Aziraphale watches the exchange between Lilly and Melanie with growing concern. He knows that human children are... fragile, and they become quite dependent on those around them, but she'd had the same feeling about Gabriel and Johnny, hadn't she? She'd grown to love Melanie, so why can't she see she'll feel the same way about Greta? Children are so unreasonable.
This, he thinks, is precisely why he can't continue as her caregiver.
"Well," he says softly, looking from the girls to Greta. "She can't explain much herself. She was found here by a boy, Johnny, er, I don't know his last name. He lives with Gabriel - your landlord - who passed her to me, apparently operating under the massive misapprehension that I'd have any idea what to do with her. Melanie isn't... like other children, she's different, easier to manage - all she needs is to be kept safe. But Lilly..." He flaps a hand. "She can barely speak for herself. We've been teaching her language, and she's learning, but... I haven't any idea how the process is supposed to be."
He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose briefly, more of an affectation than a response to a brimming headache or anything like that. "I don't know why she grew up in the woods, only that she did, apparently without care apart from someone called Victoria, who I believe was her sister, also just a child. She does reference her mother quite often, but we can't really get much out of her about it. She knows her mother is gone, but frankly I don't know how much she understands beyond that."
He shrugs haplessly. "I know this is a lot to take on," he says, "and we can take her back if it's too much, I mean, this doesn't have to be anything more than a trial run, but... I do think it would be better, I mean, really, I'm not... parent material."
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This, he thinks, is precisely why he can't continue as her caregiver.
"Well," he says softly, looking from the girls to Greta. "She can't explain much herself. She was found here by a boy, Johnny, er, I don't know his last name. He lives with Gabriel - your landlord - who passed her to me, apparently operating under the massive misapprehension that I'd have any idea what to do with her. Melanie isn't... like other children, she's different, easier to manage - all she needs is to be kept safe. But Lilly..." He flaps a hand. "She can barely speak for herself. We've been teaching her language, and she's learning, but... I haven't any idea how the process is supposed to be."
He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose briefly, more of an affectation than a response to a brimming headache or anything like that. "I don't know why she grew up in the woods, only that she did, apparently without care apart from someone called Victoria, who I believe was her sister, also just a child. She does reference her mother quite often, but we can't really get much out of her about it. She knows her mother is gone, but frankly I don't know how much she understands beyond that."
He shrugs haplessly. "I know this is a lot to take on," he says, "and we can take her back if it's too much, I mean, this doesn't have to be anything more than a trial run, but... I do think it would be better, I mean, really, I'm not... parent material."