“Oh, ha ha!” Ally playfully slaps Cat’s hands to shoo them off her face, forcing Rug to back up a little. “You really think I need to adjust the side?”
“No, of course not, you vain little thing. Your face is perfect just the way it is, ya red raccoon. You’d better be a good example for your kid or I’m going to have to fire you in front of her.” Cat tries to look all responsible while saying this, but the laughter around her suggests no one is buying it.
“My fan club desires otherwise, so my job is safe. Thank you for the compliment, Cathy D.”
As the teachers cease their trivial rambling and give the spotlight back to the face patrol, Faye rests her arm on Elf’s shoulder and quietly mimics her mother. “Elf, do you like my face? Would you find it more attractive if I changed it a bit, or should I look more like Gigi since I’m like your sister now?”
Laughing, he takes a chance by admitting, “I’m just glad you didn’t ask if I want you to look more like Kammy. I was afraid you’d make more of our game than there was.”
Pausing with a deep breath as she thinks of how she wants to handle this, Faye begins to say something when Elfie interrupts, “If I can say, ‘hold up until I’m eighteen already!’ to you of all people, then surely I can handle Kammy.”
Thrown completely off, Faye says, a little too loudly, “Wait, what?”
“Can you wait?” He asks directly.
“T-this is very sudden.” The girl seriously didn’t see this coming and gave up hope long ago.
Making a funny face, he reminds her, “You don’t have to answer right away. You have three years to decide. Besides, I like you better as a sister than as the girl I have to be careful with, so just chill for now.”
This abrupt long-term commitment is interrupted by Mother Dearest. “Elf, Faye, it’s class time. You can flirt later.”
The two blush noticeably as the others react with everything from light laughter, to Ally giving her girl a very curious look, to Kammy blushing and looking down to ignore what obviously must be teasing.
Faye waits like a snake in the grass and quickly jumps back into the conversation once the coast is clear long enough to say, “That was dumb, Rug. You don’t make a commitment like that with a girl. We’ll either want to date sooner or one of us will shatter the other when we change our minds along the way. My answer is no, I’m not going to wait like that. I’m not saying I’ll go around dating, but I’m not making a foolish promise that’ll make being your sister awkward.” She pulls away as she questions even this, “Can you still handle me being your sister? I clearly have been too careless in this regard.”
Ally spots her daughter still talking, so she asks the stars of the hour, as loudly as possible, “So, tell us about yourselves. You’ve talked about the process a little, but what are your names, your backgrounds? It’s been quite some time since the days of Justine and Kuro, I imagine.”
“Indeed,” says one of the men, “It’s been a few hundred years. And I know it won’t do any good now, but I’m Al, that’s Bob, Carl, Dan, Ed, Frank, George, Henry, Isaac and Jack. For the ladies, we have Alicia, Barbara, Candice, Diana, Ethel Jane, Felicia, Gretta, Hannah and Iris Jane Alexandria. None of this helps the minute you turn away and we change places, but since you asked, I have made the effort to answer your question.”
“Oh,” Ally politely laughs, “I didn’t realize it would be that way. I do appreciate the effort, Al.”
“But,” Alicia reassures everyone, assuming it’s Alicia based on Al’s introduction skills, “we are moments away from changing everything! The Face Revolution begins now!”
“Just clarifying,” Kammy interrupts with her index finger extended, “we are given our faces when we’re born and that’s what we stick with. Do you guys intend to keep what you’re handed, or will your society change scalps like hats?”
Laughing hysterically, Alicia says, “I don’t know. I’ve never changed my face before, hon. I don’t think I’ll be brave enough to keep doing it every third Monday.”
Inner Man Theatre 