New and Strong / Trapped and Slow
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 118744
|
And so it was. Gerkka settled down and began to eat, tentatively - this being the first time she was using her new mouth to feed herself. But soon enough, she was tearing ravenously into the raw meat, following her instincts, and though she shuddered afterwards to think of what she'd done - what she'd become - she was comforted by To'og's presence. Not really because he was like her, because she knew that he really wasn't, but because he was so strong and powerful and dangerous, and was so accepting of her without resistance. In some way, it made her feel safe. Now, that didn't mean that he was exactly a gentle giant. In the following few weeks, she came to see how difficult he could be. At times he became terribly stubborn, and at others, frightfully rude. He never crossed the line to the point where he was too much of a liability to keep around, but he brushed that line with his thick back hair. In some ways, the soft spot he seemed to have for Gerkka only touched her all the more as she continued to observe his disposition towards others. Though she didn't know it, he was about 50 years old, and was fond of her in the way a father might be. Meanwhile, she was learning about herself in tandem with learning about To'og. Given several days of pure strength training - which was mostly what her job was - she could easily lift close to 70 stones above her head. She felt like she ate an obscene amount of food, and indeed - though she had nowhere near the focus nor mental capacity anymore to measure this - she did end up consuming close to 30 pounds of food over the course of each day. She was irrevocably clumsy and slow, though, given her limited stomping grounds, she couldn't really know what her top speed was. She slept very soundly for about ten hours each night, and had relatively poor eyesight but an astounding sense of smell. As the weeks passed, she went back and forth between horror at her situation, and acceptance of it. She missed the life she'd once had, and desperately wanted it back, but she did very much like that she could be productive, and that she was still actively working for her kingdom. Occasionally, she got low, or stubborn, or angry, and refused to work, though she never got violent or hurt anyone. But when she did become uncooperative, the workers quietly summoned Arahim, who cast a quick and temporary spell of calm, and sometimes also obedience. This got her right back to work. Every once in a while, Arahim came by unprompted, just to check on her progress. She didn't really have the intelligence or depth to read him, but he was a little sad at her situation, feeling quite sorry for the poor mad wench. But really, she was doing quite well - maybe better than she would be if she'd been left in her true, addled form. Whenever he did come, he sat her down in a private setting and asked her gently if she'd remembered anything about her true life. The first time, she asked in confusion, "Mean Fred?" but he shook his head firmly and said, "No, you were never Fred. You were a young human girl. Do you remember that?" And she quickly learned that this would always be his response, and his complete certainty pushed her into terrible doubt and confusion. Eventually, she began to respond very simply in the negative - no, she hadn't remembered anything about her true life. He always left with slight reservations, but convinced anew that this really had been the best thing to do with her, and encouraged that she was no longer talking about being Fred. Years passed. She became very close to To'og, and at length truly settled into her new life. It really suited her new form and her new brain, and until she had a different one, it really seemed there was nothing to complain about. Unfortunately, when she became mature around the age of 12, she was put into a different enclosure from To'og, but they saw each other frequently enough during the day that she didn't become too sad.
|
2/16/2022 12:15:53 AM
Linking Enabled
Extending Enabled
25037632 episodes viewed since 9/30/2002 1:22:06 PM.