He looked up with infatuation. He had bags under his tired, almond shaped eyes, yet they were ecstatic.
His mint green skin looked particularly inviting. As though if you licked it, you'd taste mint ice cream. His multitoned brown eyes curled up with his smile.
He held his child with his long slender fingers, encasing her growing body in his safe grip. Children her age—human children—should be given a lot of attention, and play a lot of games. What games and such was Bodie's job, as her father.
He swung Adelynn up high, then went in a circle with her, energetically shouting, "Woo!"
Adelynn didn't feel like "woo!" Her full stomach felt bothered by the sudden movement, turning her face sickly. She whines, inwardly warning that he should either stop, or get ready to be puked on.
"How's my cute Addilyn?" He hugs her close and asks. In return, she turns her head back to the crib she was kidnapped from. She reached out her hands and struggled. This was her only way to communicate with these people, without just plain whining, which she refused to do unless already crying.
Her meaning, of course, was clear. 'Take me back!' Could be read on her scrunched face.
"No laying about today. It's time to get bathed and dressed, we can't leave our guest waiting." He shook his head and explained as he displayed a half-apologetic expression. He had something special planned and, evident by his slightly sweaty palms, he was a little nervous.
Adelynn was a compliant baby, most of the time. This time would be included, as she didn't want to be lazy either. Truly, she felt wary for her future. After being a baby, her fundamentals had no choice but to change. None of her daily routines came to pass, and it's likely the special foods she ate she wouldn't find.
It was probably one of her most stressful thoughts, but it was also quite unnecessary. Surely, this man would give her ways to fulfill all of that. Could he not import this world's equivalent to whatever she wants?
Either way, after Bodie's words Mia, Mya, and the doctor got moving quickly. She was firstly given to Mia, who dipped her butt into a basin in the bathroom. With an earthly scented soap, she lathered then rinsed her. The quick bath was ended with a brief rinsing of Adelynn's soft dark hair, tying it up afterwards.
Secondly, she was given to Mya, who already had an outfit comprised of flowy pinafore over a purple-periwrinkle blouse with white sandals prepared. Adelynn was quite used to this style of clothing, as her father liked to dress her in pinafore gowns when she was young too. There was also the addition of an adorable white headband.
Thirdly, the doctor's turn had come around.
Adelynn doesn't like this doctor, mostly because she doesn't trust this world's qualifications. The doctor didn't look or act like her world's doctors, which dressed professionally whenever on duty, did things swiftly, and spoke only about what was important to the patient.
This doctor, whose name she had yet to learn, dressed like he stepped out of a mens club, made conversation with everyone, and his checkups were unnecessarily long; he was too unprofessional in her eyes.
Adelynn knew this probably wasn't going against some conduct in this world, or at least among the Elven Kingdom, because everyone treated it as normal.
The doctor still did what he came to do: check her basic condition in heart, eyes, and breathing, for what Adelynn guessed to be mutations. Surprisingly, the checkup ended as soon as it began. Clearly, the doctor had been stalling before, which silently irked her.
However, the doctor was not finished. Bodie cautiously brought her into his arms and settled her against his narrow chest. The doctor set aside his few tools before giving Bodie a fleeting glance.
She was confused until Bodie spoke up.
"Don't be flustered, little Addilyn. Mr.Myi is going to cast a harmless spell on you, okay?" As he coaxing spoke, he returned the doctor's glance with a nod.
Adelynn, of course, was quite flustered. Spell? As in.. magic? She assumed her first time seeing this world's "magic" would be when she was old enough to leave this baby's room. Who knew she was way off!
Though... what spell needed to be cast? Actually, how would casting a spell work in the first place?
She wasn't extremely curious at first, leading her not to be very anxious to grow up. At the same time, she would still love to know. Previously, she had thoughts that magic here might not be too grand of a thing. Perhaps equivalent to science.
She could feel that theory being somewhat disproven, though. How could someone "cast" science? Didn't science revolve around matter and such human details? Even in her advanced era, the notion remained the same: Matter cannot be created nor destroyed.
Which would mean... real magic?
The doctor faced Adelynn again, but this time instead of a critical gaze, he was faced with big and round sparkling eyes.
He and Bodie both quietly chuckled, noticing the baby was not frightened but intrigued.
The doctor held up his two thin hands and a faint green light shined. It didn't even last for a few seconds before fading. Then the doctor smiled and gave a thumbs up to Bodie.
"Now," Bodie rose his voice proudly, softly tossing the baby around to face him, "you are ready!"
Adelynn scrunched her face at his actions. Whatever he meant, her internal thoughts stayed the same. 'What happened?'
Light emitted from the doctor's hands, then nothing? As soon as her question came, an answer was given.
Bodie carried his daughter out of her room and into the large, straight hall. On the walls to their left and right, portraits and empty frames were hung up. They passed by them all, and Adelynn happened to catch a glimpse of herself.
Oh! The lights flashed on in her brain. She discovered what had changed.... she became Elven. More specifically, she looked like the biological child of Bodie and Emil should.
Light green, mint-like skin; small, sharp-looking ears; and almond-shaped, violet eyes. Even her hair, which was originally a dark brown, possibly black color, became fantastical. She gawked at herself.
Although it would take some getting used to, that appearance was more than enough to ensure she was the second prettiest baby she'd seen in her lifetime (first place had to go to her human appearance, though she might be biased). She looked alien, but not in a bad way.
Adelynn was happy with how she looked, but the thought didn't last too long before her shock surfaced.
Was her current appearance an illusion?
Or, could the doctor really have manipulated her genetics, even if temporarily? How had he done either when he didn't even touch her? There was a light, but it was vague and cursory, what could it do?
Was it really the light that did anything, or could it be something that shows when any spell is cast? If so, then what was the essence of the spell to alter her appearance?
He didn't speak any words, and it didn't seems like runes or script was written anywhere. Was it not magic that needed visual or verbal aide? How do you learn it? Do you learn it? Can she learn it??
Sure, in her world there was technology that could alter your appearance which replaced procedures like plastic surgery long ago, but that was technology. It was completely different. A process still needed to be completed; it couldn't be done it the blink of an eye, especially not by one person.
She was very curious about how it all worked, and found herself hoping it would be comparable to magic games in her last life.
Before she could delve further into the idea, Bodie bopped her nose and regained her attention.
"Let's not be fussy, okay?" He looked down lovingly, but his voice carried some pleading. She suddenly remembered Bodie's status in Grecira.
Any guests he has that she must meet, they should be important?
He probably didn't want her causing a ruckus around important guests, as babies do. Adelynn stared at his tired eyes, then gave a simple nod. It actually looked more like she had become a cute bobblehead.
Bodie smiled, relishing in the more fitting appearance of his child, then opened a gray grand door.
The room the door opened to had a few similarities to Adelynn's: There were big windows; a total of six, four 4-panel windows on the wall directly across from the door, and two long windows on the ceiling, relieving the baby blue morning sky. The walls were all a deep brownish sepia color, and the edges/baseboards were pure white. The room provided a gentle and dignified aura to those within, which happened to be 4 elven people and a human child.
Bodie sat Adelynn upright in his arms, then took slow and steady strides towards the visitors. As the door closed shut behind him, they turned to look, all except the child gasping.
Adelynn leaned into Bodie and examined the surprised faces. The four elves were adults; the two elder ones, a man with blue eyes and woman magenta eyes, were sitting on a gray pallet sofa with a prepared tea set and healthy snacks available near them. The more youthful two, a middle-aged man with bone-colored eyes and another man with light purple eyes, were standing behind the pallet sofa with the child standing between them.
The human child didn't fit with the room a strange-skinned elves with their lustrous eye colors, Adelynn realized. It didn't even seem the child, no older than 5, wanted to be here. She had long and perfectly kept orange hair, smooth-looking brown skin, and large, grass green eyes.
Everyone was dressed conservatively, even the child whose clothes looked dirty. Then you have Adelynn and Bodie, who dressed with pretty colors and loose collars. She looked away for a moment to hide her slightly flushed and puffed cheeks, slightly embarrassed.
"Family, I apologize for making you wait. I hope you haven't been here too long." Bodie started with a sheepish smile.
A kind smile grazed the blue-eyed man's lips. "No, we haven't. Don't worry about the delays, come sit and introduce us."
Bodie softened his expression and went to sit on the pallet sofa across from them. There was a lot of furniture in the relatively large room, so he shifted his gaze to the three standing.
"My apologies for making you wait. Please, find a seat and indulge yourself. If you want anything, I will have it for you." He referred to the snacks on the table between the sofas and the staff waiting at his beck and call.
With his words, the men and child also sat down. The magenta-eyed woman cleared her throat, then looked expectantly at Adelynn. "Is that her?"
Adelynn looked at her and made a baseless guess from her memories of.. being born.
In the next moment, Bodie replied. "Yes, Ms.Tayan. This is your granddaughter, Addilyn Baysan Bell."