"But you can't mean to suggest that I should just sit by and leave my children to face this!" Mr. Gordon said. "Just to resign ourselves to this...effect?" "Plague" or "disease" were more along the lines of what he was thinking, but he didn't want to give the impression that he thought of the changed themselves that way.
Muriel shook her head. "It's not that. I definitely understand your desire to help your kids, sir, to say nothing of the other people who would like to return to their old bodies. But even in ordinary medicine, you have times where pursuing further treatment isn't worth it...if the effect is trivial, or if the treatment is too difficult..."
Her host frowned. "But the effects are hardly trivial, in most cases...and we'll have no way of knowing what the treatment's like until we find one."
The policewoman nodded. "That's true...I'll be the first to admit that my own changes are minor; probably the least obtrusive I've seen, except for Jenny's...I think. But I have seen friends and coworkers dealing with much larger changes, and...the one thing I've really noticed is that very few of them are as debilitating as they seem at first. It takes them time and effort to adjust, but compared to waiting indefinitely on a cure..."
He shrugged. "Maybe so, but...I can't just sit by and leave them without any hope. Even if fewer people turn out to really need the cure than we'd think, as long as there is one it'll be worth it." He would bring his children back to their old selves...he owed that to them.
Muriel smiled slightly. "Of course...and you're welcome to take samples from me if you think it might help. If you want, I'm free tomorrow morning..."
Mr. Gordon smiled. "Thank you. I think that should work...I'll have someone waiting at the lab for you. I'll get the address for you after dinner."
"Speaking of dinner," Abigail chuckled, "both of yours are getting cold." She herself had already finished her first helping, though she was ready for more...eating for two could be a bit of a chore sometimes.
Muriel sighed...he seemed like a good man, trying to do the best he could, but...she just hoped he didn't throw too much away in pursuit of this goal. Stacy and Billy might be having some difficulties with their new forms, but that didn't mean they couldn't be happy like this...but for that, they'd need his support in adjusting, not in the scramble for a cure that might never be found.
She just hoped he could do what was best for them...whatever that was.
Billy smiled a bit as she heard her dad talk...he talked a lot about helping them get back to normal, and she knew that they meant a lot to him, or he wouldn't feel so strongly about it. She kind of wondered why he'd hesitated when Ms. Muriel called her his "daughter..." was it because she was supposed to be a boy? Did it make him sad that she wasn't, or was he just sad because she was sad?
She wondered...what if she started to like being a girl? She didn't, of course, but if she did? Jenny seemed to like it okay, after all. Would he be upset, or would he be happy that she was happy? And...what about her name? It kind of sounded weird for a girl to be called "Billy," even if she was supposed to be a boy...would it worry him if she called herself something else? She didn't know...
She wondered if Stacy felt the same way...
Jon couldn't help but notice as the dragon-girl came in. She was less haggard and red-eyed than she had been before, but she still seemed a little down...poor girl. The slug-girl just wished she had something more than sympathy to give, but...after all, it was technically her fault...
She was still new to being a girl at all, though, and had no insight to offer someone dealing with an issue like this...Sarah could help, maybe, or perhaps someone like Melody herself...
She smiled as she watched the dragon-girl tear into the chicken salad. At least she must be feeling a little better. She looked around the table...what a strange sight they were. A dark elf, a dragon-girl, a naked woman who was actually a water spirit, an octopus-girl, and a slug-girl...plus a normal human for good measure...
She smiled in spite of herself. Putting aside the question of responsibility, the ethical implications, even the personal repercussions...on some gut level, this whole scenario spoke to her. She'd wished for something interesting, and now she was having dinner with multiple species of sentient beings that hadn't even existed five weeks ago...as much as she knew she shouldn't, she kind of liked it.
Well, except for the part where she was the slug-girl, that was.
