#bug angels

[distortedampersand]

A few of my art pieces got awards in the art show this year! Including the rave mantis and two I haven’t shown y’all yet (hehe)

It was lovely to see that people enjoyed them so much and now that their back home I get to fiddle with them to my hearts content! 😈

[bearsunlimited]

Pyrops candelaria angel 🫶🏾

[cacklefrendly]

Supernatural would have been better if the angels n demons were fucked up bugs

[bearsunlimited]

some angels

[cacklefrendly]

okayokay i needto get this out of my head but yknow how some honey bees will team up n swarm wasp scouts even tho wasps can Monch them individually??? that's Angels.

when in groups Angels feel hyper-violent urges towards Demons, but when they're alone??? they freeze. they go quiet. maybe they'll bolt, if it's the only option left.

an Angel who stands alone and challenges a Demon is either very strong or very, very dead

[cacklefrendly]

I have too many Thoughts re: bug angels so heres some of them in no particular order

TL;DR: endoparasitic, eusocial insects with a caste system. Demons are a close relative that predates on Angels — similar to the relationship between Bees and Wasps

• Angels undergo double-complete metamorphosis — which is a term now bc i said so — which goes Eggs -> Larvae -> Pupae -> Adult 1 -> Injected Larvae -> Pupae -> Adult 2 (think Xenomorphs — Adult 1 is a Facehugger, while Adult 2 is the actual Xenomorph)

• names vary based on who you're talking to — Adult 1s are called 'Cherubs' by Angels, 'Gnats' or 'Angel Fleas' by Demons, and 'Cherubic Flies' or 'Chicanery's Blowfly' by Hunters (im personally fond of Cherubs/Cherubic Flies). Adult 2s are commonly called 'Angels', 'Grubs', and 'Deific Roundworms', respectively

• completing the metamorphosis is an active choice. most Angels never grow past Cherub.

• Cherubs resemble flies w stingers, Angels resemble a chimera of mole crickets and large grubs. both have incredibly transparent wings with a structure similar to those of earwigs:

• earwig wings are beautiful. that isn't strictly about bug angels but it's true anyway

• Cherubs defend themselves with a violently hallucinogenic sting! That's where the name 'Chicanery's Blowfly' comes from

• their bite allows them to crudely direct human decisions, as well. It's how most people encounter them — Cherubs acting as damage control n keeping humans out of Angel business

• while Angels are Bug People in intelligence, Cherubs are a lot harder to pin down. They're not children as we know them, but they do demonstrate some behaviors we associate with young (ex: sounds of distress that are specifically designed to call adult Angels). But also they're fully formed animals that can find their own food?? They can carry out some very complicated orders, but they don't make many decisions on their own. But maybe they could???? It's Complicated

• as most Cherubs stay cherubic for life, Angels use them to carry messages, spy on people, influence populations, and basically anything else you would think to use a fly-sized drone for.

• the caste system is mostly based on development and age: Cherubs are at the bottom, Angels progress up the castes as they get older/stronger. But at the very top—

• —is the Angel Queen. most groups call them 'Gods'.

• Angel Queens are not deities!!! yes they have supernatural powers and yes they are v powerful but they are NOT Literal Gods. this is the core motivation behind Bug Angels: less power creep. (and more weird bugs)

• Queens are HUGE, ranging from people-sized to TRUCKS. they squish down impossibly into their host body n can "unfold" to scare away Most Rational Beings

•unclear how Queens develop. Chuck/God isn't willing to explain it. He doesn't want competition forming in his territory. (or within his colony)

• Lucifer is actually a sibling Queen to God but We Don't Talk About Lucifer.

• speaking of development, God's colony is so huge that he has his eggs moved into satellite nests referred to as "Nurseries". They're usually houses with a basement. One or two Angels in the area choose to become caretakers, monitoring the young's health, feeding them, acting on God's decisions to let one become an Angel, ect. ect.

• as the larve become Cherubs, their caretaker(s) basically approve or deny all requests for Cherubic use within an area. Some Nurseries have a very strict policy about when to lend them out, others will toss you a jar of Cherubs and mark em as 'dead'. This further muddies the "Cherub = Children" debate

• i really like how weird Cherubs are

• anyways Demons like to raid Nurseries and eat Angel larvae + their caretakers,

[cacklefrendly]

i love my bugs. im so glad that they don't exist. here's some bug social stuff.

TL;DR:

● the Angel social hierarchy is almost entirely dictated by an individual's age.

however, age is only counted from the moment of rebirth — when a Cherub injects an Angel larvae into a human host and dies. an Angel whose Cherub lived for 10 years and was reborn a week ago is lower on the pecking order than an Angel whose Cherub lived for a week and was reborn last year. even though the 10-years-Cherub Angel is likely to become stronger, the pecking order will only change from a direct order from the queen.

speaking of orders, the oldest Angels — Archangels, functionally a soldier caste — direct their younger siblings. command is based on what Angels are reborn within an Archangel's perimeter of influence. Archangels don't have a direct claim over Cherubs and larvae tho, so the Nurseries work out the distribution of young between themselves.

an Angel refering to another as "little [sibling]" can be either affectionate or a jab to remind them of their place.

○ the Demon "social" hierarchy is primarily based on who's edible and who's too strong to eat.

because of this, food-based nicknames are a subtle reinforcement of one's position. as Crowley is King of the Crossroads, for example, he uses 'cupcake', 'sweetcheeks', ect. but will (literally) snap at a lower Demon if they do the same to him.

the verbal reinforcement isn't entirely conscious, so it can be a great way to understand their opinion of someone!!

-> if a Demon begins a conversation using food-based nicknames, they regard the other party as lower/a target from the get-go.

-> if the Demon doesn't use them at all, the other party is seen as an equal or higher.

-> if the Demon starts with the nicknames, but drops them partway through the conversation, than the Demon has been charmed or intimidated by the other party!

-> if a Demon starts using food-based nicknames partway through, than something that was said just placed the speaker onto the menu so maybe make some excuses and get out of there right now immediately.

● the back of the neck is Significant to Angels, as the head of their real body (referred to as their 'soul') rests right under the skin there.

Demons on the hunt go for the back of the neck, so Angels are very squeamish about having it exposed — many wear stiff-collared clothing or scarves, and try to keep people at their front.

humans with Angel associates often get punched in the face early on in their relationships, as casual gestures such as hugging someone and patting their shoulder can set off the Angel's fight-or-flight response. Dean, specifically, gets suplexed by Cas for startling him with an arm around his shoulders.

○ the equivalent of this for Demons is their stomachs, though their response doesn't strictly come from fear — it's territorial.

Demons first enter their hosts through the stomach, stitching it up behind them with magic. to a Demon, touching the stomach is similar to testing the locks of someone's house: rude and very likely a threat.

they have a huge range of movement inside their hosts, so a Demon that can't move it's arms and gets particularly pissed off at a stomach-touch might actually poke their head out and bite you.

● as the resident eusocial insects, Angels have an innate desore to form social bonds. and they tend to be quite good at it! too good. Angels could stand to be worse at caring for people. there are cases of Angels meeting humans and declaring "i would die for you" within a week. it's a problem.

to combat this (remember, Angel development p much relies on manipulating humans), cultural pressure states to only form friendships with other Angels. you most frequently see friendships between coworkers. second common is between Angels with similar haunting grounds, and the third common being an Angel caretaker and some Angels they cared for as Cherubs. clutchmates can form significant bonds, but that's pretty unusual — with several thousand siblings it's considered kinda weird to prioritize one or two just because you were born together, yknow??

as a consequence of this cultural pressure, Angels who don't interact with humans tend towards a very strong 'us VS them' mentality and those who do often struggle with feelings of guilt and concerns re: their loyalty to the colony and queen.

○ as decidedly solitary insects, Demons don't naturally do the whole 'friendship' thing. Demonic relationships tend to be based on "you have goods/services i want, i have a reward you want" — very businesslike. it's not really surprising that they've got the reputation they do. they don't have an innate desire for bonds, they don't have a drive to protect their children, and, Demonic fun fact, they don't have much of a cute response.

BUT that's not to say that meaningful relationships are impossible! they just take more time and effort than they do for humans or Angels!! in fact, friendship is on the rise in the Demon community, because they're being forced to have a community at all — Lucifer's influence has them playing at eusocial behavior on a large scale, which is creating new opportunities to form genuine relationships. they're still rare, for now.

friendships haven't been in their cultural zeitgeist for long enough to develop rules about who can be befriend what, so the only requirements for Demons are persistence and cooperation. like most people, just talk to them regularly and be pleasant at them. that being said, Angel-Demon friendships are. Very Unlikely from the Demonic side of things. because of the predation. Demon-Human is actually the most common, because humans are just Like That.

●○ pronouns are used in relation to the host body, not the Angel or Demon inside. if they viewed gender in the same way humans try to, all Angels would go by she/her and Demons would probably just bite your face off on principle. and good for them, honestly.

[cacklefrendly]

I am so mad at myself for giving Bug Angels a territorial, petty God who refuses to have competition because i just thought the phrase "Angel Nuptial Flight" and the emotion i felt was like breathing cold mist

dude.