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Antony blinked. "Well ... yes ... it's just easier if there are shadows ... and the layers are so brightly lit that there aren't shadows ... in a way it's easier for me, because I don't have colours distracting me, but in a way it's harder because a lot of the outfits are ... well, fancy, so there's a lot of extra shadows and such, it makes it harder to judge sometimes. And I can't tell because of size, because angels come in different sizes."

And suddenly he realized he had forgotten to tell her what was perhaps the most important reason for his concern.

"I can't see colours," he added as an afterthought. "I haven't been able to see colours since I was little."

"Well," Antony replied, making a circle in the dirt with the toe of his sneaker, "I can see things really clearly, just not colour. The doctors say I have good ... um ... I think they call it ... per ... perception, maybe? And distinction, I remember that word, they say I have good distinction between objects, especially if they're moving."

He paused. "I always go see the same doctor, even though I have different families all the time," he explained, "and the last time I was there ... two families ago, I told him about Angelic Layer, and he said I would probably be good at it, seeing what all the angels are doing."

He flushed slightly, looking a little embarrassed. "It was the first time anyone ever told me I could be good at something."

Talk about a loaded question.

"I guess there are a bunch of reasons," Tony replied thoughtfully. "I guess ... well, I saw it on TV one time and I really liked it, so I tried to learn what I could about it ... and I thought the idea of it was really neat, how it lets people do things that they can't do normally. And ... well, for me that's really true because most kids in my grade play video games and stuff, but I'm no good at those because a lot of the time you have to match colours or something, and you don't need to see depth, which is the one thing I'm good at seeing ..."

He scratched at the back of his neck awkwardly.

"I had a foster brother last year, he only let me play his video games when he was there, and I always had to play against him so that he could win," he told Lanying, and though it was a sad fact there was no trace of sadness or regret in his voice or on his face. "And ... well, I don't know if you saw me practicing on my board earlier, but I'm not much good at that yet either. Angelic Layer is one thing where it doesn't matter how old you are or anything, everyone's on the same level."

He looked up at Lanying, smiling faintly. "Sometimes I think it's the only place in the world where everyone's equal."

"What about you?" Tony asked Lanying curiously. "Why do you do Angelic Layer? I mean, you must be able to do just about anything you want ... of all the other games that are available, why Angelic Layer?"

She had said something about her neighbourhood not bing child-friendly, but he wasn't exactly sure what that meant, and he knew that there were a lot of things that were available to that group of kids that weren't available to kids like him. To be fair, he had to fight to be able to afford to play this particular game, so maybe it was more natural for her to be playing it than it was for him.

As she kept reminding him, it was after all usually a girl's game.

"But people have different ideas of what real people are," Antony pointed out. "Most people would say that I'm not a real person, I'm just baggage to lug around or pass around, depending on whether they like me or not."

He wasn't going to sugarcoat it, it was the truth he had been living with for the past four years.

"I just want to find something I can do for myself for once," he shrugged. "I spend a lot of time with people, it just doesn't usually turn out very nice."

He paused a moment, wondering if she might take that the wrong way and hoping that she wouldn't.

"But ... but I'm having fun now," he smiled at her, hoping she wasn't offended. "I think this is the first time I've talked with another kid and they didn't laugh at me."

"A doll?" Antony blinked. "What the heck is that supposed to mean? Why do people think you're a doll?"

He honestly didn't understand it. Sure, she dressed real pretty like the fancy dolls that he sometimes saw in stores (on the rare occasion that he had been in one), but she was just a kid, after all!

Grownups were just too confusing.

Antony grimaced.

"Wow," he murmured. "And I thought life in the foster system sucked. At least we can do stuff, have a bit of fun."

He looked up at Linyang again. "Is that why your nanny flipped out on me?" he asked her curiously. "Because I'm not a doll, like the kids where you're from?"