Hey there! I was wondering since you make posts about angel wings, do you ever think about the softness or fluff of them? Or even the possibility of there being a difference in a soldier's wings compared to a cherub's? I've read fanfics on AO3 that describe wings with such great detail (such as Tarred and Feathered-by NadiaHart & TrickyJerseyGirl, Flight-by @northern-sparrow, and SO many others) that I wanted your take on this. You have awesome ideas 😊
Yes, I do think about the softness of angel wings! One of my favorite things to imagine Dean and Cas doing is cuddling while surrounded by Castiel’s wings. I understand that isn’t based on anything canon but Dean loving the parts of Cas that aren’t human is extremely important to me.
This is going to be a pretty long reply because I have tons of ideas about angel wings. I am very familiar with @northern-sparrow‘s fics (AO3). That is probably my favorite authors in this fandom. I will admit it’s probably been a few years since I read Flight but the same head canon about angel wings is used in all of northern-sparrow’s fics. I never read Tarred and Feathered-by NadiaHart & TrickyJerseyGirl before, so thank you for the fic rec. 😊 I always love to read about wing grooming and the fact that this was between Castiel and Gabriel as brothers made it a little different from what I have read in the past.
I like to think about angel wings very much like bird wings. With about the same softness and feel but maybe a lot less brittle. Cas is a warrior after all.If you brush feathers in the wrong direction they feel kind of pokey because of the rachis/shaft, but as long as you brush them the right direction they will be soft. I think especially the underside of an angel’s wing would be soft and nice to lay under. Though once in a while Dean would probably get poked by a stray feather or two. I don’t think he minds very much though.
I have a lot of different thoughts about angel wings varying with the different kinds of angel. Canonically I think there is little to no variation in wings between the different kinds of angels. Even between archangels and regular angels. At least comparing the wings that we get to see, such as wing shadows and wing prints. There could be differences between the angel’s true forms that we do not know about yet. I like to think of differences as they are described by the lore about angels such as seraphim having six wings and cherubim having four wings. This is somewhat supported by canon too. Zachariah describes his true form as having six wings and four faces. This is similar to some descriptions of cherubim but we know that Zachariah wasn’t a cherub as far as the Supernatural definition of Cherub. So I like to think of Castiel as having six wings in his true form because we know that Cas is a Seraph.
Now as far as differences in softness or the kinds of feathers. I like to think that Castiel’s wings and any other solider-like angel as having wings that are very similar to a raptor’s wings. Strong enough to take some damage but also meant for speed. In particular my head canon for Cas is that he has an osprey’s wings.
Nyoooom going to grab that righteous man from hell
If different kinds of angels have different wings, their wings probably match their job. So I would think something like a cherub (as in the cherubs on Supernatural) That has to move around really fast over short distances, like between different couples at a bar. Might have wings like a humming bird. I mean Cas did described the cherub in My Bloody Valentine as “pollinating.” So I imagine them having to dart around really fast.
💙Thank You so much for this lovely ask! You get all the wing cuddles.💙
