Someone else is already having cake, it turns out! He is sitting at the bar wearing some kind of uniform, and he has a very tasty-looking slice of chocolate cake.

Pen goes up to the bar, and peers at the cake, then waves her bracelet at the bar. "That cake!" she says, hoping she will be understood.

"Hi," Pen says, hoisting herself onto the barstool, and then she takes a great big forkful of her cake, fluttering her wings happily.

"Hi," says the stranger. "Nice cake."

"Eeeheehee." Pen nods rather than trying to construct a joke.

"Uuuum?" Pen was unaware that cake required an excuse. "...Happy Birthday!"

"Thanks." He grins. "I was kidding about the excuse, don't worry."

Cake nom nom!

Pen swings her feet and wafts her wings back and forth.

"Are you okay in here by yourself?" he asks, after some more cake.

"Mmhm! Safe bar," says Pen.

"True," he concedes. "All right."

Pen pats the bar. And then goes back to her cake.

Pen finishes her cake too, and then contemplates whether she wants seconds or anything.

The stranger is having similar contemplations! Finally, out of a feeling that ordering a beer in front of a small child would just be vaguely off somehow, he gets a Coke.

"What are Coke?" Pen asks.

"It's, uh... this," he says, gesturing to his glass. "Do you want to try some?" Should small children not have caffeine? He has no idea. It probably won't be a total disaster, anyway.

"'Kay." Pen takes his cup and sips. "Sweet," she comments.

"Yep," he says. "And fizzy."

"Yeah!"

He grins. "You now know pretty much all there is to know about Coke. Can I have mine back, or do you want it?"

Pen offers it back.

"Thanks," he says, accepting it. "What's your name? I'm John."

"Am Peninnah. Pen."

"Nice to meet you," says John.

"Yes!" agrees Peninnah. "I meet so many of the people, yesterday. Now you!"

"Milliways is nice like that."

"Yes. Nice bar."

"Definitely the nicest I've been to," he says.

"Mommy like nice bar. Daddy also."

"And where are your mommy and daddy right now?"

"Home."

This is definitely not the same place she left. It's a deserted street in an unfamiliar city, under a cloudy predawn sky, and the door that just closed belongs to a small office tower.

It is locked.

[Am Pen! Am lost. You one Daddy.]

[Am I now.]

[Are many many, you one. Am lost.]

[Where are you lost?]

[By door.] She looks around for landmarks. [It not working. Supposed to home, but here!]

[The Eyrie. Sign says 'Seneca' and other is 'Claude'? Green sign.]

[Yes! So ugly.]

[It usedta be a library,] he says. [I do my grocery shopping near there.]

[Am lost. Door won't working. Help?]

[I can't fix your door,] he says, [but if you give me a few minutes I can take you back to my place and make you breakfast.]

[Okay.]

[What's your name again, kiddo?]

[Pen-in-nah. Pen.]

[Nice name.]

[Mommy studented for one oracle named it!]

[And what's an oracle do?]

[Read spaceship words.]

[I don't have the first clue what that means,] he admits serenely.

[Is -] Pen sighs. [Is complicated. I grammar bad.]

[I noticed,] he says. [That's all right. No rush.]

[Is a spaceship Mommy captains. Named Jovah. It writes for oracles! Alleya's one. Is secret spaceship. People think it a god.]

[So lost. Door won't working.]

[What's this door supposed to do, exactly?]

[Supposed go nice bar, then home! Goed nice bar. Then here.]

[Magic door, huh? What's it look like?]

[Was practice room door. This side red. Locked.]

[D'ya think unlocking it would help?]

[Maaaaybe? Dunno.]

[We can try it, anyway.]

[Okay! You soon here?]

[Yep. Where are you? Next to the library, or across the street?]

[Cross it. Can go ugly building.]

[Side,] Pen concludes.

[All right, I know where you are. I'm just around the corner.]

It's dark, and this is one of the ones with scars, but the color scheme's a dead giveaway, and besides, he is one of her daddy. Pen runs right towards him, feathers trailing behind her.

"Yep!" says Pen. "Mostly more ones finded in nice bar."

"Now where's this locked door that's giving you such trouble?"

Pen leads him back to it. "Not working," she says, pointing at it.

Pen watches and giggles.

Soon enough, the door is unlocked; he opens it. A short, empty hallway opening onto a stairwell after a few feet: definitely not Milliways.

Pen looks. "No," she sighs. "Not working. Maybe somedoor other bars now."

"I wouldn't know," says the Joker. "Now how 'bout that breakfast?"

"Okay."

Pen follows him, wings swishing in her wake. "Kinda world you have?" she asks curiously.

"One where people don't have feathers."

"Am angel," Pen explains. "Like Mommy."

"I can see that. Your daddy's not an angel too? What is he instead?"

"He mortal," says Pen. "Some daddies other things!"

"Yeah? Other things like what?"

"Ummmm. Ghosty!" says Pen, who identifies "Ghosty" as both the individual's name and as her apparently single-person species. "Annnnd dragon. And magic... thing, forget word. And red tallest one have wings! And Beast have softs. But, mostly mortals."

He laughs. "How 'bout that. A dragon, really? How big?"

Pen looks around for something to compare Ansharil to. "He big. Other dragons more big..."

"Taller'n me? Taller thannn two of me?"

Pen eyeballs his height. "Yyyyes. Except, dragon, so - tall wrong word."

"Yeah, I bet," he says. "Still, that's pretty big."

"Yeah!"

He grins down at her.

Pen skips a little. "Mommy find me," she assures him. "You too. Then you meet Daddy, all daddies. There parties!"

"Parties, huh?"

"Ah-huh! Last party in space plant in Thilun - Thilsh - in dragons world. Tall red wing one daddy make plants."

...He giggles. "Space plant?"

"Yes!"

"Is that by any chance a plant, in space?"

"Yes!" crows Pen, skipping again.

He giggles some more.

"Mommies some different things. Not so many. Witch mommy, vampire mommy. New one can be swan! But mortal elsewise."

"And 'mortal' means human, same as me?"

"Yeah. Angels," she gestures with one hand, "mortals." She gestures with the other hand. "Funny other worlds things," she adds with a gesture in a third location.

"Gotcha."

"How far place?"

"Not far."

"Faster fly?" asks Pen, spreading her wings questioningly.

"For you, maybe, but you don't know where it is," he says.

"Bring you," she asserts.

"A little bitty angel like you can pick me up?"

"You tall, not heavy," she giggles.

"You sure?"

"Yeah! I fly Daddy, little bit. Same."

"Mmm, better not anyway," he says. "People aren't used to seeing little angels around here. Could be we'd get noticed. I wouldn't want that."

"Oh. Secret, okay." Pen peers over her shoulder dubiously at her brown-flecked white wings.

"As long as you're on the ground and nobody looks too close, they'll think it's just a costume. If you were in the middle of carrying me home it'd be mmmmuch harder to explain."

"Costume?" asks Pen, puzzled.

"Yeah. They don't have those where you're from?"

"Not angel costume," laughs Pen.

"Well, here angel costumes are the only kind of angel we get."

"Except me!"

"We-ell, you're not exactly local."

"Yes. Samarian," Pen says.

"'S that where angels come from?"

"Yes!"

"I'm learning so many new things today," he says, glancing down at her with a hint of a smile.

"I know lot things!"

"You sure do. Annnnd here we are," he says, turning off the street onto a path that winds through beds of plants and the occasional tree. There are apartment buildings on both sides, one right next to the tiny park, one separated from it by a small parking garage with unhealthy-looking potted trees sporadically lining the roof.

Pen has never climbed a tree before; this one looks maybe more navigable than average, but she still wouldn't care to try it when she could just fly. She stands back to see where he's headed.

The tree's branches are numerous enough and strong enough and conveniently enough arranged that they more or less form stairs, albeit stairs designed by a thoroughly intoxicated architect. The Joker strolls up to the roof of the parking garage and beckons to Pen.

Oh, the roof, that's easy, she was thinking she'd have to cling to a windowsill and scramble in. She takes a running start and gets aloft and is up on the roof in no time.

The top of the garage is covered with a more or less even layer of small rocks, and probably isn't meant for people to walk on. The Joker leads Pen to the nearest corner of the attached apartment building, where he opens a window as tall and broad as a door and hops down a few feet into someone's living room. Probably his.

Pen follows him right in.

"What waffles?" inquires Pen.

"You can watch me make 'em and see if you wanna try any," he says.

"Okay."

So he commences making waffles.

Pen sits at a barstool at the counter, and watches. She decides that they look tasty!

He hums to himself as he works, and offers her the first waffle when it's ready, along with an assortment of things (maple syrup, chocolate sauce, applesauce, bananas, blueberries, and strawberries) to put on top if she's feeling adventurous.

Pen has to taste the maple syrup and the chocolate sauce first to see if she likes them, then adds generous amounts of both and all the fruit except the applesauce. Om nom nom.

When he serves himself the second waffle, he has it with a little bit of everything.

"Ish good," opines Pen around a mouthful.

"Mhm!" he chirps.

Pen manages to finish her entire waffle, even though she had cake.

The Joker has two.

Pen licks her plate.

She's not the only one.

Pen giggles and then sets about exploring the rest of the apartment.

Pen notes the lack of beds, and frowns and tries flopping on her front on a couch, but it doesn't have enough lateral space; one wing winds up sort of draped over the back of the couch and the other spills onto the floor. It's not terribly uncomfy, but she doesn't think she can sleep like that. "Hmm," she says, popping up again.

"Hmm?"

"Where I sleep?"

"Need a bigger bed, huh? That's fine," he says serenely. "I've got one, it's just hiding."

"Okay!"

"Where hiding?"

"In there," he says, pointing to one of the couches. "Folded up under the cushions. Take 'em off and pull on it and out it comes."

Pen removes the cushions, stacks them up, and looks for something to pull on.

The Joker shows her: it doesn't look much like a handle, but there's a place where you can grab the middle of the bed's frame and pull, and out it does indeed come.

"Better?" he asks.

"Yes, I sleep there. When I tired."

"All right."

Pen goes back to the room she hasn't explored yet. She wants to know what's in there.

"Bad idea," he says when she heads for the closed door. "It's not safe in there; you could get hurt."

"No, I not."

"Not what?"

"Not hurt. Mommy safed us."

"I could get hurt, then," he says. "I keep some things in there that could blow up the apartment if you don't treat 'em right, and you might be a magic angel and all but I'm just a plain old human. I get blown up once, and that's it. Same for the people living next door."

"Mommy get you back, later," Pen assures him. "Oh but then where I go? Okay." She turns away from the door.

"Thanks."

"Welcome." She goes back to the kitchen and starts peering at the unfamiliar appliances.

Since she claims she can't get hurt and he doesn't keep any explosives in his kitchen, he doesn't interfere.

She doesn't wind up doing anything that would get her hurt anyway, just pushes microwave buttons and peers into the oven and fridge.

Well, that's all right then.

Aww, that's pretty. He sits and listens.

An audience! Pen's so pleased. She sings the entire solo, and then some hymns, and then a ballad, all in the same distant language.

He listens to all of it.

She forgets the lyrics to the Edori folk song she tries next - she speaks the language, she just doesn't practice this music as much. She stumbles mid-line and sighs and falls silent.

"You're pretty good," he says admiringly. "Was all that from home?"

"Am angel," she says. She's nothing special for an angel. "Home songs, yes."

"You mean all angels sing like that?"

"Mommy better. Mommy will Archangel. Dars got - 'powerful voice', she loud. Keziah best fast songs... Ariel maybe not better though. Ariel quiet, just okay. For angel."

"And who're all these people?"

"Mommy mommy. Dars Keziah Ariel sisters. Dars Keziah Ariel Pen." She points to herself when she names herself.

"Three sisters, huh? Lucky you."

"Mm-hm! Am only Pen. Two more Darses one more Keziah one more Ariel only one Pen anyplace."

"How many of me? Seemed like a lot."

"Lots. Uuuum count extras or no?"

"Well," he says reasonably, "what's an extra?"

"Is animal-soul. Or dragon and tall red one, extras each other. Or new-Sue."

"All right. How many without 'em, then?"

Pen starts counting on her fingers, loses track several times, and says, "Paper?"

He giggles, and fishes a pad of paper and a ballpoint pen out from under a couch.

"What's a cousinoid?" he inquires.

"That one daddy's kids. Or Glass's ones. Or Elspeth."

Next question, "Am I on this list somewhere?"

Pen shakes her head and then adds to the list, one I finded.

"Aha," he says.

"Seventeen," she amends. "Got nickname?"

"People call me the Joker, that work for you?"

Pen shakes her head and writes the Joker next to the line which mentions cousinoids.

"Mm." He regards the paper thoughtfully.

Pen shrugs. She remembers Harley's name and writes it on his line.

"How about Cindy?" he inquires. "Is Cindy taken?"

Pen thinks, then says, "No! You be Cindy." She writes it on the line designated for this very newest Joker.

"Mmkay."

Pen bounces happily. Then she starts trying to spell Brilliance's name. (The closest she gets is "Birlans".)

"Can you say his name?"

"Brillance?" It's not quite right. "Brill-ee-ance. Like that."

"Brilliance! Cute name," he says. "Wonder where he got it. Want me to write it down for you?"

"Yes."

He writes Brilliance beside her attempts.

Pen crosses out the misspellings and underlines the correct version. She resumes trying to remember Joker names.

"What's the deal with Mister Naked?"

"He from Jane-breaker place. Some not-mortal kind, no clothes. He magic black box thing Jellybean put though so is okay."

He giggles.

"Dragon and mostly animal souls and sometime Brilliance when not mortal shape, them too. Always this one you though. He a funny real name. All sunshiney. Don't remember nickname."

"Sunshiney?"

"Is not a sound name. Is... feeling-name. With sunshine!"

"Huh," he says thoughtfully.

"I not say it, though, can't. Elspeth can! And his one Mommy."

"Who's this Elspeth, then?"

"She cousinoid. Golden's one. Her daddy not a daddy one, somebody else, I not met him."

"So a cousinoid is somebody who's got one parent that's one of yours, but not both?" he guesses.

"Yeah. Glass got three small princesses, they cousinoids too."

"And the one of me who calls himself the Joker already has kids too. Who with?"

"Vampire. Name was - um - oh, yeah, is Nathan. Almost like Uncle Nathaniel, different template though."

"And who's Uncle Nathaniel?"

"Daddy's brother. Except, he stuck Aurum - is Elspeth's world! - when Jane breaked. For years. Got back home couple weeks ago. I not know him too much. Dars and Kez maybe do more."

"So people getting stuck in worlds is something that happens once in a while?"

"If they wrong place when Jane break. I not think she broke now, though. Mommies fixed her. Is door won't working. Jane not here at all."

"But," he says, "seems like you're stuck anyway."

"Yeah. Uncle Nathaniel gone a long time. He find a girlfriend while he gone though!"

"Did he? Good for him!"

"Mommy made a moon they live at now."

"Really?"

"Or put stuff on moon? Moon might be there before that. Dunno."

"Mm, well, putting stuff on a moon's easier than making one."

"I dunno. I not get wishes to play."

"Wishes?"

"Are a magic. Daddies make them be and Mommies wish them."

"Daddies never do the wishing? That doesn't seem right."

"Sometimes. Usually Mommies. Dars and Kez' growed enough, so now have little wishes. Not Ariel yet or me."

"If I had a way to make wishes..." He grins. "Well, I don't."

"What if?" Pen prompts. "You get to probably, when I found."

"I know I'd use 'em plenty, but I don't know what for."

Pen giggles.

"You can bet I'd think of something, though."

"Yes. I bet that."

He laughs.

Pen starts writing a list of mommies. Some of them are on the same lines as the daddies, on the opposite side of the page, and some have their own lines.

Cindy watches.

"Hm," he says, observing the lists.

"Lotta people," he says.

"So many!"

"Yep!"

"And at mommyparties are also friends and stuff."

"How big are these parties?"

"So big! Space plant!"

"A biiiiiig space plant?"

"Biiiiiig!" Pen stretches her wings out to gesture bigness rather than using her hands.

"That's pretty big!"

"Yeah!"

A thought occurs to him. "Do you wanna hear some of my music?" he asks.

"Okay!"

Pen listens attentively. She has a well-trained ear and starts cooing along with some of the tune when bits of it reprise.

Cindy just sits and smiles and listens. He loves this music.

"Auras?"

"Enchanty things! Mommies and daddies get them when meet others of them."

"Do they do anything besides music?"

"All different things!"

"Like what?"

"Mommy's of benevolence. Daddy's of innocence. Am not allowed seeing Juliet's, hers scary."

"There's one'a me with an aura of innocence?"

"Yeah! Daddy. And it sing. Mommy's do music too."

"Well, if I was gonna have an aura that sang anything, I'd want it to sing Queen," he says.

"It do sometimes."

"That makes me happy."

"Yay!"

Pen continues listening to the music, occasionally making little hand gestures to herself to solidify the notes in her head. "Are words writed?"

"Yeah, here," he says, and digs up the lyric sheet.

She starts singing along, at least insofar as the tunes have enough duplication to let her pick them up.

Normally he has mixed feelings about people singing along to Queen, but this is just adorable.

Pen is most adorable.

She is definitely the cutest thing going!

Eventually she starts yawning.

"Bedtime?" he inquires.

"Yaaaah," yawns Pen, getting up and stretching out all of her limbs. Feathers brush the walls. She yawns her way to the bed, picks at the hem of her flying vest but doesn't take it off since she doesn't have a nightgown here, and then just toes her shoes off and flops facefirst onto the bed, wings asprawl.