The appointment

Alice was still a bit unsteady on her feet when they made it out of the house. Katie meanwhile was struggling not to grin, expression mirroring Alice’s own.

Holy shit. Who’d have thought Katie had that in her? She’d never been exactly virginal, could be a bit of a flirt, but being pinned down and eaten out for solid hours was still so much more than Alice would ever have imagined from her.

She stumbled out onto the street, glancing back to see Katie coming with her. They had an appointment to get to.

“Hey, you’ve got a little…” Alice said.

She almost reached to rub a couple of droplets off Katie’s chin, before mentally shrugging and leaning in to kiss her. She reciprocated with barely any hesitation, giving a muffled chuckle as Alice licked herself from her new girlfriend’s lips.

Katie seemed to be adjusting to the lie she’d told rather well. Alice wasn’t complaining.

“Wow, I love you,” Katie said, as soon as Alice moved back. Alice winked.

“Shall we head off?” Alice said.

Katie nodded.

It wasn’t too far to Braemor, where the AGS clinic was set up. They arrived, ducking in, both keeping an eye out for the other. A stray word from a stranger could be dangerous to someone with AGS; Alice knew she had to keep Katie safe, while Katie thought she had to do the same for Alice.

It was strange how quickly Alice had started feeling almost possessive. She felt responsible, really, even before Katie had essentially made them date.

They made it to the clinic eventually. They walked in through glass doors, and Katie went to the counter, gesturing for Alice to stay behind her.

“Hey, we made an appointment earlier today,” Katie said. “My girlfriend got diagnosed this morning.”

“Let’s see… Katie and Alice?” the receptionist said.

“That’s us,” Katie said.

“Take a seat, you’ll be able to consult with an expert as soon as he’s ready.”

Katie nodded. She went with Alice to the waiting room, sat down, and less than a minute later an older man walked in.

“Ah! Hello,” he said. “Ms Katie and Ms Alice?”

“That’s us,” Katie said, as Alice lifted her hand.

“Good,” he said, smiling genially. “Please, come to my office. Thank you for coming.”

“Glad to be here,” Katie said.

They followed him down the corridor, reaching a wooden door with a nameplate reading ‘Dr Abbot’ set into it. Once inside, they took their seats, two comfy chairs on one side of the desk. He sat in a larger chair on the other side.

There was a nameplate on the desk as well, a couple of photo frames that faced him, a few books, piles of yet more leaflets… and behind him, several certificates were framed and hung up on the wall.

It looked like he was actually an expert on AGS. Alice bit her lip, uncertain suddenly; she wasn’t sure she could convincingly fake her condition to someone who knew a lot. Then again, it was important they be here, for Katie.

She glanced sideways awkwardly. Katie seemed slightly intimidated too. Why was-

Oh, right, she supposed an expert might frown on talking an AGS sufferer into being your girlfriend. Alice almost chuckled.

“So, which of you is Alice?” Dr Abbott said.

“Um, me,” Alice said.

“I’ll understand if you’re apprehensive,” he said. “First, I want to go over a few basics, things you already know but it’s worth being sure we’re on the same page.”

Katie nodded. “I get it. A few people in my family have AGS, I know how important preparations are.”

Dr Abbott seemed pleased. He smiled at her, but turned his attention back to Alice.

“Absolute Gullibility Syndrome means you won’t be able to recognise when someone lies, meaning in practise you will believe whatever they tell you, even if it contradicts your experience. It won’t feel strange to do so, whatever you hear will just click for you, and you won’t realise anything’s changed. I understand not being able to trust your own mind can be quite a strange experience.”

“Um, yes,” Alice said, voice small.

Katie took her hand encouragingly, squeezing it.

“Now, I do have to make sure you aren’t going into this with unreasonable expectations,” Dr Abbott said. “Unfortunately it isn’t so much a matter of if a patient with AGS ends up doing something uncharacteristic, but rather when, but we can offer certain tools to mitigate the effect.”

Alice glanced sideways. Well Katie had confirmed that already, given what she’d done as soon as she’d ‘found out’ about Alice. Now probably wasn’t a good time to laugh though.

“Have you had a chance to peruse the literature?” Dr Abbott said.

“Yep,” Katie said. “We read the leaflets that came with her diagnosis.”

“Good, that helps,” Dr Abbott said. “Have you selected a point of contact yet, to serve as a baseline of how to behave?”

“Yeah, that’s me,” Katie said.

Alice nodded. Dr Abbott paused, eyeing her speculatively.

“Forgive me, but I would rather hear the answers from her, given the nature of her condition,” he said. “You understand?”

“Oh! Oh, yes,” Katie said. “Sorry. Alice, you’re up.”

“It’s her,” Alice said. “I love her, and she’s the most important person to me, who else would it be?”

Too much? Alice hesitated. They were meant to be dating now after all. Still, it was hard to tell whether or not the doctor was satisfied.

“You’re certain?” he said. “I don’t mean to make insinuations, but when, ahem, sexual relationships are involved with AGS, it gets… complicated.”

“I’m sure,” Alice said.

Still, she peered out of the corner of her eye curiously to see how Katie was reacting. Maybe it was a bit mean to enjoy seeing her squirm like this, but she did have a rather cute, awkward expression on her face.

“Then I have to ask, how long have you been together?” he said. “You’ve been happy?”

Ah, expert, right. Unless someone was really well prepared, someone with AGS probably wouldn’t be able to give all the details of a relationship if pressed. She glanced at Katie again, watching her turn crimson.

Sometimes flirty, but still ultimately good Katie taking advantage of her poor, defenceless AGS-suffering roommate the first chance she got. Alice mimed thinking for a moment.

Nah, she didn’t want to be mean to her, it wasn’t fair even if she technically was guilty. Alice hadn’t exactly been entirely honest. It wasn’t like Katie was going to think she was lying.

“Oh, months, since before we moved in,” Alice said. “We met via a mutual friend, hung around in the same circles, she asked me out after a few weeks of that. It’s all been amazing, better than I could have dreamed.”

Katie schooled her expression; the doctor meanwhile seemed satisfied that it wasn’t made up. Alice smiled across to Katie.

“That’s good to hear, I’m happy for you,” he said. “Now, let’s talk practicalities. A number of general tips will be in the literature, but you’re here for specific things and better resources. Something we’ll get to will be a text system; we can arrange for messages to be sent to your phone on hourly intervals as reminders, so each time you go to check, you’ll be reminded of whatever facts you think are most important. Do you understand?”

“One thing,” Alice said quickly. “Um, we were thinking it might be smart for Katie to have the same, not because she has AGS or anything, but so she’s living the same way I am. If I mess something up, anything, she’ll be able to, well, help with more than just an academic knowledge, you know?”

Shit, she should’ve thought it through more, it wasn’t just her gullible roommate she needed to convince.

Surprisingly the doctor took it in his stride.

“That is something we recommend to couples or families that are struggling to understand the reality of a loved one with AGS,” Doctor Abbott said. “If it’s something you’re interested in trying, I can certainly arrange it.”

“Definitely,” Kate said, nodding. She squeezed Alice’s hand. “I want to be there for her.”

“Then I’ll ask you the same questions,” Doctor Abbott said. “The first, and most important, matter is that of how you spend your days. Do you live with anyone, particularly anyone you feel might take advantage of the situation?”

“Just her,” Alice said.

“Ditto,” Katie said. “Landlord, but he’s halfway across the country, we do everything online.”

“That makes things easier,” Doctor Abbott said. “What about employment, what are your jobs? I won’t judge if you’re currently unemployed, but I can contact your places of work to make certain concessions or help you make arrangements.”

“I help nursing at a hospice,” Alice said. She gave a feigned, awkward expression. “Is that bad?”

“This is a good time to talk about the kinds of concessions that can be required,” Doctor Abbott said. “When people talk about AGS, inevitably thoughts turn sexual, and while that can be an aspect, it is one that tends to concern individuals more than companies. A place like a hospital, while it cannot fire you for having AGS – we have quite a gifted legal team that works pro bono for issues like this, it also has an incentive to ensure you are not in any position to be manipulated. You have access to ****, some sense of control of people’s treatments, quite literally life and ****. They don’t want your AGS to prove an obstacle to you any more than you do.”

Huh… yeah, he had a point. Admittedly she’d been just as guilty of getting hung up on the sexy possibilities.

“What I suspect will happen is that you’ll be relegated to inventory,” he said. “Apologies, it might not be the most exciting, but limiting your engagement with patients and visitors is for the best. You may work more at nights, or deal with comatose patients, and you won’t have to worry about being lied to. If you want, we can contact your place of work with our suggestions.”

“No!” Alice said quickly. “Er, I’d prefer to tell them, if it’s okay. If I bring the law or some other company into it, it feels like taking advantage, you know?”

“Quite understandable,” Doctor Abbott said. “I’ll write down my key recommendations, then. Are there any individuals on the staff that you are concerned about, perhaps, taking advantage of your situation?”

“Um, I don’t think so,” Alice said. She had nothing to worry about after all.

“Wasn’t there that creep supervisor you mentioned?” Katie said.

Alice winced. She should’ve said it more confidently so Katie would have believed her, but yeah, she had a point, she’d vented about that pervert staring down her top every chance he got one day, and his behaviour hadn’t exactly gotten better. She was really glad she didn’t have to worry about AGS.

“I mean, yeah,” Alice said, backtracking. “He’s an asshole, but I don’t think he would actually… you know.”

“Not to cause undue stress,” Doctor Abbott said, “But it is far better safe than sorry. With a condition like AGS, you might not act ****, you would be perfectly receptive, and there can often be limited consequences for someone that takes advantage of you. You’d be surprised of what even the nicest of people might feel willing to do.”

Katie blushed. Alice bit her lip to keep from smirking.

“What I recommend is this,” he said. “Take a day or two off, here’s my email address, I can answer any questions you think of once we’re done here. Ask to be assigned in different locations, and on different shifts ideally, to the people you are most worried about. And Katie, be sure to ask her how her day went, if anything seems suspicious to you, contact me immediately. I can help identify things that might have only happened because of your girlfriend’s condition.”

Katie nodded. Alice nodded along too, digesting it; it wasn’t exactly applicable, but she’d be doing the same for Katie.

“Now, you,” Doctor Abbott said. “May I ask what you do?”

Katie reddened again.

“Um,” she said. “I’m, er,” she hesitated. “I’m a camgirl.”

Alice refrained from fistpumping. She fucking knew it!

Dr Abbott cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Ah, yes, well,” he said. “Let’s use this as an example should your girlfriend consider changing jobs. That would be… concerning. A self-employed position limits your safety net, and such a job, as I understand it, relies on engagement with other people, and any one of them might accidentally or otherwise say something that affects you. Further, the sexual nature of the job is… concerning. If your chat posts something as in-context casual as ‘you like…’ well, anything, it would affect you. I would, ahem, caution against Alice from changing into a similar job.”

Ah. Awkward.

“So, for example,” Alice said, “What would you do for someone with AGS in that role?”

“Good question,” he said. “Of course, there are the usual techniques. After a show, she should describe what happened to someone she trusts, like you, ideally showing the log of the chat to be sure there were no unwitting commands. That isn’t preventative though. For a role like that, you would need to work with someone; you could not be the one to read the chat, and rather have someone else read it off, and have that someone keep an eye on you. Mind you though, it could still go poorly; if you’re on camera with someone that knows you have AGS, and you can’t trust them completely, the result could be very… well, yes.”

“Well, thank God I don’t have AGS then,” Katie said. She smiled happily, before looking sympathetically at Alice.

Alice bit her lip. She’d… need to think about what to do with that.

“Indeed,” he said, “Though, if you’re committed, I would recommend going through the motions of explaining your day to your partner, or even have her watch, so you understand what she has to do.”

Katie nodded, a little flushed. She probably hadn’t expected Alice to find out about her job like this, but now she was pretending they were dating, she’d need to pretend to be open about it. Alice pressed her legs together. Now there was an appealing thought.

“So, anyway,” the doctor said.

He reached for his monitor and turned it around, revealing a program, half the screen looking like a spreadsheet. It was a form, with space for a phone number, and dozens of short messages.

“This is what I mentioned earlier,” Doctor Abbott said. “If you give me your number, we can add texts that will be sent to it regularly. These usually take the form of key reminders. ‘Ask Katie if a transaction is appropriate,’ and such, though on financial issues I can offer you some leaflets on AGS-protected accounts. ‘It is inappropriate to have sex with strangers’ is another. I… I understand people prefer to add their messages in private, I assure you everything is confidential. Do you see how it works?”

Wait, she could send messages to Katie to remind her to do… anything. That had potential.

“Looks clear,” Alice said. Katie nodded.

“Then I’ll leave you to it,” Doctor Abbott said.

As he stood to leave the room temporarily, turning the mouse and keyboard around to face them, Alice’s mind raced. She’d promised not to be too mean to Katie, but the potential…