fandom_clinic | FTEC, Wednesday, January 3

"I brought music." Pippi said holding out some CDs she and Chad picked out at Empire (http://community.livejournal.com/fandomtownies/1315622.html?thread=59364390#t59364390).

Aziraphale reached up and took the radio he'd brought in off the bedside table. By the time he held it out to Pippi, it was capable of playing CDs as well.

"James loves music. I brought him a radio, but our own things are still packed, and I couldn't think what he should listen to...I thought perhaps hearing about what was happening when the nightly reports came on would help him."

Pippi rolled her eyes. "The radio is still reporting that absolutely everybody is getting frisky with absolutely everybody else." she said with the hint of a grin forming. "I thought you didn't want to upset him."

Pippi put in the CD from E Muzeki (http://www.emuzeki.com/soundclips.html).

Aziraphale had to roll his eyes as well, considering the strange reports the radio occasionally gave about his supposed activities.

"Usually James finds that all terribly amusing. It's only when they talk about someone being hurt or in trouble that he gets upset."

But Pippi did have a point. Possibly something less potentially worrisome would be a much better choice. And after the first strains of music from the CD, he decided that Wilson would be pleased with his young friend's choice.

"Although I suppose this will give him fewer things to have to track people down and ask about," he admitted, with a hint of a smile as well.

Pippi giggled a bit at that.

"So how are you doing?"

"Not well," he admitted, shaking his head. "I'm not doing well at all, Pippi. I've been fighting with people, and saying unkind things, and not being a very nice person at all. And I've been afraid that James won't wake, and I'll be alone again."

"I don't think you have much to worry about on either of those last two counts." Pippi said putting an arm around him and resting a cheek on the top of his head.

"Thank you, my dear," Aziraphale replied very softly, resting his hand over hers. He knew he had friends, and he those friends cared about him, but he had the memory of thousands of years of being mostly alone to combat.

"When I was little, we coulda moved to Villa Villekulla, but Papa raised me on The Hawk and we kept moving around."

"That must have been a challenging way to grow up," he observed. "It must have very difficult for you keep friends for very long."

"It was impossible. Which, I later discovered, was the point."

"That isn't right." Aziraphale frowned, wondering why anyone would want to force a child not to have friends. "The fact that I never had but the one friend before coming here was my own fault, but no one should try to stop a person from having friends. You can't...you need people who care about you because they want to, not because they have to."

"That is very true, and I had my Papa, and Fredolf, and Mr. Neilson... But... We didn't age back then. And Papa didn't want me to have to watch my friends get old and gray while I stayed the same."

Oh, Aziraphale did understand that fear. It was part of why he'd kept people at an arm's length for so long.

"But it's worth the time you spend with them, before that happens," he murmured, thinking of the early days with Wilson, before Above had offered their end of the Arrangement. And of Kiki, and she'd been years older the last time he saw her, than she'd been when they'd left Fandom.

"The Doctor and...we talked about something like that too. And it's awful to see so much change happen, while you stay...just the same as you are. But it's worth it."

"I thought so too. But that was hard, and I had the ability to give it up. So I could stay with them. And I did. But... I'm here now. And they're still in Sweden. Or rather they're in a Sweden that the causeway might decide to never let me go back to. But I'm not alone."

"Sometimes, even though home is a beautiful place, and it's filled with people who you know love you, the world is a better place for you to be in. It's messier, and sometimes it's strange and lonely, but it's just...better."

Aziraphale squeezed Pippi's hand gently, thinking once again how very grown up so many of his young friends were, despite their physical youth.

Pippi wasn't entirely sure what to say to that. She thought rather that trouble occurred when one forgot that one's home was part of the world.

Of course, this view could just be the result of growing up on a ship.

So she didn't say anything, and squeezed his hand in return.

Probably trying to compare Pippi's situation with his own wasn't the best sort of analogy to make, but Aziraphale did the best he could with the surprisingly limited experience he had to work with. He didn't notice her puzzlement though, and so just looked up at smiled softly.

"I'll let you get back to your stories and songs, my dear. I can't know for certain, but it seems to me that if James is in a place where he's struggling, it ought to be a great comfort for him to hear the voices of the people who love him."

"You should tell us a story then."

"Me?"

Aziraphale's voice almost squeaked. "Oh no, I don't know any stories. Angels aren't creative the way mortals are. I wouldn't know what sort of story to tell."

"Aren't you going to teach a whole class about stories?"

"Oh. Well, er...yes, that's true. I suppose I could tell one of those stories."

A bit relieved that he was off the hook as far as having to make up his own story, or tell about something that had happened to him, Aziraphale sat quietly for a moment while he pondered his options.

"All right then," he said finally. "Do you know the one called The Goose Girl (http://www.authorama.com/grimms-fairy-tales-14.html)?"

And then he proceeded to tell the story, speaking in a soft tone but loudly enough that his voice would carry easily to Wilson's ears as well.

"I suppose the moral of the story is either 'you just can't good help now a days' or 'if asked to pass judgment on a hypothetical situation, be merciful.'"

"Well...I rather like the second moral myself," Aziraphale replied. "I think that's a good one to apply to any situation, really."

Strangely enough, the story also put a thought into his head that had really nothing to do with the tale. Standing, he slipped his hand into his pocket and then pulled out a wee paper duck, which cocked its head and looked up at him, as if confused over the sudden and unexpected relocation. Aziraphale set the origami duck gently on Wilson's pillow, and it waddled over to nestle against his hair, with a whispery quack.

Pippi made a squeeky "Awwww" noise.

FTEC, Wednesday, January 3

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