Mikey looked at Bryan, curiosity in her eyes. "Doesn't it bother you to think of being rooted in place?" she said. "You wouldn't be able to move or anything..."
The plant-boy shrugged. "I dunno," he said. "It...it does feel good to dig into the soil, I know that. I guess it would be a pain in some ways, but maybe I could still move around somehow or other. Besides, they were pretty sure it'd be temporary if it did happen - they said I'm probably not the kind to put down real deep roots like a tree."
"Moving's overrated anyway," Caitlin said.
The other two stared at her. "Uh, aren't you moving right now?" Mikey asked.
"Well, yeah," the statue-girl said, "'cause I'm busy with school and talking to you and everything. When I'm all by myself I like to just be completely still. I can do a pose and hold it for, like, forever, probably. I like to be out on the lawn and see how many people think I'm a real statue in different poses." She giggled.
Mikey felt a bit alarmed at the prospect of Caitlin just standing still forever. The thought expanded unbidden into a vision of her new friend standing outside for years and years, the weather pitting her marble skin, wearing away at her even as she grew into a woman, her being buried for centuries after this civilization had come and gone, before being dug up and put on display in some museum like some old Greek stuff she'd seen on a field trip once, two thousand years after everything she'd known had passed on.
Mikey suddenly snapped back to reality, overwhelmed by the thought. Was that how a statue would age? For that matter, what about herself? A complex piece of machinery like her body might not be so failure-proof as a statue of almost solid stone, but she did have advanced self-repair systems - did that make her immortal?
She decided to forget about it. There would be plenty of time to worry about this later in life. Besides, Caitlin at least was far too social to actually sit still for millennia. Though Mikey didn't doubt she'd be late for school now and again.
"So, tell me," Lisa said. "You had said a while back that you didn't mind your change because you defined yourself by your thoughts and writings, not by your physical shape."
Jay nodded, curious where this was going.
"So," her friend continued, "if that's the case, do you consider yourself a woman? Or do you not consider yourself anything?"
The fox-girl frowned. "Well, it doesn't matter a whole lot what I consider myself," she said, "I'm quite evidently-"
"No, not female," Lisa said. "A woman."
Jay frowned. "Well, it would help if I knew what the distinction is, but let me see if I can't work this out..."
Jon was hardly the only one surprised by David's little stunt. She'd somehow changed clothes completely in the middle of class, while emitting a bright light...weird. Jon had gathered from her that her and her "sisters" had some kind of connection - did this have something to do with that?
Weirder yet was Tiffany had seemed to take it as some kind of personal attack, at least to judge by the sudden spike in her shadowy aura, which was growing quite noticeable by now. Even the other students were beginning to wonder.
The teacher looked annoyed. "Ms. Sanders, would it be possible for you to dial that back a bit?"
Tiffany scowled, accompanied by a brief flare-up. "Why?" she snarled. "What's your problem with it?"
The teacher was not amused. "Tiffany," she said, "my problem with it is that it is distracting the rest of the class. Please keep it under control."
At this last phrase, something about the teacher changed; her mask of professionalism briefly started to slip away, and the class got a glimpse of...nothing definite, but something far less tame, something you had damn well Better Pay Attention To. Even Tiffany was cowed, shrinking back in her seat and pulling back her aura.
Jon remembered what Brittany had said about "glamour" - was this a glimpse at what their teacher was really like?
