A Place To Mingle, And Mix, And Be (Angels)

Raziel did not know why she had heeded Gabriel's pleas for her to come to this party that the angels were holding tonight. They often held parties and Raziel was often too busy to attend, why would she want to be in a room of intoxicated people when they were sure to be going off and copulating in a corner somewhere by the end of the night.

Seeing Michael making out with some man, or some woman was not something that Raziel wanted to see her brother figure doing any time soon. It was because he was her brother figure however that she was going to this party.

It was to welcome a new replacement arch-angel, someone called Richard Baxter was replacing Azrael. She knew as much because it had been she who was on the judging panel the day that he was brought up here. He had flirted with her and she had indulged in the human like attention and might have flirted back.

Not wanting to 'lead the man on' she had dressed in merely soft jeans that hugged her legs and a white shirt and waistcoat. Hopefully he would not get the idea that she wanted to sleep with him, which of course as a human male who's main vice was sexual intercourse, was probably going to happen anyway.

Sighing softly as she looked around for Michael, Raziel nodded to a few fellow Arch-Angels and merely picked up a small glass of orange juice from a passing waiter.

Michael chuckled a little bit when Gabriel told him that he had managed to get Raziel to come out of her room and come to the party. In all likelihood she had heard that the new guy was going to be there and had come out to try her hand at some subtle 'real' flirting as opposed to reading about all the flirting and dirty scenes from her book.

The fact that all the dirty scenes in the book were real was just a little bit kinky to Michael.

Making his way over to Raziel, he grinned a little bit as he slid up quietly from behind her without her noticing his approach. He immediately smirked,

"Well look who decided to enter society again..." he teased her before kissing her lightly on the cheek with a happy grin, "It's lovely to see you again Raz... but seriously? Gabriel, of all people, convinced you?"

He pretended to pout for a second before smirking,

"I'm a little offended my expertise wasn't needed to pull you out here to interact." he smirked, "Or is the new guy that interesting hmm?"

Raziel couldn't stop the little ripple that ran through her when she picked up on a voice so close to her being, she knew immediately that this voice was belonging to Michael and was glad to have found someone that she could relate and talk to at this party. She had arrived to it late she assumed because lots of the angels were already imbibing quite a bit of alcohol.

Michael included if his breath was much to go by.

"Not so much convinced me, as, I could not take a second more of his self righteous attempt at flirting with me and so I agreed to attend this party in order to placate him some. He doesn't seem to be here right now which is good...let us hope one of his admirers has engaged his attention for the rest of this evening." Raziel sighed softly.

Taking a sip of her orange juice, she felt her eyes widening when Michael inferred that she was here because she wanted to see more of Richard Baxter. That was simply untrue. She was here to be polite and welcome the new Arch Angel into Heaven, and that was the only reason of course.

Why else would she be away from her reading?

"No he is not interesting I am merely here to be polite and welcome the new angel into Heaven before I retire to reading again." Raziel smiled shyly, before returning a kiss to Michael's cheek "It is most delightful to see you too Michael. We must see each other more often."

Richard had to admit that he was more than a little bit surprised by the fact that he had immediately been the subject of a party amongst the top tier of angels. What had shocked him much more than that was the fact that each and every angel here had some kind of addiction that made them seem as far from angelic as was possible!

He'd just seen Uriel having a threesome with a man and a woman behind the bar.

Raphael was still snorting coke.

And Gabriel seemed to be trying to convince everyone that he was the greatest warrior in the world by regaling them all with stories.

He staggered around trying to find Michael and when he did he found the angel in the company of the sexy-librarian from his hearing not too long ago. As he got closer he heard the end of Raziel's sentence and couldn't help but smirk a little bit as he came closer,

"I'm not interesting you say?" he teased her before grinning a little bit, "I'll have to try harder next time."

He took a glass of champagne from a nearby waiter and smiled in relief,

"I'm really glad to see you two... everyone else is just so... different to what I expected!" he told them with a small sigh, "I mean I saw Uriel having a threesome with a man and a woman and Raphael was snorting cocaine over there! Is this... is this normal?"

Raziel blushed a little bit when it seemed as if Richard had overheard what she had said about him, however it still was true...she had come here to be polite but it might not be the only reason. Who was to say the real reason why anyone did anything these days? There could be multiple reasons...and they could be layered like an onion in complexity.

Sighing softly she took a sip of her orange juice and clutched her book tighter in her hands;

"No you are not that remarkable for a human." she stated with a wry smirk "Maybe you will become suitably more intriguing now that you are an angel? Let us hope so."

The fact that everyone else was so different to what he expected them to be like was not an unusual sort of feeling. Everyone who saw the angels for who they really were, were surprised. People with these vices could be arch-angels? Yes, if the judge saw an overriding good within them, like Uriel had sex as a vice as did Richard.

"Of course it is normal, in fact normally people are a lot worse off by now." she stated with a disappointed sigh "Normally Michael is off joining in with Uriel, and they wonder why I never come to these parties, they scar ones mind."

Placing a hand on her hip, the cool glass pressing against her shirt;

"You will get used to seeing these things, and in fact you might start to do them yourself, you and Uriel are not that different with your vices after all."

Gabriel had noticed that Richard had left the small circle of adoring fans and had become annoyed by the angel's absence. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate his existing fans, it was just that he would much prefer to have new fans too! After all, someone with his level of greatness deserved to be admired by people who were going to be important and Richard was going to be an arch-angel very soon after all!

After finding Richard, he was pleasantly surprised to find him in the company of both Raziel and Michael!

All of the doubters in one group? Well this was just a chance for him to really get all three of them on board with the ideas he had been promoting about himself.

"Hello gang!" he greeted them brightly before sending a smouldering gaze at Raziel and smirking, "Hey Raziel..."

He patted Richard on the back, not noticing that he had sent the other man stumbling forwards with the blow. It wasn't like he had done it to show how powerful he was to Raziel. Nope. Nothing like that at all! Although, on an annoyed note, he had to admit that hitting Richard had been like hitting a brick wall. He would have to make sure the young man was taught his place. But first, he grinned at Raziel,

"Say Razi... I haven't seen you in awhile to be honest!" he smirked a little bit and nudged Michael out of the way in order to stand beside her, "How about we go get a drink at the bar to catch up?"

Raziel almost cursed when she saw Gabriel coming towards them, she wanted to hide behind the nearest potted plant if she was honest with herself. Although she knew that was rude, and it was too late now he had already spotted the group of them and he would surely follow her if she made a bee line to leave. He was just annoying like that.

Unfortunately, he was physically attractive she could not deny that.

The smouldering gaze made her flush a little bit and she wanted to slap herself for it, he was being such a sleeze ball but...she did enjoy the flirting. It made her feel good about herself.

"Greetings Gabriel." she murmured softly, nodding her head in recognition.

Gasping when he sent Richard stumbling with the force he had hit him with on the back, Raziel found herself as a precaution holding onto Richard's arm, just in case he had been going to fall. When she realised he had righted himself, she let go with a small smile.

Her attention was unfortunately turned back to Gabriel however when he stepped in between Michael and herself, she almost wanted to smack him. How dare he take even a second of time with Michael away from her!? She had just come to terms with what she had read and now he was taking more of him away from her?

"I know, I have been absorbed in my reading." she stated pointedly, so that everyone would know not to ask any more questions "I have a drink here though..." Raziel hummed, pointing to her orange juice "You know I don't drink alcohol Gabriel, and neither should you be." Raziel murmured, casually glancing up at him from under her glasses.

"Leave the girl alone Gabriel, we all know you'd spend more time admiring your naked body than she would!"

This loud declaration came from a rather scruffy looking Uriel, who was obviously between sexual partners at the moment if the red hand print on his left cheek was any indication. He pulled Gabriel back by his shoulder and pulled the man close so that his head was resting on his chest,

"She's out of your league boy!" he taunted the other arch-angel before winking slightly at Raziel, "Raziel is a woman of class... she requires much greater skills that what you possess Gabby!"

There was a muffled protested from Gabriel and that was when Uriel noticed that he had been covering Gabriel's mouth with his chest. He let him up for air and smirked when the other angel gasped for breath. He turned to the others with a small smirk,

"Oops..." he joked before grinning, "Nice to see you at a party again Raziel! You always do make then much more interesting!"

He turned to Richard and shook the man's hand,

"And you must be Richard!" he grinned, "We should meet up sometime, I have some friends you'd just love to meet I'm sure..."

Raziel grinned when she saw Uriel sticking up for her, she did like the older angel so, they had spent more time together in Heaven than a lot of other angels and as such she considered them to be good friends. Unable to stop her nose wrinkling a little bit though at the smell of sweat and also the heavy smell of sex that he brought with him Raziel was reminded that she was what humans referred to as 'forever alone'.

Always the prize to be fought for but never won, in the terms of sexual conquest anyway.

Giggling softly when she saw that Uriel was suffocating Gabriel she placed her hand over her mouth to try and conceal the sound and the sight. It wouldn't do to be seen to be making fun of a fellow arch angel, it was rude if nothing else.

"Thank you for the compliments Uriel, my friend." Raziel smiled softly "It seems to be a common thought that I make these gatherings much more interesting and yet you all seem to manage quite well enough without me here, like yourself, you appear to be having fun, I can most certainly smell it."

Wrinkling her nose playfully, Raziel smiled brightly, before picking up another glass of orange juice, having finished the last one trying to calm her blushing cheeks down. She was thankful for Uriel for stepping in with Gabriel, he certainly was a smooth talker and since she had come to terms with her reading, it seemed as if she was vaguely...numb.

"It is all thanks to Gabriel that I am here, he was quite...relentless."

Michael had to admit that he had honestly forgotten how annoying all of these people were when they were together. And they kept stealing his thunder too! It was his job to save Raziel from Gabriel when he was being a creep but Uriel had done it instead! How was he supposed to be a big brother when Uriel kept taking his jobs away from him eh?

But overall he was still happy that Uriel and Richard where here, even if he was much less excited about Gabriel being here too,

"You know Raz, for someone who doesn't like to party that much, you sure do bring in some interesting characters." he teased her with a wink before sighing a little bit, dramatically, and draping him all over Richard, "Oh woe is me! I wanted some alone time with my sister and instead I get a veritable cavalcade of people! All trying to woo her!"

He grinned wickedly as he slowly began drawing a knife he had hidden away in his shirt,

"I guess I'll have to fulfil my brotherly duty and unsure that my sister goes unviolated by you brutes!" he declared before smirking, "Now... who to start with?"

He laughed as he put the knife away again,

"Ah I love these parties... you really need to come out more with us Raziel. It's just never the same without you."

Raziel rolled her eyes a little bit when Michael started to talk, she did that a lot if she was honest with herself but she really did love it when they spoke together. It had been a while since they had spent some time together and now they were together everyone had decided to club together and have a big gathering, not that Raziel minded.

It had been a long while since she had been the center of anyone's attention, let alone a group of angels who could pass as quite attractive.

"Maybe next time you want to spend some alone time with me you should book a time when I am free. I am a very busy woman, after all." Raziel teased with a gentle purr "Besides I think if you didn't have the misplaced idea you need to protect me you would be pacing the floor with boredom."

Sighing softly, Raziel gently pushed Michael's arm;

"You know, it might be an odd notion but one of these days I might actually enjoy not having you around protecting advances from perfectly respectable angels. Of course you will still need to ward Uriel off." Raziel teased good naturedly.

Hugging her book to her chest, Raziel blushed sweetly and glanced up from under her glasses; "W-well you know me I'm quite the wall flower really I doubt I would be one for partying hard, as the humans would say."

Uriel laughed at Michael's little possessive play there with the knife and decided to play along with it by grabbing hold of Gabriel by the shoulders and using him as a human shield, easily picking the lighter angel up as if he weighed nothing,

"Not the knife!" he cried in amusement, "I best use my trusted Gabby-shield to protect me! Go ahead and stab away, I won't feel a thing!"

Seeing Raziel hugging her book to her chest, Uriel immediately noticed the effect it had on how her body was presented. He dropped Gabriel rather unceremoniously on the floor and turned to Raziel with a small smirk as he stepped closer to her. Glancing at both Richard and Michael, he leant in close to her ear to whisper so that only she could hear what he was saying,

"You and I both know you'd enjoy it a lot more if you were with someone who wasn't respectable." he teased her with a wink before pulling away, "They're just too goodie goodie for you my dear! Remember that!"

He turned to Richard before poking the man in the cheek and making a show of inspecting him,

"Although... give him a few years and he'll be just like me!" he grinned and wrapped an arm around Richard's shoulder and turned to Raziel, "What do you think huh? Separated at birth right?"

Raziel giggled again when Uriel used Gabriel as a shield against Michael and his knife, hopefully Gabriel would not take it too harshly however it was more than likely that he was going to be in a mood about it. She would have to cheer him up somehow or he was bound to be in a horrible mood for days to come, he would be insufferable.

"Oh Uriel you are too cruel." she grinned, shaking her head.

When Uriel stepped closer to her, Raziel blinked and she was a little bit shocked at the manner in which he was approaching her. It seemed as if his whole demeanour had changed...into an entirely more sexual state of mind.

What he said to her, made her cheeks flush and Raziel was suddenly reminded of something that she had read in her book one night, when she had come across one of the encounters that Uriel had with a fairly new angel in Heaven. In life she had been a nun and that and Uriel mixed...interestingly she could say that.

"Uhm...I... I will remember that thank you." she stated, shocked, but a pink blush still graced her cheeks.

Shaking her head, Raziel smiled at Richard;

"Not really, I find that you both are entirely different. I sincerely hope you will not be having threesomes with random people behind the bar Richard." Raziel smiled softly "It's something to be kept to private quarters in my belief, but then again, many have dubbed me 'old fashioned'."

Richard had to say... feeling jealous and possessive feelings over a woman you had just met not a few hours ago was kind of weird.

Wasn't it?

Yeah it probably was.

So then why was he feeling it so strongly towards Raziel when first Gabriel (a giant prick) and then Uriel both hit on her like that? He didn't know but what he did know was that he didn't like not being the one who was hitting on her!

When Uriel compared the two of them he gave the man a deadpan look,

"Yeah exactly alike... except I'm not sex-mad and stinking of sweat." he joked before smirking, "And I like to think I'm more of a gentleman."

When Raziel spoke to him about affection being shown in private he grinned a little bit and reached out for one of her hands, kissing the back of it with a small smirk,

"You are absolutely correct. A gentleman only shows a lady the true extent of his affections in private where the moment is between the two of them." he agreed, looking dead in Raziel's eyes and not looking away, his gaze intense and full of latent arousal and energy, "You are not old fashioned Raziel... you're a woman out of my own heart."

Raziel was actually beginning to wonder if the boys were trying to wind her up with all of this flirting, or if Michael had put them up to it because he knew that she had been feeling very low recently and she needed a little bit of a pick me up. Biting her lip softly she tried to regain some form of composure and stop herself from dwelling on their comments, from taking them too seriously in case they were just teasing.

When Richard said he liked to think that he was more of a gentleman, Raziel snarked softly before covering her mouth with her hand, a little ashamed that sound had come out. Of course she had been reading about Richard and most of his exploits were far from gentlemanly.

"Have you turned over a new leaf since you entered Heaven then, Richard?" she asked with a soft smile "I have been doing my reading and I think your assessment is far from correct judging by your past experiences."

The sensation of lips on her skin made Raziel rather shocked and she reacted in a way she did not expect. She pulled her hand away rather swiftly, with a shocked expression on her features. Having not really been kissed in any way shape or form, being kissed even on the hand by an almost complete stranger was...unnerving.

Yet not unpleasant.

"Richard." Raziel stated, in a warning tone "Enough of that. I am glad that you agree with my sentiment but I am afraid I do not feel you are a man out of my own heart, we scarcely know each other."

The rather forwards nature of Richard, who she barely knew and did not know a few hours ago had rather shaken Raziel.

Gabriel was officially pissed off now.

First Uriel had ruined his chances with Raziel tonight. Then the fool had used him as a shield against Michael's knife! Knowing Michael as he did it was rather good fortune that the angel hadn't used it against him a little bit just for the fun of it. And then both Uriel and Richard had flirted with Raziel even more than he had!

He saw that Raziel was a little bit uncomfortable with Richard at the moment and glared at the man, pushing him back and away from Raziel a little bit,

"Back off... Azrael." he seethed at the other angel, using the name to alienate him more. After all, when Richard started to develop his strengths one of the things everyone around him would feel was an underlying feeling of dread. He would be the angel of Death after all. He shook his head at the young angel, "You have no manners... and no business talking and touching Raziel like that. You're more a fool than a gentleman."

He turned to Raziel with a bright, almost dazzling, smile and bowed to her,

"I apologise for his terrible behaviour Raziel." he told her, looping his arm with hers, "I see you're almost out of orange juice... allow me to accompany you to the bar where you may find more?"

Raziel sighed softly when Gabriel began to cause trouble between Richard and himself because of what he had said to her, looking around at the other angels in the party it was obvious the sort of line would have worked on any one of them. Yet she was different, it didn't mean that Richard should be shunned because of the way that he was acting.

Although she was coming to peace with the idea of what Gabriel was planning to do, Raziel still disliked it, and disliked Gabriel still rather immensely. Yet his charming nature had gotten the better of her for a few moments there...

"Easy Gabriel I am not too offended, it was a simple mistake that is all." she stated with a soft smile "Such a line would have likely worked on any other lady here at this party tonight, Richard can be forgiven for thinking it would appeal to me also."

With a small nod in Richard's direction, Raziel gently slipped her hand into Michael's and smiled at him;

"No I am quite alright, I'm going to go to bed I think, I'm causing more trouble than enjoyment I can see. I hope that you gentlemen enjoy your night, and welcome, Richard, to the ranks of the Arc-Angels." Raziel stated with a bright smile, and a nod in his direction "Will you accompany back Michael? It wont take but a few minutes..."

Michael had to admit that right now he had had enough. Gabriel was being a boorish brute, Uriel was still being a letch and Richard had (innocently enough) gone too far. That right there meant that this little party was over for his little sister. He stood between her and Gabriel, the difference between this and when Gabriel had done it to him was that he was far too strong for Gabriel to nudge him out of the way,

"Yes and I'm sure Richard will apologise." he agreed with Raziel before nodding to Gabriel, "So thank you for rushing to her defence Gabriel... but you might have been a tad too harsh. Now... step back and give her some space thank you."

He smiled slightly and took Raziel's hand gently in his own. When Gabriel opened his mouth to complain about that he snapped around to look at the other arch-angel, drawing on some of his power so that everyone in the room looked at him as he suddenly became ten times more intimidating towards Gabriel,

"Gabriel... unless the next two words out of your mouth are 'good night' I suggest you close your mouth and step back." he told the man in an angry hiss before his mood immediately turned back to light hearted as he gave Raziel a one-armed hug, "Would I? Ah I'd do anything for my favourite baby sister! I don't suppose I can read you a bedtime story... your favourite books are a bit... different."

Raziel was grateful for Michael for standing up for her, for making her feel so safe and protected. It tore at her heart to think that because of Gabriel he was going to be gone, he was going to die, and because of his love for Nyx he was not going to be too bothered about that fact. If Raziel could retune the strands of time, she would gladly do so.

Michael would have been so happy with Nyx, had he not been so blind to her love.

Sighing softly Raziel wrapped one of her arms around his waist and held him close to her body. Just enjoying his scent and feeling his strength against her frame, it reassured her and calmed her. Raziel had wanted this strength in the past few days but had rejected it in case she found it unable to bear.

When he commented on her choice of bedtime reading material Raziel blushed brightly and crossed her arms over her chest in a huff;

"Michaellll!" she cried out in embarrassment "Just...just walk me back to me room." Raziel sighed in defeat "Goodnight my dear Uriel, goodnight Gabriel and goodnight Richard. Enjoy the party."

Placing her hand back in Michael's, Raziel turned and walked out of the venue, towards the safe sanctuary of her room.