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发表于 2022-3-6 11:23:41
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Project Lia
本帖最后由 怪顎龍 于 2022-3-6 11:26 编辑
原文 By r7j65b
Ch1
About three months ago while John was heading to work on his bike, a van decided that stopping for him was optional and launched him into a mailbox. One badly broken femur, a couple hours of surgery and some titanium plates later, he finds himself crutching his way over to the physical therapy department at the local hospital for his first session of medical-grade torture. The eventual goal being walking regularly, and maybe biking again if no other minivans or mailboxes jump out in front of him again.
Due to the weird hours working evening shifts at a datacenter, the only schedule slot that they could find was one at 10PM, which wasn’t even listed in the system.
When he pulls up to the outpatient building, it's silent and dark. The gate to the parking lot is down, so he ends up parking farther down the road on the street. The address matches up though and the front door is open, so he figures if he’s in the wrong place a security guard will probably find him pretty quickly and point him in the right direction - a confused guy on crutches holding a folder full of paperwork is pretty unlikely to steal a laptop or something.
he pulls out the map of the building in the folder of stuff and wanders down some very dark hallways until finding the only office that still has the lights on, and heads toward it. The receptionist desk has a window facing into the hallway, and she perks up as soon as she sees him.
"Good morning! I mean, Good evening!" The receptionist is startlingly cheery for 10 PM.
"Hi there, am I in the right place? All the lights are off in the rest of the building, and the parking gate didn't let me in..." John says.
"Oh I'm so sorry! You were supposed to get an access card for after hours! I'll get you one before you leave today!" She might be a bit over caffeinated. He replies "It's no problem - thanks for the help."
"Any time! Also your physical therapist will be here in a few minutes, you can take a seat in the waiting area!"
The waiting room, a place designed to be as comfortable and welcoming as is profitable, has a handful of pastel-green chairs and benches. The whole place smells of gym mats and exercise balls with a tinge of standard hospital antiseptic.
As soon as he walks in he notices one other person sitting in the far corner chair waiting for the session to start; a woman sitting silently wearing a hoodie with the hood up, gray yoga pants and white running shoes. The handle of a thin white cane is sitting next to her, along with a gym bag.
In an attempt to head off the awkwardness of sitting in the waiting room silently together, John says "Hey, how's it going?"
…
There's no response, so now it’s awkward- maybe she has headphones in?
He glances over at the girl and something seems off. He’s not sure what though - with the hood of her sweatshirt up, a face mask, and dark glasses he can't see much of her face but there are some waves of uncanny valley vibes emanating from her.
After sitting there for 10 or 15 minutes, the door opens and the trainers step in. Both are women in their 20s who obviously keep in shape as part of their job. One heads right over to the sweatshirt girl (clearly not her first visit), the other looks at John and says "Hi, I'm Alice and I'll be your PT for the next few weeks. How are you this evening?"
"I'm pretty good, a bit of a mix up getting here but I arrived early so no problem."
The other therapist and the mysterious gym partner have their phones out furiously texting each other, though they are only a few feet from each other, which seems a bit odd. After a short text exchange they both head in to the door to the training room, the trainer holding the door for sweatshirt girl as she carefully gathers up her bag and grabs her cane, barely using it to navigate as if she has done this many times before.
Alice leads John over to the training room, which has a rubber gym floor and various strange looking exercise equipment along with the more conventional weights, medicine balls and yoga-adjacent stuff. She leads him over to a set of parallel bars, and explains the plan - pretty straightforward, walking back and forth using the bars for support, assisted squats, lunges, etc. On the other side of the gym area, sweatshirt girl is doing some kind of balance exercises, working around and over obstacles and using her cane to navigate the room.
After completing the series of tasks, John tries to pay attention to Alice giving a rundown on stretches and exercises to do at home.
“OK, I think you’re all set for the first day - good job.” Alice says, as John just starts hitting muscle failure on the assisted squats.
“Thanks, that wasn’t as bad as I thought, although I definitely have lost a lot of strength from the accident.” In the background John notices the other pair wrapping up as well, with the other trainer texting her silent gym partner.
“If you keep it up and do the homework we give you, you will probably be back to about where you were before the surgery in a couple months, luckily you are still young so you should bounce back pretty well. Let’s head back to the waiting room and I’ll grab your homework packet.” Alice walks John out to the waiting room, and although he is tempted to ask her about the mysterious girl he also doesn’t want to cause any patient confidentiality issues or seem like a weirdo on the first day.
After standing in the waiting room for only a minute or so, Alice returns with the packet of take-home workout info. Alice says “Here you go, try to do these every day, and if you start to feel sore make sure to ice your leg - our schedule is pretty aggressive so I want you to be able to keep up.”
“Thanks, I will - see you in a couple days!”
As he is crutching his way out into the hallway, the receptionist practically jumps in front of John and holds out a keycard and says. “Here’s your card for the gate for next time, how did your first day go?”
“It went pretty well, but I bet I am going to be pretty sore tomorrow. I haven’t done this much since the accident.” John says
The receptionist heads back into her glass cube / front office desk thing and says “Yeah, make sure to get plenty of rest - everyone says that the day after the first session is pretty rough.”
Two days later he pulls into the parking lot of the clinic for another round, rolls his window down and sticks the access card against the reader at the gate. It beeps and the gate opens up, thankfully letting him park much closer this time. He maneuvers his way out of the car, grabbing his crutches from the passenger's seat and maneuvering himself into a standing position. He’s not really looking forward to this again, both because of anticipating the pain of PT and the awkwardness of the waiting room.
Again the sweatshirt girl is sitting silently in the corner of the waiting room. Shortly after John takes a seat she reaches into her bag and takes out a pen and small notepad. She slowly and carefully writes something down, stands up and turns toward his general direction. She takes a few deliberate steps closer and stops about 6 feet away, holding out the notepad and facing the writing toward him.
The note says:
Hi, I'm Lia. I can't talk but you can text me. My number is 242-555-2398.
She holds out the note for about 15 seconds, then carefully turns around and walks back to her seat.
John pulls out his phone and texts her, “Hi, this is John - what’s up?” When the text hits her phone, it sounds like her phone is rapid fire buzzing and for much longer than one would expect for a text notification; yet another odd thing to add to the list.
She replies, and John gets a better look at her phone. It looks a bit like an old-school blackberry, with an actual keyboard and not much of a screen. “Hey, hopefully your first session wasn’t too bad.”
“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but I’m still in a pretty good amount of pain - those ladies are friggin brutal.”
"No kidding, they run me through their own Ninja Warrior program three times a week.
It's basically a free gym membership, and they are pretty cool when they aren't trying to destroy my whole body…
You got to see one of my easy days through, just navigation and balance work.
Today was supposed to be cardio training, but I think I might need to wait.
What’s your schedule?”
John replies, “I’m on Monday, Weds., Friday - I’m glad I don’t have to come in for the weekend.”
She seems to tense up a bit while typing out a reply, but it’s hard to tell from across the room and under a puffy hoodie. “Looks like we have the same schedule, did they let you know that I was going to be here too?”
John texts “No, I just showed up. I had to work second shift and all the morning sessions were full, so they put me in a weird time slot.”
“So are you here for visual stuff also?” she asks.
“No, I broke my leg pretty bad and had to get a plate put in, now I am working it out to get back to walking without crutches.
On the plus side, I can get around airport metal detectors now, and I can tell when it’s about to rain lol”
She seems to be texting someone else now in a panic, and shortly after the receptionist waves at John through the back window of her cube-office area thing by the front door. She motions him to come over in a somewhat frantic manner, but that’s probably just her normal setting. He works his way over to her cube, and asks her “What’s going on?
The receptionist takes a huge, panicked breath and says “Hey, Lia is kinda shy, and I scheduled you with her but I thought she would be cool with it, because she is kinda lonely and she's been here for like months and she only talks to the PTs and me and only goes out at night which is sad, and she doesn’t think she can do her stuff with anybody else here and I told her you were cute, but she thinks you will freak out, and she has to do cardio today but she can’t with all her stuff on and I hope you don’t freak out, but she has had some crazy stuff happen but shes super smart and fun so just be cool and don’t run away from here, but i guess you can’t really run cause you broke your leg so just keep an open mind, and I’ll tell Lia I talked to you and you seem cool and I don’t want to get in trouble so be cool ok?
“What.”
She catches her breath a bit, composes herself, and says “Lia has a unique condition, and she hasn’t really interacted with anybody but us hospital folks. She’s lonely. I thought I could do a little matchmaker work, you are both nerdy and single from what I read in your info, so I figured you would get along and scheduled you in her unlisted session. Sorry about being weird, please don’t tell on me or I’ll get fired and that would be terrible, and Lia might get in trouble.”
“OK, I’ll try to be cool - why would I freak out? She seems fine other than having some sight issues.” Now John is both confused and interested in finding out what the hell is going on.
She says “So she’s totally blind, she can kinda hear with an app on her phone but she has to communicate with it too unless you can read sign language. She can use her phone to talk but doesn’t like to because she says it’s creepy. She can do finger spelling, but that’s pretty slow and touch only. She’s had a really rough past few years, but she also is probably the smartest person I know - she wrote the programs she uses on her phone and is doing a bunch of research while she’s stuck here. I’ll let her know that you’re cool and you have some idea what’s going on, and I’ll leave the rest up to the both of you. Worst case I can try to reschedule you. Also don't freak out."
“Thanks, I still don’t fully understand but I don’t want to mess up your whole situation so I’ll try to keep an open mind, I guess?. I still am not sure why I would freak out, she seems like she’s been through a lot but I don’t know why I would have an issue with that.”
She’s looking at her phone and already texting Lia and says “You should chat with her, she seems like she’s less likely to try to kill me now."
“I will, thanks.” John says as he turns around and sits back down.
Lia texts him “So has our overcaffeinated friend read you in on secret project Lia?”
“Kinda, she let me know that you use your phone to talk because of hearing and sight issues, and you are doing some programming and research I am pretty confused about some of the other stuff.”
“I have an arrangement where they let me stay here and do my work and get ongoing treatment, and they get to keep their research going."
"Research?" John texts.
"I probably said too much already but the folks here can’t really do anything so whatever.I had a disease that was eventually going to kill me, and this place wanted to try out an experimental drug.
It kinda worked, in that my brain is no longer turning into goo, but they messed up the dosage and there were some crazy side effects.
Now they owe me big, so I get to live here rent free and get taken care of, and they don’t get sued.If all goes well, I get to be patient zero in a whole new way to help people and I might get a payout at the end (or stock options…)”
“So the sight and hearing stuff was a side effect of the drug?” John asks.
Lia responds "Not really, my eyesight and hearing had been getting worse for years, and I was starting to lose brain cells due to my condition.
They had an experimental treatment to force me to regrow nerve cells, so they were hoping to reverse the effects.
They totally hosed up the process though, so now I get to be a freaky haunted house attraction.”
“You seem not-that-freaky to me, what do you mean?”
“I’m going to have to take this stuff off anyway for the workout, so screw it, I’ll just show you.”
She flips her hoodie back and it seems obvious that something’s off. Her skin seems too glossy and plasticky. It also looks like she is wearing either a collar or thick choker made of black plastic around her neck, which is an odd choice for the gym. She types something in her phone, and I hear her phone start speaking. Confusion turns into panic as she reaches to the black choker around her neck and I hear a click. She hooks her hands under her chin, and lifts up on her head and it starts to rise, revealing that that choker is actually a black plastic cap covering the top of her abbreviated neck, and her head was a realistic fake. There’s a hole in the front part of the cap, presumably for breathing but that’s all John can figure out as he tries to simultaneously stand up, grab the crutches, head for the door, put away his phone and run away while physically unable to do all of that at once. Her phone says out loud in the standard android voice “I said I was a freak, sorry.”
While deciding whether to run from the room, ask for a doctor, or try to be cool John is hit by a realization - she is still a person who is struggling and deserves a chance, also how in the heck is any of this possible?
John says out loud while trying to stay as calm as possible and making sure he isn’t hallucinating “how in the hell? How are you not dead?"
Clearly she hears him, because her body language relaxes a bit and her phone speaks to John “I told you I was different. I had a disease that was destroying my brain and the drug they gave me regrew my brain cells, just not in my head. She holds out her fake head and says “check it out”
John gets up and takes a few tentative steps closer to her, having now relaxed a tiny bit and gets a closer look at her prosthetic. It’s pretty convincing, but up close it’s clearly made out of silicone and plastic.
Her phone says “It’s pretty heavy so I hate wearing it, also I can’t run with it on so I have to take it off on cardio days.”
He texts her “Wow, I’m sorry - this must be really tough.”
"It can be, and I definitely have my good days and bad but we all have to fight our own battles, ya know?” She opens up her bag and stashes her head in it, and zips It up.
After all that, the trainers open up the door to the workout area and John tries to play it cool even though he’s still in a state of shock and disbelief.
Alice asks "So you know about Lia? Did you know this whole time?" She clearly is in on it, and John lies and says he already knew in the most not-panicked voice he can muster.
Lia navigates over to the corner where the treadmill is set up and sets her gym bag down. She does a couple quick stretches and pulls off her hoodie. As John preps for his workout on the other side of the training room, he finally sees her without the prosthetic and layers of clothing and is intrigued, impressed and uneasy all at once. Although she is absolutely gorgeous her movements seem unnatural, and the lack of a head still is something that will take a while for him to process. She hops on the treadmill and starts slowly, getting her bearings and increasing the speed as she gets used to the rhythm.
John goes through the motions of his workout with a few more reps and a couple more exercises added in, the whole time being both highly distracted by Lia and trying to seem like he isn’t. It becomes even more difficult to stay focused as Lia heads over to the yoga zone and works through a sequence of stretches - she’s pretty flexible and the lack of a head makes her movements seem both alien and really intriguing. John finds himself less freaked out and more curious by the minute, and as the workout winds down and he heads out to the waiting room he holds the door open for the rest of the group to pass by. Lia’s trainer stays behind to wipe down the gym and close out.
“Thanks Alice, the workout was great. You were right about being sore though - I was pretty wrecked yesterday. John says, as Lia picks a seat and opens up her gym bag.
“You look like you are on track to recover pretty quickly, coming into the injury with a good fitness level certainly helps.” Alice says, as Lia opens up her gym bag and retrieves her prosthetic. She lifts her artificial head up to it’s appropriate place, then pushes it onto her neck cap, tentatively giving it a little shake back and forth to check if it's clipped in. Her hair flips around a bit in the process, and she rearranges it out of the way.
John prepares to leave as well, and says “Hey Lia, nice workout today - I’ll see you Friday! Text me if you want to chat later”
Lia gives him a thumbs up and signs something to him. She then catches herself and just waves to him.
John heads back to his car still a bit bewildered and dazed, but now open to the possibility that he may be getting to know someone who is truly unique, and although there will likely be lots of challenges he's down to see where this goes.
Ch2
John arrives back at his apartment, a relatively small but functional place not far from the clinic. He carefully flops onto the couch, and checks his phone instinctively. No emergencies or trouble tickets from work, but there is a new text from Lia.
“Hey, I’m glad you didn’t jump out the window today. I’m used to bad first reactions from people I interact with so it’s refreshing to not have to explain everything and try to do a bunch of prep first. It never works anyway, people are gonna do what they do.”
“I have to admit I was shocked at first, and the receptionist tried to warn me but she was talking far too fast to really get it. I was more puzzled by how it’s possible to not be dead under your circumstances - I thought you might be some kind of robot or something lol.”
Lia replies “Ha! If I was a robot I wouldn’t need to exercise though - at least I think that’s how robots work… I went to school for programming not robotics”
“I’d hate to ask too many uncomfortable questions if you don’t want to talk about it, but I have a ton of them.”
Lia texts back “Let’s start at the top - no pun intended... I got diagnosed in my junior year of college when my hearing started to go, so I had to learn some sign language. After graduation I tried to get a job but by then my vision was starting to fade. It was getting harder to remember things too, and I was starting to lose coordination. One of my friends found out about this place and the drug trial. I didn't think I had much time left before the damage got too bad so I signed up. Once I was accepted, they did a ton of scans, IQ tests, interviews, the works, with some accommodations due to being in pretty bad shape already.
Over the next couple months I received a bunch of injections of the drug, and each time they said my memory and coordination were getting better but my senses weren't really improving. After the last big round of testing before all the craziness, they found out I was starting to lose sensation in my head and face. It was likely that I wouldn’t be able to eat unassisted soon. I think they were getting pretty frustrated so they set me up with an MRI, CT, PET, EMG, MEG, basically every expensive test they could find a free time slot to run, to try to figure out what the hell was going on.
After the docs got the first set of results back they were pretty frantic. My brain was basically gone, and there was no electrical activity going on at all. I was in uncharted territory - according to all their schooling I was brain dead so how was I still walking around (sorta, my balance was terrible) and passing all their tests? Apparently with no brain left the demand for blood flow upstairs was a lot lower too, so they were worried about anything else breaking in the process as the arteries started to shrink down.
Once they found that out, and after they stopped panicking, they re-ran the tests with the same result. One of the docs got the idea to do a PET scan again but do it on my whole body, and although I was kinda fed up with getting irradiated I went along with it.
They found the brain activity they were looking for, just spread out everywhere but where it was supposed to be - I had an even smearing of neurons across my whole body, and my spinal cord had basically converted to a bit of stretched out brain. They didn’t see anything happening above my neck, so that explained my face going numb - the facial nerves were basically wiped out with the rest.
That's part of the reason I'm still here - they are paying me a ton of money to be a guinea pig and I could probably sue them for like a billion dollars for malpractice. I also might be able to help them eventually save lives with the data."
John replies “So something else must have happened after that, mind if I ask?
After a few minutes, Lia texts back “Sorry, I haven’t had to think about it lately - pretty heavy stuff. As the disease rounded the last base, I started living at the hospital full time and my friends pretty much stopped visiting - I think they were freaked out by my appearance. Apparently I looked like a walking corpse, which made for a really convincing halloween costume (I stole some supplies and dressed up as a zombie nurse lol).
By that time, I felt like my head wasn't really part of me anymore. It was basically nonfunctional; I could still use my jaw and tongue so I could sorta feed myself, but everything above that was dead weight. After Halloween, I started to feel terrible and thought I had caught an early flu or a bad cold.
When they checked me over, they figured out I had a pretty serious infection somewhere in my head, and the combination of lack of sensation, bad blood flow and me trying to be tough caused it to spread really far. They had to open my head up and poke around to try to clean out the infection, but they found that it had progressed really quickly. My eyes were toast, my head was full of infection basically everywhere and it was trying to spread downward. They quickly came up with a pretty radical plan to give me a shot at surviving. They removed my skull and pretty much everything above my C3 vertebra, moved a bunch of stuff around, sealed everything up as best as they could and hoped for the best.
I woke up 7 inches shorter (which sucks because I was already short), 10 pounds lighter, and was bandaged from my armpits up. They had injected me with another dose of their magic drug hoping to counteract any damage they did during the surgery. The side effect of that shot being my sense of touch got way more intense. It's pretty disorienting waking up in a hospital bed with no head and feeling like you were hit by a bus made of ecstasy"
“On the other hand you would not believe how good silk sheets feel now - I highly recommend"
John texts “Wow, that’s a hell of a lot for one person to handle. I’ll keep the sheets thing in mind though lol… so how is it that you can hear what I say and read these messages?”
"Before I totally lost my senses I hacked 2 smart watches that I wear on my wrists and wrote a program that will try to do speech recognition and take my texts on my phone, then convert it to vibrations I can feel. It's basically fancy morse code. If that fails I can do sign language or finger spelling, which I can teach you if we get a chance to hang out. I’ll teach you some swear words in sign language, they are extremely goddamn funny.”
“So you live at the hospital? How does that work with the other patients?” John, feeling restless, stands up and paces around his apartment picking up a few things and getting his stuff ready for work.
His phone buzzes. “I have a room that’s locked out from most of the staff. I get to do basically whatever I want there as long as I make my appointments with the research folks. I do some yoga in my room when I’m not working on my school work, and text the last couple friends I have sometimes. I go out really late at night to wander around the hospital grounds a bit once in a while. I don’t really go far though, if I got lost I would have to call for help.
“Oh, you’re doing school? That’s really cool - what are you studying? I’m working on some certifications - I work in a datacenter and racking servers and pulling cables is getting old fast. Also I can’t really do it with a busted leg, so I have been studying a lot.”
Lia replies “Although I work a lot slower than most people, I have tons of time to work on my Master's thesis. It’s in Biomedical Engineering and I'm thinking about selling my assistive tech I’ve been working on."
“Nice, I’ll try to get in on the IPO when you make it big…”
Lia texts “Naah, I’ll probably do a SPAC so I don’t have to be honest about how broke I am lol.”
John gets a text with an attachment this time “Here’s my setup - I think the camera is pointed in the right direction but this might look wonky.” The attached photo shows what started out as a standard hospital room which has been massively upgraded - most of the medical gear was removed, an extra couch added, a desk rigged up for a nice computer and lots of stuffed animals piled up one one of the couches.
“That’s pretty cool, I dig the stuffed animal pile too.”
“I kept getting those from well wishers, I also sometimes scam some when a massive pile of them shows up for the ward. They’re fun to squish when you’re having a bad day.”
In the corner of the photo John notices the side table, which has her prosthetic head sitting it on it where someone would expect to see a lamp. “So how did they come up with the prosthetic head? That seems like a pretty high-tech replica.”
“The guys in prosthetics are really good, and have all sorts of cool tech. They 3D printed the support structure, cast some silicone around it and had one of their artists paint it up to look as real as they could. The docs paid them and told them it was for a haunted house one of them was building. The cap that locks into it has some magnets built in, and I can breathe through the nose and mouth via the hole in this cap. I have other caps for stuff like showering that have vent holes around the bottom edge so I don’t drown. I’m thinking about one for swimming but I’m not really there on the design yet”
“Oh, so the cap isn’t something permanent? Makes sense.” As John reads the last message, Lia starts a video call. She is sitting at her computer with the camera on, and waves and types into the chat: “Can you see me?
John can see the camera view, which shows Lia in a plain t-shirt sitting facing him. From what he can see the sports bra was definitely applying a large squeezing force up top, she is very gifted in the chest department. That doesn’t fully distract him from the more obvious feature, her neck cap is right there front and center. Without a head and hair her neck looks especially long, and he can see a bit into what’s going on underneath through the hole in the top but not in any detail. John types “Yep, I can see you - you look great.”
Lia types “I bet you are curious what I look like under here” She points to the cap. “I think the doctors might have had too much fun when they put me back together - it’s a good design though…”
She leans in slightly, and takes hold of the cap. She lifts it up and out of the way, and it is quickly obvious what she’s talking about. At the top of her neck it looks very much like another pussy, but slightly more open to allow her to breathe. It looks like her windpipe is open in front, just under the folds. Behind it John can see a pink lump, which starts to move back and out, slipping out of somewhere and expanding upwards and out.
"Holy shit, they kept your tongue" he types as she slips it out of her throat like a tentacle.
Yep, they moved it on top of my spine to see if I could still use it - I stick it down my throat to keep it out of the way and keep stuff from drying out. It's super long too" she types, as its full length comes into view, completely covering her neck slit and hanging slightly past, covering up the hole in front were it not split in two halfway up its length. "I had them split it, so I can use it to grab stuff - that way I can still eat some food. I think it really fucks with the docs when I eat yogurt or ice cream, so I do it whenever I can lol"
“I think I’d like to see that myself” John types.
“I can really fuck up a popsicle too, hint hint…”
Lia starts typing with one hand and leans in as her other one moves up to her neck, licking her fingers, intertwining them with her tongue and pinching her tongue halves around her thumb. “I have been stuck here for so long, no dating, no action and my friend hooks me up with a hunky guy who thinks I’m still hot? If you come over tonight I’ll show you in person.
I’m in room 1180, first floor east wing. Hit the call button next to the door.”
“I’ll be there in 20.” John ends the call.
Ch3
John rushes through his apartment, running scenarios through his head of what’s about to happen. He flails about a bit, grabbing whatever he thinks is necessary. He says out loud to himself “Work clothes for tomorrow, maybe - I’ll keep it in the car just in case.”
He bundles up his travel bathroom kit into his pile of clothes, grabs his work ID, throws it all into a gym bag and makes his way to his car. He notices as he walks out from the apartment that even after only a couple sessions his leg is starting to loosen up, though it’s still pretty weak.
The drive over is filled with excitement and anticipation, both of imagining what might happen and not wanting to totally screw up everything. He runs the call through his head, making sure he isn’t reading too far into things - he thinks that she seemed pretty direct though.
He cards into the parking lot, parks and decides to leave most of the bag there in the passenger’s seat, grabbing a couple condoms from the bathroom bag just in case and sticking them into his pants pocket.
The rehab clinic is now completely dark, even the cleaning staff have left for the night. He tries the front door, and it’s locked up tight. He notices a little red light in the corner of the door frame though, and puts the access card up to the reader.
John says to himself under his breath “Worth a shot I guess..” as the beep-click-bang of the electronic lock lets him into the empty building. He takes a few steps into the lobby and glances at the map, finding the east wing and heading that way.
The hallways echo with his footsteps, and he wonders to himself if there are any security systems to worry about or guards to try to explain himself to, but he makes it to the right spot with no issues.
The room has a sign that says “Electrical Closet”, and an industrial doorbell-looking button on one side. He hits the button, and waits for a response, the anticipation, nervousness and excitement bubbling up even higher.
The door opens and he sees Lia, without her prosthetic or cap and wearing the same T-shirt as earlier and some pajama shorts. Her appearance is even more striking in person - due to the loss in height she reaches up to about mid-chest on him, and though her neck stump is uncovered her tongue is hidden. He can see some light scarring around the circumference of her neck, where they joined everything back together as best they could - though it looks like they did an excellent job.
She moves to grab his hand, and he quickly shifts both crutches to the other hand so she can bring him into the room. She silently pulls him along, carefully leading him to the center of the room. The space doesn’t have any surprises from what he saw in the photos and video, the only additional items being a really nice accessible shower and bathroom through a doorway in the back corner.
Lia shifts John over, gently moving him to a standing position between her and the bed. She embraces him, taking a deep breath and standing up on her toes. Her tongue sneaks out and touches a spot on the side of his neck, her best approximation of a kiss.
She takes a half-step back and puts her hand on his chest, taking a more dominant pose and pushing his chest to force him to fall backwards into bed.
Two things happen at roughly the same time:
John realizes that his leg doesn’t have nearly the strength, flexibility or impact resistance to deal with flopping onto the bed.
His crutches, which he was holding in one hand, get caught in his armpit as he falls and a combination of gravity, inertia and leverage take over.
While falling John has enough time to say “Woooaaah” as the tip of one of the crutches hooks on Lia’s leg, currently in a cool but not especially stable pose and lifts her foot off the ground.
John hits the bed hard sending a wave of pain from his leg to basically everywhere, causing him to yell out “Oh shit!” as Lia starts to rotate, the momentum and her balance sending her tumbling over. She flips sideways and backward, rolling into the yoga zone near the side of the bed.
She lands back first on a rolled up squishy mat between a yoga ball and a pile of random stretch bands and foam blocks.
John, though distracted by the wicked pain in his leg, has enough wherewithal to pick his head up from his position in the bed and see if Lia is alright. Though she seems uninjured, he asks “Are you OK?”
She puts her thumb in the air, then points at him and makes the OK symbol. John says “Yeah, I’m good. That might have been a bit too aggressive though” He chuckles to himself, and drops his head back down.
She finds her phone in her pocket, leans up from her yoga mat and it speaks “I think I might have hit my head.. Wait, never mind.”
John looks over to the side table “actually, I think I might have hit your head. I don’t see it on the table anymore…”
She flops back onto the mat, and appears to be laughing…
A moment later, once they worked the terrible joke out of their system, John picks up his crutches from the floor and leans them against the wall by the bedside table. Lia walks over and feels around for her head, quickly finding it and setting it back on the nightstand while trying to arrange the hair and brush off any dust.
Lia takes a seat on the bed next to John and types into her phone, showing the screen to him “Sorry about that, I think I might have gotten a bit too ambitious. It would’ve looked cool though...”
John says “It was pretty cool all things considered - you managed to do a crazy backward one-legged somersault and not get hurt in the process.” As John speaks, he notices Lia’s smart watches kick into gear, converting his speech into vibrations and transcribing the conversation to her phone.
There’s a slight pause as she senses the words, then types “I’m going to have to teach you some tactile sign, it’s a bit faster than this phone thing. We’re such nerds, texting each other even though we’re sitting right next to each other ;)“
“Why not start now?” John asks.
Lia types “The easiest way is tracing, where you just draw the letters in the other person’s palm. I’ll show you.”
Lia turns slightly sideways, and reaches for John’s hand. He puts his hand palm up in hers, and she uses her pointer finger to begin tracing letters. John echos back the letter as she starts through the first few letters of the alphabet, and it’s very easy for John to pick up.
Lia stops after John makes it to the letter I, and grabs her phone. She types into it “Now advanced mode.”
She takes his hand again, and traces as John tries to put together words.
“John, right?” Lia nods.
“Lia.” Again a correct answer.
“Lamp, definitely.” Lia gives him a thumbs up.
Lia hesitates for a second, then starts again.
“Kiss?” John guesses as Lia leans in sideways, moving closer to John.
He moves in, his face up close to where her neck ends. He tentatively kisses the top of her neck stump, unsure about if this is what she intended. She puts her hand behind his head, pulling him closer and lower. Her tongue moves out of its hiding place slightly, and she uses its forked tips to grab a hold of his lip.
The kiss rapidly turns into something in between deep kissing and cunnilingus, her tongue entering his mouth, teasing his tongue and grabbing at it with the split tip. John carefully explores her neck opening with his tongue and lips.
Lia pulls back a bit and grabs his hand. She quickly spells into his palm:
“Take” “Off” “Your” “Pants”
John complies quickly, removing his pants and shoes as fast as he can. Lia slides down from the bed, kneeling in front of his legs. She grabs hold of his boxer shorts and slides them down as well, John flicking them off the end of his foot.
Lia feels her way up his legs until she finds his erection, feeling its size with her hands. She slides her hands gently up and down the length, slowly picking up her pace. She moves her body closer, and removes one hand from attending to John and taking hold of his thigh. She closes the distance from John’s erect member, and her tongue begins licking along its length. The split tongue tips flick and tease John’s cock occasionally wrapping part way around, as he says “Jesus, that’s incredible.”
Lia thinks to herself “You ain't seen nothing yet” as she takes hold of John’s shaft and guides the tip toward her neck slit. The tip disappears into her throat, as her tongue wraps around and forms a ring partially around the shaft. She leans forward, steadily sliding his member deeper into her throat and working the shaft with small strokes from her tongue. She bottoms out, having quickly deepthroated the entire thing.
“Holy shit” John says as Lia’s tongue wraps down around the side of his shaft and coils halfway around the top of his ballsack, squeezing slightly and making him let out a moan. She works his length with her upper body and neck, as he starts gently thrusting in time with her motions. Lia seems to be enjoying it as well, her breathing becoming faster and more intense.
He doesn’t last long, her technique being completely above and beyond anything he’s ever experienced (or anyone else, for that matter). “Lia, I’m gonna cum soon.” He says as Lia gives him the OK symbol and picks up her pace even more.
He lets loose into her throat, as she wraps her arm around his waist and pulls him all the way to the base. She stays there impaled on his shaft as he pumps down her throat, Lia swallowing rhythmically. She moves back, sliding his cock out from deep within. She leans back to an upright kneeling position, and her tongue sweeps quickly around her neck slit to catch any mess. Her tongue slides back into its hiding place and she sits back on the bed, opening up the side table and handing John a tissue to clean himself off.
“Lia, you are a goddamn sexual superhero.” John says as he catches his breath and takes the tissue from her.
Lia types on her phone as John cleans up. “I wasn’t sure I could do that - pretty crazy though, right?”
“Pretty fucking awesome - you’re going to make the other girls jealous” John says.
“They should be, I'm fucking great. And humble too." Lia types as she finds John’s discarded shorts by sliding her foot around the floor. Having found it, she grabs with her toes and lifts it up, taking it and handing it to John.
“Hey, I know a way to get to the roof. I used to watch the stars from there, want to get some fresh air?” Lia types as John puts his boxers back on, standing up carefully.
“Absolutely, I’d love to.” John says as Lia reches for the neck cap and prosthetic on the side table.
“You should leave that stuff here, I want to see the real you. Besides, nobody’s here so why not?” John says as Lia hesitates, her hand hovering near the cap.
Lia puts her finger up to where her chin would have been, making the pondering gesture, then stands up and wraps her arms around John. She squeezes the hell out of him as he makes a sound like a surprised bullfrog.
John puts his pants on as Lia grabs her cane and the two of them head out the door, Lia leading and barely using her cane to navigate a well-trodden path. She opens up a door marked “Do not enter” and walks John up a set of stairs to a door.
The roof is huge, flat, and open with a pretty good view of the town and a really good view of the sky. Near the end of the roof is a bench - apparently the area isn’t totally unused. Lia and John take a seat under the sky, taking in the early summer air. They sit in silence at first, cuddling up next to each other and enjoying the company.
Lia types into her phone “I’m glad that crazy lady hooked us up - I never thought I would be back in the game after all this.”
“I’m glad I met you - you’re wonderful. Hey, if you’re not busy, want to go on a proper date this Saturday?”
“I’m not sure how that will work.. I don’t really go out anymore.” Lia types as she slouches down and her shoulders droop slightly.
“I have a plan… You don’t have to decide right now though, I’ll wait and you can text me if you want to. If not, I’ll still see you in the gym Friday” John says, as Lia takes his hand.
She spells into John’s hand “Thank you” as she leans into his shoulder.
Ch4
Warmed by the summer air, John and Lia enjoyed each other’s company on the roof. Once John's back starts to ache from sitting on the unforgiving bench, he looks at his phone to check the time. Realizing how late it is he says, “Hey Lia, it’s getting late - I have to catch some sleep before work.”
“Lia, who is currently sitting next to John while leaning into his shoulder, with her arms wrapped around his midsection squeezes him. She traces into his hand, “Yeah  ”
John and Lia head back downstairs. Lia opens up her door and turns around in the doorway. She must have hit send on a text she prepared as they were making their way back, because John's phone lights up just before she turns around. It says:
“John, tonight was really great. I’m looking forward to our date but I’m kinda freaking out too… I look forward to seeing you at the gym Friday. <3”
Lia gives John a few seconds to read the message, then snakes her arms under his and gives him a hug. John gives Lia a kiss on the top of her neck, and says “Thanks for tonight, I’ll miss you.”
John is exhausted when he arrives at work later that afternoon. The late night has taken its toll and his sleep wasn’t especially restful. He settles into his cube and starts to get focused on his work day; doing a quick scan of open issues, checking his requests and tickets, logging into the various management systems.
His phone buzzes and he pulls it from his pocket - It’s a new text from Lia. He unlocks it and takes a look.
"So I was thinking about our date on Saturday and I'm really worried… I need to know what you’re planning before I can decide if I can do it. I don't want to get caught in public - if I make it into the news before this whole thing wraps up I would be in deep trouble.
John replies, "That’s fair, I want you to be able to have fun and not be worried so I’ll spoil the surprise  . I think I found a place that should be fun and low stress.
I booked us at the last session for the evening at a private spa rental place. They have a hot tub, sauna, massage chair things, cold soak pool, and smoothie machine.
Best part is it's all ours with no interruptions for three hours. We should be able to check in with no issues, it’s all done through my phone. Thoughts?"
"Interesting… I think I’m on board! I'll remember to bring my swimsuit. Although the traditional sauna is in the nude, so we’ll see about the first one ;)"
John, now thoroughly distracted by the images in his head, tries to get some work done. About 30 minutes later, his phone buzzes again - this time with a photo attached to the message.
“Hey, I'm at the end of my workout and figured I should torment you a little more while you’re stuck at work. Did I mention I’m pretty flexible?” The photo is of Lia in the middle of her yoga area in her room, mid pose. She’s laying on her chest with her legs curled back behind her, knees bent with her heels hooked over her shoulders. One arm is extended holding her cell phone. The other arm, hand, and fingers are engaged in teasing her neck stump, slightly pulling one of the lips to one side with one fingertip inserted into her throat.
“Wow Lia, that's really hot. Definitely not safe for work though lol. I was tired before, but that sure woke me up.”
“Or at least woke up part of you lol. Speaking of which, you probably should have warned me you were packing some serious firepower down there - I think you damn near skewered me with that thing last night. I’m going to need to order some bigger toys… Anyway, think on that while I work on some school work. Text me when you get home <3”
John kicks off an online class and tries to stay focused, but it, along with other things, are a little harder now.
John completes the work day without much drama, helping out where he can and working on learning some new skills. He’s starting to think about his next career move, from being a cable puller and server jockey and into something a bit more advanced and less physical.
John heads out from home really looking forward to the next PT session, mostly so he can hang out with Lia again. Even if it's mostly just being in the same place doing their own thing, it's still nice.
When he gets home, he sends Lia a quick text, “Hey, I’m home and prepping dinner. I’m looking forward to seeing you again, even if it’s while I’m paying to get beaten up”
“You getting beat up is for a good cause though, you’ll be able to ditch those crutches soon. ”
“That's true lol. Speaking of crutches, I’m going to try just using one tomorrow. I’m tired of never having my hands free and I’ve already gotten a lot stronger.” John replies in-between getting some leftovers out of the fridge and firing up the microwave.
“Nice! That’s some serious progress!” Lia replies.
“Thanks! You mentioned school work earlier, how’s the thesis going?”
“The title of my project is: Nonverbal Adaptive Communications Facilitated via Mobile Device Voice Recognition and Haptic Coding. It’s a mouthful, apparently the longer the title the better the paper so I swung for the bleachers… I’m actually putting the finishing touches on it in the next week or so. I’m hoping that when the researchers are ready to show me off to the world my paper will be ready so I can ride the wave of attention right afterward.”
John replies, “That’s really cool - do you know how the whole reveal is going to work?”
“I found out recently what the plan is, but the afterward part could get weird. They’re pretty strict about who will be allowed into the conference, so I hope that helps. It sounds it’ll be a lot of technical stuff on the front end to prep the audience, then talking about me and my case, then I’ll show myself off and answer questions. I figure that even if it blows up and I get in the news, it might reduce the number of people who freak out when I’m out in public. If I’m lucky there will be some folks in the audience that would be looking to buy up my work or have me jump on someone else’s research project.”
John finishes up his dinner, then replies “I can’t wait to be able to go out with you in public, even if people are a pain sometimes. I’ll be able to help out if anyone is weird - I’ll work on some snarky replies to dumb questions..”
Lia texts, “Ha! I’ll think of some too, once I get this horrible paper out of the way. Speaking of which, I better get back to it. I have to get ahead of it to afford the time to go out on Saturday. I’ll see you at the gym tomorrow. <3.”
The next day, John heads back through the doors of the shuttered clinic and heads over to the now familiar physical therapy office. The receptionist is at her usual station, still as overstimulated as ever.
She does a trying-to-be-quiet-but-still-shouty voice as she greets him. "John, how's it going? Lia told me you two really hit it off, and you have some secret weekend fun! Don't worry, I won't ask - your secret is safe."
“It’s going good! We’re going on a semi-secret date on Saturday night, and I’m really happy that she’s going along with it.” John says.
“That’s so cool, Lia hasn’t been out much for a while so it’s good you came along to drag her out of here.. ” The receptionist smiles and looks over to where Lia is seated, in her usual spot in the waiting room as she starts to prep for the PT session. She removes her prosthetic head and stashes it in the bag, then removes the light jacket she wore in, revealing a purple sports bra. She stands up and starts to do some preliminary stretches.
John says “I better head inside and get ready” then turns to move into the waiting room.
The receptionist jumps up and says “I’ll get the door, also you ditched one of your crutches! Nice!” then runs around to the waiting room door, holding it so John can enter without needing to juggle the crutch around.
As John enters, he says “Hey Lia”, and she waves to him. She finishes up her stretch, and beckons him over. Once he closes the distance, she reaches out and grabs hold of him, then pulls him into a hug. They embrace for a few seconds, she gives him a quick smack on the butt to be cheeky, then guides him to the chair next to her as they wait for the trainers to kick off the session. John gently takes hold of Lia’s hand and spells “It’s nice to see you, you look great.”
Lia spells “Thanks! I’m doing weights today, so less is more.”
The workout proceeds as expected. The trainers open up the place and retrieve their patients. John goes through a routine that is now familiar: stretching, strength, coordination, etc. Lia is pumping iron and doing well, except for some occasional struggles with balance.
As John is finishing up his workout, Lia is already done with hers and is packing up her stuff, getting ready to head back. His phone buzzes with a text just as he completes his last activity.
John completes his last task, pulls out his phone, and takes a look. “Hey, if you have some time to hang out, want to get dinner? My food gets delivered to my room, and I can add on some real food for you if you’re hungry.”
John heads back to Lia’s place, hits the doorbell and she pops open the door. She’s still in her gym gear, and takes a seat at her desk. Next to her is a pitcher of a mysterious off-white liquid and a large plastic syringe with a flexible tube attached. She set out a rolling TV tray next to her bed for John to use as his dining table with a plastic to-go container sitting on it.
Her phone speaks up. “sorry if this is weird, but it’s much easier for me to just do a quick liquid lunch. It takes me a long time to eat regular food. It’s pretty frustrating sometimes being such a weirdo.”
John replies “Lia, I don’t think you’re weird - you’ve been through a lot and rose above it. You are killing it with the schooling, are probably going to land some crazy deal soon, and are really gorgeous.”
Lia types in her phone, “Thanks, I’m probably getting worked up about my big reveal to the world and my paper coming up soon. It’s going to be pretty nuts for a while but hopefully folks will get used to it quickly. It’ll be nice though to be able to hang out in public again. You should get a head start on your lunch, I’m going to be done pretty quickly.”
John takes a seat and gets started on his lunch. “This is pretty good for hospital food, needs more salt though.” He says between bites.
Lia removes her neck cap, setting it on her desk and grabbing the large syringe. Her tongue works its way out of its spot in her throat, as she dips the flexible tube into the pitcher of liquid. She sucks up most of it into the syringe, then grabs the tube with her other hand. Lifting it up and over, she maneuvers the tube to the top of her neck stump. Her split tongue reaches out and grabs the tube, helping pull it down into her throat as she pushes it part way down her esophagus. She then pushes the syringe down, gradually emptying the contents. She unhooks the tube and puts the syringe back into the liquid, sucking up the rest of it. Reconnecting the tube, she empties the syringe again then carefully pulls the tube out of her throat and puts the parts back on the tray.
“See, I said I was quick.. That has everything I need and they count the calories for me so I don’t have to.” Lia types as John continues eating.
“Yeah, that seems pretty efficient. I bet you probably save a ton on shampoo too.” John says in between bites of food as Lia gets up.
She walks over to the bathroom and out of sight, around the corner. John hears a drawer open and some shuffling sounds. A handful of seconds later Lia steps out from around the corner in a fluffy bathrobe with a different neck cap on. This one is gray with vent slots around the bottom edge and a solid, slightly domed top. She leans against the doorway and sends a text to John then heads back around the corner.
The message takes a few seconds to arrive, about the same time John hears the water turn on. “Speaking of shampoo, I’m going to hit the shower before getting back to work. I’m pretty quick with the whole no hair thing but I’m leaving the door open… hint hint”
John takes one more bite, sets down his lunch, gets up and heads over. Lia is already in the shower, her outline visible through the frosted glass walled cube currently filling with steam. He strips as quickly as possible; although he is recovering quickly, some of the moves are still pretty difficult.
He slides the door open and steps in, finally seeing Lia in the nude for the first time. Water cascades over her, deflecting off her shower cap and running down her body. Unconstrained by the sports bra, her breasts are even more impressive - a bit more than a handful but still perky, contrasting nicely with her toned figure. She moves over to allow John into the water, grabs a shower poof and squeezes some soap into it. She starts to soap up John, working the puff down his body and feeling her way around.
She hands John the poof and turns around, pointing to her back. John lathers up Lia working his way around her toned body - from just below the end of her neck cap, down her shoulders and back, along her hips and ass, and down her legs. As he works his way back up she backs up against John and pulls his arms around to the front of her body. She takes the soap puff from him and hooks it to the side wall of the shower. She guides one of his hands onto her breast, and takes the other hand guiding it downwards. With his arms wrapped around her, her neck cap against the top of his chest she guides his fingers along and between her lower lips. Although Lia is silent, with his body wrapped around her John feels her breathing pick up and the tension in her body increase as he works her with his fingers. Lia comes quickly and powerfully in his arms, losing control of her legs for a moment and relying on him to hold her up. She taps on his arm, signaling him to let up. She composes herself for a moment, turns around and embraces John, grabbing hold of his now raging erection. She reaches over to a bottle on the wall and pumps out some lotion into her hand, and starts to work her hands up and down his cock. He doesn’t last very long under Lia’s attention, and tells her that he’s close, although with her phone on the counter it’s unlikely she heard it. She feels his dick tense up and start firing though, and the flowing water soon takes care of cleanup.
They finish up their shower together and dry off. Once she’s dry enough to not risk ruining her phone, Lia grabs it and types. “That was great; I needed some stress relief and that did the trick for sure.”
“Agreed. Good water pressure here also…” John says as Lia throws the bathrobe back on and removes the shower cap. While John finishes drying off she grabs a washcloth, wets and wrings it out and gently cleans the top of her neck stump; the only place the shower didn’t get to.
Lia types “Want to lay out on the bed for a while? I know you have to head home eventually but we can relax here for a bit. Dibs on the little spoon.”
They make their way over to the bed, and Lia removes and folds her bathrobe on the side table. She pulls back the covers, and lies down on her side. John lies down next to her and slides up behind her as she pulls the blankets over both of them.
As Lia settles into spooning with John, he makes sure that Lia’s neck stump is clear of being covered up by the blankets and she is comfortable. Lia reaches over to the bathrobe, pulls out her phone and types a message, then holds her phone up so John can read it.
“John, I know stuff has been a bit strange lately but this week has been great. The old me probably would have thought that living like this would be both impossible and pretty terrible but you’ve helped me realize that I have a lot to look forward to.”
John replies “Lia, I’m lucky to have found someone like you. I can’t wait until we can finish this whole thing up and we can live like a normal couple. Hell, I’m looking forward to being able to show you off, you are absolutely one-of-a-kind and really beautiful. John gives her a second to process his voice, then he tilts his head down and kisses the top of her neck. She takes a deep breath, sighs, and squeezes up against him a bit more.
Ch5
Lia opens up her closet, searching for a long-neglected vacuum bag somewhere in there. Digging to the back, she feels the crinkly plastic and heaves it onto her bed. She pops the seal, and the bag slowly grows into a formless blob of wrinkly clothing, nearly forgotten since the start of her stay at the hospital. She dumps the bag out and starts to feel through the pile, attempting to remember what’s there.
She thinks to herself “Damn it, what did I pack when I first checked in? I probably didn’t think to pack something nice in case a guy showed up…”
She pulls out her phone and texts the only person she can think of who might be able to help - the receptionist who is already in on it. “Hey Nicole, do you work today? I have a clothing dilemma and need some help.”
She replies “I don’t work today but I’m free to stop by! I am like 5 minutes away so I can run over to your place! I’m leaving right now!”
About 3 and a half minutes later there’s a knock on the door and Lia opens it up. Nicole walks in, glancing at the pile of clothing on the bed. “This is for your date, right? That’s super exciting!”
Lia types into her phone, which says “I was more excited before opening up this bag, it seems I don’t really have much to pick from.”
Nicole starts digging through the pile, holding up pieces and looking back at Lia. “I think I see some potential here, how about this?” She holds up a massively wrinkled summer dress. “Oh yeah, it’s a black and white floral print - it needs a quick steam but I think it might work. I think that might be the only choice here, unless you are going super casual - it’s mostly pajama pants and t-shirts in the rest of the pile.”
“I think that’ll have to be the one, I’ll try it on quick.” Lia’s phone speaks as she walks over to Nicole, who hands her the dress. She walks to the bathroom and around the corner. Nicole keeps looking through the pile of clothing and peeks into her dresser, checking for any other ideas.
A few moments later Lia pops out of the bathroom in the dress. “Nice! You look great!” Nicole says as Lia spins around in place. Lia types “It also has pockets! Yes!” She holds up a finger in the “one second” sign and quickly types out another message. “I have another thing I ordered online that I want you to give a verdict on - It’s hard to tell how it looks because obviously.” She heads back into the bathroom, and reappears a few minutes later in a two piece bathing suit and the gray neck cap. “Oh wow, that’s really nice!” Nicole says as she takes a few steps closer. “What’s up with the different cap thing? Color coordination?”
Lia types “It’s for showering and being around water - there are vents around the bottom edge instead of one on the top, to try to keep any splashes out.”
“Huh, I didn’t know it came off in the first place. I hate to pry, but I’m kinda curious - I heard from the trainers about your situation but none of the details. If that cap can come off, what’s it like under it?” Nicole asks.
Lia responds “When the docs went in and started cutting, they had to do some crazy stuff they had never done before, so they improvised a bit. The end result is a little inappropriate for public consumption.” She reaches up and pulls the cap off, and Nicole’s eyes go wide and her jaw drops as Lia reveals her neck stump.
“Wow, I wasn’t expecting that.. Did you show your boyfriend yet? I bet he would be pretty happy about that! Two for the price of one...”
“Yeah, I guess there are a few benefits from this crazy situation - also not dying was nice too…”
That evening Lia receives a text from John; “I’m heading out from home, I’ll be there in about 20 minutes. I’ll stop by your room and walk you out to the car.”
“Sounds good, thanks!”
John makes his way to Lia’s room, and hits the doorbell, now a practiced sequence of events. Lia opens up the door and lets him in.
“Wow, you look great! John says, surprised by the change in outfit.
Lia types “I found this in the stuff I packed when I checked in. Sure beats pajamas or sweatpants for a first real date.”
“Absolutely, it looks really nice. Ready to head out? I parked my car just outside.”
“Cool, one sec.” Lia walks over to the nightstand, puts her phone in her pocket and grabs her prosthetic head. Hooking it onto her neck cap, she adjusts it into place securely and grabs her purse from the bed. She pulls out her phone and types “how do I look?“
“You look great - by the way, I was curious about the prosthetic - is it based on what you looked like originally?”
“Sorta? They said they used the dimensions of my original head, but the face is a mix between me and some random scans of women they borrowed from another study. Kinda shady but in the end it looks close-ish to how I used to, but different enough for people who knew me before to not recognize me right away. Helps keep my whole situation under wraps.
I wanted to get a few different ones l but this one wasn't exactly cheap. "
"Anyway, let's bounce - the docs don’t know about this but to hell with them. As long as we’re back by the morning for my appointment it’s cool.” She grabs her cane from its spot against the wall and takes a step toward John.
John takes her hand and leads her out to the parking lot. The lot is nearly empty, and is dark and quiet as John carefully leads Lia - trying to avoid any obstacles or rough spots. The summer air is calm and warm as they make the short trip over to the car.
He says “Here we are, one sec.” as he opens up her door and guides her into the passenger’s seat, making sure she is clear of the door as he closes it. He heads around and sits in the driver’s seat. Lia’s body language seems to be projecting nervousness as they pull out of the parking lot, so John takes her hand. She squeezes it and he gently squeezes back.
“It’ll be fine, this place is basically dead at this time of evening - I sometimes book a spot just to do the sauna and soak for a while, I’m kind of a regular. The staff know me and the guy who works the evening shift is cool.” John says as he drives.
John pulls into the parking lot, a place located in a strip mall that’s otherwise closed down. He was right, only a couple cars are in the lot and there’s nobody around. “The check-in is basically automated, I’ll scan my phone at the kiosk and we can head to our room.” John heads around to the passenger door and helps Lia out, and they make their way across the lot, Lia holding on to John’s arm for guidance.
The front waiting area is also empty, and John waves to the camera knowing the owner is probably in the back wrapping up for the day. There are relaxation rooms down one hallway, along with rooms for morning yoga classes.
“I’ll scan us in, one second.” John pulls out his phone and puts the screen on the kiosk scanner. He gets a green light and the room number, and both of them head down the hallway. So far, so good he thinks as they head into the spa suite.
The suite, while not very large, is well laid out and clean. John says to Lia “Ok, on your right is a massage table and shiatsu chair thing. Past that is the hot tub and sauna, which are small but I think we can squeeze in… On the left are the showers, clothes hooks and towels. I’ll set your bag over by the changing area. Where to first?”
“I think massage chairs first - before we get soggy; then hot tub, sauna, then back to the tub.” Lia writes, handing the bag off to John and navigating over to the massage chairs. She yanks off her prosthetic head, and the cap comes with it. Holding it out toward John, he gets the message and sets it over with her bag. Lia sits down in the massage chair and quickly finds the control panel in the armrest.
Before firing it up, she types “When this thing kicks in, I won’t be able to pick up your speech with my phone and feel the wrist bands translating it, so if you want to talk just grab my hand and spell it. Let’s see how this thing works.” She hits the button and the chair fires up. John takes his place in the other chair and turns it on, surprised by how powerful the thing is even when set to low.
“This is really relaxing” Lia writes in John’s hand with some difficulty, and on the second try as everything in her world is wiggling rapidly.
“Sorta, if this thing shakes me any harder I might liquify”
“That’s the best part!”
After about 15 minutes of being shaken, heated, prodded and pushed the chair’s cycle ends and Lia stands up, hooks her hands together and stretches her arms and shoulders. She grabs her phone and types “Goddamn that felt good, I need to get me one of these someday.”
John’s chair turns off a few moments later and he stumbles to his feet. “That was relaxing; now I need to remember how my legs work again…”
Lia’s phone speaks up, “Hey, can you point me to the changing rooms?” John leads her over to the door and hands her the gym bag. Lia pauses at the door and types, “No peeking, I want to keep you in suspense.”
John fires up the sauna and hot tub bubble controls as Lia changes and hops into the shower to rinse off. A few moments later she exits the changing room, wearing the bikini and her splash-resistant cap, and holding a small waterproof bag. She slowly spins once in place to show off. John says “Nice! very nice.” He heads into the changing room, quickly throws on his swim shorts and rinses himself off in the shower.
When he returns, Lia is in the hot tub soaking. She reaches into her pool bag and hits the button on her phone to read out text to speech. It says, “I had to take off the bands on my wrists so the heat wouldn’t damage them, so from here on out it’s touch only.” She sets her phone back in her bag as John heads over. He carefully steps in, both from the heat and the lack of space to maneuver in the small tub. He slides in next to Lia, who wraps her arm around his back and moves in closer.
She takes his hand and spells “This is nice. So warm.”
John spells back “Yeah, really nice. I’m happy we could do this.”
Lia reaches up with her other hand and removes her neck cap, setting it in the bag. She lifts up and shifts sideways, leaning in and nuzzling her neck stump against John’s chest. John looks down and sees into the slightly parted labia at the end of her neck, her steady and calm breath escaping from the hole in the front; her tongue folded down into the hole slightly behind. He tentatively kisses the top of her neck, and Lia responds by pushing in even closer, bringing John’s hand around to wrap around her waist. Lia shifts over again, carefully sitting in John’s lap. John kisses her neck again, and she responds by sliding her tongue out of its place in her esophagus. With Lia’s tongue out, she first uses the forked tip to grab onto his tongue mid kiss, pulling the tip of his tongue into her throat, the muscles squeezing and pulling it deeper. While his tongue is being pulled in by her throat, her tongue snakes into his mouth.
Sitting in John’s lap, Lia feels him stiffening and starts to grind against his erection, her flexibility giving her the ability to do so while being bent rather drastically backwards in order to continue their version of making out.
After an intense and unique make-out session, Lia grabs John’s free hand and spells “Take me to the massage table”, then gets off of John and turns around. John holds her hand and helps her out of the tub, then leads her over to the other side of the room, grabbing a towel while walking by. He throws the towel on the table as Lia whips off her swimsuit, throwing it nearby. She wraps her arms around John, then spells “You need to fuck me right now.”
John quickly spells “Condom.”, which Lia quickly gives a thumbs up as John runs to the bag and grabs one.
As Lia lays back on the table she kicks her legs out into the splits, then beyond. John moves in and lays his erection on top of her stomach - reaching surprisingly far up on her compact body as he rolls the rubber on. John pulls back and lines himself up.
As he parts her lower lips, Lia takes a deep breath and holds out her hand. Seeing this, John puts his hand in hers and she quickly spells “Go slow”. John slowly pushes forward a bit at a time, taking small strokes and watching for signs of discomfort from Lia. When he finally reaches a full stroke Lia’s legs reach around and wrap around John and she takes the lead, pulling him in and letting him out with her legs.
John leans forward slightly and grabs hold of Lia’s waist, using the leverage to pull himself even deeper and slamming forward harder every stroke. With her enhanced sensitivity, it’s not long before John feels Lia tense up and lose control, her legs shaking and body spasming in a powerful orgasm. He slows down the pace for a moment to give her a chance to ride it out, then traces on her stomach, “Keep going?” and her neck tilts forward and back.
He starts again even more aggressively, reaching down and gently rubbing her clit while aggressively fucking her. John feels himself getting close, at the same time Lia seems to be reaching her peak, and he quickly spells “soon”. She gives a thumbs up, and she grabs hold of one of her nipples and squeezes. They both come at the same time, Lia’s pussy squeezing down as John’s cock starts pumping deep into her core. Lia’s body goes limp, her legs dropping from behind John and hanging off the sides of the narrow table; her tongue hanging out of the end of her abbreviated neck. John puts his hand on Lia both to check if she is ok and to keep her from rolling off the massage table. After a few seconds, Lia awakens and clumsily takes John’s hand. She spells, “So good, phone?
John pulls out and Lia tenses up and relaxes again, another wave of pleasure from the sudden exit. He brings back the phone and the wristbands after tossing the condom and hands them to Lia.
Lia “Looks like I passed out a bit… I should probably explain lol. So yeah, remember how my brain is kinda all of my nerves now? There are a lot of nerves down there, so basically you just fucked my brains out a bit. How long was I out?”
“Only for a few seconds, you were still breathing so I figured you’d be ok.” John says as he picks up Lia’s swimsuit off the floor and sets it by their stuff.
“Absolutely, never better - it just takes me a second to restart the thinking bits. I sometimes get a little dumb when I’m using my toys, but this is the first real action I’ve gotten since the whole experiment thing… Anyway, I bet we are getting a little short on time for the sauna, so how about we clean up in the shower?”
They head into the bathroom and have a mostly wholesome shower, taking turns in the water spray and getting themselves clean. They put their street clothes back on, grab their stuff, and head back to the car. John helps Lia back in, and fires up his car.
“Did you have a good time?” John asks as they head out of the parking lot.
“Hell yeah, I got to go out for once in a long time, hot tubbed, finally fucked my boyfriend, all in all I can’t complain!” Lia says, her phone speaking for her while John drives.
“Boyfriend huh? I think it’s safe to say we’re an item - I want to keep seeing you, and want to make us official. Hopefully when you go public eventually I’ll be able to set my status to ‘In a relationship’.”
“For now ‘it’s complicated’ will have to suffice lol” Lia says, poking John in the side.
“I suppose so… Anyway, we’re pulling into the parking lot - I’ll make sure the coast is clear then bring you back to your room.” John says, finding a parking spot close to the building. He opens up his door, then says “I’ll be right back” then runs up to the building. He looks in the window, and around the lot to see if anyone is around. He texts Lia as he walks back that the coast is clear, then retrieves her from the car. They walk back, hand in hand to Lia’s room.
“Lia, I’m so glad you came out tonight - I know it isn’t much but it's nice to mix it up a little. John says as they approach her room.
“It was great, I think getting back into the world carefully is a good idea. Besides, you’re pretty good at planning fun on the sly…” Lia writes just before opening her door. She embraces John, who lifts gently up on the chin of her artificial head. Her prosthetic head comes off with little effort, and John moves in and kisses her goodnight.
Lia takes her head back, takes a step back, waves goodnight, and gently closes the door.
Lia sets her fake head on its spot on the nightstand, and puts her bag of wet clothing in the bathroom. She feels for the edge of her bed, then jumps in, flipping sideways onto her back and laying with arms and legs out like a starfish. If she was still able to, she would be smiling on the outside as well as on the inside.. She lays there for a while, thinking about the crazy trajectory her life has taken recently and the possibilities for the future.
After a few minutes, she figures it’s time to check her email to see if any schoolwork or medical appointments have been added, so she fires up her laptop and logs in.
Once home, John unpacks his stuff and preps for bed. While he’s throwing his wet clothes in the wash, his phone vibrates with a text from Lia.
“Holy shit John the researchers are doing their big conference tomorrow morning and didn’t tell me until tonight. Assholes!”
Ch6
Waiting in a small room next to the lower floor of the lecture hall, Lia paces back and forth nervously while trying to listen to the presentation. While some of it is really advanced, most of the talk is basically explaining how this whole situation got so out of hand. The researchers are hoping to escape with their careers not totally destroyed after keeping this under wraps for so long. Her part is at the end, and she figures they’re planning on having her come out there to hopefully earn some sympathy from the crowd.
She takes a seat in the corner of the small room, basically a closet to store extra chairs and A/V equipment.
Pulling out her phone and navigating through her text editor, she debates making any last minute changes in her speech and decides against it - by the time she gets through the text with her phone slowly reading through every word it will likely be time to head out there anyway.
She thinks to herself “I really should turn up the speed on this thing.”
In the huge concrete bowl of a lecture hall, one of the senior researchers is at the podium, speaking into a microphone, although most of the crowd is in the front few rows.
“…Patient’s paradoxical reaction to the treatment gave us pause, but the continued improvement of test scores created some doubts about the accuracy of our scan results…the test scores kept improving while all of our scans pointed to less neural activity taking place. We determined that the best course was to continue treatment and monitor for any delayed changes…”
John, attempting to blend in as much as possible while sitting in the audience of mostly older people in lab coats with notepads, hears the story for the second time but with the gaps filled in. Most of it is way over his head, but the basic story is the same - the docs wanted to help someone and their whole plan went off the rails. Hopefully they’ll be able to prepare the audience enough to make her debut a little less crazy, although who knows once the media gets a hold of it.
The researcher continues, “Here’s the final MRI before we discovered the source of our confusion.” The slide changes to a cross section of what looks like a scan of Lia’s head. “It’s obvious at first glance that the course of neural degeneration has continued unabated, the loss of tissue and increased fluid volume is overwhelming - normally a patient with this level of damage would be on a ventilator, not walking around and passing high level writing and problem solving tests. Actually, her scores were steadily increasing…”
The audience seems to be split between concern, confusion, and disbelief as they go deeper into the lecture, and he’s only just begun.
“After making sure the scan results were correctly coming over from the machine and the scan was set correctly…
The members of the audience who clearly know this stuff are leaning in closer to try to get a better look as the scan comes up, and they appear to be really shocked as the doctor continues.
“…scanned to verify metabolic activity levels. Next slide please.”
“Obviously we were scarcely able to believe it when we saw this. By all appearances the patient we had down the hall was dead, or at least completely brain dead. One of our team members commandeered the scan room and ran a scan on our patient’s whole body, and the next slide confirmed his suspicions.”
A murmur moves through the crowd as the next slide comes up, the scan lit up with activity everywhere but the brain, and basically going off the scale with the amount of activity.
“It appears that the trial drug did produce a result over the course of treatment, but the neural regrowth was redirected somehow…
“…over time the new growth throughout the patient's body seemed to make up for the gradual loss in function and even caused an increase…”
One of the crowd raises a hand, and the organizer quickly says “Please hold your questions to the end, we will have a follow-on question and answer session after the presentation.
“…minimal effects on the patient’s personality and functionality are likely due to the long timeframe of treatment and the ongoing physical and cognitive therapy.”
John tries to blend in, being the only person who clearly doesn’t belong, but his nervousness seems to be impossible to hide. Hopefully the audience is distracted enough.
“Loss of cranial and optic nerve connectivity caused the sensory deficits to progress… “
“…Although compensating well with assistive technologies, some of which the patient developed herself, the consequences of the degeneration eventually caused the onset of a series of massive infections. That brings us to the next phase of treatment. The patient didn’t report any issues until it progressed into advanced sepsis which was spreading rapidly…
Some members in the crowd start whispering to each other, and others are writing furiously. John thinks he sees a camera pop up from one of the back rows for a moment.
…started removing all affected tissue and were forced to a decision point. Next slide please.”
The surgery photos are pretty rough, and the audience reacts in shocked silence. The audience, mostly composed of seasoned professionals, remains silent as they flip through the photos of the deconstruction of Lia, from a pretty but obviously unwell woman to a mass of bandages, tubes, and machines. The doc describes in great detail the grisly details.
“Although this would appear to be a totally nonviable end result, Lia’s vitals returned to a normal range almost immediately after the surgery.” The doc catches himself, realizing he said her name instead of “the patient”, although it probably doesn’t matter once the information leaves the walls of the lecture hall.
“Within two days the patient was progressing well, and returned to a normal routine within a week. She was fully healed and working through a therapy course a few weeks later.” The next slides are of the now greatly abbreviated Lia taking assisted steps around the room, trailing a cart full of machines behind her; then some photos from therapy.
The agitated crowd’s background noise increases as they become even more unsettled and one of the audience stands up, saying “You expect us to believe that you gave a patient an untested drug, she survived brain death somehow, then you cut off her head and she’s healthy now? These bizarre photos and a couple fake scans aren’t going to cut it. Is this a shitty prank? I’m reporting this to the board, if only for wasting my time!”
The crowd clearly agrees with the audience member, shaking their heads and murmuring amongst themselves. As the volume level increases, most begin to stand up and some head out of the lecture hall.
The doc replies “I saved her life and found a completely new way to treat literally thousands of diseases! Don’t believe me? Ask her yourself! Lia, it’s time to show these folks the truth!” He stomps over to the side door and throws it open. Lia, sitting in the darkened corner of the room, startles at the door slamming; and the doc forces himself to calm down. “Sorry about all that, I think once they ask you a few questions they’ll relax a bit. I’ll try to keep the situation, and myself, under control. You’ll do great, I know it. Let’s go.”
Lia stands up and hesitantly follows the doc into the basin of the lecture hall. As she steps out of the darkened side room, the audience takes a collective breath. A woman steps out of the darkened side room, who looks like any other business-casual wearing office person with a massive difference. She decided to not wear the fake head in order to get the message across as clearly as possible, her neck ending in one of her protective caps. The doctor leads her to the podium and she leans her cane against the heavy wooden structure of the lectern.
Standing next to Lia, the doctor leans toward the microphone and clears his throat. “I suppose now is a good time for the Q and A. This is Lia, our patient.”
Lia waves slightly at the stunned crowd.
“She has been working to adapt and create her own assistive technology as part of her graduate studies, and has been cooperating well given the circumstances. I believe she prepared a small speech, then you can ask myself or her any questions afterward. Lia?”
She takes her phone out and feels around for the aux cord. She plugs in her phone and hits play, and her synthesized voice fills the hall.
“Hello everyone, I’m Lia. I prepared this ahead to save us time, as it would take me far too long to type it out in front of everyone.“
“I started under the care of this team after finding out that I was destined to a future of a fast decline and a short life. The doctors thought there might be a way to help me, so having no other real choice I signed up. Obviously things got pretty strange along the way, as you can see, but with their help I have been able to continue my studies, perform some original research, and be the beta tester for my own assistive technologies. Although I lost a lot I gained much in the process, and am working toward gaining my life back as much as I can.
I hope that everyone here can overlook any issues in this study, as the result is almost certainly going to change a lot of things in your community. Of course this bears further research - the possibilities are massive if this research is developed much farther and with better controls.
I developed some assistive technology before the last of the surgeries to make up for lost hearing, and to give me back a voice; so as long as you speak one at a time and not too quickly I am happy to answer any questions you may have. Of course, please direct any medical questions to the docs as I am definitely not qualified to answer those.
I’d be happy to speak one-on-one afterward as well if anyone wants to, especially if you have any projects I could help on. I’m also on the lookout for my next gig, so if any of you need to hire a software developer I’m just about to graduate. I’m sure these guys will give me a letter of recommendation - they seem to think I have a good head on my shoulders… well, sorta.”
A few in the audience chuckle at the bad joke, and the audience now seems much less hostile. “Thanks for your time.”
The audience seems hesitant, having just had their reality broken slightly and trying to process the fact that Lia is standing right there in front of them. One of the people in the audience raises his hand. The doctor points at him and says “Go ahead”.
“Hi, Lia, right? I’m a neurologist, and I have around 15 questions I’ve thought of so far, but I’ll keep it limited to one for now. How is your memory? The presenter noted that you were largely unchanged, but I’m not sure how that’s really possible given the circumstances.”
Lia takes a moment to think, picks her phone up again and starts typing. “I know I have lost some pieces of my past here and there, but overall I was able to keep most of it. I would guess that the memory exercises I was doing before all this probably helped move those memories to wherever they’re stored now, but at this point it’s anybody's guess.”
Another person in the audience raises their hand. “Do you think your other senses compensated for the loss? If so, can you describe your experiences?”
Lia responds, “Absolutely, I think my sense of touch has easily doubled. A good example is my balance, with no inner ears I have to feel the pressure on my body to tell which way down is. It took a little bit of training, but I get around pretty well now.”
The questions continue on for a while, with almost everybody in the crowd wanting to ask something. The time runs out for the conference, and the presenters wrap up the event and hope they didn’t just annihilate their careers. A group follows Lia to the side hall for a more one-on-one chat. John hangs back to watch from a distance. He waits until most of the crowd has dispersed, many handing off business cards or exchanging contact info before leaving.
John texts Lia, “Hey, that was really great, if a bit over my head on the technical details.”
Lia responds, “It would be over mine too if I still had one lol. I think I got about 30 business cards just now, so you are going to need to help me with some data entry.”
“Sounds good, my place or yours?”
Lia replies “That’s a little complicated now, I have some bad news and some good news. Bad news: with the project ending I’m getting kicked out of my room at the clinic. Good news: I’m getting paid in a couple days for the whole thing, and it’s not a small amount of money. Like, live off it for a year or two and travel the world kind of money. Of course I’m lame so I’m going to invest most of it and take you out to an expensive dinner to celebrate, but I also have to pack my stuff and find a place to live.”
John quickly responds, “You should stay at my place. Even if it’s just until you find somewhere else, I would be more than happy to have you stay with me.”
“John, that’s amazing, but I don’t want to get in your way - are you sure? We’ve only known each other for a little while and that’s kind of a big leap.”
John texts, “It’s not a problem, I would be glad to. If it doesn’t work I’ll help you find a nice place and we can try again later. I don’t want you to be stressed while you figure out your next move.”
Lia replies, “Thank you so much, you’re the best!”
John texts “So, want me to hang around your place while you wrap up?”
Lia replies “Sure, that’s cool. Oh by the way, the door code is 4242.”
John makes his way back to Lia’s room, checks that the coast is clear and heads inside. He takes a seat on the couch and idly scrolls through his phone. As he is working through his news feed, not really paying attention he nearly drops his phone. Photos of the conference have already hit the internet along with social media commentary - things like ‘Headless Girl Shocks Medical Researchers’ and ‘Has Science Gone Too far?’.
John texts Lia “You aren’t going to believe this, but photos of you at the conference are already on the internet. I think you’re trending on social media…”
Lia replies “Well shit, I guess I better hire an agent soon. I figured this would happen pretty quick. I guess if the job thing doesn’t work out I can always be an influencer… I better update my profile with a good headshot. Upper torso shot? I dunno.”
After only a few minutes Lia enters the room, and sets her bag on the floor. She waves in the general direction of John, who heads over to meet her. He gently touches her hand, and she wraps him up in a huge hug. They head over to the couch and sit beside each other. Lia takes out her phone and starts excitedly typing, showing John the screen.
“After the conference a lady came up and said that she is working on brain-computer interfaces. She thinks that I’ll be much easier to work with, what with the whole no drilling into someone’s head thing. She thinks that after I get plugged in, I’ll be able to connect to stuff like my phone which could really help. No promises, but they might be able to help me get some senses back. They also want me to jump in before stuff gets too crazy, so they want me in their office ASAP. Pretty sweet, huh?”
John says “That’s really cool, as long as they’re legit that’s a great opportunity. What do they mean by ASAP?
“They want me to check in tomorrow if possible, and I’ll have to be there for 4 days for the implant and calibration. They already got a bunch of data from the docs, apparently they were slipping info to them this whole time.” Lia types, her body language both nervous and excited.
“I bet there are going to be a ton of folks trying to get a hold of you in the next couple days. It might make sense to lay low for a while and go for it before it gets too crazy. I'll miss you, but we can keep in touch pretty easy. We’ll have to celebrate afterward if it all works out.” John says.
“Sweet, I’ll let her know we’re on board. I’ll have to pack, but I was starting to prep for the move and I only need like one suitcase to empty this place out. Want to help out?” Lia pulls out a pair of suitcases from her closet and they start packing.
Late that evening Lia’s apartment is packed up into 2 suitcases, a duffle bag, a laptop case and a couple trash bags. While John is moving the bags Lia’s phone speaks up “Hey, there’s usually a cart in the closet next door, we can load this stuff up in it. You probably shouldn’t be lifting much and I can only really use one hand to carry stuff with my cane.”
John says “Oh cool, I’ll check on it.” He leaves and comes back with a giant laundry cart, and carefully loads up all of Lia’s stuff. Before they leave, John asks “Do we need to check out or something? Also, don’t you usually wait until after the place closes before heading out?”
Lia’s phone says “Naah, screw ‘em. I’m already in the news and they’ll be back in the morning to evict me anyways. It’s like ‘you can’t fire me, I quit’.”
She grabs the last thing left to pack, her fake head, and tosses it on the top of the pile. “Hopefully I won’t need this thing anymore - I’m done hiding.”
They both head out, Lia holding onto the back of John’s shirt as he wheels the huge cart out to his car. Although it’s the weekend, there are still a handful of people wandering the halls. Most of them are people from the conference, but the few people who are unawares react as expected. Some in disbelief or thinking it’s a prank, most confused, nearly all shocked.
Lia doesn’t really care anymore, if they don’t find out now they would have eventually.
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发表于 2022-3-6 11:20:26