"I'm sorry about this. You can take it off as soon as we get you settled into a room." Aziraphale, the god carrying the gorgon through his temple. Crowley could hear things off in the distance, the sounds of water, and writing, and other people moving about them.
The gorgon could distinctively hear four other people here in this place, and it frightened her. Crowley wondered how many others were here, humans she would have to avoid seeing at all costs to them. The gorgon was unsafe to have around, and humans were unsafe with her.
"It's fine." Crowley muttered. It wasn't. She didn't like this one bit, this strange sensation of being helpless, but the risk was too great to take. Her snakes were torn between watching all the new going-ons around them, and hissing at anyone unfamiliar who got too close, which made Crowley all the more anxious. The gorgon wasn't about to complain about being blind to her sightless host though.
"Here we are." Aziraphale's said, the sounds dying out as they entered a room, the door locked firmly behind them. Crowley was placed on the softest bed that she had the luxury of encountering in almost a century. She wanted to stretch out across its cloud like surface and stay there.
"All I ask is that you don't look up. My birds are roosting up there. It is vital that they stay." Aziraphale said, "I've already told them to give us notice if they need to fly down."
"I'll keep that in mind." Crowley said, wondering why birds were so important to a god of writing. "Doves?"
"Yes, they are. I usually have some quail in here as well, but I've sent them elsewhere since they prefer to walk around."
"Good to know."
"What would you like to do first?" Aziraphale asked, startling the gorgon as he removed the mask for her with care. She blinked owlishly up at the god as Crowley took in her new surroundings while her shameless snakes happily bumping their heads into Aziraphale's fingers to keep his attention. The gorgon allowed it. It wasn't like he could see the blush that seemed to permanently reside on Crowley's face now.
Crowley found herself sitting on a large bed that felt like it was stuffed with wool and feathers, and covered with soft pale blue linens. The room was spacious enough, decorated with simple yet well made furniture. The most distinctive thing about the room though was that every available surface was covered with paper, scrolls, and various writing implements that moved all on their own across fresh paper that materialized out of thin air. There were piles of papyrus scrolls everywhere, some of which piled up high in the corners, practically to the ceiling.
"What's all this?" Crowley asked, picking up a scroll that had just finished itself. The writing was lost to her still, her curse having the side effect of skewing her ability to read anything. Sighing, she put it back down.
"Oh dear, it is rather a mess in here." Aziraphale said with a grimace. "They are the stories that humans write down for each other, all of which are archived here in my temple."
"What? All of them?"
"Any poem, every lyrics, every word created and put to stone, paper, or clay by humans is kept here."
"You are a god." Crowley said, the reality of it dawning on her.
"Yes, I am. Not a particularly flashy one, but I get the job done." Aziraphale shrugged, looking a little embarrassed about something. Crowley had no idea why.
"I haven't had much luck with gods." Crowley mused aloud, sighing inwardly at herself. Luckily, the actual god keeping her company didn't seem to take any offense.
"To be completely honest, neither have I, my dear." Aziraphale said with a chuckle.
"You don't act like a god."
"Known many then?" Aziraphale said with a twinkle in his pearl eyes.
"A few. Enough." Crowley said airily, trying to ignore the panic rising inside of her. It was almost like they were flirting. Were they flirting?
"How'd that work out for you?" Aziraphale said with a smile, his tone equal parts teasing and sweet. Was he flirting back!?
"Rather well, I think. I got a head full of new pets, and have a large collection of terrified looking statues." Crowley made herself do a careless looking shrug as she tried to get a grip. A beautiful kind god was most definitely not flirting with someone like her.
"Do humans try to kill you a lot?" Crowley was asked with such sudden concern that it made Crowley answer more honestly than she liked.
"The first couple of decades were pretty intense, but it eventually tapered off. I put up signs to warn off people. That helped a bit." Crowley said, looking away.
"That was kind of you." Aziraphale said with that gentle smile of his, the one that made Crowley's heart quiver. This all was beginning to be too much for her to handle.
"I'm not kind. Kind is a four letter word to me. I'm a monster." Crowley forgetting herself as she tried to stand, falling back on the bed with a scream. "Fuck, that hurts!"
"Oh dear, let's attend to that first then." Aziraphale said, Crowley found herself being gently picked up again. The gorgon tried not to whimper as she was carried through a series of chambers, all filled with scrolls in various stages of completion. Journey's end was an enclosed natural hot spring, one with high walls, but no roof so that the bather could enjoy the night sky while soaking.
"I'll leave you to it then." Aziraphale said as he set her down at the end, Crowley slipping her feet into the almost too hot water with a happy sigh. The heat helped immensely with the pain, clearing her head a bit.
"You're not staying?" Crowley asked. To her ears, it came out all wrong, holding a breathy quality to it, like she was some wanton maiden. She was, indeed, quite wanton for him, but Aziraphale didn't need to know that.
"I'll be back soon enough. Healing isn't exactly in my wheelhouse so I'm off to see Apollo for a favor. He's been wanting some scrolls of prophecy for a while now. I'll get us some food along the way." Aziraphale said, "Not to worry. I'll get my wiggle on and be back in two shakes of a lamb's tail. I've told everyone here that this room is off limits until further notice."
"Can't you just...?"Crowley mimicked snapping, doing her best to ignore the 'wiggle on' part of that statement.
"Yes, but it never tastes right to me. I prefer humans to make my food. Luckily for us both, I employ an excellent cook." Aziraphale said before he disappeared again to the sound of rushing wings.
Left to her own devices, Crowley stripped down out of her rags, tossing them aside. Easing herself into the wonderful steaming waters, Crowley found a smooth indentation to sit upon, one that allowed one to sit comfortably with the water up to their neck.
The water worked its magic upon her, the gorgon soon dozing off. "May I come in? I promise I won't look." Was what woke her with a jerking start. A glance up at the sky, and at her wrinkled fingers told Crowley that she had been in the hot spring for a long while.
"Shut up, and come on in already, you ridiculous thing." Crowley rolled her eyes. "Why do you have a bat with you?
"Oh, don't worry about him, dear. His eyesight is so bad that your own won't have any effect on him." Aziraphale said, petting the little brown bat clinging to his shoulder.
"Good on him, but that still doesn't answer my question. Why do you have a bat in the first place? You didn't before. Is this some sort of god thing?"
"Yes." Was all Aziraphale said about it, the brevity stated with a strange little smile. Crowley was beginning to collect all of the god's smiles.
Something was going on though, Crowley could feel it, but before she could dwell any further on it, Aziraphale pulled out a bit of shining light from his bag.
"What's that?"
"My favor from Apollo. Would you be a dear, and lift the afflicted leg out of the water?" Aziraphale asked, Crowley doing as she was bid, lazily floating on her back as the god carefully placed her foot into position on his lap. All her snakes reared up to avoid drowning, and to watch as well.
The glowing gold trapped point of power and light was placed to the lumpy swamp of bruises there. Crowley and her snakes hissed in unison as Apollo's favor sunk into her skin, seeping in beneath its surface to glow from within her.
"Does it hurt?"
"Nah, just really warm. Didn't expect that."
"Well, it did just come from the god of the sun." Aziraphale said as he had helped Crowley out of the hot spring so that she stand on her own two feet again, the gorgon finding herself fully healed. The god stood close enough that Crowley's longer tresses of Zoe and Leo kept bumping against his face, making the god smile at them. "There we go. That's better now, right? All tickety-boo."
"How come you're not bothered by them?." Crowley asked, trying to ignore how close Aziraphale was to her, and how naked she was next to him. It wasn't like he could see her, and his touches were hardly the groping kind. If Crowley made herself use a word to describe his touch upon her, about the only thing that came to mind was reverential, and she mostly definitely didn't want to focus on that.
"Because I have some unusual appendages of my own." Aziraphale smiled, giant white wings materializing behind his back. The god stepped back so that he could turn around fully to show them off to the gorgon.
"Are they always supposed to look like that?" Crowley asked after a considering moment.
"Like what?" Aziraphale faked ignorance. Crowley knew what he was doing in an instant. The god gave off the same energy of a small child who had been told to clean their room, and instead shoved everything under the bed, hoping no one would notice.
"A mess." Crowley said in a flat, definite tone that brooked no argument to witness the god slump his shoulders in defeat.
"I'm afraid that they haven't been properly groomed in a long while." Aziraphale sighed, looking over at them more out of habit than actual assessment with his dead eyes. "Do they really look that bad?"
"Obviously." Crowley said, coming to a decision. "Turn around. I'll fix them for you."
"Really? You wouldn't mind?" Aziraphale lighting up.
"How hard can it be? If it doesn't feel right, just tell me what I'm doing wrong, and I'll stop." Crowley shrugged, trying to feign a nonchalant demeanor. She was grateful yet again that Aziraphale couldn't see what a mess he made of her with his casual kindness.
"Oh thank you! It's been bugging me." Azirpahale said as he led them back into the bedroom, before plopping himself down on the floor. "I'll sit on the floor while you sit behind me on the bed. I think that would be easiest."
Settling herself on the bed, Crowley did her best to focus on the unkept wings, and not the god nestled between her legs. Luckily for the sake of her sanity, Crowley soon found a rhythm in it, becoming deeply involved with the process.
"So why did Athena curse you?" She asked as the gorgon rooted out loose matted feathers while Aziraphale made soft sweet little noises that made her insides twist.
"Ladies first."
"Don't start making assumptions about me now. You were doing so well." Crowley said as she poked the back of the god's head with her finger.
"If I were to guess, I'd have to say it would have to do with something you said." Aziraphale said, the god snapping some wine into existence, the pair passing the jug back and forth between them. This was the sort of conversation where wine was needed.
"And you would be right. Let's just say that Athena doesn't appreciate being questioned."
"Athena? The goddess of wisdom? You asked her questions?"
"Yeah, I sure did."
"You seriously questioned the goddess of wisdom? That Athena?"
"Yup." Crowley said, putting emphasis on the 'p' to make it pop.
"Well, I'll be damned." Aziraphale sounded like he was in awe of her.
"It's not so bad once you get used to it."
"Well, do go on, my dear. Don't hold back on my account."
"Apparently if you asked questions a lot, she gets really pissed off. I used to be one of her head priestess before Athena chucked me out of her temple after turning me into an example and an immortal reminder." Crowley finished. "So that's my sad little story. What'd you do?"
"What do you know of Prometheus?"
"Isn't he that Titan bloke that stole fire from the gods, and gave it to the humans?"
"Yes, the very same."
"Whatever happened to him?"
"He's currently chained to a rock, having his liver eaten out of him on a daily basis by an eagle."
"Damn. And I thought I had it bad." Crowley said as she worked on a particularly stubborn patch of broken feathers. The gorgon wondered how long it had been for Aziraphale to let his wings to get in this state of disarray. "What has Prometheus have to do with you being blind?"
"I am the keeper of the written word, of knowledge. After the humans received fire, but they didn't know what they could achieve with it so, so I...um..." Aziraphale stalled, his words quietly trailing off. "Gave it away."
"You what?!" Crowley stared in disbelief at the back of the god's head.
"Gave it away!" Aziraphale said louder this time. "The humans were so cold and miserable all of the time. And there are loads of vicious animals out there, and so I was like, here you go, book about fire and all its uses, don't thank me...Oh, I do hope I didn't do the wrong thing."
"You're a god. I don't think you can do the wrong thing." Crowley said dryly, noting immediately that the sarcasm was lost on Aziraphale.
"Oh, thank you!" Aziraphale said obliviously, "I can tell you that Zeus was so angry with me. My punishment could have been much, much worse, but Athena intervened, staying his judgment upon me. She asked if she could decide it instead. I've been blind ever since. Zeus was ever so pleased with her suggestion. He simply adored the idea of the god of writers being blind."
"I'd say you got off light in comparison to that poor bugger Prometheus." Crowley pointed out though she felt for him.
"Indeed." Aziraphale sighed. Neither of them spoke for a while, each lost in their own thoughts.
"What do you think the bird does all day?" Crowley being the one to break the silence first.
"What do you mean?"
"Do you think it waits beside Prometheus for the liver to grow back, or does it go off and do bird things while it's waiting? What do birds do all day?"
"Bloody patient bird." Aziraphale said as he took a long pull from the jug before passing it back.
"The way I see it, the bird is a victim of the gods as well." Crowley pointed out after taking her own. They were both getting rather drunk at this point.
"How so?"
"So Zeus says to this bird, here's deal for you, birdo...
"Eagle." Aziraphale interjected.
"Alright, fine, be a stickler for details. Zeus says, here's a deal for you, eagle?...Happy? Good. The deal is that you get to live forever, isn't that fantastic, but here's the rub, you have to eat the same thing every day for the rest of eternity."
"Hmmm, I see what you mean now." Aziraphale said, "What's that tapping on the back of my head?"
"Andromeda is trying to eat you again. Having a real go at it." Crowley said dryly, the hungriest lock darting after white curls like they were strange fluffy mice.
"Andromeda dear, no..." Aziraphale said, sounding as disappointed as the gorgon felt.
"Yeah, that one's not the sharpest tool in the shed." Crowley sighed, flicking a down feather at Andromeda, the snake snapping it up. She must have liked it because after that, it turned into free for all as the snakes began going after the loose, damaged feathers Crowley kept pulling out of the god's wings. Pyxis, Vela, Tucana, and Musca proved to be the fastest out of the bunch, their maws full of fluff.
"This is why we can't have nice things." Crowley sighed, using Zoe as a ponytail holder as she gathered her lively locks back. Zoe, being the longest of her snakes, wrapped her length around the squirming hoard to keep them contained. "You lot brought this upon yourselves."
"That's one way of getting rid of my feathers. Certainly don't want them laying about." Azirpahale said, going so far as to offer up a fallen feather to Serpens and Draco, the two littlest in the back, who had snuck their way out already. They were peeking over Crowley's shoulder at the god. They both went for the treat at the same time, each tiny snake getting at an end of it to play 'tug' with it. "I really don't mind."
"Yeah, but I do. It's starting to give me heartburn." Crowley muttered, trying not to feel too ridiculously jealous of her snakes. That, and the feathers actually were making her stomach upset. The gorgon hoped that she didn't wake up with a second head, or something worse from vicariously ingesting a god's feathers. "Hold still, damn it. I'm almost done."
"I usually just stuff them into mattress your sitting on." Aziraphale said as Crowley finished up with his wings. Crowley stopped worrying about her guts, and the possibility of an second head as something else dawned on her.
"This is your bed?" Crowley made herself ask, sounding almost normal about it.
"Somewhat. I don't sleep, you see." Aziraphale said with a shrug as Crowley's face caught on fire. "Anathema felt I should have one though, only Zeus knows why."
"You don't have to eat, but you do." Crowley pointed out.
"That's different. Food is fun. Sleeping is boring and a waste of time." Aziraphale remained on the floor, but leaned back as Crowley leaned forward, the pair barely noting it.
"You're an immortal being. You've got all the time in the world." Crowley said as her sharp chin came to rest on the god's shoulder with her arms loosely crossed over his chest.
"That doesn't mean I should waste it." Aziraphale said, reaching up to play with her hands. Crowley noted how well groomed the god's own were compared to hers. His nails looked freshly manicured.
"You're doing it wrong then, sleep that is." Puppis, Orion, Virgo, and Carina busily sliding into Aziraphale's snowy curls, more following them in. They tickled the god, Crowley liking how it felt when Aziraphale laughed beneath her.
"I'll watch you then, and see how it's done...No, no, that came out sounding wrong in so many different ways." Aziraphale chuckled, "Stop that, you rascals. Andromeda dear, you'll have no better luck by trying to consume my ear. It just can't be done, my darling girl."
"You can." Crowley said softly, hating herself for it, sounding so vulnerable."If you like. Stay here, I mean. If you're not too busy doing god things, that is."
"As you wish." Aziraphale said, "Are you alright?"
"Never better. Why do you ask?"
"Your snakes seem rather upset, is all. They're hissing a lot at the moment." Aziraphale said.
"Ignore them. They're just begging for more feathers." Crowley said, rolling her eyes at the snakes. Her answer reminded the god of something forgotten.
"Goodness, you still haven't eaten! I've been a terrible host, letting you groom my wings instead of getting you something to eat!"
"Calm down. It's not a high priority for me." Crowley said, which was unfortunately true. When one looked the way she did, one got used to going hungry, having no easy access to food. If she was being honest with herself, Crowley would much rather be doing anything that involved touching Aziraphale than eating.
"Then I'll just have to make it one." Aziraphale said primly enough to make Crowley roll her eyes at him. "We'll also have to get you some clothing."
Which was when Crowley realized that her front was pressed flush up to Aziraphale's back, the gorgon resting herself upon the warm god like a snake resting upon a sun warmed rock. Her locks were slithering over his head, burrowing through his white curls, Andromeda determinedly attached to his ear lobe. Aziraphale still had her hands in his own, their fingers loosely intertwined.
The gorgon had been slender before Athena cursed her. Bouts of starvation and a reptile's inability to retain large amounts of fat deposits had carved her out into a much sharper shape. Her breasts were barely still there, delicate and well shaped swells. Thanks to the chill coming off the stone, Crowley was aware that her small pink nipples were hard enough to cut diamonds, and they were currently digging into Aziraphale's back.
Crowley wondered momentarily to herself if anyone had ever died from sheer embarrassment alone. Aziraphale didn't seem to mind her being this close to him though so Crowley remained were she was, having no idea how to extricate herself without making it unbearably awkward.
"You're more than welcome to stay where you are. I was just worried about you catching a chill is all." Aziraphale said, the gorgon finding herself covered with god's wings as Aziraphale angled them back. The snakes were very happy about that, hungry little mouths striking in every direction. It was all for naught though. Most of their mouths were much too small for the flight feather and their neighboring secondaries. That didn't stop them from trying.
"Best not. They would pluck you bare if they could, greedy little shits." Crowley said to receive a cheek bump."Not you, Zoe. You're perfect."
"Why don't you choose something to wear while I pop into the kitchen to get us something to eat." Aziraphale said as he snapped his fingers, a chest springing into being at the foot of the bed beside them. It was painted black and red with a serpentine theme.
Crowley was about to comment on that to find the god already gone. The gorgon caught herself in time before she fell face first into the floor, her snakes snapping at a few stray feathers Aziraphale had left in his wake. Rolling her eyes, the gorgon went to investigate the contents of the chest.
In stark contrast to his own simple white tunic and cloak, Aziraphale's tastes in clothing for women ran on the extravagant side, at least when it came to her, Crowley found. She stared down at the rainbow sea of fine garments, exquisitely embroidered peplos, the long tunics wore by women. They were all made out of that incredible soft material Aziraphale wore.
Along with them were many beautifully woven belts of leather and cord, and bejeweled girdles or zones to help fold down part of the peplos so it looked as if it were two pieces of clothing. A small carved box made of marble held an assortment of clasps and pins made from gold, silver, and precious stones to help decorate and alter her new clothing.
There were even sandals for her feet, something Crowley had not been able to wear for decades. The gorgon had gotten used to going barefoot everywhere. Her attempted murderers very rarely took off their sandals before they were turned to stone.
Overwhelmed and unsure, Crowley chose the plainest garment she could find, a peplos in lush black and embroidered gold, and a woven black leather belt. She was still in the process of sorting through the pins when Aziraphale reappeared as suddenly as he left, startling Crowley. As a result she ended up dropping the box, the clasps and sharp pins scattering everywhere across the floor.
"Damn it to Tartarus, don't move. I've..." Crowley started to say as she watched Aziraphale start to step on a pin, but then obviously avoided it as if suddenly noticing it. Like someone with all their senses would.
"You can see!"