The world had never been kind to Luna. She was the sort of person who lost more often than she won, in almost every aspect of life.
Her parents had divorced when she was three. Her older sister, who she relied on for financial aid during this time, was actually her twin, and although only about a minute older, she had received every iota of common sense that Luna had never had.
The accident that had landed her in this predicament wasn't even close to the first she had had. Although most people grew out of their clumsiness when they grew older, Luna never had. From touching a burning hot griddle, twice, to leaping into a waterfall, Luna had done it all.
She should've realized sooner that she wasn't invincible. Now that she was being paid by the government to be a lab rat, she didn't have much else to think on. The worries about her sister were gone, just like her hopes, dreams, and fears for her own future. She didn't even have an official identity anymore. The scientists had explained that there was some sort of confidentiality "compromise", as they said, in which after numerous successive treatments she would be allowed to return to the normal world, on the stipulation that she would make no direct contact with any relatives, friends, or former relations in any capacity, and that she used a different guise of normalcy with every visit to the above.
Luna hadn't understood most of it, which made sense considering the terminology and the fact that her mind had still been recovering from the whole-body numbing agent, but she had agreed without hesitation. It was much easier for her that she wouldn't have to worry about going to the outside world ever again.
Now she was completely in shock. For the first time, there was a major decision that hadn't gone horribly wrong, at least as far as she could see.
Quickly, Luna felt around her body for changes.
Nothing.
No tail, no ears, no scales, no fur, nothing. After hearing someone mention hybridization, she had been worrying about that.
Not that she wouldn't like it, but it would be strange to have to get used to. Luna had always liked the idea of animal features, and had wished for a tail numerous times as a girl, but now that she was grown and knew how to manage her body, as well as having a few biology and psychology classes under her belt, she had realized that getting one now would be ridiculously hard to control.
Even if it wasn't prehensile, she would have to learn to control it so it didn't mess up her balance and weight by accident. After all, if one were somehow programmed into her, for it to be real it would probably need its instincts, which would also need to be integrated into her mind. Most facilities that offered it had shut down that part of their operations a while ago. Scientists had determined that it was much easier to deposit the instincts as a bundle of nerves rather than hard-framing it into the subject's brain. It also reduced the mortality rate from nearly eighty percent to almost zero. The procedures could even be done by a machine, because instead of requiring intensely observational and data-based intuition, it was just making a hole, dropping a package, and then sealing up the hole.
Luna blinked and refocused herself. It was bad enough to be intelligent in a mad scientist's lab, but she wasn't even just that.
Luna had the whole package. ADHD, anxiety, SPD, OCD, all of it. She got depression too, but it couldn't be called seasonal depression because it wasn't anywhere near that predictable.
Fortunately, all of that apparently made her a great scientist. Always itching for something, never able to sit still, ever looking for something new.
Luna paused, and frowned. "Ever"? "Ever"? Since when had she, or anyone in the last couple centuries, used that word that way?
If she hadn't known already, it was clear that something was going on.
What had happened in the STASIS chamber? What had the scientists done?
Luna slowly turned her eyes up again as she pushed herself over to the edge of the bed. The lead scientist was there, as always. Watching.
It was time to try walking again.