"Hey," Harry said, frowning at Zoe, "you didn't need to be so blunt...he was just...just..." She blanched as the full implications of what he was saying hit her. He was asking her out!? She could hardly even process that thought. She tried to think of another explanation that would fit, but she'd seen that that was the truth already.
Seen it was the truth? Like she'd seen that Brandon had thrown the spitball... Harry was confused. But between dealing with her new form, struggling with the associated identity crisis, and trying to re-learn social interactions from her new perspective, that was hardly anything new.
"Haru..." she murmured. He really thought she was a born girl? Granted, he might have been a little blinded, but nothing in her appearance or behavior tipped him off...did that say more about him, or her?
The menstrual pains were a little easier on Jon for day two, at least thus far. Thus she was in a relatively good mood when she got to school. She met Karyn in the hall and they talked as they always did, but Jon's mind was elsewhere.
Today she didn't feel quite so crappy. Today she could be civil and pleasant. Today, she had decided, she was going to get to know some of her classmates.
She and Karyn arrived in class. Sarah was already there, just as unclothed as yesterday, and while she was still drawing attention, the class seemed less stunned by it than they had yesterday. Jon wondered if and when they'd totally acclimate to her nakedness.
Michael was there as well; Jon was a little surprised, given her semi-feral behavior, that she hadn't taken advantage of the relaxed dress code, but she most likely needed her breasts restrained for hunting. Which, apparently, the raptor-girl was still doing; her top and skirt had blood stains that looked pretty fresh, and there was a little smear by the corner of her mouth. Was that from an impromptu breakfast, or what?
She looked around the class; now that she was actually looking, it was a whole room full of strange sights. There was the devil-girl she'd seen a couple days ago; like Sarah, she apparently felt more normal unclothed, every inch of her cherry-red skin visible to the world, her spade-finned tail swishing slowly back and forth behind her as she idly tapped one hoof on the hardwood floor.
There was what looked to be a normal human girl wearing what Jon recognized from a random Internet find as 6th-century Brythonic dress (or at least as far as you could trust the Internet on that) - a deep red open outer dress with a light-colored kirtle underneath, and loose pantaloons peeking out from underneath that, all held together by a sturdy leather belt. She was barefoot. Jon wondered what the story with her was.
There were plenty of guys, as well, and Jon was going to force herself to acknowledge them, no matter what awaited. She couldn't just avoid this forever.
Muriel sighed as she looked around her apartment. It was nice of her boss to let her have the week off as she attempted to figure things out, but she was still a bit overwhelmed by the prospect now facing her.
She was, until something turned up in Jenny's case, the girl's temporary caretaker, though strictly speaking the precinct was maintaining guardianship. That was as much from necessity as it was from Jenny's wishes - there was only one orphanage anywhere near the city, and it was filled to capacity in the aftermath of the sun's change.
That much was fine, but now that Muriel had Jenny as her ward, she faced the problem of integrating the girl into her life. She had the week off, but they weren't going to give her indefinite paid vacation to sit around minding a child. She would need to go back to work, but who would stay with Jenny?
There was the cat-thing, admittedly, but while it seemed benevolent, there was a big difference between meaning well and actually having the skills to keep track of a child for eight or nine hours a day. Besides, she was still working on wrapping her head around this whole "magic girl" business, and didn't feel like relying on it not to be a particularily crazy dream until she was sure it wasn't.
Should she send Jenny to school, then? Certainly she was school-age, and she seemed bright enough, but how would she handle being around so many other people? Muriel was no psychologist, but she could tell the girl felt lost in even the small crowd at the station - how much more among a couple hundred other children?
Then again, what if that was what Jenny needed? Did kids overcome shyness by being around other kids, or would pushing them out into a crowd only make them withdraw further? Muriel didn't know - she had never been shy to begin with, and the only thing that changed over time was that she'd gotten less loud about it.
Cripes, even being an unofficial parent was confusing, she mused.
