The Celestial Exchange Agency
Brief:
Andrea and her three best friends
join the Celestial Exchange Agency, a group of people who
believe they are other mythical beings. While there,
Andrea glimpses what she thinks is the angel who she helped ten
years ago.
Synopsis:
Leaving the last day of their senior
year of highschool behind, Andrea and her three best friends,
Faith, Hope and Charity drive to a secluded forest where they
all decide to share a secret. Faith, Hope and Charity are
actually one soul. Andrea tells them she is an angel.
Faith, Hope and Charity decide to introduce Andrea to the
Celestial Exchange Agency - a group devoted to people who
believe they're not human.
The head of the CEA, Iblael,
receives a message from from his familiar, Lady Abaddon, that an
Angel is being sent to him. After determining if she
really is an angel, he's to bring her to Abaddon.
Shortly after coming to the CEA, she
is verbally attacked by a self-proclaimed Dark Elf, Douglas.
Faith, Hope and Charity come to her aid, show her around, and
introduce her to specifically to three angels. However, as
she listens to them, she notices they are actually ghostly
shadows, whether they know it or not. Iblael brings
Douglas to apologize for the earlier tirade, and Andrea gets a
fleeting glimpse of Abaddon, who she recognizes as a darkened
Hanna.
She demands to know what Iblael has
done to Hanna to make him her slave. When he feigns
ignorance she tells him that she sees all the members of the CEA
are either turning into shadows or are shadows themselves.
Realizing how much she knows already
Douglas and Iblael attack her. When Faith, Hope and
Charity fight back, Iblael "disconnects" Faith from the other
two causing her to go into shock. Seeing the slaved angel
and all the people transformed into shadows causes Andrea to
grab Iblael and fling him across the room, showing her first use
of blue power.
In the midst of the fight, Abaddon
lulls Andrea into a sense of security by taking her into a black
place, much like when Hanna takes her into space. Andrea
believes it to be the same place, however there are no stars.
Abaddon removes her mask to reveal a row of shark like teeth.
Andrea, not knowing how to control her new blue powers, simply
"reacts" to Abaddon, creating a shield at first, and after
hearing Morningstars voice, attacking her, causing Abaddon to
flee.
As she leaves, she attempts to warn
the others about what's going on, but is laughed out of the
building, where she bumps into the human Michael. As she
leaves, he tosses in some green magic telling the mob to "settle
down in there."
Back home, Lise changes a lightbulb
but is killed when Abaddon upsets her ladder and attempts to
take her soul. A human angel, Eric, defends both Ridhaa
and Lise from Abaddon but loses his life as they get away.
Before she can follow them, Morningstar calls Abaddon home, leaving Andrea to discover her mother's body alone.
Plot Points:
- Andrea tells Faith, Hope and
Charity about her being an angel - the first people to be told
since she decided to keep quiet about her halo.
- Faith Hope and Charity are one soul
living in three bodies. The three cannot be away from each
other for very long and have learned ways to keep themselves
together while maintaining an image of independence.
- Lady Abaddon is an angel who bears
a striking resemblance to Hanna, but black. She serves as
a familiar to Iblael, a self-proclaimed Dark Elf.
- Lise has been disowned by her
family, but has control of the family house. Rob and
Bernice never contested the will but continually try to buy the
house from her.
- Andrea goes to the Celestial
Exchange Agency, a group devoted to people who believe they're
not human.
- Andrea is still able to sense
shadows, and mistakes Abaddon for Hanna.
- When they realize how much Andrea
already knows, Douglas and Iblael attack her. When Faith,
Hope and Charity fight back, Iblael "disconnects" Faith from the
other two causing her to go into shock.
- Seeing the slaved angel and all the
people transformed into shadows causes Andrea to grab Iblael and
fling him across the room, showing her first use of blue power.
- Abaddon lulls Andrea into a sense
of security by taking her into a black place, much like when
Hanna takes her into space. Andrea believes it to be the
same place, however there are no stars.
- Abaddon removes her mask to reveal
a row of shark like teeth.
- Andrea is currently unable to
control her blue powers, simply reacting to Abaddon with a
shield and a lightning bolt. With each use of blue, her
halo darkens and fades.
- Abaddon briefly loses her form,
revealing that she is a blue bodied shadow.
- Eric tells Abaddon "You trained me
pretty well," implying she taught him to fight. We'll see two
more of her pupils in "Bursting Point" as well as ordering her
pupils to stay on guard in "Enteracte." She also cannot be
hurt by blue or red magic, as she is made of both. We will
see her ability to tolerate blue again in "Bursting Point."
- First appearance of the human
Michael, although he's not mentioned as such. He uses
green magic.
Notes:
- The title "The Celestial
Exchange Agency" comes from a friend of the author.
- Andrea's 17 year old design was
based on Jill Hennessey of Law & Order and Crossing Jordan.
- The story begins with Andrea
dreaming about falling while trying to fly, foreshadowing
the events of "Apotheosis."
- The characters and events of A Wish for Wings represent an
allegorical retelling of the author's life. Many of the
events in story are events that really happened, but are
twisted into a fantasy plot.
- Faith, Hope and Charity
represent one of the author's best friends, and her two
sisters. Like their characters, they are never far
away from each other for very long.
- The Celestial Exchange Agency
is based on an anime club the Author once visited in the
eighties, as well as an otherkin group she joined for
research at a friend's behest.
- Lady Abaddon was originally
created as an accidental negative image of Hanna. With
a change of the eyes from yellow to blue, Abaddon was
created.
- Lietenant Douglas is based on
an anime club member and editor with an inflated sense of
self.
- Andrea's dress is a "close
approximation" of what she remembers of Hanna's outfit.
In reality, this outfit is based on one worn by Miss
Tessmacher in Superman.
- Much of the background talk in
Part Nine is based on things actually heard or said at both
the anime club and the otherkin support group. However in
panel 5, the names of all the Space Shuttles appear as
pseudo-Elvish names.
- Douglas' tirade on Andrea was
almost word for word an EMail sent to the author.
- The appearance of a Vulcan in
Part Eleven was a personal dig on the otherkin culture,
after the author soured on the otherkin support group.
- Iblael is the first human we
see to use magic.
- Up until Part Eighteen, Abaddon
was actually going to be Hanna, still hurt from her impaling
in "The Final Nightmare." However, at Panel 6, there
was a last minute decision to create Abaddon as a totally
new character.
-
A completely alternate version
of Part Twenty One was made at the very last minute using
stock images from earlier episodes, but was so
dissapointing it was taken down a few days later and
redrawn. Panel 3 is the only panel from the alternate
version to survive intact.
- Eric's bladed fork is an homage
to Matt Wagner's Grendel. The green magic Michael shoots is
an homage to Wagner's Mage: The Hero Discovered as well.
- Michael's appearance is based
on the author's previous boyfriend.
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