
Long time no see.
Close up of panes below!
[Image ID: A digital art piece in the style of a stained glass window. In the middle is Jonathan Sims from the Magnus Archives. He is standing with his head turned facing the viewers left. His right arm is raised up holding a tape recorder and his left arm is spread outward to the viewer’s right with a fire surrounding his hand, which is scarred. He is wearing a long-sleeved off-white collared shirt under a long-sleeve green sweater, brown pants, and dark brown shoes. He has medium brown skin and greying, dark brown hair tied back in a ponytail with long bangs going to his chin. He is wearing circular glasses. The visible lens is dark blue and his eye is closed behind it. There are red rectangles on his face and a red scar on his throat.
The window is arched and split into ten panes. The topmost pane has the logo for the Magnus Institute, an illustration of an owl, in green. The owl is surrounded by three concentric circles: the inner-most circle is dark green and is offset to lay at the bottom of the middle circle; the middle circle is lighter green with the text “Vigilo - Opperior - Audio” at the top; the outermost circle is lime green with tan eye-like designs within. The background of the top pane looks like tan bricks. Below the topmost pane the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eight, and ninth panes are each paired side-by-side.
The second pane shows a calm ocean and blue sky with fluffy clouds in the top left and right corners.
The third pane shows a darker blue ocean with a red sky. There is a boat in the middle of the pane. Above the boat is an off-white skull with dark red tendrils coming out of it. One of the tendrils is wrapped around the boat.
The fourth pane is partially obscured by Jon’s head and right hand. The background is light tan. There are white spider webs in the top left, top right, and bottom right corners of the pane. A large wasp hive with larvae sticking out from it partially covers the right-most webs. A wooden puppet of Annabelle Cane is in the bottom left of the pane. She is wearing a black top hat, a white collared shirt, blue overalls, and a purple bow around her neck. She has brown skin and no face aside from lips with purple lipstick. Beneath the top hat there is a spider web on the right of her head. She is reaching up to the top hat with her right hand. Her left arm resting by her side. Golden honey combs partially cover Annabelle. A spider hangs from the leftmost spiderweb, hanging above the tape recorder being held by Jon.
The fifth pane is partially obscured by Jon’s head. The background of this pane is varying tones of brown and resembles camouflage. A grey hand with a gun comes out from the left of the pane. It is pointed at the head of a deer. The camouflage behind the head of the deer is red. Another grey hand comes up from the bottom of the pane holding a knife. The knife lines up with Jon’s left shoulder, which has a red wound overlaying his clothing. Behind Jon’s shoulder, the camouflage is also red.
The sixth pane is partially obscured by Jon’s elbow and body. The pane has a splotchy overlay. The background of the pane is chaotic lines splitting up patches of cyan, magenta, and yellow. Behind Jon is a circular spiral that feeds into a red wound overlaying Jon’s clothes on the right side of his stomach. There are two doors floating in the pane, both with splotches of cyan, magenta, and yellow and a black knob.
The seventh pane is partially obscured by Jon’s arm and body. The background is light red. It has illustrations of various human bones, including a rib cage, hands, arms, legs, and pelvis. The pane lines up with Jon’s left side, which has two ribs drawn overlaying his clothing.
The eighth pane is partially obscured by Jon’s right leg. The pane has a dirty overlay. The background is tan. There are two mounds of dirt, one of which has a shovel stuck inside. A coffin is in the foreground.
The ninth pane is partially obscured by Jon’s left leg. The background is magenta. Several comedy and tragedy masks are in the background. A red pipe organ with golden pipes is in the mid-ground. A circus tent and clown doll dressed in yellow are in the foreground.
The tenth pane is one large rectangular pane that spans the entire bottom of the window. The pane is made up of greyish-blue clouds. Tendrils of fog overlay Jon’s legs and feet. /end ID]
Up until the almost-end-of-the-world, the way Aziraphale and Crowley maintained their relationship was through a collection of well-established and repeated patterns (dances, you might say). These little rituals were what they used to communicate affection, intimacy and trust when they couldn’t say the things they wanted to say out loud. I like spending time with you. You make me happy, and I like making you happy. We’re in this together. I’ll always be there for you, even when your own side is not.
In season 1, as the stress of the impending apocalypse puts more and more pressure on their relationship, we see their patterns start to break down, and it’s very distressing for them. They’ve been communicating like this for so long that they don’t know what to do when one of them doesn’t follow the dance steps.
When we first see them in season 2, they seem in some ways to be closer than ever. They touch each other more easily, Aziraphale in particular. Crowley is comfortable enough in the bookshop that he has a Spot for putting his sunglasses when he takes them off by the door. They’re more open about acknowledging how much time they spend together and how many things in their lives are shared.
And I think, also, we expect them to be happy. They won, didn’t they? So it takes a while for the cracks to start to show.
It wasn’t until this post pointed out that the whole season, we never see them sit down and share a meal together in the present day (no, Crowley doesn’t eat; yes, it still counts) that it started coming together for me. The closer you look, the more you realize the old patterns they’re used to relying on are broken.
Zira having Crowley put the gun down in s1 is much funnier to me after s2
"Yes, yes, let's not do that again"