Melanie took the information quickly, but it lead to even more questions. For some reason they brought about strange emotions in those around her. Lilly was covering her face and she could see it made Jenny's face go pink. What did that mean?
She put a hand over her own cheeks. Why did they feel a little warm? Was this some kind of signal? It's meaning however was lost on her. The highest emotion came from Lilly as always. She didn't really understand quite why she placed her hands over her auditory structures. It would hardly stop her from hearing every word spoken. Sound carried easily.
This place was so confusing... but this whole thing with babies intrigued her.
"Girls... can not die?" she asked hopefully. Is that how one progressed in this world? Is identity shunted into a new younger form? Was this how one circumvented the death? Of course! That must be it!
Jenny looked confused at that. "Um- everyone can die," She said softly. "Boy or girl" it made her sad to think about it. Whatever differences anyone had, that was always going to be true. Still they were all young and had their entire lives ahead of them.
"But girl's have babies?" Melanie said blinking her eyes. In a way she guessed she should be glad then. If the 'males' of this world died without being able to continue, their lives in another vessel... being a girl had to be better. Continued existence was always desirable.
Lilly had now uncovered her ears but tensed a bit as they realised they were still talking about that. She didn't need to hear this! She couldn't even remember much of it but it was just so embarrassing to even think about it!
Jenny shook her head. "It- it doesn't work that way. The baby is someone new. It ain't another you," What was Melanie thinking? That was just silly and.. more then a little creepy.
Melanie struggled to understand this. If anything it was harder then understanding 'death'. Things didn't work the same way she was used to. It would seem that transferring identity to another was not the goal of creating a new life. If that was the case, it would be perfectly understandable. A very similar process happened to them after all. Patterns became new patterns but could go back to a standard pattern if such was required. It was simpler but no less them then any of the others were them. "If we are not the baby... why have babies?"
Lilly glanced around a bit trying to steer the conversation away. "C-can't we talk abou' somethin' else?" Anything else!
"Why?"
"Because- I dunno-" the squirrel girl said in sheer embarrassment. This was just so wrong to talk about! They were only kids. She should ask an adult about this stuff. But didn't she once know this?
Melanie looked disappointed but nodded. "Not.. want to make Lilly or Jenny sad," She said meaning it. Emotions seemed to change the quality of what they were saying. Nuances that were too subtle for her to work out. yet her body seemed to know emotion, even if her thoughts did not.
"I'm not sad about it!" Lilly said quickly. It was embarrassing but it didn't upset her. Did it?
"We're just tryin' to explain it to you Melanie," Said Jenny. "It doesn't work like that."
Melanie sighed. "Don't want to die..." she glanced down at her body. Cells dividing but could not go on forever... things in this world decayed and ended by themselves. It was such a harsh existence and it was so.. pointless to her.
Lilly and Jenny looked a bit sad at that note. This knowledge more then anything seemed to shake Melanie to the core. It was the reason she ended her attack as the final counter against a magic girl. They just couldn't understand how she could not know any of these very basic concepts.
"I-If girls have babies and boy's can't..." Melanie began her logical statement and double checked it making sure it is consistent with what she had been told. "Then... are boy's less?"
"No!" Lilly almost shouted it- then stopped at a glance from Jenny. Honestly why did she have to jump in at this point? This conversation was horrible! Still she felt she had to. "B-Boy's arn't weak."
"Not said weak..." Melanie said wondering if she had been imprecise. But it was hard to convey what she was asking.
"B-Boys c'can't have babies.." Lilly explained as best she could. "But you still need a- um- boy. Otherwise there's no baby."
"Why?"
"I- I- I dunno" the child said shyly. It was true.. she didn't know. She thought she was supposed to know though? Maybe she once did and the knowledge was taken away from her. Like so many other little things. "But you gotta trust me. Boy's are import- important."
Jenny giggled a bit. "Boy's are important. yes!"
"M-My dad is really strong, smart an' he loves me a lot," Lilly explained. "Nobody's smarter then him an' he makes me feel happy."
Melanie looked blankly at this assertion but shrugged. So males were part of this bizarre creation process. However it did not take away the fact that she, as an identity will die. She didn't know what would happen at that point... did they know? But she could sense these questions made them uncomfortable. Still she had to trust them.
It was all so baffling to her.
