Buttercup smiles at the shoulder pat, her fingers twitching a little bit.

It's pretty clear that she's resisting some combination of declaring that they're friends now and giving Jade a hug.

"Really? Wowie, I never would have guess," Buttercup replies. She looks Jade up and down again.

Yeah.

It wouldn't have even occurred to her.

A look of recognition flashes across her face at the mention of last year's incident.

"Oh! I heard about that. One of my friends got caught in it. Not at the den, a little further away. She... umm... she got back normal, though It was probably easier for her than most people since-" Buttercup begins, only to pause for a moment. "Umm... well. Since she can transform and her not-human shape is always female no matter what. I, uh, I mean my sisters and I, we're part of-"

She winces a bit.

Banned.

"-were part of Mythological Animals Anonymous. It's a support group for people who get turned into monsters who don't have hands. All the Buttercups got banned since we couldn't stop gushing about how nice being Buttercup is."