Tetra winced as she felt the shock of an impact. It was over quickly and she was unharmed... but what in the world was Jenny doing? She could still hear voices and had to be quiet...
She felt something. She knew magic when she felt it... and... yes, there was definitely a magical charge going through Jenny's body.
She must have done... a really good deed.
The tiny cat girl smiled at that. She had to stay quiet.. and let her student continue.
Billy wailed for some time crying... Her large shirt kept her decent- though actually, her fur did that all by itself. She gripped the hand that Jenny gave a little tighter, giving it the barest of squeezes... saying more to the white haired girl then words could.
Suddenly the ground shook, as Stacy threw her large dinosaur foot down. "Stop... crying!"
Billy gasped then sniffled a bit. "S-sis?"
The dinosaur boy leaned forward, arching its powerful body closer to the two smaller children. He gave a long look to Jenny and then to Billy. "Go get your pants..."
BIlly looked around for them. Where were they? Oh... they fell down a little away from the swing. She made a very quick dash for them, bushy orange tail swaying as she moved- wait... what the?
Jenny had to gasp slightly, as she realised something. Without her pants, it was now incredibly obvious. Billy had two tails! They were at first tied together with the pants. Now both were free to sway with each step.
The young squirrel girl sniffled as she took the tattered pants. She looked a little at her foot-paws, not really sure what to make of them. They were... weird. Shoes just slipped off, and socks? Well, they stayed on for a bit but tended to bunch themselves up around the structure. The gait on them didn't come naturally to her at all. Although she found walking was no trouble... she shouldn't have done that climb.
She pulled up the pants, trying her best to get it over the start of her tails as much as possible. It looked like the tails had actually ripped the elastic, so it couldn't tighten any more. She sniffled again, as she tried to hold it at least with her paw like hand.
Jenny looked at the squirrel girl sadly, and rubbed the bruise on her own arm. The dinosaur boy was now looking at her. The white haired girl tried not to look fearfully.. she had to remember, there was a person just like her inside. How would she feel if she had changed so drastic as this?
"Thank... you" the dinosaur said with its deep baritone voice.
Jenny glanced back to Billy then to the dinosaur. "I.. um..."
"You saved her. I- don't know what I would do... if she got hurt. I only want to protect her." It was so difficult though. Being now her older brother, he did everything asked. But there was no pleasing Billy lately. Everyone was afraid to go near the squirrel girl because of him. And she knew how to make him feel guilty... to make him do anything. But this just wasn't right. He knew that.
Jenny started to get an idea of how this situation had developed. Billy might not really be as bad as she appeared... mixed up certainly, confused, angry... she wanted to help her.
"W-When she grew down," The dinosaur continued "She.. lost some of how she used to think. She's still my brother though?" The dinosaur glanced at the squirrel girl, who had taken a position slightly away, watching them with those wide almond eyes. She had her pants on again but they looked like they were struggling to stay on.
"'Course she is!" said Jenny strongly. "She... she jus' um..." The girl shook her head. There was something she wanted to say but couldn't quite remember... should she know something about this or not? Why was it all so vague in her head?
Stacy looked at the squirrel-girl. "Come here!" She roared.
Billy's heart skipped a beat as she ran forward absolutely terrified of disobeying her sister or- brother?
"Say you're sorry." The dinosaur said gesturing to Jenny.
"B-But..." Billy looked at Jenny... and then noticed the bruise. She... saved her? But why? Why would she...
"Do it!" The Dinosaur grunted.
"S-S-... Sorry," she said meekly wiping her tears.
Jenny approached a little cautiously... she knew the squirrel girl reacted badly to her hug before... but she just had to try again. Just one more time... seeing her so sad was breaking her heart. "It's 'okay," she said softly.
The squirrel girl sniffled a bit at the contact... she didn't react quite as badly this time. "I-I'm.. B-Billy," She said trying to re-introduce herself in a better way. If that were possible.
"I'm Jenny," She said releasing the squirrel girl.
The dinosaur boy looked a bit happier. "Make friends with her. I'm gonna go eat something now." Stacy left them, her heavy gait sending mini shocks into the ground.
Billy tensed slightly at the last order. Make... friends? Like this? As a girl? To another girl? She gulped in a little panic.
"You.. don't have many friends huh," Asked Jenny carefully not wanting to offend. But it was quite obvious.
"Nuh.. uh..." She shook her head. "Big brother kept them away. I... didn't want.. em.. "
"Can... I be your friend?" Asked Jenny.
"Y-Yeah. If.. um..." Billy wasn't sure what to say. "I- I really am sor'y. I don't know why I..." She acted like... a kid. "I'd... like..a ... a friend," She said eventually. "Big brother would be.. angry if I.. messed this up."
Jenny gave a gentle smile. "I'd like to be your friend. 'Cause I think you could be nice".
Billy blinked... the girl wasn't coerced by her older brother? She... really wanted to be friends? Even after the way she treated her? "C-Can I ask.. why are you human? I.. wish.. I was."
"I dunno. I'm real sorry." She explained softly. Why was being human such a big deal? She didn't know...
"I'm ugly. Dumb animal" She sniffled again.
"Nuh uh. You're cute. An' you can climb stuff quickly. That's really cool" Jenny pointed out.
"R-Really?" Though Billy was not sure what to feel at being called cute. There was still enough of a boy brain in there though to like the complements of a girl.
Jenny simply nodded. There couldn't be any insincerity in her eyes...
Billy had never met anyone like her. She was... so nice. "Y-You said your mom was a police officer?" the squirrel girl asked re-adjusting her pants before they fell again.
"Uh huh. She's the strongest bestest one." Jenny said nodding. "She saved me from stuff."
"C-Can... you teach me to be strong too?" Billy asked hopefully. "Y-You said bein' a g-g-irl- wasn't so bad. Um- what good is it?" Billy hoped that maybe, if Jenny could show her something- anything, then she could probably focus on that? There had to be something good about it... right? Only another girl could tell her.
The white haired girl looked to have drawn a complete blank at the question.
Stacy sighed, glad to put some distance from the situation. There was a little burger stand outside the park enclosure that served adequate food.
"Six burgers please," the dinosaur boy asked for.
The bird-man like creature inside blinked as he saw the large kid. "Sure..."
Stacy paid for it, and ate.. the entire thing in one bite. His teeth, razor sharp. The bird-man who had served him practically went white as a sheet.
The dinosaur boy then sat down on the side of a wall, the bricks bending slightly by his weight. He was able to see his little sister talking to the human girl. It made him so happy to see her talking to someone finally. He felt it was important to let her do it on her own from this point... Billy had relied on him so much.
Stacy thought about his own life. All his old friends had long deserted him when he became... this. The age difference and gender difference was a significant social shift. He had to start life over... as a beast, a dinosaur... and while he looked vicious, he was still that innocent young girl in his mind.
He couldn't understand why Billy was upset.. he thought she had it easier. For as much as Billy wanted to be him... he wanted to be her. But that was impossible. They got the cards they were dealt with. Besides this form did have advantages he couldn't deny.
He wondered... just what his life would be like now?
Steven had entered the arcades. She wasted no time, and was on her favourite racing game.
She put all her quarters in, and started it.. the top scores came up. Her name was up there... she had to grin at that. Some people were close to beating the record. One person looked to be just five seconds under her. She had mused the game over in her head, and she was certain she knew a way to complete the lap faster.
The flowergirl loaded up her custom car. The car had a slightly below average acceleration, but a very good top speed. Not quite the best, but that was how the game balanced itself out. She realised ages ago that as long as you didn't stop, you didn't have to worry about low acceleration. All the top players had a build similar to this.
The race was on, and she started the game.
"Hi" A voice said.
Steven couldn't turn to see who it was. She had to pay attention to the game. Why was someone interrupting her?
"You need help miss? That car is way too advanced. You really should start on the faster ones" the male voice explained with a little too much eagerness.
Steven missed a basic turn at that... very slight insult against her. She didn't even turn her eyes from the screen to see what the person looked like.
"Oops. Wipe out. I can show you how it's done you know."
Steven gritted her teeth. "I can do it just fine..." She wanted to ask him to stop bothering her, but there was still a chance she could use this lap at least as a practice run. Sitting in the chair with her petalled skirt though was very distracting.
"I'm Hiro," the male voice said. "Mind if I play you?"
God damn it! Fine maybe it will shut him up. "Free country. If you have the quarters,"
"Oh I got plenty..."
Becca was so happy to be playing soccer that the other two couldn't say no. However there was still the issue of the fact that they had a person made of flesh and blood against a robot, and a stone girl.
One miss step was all that could be needed to cripple her for life!
"I have an idea," said Dennis sitting on Mikey's shoulder. "You could use a collision avoidance program."
"Well we can't exactly write one up from scratch," Said Effie.
"I don't think you have to. Mikey should be able to do it herself."
Mikey concentrated... and somehow she knew she couldn't hit Becca. It was like a core part of her system was activated, to prevent injury. "Yeah... I can play with you Becca," said the gynoid.
Becca giggled happily. But that still left Caitlin. There was no way she could tackle a creature made of flesh and blood. One kick to the leg in soccer could break a persons leg even in normal circumstances. If that person was made of stone, they could dislocate the entire bone!
"I'll stay as the goalkeeper," Caitlin said. "You two have to tackle each other and if you get the ball you got to try and score behind me,"
That seemed like a suitable compromise.
"Okay. Becca I won't be hittin' you, but you got to be real careful not to kick me. I don't know how strong I am," said Mikey.
Becca nodded still giddy. She tried to kick the ball, realising it was a lot larger then she had ever been used to before.
Mikey moved to tackle Becca, to get the ball from her... but it was like the little girl wasn't even moving to her. It was like bullet time... this hardly seemed fair.
"I think you're gonna have to underclock Mikey," said Effie. Since they shared the same kind of perception as their host, they were also aware of the slowness of the real world when Mikey cranked up her processing for an action.
"Er.. how?" asked the gynoid.
Becca for all it was worth was trying to keep the ball from the android. She was aware of just how.. fast Mikey was. She had never seen anything like it. Was she just so slow cause she was so young? This wasn't fair!
