Kayla had finished her meeting which would be the first of many. Details of her life would be routed through the "Mental" team handling Jeff's upload process, encoded, and turned into a memory. Kayla was in a cafeteria space, but it was a quarter of the size she was used to from school. She was waiting, gingerly picking at the meal she had picked of the limited options. This day had felt non-stop up until this moment, and despite not having had anything but a PB&J she wasn't feeling as hungry as she usually did. It was strange to not see her friends, it was unsettling to not know what was happening to her parents, and the emotions tied to Jeff are labeled with an "its complicated" sticker and pushed into the corner.
After poking with her mashed potatoes and meatloaf while contemplating, she was roused from her thoughts to see Jeff exit the serving area and enter the seating space. She waved, he acknowledged and began walking over. As she watched though, he looked like he had spent all day riding a horse, as he was walking slowly and bow-legged.
"Are you okay? You're waking... funny."
Jeff very gingerly sat down acutely aware of how each testicle was positioned at any instant. "Yeah. It's just, they have me on a medication to get me through puberty and some of the side effects are... uncomfortable." Jeff smiled and shrugged it away, "Couldn't imagine dealing with this for years naturally. Such a pain. So, what have you been up to all afternoon?"
"They're asking me about myself and I've gotten a little information about what they're setting up for us. 'Aaron' and his lovely daughter..." Kayla did a small flourish at the table. "Are moving to a new state because of a job opportunity her 'Dad' got. Apparently, he's going to be making the big bucks, so Kayla expects the best of things for her sacrifices in all this... a phone, the prettiest dresses, a car when I turn 16... My own personal champion bred stallion..."
Jeff choked on the food he was inhaling and laughed. He couldn't blame her for trying. With a chuckle, "Well instead of all that you get me! Such a deal! We will have to figure a lot of things out."
"Aren't you supposed to magically know things?"
"Well, yeah, but they just started. I remember things like being excited for the Sunday newspaper because of the full page of comics... but I don't think mom and dad ever got a newspaper, they just used their phones. I remember crank windows and tape decks in new cars, but that hasn't been a thing for years... Things are all jumbled and I think they're easing me into stuff, but right now it's all a mess... they've given me enough to know how to walk here, and remember some cruddy workplaces with no benefits and under $10/hr in pay. But I'm not ready to lead a company or a household quite yet..." Jeff smirked and immediately returned to inhaling his food. "God I don't think I've ever been so hungry..."
"Yeah, but Aaron wants nothing but the best for his daughter, you remember that!" Kayla smirked and glared, pointing her finger at Jeff.
Jeff just smiled and shook his head. "It's going to be weird having a new first name. At least, I think it will be... I don't know... I've never had one before... Aaarroonn..." Jeff took his last bite and shrugged. "I'm going to see if I can get more food. Be right back."
Jeff left the table, wincing as he forgot his current sensitivity to movement, and went for another plate of food. Kayla was left both reassured and bothered by the situation, Her brother seemed like himself which was a relief but she was also needing to rely on him for their security and he even admitted he had no idea how to take care of them. On the walk here, he seemed distracted by all the buildings but in this enclosed space he was normal.
"YESSS!" Jeff sat back down with what looked like a plate full of double servings of everything. Kayla stared at the mounds of food repressing disgust as Jeff went after the plate as if he'd gone days without food. That plate along with his first was more than she'd seen Jeff eat ever.
"That's so much food." was all Kayla managed to say, astonished.
"They said that they can make me look like an average man, but if I eat like a 140lb teen, I'll end up around 140lbs. So they gave me something to increase my appetite, to help me eat enough to support an average weight. My stomach needs to grow with me, basically, and eating big meals is how that happens." Jeff said between bites.
"Okay but, how heavy are they going to make you?"
"Average. I won't stay this hungry forever. They assured me that many teen boys normally go through a period of gorging like this during growth spurts, one of the doctors admitted needing 5-6 full-sized meals a day for a month or two in his teens."
Jeff got to the last few bites and stopped, thoroughly stuffed. He looked at Kayla. "I want to prepare you, eating habits aside. They have started trying to make me look and sound older, and said that things should start becoming noticeable throughout tomorrow. They asked me to report back once done with dinner. You know where you need to go?"
Kayla nodded her head, she was given a room to report to and had some 'homework' for meetings she'd be having tomorrow.
Jeff stood up and took his tray. He scraped the last bite onto his fork and ate it before putting the tray in a bin for washing and throwing out the plastic utensils.
Jeff reported to the place he was asked to go to after dinner and the procedures continued.