The City Inbox

[inlovewithmycar]

⛧A.J. CROWLEY⛧ "This is Crowley. I'm not in. You know what to do, so do it with style. Chow."

code by MANUAL

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[matermali]

[ One unsuspecting evening, this Shakespearean insight is dropped: ]

hes herjds
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[inlovewithmycar]

Is this something I should be concerned about or did you do what the kids these days call a butt-dial?

[matermali]

[ The person you are trying to reach is unavailable. Possibly because of their terrible life choices. Please try again later. ]

[matermali]

[ The response comes later the next morning, after she's had a chuckle on figuring out what 'butt-dial' means. ]

My apologies, that message was indeed mistakenly sent. Terribly clumsy of me.

[inlovewithmycar]

Right, if you say so. You sure you're alright?

[matermali]

I thought I saw him, roaming the graveyard. My nerves overtook me but I was fortunate to be mistaken.

A friend has been brought here. From home.

[inlovewithmycar]

[!!!]

A friend, a "friend" or a friend?

[matermali]

[ Is he having a stroke? Can that happen to demons? ]

Is this a trap?

[inlovewithmycar]

[It's never happened before, but there's a first time for everything.]

I mean are they actually a friend, is it just a sarcastic way of referring to someone who is very much not a friend, or someone who piques your romantic interest?

[matermali]

[ She was getting there! ...Once she passed through the horror. ]

Yes.

[inlovewithmycar]

[Sorry, he slept through a sizable chunk of the 19th century, he's kind of gone and forgotten the social mores.]

All of the above. Now that's interesting. So you and this friend of yours have quite a history?

[matermali]

His name is Ethan Chandler, and he is a friend, Mr. Crowley. Just as you are now a friend.

Why ever would you care to know more? Should human lives not seem small and dull in the span of your experiences?

[inlovewithmycar]

Good to know you've got someone from home in your corner, then.

And are you kidding? Just because your lives are short doesn't mean they're not interesting. Angels and demons, it's all work work work. You lot, though? Always thinking. Always asking. Always doing something new and innovative. Six thousand years and humans still find ways to surprise me.

[matermali]

[ Almost always in her corner, at least, but she's in no hurry to slight Ethan overmuch when hoping to eventually introduce them. ]

He may indeed surprise you, but I suspect that you will surprise him far more. I have yet to broach the subject of your, I believe you called it, 'existing-while-demonic'?

[inlovewithmycar]

Oh. Yeah. That'll probably surprise him. Might want to give him the heads up that you're getting chummy with an old snake before you start hosting any soirees where we'd both be in attendance. Wouldn't want to bring down the mood, you know?

[matermali]

Quite. Already I have struggled to know how to address such matters with him. He is only just finding his way here.

I made a poor jest while thinking of you—fondly, I assure you—in a moment of utter madness, forgetting that Mr. Chandler should know nothing of what I've learned from you. Then, of course, he assumed I was speaking of Lucifer himself.

[ She was trying to be cute, but nobody appreciated it. Ethan is so grumpy now. ]

[inlovewithmycar]

[Alas she doesn't get to see the sheepish shuffle Crowley does. He's not used to being thought of fondly by anyone that isn't Aziraphale. Usually people find him annoying at best and are generally quite glad to see the back of him.]

Oh. I'm sure he's thrilled, given the history you've got with the old bugger.

I'll keep a low profile until the dust has settled.

[matermali]

You needn't. He will be kind no matter how he learns, I will be certain of it.

Don't you want to hear why?

[ Why she made the 'poor jest', though it was scarcely even that. Really, just a friendly remark! ]

[inlovewithmycar]

Go on then, let's hear it.

1/2

[matermali]

While pondering over the lack of animals, I suggested it may be a garden of Eden. That we need only wait for the beasts and the birds to be brought to us next.

To which he asked, which might I prefer to first have?

Now you must understand, you must, that the question is impossible. Even in jest. How might I dare decide on whom to first love? To gaze into the eyes of a lion until I knew his name, why! How could I wait any longer for the chance? But then, to look upon the sheen of a raven's wings as they spread. The wings would spread so, they would fan out very wide, and I could kiss each individual feather in farewell just before the beauty took flight.

I could not love one more than the other, and so I could not pick one before the other. So you see, Mr. Crowley, it was an impossible choice! I was perplexed.

And even then, there was more to the question the more I thought on it. Why only lion or raven? What of salamander? Or scorpion? Should they not also be welcomed and loved? They were just as deserving of a mother's embrace.

[matermali]

And so, without a single bit of sense in my head over how it may sound to poor Mr. Chandler, I said to him: "Perhaps the serpent."

1/2

[inlovewithmycar]

[Crowley is definitely having A Moment. The kind where he's got an inexplicable lump in his throat over old wounds he really doesn't want to unpack right now but have been dredged up regardless.]

2/2

[inlovewithmycar]

[An hour after Crowley's had a minor crisis and subsequent breakdown in the bathroom:]

Yeah. I can see how that might've given him the wrong idea. You sure about the serpent thing? We snakes tend to cause a lot of trouble.

But what you said about this being like Eden - the thought's crossed my mind as well. I mean it's not as lush and garden-y, but it's similar in concept isn't it? A people enclosure. Makes you wonder if there's an analogue to the apple, and if so, what it might be.

Also makes you wonder where all the bugs and animals actually are.

(╥﹏╥) crowley forgive me

[matermali]

[ Yet again, without any sense in her head, she's done it again. It's clearly a cursed anecdote at this rate and ought never be brought up again. If she knew, she would feel rightly terrible. As it is she wonders at the time between his replies—had she explained it incorrectly or sent it to someone else?—but she understands that things come up even in a slow city like this.

Her response comes only a few minutes after his. ]

It would be preferable to associate snakes with someone other than him, you know, and there's nothing wrong with a bit of trouble. It adds character.

[ Crowley is a much better mascot. For...sin? Well, that's a winner of a pitch. ]

A people enclosure, how charming. Yes, I suppose it is. Should they appear, perhaps the animals will be as we were. Going on with their lives until someone whisks them away from everything they know.

[ Which seems far more cruel, given there would be no way to calm or communicated with them. ]