Feral
Summary: Two feral sisters are discovered by a Gillikinese scientist. He takes on the task of teaching them normal human affairs and actions. Inspired by Amala and Kamala.
It doesn't make any sense, he thought. "I won't hurt you." He said calmly, but the creature backed away, staring with wide eyes at him. Where did she come from? Why did she look like that? "It's okay."
"No." She spat protectively, her body covering another creature that was apparently on all fours.
"Do you want some water?" He asked, offering a bottle to the girl.
"Wa-ter." The one on all fours repeated.
"Water." He said again. "Do you want some?"
"No." The other girl said again before turning to the other and mumbling something in a language foreign to his very fluent tongue.
"No!" She replied. "No! No! No!" She chanted over and over until the other tackled her. The girls wrestled, biting, growling, hissing, and scratching.
"Girls!" He pulled them apart, only to get teamed up on. He endured the fists for a limited time before setting off his gases and plugging his nose. The girls fell limp.
***
"Daddy can we..." Galinda Upland stared at what was in her father's hands. "Uhh... what is that?"
"The correct grammar would be 'what are those.' These are my latest experiments. They're feral children I found in the woods."
"That's great." Galinda said dismissively. "May I go to the mall with Pfannee and ShenShen?"
"Have you asked your mother?"
"Mummy told me to ask you!" The blonde pouted. "Pfannee can drive me, and I'll call if there's trouble! Please, popsicle..."
"Don't you want to meet the nice girls?" He bounced the small girl in his arms, just as the other woke up.
"Ew." Galinda said.
The girl was aware in seconds. She jumped out of Galinda's father's arms, taking the other girl with her. She was still in a daze and fell to the ground, crawling on all fours. "Elphaba." Mr. Upland called.
The girl recognised the name and froze, giving the man a death glare. A low growl escaped her gritted teeth. Galinda gave the girl, now identified as Elphaba, a look. "May I go to the mall or not?"
"No." Elphaba barked. The other girl stirred and Elphaba growled at the Upland's some more.
"Elphaba's right, Glinny, you haven't done your school work yet."
"But, popsicle!" The blonde begged.
"A no's a no, Galinda. Now would you be so kind as to get them some of your clothes to wear?"
"They wouldn't fancy any of my clothes. I'll go to the mall and fetch them something-"
"Now." Her father ordered.
"Now." The smaller child repeated, having awaken.
Elphaba crawled after Galinda, who ran to get away. They found out the girl was quite skilled at running on all fours and caught up with her, tackling her to the ground. "Get off of me you freak!" The blonde squealed and squirmed under Elphaba's grip.
"No." They were now enemies. Elphaba was the predator; Galinda was the prey.
***
"Frank, if this experiment fails, you will lose custody over this project."
Frank Upland gulped before saying, "It won't fail, Gilbert. I'll teach them myself."
"You do realise you could lose your license."
"Yes, Gilbert..." He looked over to the girls who were calmly playing with each other. "I realise the cost." As the dial tone rang through the phone Frank smiled down at the girls. "Elphaba. Nessarose." They looked up, shocked he had spotted them perhaps. "Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?"
"No." Elphaba replied crossly.
"No, Elphaba, that means you want me to ask you, silly girl." Frank gave her a playful smile.
Elphaba had no interest in being treated like a child. "No." She said.
"Is that the only thing you can say?" He chuckled, but Elphaba remained silent for once. That made Frank smile because she could understand him. "Do you know how to read."
"Book!" Nessarose smiled looking around as if to find one.
Elphaba hissed for her to be quiet saying, "Be quiet."
Frank was amused that he had at least gotten her to say something other than that one word. "Here," he said, giving handing them a notebook. "Can you write?"
"Be quiet." Elphaba repeated, this time to Frank. Nessarose was looking at Frank with wide trusting eyes. Apparently her nodding meant she could.
"Please, would you answer my question? I'm your friend, Elphaba. I won't hurt you."
Elphaba didn't stop glaring but she grabbed a pen. On the first page she wrote - in cursive he noticed - "Elphaba Thropp." "There." She said, not even taking pride in her achievement. He was impressed. Today most educated children couldn't write in cursive! They even had terrible handwriting because they only ever had to "write" on the keyboard.
"That's incredible, Elphaba!" He applauded, but the girl thought he was still making fun of her. "I mean it; do you know how many children can still write in cursive? It's very rare nowadays."
Elphaba looked down. "Thank you." She said softly.
"Can Nessarose write, too?" He turned to the younger girl who seemed to have shied away.
"No," Elphaba answered and gave the pen to her sister. Nessarose looked at the pen thoughtfully for a minute before mimicking Elphaba's movements on the paper. Instead of writing words though, Nessa drew a picture. She drew a tree with a bird - but not that a kindergartner would draw. It looked exactly like a tree and exactly like a bird. Elphaba smiled warmly at the picture. "Draw Mr. Goat." She instructed, and her sister obliged.
Frank smiled at the girls and noted that that was the longest sentence that Elphaba had said yet. "Baaaa-aaaaa-aaaad, girls." The green girl said, and Nessa baaaaa-aaa'd repetitively.
***
Elphaba was eighteen. She could read and write, and was always caring for Nessarose. Nessarose was sixteen. She could read, had a talent for drawing, and didn't seem to know how to walk. "Elphaba, I'm going to interview you." Frank said. "Have you ever been interviewed before?"
"Yes." The green girl had warmed up a bit after he had fed her.
"Really? By whom?"
"Mr. Goat." She answered, looking around for something to play with.
"Who is Mr. Goat you keep talking about?"
"Scientist."
"Really did he take care of you and Nessarose?"
"For a year." She replied, kicking her legs in her chair.
"What happened to him?"
"Kidnapped."
Frank did notice the way her voice grew low as she said this. "I'm sorry." He couldn't help but think of that Goat professor that had disappeared suddenly. But Frank couldn't remember hearing anything about two feral children. "What was his name?"
"Mr. Goat." The green girl looked up. "He named me."
"Do you like your name?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"What it means."
"What does it mean?" Frank asked, hoping for an accurate translation.
Elphaba looked at him then and almost smiled - almost. "Special girl." Frank smiled. She had nailed it.
"You're name fits you very nicely." He told her.
Elphaba nodded and looked around. "I'm hungry." Those two words were what tied Elphaba and Frank together. That's what made them family. Forever and always. Or else, when Frank fed her was the bond.
"Can you send Nessarose in?" Elphaba nodded and left with her crackers. Nessarose crawled in soon after. "Hi, Nessarose." Frank smiled brightly.
Nessa looked absolutely delighted to see him. "Hi!" She smiled.
"I'm going to ask you a few questions. Is that okay?"
"Yes." She sat herself down nicely on the floor.
"You seem to crawl a lot of places. Did you ever learn how to walk?"
"No." The girl shook her head, her mess of hair bounced a bit.
"Did anyone ever teach you?" Frank asked. Her legs looked a bit different than most girls. Not just because they were hairy because of lack of shaving, but they were small and looked as if they hadn't grown much since she was little.
"Tried." She replied.
"Who tried?"
"Mr. Goat."
"Really?" Frank had heard a lot about the goat. "Did he teach you to stand?"
"No."
"What did he do?"
"Chair."
Frank noticed she could only speak one word at a time. He would have to get her a speech therapist. "Did he put you in that chair? Was it a wheelchair?"
"Wheelchair." Nessa looked just as desperate for something to do as Elphaba at this point.
"Nessarose, I'm going to test your reflexes." He got the rubber hammer and tapped the girl's right elbow. She jolted immediately. The same result with her left. Frank tapped Nessarose's right knee. She didn't budge. The same with her left. "Can you kick your legs for me."
"No."
"Why not?"
"Don't..." Nessarose seemed to stutter, and he urged her to continue. "Don't move."
"You're legs don't move. Has it been this way forever?" The girl nodded a bit. Frank realised that she was paralyzed. "We're going to get you a new wheelchair, Nessarose. First you can have some crackers."