#sanfte

Hello, Anon! I actually have a short fic on this premise, In The Beginning, and plan to write more in that continuity. It’s a fusion of canons, with more of their “canon” appearance in my head from the books (i.e. Aziraphale is short and round, his hair is longer and lankly blond rather than white-blond, he’s more red-faced, shows his “age” a bit more; Crowley is lithe and moves like he actually knows what his hips are for, dark hair, snakey features other than just the eyes) and some of their book characterisations, but with a lot of the background from the TV show. 

I have a lot of headcanons kind of knocking around already, but like... So, as an angel, Raphael is just... Better. He feels better. He’s not as anxious all the time because he doesn’t have to freak out or worry about being “bad” enough, and because he’s been asking questions all his life, he doesn’t worry about asking questions either, as they’ve obviously done okay up ‘til now. With that said, though, he does question the Ineffable Plan, and generally is just... not that confident in it, and that’s a bone of contention between him and the other angels.

That aside, Raphael does... great with the angels. Gabriel and Raphael get on like a house on fire - yes, Gabriel is the infuriating little brother who tries too hard and is just a little slow, but Gabriel is super encouraging all the time, and that’s great for Raphael’s work style, and is wonderful when he gives a presentation, for example.

For Sanfte*, it’s... nice being a demon. He doesn’t actually feel that he has to worry about anything, because the worst has already happened, so he’s disgustingly hedonistic, he’s deadpan, dry and as snarky as you like, but doesn’t feel guilty about it, and also doesn’t like... feel the need to justify it in his own head? But he does do those little justifications when he chooses to be kind - he has to justify being kind as him being Selfish and Hedonistic, and that being kind gives him pleasure; moreover, Sanfte actually... does have faith in the Ineffable Plan, but just in the sense that it’s “oh, not my problem, someone else has done the thinking for us, I’ll just let it happen as it happens.”

So even in this universe, Raphael has to convince Sanfte to join him, and in many ways their relationship dynamic is still very similar. Sanfte’s dynamic with Hell is very hands off, and most of the other demons find him pretty terrifying, and just... avoid the fuck out of him.

Rather than putting him with a snake, he’s a dinosaur-like bird - talked about here.

Raphael and Sanfte’s relationship is... Honestly, they’re much as they are in their original forms - they meet up together, they make fun of one another and banter, but generally are an old married couple. I definitely see their dynamic as more along the book lines than with the silly pining stuff from the TV show. 

Raphael still steals little bites from Sanfte’s full plates (because why shouldn’t he steal from the mouth of evil?) but also only eats little bites of his own meal and then pushes the rest to Sanfte for him to enjoy (because he can’t be too gluttonous, can he?); Raphael dresses slick, smooth, sexy, miracles up all his clothes and loves cool new gadgets; Sanfte is old and traditional and likes comfortable clothes, and couldn’t give a toss about Raphael’s James Bond fetish unless it suits him to make use of it. 

But there’s new little things too - Sanfte goes out of his way to be blasphemous because he thinks it’s funny, and he’s perfectly capable of making Raphael giggle and squirm by being heavily blasphemous in his direction, but Raphael will respond in kind by dragging Sanfte along to something so sweet that Sanfte just melts over it, but won’t admit it because He’s A Demon, For Good-- For Badness’ Sake.

The Apocalypse I do envision as going very differently, because the thing is... Raphael is popular and well-loved in Heaven, even though people think he’s a little bit odd; Sanfte has a good deal of clout in Hell, and he’s very well-respected, and actually swings his rank around.

Instead of it being an angel and a demon against Heaven, Hell, and God, I see it more as just...

An angel and a demon get Heaven and Hell on their side, and say, fuck the apocalypse. 

“I cannot believe you,” Raphael hissed across the table, and Sanfte leaned back in his seat, sipping idly at his glass of rich, red wine. It was late evening, and the summer air settled pleasantly on Raphael’s skin, making him want to curl up somewhere warm and sleep. 

“Of course you can, my dear boy,” Sanfte said pleasantly, watching Raphael with half-lidded eyes. “I don’t see why this should be so unusual.”

“A priest, fiend? Really?”

“How better, my darling angel, to tempt the masses?” Sanfte asked, his tone sage. He was wearing a black cassock, the buttons tightly fastened over his chest, the robes coming down to his ankles and showing his weathered black boots, a pair that the demon had bought in 1821 and had not yet been convinced the part with. He sat very primly, and Raphael couldn’t help but squirm. He looked so... priestly. With his hair tied up in that messy little bun, with his glasses laid on his face, he looked precisely like a priest, and it was infuriating. Twice, passers by had nodded to him and greeted him with a polite, “Father.”

“But Roman Catholic? Really?” Raphael asked. It wasn’t that he was offended. Any of the other angels would be offended, he thought - Uriel would be incensed, Michael would be furious, Gabriel would be... Well, Gabriel would be confused, but if someone explained it, he’d be angry. It wasn’t that.

It was that it was-- 

Well.

It was funny. Sanfte was funny. He had a cutting sense of humour, when it suited to have them, a rather wicked irony, and it made Raphael feel... Well. Rather unangelic feelings, actually.

NOT a snake. instead, he's a big bird, but not ACTUALLY a bird... a dinosaur. you know the dinosaur joke? that's demon! aziraphale.

big, fat, scaley bird with plenty of soft feathers in tawny colours and drab almost-gold, with a big serrated beak, black round eyes that shimmer, plump and round with all these soft feathers, hollow bones, BIG FUCKING TALONS... and here and there you can see the scaley bits underneath

YEAH I DIE BIG TIME OVER SANFTE TEASING RAPHAEL

Like... tickling his ankles under the table, or even reaching out and touching Raphael’s knee, and the way Raphael jumps and gasps and giggles and then says, “Stop it!!!” 

But equally, the other side?

Raphael who perches in Sanfte’s lap and praises him for how soft and warm and comfortable he is, how light and warm and wonderful, playing with Sanfte’s hair, laying kisses on his forehead

and Sanfte is like “look how i’ve tempted an angel into fussing over a beast like me! i’m going to be smug!”

It’s just from the word Sanft, as in mild/gentle, but which is one of the words that contributes to the word Soft in English. 

Crowley’s initial name, Crawley, is meant to be evocative of what he does/how he moves - he slithers on the ground, he crawls in the dirt, he’s creepy, and I wanted to have the same for demon!Aziraphale, a word that evokes, you know, something fluffy and gentle, but is kind of the opposite of what the guy actually is, most of the time.