I never had a problem with you until you opened your mouth.

Timeline/World: Through the Looking Glass – Lost in Translation
Current Date: June 11, 2023

Character: Dalath Dryhten
Race: Angel – Stars
Age: 17 000 016, physically about 27
Current residence: Heavens
 

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For the most part, the majority of my team does not really change. Though, if I am to think about it, I don’t know that I can truly claim it is the majority of my team. There are times when I simply forget the sheer number of people who work with me—or under me, as that may be. I have a team of six who oversees a group of time zones around the world and working for these six, there are plenty of others in each team to ascertain that everything is done as it should.

It might come as a surprise to some that I would need so many people covering this particular side of things, but I suppose that, to most, this is as simple as day and night just following one another just fine as the planet does its rotating thing. For the most part, that is certainly it, but there is more to this and getting into explaining it all would take far too long. There just is a need for my team to be present and that is all that needs to be done.

Now, my main team has hardly changed in recent years; they’ve been with me for long enough a time that I know each of them personally. It is those who then work under my main team that I still do know but not as personally or as deeply as I do the others. There is more of a change in workers in these sub-teams than on my main team.

As it stands, I am the one who has the final say on who can and cannot work on the teams. I am the one who can tell whether or not they have that necessary spark to get the job done and for the most part, applicants have what it takes. Some are sent to us from Seraphiel himself or others with the power for such decisions and up until now, I’ve never had an issue with anyone that came to me for night tracking.

That changed recently.

I know that Seraphiel is the one who signed the transfer, but from the scribble of his signature at the bottom of the paperwork, I don’t know that he’s the one who started the process. The scribble tells me that he was either caught off-guard with the signature request or so exhausted that he didn’t read the whole paper through. Both are extremely rare, but they are not unknown. We are angels, we are not perfect—despite some wanting to believe otherwise.

My first thought was to bring the whole stack of paperwork back to him to ensure that he knew what he was doing, transferring this one in to my team but I figured I would give him a chance. I had heard plenty about him; all of these things, however, being little more than rumours. I am not one to usually believe in them and I am more than willing to give someone a second chance.

As far as this young angel was concerned, I gave him a first chance. I ignored the rumours, I ignored my gut, I gave him a chance and placed him with a team leader that I knew I could trust to keep him in line.

I wish I’d trusted my gut, instead.

Not even a night in and he’s sent back to me with my team lead in tow. My lead looks murderous and tells me that there’s no way we can have this one on the teams and that she didn’t want a thing to do with him. It wasn’t so much that he wasn’t willing to work hard, she’d seen him focus and do his job, the issue came from the fact that the moment he opened his mouth, the things that came out of him were just too crass and unhinged.

This isn’t really all that much of an unknown. There have been other angels—mostly reborn ones with only the hint of their old memories attached—that have come to us with attitude issues; that, or they had no filter. My lead isn’t easy to set off; she has more patience than a lot of others I’ve seen, and it was one of the reasons why I’d entrusted this new potential worker with her.

I kept him with me, told her she could go back to her team, and I tried speaking with him to better understand what had happened. The first words out of his mouth were ugly words about my team lead, about her behaviour, about how her outfit—the simple, all-black, covering outfit they all wore to blend in—made it look like she was asking for it and just, I think if I hadn’t cut him off he still would have gone on about the filthy things he wanted to do to her, against her will if she desired to struggle, for far longer.

Let’s just say that I don’t condone that kind of behaviour and I’ve brought this back up to Seraphiel so that this particular one might be found a job where he won’t cause any issues. Or as few issues as possible, as is.

Final Word Count: 869

I told you I’d call in my favours one day. Well, that day is today.

 
Timeline/World: Through the Looking Glass – Lost in Translation
Characters: Dalath Dryhten
Race: Angel – Stars
Age: 17 000 015, physically about 27
Current residence: Heavens
Final Word Count: 775 words
 

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Watching the young ones act out their little power-play fantasies is always an interesting enough sight. As far as I’m concerned, nearly everyone up here on this islet of ours—I’m aware that the size of our land is bigger than that of what an islet would be and seeing as we can support life, it shouldn’t be called that—is young. Only a few are close to my age and only two that I know of, off the top of my head, are older than I am. At least of those still up here.

I have come and gone from helping with the welcoming committee. I have agreed to let Seraphiel keep my name on the rota, much as Uriel and Hoshi both have done. Our presence there is uncommon but every so often, we go. It isn’t even because our powers might be necessary but merely because our knowledge of things helps us with newcomers.

Most of the time, I admit, we mostly stand back and let others do it; it is a good experience for them and helps them understand what it is like to essentially be in a place of power.

My schedule still remains one of night-time and night-time is permanent around the globe. Our nighttime is not as we live via our own clock, but it is nighttime somewhere on the globe at all times. I stick with my hours because they are easier and because it helps the others I need to keep on my team used to the look of things at night. The work is not complicated but trying to explain it would take more time than might really be necessary.

Two or three evenings back, after a quiet walk about on a night when I had little else to do other than to keep to myself—I deserve to have nights when I do not work, after all—I came across two young elemental angels. Both of the earthen type. It was in their aura and that is truly the only reason I mention it. I accept angels in all shapes and sizes, gifts and non-gifts alike. We do not judge here. Those who judge should not.

They were trying to be seen as little as possible and this made me smile. My sight might possibly be a little better at night than the sight of others but that is solely because of my title and the fact that I have opted to keep my life going on during the darker hours of our world. They were nearly unseen along the side of a building, both dressed in somewhat dark clothes.

One looked faintly skittish while the other held himself tall as though trying to appear braver than he possibly felt. All I really heard from them as I was passing by—darkly clothed, the stars in my wings possibly giving me away—was something about calling in favours and that today was the day the favours were being called. Now, I sensed nothing truly terrible that could potentially have happened between these two. Favours of any shape or form can only go so far and these younger souls don’t have half the reach they think they do with older angels.

Still, I knew where they likely slept and if I began to worry about things, I would see about possibly bringing it up but it has been a few days since and from what I’ve heard from the news that still gets passed around to keep everyone updated, nothing life-changing has happened anywhere so I figure that we’re good.

Who knows what those favours might have been. At most, I see this more as two children playing together after dark and making big plans that might involve a school bully or something of the sort. I know that at my age, most might not think that I truly know what school and bullies might be about, but my age does not define my knowledge of things. I do pride myself on keeping up to date with a lot of things. The one thing I have little desire to keep up with is all that new technology that those of the earthen realm seem to cling to. Televisions, cellphones, computers. All things that I’m certain have their uses but they are things I have no need for in my life and will not even entertain the thought of wanting.

Now, it’s not that these things are not a possibility up here, we do have a system for messages, but it is more magic-based than technology-based and that’s all I need.

I’ve never been the most honest person around and I doubt that’ll change.

 
Timeline/World: Through the Looking Glass – Lost in Translation
Characters: Dalath Dryhten
Race: Angel – Stars
Age: 17 000 013, physically about 27
Final Word Count: 711 words
 

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Somehow, for reasons that are still beyond me, Seraphiel asked me to join in on the welcoming group at least for a few days, mostly so I could get a feel for those that were joining us. I can understand that it likely was the reason behind the rebirth more than anything else but I’m still uncertain as to what he was expecting of me in the long run.

Considering my schedule usually runs from late afternoon or early evening until early morning or mid-morning on some days, I had expected that I would need to change that very schedule around for this but, as it turns out, it wasn’t necessary at all. I was grateful for it.

I hadn’t really expected to have new souls coming in, in the dead of the night. That alone was a little baffling though I knew that deaths happened round the clock and we were just one islet, so to speak, above a whole world. We had our own clocks, one that didn’t really match the world below and it made sense that rebirths would trickle be at all hours of the day.

I got to meet the few others who manned the ‘post’ at night and they were quiet souls. They didn’t ask questions, possibly aware of who I was due to my age—there are, after all, only a handful of us left who are so old—not that I show my age, and that suited me fine. I helped greet and meet the newcomers, getting a feel for how things worked out in this first step of so many for those who join us.

Most who came through were more or less the same, sudden death but good life, death by old age and good life, a few were unexpected deaths and lives that seemed borderline but somehow, they seemed to belong up here with us.

It all was perfectly fine until there came time for one particular soul that seemed to have quite a bit more of a fighting spirit than others. By the simple fact that she had flames dancing on her hands as she asked more and more question to know, as she put it, ‘where the hell she was’, it was clear that she was an elemental and while they are rare in the full-grown rebirths and not the simple births, they are not an absolutely unknown.

I ended up being saddled with getting to calm her down and she mostly did at the sight of me. While I am tall, I am not the tallest around but only a few have hair as long as mine—Hoshi and Uriel included—and the twinkling stars in my feathers are a rather rare sight; there are only three of us as I know it and one still resides on the earth plane and I doubt he’ll come back up any time soon.

We got to talking a little bit about what she remembered of her life, it wasn’t much. I managed to get her to understand that this was a good and safe place; it was a place where trust was a necessary way of life though I know that not everyone trusts everyone and as an elemental, she’d have her work cut out for her to fit in. I might not socialize much but I still know about the issues that are taking place in our kingdom.

What struck me as odd is that, not long after I had told myself that she was finally good to resume her place with the two others that had come in around the same time she had, was that she’d never been the most honest person around and that she doubted it would ever change. That did earn a bit of a quirked brow on my part because, well, trust and honesty are good things to have up here but it’s really not mine to fix that potential problem.

I did make note of things in what little files we kept for newcomers but otherwise, I dropped her back with the other two and she was much calmer about things once all was said and done. I suppose that, at times, all it takes is a little patience.

I’m the least reasonable adult you’ll ever meet.

 
Timeline/World: Through the Looking Glass – Lost in Translation
Characters: Dalath Dryhten
Race: Angel – Stars
Age: 17 000 012, physically about 27
Final Word Count: 646 words
 

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I have heard that saying often before and never did turn out to be true. Though some have tried quite hard to prove their point and it might just be my age but I didn’t find it very amusing. Only a handful of people know just what kind of behaviour I’ll accept or not and they act accordingly. That behaviour then does get a smile out of me but most of the time, childish behaviour only earns a sigh and a shake of the head because, well, it is childish behaviour and these people were adults and not the young kind of adults.

I’m old, certainly, but these recent souls and their unreasonable behaviour were well into their hundredth year of life. Now, I am aware and I can understand that even after a hundred years, in a few rare cultures, it still is considered a young age but after a hundred years, I would wish to believe that they have at least learned that life is not a game and that being unreasonable is, well, unreasonable.

Arguing about whether or not this item or that one better fit on this corner is a waste of energy. Especially when arguing with others because, yes, I’ve witnessed others who have spent hours arguing with themselves about something or other and I’ve never truly taken part in these moments. I figure that these I best stay away from unless I see things taking a turn for the worse but the two I’ve ever met who have argued with themselves have done so harmlessly so they were left to their own devices.

Others who will argue with you for the sake of arguing, just to prove a point and that point isn’t even worthy of attention, are the worst. They rival unwanted visitors with their unwashed stenches who cannot take the hint when you close your door to them and ignore them for the hour they spend at that very door, just knocking on and off, hoping perhaps to wear you down so that you will open your door and home to them.

I’m sorry to disappoint but I’m just too old to be bothered with that. I have too many years of life lived to this day to let petty, unwashed visitors try to worm their way into my home and I’m certainly too old to get sucked into pointless arguments by unreasonable people who should be mature enough to know better but I guess that, in the end, not everyone can mature at the same pace and some, even in their older years, will still argue about idiotic things because they feel the need to.

It baffles me, it does. What is the point, what is the need, why is it done at all? What comes from arguing about something like this when the final result will not even have anything to do with your own life?

I may be old but the world in general still confuses me. I may never truly understand its people and perhaps that is why I like my life to be as peaceful as it is. I am not one to mingle much, I’ve had to do it often before, when I still ran that school but that feels like a lifetime ago and that is saying plenty for someone of my age.

How Hoshi and Uriel both manage to run things as they do is something I applaud because it takes socializing skills that I no longer find myself able to hold on to after all of these years. I feel as though I’ve done my part and that is all there is to it. Now and again, Hoshi does draw me into the meetings since I am keeper of the stars but most of the time, I am left to my own things and that is perfectly fine by me.

Aren’t you going to invite me in?

Timeline/World: Main Profile
Characters: Dalath Dryhten
Race: Angel – Stars
Age: 17 000 010, physically about 27
Final Word Count: 525 words

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It might very well just be my age, though I do not actually feel old but I know I am, my bones know I am, my memories go back a long time and while I know I have forgotten some of it—I am old enough to warrant that, thank you—I remember most of my life, the important and less important bits all the same, but I do not like to let particular people into my home. Though just the same, that may be a normal sort of thing, I believe. There are some unsavoury people I have met, some that were good folks when they were met but turned bad, there are all kinds in the world, after all.

Just a few moons ago—yes, I live by the moons and stars far more than by the day, I am keeper of the stars after all—one of said unsavoury folks showed up at my door, all smiles and fake warmth, requesting that I let them step inside. I stared at them for a long, long while, their slight frame, far too plump from fatty weight, the lack of grace, the stench of unwashed flesh all about, it was hard to take them seriously and I did the simplest of things: I spoke no words, I merely closed the door, not sharply, not in a rage, no, I slowly closed the door, locked it and went back to the book I had been reading for a short while now, mind lost to the story it told.

There was insistent knocking at the door and I ignored it as well as I ignored the foul visitor, having no desire to see them in my home, I could already imagine their stench almost reach out with grabby hands to settle into my walls and my curtains, my furniture. The very knocking came and went for almost an hour, the same pattern that has always been theirs. I ignored it throughout until it left altogether and only then was I able to actually focus on the book I so badly sought to finish.

At my age, there still is plenty I am willing to try for entertainment but nothing will ever beat the beauty of a well-written book, the flowing words, the wonderful characters, the engaging storyline. Books are the one thing that has ever truly been a constant in my life, that is, once they became a common theme amongst the mortals who now write them. Before, I preferred the sound of music, even simply the one offered by nature. The rustling of the wind through the leaves? Beautifully soothing. The pitter-patter of rain against a roof, against windows? I could drift off to sleep listening to it. Music does not always have to be made by breathing beings to be just that, music. That is how I see it.

Peace has been returned to me and I am more than grateful for it. I am a quiet soul, I seek no distractions from my days and while some might believe that company would do me well, I am fine on my own.