I stood there watching Jasmine from across the lobby of Eros Industries where I worked. She wasn't what I had expected. For one thing, she had tripped over her own feet three times in the last ten minutes, seemed to be a complete nervous wreck, and was talking to herself. I was assigned as her guide now that she had finished her initial training and was ready to go out into the field. I wasn't excited about this duty but I had learned to do what I was asked.
We are handmaidens of the Goddess Aphrodite, trained to spread love in the world. All of the handmaidens used to be human. I'm not sure how we are selected but certain women after they pass are recruited by Aphrodite to do her work. There are many Gods and Goddesses and people are assigned to various ones after their time on Earth is done.
My name is Lillian, I was 62 when I died of cancer. After I was selected to be a handmaiden, my body was healed and restored to the physical age of 25. I will not speak negatively of my Goddess but it was common knowledge that she was vain. All her handmaidens were given their youth back to them and there was not an unattractive woman in her entire rank. My hair is raven black, my eyes are very dark blue, my complexion fair, and at 5 foot 2 inches I only weigh 110 pounds. I was grateful for my transformation, losing my beauty to old age had been a trial for me, I guess I was as vain as Aphrodite herself.
Jasmine was no exception, she stood 5 foot 6 inches, weighed 125 pounds, had golden blonde hair and sea green eyes, and was just slightly paler than I. Her b breasts were a size larger than mine but I smugly thought mine were perkier. It wasn't her appearance that struck me as odd but the fact that she seemed so out of place and clumsy. Grace went right along with our beauty, but it wasn't my place to know why she had become one of us now. I took a deep breath and made my way towards my new trainee.
"Hello Jasmine, I'm Lillian." I spoke softly but she jumped as if I had yelled. "Sorry I'm a little nervous," she stuttered. I tried to put my most pleasant smile in place and took another breath willing patience to come. It had been over thirty years since I had gone through my training and then been assigned to my mentor, but I didn't remember needing much guidance. Jasmine however would be a different story.
"It's alright, there is nothing to be anxious about. You will travel with me to learn hands on experience. Your training would have been good but it is incredibly different learning in a classroom than in the real world. As you know, you are now officially a handmaiden. We are nicknamed Aphrodite's Angels. We are given daily assignments of people we need to help. Giving people love is one of the greatest gifts they can receive, but we must use our best judgement how to help them. We are able to sense their inner most desires, between that and the information we are given in our assignments, we give them not what they want but what they need."
Jasmine nodded along as I spoke, seeming to soak up every word even though most of this wasn't news to her. It felt like I needed to be gentle with her and walk her through this work, which irritated me. I like to work alone. Well the quicker I trained her, the quicker I could go solo again. And I did want to train her well, it would reflect badly on me if she was no good at this work after learning from me.
I took my new companion for a quick tour of Eros Industries. It would shock people to realize how organized the afterlife is. This is where our superiors worked, where we checked in, picked up our assignments each day and submitted our reports when we finished. After an hour I led an awe struck Jasmine away from the corporate offices. Next was guiding her in the art of materializing on Earth. We live in a separate plane of existence than we did in our former lives, but we can travel back there when we concentrate on our destination and will ourselves to appear there. It wasn't a hard skill to learn really, just took a bit of practice so you ended up where you wanted to be and not halfway around the world.
I picked the sandy California beach as our first practice run. Holding Jasmine's hand, I led her through the process. It was sunny and clear skies when we arrived. The beach was crowded with people hanging out on a Saturday. It took me a second of walking before I realized my protege wasn't at my side. Looking back I watched her instinctively dodge around people, not wanting to run into anyone. When she had caught up I held a hand up indicating she should stand still. Then I deliberately walked right through a sunbathing couple.
Jasmine's cheeks flared red when it hit her that we couldn't run into someone if we tried. We were immaterial here, no one could feel us, hear us, or see us. Everyone learns this early on but it is ingrained in us to avoid walking into someone from our previous life. It takes a little time to be comfortable with the idea of being in spirit form when we're here. Following my lead, the two of us walked the beach. Today was all about her taking a practice run for her new job before we had an assignment. By the end of the day, Jasmine was moving through people and things without flinching, materializing from one point to another in the blink of an eye, and concentrating on a person to learn their desires. She was ready.
Over the next 3 weeks we learned to get along well enough. I was trying to be the best teacher I could and have unending patience. Jasmine was less nervous than when we first met, she was more comfortable with what she needed to do. Although she had screwed up a handful of times, I was able to fix her mistakes. It is harder to know what desires to fulfill than you would think. People are filled with yearnings, we are to strongly influence their minds with what is most needed. Some people need a quick screw with a coworker and some need to have the courage to ask a stranger out.
It was the start of a new day, but not just any day. Today was Valentine's Day. It was our busiest day of the year. There was a larger demand for love on this day, people were desperate to find a connection, so there were so many more desires to be fulfilled. Our work load was always tripled on this holiday. Many people imagine Cupid flying around shooting arrows, they could not be any wronger. One person could not do all that work by themselves. And women are much better at helping in the love department, that's why there isn't a single man in Aphrodite's service.
Jasmine beat me to the office February 14th. She seemed extra bubbly,"Good morning Lillian! I'm ready to help people fall in love, I always loved Valentine's Day." Many newbies make the mistake of thinking today will be a magical day full of eternal love, time to squash her hopes. Giving her what I hoped was a warm smile I explained, "Today will be just like all the others, we do not guide someone to their true love until they're truly ready. We give them the love that they are needing at that time, even if they don't realize what they need. Remember that."
Jasmine followed me up to collect our daily assignments looking a bit crushed. She should have known better than that. Yes it would be grand to give everyone the love they can't live without, but we learn that's not always what is needed. Everyone needs different love at different times, that's the true difficulty of our job. Really you can break love into four groups: true love where you have a real chance of staying together unless you stupidly mess it up, new love where it is exciting and you wonder if this is the one for you or not, crushes where you feel a connection in some way, and lust where your wants are in a more primal place. That is the most common kind of love we run into, people are filled endless lustful thoughts.
Jasmine and I materialized in a small town in Montana a short time later. We were only assigned to English speaking areas since that is what we spoke. Aphrodite's Angels were filled with people of all nationality and we went to where we could work best. A person's desires are in their native tongue, so if you don't speak Chinese then you won't understand what a Chinese person needs.
It was barely light out yet, most people still were sound asleep. We trudged off quickly to our first stop. In a small one bedroom house on a quiet street slept our first target. "Annabelle Mackenzie, age 23, single, straight," I read from our paperwork, "What do her inner musings say to you Jasmine?"
My companion concentrated deeply before replying,"She needs something insubstantial, a fling just so she's not alone on this day of the year and to get her sexual frustrations out of her system for now." "Very good,"I replied. Then we concentrated on young Annabelle to direct her. No we do not use magic arrows that make you flip over the next person you see. Ours is a subtler work. We place a deep seeded thought in the brain that you can't get out. It works quickly and efficiently. People think they're making their own choice but it is us guiding them. Our guidance doesn't always end in wine and roses but it is what the person is suppose to receive at the time. It doesn't always make sense to us but we know what desires need to be fulfilled.
Within a few moments Annabelle awoke. Our persuasion was strongly in her mind. After a minute of trying to collect her thoughts, our target got up and ready to go out. We are required to follow our charges until we are sure their desire is fulfilled, in case we need to plant the idea again. Some people are more reluctant than others. We silently followed the young woman to her car and then rode in the backseat until she stopped in front of a bakery.