a profusion of whistles

[self_composed]

"I didn't wind up interacting directly with Micaiah much," says Stella, after returning home from a certain visit. "Does he deviate from template significantly? He didn't have wings, so I imagine it was by less than Angela deviates from my template."

Comments

[self_composed]

Bella bursts out laughing. "Oh wow. Okay then. Angela seems so repressed I don't think she'd have been so comfortable with a standard-issue Whistle, anyway, but maybe a happier one with a fitting cultural background she already had a chance to learn about is close enough to work."

[edgeofyourseat]

"And he steals stuff, but he's trying to stop 'cause she doesn't like it. He's never killed anybody. I don't think he even would," says Alice, like it's almost inconceivable. "Well, if he really had to, probably."

[self_composed]

"Huh. So I guess there's a... Whistle spectrum, with him on one end labeled "benign" and the Joker on the other. I'm not sure how to order you and Kas in the middle there though. Haven't met him yet."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Micaiah did. He's between me and the Joker," says Alice. "If you have to line us up like that."

[self_composed]

"I don't have to, but it's an interesting exercise. What d'you know about Kas secondhand to put him there, then?"

[edgeofyourseat]

"Blew up his parents."

[self_composed]

"That'd do it, yeah," acknowledges Bella. "I take it Micaiah's are alive and well? If he ran away that young they might not even have gotten caught like your dad eventually did."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Angela went back and found them. He has a little brother," Alice says, shivering slightly.

[self_composed]

"Oh yikes. What happened with the little brother?"

[edgeofyourseat]

"They've met. He's... not a me," says Alice. "He's really not a me. The most me thing Micaiah's seen him do is saying thank you to Angela after she said he didn't have to."

[self_composed]

"But Angela got him out somehow, he's not still there," Bella clarifies.

[edgeofyourseat]

"Yeah. Yeah, she did."

[self_composed]

"Good. I was half-worried she'd come up with an explanation for why Jovah must have put him there for a reason or something. She's really very thoroughly religious. It's kind of unnerving."

[edgeofyourseat]

"If she ever said that, Micaiah would fuck right off," he asserts. "He's still that much of a me."

[self_composed]

"He took it pretty quietly when she said Jovah didn't want them to have magic powers," Bella says doubtfully.

[edgeofyourseat]

"Can you seriously not figure out by yourself how those things are different?"

[self_composed]

"I can figure out how they're different. But we have us some good magic powers. If she cares enough about abused children to find and rescue one she happens to hear about, she must be doing some serious throttling of her natural instincts to not seek the ability to find and rescue more of them besides that."

[edgeofyourseat]

"...I guess," he says.

[self_composed]

"I'm still working out a ground rule for that that I can implement on Earth for a Cygnus present and still fall under the only-obviously-evil-people-will-object criterion," says Bella. "Unfortunately, there is enough mainstream controversy about what constitutes child abuse that I haven't thought of one yet, and I'm not out of diseases to cure." She sighs.

[edgeofyourseat]

"I love you," he says comfortably.

[self_composed]

"I love you too," she replies, pressing a kiss to his temple.

[edgeofyourseat]

It is now snuggle time.

[self_composed]

When is it ever not snuggle time, really?


It's a few days before Bella finds the door to Milliways again. Since she can always stick her head out and fetch anyone she wants to introduce to anyone else in there, she thinks nothing of walking through by herself.

[truthwright]

There's a familiar face sitting by the Window, building a house of cards and humming to himself.

He has a small fluffy white fox with enormous ears perched on his shoulder. Occasionally he reaches up and pets her tiny nose.

[self_composed]

"Hi!" says Stella. "You're probably Kas, am I right? And Petaal."