Scene #274: This always happens around chapter 8 or so, or, A Gender-Bent Maiden and a Trip to the Nurse's Office

Owner	Pose
Amy Faust	Class, or an exam, or some sort of school function, or perhaps, earlier in vacation, just a teacher noticing an extremely uncomfortable Amy one day as they pass in the hall. 'What's wrong?' 'I'm fine, it's just a stomachache... My digestive system's pretty picky sometimes, maybe it doesn't like the dining hall stir-fry...' She clutches one arm over her middle. 'Maybe you should go see the nurse.' 'I'm fine, gut pains just happen sometimes, when you--' she cuts off before finishing: When you get to be my age, and you've had abdominal surgery, sometimes your gut just hates you. 'They do not just happen sometimes! Well, they shouldn't be to students, anyway. You should really go see the nurse...' Amy has to concede that: Maybe she should. Who knows what state this body is in. Does she have an appendix again? Does she have to worry about appendicitis? Who knows! Not that the nurse is gonna CT scan her, but there could be some medical issue she's not thinking of. '...Alright, I'll go...' -- Now: -- The small redhead in an Academy uniform (she's subbed the men's slacks in for the skirt) walks into the nurse's office/waiting area / whatever there is, groaning a bit at her stomach throwing another painful pang and internally kicking herself for being this weak; she'll take a seat if Setsuna's busy with another patient or stepped out for a moment, no need to inconvenience her for Amy's sake by calling out.
Setsuna Meiou	Ah, the school infirmary. A staple of the high school experience...where students go to deal with the various cuts, scrapes, strains and the like common amongts a building full of 1000 or so hormone-soaked adolescents. Not to mention all the ones trying to scam the nurse to let them skive off of class. Generally, the infirmary's a fairly small office for the nurse and some equipment. At least, that's the general rule. Given the budget Radiant Heart boasts, the infirmary's a bit bigger and more well appointed than most. There are several beds (which are currently not in use) and to an eye familiar with the medical world, there's enough well-laid-out kit that it's quite likely that, in extremis, one could actually do surgery here. Still, most of the room is broken up with little rolling-wall medical dividers, with the bulk of the area set up for the kind of service one would need for a typical average assortment of students. Reasonably nice chairs, little triage areas, that kind of thing. The walls have various posters one might see in a doctor's office, though most of them are a bit more aimed at student-level things like common adolescent illnesses and the like. One particular poster, however, probably catches the eye: It's a picture of what appears to be a leg bone with the caption 'I found this Humerus'. As usual, the Infirmary is fairly quiet at the moment. Between the level of kit the school's sunk into the facilities and possibly the level of skill of the nurse, most cases tend to come and go pretty quickly. Thus it is that when Amy walks in, Nurse Meiou is absently leaning against a counter, reading a book while absently spinning a pen between her fingers in her off hand. The back cover of said book has a picture of what appears to be an ent with a Jack-o-Lantern for a head running down a street. The moment the young woman walks in, Nurse Meiou blinks and looks over, the pen disappearing with a twist of her hand and being subsequently replaced with a black bookmark with which she saves her place and snaps the book shut (revealing the title to be 'Proven Guilty' in large English letters). Standing up straight, she asks, "Good afternoon, Miss Faust. What brings you in today?"
Amy Faust	Amy doesn't know enough about doctoring to recognize some things, though she probably would find it a bit unusual if they actually had medical imaging machines here. She does actually take a look around once the most recent pang has passed; even this stress and discomfort bringing instincts to understand and control to the fore. Her quiet analysis of what she sees is interrupted by spotting that poster. Despite herself, she smiles, makes a snnnnrrrk sound through her nose and gives a little chuckle. Somehow it just seems so unexpected that it caught her off-guard for additional 'humerus' punch! ...The redhead jerks in surprise at being called by name, her head swiveling back from the poster to Ms. Meiou. "How do you know my name??" she asks, pretty darn shocked about that actually! There's like at least a thousand students here!
Setsuna Meiou	Nurse Meiou sets her book down and walks over towards the younger woman. As may or may not have been noted, in sharp contrast to what's the norm among nurses, who as a rule tend to favor 'comfortable' footwear, Nurse Meiou has apparently never been actually seen at school NOT wearing what appear to be 3in heels. She smiles in response to Amy's question, "I know everyone's name, Miss Faust...but I will confess that you stand out in memory a bit more than most." A hand is quickly dipped into one of her labcoat pockets, from which she retrieves one of those infrared laser 'gun' thermometers that she absently spins once in her hand before using it to take Amy's temperature from a short distance away.
Amy Faust	Amy blinks as she finds herself looking up, up, up at Nurse Meiou. She hasn't tried heels herself yet so can't comment on that. Wait, she's already standing out in the staff's memory?? "I... I do??" She stares briefly at the 'gun' and then relaxes as she recognizes it. Why is she on their radar? What did she do?? Would asking be more notice-- Her train of thought is interrupted by the start of a groan before she cuts it off, embarassed. "I uh..." her voice is a little strained, "...my stomach hurts... probably just breakfast or lunch not... agreeing with me... but a teacher seemed pretty insistent I get checked out... How would you even tell if it were something more severe?" She starts rambling, trying to move the subject away from being memorable. It might be accomplishing the opposite of that. "If I had some real problem like diverticulitis or a blockage we wouldn't know for days... It doesn't feel in the right spot for appendicitis..." her eyes widen slightly at realizing that slip. "...from what I've heard." she appends, words just slightly rushed. She looks up at Setsuna's face trying to read suspicion.
Setsuna Meiou	Nurse Meiou checks the reading on her gun, absently going on, "Miss Faust, I don't know if you've noticed, but red eyes are a rather striking feature...they tend to stick in the memory. Especially when one needs to know about them so they don't get confused with legitimate medical symptoms." The knowledge of medical issues gets her to pause and raise an eyebrow at the younger woman...but then she smiles a bit and shakes her head. WebMD IS a thing, after all. At least she's not worrying it's cancer. She then moves over and indicates a slightly raised plate against the wall, "Step up here, please." As she does, she absently clips one of those finger monitor clips from hospitals to Amy's index finger...then when she's on the plate, an armature detatches from the wall and sweeps from one side of the young woman to the other, emitting a light as it does." Setsuna looks at a screen where height, weight, density, o2, pulse, heartrate and a few other vitals are measured, "...nothing particularly out of norms...when did you start feeling this pain, and where precisely are you feeling it?"
Amy Faust	Amy blinks. RED EYES. right, yes, that makes sense. "Oh. Right. I guess I never thought about how it'd stick out to school staff... well you're a doctor, so it would... uh yeah..." she trails off awkwardly. She holds her finger up to inspect the O2 monitor's reading out of mild curiousity, but it of course reads normal. And then AN ARM IS ROBOTICALLY SCANNING HER WHAT. She stares. "WOAH, you have scanners like this now?? What'd it even read?? Not like it's getting skin anything visual through my clothes, and you already got this anyway," she wiggles her finger with the O2 sensor on it., "although I guess it could get pulse from my face..." She considers the question. "Uhh... maybe like 15, 20 minutes ago? It started getting uncomfortable, I hoped it'd pass... but a few minutes later a teacher noticed me, and sent me here... Ngh." She winces a bit, leaning more heavily against the wall. "Umm... in the abdomen, below my stomach?" She indicates with her hand. "It's probably just my body deciding that the stir-fry beef needs to be moved along as fast as possible, right? Like, the next hour's gonna such but eventually it'll be outta me, and I'm, I feel bad for wasting your time really..." She looks away awkwardly.
Setsuna Meiou	Nurse Meiou conceals a small giggle behind her hand at Amy's reaction, "No, Miss Faust. The lightbar there simply measures your precise height and volume, the pad you're standing on measures your weight. The little monitor on your finger is for pulse and o2 saturation and a few other things." After which, Nurse Meiou asks a few other relevant medical questions as she works to figure out what's wrong...and then she asks as she absently looks over some readings, "...and when did you have your last menstrual cycle?"
Amy Faust	glass shatter.opus Amy looks a bit like a deer in headlights. She knows it's not that, but she should still have an answer to the question! "Uhhhhh..." SAY SOMETHING! "I'm... bad at keeping... I mean life's been so busy lately with the move to Japan and look I know it's not that, there hasn't been any..." She looks away, trying to look and sound like a teenager who feels too awkward to discuss intimate health details with a stranger. "It's not like I could miss bleeding, you know?" Please buy it please buy it please buy it Amy glances up to check Setsuna's reaction and see if she's buying it.
Setsuna Meiou	Setsuna looks down at Amy and arches an eyebrow, "...yes, well, for most the cramping pain starts a few days before, as one of my American acquaintances once put it, 'Aunt Flo comes to visit'." She then turns her full attention to Amy and bores in a bit more, "So when was that, dear?" Frankly, at this point she's suspecting more that Amy had some really terrible or lazy parents.
Amy Faust	Amy's eyes widen again as she stares up at Setsuna in shock, one hand still over her belly. "It comes BEFORE?!" YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE READY FOR THIS, MALLORY! Like, you knew that was going to happen sometime, you didn't carelessly forget it! You know how this works, all the stuff they teach you in health class, and you looked up how to apply tampons or pads for when the time came, you were not going to be caught unawares like some other guy would! But uh... well... ~~ Weeks ago ~~ Okay, Amy is finally taking care of this important errand. It would be too embarassing to wake up to blood in her sheets and not have what she needs. Also probably suspicious. Her records say she's 15, so she should have been dealing with this for years. No biggie. She just needs to make a routine shopping trip to the pharmacy. But uh. Now that she's standing outside the aisle with the sign over it that would read 'Feminine Hygeine' were this in America, she feels like there's an invisible forcefield that will alert everyone nearby if he crosses it. He's not supposed to be in there. And saying he's just getting something for his girlfriend would require it being believable that he could have a girlfriend okay maybe sister? Do sisters actually send their brothers to buy this stuff sometimes? And oh right he's a girl it's OK. The small red-headed foreigner still ends up standing awkwardly at the end of the aisle, or pretending to browse nearby aisles, for like ten minutes, sweating nervously. Eventually an employee comes to restock a shelf nearby, in sight of Amy, and standing furtively outside the aisle would be too suspicious and she walks in anxiously. Get in, get what you need, get out! ...Oh no. Oh NO. There are CHOICES. Different brands making various advertising claims she completely lacks the knowledge to make any guess as to the truth to. She'd just buy the cheapest but... SHOULD she? Women find all this pretty unpleasant, right? A bit more money for a more comfortable choice might actually be worth it, but how can she tell? Oh shit an employee is coming this way. THEY MADE HER. ABORT ABORT ABORT! The part-timer listening to music on her earbuds as she stocks shelves for her college job doesn't even notice the customer scurrying out of the aisle. Attempting to google products and work out what was good was even more of a mess and Amy just hasn't gotten back to the whole issue yet. ~~~ Now ~~~ It appears that the issue has gotten back to him, instead. Mental note: Mission failed on being prepared on your own, ask for supplies before you leave this office u_u But also HEY WAIT it happens BEFORE?! HOW DID YOU NOT KNOW THIS?! Well, you never thought to ASK, did you? And your primary source of information is... writers who also forgot to actually ask a woman, huh... But as for right now, you're hosed! You're made! There's no way a teenage girl doesn't know this! What happens when you're found out?! Do they pull you out of school? Do they make you pay the accrued dorm and meal costs?? Fuck, where will you LIVE?! She stares up at Setsuna in dawning horror as the full ramifications of this start to unfurl in her mind... ...and then winces and partially stifles another groan of pain, before stepping off the scale, dropping to her knees, and bending over and trying to press herself flatter against the ground almost like she's grovelling or apologizing for some grave offense. She mutters, 'Fuck... it really does hurt less... ngh...' Well, thank goodness manga taught her something useful...
Setsuna Meiou	Nurse Meiou MIGHT be more suspicious, but there are two very important factors at play here that keep the nurse from digging harder. For one, Amy drops to her knees with a REALLY bad cramp, which triggers instant 'REDUCE HARM' instincts in the medical professional. Which is why, without further waiting, the Nurse simply plucks the ailing student off the floor and gently carries her over to deposit the young woman on one of the beds off behind some of the partitions, "Wait just a moment, dear." She steps out of the partition, there's the sound of her rummaging through a few cabinets for a moment, then she comes back slipping something into a fabric container that she then flexes between her hands which makes an audible crack. The large fabric container is then deposited on Amy's abdomen...after which it becomes clear that the fabric bag contains one of those 'instant heat' chemical heaters. The sound of running water can then be heard and a glass of water is handed to Amy along with a few pills, "Take these." A glance will reveal them to be what appears to be bog standard ibuprofin (the orangey coating is pretty universal). However, now that medical necessity is taken care of, one WOULD imagine that the Nurse would start giving the third degree again...but there's the OTHER thing at work here. MAGIC. There's so much disguise magic running back and forth across this school that it makes it terribly easy for certain details get glossed over...or for certain assumptions to be made so long as they help conceal an identity...and so Nurse Meiou sighs, "Alright, Miss Faust...I imagine that you've been terribly lucky until now...but sadly, changes happen during puberty." And then she launches into a brief lecture of symptoms to look out for and common remedies. This probably goes on for FAR longer than Amy likes, but eventually it ends with Nurse Meiou depositing a small bag with several boxes within...one for sanitary products, and the other with some over the counter ibuprofin sample packs, "Fortunately, the school has provisions for necessary supplies."
Amy Faust	Amy yelps a bit at being picked up. That position was better! When Setsuna returns to the bed, she's sitting with one knee hugged to her chest. She tucks the chemical heater behind her leg with an expression like she's kind of ashamed of all this. Yeah no she's not taking random pills quite so readily. "What are they?" Once explained though, she nods and takes them, downing the water. Things change, Ms. Faust, especially in puberty! Things change Ms. Faust, especially in puberty! Okay while she is pretty ashamed and awkward about this fuckup she is glad for the important info, which as it will be of immediately practical use, she diligently takes down as notes in her phone (a years-old model in a rugged black case.) And hey... Like, it was awkward, and the price is having to go through everything described, but she now has secret knowledge no other guy will! She feels a little bit of pride in that. She wonders if Mio knows how to cook red bean rice... Also, this conversation means she avoided getting discovered, so yay? Although, as she gratefully hugs the bags to herself, she does wonder something about that. "Thank you so much, Ms. Meiou...! I'll uh... I'll do better in the future! Um... this isn't really related to anything, but... who actually decides on, and sends, well, the invites to the school? And um, should I be looking up more stuff about my red eyes in case I get less lucky about that in the future, too?"
Setsuna Meiou	Nurse Meiou gives Amy a bit of a searching look, then sighs and shakes her head, "I'm afraid the only person who knows the parameters for that is the Headmistress herself, and she's notoriously uncommunicative about her methods." She then pats Amy on the head and with another spinning flourish, produces a full-sized Snickers bar (with packaging in English) that she hands to the teen, "I doubt it will be much of a problem. Oddly colored eyes are a bit more common around here than in many other places, if you haven't noticed." At which point she winks, drawing attention to her conspicuously PURPLE eyes.
Amy Faust	The headmistress, huh? So the headmistress may already know and be okay with Mallory being here. That's... something to investigate. Something to investigate later, after going back to her dorm room and processing all this. Does... does she tell Mio? Girls talk about this stuff when there aren't guys around, right? Yeah that's gotta be part of any, like, women living together living situation. Plus if she wants to find out if Mio can make red bean rice she'll have to tell her anyway. As for eyes. Amy blinks at Setsuna's eyes, standing on tiptoe to try and look into them. "Huh." She stands normally and smiles. "Well, I guess us colorful-eyes gotta stick together!" She holds her hand out for a fistbump, and after getting or not getting it, turns and heads out. "Thanks again Ms. Meiou!"
Setsuna Meiou	Nurse Meiou smiles and returns the fistbump, then scribbles something down and says, "And here's a pass for the rest of the day off class. You'll probably be useless for the rest of the afternoon until the drugs kick in, anyhow." With that, she waves you out and starts cleaning up.