David sipped at the tomato soup. It was good...just rich and creamy enough to taste nice without being overwhelming, gently flavorful, comfortably hot. Rachel seemed to be enjoying it too, though at the moment she was more interested in twirling a cracker around in it and watching the ripples than having a meal, her tail-tip twitching a bit like it did when she was engrossed in something.
The angel-girl looked over at the waitress...no, that seemed to be the wrong word. Naomi wasn't here as a job she had to perform, she was serving them because she wanted to. "Hostess," maybe, as it felt more like she was having them over for a meal, even though this wasn't her house and they weren't really acquainted outside of this place. Or perhaps there was really no title needed at all. She looked at Naomi, who was setting out little appetizer trays, light stuff like nuts and crackers that would stay good throughout the day.
"Do you think more people will come?" she asked. This place was nice, but it did seem kind of empty compared to Hell's Kitchen. If there were only a small number of angel-people in the world...that would be kind of sad, she thought. Not that she needed to be part of a large crowd, but it would be nice to know more people...like herself.
Naomi smiled. "Oh, we'll have a few, for sure. We have a couple of regulars already, and now and again someone new will find their way here, as you did. Besides, it's still early...most of the others we've met are here later in the day. I think it's when they're out looking for some place to have lunch that they get drawn here..."
David nodded. "How long have you been here...if you don't mind my asking?"
The angel-woman nodded. "I've been coming here for a little over three weeks now. Ruth says she found the way here the day the sun changed. I think we've seen...eight or ten others in that time. And we've heard of maybe half a dozen more..."
"You're counting the other chorus separately, right?" Ruth called from the kitchen. Naomi nodded. "Of course." She noted her guest's curious expression and nodded. "Another group, yes," she said. "Three of them, from...Brazil, I think..."
David looked at her, eager to hear more. "Do they...do you know what they think of it?"
The angel-woman smiled. "Well, they don't share too many day-to-day details, but they do seem happy together."
David sighed and took another sip of her soup, feeling glum. These other girls were happy with their situation, yet she and her sisters were apart most of the time, and seemed more to tolerate each other than be happy with this strange state of being...
Naomi sat down next to her and wrapped a wing around her. It felt strange, but comforting. She turned to David and placed her hands on the angel-girl's shoulders. "You'll get the hang of it," she said. "Not everybody gets used to their changes right away, after all. Just give it some time."
She sighed. "It's just...we never meant to be changed together. We're not even all close friends or anything. And now we're all connected, and none of us knows what to make of it...it just seems so random."
"Everything happens for a reason, dear," the angel-woman said. "Even if you can't see it yet...there's a reason you and your sisters are together. I'm sure you'll learn to appreciate each other, in time."
"B-but how am I...how are we supposed to live our lives like this?" she asked. "We can't really have any privacy...in our thoughts, I guess, in what we see and hear, but everything else...even our feelings..."
Naomi nodded. "It's quite a prospect, isn't it?" she said. "I think...this is just me, I can't claim to really know what's best for you, but I think...you need to come to a different understanding. You sound like you're trying to...to remain fully autonomous, but that's not what being a chorus is about, dear. The six of you share things because you're supposed to share things, and that's nothing either to be ashamed of or to avoid. Yes, you're all distinct, and you should value your individuality, but you're also one, and you should treasure what you have in that: one of the very most intimate connections possible for mortals."
"But...we don't all like the same things," David said. "And if one of us does something that bothers or hurts someone else...and about 'intimate connections,' if one of us...how can that be appropriate!?"
"Lots of people accidentally cause other people pain, though," her host replied. "That's just one of life's realities. It just seems like a bigger problem when you see it from their perspective, too. But if the offending party can show more concern for others, and the offended perhaps work on being less sensitive, then it can still be dealt with."
"As for the other thing," Rachel interjected, grinning, "you girls just might learn to appreciate it, you know."
David blushed, mortified, but Naomi seemed unfazed, and chuckled softly. "I don't know for certain what to make of that," she said. "But I'm very sure that you would not have been placed in a situation where it would be wrong for you to experience the most basic human connection there is, the one that God himself first crafted. Perhaps you're meant to share even that joy..." She looked up, a little surprised. "And I think we'll leave it there for now," she said, standing up.
David turned to look. A table or so away was another angel, a middle-aged man in a gently rumpled suit. He looked at her, then at Rachel, visibly surprised, then back at her. She felt a little nervous about his reaction, but he smiled pleasantly.
"Oh, Jeff, it's good to see you again," Naomi said. "Ruth's getting the stew ready...should be any minute now. Is there something I can get for you in the meantime?"
Jenny was happily munching on a grilled-cheese sandwich, but she seemed distracted, somehow. Not in a typical little-kid way, her attention diverted by something more exciting, but like she was lost in thought.
"Hey," Muriel said, gently. "What're you thinking about?"
The little girl frowned, a little concerned. "M-mom?" she asked. "I was gettin' dressed, an' the things on my..." She gestured to her chest.
Muriel smiled. "Nipples, dear." Jenny sometimes seemed to be in the dark on some of the simplest things...it was strange. But it was kind of adorable, all the same...
Jenny nodded. "My nipples were kinda sore, and there was a little bit of bumps under 'em...'s that mean...'m sick or something?""
Her mother smiled. "You're not sick," she said. Jenny sighed with relief...it would've been sad to get sick on the day they were going over to Nana's house...
Muriel reached across the table and laid her chitin-plated hand on Jenny's. "This is normal for girls your age," she said. "It means your breasts are starting to develop, that's all." She sighed a little bit. "It means you're starting to grow into a young lady."
Jenny pondered that. "'s that mean I'm going to get all round there, like you?"
Muriel chuckled to herself...she wasn't that stacked, but she supposed to a girl Jenny's age... "Eventually, yeah," she said. "But that won't really be for a long time yet. It usually starts to get really noticeable when you're around thirteen, and it doesn't really finish until about sixteen, depending on the girl."
The little girl thought for a moment. That was...four years, she thought? And then another three? Seven years? That was forever! "That's a long time, huh?" she said.
Muriel nodded. "It's a while, yep. But in some ways it kind of sneaks up on you..."
Jenny smiled. "I'm glad I get to be like you, mommy," she said. Part of her still found it strange to think about, but this kind of thing no longer felt...wrong, or off, like it had when she went into the girl's room in the mall. That was good...she was a girl, so it shouldn't feel weird for her.
Muriel beamed, squeezing her hand gently. "Aww," she said, smiling. "I'm glad I get to watch you grow up, honey."
Alex grimaced. Being a girl was one thing, but this? She kept trying to brush it off, but she kept returning to the possibility. How could this be fair? She didn't think she minded being female much; her growing breasts felt weird on her chest, and having nothing between her legs was a weird feeling, but overall she guessed it was okay. And she didn't mind any of the rest of being a dragon-girl, either...indeed, some of it she liked. But this...normal girls didn't have to go through this! Normal girls...
...normal girls...didn't exactly have it easy, either, from what she recalled. She'd read some basic descriptions in biology class before, and it hadn't escaped her notice when Sally suddenly got crankier than usual, but...she hadn't really thought about it in detail before. To be bleeding out from her privates at the same time as she was fending off some kind of monster headache, or feeling like she was going to throw up...
No, that didn't sound pleasant, either. Why did it have to be one or the other? Why couldn't she just deal with the normal, not-horrifying effects of this change? What could she possibly get in exchange for either option?
She supposed...maybe for some women, the ability to have kids was worth it. Maybe ladies like her mother had been would be willing to put up with it if it made it possible to bear children...but still, she had no such plans, and it was so terrible to think about... The thought that expelling something that must probably be the size of...like, cantaloupes, or squash, that this was the quick, less-mess alternative to what women everywhere had to put up with on a monthly basis...
She shuddered, wishing she could un-learn this stuff.
