Iomedae is so far beyond bewildered at this point she's struggling for words, which is not a problem she's used to having even in her third language. 

"- hit me with the hammer? So we can - so we know why this is this way."

Sure! Tap tap.

WHY IS AMERICA LIKE THIS

...Man, it's probably pretty understandable to find reflex tests incredibly baffling if you've never encountered modern medicine before, though of course the way the nurse presented it didn't help. Unfortunately Evelyn doubts she can clarify things any more than the doctor did, she had actually been kind of blanking on what kind of problem the reflex test is even meant to be testing for. 

She smiles reassuringly. 

That honestly looks less bad than the bright lights or the noises and she is so confused about what any of that was supposed to accomplish. Showing off that healers know all the body's secrets and can use them to make legs twitch???

"Are you a scientist and a polymath or just a doctor?"

He snorts. "I'm just a doctor. Do you want to be a scientist and a, uh, polymath when you grow up?"

"Just a scientist, I think, if I am allowed. I think I cannot be a polymath unless I am also a doctor or an animal trainer and I think I can not be a doctor or an animal trainer?"

"- you can certainly be a doctor or an, uh, animal trainer, if you want to, and you can be a scientist if you want to, though I'd have to say I don't know how you'd find the time to do them all at once. Medical school takes a long time. What are your favorite subjects in school?"

Evelyn clears her throat. "They're not in school just yet. New to the US. They're both very bright, though, and curious about science. I'm sure they'll catch up." 

"I have not went to school yet because I only went to America weeks ago and only made a foster child two days ago."

" well! In that case, if you want to be a scientist when you grow up, I would say you should work on your math and science classes at school, and then apply to lots of different universities until you find one that will give you a good price. Some of them have special programs for children in foster care, so you don't have to pay for your university education. 

And how about you," he adds to Iomedae, "what do you want to be when you grow up?"

"I am grown up already."

"Well, then, what do you want to be when you get finished with school? If Alfirin here is a scientist she'll be in school for ten years even once she's a grownup by anyone's definition."

Ten years????? That is so long.

This conversation is about to go interesting places, but for once Evelyn isn't on eggshells about it. 

"Before I was made a foster child, I was working on a farm and learning how to take care of the cars we use to drive from farm to farm. In the not growing time I planned maybe I work build houses, or if I good at take care of the cars I do that. A friend say there lots of money in taking care of cars if you are good at it. I also want to do healing of all the workers so the work not so hard on them, and figure out why the church here do no do healing, and fix it, and then buy a car and go a place that need me more. I had a list of places. Some of them you think silly try to fix but I do not think silly and I do not want to talk about it.

Now I a foster child. I no can do any of those things. I obey Evelyn three years."

Evelyn would be kind of worried about most professionals' response to this, but she trusts her doctor, and he's used to foster kids being angry about being in foster care, and - well, a lot ruder than that. Some adults would probably find Iomedae's wording rude, but Evelyn doesn't. 

She's a bit confused about what exactly Iomedae is trying to elide, here, because she was certainly outspoken about her self-appointed (or God-appointed according to her) life mission yesterday, and that was already after the point when she learned about the raid on the migrant camp and felt betrayed by Evelyn and the system. ...Well, the most salient ""place"" Iomedae has talked about fixing is Hell, and - ohhhhhhh, of course that would have come up with Emily and her girlfriend last night, and of course it would have been agonizingly awkward, and they probably...told Iomedae that randomly bringing up Hell unprompted in conversations is something that some people find offensive? Which is, like, true, and - not necessarily bad advice, for integrating into modern American society - though she's sorry Iomedae feels judged about it. 

"You don't have to talk about it," she says gently. Probably the whole 'why isn't the church here doing miraculous faith healing' is already bizarre and surreal enough for this conversation. 

"Well," says the doctor, "I see why you say you are grown up already. That sounds like a very grownup life you were leading. You know, you can study to be a mechanic - and it is good money, your friend was right - while you're in foster care."

"I did not think learning car care, learning why the church no healing, fixing it, buy car, drive away to place that need me more take long. A year. Maybe two. If you had said to me 'it will take three year to do all that' I would have said 'I do something more - more Godlike - then.' Because a year is too long for only that much done when the world is this bad."

At this point the man looks faintly baffled. He doesn't exactly try to conceal it, but he does think for a while before replying.  "- so, you think in foster care you can learn to be a mechanic, but if you were on your own you could become a great mechanic in just a few months, fix your Church and figure out why it doesn't do healing, buy a car, and drive off to a bigger problem? Wow. I think a lot of important things just - take a long time."

"It is no that I think I could do that for sure. It is that, if after a few months I clearly going to need three years to do that, I would do something better instead."

"You know, I have a spot on my form for 'career goals' and I am not really sure I understand what you're saying well enough to put it down, but I also don't want to talk about this for too much longer because we have a lot to get through. Do you want to try to give me a short version so I can write it down?"

"No."

"All right. - next set of questions, I'm actually going to ask Evelyn to step out of the room, so that you kids can answer without worrying what she might think of your answers, okay?"

"Okay."