Much to Kristyn's relief, she had been able to coax Kelly into the yoga scrubs, sports bra and panties. It had only required one more instruction, albeit a more firm one, but it had gotten the job done. Of course, it would have gone better if she hadn't removed her hospital gown in front of Litchburg. It made her wonder if she had any modesty or shame at all, or if those words were even in her vocabulary. Well, at least the doctor was probably thankful that he had his job at the Center that day, however much he had tried to hide his enjoyment behind a facade of professionalism.

    However, as she led her new charge to wardrobe, and told her about the genetics lab, the domestic terrorist attack upon it, the water bottling plant that had drawn from the contaminated river, how only pregnant women had been affected, and how that had led up to her current situation, she wondered if it was all an act. Perhaps she was keeping her cool, scoping the place out, and waiting to make a move. Sometimes one could never tell what kind of person someone was until it was too late, and she had enough in the way of personal experience to attest to that.

    She was partly right, as it turned out. Kelly had certainly been on guard, absorbing what she could of her situation. She had also been choosing her actions carefully, so she could understand just what kind of people were holding her captive. Whether she would try to escape would depend on how viable that option would be, versus the acceptability of her environment. What Kristyn didn't know was that her actions were based on fact, even if she would not normally act on certain beliefs all that often. If she was anything, if not quiet, she was honest.

    Fortunately, once Kristyn had finished her explanation, which included the reason for why she was going to be staying at the Center for a while, Kelly decided that she wasn't in objectionable hands. She didn't wholly agree on the matter, but beggars couldn't be choosers: worse things could have happened, and she understood that. She would probably continue to be a bit of a pain, of course, but that couldn't be helped.

    With everything else out of the way, she, with her attention still focused ahead, asked, "what about my father?"

    Kristyn glanced over at Kelly, and considered whether she should tell her or not. She had the authority to keep the information away from her, and make her think that his fate was out of their hands. It was a tempting option because, if she chose not to negotiate, then Kelly would not know that her father's life had been made forfeit. However, it was an option that did not sit well with her conscience, responsibility or not. On the other hand, should she tell Kelly now, then she would have to live with herself when it came time to tell her that she had decided against negotiating with the group that had kidnapped her father, if that ended up being the case.

    Since it would be too premature to give an answer to her question now, she used the only alternative answer within her power to give, that many of her ilk had utilized in the past: the kind that stalled.

    "I'm sorry," she apologized, and meaning it, "but I can't tell you, yet."

    Kelly simply nodded, accepting that answer. She wouldn't have expected any less from a government organization, given the inclination toward withholding information in general. It was always, "need-to-know," or, "it's classified," or, if they had the nerve (and they usually did), "no comment." She could understand why those things would be done, and how it might be beneficial, but a lot of the people that said those things, she believed, were liars and crooks... and she didn't like liars and crooks.

    Don't get the wrong idea, though: she had no delusions about what was right or wrong. She didn't dislike liars and crooks because they were bad. Rather, she didn't believe in the existence of such a concept; along with its polar opposite, goodness. Such things were relative to a group's perception, given how allowable and disallowable behaviors had been changed throughout recorded history. That's why governments meted out privileges, not rights.

    What she did care about, however, was freedom; personal freedom, in particular. The problem with such things as liars and crooks was that they usually infringed upon another's personal freedom, for some selfish reason or another. They wanted to control borders beyond their personal lot, to the detriment of those that were unfortunate enough to be in their way. They thought that they knew what was right or wrong and, of course, they often justified that what they did was right.

    That was why she had wanted to become a prison guard, like her father, so that she could help to keep those that had been judged from escaping and doing their deeds again — people that had taken lives, scarred minds, and abused others. However, with her current body and circumstances, she wasn't sure if she could follow in his footsteps.

    She might, instead, find a life at the Center. Only time would tell, she supposed. She wasn't sure because she didn't know what kind of talent she had. It wasn't as obvious as Kristyn's ability to control electricity, which she had demonstrated during her explanation. She knew that she could see someone's aura, if she stared and focused enough, but she had no idea what the colors meant, or what it could be used for.

    When they arrived at wardrobe, Kristyn stopped alongside Kelly and watched for her reaction. Aside from recognizing its immense size and selection, what she did there might help to illuminate more about what kind of person she was, and what to expect when it came to handling her in other matters. Not every newly-christened girl was all that enthused about wearing skirts and heels, after all.

    Intriguingly enough, Kelly seemed to show some interest in what she saw, and went ahead to investigate what the wardrobe had to offer without provocation or reservation. As far as Kristyn was concerned, that usually meant that the person in question had wanted to be a girl before their transition. Or, at the very least, they had no qualms about being the opposite sex. It would certainly make things a bit easier for everyone involved; and she, especially, would appreciate the break.

    Since it was as good of a time as any, and she didn't expect to meet any resistance, Kristyn spoke up and said, "just find something comfortable to wear, for the time being. You'll need a school uniform, but we can take care of that later, since it's more important that you eat."

    Kelly looked up from a rack of dresses and said, "not interested."

    "In what?" Kristyn asked, an incredulous expression on her face. "The uniform?"

    Kelly answered with a nod of her head, then continued to browse the selection of dresses on the rack, as if the discussion were over. She plucked up a white peasant dress and held it up to herself.

    "Not your call," Kristyn replied, in a tone that bespoke of her waning patience. "Not only because it will be required, but it's also meant to help you adjust to your new role, and what will be expected of you in regard to how you move and behave."

    Kelly put the dress back on the rack and picked up another one, as she said, "I'll be myself, if you don't mind."

    "You're a girl," Kristyn was quick to point out.

    Rather than answer right away, Kelly held out a floral print sundress and inspected it. It was a pastel yellow, with white flowers mostly appearing around the bottom half of the knee-length skirt and around the bust. She held on to it as she made her way back to Kristyn, who tensed when she saw the hard look on her face. She didn't know what to expect when Kelly stopped several paces away from her and stared at her silently.

    Finally, Kelly placed her free hand over her lower abdomen and stated, "this is what makes me a girl," before she pointed at her head and added, "not this."

    Kristyn wasn't sure how to respond to that, so she said nothing. What she was sure of, however, was that Kelly was outside of her area of expertise. And she was pretty sure of that when Kelly held up the dress and said, "I'm going to wear this," before she began to undress right in front of her, before she could raise a word to prevent it. And so it was that Kelly's pants dropped, and her sports bra flew. After that, she began to wriggle around like a belly dancer, once she had pulled the skirt over her head and worked the sundress down her body. Kristyn did her damndest to think of Ray, in the meantime, instead of... well, she was trying not to think about it!

    Danielle, coincidentally, arrived just as Kelly had finished adjusting one of the sundress' spaghetti straps. On her heels was Heather, who couldn't help tagging along when she had learned about Danielle's destination, and that it involved one of the new kids on the chopping block. Both were wearing their school uniforms, since they had arrived there directly from school.

    Kristyn managed to greet them with a strained smile, but didn't say anything. They picked up on her mood (Danielle didn't even have to use her talent), so their attention locked onto the likely source of her discontent.

    Kelly stood by patiently as two new sets of eyes began to look her over critically. She returned their gazes unabashedly, and before long she began to see their auras. They both displayed various colors, though different colors were more dominant than others, and some were bright while others were dark. She didn't know what to make of any of it. One thing that did catch her interest, and some measure of speculation, was where their auras met, since they were standing close enough together for them to mingle. As a result, it was hard to tell where one aura ended and another began: because the colors matched; not only in hue and brightness, but in size, too. She had no idea if that meant anything, or whether it was simply how it worked for everyone.

    "That sundress isn't too bad," Heather spoke up after a moment, her eyes narrowed discerningly, "but it doesn't really go with your hair. And your eyes..."

    She blinked, leaned closer, then stepped forward until she was in Kelly's face, to make sure of what she had seen, before she asked, "you've got two different-colored eyes?"

    Kelly shrugged her shoulders. She had yet to look at herself in a mirror, so she had no idea.

    "There's no colored contact, if that's what you're asking," Kristyn helpfully supplied.

    "Huh," Heather voiced, her expression muddled. "I don't know whether to congratulate you on having such a unique trait, or pity you for the trouble you'll have with matching things to your eyes."

    Danielle giggled, and even Kristyn, with her mood as it was, managed something of a smile. Kelly, if appearances were all-telling, could have cared less either way.

    "I see that you're wearing a dress," Danielle observed, as she considered the redhead before them. "Was that your idea?"

    Kelly nodded her head.

    "Why is that?" She inquired further.

    "Girls have more freedom," Kelly informed them, as if it answered everything.

    Danielle glanced over at Kristyn and felt the annoyance behind her friend's weary expression, who shrugged helplessly when she noticed the attention. Heather, meanwhile, was actually trying to figure out what Kelly had meant, if her creased brow and pursed lips said anything to that effect.

    "Anyway," Kristyn spoke up, as she gestured toward Danielle, "this is Danielle. She's an empath."

    "Nice to meet you," Danielle said, as she offered her hand up for a shake. "You can call me Dani, if you want."

    Kelly nodded and took her hand. Danielle noted how she employed a weak grip when they shook their hands, to the point where their hands had almost slipped apart in the first downward motion.

    Kristyn proceeded to indicate Heather and said, "and this is Heather. She's a photokinetic."

    "Yup," Heather chirped, all smiles. "Guilty as charged!"

    "Girls," Kristyn said, as she swept her hand toward Kelly without much enthusiasm, "this is Kelly. Talent: unknown."

    "Awwww," Heather complained with obvious disappointment. "She's already picked out a name?"

    She pouted, making it obvious to anyone that she would have liked to help in that regard.

    "Actually," Kristyn began to correct her, "I haven't gotten that far with her, yet. That's her birth name."

    "Great!" Heather cheered. Then a thought occurred to her, which made her confused. She looked at each of her friends in turn, searchingly, before she said, "wait. I thought 'Kelly' was a girl's name."

    Danielle shrugged and offered, "maybe it's unisex?"

    "It doesn't matter," Kristyn broke in, "since she still has to change it." She leveled her eyes on Kelly and asked, "you won't have any problem with that, will you?"

    Kelly shrugged.

    Her patience expired, Kristyn narrowed her eyes and accusingly said, "you've been messing with me, haven't you?"

    Heather and Danielle exchanged glances before they returned their attention to the exchange at hand.

    "A bit," Kelly admitted.

    Kristyn's raised an eyebrow and asked, "which bit?"

    "The naughty bits," Kelly replied, with the makings of a small smile gracing her lips.

    With the eyebrow that she had raised now ticking, Kristyn whipped up her hand, in order to check Heather's and Danielle's obvious desire to find out what Kelly had been referring to, and said, "don't ask. Just... don't."

    She proceeded to clench her fists tightly against her sides as she glared at Kelly. She worked to keep her anger under control, though not out of her voice, as she measuredly stated, "look, I don't know what your deal is, but I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in the future. I'm only giving you this warning because you're new, so you better make the most of it."

    Turning to Danielle, she calmed down visibly and asked, "could you take care of the rest? She still needs to eat, and from there go through her evaluations and be assigned a room."

    "Of course," Danielle softly answered, understanding her friend's plight.

    "Thanks," came Kristyn's grateful reply, before she turned and walked away.

    Once she was far enough away from wardrobe, she took out her phone and dialed Tipps' number. Kelly was odd, sent her mixed signals, and she didn't trust herself to handle her any further without first being more certain about what she was dealing with. She was going to suggest that Tipps pay special attention to her during her psychological evaluation — and to try to engage her in conversation, if it were at all possible. It was her hope that, when she next saw her, they would both benefit from having a better connection.

    Danielle turned a frown on Kelly and said, "that wasn't very nice. Her responsibilities can be stressful enough, at times, as it is. And she only has your best interests at heart, you know."

    "I'll apologize," Kelly replied, actually looking contrite.

    Danielle couldn't be certain if she was telling the truth, because (for some reason) she couldn't sense what she was feeling, but she was willing to believe her, if only to drop the issue and move on. Heather seemed to have the same idea, because she began to make her way over to the shoe section.

    "Follow me," she instructed Kelly, "and let's find out what size shoes you need."

    Kelly did as she was told, and was led to a cushioned bench that was in the shoe section. Danielle had trailed behind them, and arrived as Kelly seated herself. Heather, who was already kneeling in front of her, pulled out a Brannock Device from under the bench and instructed Kelly to place her right foot into it, then turned it around for the left.

    "Size six, narrow," Heather declared, before she got to her feet. "Wait here while I find something to go with your dress."

    She skipped off with a healthy supply of enthusiasm and disappeared into an aisle down the way, leaving the other two to themselves. While Danielle had some inkling of what Heather was likely to choose, Kelly, who waited in silence, was blissfully ignorant of what was to come.

    Danielle glanced down at Kelly and wondered why she wasn't picking up any emotions from her. She knew that people had neutral states, where they didn't really feel one thing or another, but even small stimuli usually elicited something that she could sense, even when it wasn't apparent in the person's natural expressions and behavior. She might have thought that the girl was good at masking her emotions, but that didn't explain why Emily's and Lili's talents hadn't worked on her, either.

    She tried to project what she was feeling onto her, but she didn't get any notable reaction. Kelly continued to sit still and stare forward, as if someone had stopped time around her. How she could stand to stay so still was beyond her. The only thing that indicated that she was alive, and not a statue, was the pronounced gurgling of the girl's stomach.

    When Heather returned, she wasn't surprised to see the high heels of the sandals that were in her possession. Anything less would have been scandalous: if not only because of her friend's tastes, then also because of the fact that all of the new girls were supposed to learn how to walk in heels. Idly, she wondered how Kelly would fare.

    "Here you go," Heather cheerfully said, as she held out the high-heeled sandals to Kelly. "Your legs will look great in these!"

    Kelly stared up at Heather, unblinkingly.

    Heather shook the dangling shoes and, with an eager smile on her face, she prompted, "well?"

    "No," Kelly stated.

    Her smile slipping away to a pout, Heather asked, "why not?"

    Kelly tilted her head, ever-so-slightly, and said, "they're bad for your feet."

    Heather frowned and tried to say, "but..."

    "And your calves," Kelly added.

    "It will just be for a little while," Danielle tried to reason with her.

    Kelly looked up to regard Danielle and said, "and your knees."

    With a confused look on her face, Heather inquired, "your knees, too?"

    "And your back," Kelly continued.

    Heather didn't understand how a guy-turned-girl would know such things, or care enough to know about them, so she inquired further, by asking, "how do you know?"

    "Sensible girlfriend," Kelly replied, with what might have been amusement.

    "Either way," Danielle interjected, with a sigh, as she began to understand what Kristyn had to deal with, "we get the point: you don't want to wear high heels."

    Heather appeared to be heartbroken upon hearing that. Her extended arm, which held the high-heeled sandals, dropped to her side. Then, suddenly, her expression did a one-eighty; albeit with a wily undertone. Danielle had a good idea of what she was about to try and accomplish.

    "I bet you're just afraid of falling on your face," Heather remarked, with an air of authority that suggested her expertise on the matter. "You just don't want to embarrass yourself in front of two cute girls, such as ourselves."

    Danielle found her friend's challenge to be amusing; especially because of the last part. Still, Heather wasn't as beguiling as she thought she was, and Kelly seemed like the kind of person who would just admit to whatever she had been accused of, in order to escape the snare... which was why she was surprised when she held out her hands, in order to accept the shoes.

    Heather was only too happy to hand them over. Kelly then proceeded to place them on the floor, in front of herself, before standing up and slipping her feet into them. She appeared to shift her weight from one foot to the other before she took her first step forward, followed by a second and a third. She walked back and forth in front of the bench a few times, without looking down or showing any stability issues.

    "Your gait's a bit stiff, but you've got it," Heather judged, both surprised and impressed. "Have you worn high heels before?"

    Kelly stopped in front of the bench and said, "no," before she sat down and removed the high heels in question.

    Disappointed by the sight, Heather asked, "still not going to wear them, huh?"

    Kelly shook her head.

    "Well, at least we know that she won't have any problems when she has no choice in the matter," Danielle commented, giving Kelly a look that spoke of things to expect in the future.

    Instead of making a reply of any sort, Kelly picked up the shoes from the floor and made off with them, no doubt to return them so she could find something else to wear. Heather and Danielle watched her departure until she turned down the aisle that Heather had gone down a few minutes ago.

    "She's weird," Heather eventually opined.

    Danielle nodded in agreement and said, "I can see how it could be a problem fitting her in."

    "Fitting who in?" A familiar voice inquired from behind them.

    Danielle and Heather turned around and saw that Lucinda was approaching them. Holding her hand in a possessive manner was Ariel, who appeared to be quite happy about the arrangement. Lucinda had changed out of her school uniform, so she was now wearing a comfortable pair of black denim jeans and a black T-shirt that had the Geek Squad logo on it. Ariel wore a red halter top, though it was a bit large on her, and hid the fact that the elastic band of her skirt was cinched tighter by a safety pin.

    "Kelly," Danielle answered. "She's a bit..."

    "She's weird," Heather stated with a resolute nod, though not in a mean way.

    "She's awake, huh?" Came Lucinda's rhetorical response. "How is she weird?"

    "Well..." Danielle wasn't sure how to describe her. Heather wasn't either, so she didn't opt to explain in her place.

    Ariel tilted her head, to get a better look at what she had seen behind Heather, and asked, "is that her?"

    Everyone's eyes eventually found Kelly as she made her way to the group. She now wore a pair of Chinese shoes on her feet, though they looked more like slippers despite their rubber soles and the strap that buckled over the instep. They were an emerald green, appeared to be made out of satin, and had poppy flowers stitched over the toes. It did not go well with her dress, much less in combination with her hair, so they offended Heather's eyes so much that she had to turn away and cover them with her hand.

    "That would be my guess," Lucinda observed, as she noticed the color of the girl's hair.

    While Lucinda was far from being an aficionado of fashion, even she could see how everything clashed. Pastel yellow, emerald green and carrot orange did not go well together. In a puddle of sick, perhaps, but not on Kelly, and certainly not as they were currently arranged. It was just that obvious.

    "Kelly," Danielle spoke up, once said person had reached them, "this is Lucinda. She's a probability manipulator."

    When she gestured toward her, Lucinda raised her free hand in greeting and amiably said, "hey. And you can just call me Luce. Everyone else does."

    "And this is Ariel," Danielle said, as she swept her hand toward the younger girl. "She's a pyrokinetic."

    "Hi!" Ariel chirped.

    In contrast, Kelly gave a silent nod in response.

    After an awkward but brief silence, wherein they awaited for a more non-quiet response, Lucinda turned to Heather and Danielle and said, "not much for socializing, is she," as if the subject of her comment weren't present.

    Danielle smiled wanly and said, "you could say that."

    Since she was curious, Ariel regarded Kelly and asked, "what's your talent?"

    Kelly just shrugged her shoulders, so Danielle elaborated, saying, "we don't know. It's not as obvious as ours, it seems, but it may be why Emily, Lili and I are unable to use our talents on her."

    "Oh?" Lucinda voiced her interest, as her eyes scrutinized Kelly.

    "Hey," she said a second later, appearing to be a bit surprised. "She has different-colored eyes?"

    "That appears to be the case," Danielle confirmed.

    Ariel left Lucinda's side and approached Kelly, so she could get a better look. Kelly obliged by staring down at her unblinkingly, which might have unnerved the girl under different circumstances.

    "Cool!" Came Ariel's judgment, before she turned to regard Lucinda and eagerly requested, "hey, mom, you can change eyes, right? I want a red one!"

    While Heather and Danielle giggled in response to her request, Lucinda shook her head, both at the request and the title that had been used, and said, "sorry, but no can do. Besides having a unique biology, like us, I'd rather not risk spoiling the pretty peepers you already have."

    Ariel would have complained, if not for how Lucinda had managed to compliment her eyes while, simultaneously, showing concern for her safety. So, instead, she enlisted the service of a pout.

    "She's still calling you 'mom,' is she?" Heather gleefully noted. "That's so cute!"

    Lucinda heaved out a heavy sigh, and it looked as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. Personally, she didn't think that the idea itself was bad, but she just wasn't ready for such a relationship. Kristyn had it easy, because the bond made it feel natural for her to be a mother to Elizabeth. And not only did she not have that advantage, she was still adjusting to being someone's girlfriend. She just wasn't ready for the kind of responsibility and emotional commitment that was involved with being a mother. She cared dearly for Ariel, to be sure, but she wasn't ready for all that motherhood entailed; even if it didn't include actually bearing the child.

    "I take it that she still hasn't submitted a name for her records?" Danielle asked, using a tone that conveyed her understanding for how Lucinda felt about the situation.

    Ariel wanted to adopt Lucinda's surname, Xiang, but only if said person accepted her as her daughter. She was rather adamant about it, and was so enamored by her that she wouldn't settle for anything less. Sooner or later a new name for her records would be forced, but that hadn't deterred her from holding out for as long as she had already. She no longer had any significant ties to anything else, her crippled memory being what it was, so becoming Lucinda's daughter had been the obvious goal to set for herself.

    Lucinda nodded, then gazed meaningfully at Ariel, fondly, and said, "I really do care about her, but being a mother..."

    Ariel wanted to protest, because she thought that being a mother was easy, but she bit her lip, and remained silent, as she really considered Lucinda's expression. There was love there, without a doubt, but she could see the strain around her eyes, perhaps even caused, in part, by wanting to give her what she wanted but not being able to.

    "Aunt?" Kelly suggested, breaking the tense moment.

    Several pairs of eyes regarded her, whose only response was to shrug. Then they began to share looks with those around them, until Lucinda's and Ariel's met once more.

    "Well," Danielle considered, "you'd still be family."

    "An aunt is like a grandmother," Heather said with a grin, "except they're not as old."

    Lucinda rolled her eyes and said, "right, 'not as old,'" and received a pair of giggles in response.

    Still, she considered it, and it didn't seem like such a bad idea — being the mother's sister, that is. An aunt carried a lot less weight, to her mind. She saw that Ariel was looking up at her hopefully, which meant that she was ready and willing to work with such an arrangement. Of course, she had no idea that Ariel considered the two titles to essentially be the same thing, in that she'd still end up being her guardian irrespective of the title that was used.

    "Okay, sure," she said, smiling. "Aunt, it is."

    "Auntie!" Ariel squealed happily, as she dove for said person's waist.

    Lucinda caught her and wrapped her up in her arms. She only had eyes for Ariel at the moment, so she didn't mind the smiling audience. Well, Heather and Danielle were smiling, anyway; they were even a bit teary-eyed. As for Kelly, she simply watched, betraying nothing of what she felt. That is, of course, if she did, indeed, feel anything at all.

    Danielle eventually turned to regard Kelly, and was about to thank her for the suggestion, but something told her that it might be a better idea not to. There was just something about her eyes... It wasn't dangerous, per se, but it wasn't something that someone would want to touch, if they knew better — and she knew better.

    "Well," she decided to speak up, "we should probably get going. Kelly still hasn't had a bite to eat since she woke up."

    Lucinda, once she drew away from Ariel (much to her disappointment), nodded and said, "I'll catch up with you later, then. My, ahem, niece and I are going to be in here for a while."

    "The clothes that you ordered for her haven't come in yet, then?" Heather asked.

    Lucinda shook her head and said, "nope. But we're hoping to find something better to wear until then, since we still haven't been able to search the entire inventory, yet. I know this place hadn't planned on having to provide for a twelve-year-old, and someone so petit even for that age, but there's bound to be something that fits her here, you know?"

    "I'd like to think so, too," Danielle agreed. "I mean, I don't even think anyone's managed to fully explore this place, yet."

    Kelly once again took in the dimensions of the wardrobe, only this time wondering if the Ark of the Covenent had been stashed away somewhere inside. The wardrobe was just that big.

    Then a thought occured to her, regarding something that had been mentioned earlier. It took her a few seconds to puzzle it out but, even then, she was unsure if she understood what had been meant. Still, the idea had some merit, so she figured that she could share it.

    "Say," she spoke up, to get their attention, and pointed at Ariel while she regarded Lucinda, "can you change her clothes with your talent?"

    The silence that followed could have allowed those present to hear a dog whistle when blown. Heather, Danielle and Lucinda stared at Kelly with dumbfounded expressions on their faces, as they wondered how they could have forgotten to consider such an option. It was easy for Heather and Danielle to excuse themselves, since they hadn't really been involved with the matter, and thus hadn't really invested much thought into it. Lucinda, however...

    She covered her face with her hands, to hide her embarrassment, and, with her voice muffled, she said, "ugh! I know I've gotten into the habit of using my power only when I really need to, so I don't use it unintentionally, but geez! It didn't even occur to me!"

    Kelly chose that time to announce, "I'm hungry."

    She began to navigate her way out of wardrobe after making her non sequitur, before anything else could be said or done about it. Perhaps she really had become hungry enough to lose patience, but, as the others began to catch up with her, Danielle wondered if, instead, she was trying to avoid something.

    Kelly was quick to wait for Danielle and Heather once she was out of wardrobe, so she could be led to the cafeteria. Shortly thereafter, she found herself slipping behind Lucinda and Ariel, as well (with the latter's outfit now appearing to fit her perfectly). She followed them silently as they chatted about this and that, not bothering to try and include herself, and not expecting to be invited. Being an outsider was pretty normal for her, so she really didn't mind.

    In fact, it had started all the way back in kindergarten, when she had been first introduced to the social scene that had lied beyond her father, babysitters and whoever else had happened to be at the various shops and eateries that they had gone to. Kindergarten had been a place where a lot of people her own age could get together and relate to one another, make friends...

    ...or discover that you were different, and find yourself alone. Back then, she had been indistinguishable from other girls her age, except for the fact that she didn't act like one. She had wanted to play with the other boys, but they had turned her away, thinking that she was a girl and, of course, had cooties — or some other horrible malady. She had no interest in playing with the girls herself, so she had eventually exposed herself to the other boys to prove that she was a boy, like them.

    That hadn't gone well, at all: not only with the school, but for herself, as well. The school had suggested to her father that he try to make her look more like a boy, so that she could fit in. However, the buzz cut and stereotypically-male clothes had only made her look like an odd-looking girl, rather than distinguish her as a boy. So, on top of the boys thinking that she had been infected by cooties, they made fun of her appearance. Regardless of the reasons, they hadn't wanted anything to do with her.

    She had tried to play with the girls, once she had given up on the boys, but they had also rejected her. They weren't interested in playing with a boy; especially one as weird-looking as she. There had been a group of girls that had suggested that she grow out her hair and wear a dress, if she wanted to be included in their games, but she had refused. Not that it would have worked out, anyway: because, once she had finally caved in and asked her father to get her a dress and to let her hair grow out, she had been denied.

    Like many other children, she had resorted to pranks and other foolishness, in order to get someone's attention. And, like many other children, it hadn't occurred to her that she had been giving those on the receiving end of her behavior another reason to not associate with her. Over the years, she had instigated many fights, in response to what others thought to be abuse, and she had found herself in the principle's office many, many times.

    By the end of grade school, and the start of junior high, she had become a sort of copycat, and less of a prankster (though some would have said that she had been a bully). However, she had still looked like a girl, and social interactions had, by that time, become much more complicated. The cliques had become more defined and varied, and the influence of some were strong enough to dictate how people outside of their own acted, or what they believed.

    And so it was that some mean-spirited boys had spread around that she was a homosexual, along with other colorful things that kids their age begin to pick up and use. Her peers had also begun to make fun of her name, because they had thought that it was a name reserved only for girls. She had also been targeted by bullies, though they had always regretted it. However, since she had always won her fights, and those that she had defeated had friends that could lie in their defense, she had often found herself the one in trouble, and she had spent many days suffering through in-school suspension, if not outright suspension.

    Because of her supposed delinquency, she had ended up in a special ed. classroom, which had actually managed to make her even more mockworthy than she already had been. The only thing that had kept her from doing something foolish, in the criminal sense, had been due to her father. He had believed in her, understood her. He had been the only person that she had been able to count on for support, even though he could do nothing more than ensure her that her troubles wouldn't last forever. She had something to look forward to, to hope for, because of him.

    And he had been right... But not before things had gotten worse. She had been twelve years old when he had humiliated a new inmate at the prison, when he had stopped them from causing trouble with other inmates, because his skill in the martial arts had made it both quick and easy to accomplish. They had been a member of some gang, and had been able to arrange for some of their friends to find and attack her, in order to get back at her father. She was unsure if they had meant to kill her or not, even now, but the fortunate appearance of a patrolling police car had ensured her continued existence.

    However, after coming out of a coma, and having suffered a fractured skull, a broken arm, several broken ribs, and a number of stab wounds, life hadn't seemed like so much fun, anymore. She had become introverted, and began to ask herself the kind of serious questions that are often beyond a young child's capacity: existential questions. She had begun to re-examine her life, and question everything — with the notable exception being her father, of course. And, because of that, even her father's favorite comedian, George Carlin, had begun to make a lot of sense to her, where before she hadn't really understood what he had been saying.

    In the end, and with her safety in mind, they had moved away from Chicago. One of her father's friends had had a Summer home up in Maine, who hadn't been using it all that much in so many years, and had offered to rent it out to him. Her father had accepted, and that was where she had been living for the past four-plus years of her life: in a small county where no one knew her, her past, or what many of her peers had labeled her with in her old school.

    The problems that had troubled her before were gone, but not before a completely different kind arose: herself. She had become private and aloof, and the few people who had tried to befriend her, as the new kid, had met with no success. It had only gotten worse by high school, and right when she had finally begun to look more like a man, and began attracting the attention of the opposite sex. However, no one had been able to get close to her, and many had even begun to fear her after she had decked three bullies all by herself, who had come after her because she had made one of the more popular girls unhappy.

    The only exception to that had been Jennifer...

    She shook her head, and tried not to think about her. That was one subject, in particular, that she was not able to handle. Thinking about Jennifer brought up a lot of conflicting thoughts, made worse by the fact that she may not ever be able to see her again.

    Ariel had snuck a peek behind her, but she, as caught up in her thoughts as she was, hadn't even noticed. She wasn't even aware that she had a pained expression on her face, and that, despite her head being bowed, Ariel had been short enough to see it. She didn't even notice the view outside, as they left one building and made their way into another.

    It wasn't until they were in the dorm proper that she began to pay attention to her surroundings, and only because she had realized that she had been asked a question.

    "Huh?" Had been her eloquent response.

    Ariel stopped in her tracks, which caused everyone else to follow suit. She turned around to face Kelly, placed her hands on her hips, and repeated, "I said: have you been assigned a room, yet?"

    Kelly shrugged her shoulders.

    "Not yet," Danielle helpfully supplied. "Though we could probably fix that while we're here."

    Ariel smiled brightly and meaningfully stated, "there's an empty room next door to mine."

    She pointed at the one in question, three doors down, which had "A-31" displayed above the door.

    When everyone's eyes regarded her with questioning looks, Kelly shrugged in response, since she really didn't care. Ariel seemed to be satisfied with her answer, despite that, and her smile beamed even brighter with satisfaction.

    "Well, now that that's settled," Lucinda spoke up, after she shook her head, "we'll see you guys later. I need to prepare for my 'niece's' first training session, since I'll be assisting her trainer until she's comfortable enough with him to no longer require my presence." She grinned and playfully added, "hopefully, before too long, she'll be able to throw fire around better than a faulty flamethrower."

    "Hey!" Ariel mock protested.

    Danielle chuckled and said, "okay, Luce. See you two later."

    While she, Heather and Kelly continued their way toward the cafeteria, they were unaware of Ariel's eyes on the lattermost's departing back. The same could not be said of Lucinda, who could see all too clearly what she was doing.

    "Okay," she spoke up, as she leveled a piercing gaze upon her young charge, "what are you up to?"

    "Nothin'," came Ariel's reply, whose face bore a look of innocence.

    Lucinda smiled slightly and said, "pull the other one."

    "It's none of your business," Ariel replied, as she crossed her arms and drew herself up in a feigned huff. "Us nieces have things that they keep from you old nag type people."

    "You don't say," Lucinda drawled out with evident sarcasm, before she smiled and perkily added, "then I guess I'll just have to work you so hard that you'll feel just like one of us 'old nag type people.' Then you'll be sure to tell me, hmmmm?"

    Ariel gasped in surprise and said, "you wouldn't!"

    Lucinda reached out and ruffled the little blonde's head, much to the girl's obvious delight, and said, "nah. Just be sure to be careful, okay?"

    With a tilt of her head, Ariel showed some evidence of her age by asking, "how come?"

    "Because," Lucinda began to explain, while her hand still rested on Ariel's head, "she's new here, and we don't know her that well."

    Ariel knew that, even without saying it outright, Lucinda was showing concern for her well-being. It made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. However, even though she enjoyed every confirmation of her love, she knew that it would be best to not draw it out. So, she took hold of the hand that was on her head, drew it down to her chest, and squeezed it gently.

    "Okay," came her soft reply, as she looked up at her aunt adoringly. "I'll be careful."

    "Good," Lucinda responded, while hiding most of her relief.

    The cafeteria wasn't very far from the dorms, so Kelly soon found herself at a table, and the proud owner of a ham and cheese sandwich. As she ate it, Danielle and Heather, who sat across from her, continued to tell her about what kind of food was served and when, along with why the cafeteria appeared to be deserted.

    "There's only an hour between the end of school and the start of training," Heather explained. "Some choose to come here, for a snack. Others go to hang out with their friends or, if they have one, a significant other."

    Kelly noted the playful grin given at the end of her explanation, then took another bite out of her sandwich.

    Danielle cleared her throat and said, "anyway, that's about it. Just use your time wisely, and everything should be fine."

    Kelly nodded her head.

    When she finished her sandwich a few bites later, she found herself just as hungry as before, even though she had assumed that her new stomach would require less food to fill it.

    "I'm still hungry," she announced, the flat tone of her voice masking any hint of surprise that might have been.

    "Really?" Danielle queried, and received a nod in response. "Well, you're welcome to eat some more. Plenty of people here have talents that require them to eat a lot more than they normally would, if they use their talent too much."

    Kelly decided to eat a roast beef club sandwich for her second course, but even that had failed to sate her hunger. After eating all of that, and considering what she had been told, she became more daring and selected a twelve-inch tuna sub. When that failed to do more than ease her stomach's griping by only a bit, she got herself a tray and loaded it up with a slice of cheesecake, pumpkin pie, blueberry pie, yellow cake, chocolate cake, red velvet cake, and an ice cream sundae.

    Danielle and Heather wore amused expressions on their faces when they saw what could have been a look of frustration on Kelly's face, as she returned to their table with a tray full of goodies. Once she sat down and began to dig in, however, a thought occurred to Danielle, and she became contemplative.

    "Say," she spoke up, and turned to regard Heather, "isn't this a bit odd?"

    "What is?" Heather replied, looking confused.

    "How much she's eating," Danielle pointed out, as she gestured toward the subject in question. "It's like she's been using a talent too much, rather than just waking up hungry."

    "Maybe she's a type of psychokinetic," Heather reasoned, and peered at Kelly more closely. "You said that Emily's, Lili's and your talents hadn't worked on her, so maybe she's projecting some kind of protective force field all of the time?"

    Danielle considered that idea for a few seconds before she said, "I guess that's possible. But that may suggest that she might not have much conscious control over her talent."

    They both glanced over at Kelly, with a question in their eyes. Since she had been paying attention, despite stuffing her face, Kelly was able to give them a shrug of her shoulders. All that she knew was that she could see auras, if she focused enough, and she didn't know whether or not that had anything to do with her supposed ability to block some of their talents.

    "It would just figure, though," Danielle muttered darkly, "that I'd have yet another person around here who can eat like a pig and not have to worry too much about their figure."

    Heather giggled before she teasingly asked, "are you saying that a certain someone isn't interested in full-figured girls?"

    There was a pang that sprung up in Kelly's chest, as she watched Danielle blush and turn away. They were no doubt very close friends, and it was suggested that the one on the receiving end of the comment was closer still to someone else. A lot of the people that she had seen, thus far, had been close. She didn't begrudge them their happiness, but...

    She put more effort toward what remained of her "snacks," and tried not to think about it too much.

    By the time that she had begun to dig into her sundae, which she had saved for last, a new voice called out, "hey, guys!"

    While Danielle and Heather had to shift in their seats to greet the newcomer, Kelly only had to raise her eyes in order to see the next person that she would soon become acquainted with. Said person was a girl that was dressed casually, in a modest skirt and blouse combination, and walked along in a pair of mules that had sensible heels. She appeared to be of Native American descent and, if that were the case, it would be her first time meeting such a person. Of course, once she drew close enough for her to see her eyes, she learned that some other ancestral trait was shining through, too.

    Heather replied verbally, by happily saying, "hey, Liz," while Danielle gave her a friendly wave. Kelly went back to eating her ice cream.

    "Mom said you'd be here," Elizabeth stated, once she stood by the table. While her eyes had acknowledged everyone, they had made a point to settle on Kelly. She soon smiled warmly and added, "I'm glad to see that you've made a full recovery."

    Danielle and Heather turned questioning looks upon her, and the former asked, "but hadn't you healed her before she got here?"

    "I didn't have the energy to heal everything," Elizabeth informed her. "I was going to finish it up last night, but her condition had already improved by then. I decided to wait and check on her again this morning, since most of the damage seemed to be limited to her skin and the muscles immediately beneath it, and, when I did, I could barely feel anything wrong with her."

    Heather snapped her fingers in realization and said, "that must be the reason for her appetite!"

    Elizabeth noticed the amount of empty dessert dishes on Kelly's tray and couldn't hold back a giggle. Kelly didn't know what was so funny, but she was glad that she was finally feeling a bit full, now that she was almost done with her sundae. Still, what had been said made her wonder what had happened back at her house. Her memory of what had happened was a bit spotty, and she couldn't remember how she had gotten injured, and in what way. She did remember being on the roof, at some point, though.

    "So she has some kind of automatic healing talent?" Danielle ventured.

    With a pensive expression on her face, Elizabeth said, "no; I don't think so. Not a 'talent,' anyway. I've been thinking about it since this morning, and I think that it might be a result of using my talent on her while she was transitioning."

    "A bond, then," Heather concluded.

    "Maybe," Elizabeth answered with a shrug. "But, that's why I'm here: to find out if we've bonded in some way."

    "Oh," she voiced, as if she had just remembered something. She turned to regard Heather with a look of amusement and said, "and I bet you completely lost track of time, haven't you?"

    Heather twisted around to check the clock on the wall and, upon seeing how little time she had to get ready for her training session, she let out a squeak of alarm. Unlike people with talents like Danielle's and Elizabeth's, whose training could only be taken and applied so far, there was no end to the amount of useful illusions that she could learn as a photokinetic; even after so many years.

    A second later she hopped away from the table and put some distance between it and herself. Then, while feeling a bit awkward, she turned around and said, "er, well, gotta go! Nice meeting you, Kelly!"

    After she turned her back on everyone and began to jog away, she mumbled to herself, "I think..."

    After watching Heather's exit, Elizabeth returned her attention to Kelly, leaned over the table to offer her a handshake, and said, "hi! I'm Elizabeth, but you can just call me Liz."

    Kelly hesitated a moment before she put down her spoon and took her hand. She put a little effort into it, but not much.

    "Thanks..." She managed to get out with some amount of feeling, before she withdrew her hand.

    Elizabeth didn't catch Danielle's look of interest as she asked, "what for?"

    "For healing me," Kelly replied, who had almost been too quiet to hear. She found her spoon to be a bit interesting, then, and was tempted to pick it back up and use it on the remains of her sundae.

    "No problem," Elizabeth replied, smiling. "I'm a healer. It's what I do."

    "To be more specific," Danielle spoke up, while feigning a look of disappointment at said healer, "she's a reikikinetic."

    Elizabeth stuck out her tongue in response, before she moved around the table and sat down beside Kelly. She made a point to position herself so that she was facing her at an angle.

    "So," she casually began, "do you feel different about me?"

    Danielle slapped a hand over her face and shook her head. Kelly, meanwhile, didn't see how she could feel anything different about Elizabeth, seeing as they had only just met for the first time while they were both conscious. So, she shook her head in the negative.

    Elizabeth nodded her head resolutely and said, "yeah; same here."

    Danielle peered under her hand and asked, "that's it?"

    With a shrug of her shoulders, Elizabeth said, "pretty much. We're sitting close to each other, we've talked to each other, we shook each other's hands..."

    "...nothing." Danielle finished for her.

    "Nothing." Elizabeth confirmed.

    A thoughtful silence descended upon them. Kelly swirled her spoon through the melted remains of her sundae, and wondered if she should bother to mention her ability to see auras. She eventually decided against it, since it might turn their confusion into a headache.

    "Okay," Danielle began to reason out loud, "we know that at least some talents don't work on her, since yours worked just fine. And you suspect that using your talent on her during the transition has imparted some healing ability."

    Elizabeth nodded her head.

    "And neither of you sense any kind of bond," Danielle concluded.

    After stealing a glance at Kelly, Elizabeth returned her attention to Danielle and said, "that's pretty much it."

    Danielle considered what she knew about talents, the bond between Kristyn and Elizabeth, and the possibility that Kelly had inherited an ability to heal herself. When she idly turned her attention toward Kelly, and saw her eyes, her own lit up with an idea.

    "Hey," she broke the silence, both looking and sounding excited, "I think I've got it!"

    "What?" Elizabeth asked, as she leaned forward to show her interest.

    Kelly stopped fiddling with her spoon and paid attention, since what Danielle was about to say concerned herself.

    "Well," Danielle began, "you know how your bond with Kris was caused by physical contact?" She received a nod from Elizabeth, in response. "And how our talents are controlled mentally?" She got another nod. "So, what if it has something to do with the fact that we all become the opposite sex when we transition?"

    Elizabeth's eyes widened when she figured out what Danielle was getting at, and proclaimed, "that would make sense! Physical contact creates a mental bond, while the application of our talents causes a physical..." She paused, and considered an appropriate word to use. "Impression?"

    Danielle nodded at the suggestion and said, "works for me."

    After a brief pause, Elizabeth got curious and asked, "say, what drew you to that conclusion, anyway? It looked as if you had been reminded of something."

    Danielle smiled, pointed at Kelly, and said, "check out her left eye."

    Wondering why she would need to look at Kelly's left eye, Elizabeth turned to her and asked, "can I see it?"

    Kelly obliged her, by turning her head to regard her, and she soon discovered that the color of her eyes didn't match. She hadn't noticed before because Kelly's head had been tilted downward when she had been standing and, until now, the girl hadn't turned her head in her direction since she had sat down beside her. But, now that she could see her left eye, she knew exactly what Danielle had seen: a copy of her own eyes.

    "It's just like mine," she stated, as she continued to stare into Kelly's unblinking, mismatched eyes. "Interesting."

    "Not as interesting as it would have been if you had become her mother," Danielle pointed out, and began to grin mischievously. "That would make Kris a grandmother."

    Elizabeth turned to regard Danielle and sarcastically said, "yeah, she'd just love that."

    When she saw that Danielle's expression wasn't changing, she realized what she was suggesting and, with a conspiratorial grin, she stated, "we really shouldn't."

    "I know." Danielle replied, her grin becoming broader.

    The two conspirators switched their attention to Kelly, who found herself caught in a position that she had no prior experience with: whenever she had pulled pranks and jokes before, she had acted alone.

    "You'll help us, right?" Danielle asked, trying to solicit her cooperation.

    Kelly shrugged noncommittally and hoped that it would be enough of an answer for them.

    "Is that a 'yes' or a 'no?'" Elizabeth pressed.

    Kelly bit the inside of her mouth, and wondered what she should do. She had next to no experience with peer pressure, outside of her experiences with Jennifer. And, despite her need for space and privacy, that didn't mean that she wanted people to dislike her. As she saw it, she could either risk making them unhappy, by not going along with what they had planned, or she could go along with them and risk making Kristen — whom she had gathered to be Elizabeth's "mother" — even more upset with her. However, if they thought that it would be okay, then...

    She gave a short, tentative nod.

    "Great!" Danielle cheered.

    Elizabeth got to her feet and said, "I'll go and tell mom the 'good news.'"

    "Hold on," Danielle said, as she got up from the table. "I've got to be there for that. Can you wait until after I drop Kelly off for her physical?"

    "Sure," Elizabeth granted, smiling.

    Danielle returned her attention to Kelly and asked, "you're finished eating, right?"

    Kelly glanced down at her tray and didn't see any point in wasting their time by eating what remained of her melted ice cream. So, she stood up, picked up her tray, and left to drop it off where everything could be collected for cleaning.

    Danielle rubbed her hands together and said, "I can't wait to see the look on her face when we tell her."

    Kelly was escorted to, and dropped off at, an examination room in medical, where she met Dr. Litchburg once more. If he was thinking about what had happened little more than an hour ago, he certainly didn't show it. So, the physical exam went smoothly and the resulting progress eventually led to the gynecology exam, where the doctor and nurse were treated to the rare sight of an indifferent first-timer.

    When Danielle came back to pick her up, Kelly saw that she had changed her outfit, and now wore sensible daywear instead of her school uniform. She also appeared to be in a very good mood, which was made evident, in part, because she couldn't resist telling her about how she should have been there, with her and Elizabeth, when Kristyn had reacted to the supposed news concerning her newfound status as a grandmother. Kelly took her word for it, since she didn't really know what to think about it.

    She was taken to see the psychologist, Dr. Tipps, after that. When she assured Danielle that she could find her way back to her new room, once she was done with her tests, her guide was only too happy to find something better to do, rather than wait around for her to finish.

    After Tipps explained what she wanted her to do, Kelly set to work against the timer. Her training as a martial artist, and her lack of a social life, had made her a focused and diligent student: so, she finished all three tests with plenty of time to spare. Tipps then proceeded to converse with her, asking questions that she supposed all psychologists asked, though she couldn't exactly say, afterward, what the point of them had been.

    Once she was finally able to enter the privacy of her new bedroom, she leaned her back up against the closed door, shut her eyes, and released a sigh of relief. She had become accustomed to Jennifer imposing things on her every now and again, but what she had just gone through since waking had been ridiculous. Usually, she had the freedom to be by herself, doing whatever she felt like doing; but, now, she was being assimilated — and all due to things beyond her control.

    Finally, however, she could distance herself from everything and really think about what had happened. Her father had raised her to be an open-minded person, because her late mother had been something of a free spirit, so the whole becoming-the-opposite-sex-and-gaining-supernature-abilities thing didn't really phase her. In fact, she was now hoping that the transition of science-fiction to science-fact would eventually lead to the discovery or realization of magic.

    Being forced to work with/for the government, on the other hand, didn't really sit well with her. Her skepticism and cynicism aside, regarding its motives, she did not think that the circumstances were an excuse for having her constitutional "rights" being violated; and, being imprisoned as she was, for all intents and purposes, was no different from when the government had sent Japanese-American citizens into internment camps, following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

    The real problem, as she saw it, was that someone, or some people, had it in their head(s) the assumption that they knew what needed to be done; and, based on that, had elected themselves to be the ones to control things as they saw fit. The problem with handling things so arbitrarily, is that there would be others vying for that same special privilege, thus creating a tug of war. In the end, that which can be hidden can also be found, and keeping something away will more likely than not engender a greater need to take it away. It's more often a matter of when, rather than a matter of if.

    She didn't assume that she knew any better, but she felt that letting things happen naturally was a better course of action. After all, what is freedom without the ability to make your own choices? She might have still been with her father, at home, dealing with other people as those of all races before her had done in regard to prejudice, discrimination and racism. It wouldn't be ideal, but it would have been her choice.

    Since there wasn't anything that she could really do about her situation, she decided to open her eyes and check out her room. A bunk bed took care of the sleeping arrangements, even though she wasn't yet sure which bed she would use. It had a metal frame, with a ladder at the foot of it, and it was welded together in all places but those that would make disassembly, and thus transport through small doors, impossible. There was a partners desk set up against the back wall, underneath a window whose curtains were currently drawn. A monitor was present on one side, which meant that a computer tower was probably hiding under the desktop. Across from the bunk bed were two dressers set side by side, and attached to each was a table whose actual purpose escaped her. Finally, near the bunk bed's ladder was a door that had a mirror mounted on the outside. Whether it led to a closet or a bathroom, she had no idea.

    With the thought of killing two birds with one stone, she decided to approach the door with the mirror. When she saw her reflection for the first time, the sight made her feel strange. She couldn't identify what kind of feeling it was, or what it meant, but she knew that it had to be significant in some way. Although it could have been anything, from appreciative giddiness to fluttering anxiety.

    It was hard to pay attention to any one feature, because they all seemed to shout out for attention, but she managed. Thanks to photographs of her mother, she knew that she had her fiery orange hair. Well, her mother's hair didn't seem quite so vivid as her own, and she didn't know if said color was only possible from a bottle, but, to her, the resemblance was close enough. The color of her eyes were also quite striking, and made exotic by not matching each other. Her face was appealing in a confusing way, because she couldn't tell whether she was closer to being a child or an adult. All in all, her Irish, Welsh and German ancestries were shining through strongly, as both her mother's and father's sides of the family had high occurrences of red hair, as well as green and blue eyes.

    Her eyes dropped to her chest, and she found herself hefting them for the second time within two hours. She now knew, from her physical examination, that they would require brassieres that were labeled with the fourth letter of the alphabet. She didn't know how to feel about that, or how to feel about feeling herself up, but, despite being seven inches shorter than she used to be, at five-foot-four, it didn't seem like their size would be a problem. Not that she was an expert on such things, of course.

    When she looked back up into her face, she frowned. Even though, to her mind, she didn't really look like a "Kelly" anymore, it had been the name that her mother had picked out for her, so that it wouldn't matter which sex she turned out to be. She turned out to be both, in a way, but that was irrelevant: she had to change her name, regardless of how she felt about it. Unfortunately, nothing was coming to mind.

    She sighed, and was about to open the door to find out what was on the other side, when something occurred to her. She returned her attention to her reflection, focused, and then focused some more, but she wasn't seeing an aura appear around her body. She wondered about that, and whether she couldn't see auras while using a mirror. However, since she didn't have any answers, she decided to continue what she was about to do, and found a closet on the other side of the door.

    "Where's the bathroom?" She wondered.

    Since she wouldn't need to worry about going to the bathroom any time soon, she glanced over at the monitor and thought about surfing the Internet. Tipps had mentioned that chatting, blogging or otherwise communicating with others was an earned privilege, during their little talk, and that was exactly what she was in the mood for. She had recommended writing a journal, instead, but she had never seen the point in doing it before, and that hadn't changed.

    Without anything else to do with her alone time, she decided to lie on the bottom bunk and meditate on a new name. She couldn't remember naming anything before, since she had never before owned a pet, or had seen any need to change the default names of video game characters — and had, in fact, gone so far as to ask game masters to name her characters for her, since they knew the non-English names better than she did — so, it wasn't exactly her area of expertise. Still, by the time she heard the knocking on her door, a few hours later, she felt fairly confident that she had come up with an acceptable name.

    When she answered the door, she was greeted by a smiling Ariel, who asked, "can I come in?"

    After a second's thought, Kelly simply stood aside.

    Ariel strode into the room, in a manner best suited to whoever owned the place, and soon stood in the center of the room. She placed her hands on her hips as she gave the room a once-over, then shook her head and tsked.

    "I'll have to get auntie in here as soon as possible," she said aloud, before she turned around to regard Kelly with a grin and added, "she's great at interior decorating."

    Kelly could imagine why, but she wasn't interested in such a thing. Since Ariel hadn't posed the idea as a question, she didn't even answer with some bodily gesture, and the ensuing silence made the young girl's grin falter.

    "Anyway," Ariel went on with what she had intended to do, even though she wasn't sure about what kind of person she was dealing with, "I wanted to thank you for the suggestion you made earlier. Auntie Luce means a lot to me."

    Kelly began to feel uncomfortable, but she hid it well as she shrugged her shoulders.

    Ariel frowned thoughtfully as she considered the older girl in front of her. She seemed like an uncaring person, even though she had made those two helpful suggestions earlier, back in wardrobe. Something didn't seem right.

    Since there was more than one way to express gratitude, Ariel decided to give Kelly a hug. She did so with care, and slowly enough for the intended recipient to decline or escape. Fortunately, Kelly didn't move. Unfortunately, she was so tense that she could feel just how stiffly she stood in place.

    Looking up with a mix of confusion and concern, she asked, "are you okay?"

    "I don't know," Kelly heard herself reply, unsure of whether she had instructed her mouth to work at all. She continued to stare ahead, wondering why the hug had inspired the same feeling that she had felt in front of the mirror, and what it meant.

    As Ariel withdrew from Kelly, she thought that she was beginning to understand what was going on. She wasn't old enough to completely grasp the matter, despite the experiences that had forced her to grow up faster than other children her age, but she felt that she had uncovered the basics of the problem.

    "Come on," she said, as she grasped one of Kelly's hands in both of her own and gave her a sympathetic look. "I know just the thing to help you relax."

    Kelly put up no resistance as she was pulled out of her room and led down the hallway. She would soon find out where the bathroom was and, in particular, become quite intimate with the first half of that compound word.

    Kristyn looked off to the side, in thought, as she reclined in her chair. The soft light from her desk lamp didn't illuminate her office well but, at the moment, she wasn't trying to see anything of physical importance, anyway.

    Her laptop was on, and the screen was currently displaying a forum that their investigators had turned up on Kelly's computer, via bookmark. It was a roleplaying forum, of all sorts, and had a small but fairly non-childish community. Kelly's user account was ranked in the top ten, as far as post count was concerned, so she had frequented the place quite often.

    She had finished browsing through some of Kelly's posts nearly an hour ago, once she had gotten a good enough idea regarding what kind of person she was. Surprisingly, she turned out to be the community's little bundle of energy, and was much beloved... despite her love of puns. The way that she could express herself there was a stark contrast to what she had witnessed in reality, regardless of whether she was roleplaying or chatting in the discussion forums.

    Since she didn't know which Kelly was the real one, or if they were both somehow either real or fake, she had opted to wait on Tipps for an answer — which included an assessment of the girl's test results. After all, if someone was good at roleplaying, how was she supposed to tell one way or the other? She was still a teenager, so she was far from being qualified as far as being a psychoanalyst was concerned.

    Her eyes drifted back to her desktop, where a faxed paper lied. Written on it was what a Mr. Carl Hendrix, the landlord and longtime friend of Mr. Samuel Baxter, had told the investigator that was on the case. A part of the interview told a lot about Kelly's problems in school, and how her father had struggled throughout the years to provide for her the attention that others her own age had denied her. He had risen above just being a father, to also become a friend, a teacher, a confidant and, to an extent, a mother.

    The information revealed yet another facet of the girl's life and, fortunately, one that she could understand a lot better than anything else. That didn't mean that she knew exactly what it meant, in relation to everything else, but it gave her the hope that it would help to clear everything up once Tipps arrived to lend her expertise on the matter.

    As if her thoughts had summoned her, she noticed movement in the open doorway of her office. She fixed her gaze on Tipps just as she had begun to knock on the door frame. It was almost ten o'clock at night, and her secretary had clocked out nearly an hour ago, so she had told the doctor to just walk into her office when she was ready to present what she might have learned about Kelly. Not that her manners weren't appreciated, of course.

    She motioned for Tipps to enter, once she was seated upright once more, and said, "come in and tell me what you've got for me."

    Tipps did as she was bade and stopped beside Kristyn's desk. She then pulled out a folder from the crook of her arm, brought it to her boss' attention, and said, "I'm afraid that I can't answer anything definitively. I'd need to have a few sessions with her before I could state anything conclusively."

    "Alright," Kristyn granted with an understanding nod, "then what do you suspect?" She gestured toward her laptop and the interview with Hendrix, which the doctor had been given access to. "I honestly don't know what to make of it."

    "Well," Tipps began, "based on everything that I've been presented with, my best guess is that she has S-P-D, at the very least."

    Kristyn regarded her with half-lidded eyes and sarcastically stated, "well, at least I'm pretty sure that that has nothing to do with the speed stat of her characters."

    Tipps chuckled and said, "of course not. I'm saying that she might have Schizoid Personality Disorder."

    "Schizoid," Kristyn latched onto the familiar word, a nonplussed expression on her face. "Are you saying that she's crazy?"

    "Not so much crazy as being different from what is considered normal, as far as thought and behavior is concerned," Tipps helpfully supplied. "It's not to be confused with Schizophrenia."

    Kristyn nodded her head before she asked, "and that explains why she seems so... aloof, is it? As well as those strange things she's said?"

    "I wish it were that easy," Tipps replied, sighing. "However, at this point, this is about the best that can be expected. For instance," she pointed at the forum being displayed on her boss' laptop, "someone with S-P-D can still interact with people, if they pretend they're someone else, thus separating themselves emotionally. She probably did so on the Internet because it's easier: being non-confrontational, and all. And, because they may act passively if they're forced into situations that they don't like," she went on, "we can't say that having a girlfriend is or isn't contrary to the behavior of someone who may have S-P-D."

    Kristyn stared back at her, blinked a few times, then said, "I'm glad I didn't get your job."

    "What can I say?" Tipps replied, smiling wanly. "The mind is complex. Speaking of which," she pulled out the personality test booklet from the folder, which had several post-it notes sticking out of it, "there is a matter about the grey area."

    "The what...?" Came Kristyn's incredulous response, who didn't know how one subject was related to the other.

    "As opposed to having a black and white perspective on things," Tipps elaborated, sounding amused. "Rather than having absolute opinions or beliefs, Kelly is about as circumstancial as they come. She won't even give a direct answer unless you're very explicit regarding the details concerning the question; and that includes the hypotheticals."

    "So, she's on the fence, basically?" Kristyn guessed.

    "Not exactly," Tipps replied, as she frowned thoughtfully. "While I'm sure that she'd rather just leave well enough alone, the problem is that she doesn't believe in the concept of right and a wrong, as far as I can gather from her tests. That means, basically, that rather than there being a grey area between the black and white areas, and thus a fence, there are no black and white areas, and consequently no need for a fence: because everything is a shade of grey."

    Kristyn tried to wrap her mind around what she had just been told, but she found it difficult to do so. She remained silent, and hoped that the doctor would elaborate some more, so that she could completely comprehend what was being said.

    "Be that as it may," Tipps continued, as she picked out one of the post-it notes that had been used to reference one of the test's pages, "she can think in absolute terms about other things. And, if you look here..."

Do you have a problem with authority figures?
Probably.

    Looking up at Tipps questioningly, since she wondered how the answer couldn't be obvious, she played it safe by asking, "what does that mean, exactly?"

    "That means," Tipps began to explain, "that she recognizes authority figures as being individuals, rather than painting them all with the same brush. So, it's reasonable to say that she won't automatically dislike you, but you'll nevertheless have to put forth the effort to make sure that she doesn't."

    "That's easier said than done," Kristyn replied, and snorted. "I can't accommodate everyone without giving someone special treatment somewhere down the line, and the last thing that I need right now is for anyone to think that I'm treating them unfairly." She shared a half-smile with Tipps before she added, "there's this whole morale thing that's always got it in for me, if you can believe it."

    Tipps smiled and rejoindered with, "better more Al than more power, when it comes to home improvement, is what I believe." At Kristyn's blank look, she sighed and said, "sorry; the reference is a bit before your time."

    Kristyn shook her head and asked, "anyway, is there anything that you would recommend for me to do?"

    Tipps set the folder down on her boss' desk before she gave her a sympathetic look and said, "aside from looking over her test results yourself? Spend some time with her: she doesn't have to attend classes, yet, and you don't have to attend them at all."

    "Yay for me..." Was Kristyn's droll reply. "Whatever happened to being happy when you're out of school?"

    "Welcome to adulthood, kiddo," Tipps joked, smiling softly.

    "Yeah, yeah," Kristyn replied, and began to make a shooing motion with her hand. "I suppose I could check out the pages that you've got marked before I go to bed. I'll save the rest for tomorrow."

    "Don't worry," Tipps assured her. "You'll do fine."

    Once Tipps was gone, Kristyn smiled fondly after her, knowing that she was good people. Then, when she considered where to start, her curiosity got the better of her. So, she took out the booklet that had the more... interesting questions from the folder, and checked the answer to the last question.

Your mother and father are sentenced to death by dismemberment. You are given the chance to save one from death. Given that you love both equally, how do you determine their fate?
That's assuming that I would continue to love them, and thus want to save them, if they had indeed done something so awful as to deserve dismemberment. If they had been sentenced unjustly, which would preserve my love for them, then I would exercise everything under my power to feign choosing only one while I secretly try to save the other. Either way, I wouldn't give the ones responsible for our predicament the satisfaction of playing their game, if they're willing to make such a deal. Besides, a chance doesn't guarantee anything, and accepting anything less than complete assurance would be a mistake.

    "Huh," Kristyn voiced, as she considered the answer at length. "Tipps wasn't kidding about her. 'Including the hypotheticals,' indeed."

    The response was still an interesting take on the hypothetical question, nonetheless; and it did manage to answer it, in so many words. It made her wonder what Kelly would say about flipping a coin.

    Kelly laid in the dark, unable to sleep. She had only been awake for ten hours, and thus didn't feel tired, but there was more to it than that. Even now she could smell the lavender in her hair, which kept reminding her of her time in the bath, with Ariel. She had been anxious the entire time, practically afraid, yet she didn't have those feelings when she looked back on it.

    She remembered how her father had once cleaned her up in the bath, a long time ago, and she found herself comparing it to that. It was strange, though, to think of someone that was younger than her giving her a bath, when she was less than a year away from becoming an adult. On top of that, she didn't know how to feel about sharing a bath with a young girl, even though she was now of the female persuasion herself. She had been a boy not too long ago, after all, and she didn't think that a change of body would automatically excuse the mind.

    And if that hadn't been enough, the hot, encompassing water, along with Ariel's tender ministrations, had made her hyper aware of her new body. That was why she was currently naked and lying on top of the covers, exposing herself to the cool air, so she could get used to the shape of her new body. Accepting it hadn't been a problem, of course: she just wanted it to feel normal, so it wouldn't be a distraction.

    She thought about performing some calisthenics to pass the time, but she didn't want to get all sweaty so soon after taking a bath — and certainly not before going to bed. Normally she would go onto the Internet, whenever she had nothing else to do, but she didn't know of anything of interest that didn't include communicating with other people, so...

    Since she was reminded of the doctor's suggestion, as an alternative to chatting with others, she sighed and got out of bed. She stepped over the towels and clothing, that she had left out in the middle of the floor, and found the light switch beyond. Next, she went over to the side of the desk that had the monitor, found the computer, turned everything on, then sat in the chair. Once she was settled in, she pulled out the keyboard tray, where she was glad to see a keyboard and mouse present.

    The computer already had a default account setup (probably for the computer-impaired), no password required, so she decided to use it instead of a guest account. Once everything was loaded up, she created a new folder, named it "journal," then opened up a word processor so she could add her first entry into it.

    It took her a bit to think of something to write, but her fingers eventually began to express her thoughts, albeit slowly. She was unused to keeping a log of her activities, as well as her thoughts and feelings, so she spent more time staring at the screen, thinking, than typing. By the time she felt that she had said everything that could have been said, it was well past four o'clock in the morning, and the start of fatigue had begun to settle in.

    After saving the first entry of her journal, she turned everything off, including the lights, and got back into bed. She slipped under the covers, this time, and curled up into a fetal position as the warm and cozy feelings spread throughout her body. She was asleep before too long, her mind clear of things to expect when next she woke.