The ducklings are adorable.
They're like walking wads of yellow fuzz that hobble from place to place in a line making cute little squeaky noises. Their mom keeps a close eye on them and keeps her other one on you. Given that, food or not, you're huge compared to her and her children and a little terrifying to them, you suppose you can't blame them.
You end up passing a few moments explaining the insanity that just happened earlier today to the elf sitting next to you. The magical girl, the purple man in the miniskirt, and the fact that no one else seems to notice anything weird. She nods and patiently listens to your entire story before speaking.
"My, it would seem you've had an interesting day." Well, you suppose that's one way of putting it.
"What will you be doing next?"
Huh? Can't she tell you anything about what happened, or what's going on, or why no one seems to be noticing anything?
"I am an elf. Why would I know anything about young women exploding into frilly skirts and shooting lasers?" That's... not too bad a point, actually. "Although, I suppose I can tell you a bit about why you never noticed that sort of thing before."
You'd actually really appreciate that.
"Quite simply, most things that exist beyond the fringe of ordinary human perception do so through the application of a very specific magical effect. It's quite old, but it's very cost-effective to use. It is a simple charm that forces people to ignore things that others do not want them to notice." She tosses another batch of crumbs.
OK, so that's why everyone else didn't notice anything, but why are you seeing all this crazy stuff now? What made the charm not work on you?
"While very easy and cost-effective to employ, it has the unfortunate weakness to be broken by only the tiniest amount of extra-natural energy. Magic, psychic powers, powerful focus. There are a lot of things, really. Basically, if one is above what we shall call a baseline human in some way, then one can perceive past the effects of the spell."
So, this means you're supernatural or something?
She chuckles quietly. The bag is emptied now. With the air of a person who's done it dozens of times before, she flattens the paper sack and begins to neatly fold it.
"Unlikely. Having discreetly observed you when you sat down, I can declare you, with some authority I might add, to be a relatively normal individual. The reason why you can perceive is something else. It's actually becoming more and more of an issue in the modern world." The bag is now the size of a quarter, if a quarter were about twice as thick and made of tightly folded paper. "Tell me, are you familiar with penicillin?"
That's an antibiotic, right?
"Indeed. It can kill quite a great deal of bacteria and has allowed humanity to fight back against many diseases. However, it has been discovered that some strains are growing resistant. Indeed, a great fear is that some shall grow immune." She pauses, almost bemused. "Although I doubt you appreciate the comparison as much as a few of my relatives would, you are the disease that has developed an immunity to the antibiotic. Through simple continuous exposure, you have overcome a wall of supernatural power using simple biological adaptation."
She leans back and closes her eyes, quietly chuckling to herself.
You're... not quite sure how to take that.
[?]