#winner reader

Emily was a whirlwind of joyful energy and ivory feathers as she spun through the skies of Heaven. She hummed a tune as bright and fresh as a summer morning, her flight forming an erratic, whimsical path.

The residents of Heaven were more than familiar with the woman currently dancing her way through the skies above. The blue-frilled Seraphim whose silver-bell laughter often heralded her arrival, a beloved guardian ensuring their eternity was a tapestry woven only with strands of purest delight.

Her spirits soared, even higher than their usual heavenly altitude. She'd just ticked off the last item on her shimmering to-do list, a scroll of light she'd conjured to double-check herself.

"Creation tasks, check!" she chirped to herself, a bright golden check mark appearing on the manifested paper. "All the domains prepped and ready for future arrivals, check! And the welcome tour for today's flock of blessed souls… done, done, and done! Oh, what a wonderfully productive little piece of eternity this is turning out to be!"

She was mid-twirl, savoring the feeling of a job well done, when a soft, melodic thrum resonated around her neck. There, a delicate, star-shaped charm nestled amongst the folds of her sash, dangling by a glistening golden chain. It was less a literal sound, and more of a gentle vibration against her angelic essence; the charm pulsed with a warm, bright glow as it called to her.

Emily paused instantly, her eight wings flaring to bring her to a nearly effortless, graceful halt mid-air. Her ivory locks, usually swaying with her exuberant movements, swung with the shift in momentum before they settled gently against her ash-hued skin.

The charm's glisten and the song it sang to her soul was a "Whisper of Want," a subtle signal the angelic network used. Each soul in Heaven resided within their own personalized domain, a bubble of bliss they could shape to their heart's content, a place other souls could not wander without invitation. Usually, these domains radiated pure contentment, a harmonious chord in Heaven's grand symphony. But sometimes, a soul might develop a deep, unarticulated yearning for something they couldn't attain alone. The charms, attuned to these subtle emotional currents, would alert helpers like Emily.

"Oh!" Emily’s eyes widened with earnest concern, her smile softening from one of pure joy into a determined grin of eager purpose. The charm pulsed again, a little warmer this time, and a faint, shimmering thread of golden light, visible only to her, unfurled from it, leading downward and off to a soul's personal domain. "Someone needs a little Heavenly help! Right then, duty calls!"

With a renewed burst of energy, though this time more focused, she followed the golden thread, her expression a mixture of curiosity and eagerness. "Don't you worry, whoever you are!" she called out to the general direction of the signal, "Emily's on her way!"

***

"Wow, you know what? This is actually kinda fun!" You said, giggling to yourself at the splash of color now lighting up the room. "Good way to get my mind to stop wandering, too. Gonna be a mess if I add much more, but I guess that's fine. Maybe another one... here?"

With a flourish of your arm, bright purple paint splattered itself across the white canvas before you. Canvas, in this case, being your entire rec room wall. The purple had a beautiful stripple of hues and mixed colors along its length as it partially blended with the other colors behind it, often in ways that didn't quite make sense to you.

"Then again, what's to make sense? I'm painting a wall made of clouds, with... actually, should I even call it painting?" You glanced down at your hand for a moment, brows furrowing in a mix of amusement and curiosity. There was no tool there, nor were there any cans of paint strewn about your feet, despite the plethora of colors now coating the wall. You took a short moment to consider the surrealism of your situation, the absurd and wonderful nature of painting on a wall that you'd formed from clouds, using paint that didn't exist, and all with little more than a thought.

Your contemplation was disrupted every so subtly by a familiar, faint whooshing sound – so subtle you barely registered it, only a faint awareness tingling at your mind. That tingle turned into a physical jump when, just a moment later, three excitable knocks sounded on your front door. Unexpected guests were a bit startling at the best of times, but in the privacy of your own domain in this blissful afterlife, it was enough to completely break you out of your amused reflections.

"Um... who is it?" You asked, loudly and with no small amount of uncertainty, leaning back to look toward the front door. You could just barely see from where you were, but a quick flash of silver and blue gave the visitor away just before she started to call out to you.

"Hi! It's Emily again, super-excited to come help you out today! Mind if I come in?"

"Oh, Emily!" A smile bloomed on your face unbidden. You tried to stifle it, at least a little, a familiar warmth already spreading through your chest at just the thought of her. "Sure thing, come on in!"

The door opened without further prompting, swinging wide open, coming to a gentle rest against the entryway wall. Emily walked inside the moment the way was clear—or perhaps fluttered would've been a better way to describe the little mix of steps, bounces, and gentle flaps of her wings that carried her over to you in just a couple of seconds. Emily's eyes were curious and alert, but her smile was as bold as ever, and her hands could never seem to linger in one spot for long as she enthusiastically greeted you.

"Hi! Oh gosh, it's so good to see you again!" Emily chirped. She spiraled around you in a flurry of blue and ivory, leaning in so close her face nearly brushed yours, her nearness sending a jolt—pleasant, yet flustering—through you. "How have you been? What can I do for you? Ooh, I'm really digging the colors in here. Are you redecorating?"

"Uh, kind of," you admitted, unable to fight back a grin as the eager angel swirled around you. "I was actually just thinking this place needed a change, and I couldn't decide what. I remembered you saying that up here we could do just about anything, and, errr, I might have gone a little wild."

Heat rushed to your cheeks at the admission. Considering that all the furniture in your rec room was shoved aside, the walls now proudly displaying a color palette best described as "rainbow of madness", you couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious. You knew Emily wouldn't judge your 'rainbow of madness'—she was the least judgmental being you'd ever met—but still...

"Well, there's nothing wrong with getting excited about a change of pace!" Emily bubbled, giggling openly as she floated a little closer to the walls, eyeing the vivid sprays with such fascination that she almost appeared to be decoding the meaning underneath. "And if you're really having trouble getting things figured out, I bet that's why I got called here! Would you like some help? I mean, I wouldn't ever touch a mortal's domain without permission, of course, but I could totally give some great ideas to brighten the place up!"

"Wait, wait, you were called here?" Your head tilted, a note of flustered confusion dangling in your voice. "I didn't call you here, Emily. I don't mind you stopping by, but are you sure this is the right place?"

"Yup! Sure as sunshine that I'm right as rain!" Emily proudly swirled to face you, abandoning her search of your crude Pollock imitations to give you her full attention. "I guess the last few times I've been so busy introducing you to the way things work up here, I never really explained the angelic side of things! You see, we have these little charms that... huh."

Emily didn't quite frown, but her smile faded into a neutral, slightly perplexed line as she lifted up a cord hung around her neck. Dangling from that necklace was a little golden star, a beautiful thing in its craftsmanship and the slight glow that it gave off—though Emily didn't seem to share your appraisal of it, at least not in that moment.

"That's so weird," Emily murmured, so distracted that she touched down fully, her feet planting firmly on the smooth floor and, for once, remaining there. It took her a full three seconds to recover, a record in the short time you'd known her, and even then there was a touch of uncertainty to her smile. "Well, it doesn't matter. It was blazing like a little sun when I was on my way here, and it led me right to your domain!"

"To me? What's it do?" You asked, eyeing the little star-shaped pendant. The glow was gone entirely now, and Emily was staring at it with a little bit of concern now.

"Oh! Right, I didn't explain that part. Sorry, I got a little thrown off by how it's acting! This is a little charm some of the brightest angels whipped up for us caretakers! It lets us hear when a mortal soul is letting out a 'Whisper of Want'!" Emily quietly released the charm and tucked it back under the cover of her pristine dress.

"A Whisper of Want? Is that some kind of angelic magic?"

"Actually, that's just something that happens up here in Heaven. The magic is the charm itself," Emily said with a dainty little nod. "This charm is designed to tune into those whispers and let us know someone needs help! Whisper of Want are what we call it when one of you blessed souls has a desire you can't quite fulfill on your own. Sometimes it's something they don't know how to create, even in their little private domains, but a lot of times it's something a little more abstract. Y'know, like, they're not feeling fulfilled, or they just feel like something big is missing, you know? And it can help with that too!"

"Okay, I think I get it," you murmured with a nod. "That seems really helpful. So does it say what I want?"

"Well, um, usually it would give us a clue—sometimes it can even tell us directly, if the person knows what they want, but most of the time it's not quite that clear. It's more of a general 'feeling' of what would make that person happy than the whole answer, but at least enough to point us in the right direction. Except..." Emily tapped the front of her dress, the fabric conforming as she pressed her fingertips against the charm. "Normally I'd just have you touch it—that's enough for it to read your heart's desire and help us out. But for some reason, it's deactivated now. Any chance you know what might have set it off?"

"Well..." You swiveled your head, checking out the freshly painted interior of your rec room, particularly the mess that used to be a blessedly monochrome wall. "I guess I have been feeling like I wanted something, but I thought I was just feeling antsy. That's why I figured a little change of scenery might spice things up."

"Huh. Most mortal souls take a few years to get bored enough to start getting wild with the decorations, or even rebuild their whole house, but honestly, it's always so much fun when they do!" Emily giggled, her concerns seemingly forgotten as she lifted off the ground and returned to inspecting your vivid works. She didn't just seem to be doing her duty, either; Emily never did. She always seemed genuinely interested in every little thing that you changed between her visits.

"I wasn't really bored, but I thought it might settle me down," you said, blushing. "It was just kind of a spur of the moment thing."

"Well, it must be working, since the charm isn't alerting me anymore," Emily pointed out. You nodded, though a tiny, unbidden thought pricked at you: had it been the decorating? You didn't think a paint-splattered rec room was really what you'd been missing in life. "But if you'd like, I can stick around and give you some ideas! Or I can just watch you work for a while, see if it comes back on."

"I'd love that!" You couldn't help the enthusiasm as you spoke up perhaps a little too quickly—Emily's energy was infectious at the best of times, and hearing her so excited about your wild paint slinging made you feel a lot better about it. Especially her offer to stick around... "But I'd feel bad taking up your time just to watch me throw a bunch of paint at the wall. Literally. Metaphorically? Literally throw, but with metaphorical paint?"

Emily let out a glimmering peal of laughter as you scrunched up your face in an attempt to find real words that could describe the unreal activity. "That's sweet of you, really. But you don't need to worry about it! Time works a little differently inside a domain, especially with Heaven's magic helping out! How do you think we manage to attend to so many mortal souls? Sure, we get a few new helper angels every now and then, but there's always more of you wonderful souls joining us in bliss every day."

"Oh! So how long can you stay?" You asked, your enthusiasm soaring as surely as if Emily herself was lifting you up into the air.

"I'm not leaving until I'm sure you're as happy as you can be!" Emily vowed, giving a mock salute. "And I'm already brimming with ideas to throw at you!"

"Well, I'd feel a little silly if you were just sitting there throwing ideas at me... how about you throw some paint, instead?" You held out your hand to Emily, mimicking the handle of a bucket. You felt pretty ridiculous for a moment, but when she let out a giggle that sounded like a chorus of songbirds and took the "bucket" from you, any of your little social anxieties still hanging around faded into nothing.

"Alright, let's pain the town blue! And pink. Ooh, and there's this color you mortals can't see when you're alive called asuhana! You're gonna love it!"

----

"Mmm, you know what? You're right, it does look better that way," Emily agreed. You were having a hard time telling whether she was serious or not, though, with the way she was clearly covering her mouth and stifling a laugh.

"Oh, don't you know, Emily?" You stuck your nose up and gestured at the atrocious, tornado-like blend of turquoise and some mixture of orange and pink that you had dubbed 'Cotton Candy Nightmare'. It was now covering the span of the wall behind your flatscreen, a somewhat appropriate place, given that the canvas had become gaudier and more nauseating than even the worst of reality shows. "This is high class decorating expertise here. Absolutely cutting edge."

"Oh, absolutely," Emily managed to get out between her titters. "But it could use one more finishing touch."

"What's tha-"

"This!" Emily reached out and dashed a finger over your nose. Just like with the walls, her gesture plastered a vivid streak of Halloween-fueled heinousness right across the bridge of your nose, only a little off-kilter from how hard she was laughing as she did it—laughter that redoubled when she pulled away and got a good look at you.

"Oh, very funny." You crossed your arms for a moment, feigning outrage as you rolled your eyes. "Let's see if it's as funny when the other angels get a load of this!"

"N-no! Don't you dare," Emily shouted, letting out a squeal as her wings fluttered and sent her to the ceiling. She dodged the next swipe of your arm, too, which coated your ceiling in a fluorescent purple gradient.

"Get down here, you little cheater!"

You couldn't say how long the two of you went on like that. It didn't take long before you weren't even saying anything, too busy laughing and flinging yourselves around, coating the few surfaces the two of you had left untouched in a fresh layer of neon insanity. Eventually, though, the paint war was abandoned. Exhausted and giddy, you found yourself leaning against Emily in the midst of your technicolor battlefield, gasping for air you technically didn't need but still weren't used to ignoring. Her shoulder was warm beneath yours, and the shared laughter felt like a melody.

"T-thank you, Emily. R-really," you stammered out between convulsions, chest heaving with the aftershocks of pure, blissful laughter. "This really helped. I feel great!"

"Aww, I'm so happy to hear that!" Emily was still quivering with mirth herself, but she managed to keep her voice much more level than you did. "I love making people happy. It's one of my greatest joys, and my favorite duty in all of Heaven, to put a smile on as many faces as possible. Plus, I had a lot of fun too!"

"I really can't express how much it means to know that you're looking out for me. For everyone, I mean." You emphasized your words with a nod, and Emily's eyes shone with appreciation.

"Aww, thank you! I just do what I can, really. Heaven is supposed to be the most perfect place to spend eternity. That's why I don't rest until this little..."

Emily reached up to her neckline as she spoke, tugging on the chain still hung neatly around her neck. Her mouth opened, poised to say something about 'this little...' but the words died on her lips. Her gaze snagged on the charm.

The now glowing charm.

"It started working again?" You had a strange feeling that you should have kept your mouth shut, but it was so easy to let your guard down around Emily that you didn't think twice before voicing the thought.

"It should never have stopped." Emily actually frowned, something you almost never saw. She twisted it into an almost sarcastic smile, gesturing in disbelief at the little golden star. "I mean, gosh, this is Heaven! Things don't break around here, they're perfect!"

"But then, why would it..." This time, you did manage to quiet the words, though not before the first few escaped. A prickle of awareness, sharp and sudden, coursed through your mind. It was a dawning, unwelcome suspicion you’d been trying to ignore, a thought that seemed too arrogant, too presumptuous to actually consider as real. It didn't seem to matter; Emily looked at you in a way that made you feel like you were the one with wings, and she seemed to immediately understand what you'd been about to say.

"You know, I have no idea! But there's a really good way to find out!" Emily said, her smile returning in full force as she stepped closer. Your heart sped up as she cupped the little five-pointed pendant and thrust it toward you. "C'mon, touch it! I'm kind of excited. I've never seen a charm act like this before, so I get to help you, and I get to learn something new!"

Your stomach churned at the idea, though you couldn't admit to yourself exactly why. But you were startlingly certain you'd never be able to undo it if that little pendant could truly reveal your inner desires.

"Emily, I- I dunno, I feel pretty happy right now. It's probably fine if you just head out, right?" You murmured, staring at the star-shaped device with an unusual amount of anxiety. The reason for that anxiety was still eluding you, but it was insistent and only growing stronger.

"C'mon, don't be afraid! I promise, all it'll do is give us a little idea of what you really need to be happy," Emily chirped. "Maybe something that's a little too complicated to just make on your own when you haven't been in Heaven very long? I'm really curious what it could be, though. It could be a water park, or a vacation to a beach somewhere, or a nice picnic, or... gosh, maybe a hike on a nature trail? I've only been on a few of those. We could recreate your favorite one from Earth! I can kind of see everything down there from up here anyway, but it's so different when you're walking through it yourself."

As Emily daydreamed all sorts of scenarios of shared adventures, her innate enthusiasm seeped into you too. You found yourself smiling, imagining these things with her. Lost in the pleasant reverie she was painting, she didn't immediately notice the charm in her hand had once again dimmed, its golden light fading to nothing as your own quiet contentment grew in her presence. Her rambling about taking you to a nice orchestral concert came to a slow halt as she stared at the device, and for the first time, you saw Emily start to grow genuinely frustrated. Maybe even a little angry.

"Oh, c'mon! I was just getting excited, too. Maybe this thing really is busted," Emily said, pulling the necklace off entirely so that she could hold the band and dangle the unlit star right in front of her face.

"Well..." You couldn't help biting your lip a little as you stared at the charm. You had a pretty good feeling as to what exactly it was alerting Emily to. Something you'd been wondering about, but were still trying to figure out yourself. You tried to sound nonchalant as you conjured up another explanation for it. "What if it's just something minor? Maybe it's something that I don't really want all that bad, so it's kind of oscillating on and off as my mood swings?"

"Goodness, no!" Emily giggled despite her frustrations, idly reaching up to flick at the charm, twirling the necklace as she spun the little star. "If these things could catch on to little whims and muses that passed that easily, we'd never get anything else done, even if we dilated time all the way up to a billion-to-one inside of mortals' domains! A Whisper of Want is supposed to be something pretty big. Something that makes the difference between eternal bliss and eternal 'meh'!"

"You're sure?"

Emily gave a little shrug. "I mean, I guess since it's acting weird, anything could be possible. But if it's getting more and more sensitive, it should be going off like crazy—if not for you, then for all the other human souls around here. I think I'll play it safe, though. I'm gonna head out and take this thing back to the other angels, see if... oh, come on!"

Emily pouted and puffed out her cheeks as the charm lit up once again in the middle of her talking. She held the chain up a little higher and gesticulated wildly at the offending device, seemingly expecting you to share her frustrations. You were too busy with the growing awareness that the angel's charm might be reacting to exactly what you thought it was. Your expression must have given your thoughts away, because her shared grievances immediately melted away, replaced with a concerned curiosity.

"Is something wrong?"

The worry in her voice was almost enough to make you start screaming it all to protect her, but you clung to your hesitation like a raft adrift in a storm of guilt.

"No, no, it's... I was just trying to think of what might be going on. Could be anything, though, and it's not like I know anything about this sort of thing. Um, just ignore me, Em."

"No, hang on, you do know something, don't you?" Emily's smile tried to spread, but there was a hesitation on her face that mirrored your own. "C'mon, tell me! It's gonna drive me crazy, otherwise. Besides, if you figured it out, don't you wanna feel super-mega-happy?"

"Well, it's not like I'm sure or anything. I might be wrong. Or it might be something I can't have!" You jittered as you tried to turn your head away, but hesitated long enough for your eyes to wander back. The moment you saw the worry and hurt on her face, the battle was lost. You couldn't bring yourself to turn away from her again.

"Can't have? This is Heaven! I'm sure we can work something out. But you gotta tell me what it is! Or I could try again, but..." Emily bit her lip as she looked down at the charm. It was still glowing, though it was already starting to flicker a bit, and she seemed reluctant to even move while the little star was still glimmering in golden light.

"No, it's probably dumb anyway. I think you're right, Em... you should go. Maybe they can fix it, or…"

"Hey, wait a second…"

Emily's brows furrowed a little as the charm started to grow even more brightly, a gleaming star that practically lit up the room. Confusion and worry melded together in her face, swirled about for a moment, and emerged as something like slow recognition. Her eyes traveled from the star, to you, and back to the little charm again, a deep understanding slowly growing in her eyes. A knot formed in your stomach as her sky-blue eyes lifted again, and this time, they stayed locked directly on your own.

"So, it was glowing like crazy when I came here. But then after I showed up and painted with you, and then tried to tell you about it, it had gone out all on its own."

Emily shifted a little as she recounted the events of her arrival. Her fingers danced along the ridges of the little charm, which was no longer flickering or dimming. If anything, it was continuing to grow brighter, and you swore you could hear some kind of hymn rising from the stone. She finally broke the stare with you, eyes swooning down to the stone that she was now caressing almost protectively.

"And then it came back on when I talked about leaving to get it fixed. But it went out again when I was just... talking about fun things we could do. Together."

"Seems pretty unrelated. Kind of random, even." The lie tasted foul, and worse, mediocre.

"No, not random," Emily whispered, sounding far more confident than you were comfortable with. "I don't think so, anyway."

"Well, it's hard to say for sure, so maybe you sh-"

You blinked, words lost as Emily gusted toward you. A single step fueled by her divine wings, wind brushing your face as she closed the gap in an instant. You winced, expecting her to thrust the charm into your hand. You flinched away reflexively, but instead of the charm, you felt something soft weaving between your fingers, nestling into your grip. Her soft, ashen-gray fingers laced around yours, holding you in place with the gentlest of pressure to still your reflexive jerk, if only for an instant. An instant was all it took. The moment that you realized Emily was holding your hand, you stopped pulling away, your fingers cradling hers against your palm tenderly.

The charm's light faded in an instant, and whatever light the little charm lost soon appeared again in Emily's beaming smile. Cerulean pools sparkled as she slowly looked up at you, a more tentative smile painted on her features than usual, the faintest touch of darker gray blended with pink blossoming on her cheeks. She held your gaze for just a heartbeat or two, then her eyes slid downward to the dimmed necklace.

"You know, I thought I was just imagining it at first, but... it seems like it's sensing a Whisper from you whenever I talk about leaving, or when you think I'm about to leave. And it deactivates when we're... well, when we're like this. Or when I'm just here spending time with you in the moment," Emily said, her voice as calm as ever, only the gentlest notes of hesitation in her tone. She kept her hand right where it was, a fact you were grateful for. You were so embarrassed, so ready to cave in on yourself, it felt like if she'd pulled away you might simply shatter on the spot.

"O-oh, has it been doing that? I didn't, um," You couldn't bring yourself to lie quite that directly, something Emily seemed to pick up on. Her smile widened a bit, and her voice took on a playfully accusatory tone.

"You know why, don't you?" Her eyes narrowed conspiratorially, and she leaned in a little closer. "Come on, please. I want to hear it."

"It's not really something that should worry you. I'll be okay, Emily."

"Okay isn't good enough in Heaven, silly!" Emily's smile stayed as it was, but you could see the drop in her mood, the worry building behind the happiness. Knowing that you were the cause, even more directly this time, made your own heart wilt. "You know you can tell me anything, right? It's not my job to judge, it's my job to help you."

"I shouldn't. It's not, I mean- it's not-" There were a lot of ways to finish that sentence, ways you could have deflected her questions. But you couldn't come up with any of them. All you could think about was how soft her skin felt against yours. "Look, maybe I have a guess, but even if I'm right, it's not exactly something that's in your job description. It's not something I expect you to help me with, Emily."

"Maybe I can help anyway?" Emily suggested, still not backing away. "I just need to hear you say it. Please?"

If you'd had any lingering doubts, the way she looked at you then, the way she practically whispered the last word to you certainly cleared them away. The little twinkle in her eyes, sad as they were growing, was a little too understanding.

"...Remember last time you came over?" You sighed as the words finally escaped you.

"Of course I do! I remember every time I visit a mortal," Emily said without hesitation. "Your ten-month check-in a few days ago. You were making dinner when I got here, and I brought you a bunch of my favorite recipe books since you seemed so excited!" The angel's usual joy overtook her again as she recounted the interaction, genuine interest and happiness overtaking the shadows that had touched her face.

"Yeah. That was when you taught me it's a lot more complex to make things you didn't see in life. I was a pretty awful cook when I was alive," you admitted sheepishly. "I never spent much time learning, so I couldn't make any of those cookbooks on my own. Always felt like something else took priority, so I mostly lived off of frozen food."

"Well, you've improved a lot since then! It really made me happy to see how much fun you were having. Even if the kitchen was a little messy by the time we were finished." Emily put her free hand over her heart as she giggled, never breaking eye contact.

"I never expected you to join in and help me. I mean, I wasn't exactly surprised. You're one of the nicest people I've ever met, alive or dead, human or angel." Your voice grew quieter as you went on. You recalled the memory of Emily flinging mashed potatoes at you in the middle of a grueling cooking spree, and the scene put a tender smile on your face and a blossoming warmth in your chest.

"Aww, thank you so much. You're really wonderful too!" From anyone else, the compliment would've sounded generic and reflexive, but Emily never failed to make her words seem genuine. "I've been really impressed at how much you've been growing since you passed on. Heaven has done wonders for you!"

"Well... yeah, Heaven has," you agreed after a brief pause. "It took me a while to adjust to everything, to sort of process the reality of it all. But now I have. And your last visit was the first time you'd stopped by that I truly felt settled, like I could be myself in this afterlife. Everything had sort of clicked into place. And that's probably why it was the first time I started to realize..."

Your heart was pounding so loudly you were sure she could hear it, but you nodded sternly and forced yourself to continue.

"I've been thinking about how nice it always is when you stop by a lot the last few days. Especially today. And, well, then you showed up here, talking about that little charm of yours. ...The one that tells you when people want something really, really badly…"

You trailed off, hoping she wouldn't make you say it outright. Despite all her suspicions, the clear look in her eyes, there was still a twinge of shock that shook its way over Emily's features as you trailed off. A delicate blush, the same that had touched her cheeks earlier, bloomed again behind her gray-hued skin.

"Oh." The quiet understanding in that single syllable was palpable. She pulled in on herself a little, her free arm tucking behind her as she turned, peeking at you from over her shoulder, white locks almost veiling the shy surprise in her eyes. "So that's, um, that really is why it keeps acting like this? Why it lights up when I'm leaving... and why...?"

"Emily, I'm really sorry," you began, sighing immediately when you heard her shy words. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, I tried to-"

"No! No, no, don't apologize," Emily interrupted, her shyness fading behind a rush of concern. She brought her hand back around to wave off your guilt as if she could actually scare it away. "I'm not uncomfortable! This is just, um, it's kind of new to me. That's all."

"New to you?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, like I said, most mortals are too uncomfortable around me to even talk normally for a while," Emily explained. "And sure, there are lots that like hanging out, or come say hi to me in the public areas, but I've never met one that, um, that liked me enough to set off a Whisper. I mean, that's what you're saying, right? That you like me?"

"Y-yeah. I think that's... what I've been starting to realize," you finally admitted outright.

"Aww, and you were too shy to come out and say it? That's so sweet!" Emily purred. Her free hand clasped together with the one still locked around yours.

"I mean, not just that, it's- I mean, you're an angel, Em." You gave a little shrug, letting that explain it all.

"So?" Emily returned your shrug, hers even more casual than yours. "We're really not all that different from you mortals, at the end of the day. Angels have relationships too, you know. Well, you know, most of them."

"Not you?"

"No. I mean, I'd certainly like to!" Emily said, her blush deepening as she realized the implications of what she'd said. "But I have so much fun and feel so great helping mortals out that I've never really gone looking for it."

"I know how passionate you are about it. About everything, actually." Emily giggled at your words, giving a bow of her head at the acknowledgment of her passions. "That's why I didn't want to say anything. Like I said, this goes beyond your job duties. Plus, I was afraid of making you feel awkward around me, and... then I wouldn't even get to be friends with you anymore."

"What? Oh, don't be silly! I'd never stop being your friend, especially over something like that. You're way too wonderful of a person for that!" Emily scoffed, batting away the very idea of such a thing with a twist of her wrist. "And you may be right about it being a little outside the scope of my responsibilities, but... that doesn't mean it's not something I can help you with!"

You went still for a moment as the lingering relief and the thoughts still bouncing around your head all vanished in an instant. Emily had spoken the last words more quietly, more tentatively, but with enough vigor and enthusiasm that you knew she meant them. And yet you still swallowed nervously, still felt a rush of anxiety returning as you began to speak.

"Emily, I don't want you to 'help' me with this, I-"

"Oh gosh! Not like, as a task, or as part of my job," Emily rushed to clarify, her fingers tightening on yours out of worry, and the sensation made you blink a little.

In the rush of your confession and her reassurances, you'd almost forgotten your hands were still linked. Now, a soft warmth spread through you as the realization dawned: even through your stammered feelings and her own surprise, she hadn't pulled away. Her fingers were still intertwined with yours. Emily noticed the realization in your gaze, and your palpable relief. Her smile, already sweet, grew impossibly wider.

"What I meant was, well, I've never really done anything like this. Let alone with a mortal. But it's not something I'm opposed to! And you seem really nice, so I mean... if it makes you happy to spend time together, and it makes me happy, why not do that?"

You were still trying to get the words to straighten out in your head when she continued again. A deep gray with shades of pink blossomed on her white-freckled cheeks as she spoke.

"We can explore this together. It'll be a learning experience for both of us!" Emily's fingers wrapped around to stroke the back of your hand. "I'll stop by more often. We can spend time together, and have all kinds of fun, and keep making each other happy. And we can just... see where we want things to go from there?"

It was the most uncertain you'd ever heard Emily sound about... well, anything, as far as you could remember in the short time you'd known each other. But the little tentative smile she gave you was every bit as adorable as her fully-fledged one, and the way her skin brushed against yours sent little thrills from your hand all the way up to your chest.

"Now that sounds like Heaven."

Emily giggled and snorted at your words, covering her mouth with one hand, still refusing to release you with the other.

"That one was so bad! I think I owe you for that one," Emily teased, giving you a teasingly reproachful look as she stepped back.

"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it?" You taunted, laughter coloring your voice as much as it did hers.

"Boop!"

Emily reached up and flicked your nose, adding a bright blue streak at an angle to the nightmarish orange that you'd never actually cleaned off. Your eyes crossed as you stared in shock at the unexpected blemish—meanwhile, Emily was already pulling away from you, her wings kicking into overdrive as she lifted off again.