Scrapped Fanfic (Part 3)
[Part 1]
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The Plot (Cont.)
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You try standing up off the hospital floor, but your body feels too weak and foreign for you to balance properly and you claw into a curtain divider to catch yourself when you fall again (Helvetica looks like a wingless demon skeleton with four arms and two digitigrade legs). You have a little control of your new tail and use it to press the call button for nurse assistance.
You consider the possibility that this is a dream, but you can’t force yourself to wake up out of it and you can’t change anything by willing it to happen (you try dreaming yourself having wings or becoming human again, but nothing happens).
That’s when you meet the first suitor who looks like “Horrortale Papyrus” from the dating sim, except he’s dressed in cute nurse scrubs and has a Registered Nurse ID badge with his photo and the name “Florence” beneath it.
He gently detangles you and sits you down safely on the hospital bed, reassuring you that it happens to the best of skeletons (at some point I wanted relaxed chats about common problems with having exposed bones and joints, i.e. skeleton problems, as well as any benefits).
Florence introduces himself as your nurse and calmly informs you that you had been unconscious since you were found some days ago, alone and severely depleted of magic. When he asks if you can remember anything, you leave out being a human with human memories for fear of being taken away and corrected by medical professionals who might think you were a mentally unwell monster with delusions.
He does his assessments; noting your poor balance, minimal tail control, and lack of individual dexterity with all four arms during simultaneous use. Lastly, he forms you that he needs to check your Soul and magic circulation.
You remember the game using a “Check Soul” action to see information about a character’s name, health, and strength level if they wanted to share it.
Out of curiosity, you ask if magic circulation is similar to human blood circulation and Florence explains that it’s more like all human bodily systems put together, because monsters are made entirely of Magic Dust formed by a Soul that circulates its magic.
Monster Souls circulate magic through the body to form and control it, while also processing whatever it needs to fuel and maintain it. It also allows monsters to direct and release magic from different parts of their body; like strengthening a punch or kick, shooting a magic projectile, or joining two Souls to form a new one for an offspring during mating.
When you absentmindedly compare monster biology with what you know about humans, Florence praises you for your knowledge saying most monsters still don’t know anything about humans let alone their biology, he only knows about it because of the textbooks he had salvaged from the landfills in hopes of helping human patients as well (before he found out sickly humans tend to think the skeleton by their bed is actually “Death” coming to collect their Souls). Not wanting to talk about being human, you quickly say you must have read about it somewhere and the memory just returned to you.
Florence notes poor circulation of magic to your limbs and tail, but is optimistic about your recovery as your Soul had been steadily improving every day along with your magic circulation.
You stay a bit longer to be monitored and the doctor diagnoses you with amnesia. You get used to controlling your body in physical therapy (controlling all four arms independently is still difficult), and you’re eventually discharged under Florence’s care once your body and Soul have stabilized.
Florence tells you that you’ve been invited to live with his family as a friend of his cousin“Cecil” (the name on a card with a vase of flowers you saw by your hospital bed), who couldn’t visit due to being busy making you a whole personalized wardrobe so you wouldn’t have to worry about clothes. Florence hands you a present bag from Cecil containing a flashy and spiky crop top with tiny shorts, and he offers you his large jacket if you feel too exposed.
He’s given the day off to help you settle into your new home (there’s plenty of nurses to cover him), and he’s grateful but still insists to be on call if they need him. He leads you out of the hospital and you notice many monsters turn their heads as you and both pass by, Florence smiles and waves politely at a couple of monsters who call out to him making them squeal excitedly.
Unlike in the game where his scars and jagged teeth are considered too scary/ugly by locals who avoid him in fear, Florence keeps getting stopped by admirers and people who want to give him free stuff, all which he graciously declines.
Judging by how other heavily scarred monsters seem to be getting similar attention, you guess that they find it an attractive look. You tease him for being so popular and he admits that it’s a little annoying, but it has its perks.
Florence easily hails one of the busy monster-pulled taxi carts, which you’re pretty sure was due to his “pretty privilege”.
You ask him why monsters don’t use cars, and he tells you about the state of the world being so polluted that all living creatures suffered a mass extinction event. Cars are currently considered controversial as they have been connected to the pollution according to the remaining humans and information salvaged from libraries and translated media recording the decline of the surface world.
The remaining humans are from generations of stragglers who survived by rationing whatever clean food and water they could find and protect. They passed down warnings of too many people creating waste that wouldn’t degrade, and burning fuel that poisoned the air. The local humans became concerned about starting that up again.
Florence then proudly mentions that one of his nephews named “Snas” (no, it’s not a typo), who you might meet soon, is actually working with a colleague on using magic for clean fuel and enchanting the vehicle to be biodegradable when it wears out beyond use. He then asks you not to speak of it to anyone else as they’re not ready to go public with that information, and admits that he just couldn’t help praising how clever his nephew is.
You get a chance to see the clean and busy monster city and notice how few humans there are, then you see the ruins of office buildings past the outskirts of farmland being demolished by bigger monsters in construction attire.
Finally, you arrive at the mansion where the game takes place (Queen Anne style, because I adore the doll house look).
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To the people who know proper grammar, please forgive me if mine gave you a headache. I tried, but I’m sick of editing this post, tbh.
