Busy Paperwork

Usually, Raphael would be working at his own office, he much more preferred to be that way as well. But for whatever reason, he decided a morning out of his stuffy workspace couldn't hurt. So he found himself sitting in an empty meeting room. Just an open laptop and himself. He had recently requested it from Heaven's technology manager, Techno.

And surprisingly it didn't take him very long to learn the ropes, with a few pointers from Techno himself, he was already able to type away with so much of a few glances at his keyboard every now and then. He actually asked Techno for more tips and even requested a one-on-one meeting with him, just to get a better hang of the whole technology thing. Unfortunately, the god had other plans and had mentioned that he was to be unavailable the entire week due to personal issues. A reason on maybe why Raphael decided to pull the device out to do work on, instead of piles of paper in his office. Yeah, maybe it was that.

His brother on the other hand...wasn't too keen on the idea of using one for his own work. Something about already being used to pen and paper-

"Hey, just got a message from Anoshiako," the familiarity in the very monotone voice that suddenly spoke up caused the brunet to shoot up from his hunched sitting position.

"Oh, Gabe-"

The blond dumped a stack of papers before Raphael could even utter another word. And like always, the healer expected his brother to spin back around to go his own way--but Gabriel stood right there. Tapping his foot and looking back and forth from the pile to the door. He seemed impatient.

"Do you need something?" Raphael asked, raising an eyebrow as he adjusted his black-framed glasses. At this point, the judge's unusual behaviour rose suspicion enough for him to stop his work on his laptop and spin his chair to face him. He stood still, glancing out towards the hallway past the door of the small meeting room they were in. "Something about Anoshiako?" Raphael prodded the other for further context, clearly quite lost and puzzled.

"My stars-" Gabriel breathed, ignoring Raphael's previous words and now annoyed expression. He shuffled over quickly to sit in an empty chair across from him at the same long desk, pulling out a golden pen and swiping a document from the stack he brought towards him.

So, suddenly he was busy?

Raphael wasn't exactly the patient type, but even with his brother's annoying stubbornness and in this case--unusual behaviour--he continued to calmly ask Gabriel what his deal was. Any other angel would have lost it by now.

But before he could question him anymore, several voices piped up in the hallway. Raphael whipped his head to the doorway before looking back at his brother, who now desperately put up an act of making himself look busy as he began scribbling away nonsense on a single page.

"Was there a meeting called today?" the doctor's question remained unresponded to as a few celestials entered the room.

It was Anoshiako and two angels at their side--part of the Angelic Council. Seemed that the entirety of the council was actually here, except for one member. Raphael tapped his shoe nervously against the leg of his chair before shifting his bright blue eyes back to the other seraph.

"Were we supposed to know about this?" the brunet whispered hurriedly to his brother, almost wanting to lean forward. But again, Gabriel had ignored him.

What was more interesting was that the oh-so-busy seraph was now actually working and documenting things; he was no longer scrawling whatever on a page.

Well, that was quite helpful--if there was something to bring to this meeting, I'm screwed.

"Thank you all for coming--Raphael and Gabriel for being early..." Anoshiako announced, the two council members approaching the table as the god stayed behind. They stood still at the doorway, clearing their throat before they began to speak again. "Apologies on Saturno's behalf, he couldn't make it as something had come up-"

Sudden loud tapping of heels echoed in the hallway, catching everyone's attention before a black-haired seraph appeared at the entrance. He paid little mind to Anoshiako's staring as he made his way over to the rest of the angels, dragging out an empty chair in between two of them and sitting himself down.

"You're late, Azrael."

A curious huff escaped the tardy angel as he kicked up his legs on the table, nearly shoving off the pile of documents Gabriel had next to Raphael. He earned himself a glare from the judge to which the dark-clothed seraph responded with a wink. "Yeah, I know," he finally spoke, turning his attention to the god.

"I hope you know I expect you to keep up with the schedule. I need everything in order..." Anoshiako trailed off as they began to make their way to the front end of the long meeting table.

"Especially now."

Azrael let out a light chuckle before mockingly waving his hands up to his chest. "Oh yeah, don't want another--Velvet Angel--problem."

He momentarily turned to catch the bothered expressions of the seraphim brothers before folding his arms behind him. His crimson eyes drifted back to meet the god's.

"Loosen up Anosh. We know we gotta be prepared in case it happens again, but you gotta be more patient with us," he remarked with a smirk before he dropped his laid-back behaviour to stare coldly back.

"After all...you helped fuel all of that."

Anoshiako slammed their hand against the table.

"I was putting him in his assigned place. This was Saturno's fault," they responded. But it only made the dark-haired seraph laugh. "OHhh. So you want to shift all the blame on someone else?" he sneered, all three of his headwings folded against his head as he brought his feet off the table to lean towards the god he had just provoked.

Raphael closed shut and scooted his laptop closer to him, getting increasingly nervous at the growing tension between the two. Remaining silent and instead allowing one of the angels, Cassiel, to make an attempt to intervene.

"Anoshiako, I believe this isn't the best time to be arguing about this-" she began before she was cut off by Azrael's shushing.

"Let them speak," he interjected.

Oh, great heavens-

"I had everything perfect and set, it's not my fault that Saturno let his feelings get to his head," they added, now crossing their arms. "And for your information...Azrael-"

The angel rolled their crimson eyes annoyedly and kicked his feet up again onto the table.

"You do not speak to me that way."

"Uh-huh, uh-huh--try telling me that again when you can actually handle conducting these meetings without your pretentious ass shoving your..." he paused to raise his hands to either side of his face. "perfect order..." he said mockingly, air-quotes and all. "...down our throats."

The god was nearly at their tipping point, their glare did not cease and remained trained upon the rebellious seraph.

"I'll have you know, my perfect order is doing ALL of us a favor. I do SO much for this council and you," Anoshiako spat, pointing at Azrael. "Heaven would be in ruins if it weren't for me-"

"Blah, blah, blah, blah..." Azrael began, accompanying his childish response with a mocking hand gesture.

"LOOK at me when I'm talking to you-"

"Oh, I can't hear you over how much I'M right. Blah, blah, blah-"

At this point, Raphael was hugging his laptop to his chest as Azreal continued to dismiss Anoshiako. He shot a worried look that almost yelled "help me" towards his brother, but to his dismay, Gabriel was somehow still absorbed in his own work. The poor nervous brunet glanced at Ramiel, hoping he was able to do something more than Cassiel. Unfortunately, the cherub only sat there quietly, just about as helpless as Raphael.

Oh my stars, what are we going to do-

Gabriel shot straight up out of his chair. Sudden silence cut through the air like a blade to paper. Everyone had fallen silent as he cleared his throat and began to gather his things.

"I'm afraid that I'm getting off schedule. I'll be off. Busy paperwork--best I leave and get going on my way," he muttered and made his way out the room, leaving every celestial to stare at each other. With the sudden absence of the judge, they all realized the ridiculousness of the scene that had begun to form.

Anoshiako took a step back, pinching the bridge of their nose. "Well, I do believe he is correct on that--I'll send out a message of what I want to be done by this evening."

"I expect all of you to finish and show up here then," they demanded, shooting a final look at Azrael, who let out a fake and somewhat taunting yawn. Thankfully, Anoshiako ignored it and instead let themself out of the meeting room before thinking up of anything else to say to the seraph that had so deeply disrespected them. And with that, the meeting had concluded, or at least what was supposed to be a meeting.

Azrael immediately stood up to leave as soon as he figured that Anoshiako would be gone and out of the hallway. Not a word was uttered to any of the other angels.

"Hmm, they oughtta learn how to control themselves better- I didn't even get to propose my idea from last week about the fountains," Cassiel muttered as she picked up her small stack of papers and clipboard. She too, began to make her way out of the room--but unlike Azrael, she left with a wave and a farewell to each of the remaining angels.

"Thank goodness, I was worried they would be any more mean to each other," Ramiel murmured, sheep ears flicking towards Raphael before dusting himself off. "But I hope to see you this evening, Raph," the cherub hummed, making his way out the exit. "See you then-"

Raphael was finally alone again.

Though, it would have been an amusing scene to chuckle at if it wasn't so serious--because as foolish as the whole situation was, it had brought up painful topics and the amount of tension was sure to have escalated into something fatal. He would hate to jump to Azrael's aid for something that could have been avoided if he wasn't so...careless.

All Raphael did was let out a sigh.

Gabe has the right idea. Back to work, I suppose-