"You know, Rach, I'll want to go back there sometimes. I ordered rare, they gave me nearly blue rare meat. Given that I like my meat as close to raw as socially acceptable, this is great!" - Lucas said, smiling.
"I could tell, Lucas. And here I thought angels would be closer to veggie-lovers..." - Rachel giggled. - "Anyways, just go to the seedier parts of your city and look for a demon to help you find the entrance and you'll be set."
"It seems demon cuisine tends to rare, bloody meat and lots of spices, with some funghi thrown in for good measure." - Said Robert - "And... Strong drinks. You might be happy to know, Lucas, that I saw some people eating raw meat dishes when I was there. Granted, I don't know how you people can like it."
"You!" - said a... chelonian voice.
"We didn't just go back in time, did we?" - Said Lucas, looking at the turtle man who was - once again - crossing the street. This time, though, he was followed by a slug lady, and both seemed quite chipper. Emotional even. - "Look, mister, I'm sorry if I went too far before, but the fact remains..."
"You were sent by God to help me and to guide me! I thank you so much!" - Said Perkins.
"What." - Said Lucas for the second time that day.
"I learned my lesson, angel of the Lord! I apologize to your companions!" - he said, overly formally and looking at Rachel and Robert, who were a bit too stunned to really answer at this point. David looked surprised, Mark was downright amused - "I shall no longer judge by appearances, and in return you arranged for me to find my wife!"
"But I didn't ar..." - Said Lucas.
"I shall be forever grateful to you and to the Lord who sent you, angel of light..." - He said, looking at Lucas's halo.
"But He didn't s..." - Said Lucas.
"Truly, that was the blessed work of a servant of the Lord!"
"You're not listening, are you?" - Said Lucas.
"I promise you, servant of God, these efforts will not go in vain!"
"Blooba geegh nink zomp." - Said Lucas, by now wondering if Perkins would catch the gibberish.
"I thank you, angel of the lord, and I will gladly partake of the foods of your people, if you accept me!" - He didn't.
"Uhm, right. By all means..."
"Thank you! We are so happy! We will get ready!" - With that, the two left.
"What the fuck just happened here?" - asked Lucas.
"I think the turtle guy had a religious revelation all over you." - Said Mark, giggling.
"I got called a servant of God again, didn't I?" - Said Lucas mildly annoyed.
Rachel smirked. "I don't think that's the last time you'll hear that from that guy."
Robert smiled. "God works in mysterious ways..."
"Oh, please don't start..." - Said Lucas.
As they neared the church, Lucas spotted something and blushed very hard. It was an anime woman, tall, statuesque, with long blue hair. Her anime "aura" seemed to extend a bit longer than usual for this kind of transformation, with a radius of some three meters, judging by the changed sidewalk. She was coming from a diagonal street, seemingly towards the church, and had yet to really notice the group. Rachel immediately caught Lucas's reaction.
"You know, women don't like it when you drool." - She whispered and giggled. - "Get your act together. I know that woman, and you may be in luck. That's Cassandra Wilkins, our social studies teacher. Very active in LGBT activism, and discussed at length prejudice against the changed after the Iridescent Sun. She changed two days ago. Said she was watching something on YouTube when she fell asleep on her keyboard with the blinds open."
Robert sighed at hearing the prejudice part, but shrugged it off. She could tell Lucas was interested in the woman, not so much due to being experienced in this kind of interaction - she wasn't - but mainly because Lucas was being painfully obvious about it.
Lucas got her act together and blushed. "Er, right. Uhm... I still don't really know how to approach her..." - Lucas paused, noticing her left side had just become animated. She blushed even harder at that, and the rest of the group became animated rather quickly as well, as Cassandra approached them when walking towards the church.
Robert smiled lightly.
"By the way, Lucas, I want to thank you again for saving me from those men that attacked me at the church!" - She said, a bit louder than would be necessary.
"That was YOU?" - A soft soprano voice chimed in. Lucas was a bit blindsided by this, but turned to look at the anime woman, and blushed, very visibly due to her current texture.
"Er, yes. I just kinda felt I had to be there..." - Lucas said, not noticing Robert and Rachel gesturing for Mark and David to walk a bit slower, allowing some space for Lucas and Cassandra to talk.
"You were very brave. Oh, er, I hope you don't mind the anime aura thing..." - Cass blushed a bit herself, knowing fully well most people disliked it.
"I-I don't mind it at all." - Said Lucas - "Quite the opposite in fact."
"Cool! Anyways, I'm in social studies, and I'd sorta like to know how they reacted when they saw an angel coming to the defense of a devil-changed... The newspapers weren't really clear on who you are, save for saying you weren't from here..." - She said, smiling - "I'm Cassandra, by the way. You can call me Cass." - She said, extending her hand. Lucas blushed and smiled.
"Lucas. And yes, I'm Brazilian, but angels can use this passage to go around the world and even bring people along, so I came here. Nice to meet you." - Lucas extended hers. - "Er, are you going to the barbecue?"
"Yes." - Cass smiled. - "I came a bit early to see the demonstration, too. A good way to defeat bigots is to research them, after all."
"Then, I'll be glad to tell you what happened at length. I'm sorta working security there, though I'm a translator by trade, but I can still eat like everyone else..."
"Okay. Let's go then. I always wanted to talk to someone that can take me around the world..."
Lucas blushed crimson.
A bit further away, Mark smiled.
"Nice move, priest. She fell for it hook, line and sinker."
"I was just telling the truth. Lucas did save me, and I am grateful. I just chose a good moment to express it..." - Said Robert.
Rachel smirked.
"Lucky fellow, this Lucas. And nice going, too, priest..."
Robert smiled again. "God works in mysterious ways..."
