Cover the Truth

Physician's Advice

A fishman-human hybrid stumbled onto the shore, arms folded across her stomach as she shuffled along the sand, her boots filled with water and her tail dragging behind. One week of nearly unbearable pain and a fever that she was pretty sure was higher then however hot the sun was. Even the cold depths of the ocean didn't fix it. Neo grumbled softly, her black hair a frizzy, sea-salt nest, bags hanging under her bright yellow eyes as she shuffled from the beach and onto a port, wincing in pain as she tried to get into town. She just wanted to find a doctor...Neo wasn't stupid, she had figured out this was bad enough to have to get treated, even if she did truly despise doctors, plus side is that it'd be a good way to hide from him.

She walked slowly, a sharp difference from her usual confidence, and she looks around, panting and sucking in painful breaths that made her lungs feel like a normal breath of air feel like someone was filling her up with fire. I hate my lungs...I like my gills more..

Neo blinked hard, she was just praying that there would be someone here that would be willing enough to help her out, this was one of the few times she wished no one knew who she was, and so far she hadn't noticed her wanted poster up anywhere. Any other case she'd be insulted by the lack of people who wanted her dead, but for now the twisting pain in her gut was enough to press her to not really give a damn. Neo exhaled softly, the black-haired kid shuffling rather pathetically down the side of the rough cobblestone road; it was more of a shitty walkway  then anything, the buildings looked like they had been through hell and back, and the smell of smoke lingered in the air and made her eye twitch softly.

She grunted, feeling nausea crawling up her throat, and she started scanning the signs quickly, and she stared at one word that made her mind stutter, she wasn't sure HOW to read it. "Ffff...sician.." She whispered to herself, before stumbling towards the door, her movements uncoordinated as she loosely banged her fist on the door, the soft rattling of a lock being heard after a moment, and Neo was met with a lanky old man, he looked just about as worn down as all the other buildings. Any other situation she would've probably poked fun at the man, but for now she was just...scrapping by.

She could see his eyes look her up and down, staring at her tail, before huffing softly. "...why are y'  here?" Neo blinked slow, and she cleared her throat, speaking for what probably sounded like for the first time in months, her voice sounded like it had gone through a cheese grater then had her vocal cords smoked in a dark room for a year. "...I think- think somethin's wrong with m' stomach." his eyes only softened a fraction as he stared at the half fishman girl, before cracking the door open a bit and gingerly pulling her into the building. Neo grimaced as the strong scent of herbs hit her, she felt like shit, she felt lethargic and like someone was hammering a nail right into her intestines. She couldn't remember eating something sharp at all...she always figured she had a stomach made of iron. She didn't fight back much as she was led to what looked to be a cot of sorts, the fins on the side of her head flicked up at the sound of his voice.

"I'm a physician, I don't...get many patients here as you can imagine, especially of your...kind."

Of MY kind. Sure fucker. Real rude, makes me sound like I'm a dickhead criminal.

...

Well I AM but- fuck it. Forget it. There's a reason he must not like "my kind."

He was easily twice her height, Neo was suspecting the only reason he hadn't kicked her out is cause she certainly didn't look her age, she was 13 and only 3.2 feet tall- a blessing and a curse. She fucking hated it. Sometimes people would baby her like she was 5, which was good, in some cases. She got free food like that, but the downside was that she wasn't very intimidating. God if she were just as tall as HE was then she'd be unstoppable.

She gingerly laid down, closing her eyes and feeling her tail twitch and wind around her leg as it was prodded by his hand, if she wasn't half deaf she'd have half a mind to eat his arm off. "Tell me 'bout your symptoms would ya."

"Headache, feelin all...lefargick-"

"Lethargic?"

"That one yeah."

Neo opened her eyes to stare at the wood ceiling, hearing the soft clinking of bottles and quiet shuffling, taking in a shaky breath as she tried to keep her voice from sounding so...shitty. "Stomach hurts, feels like someone's shankin' me with a bottle." He hummed, nodding softly, and Neo glanced around the room. It was dim, not too much of an issue for her, until her eyes landed on what looked to be a patch of notes and lists tacked on a wall, layering over other papers, and her eyes locked onto a paper that was peeking out, the words  "D. Neo" stabbing into her brain and making her  whip her head away, her eyes wide. Her already sweaty hands gripped onto the sheets of the cot, and her pupils contracted.

Shit shit shit. She was in no condition to try and fight someone if he turned her in, and especially not multiple people, Neo was more praying he wouldn't remember her face at all, after all it was buried under a lot of other shit, he probably didn't remember at all. She could hear him speaking but his words were lost in her mind, only really registering anything after he shoved a spoon into her mouth. Neo felt herself gag, quickly swallowing whatever she had been given, the taste burned and lingered in her mouth. "I reckon that won't take long at all t' start workin, I'd recommend resting a bit. You ever heard of appendicitis?"

Neo slowly shook her head, the bitter taste of whatever he just shoved down her throat still burning. "Well, it's an organ in your lower body that's useless to humans. My idea is that it's already ruptured, but by some miracle you're still alive, possibly because you're a fishman. Resting up and waiting for symptoms to pass is just my suggestion."

Neo nodded groggily, shifting onto her side and curling up, her hand fiddling with the buckle on her belt, the gold metal clinking softly between her scarred fingers. God she was exhausted, the last thing on her mind was paying for this whole expense. Her gaze wandered back over to the wall with the posters, and her eyes began to lazily trace around the papers, noticing a bounty poster of the man she unfortunately looked like. Gol D. Roger.

Neo could feel her clammy hands grip the moth eaten sheet of the cot, grumbling a curse under her breath as she turned away from the wall, burying her face into her arm and closing her eyes, trying to sleep..she had picked this island for a reason, no sane pirate would want to come to a recently ransacked place, even if it meant the chance of a doctor having the shit she needed was low. She didn't care anymore, she just wanted to hide, to avoid that man's stupid, stupid face, a face that looked too much like her own.

She listened to the quiet shuffles of the doctor, her exhaustion beginning to catch up to her as she started to drift off, curled up on her side with her tail wrapped around her legs. Neo closed her eyes fully, letting her find droop down as she began to fall asleep, finally managing to slip into a deep rest for the first time in days.