En-Joy-ment
This is a side-story of 'GNE' in the Xanadu setting. See Xanadu (setting) for details of the universe as a whole. By Dreamer
{{#if:Jigsaw green.png|}} | Xanadu story universe |
En-Joy-ment - Edited 24/Jul/10
It was late, very late. Some would say it was more than half-way to morning. Nurse Joy sat on the couch, patting the back of the crying girl, who wouldn't see the morning. Daylight didn't work too well for vampires.
Nurse Joy was in her nurses uniform, that anyone a fan of Pokemon would recognise. That her hair was bubblegum-pink was another clue. Beside her, on a table, was her companion, her ward. What had possessed someone to come to the Masquarade dressed as a giant paper aeroplane might confuse some, but after the Event the consequences were clear, in all its neatly folded glory, less than twelve inches long.
Empathy was one of Nurse Joy, Jocelyn's, major talents. While Keith and his problems of being folded paper were important to her, she couldn't ignore other people's suffering. Kath was a student nurse, recycling her Halloween costume, as a 'blood drinker, not a blood giver'. That and a day pass to a convention which promissed strange experiences.
"I'm sorry for crying on you, like this, Lyn. I know some of the others who became vampires, and other monsters, like zombies, seem to be able to deal with it, but I can't."
"When I rushed out with everyone else, I had to flee back inside, because I could feel the sunlight killing me. It hurt for hours, and, it was only when that vampire called Jack came and told me about the magic vending machine, that gave me fresh blood to drink, that I got better."
She suppressed another sob. "And, I'd been looking at people, and just wanting to bite them, and..." She cried, again, for a little while. "I can't live with this."
"If you are quite sure", said Jocelyn, carefully, "I might be able to help you. At least you would be mostly human again. And, I'm pretty sure they would let you be a student nurse."
Kath looked up at her with hopeful eyes, and Jocelyn felt her mental defenses turn aside the charm. "Yes! Yes!"
"But, you have to be quite sure. This is a secondary transformation, and, if I have it right, it will make it a lot more difficult to return you to your original form. Assuming anyone ever figures out how to do that."
Kath nodded mutely, but Jocelyn waited until she regained her composure. "Yes. I am sure."
Nurse Joy reached out, with her empathic sense, and felt two other Nurse Joys reasonably close. Neither seemed totally involved in anything, so she send a wordless appeal to them. The first, who introduced herself as 'Joyce', arrived with her G.I. Joe (in)action figure in less than a minute. The second, 'Joline', took nearly ten minutes, and Jocelyn could faintly see a ghostly figure behind her. Together you could just see that each Nurse Joy was subtley different.
Wordlessly, they gathered about Kath, bowed their heads, and after about a minute there was a brilliant flash of light between them. When people's eyes cleared there was a fourth Nurse Joy standing there.
"Thank you! Thank you!" and the new Nurse Joy hugged each of the existing ones, in turn.
As spokesnurse Jocelyn explained. "You will find most of what you can do is clear in your mind when you need it. You don't have to find someone in particular to look after, if you don't want to. But, if you do settle on someone that link will last until they no longer need you. If you want any help, with being 'one of us', just ask."
"The really big, and, dangerous ability is you can work with two other of us to transform someone, just as you were. People may be scared of that. You will gather the three people we have as companions don't want to take that step. Please be very careful about even considering doing it."
"Just remember. Nurse Joy is here to help people!"
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This side-story only really makes sense if you read GNE, and might be considered to follow Joy: to the world, and Fast Food.