Week 10, Friday Mid-Day: The Birth

At about one thirty, the intercom system crackled to life. There was a second of static, and then Sosie's voice, harried and hoarse, spoke urgently. It echoed slightly across the building , overloud, as if it wasn't being regulated. "If anyone is home I need you--now!--in my room. Someone strong! Rico, Syl, this means you if you're home."

Bell's voice punctuating the announcement was strangely absent.

Darya, in the middle of unpacking her suitcase from her various trips, dashed out of the room and took Sosie's door fully on the shoulder, before bouncing off the durasteel surface and falling flat on her back.

"Sosie? Are you in there? What's wrong?" She asked, hammering on the door.

*Pinkie's heavy footfalls heralded her approach as she ran to the door and faded in*

Bell open the door or I am going to go through it one way or the other*

*Pinkie pulled out a lock analyser and aimed it at the door*

Bell did not respond.

The door opened after thirty seconds or so, revealing the sallow face of Sosie. There were black rings under her eyes, puffy bags under those, and her cheeks were sunken. She looked like she hadn't slept or eaten in a long time. It might be a fair estimate, judging by how terribly she looked, that she hadn't done either since the last time anyone had seen her. She stuck her head out of the door, looked at Pinkie and Darya, and then smiled wanly at them. Her eyes looked down at Pinkie's lock analyzer. "..I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. But I do urgently need help."

"Come in." She hobbled away, walking with a weird, limping gate, much slower than normal. She left the door open, an invitation to come in. The room was.. a mess. By the door there was an armchair, slung with clothes, cabinets and cubbies, a wardrobe spilling clothes. If the mess was cleaned up, this would be quite a nice entrance nook, but as it was it was.. mostly a mess. Past that, Sosie's bed was against the wall, sheets askew and littered with mechtronics and cybernetic parts. There was some more miscellaneous furniture, and a small corner blocked off which appeared to contain a toilet. There were smork bottles, empty, on mostly every flat surface. The walls were still a bare concrete, the floor covered in a plastic linoleum material in gray. At least for the smell of dry smork, it wasn't too bad, though it looked very much like the room a crazy recluse would live in.

The back third of the room was different to the rest. It was lined with white tiles and very well lit from above. Computers and screens lined the back wall, and beside it there was.. something huge. It looked like a stasis chamber mixed with a metal venus fly trap mixed with a milking machine. Tubes and liquids bubbled along the sides. Screens, probes, and various nozzles and doors lined the front and back. There appeared to be a double sided door on the front, closed tightly. There was a crowbar jammed into the lip between the doors.

Sosie stopped a few feet away from it, weight shifting unevenly, and looked back at Darya and Pinkie. Her voice sounded broken and weak, her face pained. "My cybernetics are shutting down. I.. I can't open it."

From inside the machine, there was the sound of something.. moving.

*Pinkie pulled out a nutribar she had 'borrowed' from Darya's supply earlier, tore open the wrapping and said*

Eat this, Now.

*Giving Sosie all the warning look she could ever need. Pinkie pushed it into her hands and closed Sosie's fingers around it then moved past her and grabbed ahold of the crowbar, braced her legs, arced her back and wished her second cybernetic arm wasn't inert in her room.
Pinkie pushed.*

Sosie weakly grabbed the Nutribar, though she opened her mouth to protest. "But.." Pinkie's glare, coupled with her grimacing mouth full of wolf-teeth, made Sosie shut up. She shoved the whole bar in her face, chewing once or twice and swallowing dry. "Be careful!!"

The door appeared to be jammed. It took Pinkie, with her enhanced strength, a bit of jimmying to pop it open. Whatever it was keeping the door closed broke with a loud SNAP, and the doors flew open, throwing the crowbar and Pinkie back, the latter just a foot or two. There was a rush of air, and lights inside the machine flickered to life, illuminating fog that poured forth. Sosie gasped, and rushed to the nearby wall.

The fog fooled around the floor, revealing the figure inside. It was humanoid, naked, apparently female, and young. She looked to be in her teens. Sosie hobbled forward, a fluffy bathrobe in her hands, and wrapped the girl in it, taking her hand and pulling her out of the contraption. The new figure blinked a few times, shielding her new and glowing green eyes from the bright light of the lab. Sosie touched the girl's face, smiling and beaming maniacally. Despite the lack of sleep and nutrition, Sosie couldn't have seemed happier. Her hands touched the pink and lilac locks of the new girl's shoulder length and curly hair. She looked down at the girl's hand, admiring the light silver but soft skin. After a few long moments, Sosie turned to Pinke and Darya with a brilliant smile. Her eyes were huge, wet, and bright. "Pinkie, Darya, this is Bell. My daughter."

Sylviane arrived and stood outside the room, watching with her usual blank expression. "Who is this?" she asked in her level unaccented voice.

Darya took a couple of seconds to register what Sosie had just said. When she did, she immediately opened her mouth to ask a question...and stopped. She wanted to ask lots of questions, but saying them in front of Bell seemed rude. Instead, she moved herself to cover Bell with her shadow and smiled.

*Pinkie looked from Sosie to Bell. She carefully observed Bell; pink and purple hair, glowing green eyes, young, for anything she could learn about Bell and/or Sosie. Sosie had taken the box that she had first installed into the computer, had taught and had put her into a body. A muse. She had made this form for Bell in three weeks... This little one had observed Pinkie for nearly 6 weeks, Pinkie went rigid from the shock of the realisation but gradually relaxed as she remembered that Bell had observed all of them.*

Hello Bell. You already know me, quite well, but it is nice to... meet you.. in person.

*Pinkie knelt down to look Bell in the eyes*

Once you and your mom have had time to talk, *and here Pinkie threw Sosie a look that very clealry read 'and eaten SOMETHING'* ... what do you want to do?

Sosie was too happy now to take in the severity of Pinkie's glare, smiling and handing Bell's smaller silver hand in her own.

Bell took a small step backwards as both Pinkie and Darya moved closer. Her voice, familiar to everyone in the house, spoke softly and with precision. "I'm having trouble adjusting to my new visual inputs, Mom." Her toes squirmed on the cold ground. "Touch is more different than expectations, too."

Sosie nodded indulgently, smiling more. "See if you can connect to the house network, you'll feel better when you have your cameras working. I'll need to do a few systems tests, but I have a bed for you and some real clothes and, ah, yes, I should get breakfast." She looked away from Bell for a moment, only a tiny one, to Pinkie and Darya, not bothering or able to focus her eyes on the back of the room. "And say Hello to Darya and your godmother Pinkie."

The new replicant looked from Darya to Pinkie, and finally back at Syl. "Hello, everyone. You seem relatively taller, now."

((EDIT: Son of a whore!))

((OOC: I edited the above post, Ida's at work with Rico doing all the actual work for her.))

Darya knelt down as well, keeping a good distance away from Bell to stop her feeling penned in by the larger women. "Are you ok with walking and things Bell? Do you need any help with anything?" she asked, looking into the girl's eyes.

*So Bell could still watch them over the cameras... could she get control of any No, Sosie said godmother. Looking after her is partially your responsibility. Did Bell need to eat now? Pinkie tilted her head, giving Bell a quizzical look, wondering what she would most like eating. She stood again and glanced at Sosie then looked over to Sylvaine. How different had she started from little Bell there? Pinkie's face split into a grin. Will we get to hit the combat replicant centre the same way? Not now. Focus this is important... Do replicants? They must need ID chips. So what did Sosie intend to do there?. Banishing these thoughts form her mind Pinkie's expression reset and turned to Bell once again.*

Hey there, this must all be pretty new huh? Would you like to go upstairs and be in the places you have been watching for so long?

Darya smiled and stood back up, turning towards the door. "This must all be pretty new." She said, grasping Syl. "We'll be upstairs if you need us. We shouldn't overwhelm her."

Whispering in Syl's ear, she said "It's ok, Pinkie got here first. Thanks for coming so promptly though. You're a nice woman." She smiled and spoke at a normal tone. "I'll explain what's happened upstairs Syl. If you want to follow me, that is."

Sylviane nodded in silence, following Darya.

Bell turned to look at Sosie, who nodded encouragingly. There was a second where Bell's large eyes glowed in her face, pupils disappearing. She looked up and to the side at nothing.. and then focused back in front of her, pupils returning to her bright green eyes. "I'm connected to the network. I can see everything." She looked from the retreating Darya to Pinkie, and nodded. Her face was mostly expressionless, calm. "I am curious as to what things look like with these Anascan eyes."

The new mother reached down and grabbed her PDA and a few tools off the table. "Yes yes yes, talking is good, and we can perform some scans on the way, need to test eating and digestion, work on coordination, make sure your programming has been integrated into the braincase, though it should be, there was enough time, but you'll feel better for moving around, and need to charge you, but your charge should be full, is it full?"

Tottering a little bit, Bell took a few steps forward. Sosie helped her, wobbling a little herself. "Yes Mom, my battery is full charged." Two minutes as a teenager, and was Bell already sounding slightly annoyed? Surely not.

Darya walked fairly quickly, not waiting for the others to catch up. When she and Syl got to the top of the stair case, she hopped over a sofa and spread out, lying with her head on an armrest.
"Syl, can I ask you a question? Why do you wear those sunglasses?"

Sylviane seemed to pause for a moment before responding. "They are a defensive measure, to prevent my emotions being read by those familiar with replicants. If enemies had access to that information, they could use it for tactical advantage."

Darya tilted her head to the side.
"That makes sense. But..." She pulled herself up from the sofa and looked Syl in the eye. "It does mean that I never see what you are feeling unless I'm close enough to you to be rude." Peeking over the back of the sofa, she continued. "Which means I can't tell when something is wrong, which I don't like. So...do tell me if something is wrong, ok? If something is bothering you, or anything like that." She smiled. "I like you Syl, so I want to make sure you're ok."

Sylviane removed her glasses, revealed eyes glowing bright white. "Very well... If any issues arise, I will consult you about them, Agent Demeter. I do not wish to worry any of this complex's residents."

She put the sunglasses back on. "Could you please explain what has just happened and the identity of this new person?"

"You can call me Darya if you want." Said Darya, waving. "Come and sit down, it is awakard trying to talk to you like that."

She sighed and closed her eyes. "As far as I can tell, Sosie has used the data we stole from the Gemini lab to create a body for the house computer Bell, and has declared that she is now her daughter." She paused. "That is, Bell is Sosie's daughter, not the other way around."

Sylviane sat down at a slight distance from Darya. "Does this mean that Agent Terrehaute intends to treat her as if she were human, despite being an artificial intelligence?"

Darya, now sitting upright, shrugged. "Probably is. I'm just going to treat her like everyone else...maybe make a bit more of a fuss over her until she gets used to it. And the cyberlynx isn't around Dusty, you can come out of there." She said, looking over her shoulder to where the small driod was peaking out of her door.

"How about you? How are you going to treat her?" she asked Syl, making and maintaining eye contact with the other woman.

Sylviane seemed to freeze up before answering. "I... will treat her as an essential asset of the complex, to be protected, as I did before."

*Pinkie observed... mothering. It was odd. Not quite how she remembered. It was good to see Bell walking more confidently, and Pinkie looked around for the clothes Sosie mentioned. As well as thought which bed was going to be Bell's. Braincase? Pinkie decided that apart from one thing, she would let Bell focus on all the new things she had to experince*

Hey Bell? Can you see me?

*Pinkie faded and hearing that the eyes were anascan Forced her thermal cloak to manifest ((8TE))