"Hey, are you okay?"
Beatrice lifted a hand and tried to continue on past the car into the diner.
"I'm fine! The limp's built-in."
"Why'd you do that?"
That stopped her short, and Beatrice frowned at the redheaded woman.
"What do you mean, why? I was born this way." Concern on the woman's face turned into panic.
"Oh! Oh, I'm sorry, I misunderstood. I'm sorry!" Beatrice stepped closer as the car started to move, and she stopped before she ran over Beatrice's feet.
"No, I'm sorry. I need to know why you thought anybody chose to be disabled." The girl grimaced. She twisted in her seat to look at the diner.
"Treat you to lunch?"
Lunch was a mistake. The food sat heavily in Beatrice's stomach, and she couldn't tell whether it was horror or unease about the woman across from her. Megan, she'd introduced herself. Megan rubbed her face.
"You're giving me your headache," Megan murmured. "I know, I know, it's my fault." Beatrice jabbed a shaking finger at the redhead; Megan flinched back against the worn-out vinyl seat.
"Don't you do that! Are you telling me--" Her throat spasmed. Well, she didn't have to choke out the words. I'm a shapeshifter? Somebody born into one form and taking the faces of anybody who touches me? She thought the words fast and barbed, and Megan winced again.
"It's not like that," Megan said. Her words were low; there weren't many people in the diner. "You don't take faces. Your people are born in the shape of your mother at your birth, and then gain access to others and their capabilities as you touch other sapient species."
"So, not animals?"
"No, and I can't explain--I never took xenobiology."
"So if I..." Beatrice swallowed. If I touch you, I'll get--what, this?
Megan nodded. "That, and some... other details. But I can't permit that--I still have faux pas myself, obviously. You'd probably be even worse off. Seeing and hearing way more than you want." Beatrice shuddered. "But think of it this way," Megan said, "You're who you are unless you have that contact, so things probably won't change much for you even with this information. "
Beatrice sighed. "Okay, so the world is a stranger place than I knew, but we have giant monsters and, and supervillains anyway. My parents were aliens, but that doesn't change me. I'm... me." She shrugged. "What are the odds of finding another alien in Kansas?"
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