well-behaved doors

[campanas]

Pen' was just going to go practice singing. (She likes singing. The words are all lined up for her already and she doesn't get them wrong.) But this doesn't look like the practice room. So it's probably the magic restaurant.

Pen knows about the magic restaurant! You can go in it, and get food or things to drink (she has bracelets!) and then you just go back out the door and it's been no time at all and you're right where you went in.

She goes in. She is going to have cake.

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[aestrix]

There is a friendly looking man sitting at the bar. He is currently having what might possibly be the most fluffy, decorative piece of chocolate fudge cake the world has ever seen. It's got multiple colors of frosting, sprinkles, and some raspberries, among other things. This isn't the only thing he's having, he's quite a big eater, but the cake might be the most relevant to the little angel's interests.

[campanas]

Oh gosh. Such cake.

Suuuuch cake!

Pen' hops up next to him at the bar, wings fluttering with excitement and for balance, and waves her bracelets and exclaims, "That cake!"

And then she has a slice of that cake.

[aestrix]

The man looks up from his evisceration of a baked potato at her exclamation, and double-takes at her wings. That's definitely not the sort of thing he's seen in normal humans before. Is there something he's missed during his explorations? Usually he's pretty good about picking up their quirks. Now he's curious.

"Hello there," he says with a smile. "I'm glad you approve of the cake."

[campanas]

The wings (white with brown speckles) are definitely the most obvious unusual thing about this child, although the fact that most eight-year-olds don't dress entirely in leather and the fact that it looks like she's got an opal embedded in her right forearm are also non-standard.

"Is pretty," opines Pen, and she eats a big forkful and nods and adds, "is sweet!"

[aestrix]

Hm - a precious jewel? He's always been fond of shiny things. Just because he's got a hoard of them back at home doesn't mean he doesn't want more - but that would blow his cover, and he would never find out why she has wings. It gets a bit of an eyeing from the man, but he resists the urge to covet. Later, he can always bully some rich people for their valuables. That's how he and his mate got most of their hoard.

"It's both indeed! This is an interesting place - I've never met anyone with wings before," he says. That's a lie, actually. He has a pair of wings, and his entire family has the same. But, he's in disguise, he has to keep up the persona.

[campanas]

"I angel," explains Pen. "Like Mommy." She notices him looking at her Kiss, and checks him for one, and finds none, and nods to herself.

[aestrix]

"Oh? They all have wings, I expect? Where do you live? I've never heard of them before - you must be from far away."

He wants to visit. Probably not looking like this, he'd change up the illusion so he looks like a different human, maybe a girl, but he wants to see. Humans are fascinating little creatures. Seeing what they do with wings would amuse him for decades, at least.

[campanas]

"Live Samaria. This the bar, bar near everyplace."

[aestrix]

"Huh? I'm afraid I don't understand. It's in a small town, I came in here off of the street just a little earlier. Not what I was expecting from the outside, but then again, I'm not from around here."

[campanas]

Pen laughs at him, and eats a big forkful of cake. "Door does magic door. Goes worlds, hides with other door, surprise! Bar!"

[aestrix]

"Oh. I see," he says, thinking.

Well. If it's magic... This could be quite a story to tell his mate. He wonders if she'd put up with the same disguise he willingly takes, just to see a magic bar. Best to learn more of it, to be sure.

"Do you know why it does this?" asks the man.

[campanas]

"Nobody know, not even the ones of Mommy."

[aestrix]

"I'm afraid I don't understand - 'Ones of Mommy?' Are there more than one?"

[campanas]

"Such lots," says Pen. "And Daddy too. And two more Dars and one more Keziah and one more Ariel. Only one me anywhere, now!"

[aestrix]

He is now thoroughly confused. Is she naming clutches of angel eggs? That's the only thing he can think of. Multiple 'mothers' and multiple 'fathers' all under different clutch names? That sort of scheme must make things confusing. Perhaps they'll get proper names when they grow up? Sometimes eggs die in the shell, and hatchlings sometimes don't last outside of it.

"I see. So what's it like, at your home?" asks the man. He's trying to get a good picture of it - it's sounding like they bear more similarity to his species' dynamics, instead of humans', despite the visual similarity.

[campanas]

"I live in Eyrie. Many many angels, always sing songs. Mommy leading host is important and she will Archangel."

[aestrix]

"I see! What do your other mommies do? Do they help with raising you?"

[campanas]

Pen looks confused. "Only have one is my Mommy. Others are other ones of Mommy."

[aestrix]

They can be confused together, now. He thought he had it all figured out. "Other ones of Mommy? I'm afraid I don't understand."

[campanas]

"I live Samaria," says Pen. "Other ones from other worlds. Look like Mommy except wings and stuff, sound same except Mommy best singing, like that. Same with ones of Daddy or sisters. My mommy and daddy only ones having four kids, so, one Pen, but more others other ones had."

[aestrix]

It takes him a little while to dissect the words to a point where he can understand the meaning behind them. This is the sort of thing that would drive others of his kind to pitch a fit and cause a ruckus, but he's still trying to learn more. He can put aside his pride (for a little while) to figure out the puzzle of the winged girl. Eventually, he understands.

"... There are multiple versions of your mother? And your father?"

[campanas]

"And lots people! Yes."

[aestrix]

"Huh. I wonder if I have another version, somewhere else?"

It doesn't even cross his mind that another version of him could be human. The thought is beneath him. He would never actually be a human, he just pretends to be one out of occasional boredom.

[campanas]

"Dunno. One of Mommy can see thing, not me though."

[aestrix]

"What thing would she be seeing? Other versions of me and where they live?"

Now that he thinks of it, he'd rather like to meet other versions of himself.