“So what do you think the first part we should go to is?” It asked Cameron over their first slice of pizza.
“Oh, the Luna Park, definitely. It has a lot of rides that have your head spinning. Easy barfing, right there.”
“But what should we go on first?” It asked.
“I’d say the Thunderbolt. You ever been on a rollercoaster, little lass?”
It shook her head.
“It’s basically...you sit in a cart, and they put you on a track with a lot of big dips and curves. The Thunderbolt is a biggun. I highly recommend we use it to measure your rollercoaster tolerance from the get-go. Are you 50 inches?”
It hesitated. “That’s...over 4 feet, right? I’m 3 and a half.”
“Well…” Cameron considered.
“If she’s not tall enough she’s not going on. End of story,” Mangle insisted.
Cameron sighed. “Fine. You might like the seaside swing.”
“Do you go up in the air?” It asked.
Cameron nodded. “When it comes down, you do hover a bit.”
It grinned. “Cool. What else?”
“Hm. Well, there’s the circus coaster. Smaller, but fun. You have to be 3 feet to ride with an adult.”
“So if one of you come with me then I can ride it?”
Cameron nodded. It cheered. “Tomorrow is going to be awesome!”
“Yup.”
Mangle looked sick. “I’m...uh...going to abstain from the roller coasters.”
It looked disappointed. “Are you sure, Dad?”
They nodded. “Roller coasters make me sick. I’ll join you on the other rides, though.”
It sighed. “Okay, Dad…”
“Chin up, sweetheart. You’ll do fine if I don’t ride with you.”
It nodded and leaned into Mangle’s side. “It’d just be more fun with you.”
“I will be with you. In spirit. Just not in person.”
It laughed and nodded, indulging them.
Mangle stroked It’s hair on the Underground, waiting for the announcement that they were approaching Bethany Beach. They had been at Coney Island all day, Cameron leading them around to the best rides It could access. It had screamed on all the rollercoasters extra loud for Mangle’s benefit, and they smiled at the thought. They went on the swings, some water rides, almost everything they could do, they did do. They even went to a shooting gallery, which Cameron beat easily and won It a stuffed dragon, a little thing with red fur and yellow feet. She was snuggling with it in her sleep. She looked like an angel like that, sleeping peacefully on his lap, dragon in a vice grip. They stopped for lunch and rode It’s personal favorites until she, as Cameron had promised, threw up. She had laughed. Mangle shook their head. She was so chaotic, a true force of nature. She stirred a bit, shifted her position, and snuggled deeper into Mangle’s legs.
“My little angel,” Mangle murmured. “Complete with wings.”
It hummed like she heard Mangle in her sleep. They smiled softly. “Baby…” They brushed her hair off her face. “What did I ever do to deserve you?”
Their stop came up, and Mangle picked It off their lap, and carried them back to the car. Once strapped in, Mangle took them to their house, and tucked in. “Sleep well, my angel,” Mangle said with a chuckle as they kissed It’s forehead.
She smiled in her sleep.
The next morning Mangle stayed in bed awake for an hour before finally getting up to make breakfast. It only came down at the sound of the toaster dinging. She had her dragon tucked under her arm and was still wearing her nightgown. “Mm, breakfast?” she asked sleepily.
Mangle nodded. “Yup, what do you want on your toast?”
“That grape jelly was kinda good…” she yawned.
Mangle got out the jelly, and spread it liberally over the toast. “You know, I think I have an old laptop somewhere around here. If it still works, it’s yours if you want.”
It nodded. “That’d be cool. I could look at the #DragonGirl tag a lot, and correct people on things.”
“We could make you a ‘Humans for a Better Tomorrow’ account.”
It nodded. “And I could direct people to that if they have questions!”
Mangle considered. “You could probably actually have a YouTube account and answer people’s questions in videos.”
It brightened. “I can do that? That means I wouldn’t have to answer the same questions over and over again!”
Mangle grinned. “I’ll pull it out.”
After copious searching, Mangle found it and it’s cables to charge. They plugged it in and booted it up for It. “The password is ‘password’ because I never switched it from the default." They pulled up e-mail and made an account for It, and then used it to set up a Youtube account. “Choose a password,” they said.
It typed one in and Mangle finished the set-up. “When you want to record a video, press the red button next to the webcam, and just start talking. When you stop, hit the button again. To upload it, you select the video file and name it, and it’ll do almost everything else.”
It nodded and said, “I’m gonna record a video now, I just press the button for everything, right?”
Mangle nodded and went to make toast for themself. They could hear It chattering. “Hello, everyone! This is Bethany, AKA ‘Dragon Girl’. I’ve made this YouTube account with the help of my dad to answer your questions! So, if you want to know anything, write a question in the comment section and I’ll try to answer it! I don’t know how many questions I’m going to get though, so…” she shrugged. “I’ll try. G’bye, remember to treat people like humans!” she pushed the button.
Mangle was about to say something as she leaned back but then she went back towards the computer and the best she could typed everything she wanted to say in the title and description. They went over and watched her. In the description she wrote I’m 4, my spelling isn’t always right, so please don’t yell at me for it. I have to ask my dad if I’m unsure of anything.
“Did I do that right?” she asked.
“Yeah, everything was good on that one. I noticed you stuck to small words, that’s probably the best way to get used to spelling and then we'll gradually work your way up.”
It nodded. For the title she wrote Ask Me “Dad, how do you spell ‘questions’?”
“Q-u-e-s-t-i-o-n-s.”
It typed that dutifully, pulled up her file, and clicked for it to upload. As it did, she finished her toast. “I wonder if I’ll be asked anything.”
“I bet you will, especially after I say you started a YouTube channel.”
Mangle typed a little on their tablet, held it up, and said “Done.”
It’s laptop pinged. “I already have a question!” It said in amazement. Several more pings followed. “Why are people interested in me?!”
“I suppose they think you’re an interesting person,” Mangle shrugged. “Make a list of all their questions, complete with usernames, if you want. It makes things easier. If there’s a repeat just add the username to the first one. Then post a new video when you want answering questions.”
It nodded. Several more pings came from her computer. “Could you help me?”
Mangle smiled. “Of course.”
They compiled a list of 20 questions over the next 35 minutes, and new questions kept coming in. It frowned. “There’s so many!”
“Just focus on the 20 you already have. Do you know how many of those are repeats?”
It slumped and nodded. “They all want to know about the Labs.”
Mangle sighed. “People are curious. I wish I could answer those questions instead of you, but I think they’d only accept it straight from the horse's mouth.”
It frowned. “So, let’s start this thing." She hit the button and smiled. “Hi guys! It’s been a little more than a half hour since I posted my first video, and you guys are bombarding me with questions! I’ve taken the first 20 original ones I found with my dad to transcribe them,” she turned to Mangle. “Wave to the camera, Dad.” Mangle laughed and waved. “They have handwriting I can actually read, and some of your usernames are crazy, so I need that.
“Let’s get started then! Nearly all of you asked me about my wings. No doubt you saw my friend Sabrina’s video from New York yesterday, because you all agreed they were real. In answer to half of you, yes, I wear my wings through my clothes. I stretch the clothes until a hole is formed that I can slide my wings through. Same goes for all clothing from bathing suits to sweaters. I need that wiggle room,” she chuckled. “The other half asked about how I sleep. Usually on my side, I wrap my wings around myself like a blanket and then fall asleep, when I’m going to bed normally. A few brisk shakes in the morning gets rid of any soreness. So, rest assured, I can sleep at nights! Um...k...it..ipie? Am I saying that right? Anyway, um, k_it_ipie says, ‘You talked about being called an abomination in the lab that you were made. How often did this happen?’ And...it was almost all the time. Not everyone did, but I don’t want to get anyone fired, so I can’t give examples. Almost all of the scientists did, and they were the ones I saw the most, so...yeah. Every day, pretty much.
“...I can’t read your username, I’m sorry. I just…” she laughed. “I have no idea what that says. But whoever you are, you asked me if I’d ever flown in tight spaces before. I flew up in a vent once, for reasons that I’d rather not discuss. It was cramped and I couldn’t use my wings once inside, so I wouldn’t want to try doing it again, but suffice to say, I have flown in tight spaces.
“Okay...IBelieveInHolmeses asks me who the worst person I knew at the Labs was. That one’s easy. A doctor who went by Dr. Milbridge. Tried to kill me once. The other scientists could be my biological parents and I wouldn’t hate them more than that guy! He’s a creep and you should never, ever trust him.”
Mangle leaned forward. “Oh, and Milbridge, if you see this, I’m not your subordinate anymore. I’d gladly fight you. Meet me anywhere, anytime, and I’ll gladly punch you in the face.”
It grinned. “That goes double for me.”
They went back to the questions. Yes, It could write, yes, she could read. Yes, she was potty trained, no, she had never had an accident while flying, and no she did not want one. It was facepalming and Mangle was roaring with laughter after that one.
She loved mac and cheese, her favorite color was brown, and she didn’t know who her biological parents were. She didn’t know if she wanted to find out.
“I mean, on the one hand, it’d be nice to talk to them, but on the other, they gave me up to a science experiment. I’m not sure how eager they’d be to see me. Um...I’m just...going to...sign off now, since that was the last question...g’bye folks, and remember to treat one another like human beings.”
She turned it off and bit her lip. Mangle put a hand on her shoulder, but she ripped it off. “Do you know who my biological parents are?”
“Sort of. I read your file, and your DNA came up as a match to one person, but the second one is either dead or left the country, because their DNA didn’t come up as a match.”
It looked to the ground. “...Do I want to know who they are?”
“I think only you can answer that question, It.” Mangle said.
“Tell me,” she whispered. “Just tell me before I lose my nerve.”
“Your father is unknown, your mother went to a sperm bank, but we know they were a person of color based on your skin.”
It nodded. “And my mom?”
“...Is Dr. James,” Mangle said quietly.
It processed this information carefully. “As a mom, she sucks. I’m fine with just a dad.”
Mangle smiled. “I’m fine with just a daughter.”
It hugged Mangle. “Let’s turn the thing off before it starts pinging again,” It murmured.
Mangle closed the laptop. “Done,” they said.
“Good. Can we just cuddle here a while?”
Mangle nodded. “Absolutely we can.”
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