Anneza had fallen asleep on the couch.
Through the night, she had spoken to her mother, wishing with all her heart she could just understand her words. Sign language alone made it very difficult. She was patient though, and in the end, she got a simple hug and kiss of affection. Forgiveness... simple and complete forgiveness, that only a mother can give. It felt so nice.
Aneeza felt her burdens lifted, just a little. Of all the things she did... she wanted to make her parents understand her, but maybe this time, they helped her understand herself. She hated this body, but for the moment it was what she was.
"What will you do now?" Asked her mother.
Anneza waited for it to be translated... then looked stumped at the question. What would she do now? What could she do now? Explore the vast emptiness of the universe? All it's riches were pointless to her... utterly meaningless. She had no reason or desire, to leave the Earth that was her home. Even if she followed the music of the planets, she could probably only get as far as Pluto.
Pluto sounded so sad to her. A distant dead echo, of what was once a much larger world. Eroded by time and history, yet still proudly clinging to the magical star around Earth. If she got there, theoretically, she could try to find another 'path' to the next star... but why bother? Such a journey would take years, even if she would not personally experience the eons of time. She knew enough about space travel to know what happens if one accelerated closer to the speed of light.
"Where did you get your clothes dear?" Asked her mother, as it was once again translated.
Anneza glanced down at her robes and shrugged. She didn't know, but it was her only 'good' set. The only one that would allow her to travel at the fastest speed she could. If she wore other clothes, she couldn't quite 'make' that last final step to light speed, though she could certainly float with it. Why it all happened this way, she didn't know. Perhaps the clothing was still of a technology beyond humans.
"I think it looks good on you," she complemented.
Anneza blushed and signed a thank you to her mother. At least it was vaguely tasteful, even if it seemed to hug her a little too closely for comfort. Her mother patted her green hair. "You're still family Andrew... I know you wanted to go your own way but... we love you. No matter what you have done... and I honestly don't think you've been punished into this body."
Anneza arched an eyebrow. How else could it look?
"Things happen for a reason... believe that. I believe in you to make the best of this, just as you made the best you did when you first started... remember? You started from nothing and made something of yourself... your methods were... a little shady, but imaginative. You can do so again. In a... different way. The right way."
The doll translated her words a little carefully, giving Anneza pause to consider. What could she 'make' of herself like this? She couldn't do business any more... she couldn't do anyt- no. She was not going to be beaten! Her mother was right... there had to be something.
Class went quite normal- well normal as it could be, when it was filled with mythological figures. Jenny, very studious now, relished all the subjects finding them exciting. Sometimes a subject would come up and she would know the answer, and it was clear to the teachers she was going to be quite a bright student. The spider-teacher, was quite thrilled at the chance to mould such an impressive youngster, who seemed very adept to the fields of mathematics.
"I'd like to show you something very advanced Jenny," Said the spider-teacher.
Jenny looked up, though looked modestly. "Yes miss?"
"We call this a quadratic equation. It's.. rather advanced calculus, but I'd like you to see how you might solve it." The teacher presented a paper to her, asking to solve for x.
Jenny frowned a bit at the equation. They had only barely touched upon 'powers', but it was just like making a square... so this was just adding on top of that. Jenny with some hesitation started to draw out what she thought might be the way to solve it. "Like this miss?"
The teacher positively beamed. "Oh Jenny that's marvellous! A little clumsy at the start, but that is very advanced... I'd like to recommend you do some advanced classes." The teacher quickly made a few notes, as she scuttled down the row of desks. It was quite eerie to the students, as it was near impossible to guess quite where she was going to move. The teacher had 360 degree freedom of movement, and some students argued... eyes at the back of her head. Not that she really did, but she knew when notes were being passed. It was something Lilly realised quite quickly a time ago when Bruce tried to pass a note to her.
The spider teacher then looked to Harriet. The moon girl had that far away look again. It looked like she had forgotten something. The way she held her pencil to the desk was also a little odd. The spider teacher saw the shadow of the pencil move briefly, as if Harriet's skin illuminated around it briefly. She looked at the paper to see Harriet's work. "Hm... not bad." She nodded a bit. She seemed good at working with Pi, though it was not exactly that advanced, once one knew the basics. Still Harriet showed some promise in that.
Harriet gave a little smile, though it was clear she was distracted. "Thank you miss."
Now the student she dreaded... Lilly. "Okay dear, show me what you have." she tried to smile encouragingly.
The little squirrel bit her lip with her large incisors as she looked down.
The spider-teacher cringed a bit as she looked at the multitude of crossing outs. Basic mistakes were everywhere. The girl wasn't even multiplying right. What did they teach in state schools these days? She wasn't even showing her notation correctly, and had not understood the principles of division. At least she could add, but her subtractions were sub-par at best. A little more unusual- though encouraging, she seemed able to square things correctly- though how she was able to do that and not much else, probably showed she was acting from memory then doing any actual work. She sighed a bit. "Lilly, I think you need to take a few remedial classes."
There were a few snickers around the class.
Lilly glanced around, but the snickers fell silent as the teacher rose one of her spider legs- it hushed them very quickly.
the young girl said looking down. She used to know all this but, it was gone. She tried so hard to remember, and it was so confusing to find it not there any more. The distressed look was palpable on her face. It wasn't fair! "S-Sorry miss." It was all she could say.
"Don't be sorry. I'll help you, okay?" The teacher placed an encouraging hand on her shoulder.
The girl seemed to be fighting tears at the frustration of it. She didn't want to complain but this just felt so degrading! She wasn't a- a kid- but she was. She certainly thought like one, and acted like one, which was even more confusing. Not to mention the sheer indignity that other children- eight years old, were actually doing better then her! But what could she do to make this life any better? If she really had to learn things all over again... what could she learn that she might like this time around? "M-Miss?" she asked delicately.
"Yes dear?"
"I want to learn...'" She hesitated glancing around. The class had all their eyes on her.
"What do you wish to learn?"
"M-Magic."
The class burst out laughing again.
Steven's outing with her mother was going remarkably well. It was still an embarrassment to be walking around the streets like this, in her flowery body. It drew stares everywhere. Not to mention the occasional bee that confused her for an actual 'real' flower, which was even more worrying. Her mother however, just held her hand and they walked side by side. They had got up early into the sunrise. Steve hated to admit it, but the light did feel good on her. So warm and nice...
Her mother glances around the streets. "This is much better. You play far too many video games dear." she smiled. "You're always playing the same ones. Don't you get tired of it?"
Steven blushed a bit. She liked her video games! "It's just there haven't been any new releases since... all the happened." She wondered when things like that would pick up again... still at this point, it was just good to have anything running at all. The shops were stocked up, and things were mostly normal again.
"Come on dear. I feel like... exploring the town with you. We may find something interesting. Maybe even other flower changed. At least we can walk you know, many of them with our kind of change can not."
Steven sighed. It certainly was fortunate not to be a rooted plant, but it did bring a much higher need for sunlight. It wasn't being a flower that annoyed her so much, as it was being a girl. A girl with some very odd biology. Making seeds if stressed out, and... what if she started fruiting? How exactly would that turn out? Did... her mother go through anything like that yet? This was hardly the place to ask though. As they walked, Steven had to admire how at ease her mother was with all this. She thought she would freak but... she was actually okay with this. More so then she was herself. Maybe part of why she hid herself in the beginning wasn't just for her friends, but also her family. What if they knew she had changed? It was a relief not to have to hide, but it didn't change how she felt... that she wanted to be back to normal.
"I noticed you've been drinking a lot of water at least," said her mother.
Steven nodded. "I just get so thirsty."
"So do I," she said. "It's normal I think. Us being non-rooted," she said a little. It was an advantage, but it brought disadvantages too... was that something to all the transformations? Did everyone achieve some form of balance of equality? For some reason, she started to think about animal farm by George Orwell. With everyone so different, even physically, it may well be that some were more equal then others... still she hoped not. She suspected it was not the case at all. That maybe this was all just some way to experience something new and exciting in their lives. It certainly made her feel more protective of her daughter, and she wanted to show Steve that life on this side of things wasn't all that bad.
She placed her arm around Steve, and the young teenage girl smiled a little back.
No, this wasn't so bad at all.
