Gavin has a minion!

Uriel the Darkling

XIV. TEMPERANCE

AB INITIO
Though it had been over one-hundred years since he had passed away, Gavin White was still not used to being an angel. There were many laws, and a hierarchy that intimidated him; you were required to have permission in order to visit the mortal world, and he was still confused by how exactly his wings worked. The After World was, all in all, a much more complicated place than assumed by human fancy, and Gavin often found himself dreaming of mortal earth and reminiscing about how easy things used to be.

It was this fanciful daydreaming that lead him to be fairly curious about the goings-on below, and he soon became a frequent visitor to the portal gates. It wasn’t hard to plead his case to the wardens, who soon allotted him permission without even needing to ask, and the more often he visited earth the more enamored with modern life he became. He relayed stories of earth to new cherubs, who often asked about their families, which only prompted Gavin to return for them; he became known to the other angels as the storyteller, always prepared with information about the new and curious world.

Though he was a frequent visitor, Gavin was careful to never break any law while he was on earth. He did not get too close to any humans, and he did not meddle in any events foretold by the archivists. He made sure to avoid detection, and did not abuse his powers. He was a perfect model for portal activists, demonstrating how it was not a dangerous opportunity to let angels return to revisit their memories.

Like all good things, however, Gavin’s trips to mortal earth would eventually come to an end.

Perhaps he had gotten cocky. As a human boy he was prone to insouciance, and even in death he was not immune to imperfections. It was maybe a few months after he had started to visit more frequently, and it was the middle of summer. Earth was warm and humid, and busy with children out of school. Gavin was fascinated by this, as in his school days he had never been allowed to have such breaks in the summer months.

Maybe it was because he was preoccupied, not because he was cocky; he was also prone to a wandering mind, which had certainly not changed at all over the course of the past century. Absent-mindedness sounded like a more likely cause than cockiness to him.

Whatever the reason behind it, Gavin had broken a law. It was not a minor infraction, one that might earn him a disappointed chorus from the high council, or renounced visitation rights for a short period of time. He had broken a major law, the fifth law, one of the most important laws for angels visiting mortal earth.

V. Thou shalt not interfere with the Course of Time.

He rarely made his visits during the evening hours. The night made him uneasy, and he found it was more likely that he would be detected by humans when there were not so many people around. However, he had received a request from one of the cherubs to find her brother, a request that seemed very pressing; she wanted to know that he was okay, and had not been hurt in the same accident that had killed her. For this one girl he decided to go against all better judgement and go through the portals at night.

He didn’t blame her, of course. She hadn’t forced him to do anything; everything he had done he had done of his own volition. If being an angel had done anything to change him, it had made him more accepting of his own mistakes.

He had gotten lost on his way to finding this girl’s brother, and had managed to wander into what was unmistakably the slums of the city. That was something that hadn’t changed over the years; slums were still slums, still wracked with crime and grief.

Maybe it was the part of town he was in. If he hadn’t gotten lost, perhaps he wouldn’t have been compelled to exert himself, to use the supernatural powers he had made an oath not to abuse so long ago.

It reminded him of his past. That’s what it was. It was unmistakably, irrevocably, painfully the fact that seeing the hulking figure of one man about to abuse another triggered something inside of him, something that he thought long buried. It broke his resolve, and before he was able to fully comprehend what he was doing, he was summoning all his strength to destroy that man, the one with the gun in his hand, the one with the disgusting, sadistic laughter.

He had killed him. He had committed a crime, and had only enough time to watch the utter shock on the other man’s face before he was being summoned back to the After World, vaulted before the high council and presented with his sins.

I. Though shalt not take another Man’s Life.

That man, the one who had a gun to his head, had been set to die that day. It was his fate. The archivists had recorded it in their books, and were merely waiting for the deed to be done. Gavin, in a moment of fear, had interfered with fate, and was to be punished for it.

"What did you do to him? He looks like my grandmother dressed him."

Quiet, well-mannered, a little eccentric in his mannerisms and views of the world. Could be considered a 'goody-two shoes'... until you learn how he ended up in his current position. Does not like to be touched. Can become violent when cornered.

Died in March, 1893 from complications of syphilis, at the mere age of 19. His family was poor, and his younger brother suffered from polio; being such a kind-hearted boy, he took it upon himself to get the money for his brother's treatments. Having little employable skill at the time, the only work he found was running as a telegraph boy which, unfortunately, did not pay enough to cover his brother's treatments in full. His bleeding heart and naivety is what lead him to eventually become a prostitute in a male brothel, which is how he contracted the disease that would eventually kill him.

ON THE AFTERLIFE/ANGELS:
Angels/spirits do not feel pain, physical or mental. As an ethereal entity, Gavin's painful memories of his human life do not bother him. There is a hierarchy in the afterlife, and angels are expected to work, though jobs aren't nearly as stressful as they are in the mortal world. The position of guardian is not an esteemed one; angels are given a mortal body where the aforementioned painlessness no longer applies. It is staggering and startling for them. This title is only achieved by breaking the laws of the afterlife: in Gavin's case, interfering with the natural flow of life and death.

Angels can become 'semi-mortal' again by essentially binding their spirit to that of a mortal being. This can be very dangerous; angels are stripped of their wings (which is not a magical event; they are ripped, bones, tendons and all, from their back) are are sent back to the earth. Not all angels survive this. Some succumb to demons on the way and become something not quite mortal, not quite immortal. Their entire purpose is now to be with the person they are bound to; when the mortal becomes ill, so do they, and when their life finally ends, so will theirs.

Angelic Hierarchy

Seraphim - the highest order of god, the 'burning ones'
Ophanim - judge, jury, and executioner
Cherubim - the beautiful; protectors of life; the artists

Hashmallim - fists of god
Dynameis - keepers of order, taskmen
Erelim - knights of the cosmos
Archangelos - guardians of the seven realms

Malakhim - plain angels, messengers
Custos - (full: angelus custos) guardian angels