I saw a picture, I had feels, here they are.
How many years had it been since she’d started serving the Host? Millenia. Her wings had grown from downy feathers, molted, hardened, become elegant with shades of brown and white. Some mottled. A wing swung around and settled neatly into her hands as he stroked the long feathers. There was a spot, a certain spot, that was very ticklish, even when she touched it.
Naomi had gotten some time off. Leave. R&R. Personal time. Her first thought was to relax, lay down and sleep for a while, or just finish some paperwork that she knew she had to finish. But her mind wandered every time she sat behind the polished oak desk. They wandered back to her days as a fledgling, and before. Naomi took the first step towards her door, but her feet lead her where she ended up.
The nursery. Newborn angels sound asleep. They would grow up far too quickly, she found herself thinking sadly. Their innocent, round faces. Eyelashes almost impossibly long against their little eyes. Their wings hadn’t even started to grow yet. Naomi continued through the halls before she once again found herself stopped outside of a glass window, looking in. The toddlers. This room, Naomi entered.
There was a small conversation with one of the guardians before Naomi found a clear spot and sat down, legs tucked in and wings wrapped close to her back. A girl, no more than two, pounced gleefully onto her back and snuggled between the wings. Her own little blonde wings flaring as she drew in the scent of Naomi. Naomi just laughed.
How long had it been since she’d laughed? Years, at least. Thin lines drew across her forehead, telling of stress and worry. Deeper lines against the corners of her eyes, still small, but visible. Signs of rubbing and squinting after long days of filing and reading reports. This, this laughing… this is what she missed most of all.
A young angel, not quite a toddler with clear, wide blue eyes walked up to Naomi. He was holding a teddy bear close to his chest. Clutched. His hair was a deep brown and ruffled with confused curls peeking out in places. At first he didn’t look at Naomi and she held out a hand for him. The teddy bear found the grip around it’s stomach loosen as the little boy reached out for Naomi’s hand and she scooped him in closer. “You don’t need to be shy little one.” She said softly, patting down the fur on the teddy’s head.
“Tell me, do you want to fly?” Her voice lifted at the end and her face brightened as she smiled at him. The little angel turned to look at her, his eyes growing wider with excitement and wonder. He nodded feverishly and held onto Naomi’s pant suit as she detangled herself from a mess of toddlers. Once she was clear, Naomi bent over again and picked up the boy, careful, so that she didn’t crumple or pinch his wings.
They were, naturally, considerably smaller than they would end up. He was in his first molt though, and between downy feathers were sleek yellow-gold and white feathers with a touch of grey. The boy looked up at her with his big happy blue eyes, sparkling. His grip on the bear loosened and eventually it dropped as Naomi took him outside to fly in the garden. Of course, Naomi wasn’t actually going to fly with a toddler. Especially not one that wasn’t her own.
The boy’s wings started to flare as the sunlight hit them, breaking from their rested position against his shoulder blades. They weren’t strong enough to hold him, not yet, but he could still flap them wildly. Naomi adjusted her grip on the boy until she was holding him securely under his arms. “Are you ready?” Her voice was hushed, but energetic and enthusiastic. The boy once again nodded and said a soft yes.
Naomi pushed her arms up and out, her own wings breaking from her shoulders and pushing out lightly. The boy gurgled with happiness and his wings flapped wildly behind him as Naomi lifted him higher over her head and turned him in a small circle. He spread his arms out in front of him and flapped them too. She smiled as she saw how happy he was. It was infectious.
The boy banked his body to the left and Naomi turned with him, bending down and arching him back up as his wings continued to flail erratically because look, he was flying! The boy squealed as she lifted him back up and tossed him only a few inches into the air before catching him again. Before she even realizes, Naomi is singing.
It’s a soft song. Low and melodic. It’s also Enochian. She remembered it from before she was a fledgling. When her mother would sing it to her as she played with her in the gardens or before she went to sleep. Now, as Naomi sang it to another child, she found herself wishing that she could go back to when it was that simple. When the only thing she had to worry about was her mother catching her.
dededos
vaporwave
kaledo-art
snowghoul
annaxmalina
romaincrisis
jbbartram-illu
