fic: a picnic planned for you and me (good omens)

[laurajv]

a picnic planned for you and me (6137 words) by Laura JV
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Good Omens (TV)
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens)
Characters: Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley (Good Omens), Gabriel (Good Omens), Uriel (Good Omens)
Summary:

in which there is some unexpected fallout from switching places.

Comments

[mecurtin]

As I said in my comment on the fic, I love how the Raphael theories are developing in fandom. When it was just "But where's Raphael? Maybe it's Crowley!" a lot of people I know were side-eying it pretty hard. But mix in Plato's Split-Apart Theory of Love, and now all kinds of people are diving in.

I have no doubt that Raphael was Archangel Not Appearing through mere oversight, or because they didn't fit into the narrative Neil was developing, but it's fascinating how fandom has seized on the gap.

One thing that I wasn't expecting in your fic: none of the angels are using "they". Coincidence? Or do you have a Thought?

[laurajv]

re: using “they”

Raphael uses “she” because there I wanted to push back on the usual conception (outside of GO but inside it too) of Raphael as male/male-presenting, and use it with Crowley’s usual pronouns to build an idea of general genderfluidity among celestial stock.

Uriel uses “she”...right now. Sometimes Uriel uses they. Sometimes Uriel uses he. In my head, of course. Uriel is very very beautiful, and very very slippery. (Something about Obianyo’s portrayal reminded me of Desire of the Endless, except asexual, which is a triumph of acting.) I settled on “she” here because I think that her presentation (like Crowley’s) is deliberate and considered: she looks like a woman because, right now, she wants to look like a woman. So that’s what she looks like, and what pronouns she is using, here.

Not that Sandalphon shows up a lot in this, but both he & Gabriel are very firmly male-presenting and male-gender-conforming (much more so than Crowley or Aziraphale) in the series, so I defaulted to “he” with both of them. I thought about them a lot less. I’m not certain their pronouns ever come up in the show.

Michael (Angel Not Appearing In This Story) does use “they” pronouns, because in my head Michael likes ruffles and complicated hairdos and breasts but none of those things are, like, relevant to Michael’s self-conception, they are wearing all of them like I wear jeans.

[laurajv]

Now I’m thinking about Obianyo’s acting choices, and why it makes me think of Desire (and Desire’s agender, shifting nature). She could have chosen to take up less space, or to soften her face, and she didn’t. She used this amazing, forthright, calm-implacable body language, as if Uriel is daring you to interpret Uriel as anything but what Uriel says and believes about themself, and right now, Uriel is telling you that Uriel is feeling feminine today, fuck you very much.

[mecurtin]

I agree about Sandalphon & Gabriel, rigid masculinity goes along with their authoritarianism.

This is the second or maybe third "Rafael is both of them" fic I've seen, and in the others Rafael was "they". In the few Crowley-was-Raphael stories I've read, it's true that Rafael was always "he". b-o-r-i-n-g

So basically, it's just coincidence that none of the angels in this fic use "they". One of the wonderful things about the Good Omens Renaissance (and about the series) is how *easy* and natural it is to use different pronouns, how there's no strain to it.

[laurajv]

Essentially yes, it’s coincidental that none of them use “they” here. I mean, I made decisions about everyone’s pronouns and also made the decision not to write Michael in? I could have decided differently and of course my genderfluid Uriel thoughts didn’t make it to the screen, so....no explicit representation there.

Just like it’s probably pretty clear I was writing Aziraphale and Crowley as ace here, but didn’t say it.

The wonderful thing about fanfic is that I can do it differently next week if I want, though!

[laurajv]

oh also: do you have links to any of they both-are-Raphael ones? I saw at least one story with that in the tags (and didn’t read it) and an essay floating around (also didn’t read); I didn’t want to get those things mixed in with what I was trying to do. But I should’ve bookmarked them for later and I didn’t, and now I want to go back & read some and I’ve lost ‘em!

[mecurtin]

Here's one: Step lightly (and carry a celestial umbrella) by strawberriesandtophats. I *thought* there was another, but my brain may be failing me.

[laurajv]

No, there's definitely another, it had a long set of tags about them both being Raphael which is how I knew not to click on it! I'll see if I can dig it up somehow. Thank you for the link!

[laurajv]

I think I found the one I didn't click on the other day:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19378921/chapters/46110859

Gem fusion AU. I haven't read it, no idea if it's good or not