Back at Melody's, Lucy sat down with Jeff as they continued to watch Melody continue to work on their own dinner. She could hear the crackle and crinkle of the ham frying on the stove and her sensory stalks on her lip could smell it, and it smelled good. To some extent, it was an intriguing interest. She wasn't as good at science as Grace was, but so far as she knew, she didn't think mundane slugs ate things like ham, and yet the sound of it cooking and the scent of it cooking made her mouth water a little bit. She supposed that had to do with the fact that Slug People had a mix of human DNA in them as part of their creation. After all, Megan and Jenny had eaten the food that Whitney had cooked the previous night, and even enjoyed some salt on that food and had no adverse effects from it.
The scent of dinner cooking also gave Lucy a bit of a distraction from some of the thoughts that had been going through her mind regarding the Slug Woman before her and her brother. For she'd gotten a sense of honesty from Melody and that while she was sure Melody had the libido of any Slug Person, she wasn't being driven solely by it, unlike Megan and Jenny who hadn't been able to keep themselves off each other or Jeff back when everything for the Chapman family started. Which as Melody shared things on how Slug People had their own curiosity about their human neighbors and had their own individuality, despite their hive mind, the more Lucy felt at ease over things that related to her now being a Slug Woman. Though, it did also raise some thoughts in the back of her mind that did drift toward other things, but she wasn't sure if that was something she could do.
"The dinner smells good," Lucy said with a small and weak smile as she looked to Melody with all sorts of feelings bubble up inside her.
Lucy could tell that it related to some form of attraction to Melody, something she'd never thought she'd have. She'd seen herself as perfectly straight growing up and going through high school and her time in college. None of her dates had ever led to much, largely from running into bad luck in noticing what Lucy had inherited from her mother and figured that was all she was good for, which then triggered her firm stances on individuality and the like. The first run ins with Megan and Jenny, and then her own transformation into a Slug Woman reinforced that drive and seeing that Grace didn't lose who she was and that they were able to talk their mother out of the state that Megan and Jenny had put her in, had ultimately enabled Lucy to accept her own transformation. She would however push for the Chapmans to do everything they legally could to stop Edward Cupple, as it was probable that he robbed Megan and Jenny of their individuality as well.
But the more Melody shared parts of her past and came off as an honest and respectful person, the more Lucy found herself having a growing interest in the other Slug Woman. She supposed some of that was a part of what made Slug People what they were. Most of their population were hermaphrodite females with on a small number of males like her brother was now and Melody's father. It'd then make sense that Slug Women would have at least some interests in other Slug Women to deal with those population pressures. Melody's honesty, helpfulness, and everything else had certainly added a certain level of things that Lucy generally looked for in her friends as well, which made things work rather well.
"Well, it's not much, but I'm sure it'll do for you two since your last meal was breakfast," Melody chuckled, listening to both Lucy and Jeff's stomach's gurgling.
"Doesn't mean it can't be good," Lucy countered.
Melody smiled nodded as she slid over to another set of draws and opened them to pull out three plates, along with other dishes. Lucy and Jeff looked down as the dishes were placed down on the counter before them.
"I have a separate dining room, we can go eat in there," Melody then spoke.
"I feel a bit ashamed... not being able to help a bit," Lucy said slowly.
"You needn't be," Melody gave a small smile, "you and your family have had a very rough couple of days and are a guest... and I'd still feel responsible, for not being able to protect my friend from getting caught by Cupple somewhere."
"We don't blame you," Jeff spoke.
"And with what you and your father have said... I really can't blame Megan or Jenny, either," Lucy added, "I mean... I hate what they did to us. Taking our choices away and trying to set us up in incestuous relationships... but that's all likely the result of Cupple's magic too. They're likely victims just as much as we were."
Lucy noted Melody give a small smile, just in time for all her timers to start going off. It continued to set some other thoughts going on in the back of Lucy's mind that were showing some signs of attraction to Melody. Though, she wasn't sure on voicing it or asking for anything more at the moment, particularly as she wasn't sure that any feelings Melody had were anything more than a Slug Person's libido or if it would be the "proper" thing to do while Cupple was still a threat to the Chapman family, and possibly the whole town where they lived. It would almost seem like cheating to get into any immediate romantic entanglements, even if they couldn't do much more about Cupple until tomorrow. She watched as Melody gathered the cooked food and set it on the plates that she had collected. From there it wasn't long until the pan used for cooking their dinner was placed on a plastic mat to cool and knives and forks were provided for them to eat with. That then allowed Melody to the pass the plates to Jeff and Lucy.
"Thank you, you're most kind," Melody said to them.
"You too," Lucy answered, "though... I'd like to add another question."
The three of them slid on their tails from the counter around the kitchen through a doorway that was wide enough for Lucy to see a long wooden table. It was dark in color and looked like it was well polished, though she wasn't knowledgeable enough to know the type of wood it was. Some of the slime trails that were there, some old and well dried and some from earlier in the day were enough to get her to reason that the table only looked like it was made of wood but was actually something synthetic and something that the nature of a Slug Person's slime wouldn't corrode. There were no chairs, but then as she set her plate down next to where Melody set down her plate on one end of the table, Lucy also had the sense that her long tail could half serve as a chair on its own. She knew she had no bones in her tail, or even below her waist and that everything there was held up more by the many layers of muscle that lined her tail. That muscle was far more flexible than bone and could essentially allow her to sit on her tail, just as Megan and Jenny did the other night.
"Hold that for a moment," Melody spoke, "will you want anything to drink?"
"Water will be fine," Jeff answered as he set his plate down to Lucy's right and across the table from Melody.
"Same here," Lucy added.
Melody nodded and finished out things by retrieving cups and filling them with water from the sink. Lucy sat and waited quietly for Melody to finish that task and then bring her and Jeff their glasses of water before then retrieving her own glass. Once Melody returned and sat down to Lucy's left was Lucy able to ask the question she had.
"You had a question?" Melody asked to Lucy.
"This might be a bit more personal," Lucy began, "but what was it like growing up here? Were there any games you liked? Hobbies?"
Melody gave a chuckle and smiled, "much of my childhood wasn't too different from yours in many ways. I hatched from my egg and had loving parents, and my father and mother were close, though mother was more of an explorer than even I have been. Dad says I get it from her. So, once I became an adult, she decided to go on a bit of a world tour and see how some of the older colonies are doing. See if anything has changed."
"Nothing wrong with that," Jeff commented, "hopefully it's wizard free."
Melody nodded, "but growing up had many of the same things you did. School, homework, friends..."
"Yes, but what about games or hobbies?" Lucy wondered, "were there things that you had to adapt from how humans play them?"
"Most board games don't have too much change to them," Melody commented, "though our slime means that games with any cloth or paper really wouldn't work for long... but plastics work fine, as do harder materials. My dad is pretty good at chess and taught me some things, but I'm not that good at it. It'll be the more active sports, and particularly ones that rely on "footwork" that would have to be adapted, as our tails really can't kick a soccer ball with any degree of control."
"You could probably set something up like foosball," Jeff commented.
"Something like that, although I was never much of an athlete," Melody answered, "I've enjoyed looking at art... often because so much of it is made by humans and using materials we Slug People can't handle easily. Add in that I was never much of an artist... and well, that's one thing that inspires a small bit of jealousy. That there are people who can draw and paint so well... and I can't."
"Practice improves all things," Lucy commented, "even good artists need practice..."