The sight before her didn't get any easier to understand.
She blinked again. With both lids these times.
Still the same.
â.... I- I am not completely sure what I am seeing here, if I must be honest.â
âThere was an incident with an artifact while we were all using some of the alchemizers in the labs.â Rose said. âI was lucky enough to avoid its effects, but your friends weren't quite so lucky.â
Ah. That explained⊠some of it.
Dirk fidgeted, opening and closing his fists. He stared at them quite strongly, as if they weren't acting the way he expected. Behind him, his tail tensed, coming closer to him.
Rose continued âAs you can see, their bodies now resemble yours by quite a lot. We figured you would be best equipped to help them with their new forms.âÂ
Calliope winced, her expression twisting in doubt âAh- I wish I could be helpful, but I have never met another of my kind in person before, I don't know if I can-â
âIâm sure you will manage just fine.â Rose smiled. âFrom what I have gathered, the effects will fade in a few days or so, so this new arrangement isn't for an indefinite amount of time.â
Well, that helped a bit.
She still jumped when she saw Rose wall towards the door âWait, you're just going to leave? What if-â
Rose stopped near the door, a sly smirk on her face âI'm sure you can contact me if anything goes wrong.Â
A bit of advice, though? Don't leave Dirk and Hal alone unsupervised.â
With that Rose left, closing the door behind her.
âAh.â Callie said, dismayed, tail and wings going limp in disappointment. Then she turned her eyes back to her friends, all of them looking almost as uncomfortable as she did about this.
Roxy was the first to take a step, her small pink-and-white wings fluttering behind her, her pink eyes and cheeks (circled cheeks, like all the others except, of course, Calliope herself.) a pleasing contrast to her now dark green face, reminding Callie of some of the flowers in her garden, with beautiful, pink petals and rich, emerald leaves.
âHey Callie! How do you think I look?â Roxy settled in front of Calliope, quickly making a pose as if someone were about to take a photo of her. Her teeth looked sharp under the light, her tail reaching to her knees and ending in pink feathers that seemed to be making a heart shape, and her wings shared the general shape of a hummingbirdâs, if with wildly different colors. She had all her clothes still on, except for the shoes, which were probably too painful to put on with her new foot shape (Calliope could understand that, putting shoes on was easily her least favorite part of her morning routine, and Roxy wasn't used to it the way Calliope was).
Callie giggled âYou look pretty as always, Roxy. Even if I do miss your hair.â Playing with Roxy's hair was one of Callie's favorite things to do, especially when they were watching movies together. âHow do you feel though? Are you alright? I'm sure this must be quite strange for you.â
âYeah weâre all fine! Well, kind of, itâs not exactly comfy to be all different from our usual like this, but itâs not painful or anything- even the transformation didn't hurt, it was more elite s bunch of static and fwoosh!â Roxy made a gesture like an explosion with her hands âCherub. But it's not permanent so we just gotta wait it out, it could be worse.â
Callie nodded. She definitely wouldn't want her friends to be stuck like this forever either.
âUm- I guess- you can all take a seat, if you want? And I can make you something?â It felt weird to act like this was just a normal visit, but she also had no idea what to say, so she decided to just act normal- that had never backfired on her before! âI believe I have some meat and rice I could make for you.â
âThat would be awesome, please. I dunno if itâs the transformation or something but I'm beyond hungry.â Â Roxy said. Jane seemed to stiffen at the possibility that the transformation wouldn't be merely physical- at which point Calliope decided to simply nod and run off to the kitchen to get everything done before any breakdowns were had.
She made the meat and the rice the same as she always did- two pinches of salt for the rice, twenty minutes to cook for the meat, wait on the rice until it dries, add spices depending on preferences- all of her friends had slightly different tastes, so she decided to simply grab the spice containers and bring them over to her friends so they could choose.Â
She set down the meat, smiling softly as everyone thanked her- it was no big deal, really! But her friends were always quick to compliment her cooking (even if wasn't very good in her opinion- being able to eat almost anything raw meant you rarely had any reason to cook, and she had difficulty detecting the tastes of different meats once cooked)Â
She was still surprised when, after lifting barely a forkful of meat to his mouth, Jake frowned at the taste, emerald eyes almost the color of his new skin scrunching up in confusion
âCallie dear, you know I usually quite like your cooking but I cannot help but notice that you seemed to have skipped out on the salt this time!â
She blinked in surprise- âIâm sorry Jake but what exactly do you mean? I'm quite sure I added salt in?â Even as she said it she doubted it, she remembered it quite clearly but she could have easily imagined it, couldn't she?
Dirk chewed his own portion âI didn't want to say anything, but it does seem a little blander than usual.â He took another forkful as everyone else nodded along- she felt like she wanted to bury her head in her hands âthe good thing with salt is that it can always be added later.â
He took the salt shaker and put some salt on his plate, then ate some to see how the taste would change- when he frowned and added more- and took a bite- and added more salt-
âErm. Dirk?â she questioned.
Dirk paused. He must have added salt to the food at least seven times. âI think my taste buds are fried.â
Roxy leaned over with her fork, taking a bite from the meat on Dirkâs plate âreally? Lemme see-âÂ
Roxy popped the piece of meat into her mouth and chewed slowly, before swallowing âI don't think it was just your taste buds, di-stri.âÂ
âPerhaps it has to do with our- erm. Transformation?â Jane chimes in âCallie did say once that most cooked meat tasted the same for herâ
All eyes turned to her. Her grip on her fork tightened slightly.
âWell. Maybe? It wouldn't be completely illogical.â She offered up.
Jake seemed surprised âGolly, if this is what all cooked meat tastes like to you no wonder you prefer to eat yours raw and with a mountain of sweet confections piled upon it!â
Calliope just shrugged. The bloody taste of raw meat adds flavour, and the sweet taste of the candies gives off an interesting contrast. She never thought too hard about it.Â
âI do have a bit of sweet syrup in my fridge thoughâ she mused âperhaps you could all pour some on your food? I don't believe it can get worse than it already isâÂ
Lal he friends voiced agreement- Callie noted the excitement in Roxy's faces like a scientist about to do an experiment. Callie stood up from her chair and brought back a few of her favorite sweet flavours, from the sweet and natural honey to the thick condensed milk.Â
All her friends grabbed a few flavours seemingly at random and started combining- she couldn't help but suggest a few of her favorites.
When they were done, and they were all lying down on the floor (neither the couch nor the beds were big enough to accommodate all of them, especially when they considered the wings, which none of the others had yet figured out how to tuck away) Roxy spoke up.
âYou know, just a few hours and we already learned something really interesting about cherubs.â her eyes glittered with excitement as she stared up at the ceiling, then at Callie herself. âI wonder just what else weâll find out, you know?â
Callie had no idea what the answer to that question was, but one thing was sure.
These were going to be some interesting days indeed.
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