"An Ostrich girl?" The pretentious voice crooned. "God, what a gangly creature, still I suppose I've never seen one before." The woman pictured on the tablet screen was tall, slender, and plumed in brown and white feathers. He considered the picture a moment longer, then shook his head and swiped. A new picture was presented to him.
"More peacocks? drull." He stated, and swiped immediately.
"Quetzal harpy..." He swiped. "Alkonost" swipe. "Sirin" swipe. swipe. swipe.
"What is it with you and birds?"
"My apologies sir." A delicate and precise voice answered. "But their coloration does tend to catch the eye."
"I'm tired of pets that just mope in gilded cages all day. Find me something more interesting."
"Like the dragon?" The other voice lilted wryly.
"Don't try me, Kumoiko."
The response was perfectly neutral. "I would never, sir." The speaker cleared her throat, and leaned over the shoulder of the seated man with the tablet. "If you'll continue through the list, I saved the best for last."
"Lunar moth..." He purred at the thought. "Interesting. Done." He swiped one more time. "And... an Apsara? No games Kumoiko. What is this."
"A celestial dancer of Vedic lore."
"Good, I'll take her too."
"there is a problem with that one."
"You know I don't care about such things."
"Yet, you get angry if I act on my own."
"Fine, what is it."
"Well..." Kumoiko began. "His personality might not be what you're hoping for."
"A sex change? You already know that's not a problem. We'll just use a wish if we need to adjust her attitude."
"Well, the other problem is that his case is a little higher profile. It might attract attention. I didn't find him through clinic logs, he was a chemist who suffered a rather dramatic lab accident. Quite the settlement apparently... national news coverage..." Her voice trailed off.
The man scowled while he considered his options for a moment, the nodded. "Proceed. I want them both in my collection within the fortnight."
"Of course sir..." Spindly grey fingers caressed the mans chin, and she leaned in to touch her black lips on his red skinned cheek. "I'll be back~"
"AAAHHHCHOO!" Silas sneezed, and the sound of a gurgling stream erupted through the room. Just the sound of course, a little side effect of being a water nymph... Or something. Even after a week of reading up on it, he still wasn't sure what a "Apsara" was... What he was...
"That was a big one." Alejandra stated.
"Yeah... someone's talking about me I guess." Silas sang.
"Or walked over your grave." She teased, and stuck her tongue out at him.
At least they still called Silas a 'him'. Neither one of them were quite sure if that was the best route foreword, but it's the one they were taking for now. Sure, his every syllable might have teemed with the songs of paradise, his eyes might sparkle with the radiance of the starry night sky, and and he might move with the subtly and grace of a babbling brook, but right now he was wearing an anime T shirt and jeans, crouching in a couch playing video games. His long black hair cascaded like a waterfall over his shoulders as he gracefully leaned over and pursed his cupids bow lips to blow on a steaming pizza bite.
"Siempre tan bonita... it's not fair..." Alejandra whined.
"I don't know what you said, but cut it out." Silas cut his eyes at her and smirked.
"I can't help it." She pouted. "I wish it were meee."
"Yeah, me too." Silas popped the bite in his mouth and delicately dusted of his fingers in the air. "But I already have the prettiest girlfriend on planet earth."
She feigned flattery and and playfully dismissed him with a wave, but smirked back. "I guess we both have the prettiest girlfriend on the planet now."
Silas smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes, and he turned his attention back to the game. He and "Ali" were playing video games together, because that's what Silas wanted to do, but in all honesty neither one of them were even sure if they were still a thing. True love conquers all, and they really did love one another, but there's a difference in love and 'love', and they weren't sure if the spark of the second kind was still there. They had hugged since the transformation, but even that embrace seemed unsure of what it was supposed to be, so they had tried to live as normal, just taking it slow with physical intimacy.
Alajandra still had her part time at the coffee shop. Silas was unemployed after his hefty settlement, and was still trying to figure out what future was in store for a "celestial dancer". He had already been contacted by a number of religious establishments. How they got his number, he had no idea, but he hoped they wouldn't find his apartment next. Still that meant "cult leader" was always a viable option, but aside from that he still had a lot to process. Until then, he would play video games with with girlfriend, and try to get used to his new body.
