RP: Is this Heaven?

[rainbowmods]

There is a reception area, and at first glance, it looks to be like most reception areas: there is a front desk, a hallway that leads away, boasting a row of doors appearing to go on forever; there are two other doors immediately visible, one bearing the words Conference Room and the other Committee Chair, both etched in fine glass. All of the décor is elegant, if cold: everything is done up in blues and whites, and the chairs and couches provided look like they were chosen more for their appearance over their actual functionality.

If not for the sense of other in the room, it might seem like an ordinary office building.

It isn’t.

Welcome to heaven! Feel free to explore. A very freaked out Gabriel will probably greet you at some point.

Comments

[bookblather]

Summer made a rueful little face. "I understand that," she said. "Not so much now, since Thomas, but before. We're always behind on autopsies and..." she made a helpless little gesture with her free hand.

[sarcasticsra]

"Ah, yes. You work in law enforcement?" Gabriel asks.

[bookblather]

She nodded, and put her free hand on Thomas's back to keep him quiet. "I'm a forensic pathologist," she said. "My boys are cops. Thomas will probably be one too-- I'm not sure he could help it."

[sarcasticsra]

Gabriel smiles. "Yes, I suppose that's true," he says. "When you say 'your boys', are you referring to your husbands?" he asks curiously. He can't quite remember where humans stand on polygamy at this point in time. It seems like their views change so frequently.

[bookblather]

Summer gave him a curious look. Most people reacted considerably differently to any mention of her boys. "Yes, as a matter of fact," she said. "Not legally, but really."

[sarcasticsra]

"I'm not terribly up-to-date on human marriage laws," Gabriel says apologetically. "They're not terribly meaningful in our terms. The bond is what's sacred, not the details that humans tend to get caught up on, like gender or number of parties involved."

[bookblather]

Summer beamed at him. "Oh, yes, you understand," she said. "So many people don't. It's very annoying when they insist that my sister isn't married or that I must be cheating." She paused a moment, remembering, then added, "Of course, my boys punched the last one who said I was cheating. I don't think he's done it again."

[sarcasticsra]

"Humans are baffling," Gabriel says. "Though I suppose there is a lot in His Creation that falls under that category."

[bookblather]

She stopped, and blinked at him. "Wait, you don't understand people either? Are you like me, then?"

[sarcasticsra]

"Understanding humans has never come easy to me," Gabriel says. "I always attributed it to lack of practice--how do you mean?"

[bookblather]

"Oh," she said, and smiled a little sheepishly. "I'm sorry. I'm autistic. I thought that's what you meant."

[sarcasticsra]

"Ah, I see. I can understand how you might find the situations somewhat comparable," Gabriel says, thoughtful.

[bookblather]

She tilted her head to the side, a little confused by that. "Is it comparable? Or am I extrapolating too far?"

[sarcasticsra]

"Perhaps a bit," Gabriel says. "The socialization implications seem similar to me, but I'm not sure about the physiological differences autistic people often encounter, regarding, for instance, taste, or texture."

[bookblather]

"Oh, yes." Summer nodded. "Do you feel things? I don't mean..." She stopped, worried suddenly that it had been a rude thing to say. "I mean. If that's not rude. You don't have to answer it if it's rude."

[sarcasticsra]

"I don't think it is," Gabriel says, frowning thoughtfully. "I do feel things, although I often have difficulty in the expression of them."

[bookblather]

"Oh, that isn't what I meant." She bit her lip. "I meant like, heat and cold, soft and hard. Things like that. Obviously you feel things or you never could have soothed Thomas."

How she knew that, she didn't know. Maybe that was what it felt like to be neurotypical.