Andy smiled as she and Susan finished up what had started as lunch and extended itself into afternoon coffee. Most of the restaurants in the mall were generic chain stuff, especially in the food court, but there was a little coffee shop off in the far corner of the building that was actually pretty nice, and offered some light deli fare as well as just coffee and pastries. Of course, it was also a bit pricy. She felt a little nagging voice reminding her that they were living off of one income...she hated that, even though it was true. It got in the way of other things they wanted...a family vacation, having another kid...Andy tried to shake off a sudden brain cramp as she realized that there was another obstacle to that one, now...
But...hey, if they couldn't do something nice at least once in a while...and Sue had insisted. Even though they'd just bought a whole new wardrobe and a half...gah, she hated feeling like this. She realized she was probably worrying because she didn't actually know how they were standing; she hadn't done much handling of their finances since...well, since her drinking had become a problem, and balancing the checkbook started to become uncomfortable as she looked over the way it all piled up...she cringed as she thought back on that, but Sue laid a hand on her arm and she sighed, feeling a bit calmer. She'd have to pick that back up, she supposed...
But for now, it was nice just to relax. She hadn't really gotten to do that in so long...but it was nice here, her mate was with her, and they had the afternoon to kill while the kids were at school. Even her interview tomorrow wasn't something they had to worry about until this evening. Though... "I suppose we'll have to bring Alex back here after school," she said. "Do you think Sally's going to need anything?"
"Oh, yeah," Sue said. "Good question. I don't think she's changed enough that her clothes won't fit her, but they'd need to be modified for her wings and tail...besides, I think she'll want to come anyway. She's doing a pretty good job of not bugging Alex, but I think she's pretty excited to have a sister."
Andy smiled. "That much was obvious...I'm surprised how well Alex is taking it, though. She doesn't even seem that freaked out..."
Sue shrugged. "She's had some moments; the other night she was asking me about the possibility they might lay eggs, and she was pretty shook up about that. But yeah, she's a pretty stable kid."
The rabbit-woman frowned. "Well, anybody would be bothered by that."
The naga-man nodded knowingly. "Yeah. She was pretty brave about it, but it's still going to be difficult for them..."
Robert sighed; she was tired of thinking about this protest for the moment. It was discouraging enough without remembering that three days ago, she would have been out there with them. And now she felt bad for switching sides too easily when her own circumstances had changed; were these really beliefs, or simply her own need for self-approval? She asked God to give her real convictions...
As she tried to think about something else, she felt her tail curl idly around her leg again. It was such a willful thing; she could keep it under control, but it seemed like it always worked its way back to what it felt like doing when she left it to its own devices. And what it felt like doing...she blushed as she remembered that first night, when she had got home...how it knew the ins and outs of her new body better than she did... But it wasn't like that was all it ever did, it just...seemed to go along with her simpler instincts at any given moment.
But if that were true...did it mean that even now, in her quieter moments, she felt...felt...desire? She didn't think she did, it wasn't at the forefront of her mind. But...in a way, she kind of wondered if that wasn't true. He had taken a personal vow of celibacy, even though it wasn't required of the clergy in her denomination, thinking that God would want him to devote himself entirely to the church. Yet...if God had allowed this to happen to her, if He had given her this body with female desires and an implement that was perfectly willing to go along with them...what was His purpose in that?
Did He want her to...to...give in? But she knew it would be wrong for her to just go fornicate with someone...she remembered the verse Father Maxwell had quoted to her, that it would be better to marry than to sin...but he couldn't seriously mean that! If this were a test, if God intended this to be temporary, and eventually she were returned to her old form...and she were married? What would happen then? And...could that even be what He intended in the first place? And it wasn't like she could just go grab someone and marry them because her body wanted sex, she knew from counseling how rarely that worked out. It was crazy!
She sighed and went back to her cleanup, trying to think of something else to distract herself...
Hiro wandered through the halls; he really should be getting back to class, he supposed, but right now he needed to figure this out. This thing that had installed itself in his brain...what was it doing? It had said "negative" after a brief overview of Max...was that short for Maxine? He wondered. But what did that mean? If Max was a negative...what was a positive? Was it looking for someone? Who, and why? He didn't know...but if it was the sort of entity that was willing to install itself like a virus and forbid him to touch it, he didn't think it could be up to anything good.
But what could he do about it? It had co-opted his own brain, the electronic part anyway, and was denying him access to the region of memory where it lay. He could keep trying, but continually beating his head against the wall wouldn't do much good. He'd either have to figure out a way around this...or get help with it. He hated that idea, he didn't need another "real" AI looking down on him...he'd rather do this himself, but how?
He strolled along, looking at the various students making their way over to their different classes. He wondered about Max...she had seemed uncomfortable. Had she noticed him staring at her chest? It wasn't like he was leering, he was just observing! (Though that didn't mean he didn't appreciate the view...) He should've known she'd get uncomfortable, he wasn't any good with girls. First that flower-girl, now the cat-girl...he sighed. If he only had someone from whom to get advice...but he supposed he had, he could've asked his mom...he just never felt comfortable asking for help. He wanted to get it on his own...
All of a sudden he smacked into someone. He looked around, then down. Oh. It was the robot-girl, whatsername...he'd seen her around before. He wasn't sure, but he had guessed that she was the one who hosted those digital fairies that had taken his away...
avoid
He snorted as he turned to leave. Avoid interacting with another snobby "real" AI? Didn't need to tell him that. He turned to go...but...wait. Whatever this thing was, he was pretty sure it didn't have any interest in his poor relations with the fully electronic. So why would it want him to avoid this girl? Unless...unless she could help?
avoid
He didn't like the idea, even without the reminder blaring in his head. Let a stranger who might have already helped invade his mind back in in order to perform brain surgery? Even if his pride hadn't flared up at the notion that someone else could help him better than he could, that didn't seem like a good idea. But...if this thing didn't want it...he was pretty sure he did. He turned to go back to the girl...
...or at least he tried. Instead, he found himself lost, absolutely no idea of which direction led to the girl who was fifteen feet away, in perfect line of sight. Damn! He could still move his legs if he wanted, his actual muscle control was all in wetware. He hated that normally, as it meant that however much analysis he could do on a situation, his actual reflexes were limited no better than what humans could achieve. But with this thing suddenly deciding to lock out his navigational systems, at least it meant he could still stand. But if he couldn't just walk over to the girl...
The intruder was none too happy right now, and was deadlocking everything it could. Even his electronic eye had shut down. Hiro had never been so glad that his vital functions were automatic and localized as he was right now. Still...if he couldn't go over to her...he'd have to go over to him. "Damn," he muttered, as a test. Good, linguistics and vocal control were wetware, as he'd thought. But...dammit, her name...
Ah! "Hey, Madison!" he said. She turned to see him, looking at him curiously. "Yeah!" he said. "I need help..."
He couldn't perceive her coming closer, but her face was bigger now. "Y-you need my help?" she asked. He nodded; he hated having to do this, but this was not something he could just ignore and live with. "There's a virus somewhere in my brain," he said. "It's dug itself in and won't let me at it, but I think maybe you could get to it. Just...do not take any risks, okay? Don't even pull it over to your side of things if you can avoid it."
Mikey gasped. A virus? Of course she was willing to help him, but she didn't know all that much about this stuff...she sent a message to Dennis and Effie: Need your help ASAP! They'd know how to fix this; Effie was learning a lot about programming, and she'd said that Dennis was good with network stuff, so he could probably help them get in...
