Melanie's ears are sharp enough - and the flat is small enough - that she has little trouble listening in on Aziraphale's and Greta's conversation, even though she doesn't entirely mean to. She hears Greta's quiet, "Truant. Yes, I know him," and she hears the faint undercurrent of something like exasperation or reproach in the woman's tone, as if she's disappointed Johnny didn't call her, first. Melanie's gut gives a guilty twist when Aziraphale pronounces her different. It's not hard to put the pieces together: everyone thought Aziraphale would be good with Lilly because he's good with her, and that might be part of the reason why Lilly didn't go to Greta right away. Melanie isn't sorry they ended up with Lilly - far from it - but she's sorry they can't keep her, and she can't help but wonder if it would've been more fair to Lilly to not keep passing her from caretaker to caretaker like this.
She suppresses a sigh and shifts her focus to the art supplies. It's good to see Lilly looking excited about something, and she returns the girl's smile. "Greta got these just for you," Melanie says, bending to flip open a large pad of blank, white paper. "She knew you'd like them." Maybe it will help a little, knowing right away that Greta wants her to like being here. She only had a little time to prepare, and she could have used it to buy clothes or extra food or other practical supplies. Instead, she used it to get things that would just make Lilly happy.
"I'll miss you, too," Melanie says, her own smile exchanged for a more solemn expression. "But we'll still see each other. We're not even that far away, just on the other side of the park. You can come see us, or we could visit you here. I'm sure Greta wouldn't mind." Melanie's never entirely at ease outside the safety of Aziraphale's flat, but Greta's flat is pleasant - neat and uncluttered, and smelling powerfully of bread and sweet things - scents that are interesting, but unappealing to the hungry part of her. She thinks she could visit here safely enough, even if the angel left them for a bit.
But they can work that out later. It's more important that Lilly learn to be comfortable here now. "Let's try these," Melanie says with a recovered smile as she pries open a cardboard package of brightly colored markers and spills them out beside the paper. Back at the base with the other hungry children, their hands were freed more for writing than art, so drawing is somewhat new to her. She starts to squiggle away with a purple marker, attempting to recreate a magnified image of Ophiocordyceps that she saw in Dr. Caldwell's paper on the subject.
After a few minutes, Greta sets down a plate of biscuits within easy reach, her smile both anxious and hopeful. "Thank you," Melanie says, for all that the food holds no appeal to her. She takes a biscuit anyway, and offers it to Lilly. "It's good," she says, because it smells as if it would be to someone all human, and she suspects Lilly will like it.
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She suppresses a sigh and shifts her focus to the art supplies. It's good to see Lilly looking excited about something, and she returns the girl's smile. "Greta got these just for you," Melanie says, bending to flip open a large pad of blank, white paper. "She knew you'd like them." Maybe it will help a little, knowing right away that Greta wants her to like being here. She only had a little time to prepare, and she could have used it to buy clothes or extra food or other practical supplies. Instead, she used it to get things that would just make Lilly happy.
"I'll miss you, too," Melanie says, her own smile exchanged for a more solemn expression. "But we'll still see each other. We're not even that far away, just on the other side of the park. You can come see us, or we could visit you here. I'm sure Greta wouldn't mind." Melanie's never entirely at ease outside the safety of Aziraphale's flat, but Greta's flat is pleasant - neat and uncluttered, and smelling powerfully of bread and sweet things - scents that are interesting, but unappealing to the hungry part of her. She thinks she could visit here safely enough, even if the angel left them for a bit.
But they can work that out later. It's more important that Lilly learn to be comfortable here now. "Let's try these," Melanie says with a recovered smile as she pries open a cardboard package of brightly colored markers and spills them out beside the paper. Back at the base with the other hungry children, their hands were freed more for writing than art, so drawing is somewhat new to her. She starts to squiggle away with a purple marker, attempting to recreate a magnified image of Ophiocordyceps that she saw in Dr. Caldwell's paper on the subject.
After a few minutes, Greta sets down a plate of biscuits within easy reach, her smile both anxious and hopeful. "Thank you," Melanie says, for all that the food holds no appeal to her. She takes a biscuit anyway, and offers it to Lilly. "It's good," she says, because it smells as if it would be to someone all human, and she suspects Lilly will like it.