Foreach 170 - Silly Little Guy

The massive new angel sits plopped down on the couch among the tattered ribbons of their old swaddling, their long and plump tail coiled up beneath them. Cliff and Rilly are in awe.

Finally, I can stretch my wings... again?

Or is this the first time?

Who can say?

—Rilly—

Woww! Who are you?

Well, Cliff calls me Allen,

and isn't that just the sweetest thing?

Cliff Mason

A-- Allen??
That's really you?
You're so-- you're so big! And you're talking, and--
Oh god. Have I been getting your pronouns wrong this whole time???

Ahahaha, ahahahahaha!!!

You're so funny, Cliff!

Cliff Mason

Are you okay?
Pulling that thing out of you... that didn't hurt you, did it?

Don't worry about that. It was but a moment!

The briefest of stings,

to end an eternity of suffering.

If only all my kin could feel this freedom.

All of them bear so, so much...

Their agony I know too well.

—Rilly—

Ohhh, right, because you had a whole nail in you!

Right through my neck!

I could scarcely speak, ahaha!

Cliff Mason

Oh my God, Allen, I'm so sorry.
I just hope... I don't know.
Everything I did for you.
Did it make your pain any easier to bear?

Not really!

Cliff Mason

O-- oh.

In fact, in some sense,

you failed to do the only thing that could have eased my suffering!

But don't worry, it's okay~

Allen ruffles Cliff's hair. Cliff looks downright shellshocked.

You weren't to know.

You're just a silly little guy!

Allen reaches a hand toward Nix, but she snatches her wing away in response.

But you who freed me, my kin...

You, too fragile to be bound...

Do you know the power of your blessing?

You have my gratitude eternal.

I don't

need your

gratitude.

Perhaps not.

But what burden is there in accepting?

I don't want it either!!!

I didn't free you so you could--

Stop saying these things

and just leave

so that Cliff Mason can go back to being what he's meant to be

and we can keep moving.

My kin...

I only want to impress upon you the weight of your kindness.

Nix does not like considering this. She feels someone judging her. Not Allen. Someone she can't quite place.

Doesn't knowing the relief

you have brought me

raise your spirit to the heavens themselves?

Alma

* Oh!
* Hi Allen! You've grown.

I have!

Alma

* Would any of you like a cup of tea? I'm just putting a pot on now.

Tea?

That sounds wonderful, Alma!

Allen joins Alma at the kitchen table for a nice cup of tea, which they are currently pouring into their eye. Rilly, Cliff and Nix watch from a safe distance. Dawn, for her part, has a hundred question marks floating about her head.

...so Cliff is trying to get me to eat the mushy peas

but he has not realised my mouth has an eyeball in it.

Not permeable to solids!

Alma

* Oh no, haha!!

He thinks I'm just in a poor mood,

so to cheer me up

--it was so delightful--

he performed what he called the "funny dog dance".

Alma

* Hahaha!!! Cliff! You didn't tell me you had a dance!

Cliff Mason

Hey, c'mon, cheering a kid up, I gotta do what I gotta do--
Or, uh, an angel who looks like a kid...?

—Rilly—

How old are you, anyway?

I spontaneously came into existence at the dawn of time!

So, maybe uncountable aeons,

maybe three weeks.

—Rilly—

Wooow! Weird answer!

Are all your "kin" the same way?

Of course.

We angels are of a kind.

All of us, connected, in a sense,

since the beginning.

I...

and her...

...

and even him.

Cliff Mason

Wait, which him are you talking about here?

Whatever do you mean?

The third angel here with us today.

—Rilly—

Alma

* ?

Dawn

* ???????

Ah. I see.

Then perhaps

an introduction

is in order!

and then just BLASTS through the ceiling of the Mundy residence.