Lynne
[unpausing]

"Right." They said, dusting the dirt off their hands. Their first meeting sat somewhere in the back of their mind, the school still hovering over their heads, just a tad. Mel hadn't particularly stuck out in Finley's mind, save, perhaps, the frequent friendliness.

Finley wasn't an *Asshole*, but, perhaps, just not very friendly.

"Have you found your way around better, then?"
Bryan
So she wasn't wrong. She had actually remembered that correctly. She did a little celebratory bounce, as if to say 'I was right! I was right!', then went back to the conversation, now feeling justified in the huge grin on her face.

"Yeah! It took a little bit, but I think I'm used to it now. Probably would've taken a lot longer if you didn't help out!"

She shrugged a little, not knowing how Finley would take the compliment. If they didn't take it well, it would be fun to tease them with it later.
Lynne
Finley blinked at the compliment for a moment, before shrugging it off.
"It's alright. You do seem a bit directionally challenged."

Something of a snicker pulled on the side of their face. It wasn't inherently insulting, unless Mel took it that way.
Bryan
Mel took it more as a tease than anything. "Hey! Rude!" She laughed. She felt better than usual, she realized. More lively. Oh, how she'd missed talking to people.

...That felt weird to think about. Very weird.

She brushed it off. 

"So, like. What are you doing out here? Just sitting around tripping innocent little girls?" She jeered. The grin on her face was more like a smirk, now. The transition was seamless. She barely even noticed herself doing it. Was that normal?

...Yeah, had to be.
Lynne
"Unfortunately, your tripping is more of a byproduct than an intention, Mel," They said. 

The interaction panged something in Finley. They missed their friends back home. Newton's Cradle had been overwhelmingly flat and tiring - apart from the angel girl. 

"The goal was to look for someone, actually," They said. They paused. The information had been scrutinized by the school when they'd brought it up online. 

But Mel was trustworthy. Right?
Bryan
"Yeah, yeah." The *Of course you'd say that* Was implied.

Mel leaned against the nearby tree, looking thoughtful for the first time in what must have been millennia. She was slowly coming to the realization that, in spite of having developed an outgoing personality and circle of friends as a survival mechanism, she actually *Missed* Her friends at home.

How the *Fuck* Did that happen?

She zoned back in to the conversation mid-sentence. *"...Look for someone, actually."* She took a moment to make that fit with the conversation.

"Don't tell me... You aren't buying drugs, are you?" She loaded her words with as much teasing smugness as she could muster. Finley wasn't fun to tease yet, but she'd be damned if she wouldn't *Make* Them fun to tease.

...She'd been defaulting to 'them' this whole time. She couldn't even tell Finley's gender. A bit late to ask, maybe.

"Or, wait- Nooooo. *Nooooooooo.* You don't have a *Special someone,* Do you?"
Lynne
Finleys eyes rolled so hard they secretly thought it was amazing they didn't pop out of their skull. Romance had never been Finleys forte. A few ventures into the trope had been met with varying levels of success. But, that had all been before the Cradle. And drugs? Ha. Also all pre-Cradle, if any.

"No," They said, almost amused by the questions. "Nothing of either sort. Though, I suppose you could regard this person as of interest to myself, and anyone who's paying attention."

They leaned in a bit to speak quieter - there was no way this entire forest wasn't bugged. 

"We met someone. Three someone's, actually- girls with wings. I want to see if I can find them again. I have questions."
Bryan
If Mel had known the extent to which Finley's eyes were rolling around in their skull, she would count it an incredible success. She did like annoying people. Occasionally.

"Mmmm..." She hummed to herself, listening closely. The phrase *Anyone who's paying attention* Got her ears perking up. She listened with rapt attention to Finley's brief explanation - girls with wings. Three of them. *Questions.*

"Questions? Is... Is girls with wings weird? There are a lot of different powers here, I'm sure girls with wings would fit fine!"

She was getting interested. But mostly she wanted to understand what the fuss was about. She had *Not* Been paying attention.
Lynne
"That's the thing," Finley said. "I don't know. I've never seen them in any class. Or anywhere, except out here. And the school knows her name. There's got to be more to it."

They let their last thought hang in the air. They wanted to figure out who - and what - the girl was.

"Her names Annika. There were two more with her - but I don't know where they've gone. I thought about looking in town, somewhere."
Bryan
Mel thought about it. Her memory wasn't *Great,* But... Finley was right. She'd seen a lot of weird people at Newton's Cradle, but no one so obviously weird as to have *Wings.* None like that.

And the school knows her name. There's probably more to it.

"Annika... Yeah, no, I, um, I don't think I know her. But I did see something about it on the website thingy. You should ask around! If she's a local, maybe someone else knows her."
Lynne
"Tried," They told her, flicking a coin between their fingers. "Didn't get far - the school's tight-lipped. Don't you think that's a little bizarre? A wounded, angelic girl, and her siblings, apparently, shows up on our front door step, and we hear nothing. Zlich. And when we ask - nothing!"

Finley began to pace.

"There has to be something to it. Don't you think?"

It would be a rather poor time to mention Fin could be a bit of a conspiracy theorist.
Bryan
Mel nodded. "Yeah!" She only sort of understood, but it felt good to nod along. Something *Did* Sit wrong with her. Or maybe Finley was just convincing.

"Well, yeah, the *School's* Tight-lipped, duh. Ask the *Students!* You probably wouldn't even know anything about anything if none of them knew anything, right?"

She felt really smart for saying that, and for once, she actually might be. "Or you could ask the people who live in town. But there's a lot of them and they probably dunno much."
Lynne
Finley nodded, eyebrows furrowing. She had a point - a very good one, at that. Talking to other students would surely get better information than that of a tight-lipped, solitary institution. 

"You know - I like that advice. You're smart, Mel." The compliment was genuine. Finley hadn't made many friends here yet. 

They flipped the coin, resting it on their forearm. 

"Tails," They muttered. "Tails again. I need to make an excursion out to town - can we talk later?"
Bryan
*Street smart, not book smart.* At best. But hey, it was a compliment, and Mel did like having her ego stroked once in a while. She grinned.

"...Huh." With the flips of that coin, Mel sort of wondered if Finley had some power related to it. But she didn't really know. "Yep! Let's talk later. I'm getting cold anyway. Buh-bye!"

She waved Finley off as the two parted ways. With a mix of dismay and excitement, she realized she really did want to talk later.