Paperwork

Once upon at time in an world far different from ours lived the Grim Reapers.

Old stories tell the tales of these divine beings. In literature, they are often depicted as cloaked skeleton, a mere being whose only purpose is to harvest the souls of the dying and nothing more. In some older legends, they say they wield a sickle, what is known to be as their "death scythe" to collect the souls prepared to leave the world. Legends say that when you are at the brink of death, you might just be able to catch a glimpse of one just before you take your final breathe. Parents tell these tales to their young as they tuck them into bed at night. Most people wouldn't give it a second, soul harvesting? Great!

But they couldn't be more wrong.

You see, harvesting souls isn't the only job of the Grim Reaper. So listen closely to what I am about to tell you, I will only say this once, for you will not be able find this information in any book or ancient scripture. So hush little ones....

Ahhh paperwork.....

The thing that makes up about ninety-percent of a Grim Reaper's daily routine.

Contrary to popular belief, soul harvesting isn't they're only task, but rather consists of stamping "completed" on each and every human soul case in the ledger, signing forms that will be checked by the higher-ups, any reports of breaking of the rules and regulations the association has set forth, any notes regarding souls that may be spared from death, cafeteria statistics every month, Grell Sutcliff and his whereabouts, a list souls that have been consumed by demons, the most popular hallway music for the week, glasses appointment at the end of every month, reports on any injury or liabilities sustained by any of the reapers, and lastly, death scythe modification forms that need approval by the Administrative Division in order for it to be modified.

It would make even children willingly give up their souls.

It is also a great pain in the ass for those reapers who work for the Retrieval Division, who are almost always out and about in the field, so having them sit down in front a desk for a whole day signing form after form is enough to put them through a hell like they've never felt before. And boy, they thought their human lives were depressing, nothing compares to the pain of having to work overtime, with paperwork.

A great example would be the sound of one reaper banging his against his desk from across the hallway.

"Gah! Paperwork is the worst!"

Moving on...

Paperwork is also a great opportunity for making paper airplanes and shooting them across the rooms.

Oh look look! There's one, the chap with the braided blonde hair just threw one into the air! It looks like it's headed for the rubbish bin ladies and gentlemen! Will it make it? Will this go down in the books and ancient scriptures?

It's going....going.......aaaaaand-dammit, missed it just by an inch.

All the reapers in the breakroom sighed and turned to continue their work.

Oh well...

Paperwork also proves a threat to the rapidly decreasing population of trees in the human world, they are still trying to figure out the cause of an whole acre of apple trees suddenly disappearing in the middle of the night.

Now that you mention it, that apple pie sure sounds good, as it was nominated the top food pick amongst the reapers this very week.

Whoops...

So despite all the contraversy surrounding paperwork, the probably least back-breaking labor it has to offer is , aside from the things previously mentioned, is having to submit it to Management Division at the end of every day at exactly 5:00 o'clock, and getting to see my darling Wi--

"Sutcliff, do get that out of my face while I'm trying to work. I will not abide having overtime because of your constant rant about paperwork and what others think of it."

"Aww....just a little more film......please?" Grell pleaded as she held up her camera to focus on William's frowning face.

"GET OUT!"

"Yeesh okay okay I'm leaving!" Grell said as she was promptly poked out of William's office with the use of his scythe.

"I didn't even get a good shot...." Grell sighed sadly as she quickly skimmed through the footage, which was mostly just of Will's hand covering up the lens as she filmed him quietly doing his paperwork.

She then opened her camera once again and filmed her "documentary" one last time.

Such it was to be a reaper...

At that moment, a wad of paperwork was thrown at her face by a certain duo-toned haired reaper as he whistled and ran in the opposite direction.

"RONALD KNOX! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU! YOU WILL FACE A WRATH FAR WORSE THAN PAPERWORK!" she shrieked in his direction while gathering the fallen paperwork at her feet and chased after him.

Meanwhile her camera lay abandoned on the tile floor of the Grim Reaper Dispatch Association, film still rolling

Several footsteps could be heard echoing against the walls as we see black shoes come into the view of the camera. The camera is then picked up with a sigh, and turned around to face the person.

"Such it is to be a reaper indeed. But however tiresome paperwork may be, the most important task of a Grim Reaper to judge souls and determine whether they deserve death or not. We follow orders from on high, we don't ask questions, or make errors, that's it, nothing more, nothing less."

The moment the last word was uttered,

the film went dead.