A figure stalked through the woods, creeping along, but not realising he was probably easily picked up by every camera and sensor in the area. If anyone had been manning them then it would have been real trouble. He wore new clothes, but they looked as if they'd been run through wilderness for several days now. There were gloves on his hands, pulled down over the shackles over his wrists, thick metal but old chains, they dangled lamely with soft jingles as he moved towards the Mansion. Probably high-tech. They might know he was there already. That didn't matter, he was here to meet someone.
The Sentinel guards saw it coming. The squad leader opened the comm system to the X-men.
"We've got incoming, kids. We'll try to hold him off." That being said, they converged on the intruder, weapons ready.
"Which direction?"
Jeremy looked around, he'd been outside for a while now and suddenly this was happening... "Do we know if this is the person who had been causing all the trouble?" He didn't want them to open fire on an innocent person.
"Through the front gate?" The Captain replied skeptically, he couldn't believe this guy was coming through the front door. "We'll approach cautiously and order them to identify. Don't worry kid, we won't shoot unless shot at first."
Jeremy was feeling a weight on his eyelids from staying up all night acting as the X-men appointed "guard", though who he was really guarding from whom he didn't know. "Just approach this carefully" he said softly, glaring out into the space beyond the front gates.
He appeared. The clothes he was wearing were bedraggled, he looked like he'd been walking in the woods for days. Dirt patches, a whole spectrum of stains, loose threads, rips, clear examples of animal attacks... And that was just the clothes, though in this light you couldn't see who was inside them. He was at the gates, which were closed right now. He paused, obviously taking in the Sentinel force on the grounds. Very slowly he pressed the door bell, talking into the speaker above "I hope I haven't arrived at a bad time."
The lead Sentinel held up it's hand. "Transmission coming in team." The pilot nodded his head within the robot as he listened to Rhydian lay out the plan. "As you wish, but call me Rocky kid." He relayed the plan to the others and then the Sentinels moved back from the gate, changing to a defensive arc before it, rather than an offensive formation.
The figure straightened up after his long talk into the doorbell, blinking as the large robots started moving. He carefully moved behind a pillar, he wasn't sure if they were attacking or powering down or what. When the voice came through that he could enter though, he carefully pushed the gates open, slipped through, then closed it behind him. He took a few careful steps, then paused a long way before the point where he'd been told to. He didn't know how far thirty yards was.
Waya , Junior and Phinagin appeared next to Jeremy. "Come on." She told him. "We're the welcoming party."
Junior pointed his thumb on his shoulder and said. "I'm gonna go." He said and faded out of sight so this guy didn't see him.
Phinagin nodded and sprouted his usual two wrist blades along with a bone chestplate.
"Not so fast Phinagin."
Waya told him. "We've already got four s...s-" She cleared her throat. "Sentinels staring him down. We don;t need him on edge more than he already is."
"So who is this guy?"
Jeremy said, barely surprised when Waya and the others appeared. He was standing a little way away from the Sentinels, staring at the figure on the lawn who was just standing there.
The twins walked out but stayed on the porch, disobeying Waya's orders. She wasn't the boss of them anyway.
"That's what we're going to find out."
Waya told him. "Once Phinagin gets rid of his new suit."
Reluctantly
Phinagin retracted his bone armament. "I hope it doesn't come down to me actually needing those."
"So..."
Jeremy said slowly, looking out at the man, who was still just standing there in the open "We're... going over to him then?"
The twins waited at the steps, letting Waya ride her little authority trip for the time being. They leaned against the concrete railing and watched.
she nodded to Jeremy. "It takes you what, three seconds to grow them?"
Waya asked
</b> phinagin "You'll be fine." She started towards the lonely dark figure in the distance. "Just remember, we're supposed to talk to him first, not split his skull open."
"I know I will be fine."
Phinagin said, "It's everyone else I'm worried about."
"This isn't our first rodeo."
Waya told him, slightly cringing because she'd yet again used one of her mothers euphemisms. She and Junior had the most experience over Phinagin and Jeremy and despite her orders to the twins, she could see them by the door, keeping an eye on them. Junior was hidden a few yards away and Rhydian and Eliza were manning the defenses. It certainly felt like they were well covered.
"Should I just come to you!" the figure called over to them, cupping his hands to the cloth covering his mouth and staring at the small group surrounded by that huge sentinels. He was obviously getting a little impatient with all the dithering around. He had been let inside, so why the hell were they all standing back there?
"Stay there."
Waya told him as they began their approach.
Jeremy approached, sticking near the back of the group. No need to get up front, his body was useless in a fight anyway...
Phinagin followed Waya as they walked up to the strange, possibly violent, man. He was surprisingly nervous as the recent track record of the man preceded him.
Waya stopped about twenty feet short of their guest. Even with her heightened senses it was hard to make out his features under all that hair. With her telepathy she could sense Junior close by. "Alright..." She said. "Let's talk."
"Alright" the figure raised his arms in a small shrug, even from this distance Waya would be able to tell he was telling the truth about moving on his own, unable to wash for days on end. His eyes were locked on hers, the large pale dishes not moving from her own as she spoke "I'll go first. Why the robots?"
"We were told you were a pretty nasty guy."
Waya told him, trying her absolute best not to think about the four giant killer robots behind her. Had she not been surrounded by her friends and teammates, she'd probably be shaking right about now. The other thing that steadied her nerves was that twilight was falling. The grounds were bathed in shadow and in the dark, she was at her best. "That you were coming to maybe cause some trouble."
"I thought... I mean... I know I lost control" the man, and it just had to be a man, flickered his eyes up to the giant robots before coming to rest on Waya again "But I didn't kill anyone did I? I didn't lose that much... I mean... I got in a fight, but I managed to stop myself before... didn't I?" The question seemed odd, as if he wasn't asking Waya this.
"From what we were told... no."
Waya said steadily. He sounded unsure of himself as if he didn't know what he'd done. From the noise she'd heard in his mind earlier, she wasn't even sure if they could help him.
"A bit over the top then, don't you think?!" the man yelled in response, waving a hand towards the large machines lumbering around the lawn; he seemed more annoyed at the fact that he'd just been doubting himself than the fact the Sentinels were actually there "I get in one little fight, and you all get scared?"
"Hey!!"
the twins shouted when he raised his voice at Waya. "Better safe than sorry! They came to us and insisted on the sentinals." they added, still leaning against the concrete railing at the school door. "What is your mutation?"
"I haven't got one" the person called back loudly, so it would reach the twins as well; his voice seemed to strain as it reached too loud "I've been... modified though. Is that what you mean?"
Phinagin stood there and simply listened to the conversation between Waya and this man. He was just waiting for any sign that the man was going to get hostile or attack, his muscles were bunched up waiting to spring into action, and his bone blades were mere centimeters from punching through the skin.
"Modified?"
Waya asked, waving off the twins to let her handle this. The last thing they needed was for the twins to say something stupid and offend this guy. "What do you mean by modified?"
"They weren't happy with the fact I didn't have powers... so they tried to give me some..." the man's large eyes, the pinprick pupils flashing from sentinel to waya to twins to phinagin, then back to waya again, in a second. "Look... do we have to do this out here? It's cold, my legs are tired and there are killer robots out here."
"Thats all the more reason why we should keep it out here" Phinagin thought to himself and hoped that Waya would voice his thoughts.
To
Waya it felt as if he were deliberately trying to get inside the school. "Who was it you were looking for?" She asked.
"My dad" the man said simply, eyes turning to the floor now, as if he was embarrassed to expose this truth "It's my dad ok? Why won't you let me inside?"
The twins perked their head up, wanting to get a closer look at this fellow. "Who's your Dad?" they asked, wanting to know just as much as the others. Who could this young man possible belong to? Their parents had been gone for months now.
"No... just... I don't want to spill my heart out while being threatened by killer robots!" he replied, wincing and looking down at the floor again "Please! I've answered all your questions already and you've been nothing but hostile. I'm here because I need you! Just let me in dammit."
"It's not my decision alone."
Waya told him. "Let me talk to these guys first ok?" It was obvious enough that this guy was unstable and Waya didn't want him going modified nuts inside the school, but she found it hard to say no. He obviously needed help.
Jeez this guy was pushy.
The twins stayed before the door, definitely not letting his guy in. They always liked to give people the benefit of the doubt, but if SHIELD thought this was an issue, it was an issue and they should take precaution.
The man shrugged slightly "Yes, sure, go." He'd just stay out there with the deadly deadly robots... seriously, they knew how to make a guy feel welcome, didn't they?
Waya stepped away, nodding the others back towards the school. She didn't go in though, instead she opened the telepathic pathways between them and Liz, Rhydian and Maribelle. "You guys get all that?" She asked, making sure the three downstairs were listening.
Jeremy followed after waya, not liking how this was all going. There had to be a reason that Sentinels were here. "You trust this guy waya?" he mumbled as he walked away from the strange guy.
Phinagin didn't move back with the rest of the group, instead he moved a little closer, walking around the man and looked him over.
He was dirty, his clothes looked like he'd been wearing them constantly, sleeping in them, and didn't care much for hygiene. His eyes followed Phinagin as he walked around him, tiny pupils in massive whites, looking like pinpricks following the boy. He stayed quiet as he watched Phinagin, obviously waiting for him to speak first.
"So..."
Phinagin started, as if trying to figure out which question to ask first. "What is your modification?"
He slowly raised his hand, pointing a ragged fingernail up towards his huge eyes "These. And a few other... smaller things. Why?"
Waya held off on answering Jeremy's question while she watched Phinagin and conversed with Rhydian and Eliza. She did however give him a slight "no" shake of her head. "He's been perfectly civilized."
Waya told them. "Other than acting just a little cracked. Honestly, we've been more hostile than he has."
"Because you are being awfully dodgy towards some important questions."
Phinagin said, stoping his circling. "I want to assess how much of a threat you are before allowing you into the school where we will most likely, all be together. For all I know you could expel a cloud of neuro-toxins and kill us all in one shot. Or you could explode, there has been a student before with that power."
"You sure are full of yourself aren't you?" the man said, raising an eyebrow at Phinagin "Toxic gasses? Exploding? You think the psychic didn't look into my head already? You think that by walking around me and giving me shifty looks you're going to suddenly realise a danger more than a psychic reading?"
"Hey!" a
twin shouted, stepping off of the stoop. "You aren't very good at making nice, are you? A lot of bad shit seems to follow us where ever we go and we just want to take a precaution with a new arrivel!"
"The best thing you can do right now is shut the FUCK up and cooperate until we know you aren't here to kill us like everyone else." shouted the other twin, a bit more angrily.
"If you don't behave or tick us off, you won't get any homemade, cherry pie."
"You know how many mutants are unreadable by psychics?"
Phinagin asked, "Lots, you could be blocking her out of certain areas of your mind. I'm not the kind of person that willingly allows an unknown threat into my midst."
"I'm not unreadable. I'm just... fuzzy" he replied, frowning slightly at Phinagin "I told you, I don't have a mutation. I'm just looking for someone. I'm surprised
they even let a little punk like you handle this."
"Little punk, huh"
Phinagin said with a chuckle. "My first month here I had defeated bigger and meaner opponents then you could ever be. I am plenty capable of handling this, and you." His bone spikes quivered a bit as he fought to keep his anger under control.
"Since when does getting in fights mean you're not a little punk?" he replied, gazing at him with those pin point eyes "You strut around, behaving like the boss. You're a kid. A violent, arrogant kid. I've seen your kind before." He turned away, looking towards the robots around him. Like the kid was even the biggest threat standing in this garden.
"When you get into those fights to rescue a friend who has been imprisoned for a crime someone else has committed and has been slotted for execution."
Phinagin said, not trying to regain his gaze. "And I've seen your kind before. Oh, I beat up a bunch of people because I
Lost Control. So weak"
"Yes. Why do you think I am here? I know when I'm weak. and I can see when others are weak. I curse the bastard who gave me these eyes but they let me see many things that others can't..." the man was gazing straight at the Sentinels in front of him "And I see the weakness in you... thinking you're untouchable."
"You can see the weakness in everyone, but you can't find the person your looking for?"
Phinagin said with a shake of his head, "Seems like a major flaw. Who are you looking for anyways?"
"I need to see them first, then I can spot their flaw" he replied, not answering the question about whom he was looking for. He'd already said he'd answer that inside. He reached out, going to touch the collar of Phinagin's business suit with a filthy, dirty nailed hand "Money. Why do the arrogant ones always have money? They feel like they can't be touched because of it."
"Hey-"
Waya Was getting sick of trying to listen to everything at once, including what was going on in the danger room. "Should I go get a ruler or are you going to measure your dick's by comparison? Get over here Phinagin, we have shit to discuss."
"The money has nothing to do with it."
Phinagin said as he raised his hand and pushed the man's away from his suit. "I'm untouchable because you can't touch me." With that he turned and walked back to Waya. "I say we don't let him in till he tells us more. For all we know he could be looking for Maribel or Eliza and plans on killing them for some reason or another." It was obvious that he intentionally left Rhydian out of that list.
"What about you two?"
Waya asked the twins, wanting to make perfectly sure where everyone stood on the matte.
"Innocent until proven guilty."
Jaden said. That's what their Mom would want them to do.
"But if SHIELD thinks we needed this extra help, we should still keep our guard up...at least give him a chance to explain himself." added Jayden.
"We basically attacked him before he had a chance to step foot on the grounds."
"I'll go get the pie?" Jaden lifted his shoulders.
"What if we called off the sentinels for now and took him as far as teh commissary patio?"
Waya suggested. "He won't be inside, but it shows some semblance of good faith."
He had his arms crossed, gazing at Phinagin's back with intense dislike. Untouchable hmmm? This kid was too cocky for his own good. He wasn't going to get real hurt one day, and it didn't mean that he'd have to cause it.
Phinagin kept his mouth shut, he knew that any argument he would give had already been declined. He knew nothing good would come of this, but the rest of the students seemed to enjoy inviting trouble upon themselves.
"Just sent the sentinals to the other end of the school, near the woods. They will be out of sight and near enough should we need 'em."
the twins said.
"I think we should flatten the guy on creep factor alone."
Junior's voice came from beside Phinagin. He was still camouflaged.
"Hey! Come on- you can't seriously mean that."
Jaden said, appalled at the thought.
"Can you imagine if we had just based Jeremy on his looks when he first arrived?" Jayden glanced his way, "No offense, mate."
"Let's just hear him out, alright? Give him the benefit of the doubt at least."
"None taken"
Jeremy said, standing there and looking back at this strange guy. It was a point, so far he'd just disagreed with Phinagin and been threatened by large killer robots. Because of his looks and because one guy said he might be dangerous.
"but Jeremy didn't show up with the kind of noise this guy's got running through his head."
Waya said, supporting Junior just a bit.
"Maybe I could try going inside him"
Jeremy said slowly, looking around and frowning at the figure in the distance "I mean... sort out his mind a little. I did that before..."
"I wouldn;t try going anywhere near his mind."
waya said. :At least not until we know more."
"We tell him to answer our questions first, then we let him in."
Phinagin said, looking at the man. "If he isn't willing to give us the info then he doesn't come in."
"No hypnotizing then?"
the twins asked, shoving their hands in their pockets lazily.
"He's made it clear that he;s not going to offer us any more unless we show him soem good faith." the still invisable
Junior replied.
"What about the others? Should they stay where they are?"
Jaden asked.
They could see
Rex in the distance, getting a little impatient. You could understand why, all the robots and stuff. He kept staring at them, his tiny eyes moving from one to the other, then going back to the group standing away from him. He had to do this. He had to.
"He probably won't talk if we have him out here with the sentinels"
Jeremy said, giving a small shrug "If we want anything out of him then I think that we should either take him somewhere a little away from them, or send them off for a bit. Either way they're just around the corner and he might talk a bit."
"That's what we said. Bring him in the backyard on the commissary patio and send the robots to the edge of the woods, but still keep communication on them just in case."
Jaden explained, looking to Waya if she liked this plan.
"I said this ten minuets ago."
Waya said, a little impatient at the twin's habbit of taking her words and maneuvering them for their own. "The others are staying downstairs, they're going to tell the sentinels to stand by, but give us a little room. I'm gonna go tell Happy Hogan over there to come 'round back with us. Wait here." Then Waya headed in Rex's direction.
Rex perked his head up as waya came nearer, raising his eyebrows slightly, which only made his eyes seem larger by comparison. "Come to a conclusion?" he said as she got closer, wondering if he was going to get in after all.
"Your welcome to come out to the patio."
Waya told him, stopping a few yards off as to not get too close. "You give us a bit more about why your here and maybe we'll discuss letting you inside. The robots are gonna back off a little too."
"I suppose that's all I have to go with"
Rex said with a sigh "But seriously, do you always do this to people looking for sanctuary? It might explain why it's so empty around here."
"This isn't how things usually go no."
Waya told him, indicating that he should follow her toward the others. "But when we've had word someone is out to possibly kill us, we get a little... paranoid."
Rex sighed softly, shaking his head and following waya slowly towards the others; he really didn't like these people who decided that he was a massive threat. He'd just lost control. And he hadn't killed anyone.
As Waya and Rex passed by
Junior was still keeping out of sight. He followed them quietly.
Jeremy was remaining quiet and near the back of the group as Rex approached. He didn't like the guy's stare. He knew his own was unnerving but still... He felt more than a little off.
The twins took their leave, heading inside and eventually to
the food court.
George unfolded himself like a butterfly in the summer sun, drying it's wings on the warm rays after escaping it's cocoon. His joints gave small squeaks and groans as he stretched out fully again, the light shining on his metallic body, and shining through him at the same time when there were gaps in his body.
"Just... don't leave the grounds."
Waya told him. "Not because I wanna tell you what to do, but more for your own safety."
"I get it... I get it"
George sighed, feeling the world crashing down around him again "I can't go ot into the world, I'll be hated and feared." She could have allowed him a moment longer. She could see his shoulders slump in dejection.
"Now you know what it's like to be a mutant."
Waya told him. "I'll be inside if you need me... You probably have a phone in there somewhere, just dial 9 for assistance." She doubted he got the humor in that, but she went back inside to clean up after the twins... as usual.
Not much to clean up in there really.
George worked quickly it seems. He seemed more slumped now, from her words, and wrapped his arms around his knees again, something he seemed to do whenever he was trying to make himself look smaller and not as threatening. No. Mutants tended to like mutants, or at least tolerate. Humans didn't like mutants, he knew that. But neither of them would like him. He was practically alone in this world right now.
George looked around back towards Waya... alright, he couldn't leave completely but... he rolled his shoulders, then slowly wondered away. He would like to explore the gardens a little bit before he was dragged back inside to get his brain picked apart.
If George had never seen the outside world then the amount of new and interesting things he was seeing would likely be enough to burn his processors. The gardens hadn't been tended as they should have been for quite a while. Where once carefully manicured shrubs and flowering bushes liked walks and skirted the lawns, they were overgrown and malformed. There was an odd sort of untamed beauty to them. In the southern garden stood a rough labyrinth that had taken over most of the southern lawn. If George were to stand up at his full height he could probably see into the center, where a number of statues stood.
The labyrinth confused
George, not because of it's complexities, but because he wasn't certain what it was for. Surely, once you worked it out the first time, the whole idea of having a permanent maze was rather obsolete, unless new people came all the time. He began to slowly work his way through the maze of hedges, wanting to see the statues at the center.
It took George a bit to navigate the labyrinth. Probably the tenth of the time it would have taken a person, but his mind was perfect for solving little problems like that. When he reached the center of the labyrinth he saw no fewer than twenty individual statues. All life-sized, all standing on pedestal with placards depicting their names. A few of these were paired. One being of a man with fire for hair, next to him was a shorter female with ears like the twins. The pedestal read RELMAN. A couple more were like this, but another stood out in particular. One of a tall man and short woman, but the woman had markings on her face similar to Waya's. The plaque beneath them read SMITH.
"Ah... yes"
George muttered as he gazed on at the statues. He sighed, then nodded to the SMITH ones "I'm sorry for what I did to your little girl. If you ever return I am sure I will suffer for it... but I wish to tell you I am sorry anyway." It was strange, seeing a robot talking to a statue, but to George there wasn't much difference, and he needed to say... something.
It was a good thing they weren't here... George wouldn't have survived long enough to make it out here to apologize.
George settled down on the floor, rubbing his hands through the dirt as he continued to speak "Is it bad I still like her? In that way? Even when it's been removed, it's still practically the only feeling I was allowed to have. And there's so many and they are all so new but... it's still there..." He wondered if Waya would come find him if he stayed out here long enough.
Their stony faces stared into nothingness as George spoke.
George even seemed to pause as if listening to them speak. Why not one inanimate object talk to a slightly more animate object? "I know it might get me killed, but I can't help it. It's as if you had a normal person who breathed air all their life, then suddenly didn't need to. They'd keep breathing for a while, even though it wasn't part of what was necessary. I mean... you get me?" He looked up at the stony eyes of Del, wondering if he could understand the emotion in them.
Even if Del had been present she probably would have missed the point he was trying to make. She'd been a creature who saw things in black and white. A person who preferred dealing in facts, not the existential thought of a being who, in her opinion was no more than a fancy can opener. But then again that was her. If she couldn't smell or sense it, it wasn't real. George might have free thought, he might expand into becoming a sentient being, but he'd never have a soul... and for Del, that meant he wasn't real. She would have been rather disappointing in her daughter's choice to let him live... or rather, since he wasn't real, unlive.
"If I do survive, and Waya doesn't want to scrap me"
George muttered, rubbing a hand over his chin slowly "How long WILL I survive? I'm meant to burn out in a few years, yes, but now there's a possibility of going to a much sturdier body. So... my lifespan is technically... forever." He frowned at that, wrapping his arms around his legs "Not sure if I like that." He was going to unlive for a very long time if Waya didn't scrap him, or he didn't have an accident.
The stone faces above him couldn't speculate, or chose not to. They were as lifeless as one of those steel crafted hunks of lifeless metal he was crafted from.
"Well, maybe I'll die"
George said, sounding as if that wasn't much of a bother to him. He slowly stood up again. Might as well make it back out of here, go explore a bit more. He was done talking though. He wasn't going to talk to the flowers, or anything else ALIVE. But he enjoyed talking to the solid human-esque forms of the statues.
They were indifferent to his thoughts of immortality and death. After all they were stone. where were they going?
George slowly wondered out of the maze, going the reverse of the way he had come in. He had the maze memorised by now. Now outside, he stared around at the garden. Where now? What should he do to explore this big wide world?
As he walked and moved around the garden he noticed a couple cameras on the school exterior, a few electronic sensors. Cameras and sensors in this place were like roaches. If you saw one, there were a hundred more you couldn't see.
Walking over to the nearest one he could find,
George slowly sank down onto the lawn and stared straight into it. He was eye to eye with the camera, as if he was having a staring contest with it. It was just interesting to watch the camera, at least to him.
Inside the shutter focused it's electronic eye on George, but that was about it.
George reached out slowly, placing a finger on top of the camera box. He was wondering if there was a main hub he would be able to access... talk to perhaps. He knew that some heroes had intelligent computers, the Fantastic Four had a bright one, but were they like him?
(how does he know?)
Not this camera. It was just a camera. Breaching the hull could cause the automated security to react in a way George might not be happy with.
"I wonder if I can get some information from a computer around here"
George muttered to himself, frowning at the camera and talking to himself again.
The camera didn't respond. It just looked at him, some thing inside making a hardly audible electronic sound that all lower functioning electronics made.
"You're a strange little thing aren't you?"
George asked it with a raised eyebrow. He was gazing at it like a person might gaze at a sparrow, or some other small fragile creature that didn't really respond "Should I name you too? It's good to have a name."
The small object had a name. Camera 14, but it had no voice to tell George this. It simply looked at him, reminding George how very alone he was in this world.
"Maybe I'll name you later"
George sighed, rolling over onto his back and stretching out slowly, a small whine of metal coming from him as he stretched a little bit of taut plating that had been caught.
The sky above was cloudy, perhaps a bit gloomy, but fall was in full swing and the rains had picked up a bit in the last few weeks. Soon it would begin snowing, but for now, nothing was as beautiful as up state New York in the fall.
George would have sighed if he'd had the lung capacity to. He would have liked to go up into the sky, run his hands through the clouds, look at people down below him... But he couldn't move from these grounds. And he didn't want to spook people by making it look like he'd just wandered off.
It was good that George wasn't letting all these new sights and sounds overwhelm his curiosity. He would get to see more of the world eventually.
Possibly. If he didn't die. Or short out by himself. Or any of the hundreds of things that might end
George's life. Why not rush out there already and try to take as much in as possible before he dropped?
Because she'd asked him not to.
George shook his head, covering his eyes with his hands. Everything was so new and interesting, he was being careful not to concentrate on everything at once. It would probably break his eyes if he allowed that. Everything was so dizzying right now, he was just going to settle here for a while.
As George lay there for a bit something sort of hard but not hard at all struck him in the temple. It was small, hardly the size of a pea. It was red, a half sphere covered in five black dots. A ladybug, searching for a warm place to hibernate through the coon to be coming winter.
George flinched slightly as the lady bug landed on him. He reached up slowly, trying to take the small object that had struck him off his face; he was being careful, trying to either swipe it away or pull it free so he could look at it. The problem with being hit in the face was that you didn't know what had hit you.
As George attempted to pick off the tiny insect it fell, landing on his arm rather than in his hand as he may have liked. It seemed dazed, perhaps confused. It lingered, sort of walking about in circles, trying to decide what to do.
George zoomed in on the insect that was on his arm, observing it's shell and pattern. Interesting... he slowly stood up, making sure not to dislodge the bug or flatten it, and slowly made his way back towards the kitchen area. He needed to ask Waya what it was.
The creature rode with him unaffected because George's movements were very steady and graceful.
George peeked around the kitchen windows, trying to find Waya inside. "Hellooooo?" he called out, keeping one eye on the ladybug at all times. It confused him and he wanted to know what it was.
It took her a moment but
Waya came through the door, drying her hands on a towel. She was glad to see that he'd not wandered off.
"What's this?"
George asked, bowing over slightly and pointing to the ladybug on his arm. He hoped she could see it, or she'd think he was pointing to his arm.
Waya frowned for a second, then he saw her expression loosen. "It's a ladybug." She said obviously, then when she saw the curiosity in his eyes she understood that he wasn't as complete as she would have thought. "They uh... they eat other insects, aphids... things that harm plants. In the fall they sort of swarm, huddling in groups to freeze over and hybernate during the winter."
"So... it is... cold?"
George asked, looking down at the bug on his arm and cocking his head to get a bit better look. He needed a little knowledge about stuff like this.
"Uh..."
Waya didn't exactly know about ladybugs and unlike Rhydian her implant wasn't as active as his. "No... they... well they generate their own body heat, but when winter comes they huddle together and freeze over when it frosts... they stay like that till it's warm enough that they... sort of reanimate. Some insects can freeze and when they warm back up they're alive again. Mammals like me can't do that... ice crystals form in our blood and kill us..." She was pretty sure she'd gotten off track. "Do you understand?"
"Yes. I think"
George said, looking down at the ladybug "So why did it land on me?" He was warm, at least his head was, since that was where he vented from a lot. He just didn't really understand why a living creature had suddenly flown straight into his face. It wasn't something that happened very often.
"They aren't the smartest insects."
Waya told him. "They kinda run into things all the time. it may just wanted to land and take a break and you were the closes thing."
"Oh"
George said gently, looking down at the bug again and smiling gently "I like it. It is... pretty. Yes, I think that is the word. Pretty. Do you think it is pretty Waya?"
b
Waya looked at the bug... she'd never really bothered noticing ladybugs before. Her mother would have gone on and on about the complexity and grace of such a small creature, about how they were predators that rescued crops and how only the males were the bright red ones like George had here. "I..." Waya looked at the thing and actually took the time to consider her answer. Had someone aside from George asked she'd probably just have dismissed it, but his curiosity to understand caused her to explore the matter a bit more. "I would say cute..." She said. "Which is like pretty... but different."
"How is it... different?"
George asked, a small whirring coming from his chest as he learned "Cute is like pretty, but not pretty? How do you define cute?" A sentinel was trying to learn what cute was. He was also wondering how abstract nouns applied to small insects.
"Um... ok, take a cat."
Waya said and since she wasn't sure if he'd ever seen a cat before she took his shadow and made one for him. Though unlike a real cat there was no color to it's eyes or emotion in it's face. It was just a shape, a cold, shadowy shape. "Cats are pretty. They're also beautiful." The shape moved and walked around the kitchen and patio as she manipulated it. "They have a natural grace and fluidity... they are also predators. They use that grace and fluidity to bring down prey sometimes much larger than they are... they can also be cute." The cat jumped into Waya's arms and sniffed the ladybug, the highs and lows of the colors of it's shadow sort of highlighting it's nose and mouth, it's eyes black eyes were large and ears pointed towards the bug. It's whisker's bristled George's arm and a gentle, tentative paw reached for the ladybug, sort of tapping at it, testing whether or not it was dangerous. The action was curious, instinctive... cute.
George blinked at the cat, then frowned slightly and took a step back so the cat would be unable to bat at the ladybug "So beauty is not the same as cute, so cute does not mean being fluid and graceful. Do all cute things have to be beautiful however? Can you get an ugly cute thing? In the general acceptance of the word, of course." George was so confused by these silly human words.
"There can be ugly cute things."
Waya told him. "Some people find hairless cats and rats ugly, but cute... some just think they look weird... I can't exactly explain it all to you... but I think I know how you can understand basics a little easier... I have a neural implant that downloads information into my mind as I sleep and learn. They're formatted for organic minds, but I'm sure Rhydian or Liz could figure out how to add it to your programming... or... there is the library if you want to read..."
George shifted where he stood, as if unsure he should ask this next question. Ah well, here it went. "Waya" he said gently, still shifting back and forth as if really needing the toilet "Am... I... cute?" Ugly things could be cute. Beautiful things could be cute. That left a rather large logical gap. Perhaps he fell within the acceptable parameters of "cute"ness.
That took
Waya off guard. She'd expected him to respond to the question of adding a neural implant to his interface or showing him to the library where he could absorb information the old fashioned way. Instead he was asking in he was cute. She looked at him, trying to decide... trying to make her decision based off the build of his face... The only trouble was that when she looked into his face, she heard that sound of the pneumatic piston and felt the heavy internal thud of what he'd been programmed to do. Her expression changed, but it was hard to place... maybe a little sadder. "I don't know." She told him. "Maybe... I duno..."
george cocked his head to one side, then gently placed a hand on Waya's cheek, stroking it gently as he gazed down into her eyes. "Thank you for... your honesty" he said gently, no hint of a smile on his lips. He bowed his head to her, then took a step back "I suppose you want to examine my code now?"
Waya had to fight the urge not to flinch when he reached to touch her face. "Not me... but yeah..." She told him. "Stay here... I'll go tell the others and come get you when they're ready..." She normally would have waited for him to respond, but she turned and left, on the search for Rhydian.
George sighed gently, watching Waya as she went. He was pretty sure she fell under the category of cute. He wasn't sure exactly, but it seemed the kind of thing she would fall under. He really needed to get a grip of these human words if he was going to learn how to be human.
Stumble!