What In The World II

Anne. It's not the end or the beginning when I wake up from a woken state. Human necessity is a priority for a species that I am not a part of, and I feel happy. The autodidact feels accomplished and the noises of the night are revoked as he draws the heavy curtains to shut out the faint chill from the old fashioned windows that threaten to freeze the whole room. There's no need to sleep ever again with books like these.

Yves. What in the world...I'm dragged down some stairs, past a bouncer that seems to need nothing from me except the fact that I'm with these three miscreants, and there is a low ceiling and a purple glow. The buzz of disjointed but really quite incredible music crawls in through my toes and the crowd that greets me as I fully enter the room is quite a bizarre one. I wasn't expecting so many feathers. None of these people seem like humans. I could happily stand here and just stare at everyone in the room for maybe two hours but my much more rational impulse to follow my tourguides for fear of getting lost takes over, happily.
I hear a screech before I actually see any focused figures. Something/someone tiny jumps onto Gabriel by way of greeting and seconds later I'm faced with what seems like a circle of potential interrogators. Very oddly dressed interrogators. Introduction time, I suppose...
The tiny person who jumped on Gabriel turns out to be a girl (I think) called Cassandra, who doesn't seem to stop moving. She has huge, huge eyes, that look a bit like planets on her tiny elf-like face. She's wearing something made of blue feathers and I expect her voice to be horrendously squeaky, but it isn't, she's quite charming with a purring and oddly posh-sounding accent. Behind her stands an imperious looking woman, incredibly tall and dressed in a dark red floor-length Victorian-style gown, and she looks very serious. I'm slightly worried about meeting her eye, not least because it's so far above my own, but I force myself to approach her and offer my hand.
-I am Hanne. Nice to meet you.
She has a German accent. I love it. The running commentary which I've just become aware of comes from Sally-Ann and Shirley in each of my ears, one of them tells me that Hanne came with Cassandra, vaguely behind her, mainly to pick up the feathers. They talk about her with an interesting reverence. I think I probably ought to do this too, she looks like she commands it.
Next, three seemingly underdressed males that are also identical. This could be their costume. They are sporting the attire of fifties bikers, leather jackets, white t shirts and blue jeans, hair slicked back a la James Dean. I presume this is the look they're going for. They are Anton, Mick, and Tony respectively, but maybe-Shirley tells me no one actually knows their real names.
Now we have what appears to be a couple but quite eerily could also be twins. Veronica and Martin make my acquaintance with a suspicious stare in perfect symmetry. Maybe-Sally-Ann tells me they're nice when you get to know them.
After this, I begin to lose names, and Shirley and Sally-Ann no longer offer commentary, and I get the feeling I'm now just shaking hands with everyone in the club. I think I've met the important people, so I stop and reassume my position inbetween Gabriel and Sally-Ann/Shirley.
Cassandra bounds up to us.
-Gabe, where's Christie?
Nervous laughter and a shy smile. I recognise that look well.
-I don't know, Cass, he's not my housecat.
A snort of derisive laughter from one of the blondes on my left.
-What?
Gabriel looks mildly annoyed.
-Nothing, Gabe.
-Well. It's just that he sort of is. And we haven't seen him for days. What did you do?
-I can't quite believe you're so incredulous that I can't give you his precise location. Your perception of us is incredibly skewed. I haven't seen him because I have been-
He stops short as a hand rests on his shoulder from behind.
-Christie!
Cassandra is first to assault the addition to this bizarre ensemble. I can't see him for a second but when she finally releases him from her feathered clutches I'm very nearly surprised by how much he manages to stand out in this room full of people trying to stand out. He looks like a negative of Gabriel, in so far as he's wearing all white, like a Kubrick extra. White-blond hair almost blends with his pale skin, and this ghost-like appearance is offset by dark eyes, half closed but observant. He's yet to say anything, and his hand remains on Gabriel's shoulder where he first put it. He wears a faint smile, and looks quietly confident. Gabriel, on the other hand, completes his state as the opposite of the boy currently wearing him as an appendage, by looking decidedly ill at ease. His arms remain tightly by his sides, but when Christie pushes his shoulder from behind him he makes some effort to look more relaxed, and as the blond says something inaudible very close to Gabriel's ear, he can't deny a wickedly amused look from finding its way onto his face. I deduce that something is most definitely going on there. Interesting.
Shirley/Sally-Ann has told me nothing about this vision in white, and offer nothing to him herself but a smile and a mouthed 'hi Christie'. Everyone looks pleased to see him, but no one looks about to touch him. However, I do detect a strong feeling of them wanting to.
After a while, some 80s beat disperses the almost-circle a little bit, and everyone has split off into smaller groups. I decide to not lose track of Sally-Ann and Shirley, and soon find them on a subtly-lit seating area. I want to know everything, so I begin by asking everything.
Shirley is in red, Sally-Ann is in green. I promise to myself that I will not forget this information. Shirley is more talkative, Sally-Ann is more likely to be thinking, or watching, and always judging.
-Where did you two meet?
-That sounds like one of those questions people ask awkward new couples, Yves.
Shirley laughs like the movie star she looks like. A real teeth-flashing glamour girl giggle.
-We met in high school, believe it or not. I think we were quite different people back then. I don't know, situations bring out different things in people. When a situation brought out the same thing in both of us, I suppose that's what pushed us together...
-...after all, you don't see that many people looking like this where we used to live!
Sally-Ann smiles demurely as Shirley's laugh fills the space around us.
-And you're...well. I don't know how to put this-
(I don't)
-How do you like to be...
-Female.
Shirley puts in, abruptly, but with a smile.
-Don't worry about it, everyone gets that wrong.
-Obviously we're not convincing enough!
Sally-Ann looks at me in mock accusation.
-No, not at all-you look amazing, actually. Both of you. Better girls than any I've ever known!
Did that just come out of my mouth? It makes me sound a bit weird. I mean, I'm very open minded and everything, but that could be misconstrued. I decide to let it go, because attempting to backtrack would probably kill the light mood.
-So you found Hanne...
-Picking up the feathers after Cassandra bounded into our lives, yes. She's from Germany.
-I gathered.
-She's an incredible lady. She looks severe but is probably the most wonderfully kind person I know.
-Definitely...
Shirley looks over to where Hanne is moving slowly, talking to possibly Anton, while Cassandra dances wildly in front of her. She looks insane to me, but is attracting attention from like-minded people. I would define her as magnetic. I want to find out how all these people met.
-Shirley, where did you meet Gabriel?
-It all started about a year after me and Sal left our town. We met Gabriel because he was singing at this tiny drag club we were going to at the time. He didn't speak to anyone but we both thought he was wonderful. When we tried to track him down after he didn't want to talk to us, but we eventually got him round to it...
-...by telling him we like performing too, I seem to remember.
-My chat up lines are genius. But yes, that's what we did. And so he turned round and asked us if we'd be in his art collective...
-Pretentious bugger.
-...and it turned out there wasn't one, but after that day, there was the vague idea of one. And since then we've been his sort of personal assistants.
-Or childminders.
Sally-Ann rolls her eyes, but I can see there's some sort of connection there.
-He didn't seem that reluctant to talk to me...
-Well that's the thing. He's not, with some people. He's been trying to play down the whole social retard thing lately...
-Personally I think it's because he spends so much time with Christie. Someone's got to make the conversation.
There's a conspiratorial giggle. From what I've seen this evening, that's quite amusing. But I should know more about Christie.
-Christie. What...
I can't really decide the end of my question. What is he? What does his voice sound like? What does he think he is? What exactly is his relationship with Gabriel? -that last one was a bit irrelevant. I leave my question in the air, hoping either of these people will understand what I'm getting at.
Sally-Ann gives me a sympathetic look-
-I don't really know where to start. He doesn't talk much, as you may have guessed-Gabriel found him one day, or maybe Christie found Gabe...no one really knows. And as you can see, they're pretty similar. They used to be completely inseparable.
-It's true. I mean, I was joking about it earlier but they don't seem as close as they were. I can't imagine what possibly 'happens' in a relationship like theirs...
A relationship? An actual relationship?
-So they're together?
-Well, that's the thing. No one really knows. Christie, somehow, sleeps with anything that moves. And you don't know about it until it's happening. I think the boy's spent his whole life getting places through his looks. I'd say his charm, as well, but to me that's a myth so far.
-What, he's not...charming?
-No, that's the thing-he is, but I have no actual evidence for this. I think he is, but I've never heard him speak. I totally don't understand it.
-And Gabriel?
-Gabriel is a little more moral. I've heard him actually admit to having feelings, once.
-You had to get him dangerously close to brain-damage via alcohol poisoning first, though,
Sally-Ann points out.
-Yes, well. It had to happen eventually. I don't think he gets around quite as much, unless it's out of revenge.
-Which, with Christie, it often is.
-The thing is though, Christie doesn't care. And my theory is that Gabriel's trying not to either.
I see. A very typical romantic situation, from an objective point of view, but seeing it this close is something else entirely. I feel for Gabriel, and I don't like the sound of Christie. An instantaneous and moral reaction. This much makes sense. I suppose emotional issues like this are universal-no matter the era, culture, or type of person, these things will always happen. These dynamics in these relationships.
-Right.
I think that accurately expresses my views on the situation.
I consider, in this moment, that these people are quite likely going to be my life now. The figures of importance, the people whose activities and relationships I am to take an interest in from now on.
Time to do some deep self-questioning, I've an awful feeling I'm going to be wearing feathers before the week is out.