"...do you still have problems if you're standing still?" Alli wonders, diverted. "Is wheelchair-level clumsy a thing that applies while motionless? Ah, merde, not the point. No idea, I know nothing about magic to speak of, but I haven't heard of anything like that."
"No, I can actually stand, as long as it's on both feet, not on ice, not on a boat, etcetera, it's walking that gets me into trouble," admits May. "Jenny, my legs work, it's my balance that doesn't. I can walk if I'm willing to trip a whole lot, but I'm not, so I don't."
"Oh! Okay," Jenny says, content with her newfound enlightenment. "I've seen you out of the chair, I think, I just didn't know details. And it seemed reeeeally random and weird to ask, so."
"I don't mind, but some people get touchy about it, so good instinct. And in spite of not usually being touchy about it sometimes I get asked six times in a day, which will make anybody irritable."
Jenny laughs. "I know how that feels! Well, not the wheelchair part, but it's like every time I babysit for my cousins some random lady in the grocery store is yelling at me about 'irresponsible teen moms'."
"Oh dear, that's got to be awkward. And people have some excuse to want to know what's up with me, but have no excuse for forgetting that other forms of relative exist."
"What, random strangers like grocery store ladies? They have an excuse? I, of course, totally had an excuse. I was not a random stranger. Besides. Airports and speaking French and whatever!"
"I mean, ignorance is sort of an excuse? If I tell somebody 'yeah, it's possible to be that clumsy' they may have just learned something. If Jenny tells somebody 'have you heard of cousins' they probably haven't learned anything they didn't already at least sort of know."
"Wouldn't that be nice. Anyway, do you two know anything else, even in vague terms, about magic?"
One more brush stroke and she lets out a satisfied chirp. "Hee! All done."
May starts waving her hands around to dry the polish. "I might want to meet Mikey, then. As a first step before I address total unconnected strangers."
Jenny snorts. "Sure, stop by sometime. You may be swarmed by tiny pegasi, though. Just so you know."
"We all did! Big family, lots of medallions. And my sister only got hers a few months ago, so she's still big into the 'ditch human form the minute she gets home' thing."
"Human form isn't an exciting adventure?" says May dryly. "It's more like uncomfortable shoes?"
"Human form is an adventured adventure. Pegasus form is new and shiny and comes with wings."
"Noooooot really. She can fly in Avalon, she's small enough, but adult critters who want to fly- or run-"
Jenny snerks, and continues. "-usually go outside the city. There's some forests north of the city that are popular, I think."
"And that's private enough, or are there also invisibility bracelets on top of the shapeshifting necklaces, or what?"