Camera One vs Camera Two

There are two parts to tonight's post- the first part was written as a response to Nathan's photo, after he had taken it. The second part was written much earlier today (in between jobs one and two, actually) as a response to the concept of Nathan's photo. Once I saw it I felt the need to change it, but I still liked what I'd already written so I thought I'd share. Hope you enjoy the two different... aspects...

***

There were a lot of good things to be said about being sent on a mission, but Rafe had always felt that the most interesting aspect by far was… well, was seeing what aspect one got to take on. After all, angels don’t really have a “true form”, per se. Their “true form” was, in fact, formless: more akin to a concentration of energy than a shape, and not certainly nothing that observable by humans. Which is why, when being sent on certain missions, angels had to take on corporeal form. And that corporeal form was entirely dependent upon whatever person they’d been sent to aid.

You see, every person has a different concept of what an angel is. To be certain, the vast majority feel that they are people-shaped, and generally sport wings, but even within those parameters there is an amazing variety. For instance, on this particular night Rafe found itself to be wearing the body of a human in its prime, and a certifiably male one at that (which meant Rafe must think of himself as “himself”, rather than a gender-neutral identifier). More interesting than genitalia, however, was the fact that he was covered in smooth blue-black skin patterned with a deep gold iridescence, and sporting a pair of midnight blue wings tipped in pewter. A very pleasing combination, aesthetically speaking, and one he’d never worn before. It made him highly curious to meet the human who thought of angels in such terms.

He spread the wings out for balance as he turned his face up into the rain- so nice to feel the physical experience of rain again, instead of just its essence. Being in physical form had its drawbacks- limited access to what humans might refer to as his cognitive powers, for starters- but it also had its benefits, physical touch among them. Smiling, he shook the rain off his eyelashes and set out in search of his mission.

(Surface Tension)

***

(As originally written)

Strictly speaking, he didn’t have a true form. But people had gotten it into their heads that angels were people-shaped (with wings, no less!) so whenever he took corporeal form it tended to be that of the traditional human concept of an angel: wings and all. Oh, sometimes he’d get lucky and be assigned someone with a more creative idea of what constituted an angel (he’d rather enjoyed the time he’d gotten to wear a dog’s form) but for the most part it was feathers and damned inconvenient robes.

He took a moment to shake them both out, trying to rid himself of the rain drops before he was too thoroughly soaked. He really did hate the smell of wet feathers, almost as much as he hated the way wet fabric clung to his… regions. That was another awkward thing about this current mission- his charge had very definite ideas about gender assignment, which meant that, for the time being, he was a he rather than a conveniently gender-neutral it. And while the Creator surely knew what it was doing when it divided humanity into males and females, and he was sure it was a good idea within the grand design, Rafe rather preferred the route the Creator had taken for angels. Taking on flesh carried more than enough restrictions without the added irritation that genitals and hormones provided.

Rafe sighed and adjusted his perch.