Will sighed. They'd been talking with Anneza for nearly two and a half hours now. It was...awkward, to say the least. Having Ellen, the little doll-woman, to assist in translation was helpful, but the fact was that Anneza's lack of fluency was a bottleneck. The wolf-girl suspected that her even knowing sign language was a very recent thing, and while it was impressive what she'd picked up in...what, three days? it was only marginally more effective as a means of communication than the cartoon she'd brought in to the station.
Still, progress was progress. They'd established more or less what Will and Lt. Jameson had been suspecting: by the space-woman's account, some person she couldn't describe came to her and offered her something having to do with her...body? (A way to change back, maybe?) She was emphatic that she didn't know what she was doing at the time.
What the wolf-girl couldn't figure out was whether Anneza simply lacked the signs to describe whoever had made her this offer, or whether she meant that she actually didn't have a description of them. That would certainly fit with the undepicted "voice" in the drawings...but damn, if they had to chase after some disembodied thing instead of an actual person...
She turned to the strange robot-woman. Will had seen a number of androids and gynoids around since the sun changed, but Cecilia here was the first she'd seen to look obviously, unambiguously like a machine and not like a...what, "artificial human?" She was humanoid in form, certainly, but she had much more in common with the chrome figures from old sci-fi movies than, say, Bishop from Aliens. She even smelled less human-like - not that normal androids were particularily human in that regard, but to the wolf-girl's nose there was a discernable difference.
"How's it coming?" she asked. They'd managed to convey to Anneza that they wanted her to speak in addition to signing, and the robot-woman had been listening intently since. If this translation thing would just work...
There was a pause before Cecilia responded. "Mm? Sorry, I'm a little short on CPU time at the moment," she said. "It's...slow. I'm getting a basic dictionary of untranslated words assembled, but it's difficult trying to pin them to meanings or derive a grammar. There don't seem to be any common roots with any of the languages I looked into."
Will frowned. "Can't you just...I dunno, spread it out on the Internet and speed things up?"
Cecilia sighed. "Not really. Processor time has become a bit of a commodity there; there's multiple free-floating AIs trying to figure out how to share whatever systems they can get their hands on, just to stay running at a real-time rate. Besides, I'd like to keep this private, since it pertains to a case still under investigation."
Agent Hawkins shrugged. "Not sure how feasible that is," he said. "If we can crack this, she's going to want to share the information with professional translators. Though we can certainly keep anything pertaining to the case private."
The robot-woman nodded. "Yes, but we won't know what that is until I've figured out what all she's saying. Until then, I think the best we can do is keep her talking while she feels like it."
Will sighed. She'd hoped they'd be able to offer a real solution for the woman, to take care of this problem so she could move on to addressing all her other problems, but...it seemed like nothing was ever quite so easy.
Still, at least Anneza could talk. She thought of Ellen, unable to speak unless someone pulled her cord, and unable to shut up until she ran down... Will had seen a good many people who were doll-sized, pixies and tiny anthropomorphic rodents and what-not, but Ellen was the only person she'd heard of becoming an actual doll. She wondered if it was at least comfortable, or did she even feel anything?
One thing was for sure - the wolf-girl had never felt so grateful that her own change had left her as functional as it had.
Becca sighed. So bored... They'd practiced a little bit since her battle with Mrs. Crawf-uh, Shadoe Fae, but not a whole lot. And Trident had decided that weekends were too busy for practice...too many people out and about who might see her. Her tiny mentor thought there might be a way for her to slip out of people's perception in magical-girl mode, but she was still trying to figure it out...
So for now, it was sit. Sit around and do nothing much...she stared glumly at the mirror, fiddling idly with her powder-blue hair, the two side-locks and ponytail that made Three. It wouldn't be so bad if there were much to do, but the Madisons didn't have a lot in the way of games, at least not that she could follow, and she didn't really know them all that well...
She didn't know anybody all that well, really. She'd met some kids at school this week, but she had yet to make any real friends there. And the Madisons were nice people, but they were all older than her...than she'd become...
She sighed even more heavily as she thought about that. Already her past, her old life was drifting away. She could remember it fine, but it seemed increasingly detached, like Becca...no, Becca...oh, darn it...like her old self was another person. But if that was true, then who was she? She hadn't changed a whole lot...she still remembered her old self, she still liked sports...
Speaking of which, she heard a familiar hollow thunk and the sound of kids running and laughing...pretty close, too. She went over to the window and looked out...Mikey and some girl she didn't recognize were playing football!
Suddenly re-energized, Becca raced downstairs and out into the yard. "Hey, hey!" she said excitedly. "Can I play?" They stopped to look at her. Mikey she knew, but the other girl...she looked like she was made of stone, and she had no clothes on! Weird!
The marble girl looked at her curiously. "Is she your sister, Mikey?" she asked.
"She lives with us," the young gynoid replied. "Her mom and dad are...kinda not very good at taking care of kids, so they asked us to take care of her. You want to play with us, Becca?"
The little blue-haired girl nodded emphatically. "I haven't got to play football in a long time!"
Mikey frowned. She'd be happy to let her, but what if there was a stray tackle? Caitlin was a lot heavier than she looked, and even Mikey was sturdier under the skin than ordinary flesh and blood...
"We don't want you to get hurt," she said. "Maybe we could play soccer instead?" That wasn't exactly a tea party, admittedly, but it at least had a bit less emphasis on full-body contact...
Becca frowned, then thought, then brightened. Maybe it wasn't quite her thing, but still... "Okay," she said. "Let's play!"
Andy was finally beginning to pull herself back together. Maple had said a polite goodbye and gone home some time ago, leaving her with Susan. She didn't mind that, really. She had dropped all pretense of hiding her weakness, and she had to admit it felt good to have her mate's hands on her shoulders. Not in a sensual way (well, maybe a little bit,) just the basic comfort of physical contact...
The rabbit-woman sat back upright, drawing a deep breath, looking over her shoulder at the snake-man her wife had become. There was still so much left to say...where to even begin?
"Sue," she said, her voice almost a whisper, "I'm...I'm sorry...I never trusted you like I should have. You've always been better to me than I deserve...I should never have...hidden..."
"You weren't the only one," the naga-man said. "If I hadn't held back from telling you what...what you needed to hear...maybe this would never have...oh, Andy, I was so afraid I'd drive you away..."
"N-no," Andy said. "You shouldn't blame yourself, Sue. It was my fault, really...I can't keep trying to deny that. I'll...I'll do anything to make it up to you...anything at all..." She hadn't quite intended for her voice to sound so husky and...suggestive when she said that, but...well, she...she would.
Susan shook his head emphatically. "I don't want that, Andy!" he said. "I don't want...payback...you don't have to earn my forgiveness, love. You don't have to do anything. All I want is...I want the old you back. I don't care whether you're a human man or...anything else, I just want you, like you used to be."
Andy couldn't help smiling to herself. Susan...really meant that, didn't he? But...she wanted to make things up to him, somehow...if she only knew how...
"I...I guess someone has to look after things here, with the kids," she said. "It...might as well be me...you've still got the shop to consider..."
Her mate frowned. "I know what you're getting at," he said. "Andy...if I am going to be a man, I'm not going to be the kind that wants a...a simpering domestic for a...for a wife. You and I both know that's not you, honey, and for you to try to force yourself into a role you don't want out of guilt...that would just make things worse."
The rabbit-woman felt a little ashamed...she hadn't meant to imply that Sue was like...that, it was just...how else was she supposed to contribute? But...he was right...
Susan took her in his arms, eliciting a small gasp. "Andy, honey," he said, "if...if you would take care of things around here, that would mean a lot to me, but...I want you to pick up your job search again."
She gasped, thinking back on how it had felt to be abruptly cut loose after ten years of reliable service, and all that had followed...how long had it been since she'd simply given up altogether? She couldn't even remember. "I-I can't!" she said, ears drooping. "They...they won't hire me..."
He hugged her, and she clung to him. "Maybe not right away, dear," he said. "But you're a good worker, and things will come around again, you'll see. We both know that this is what you want, and...I just want to see you happy again, like you were..."
The bunny-girl embraced her mate, her head buried in his chest. "I love you, Sue," she whispered.
Jenny hardly even had time to think, but she didn't have to. She sprang over beneath the swing and leapt into the air, smacking into the squirrel-girl mid-fall. It didn't do a whole lot, but it did slightly arrest her fall, and Billy bounced off the white-haired girl and onto the ground, rolling over several times before coming to a stop on the grass.
Jenny dashed over to her, panicking. But she was breathing and appeared more or less uninjured...maybe she was a bit bruised, though it didn't show under the fur, and she had the wind knocked out of her, but nothing was broken at least.
"YOU COULDA GOT HURT!" Jenny yelped, tearing up. "I don' want you t' get hurt! I don't want anybody t' get hurt!!!"
It took a minute for the squirrel-girl to get her breath back. She sat up, wincing as she felt the bruises, and looked around. She had...she'd screwed up and fell, 'cause she wasn't being careful, and everyone had saw, and...and her pants fell off, too. She couldn't help it, she burst into tears, wailing like...like the little girl she was. Why did...why did this hafta happen to her!?
Jenny wanted to comfort her again, but it seemed like Billy didn't like it when people touched her...she gently took the squirrel-girl's hand, looking her in the eye as she looked up in confusion. Billy still seemed upset and standoffish, but didn't pull away, at least.
"Y-you don't hafta be all girly," Jenny said. "Not if you don't wanna. Like, Mur-um, my mommy, she's a police lady...she's really brave."
"B-but she's still a l-lady!" Billy wailed. "I don't wanna be a g-girl! I don't wanna grow up t' be a ladY!'
