziraphale showing up! He’s just...so business-like about the Arrangement and so good at it, it’s hilarious. Aziraphale so liked Italian. I can just hear his pitiful voice and see his sad lil face!! :D
I still can’t believe Crowley fucked Mozart, I love you and I love this chapter! You got him in all his potty-mouthed glory :D I’m really into the glimpse of his “death-visage”, such a nice serious moment among the joking. I could also quote the last couple of paragraphs of this chapter, but that’d just be taking up space, so lemme just say I absolutely adore the way you describe the landscape, it’s just so lush and how everyone reacts to Mozart’s playing, it feels so...grand and profound (HELL GROWS SILENT WHAA)
"Jazz is the melody of sin, but the blues is the wail of the soul itself." Ahhh, that’s so! SO. How do you word?? I enjoyed Lafayette a lot. I’ve already mentioned that, but it’s so nice to see Crowley have another genuinely good friend and I like to imagine they’ll probably hang out more (if very very sporadically) (Hopeless shipper that I am, I can’t help but imagine Crowley drunk-moaning about his Aziraphale feels bc Lafayette is the only who’d even begin to understand - not that he and St Peter are in any way Like That, oh no, not at all) (Lafayette is very bemused) (but he does listen)
And FREDDIE. Your Freddie is so beautifully flamboyant (No, darling. Life's a bastard all right, but dying is the real cunt. Hahaha <3). I think you struck a great balance between acknowledging his fate, but not making it into a sadfest! So you do feel like he’s moved on to greener pastures (even though there’s no green to speak of probably)
I also love the contrast with Crowley’s hook-up with Mozart, which seemed a casual lighthearted thing, whereas his feelings about Freddie feel a lot more delicate and vulnerable (half-sincere flirting indeed). With them having been close like that, I wonder how Crowley feels about listening to Freddie’s voice basically whenever he’s in his car. I imagine it’s kind of nice, but also slightly sad? Ohh, I do wonder how he feels about Satan borrowing his voice tho D:
I like that Freddie’s just one talented musician among many, though a bit more personal for Crowley than usual, that’s just. So deliciously bitter sweet :’) There wouldn't be anyone like Freddie on Earth again; that was the beauty of it, Crowley had long since concluded. You picked the absolutely right moment to first name him <3 I love the entire little call-back to the beginning, especially Each flawed melody created a world of its own, richer than the songs of praise that had come into existence wholly complete and perfect, to remain in that unchanged state until the end of time. It’s...such a thesis statement of Crowley’s whole thing, looking for beauty in imperfection - or creating imperfection to find more beauty - and chasing change.
Thank you for sharing this amazing piece - I was gonna call it a magnum opus, but then there was Toil :D well, your GO magnum opus perhaps? - it really is so elaborate, beautiful, both heartwarming and poignant. I hope you’ll grace us with more Omens content soon <3
I love the idea that some psychic people can feel their powers, [...] Aziraphale showing up! He’s just...so business-like about the Arrangement
Aziraphale definitely wrote himself into this fic =D Crowley was supposed to meet a psychic musician somewhere, but then I wanted to write him being good at the violin, although then I thought of how he really was probably only cheating and in that case would it aaaactually impress Tartini so and then Aziraphale just "move over, Arrangement joke time" and, wellp, he is presumably capable of some celestial harmonies per default even if they're not the best according to Heaven. (I suspect the best would not leave a human in the shape to do more than gibber)
Crowley fucked Mozart
Blame the sparkles :P
how everyone reacts to Mozart’s playing, it feels so...grand and profound (HELL GROWS SILENT WHAA)
There is a reason Crowley went to all that effort... Also, more pragmatically, I suspected Mozart would be the most widely known musician (Well, before Queen) in the piece, so it fit to give him this grand moment.
I enjoyed Lafayette a lot. [... ] I like to imagine they’ll probably hang out more (if very very sporadically)
I'm sure they'll be sending each other the supernatural version of mix tapes ;) In another show-influenced undertone, this Crowley has a bit more in with Lucifer than your average earthly agent, so it makes sense for Lafayette to share the glory of finding good musicians with Crowley.
not that he and St Peter are in any way Like That, oh no, not at all
Heee, I may steal this if I ever have reason to reuse my OC! I mean, I 110% background ship Crowley and Aziraphale in this too, there just wasn't a place to put it in the story :3
(No, darling. Life's a bastard all right, but dying is the real cunt. Hahaha <3). I think you struck a great balance between acknowledging his fate, but not making it into a sadfest!
Oh, thank you! You helped me immensely with that chapter, daring me to push it towards a proper story part rather than an outline.
I also love the contrast with Crowley’s hook-up with Mozart, which seemed a casual lighthearted thing, whereas his feelings about Freddie feel a lot more delicate and vulnerable
Yeah, I think it has both the uhh known personas of the artists and Crowley's own development as a backdrop. Mozart is portrayed as a manchild, which Freddie Mercury isn't. But there's also Crowley - this is a kind of show-timeline, book-influenced fic, and that means that Crowley's big emotional/relationship development with Aziraphale (the argument, the paus, then WWII and Holy water gifting...) happens between those two musicians. (and there is meeting Lafayette and Robert Johnson, but that was never really personal - though I like to think it really opened Crowley's eyes to the possibility of the new styles of music). So he's changed in how he approaches interpersonal relationships too
I wonder how Crowley feels about listening to Freddie’s voice basically whenever he’s in his car. I imagine it’s kind of nice, but also slightly sad? Ohh, I do wonder how he feels about Satan borrowing his voice tho
This is one of my boggling moments for the whole canon, tbh. I think both Aziraphale and Crowley must be used to it, see the Leonardo da Vinci sketch and all those personally dedicated books, but it's also surely something very different to have a recording of someone, versus a thing they made... Idk. I also think about how Freddie Mercury was *alive* when the novel was published and how different it was to write Satan borrowing his voice then, than it is to now.
Time! So weird
well, your GO magnum opus perhaps?
Aw, I hope I can write one of the more plotty fics I want too.. Otoh, I am probably never gonna cover more time in one fic – this was probably the most research heavy per word thing I have ever written! – so in that sense, it Def counts
the continuous references to the ineffable bureaucracy were funny and amazing
Aww, thank you! I think this probably feels a lot more like book fic, at least it did while writing it, where the "it's just a job" - vibe is so strong to me I apparently can't escape it.
you made me think about music on such a...fundamental level that I had never considered before - the beauty of what it’s made of, not just the finished product
*blush* uwah
Re Eve's lullaby – thi is actually one of the rare show references, because Crowley's lullaby to Warlock IS THE OPENING THEME TUNE! and that tune goes through the whole series and then I thought what if it's actually Eve's song, ofc he would sing it (with new words) when he had to look after a kid...
Uruk is such a fundamental chapter for your Crowley characterization! I love how genuinely manipulative he is in this. [...] instruments than individuals to him, though good useful instruments that create something he enjoys (even though he happens to catch genuine feelings for some later... And it occurs to me only now when revising this long-ass comment, that’s kind of part of his arc, isn’t it?
yup, but I must admit, entirely taken from the book. There is a line about Aziraphale becoming more human and Crowley doing the same thing, but from the other side (I don't recall in which order they are mentioned, but the point stands) and I absolutely think it took him a while to learn to see people as people. He's still not always great at it for people he doesn't know, I suspect, but yes, he definitely has more of a personal investment later on. And living instruments is a v good description for how Uruk!Crowley thinks of humans who can make music!
I think the Ancient Rome chapter might be my favorite.
Thanl you, glad to hear my efforts paid off!
Thank you for delicious but an on top of betaing *_*
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m_madeleine on Chapter 9 Mon 29 Jul 2019 12:10PM UTC
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drcalvin on Chapter 9 Mon 05 Aug 2019 07:03PM UTC
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