Good Omens short short: "Somewhere in Africa, 150 BC," PG

[hsavinien]

Title: Somewhere in Africa, 150 BC

Author: H. Savinien
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Messrs. Pterry and Gneil. This is a fanwork done for pleasure, not profit.
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 500
Summary: A brief encounter, what it says on the tin. There has been whinging. Again. Europe is not the world.

***

Crowley had been working his way south and west for a few decades now, counting the years like Romans did. He had been wandering on foot ever since he left the disagreeable camel at Naqa. (It spat at him and gave him looks that were far too intelligent when it thought he wasn't looking. He disliked camels.) Sometimes he stayed in one place for a few years, sometimes he didn't.

Right now, he was living in a village near a great river that the inhabitants called the Snake. Crowley liked the river and the village was comfortable. He'd arranged to get himself accepted as a nephew of one of the Old Men, who had, as far as Crowley could make out, so many sisters that an extra nephew was neither a surprise nor a novelty. Crowley managed to find his place in the social pecking order pretty damn quickly, if he did say so himself. His snakeskin sandals were the immediate envy of every young man in the village and his high cheekbones, long jaw, gleaming teeth, and lean shoulders attracted most of the young women and no few of the matrons. Crowley had already turned down three offers to become a second husband. While the attention was fun, though, the only trouble he'd managed to stir up so far were a few fights and the Old Women were depressingly good at defusing those.

He'd been there nearly a month when the old man with the dodgy leg approached him. Crowley hadn't ever paid him any attention. He slept under the corners of houses and told the very young children stories and he was so old that what remained of his hair looked like a thin rime of white mold on old, age-browned millet. The man limped up to Crowley and tucked his hand in the crook of Crowley's elbow. Then, before the startled demon could shake him off, he looked up into Crowley's face with kindly brown eyes and smiled.

“Snake, should I tell them what you are and help them try to drown you in the river or do you want to leave peaceably of your own accord?”

Crowely stiffened. His glamour was still in place, his eyes tawny-brown and round-pupiled. That meant...

“Oh, not you. Why in the name of...anyone are you here?”

“Just doing my job,” Aziraphale said smugly. “Helping the Old Women keep the peace, keeping the children entertained.”

Crowley spat on the ground in annoyance. “I thought you were in Hellas.”

“I was. Now I'm not. Will you move on? One of us is leaving here in pieces and I have the ears of enough of the Old Women to get you labeled a foul spirit and exorcised.”

The demon sputtered and the angel smiled sweetly.

Crowley suggested that Aziraphale do something not anatomically possible for anything man-shaped, shook him off and went to collect his nicest loincloth and spear for his trip. Bloody angel. He hated exorcisms.

 

Comments

[agenttrojie.livejournal.com]

<3

I do love how you write these two.

(Europe is not the entire world INDEED. I am spending an inordinate amount of time in Inception fandom setting fics ANYWHERE BUT EUROPE AND AMERICA.)

[hsavinien.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much. ^_^

(I know, right?)

Oh, by the way, I'm working on a Firefly fic for one of my fic-charity-auction peoples. Would you be willing to beta once I convince it that the plot is actually supposed to be going somewhere?

[agenttrojie.livejournal.com]

I would love to!

[hsavinien.livejournal.com]

Spiffy.

[yuri-shoujo.livejournal.com]

Cute. <3 ^_^

[hsavinien.livejournal.com]

Thank you. <3

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

LOVE. IT. Hee, they're so themselves no matter where they are, aren't they? Europe is not the world, indeed.

I'm sure Crowley's nicest loincloth is very nice indeed. (But is it accurate?)

[hsavinien.livejournal.com]

Of course they are. ^_^ Thanks.

Yes...I'm sure it is... It covers precisely what it's meant to.

[sirius-luva.livejournal.com]

And not an inch more? ;)

[hsavinien.livejournal.com]

Heh.

[heretherebefic.livejournal.com]

That was a fun read. :D

[hsavinien.livejournal.com]

Thank you. ^_^

[zigsternenstaub.livejournal.com]

This was quite nicely different to the usual GO fic. I like how pleasant yet still wary the exchange between A and C was. A also nicely demonstrates his often underestimated craftiness in appearing as a harmless old man. Good work!

[hsavinien.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I do think there needs to be rather more GO fic that's set somewhere besides Western Europe, the general Mediterranean area, or the US. They are themselves no matter their current incarnation. ^_^

[ladymouse2.livejournal.com]

Clever fun. They are very much themselves--I kind of see the sheepdog and Wiley Coyote punching the clock and breaking for lunch together as one spends the day trying to steal sheep and the other spends it thwarting and knocking the tar out of him.

But I like seeing Aziraphale in "disguise" other than yet another scroll merchant and Crowley having a "glamor" on him nicely deals with what he did with those eyes during ages when there weren't sun glasses.

I remember Daegaer did a heartbreaking story set in Mesoamerica among the Aztecs and have wondered why more people haven't made the connection between Quetzalcoatl (or Kuculcan among the Maya for that matter)and Crowley. And Lord, Chinese Empress Wu was as much Crowley's "creature" as Alexander's mother Olympias!

Only complaint is it's far too short; whimper, only a taste! I see you are busy in other fandoms but would love to see more of your work in GO.

[hsavinien.livejournal.com]

Thank you for a lovely, thoughtful comment! Yes, this is pre-Arrangement, of course, but at a friendly enough point that Aziraphale gives him a chance to bugger off elsewhere.

Much as Aziraphale loves the written word, it's a small enough part of history that he would have had to cultivate other interests for a good long part of his existence. While I don't imagine Crowley likes wearing his glamor (it itches and gives him a headache, actually), it is fairly necessary. Human eyes really don't come in yellow and most cultures would associate snake eyes with something unpleasant.

*nods* That was a good one. I have a short fic, "Calling Across the Sea," that was done for the kink meme and features Aziraphale in South America (with reference to a stint in Mongolia), but it's surprising to me that there are so few other people who've jumped on that.

Heheh, sorry. Good Omens is actually my most prolific fandom, but I do love a lot of things. I only really write short fic. Longer pieces just end up languishing in my WIP folders and never come to completion. I haven't figured out how to sustain a long plot.

[sirius-luva.livejournal.com]

I love this! :D I love that Aziraphale has a unique disguise rather than a blonde pasty bookseller or scroll merchant, as someone else said. And the camel bit made me giggle. XD Poor Crowley.

Cute little ficlet! <3

[hsavinien.livejournal.com]

In six thousand years he must have had some variation. Yes, the camel...it's a combination of Crowley's poor relations with horses and the camels from Pyramids. ^_^

Thank you!

[sirius-luva.livejournal.com]

I love Pyramids! And oh, those camels. <3

[hsavinien.livejournal.com]

Heeheheh. ^_^