Anneza sat down... a little grateful she didn't seem to be floating 'too' much.
She guessed her lower back was still a few centimetres above the chair, but nobody could notice it. Perhaps now that all the normal check-ups were done, they could begin fixing whatever happened to her language problem. She hoped maybe it was just 'in her head' maybe... there were pills right? They could reduce trauma.. she could recover from this... right?
She didn't deserve this!
she looked down at her elegant legs, cringing... her breasts were in view and she felt.. sick. She couldn't live like this! Not a woman.. why? She wasn't gay or- Why did the sun do this!? Was it because of her association with Jay and Toby? Or was it coincidence? It had to be because of them.. it was their fault!
The receptionist gestured her forward, and she got up hopefully. Her feet were about a foot off the ground as she drifted to her.
The ostrich-girl looked at her mode of movement for the first time noticing it, and was quite shocked but quickly relaxed. It seems she was probably not the strangest thing to have come by their doors...
"speak into the phone here, We're still trying to work out your language..." She tried to gesture to her.
Anneza looked at her blankly and the phone. She heard.. someone on the other line, and vaguely worked out there was a different intonation in it. Ah! They were looking for someone to translate for her! A little hopefully she started to speak.
"Jhyo damin das?"
They went through translator after translator, but each one politely said that it was not a language they knew. They recorded a few excerpts from her though, and said they would pass it on to a few experts and would get back to them later.
The ostrich receptionist tried to look sympathetically to the woman, who was clearly distraught and frustrated that she couldn't understand anyone, and that they couldn't understand her.. they were rapidly running out of things they could do for her though.
The elven doctor then brought her forward, to a private room.
"Miss... Anderson," The doctor began looking to her. "Let's try an eye test shall we? First of all, can you tell me what any of these letters are?"
Anneza looked blankly at them and shook her head. It was quite obvious what he was asking to her, but all those letters were... gibberish.
"Hm... you can see them but you can't tell me what letter's they are, is that correct?"
the space girl stared down cast unable to respond to the question.
The doctor nodded. She wondered if there was possibly a brain injury that affected the language centres of the brain. Though such a thing has never happened to a transformed person before... indeed many of them actually became 'more healthy' then they were beforehand. It was usually the one advantage they got out of the whole deal... still it was not completely impossible to rule it out.
A brain injury would explain the complete loss of understanding language, and speaking of it... given that all the translators were coming up blank he was starting to consider if her language was probably random neurons just trying to work out concepts that had no tonal basis to her... Perhaps a specialist would be able to help examine her to rule out head trauma. Still if there was such a thing going on, she hid it remarkably well. Such a serious disorder normally brought about other complications... which she did not present.
"I have done my best to examine you, and as far as I can see you are perfectly healthy- though clearly you are not human. Internally things are, a little different.. but you are a fully functional analogue of a female human."
Again she looked blankly at her.
The doctor then brought out some X-rays of her legs and put them on the screen. "You see here? This is very consistent of what astronauts get, when in space.. de calcification of the bone. The only difference is, it seems your species naturally evolved in a low gravity environment. It's quite remarkable really. Your entire physiology can work with no gravity at all if need be. Your organs seem highly adapted to low gravity environments as well... even taking advantage of it." She knew various people that would be excited to study her.
Anneza looked blankly. She looked at the x-rays. what was the doctor saying? Was there something wrong?
"I suggest you limit your subjection to Earth's normal gravity. You seem to have... a means around it... ah you haven't understand a word I've said..."
The doctor sighed thinking how to proceed on this. It was important that the girl understood some of the nature of her physiology. She had to use pictograms in the end, to demonstrate what she was talking about. She showed a picture of a large world, showing it to be a close approximation of earth, and a picture of normal legs...
The doctor then drew a picture of a much smaller world, and showed a few picture of her X-rays. It was not any easy concept to convey in pictures.
Anneza looked blankly but was making some understanding of what the doctor was trying to tell her... Something about her legs, and her body not working correctly? Or differently? Well she knew that, she had to fly for one. She felt so weighted by normal clothes... That's not the main problem though!
She pointed to her mouth and throat, looking with her eyes pleadingly. she tried to emphasise her desire to speak... she then pointed to her ears, and the doctors mouth...
The doctor sighed understanding and shook her head. She took out a report to book an appointment with a neurologist to rule out any brain trauma... but she wasn't optimistic they would find anything. "I believe we should take you to a neurologist before we do anything else... just to be on the safe side." She took out a note and started writing on it.
Anneza looked with incredible frustration. People depended so much on the art of speaking. It was hard to believe just how difficult just the basic things were.
She started to feel... very lonely, as she was quietly guided to the next battery of tests.
Alex spied through the key hole. it looks like the first of the transformed students had come by. He was aware of sunlight through the window, exactly as scheduled...
He took out his watch, and noted the time carefully. If he had worked this out correctly, the sun would drift to the side of the building in about 3 hours. This put them towards lunch time, where they could then explore the rest of the school. For now though he- and his sister, were stuck... to watch the class.
He had anticipated the possibility that they would need items from the stock cupboard, and had placed the most used items outside... The door was locked from the inside, and if by some measure someone had to come in, and had another key, he had his hiding spot.
However, he had not accounted for Sally also being here... the box was big enough for the two of them, but only just.
"I want to see bro," Sally whined.
"Shh, quiet... I'm trying to see what they look like..." He said.
"W-What do you see?" sally whispered.
"I-it's a girl but she's... half slug?" That was freaky! Though... she was also very pretty. She went to the desk he normally used... unbelievable. It was true! He felt a bit unsure seeing all the mucus dribble down the ground...
"Really?!" his sister exclaimed. "I want to see!"
"Keep your voice down... okay... go have a look."
Sally spied through the key hole seeing the slug girl. She tried her best not to giggle... The transformed students all looked so strange. "Ewww..." Sally looked grossed out.
Alex couldn't help but smile a bit. "I know... I wanted to see them," he explained.
"I- I think I see the teacher. But she looks normal?"
Alex was confused at that. What would the transformed students have a normal looking teacher? "Let me see..." He spied through the key hole at the woman. She was placing various implements on the desk... The young boy took a deep breath. Clearly she must be a transformed person, given she was in the direct sunlight... but what was she? Maybe she got lucky and didn't change much?
For a brief moment, Alex thought the teacher was looking 'directly' at him and he backed away from the key hole... What was that creepy feeling?! It was like all his hair was on edge... however when he looked again, she was just opening a drawer... he sighed in relief. He glanced to his sister, who was looking very tired. Alex however, had paced himself in the day and was rested enough to watch the students.
"Anyone else there?" Asked Sally.
Alex could only stare, at the semi-naked devil girl... oh hell! She was hot... and he could see- and there was an angel girl with her... oh... wow... he could feel himself getting a little aroused from the sight, and started to feel a bit guilty for doing so. He wasn't a peeping tom... he just wanted to know what the transformed students did. He decided to spare Sally the sight. "J-just a few other students... Sis," he said.
"What do they look like? Let me see!"
"Quiet... you got be more quiet or our cover is blown!" He stressed. This is going to be so difficult with her...
Sally bit her lip looking ashamed but nodded.
Trying to be discreet he continued to watch. That was weird... why was the slug girl talking to an empty desk? Maybe it was someone very small? He tried to pay close attention there...
Brittany glance at the stock room behind the class as she took her desk.
"Hi Brittany," Smiled Jon.
"G-good Morrow, Jon," She said.
Jon looked at the Celtic girl strangely. "Are you okay?"
"I am Jon, please excuse if I gave any indication otherwise. I have... experienced something very strange, when an eye of truth was shone upon me yesterday. I have many questions of what I have become... but..."
"Oh," Jon replied. "I know what you mean..." she said in the end. "I Don't suppose... you remember anything about magic?"
"Possibly. I suspect... I came into contact with magic, in the centuries before. But the memory is..." she frowned slightly. What did she remember? "It is perhaps not something you would believe Jon, as open minded as you have been thus far."
"I would still love to hear it," He said trying to be earnest about it. "It... might help."
"Is your interest in helping the world, Jon? In times before, you could be considered a noble Knight despite your youth," She smiled a little liking that in Jon all the same. In fact...
Brittany looked at Jon, and felt... something familiar. Something from the past...
Jon blushed at the look Brittany gave her. But she was being truthful. If she could get anything more from Brittany... it would help. And with the stone, maybe she could reverse this...
The neurologist had completed all the tests, and nodded. He was a male, and Anneza was feeling uneasy about that. At least she wasn't going to get probed as intimately as the doctor had to...
"Your scans are clean Miss Anderson, I can find nothing wrong with you."
She looked at him blankly.
"I'll write up a report for your doctor... go on." he pointed to the door.
Slowly Anderson glided away not sure where she was going. She ended up back into the reception area, with a sigh. How much long is this going to take?
Her mobile phone rang... and she ignored it. It was going off every half an hour, and she knew it was important... but what could she do?
The doctor once again called her over to the consulting room. "There are no neurological problems... and we still haven't worked out the language you are speaking..."
She looked blankly at her. She tried to listen to the tone but was starting to feel upset again. A well of tears was forming.
The doctor tried to console her.. "I know it's going to be hard for you," she said softly. Even though she could not understand right now, she hoped the words were soothing enough. She still had an idea for her. "Anderson..." she spoke.
The girl looked up. "A-nneza."
"Anneza? You would rather be called Aneeza?" she asked politely.
The girl looked blankly not understanding the question.
"Well... Anneza... I have a few ideas for you. I suggest we teach you sign language. You can still understand pictures well enough... I have a number of cue cards for you. Normally this is for the deaf... but it should be useful to you as well." The doctor gave a set of cards to the space girl.
She looked blankly.. it seemed to be pictograms of various situations... there was a man for instance waving, but was it meaning good bye? hello? Or go away? The writing on the top was in English, and she guessed it described the situation... but the picture itself made it hard to guess. She tried to do the gesture to the doctor.
The doctor responded with the same signal back. "hello," she smiled intoning it.
Anneza tried to say the same syllables back as she heard them. "H-hel-u?"
The doctor smiled and nodded. She then did another signal to her, some kind of motion of the hands...and pointed at a card. The space girl looked for the card, and saw a pictogram indicating some kind of approval? This was so hard! She saw a pictogram that seemed to indicate someone crying... very fortuitous that it was almost right at the top of the deck. She displayed that sign, running the hand down her face as she signed it.
The doctor placed a hand on her shoulder. "You will learn... don't worry. There are classes as well... it's a very easy language that will let you 'get by'... maybe you can learn English again... this will help."
Anneza looked saddened... frustrated.. and angry. She didn't want... this! She wanted to be cured! But the look by the doctor said it all... this was all she was going to get. She reluctantly took the cards. It seems she would have a lot of studying to do.
The doctor wrote a report for her... "This is your doctors note granting you a month off work and state benefits."
Anneza recognised the form even if she couldn't read it. She was being given some aid? but how long? Well.. she'll figure it out. She mimicked a pen... and pointed at the doctor.
"Hm.. write? you want me to write? Ah.. you want me to write what's wrong with you" The doctor understood that she might need something like that to show others... she started to write down on a piece of paper, that Anneza could not speak English or understand English. "I think that will help you get out of difficulties... This will also help you renew your identification."
The doctor pointed at the drivers licence, and the notice... then at her.
Anneza shook her head vaguely understanding what the doctor was getting at. She didn't want to change her pictures though! She reluctantly left the doctors... her next stop was the tailors. If she could get some pants of a similar material maybe...
