The Celestial Exchange Agency

Brief

Synopsis

Plot Points

Notes

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.