Our story continues at a secure wing in County General Hospital, where Dr. Jessica Kowalski has just entered the room where Alison Wagner is staying...
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:30, Wed 09 June 2021.

If Dr. Kowalski wasn't previously informed as to what to expect or hadn't overheard the whispered discussions among some of the staff before visiting her room, it is likely that Alison Wagner's appearance comes as a bit of a surprise.  It's not because she had been severely injured or disfigured as a result of a tragic accident like some of the patients in the hospital.

At first, it seems as though someone may have been playing a practical joke.  Someone had obviously placed an elaborately crafted figurine of a young woman in a reclining position on the bed.  The long blonde hair and proportionally scaled body suggest a collectible fashion doll, but for a fashion doll, it does not appear to have been dressed in any representation of fashionable clothing but has what appears to be a torn sheet of creased, bright patterned Christmas wrapping paper wrapped around as if it were needed to preserve its modesty.

It becomes clear that this was not a joke when the figure turns in a human-like motion and looks upon noticing that someone had entered the room.  "Good morning," this tiny living person said in a weary, but otherwise normal-sounding voice expected from an average-sized adult woman.  She stretched her arms over her head before propping herself up in a more upright sitting position.  "Are you here to do more tests?" she asked skeptically, as though she already knew that they would not explain or solve her current situation.

Upon closer inspection, Dr. Kowalski would likely notice the delicate facial features and bright blue eyes of the patient.  Although it appears that the patient may have neglected taking care of her appearance for a period of time recently, it is clear that she would be considered to be an attractive woman and that only makes her appear to be more surreal -- as if such a thing as a fairy princess could actually exist or a child's wish for their doll to come to life had been fulfilled.  Alison Wagner is far too small to have been born and grown to maturity at her current size, a check of her medical records would have confirmed that.... and yet, here she is, concerned and confused and trying to make sense of it all.

OOC:  Now that we have the big reveal to another player, expect the character description for the Cast page to be changing soon!

One of the things that comes up in Emergency Medicine is to not judge your patients.  At least, not to their faces.  They need help, and they already feel real bad about whatever it is they managed to get stuck up their butt.  Jessica thought that was a bad attempt at humor by her instructors; a bit of hyperbole to accentuate the issue.  That lasted until the first time she met a patient with something stuck up their butt.

The point being that the expression of surprise on her face when Alison speaks is fairly neutral.  That the situation is merely unexpected, and not humorous or embarrassing at the patient's expense.

Dr. Kowalski is not a large person, either.  She is merely conventionally short, a bit over 5 feet in height.  She also appears to be a twenty-something blonde, though her hair is only neck-length.  The soft blue scrubs obscure a lot of details, but she seems to have a decent figure at a healthy weight.

A tiny human is not what Jess was expecting.  Not that she was expecting anything in particular; but this is somehow still outside what she was expecting.  And yet, somehow, it is almost disappointingly mundane.  She and Karl Brennan flagrantly disregard physics with the things they can do; whereas simply being one-quarter scale (fifth? sixth?) seems safely inside the bounds of things known science can explain.

"Actually, I think we just hit afternoon.  Hello, in any case.  I'm Dr. Kowalski," she says as she walks over to the bed.  "No, I'm not here to run any tests.  It would appear that I'm here for more psychological reasons."  Slightly stiffly, she grabs a chair and pulls it up alongside the bed, then sits to be closer to Alison's level.  "How should I address you, Ms. Wagner?  Also, I'm sure they showed you the standard privacy forms.  Would you be able to extend me a little patient-doctor confidentiality in return?"

OOC: Just to get my mental picture right, how tall is Alison right now?  Also, is she still made of flesh, or does she appear to be made of plastic?  Or porcelain?  All the doll comparisons have planted ideas in my mind, and I want to make sure I don't go off on a mistaken tangent. ;)

When Alison heard the doctor say that phrase, it provided a faint glimmer of hope because it was what she had wanted someone to say since she was found.  That everything that she had experienced over the past several days was just a trick of her mind. The right medication, therapy sessions, or even something as risky as an operation -- those were treatments that were at least known, even if she wasn't sure what the rate of success was.  If she was actually shrinking, what was the cure for that?



"If this is going to be a lecture, it will probably have a better chance of sticking if you use 'Ms. Wagner'," the tiny woman informed the doctor.  "Otherwise, I don't mind if you call me Alison if you would like."

"Whatever you're going to tell me, I'll keep it a secret.  I promise!  I just need to know what's happening to me."

OOC:  Despite her size, Alison is still a human being -- or maybe that should now be a superhuman being.  In any case, no plastic, porcelain, or artificial materials.  All natural, no matter what some jealous people might have speculated in the past.

I'm visualizing her height to be approximately 15 to 16 inches tall.  It would probably also be noticed that she does not sink into the mattress of the hospital bed, suggesting that there has also been a corresponding reduction in weight.

"No, no lectures, Alison.  You can call me Jessica, or Jess, if you like," Jess says.  It would be nice if she had the answers that Alison sought.  Honestly, she wants those answers, too.  Her circumstances might not have been as immediately inconvenient as Alison's, but problems did come up.

"I don't really have any answers, either.  Dr. Williams should have some once he gets back, but I'm not sure how much help they will be.

"No, I'm here to tell you that you're not alone.  You're not the only person who's had inexplicable things happen to them lately."  Jess's arm stretches out, lengthening until it can grab a paper cup from next to the sink.  It swings over to lay on the bed, depositing the cup next to Alison.  It stays there as Jess gives a little smile.

To her credit, Alison doesn't shriek in fear at what she had just witnessed.  However, she does retreat from the doctor, frantically pushing her way backwards to the opposite side of the mattress on her heels and elbows and climbing the slight elevation towards the head of the hospital bed.  She stops just before reaching the edge as if sensing that she was this close to falling off the side.

After everything that she has seen so far, Alison still doesn't trust her senses.  This could be another development to her hallucinations becoming progressively worse.  Whereas everything had originally just seemed to be out of scale, now it looked like things were becoming distorted.

"What did you just do?  What are you?!" she managed to squeak out between gasps of breath.

Her attention was divided -- one moment looking at the doctor's face, and the next, looking down at the extended length of the doctor's arm like it was one of those giant snakes or a tentacle from some sea creature that was about to lash out and wrap itself around her.

Ah, crap, Jessica thinks.  She was so excited to meet someone else like her that she failed to consider their condition.  So much for doing no harm.  Alison is still in the  denial stage about her condition.  That's the sort of things that she should really be told about before going in to see a new patient.

"Sorry!  I'm..."  Her arm retracts back to normal as a guilty look appears on her face.  "I shouldn't have done that.  I..."  She closes her mouth to regroup.  "I elongated my arm in defiance of biology and reason to pick up a paper cup, then bonelessly twisted it over to the bed.  I'm pretty sure I'm still human.  The DNA tests say that I'm still me.

"I just- I'm sorry.  I finally get to meet someone else with a paranormal condition, and got so excited I forgot my job."  Jess definitely looks guilty for what she did.  But there looks to be something else there, beyond the immediate faux pas.

There was an extended moment of uncomfortable silence between the two of them.  Alison kept her distance as far as the edge of the bed would allow but eventually calmed down after having some time to consider the sincerity of the apology.

"Is that the clinical term?  A paranormal condition?" she asked in a voice that suggested the heaviness of the truth was wearing on her.

"Is that what's going to happen to me?" Alison asked.  "Does it hurt when you do that with your arm?"

After giving Jessica the opportunity to answer, she asked the question that was most important to her.  "How do you make yourself look normal again?"

Jessica perks up a bit when Alison responds.  Things can still be salvaged here.

As for her first two questions, Jess gives a bit of a shrug.  "Sort of?  We need to write something down for the records, and 'weird shit' and 'superpowers' aren't neutral enough."

The next two questions: "I don't know; maybe?  There's only 3 confirmed cases so far, and the only thing they have in common is defying common sense and science.  The other guy can fly, for what it's worth.

"And no, it doesn't hurt when I stretch like that."

Jess's mood has been building while answering the questions, but drops just a little at Alison's last question.  "I'm not... sure it works that way, for me.  It just goes back to normal once I stop trying to stretch or change shape.  Other than a bit of drooping if I relax too much.

"Part of what I can do involves picturing it in my head.  I'm not sure if that helps?"

"Not really, but I guess that it can't hurt to keep trying," Alison replied.  "Positive thinking, right?" she said, but it was clear that she was not convinced that it would work.

"The weird thing is that I don't feel any different.  It feels more like the whole world has changed around me because I didn't do anything to cause this and I'm not doing anything to stay this way," she explained.

"With my luck, I'll probably overshoot while trying to reverse it and get too big to be able to get out of the room."  It was meant to be a joke, but after seeing for herself that a person could actually stretch in an unusual way and hearing that there was another person who could apparently fly, this was a possibility that couldn't be ruled out.  There could be other changes yet to come that were far worse than what she was experiencing now.

Jessica responds, "I think I know what you mean, a little bit.  I don't really feel all that different, either, most of the time.  There are days at work where it seems like nothing has changed from before.  But it's not the same, since I can still pass as normal."

She hmms, before continuing, "It is also possible that there is nothing you can change, and this is just your new normal.  But that seems awfully unfair.  Not that we know enough to really say what is going on, or what is fair.  This is just a crazy situation, after all.  So don't give up hope."

She makes a little face as an idea occurs to her.  "Maybe you need to imagine the rest of the world getting smaller.  You said how you feel normal and it's like the rest of the world is different, so maybe..."

Although it was unintentional, Jessica's words stung at the time.
I can still pass as normal. but to Alison, it was just a cruel reminder that she couldn't pass for normal if she was stuck at this size.  It was a point driven home by the doctor's next statement -- there is nothing you can change.... this is just your new normal.  Maybe it was because the words had amplified what Alison had already feared.

Alison closed her eyes and tried to tune out all of the distractions in the room and out in the hallway.  Meditation was something that she had experimented with before while in college because of a recommendation from a roommate at the time and this felt a little bit like that.  Ultimately, she didn't stick with it because she actually preferred things to be more exciting.

I can grow back to my normal size.  I'm normal again.  The world is getting smaller and returning back to its normal size. she thought, repeating similar ideas in her mind as she tried to come up with the proper combinations of magic words that would will this into existence.

Alison opened her eyes again to find that absolutely nothing had changed.

"I don't think that I've found the secret to getting back to normal yet,"  she confessed to Jessica.

There is a soft knock on the door, then Dr. Williams pokes his head inside the room. "Ah, Dr. Kowalski," he says as he slips in, shutting the door behind him. "Thank you for coming in on your day off. I see you've met Alison..." He trails off and glances down at the clipboard in his hands. "Other than the obvious, there does not appear to be anything anomalous about Alison. She is in good health, though a bit undernourished and stressed at the moment," he says to Jessica before turning to Alison to ask, "How are you feeling, Alison?"

"A little bit overwhelmed at the moment, to be honest," Alison replied to Dr. Williams' question.  "I don't feel any different, but I'm realizing that everything in my life is about to change."

"It's all that I can think about.  Things that I never would have thought about before, like - Will I need to ride an infant car seat when I'm released from here?  Am I going to lose my independence?  And what if this is just the start and the changes are only going to get worse?"

"Sorry.  I hate the way that I'm behaving right now.  I know that there are people who have it much worse than I do that also have to rebuild their lives."

"I just wish that it made sense.  Maybe it would be easier to accept," the tiny woman explained.

There is a brief tick on Jess's face when Alison mentions rebuilding their lives.  But she quickly moves back to being supportive.

"That's not necessarily that right attitude to adopt, either.  Your troubles are your own and don't need to be judged against anyone else's.  Your problems are just as valid as anyone else's."  Jess manages to bit her tongue before saying anything about how small Alison's problems might seem.

"I just wish we had any useful answers for you, the whys or hows of your condition.  Or an idea how things will play out for you."

Dr. Williams nods as he listens to Alison and Jessica. "We're doing everything we can think of to try to find some answers for you, but we're in uncharted territory, so to speak... Dr. Kowalski, do you have any insights or ideas?"

Jessica briefly purses her lips.  "I have a few ideas.  It's both relieving and frustrating that nothing is showing up on the tests.  It would be nice to have some obvious leads to chase.

"Before you joined us, we had just started talking about my powers and whether my experiences could help her."  She turns towards Alison.  "You asked about how I return to normal.  Maybe it would be more like how I stretch?  Because it's not just picturing it in my mind.  I have to...  It's a bit like there's another set of muscles there?  And I have to work them to stretch, especially on any of the more complex shapes.

"Oh!  Just to ask a dumb question, have you just been trying to return to normal?  Or have you also tried getting bigger?  I mean, like this is your normal, and you're trying to grow into a giant?"

"I don't know how to describe how it feels," Alison attempted to explain, " or maybe that should be, how it doesn't feel like anything at all."

"I'm not actively doing anything that I could just stop.  Even when I fell asleep, nothing changed or went back to normal afterwards."

"It wasn't even in my thoughts.  I didn't even know that I had become smaller until yesterday.  It just seemed like someone had stuck me in an oversized funhouse filled with gigantic representations of furniture."

"I haven't felt anything new or out of place, like if I just turned a certain way or flexed a particular muscle, that something different would happen."

She sighed in frustration.  "We just tried the power of positive thinking approach," Alison explained for Dr. Williams who hadn't been there to witness it.  "I don't know.  Maybe I wasn't doing it right, like doubt or worry could have been affecting my concentration.  I know that I'm probably still in a state of shock so maybe I just need to get to a better frame of mind...?" she looked at them as though seeking a fragment of hope.

"If that doesn't work, I can probably experiment.  Do you think that hypnosis could help?  Or floating in those sensory deprivation tanks to eliminate all distractions?"

Dr. Williams looks concerned when Alison brings up experimentation. "We wouldn't want to do anything that could endanger you, Alison. And you're otherwise healthy, so I'm not inclined to rush into anything. Perhaps you'll return to your original size soon, even without medical intervention..." He scratches his chin, then asks, "Did either of you see the story about the flying man at O'Hare? As far as I know, he hasn't been evaluated medically, but perhaps whatever happened with him could shed some light on what happened to each of you."

The confused look on her face made it clear that Alison hadn't heard the story.

"Sorry.  I've been dealing with this the past few days.  I've been out of touch with what's going on with the rest of the world," the doll-sized woman explained, sounding depressed.

"Did he have wings? she asked curiously  An image of angelic figure floating above the airport was what she had pictured.

Jessica, on the other hand, clearly seems informed.  "Yeah, I've been following that story.  It would be nice to get him in here as well.  Not sure how easy that will be.  His name got out, and crowds are gathering around his house already.  He asked them for some space, so we'll probably have better luck with an official letter from the hospital.

"Oh," she says, switching conversations.  "No, no wings.  Just flying through the air and catching a plane that was going to crash, like a real-life superhero.  It looked like he was about our age," indicating herself and Alison.  She looks over at the computer terminal in the room.  "We could pull up the videos if you wanted to see."

OOC: I'm figuring that the secure wing has lousy cell reception by design, and assuming that there is a computer terminal in it.  GM, let me know if I'm mistaken. ;)
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 03:27, Mon 26 July 2021.

"Please.  I want to see it," Alison requested.

Even if it wasn't possible to get it in the hospital room, the video was probably in constant rotation on all of the news channels, local and national, probably even international by now, and would continue on for several days so she was likely going to see it once she got released.

But what would be waiting for her once she left the hospital?  No matter how professional the staff had acted, someone was eventually going to talk.  Even if they didn't tip off the tabloid media for cash, the story was too interesting not to share not to share when the subject of flying men was also being discussed.  Was she going to have to deal with crowds too?

"If I were able to fly, I don't think that I would want to come to the hospital either.  That doesn't sound like something that anyone would want to have cured."

"However, he might be going through the same thing... wondering if he's the only one.  Maybe he'd be willing to talk if he knew that he was going to be talking to somebody different too.

"Alright," Jess says as she steps over to the computer terminal to find some of the recent clips of Karl Brennan.  As she looks, she replies, "Having him come here wouldn't be about 'curing' him.  It's mostly just curiosity at this point; how is he able to fly?  And to establish a baseline, if his condition were to change over time.  That's one of the things I'm watching for, with my stretching and shapeshifting."

Jess takes care not to throw Alison's last comment back in her face. "We'll have to see if he's interested.  We could start up a support group once we all know each other.

"Ah, here it is," she finishes as she's found the video and turns the monitor to show Alison.

The video that Jessica found begins playing, beginning with cell phone footage of a small commuter jet with a missing wing making an emergency landing on a runway at the airport. Through the falling snow, the form of a man can be made out underneath the nose of the plane, his arms wrapped up around it as if he is lifting it. Gasps of shock can be heard as the jet slows and then touches down, the shirtless man pushing his legs downward against the runway until the plane comes to a complete stop. It then cuts to the man entering the now grounded, smoldering jet then exiting with a bag and a stuffed animal in tow, approaching a family huddled under a blanket near an ambulance, and handing the young girl with them the stuffed dog. He looks around at the crowd that has gathered, most of whom are filming him, pulls a Rockefeller Center sweatshirt out of the bag and puts it on, then hovers a few feet above the ground for a moment, waves, and flies out of sight.

"It's quite amazing, no matter how many times you see it," Dr. Williams says when the video finishes. "There was, is, a lot of talk about it being a hoax, but with what I know about Jessica, and now you, Alison, I'm confident that the flying man is the real deal."

There's a knock on the door, and Dr. Williams pokes his head out and has a brief conversation with the nurse on the other side before excusing himself. "You two carry on. I'll be back shortly."

Alison watched the video on the computer monitor with rapt attention.  Even from this distance, it was like watching a big screen television from across the room.

"I think that I've met him before...." she said with surprised recognition, trying to recall the exact setting or event.  Being a young business professional often meant going to seminars or off-site training sessions at some hotel conference room.  Although these meetings were meant to be educational, one usually left with a three-ring binder that would immediately go on a shelf at your desk when you returned to the office and remain untouched until the binder would be later repurposed for some other job-related activity.  These events were also a good chance to network in between breaks or meals.

"I probably still have his business card somewhere in a box at my desk," Alison explained.  "I don't think that it would do much good though.  I'm sure that his work phone and email inbox are just as full as his home number is right now."

"How much longer do you think that I'll have to stay here?" Alison asked.  "If there's nothing that can be done to change this, I might as well go somewhere more comfortable and wait for it to wear off or start getting used to being this small."

There was still one more possibility that she didn't mention -- that things could get even worse.  Whatever was in store for the future, Alison was fighter and was going to see it through to the end.

"Really? Jessica mutters when Alison mentions having met the flying man before.  "Small world," is out of her mouth before she can really think about it.  There is a bit of a cringe as she hopes Alison doesn't take it personally.

"Ah... You should be able to leave pretty soon.  There might be a few last tests to wait on, and some paperwork to shuffle around.  But it sounds like there is nothing really 'wrong' with you, that modern medicine can help you with.

"Have you told anyone else about this?  Family, friends... significant others?" She seems to catch just a little on the last part of that question.

"I didn't have a chance to tell anyone yet," Alison explained. "I didn't even know that I had changed until the police officers showed up at my home last night to check in on me and I'm looking up at these... giants."

"Even after that, I was still thinking that it was just me having hallucinations."

"Anyway, I couldn't have told anyone if I had realized it earlier.  I was basically trapped on the floor and all of the phones were all the way out of reach up on the countertops."  Alison couldn't help but smile at the absurdity of the description of her predicament.

"I'm still hoping that I don't have to tell anybody about this.  If I could just get back to normal size, I could put this nightmare behind me and nobody would need to know about it.... well, except for the police officers... the ambulance crew... and the people here in the hospital." Alison frowned when she realized how many people knew.

"I guess that I'm going to be a topic of conversation at everyone's Christmas and New Year's parties, right after the flying man at the airport."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:17, Thu 26 Aug 2021.

"I wouldn't be too worried about gossip," Jess responds.  "Not that many people saw you, and most of us pretty good at keeping quiet.  I pretty sure that most of the staff here is unaware of me having powers, even with the accident.

"But that does sound pretty awful, trapped in your apartment and unable to reach anything.  I'm not sure what I'd... well, I'd-"  Trains of thought are colliding.

"Actually, will you be fine if we release you?  I mean, if you're stuck at that size for a while, you're going to need help.  Do you have anyone who will be able to help you out?"

"Maybe," Alison replied.  "I have some friends in the city that I think would be willing to check in on me or even take me in for a few days." 

"I think that some of them would be stopping by just for the curiosity factor," she said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"I wish that the timing was better.  I expect that a lot of them are either going to be busy or traveling for the holiday."

"There's always my family.... but that's like being trapped in its own way," the tiny woman explained.  "If I went back home, I know that they'll treat me like a little kid again.  They'll say that it's for my own safety, but I refuse to live the rest of my life just hidden away."

"Alright.  That should smooth things over with some of the overprotective sorts around here.  I don't think we'll need to keep you under observation, but an extra pair of eyes on you for the next week would be a good idea."

Changing the subject, Jessica continues, "Yeah, I wouldn't want to hide away either.  Still, I'm not sure about the other extreme.  You know, going viral like the Flying Man and having a crowd outside your house?"

She trails off, muttering, "It was bad enough the last time..."

Alison nodded in agreement with Jessica's observations about what she might have to face with going public about her condition.

"Yeah.  I don't think that it's as impressive as someone who can fly, but maybe somebody would show up..." she said as though she was more amused by the prospect than worried about it.  "By that time, there will probably be someone else more unusual than either of us who will take away all of that attention."

"I can take a little bit of time to see what develops before I reveal this to the rest of the world."

"I know that this borders on being questionable as far as ethics go, but is there any chance that someone at the hospital can give me some type of medical excuse that I can send to my employer to explain why I can't be in the office for a while?  I mean, it doesn't have to be a lie, but maybe it could be worded vaguely so that people don't feel like they need to check in on me?"

Jess doesn't quite agree.  "Sure, the novelty will wear off, but that's only part of he problem.  There's also guys with weird fetishes.  It will only be a small number of people, but the obsession they bring..."

She shakes her head.  "Sorry.  I've had problems with harassment in the past.  Strangers sexting me just for being a gymnast.  And now I've got superpowers."

She sighs.  "Anyway, I'm sure we can do something with a doctor's note...  Actually, it wouldn't even be lying or unethical - It's not safe for you to be in the office right now, right?  A novel physical condition that does not appear infectious, but interferes with normal activities?  We recommend you stay at home while we study your condition?

"That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Alison cringed at Jessica's recollection of her past experience and her own imagination as to what it must have been like.  "That's just... terrible," she said, having difficulty finding the right words to describe the disgust at that kind of behavior. "Please at least tell me that you weren't still a teenager at the time."  Although Alison was aware of college gymnastics, the primary image that the media promoted were often the younger athletes.

"I dabbled in gymnastics when I was a kid," the tiny woman recalled with fondness after giving Jessica a chance to respond.  "I was only 'okay' at it.  I guess that I kind of knew that I wasn't going to be the next superstar.  I gave it up after getting totally run over by the 'puberty truck'," Alison joked.  "It wasn't long before I was closer to being six feet tall than being closer to five feet tall."

"Who's the 'Petite Princess' now, Daphne?" she said, twirling around as if to emphasize her new miniature size to a former rival.

"Sorry. That was a girl that I trained with back then.  She was always giving me a hard time.  She was better than all of us and wanted to make sure that I knew it.  Maybe she was one of those ultra-competitive types, but it always seemed to me like she was just being mean."

"We obviously didn't keep in touch after I quit so I don't know how far she made it in the sport.  For all I know, she might have been one of your teammates or might even be a friend of yours.  That was such a long time ago.  She might have changed since then."

So have I, Alison realized.  She was no stranger to being the recipient of unwanted attention either and had sympathy for what Jessica had experienced as well as the countless number of women that had similar stories.  Men could be such jerks! The doctor's warning was starting to sink in along with a greater appreciation for the reality of her situation and the jeopardy that she would now face by not being able to defend herself.  With her reduced size and weight, she was completely vulnerable and could easily be overpowered by men, women, and even children.  Common house pets were also going to be a threat -- she might not have owned any, but she was going to have to be aware of them and protected from them if she ever ventured out from the safety of her home.


"No," Alison acknowledged as a look of relief crossed her face.  "Thank you for offering to do that."

"Let's hope that it will only have to be a short leave of absence."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:22, Thu 30 Sept 2021.

With a shake of her head, Jessica responds to Alison's first question, "No.  I didn't start using social media until college.  I was too busy trying to qualify for the Olympics before that."

As for Daphne, "I don't recall any Daphne's.  But there's always someone like that.

"Wouldn't have minded a bit more from puberty, myself.  Might make me a worst gymnast, but high shelves wouldn't be such a pain.  Not that..." she cuts off.

As for the doctor's note, "No problem.  We're here to help.  We'll just have to see what happens in the future.  Who knows, it's Christmas in just a few days.  I normally wouldn't expect miracles, but who even knows this year?"  As she says the last part, she holds up an arm and the forearm bends into the shape of a question mark.

The fact that Jessica wasn't aware of her childhood rival was a relief but not surprising.  There were probably thousands of girls that start the journey and only a few of them have the talent or the drive to make it to the highest levels to compete at the collegiate level or Olympic level.  Maybe Daphne reached her limitations early and went on to do other things not even related to athletics.  In a way, it was also kind of a let down because it was a reminder of her own level of performance.  If the person who could outperform your best effort wasn't good enough, it meant that she wasn't as good as maybe she thought that she was.



Alison could tell that Jessica was trying to watch her words to avoid upsetting her.  Alison was still in a state of semi-denial that all of these realities of every day life hadn't totally occupied her mind.  The moment that she would try to return to a normal life would make all of this real and that could devastate her.  Instead, she deflected to avoid thinking how she wouldn't be able to reach even the lowest shelf in her home.

"I don't think reaching things from a high shelf is going to be a problem for you any longer when you can you can stretch out your arms like that," Alison reminded her pleasantly. "Can you do that with your legs too?" she inquired.  "If you can, you might be able to see what it feels like to be taller."



Alison visibly cringed and averted her gaze from the unusual shape of Jessica's arm.  With no experience with things like this, her mind still insisted that arms had bones in them and were not capable of appearing like this unless that person was horribly mangled and in intense pain.

"That's what I'm going to be hoping for... a Christmas miracle.  I'll even settle for a New Year's miracle or, or, Arbor Day miracle if that's what it takes."

Jess replies with a little smile, "Yeah, I can do legs, too.  Every part of me is stretchy.  The biggest problem is getting the proportions right."  That and holding the shape long term.  Stretching out is easy enough.  But holding a particular stretch, like being a few inches taller, is apparently a different beast.  Somehow, it's easier to be stretched out and typing across the room than staying at one height.  But that's probably a bit more info than Alison needs right now.



Jessica's mood drops at that, frowning as her arm snaps back to normal with a tiny squeak.  "Oh no, not you too."  After a moment, her expression shifts to guilt.  She's supposed to be professional and supportive here.

"It just looks so painful," Alison explained after daring to look back and seeing that the doctor's arm had returned to a normal state.  "You know, like when they show the replay of a sports injury."  Suddenly realizing who she was talking to, she quickly added "You've probably seen a lot worse as a doctor."

"Do you feel pain at all anymore?"

Actually, Jess hasn't seen that many truly awful injuries in person.  Yet, at least.  Well, not the kind of stomach-turning, anatomy-defying incidents that Alison is referring to.  In some ways, that's more of a sports medicine thing than emergency medicine.  But it's also that most bullet wounds, even if life-threatening, don't have the same kind of visceral shock or sympathetic pain that a ridiculously hyper-extended knee evokes.

But again, probably not worth sharing with Alison at the moment.

"Ah.  Yeah, when you put it like that.  I have had some time to get used to it.

"No, it doesn't hurt.  Actually, speaking of gymnasts we knew a long time ago, there were also some rhythmic gymnast at my gym.  You know, ribbons, balls, and hoops?  One of them was crazy flexible, even by gymnasts' standards.  She could bend backward and touch her butt to her head.  People kept asking her if it hurt, and she always laughed.  Yeah, Kate was her name."  She reminisces for a few moments.

"But to answer your other question, I still feel pain.  It's... somethings just don't cause me pain anymore.  I mean, my tolerances are different.  Stretching and bending don't do anything.  But I still feel it when I stub my toe, it's just that the pain goes away quickly since it just bounces back to normal.  And headaches are the same as always."

"I get it... I think," Alison said, admitting her uncertainty about this whole crazy situation she found herself in.  Even if she had remained her normal self or hadn't met Jessica, Alison would be trying to wrap her mind around the revelation of a man who could fly and catch airplanes.

"How many people have you told about what you are now able to do?" the tiny woman asked.  "And how did they treat you afterwards?"

"Not that many," Jessica responds.  "I mean, who'd believe it?  And you can't take back telling someone."

Several emotions show on her face as she picks her next words.  "No, I... I also got scared.  The hospital staff has been polite, and my mom was supportive after the initial shock.  But Dave- my ex-fiance Dave didn't handle it-  he completely freaked out.  He stormed out and I haven't talked to him since.  He broke up with me by mail, and took all his stuff out of our house while I was at work one day."  She's obviously unhappy about it, but she's not completely crushed by it.  Like she's accepted that it happened, but not necessarily made peace with it yet.

There's a knock on the door, then Dr. Williams enters Alison's room again. "How are you feeling, Alison? I want to let you go home, but I'm not sure if that would be a good idea, given your current state... I don't know how safe that would be for you. Do you understand?"

"I'm sorry that happened to you," Alison said sympathetically after Jessica revealed that her fiancé ended their relationship over it.  Alison didn't know if she should try to reassure her that maybe he just needed some time to process the idea or if she should tell her that she was better off to learn what kind of person he was before they were married.

However, it also reminded Alison that she wasn't as fortunate to have someone special in her life to support her through what was probably going to be a life-changing event.  Marriage wasn't necessarily a priority for her at the moment but she always assumed that it would be there when the time was right and she found that one special person.  The same thing applied to the possibility of starting a family.  Her thoughts were now full of pessimism.  Like that's going to happen with me looking more like the figure decorating the top of a wedding cake.



"I understand... and I really appreciate all of the concern, but I managed to survive a few days in my home like this already.  Everyone here has been so kind and I'm not in a hurry to leave, but unless you have a way to treat what happened to me, there's not much difference between me spending time here or spending time at home," she explained.

"I guess that you'll probably want to schedule some follow-up exams, just to make sure that I'm still doing okay.  That seems reasonable to me." Alison said seeking agreement.

"I see," Dr. Williams says with a slow nod. "You did survive, but I'm not sure mere survival is a good measure of success. I'm assuming your home is not set up for someone of your size... Are you going to be able to cook and eat? Clean yourself? Will you even be able to open and close the door?

"If you insist on going, I can't really stop you, but I can't advise it, at least not until we've assessed your living situation and made the necessary adaptations..." He looks to Jessica, obviously hoping for her to add something to the discussion.

"It's obvious that my home isn't set up the way that I need it to be," Alison conceded. "I don't think that anybody's home would be.  It's not practical because..."

There is a catch in her voice as she seems to have gained a better understanding of the reality of her situation. ".... Because there's nobody else this small."

Or maybe there was.  Somebody who was still trapped in their home just like she was or someone who was simply hiding from the public.  Alison wasn't sure if that would be comforting or would make her feel bad for that person.

"Maybe I'm just being an optimist or maybe I'm just in denial, but I'm hoping that this is all just temporary and that everything will be normal again if I'm patient enough to let it work itself."

"If you think that it's better for me to stay here for a few more days, I'll do that.  If you want to send me home with daily visits from a nursing professional, I won't be going anywhere in the near future," she suggested.

Jessica does agree with Dr. Williams' points, but she also has a lot of sympathy for Alison's situation.

"I appreciate wanting to keep her safe, doctor, but I don't know that we need to keep her in the hospital for that.  I already asked Alison, and she has people who should be able to help her out around her house, or that she could stay with.  It's not a long-term solution, but we don't know what the long-term outlook is for her.  Maybe she is stuck at this size, maybe she finds a way to get back to normal.  She could even get smaller, or switch over and grow giant-sized.

"I'm also not sure how closely we need to monitor her.  You said she was fine, other than stress and malnourishment.  If there were any other issues, I'd be all for keeping her under a close watch.  But that doesn't seem to be the case.  As long as she has some help at home, I don't see that we need to keep her here unless she wants to stay."

Dr. Williams listens to Alison and Jessica patiently, then nods understandingly. "I apologize. I wasn't aware that you had people who could assist you, Alison. If you're comfortable leaving the hospital, I'm not going to force you to stay. However, I would like you to return in a few days, after Christmas, for some follow-up. Of course, if anything changes between now and then, please reach out immediately. I'll give you my direct contact information." He jots some notes down on his clipboard, then adds, "If that seems reasonable, I can work on getting you out of here and back to your family and friends."

"It's... I just don't know.  Everything's happening so fast," the doll-sized blonde said as she raised her head and pushed hair way from her face as if she was emerging from being underwater.

"A few weeks ago, I was just looking forward to the holidays and getting some time to just celebrate with my friends.  And then over the last week, I thought that I had been kidnapped and drugged.  And in just a day and a half, the entire world has changed!  A man can fly, the local hospital has a doctor who can stretch like a rubber band... and I somehow shrunk!"

Alison clenched her fists, suppressing the urge to scream in frustration at whatever cruel twist of fate led to this moment.  If this had been one of those cheesy holiday movies that the networks were running non-stop since Thanksgiving, this would have been the set-up where she was changed to be this way until she learned the true meaning of Christmas or found romance.  Maybe she was being drafted to be one of Santa's elves (though it hardly seemed like a very Santa-like way of doing things) or maybe she was meant to bring some enjoyment to a little child that might not make it to see the next Christmas with a visit from a sugarplum fairy or a living doll.

If only it were that easy, she thought.

"I just need to be somewhere quiet where I can process all of this until it somehow makes sense again.  I don't think that's here," she informed them quietly.

Dr. Williams gives Alison a slight smile, then asks, "And do you have any particular place in mind, Alison?"

"Just my home," Alison responded.  "It's safe, quiet,...." Her voice drifted off as if she was becoming lost in her thoughts.  "And hopefully it will even start to feel familiar again."

The idea of another location never occurred to her.  Where would she possibly go?  On a vacation to the beach? A cabin out in the middle of the woods?  A spiritual retreat?  The last one was probably going to be very similar to what she was going to be doing at home -- hiding away and constantly praying that this condition reversed itself and made her normal again.

"Is there a friend or a family member we can call to pick you up and take you home? I suspect you'll need some assistance around the house," Dr. Williams asks.

"And Dr. Kowalski, thank you again for coming in. Since it looks like we'll be sending Alison home soon, you should go home and relax. Today was supposed to be a day off for you, wasn't it?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:12, Tue 07 Dec 2021.

"I'm hoping that at least one of them doesn't have any major plans for the holidays," Alison said despite her uncertainty. "I haven't exactly been keeping track of what everyone said that they would be doing," she admitted.  "I guessed that I missed the party where I was hoping to catch up with all of my friends."


OOC: Like many people these days, Alison probably relies on the speed dial function of the cell phone which she doesn't have with her and doesn't remember too many actual phone numbers.  She will mentally go down the list, trying to remember as best as she can, and then hoping that the ones that she is able to reach will also be free to at least get her back home (or to their place).
I don't have anybody specifically in mind so if there's something you want to explore (single friend / friend with family / an ex-boyfriend or current romantic interest / a trustworthy neighbor / etc.), we can go with that.



Upon hearing that Dr. Kowalski was sacrificing her personal time to be here, Alison suddenly felt guilty.  Grateful, but guilty.
"I'm so sorry if I ruined your plans for your day off," the miniature-sized woman apologized to Jessica.  "I really appreciate that you came in just to talk to me.  It helped... it showed me that I wasn't alone in this."

Jessica waves it off.  "It is, but it comes with being a doctor.  I wasn't going to pass up this particular case, either.

"I'm glad I could meet you as well.  I've also been wondering if it's just me or not.  We should talk again after the holidays..  Thank you."  She says her goodbyes, exiting if no one else has any questions for her.

"Okay. We'll make sure you two stay in touch," Dr. Williams says as Jessica leaves. "And Alison, I'll get a nurse in here to help you find someone to pick you up."

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