Futuristic Cyborg Sister

[rainywrites]

sleepingonneptune
Clover was barely awake. or maybe she was barely asleep... life was weird, and the last few days- weeks? - had been a blur. she didn't know what had happened, really. all she knew was that the nice doctor had come in when she'd woken up. he'd praised her on being such a strong girl, for handling it so well. she'd tried to ask what had happened, but she honestly couldn't remember what she'd been told. it was all a blur. such a blur.

when could she go home? what WAS home?

she was contantly floating in a state of semiconciousness, drugged half into oblivion. she knew people seemed very interested in her feet. it was a nice change, considering they usually spent time asking her why her hands shook as they did. so she let them look at her feet all they wanted. she never fought, never cried. she wasn't the type of person to fight back, or demand what was going on. the doctors all said she was just perfect. that she'd fill into her role so nicely. it was all confusing to Clover, but she just went with it. she still didn;t realize that her feet were, well, gone.

it was in a similar state of semi conciousness that she was in when a scientist walked into the room. she allowed the scientist to get close before turning her head. she only could find it in herself to half care who it was, glazed eyes clearly medicated over. the face felt framiliar...

who was that? and why was their face so... framiliar?

 

[sleepingonneptune]

The laboratories were loud, even at this time of night. The whirr of a ceiling fan droned on and on, grating against the young engineer's ears as she briskly walked through the stark white hallways. Her head pounded against her skull periodically, reminding her of the fact that she hadn't slept since yesterday evening, but she forced herself to ignore it. She had to see whether her technology had worked.

It had been about a week prior when she had begun working on the prosthetics. After being coldly informed of her sister's disappearance by a government agent, the 21-year-old had been reluctant to take any offers until she could mourn properly, but the importance of the project had overtaken it. A teenager, young and bright-eyed by the glowing reports she got from her superiors, had been involved in an awful machinery incident, forcing both her legs to be operated due to risk of infection. Em didn't want the girl to be forced to return to society as she was- though the city was practically advertised as a utopia, she knew there would be no mercy for her in the job industry. All it took was a few migraines and tears on her part, and hopefully, the teen would be able to return to society.

That was if she had the money to pay for her parts. She winced at the memory of what happened to the boy from a few months ago.

Quickly shaking her thoughts away from that particular scenario, Em swiped her badge against the featureless steel of the door. They had recently upgraded from those godawful fingerprint scanners after someone in the computer science department figured out how to replicate everyone's thumbprint, but she couldn't say that she particularly enjoyed having to keep the badge on her at all times. It just gave people excuses to mockingly mispronounce her name. Priorities, though. She stepped through the door to get a good look at the young patient.

Wait-

No.

Her expression dropped suddenly as she froze at the sight of the familiar teenager, hands clenching subconsciously as her badge clattered to the ground with an unceremonious thunk. They had told her that she was dead. There was no feasible way that she could be seeing the person her eyes were showing her, and yet after she rubbed them over a few times Clover remained. Her baby sister, tired and drugged-up on whatever the hell they gave amputation patients. Em kneeled down beside the younger girl's bed before she could think twice about it, heart pounding frantically in her chest.

 

[rainywrites]

the scientist was a girl. a framiliar girl. Clover was still so drugged up that it wasn't hitting that this was her sister, but she was very framiliar. that was something Clover knew for certain. Clover watched her face pale at the sight of... well... her. was something wrong with her? she honestly didn't know. it sure seemed that way, though.

Clover didn't smile. she didn't react in any quick way. she had questions for the woman now knelt beside her bed. but she didn't really want to ask them. not yet. this felt deep. Clover didn't know what to do about that. her head was honestly too foggy to quite deal with that. still, she slowly reached her hands over. the movements were clumsy, and even in this sluggish state her hands shook. but she held them over her big sister's, trying to support the person she was so so sure she knew. she just... didn't know how.

"did..." she said, trying not to slur her speech too much. "did i do... bad?" was that why Em's face was ashen? was that why she was knelt beside clover's bed like such? was she going to be in trouble?

 

[sleepingonneptune]

The steady beep of the life-support technology the teenager was hooked up to was steadier than her own heartbeat, she thought. It felt loud and unsteady, pounding in her chest even as the blood drained from her face. Too loud. Too urgent. She was sure that her breaths, too, were drowning out something important- leaving her in the dark and preventing her from understanding why the hell Clover of all people was here.

An accident, of course, was what her superiors had told her. The file she had been given to make sure she had the measurements was full of black-sharpie marks reading [REDACTED]. There was a frustratingly little amount of information accessible to her, even before she knew that this was her sister, but they had made it clear that this was something typical. The unfortunate result of the vast amount of people employed in the mines- they couldn't keep an eye on everyone. It made sense. But... Clover hadn't worked in a factory. She had been in school in the weeks leading up to her disappearance, not off risking her life for her family in the damp caves with a rusty wrench in hand. She had wanted to be a teacher.

She wants to be a teacher, the young scientist corrected herself. Her sister wasn't dead, no matter how much like a loss the sight of her felt like.

Ducking her head so that her white hair hung over her face, Em concentrated on the warmth of the teenager's hands on her own ice-cold ones instead of her quickly-spiraling thoughts. This should be a relief to both of them, really. The elder knew she had to be strong for her sister in this time of painful confusion, even under such a baffling set of circumstances. Sucking in a deeper breath, she forced herself to lift her head up and meet Clover's eyes. "Hey." She whispered, her voice as hoarse as always. "No no, it's ok, honey. I'm just... really glad to see you."

 

[rainywrites]

her voice was familiar. so familiar. familial, almost? no... no, she remembered her family. she couldn't place them exactly in her sea of memories right now. but she'd surely rembember if this was her family. still, she trusted Em deep within herself. more than she trusted any of the doctors she'd met thus far. and she was one to trust implicitly. still... there was something about Em that made Clover trust even deeper.

and she hadn't done anything wrong. she smiled, happy to hear it. she didn't want to do anything wrong, not ever. she wanted to help everyone. she wanted to grow up big and strong and help out little kids with their ones and twos and threes. she wanted to be a valued member of society, just like she'd been brought up to be. and most of all, she wanted to be good. she wanted to be a good girl. and hearing that she hadn't done anything wrong was a step towards that goal.

"good." she said, relaxing into the pillows. she offered a lazy smile to em, letting their fingers intertwine if only because she was too drugged to pull them away. "you... you seem... do i.... who are you?" it took her awhile to form the sentence, and she was clearly very far gone at this moment. her voice adopted the singsongy quality she used when she tutored the littlest kids, reaching them songs.

 

[sleepingonneptune]

Her breath wobbled in her chest once more at Clover's words. She evened it out after a moment; keeping her expression as open and soft as she could manage. Only the taught height of her shoulders and the worry in her eyes betrayed her true emotions.

The engineer remembered the flu season of her senior year in excruciating detail. She had been lucky; somehow avoiding the ratchety coughs and feverish delusions that many of her classmates had fallen into, but her baby sister hadn’t been so lucky. It hadn’t been a serious case, luckily enough, but seeing Clover so vulnerable and ill had made Em feel like the world was crumbling from beneath her feet. Her mother had come to her one particularly terrifying night, holding her pale hands until they had stopped their anxious shaking.

Stay calm, Emelyn. She needs you.

“Stay calm.” She echoed her guardian's words under her breath, more to herself than anything, and forcibly adjusted her attention back onto Clover. What was it that Jacqueline had said about the medication they gave amputation patients? Narcotics were common, the doctor had said, and she knew that the hazy aura her sister had would likely be cleared up by the time she was taken off them. There were other possibilities, of course; head injuries and other horribly complicated diagnoses that she had barely skimmed over when first reading the teen's file, but she knew to worry about them would merely do the both of them a disservice in the time being. It would be better to just deal with problems as they popped up.

Letting her lips turn upward into what she hoped was a reassuring smile, Em continued to gently hold onto the ill teenager’s hand. “I’m your older sister, Coco.” She let the old nickname roll off her tongue without hesitation.

 

[rainywrites]

she smiled as she was told to be calm, mistakenly thinking that this was an order to her. and so she did get calm, allowing all her muscles in her body to relax. she was already pretty dazed, so trying to be calm wasn't hard. she nodded, stretching like a lazy cat on the bed. she watched her big sister smile, smiling in return. "sis... Emmy. Emmy." she smiled, proud that she'd remembered the name. everything felt foggy in her head. "is this...where you...work?" she seemed generally interested, even though it was blurry.

"I always... wanted... to see you. work." she was proud of herself for the whole sentence. her tongue felt too loose due to the meds, and she talked a bit slurred. but she still smiled. "Emmy, they... they like me here. they... they say... i'm... i'm good. i'm a good girl." she was so proud of that fact. so very proud to be good. she always thrived under praise, and having gotten so much of it here made her pleased. "and... and they don't... care. that my hands...shake. my feet... they like my... my feet. more." did that make any sense? she didn't know. but she was happy with it.

 

[sleepingonneptune]

Oblivious to the way her self-directed words had been interpreted by her sister, Em felt herself growing slightly more optimistic as the seconds ticked past. In her mind, Clover's recognization of her as a trusted family member; not one of the well-intentioned but cold and harsh-spoken doctors, must have lead to her becoming more at ease. She was here for her. Even if she hadn't been able to be with the teen when she was in surgery, obliviously working herself to the bone on metallic attachments and responsive software due to her misplaced grief, the two of them weren't alone anymore. She felt her smile become just a little more genuine at that thought.

She nodded at the girl's question, feeling slightly guilty for not having explained this to her family sooner. They weren't a rebellious group of people by any means, just getting by in a world that was more complicated than it seemed, but for an inexplicable reason, she felt as though they didn't need to deal with her troubles. Complaining to them about the spinning headaches she got after working too long in the blank white laboratory just seemed immature.

Her heart began to sink as Clover went on. She was still rather out of it, and so the meaning behind her wavering words wasn't entirely clear, but something just felt... off about the way she was describing the doctors and scientists that had presumably taken care of her in the past few weeks. Maybe they had been attempting to keep the young teen calm in light of her newfound injury, but the way she was describing their interest in her feet was worrying. Hadn't her legs been injured beyond repair in the accident? There was a spark in her mind at the conflicting information, traveling through her brain rapidly as she considered the other strange facts of this scenario. They hadn't even told Clover's family; quite nearly out of their minds with grief and shock, that she had survived!

Em's expression grew unreadable for a moment, her smile fading. "Your feet, hon? I... I'm not sure I understand."

 

[rainywrites]

"well.... my feet." she said, shrugging. she didn't have the strength or the wherewithal to wiggle her toes, right now, but if she wanted to she would've. because here was the kicker. literally and figuratively. Clover didn't know yet. she didn't know her feet were gone. she'd woken in this odd state of hallucination that she'd been in for however long. she got her daily visits from doctors who complimented her manners and sweetness and how strong she was. she smiled distractedly as they told her how well she'd oneday settle in to her new role.

she didn't realize they meant as a cyborg.

"I don't know... I just... they seemed... so interested in... my feet. and my... legs. the doctors... the doctors like me. i'm good. Emmy... they said i'm so good... and i'll be very good... in my job... like a teacher?... do you think i'll get... to be a teacher...early?" she was quite sure, somewhere in her mind, that she wasn't yet qualified to be a teacher. but she'd spent most of her life on that track, and she was so bright eyed for it. she wanted so badly to be a teacher. nothing more or less. and she still didn't know that, as a cyborg in extreme debts... she'd be paying it off for the rest of her life.

 

[sleepingonneptune]

She couldn't help the wince at the teenager's oblivious declaration, ducking her head once more so her pained expression wouldn't be detected. What was she supposed to do in a situation like this? The option of breaking the news to Clover in such a jarringly sudden way seemed unthinkable, especially considering her drugged-up state, and Em was a coward at her worst. She was an uncommonly intelligent person-- there was a reason why the government snatched her up so quickly after college-- but that awareness often meant she knew the consequences of her actions, for better or for worse. She knew her sister would be upset, or even worse not understand what she was attempting to explain, and for that reason, she kept her mouth shut.

We'll deal with it, she assured herself. Once I get her back home with Mom and Nonna everything will be ok.

As Clover went on, she reached out and started brushing some of the girl's messy hair out of her all-too-pale face, unable to stop herself from providing as much support as possible. A gentle smile graced her face once more. "You're going to be such a good teacher. All the kids love you." She spoke truthfully, continuing to get as many loose strands of hair back behind her neck. She'd never been too well-suited for the teaching profession; always impatient and overly ambitious, but that didn't mean that she didn't hold a certain level of respect for those who were. Call her biased, but seeing her baby sister as such a caring and honest individual among the youngsters in their area always warmed her heart after a particularly hard day at work.

 

[rainywrites]

When Emelyn assured her she would be such a good teacher, clover beamed. she had wanted to be a teacher ever since she'd been nine or ten. her passion for painting was it's own thing, but once she'd found her hands shook too badly to ever make a painting deemed good by anyone but her big sister. so she'd switched dreams. it was easy, too. because that had been when she'd taught the neighbor children to read, patiently running them through letters every day.

she'd fallen in love. and now she couldn't imagine doing anything else.

"when I'm... a teacher... i'm going to teach little...little kids. and you... you need to... come. for... career day." she'd already decided she wanted to teach her children all about her sister's work every year. she was quite proud of her big sister's amazing job. she was smart and talented and Clover loved her. "emmy... snuggle?" she didn't want her sister to leave again, she just wanted to snuggle forever and go to sleep. just like they had every other time she'd been sick. she just wanted her big strong sis.

 

[sleepingonneptune]

Letting most of the tension that had built up over the past few hours dissipate out of her shoulders and neck, Em listened to her sister go on about their future, a warmth building within her heart at the pure honesty of her predictions. "I will." She agreed, secretly hopeful for the prospect of showing off her work. Though for a long time she had held a sort of guilt for working for the government. It wasn't as though she was the one responsible for rounding up innocent cyborgs or creating biased laws that hurt the people that already had disadvantages, but she would sometimes contemplate her complacency in such a clearly-flawed system. But rebelling was impossible, she knew. Just like a huge majority of the middle and lower class population of their area, they were dependent on their incomes, and the men and women in sharp black suits could take that all away in an instant.

Her soft smile widened as Clover asked if they could snuggle. She had locked the door with her keycard the moment she recognized the identity of the teen with sleepy eyes and bandages over what was once her legs, and a quick glance out the half-covered window showed the tragically magnificent sight of the hazy moon over the darkened skyline. It was too late for anyone to come barging in. Letting go of her sister's hands momentarily so she could push herself up, the young engineer lowered herself down on the bed next to the other, careful not to jostle her in the process. "Of course. You must be tired, hm?"

 

[rainywrites]

"exhausted." she admitted, a lazy smile crept it's way onto her face, especially when Em got close enough for her to lie her head on. she nestled into her sister's side, still attached to so many machines that she couldn't really snuggle in the way she liked. plus... there was something off. maybe it was all those bandages on her legs. honestly, Clover was in such a state that she didn't even feel the big issue. she didn't catch on that her legs were heavy, metal, and wrapped in bandages where they met her skin. she didn't know.

in blissful unawareness of how wrong her life now was, Clover laid her head on Emelyn's heart. she could hear her own loud heart through all the monitors, and she tapped out the rhythm on Em's chest, right next to where her head was. it messed up her hair. the hair that Em had spent so long carefully rearranging. and yet, clover was happy. she had her sister, and it was warm under the blanket. she didn't even notice when her medication drip suddenly flooded, sending her into a deep... dark... slumber.

her hand sluggishly slowed in its tapping out the rhythm of her heartbeat. and then it stopped, and she was limp. the only thing proving she was still alive were her shallow breaths and the beep... beep... beep... of the heart monitor.

 

[sleepingonneptune]

Em wrapped her arms around the younger girl without hesitation. She did her best to hold the embrace as casually as she could manage, but everything just felt so... off. Like nothing was right. The beeping of the machinery was ever-present- a constant reminder of the situation at hand, never allowing her mind or body to be fully at peace. Clover's legs were cold and metallic, even beneath the thin fabric of the hospital blankets. Her sister's legs were the product of the young engineer's own creation, no matter which way you attempted to twist the story into something heroic, and she knew the consequence of it painfully well.

And then Clover's hand stopped moving. She smiled, thinking that the other had simply fallen asleep after a strenuous day before she realized with a suddenly jolted breath that something was horribly wrong. Across the room from the two sisters was an innocuous-looking machine. It had been described to Em early on in her more general training, crucial information hidden behind useless reassurances, and overly-complex language. To put it in the simplest of terms, it monitored the types and amount of medicine being administered through the patient's IV at any given time. Interpreting it would have been an easy enough task- that was, except for the fact that it was currently displaying an [ERROR] code.

Oh, shit. She needed to find a doctor. Who knew what was being pumped into her sister's already-fragile veins right now. Gently extracting herself from the embrace, Em stood up and rushed over to the small door that separated the two of them from the rest of the hospital.

 

[rainywrites]

the door, as it was, was locked. but there was a reason for that. of course there was. there was a reason for everything Reina Matthews did in her life. every breath, every click of a heel on the cold floor, was made with precision and care. never give too much away, always put yourself in a position of power. and now, whilst the girl slept and the scientist panicked, Reina watched from just outside the door. a moment. two. let the girl really get her adrenaline up. she was young, after all. and the young ones were always tricker to get in line. but just like rabbits... if desperate enough, anyone would jump in the stew to save their family.

Reina kept tabs on all her patients. she had alerts for who went in unsanctioned, and cameras in every room. she'd remotely turned up the dosage of the medecine on the girl. it was harmless. the girl from the slums held a lot of apparent power over the scientist. Reina knew they were sisters. that was why she'd chosen the girl, bright eyed and full of potential, to have her legs cut off and replaced by machines of her own sister's making. once she was a cyborg, she had no rights. and once she had no rights, they had a bargaining chip to keep the genius in line. but if there was one thing Reina knew, it was to keep her cards close to her chest. she wouldn't say she knew they were sisters. or that she knew they were connected at all. for now, she'd play her part. the girl's doctor, the scientist's boss, and the imposing authority to keep them both in line. not that the sleeping girl was a problem. she seemed to beg to please. pitiful. like a pet.

Reina liked having an easy bargaining chip. her very own little pet, eating right out of her hand. literally, too, sometimes.

she walked in, heels clicking and the door opening before her. the rabbit of a scientist seemed thoughly freaked out and reina contained her satisfaction. instead, she looked down her nose at the girl, leveling her with a probing stare. "your shift ended hours ago, young one. what are you doing here so late? and with one of our patients? it's quiet hours, they need their rest, you know."

 

[sleepingonneptune]

People didn't tend to know a lot about Dr. Matthews. She was a woman granted with a high level of authority; something especially rare due to the volume of workers and scientists the government liked to hold under its iron fist, and she was intimidating. Some called her a benevolent genius, others called her a danger. Certain rumors circulated her circle of coworkers about the mysterious nature of their boss, but they were silly. Ludicrous, really, especially when you had far more important things to be concerning yourself with. Em never gave much thought towards her boss beyond the frustration of her ever-fluctuating paycheck and the nervousness she got when the doctor would make her routine performance checks.

Her mind spun in a mixture of surprise and relief at the appearance of the older woman. Part of her was confused, even bordering on slightly suspicious- there was no reason the door should have been locked- but it was soon overwhelmed by the latter feeling. Her sister was in danger if the limpness of her hands and still-glitching machinery in front of her bed were any indication. That was far more important, and she knew she tended to overthink things.

In a somewhat-desperate attempt to keep her composure, Em stepped away from the door so the doctor could enter. The room seemed colder without Clover's warm hands and sotto-voiced ramblings. The paleness of the scientist's face betrayed her panic, though her voice remained remarkably steady as she spoke. It was probably all the years of having to remain calm in high-stress situations. "Dr. Matthews. I apologize, I had just come in to see whether there were any issues with the prosthetics." It wasn't a lie- she had in fact first entered to assess her own success, but she carefully left out the close relationship between the two of them.

 

[rainywrites]

"explains the disrupted covers well enough." she said, walking in and coming up to the bed of the girl. it was odd, seeing her asleep. she was so used to walking in and seeing her patient smiling absently that seeing her like this seemed odd. still, there wasn't much emotion behind Reina's actions. she honestly barely saw the bright kid as human. she was just a very sweet and easy tool. one Reina would not like to dispose of this quickly.

she took out her keypad, stopping the extra flow of the drug and slowing it back to it's normal amounts. the pet would still be out for awhile, and Reina knew it. but she wouldn't overdose. that was what she needed. time to lay the groundwork for keeping her scientist in line. "little scientist... come here." she said, fixing Clover's sheets in a calculated way. the girl still limp and unmoving beneath them. "do you know the subject? you seemed worried." Reina looked at Emelyn with a gaze that she knew could be uncomfortable. once she'd been told 'it feels like you already know the truth when you look at me like that. so i can't lie'. and honestly, she did know the truth here. time to see if Emelyn was going to tell her the truth.

 

[sleepingonneptune]

The deceivingly-calm accusation that was thrown her way didn’t pass Em without notice, though she said nothing. There was a game she was playing here with the doctor, whether the other was aware of it or not, and she knew she would have to remain calm if she wanted a chance to win it. She kept an eye on her sister as the other began going throughout what she assumed was a routine check of the machines; trustful of the doctor to not harm her, but still paranoid enough to make sure nothing went wrong.

She walked towards where Dr. Matthews was standing at the request, breath catching a bit at the piercing gaze the woman gave her. If the young engineer was being completely honest with herself, she had no idea if the other truly knew of their relationship or was just attempting to psyche her out to get the truth, but after a moment of deliberation, she found no point in straight-out lying. Her face was surprisingly calm, a stark contrast from the nervousness from before that had just been pointed out. It was a sort of mental state Em found herself entering in a lengthier high-stress situation- finally being able to push past the panic just enough to rationalize everything. “I do, yes,” She admitted honestly, crossing her arms. “It shouldn’t be an interference with my work with her, though, I hope."

 

[rainywrites]

there was a soft smile that graced Reina's features when the girl spoke up. she wasn't lying. good. not that she actually felt soft, but she knew to reward people when they told the truth. and she knew she appeared benevolent when she did. so she did. it was advantageous. "thank you. how do you know her?" she asked, looking at the girl on the bed, gently cupping her chin to get a better look at her face. now that both girls were in front of her, Reina saw the resemblance clear as day. "cousins? sisters? don't tell me you're her mother." she was joking a bit. she knew exactly what they were, just toying with Emelyn. she didn't toy frivolously.

"I hope it isn't." she said. "Because your work has already been lacking, recently. we don't need you slacking off any further, little scientist." she looked between them, the two girls with similar features. "you do know what happens to cyborgs who can't pay off their debts, don't you? she's so young... I'd assume you want to keep her in school." pulling a cyborg out of school so they could work wasn't uncommon in the social class she knew Emelyn to be from. and if the sisters were as close as they seemed, with all those pictures on Emelyn's desk... it would certainly be a tipping point to keep Emelyn in check. "such a shame when they're young." she pulled off empathy well, putting her hand gently on Emelyn's shoulder. her face held a bit of pain in it, although honestly, she couldn't care less. keep the scientists under her productive at all costs. "and she's so weak, too. it's been such a struggle just keeping her living." not true exactly. but they knew enough about Clover's medical history to say that with the confidence that she knew Emelyn would believe it.

 

[sleepingonneptune]

Em clenched her fists none-too-gently from where they were hanging by her side, protectiveness crashing over her like a wave as the doctor reached out to touch her sister’s face. She knew they looked similar. It had been both a blessing and a curse within her short 21 years of life- with their connection being used to either support her or tear her down, depending on the goal of whoever happened to see the two of them together. The young engineer wasn’t entirely sure which of the categories Dr. Matthews fell under, but the fact that she was unsure was telling enough. This woman held a lot of power over her.

However, despite her suspicions she brought her hands up and forcibly unclenched them, watching as the blood flowed back into her fingertips. Stay calm. Don’t betray your fear. This was a test that Em had seen time and time before in her work environment; hopefully, she’d be able to pass it this time around. She breathed out silently before speaking, her tone as alert as ever. “We’re sisters, Doctor.”

Something in her twinged at the ever-subtle remark towards her work. It was her pride, she knew, causing annoyance along with an altogether strange kind of disappointment. She had been working long and exhausting hours in the labs this past couple of weeks, hell, months. It might have been the recent grief from her sister’s fake death, maybe the lack of self-esteem she knew she suffered from under her layers of confidence, but the scientist had been pushing herself far beyond her limits. The disappointment hurt, and Em was pretty sure Reina knew it. Guilt crept up her spine and held her still as a statue as the elder woman went on, fears that she had been experiencing ever since she had seen Clover in that awfully lifeless state finally bubbling to the surface. “I… I will keep up my work, yes. It won’t have to come to that.” She practically muttered, voice loud enough for the other to hear but significantly quieter than it had been a moment earlier.

 

[rainywrites]

the girl was afraid and Reina saw it. Reina knew exactly what the girl was thinking, almost. or it felt like she could see it displayed in the subtlest of motions. the way that fist clenched before it labored to unclench. the way her jaw set in determination, the way that she seemed to hold such disappointment at the attack on her work. and the truth was, while she worked longer hours... she just kept getting more distracted. Reina needed something to keep her focused. and it seemed that this pet was doing that far better than even she had predicted. and yet... she kept her face measured. calm. if the girl had more drive, more ambition, reina would see herself in this girl. and yet she seemed so attached to this useless pet. Reina had siblings, sure. but she would never put them over herself.

she didn't lie. her voice was small. Reina pulled her in for a side hug, trying to inject some warmth into her. making the pet into a pet was not supposed to break the scientist. "awe, sweetie...I hope it doesn't." she muttered to her, quieting. she always lied and said that the scientists working below her were like family. but it was moments like this that made people believe that. "and I'm sure we can work out some kind of deal to make sure you can get her paid off. i'll set her monthly dues as low as I can." she wouldn't. she'd set them just high enough that any threat to Em's job would make them unpayable. and then she'd lie about having bargained them down from twice the price. but Em would be thankful and Em would work hard and if Reina ever caught her slacking... there would always be that threat to her sister to deal with. "does that sound okay, small engineer?"

clover muttered, a bit groggy and coming out of her slumber. "i.... i..."

"oh, hush, sweet thing." Reina trailed her fingers along clover's cheek, relishing in the way she leaned into it. the way she took comfort from it, blindly, like a poor baby bird. "bed time. you've had a long day. go to sleep now, that's a good girl."

"a good... girl..." she smiled, before drifting into a normal slumber and going back to sleep.

"small little thing, isn't she?" Reina marveled to Emelyn. "I just... I became a doctor to help people like her." a line she'd heard used over and over again. a calculated lie. "she's not supposed to get visitors. and cyborgs are kept in line by restrictions to family visitation. but... she just listens so well..." she pretended to weigh the thoughts. "I suppose I could bring you in for a few more routine maintenance checks. so long as you agree to never mess with her medications again. and i'm overseeing." at the end of the day, it was just another privilage Reina could take away if she wanted.

 

[sleepingonneptune]

Em remained still as the doctor pulled her in for a side hug. She had never been a big fan of close contact- she was willing to put aside for her admittedly clingy family, of course- though she didn't vocally protest. No use in explaining that sort of thing to your boss. As Reina promised that she would lower the costs, though, a bit of tension leaked out of her shoulders. This was the sort of gesture she had been hoping for since she had to consider the cost of the new cyborg additions, despite knowing that no matter what was done she would still be walking the thin line of being able to pay the debts. The government had always been ruthless when it came to this sort of thing. Her mind flashed back to the research she had done in her senior year of high school, though she dismissed the memory after a moment in favor of concentrating on the present situation in front of her.

She barely stopped herself from gasping as her baby sister's eyes fluttered open, wanting nothing more than to reach out and hold Clover's hand, provide some measure of comfort so she wouldn't be so painfully confused as she awoke. The doctor got there first, though, lulling the teenager back to sleep in a way that made Em uneasy for reason that she didn't quite understand. A shiver traveled down her spine as she watched those drug-hazed eyes close once more. She looked peaceful, face far more relaxed than her own tense expression.

...Maybe she was just being paranoid. It was a trait she saw in herself far too often, from the way she could never trust the advertisements of perfection that littered the city's oil-streaked streets to the way people projected themselves. She was ever aware, and ever wary. Her mother had scolded her about in on occasion during her teenage years, begging her to just try and take things for how they were, but the young scientist had never really found any reason to. The world was harsh.

And yet the elder woman's eyes were warm. Her gaze seemed kind, something she knew could be easily faked, but one last glance back towards her baby sister reminded her of what was at stake. Life for the two of them- no, a life for Clover was on the line here. So Em ignored the second hit to her pride, the assumption that she had been the one to mess with the patient's medicine, and did not protest with the limited options given. "I will. Thank you, Doctor," She replied. The words felt forced, as though the way Raina was bargaining with her had pried the statements from her brain and into the antiseptic-fragranced air, but in reality, she knew there was nothing but herself standing in between acceptance and resistance.

It felt like a loss. Em wasn't sure why, considering that she had just gotten the permission to visit, but she wasn't able to stop the pang in her heart at the sudden emotion.

 

[rainywrites]

Doctor Mathews fixed Clover's hair as she listened to Emelyn's words. she didn't want to appear too intensely focused upon Emelyn. she knew it made people uncomfortable to be stared down. so even if she just had a natural dissecting intensity with how she viewed the world, it was adventagous now to look down. she knew Emelyn didn't trust her. honestly, she was one of the smartest (if not the smartest) in the whole department. and yet... Reina was getting through to her. just a bit. she could tell. and that felt good, to get through to the smartest girl on her staff.

but don't get cocky, reina. she doesn't trust you yet. when she does, though... she'll stop questioning. she hoped so, at least. it was hard to be so kind when she knew the history of doubt... and the search history... that Emelyn Capello doubted so deeply the ways of their government. or maybe she was just a doubter in general... perhaps Reina would have to ask the little sister about her big sister. learn what made her tick.

"of course. now, aren't you tired too? you've got more family at home." she knew both from Clover's whimpering pleas for her family and from Emelyn's files. "why don't you finish your check of her equipment and go home?"

 

[sleepingonneptune]

Though she managed to keep her gaze on Clover and not the unfamiliar hands fixing the girl's hair, something familiar roiled within Em's stomach at the sight. She was attempting to let her logic overtake her pride in the hopes that it would prevent those in power from getting the two of them into worse trouble than they were already in, and yet the fact that Reina was doing almost the exact same action she had done minutes before to comfort her little sister make protectiveness flare-up within her, even as she kept her somewhat-worryingly pale lips sealed. She wondered if the doctor knew that she didn't believe in the city in the way that she should. The elder woman was incredibly smart, but assumptions could only get you so far- unless the distrust leaking through her expression was more obvious than she assumed. Or even... no, there was no way she could know about that. She'd been careful that night.

She nodded in confirmation at the acknowledgment of their family, knowing that someone with such authority over her employees would likely have access to the people she had been forced to list when she had been accepted for the governmental work. A small, but undeniably selfish part of her wanted to give in, to agree that grinding herself down to the bone with work and worry would only be hurtful in the long run, but she quickly dismissed the thought. Em was loyal above all else. She had to be careful about the way she played this, though. "I'll finish my check, yes," She agreed, tensing her eyebrows together in a false look of thorough consideration, "But I'm afraid that I'm not sure how long this will take me. Clover was quite distressed when she woke up, so I didn't get a chance to get started."

 

[rainywrites]

"I understand completely. according to your files, a routine matinence check should take..." she took a look at her holopad for awhile, swiping back and forth until she got the answer. "around twenty minutes. so as long as you don't take too much longer than that, we can pretend all this never happened. I respect an engineer who takes it upon themselves to look after their equipment." and she did. one should take pride in their work, after all. and Emelyn hadn't known this was her sister before coming in.

of course the doctor knew everything. why else would there be a pawn right here and ready for her? Emelyn needed to be brought under control. if not in mind, she needed to be broken so that mind would only be used for the good of the nation and not for the harm of it. with her overly trusting little sister stuck firmly under the government's thumb... Emelyn would never be able to betray. after all, nobody but her would care about one little cyborg. and it was Reina's job to ensure that this clever scientist remained loyal. if not mentally, than in word and deed. although she preffered blind trust, she understood she might have to settle here. but not with her sweet sweet sister.

"go on, then." she took a few steps back, monitoring her like she would at any performance check. "and if the child wakes once again, we have medications that will keep her asleep, and she'd be none the wiser." it was in Reina's best intrests to keep all memories associated of herself happy ones in the child's mind. she needed trust and devotion. so she wouldn't let the girl be hurt. but she could disguise that as care and compassion for the girl's plight just fine. so she did.