Brook went to her physical recovery class the next morning like she had promised Katyusha. She was getting used to the crutches as she was heading for the room. She soon stopped as she knew this was the door, walking in, the door had no knobs to turn as it was mostly a push open door for those that need to get in and hopefully attend. Two of the adults looked at Brook as she hobbled over.
"Welcome there, Katyusha sent the message that you need some recovery do you?" One of them asked as Brook sat down on one of the fluffy chairs. She sank in a bit as she got comfortable as she began to speak.
"Yes I do, I'm just a wreck at this point so commander Katyusha told me to come here." Brook replied as she put her crutches to the side. The worker looked at her as she studied the female student. She was surprised as she soon began to speak.
"You have such beautiful blue eyes. Much like Katyusha herself who often comes here in her freetime to try to make herself taller." The worker commented as she told her about the commander. Brook looked up as she was curious about what she meant by commander Katyusha.
"What about her? Why is she trying to get taller?" Brook asked as she thought there was nothing wrong with her commander but why was she trying to grow? The worker looked at her as she began to speak.
"You see Katyusha is the shortest student of the school, don't tell that to her face since many students get in trouble because of that which I find to be highly punitive. Nonna has the patience of a saint and wishes to become one of us when she grows up as she balances out all of Katyusha's actions with much more lenient punishments like homework in a classroom without windows which is the most common but it's completely harmless." The worker told her as Brook was getting hooked up to one of the machines that would assist her when it came to the recovery process.
"So how does Katyusha think she's taller than everyone else, how does she accomplish this?" Brook asked as the machines began to help her exercise her legs. The worker looked at her as she began speaking to her question.
"Simple, Katyusha sits on Nonna's shoulders thus she is looking down at everyone. Nonna doesn't mind it too much." The Worker responded. She continued to straighten out her legs as well as bringing them back in as she wanted to make sure they weren't stiff as she was being delicate around the left leg which Brook winced as that leg was touched as it still hurts her after all of those days going by. She soon looked up at her as she began speaking.
"Yeah that leg is still busted and will take a while to heal so no going out to parties or anything that will cause pain on it. Might as well apply more pressure to the bandage so it doesn't hurt you as much." She soon began undoing the pressure bandage until it came off as she began rewrapping her leg up to make it tighter. Brook whined in agony as her leg was straightened out and rewrapped back up. The worker soon placed a cast over it to hold the bandage in place as she slowly lowered her leg back to normal. She soon released Brook from the machine as she got her crutches as she looked at her.
"That hurts so much." Brook admitted as she was back on her feet. The worker looked at her.
"Yeah the pressure bandage was coming loose and that would have been disastrous. Your leg needs to heal properly if you're going to function." She reminded her as Brook heard a noise as she was curious about it.
"Yeah thank you, I'll see you tomorrow." Brook responded as she hobbled away. She soon found her way to where the noise was as she spotted two students were attending the same exercises as her but she noticed one of them was injured as her friend was standing beside her. These girls were small, almost as small as Katyusha herself. One of them had both of her legs wrapped up as she was being released from her machine that was helping her out.
"How long will she recover from her leg injury?" Her friend asked about her wondering how long until she was going to be able to walk again. The worker turned her head to the small girl as she began speaking.
"Based on the condition and the car wreck she got herself in, about 2-3 months to say the least and she might also not be fully coordinated so she's going to lose her balance a lot if you don't keep her straight." The worker looked at the small girl. She had a mix of black and brown hair with the black slowly fading away as it was clear she looked like she was going in a molt. Her grayish blue eyes looked as her friend freed her from the machine.
"Thank you." She responded as she and her friend began walking off. Brook looked at them as she walked alongside them as she wanted to get to know them.
"Ahh so nice to see you, I heard you two and I decided to come and investigate." Brook decided to make herself friendly. She adjusted the injured girl's Ushanka as her friend looked at her.
"Oh you're that girl that Nonna is tending to? Brook?" She asked as she knew what the girl's name was, now she had a chance to meet her.
"Yes that's my name, how did you know that?" Brook answered her question. The girl looked at her as she helped her friend into her wheelchair seeing how she wasn't able to move her legs that well.
"Nonna was talking about you when she was tending to my friend yesterday, you seem to be lucky to be alive based on how far you fell." She told Brook as she began pushing her friend away from the room. Brook followed along as she didn't want to get left behind. "Anyway my name is Alina and the girl in the wheelchair is Nina." Alina introduced herself and Nina to Brook. Nina turned as she was smiling as her Ushanka bounced on her head as she wanted to greet her.
"Hello." Nina piped her interest. Brook looked at her as she was eager to meet them but kind of jealous that Nina was getting a free ride.
"So why is Nina getting a free ride and I'm just hobbling around on crutches?" Brook asked as if she was feeling left out while her new friend got to have all the fun. Alina looked at her as she began to speak.
"Nina broke both of her legs sometime before she came here and she can't walk until they heal. I see one of your legs is fine and the other one is broken but you do look like you broke your foot on your other leg so you're in a limbo between needing crutches and something like Nina has." Alina told Brook as they soon arrived at the elevator as they were going to take a ride up to their dorm while Brook was going to do pretty much the same thing. Soon the doors opened as they all got inside with Alina pushing the buttons to the dorms. The doors closed as She looked up. Brook had a Ushanka much like Nina.
"You know Nonna visits all the students with Ushankas." Nina began as she wanted to tell her that. Brook looked at her friend as she was curious about this as she wanted to find out why. Alina looked at her.
"Pravda takes on a large number of students each year, many of whom have been injured in some way as they do have the largest hospital system and as well as a largest doctor and nurses program that is somewhat bigger than their Sensha-Do program. Some of the best doctors and nurses come from Pravda surprisingly as they pretty much have this program in the school itself. Also the light brown Ushanka signals if you've been injured in some way since Nonna visits all the students with Ushankas if she could as it's a way to tell injured students from healthy ones. She wants to become someone who wishes to help people one day as one of the goals for herself is to try to make Katyusha taller." Alina explained about all of this and how it worked. Brook was surprised as she was definitely the person who everyone liked, even Katyusha. She soon began thinking about her and why she was so short, was she suffering from a condition? She knew she needed to ask about this.
"So why is Katyusha so tiny, is it that she has something wrong with her?" Brook asked, the door to the elevator opened as she soon got off with Nina and Alina as they were walking back to their dorms.
"Actually she does, Nonna doesn't know the name of it but it's something that stunts someone's growth and they end up being very short when they become adults. Nonna told us that Katyusha will only get to 4'6 when she stops growing as she is 4'2 now." Alina told Brook as she was pushing Nina to her dorm. They soon stopped as she looked at her. "Well it was nice meeting you so if you do get a phone, I'll text you." Brook waved goodbye as she walked off using the crutches. Nonna soon appeared shortly after as she was expecting her.
"Ah Brook you see you were talking to Alina and Nina, how did recovery go for you today?" Nonna asked as she was walking alongside her.
"Terrible, the person removed my bandage and reapplied it as I felt like my leg was on fire." Brook replied as she was trying to keep pace with Nonna.
"Well they need to check it to retighten it. I mean you don't want the bandage to fall off right?" Nonna asked Brook as she continued to lead her away. Brook was getting curious about where she was going as she wanted to ask.
"Nonna where are we going?" Brook asked, wondering where she was taking her. Nonna puts a finger over Brook's lips silencing her as she wanted to keep it a secret.
"It's a surprise, don't spoil it." Nonna told her as she continued to lead the way.
Brook and Nonna would spend the next hour walking as Nonna had promised her to keep a secret. They spent the time talking about other things while Nonna continued to teach her Russian words and phrases as part of the time killer. She soon entered the store with the girl as she soon began speaking.
"Well, Brook I dragged you all the way out here so we can find a dress for you so you can attend the party, Even though you might be injured, I still want to make you not feel like you've been left out. Now let's get you something nice to wear." Nonna told her as she began looking for someone to help take some measurements. Brook was standing on the crutches as Nonna returned a moment later with one of the tailors so he could make some measurements. He soon got to work as he began measuring the girl while Nonna went out of her way to go take a look around. Soon a blonde student came up as she was visiting this store too. She turned her head as she soon recognized Nonna.
"Nonna, is that you? What are you doing here?" Kay asked as she was looking for something to buy. Nonna looked at Kay as she began to speak.
"Buying Brook something to wear for the party, she's going to need something if she isn't going to feel left out. What are you doing here Kay?" Nonna gave her reasoning as she was wondering what Kay was doing on the carrier Kay soon began speaking.
"Well I was looking for something fancy to wear myself. One of the students has a birthday coming up, she's going to be 17." Kay replied as Nonna looked at her as she was happy for her.
"That's nice I was hoping to get her something to be able to be able to wear as well as some patches for her uniform seeing there's a sale on those so might as well get her the collection which contains a lot of patches from Russia and other countries from Eastern Europe and Balkans." Nonna replied as Brook hobbled back on her crutches as she looked at Nonna and Kay. Kay soon felt excitement rush through her body as she wanted to go squeeze Brook. She soon began walking over. Brook began to reverse almost if she was scared of Kay. Kay soon squeezed the girl as Brook dropped the crutches. Nonna soon ran over as she grabbed them before they could hit the ground.
"I'm so glad you're still alive, I was so scared that you were going to die." Kay told her as she was more than relieved to see the girl was still alive. Kay soon released Brook as Brook grabbed for her crutches. Kay studied the girl as it turned out the girl was a mess, looks like her body was damaged in several places and her hair was shaved off as her Ushanka was covering it.
"Kay you should be more careful, she is recovering from her injuries, you don't want to create all new ones right?" Nonna asked as she didn't want the girl to spend more days in the hospital. Kay looked at Nonna as she was being serious.
"Katyusha doesn't complain when I do that to her." Kay told her as Nonna soon began speaking. Brook was readjusting herself as she was waiting for Nonna to decide on a dress for her.
"Well if your friend is as injured as her, would you want to squeeze her tightly?" Nonna asked Kay if it would be the right choice to squeeze her like that. Kay began to step back a bit as it was a hard question for her. Nonna had truly put Kay in her place as she soon found a dress for the girl. "Hey Brook, how's this?" Nonna soon pulled out a Maroon dress with a black ribbon across the chest. Brook looked at it as she found it to be aesthetically pleasing.
"Looks good, let's get it on." Brook replied as she wanted to see what it looked like. They decided to head for the dressing room as Nonna wanted to assist the girl with getting the dress on. After a few minutes, Nonna opened the door to Kay as she was looking at the girl who was in the dress with a large ribbon-like bow on the back of her head.
"She definitely looks beautiful for sure. I'm pretty sure that I would like to see you two with some pictures on it." Kay told Nonna, commenting on the girl's dress. Nonna gave as nod as she closed the door to get the dress off of the girl. After a couple more minutes went by, Brook exited the changing room on her crutches. Nonna wanted to go ahead and pay for the dress as well as the patches she wanted to give to her.
Once done, Nonna and Brook bidded Kay farewell as she was going to do her best to tell the students about why Brook was gone and said that she transferred to SSISSN to cover up the fact she transferred to Pravda.
"I got you some patches that would look great on your uniform." Nonna told her as she wanted to make the girl look like she would be loved. Brook looked at Nonna as she was trying to keep up with her friend.
"Patches, what kind?" Brook asked, wondering what kind did Nonna get for her. Nonna soon looked back as soon as Brook caught up with her.
"Mainly symbols of other countries as well as their tank force from Eastern Europe and the Balkans. By the looks of things you might have blood from that area so might as well find something that would look cute on you." Nonna told her as she continued to monitor her progress with her speed to make sure she wasn't going too fast. Brook looked at Nonna.
"That's great, I will definitely look for an opportunity to find a place to put them on." Brook replied as they were heading back to their school. Nonna just smiled at her.
"They're quite easy to put on, just press down with an iron and they'll stay on and when ready to take off, they peel off and you can reuse them." Nonna instructed her about how to use them as Brook nodded. Nonna soon opened the door for her friend's dorm as she went to assist her in putting on her night clothing as well as washing her up. "A job as a caregiver is a hard one, but that doesn't mean it isn't enjoyable." Nonna soon said to her as she soon tucked her into her bed. "I'll see you in the morning." Nonna soon shuts off the lights as she leaves, locking the door behind her.
Tomorrow was going to be the big day.
[A/N]: Another chapter that is displaying and establishing more of the characters. Kay gets to come in and check on how our main character is doing and we kind of explain more about Nonna and Katyusha. Nina and Alina are introduced and the next chapter will be their party.
Also I might be throwing it up in the air but should Brook reapply for Sensha-Do for Pravda? I'm asking this now so I can give you some time to think about it and you might as well give me a reply as soon as you think it over.
Let's hit 1k views by the time August starts as I've been working on this for more than a month now and I'm enjoying how this is turning out. Will be another one of those long stories I am making and could be the longest one. That is All.