There are not many creatures that extend their trust to Crowley. Aziraphale, yes, but not always, and not openly until recent years. Alice is the first human he's ever met that didn't immediately distrust him... and he was a snake at the time. A snake that at least 3 other children on board the Voidtrecker Express had already pulled knives on and threatened with harm to not hurt anyone, and he had been napping at the time. Crowley never forgot that about her, and he'd found even more affection for her as they grew closer, even though the train sort of forced them to.
"Oh, Alice," he murmurs back, his voice filled with emotion, all of which he's feeling now; hers and his own, which is both full of sympathy for her and complete admiration for this human child he's somehow formed a paternal bond with.
"You're not meant to 'get over' things, I think." he says delicately. "I haven't." And that much is true, he had been expelled from heaven millions of years prior but it hadn't stopped him from holding a grudge, from wondering why God gave up on him, abandoned him maybe. What was it about him that deserved such a punishment, that made him unworthy of love? Even now, though he's found that love in Aziraphale, in the world he's saved and the friends he's made since leaving it, he hasn't gotten over any of that, he just copes differently.
He climbs higher out of the water to be there for her, his claws tipping her face back to look at him. "You didn't deserve what had happened to you, but we can't change the past. We can, however, reclaim our autonomy and reinvent ourselves. We can be whoever we choose to be, even if that means someone strong enough to go swimming and not ruin their nice dress." he says this from experience. Crowley has not always been Crowley. He had been Crawley first, and someone entirely different before that. He had been Ashtoreth, Harrison, and Anthony when he needed to be, when it made sense. He sees no reason why Alice couldn't do the same, even without magic... but he also would never push her into anything she would be made uncomfortable by, so after a beat, he clarifies: "But you don't have to be anything you don't want to be, so I can always miracle it dry, later, alright?"
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"Oh, Alice," he murmurs back, his voice filled with emotion, all of which he's feeling now; hers and his own, which is both full of sympathy for her and complete admiration for this human child he's somehow formed a paternal bond with.
"You're not meant to 'get over' things, I think." he says delicately. "I haven't." And that much is true, he had been expelled from heaven millions of years prior but it hadn't stopped him from holding a grudge, from wondering why God gave up on him, abandoned him maybe. What was it about him that deserved such a punishment, that made him unworthy of love? Even now, though he's found that love in Aziraphale, in the world he's saved and the friends he's made since leaving it, he hasn't gotten over any of that, he just copes differently.
He climbs higher out of the water to be there for her, his claws tipping her face back to look at him. "You didn't deserve what had happened to you, but we can't change the past. We can, however, reclaim our autonomy and reinvent ourselves. We can be whoever we choose to be, even if that means someone strong enough to go swimming and not ruin their nice dress." he says this from experience. Crowley has not always been Crowley. He had been Crawley first, and someone entirely different before that. He had been Ashtoreth, Harrison, and Anthony when he needed to be, when it made sense. He sees no reason why Alice couldn't do the same, even without magic... but he also would never push her into anything she would be made uncomfortable by, so after a beat, he clarifies: "But you don't have to be anything you don't want to be, so I can always miracle it dry, later, alright?"