SINNERS GO TO HEAVEN, JUST MAKE SURE YOU KILL GOD

BAD IDEA

Cassiel woke up the next morning on the couch, still able to smell the faint trace of coffee on her clothing. Her neck hurt when she moved from sleeping on such a stiff surface. Cassiel yawned, picking herself up from the couch. She looked up at the barely moving clock on the wall, spotting the time was just past noon. She'd had trouble sleeping after the somewhat large amount of coffee she'd had the night before, so it was no surprise she'd woken up so late. She rubbed her eyes, strolling over to the kitchen area. Cassiel wasn't one for food as a general. Being immortal made it so she really didn't need to, and she'd never been on earth before her banishment, so eating and drinking was a fairly new experience.

Angels didn't really age once they hit their prime, and stayed looking as they did for the rest of their immortality. Of course they still felt pain and emotion, but they never really felt typical human needs, like eating or drinking, even sleeping. Being an angel was a lot of work, but none of them really noticed. The little amounts of time they spent on their duties was minuscule in comparison to the entirety of their eternal existence. Being on earth, where every single day was a new chance, and mattered to people of all kinds was a new feeling to experience to Cassiel.

The coffee that neither of them had managed to finish in one sitting had been hastily shoved into the fridge, and Cassiel quietly opened the white refrigerator. The two cups were sat on one of the glass shelves, and she took the one she knew was hers, based off the name scribbled onto the side of the disposable cup. The drink was plenty cold now, but still had the ghost of sweetness enough for Cassiel to enjoy. She downed the whole thing within a few seconds, hearing the sound of footsteps on the stairs outside, the apartment was too small to ignore any kind of sounds from the outside. Before she had time to guess who it might be, she heard the front door open, glanced around the corner, and saw a very beat up Marley making her entrance. She was way more roughed up than the previous day, the bandages on her hands more bloody than before.

Much to Cassiel's unanticipated horror, Marley coughed a few times, shoving the door closed with her foot. Cassiel felt a sudden flood of concern wash over her, despite how badly she tried to fight it off. "What the hell happened?" She blurted, watching Marley pull a smaller bundle of cash out of her jacket pocket, absentmindedly setting it down on the side table. Cassiel wandered over to the other girl, quickly glancing her up and down. She clearly got beat up several times over the course of her "job" today, and no matter how badly Cassiel tried to push her feelings to the back of her head, they kept bubbling up like bubbles in a soda can. Marley tried to take a few steps forward past Cassiel and towards the bathroom, but quickly stumbled several times. Cassiel's arms flew out from her sides, managing to catch her by the waist in the nick of time.

Marley looked down at her, nose and lip bleeding, her cheek very clearly bruising over. She looked rough, to say the very least. "I'm fine. You don't need to babysit me." She said, her tone of voice not exactly apprehensive, but definitely firm. Cassiel let go of her with just barely a ghosting linger of a touch. "You're bleeding and stumbling everywhere! Clearly you aren't fine." She said, her tone changing to more protective for a blink of an eye. Marley sat down on the bathroom countertop, lightly swaying her feet while taking the bandages off her wrists and knuckles. Cassiel stood in the doorway of the bathroom, watching the other girl attempt to clean herself up. Marley just threw the bandages in the washing machine like her usual routine, her hands slightly bloodied up, the cut from the previous day still visible on her palm, but mostly healed up. She couldn't help but watch while she rinsed her hands free of the grime, watching them come back to their regular, tanned color.

Cassiel felt the protective side of herself jump for a blink of an eye, and before she could even process it herself, she was shoving Marley down onto the couch. "Hey- what the hell? I'm fine, you don't need to play doctor or some crap right now." Marley retorted, but didn't try to get up from being sat down so abruptly. She looked more tired the longer she stayed seated on something more comfortable than the bathroom counter. "I have no idea how anyone heals themselves down here, but I know you are in no condition to do anything on your own." She replied quickly, wandering around for a few seconds to look for something that might assist her for the moment. It wouldn't be much, but a couple of colorful band-aids and a washcloth would be better than nothing at all. She quickly soaked the fabric under a bit of cold water and wrung it out with her pale hands, before returning to the other girl on the couch, her nose still barely dripping with crimson colored blood, like honey inside of a spoon.