"Oh... I... I don't much like to talk about it."
"Please; indulge me. I'm a kindred spirit, I assure you." He flexed his wings, and then poured a cup of tea for each of them. He sipped his and nodded.
"I... I was human, once," she said.
"So were we all," he smiled. "But please, go on."
"I wasn't close to the blast," she said. "I mean... I know to look at me it looks like I probably lived in New York, but really, I'm from Iowa. Most people that far away who got anything got a tail, or funny-looking ears, or something innocuous." She sipped the tea.
"Go on."
"I didn't even seem to have been affected at first," she said. "For, I dunno, maybe like a month I was so normal. But... little by little, over the weeks afterward, I started changing. First it was just a little skin discoloration. Then a leg here, and a leg there... God, John, do you have any idea how miserable it is to change so slowly like that? I couldn't walk for nearly a month because I couldn't even balance. But... well... in time, it stopped, and about a year later I looked like this."
"My word," he said. "That's terrible. I'm so sorry, Erin."
"My family put up with me as best they could, but I was a drain on them, so eventually I packed up my stuff and left. I travelled the world for a while, and wound up here, working temp jobs to make ends meet. Sometimes I spin silk and knit sweaters and things to sell. I get by."
"So... well... what do you want to do?" he asked. "If you could go anywhere and have anything, what would you do with your life?"
She shrugged. "I'd be human again. I want to be able to walk into a store without people staring at me. I want to fit through doorways without trying to pull my legs in. I want to be able to drive a car again. I want to be normal, John. I'd trade all the webs I've ever spun for another day of being a normal, boring human."
