Chapter 12
Levi
Unfortunately, the next week was busy with work.
Levi insisted they break for regular meals, and they also slept (with lots of cuddling, and a fun dream here or there, too).
They managed to find time to take some relaxing swims in the ocean, and Hachi often joined them.
It was cute how close the angel and the octopus had gotten.
Hachi had also given them some privacy, and they’d had a very pleasurable repeat of their undersea adventures.
(Gabriel was so beautiful when he gave himself up to pleasure.)
They didn’t get to try any new bucket list items, though, since they were kept rather occupied.
They handled some messages through social media, but they also delivered quite a few to humans.
It was almost ridiculous how many missives Gabriel ended up getting, especially when some of them really didn’t need an angelic delivery.
They were sitting in Levi’s living room, back at work, and Levi was starting to get antsy.
Despite the regular meals, the cuddling, and the exceptional undersea sexual escapades, Gabriel was beginning to get…
stressed? Overwhelmed? Too caught up in his job?
Levi wasn’t sure what it was, but he knew his angel needed a break.
He looked back at the tablet, frowning and reading the latest message aloud. “‘Briana Beach, thou shalt not wear the paillette frock, for the encrusted ensemble shall harken the beginning of the end to your livelihood.’ What the heck is a paillette frock?”
“An outfit with sequins,” Gabriel said absently, still focusing on his own tablet.
Levi was actually speechless for a moment, but Gabriel just kept working away. Levi took the tablet out of Gabriel’s hand, forcing the angel to look at him.
“Are you telling me… Are you saying that some angel wants you to deliver a message that someone shouldn’t wear sequins?” Levi sputtered.
“Well, we do have a few angels who take fashion quite seriously. No one wants to end up on the worst dressed list,” Gabriel responded.
“But… I mean…” Levi trailed off. He couldn’t even explain why the message made him so angry.
Gabriel finally looked over at him, tilting his head slightly. “Are you upset? Do you like the sequined look? We’ll deliver the message, but it’s up to the human whether they want to follow the advice or not. Free will.”
“Buttons… You are the Divine Herald. The Messenger of the Lord. The Angel of Revelation! And yet you’re supposed to tell some human not to wear a sequin dress?
” Levi couldn’t help the outrage in his voice.
“It’s absurd! Why can’t the guardian angel or whoever the heck it’s from give their own freaking message? ”
Gabriel looked startled. “Give their own message?”
Levi continued ranting. “I mean, I understand giving messages to kings and queens and world leaders and all that, and I think all people deserve to know issues of life and death, but a sequined dress?! I highly doubt that a freaking sequined dress is life or death.”
“It could be a pantsuit,” Gabriel stated.
Levi gave a small teeth-clenched yell. “Ugh!!! You’re missing the point!
Your time is valuable, and it’s absolutely not a revelation to tell someone not to wear a sequined anything!
The less important messages should be given by the angels themselves!
Demons have been popping in to whisper in humans’ ears for eons, but you have to give every little message imaginable from topside?
They can get off their angelic asses and deliver some of their own messages! ”
Gabriel looked thoughtful, and Levi took a few deep breaths to calm down. He wasn’t sure why the matter upset him so much.
Actually, yes, he did know why. Gabriel would work non-stop, all day, every day, in order to do the best he could and complete every assignment.
He treated every message as if it were important, and every human as if they were of the highest status.
Yet he was being overworked and criticized, and was it any wonder if people didn’t take messages seriously when they were just as likely to be given fashion advice as to be given directions on how to save the world?
“That’s it. We’re making some changes. You’re no longer giving messages of minor importance.
Demons have been handling those messages forever, and angels can just start doing the same.
We’ll create some type of rating system for level of importance, and anything under a certain level is not to be delivered by you.
Then we’ll create a fancy, wordy-as-fuck memo that will impress the leadership team and all the other afterlifers. ”
Gabriel didn’t look opposed to the idea, but he did look doubtful. “Every afterlifer will consider their message of the highest importance, so having them rate them won’t do much.”
Levi stood up and paced, getting animated as he thought of ideas.
“We’ll be more concrete than that. We’ll ask questions, like will this change one life, twenty lives, or a nation of lives?
Is it directly related to life and death?
We’ll come up with a list. It may take time now, but it’ll save time in the long run.
Obviously, the leadership team and archangels will probably always expect you to deliver their messages, because hell forbid they do anything themselves, but every Tom, Dick, and Angelica doesn’t need you delivering every message. ”
“Well, I suppose…” Gabriel answered, looking unsure.
“Alright, let’s start brainstorming how they can tell if a message is important,” Levi announced, sitting down next to Gabriel with his tablet.
So they did. They came up with a list of checkboxes and scoring—just the sort of thing the leadership team would love, because it looked very official and complicated.
It really wasn’t, though, and any demon or angel could rate their message in a short amount of time.
They decided on qualifications for whether a message should be delivered by Gabriel or not, and Levi very specifically and repeatedly used Gabriel’s official titles in the memo.
His angel worked too hard, and the fact that some of it could and should be handled by the people giving the message was infuriating to Levi. Some of the missives were more suggestive as opposed to orders, and with free will, it wasn’t any surprise that Garbiel didn’t have total compliance.
“I bet the messages have gotten less important and there have been more of them as time went on,” Levi commented at one point.
“Well, yes, but the population in general has grown,” Gabriel answered.
Levi just snorted. “Maybe, but I think angels also forgot that they can come down and do their own work on the mortal plane once in a while. I think we’re about done—you ready to send the memo off? Then we can have some lunch and look at the bucket list. It’s time to try something new.”
“But we still have a lot of messages,” Gabriel argued.
“We’ve taken care of the urgent ones. Plus, the bucket list is also about being more successful in our ability to deliver messages, so we can’t neglect that,” Levi added.
Gabriel seemed surprised and gave him a soft smile, then he nodded his head.
Levi wasn’t sure what he had said to convince the angel, but he was going to jump on the acquiescence.
“Alright. I’ll make some lunch, and you take a look at the list and see what we should do next,” Levi said, popping up and handing Gabriel the bucket list they’d put onto a piece of parchment.
Yes, parchment was rather old-fashioned, but his angel seemed to enjoy holding onto it.
Levi almost snorted in amusement at the thought of Gabriel enjoying holding things (and, oh, the suggestions he had for what his angel could hold), but he managed to keep it to himself.
He’d definitely hung out with sailors too much over the years.
Gabriel pored over the list while Levi made some sandwiches, although he made them fancier than he normally might.
They sat down to eat in a relaxed silence, and Levi watched Gabriel’s face as he took each bite, listening for the occasional soft moan.
The angel eventually noticed Levi’s stare and looked a bit self-conscious, so Levi brought up the bucket list.
“So, anything look interesting?”
Gabriel shrugged. “Well, heights didn’t seem to work out so well the first time, but I do generally enjoy them.”
Levi slid the list over to take a look, and he perked up when he saw “amusement park” on the list. ”We could enjoy heights here. There are roller coasters, high swings, a ferris wheel… There are a few rides that go up high, and not all of them are fast.”
“I don’t mind speed—I do have wings. I’m sure nothing would surprise me,” Gabriel answered. “What’s the fastest item at an amusement park?”
“The roller coasters. The free fall rides drop you pretty fast, but I’m guessing that wouldn’t be anything you haven’t done before.
The ferris wheel is slow, but it’s still an experience you have to have.
Amusement parks have all sorts of snacks, too.
Candy apples, cotton candy, ice cream, funnel cake—so many delicious foods.
” Levi was getting animated; he hadn’t been to an amusement park in decades, and he’d forgotten how much fun they were until he started talking about it.
Gabriel was smiling at him. “Ok. Let’s do it. Pick one, and if you direct me to its exact location, I can bring us there.”
Levi looked at Gabriel thoughtfully. It was probably time to be fully honest with the angel. Not that he’d lied, exactly, but he was feeling the tiniest bit guilty that he hadn’t told Buttons about his own ability to get around.
“Uh, well, I can actually bring us there myself. I do have some capabilities, even without wings,” Levi admitted.
He waited for Gabriel’s anger, but the angel just looked… curious.
“Really? But without wings…” Gabriel trailed off and looked thoughtful. “Well, I trust you, and I’m interested to see your mode of transportation.”
Levi felt a spark of warmth flow through him.
Gabriel trusted him.
It was like a precious gift, since Levi didn’t think Gabriel would say that to many afterlifers.
But Gabriel had let him deliver messages, and they’d been working side by side for over a week.
It seemed like so much longer, though, and Levi had the thought that he wouldn’t mind continuing on like this forever.
Gabriel was even more interesting, and even more fun, than eating ships and sleeping with sailors. Who would have guessed?
The angel was looking expectantly at Levi, so he walked over, uncurled his tentacles, and wrapped himself around Gabriel. He couldn’t help throwing a kiss in as well, because Gabriel really was quite delicious.
He couldn’t wait to introduce his angel to roller coasters. Gabriel was going to love them.