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Here, in a place where she is quite an unexpected sight, is:
an eight year old girl with brown-flecked white wings, looking dismayed and lost.
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pen_is_wow
"Do you want a shake while we wait for the food to arrive?" she asks, picking up her cell and dialing the pizza place.
"A protein shake is a beverage with a wide variety of nutrients in it for when people don't have time to properly eat something. Yes, hello," she says into the phone. "I'd like a small supreme and an order of breadsticks, please." She rattles off the address. "Alright. Thank you. You have a nice day too." She hangs up.
"Alright. I don't actually remember how long the food should take to get here; it's been years since I've ordered take out. Have you been entertaining yourself alright since you woke up?"
"...Drew things where?"
Klaudia glances at Gloria's sketchbook. "Gloria probably won't mind, but for future reference, you should ask before drawing on other peoples' things."
"Yes, but it still belonged to someone else. It probably is fine, but other people might be unhappy about that kind of thing."
Well.
Eventually, Pen's food will arrive.
It's a bread thing with tomato sauce, cheese, and various meats and vegetable. The breadsticks are warm, soft and garlicky.
Eventually, Pen's food will arrive.
It's a bread thing with tomato sauce, cheese, and various meats and vegetable. The breadsticks are warm, soft and garlicky.
The rest can go in the fridge for later. It's at about this point that Gloria wanders out of the bedroom, stretching.
"Good evening, darling," she says to Klaudia. "Good evening, Pen. Sorry it didn't occur to me that you were probably diurnal."
"Good evening, darling," she says to Klaudia. "Good evening, Pen. Sorry it didn't occur to me that you were probably diurnal."
She takes a moment to parse this, then: "That's probably why you were awake when we met, then. It might be worth doing to see if you can get on a nocturnal sleep schedule while you're here, but it might not: Klaudia and I both work, so having someone around to take care of you would be a tricky proposition anyway."
"You're your own boss, you can give yourself emergency family time off."
"I don't like to abuse power, but you may be right. I'll see if anyone can cover for me for tonight and rearrange the schedule from there."
"You're your own boss, you can give yourself emergency family time off."
"I don't like to abuse power, but you may be right. I'll see if anyone can cover for me for tonight and rearrange the schedule from there."
"Better to end up taking more time off work than necessary than to leave a small child unsupervised for weeks at a time. Anyway, we can afford it; Klaudia's father is rich and terrible at expressing his affection in ways other than money."
Gloria can find someone to cover for her tonight.
She can also take Pen grocery shopping, after suggesting that she hold her wings still and pretend they're part of a costume; feeding an eight year old nothing but takeout is a terrible idea.
She can also take Pen grocery shopping, after suggesting that she hold her wings still and pretend they're part of a costume; feeding an eight year old nothing but takeout is a terrible idea.
"Not saying costume, exactly, but letting people assume it. People can be remarkably oblivious to strange things going on around them, and forcing them not to be oblivious ends up wasting a lot of time on things like screaming and calming people down and convincing them that they're not hallucinating, dreaming or the subject of a strange prank."