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]

[demiurgos-girl.livejournal.com]

Pleasure's all mine! Though I'm guessing you're not an actual angel. [After all, her aura was different. Not that it was duller or anything of the sort, but it was... different.]

[She catches Angel staring at her wings, and she wonders why she keeps doing that.] Are there not a lot of people with wings where you're from?

[It's at this point that Elaine grins, because she realizes the whole conversation has been done without her ever opening her mouth. She finds it cool.]

[Action]

[talks-to-fish.livejournal.com]

No. But they say that I look like one....I'm the only one in the flock whose wings have this color.

[She likes it. It is strange and worries her because someone rummaging through her thoughts isn't something that she would want, if they have to report to the school in any way that would be dangerous, but the talking is interesting to say the least. Also, she tries to not do more than put her thoughts into Elaine's head, not read her's there but wait until they are in her own head.]

How did you get your wings?

[Action]

[demiurgos-girl.livejournal.com]

[Elaine notices the respectful distance that Angel is trying to mentally keep. She attempts to follow suit, although she can't get the exact level where she's giving thoughts, but not also taking. Her mind flows back and forth between the two.]

I was born with them, although I didn't know they existed for a long time. [She pauses, curious about Angel's choice of words. "Flock"? "Get your wings"?] You weren't born with yours, were you? So when you say flock, you're not exactly talking about family...

[Action]

[talks-to-fish.livejournal.com]

We're not sure if we were born with it, though I can't remember a time when they weren't there. But it were scientists that out it into my DNA. [The family thing...] The flock are all of us who have wings, and one of them is my brother.

[Action]

[demiurgos-girl.livejournal.com]

Scientists? So you were made... I suppose the same is true about me. There was a crazy angel who wanted to make angels that had working reproductive systems. I was his final work. He wanted to take bits out of me and turn them into archangels, and make himself an army.

[By bits, she means ovaries, but she doesn't actually mention it.]

I don't know if anyone's told you anything yet. Here. [Elaine transfers some basic knowledge of the Mansion, like the closets, rooms, and Queen, just so that Angel will get what's going on.]

[Action]

[talks-to-fish.livejournal.com]

[Listens to the information and then she nods slowly.]Thank you.

Yes. We think that we were born by real mothers, but we don't know them and if they know us, if they know that we existed... why they gave us away, or if we were taken from them...

[For a moment, she sounds a bit lost.]

You're a bit of an angel like I'm a bit of a bird?

[Action]

[demiurgos-girl.livejournal.com]

[She understands what it's like to have never met her real parents. For a moment Elaine feels closer to Angel than ever, even closer that what their wings made them. She gives a solemn nod of understanding.] Family can be confusing sometimes.

[The next part catches her by surprise, though.] You're a bird?

Ahh. I see. It's bird DNA, I suppose? Yes, I'm a bit of an angel. My mother is human, and my father is an archangel.

[Action]

[talks-to-fish.livejournal.com]

But I still have Max and Gazzy and the others.

2 percent bird DNA. But it has strange side effects. Most of us have abilities that neither birds nor humans have, but nobody knows why. [Tilts her head slightly.] Where do angels live?

[Action]

[demiurgos-girl.livejournal.com]

What's your brother's name? Maybe he's already here.

[Elaine finds herself interested in the topic, especially because it's so closely related to her own situation.] Well, that's pretty cool. With the telepathy, I mean.

[The question is actually a good one. She has to ponder it for a moment.] Most angels live in the Silver City, which is basically Heaven. But there are a few who live down on earth, because they were cast out of heaven or by their own choice.

And of course there are some down in hell. Come to think of it, they're all over the place.

It gets annoying.

Re: [Action]

[talks-to-fish.livejournal.com]

Gazzy.

I'm the only one who can do it.

How many angels are there? There are only six of us.

[Action]

[demiurgos-girl.livejournal.com]

I don't think he's here. Sorry.

There are... millions, I think. More. If you tried to count every droplet of water in all the oceans of all the worlds...

There would still be more angels. Much, much more. They're just on this side of being limitless.

[Action]

[talks-to-fish.livejournal.com]

Then he's with the others. That's good, too.

[She sounds a bit lost, trying to be brave, but soon covers that with curiosity.]

More than humans?

[Action]

[demiurgos-girl.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you see it that way.

[Elaine picks up on it, and is thankful that the girl isn't too bothered. At least her curiosity is strong, which is something that Elaine can respect. Although she worries that she's bombarding Angel with too much information too quickly. It would be best to keep the topic applicable to the Mansion, for the time being.]

Much more. And even then, there are still so many beings that pretend to be humans, but aren't. We have quite a few... aliens and other things in the Mansion. Like you and me, I suppose.

[Action]

[talks-to-fish.livejournal.com]

We're not normal, but we are partly human.

[More than being sensitive, this topic is very complicated and something that the birdkids have thought about but never really found an answer for. How human are they? The school that doesn't treat them as ones doesn't really help.]

Aliens? What kind of other beings?