//------------------------------// // Development // Story: All Smoke, No Mirrors // by Jinzou //------------------------------// I glanced over to the social worker, who was clearly trying to hide a frown. "The family was intending to visit you more than once." She tried.  Yeah, right. I'd bet my broke-ass leg that they were playing at something. "Where's Smokey?" I asked. "She unfortunately couldn't make it." The social worker fibbed. "I hope she's okay!" Came Sunny's voice, making me jump. I had almost forgotten she was there. "She's probably fine. The staff are most likely trying to create a narrative since they don't trust you and her together right now." I thought back. Not speaking out loud, I wasn't sure she could hear me, and after a moment of silence I ruled that she'd either gotten quiet again… or I needed to speak out loud for her to understand. Meanwhile, everyone in the room was looking at me. "Well." I cleared my throat. "Welcome to my humble abode. I've put on my Sunday finest just for you." The social worker and Golden chuckled, but Script and Noi just looked at me in confusion. "But you're not wearing anything." Script said, his voice deep and strong. "That's… the joke." I faked a smile. There was a pregnant silence. "You're weird." Noi announced, one ear up, the other sideways. She raised an eyebrow at me. "Hey! You little rascal!" Golden nudged Noi again. Noi turned on her mom.  "Well, she is!" "Hey, I ain't in denial about it." I shrugged. "But I did want to thank you all for saving me. I hope none of you got hurt or anything." Yeah, that'd be just what I needed, start my life here with a history of burning those who try and help me. I turned expectantly to Script, who was staring at me blankly. He matched my gaze, blinked twice, looked between Golden, then back to me, and shook his head. "We all came out unscathed." He reported. "Oh," Golden interrupted. "That means-" "Without injury." I interrupted a bit too quickly. "Right. Got it. Well, that's good." The pregnant silence lasted longer and quickly went into labor as we all looked at each other. "What happened to your forelegs?" Noi asked, wiggling away from her mom and jumping on the foot of the bed to get a better look at me. See, I could tell the truth. All the adults probably knew the truth. But Noi? I wasn't the biggest fan of kids, but hey, I could at least use an eager audience for my tale of woes. Plus, being overdramatic was fun with kids. "So there I was in the middle of nowhere." I began. "Between the town and me was a Manticore almost as big as this room! But I wasn't gonna let that stop me. I'd told my sister I was gonna meet her here, and I wasn't about to be later than her." It had taken nearly half an hour to recount my totally true tale, even acting out some of the more interesting parts with Noi acting as the Manticore. In the end, I have to confess I was having a lot of fun. The family, who had a lot of errands to run that day, had to almost pull Noi away from me. Safe to say I'd grown on her a bit. As I watched her carried out of the room, sitting on Script's back and sadly waving at me, my attention was brought back to the social worker. I'd honestly forgotten she was there. The same sweet smile that was shown on the parents face was mirrored on hers. "So." I started. "Yes?" She arched an eyebrow. "You're not telling me something, and are not the best liar." I stated matter-of-factly. She grimaced. "You're a sharp one." "Yes." I spoke curtly. "And you're trying to engineer a situation. What does that family know that I don't? And why are you stopping Smokey from seeing me?" Wait, if Smokey had shown up in the hospital, then they'd already definitely have interviewed her. They now probably knew something I didn't. Or they were solely basing their trepidation on our last interaction. Yeah, that'd be fair. But I'm guessing she, the social worker, and possibly Sunny all knew something I didn't. God, I hate being the only one in the dark. But judging on what Golden said and how Penny reacted when I called attention to it… "Are you trying to set up a foster care scenario?" I asked quickly. Penny and I kept silent eye contact for a moment before she responded. "The reunion between your sister and you worried us." She admitted. "And she's not of legal age to take care of you. She has another year until then." I felt like I was on the verge of discovering something big. "What about Sunny's parents?" An unrecognizable expression flashed across her face. "That's probably something Sunny should tell you herself." She responded quietly. The fuck kinda quack leaves a little girl to break the bad news? Either this mare deserved some negative evals in her record, or… what, Sunny herself did something bad she was supposed to be guilty about? Yeah fucking right, she's a little kid. "Or, crazy idea here, but bear with me." I snarked. "You could just tell me, and not leave this bombshell on a child." "Er, what's a bombshell?" Penny's ears perked. Goddamn motherf- "Revelation." I answered curtly. "They're out of the picture." Was her steely response. Great, so abusive or dead. Not so hard, is it? "Sunny would want to stay with her sister and not a random family." Penny sat on that information for a moment. "And you?" "I'm like, just over a day old. I'm not qualified to have an opinion." I shrugged. "It still impacts your future. Where would you prefer to be?" "In my old life. Where I was my own person and had my own body." That seemed to strike Penny speechless, which was nice for a few moments. "If you tell me about your… old life, I could look into a situation like that." She offered. "I lived in my house with my girlfriend and cat. Can you find a setup just like that?" I replied sarcastically. "Well, we could find a family with a cat if you'd like that." She offered weakly. I wished she would go back to being speechless. "Could I maybe speak to Sunny?" She tried. "Sunny?" I spoke aloud. "I'm here." She replied. "Do you want me to take over?" "Yes." I nodded as the social worker looked on in confusion. A familiar, brief dizzy spell, and I was back in the "mind room". "Hello, miss." I heard our voice say. God, that was gonna take time to get used to. The nurse took a moment to adjust to the shift in mannerisms before talking.  "Hello Sunny. As I was just telling your… your sister here, since you and Smokey are both minors, she can't quite take care of you yet." Woah, me as her sister? Slow down, I didn't sign up to take care of another rotten little crotch goblin. My one sibling was well enough. I just wanted to separate from this kid and… well, what could I really do in this world? "Yes, I heard everything." Sunny replied quietly. "Can I, um, if I have to be taken in by somebody, also be with my sister?" "Well… there's a problem with that, dearie. Two, actually. Golden and Script don't think they can support three children, and my coworkers and I have some concerns about you living with her, after both talking to her and the almost Post Traumatic Stress reaction you had when you saw her." Penny's ears flopped down. I couldn't tell if it was a fake reaction or not. Probably not, and she was just trying to manipulate the kid. "When your sister is old enough we can discuss changing custody, though." "Oh." Sunny slowly replied. Her voice even softer. "Okay." "Don't just take it if you don't want it." I ordered. "Fight back! Bare your teeth! I'm sure there are other foster families." "I don't want to cause any issues." Sunny replied in our head. "Besides, they seem nice. And I always wanted a younger sister." I sighed and massaged the bridge of my nose. At least my arms worked in the head. That was nice. "It's your life. Your choice."   The rest of the stay passed slowly. Sunny spent a lot of the time hiding, only really taking over when it was time to eat or use the bathroom, as I was still having problems moving the body how I wanted. She seemed to be growing more comfortable with me and our situation when she talked, but I found myself getting more and more nervous each day. This wasn't my world. Wasn't my body. Wasn't my fight. The kid would be taken care of, which was good for her, but I had left everything in my life behind. I couldn't just… restart my life. Not after I had fought so hard to get where I was in life. Thousands of hours of training, studying, and fighting tooth and nail all going to waste? And shit, what about all those who I loved? If I was in a parallel universe or something, my dad, my girlfriend, my brother… they could all be alive, and wondering what happened to me. Maybe they assumed the worst.  Or maybe this was the future, and I got magically shazam'd here. That would mean everyone I knew… everyone I loved… was long dead. Even that's assuming the life I remembered was real, and I didn't make it up. That would make the most sense, honestly. It would maybe explain how the world I thought was a cartoon was now real. What if my world was the fake one? That led me up to me, in my last night in the hospital, furiously hiding back a panic as I hit the button to call Nurse Sweetheart. Sunny was dormant, and I was rocking back and forth on the bed. "Sunny or Jenny?" She asked as we locked eyes. "Listen." I ignored her question, speaking quickly. "Sunny is going to be set up for a good future.  She's gonna be fine. You have to get rid of me forever, right now."