audio \ @hello \ or is this fantasy? \ open

[lunchbreaks]

Hello there, everyone, this is Aziraphale. With the advent of the Songbird on our devices, I was hoping to ask you all a favor. Or, well, it's more like a proposal, really. If people with musical talents could volunteer their time, we could record some songs with our devices and publish them for public listening on the why-fye.

I was also wondering if anyone here was familiar with the work of someone called Freddie Mercury, or perhaps one of the Velvet Undergrounds? They are performers from Earth, somewhere in the latter half of the 20th century or early 21st century. I would like to make a personal request that we could make some of their music available post-haste!

I admit that I have very little to offer in this project, myself. However, if anyone is interested in book passage recitations, I would be delighted to take requests, provided I'm familiar with the material!

[ Additional note: Aziraphale has intended to filter this message to everyone except for Crowley to be able to see it, but he has messed up and just made it open. ]

Comments

[maisel]

Please. What happened to the good old days, anyway? Without any of that shorthand stuff, or the big complicated machines.

[ Wait-- oh my god. She's turning into Joel's parents. ]

[lunchbreaks]

Oh, I know exactly what you mean. I'm not sure why everyone loves to send the written messages so much. It feels like telegrams all over again!

[maisel]

It's shorthand. I will be put into the cold ground before I resort to shorthand.

[ The emphasis is real. ]

What books? Anna Karenina?

[lunchbreaks]

I could possibly cobble together a passage or two of Anna Karenina, but my Russian was never the best. Are you a fan of Tolstoy?

[maisel]

I have a degree in Russian Literature. [ Mostly it was to catch a husband, but she did enjoy it, dammit. ] It's not going to prove very useful here, and it sure as hell didn't back home, but it's still nice to hear.

Do you memorize all the greats? I can barely remember what I had for breakfast yesterday.

[lunchbreaks]

Oh, no, definitely not, there are too many to recount! But there are so many that I've read over and over again, so they're harder for me to forget than for me to remember.

And he really did have a way with words, didn't he?

[ In Russian: ]

All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow.

[maisel]

[ She practically squeals!! good job. If you listen carefully she's absolutely clapped, too. ]

It's been so long! I forgot most of it after college, but wowza, really just transports me back home.

...You're doing a really good thing, here.

[lunchbreaks]

Oh, thank you. I really do hope so, I try my best.

[ He's very touched that it reminds her of home, the place they all miss. It's one of the reasons he loves literature; it brings people together. ]

Were you a translator?