Andy felt a bit nervous as they left the house. She was still pumped from the sudden end to her seemingly-endless unemployment nightmare, to be sure, and she shared her husband's celebratory mood; but they were going out somewhere nice for dinner, and that meant she had to make some effort to be nicely-dressed for it. Her wardrobe being limited to what they'd purchased during their shopping trip the other day, she didn't have anything even semi-formal, so she'd settled for her interview outfit, which was at least business casual.
She didn't feel under-dressed, as the Sue and the girls were likewise attired in the nicest of a very limited, everyday selection, and it wasn't like the place they were going to (nice as it was) was a world-renowned four-star gourmet place; if anything, she felt over-dressed, or rather, too nicely dressed. Looking like this for the interview had been one thing, but now she was getting some of the same nervous sensation she'd had at the department store. She wasn't really ready to be...well, a woman...for the general public. She wondered what she would look like to a random person-on-the-street - she remembered that this outfit made her breasts a bit more pronounced, if less defined, and the slacks tended to cling a little closer to her legs than she thought loose pants ought to...
She felt Sue's hand on her arm, and relaxed a little bit. The naga-man didn't say anything, but smiled at her, and she smiled back. They got in the car; Andy had to drive, as Sue hadn't worked out a good way of operating the pedals without feet yet. She was still getting the hang of driving in this body; the seat was adjusted from her drive to the interview, but the car still felt larger to her - the dash seemed to stretch to the horizon, when she looked at it, and the roof felt like a cathedral dome (except for the fact that her ears brushed up against it.) Most of that was solely in her perception, but it was generally true that she didn't realize how much of what height she had now was in her legs until she was sitting down.
Still, there were no real obstacles. They didn't say much on the drive, but spirits were pretty high. Andy was still caught up in the giddy this-is-really-happening moment and Sue was feeling a mixture of pride and relieved gratitude; Alex and Sally were less interested in the job details, but seeing their dad energized and happy again was reason enough to be glad.
They had to park a few blocks away from the restaurant, which was located in one of the busier upscale downtown areas. It was a little brisk out, but not too bad, and Andy at least had the sweater as part of her outfit; she did feel sorry for Alex and Sally, though, as they were both wearing skirts. Well, they'd hustle to the restaurant and have a chance to get warmed back up while they were waiting. They set off down the street, and the rabbit-woman tried not to worry too much about how she looked; Wednesday wasn't the busiest night of the week, so there weren't too many other people out and about.
Shortly before they arrived at the restaurant, though, she became aware of a woman - or was she an unsually developed girl? - on the sidewalk across the street. Very tall, very shapely, but rather conservatively dressed for her figure, and most oddly, she had a huge number of arms. Somehow it didn't seem off-putting, though; even from this distance, she looked like a gentle, reassuring sort of person. She was staring directly at Andy, smiling - beaming, really.
They slowed up for a moment while the bunny-girl tried to place her. Sue noticed his wife's distraction and followed her gaze. "Someone you know?" he asked. She shook her head, wondering what this was all about. "Nope...not a clue. Huh." She shrugged, smiled back, and waved; the young woman did the same, then went on her way. "We should get inside, though," Andy said; no sense standing out here in the cold. They went into the restaurant.
Kimi tried to yank an arm free, but all that accomplished was to make her shoulder sore. She scowled, irritated, at Morgana, who took no notice. The witch had built a larger bonfire out of the little cooking fire, now that it was getting dark; close enough for Kimi to feel the heat. If she stopped and thought about it, she figured it was supposed to keep her warm, so she'd get better; but with her imagination already running back to those scary old tales, she found she more easily thought of witches putting trespassing children in the oven...
But that was stupid, she knew it. Even aside from the fact that she wasn't a child in any sense, going by this witch's own admitted plan there would be no sense in killing her. But even that wasn't much comfort; if the sorceress had her way, Kimi's situation was hardly going to improve. She'd be allowed to have that body, Morgana had said - but she hadn't made it sound like that body was going to last all that long, or why would she want this one? There was something about being of another time, Kimi wasn't fond of her situation as it stood, but she'd certainly rather be in a body that had a full life ahead of it than a cast-off, especially since both of them were the wrong sex.
But what could she do about it? These vines were about as tight as they could be without cutting off her circulation or restricting her breathing, and who knew what other tricks this witch might have up her sleeve? But then, she wasn't all-powerful, either; she had to eat and drink, it seemed, and whatever her plans were, Kimi's sickness was an obstacle to them that couldn't simply be removed with the flick of a finger, or she would've done it already. But those weren't things Kimi could really do much about. In a fairy-tale it would end with the clever child tricking the witch, shoving her into the oven or something and making her escape. But Kimi knew she wasn't the clever child - one of the bad, brutish ones, rather, and she didn't want to think about what usually happened to them.
She began to feel drowsy. No, no, she couldn't go to sleep! Not now...but it was night...it was night and she was tired, she was sick, she'd just had a hot meal, she was so...tired...
