God's Gone AWOL

[Bonus Features] 10 Years Later (Part 2)

The house was quite small, made up of only 3 rooms. Although it may have been a lot bigger if not for the notable amounts of clutter pushed here and there around the main room. Shelves and shelves of books lined the walls, accompanied by an assortment of strange trinkets and piles of paper. A rolled up Yo mattress leaned in the corner, near the door to the bathroom. This was definitely a space that was being lived in.

On the far end of the main room, the front door pulled itself open to reveal a bright and sunny afternoon beyond.

"...It's better than the last place, that's for sure," Chang-Ho was saying. "I don't think this farm boy will ever enjoy living in the city, though,"

He kicked off his shoes before stepping inside, so Atticus followed his example. Although he had entered several human residences over the years of his life, he still wasn't used to the stationary dwellings of mortals. He couldn't help but stare around at the wonder of this ordinary little house as Chang-Ho led him inside.

"What are all of these objects?" he asked.

"Ah, some of them have proper uses. Some are just pretty. Some things I'm not really sure where they came from or what they do," Chang-Ho explained, watching Atticus' expression with interest. "It's part of being a human, I guess. Objects just kind of appear in your life,"

"Not everything needs a purpose, I suppose," Atticus replied. "Some things just exist to make people happy,"

"Making people happy is a perfectly fine purpose!" Chang-Ho replied.

As he was speaking, Atticus approached one of the many shelves pressed up against the wall. Sitting in front of a set of Mandarin-Language books, a small cat figurine smiled brightly at Atticus. It was almost completely white except for its golden eyes, green chest, and red collar. With its left paw raised in a beckoning gesture, and a symbol around the collar that bore the character "福", it had a very adorable look about it. For some reason, Atticus felt as though he couldn't look away.

"You like my zhāocáimāo?" the human asked. "I'm not a big fan of Japanese stuff —seeing as it's partially Japan's fault that my family is dead— but it sort of reminded me of you, so I bought it,"

"It reminded you of me?"

Chang-Ho nodded.

"It's yours if you want it. Take it with you... wherever you're going next,"

"You're letting me keep it?" Atticus asked.

"Of course! I bought it with you in mind!"

As if to further encourage Atticus to take the cat, Chang-Ho pulled it from the shelf and physically pressed it into the angel's hand.

"If you ever settle down somewhere or buy a house or something, this can be your first randomly acquired object, alright?" he said clearly.

Atticus just stared at him in a startled silence.

Once he had succeeded in pressing the cat figurine onto Atticus, Chang-Ho instructed the angel to sit on the floor. Atticus did as he asked and sat cross-legged in the center of the room while Chang-Ho ran around the house. His golden eyes silently followed the human as he rushed about, gathering materials for their therapy session.

"So I started this sort of personal ritual thing shortly after I came here to China," Chang-Ho explained. "Lots of other people do it too, I've found. Hopefully it helps you as much as it helps all of us,"

He came hurrying back into the room, carrying two small pieces of paper and a set of pencils. Bending down, he used both hands to respectfully pass one of each to Atticus.