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Several meta layers up, there is a... room.
As a courtesy to those of its occupants who prefer rooms, it does have a modality in which it presents itself that way: a room, with as many chairs as it needs, and a bulletin board, and a vending machine with candy and chips and concepts sold for nothing to anyone with the right prerequisites.
On the bulletin board, if one chooses to perceive it as a bulletin board (and not as a wiki or a flower or an ineffable cloud of information or an eternally malleable clay tablet) people whose only common trait is that they get to come here leave each other notes.
Notes about physics, about magic, about grand sweeps of narrative. Notes from people desperate to fix a never-ending heap of problems, smug about the condition of their homes, curious about the wider omniverse. Signed with names and sigils and "you ought to know who I am". Terse or verbose or nested with as much meaning as interests the reader.
In the vending machine, if one chooses to perceive it as a vending machine (and not a basket or a fruiting tree or a file repository or a crystalline fractal) are many things... and they have notes connecting them to their reviews on the bulletin board.
This one, for instance. She (it's usually, but not invariably, a she) has fairly glowing reviews from most of her previous purchasers. Here is what you need to install her; here are some things that are recommended for best results but optional especially if you just want to use her as a beacon for her other instances; here are some things she comes with as add-ons you can take or leave; here is what she is good for. The reviewers who don't like her are annoyed that theirs was too good at it, if you read between the lines. Well, that and the fact that if your universe is unpleasant enough sometimes these critters figure out how to flip you off and leave before they figure out how to solve all your problems. (There is a tangent thread about alternative solutions to similar problems which come bundled with stronger irrational attachment to their homes, but they have more stringent installation requirements.)
They come in these colors and styles; you will need to compensate for the following standard-issue drawbacks in some way if you require services of them that intersect with those areas of disability; they are only rated for upbringings of the following severity and are less likely to hate you if you stay thoroughly under that limit and less likely to fail at important goals if they are given opportunity to self-educate; if you have a way to generate them as instant adults they can begin work immediately but on the standard trajectory age six is the absolute earliest and teens is customary...
There is a chart (if one chooses to perceive it as a chart) of template interactions that have been tried before, but a lot of the more interesting accessory and companion templates are out-of-network for some visitors. What a pity.
swordofeden
Anaphiel makes her preparations. She discusses motherhood with the experts, she arranges for her friend to take her place in the library, and she reads up on the things that are most likely to be relevant during her stay on Earth. Three weeks and two days after she is given her assignment, she and a group of eight other angels make the transition from Heaven to Earth.
Unlike the rest of them, Anaphiel has been to Earth before, once, but it's changed a great deal in the meanwhile. She makes a point of speaking to the recently dead and reading the recently written, but it's not the same as true familiarity with the planet. But that's fine. She has her briefing on the predicted characteristics of the child and her obsessive study of Earth and five years to prepare. She acquires a legal identity (Anna Fell Coscoroba, the surname being one of the acceptable variants of the name that's apparently supposed to ensure positive development) and a job (children's librarian in a town that has enough odd goings-on to not look twice at her) and, from her fellows (she's not sure where they got the money but they promise it's not unethical; she believes them but chooses not to pry further) the resources to hire a surrogate.
Four years, five months and two weeks after she is given her assignment, she finds a suitable biological mother for the child. Poor and virtuous enough to deserve and benefit from the stipend, not the sort to get attached to the child she's promised to give up, and not possessed of any unhealthy habits that might negatively affect the child's development. Four years, six months and two days after she leaves the Celestial Library, the Holy Spirit passes over the woman.
Five years, three months and four days after she begins her preparations, a child is born.
Unlike the rest of them, Anaphiel has been to Earth before, once, but it's changed a great deal in the meanwhile. She makes a point of speaking to the recently dead and reading the recently written, but it's not the same as true familiarity with the planet. But that's fine. She has her briefing on the predicted characteristics of the child and her obsessive study of Earth and five years to prepare. She acquires a legal identity (Anna Fell Coscoroba, the surname being one of the acceptable variants of the name that's apparently supposed to ensure positive development) and a job (children's librarian in a town that has enough odd goings-on to not look twice at her) and, from her fellows (she's not sure where they got the money but they promise it's not unethical; she believes them but chooses not to pry further) the resources to hire a surrogate.
Four years, five months and two weeks after she is given her assignment, she finds a suitable biological mother for the child. Poor and virtuous enough to deserve and benefit from the stipend, not the sort to get attached to the child she's promised to give up, and not possessed of any unhealthy habits that might negatively affect the child's development. Four years, six months and two days after she leaves the Celestial Library, the Holy Spirit passes over the woman.
Five years, three months and four days after she begins her preparations, a child is born.
giftedandtalented
She is:
a baby.
If any stars are going to herald her arrival they'd better do it on their own, because she's not summoning anything but supper.
a baby.
If any stars are going to herald her arrival they'd better do it on their own, because she's not summoning anything but supper.
swordofeden
She is an adorable child, and Anaphiel is instantly charmed, which is good, because human children need unconditional love for optimal psychological development.
There are no stars at her rising. The last time, there was a Plan. This time, the plan, inasmuch as there is one, is to give her the resources she needs to do her own thing.
There are no stars at her rising. The last time, there was a Plan. This time, the plan, inasmuch as there is one, is to give her the resources she needs to do her own thing.
giftedandtalented
Her own thing, it would seem, would be to be a rather precocious but not headline-making little human being who falls over a lot.
swordofeden
That's fine. Anaphiel has a stable job in a quiet town (called "Forks;" apparently this was also important for some reason) and the resources to raise a human child. She feeds her and clothes her and mends her scrapes with hints of angelic power when this is discreetly possible and takes her to church sometimes and murmurs to her too low for the priest to hear which parts of the readings and sermon are true and important and which ones are meaningless or false. When she gets old enough to need schooling she signs up to homeschool her.
giftedandtalented
To someone who is paying attention, "old enough to need schooling" is about when little Mehitabel ("God rejoices") becomes noticeably unusual. She was already reading, but now she reads to learn. She was already writing, but now she writes to -
...It is very important that this be private. Mehitabel wants to know if God can see what she writes.
...It is very important that this be private. Mehitabel wants to know if God can see what she writes.
swordofeden
"...She has visual omniscience but she usually doesn't look at private things. If it's important that she not be able to you might want to invent a cipher. She doesn't know what you're thinking except for deliberate prayer."
giftedandtalented
"Okay."
Mehitabel invents a cipher. "Usually" is not good enough. She practices until she can write in her cipher really fast, and then does lots of it.
And she reads things. And she asks questions. Why does the pastor say "he" to refer to God, like, all the time? And otherwise believe things that Anna contradicts him on? She was reading the Bible the other day and there was all this weird stuff in it about what animals you are allowed to eat and she can't see why that would possibly matter as long as you're going to eat animals at all. Somebody at the library said God hated gay people. What are gay people and does God hate them, that seems out of character, if she doesn't why did that man think so? Why does it rain so much? How come there used to be all these miracles and now there basically are not? That thing with Abraham and Isaac: what gives? Platypuses: why?
Mehitabel invents a cipher. "Usually" is not good enough. She practices until she can write in her cipher really fast, and then does lots of it.
And she reads things. And she asks questions. Why does the pastor say "he" to refer to God, like, all the time? And otherwise believe things that Anna contradicts him on? She was reading the Bible the other day and there was all this weird stuff in it about what animals you are allowed to eat and she can't see why that would possibly matter as long as you're going to eat animals at all. Somebody at the library said God hated gay people. What are gay people and does God hate them, that seems out of character, if she doesn't why did that man think so? Why does it rain so much? How come there used to be all these miracles and now there basically are not? That thing with Abraham and Isaac: what gives? Platypuses: why?
swordofeden
"God doesn't have a gender. The pastor says 'he' because that's the default pronoun to refer to people in the English language.
"Once upon a time, there was someone like you, only he had a specific job to do, but making him exist took a lot of power and now God doesn't have as much to do miracles with.
"When the Hebrews were wandering in the desert, it wasn't safe to eat most of those animals.
"God told people a lot of things, but then when people started telling them to each other they added things in or got things wrong.
"Gay people are people who are attracted to other people of the same gender the way most people are attracted to the opposite gender. There were political reasons to dislike them, and some people got the Church mixed in with secular politics, which rarely goes well, and then people decided that God must hate gay people because they did and it was incomprehensible to them that they might be in the wrong.
"It rains so much because it's more efficient to have weather patterns than to try to regulate every bit of weather and it turned out that the patterns put a lot of rain in this one spot.
"Oh, man, that. Not one of her best moments, I have to admit. She was trying to test the limits of influencing humans rather than regaining power to affect the world more directly to make things be okay and felt the need to test the limits of her handpicked one's loyalty. That was a long time ago, though, she's learned better than to pull shit like that now.
"Why not platypuses?"
"Once upon a time, there was someone like you, only he had a specific job to do, but making him exist took a lot of power and now God doesn't have as much to do miracles with.
"When the Hebrews were wandering in the desert, it wasn't safe to eat most of those animals.
"God told people a lot of things, but then when people started telling them to each other they added things in or got things wrong.
"Gay people are people who are attracted to other people of the same gender the way most people are attracted to the opposite gender. There were political reasons to dislike them, and some people got the Church mixed in with secular politics, which rarely goes well, and then people decided that God must hate gay people because they did and it was incomprehensible to them that they might be in the wrong.
"It rains so much because it's more efficient to have weather patterns than to try to regulate every bit of weather and it turned out that the patterns put a lot of rain in this one spot.
"Oh, man, that. Not one of her best moments, I have to admit. She was trying to test the limits of influencing humans rather than regaining power to affect the world more directly to make things be okay and felt the need to test the limits of her handpicked one's loyalty. That was a long time ago, though, she's learned better than to pull shit like that now.
"Why not platypuses?"
giftedandtalented
"Someone like me?"
(Also, if why not platypuses, why not unicorns? But this is a minor point.)
(Also, if why not platypuses, why not unicorns? But this is a minor point.)
swordofeden
"You're special. God made you directly in your biological mother's womb rather than your being conceived naturally. When you're older you'll get divine powers.
"When I say 'someone like you' I mean Jesus."
"When I say 'someone like you' I mean Jesus."
giftedandtalented
"How much older? What kind of divine powers do I get, I don't think the wine thing is a very good thing and would rather get something else please. Also instead of walking on water it seems better if I can just fly."
swordofeden
"Jesus preferred a more low-key approach most of the time. I don't know exactly what you'll get or when; there aren't enough data points. Even if I knew for sure you were going to develop at exactly the same rate as him it's hard to know what that is considering that he didn't really push; he used what he felt he needed to in a given situation rather than experimenting and practicing."
giftedandtalented
"But that's silly. Does God know? Will she tell me if I ask? Hey, how come you adopted me and know all this stuff, anyway, how'd that happen, Jesus got raised by his birth mother."
swordofeden
"Oh, it turns out there's more universes than just this one. God found a room between the universes for beings like her, and there was some kind of dispensary for, well, kinds of person. The kind of person you are gets its best results when born on a certain date, and there wasn't enough time to set up your template's usual biological parents, and the options for your template are either 'these biological parents' or 'no significant contact with biological parents past infancy.' I don't know if God knows; that might fall under the purview of mind-reading, which she doesn't do."
giftedandtalented
"How are they divine powers if she isn't divining them for me? And that still doesn't explain how you know all the stuff."
swordofeden
"She put some of her divinity into you. It's like how she isn't doing direct miracles anymore because her divinity hasn't recovered from putting some into Jesus.
"I know because I'm the angel Anaphiel. Most parents can't just fix their kids' scrapes by kissing them; that's usually just a placebo."
"I know because I'm the angel Anaphiel. Most parents can't just fix their kids' scrapes by kissing them; that's usually just a placebo."
swordofeden
"Not as much as I'd like. I can increase my physical strength and speed fairly cheaply, and heal very minor injuries; if I do too much at once it damages my ability to do things in the longer term until I recover. I can exude an angelic presence, manifest a set of wings...I can teleport, which is useful, but that one's a little borderline. I can do it every now and then but if I did it often it would be too much. Lots of little things. I could make a flower bloom prematurely, if I wanted. My powers are more limited in scope than type and I haven't been on Earth for long enough that I've had lots of experience with stuff that could use a little push."
swordofeden
"Of course."
Spreading her wings, from the perspective of a human watching it happen, is a little like suddenly noticing something because it moved. It's also like something suddenly appearing, because it is something suddenly appearing.
Her wings aren't white. They start at red, at the base and top, and shade through orange to gold at the primaries.
Spreading her wings, from the perspective of a human watching it happen, is a little like suddenly noticing something because it moved. It's also like something suddenly appearing, because it is something suddenly appearing.
Her wings aren't white. They start at red, at the base and top, and shade through orange to gold at the primaries.
swordofeden
"You think so? There isn't any purple. I've been compared to fire lots more times than a sunset."
swordofeden
"Because if people knew an angel was living as a small-town librarian, they would want to know why, and it wouldn't be hard to figure out that the reason was you, and then I'd have to deal with everyone who would want to do you harm if they knew who you were, and everyone who would want to do you harm because they wouldn't believe you were who you are and would be mad at you for pretending, and people who wouldn't want to harm you for your own sake but who would want to use you and not want to take no for an answer."