First, in which Angel arrives

[birdkiddie]

[The camera doesn't show anything but blue for a moment, then you see the mansion from above and a flash of something that looks like a giant dove. The camera is high up in the air, and the direction is clear. It comes from up and is headed down ...just that there is something in the way. A head, to be exact. Blond curls. The journal bounces off it and falls deeper, passing the face of a little girl that is stuck somewhere between fear, confusion, alertness and tiredness. Her eyes are hollow and smudged with purple rings, and one whole side of her face is a single bruise. And then there is only white cloth and the view of the mansion as the journal falls further and rotates.

It falls, and falls, and then you there are suddenly fingers around it and it is turned around to face the child from before. All you can see the arms that are full of burn marks and little wounds where needles have been inserted into her arms. There also is something that looks like an IV on her arm. If you look closer, you will see white feathers behind her back. Or maybe on her back.

She silently examines the journal, the little face tense, and after a few moments she switches on the audio.]

Max. Gazzy. Fang, Iggy, Nudge. Are you here?

Jeb. Was that you?

Comments

[Action]

[talks-to-fish.livejournal.com]

If they die, are they brought back to life?

[Action]

[manticorean.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Yeah, we've had a few instances of that going around. That doesn't make the dying any easier, though.

[Action]

[talks-to-fish.livejournal.com]

[Angel puts her arms around her tiny body, hugging herself, suddenly looking exactly her age.]

This is just another test, isn't it? An experiment, just on a larger scale.

[Action]

[manticorean.livejournal.com]

[Max looks up at her, not liking how young she suddenly looks. Sliding off the counter, she walks over to her, putting what she hopes is a comforting hand on her back.]

I haven't been part of an experiment in a long, long time. And I always swore I never will be again. I'm not gonna break that promise, especially not when there's somebody else around who obviously doesn't wanna be part of anymore experiments, either.

Re: [Action]

[talks-to-fish.livejournal.com]

We thought that we had escaped it, but we hadn't...

[She shakes her head violently, sending her blond locks flying, and then looks up at Max.]

Can we find my room?

[Action]

[manticorean.livejournal.com]

[Max can't help the urge to reach over and hug her, even though she knows that different kids tend to react differently to that sort of thing. Still, she knows that there was nothing she could have used more than a hug when she'd been Angel's age, even if she wouldn't realize it until years later.]

Sure, sweetie. Come on.

[Action]

[talks-to-fish.livejournal.com]

[Angel stiffens at the touch, her heartbeat getting up like that of a suddenly caged animal. She pulls away, falling into battle stance for a split second, while reaching for Max's mind. Even if she was much more social than she would normally be with a stranger due to what she has heard and seen from her, she still is a stranger.]

[Action]

[manticorean.livejournal.com]

[Max immediately steps away and holds her hands up, showing that she means no harm. She can't help but wonder what Angel must have gone through, since - aside from Max and the others who grew up in an environment like Manticore - what kind of little girl would immediately react that way to a hug?]

Hey, it's okay. Sorry. I didn't mean to shake you up.

[Action]

[talks-to-fish.livejournal.com]

[Angel takes another step backwards herself and wills herself back to a normal posture and expression.]

Just don't hold me. ...Sorry.

[Action]

[manticorean.livejournal.com]

[It's an odd request, one that she never expected to hear from a kid, but Max nods, remembering full well how skittish she'd been when she first escaped from Manticore.]

No probs, it's my bad. Still wanna go find a room?

[Action]

[talks-to-fish.livejournal.com]

[If she's being held, she can't move away, can't run away, but more than that she can't spread her wings. It's a situation that she'd only allow someone she fully trusts, which means the flock.]

Yes. On the top floor!

[Action]

[manticorean.livejournal.com]

[Max can understand not wanting to feel trapped, so she's willing to skate past this whole thing.]

C'mon, then. Follow me.

[With that, she heads towards the nearest staircase.]

Hope ya don't mind stairs.

[Action]

[talks-to-fish.livejournal.com]

I've never been in a house with so many floors.

[She trails behind Max, her eyes wandering. Memorizing the hallway, doors and stairs, drawing a mental map, planning out escape routes... She's not as good at that as Max and Fang, but it is something that all of them do by default if confronted with a new place.]

[Action]

[manticorean.livejournal.com]

Well, if you've gotta be stuck somewhere, at least it's somewhere big with lots of wide open spaces.

[Leading her up the stairs, Max glances down at her and notes that look in her eyes. She's seen that look before, on Zack and Alec and Crit and just about every other soldier Manticore churned out. Hoping that they weren't as alike as she feared, Max shakes her head and continues on up the steps.]

There are ten flights; I hang out up on the roof a lot. Not so much now that it's cold, but still more than most people.

[Action]

[talks-to-fish.livejournal.com]

Can I have a room with a canopy bed?

[As much as she needs her escape routes and high places, she likes cozy spaces. They just need to be wide enough for her to spread her wings.]

[Action]

[manticorean.livejournal.com]

[Max thinks about that for a moment.]

I think I might've seen a room or two like that. There are people around who know magic, you know. Maybe one of them can just zap up a canopy, if we can't find one.

[Action]

[talks-to-fish.livejournal.com]

Magicans? Like those that do card tricks?

...or like David Copperfield?

[Action]

[manticorean.livejournal.com]

Nah, those are just illusionists. I mean like real magic. Using wands to turn people in toads, and that kinda thing.

[Action]

[talks-to-fish.livejournal.com]

Do they teach that?

[Action]

[manticorean.livejournal.com]

I think a couple of them said something about going to some kind of school, but I don't know if just anybody can learn magic. It sounds like something you're born with, in their world.

[Action]

[talks-to-fish.livejournal.com]

...maybe people in my world just don't know if they're born with it.

[Action]

[manticorean.livejournal.com]

Maybe. Dunno, really. I've got enough weird stuff going on in my life to really think too much about magic. But it's as possible as anything else in this place, at least.

[Action]

[talks-to-fish.livejournal.com]

But it would make one stronger, and the stronger ones are, the likelier it is that they survive.

[Action]

[manticorean.livejournal.com]

[Max gives her a strange look. She doesn't like the idea of a little kid needing to talk like that.]

Maybe, if we were talkin' about a war. Is that what's going on where you're from, or are you just fighting for your right to live?

[Action]

[talks-to-fish.livejournal.com]

The latter... Though I don't know why they made us.

[She looks up at Max, clear blue eyes staring imploringly.]

Adults seem to like that.