Please Stand By x Silent Voice

A Better Type of Meeting

It's the day of the meeting Claire and Ava invited Wendy to. The meeting is on Saturday, the same day the Autism Rescue meeting takes place. Wendy will have to skip Autism Rescue to attend the meeting with Claire and Ava. She doesn't know how she feels about this. On one hand, she feels guilty for skipping out on Angel and Autism Rescue, but at the same time she looks forward to seeing Claire and Ava again. They seem so nice. Wendy hopes whatever type of meeting this is, that it will go well. She takes the bus into town, and somehow manages to make her way to the address Claire had texted her (They all exchanged phone numbers after the conversation in the woods). To her surprise, Claire and Ava are already there, waiting outside a small, modest building. There is another girl next to Claire, who seems to be around ten years old. She is blonde and wearing a pink shirt with sparkles on it. The girl can't seem to stand still, swaying side to side in a little happy dance. Wendy smiles, this girl looks like she is enjoying herself.

"Hi Wendy!" Claire types. She gestures to the blonde girl before continuing. "This is my little sister, Glitter."

The girl looks up at Wendy and waves. "I'm adopted!"

"Her name is Glitter?"

"Her real name is Elizabeth," Claire explains. "But she prefers to be called Glitter. I'm sure you can't possibly imagine why!" Claire giggles, referring to Glitter's pink shirt that is full of sparkles.

Elizabeth? Wendy thinks. That's strange... that's the same name of that Mr. White's daughter. She wonders if this Elizabeth is the same one. But she thinks it would be rude of her to ask.

"We'd better get inside," types Claire. "The meeting is about to start."

Wendy nods and follows Claire inside.

When they get there, Wendy is astonished by how different the atmosphere is in comparison to Autism Rescue. While at the Autism Rescue meeting, there wasn't anyone her age, here, the room seems to be full of young adults just like Wendy. And while the people at Autism Rescue seemed stiff and serious, here, people are fidgeting, bouncing, and moving in all the ways Wendy wants to move. There is even an adult muslim woman bouncing with a huge smile on her face. This place is strange, decides Wendy. What are they trying to accomplish by allowing themselves to act so strangely? Wendy feels apprehensive, but curious. A friendly looking young man with blue hair walks up to greet her.

"Hello!" he says. "My name is Sky, what's your name?"

"Wendy," Wendy says.

"I love that name, it's so pretty!" Skys says. "Oh, and my pronouns are they/them, just so you know. What are yours?"

Oh. Sky is non binary. Wendy doesn't understand non binary, but it doesn't matter. She can call people whatever they like as long as they are respectful to her in return. And Sky seems like a nice person. She takes out her notebook and makes a note to refer to Sky as 'they'.

"She/her," Wendy says.

"All right, that's what I thought, but I wanted to ask just in case!" Sky says. They motion for Wendy to take a seat by a dark skinned girl with pastel pink hair. "You can take a seat next to Lavender, or you can stand if you want. Whatever makes you more comfortable. Oh! I almost forgot," Sky grabs a box full of colorful objects. "We have stim toys if you need one." Wendy takes a squishy ball out of the box and sits down next to Lavender. She is feeling nervous about this meeting, so she might need it.

The muslim woman who was bouncing earlier takes out her phone and begins to type.

"All right everyone, let's get started!" She waits for everyone to quiet down before she continues. "I was told by Claire we have a new guest with us today," She turns to Wendy. "Would you like to introduce yourself?"