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Jan’s Tale 4
Hospitalisation Waking up in a hospital is never nice. Waking up to learn that someone poisoned you is worse. There is one positive thing though, you'll have much free time to play MMORPGs. Nonetheless Jan is not happy about his situation. Burnout is never a good thing.
Copyright © 2013 Beyogi
All Rights Reserved. Thanks to djkauf for editing.
Thanks to my proofreaders Drawflow, landing, DAW, Wrayth and last but not least Sleethr for their help. Picture Credit to mking2008 |
Disclaimer: This is fan fiction for the Whateley Academy series. It may or may not match the timeline, characters, and continuity, but since it's fan fiction, who cares? To see the canon Whateley Stories, check out www.crystalhall.org
Jan’s tale 4 - Hospitalisation:
“Your poison failed.” The woman grouched, hitting the table with her hand. “I risked one of my operatives and IT is still alive.”
“Your intelligence was wrong. The poison is perfect. If you hadn’t overestimated her powers I’d chosen another means. Now they’ll be… suspicious.” Not that he cared anyway. The burnout should have destroyed her powers.
“That’s your problem, you could have chosen a simple poison, not some elaborate devisor stuff that doesn’t work half the time. IT should have been dead.”
“Transmorphic Interruption Acid causes deadly burnout in mutants above level four,” the boy glared at her. “I knew women lacked reason, but I had no idea it was this bad. ‘World shaking powers’? My ass! She was level three maximum.” He paused a second before asking: “Why do you call her an it? Is she one of those unfortunate who lose their male rationality to female insanity?”
“Yes, disgusting Patriarchal filth!” The woman exclaimed angrily.
Meanwhile the boy shook his head. “Why do I need to deal with creatures like that? The Greeks were right to treat them like the talking dogs they are.”
“I heard that, boy,” the woman stepped closer, balling her fists. “You wouldn’t have your beloved radioactivity without a woman.”
“You mean Curie?” He sneered. “There are exactly two possibilities. Either she was transgendered and really a man, or her husband did all the work and she published his research over the rest of her life. History has proven it, women are good for nothing but talking and bearing children. You and your kind are just deluded.” Even if they made useful pets once in awhile.
“I’ve heard enough from you!,” The woman momentarily raised her hand as if to strike the boy, before stopping herself and dismissively turning her back on him. “I’ve never understood why we cooperated with patriarchal filth like you, but we can certainly do without.”
The boy watched with bemusement as she stiffly exited the room. ‘Ah, I never understood why she insisted on cooperating with their group. Mutantkind is earth future, not some deluded female supremacists. She didn’t even realize I was mocking her.’
***
*Beep* *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* *Beep*
What in the hell was this? What happened? Thinking back, I recalled hotness… and pain… and people holding me down… and something as cold as the surface of Pluto on my forehead.
*Beep* *Beep*
It was too annoying to be an alarm clock. Not that I owned one. My back hurt, and I felt like I had a muscle ache in my limbs. Although it wasn’t like I could move them much anyway. Something seemed to block them.
*Beep* *Beep*
Okay, enough with the noise! I’m awake.
Now, I needed to find out why I couldn’t stretch. Decision made, I opened my eyes. What I saw was thoroughly unimpressive. A greyish-white drop ceiling made from the ever characteristic ceiling panels, a window and a door at different corners of my field of vision. This definitely was not my room.
*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*
This was annoying; this Scheisse was going on my nerves! I couldn’t move, something was beeping and I wasn’t in my room. Looking around I tried to find out what was going on. A drip led to my right arm, giving me a strange icky feeling at the place where I could see the needle.
*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*
The annoying sound again. Now I could tell where it was coming from, a monitor thing that had cables going to my chest. Looking down I saw electrodes above my heart. A bloody heart monitor. It wasn’t a good sign at all. I’d gone to bed last night after the party and then… I didn’t know.
*Beep* *Beep* *Beep* *Beep*
My heart was going faster. “Macht diese Lärmmaschine aus!” I yelled – or better tried to yell. My voice was failing, leaving only a silent rasp.
*Beep**Beep**Beep**Beep**Beep*
I wanted out of here! I pulled at my bonds, but they didn’t budge!
*Beepeepeepeepeepeepeep*
“Hilfe!” I begged, as loudly as I could manage. “Bitte lasst mich frei!”
*Beepeepeepeepeep*
The door opened and a nurse stormed in. “What’s going on?” she asked, “Oh… you’re awake.”
*Beepeep* *beep*
“Last mich frei!” I said as forcefully as I could. A tear rolled down my face. “Ich will hier weg!”
*Beepbeep* *Beep*
Hair rolled down my back. Due to my blind panic triggering my transformation, my long girl hair was trapped under by back and it hurt when I tried to lift my head. Fuck, fuck, fuck! As if my ever progressing sex change wasn’t bad enough now it also hurt like hell.
“Um… I don’t speak… your language,” the nurse said. “Could you please talk English or I can’t help you…” *beep* *beep* “… Um… you speak English do you; you don’t have forgotten it, right?”
*beep* *beep*
If I didn’t speak English how could I possibly understand her? Stupid question. God, I’d moved towards girlhood once more and there she was standing asking stupid questions. I wanted away here! Tears were pouring out of my eyes.
*beep*
“Please…” I begged. “Please… make this… thing out… make the beep go away… please!”
*beep* *beep* *beep*
“The heart monitor?” She asked, pointing at the monitor thing. “Um… I need to ask the doctor.”
*beepbeepbeepbeep*
She couldn’t. She had to make it go away. “Please,” I begged again, tears were streaming down my face. “Please!”
“Okay…” the nurse said, looking suspiciously at the source of my desperation. “I think I can reduce the volume.”
*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*
She could? “I beg you, please… silence this thing.” Maybe I could think once it was out.
*Beep* *Bee*
Silence, god sent silence. Fuck, my head hurt. I’d missed it before, the infernal noise was just too distracting. Now I could hopefully find out why I was here. After taking a few breath to focus myself, I looked at the nurse again.
“Ähm… what happened?” I asked as calmly as I could. Hysterics probably wouldn’t help. My unmanly display was enough of a disgrace already.
“Do you know where you are?” The nurse asked back, not answering my question at all. Maybe she just couldn’t stand people talking back to her. She was a rather old, forceful looking woman, about five years or so before retirement age.
Why did she ask? I didn’t have amnesia, did I?
“Yes… at Whateley, I think,” I said, trying to calm my breath. “Why do you ask?”
“You had a very dangerous case of Burnout.” The nurse grabbed a chair from a corner and sat down in front of my bed. “Amnesia wouldn’t be the strangest thing that ever happened.”
Okay, this had me worried. “It’s only been a few days? …since I arrived at Whateley?”
“I think so,” she said, rubbing her forehead. “Yeah, the doctor mentioned you were a new kid.”
“Ähm… would you mind to make me loose?” I asked, pulling at my bonds. “This… bondage is… not nice.”
Crap, was my English-ability gone? Or was it just the throbbing of my head. It could be either option, considering what I’d learned about this Burnout stuff so far. It was something a mutant really didn’t want to have, if I remembered correctly it was one of the major death causes for mutants. My hospitalization indicated this had been serious; I’d been all too close to kick the bucket. At least I was still alive.
“... permission,” the nurse said, but I hadn’t listened.
*oops* it wasn’t a very polite thing to do.
“Ähm... sorry, I was... distracted, spaced out,” I said. “Could you repeat... what you said?”
She sighed but did it. “Okay... I said I need the doctor’s permission. I’ll call one though, if you don’t mind.”
I didn’t like the idea of being left alone, bound to the hospital bed, yet I also didn’t want to stay that way until a doctor deigned to visit us.
“Yes, please call one, but please hurry.”
The nurse left and I was lying on the hospital bed, worrying about my situation. Burnout... on my first day. And there had been Ninjas, trying to steal the Poe bust. The Kimba’s had told us about it, apparently they’d been involved in a similar thing last year.
God, right now I wished I had telekinesis powers. These restraints were really annoying. Made me think of certain Japanese hentais my “mate” Lukas had recommended. Seriously, what was it with Japanese porn writers, schoolgirls, nurses and tentacle monsters? The plot for this situation was quite obvious... when the nurse returned with the doctor, he’d open his lab-coat and tentacles would sprout from his body. Where after he’d rape the nurse first, allowing me to watch. Then his tentacles would enter my ass, somehow growing me a pussy and turning me into a futanari, while my boobs exploded forward... God there was too much porn on the net.
My head hurt, I wanted to rub my forehead. “Hello,” I tried myself at shouting again, yet my voice was still too raw. “Someone there?” I bloody needed something to drink. I should have remembered to ask the nurse.
Should have didn’t help me right now though. “Hello,” I tried again. “Lalalala... I feel so alone... lalala.”
“Sheesh, can’t leave you alone for five minutes,” the nurse said, returning to the room. “You’re singing already... What’s up with your voice?”
“I probably screamed too much tonight,” I snarked. “Um... hello, who are you?” A brown haired older man had just entered the room.
“I’m Dr. Alfred Bellows,” the man introduced himself as the nurse left again, “I’d hoped to meet you under more fortunate circumstances, but I guess we have to make do with what we have. I’ll loosen you, but be careful with the IV.”
I eyed the tube connected to my vein suspiciously as the doctor loosened my restraints. I’d rather not have it, but considering what I’d heard when I’d been here with Leonard... Well, I didn’t want to end up dead like that poor girl and maybe the stuff in there was necessary for my survival. While I’d heard the name Bellows somewhere already, I couldn’t recall where. Anyway, I had more important things to worry about.
“Ähm, do you know what happened to me?” I asked, turning my focus back to the doctor, who was fumbling around with the computer in the corner of the room.
“Well, you had a burnout, and...” Dr. Bellows recounted, looking at the screen. “Oh... this isn’t good.”
Scheisse! I sat up with alarm. “Am I going to die?”
“Oops...” the doctor said, rubbing the back of his head in an awkward gesture. “No, don’t worry. If nothing drastic happens your most likely cause of death should be old age.”
Phew. Thanks God. He had me scared. “Ähm... so what isn’t good?”
“You’ve been poisoned. They found traces of TIA in your system,” Dr. Bellows shook his head. “Bloody Evolord and his burnout drug.”
I had a super villain out for my hide? Why the hell? “Why does he want to kill me?”
“I don’t think he does. The bastard just sells his poison to anyone willing to pay. He’s got a serious hate on everyone with more power than himself. He got rated Devisor three and decided anyone with more power was a threat to him,” he shrugged helplessly, “delusional. Apparently that means they don’t deserve to live. Your power is probably barely above whatever power he considers too much, which is the reason you’re still alive and not a pile of ash.”
Great... so because someone obviously had miscalculated my strength I was still alive. For all I knew it was about this prophecy/balance crap again. Although creepy sword girl seemed more like the ‘skewer you with my dick-replacement’ type than the poison your food type.
“Do you know who was behind it?”
Dr. Bellows shook his head, grimacing. “Not yet... not sure. I don’t want to accuse someone who might have been used as an unknowing patsy.”
So, they had an idea who could have been responsible for it. Probably someone close to me. An involuntary shiver ran over my body. God, this was supposed to be a safe haven and I’d been threatened and almost murdered on my second day here.
“Was that Chou girl responsible?” Maybe I’d disturbed her precious Balance somehow.
“Chou? As in Bladedancer?” He asked, looking at me as if I’d suddenly grown horns. “Why would she poison you?”
Great, another person who thought that psycho couldn’t harm a fly. “Maybe because she threatened to kill me? Maybe she just decided to follow through with it?”
The doctor just raised his eyebrows. “She’d probably useher sword or magic. Not a rare devisor drug.”
Right... and using that drug she’d make sure nobody would suspect her. I guess that sounded paranoid, but then someone obviously was out to get me.
“Well, now that I’m here we can use this opportunity to talk about your situation,” Dr. Bellows said, probably taking my silence as agreement as he closed the door to the floor. “Mrs. Bell had made an appointment for you anyway.”
An appointment with him? Why would I want to meet a doctor? I was distracted from this train of thought, as he came over and finally removed my bonds.
“Be careful with your right arm,” he hissed at me, when I instantly tried to scratch myself. “I told you about the drip.”
“Sorry,” I said, taking the other arm to scratch my head. “Why did my counselor make an appointment for me?”
“I’m the psychologist for the changelings at Whateley,” Dr. Bellows said, raising his eyebrows. “I thought your counselor told you about it.”
Yes… she did, but I’d kind of forgotten about it. Well, it sucked. I hoped to avoid this kind of conversation. I already had one of those and really didn’t need another one.
“So this is where you tell me that my transformation is irreversible and I better learn to live with it,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Being a girl is also awesome or something.” I glared at him preventatively. It could never hurt to show you meant business.
“I didn’t want to convince you to join the girly side,” the psychologist replied calmly and took the wind out of my sails. “MATD is also far from hopeless. We could try hypnosis therapy for example.”
“Hypnosis?” I echoed, raising my eyebrows. “Like making me moo every time someone claps their hands?” I knew crap like this was only supposed to work if you didn’t resist it, but with mutant powers around...
He shook his head. “No, like changing the template of your manifestor shell into something more agreeable.” Dr. Bellows sighed. “Look, I can’t really promise anything. This only works if the template for your shell has something to do with your unconscious, but trying can’t hurt.”
“I guess,” I shrugged. “It can only crush my hopes... but then they weren’t exactly high in the first place.”
“Okay,” he said, smiling at me encouragingly. “Do you want to try it right now?”
Did I have to? This hypnosis stuff sounded scary. And with the burnout and everything... “Is it safe?” I inquired, way too meekly for my own liking.
Dr. Bellows nodded. “Yes, it’s not some magic outside influence. Hypnosis only helps me to help you help yourself.”
That was an interesting way to put it, but if I remembered correctly, he was probably right. With hypnosis he could sort of program my unconscious, but only if I allowed him.
“You don’t need to if you don’t want,” he added. “We can always try this later.”
And I’d probably freak myself out and avoid it. “No... let’s do it right now, or I’ll probably never do it.”
“I think that’s a smart decision,” Dr. Bellows agreed. “You don’t need to worry. I’m a professional and not a hypnosis ‘artist’.”
I only nodded. And gulped down heavily. This scared me, but I needed to do it.
Dr. Bellows gave me an encouraging smile before he began: “Okay, listen to my voice...”
It turned out that I was very easy to hypnotize. It also turned out that my visualization capabilities sucked. He still tried to change how I imagined myself and he actually succeeded. But in the end it didn’t do anything. When he pulled me out of hypnosis I wasn’t a boy like I’d imagined myself to be, but still old Kim Possible.
I could barely suppress my tears, when I cussed: “This sucks! Why doesn’t it work?”
“I guess you have no conscious control over your shell,” Dr. Bellows answered although I couldn’t have cared less. “It probably imprinted during your manifestation. Maybe it works more like a BIT... but you’d have to ask the Power Testing guys.”
A BIT? Please, everything but that. A Body Image Template would mean I was utterly stuck. Everyone said so. If Ayla couldn’t find anything against his condition I didn’t stand a chance.
“What am I supposed to do now?” I said as tears started flowing down my cheeks. I didn’t want to cry, but the situation and my damn hormones made me feel so bad.
The doctor gently took my hand. “It’s not so bad. I’m sure we’ll find some way to help you.”
Like suddenly loving to be a girl or something, I thought cynically, but somehow it was lacking the bite. It didn’t really feel right to vent at him. He wasn’t at fault. Hell he told me the hypnosis thing probably wouldn’t work after all. It probably was totally awesome for someone like Lisa or Susan, or kind of interesting for Ashley, but not for me. It was just more confusing rules for me to learn and old social rules to unlearn. All of that on top of this scary, unwanted transformation of my body. God, there were enough transsexuals around who’d give almost everything for something like this, so why did it have to be me?
“Please tell me what’s on your mind,” Dr. Bellows reminded me. “I can’t really read your thoughts and even if I could it’s unethical. You need to tell me so I can help you.”
“Help me?” I echoed, wiping the stupid tears from my eyes.
“Yes, that’s what I’m here for.” Dr. Bellows smiled sympathetically as he handed me a tissue. “If you let me, I can help you understand yourself and what you are feeling, but if you are uncomfortable with that, I am a good listener. I know it might sometimes feel like you are alone, but you are not and I have learned that sometimes simply listening to a patient is all they need.”
There was no way he really wanted to know all my crap. And seriously, how did he want to help, or thought he was able to help? I was turning into a girl and if no miracle happened, it would stay that way. I told him that , but somehow he managed to get me to talk about other stuff. Like the fact that I was scared like hell about people wanting to kill me.
He’d tricked me by starting with the Ninjas. I’d been so scared when that asshole had appeared above me with his sword. Thanks god for my friends, or I’d been a goner. What was wrong with this school? I was here for two days and already in more dangerous situation than all the rest of my life. Maybe the bullies at my old Gymnasium[1] were better. They at least wouldn’t kill me. They enjoyed tormenting me too much.
“And you don’t think that’s alright, do you?” Dr. Bellows inquired.
“No, but it’s better than... that saying doesn’t work in English... well being a corpse, okay?”
He didn’t say anything, but that only caused my frustrations to spill out: “I really thought this school would be better. My cottage mates are really nice. But then I ran into the bullies, someone poisoned me... and then I almost ended up collateral damage. I was just in their way so they were willing to kill me. What did those ninja-freaks want anyway?”
“Steal the Poe Bust, I guess,” the doctor said. “Your Team Kimba friends prevented them last year and now it’s about their ninja honor.”
Ninjas had honor? Since when was putting a knife into someone’s back honorable? Although... Japanese culture was weird, so who knew?
“Super! Japanese honor Scheiss got me almost killed.” I grimaced. How many times could I survive crap like that? My shell could prevent paper cuts at best. I wasn’t even close to invulnerable. “Is it always like that here? What am I supposed to do?”
“Hmmm..." Dr. Bellows didn't look happy as he considered my question. "Campus security is planning on increasing their patrols, but I'd suggest trying to always walk with a buddy." He sighed and shook his head slowly from side to side. "No, I know it doesn't really make you feel more secure, but I'm afraid this is probably just the tip of the iceberg and you will need to be more alert in the future.”
“So I’ll just have to live with the fact that people want to murder me?”
“No, this won’t happen again,” he seemed sure of it. “They’ll regret this. Whateley is supposed to be neutral ground. This is not a place to live out vendettas.”
That was good to know. I had my doubts after yesterday’s events. I told him so, yet he only affirmed his opinion that it was a freak event. When the doctor tried to switch to a talk about my new gender, I deflected him. I didn’t want tell him how I really felt about the transformation. He could know that I didn’t like to be a girl, but more simply wasn’t his business. He didn’t need to know that imagining what it would be like to be a girl used to be a wank fantasy of mine... A nice one, but none I ever expected or wanted to become reality.
And seriously, he was a guy. I simply couldn’t tell a guy about my sort of excitement over the physical changes. The idea of my dick shrinking, a hole opening and... things entering me, manipulating super sensitive nipples on my chest... the idea was arousing, but reality was scary as hell. I just couldn’t tell him. It was too embarrassing and he’d never understand anyway. He’d probably think I wanted this. This dressing as a girl crap, talking about feminine nonsense and talking about boys or makeup shit. No, he’d only want to help me to accept the changes I’d “wanted”. No thanks.
“Oh, someone wants to visit you,” Dr. Bellows suddenly said, pointing at a light above the door. It had changed to orange.
"I hope it's not another assassin..." I muttered as I considered how my day was going because it wouldn't surprise if it was.
He shook his head, after doing something on the PC. “No… It’s your friends, I think. Do you want to see them?”
Well, if the others wanted to kill me they’d have had ample opportunity already. Talking to Dr. Bellows also got a bit boring. Or at least annoying. Maybe the other changelings had something better to talk about then how I felt about my transformation and the attack. Or my life before Whateley.
Dr. Bellows opened the door and let my friends in. Well… I hoped they were friends, but since they could be bothered to come to visit me they probably were.
“Hi,” I said smiling, when they came in. “Ähm… where is Lisa?” Everyone was here, but my roommate. Did something happen to her? Or was she angry because I interrupted her sleep?
“Also hi,” Susan said, “We were kind of wondering about the same thing.”
Dr. Bellows left the room and the others came closer to my bed. Suspiciously eying the IV, I decided to sit up. Hopefully it wouldn’t rip out. Meanwhile John and Alana were admiring the machines in the room. They looked kind of cool, but I didn’t like the fact they were probably needed to keep me alive.
Seeing my confused look Hunter explained: “Campus security snatched Lisa and we have no idea why. Do you know something?”
Did I know something? “Ähm… someone poisoned me.” That might be an explanation. “But Lisa?” I shook my head. That couldn’t be true. Lisa wouldn’t do something like that. She had no reason to. Hell, she’d even alarmed Mrs. Horton!
“Yeah, I don’t see it either,” Felicia agreed. “She doesn’t have the balls to do something like that."
No, Lisa’s balls had become ovaries after all. Like mine would if I continued my stupid transformations. Stupid comment, making me feel the hair in my neck again. I glared at Felicia.
“Hey no need to be so angry,” Felicia quickly interjected before I could say anything. “It’s true, Lisa’s no killer.”
She was probably right, but she could have voiced it nicer. Seriously, some of us didn’t like our transformations and didn’t want to be reminded at every opportunity. I hadn’t even had the time to check out my latest transformation before the shell reactivated. God, if it continued like this, I’d be a complete girl before the month was over.
“Well, Campus security obviously thinks otherwise,” Ashley said, sitting down on the edge of my bed. “Are you alright?”
“It doesn’t look like I’m going to die,” I shrugged. “Apparently, I’m stable or something…” I nodded towards the drip. “I can’t take this annoying thing out though.”
“I feel for you,” Felicia said. “I had one myself in the hospital… after I got involved in a mafia shootout. Got hit by a stray bullet… but that was way before my powers cracked on.”
Interesting… that was something she hadn’t mentioned before. Actually she hadn’t told much about herself since the introduction tour. Sure, her awesome plans in the future, but nothing about her past really.
“Sounds hardcore,” John said, raising his eyebrows. “Anyway, Jan-dude, I got a surprise for you… ‘licia figured you’d be bored to death here.”
I wasn’t. Well not yet. Looking around I saw that there were no books, well none that would interest me. Dr. Bellows had kept me busy so far, but now he was gone and I had nothing to do except for my friends.
“Okay, thank you Felicia.” I tried to smile at her. Maybe she wasn’t really an asshole. “So John… what is the surprise?”
He put his Rucksack on a table and pulled it open. “I’ve kinda thieved ya laptop.”
“I’m not sure if it’s stolen when it’s in front of me,” I grinned. “Thanks mate.”
“No problem,” John said. “We figured you’d want to join our adventuring tonight.”
“Guys!” Susan interjected. “No GEO discussion now, okay?”
Meh… and I wanted to ask him if they’d done anything in the meantime. Although she was right. It would have been really rude. Instead I decided to tell them what happened to me. Well, what I knew about what had happened to me.
“Wow... Burnout by a devisor drug,” Alana said after I’d told my story. “And they think Lisa is responsible?”
I shrugged. “You guys told me about Lisa... I’ve no idea, but I don’t see a motive and she wouldn’t be rich enough to buy the drug anyway.” There was simply no way Lisa was responsible. It made no sense at all. “It’s more like someone sent an assassin or something,” I said looking suspiciously left and right - if they’d gotten me on the Poe Party, who knew if the hospital was safe.
“Your mysterious powers again?” Susan asked, raising her eyebrows.
“How would she know?” Hunter interjected, saving me from another awkward answer. “Come on, either someone wants her dead or they just confused the target, or Jan picked up the wrong drink or something.”
Considering how strange the situation got it was probably or something. Maybe I was destined to rule the world and someone wanted to stop me. Hah, that would teach Svenja. I’d become ruler of the world and she’d not even get to be bitch-minister. At least one thing where she wasn’t better than I. Oh, sweet revenge. Maybe I should “sponsor” her a sexual reassignment surgery so she could see what it was like.
“Well, we can’t let them get away with this,” Ashley said angrily. “They’ll just try again and again!”
“I agree,” John said. “Whateley was supposed to be a safe haven and then something like this happens.”
Wow, they were really willing to stand up for me. Stupid eyes began misting again, but I didn’t really mind right now. Never before had people my age been this nice to me.
“I think we should talk to Ayla,” Susan said. “She seems to have some information she shouldn’t.”
No big surprise. Rich people always had lackeys trying to get their favour. And money almost always helped if they didn’t do it for “favours”. Strange enough, I didn’t mind it in Ayla’s case... He was pretty open and helpful about it, so that might explain it.
“I’ve met some guys at the Gym... maybe they’ve heard something,” Hunter suggested. “Needed to blow off frustrations this morning.”
“The girls at Venus Inc might know something about it,” Felicia suggested with a shrug.
“What would the beauty Nazis know about murder?” Ashley almost sneered, rolling her eyes. “I thought you were all about doing clothes style dick wagging contests.”
“Just because you’re a wallflower you shouldn’t project your issues on others,” Felicia snarked back. “Anyway, interested?”
Well, she hadn’t seemed very helpful so far, but if she wanted to do something for our group... “Sure, thank you,” I agreed. “Not sure how much we can actually find out... I mean they even managed shift blame on Lisa... I hope.”
“Don’t worry,” Susan waved off my concerns. “We’ll be careful and you can’t pull complicated stuff like that without leaving clues. There is always something they haven’t thought about. Like the fact you were not powerful enough for example.”
I shrugged. Sure, but it wasn't like we were the Famous Five or the Three Investigators. While they might find something, I didn’t want to get my hopes too high. That was the way to disappointment and I had enough disappointing stuff in my life lately. On the other hand it also looked like I’d found real friends for the first time in years.
“Okay,” I smiled at them. “Thank you...
*knock* *knock* *knock*
Someone was knocking at the door and the light above had also changed.
“Oh... it seems like someone wants in,” Felicia stated. “Maybe we should leave.”
“Let’s check who’s there first,” Susan said. “Maybe I’m slightly paranoid, but I think it’s justified.”
Yeah... they were really out to get me after all. Wouldn’t be the first time that gunmen snuck into a hospital and opened fire as soon as the door opened.
“Let me go first,” John said, stepping forward.”I can make myself bullet resistant.” A blue aura flared around him, before settling into a barely visible azure sheen.”
“Okay,” Susan agreed and pulled some strange gun-like looking thing out of her pocket. “I’ll give you backup.”
“And I’ll beat them up.” Hunter added, balling her fists.
Ashley just shook her head. “You’re silly, guys.” She obviously didn’t believe something would happen. Meanwhile, Felicia went into cover behind one of the night desks.
John slowly opened the door and we beheld at a confused looking woman in a lab-coat.
“Is... there something wrong?” She asked, slowly raising her hands. “I’m just the doctor.”
“I told you so,” Ashley laughed.
I wasn’t that sure though, women were the most feared hitmen after all. Nobody ever expected one of those innocent looking fragile creatures of beauty and good to do evil. Well, they’d obviously never met my sister. Or never had one in their life’s. True evil comes in the disguise of good after all.
“She has no hostile intentions,” Felicia declared as she scrambled up from behind her cover.
“I told you so,” Ashley repeated, still grinning. She turned towards the doctor and explained: “They kind of expected someone else to come in and try to off Jan again.”
The doctor slowly nodded. ”I can see where you’re coming from, but we’ve made pretty sure that something like that can’t happen... again. Last year really taught us...” She’d probably seen our scared looks, since she elaborated: “The demon girl... People snuck into her room and tried to stab her to death. She got better though.”
Good for her. I didn’t have awesome regeneration abilities though. That test had hurt! Stupid sadistic amateur testers. I really hoped they wouldn’t do something like that here. Who’d actually volunteer to be hurt anyway, just so they could find out?!
“Um... would you please let me through?” The doctor asked, raising her eyebrows as she looked at my friends blocking her way.
“Oh... sure,” John said, scratching his head before he stepped aside.
Hunter was still eyeing her suspiciously, but went back to his previous place.
Shrugging the doctor came in. It really seemed as if we’d confused her. Apparently she wasn’t used to such a reaction. Well, she probably should at a superhero school.
“Hi, what’s your name?” I asked, honestly curious and trying to break the awkward situation.
“Oh..” the doctor shook her head. “Um... sorry... I guess I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Doctor,” she rolled her eyes, “Michelle Trappatori. You can call me Michelle, though, I’m not a big one for formal.”
Trappatori? She didn’t look very Italian, but then it probably wasn’t to be expected with the melting pot and everything.
She sighed and continued: “Anyway, I’m not quite sure how to put this, but you need to leave now for privacy reasons...”
Hunter stood again, her hands balled to fists. “There are ways to fake good intentions,” she shot a look towards Felicia. “Seriously, do you think we’d believe this?”
“Ashley would you mind helping me here?” Dr. Michelle asked, glaring at the laughing girl. “Seriously, this isn’t so funny.”
“Are you sure that I can trust you?” Ashley smirked. “You could also be a shifter or someone using an illusion.” the girl’s evil grin widened. “Say, what happened when you met me the first time?”
If glares could kill, Ashley would have dropped dead. Thankfully Dr. Trappatori wasn’t a mutant with eye lasers. “I slipped and fell face first into dog poop!”
Ouch... that would explain it. Although as security questions went this was one of the best I’d ever heard. Who’d admit something like this to anyone if they weren’t forced to?
“She’s for real,” Ashley admitted. “Sorry, Michelle, I needed to make sure.”
“Whatever,” the doctor said, rolling her eyes. “Please get out now. I’m not going to knife Jan or something.” She shot a look at Ashley. “Unlike a certain green haired girl, who should run for her life.”
Seeing Ashley just shrug, it was quite obvious she didn’t take the threat serious. Felicia didn’t say anything after all and she could read emotions. No, the doctor didn’t seem like the homicidal type.
“Okay,” John said, moving towards the door. “We’ll see you in GEO later, right?”
“Sure,” I nodded. “Thanks for everything. Um... doc... Michelle, don’t take it personal... but I hope to be out of here soon.”
“I can understand,” Dr. Trappatori agreed, while my friends said their goodbyes and left.
“What now?” I asked her after the door had shut and we finally were alone.
“Well,” she said, sitting down on the chair Hunter used before. “I’ll check your health and then tell you what really happened to you, okay?”
“Ähm... yes, I guess,” I said a bit confused. “What do you mean with really happened to me?” Did something happen beyond the burnout poisoning?
“Beyond the Burnout poisoning?” the doctor asked. “Young lady, Burnout isn’t a beyond thing. It’s one of the most dangerous things that can happen to a mutant besides a date with Deathlist.”
Did I just say that out loud? Anyway, Burnout was really that bad? I felt pretty good actually... it couldn’t have been that dangerous, could it?
“You don’t believe me?” Dr. Trappatori asked rhetorically. “Burnout is when you overuse your powers and they run out, of course. Mutants have been known to melt to slag. Hell, some actually exploded.”
“Yes, I know! Verdammt, I heard how someone died yesterday!” I replied, getting angry. Did she think I was stupid or something? “I feel alright though, like I could just stand up and walk away.” I wasn’t that stupid though. Well, at least not without express permission from the doctor. Who knew, that drip might be all what kept me alive. Although Dr. Bellows would have been more careful then... probably.
“You just feel like it, you didn’t do it, right?” The doctor asked and raised her hands as I speared her with my eyes. “I needed to ask, okay?”
Maybe she really did. I certainly wasn’t an expert on medical protocol - not even the German one. “I didn’t. I’m not stupid and I’m not suicidal either... but I don’t like being bound to the bed.”
“Phew... sorry,” she said, dropping back down on her chair, “it was kind of a close thing with you this night.”
“Scheisse... this is nothing I like to hear,” I replied without much thinking. “I... I really was about to die?” I was too young to die. And maybe too beautiful. Even though I’d rather be handsome.
She nodded. “Pretty much, well if we’d gotten you earlier it wouldn’t have been that bad.”
And Lisa was the one to alarm them... did she wait intentionally? It totally didn’t seem like my roommate, but then I didn’t know her that long. Yet she had alarmed them and not pretended to sleep. God, why did this need to happen to me? Why Lisa?! She couldn’t have done this to me, she just couldn’t.
“I don’t think I want to know more about the badness,” I said, “can’t you just check me and tell when I can go home?” Home? The doctor raised her eyebrows. “Ähm... I mean back to my room.”
“Well, Jan, most likely the worst is behind you. Once the burnout is survived most mutants have no further complications,” the doctor said, waving my concerns aside.
But ‘most mutants’ didn’t mean all mutants. And considering my luck lately... well, would it be a big surprise if I was one of the unlucky few?
Oblivious of my thoughts Dr. Trappatori continued: “We’ll begin with the basic tests, I’ll just check if everything is alright with you and then you’ll get to see the more interesting apparatuses.”
“More interesting apparatuses?” I echoed, while the doctor went to a cupboard and pulled out a rubber mallet.
“We’re a mutant school and some of our students or sponsors are gifted with a mutant-talent for devising or gadgetry. Well... and some actually develop something that doesn’t make ‘boom’,” she sighed. “I used to say ‘boys and their toys’, but nowadays even the girls build guns.”
Two days ago I’d probably scoffed about the gun thing. However I couldn’t deny their point anymore. People were making strange prophecies about me, bullies had attacked me and someone had poisoned me with a deadly toxin. A nifty gun that could actually take mutants out would be rather useful. I decided to say nothing, since I wasn’t sure what to think.
She came over to the bed and put her hand on my forehead. “Hm... seems normal... Jan, sit up please, but be careful with the drip.”
Was she really supposed to test stuff like that? My doubts about her methods aside, I slowly forced myself up. It was hard, way harder than I’d expected. I’d felt fine, but now that I actually tried to move it became obvious that my body was severely weakened. Still, I managed to sit up. My legs were dangling over the edge of the bed.
“Ähm... what do you want with this?” I asked, suspiciously eyeing her mallet.
“Just testing your basic motor functions and reflexes,” she said, hitting me on my knee cap. “Standard procedure, you know?”
No I didn’t know. “This was weird,” I commented, seeing my leg kick out without my own will. “Ähm Doctor...”
“Michelle,” the doctor interrupted me, “it’s Michelle. Don’t be so formal, I’m not gonna bite you.”
I didn’t expect her to bite me, but that was beside the point. “Ähm... Michelle,” I began again, “could you please tell me before you do weird stuff to my body?”
She raised her eyebrows. “Are you sure you won’t cramp or something?”
I could only shrug. Maybe... knowing you were about to be hit by a rubber mallet wasn’t very scary... on the other hand I didn’t really like the fact she could sort of remote control my body. Apparently that meant my reflexes were okay. Weird.
“Don’t be so silent, Jan,” she scratched her head and laughed, “or I’m going to eat you.”
She actually showed me her teeth. Strange. I guess she just wanted to be funny or nice, but I didn’t really feel like that for now. I shrugged again. “What next?”
“I’ll check for brain damage,” she said, raising her index finger. “Follow your finger with your eyes.”
She didn’t want to hypnotize me, did she? Although… no that wasn’t it. She just wanted to see if my pupils were dilated or if my eyes moved jerkily. Something like that could indicate a concussion if I remembered correctly. Although if I had, Dr. Bellows should have realized that already. I had had a super fever, so why would I have a concussion? Did they drop me on my head? Maybe it was just a standard test or something. No reason to protest, it would only delay the inevitable. So I did as she said and followed her finger with my eyes.
“Everything seems alright here,” the doctor said. “Well… the next test.”
Her next test was to make me undress my nightshirt – which I was still wearing – and to have me breath in and out while she felt around on my chest and back.
“Okay,” the doctor concluded. “You seem to be out of danger, but your breathing is still rather weak.”
“So what does that mean for me?” I inquired. “Can I go back to Poe?”
She shook her head. “No. I want order an X-Ray or two and probably a CAT and a S.U.P.E.R. scan. I want to make sure there won’t be a relapse. You’ll stay here for the next few days.”
Great, just great. This way I totally missed the phase where everybody got to know each other. They would have their introduction and I would sit here alone, playing GEO. Well at least I had my dorm-mates. Hopefully they’d introduce me to others or I’d probably fuck it up anyways.
“Don’t look so glum,” the doctor admonished. “It won’t be forever.”
I just shrugged. It would probably too long. Not that I liked to have endless introduction activities, but at least you could find friends there. And I sucked at finding new friends.
“I’ll miss everything,” I explained with a groan. “How am I supposed to meet my new classmates, or learn about the campus when I’m stuck here?”
“You could do the digital campus tour,” Dr. Trappatori said, bowing down to loosen the brakes of my hospital bed. “Please lie down again, I’ll roll you to the scanners.”
As if that suggestion would help. In the worst case I’d just ask for a map or something. The problem was the people. Maybe I should ask that Dr. Bellows guy. He seemed to understand, but then he might just be faking. Well, there was nothing I could do about it right now. Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad. Most activities seemed to be for the cottages anyway, and I’d already made friends there. I’d meet the students from the other classes soon enough...
“But I’ll be out of here before the classes start, right?” I asked hopefully as I lay down on the hospital bed.
Nodding the doctor loosened the brakes and began to push me towards the door. “Yes, if nothing unforeseen happens we’ll be able to release you on Thursday.”
Thursday wasn’t as bad as I’d feared. Well, at least I had an excuse to game GEO without interruption. I would have to be careful not to level away from the others though, or our adventures might become boring.
“Okay,” I said as she rolled me through the floor. “So what are you going to test now?”
“I’ll try to find out if anything about your body severely changed or might endanger you in the future,” she explained. “I’ll push you into the tube over there. It might remind you of a CT, but it’s actually something cobbled together by our local medical engineering students.” She sighed. “I wish every hospital could have something like this, but they can’t produce it since they’re currently involved in a patent war with Johnson&Johnson.”
My uncle had worked for them once. He hadn’t talked about something like that, but then he’d only been a salesman. It was no big surprise though. Human lives didn’t matter if money could be made. Hell, that was the reason why most wars were fought, why did I actually expect different from the medical industry?
We were in a new room now, after Dr. Trappatori had quickly pushed my bed over the corridor. I saw what she meant by a tube. Nothing like the CT’s I knew from television, this thing was almost as big as a room. She could actually push my bed into it and did so. A few seconds later the wall began to spin, which made some rather annoying rattling sound. After what felt like an eternity, but probably wasn’t more than ten minutes the contraption stopped and the doctor opened the door.
“Still alive?” She asked, smirking at me - she’d obviously seen the expression on my face.
“Barely,” I groaned. “Is it even allowed for a doctor to have so much fun torturing her patients?”
“Probably not,” Dr. Trappatori replied. “Anyway, we’re done here. I’ll roll you back and then do the analysis of this scan.” She waved towards a computer behind her. “That’s the drawback of the technology. So much data to interpret.”
I felt for her, but honestly I wanted answers for my most pressing question: “So you still can’t tell me if I’m going to die?”
“Not right now,” she replied sighing. “I told you before and what I can tell so far the machine only affirmed it. If you don’t use your powers nothing should happen.”
Crap! “My powers?” I asked panicked. “But my shell is active!” That bloody thing had activated by itself again.
The doctor raised her eyebrows. “It doesn’t seem like a very strong shell. I mean if the mallet could penetrate it well enough to cause reflex reactions,” she shrugged and pulled my bed out of the tube. “There is no sign of another burnout. I guess the power affected by the poison and your shell are different ones.”
So it had affected my mysterious unknown power that allowed me to speak English... “Ähm... I’m still speaking English fluently...”
“Maybe you learned it?” she shrugged again. “Burnout is already somewhat mysterious in normal cases. Some die, others get greater powers... others lose theirs. But I can tell you there is no more burnout coming right now. Your body temperature is normal and your nervous system isn’t overstrained either. You really don’t need to worry. Lie down on your bed, read something or play some computer games and wait until the good doctors have made sense of the data, okay?”
So I was panicking for no reason again. Seriously though, could anyone resent me for it? I mean not everyone was threatened by their body blowing up on them. On the other hand getting the doctor’s order to play computer games certainly was a novum for me. ‘Play less’ that was something I would have expected, but ‘chill and game a bit’ was a surprise.
“Ähm... sure,” I replied. “Ähm... can you give me my laptop and plug it into a … Steckdose... electrical-wall-thingy?”
“Electrical-wall-thingy?” the doctor echoed, while she pushed my bed back to the room where I’d been before. “You mean a power socket?” She pointed at one on the wall. “Is your mysterious English learning capability offline right now?”
It might be, but then I’d had troubles before. It obviously wasn’t perfect. “Yeah I meant power socket. Anyway, could you?”
“Sure,” she nodded as she fastened the brakes. “This is your laptop, right?” She pointed at the case that John had brought.
I nodded as I pushed myself up into a sitting position. It was hard to play lying. “Do you have a book or something? I need a... Unterlage... fuck, I don’t know the word...” the doctor raised her eyebrows and I shrugged. “Well a base to use my mouse.”
“Yeah... actually we have something better,” the doctor said and grabbed my laptop bag. “We’ve got students here who need to do their homework once in awhile,” she rolled her eyes. “Wait a minute and unpack your laptop first.”
***
*knock* *knock* *knock*
Someone was at the door. Crap, I had to interrupt my game and I just wanted to do another quest. Apparently someone had stumbled over an interesting cavern in the ground. There had been growls and dangerous sounds and he was scared. Well, not everyone was an adventurer like me, so I was glad for the opportunity to explore.
I’d probably played too long into the night and then I couldn’t really sleep. Sure, I guess I went to bed at 2am, but then I woke up at 6am, ready to continue my questing. This stuff was so exciting! No big surprise that people could actually get addicted to it. Anyway, after stopping my character just before the city walls, I put the laptop aside.
“Come in please,” I shouted, wondering who wanted to visit me at this ungodly time.
The door opened and Zoe strutted in. Something was strange about her though... she was wearing baggy clothing and no makeup. God, what did I care. She was an unwilling transformee, herself, of course she wouldn’t run around like a supermodel all the time.
“Hello, Jan,” she smiled at me. “You look like you didn’t expect visitors. I hope I’m not too inopportune... I figured I’d come to visit you after breakfast.”
“Breakfast?” I echoed confused. “Already? Isn’t that a bit early?” Or maybe she was just an early bird. My sister would have ripped her head off for waking her at this time.
“Um... no?” Zoe raised her eyebrows. “It’s almost ten o’clock.”
It couldn’t be, could it? I threw a quick glance at the computer clock... it really was 9:48 hours. Why hadn’t anyone told me?
“Ähm... ja,” I replied. “Okay...” I thought it was maybe 7.30 hours... “Äh... What can I do for you?”
Zoe shook her head. “Not what can you do for me... what can I do for you.” Zone grinned as she opened her handbag to pull out a few pairs of panties. “Ayla sponsored,” my visitor declared, rolling her eyes. “Your very first girlish underwear...”
“Thank you,” now it was my turn to roll my eyes. “So if my brain hasn’t totally fried, I recall that you mentioned I need those to pass better, right?”
“Yeah, I wanted to show you how to wear female clothing without hurting your genitals or showing a bulge...”
While I didn’t desire to grow a pussy or something, I also didn’t want to hurt down there all the time. And I definitely didn’t want to be outed as a she-male. The thought alone made me shudder. Considering what my class ”mates” had done when they didn’t even have any proof for my “gayness”, I absolutely didn’t want to experience whatever super powered teenagers could or would do with a confirmed freak. It wasn’t like I’d be able to resist, without real superpowers of my own.
A hand was waving in front of my face. “Are you dreaming?” Zoe asked and peered at my Laptop. “I hope you didn’t play all the night.”
I shook my head. “No, I did sleep, you know.”
“But woke at 4 o’clock, right?” She replied, raising her eyebrows. “Anyway, do me a favour and strip.” Zoe said and pulled away the covers.
She was right about me waking up that early, but... “Strip?” I blushed. “Do I have to?”
“You didn’t have any problems Monday in the showers, or so I’ve heard.”
Sheesh, what was this? Granny’s gossip-club?
“I did,” I countered as I slowly pulled down my pajama trousers. “I was forced though.”
“Whatever,” Zoe shrugged, before smiling at me. “Little Janni seems quite excited. I fear we’ll have to make it go down, before I can show you how to wear your panties...”
She didn’t mean... She wouldn’t, would she? There was only one way to make a boner go away and she said we... If my dick had been hard before it was like a steel rod now. The thought of that hot blonde bowing over my crotch and taking little Jan into her mouth…. Dirty Jan! God was I perverted sometimes.
“Um... Jan? Why are you blushing like that?” Zoe’s voice pulled me back into reality.
“You... want... want to...” I stammered, “help me to get it down?”
“Yes,” Zoe said, rubbing her forehead before she started to laugh and blush herself. “Oh, not that way.”
I raised my eyebrows. Seriously? How else was she supposed to do that?
“I’m a telepath, didn’t I tell you?”
A telepath? Maybe she did, but I didn’t remember. “Does that mean you read my thoughts?” That was a prospect I didn’t like all that much. She would know, I’d love to touch her boobs... oops?
“Nah,” Zoe said. “I’m not allowed if I can avoid it.” She shrugged. “Although I can help you with your embarrassing little problem... if you allow me, that is.”
Why would she need my permission to do something like that? “Okay...” I slowly said. “Well, if you don’t break it.” I crossed my arms. “I don’t want to lose it.”
She gave me a sad look, before she shook her head. “No need to worry. That won’t happen.” then she grinned at me. “I might need to touch you though,” a meaningful glance at my crotch followed.
“Aus!” I shouted. “Enough Zoe, please.” Did she have to make jokes about it? The whole thing was embarrassing enough. If she continued like this it would never go down. “Can you just do your thing and then explain the panty stuff?”
“Okay, Jan,” Zoe agreed and blew me a raspberry. “I guess I have to live with the fact my tomboy disguise didn’t work. I’m just too hot.”
Tomboy disguise? “I thought you practiced the high art of male self-dressing,” I joked. She had a point though, she was simply too hot to be able to not look hot - if that made sense. And something like this was my future... Another new changeling might drool over me next year and wonder where I got my knockers. My good mood was gone.
Suddenly I found myself embraced in a hug. “It’s not that bad...” Zoe said, while I got a prime, distracting view of her boobs. “Anyway,” she continued as she let go of me, “can I make your dick go down or not?”
It seemed like she really needed my permission. “Sure,” I shrugged. “Okay...”
Zoe touched my shoulder and I felt my genital go flaccid. Not sure what she did, but it obviously worked and was fast. “I wish I had that kind of control over it,” I remarked a bit envious.
“Practice makes perfect,” Zoe joked before she sighed. “Look, Jan, let’s get to the point. If you want to hide your male genitals you need to hide your balls in the cavity behind them and then fasten them with tape... or panties.”
I just raised my eyebrows. There was a cavity behind my balls? Why hadn’t I ever heard about that before?
“Eh... sorry,” Zoe continued before I could say anything. “I guess that explanation was a bit useless.” She stepped closer to the bed. “Well, to do that you need to pull up your scrotum...”
Seriously? Right now? My thoughts had to be written on my face, since she answered: “Yes, right now. I can do it for you, if you want.”
She probably wasn’t seriously, but I wasn’t really willing to call her bluff. It might not be one after all. Throwing my mentor a quick glare I pulled up my balls. “What now?”
“You need to maneuver your testicles so that they’re in line, one above the other. Otherwise they won’t go in and it’ll hurt like crap.”
That didn’t sound safe. “And they really won’t get broken?” I quickly asked. I didn’t want to lose my balls in a cross dressing accident.
Zoe slapped her forehead. “Bollocks, just stop if it starts to hurt. You shouldn’t have a problem though, with your female innards forming and everything.”
So transforming into a girl made me better at cross dressing. Not a big surprise if I thought about it. Although, I wasn’t quite sure how much “cross” dressing it still was. How much guy was my body after all these transformation? I could easily pass as a girl from the outside. Maybe a bit bigger than usual, but a girl nonetheless. I mean I didn’t like it, but on the other hand I was happy I couldn’t be ‘read’. At least I hoped so.
“Um Jan... it’s not that hard,” Zoe began again. “Just be careful and you won’t hurt yourself. They’re not that sensitive.”
“Okay,” I sighed and carefully grabbed my scrotum. Pushing it up was no problem, and maneuvering my balls around wasn’t either. “They’re in line now,” I said after accomplishing this step, “what am I supposed to do now?”
“Well, they should slip in...”
I rolled my eyes. “They don’t.” And I really didn’t want to squeeze them. Seriously, who would squeeze their own nuts? You’d seriously have to hate your sex or something. And be a masochist... “It just doesn’t work.”
Zoe came over and checked what I actually did. I blushed as she looked at my balls. This was totally embarrassing. “Well, you should pull them up, towards your dick you know.”
I’d already tried to do that. They didn’t flop in though. I showed her, it wasn’t like it could get any more embarrassing anyway. “Like this?”
“Pretty much,” Zoe nodded. “You only need to move them a little... and then it should work.”
I moved them a little, but nothing happened. Seriously, where was this cavity where my balls were supposed to fall in. Sure, I could kinda press my scrotum down, so there was no bone - no big surprise for someone who’d ever seen a human skeleton. But it was kind of hard to believe that there really was a hole for my balls.
“It doesn’t...” I began, just to feel my left ball slip into the channel.
“It does,” Zoe grinned as I pushed the other one in.
“This feels weird,” I said, looking at my crotch. “Is it like this to have a pussy?”
Zoe laughed. “No, not really. You still have your dick. Pull it towards your backside before you pull up your panty girdle. Considering your problems with putting them in it should hold now.”
I rolled my eyes. “Thanks. I don’t see how my problems with hiding my balls make this any easier.” It had taken me more than five minutes to get this done. I could only hope it wouldn’t take this long in the future or I’d take more time dressing than my sister even before I grew a... pussy...
“Now you only need this,” my mentor in all things girlish said, distracting me of my angsty thoughts as she waved a pink panty girdle in front of my nose.
“It looks awfully girly,” I stated, before I sighed and simply grabbed it out of the air. It wasn’t like the color really mattered. Nobody would see it and even if they did, it would only confirm what I wanted them to think. I sighed again. I didn’t want this, but being the freak again was something I wanted even less.
“The backside is where the label is,” explained Zoe, pulling me from my thoughts. “It can be a bit complicated with female underwear.”
I knew that, but I was glad of the distraction. I quickly slipped into the underwear and finished the process by simply pulling up the panty girdle while I held down my dick. It felt weird, I couldn’t deny that, but at least it didn’t hurt. The bulge was missing, even though I could see the form of my penis through the pink fabric. It wasn’t perfect, but good enough that nobody would be able to tell anything.
“Okay, this works. Thank you, Zoe,” I said. I really was rather grateful. Girl-jeans were uncomfortable as hell if you had junk in the way.
“No problem, I suppose,” she smiled. “I’m glad I can help you. It’s not like most of the other changelings need help like that...”
I nodded and sighed. “Yeah, they’re rather happy with their new genders.” I hugged myself. “How does it work? How are you so happy?” I was scared. I didn’t know how to deal with it. How did she manage?
“Do you mean them or me?” Zoe asked, giving me a quick hug.
I was a bit surprised and flinched for a second. “Yes... both, you?” I said, before I hugged her back. The touchy feely thing about being a girl was rather alien, but it was one of the parts I could get used to. To be honest, I rather liked it.
“Well... the others were either transgendered in with or they got brainwashed by their transformation. It switched something around in their brains or they’re influenced by their avatar spirit.” she looked rather grim as she said that.
I could understand. Someone like Felicia... I wasn’t sure how much of her personality was actually her and how much was the spirit.
“Me, I didn’t,” Zoe continued. “Or at least I think I didn’t. At least it didn’t happen that fast. And I’m not convinced being a girl is the best thing ever happened to me.” She sighed. “On the other hand it isn’t exactly horrible either. It can be rather fun to go shopping with friends - girls have about four times as many choices as guys.”
“Ähm...” What was I supposed to say about that? Didn’t that mean shopping would take about four times as long?
She rolled her eyes. “Jan, it’s not that horrible if you actually get to choose stuff and not just get to watch your mother or sister take forever.”
“Okay, I guess,” I said. Not all convinced, but maybe she had a point.
“You’re also allowed to do interesting stuff with your clothing,” she added. “More than just take ‘jeans in one color’ plus ‘t-shirt in other color’.”
I always thought that was one of the big advantages of maleness. Simply not having to worry about stuff like that.
“Well, simply put girly activities can be rather fun...” Zoe said before she grimaced. “As long as it doesn’t remind you of your lost maleness.” Then she grinned. “You can do pretty much all the guy stuff as a girl and get nice bonuses. Actually being a girl is an advantage most of the time. Except when you’re over-eager I guess. I’ve heard it can get annoying if people underestimate you.”
So she’d heard. I couldn’t help but grin. Considering how much crap my sister had gotten away with over the years... maybe I too would get the girl bonus now.
“Don’t abuse it too much,” Zoe reminded. “You know what it’s like as a guy.”
Yeah, she didn’t need to remind me. I had made some experiences of my own. I slowly nodded.
“Hey don’t worry too much,” she continued. “I doubt you’d ever do something like that anyway. Just remember that being a girl also can be fun,” she smiled at me.
I wasn’t really worrying. “Well, I only hope the different social conventions won’t drive me nuts.” I didn’t get the guy ones, so I doubted the girl social norms would be any better.
“You can always ask me, I suppose,” Zoe said. “And the other girls at Poe usually understand too.”
“There are no stupid questions, right?”
“That’s the right attitude,” she said, smiling at me. “Um... Jan, do you still need to know something? Sahar said she wanted to meet me...”
I shook my head. “Ähm... no, I don’t think so. Anyway, thank you for your help.” I pointed at my crotch and an awkward grin played over my face. “I doubt I would have managed this without you.”
Zoe said her goodbyes and I was on my own again. I pulled my covers up again, trying to ignore the panties. They still felt kind of weird. I didn’t want to think about it anymore though. The solution was obvious. I turned to my favourite distraction. Reviving my laptop out of its standby mode took only a few seconds.
When my gaze swept over the desktop, it stopped at the browser button. I realized that the whole GEO gaming thing had me thoroughly distracted from my favorite web-stuff. I needed to check out my conspiracy theory website, some news to see what happened back home in Germany and… my e-mails… I’d totally forgotten about that one.
Well, duty first… but I really hoped that mom and dad had checked out my mail. Wondering didn’t help though. Leaning back in my seat, I opened my browser and directly went to my email-client. Good old GMX. I still used the address I’d made five years ago. Anyway that was beside the point. There was a mail from mom and dad… and a follow up asking me why I hadn’t answered.
I quickly opened the first one: …apparently mom and dad hadn’t been forced or pressured to exile me. Not sure if it really made me feel better though. Apparently they wanted the best for my schooling and someone at the hospital had warned them that prejudices could get really bad. Especially if you got a prejudiced judge when you wanted to fight it. One crow doesn’t take another’s eye… or so granddad always used to explain the judicial system. He was dead now, but I still got the wisdom of his words.
So it was more legal concerns and fear of prejudice than real pressure. Oh… and my chances for a good education. I didn’t care too much about those. I’d rather been with my family. Apparently they somehow got a government stipend for me. That was a good thing. I’d already wondered how they could afford a posh school like this. Chances for education were all well and stuff, but not if it ruined them. I knew my parents were smarter than that.
They did have troubles with Svenja though. Apparently the stupid girl got herself bullied by her classmates for having a mutant brother or something and decided to take it out on said brother. She’d changed schools now. I could only hope it helped her, but considering how useless it had been for me I wasn’t too optimistic. Maybe she wouldn’t be such a stupid brat now. I could hope, couldn’t I?
They ended it with wishing me well and asking for a reply. Maybe they were really worried. They were… as I could tell from the second mail. That one was from yesterday and they wanted to know if something had happened to me. Apparently they’d even tried to phone me. Couldn’t they just call the school? Or maybe they did…
I told my sister she might tell stuff next time before taking it out on me and mentioned what had transpired over the last few days. I also remembered to mention my awesome GEO character so they wouldn’t be too worried about me. And I couldn’t help to tell them about my friends. They’d probably feel super smug about it, but better than giving them more grey hairs than they had anyway.
After writing my reply, I went to check out the news at home. Apparently some super Villain had failed to attack the Bundestag. The NPD[2] was making propaganda against mutants and thus the mainstream media made propaganda against them. Everything seemed like business as usual. Except that our dear minister for women, children, families and seniors... (Aka women and stuff[3]) decided that the internet was an evil source of child pornography and needed to be censored. I added my voice in a petition to make her stop this madness. Alas the joys of a conservative government.
Bored by the news and not really motivated to check out the latest conspiracy theories on Allmystery, I restarted my GEO game. Hopefully the cavern would contain something interesting and I didn’t waste my time killing a few oversized rats. Turning around on my bed, my underwear itched. Panties felt kinda weird.
***
“Buh,” a voice from behind said, scaring the crap out of me.
“Eeek,” I screamed, before I could squelch my voice. Turning around I saw who’d snuck up on me.
“You’re like my little brother,” Dr. Trappatori joked. “I think the world could end and he wouldn’t realize it when he’s playing his computer games.”
“Obviously I heard your ‘buh’,” I glared at her, as I closed my laptop shut. Why did a grown doctor have to be as bad as my little sister? They weren’t supposed to do things like that! “I hope my pants aren’t brown.”
“Panties you mean,” the doctor laughed at me. “I’ve never seen pink pants with the flower design before.”
Yeah, they weren’t the manliest, but with all my other concerns that was the last of my problems. I’d even tucked my balls as Zoe had instructed.
“So what do you want?” I asked grumpily. First she scared me and now she made fun of my panties. Why couldn’t she behave like an adult? There was a difference between being funny and being childishly silly. Not that I was a good judge on humor. Still, weren’t doctors supposed to be professional?
She just rolled her eyes. “I’m here to tell you about the results.”
What results? “Of the tests yesterday?” The ones that should tell me whether I was going to die or not. Suddenly she had my undivided attention. Hopefully the childish act wasn’t her way to prepare me for horrible news.
“Yes,” Dr. Trappatori nodded. “So far everything seems alright, but we want to keep you here for two days to be sure.”
“Great,” I sighed. On the one hand I was happy that I wasn’t going to die;on the other... “So I get to lie around for two days?” That would suck and my stomach was beginning to complain.
She must have heard it. “You haven’t had lunch?”
What? It was that late already? I hadn’t even had breakfast yet. Why hadn’t anyone come or something? Did they want me to starve or did I need to call them somehow? I didn’t know how hospitals worked. The last time I’d ever seen one was when I’d visited my granddad.
“No,” I shook my head. “I didn’t have breakfast either. I wasn’t supposed to stand up after all.”
“You could have used this button,” she pointed at a yellow button next to my bed. “to call a nurse. But I guess you didn’t know that.” I simply shook my head and she continued: “Okay… I think I’ll cut this short so you can still have lunch. Anyway, to get back to the topic. You won’t die from the burnout. You should be able to walk again, but you should be careful about it.”
“Well, that’s good news,” I had to admit. “I didn’t want to spend the rest of my short live bound to this bed.”
Dr. Trappatori shrugged. “Well Jan, as far as we can tell you have a normal life expectancy. But that’s not what I’m here for. We’ve found some irregularities in the scans…”
“Irregularities?” I echoed, raising my eyebrows. Irregularities didn’t sound good at all. Irregularities sounded like GSD on top of MADT. “What do you mean with irregularities?” I said sharply, but couldn’t prevent a small pout sneaking on my lips: “Do you need to make this a mystery novel? I thought you wanted to cut this short.”
“Okay,” the doctor said, raising her hands in mock surrender. “You’re no fun. Anyway, we’ve found some interesting changes of your brain and brainstem. Especially the latter is grown extremely. It’s become enlarged and looks almost like an entirely new organ. We’ve found changes like this in Psi’s or Espers before, but never to this extent.”
What? Something was growing in my brain and my back?
“Ähm… is this dangerous?” I couldn’t help myself to inquire. I didn’t want to die from some weird mutant cancer after all.
“Normal life expectancy,” the doctor replied rolling her eyes. Could she read my thoughts? “As far as we can tell it’s not dangerous, but it’s probably the source of your mysterious English powers.” She pulled up a picture on the computer screen at the room’s PC. “Do you see that?”
“I didn’t get super vision,” I retorted. “Except if you call getting spared by my family’s tendency for nearsightedness by manifesting as a mutant that way.”
I used to be nearsighted. But Kim Possible wasn’t. So I wasn’t anymore. Another thing on the “plus” side of my sex-change. Not that it was really worth it. I hadn’t minded wearing glasses.
“Well, there’s no printer around, so I fear you have to get up,” Dr. Trappatori said as she came back to my bed. “I’ll hold you if you have problems.”
It couldn’t hurt, I hoped. I quickly moved my legs over the border of my bed and to my great relief nothing hurt really. Reassured of myself, I jumped down and immediately started to wobble. My legs felt weak and I instinctively grabbed the bed to stabilize myself.
“Scheisse!” I yelled, kinda wanting to stamp with my foot. I didn’t dare though. Maybe my leg would break or something. “Please doctor, tell me I won’t have to do rehab.”
“The name’s Michelle.” the doctor said as she grabbed my arms to help me. “God, why do you kids need to be so formal all the time? Anyway I feared something like this would happen. It shouldn’t be too bad though. Jan, I’ll help you over to the chair.”
“Okay...” Walking turned out to be less problematic than I feared. Maybe it was because I hadn’t really used my legs over the last few days, but after a few steps I felt like I could walk alone. After my first wobbly experience I didn’t want to risk it though. It would be all too ironic if I lived through a burnout and broke my neck for something like this.
Sitting down before the computer I let go of a breath. This was harder than I’d expected.
“You’ll be alright, don’t worry,” doctor... Michele said, before she pointed at the screen. “Well, do you see this area here at your spine?”
I wasn’t an expert, but even I could tell it was bigger than normal. “Yeah, what is it?” It did kinda look like some weird mutant cancer. On the other hand it kinda looked like my brain. Weird.
“It’s something we’ve seen in other PSI’s before. Especially your friend Zenith. Only yours is bigger. As far as we can tell this organ is the way how psi’s access the memories of other people.”
“So it’s no awesome language learning ability?” I asked a bit disappointed. “I simply read the language from your mind...” was it just the language?
Oblivious of my thoughts, the doctor explained: “Your English yesterday was pretty good as well. And the readings indicate your power slowly went online during the tests. I’m pretty sure it was offline when we first spoke with each other.”
“Ähm... okay, so I remember stuff I use... maybe?” I thought loudly. Her confused look told me she hadn’t understood. “Hm... How do I phrase this better? I think... Do I remember the words or knowledge that I use afterwards?”
“You’d need to test that during Power Testing, Jan” she nodded, “but that’s how it probably works. I suppose.”
“Okay... so you had what for breakfast?” I squinted at her. That knowledge didn’t miraculously appear in my head though.
“So?” the doctor asked, raising her eyebrows, “do you know what I had for breakfast?”
I shook my head. “No...” obviously not, or I’d gleefully tell her, “are you sure those extra brain cells aren’t just overcharged language cells?”
“It doesn’t work like that,” doctor... Michelle shrugged. She was my doctor. Why did she want to be called by her first name? “So it apparently doesn’t work on mid-term memory, or you can’t control it consciously,” she scratched her head. “It was a bagel with cream cheese and a cup of coffee by the way.”
My stomach grumbled suspiciously. “Did you need to remind me of tasty food?” I complained. “I haven’t eaten anything today and the nurse pulled off the drip yesterday evening.”
“Sorry, but you started it,” the doctor rolled her eyes. “Anyway, as far as we can tell you are developing some psi powers... the growth of your new organs seems to have slowed down though.” She scratched her head. “‘Maybe it was the burnout, or it was supposed to happen.”
“So they fucked up my real superpower with the poison?” I asked disappointed. “Great... it seemed like I actually got something out of the mutant thing and an asshole fucks it up.” And the girl hormones were at work again. I couldn’t squelch the tears flowing from my ducts.
I suddenly found myself in a hug. “Sch.... it’s not that bad. It only looks like the development of your powers has slowed not stopped,” doc... Michelle said and smirked at me: “At least you don’t need to worry about your head bursting now.”
Rolling my eyes, I decided that was a question I didn’t need to ask. My stomach once again reminded me with a growl. “Ähm... is there something else, or can I get lunch?”
“Well, your body seems weakened and you should rest for a few days,” the doctor said. “Observing you for the next days also can’t hurt.”
“I feel like I am in the Big Brother house,” I pouted. “Can’t I go back to my friends?” Considering friends... I’d almost forgotten about something. “Do you know what happened to Lisa?” I still couldn’t believe she would poison me. That made no sense at all.
Dr. Michelle sighed. “No, sorry, I don’t. I gather campus security is determining her involvement before they let her visit you.” She shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. You should ask your friends though.”
I probably should. John and Hunter hadn’t said anything when we’d played GEO yesterday evening, but then we’d been busy role-playing and not talking ooC. Seriously, raiding a thief's lair was too distracting to think about worrisome real life problems.
“Okay,” I nodded. “What’s next?”
“I’ll help you back to your bed,” she said to my chagrin. I was a lazy ass, but that didn’t mean I liked to be bound to my bed. Ignoring my grumbling, the doctor continued: “and you’ll press the yellow button to call the nurse. I don’t think you should walk to the cafeteria yet.”
***
„Our allies have failed. “ the young woman told the girl, “she is still alive.”
“That’s interesting,” the girl shrugged. “Not really, we just need to take her out ourselves.”
***
[1] German Highschool
[2] Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands - The neo-Nazi party
[3] Actually a quote from last chancellor Schröder: “Ministerium für Frauen und Gedöns” - Some people call it ‘ministry for everyone but men’.
AN: Sorry for the delay for this chapter. I was kind of busy with preparing for my Bachelors this semester and the last weeks writing it... There was also the problem that I had troubles with a certain scene that needed to be rewritten like five times :(
Anyway, here it is. I hope I didn't write Zenith too OOC, she got maybe a bit more prominence in this story then I originally intended.
I'm grateful for all comments and constructive criticism. Thank you for reading :)
Comments
So Jan
survived the Burn-out without any major problems. Her PSI organ's growth has been slowed, but that might actually be a good thing in the long run. It would be funny if the attempted poisoning increased her powers instead of killing her. I'm also wondering if other skills besides language is effected. That would make her a real Kim Possible able to match any opponent. :)
If it like that and she takes Martial Arts with Master Ito close enough for her to 'borrow' his skill ... :)
Very good stuff!
hugs
Grover
PS: Curses upon you Beyogi for addicting me to the Last Angel. It isn't as if my muse is easily distracted now that you have to add another sparkly to catch her attention. I read everything that has been posted yesterday The Last Angel is a dark SF space combat story that has a number of strong female characters even if there is no TG.
http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-last-angel.244209/
You're right, the burnout is
You're right, the burnout is a good thing. It spares her the cruel fate of a Mary Sue :D. Jan's sort of the nerfed version of a nerved version of a character I developed when I first read Whateley. Ã think I might explain in the story what would have happened to Jan if she hadn't been poisoned...
About skills... well, you've got to see :P I actually gave a few hints in part two :)
The idea with Master Ito would be fun... although there might be a rude awakening for Jan later.
Yeah, Last Angel is AWESOME. I always like to be cursed for things like that :P Anyway, I fear your link may have distracted potential reviewers though ^^
*hugs*
Beyogi
Ohhh...
I wonder what this link is...
Khaaaaannn!
-- Sleethr
It's something you really
It's something you really need to read and that I forgot to link you :( Anyway, read it :)
Jan’s Tale
Behind in all my readings, but wanted to make sure to leave a comment. Love Whateley stories, so good :) Slowing down her build up of powers is always better then ones head exploding.
-Elsbeoth
Is fearr Gaeilge briste, ná Béarla clíste.
Broken Irish is better than clever English.
Just my thought :) It
Just my thought :) It wouldn't do to make Jan's head explode. She doesn't have a convenient ressurection so far.
I'm glad you like the story, thank you for your comment,
Beyogi
a new chapter
is always welcome, but we still don't know whose after jan. looks like another attack is coming though. looking forward to next time.
great job, thanks
Thanks, I'm glad you liked
Thanks, I'm glad you liked the story. I don't want to spoiler the next chapter, but yes, stuff will happen.
Thank you for your comment,
Beyogi
Good to see Jan
Survive, hope that Jan can progress and find the life thats right for Jan
Goddess Bless you
Love Desiree
Well, I haven't tagged this
Well, I haven't tagged this tragedy, have I? :)
It'll get harder before it'll get better though. Jan isn't even through the worst of his transformation. Right now they can easily pass as a girl, as their face has been feminised, but on the other hand they probably could also pass as a boy. If they had to.
Thank you for your comment,
Beyogi
Dr. Michelle
This last chapter left me with an overwhelming desire to slap the s*** out of that docter. She is a perfect example of why Americans are so hated around the world - no respect for different cultures. Half her dialogue is her trying to force Jan to behave like an American teen. Jan grew up in a different culture yet she displays not the slightist bit of respect for it or him. She should be downgraded to veternairian. At least there her patients are allowed to bite back.
Sorry, but after living in Belgium and Norway I've just seen and had to deal with assholes like her way too much.
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
I'm glad Dr. Michelle worked
I'm glad Dr. Michelle worked :)
Truth to be told I hadn't intended her as the stand in for American cultural blindness, but if it works that way all the better. It would be something Jan absolutely wasn't used to. German Doctors have the habit to use science term their patients have no ability to understand (I've made a habit to actually ask what they mean of late - interestingly that makes them respect you :)) and are usually quite impersonal, so Dr. Michelle is quite an irritating change.
Actually I'm quite happy she managed to piss you off like that. Quite an achievement for a character that was mostly for doing explanation, don't you think? :) I'm kind of curious though, what did they do in Belgium and Norway?
Thank you for your comment,
Beyogi
Sorry, I missed this
Oops! Well, I'm only 3yrs late in responding. In Belgium everything was by the book. Doctors were Docters, if you were in the hospital as the result of an accident just finding out the name of your Doctor could be a challenge. The Doctor. was on staff and it was very seldom that they ever identified themselves. FYI: this was in the Flemish part of Belgium.
Norway was a bit different. They actually had lighting! I say that because the hospital in Belgium was just dark. The atmosphere was all doom and gloom.
But I was talking about Norway. Everything was bright and cheerful. I think the cheerful atmosphere really helped you heal faster. OTOH, Norway was so socialized that it impacted the treatment. Things we take for granted in the U.S. were extras. It was the little things, like ice in your water or the number of visitors that were allowed. The doctors were always addressed as "Doctor So-and-so", never Dr Bob or whatever. You were Bob or Carol or Ted or Alice, but that easy familiarity didn't go the other way.
So from my upbringing, (you never called an adult by their first name) and the exposure to two very formal cultures, I just tend to be a little more formal. I don't even know my current doctor's first name, and I've been a patient of hers for over five years.
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
I half expected Zenith to
I half expected Zenith to jump on Chou for her terrible fashion sense at the beginning. It did get better but yoga pants and mandarin tops is pretty sad for a start. Fun stuff as always.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
I think maybe Zenith felt
I think maybe Zenith felt sorry for Chou. No need to make her feel worse by pointing out flaws in her garderobe before she's all arrived at Whateley :)
Thanks for your comment, I'm glad you like the story,
Beyogi
Burnout
Hmmm. The language abillity went up in smoke. Now he may not end up as the next Adolf Schicklgruber?
The whateley universe is amazing. Fate gives half the teenagers the equivalent of RPG's and flamethrowers (bricks/energisers). The other half has the knowledge to cook up WMD with stuff from the kitchen counter, duct tape and baling wire (devisers). And nobody dies. It's a miracle.
Well... she still has her
Well... she still has her language ability. It just went offline for half a day or so after her burnout. Her skill at picking up languages is actually just a subeffect of her main powerset.
I'm pretty sure people regularily die in the Whateley verse. It's just not main characters as the writers are rather attached to those. IIRC Whateley has a psychic patrol to find out if people are about to explode. I figure they make an extra point out of guarding devisors that might actually build a WMD out of rage or a drick attack.
Thank you for your comment,
Beyogi
First, catch your culprit...
As has already been stated, easier said than done given the possibility of the poison being added without Lisa's knowledge, plus the additional possibility of whoever slipped the poison being under one of a variety of forms of mind control and/or at the bottom end of a chain of command.
As Lisa's Jan's roommate, gave her the fateful drink and raised the alarm (interestingly, not as early as possible, but then again not too late either), she's understandably the focus of questioning - even if ruled out as a suspect, she may have unconsciously noticed something (or someone) that others would judge out of place. From what we've seen of her so far, I doubt she's a willing co-conspirator; but the feedback our mystery conspirator and the mysoginistic twerp she's been working with (probably Evolord) received indicated that someone involved in the plot was present at the party (probably someone other than our friends from the Yama Dojo).
It appears as though Evolord's role in the plot has more-or-less come to an end (he seems happy enough), although the woman who hired him doesn't - so giving rise to the possibility of future attacks, which will complicate things further.
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
I'm not telling yet. Next
I'm not telling yet. Next chapter will reveal how and why Jan was poisoned.
Not sure if the boy is actually Evolord. It's an interesting idea though, maybe I should go with it. The guy has some serious resentments towards women, but he's partially trolling the woman. You're right though. His part in this story is done for now.
Thank you for your comment,
Beyogi
so
So when is the next chapter I've beenwatching this like a bad habit hoping for more only to be disappointed every time
I'm a bibliophile, a nerd, a gamer, a MMA, and a girl
message me
I was
I was glad to see this newest part up. It did take me a while to get to actually reading it, but I finally managed it last night. I'm really curious as to the why Jan has been poisoned and how his abilities might evolve. I await the next part eagerly.
Have delightfully devious day,
Well, I had it mostly
Well, I had it mostly finished for some time, but still needed to give it the last few touche before I was ready to post it - and also was kind of busy with university and writing the next chapter.
Part of the why will be revealed next chapter, the [redacted] though...
I'm glad you like my story, thanks for your comment,
Beyogi
Updates
Is this story still on the backburner, or has the author lost interest? I was rather hoping for more.
Jan's still a pompous a h.
Jan's still a pompous a h..hopefully some improvements forthcoming..
alissa
Always the same mistake, over and over
You are making the same mistake everybody in the story is making. Jan grew up in a totally different culture from ours. What you interpret as pompous behavior is normal, expected behavior for somebody his age in Germany. It's still a conservative culture, and young people are expected to use formal titles. That's the way it is for a lot of societies related to Germany. The Swiss are notorious for it, it's also very common in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, where I lived. The level of familiarity we take for granted is considered highly rude, and says to the locals that you are belittling them. That you think so little of them that you would take away their dignity and the titles they worked so hard for. My heritage is mostly Norwegian and Swiss. If I had dared address an adult, especially one who was a doctor or nurse, by their first names, my parents would have wasted no time "setting me straight".
Even if Jan wasn't a mutant in a totally strange country he would still be reserved and "stuck up" by our standards. As I said elsewhere, this is part of the reason Americans in general are treated with disdain when they are traveling in Europe. Perhaps the biggest improvement needed here would be that people would take the time to look at things through Jan's eyes. His upbringing has been much different from ours, but that doesn't make it, or him, wrong.
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin