"Eh, I like that blue, there, I'll let you do my nails if you want. You probably don't want me to return the favor, I'd drop the brush. How many Avalons are there? How many kinds of critters? In what way does it run in families? How do I get the hang of midforms?"

Alli snorts. "You get the hang of human, first. Till then, 'midform' is just 'merde I dropped out of human again'."

Jenny beams, and drags the desk chair over next to May's chair so she can start on her nails. "There's lots of Avalons! Most big cities have them. Smaller places just collect in critter-only towns. Like, I think there's some islands in Greece full of harpies? That sorta thing." May hand: retrieved. "I don't know how many kinds there are. Looooots? I mean, how many mythical creatures are there, anyway? Different kinds in different places, too. Asia has a totally different set than we do." May nails: slowly becoming blue. "The family thing's easy. Critters have critter babies. Medallion critter kids (or grandkids or whatever) all look human, though, up until the kid picks up a medallion."

"So at least one of my parents is also a secret critter."

"They could not know! It could be your great great great great grandpa married a human and didn't tell so no one's gotten a medallion before you," Jenny hastens to reassure her. "But... yeah. At least one's a critter. And one is definitely- whatever you are? Did you say?"

"I found about this literally today and there were no mirrors and I'm more of a Shakespeare and occasionally Victor Hugo person than I am a - a Tolkien person," says May, which isn't quite I don't know but also isn't a lie. "I will want books. Lots of them."

Jenny looks at Alli questioningly.

"Don't look at me. I've never seen one of her before," Alli says with perfect honesty.

"I'm exotic. I do know I'm blue," says May. "I don't want to change in here, though, I will not fit in my chair and I'd certainly knock everything over, possibly including the wall, flailing around."

Jenny giggles. "Oooooh yes, I know the feeling. You saw how big just my wings are! These rooms are not built for pegasi. You can show me later if you want, maybe I'll know what you are."

"She has to practice staying in human form," Alli points out reasonably.

"Well, it doesn't have to be soon! But don't you want to know what you are?" she asks May.

"I will learn what I am from books," says May. "For all I know there are racial politics more complicated than being Asian involved. ...And now that I've said that I'm certain there are."

"Meh. It's not usually that complicated. Humans are way more intricate about it. Critters still mostly stick with the 'who can beat up who' approach."

"Oh, so I know I'm at the bottom of the pecking order, then," snorts May.

"It's okay. I can beat them up for you," Alli says. She just barely manages to say this with a straight face.

"So your kind of thing is a scary thing?"

"Depends how you mean? We don't go around being scary at people or anything. We have a whole code devoted to not doing that. If you break it, you are in trouble, we take your medallion, and so on so on. But we are still scary for existing, probably, we're large carnivores with super strength and invulnerable hides? We are the human equivalent of being really really tall and jacked."

"Invulnerable? Is it very rude of me to wonder about the details?"

"You're a newbie, you can get away with a lot. In general it's- not rude, but also still weird? It's just not the sort of thing people get asked much, so they would be confused." She hums thoughtfully for a second. "The short answer is that the only thing that can break through my hide are the claws of a Nemean Lion."

"What's it like when something fails, though? If someone tries to stab you with a fork."

"The same as when people stab me with things that wouldn't hurt a human? I mean, picture yourself being stabbed with, I dunno, a hockey puck. Something that is hilariously unlikely to break your skin for any reason. Like that."

"But a hockey puck hitting me in the face at high speed could do damage. So you're only invulnerable to sharp, or is something more complicated going on?"

"Hmm. More complicated. Or maybe less complicated? I just- don't get damaged. So me getting hit by a hockey puck at really high speed is still equivalent to someone poking you with one."

"Huh. Does that apply when you're being human too?"