Where did these clothes come from? She didn't make these. - if she changes them they'll be gone and that'll really put out whoever lent them to her so she sets about figuring out how to take them off so she can replace them without doing that. Who just has clothes lying around that can go on over wings??

Everything is at least approximately a construction she's familiar with.

She's not familiar with pre-existing clothes that go on over wings but at least it all comes off. She reconstructs her dress once she's got the loaner folded up on the bed, and then she looks around to see what's next to do. Nothing obvious. She opens the door.

There's a hallway that opens up into a wider room on the left side after not too far.  The interior design continues to be subtly weird.

- And there are little baby noises coming from the wider room.

Well somebody is probably within earshot of the baby so that seems like a safe bet for where to go.

The baby is being held by a man it is possible for Rebecca to be attracted to.  He's wearing a very strange suit and makes to pass the baby to her immediately.  "Hello, Miss Arden!  May I call you Rebecca?"

- okay she'll take the b-

- is that HER baby -

It is her baby.

"What is going on?"

"...That's a big question.  I guess I'll start with - we resurrected you.  The two of you."

"We? Who are you? - please, sir," she adds belatedly.

"Journey Carison's the name, and no need for formalities."

Baby baby baaaaby. "Thank you Mr. Carison. Is there anyone around who can nurse her?"

"You can."

Blink blink. "I can?" ...okay, wing around herself for modesty, dress out of the way, and let's see if Catherine yells at her for not being nutritious - she latches right on and does not immediately start complaining about the service.

"And just Journey is fine.  The situation is somewhat more complicated than this, but: it's in some ways not far wrong to say that it's several centuries later than when you died, and culture has accordingly changed a lot.  Namely, people are much more casual about many things than you're used to."

"About first names? Okay..."

"About many things," he repeats.  "Can I get you anything?  We have whatever food or drink you might want."

"I would love some tea and..." What did Mother want when she was nursing Judy and was hungry all the time... "an egg and bacon sandwich and some biscuits?"

He snaps his fingers and a plate and cup sparkle and build themselves into existence on the coffee table.

Yay! She tucks in one-handed while occasionally blinking into starscape to try to invent a nursing sling from first principles.

She's not interrupted, in that.

Eventually she has it figured out and can enjoy her food more competently while Catherine does the same. "I don't remember being dead at all," she remarks.

It's very enjoyable food.

"No, you wouldn't.  I mentioned the situation was complicated, and one of the ways that's true is that it turns out there are many worlds.  This one isn't the one you're originally from, and we collected you from just after the point of your death."

"Oh! So I didn't just forget it, I never got anywhere in the first place?"

"Right."  He's having tea, too.  "Also, in the many other worlds, even when people are resurrected after much longer periods of time, they almost never remember anything, unless that world has an entirely different kind of afterlife setup than yours.  As I understand it, many Catholics now believe that souls generally stay in a dormant state after death, and will do so until the second coming."

"Huh. Okay."

"But you'll have plenty of time to investigate doctrine once you're in the broader multiverse.  In the meantime, there's something we'd like to ask of you."

"The multiverse... um, sure, what is it?"

"So... this, too, is going to be complicated to explain.  Let's start with the concept of video."  He gestures to a blank section of wall and an image appears on it, and then moves, of her taking Catherine and realizing that she's her baby.

"...whoa."

"So, sometime after you died, people figured out how to capture still images, and then lots of still images which were then played one after another fast enough to appear as if they moved.  And nowadays some displays use actual moving images, but that's beside the point.  The point is, you can see that people would capture plays and things using this, yes?  Entertainment?"

"Yeah!" Catherine is ready to switch boobs now. Rebecca switches to the opposite wing and relocates the sling accordingly.

"And accordingly they might also choose to capture - film, it's called - they might also choose to film interesting things that happen, without scripting those in advance."

"Like... ships coming in so people could see which ones are at harbor?"

"Yes!  And it's very easy to copy the video once it's been filmed, and to transport it, so if you capture something very interesting you have the opportunity to sell it to almost everyone in the world."

"Like books after the printing press?"

"Like books after the printing press!  Only more so.  So: sometimes a thing people do is arrange for an interesting thing to happen, so that they can film it.  Not a play, more like putting people in a strange situation and seeing how they react."

"...like you... throw a surprise party and have this set up then?"

"That is one example of a thing that might happen, yes.  Or, consider your reuniting with Catherine.  It's heartwarming, right?  If you were having a rough-but-not-that-rough day, you might seek out some content like that to help you feel like there are good things in the world."

"...sure, that makes sense. So you want to sell people that?"

"As part of something longer, yes."

"Something longer like what?"

"So... how do you feel about the idea of finding a spouse?"

"I'm a magical girl."

"Yes you are.  And that means you're only attracted to magical beings, which in your world are only girls and women."

"There are... magical men?"

"Mmhm!"  Jazz hands.  "Additionally, we could expand your attraction to cover mundane men again, should you like.  Or mundane women, too.  And on top of this, in the future it's already legal for women to marry each other."

"...which pope said that?"

"Mm," he spends a moment looking off into the middle distance, "Some Urban Tens, a few Pius Fourteens... one Celestine Six but not most of him... all the Paul Sevens that used to be named Greg but not the ones that are a different guy - if it becomes relevant to you you'll either have to pick a universe with a pope that's on board with gay marriage or decide not to do that.  But it's legal way more places than it is, ah, Catholicly licit."

"Wow that is a lot of popes."

"It's a big multiverse!"

"I guess! A pope is probably a pope I suppose?"

"This is hotly debated and you'll have the time and materials to learn all about the considerations when you go to make your way in the outside worlds.  In the meantime, thoughts on who you'd like to be capable of attraction to?"

"Is it going to mess with my powers or anything?"

"Let me double check.  Notecard, please?"

no worries, go ahead

"...notecard?"

"We have a powerful psychic on hand who communicates that way."

"Neat. In that case I don't see any reason not to go back to how I was before I took the magic!"

"You don't want to be attracted to magical girls anymore?"

"...I mean, they are very pretty and I guess some popes say it's okay but I'm not sure I ought to..."

"Ehhn.  For logistics reasons we're somewhat loath to remove people's attractions except where they're literally impossible to expand and can only be shifted.  If this is still a service you want later I expect you'll be able to afford it; is that alright?"

"Sure?"

Fingersnap.  "Then there you are."

It was already possible for her to be attracted to Journey, but if she contemplates other men it's possible to tell with them, too.

She does not have any candidates in mind she cares to contemplate at this time.

"With all that out of the way, how do you feel about the idea of trying to find a spouse now?"

"Well, it is the sort of thing I'd like to get around to at some point. A - father or I guess another magical mother? - for Catherine." Pet pet soft baby.

"Fantastic.  We are hoping to set you up with a father, for the record; it's just tricky for social reasons to remove the other part.  But there's this great guy we'd like to give you a shot with."

"What's he like?"

"Intelligent, thoughtful, saved a lot of lives and relatedly greatly reduced the price of basically every physical object, sometimes to 'free'."

"...what, does he own all the physical objects."

"No, he made it known that it was possible for lots of them to be made instantaneously out of nothing and gave people the means to cause that to happen."

"So people can just appear all the food they want? Was it silly of me to make sure not to disappear the clothes I woke up in?"

"A little.  It's fine, though."

"He sounds neat! And you want to do the thing where you can sell what it looks like when I meet him?"

"That's again one aspect of the thing.

"The other is that we're going to be similarly introducing twenty-seven other people to him."

"Wh...y."

"People find it entertaining when other people compete for one person's affection.  I do think he's a wonderful person and you would do well with him, but if it doesn't work out, it's a big multiverse and you'll be able to find someone else.  Sometimes it's happened that people see someone on the show and fall in love with them, too; there have been cute relationships that come out of that."

"I guess that sounds cute, like how singers and actresses wind up with admirers? But I don't really want to - fight twenty-seven people, for this guy, even though he sounds neat..."

"You certainly don't have to fight very hard.  But if you could at least pretend for a while that would go a long way towards covering the cost of your resurrections."

"Oh. ...they were probably very expensive weren't they."

"Pretty expensive, yeah."

"Okay... uh, I don't have to like, you know, uh -"

"Have sex with him?  No, not at all.  There'll be the option, at one point, if you want and make it that far, but it's not mandatory, and if your heart's not in it I imagine you'll be eliminated long before then."

"It's not that I always have amazing judgment," witness how there is this baby, "but like, I shouldn't set myself up."

"Sure, of course.  If it helps motivate you, pretty much everything except the rooms that are set up for that option may end up being filmed."

"I guess that makes sense if that's what you expect people want to see."

"...It's complicated.  But this show is not centrally about sex; it's about romance.  There are plenty of people who would normally want to have sex in situations similar to the ones we set up, but have no trouble refraining, knowing that they're being recorded.  That's what I mean."

Nod.

"Are you planning to keep the same outfit throughout, or might we encourage you to change it up sometimes?  We can bring in designers to help you get the most out of your magic."

"I can change it up some if there's designers helping, I'm just not good enough at it to do it ten times for different occasions, you know?"

"I do!  They'll probably want to design those with you in advance and support you in recreating them during the season rather than going one at a time."

"Okay!"