When the Rain Falls

ad iudicium

4.

{for lindsey for being chill and a great writer}

Delia's grounded. Literally.

            When her father found out she'd lost a soul, there'd been hell to pay. Her father was so angry he didn't even know how to begin to punish her and therefore her consequence(s) shifted continually from helping Brenna with storm cleanup for a week (which was not fun but the addition of Brenna made the deal tolerable) to helping Harold with soul consoling (Delia would sooner spend a week in fucking hell - which was another punishment at one point - then help console souls) until her father finally settled on sending Delia to Earth until she could find James.

            "But Dad," she'd protested, very much aware of the resemblance between herself and a human teenage girl. "I hate Earth!"

            Her father had held his ground. "That's precisely the point, Delia Rose. Maybe you'll be more careful next time."

            "But I was careful, Dad! One second we were walking evenly through the streets, side by side, and the next he was gone, like a raindrop he slipped through my fingers. Just. Like. That," she snapped her fingers for emphasis. "I even looked for him, Dad!" Delia decided, intelligently, to leave out the part where the human boy helped her. Communication with a living human (Delia still isn't sure how that's possible) definitely would not have helped her case.

            "I don't care, Delia!" her father roared. "You're going to come back with that soul or you're not going to come back at all. Is that understood?"

            Foolishly, Delia had continued to protest. "But, Dad! That could take months, a year!"

            Uncharacteristically, Delia's father rolled his eyes. "And whose fault is that?" Delia had no reply. "Exactly. You'll stay on earth until you find that soul and then, and only then, will you be welcomed back here."

"But," Delia had been only mildly aware that most of her sentences in the conversation had begun with 'but'. "I don't even know where to stay!"

            "You better figure it out tonight then, because you're leaving first thing tomorrow morning."

            "That's not even fair," considering how much Delia hates humans, she had been surprised at how well she could act like one.

            "It's not fair that you just made my job, and everyone's jobs, a lot harder by losing a soul, Delia."

            She had sighed exasperatedly, "But I just mad one little mistake. I mean it's only one soul, and we have like a billion so really, it's hardly important."

            "Delia Rose!" her father was angry at that point. "That's it! You've only got one hour. You better figure out what you're doing pretty damn quickly because the moment the Eastern Time Zone clock strikes twelve, you're gone. Is that understood?"

            Delia only nodded meekly, at this point realizing that she'd maybe - she thinks it's possible - that she'd pushed her father just a little too far.

            She'd stood awkwardly behind her father for a few moments after because, even after nineteen years, she still didn't know at what point after a conversation with her father it was appropriate to leave.

"You can go, Delia," her father said tiredly, after a few moments. She took her cue and left immediately.

            Delia decided to pack some clothes and she may or may not have taken a few [hundred] dollars from her parents' "secret" (how's that working for you, Dad?) safe, but she kind of needed it. After all, they were kicking her out so she was entitled to some money, wasn't she? Plus, why did they even need human money? It's not like they could use it. All human money was good for was simple, mundane things like cheeseburgers and clothes. While reapers did need clothes, they did not need money to attain them. As for cheeseburgers, Delia could not speak for all of her family, or the reapers, but she did not have any interest in fatty, greasy cow topped with old cheese and weird sauces.