Toby opened the curtains to his- now 'her' office, after locking the door.
She saw the dazzling sunlight, a sight she had not seen since it had changed into those strange shimmering colours. She had given the police all the details of the attack, although now it was all becoming a confused memory. She looked down at the coloured form of an anime character, somehow existing in the real world. She moved her hand at each degree, noting it only appeared in two dimension no matter what angle she looked at it. At this point she knew all laws of physics had to be broken. She could believe that a light would induce mutation. That was a known science. She had covered enough stories on the dangers of ultraviolet light causing cancer to have a basic understanding of it.
However... This- whatever this is, this was not possible.
Not unless she was willing to forget everything she ever knew about reality. If she made that leap, just how much of a 'character' was she? Did the laws of 'toon physics' apply to her now? Would gravity only exist if she looked down? She didn't want to test it. Despite her appearance she still felt 'real'. She touched the glass of her window, a bluish inky sheen forming from her finger tips, spreading onto the pane. It was even controllable to a certain extent if she concentrated. Perhaps it was some kind of aura around her?
She was relieved when Terri said she wasn't going to leave her. She didn't know what she would do, but she did know marriage was not going to be the same any more. She was also touched that she would go into the sunlight to chance being something more compatible with her new form, but there was no way she could allow that. For one thing, she didn't know how she felt about anything at the moment and two, their young son Charles, was already going to be traumatised by all this.
How was she going to break this to him? He was only nine years old... That his father had become... this? In her error of judgement, her son had caught onto all the fears she projected onto him, as she used money and built their lives around how to avoid the sun. Funny how she realised that now. All her attempts to protect them, and this was the result. Her son was going to go to school tonight as well, after sunset among all the other humans. She knew his greatest fear was being kept into the sunlight. The thought gave him nightmares and he spent many a night assuring the boy that would never happen, that humans looked out for each other...
Parents lie to their children so easily.
She asked Terri to not tell Charles until after his first day of school. Toby would tell him at home when he returned, using the time to prepare with her wife... and hoped to God her son wouldn't run in terror. Terri would prepare her for it of course. But the boy would cry... she knew that. It was going to break her heart to see those tears. If she could just... make sure he would be strong. She would still be there for him... Charles loved her very much before. That wouldn't change now... would it? Maybe that's why Jay was so nonchalant about her own situation. She didn't have any family to worry about, just her own thoughts.
"Terri..." She whispered looking across the town, as if she could be there right now. She became aware of... music playing? It seemed to reflect her mood. She glanced at the radio noting it wasn't on. As soon as she became aware of it the music stopped. She glanced around. what the hell was going on now? Shaking her head she went back to the desk finishing up her work.
It was also time to get a new suit.
Jon woke up for the first day at school. What would she see there? Part of her was quite freaked out. Being both girl and part slug was just strange to herself. She brought her backpack, containing a few notebooks, and pens and pencils. They were not given any instructions on bringing anything.
Mikey carried her own bag as well.
"Aren't you going to check you got everything?" Jon asked. Mikey always used to do that.
"Uh.. I know what I got" The robot girl said. It was all in her mind as if it were a fact.
Jon smiled "So your not going to lose your pens or anything?"
"Er... No... I don't think so" Mikey shrugged. Perfect memory was certainly an efficient tool. She somehow knew they would reach school at exactly twenty three minutes if they started now, walking at average pace. This was well within the scheduled start time. She wondered if her skills would make her seem smart or.. maybe not even human. They might decide not to bother testing her. That would actually be quite nice.
On Mikeys shoulder, hidden from Jon's perception Effie observed the two. "Your brother- is a girl too?"
Mikey texted to her yes .
Effie wondered if the sunlight affected families in similar sort of ways... maybe her own family had become digital beings too? In which case they would be somewhere in cyberspace... if they changed. Not that there was any way to know. She sighed wishing she could just remember their names. She had to get an E-mail address to them. She had heard a lot of people had gone missing on the first day, and she could be any one of those missing faces. She wasn't sure if she was even known locally. Her home could be anywhere in the real world.
Effie looked at the slug part of Jon's form. a wave of nausea in her stomach. She was somewhat glad she didn't end up as anything so... alien as that. "If your going to school, what should I do?" she asked her host.
I think you have to come with me
Effie looked curiously. "Hm? You want me to?"
Well, I think you got a limited range around me. I read on Emergence that digital fairies can't get too far away from their hosts.
Effie wondered about that concerned. Did that mean she was existing as some kind of 'signal' in the real world? How far a range did that mean? What would happen if she went beyond that range? It was clearly something they had to test she thought, with some trepidation.
They were then joined by that weird little girl with the blue hair. Effie thought she looked adorable. She noticed she still carried that doll in her pocket. Why did that doll feel so... weird to her? Though... pretty. Part of her wanted to hug it herself... and that made her even more worried about her state of mind.
"Hello Becka" Jon smiled. "Ready to go?"
"Y-yeah..." Becka lied. She wasn't ready at all for this. she didn't carry any bags. Jon and
Mikey smiled to her as they opened the front door and walked out.
"Good luck!" Mrs Madison called out to them. "And look out for each other!"
"Yes Mom!" Jon nodded as she slithered her way out.
