Mr. Gordon sighed. His wife was right, it was crazy to think there was intelligence at work behind this...research efforts had been focused on this phenomenon ever since it started and still hadn't made any headway into deciphering it! There was no way someone could have both figured out and instigated what the world's top minds were baffled by. This had to be a natural phenomenon of some kind.
But he wasn't so sure that the basic idea was bad...nature did tend to favor genetic diversification...maybe the skewed male-to-female ratio was simply a natural device to assist in the spread of new species...at least if the running theory that a child of mixed-species parentage would share a species with the mother turned out to be right.
Nature had displayed such favoritism before, he knew...heck, certain ordinary species of fish or frogs were known to spontaneously change sex in response to a lack of suitable mates or other environmental stimuli...actually, he should look into that...just in case it gave him any kind of a lead. He made a note to check on it later.
He sighed. This was all so crazy...he knew there had to be a rational explanation for this, but he couldn't for the life of him think of even what kind of explanation it would be.
"M...om?" Jenny asked. "Billy asked if I could sleep over! Can I?"
Muriel could hardly keep from laughing at the puppy-dog eyes Jenny was giving her. Subtle, the girl wasn't. That said, there was still a bit of the heartstring-tugging quality she was going for.
She thought for a moment. "It's all right with me," she said, "but you have to ask Mrs. Gordon about it, okay? ...oh, where's the cat...uh, Tetra?"
"I'm right here," Tetra said, a little peeved, as she stuck her head out of Jenny's jumper pocket. "I suppose I should go back with you..."
Muriel nodded. "Probably. You seem to like staying out of the way, and that'd be difficult to do at a sleepover."
The tiny cat-girl nodded. "True." She dropped back down into the warm coziness of Jenny's pocket, and the little girl ran off to ask permission.
The angel-girl stood there, stunned, as her...friend kissed her, full on the lips. Rachel felt her tense up a little, but she didn't go stiff like she was repelled or anything. She was blushing brightly, though...how cute. The devil-girl pulled back and gently let her go.
David simply stood there for a moment, her jaw moving like she was about to say something, but no words coming out. She could feel the surprise and confusion of her sisters, wondering what had just happened...she wondered that herself. She had...Rachel had...and then...with...
She suddenly burst into tears, sinking to her knees on the sidewalk. Rachel stared, surprised - of the various reactions she'd been anticipating, this was one she hadn't expected. And...to be honest, she felt a little bad about it. It was all in good fun to dance at the boundaries of what people were comfortable with...but she hadn't wanted to hurt her friend.
The naked devil-girl knelt down beside her friend. "Was it really that bad?" she asked. There was curiousity in her voice, but the playful tone had been muted.
David stared at her. "N-n-no, it was...I just...everything I've been feeling...a week now...and it's all so...I don't know, I just don't know!" Her feelings weren't just her own anymore, they were shared...was it appropriate to do things they might not be comfortable with? Were they even things she was comfortable with? It was all so confusing...
"Aww, look at you," Rachel said, putting her arm around David's shoulder. "Look, I just want you to understand...you're all concerned for other people, and that's nice, but...you can't go and hamstring your own feelings just 'cause they might make someone else upset, okay? That's not healthy. But if you don't like that..."
The angel-girl blinked at her, still confused. Did she like it? Didn't she? What was it, exactly? It hadn't been long or deep enough of a kiss to seem really intended to be sensual, but it felt like more than just a quick, casual experiment...like so many things about Rachel, it seemed to exist on the borders of the normal definitions.
"D-do you like it?" she asked. What had that been about, really?
The devil-girl shrugged. "Good question," she said. "I like you. You're a nice person and an interesting puzzle all wrapped into one...but as far as what all that means?" She grinned again, the playful attitude returning. "Guess we'll just have to see."
"Why don't...you drive," Cecilia said, as the two agents headed out to the car. "I'm still...a little laggy...don't want to...take any risks."
Hawkins nodded, and they got in, heading back from a long day of following up on things. "How's it coming?" he asked.
"Slow..." the robot-woman replied. "It's one thing...to map out...word relationships...but with such a...limited starting point...it's difficult to...make practical application...with regard to...verbs, nouns, et cetera..."
The shadowy figure driving the car nodded. "Well, don't strain yourself," he said. "Don't hesitate to put it on the back burner if need be, either. Communication with Collins is important, but not the most important thing we have to deal with. And we do have temporary solutions, even if they're less optimal."
He sighed. "Besides...I've got a feeling she doesn't know as much as we're hoping she does."
"The 'voice?'"
"Yeah. I don't know if that means we're chasing down something incorporeal, or if they just did a very good job of hiding themselves from her, but either way, if she can't give us a description..."
The gynoid nodded. "Might be of help...in other ways, though..."
"Maybe," he said. "Actually, if they came to her house...did the investigation turn up anything?"
She thought, then shook her head. "Nothing seemed...out of place on...the report. Assorted debris from...a breakdown she had...but nothing that didn't...seem to be hers."
"Even so...perhaps we should make a stop there tomorrow," he said. "That, and...this was obviously not a random attack, which means there has to be a reason that school was chosen..."
"Not for terrorist potential..." Cecilia said. "The combined public school...has a much larger...student population..."
Hawkins nodded. "Then it's got to be someone there...we need to find out everything we can about the students and faculty there. If any of them have any other links to any of the unusual developments in this area..."
The gynoid nodded. "I'll see about getting...the student records..."
Will arrived in the kitchen to find Anneza stirring a steaming pot of...something. Whatever it was, it was giving off a wide variety of scents. The wolf-girl's nose was more than capable of discerning them, but there were enough that she lost count...mushrooms, meat, and a lot of different spices...
She set Ellen down on the table, and looked through the cupboards for some bowls and utensils - she might be here to provide a service, but that didn't mean she ought to shirk helping out a bit here and there.
"Whatever it was" turned out to be a stew or porridge of some kind. Will wasn't an expert, but it looked like it used...what, farina? as a base. That was weird...but then, it smelled strongly of ginger, which was also weird. It seemed like Anneza's tastes were a little...different.
The space-woman regarded her guests. Many things, she signed to Ellen. Not sick?
The doll-woman motioned for Will to pull her cord. "She's asking if you have any allergies, I think," she said. "It's time for supper! Have a seat!" She frowned...at least that one came out semi-relevant...
Will nodded. "I'm fine, thanks," she said to Anneza. It was pointless, but it didn't feel right to her to say nothing. She made the "okay" sign as well, and her host brightened - that she recognized.
They sat down to dinner. Well, Will sat down; Anneza simply hovered at table-height with her legs folded underneath her. The stew was as weird as it had smelled, but the wolf-girl couldn't really say it was bad. Not gourmet cooking, and certainly well outside her normal tastes, but everything seemed to fit together better than she'd thought it would.
Jon and Karyn had a pleasant meal, chit-chatting with Tim's family about how school was going - his parents had heard a bit from their children, but were interested to know how other students saw it - and life in general since the change. Jon found it a little weird that something like this was becoming a topic of casual conversation, but...it was interesting to talk about, she had to admit.
Melody seemed to be getting into a better mood as the meal progressed, too. Certainly oviposition couldn't be pleasant to go through, but at least it didn't seem to be a really scarring experience...and the slug-girl took comfort in the hints she'd gathered that this was the dragon-girl's first such experience...maybe she'd learn to deal with it better as time went by.
Eventually they were finished with their meal, and it was getting a bit late. She and Karyn excused themselves, and a warm goodbye was said to the two. Tim walked them out to the car; Jon thought that was a little odd of a way to act to ordinary classmates, but hey, every family had their quirks. She smiled and waved as she pulled out of the driveway, and he grinned and waved back.
As they drove back toward their neighborhood, Jon noticed Karyn giving her a bit of an odd look. "What?" she asked.
Karyn bit her lip. "Oh, nothing."
