Well, as most of you I'm sure have seen the update from blogger... if not... you can read up here...
New Content Policy
SO, sadly this blog will be on the way side, so please link it if you've not already otherwise you won't be able to see it anymore.
So, with that, I have a new Blogger starting up here >>> IvorysS4Tales
Feel free to pop on over and follow along
Tata for now from here.
Monday, 1 December 2014
Thursday, 14 August 2014
Doll Eyes - Cancelled
To all my friends and devoted readers; due to my LIFE becoming extremely busy of late, it is with great sadness and a heaviness on my heart that I have to tell you all that I am cancelling Doll Eyes and all other story writing until things get back on track.
It just seems that no matter how hard I try there just seems to be no time at the moment for me to devote to my writing, and when I do find a smidgeon of time; I spent most of it trying to repair my S3 game to get it to work and not freeze every chance it gets.
Today was my last straw with all of the frustration I've been experiencing and I decided that it wasn't worth getting stressed over something that I enjoy.
TO YOU ALL; for guiding me, urging me on and supporting me with my writing.
At times I have felt that I was nor as talented as others with my work, but you all have always expressed how much you loved it and wanted more, and for that I truely...
I hope we have many more together in the future.
Monday, 4 August 2014
Doll Eyes; 1.3 - Slowly Slowly
Later
that afternoon Lydia was looking through Charles’s bookcases in his office
while he researched everything he could find on the Sim anatomy and the effects
of coming out of a coma.
It
wasn’t quite what was happening to the doll girl upstairs, but it was as close
at what they had both decided would be way to approach the situation.
“She’ll
need some clothes...” Lydia though out-aloud to herself.
Charles
paused in his typing and glanced at her frowning slightly.
“Really?
She’s either going to have a melt-down or be the equivalent of an extremely
smart six year old; and you’re worried about her fashion sense?”
Lydia
turned to her becoming annoyed at him.
“Ok
Charles, let’s have her running about in bare feet and a dress that comes from
the early eighteen hundreds, it won’t be obvious in the slightest she’s not a
local or anything.”
Charles
stood up and moved to his sister.
“She’s
not a doll you can play dress ups with you know.”
“Really,
now you’re going to throw that at me, shouldn’t you have thought of that before
you decided to play Watcher?” She threw her hands up at her brother in
frustration.
“Alright,
alright. Valid point, thank you. I’d forgotten about that. ” He snapped back crossing
his arms firmly.
Lydia
shook her head as Charles sighed and let his arms drop to his sides.
Slumping
her shoulders slightly Lydia couldn’t help but feel slightly sorry for her
little brother.
“Look,
we’ve been at this now for hours. Why don’t you let me go up and sit with her?”
“But
you don’t know how to give her the sedative.”
Charles
went to get another vial but Lydia touched his arm lightly stopping him.
“No
Charlie, you bought her to life so you could see if she could live, right?”
“Well,
yes but...” He seemed worried; this was a side Lydia had never actually seen in
him before.
She
spoke softly to hopefully help him not feel so stressed.
“But
nothing, look, just please, give me a chance? I’ll get changed into some
comfortable clothes and go sit with her; I’ll text you when she wakes up.”
She
noticed Charles clench his jaw for a moment before he stiffly nodded.
“I’ll
go feed the other two; they’ve both been making noises all day. It’ll be good
to observe them and see how they’re going.”
Lydia
paused on the stairs and turned back to Charles for a moment.
“I’m
still fixing up this place you know...”
Charles
smiled from the office doorway then gave a half hearted laugh as he headed to the
front door.
Lydia
shook her head and continued up the stairs to get changed.
It
was getting dark by the time Lydia texted Charles.
She’s ready to
meet you now, been sitting talking to her for a while... come on up
Charles
was a bit annoyed that Lydia hadn’t texted him as soon as the doll girl had
woken up and he took the stairs two at a time before pausing at the door before
he took a deep breath and went into the room.
Lydia
had brought in another chair and was sitting by the bed; the doll girl was still
lying on the bed but she was looking much calmer.
Something
in her eyes changed when she saw Charles, it was slight, but enough for Charles
to feel that she wasn’t sure she wanted his company.
“This
is my brother.”
Lydia
spoke no different than if she were introducing him to one of her old friends.
The
girl nodded but kept her eyes on Lydia.
“He’s
not going to hurt you; he’s the one who...”
The
girl suddenly bought a hand up to half cover her face and shrank back more into
her pillow curling her legs slightly as if to move away from Charles more.
Lydia
looked back at Charles furrowing her brow slightly.
“Somehow
she knows who you are, I don’t understand how though.”
Charles
rubbed his chin for a moment trying to make sense of what was happening, and
then leaned against the wall in thought as Lydia turned back to the girl.
He
had heard of objects holding ‘value’ to people and even seen with his own eyes
in studies the effects of ‘spirits’ inhabiting personal objects, like toys or
figurines.
“I
think I do.” Charles spoke slowly and watched the doll girl. “A few years ago,
the concept of an inanimate object actually having some sort of ‘consciousness’
from the time it was created to its ending when it is destroyed, or rather,
dies; was dismissed as complete bullshit by the scientific community, but
this...” He shook his head still watching the doll girl curled up on the bed.
“This means that it’s no longer a concept but, an actual fact.”
This
meant that Charles now understood that the doll girl had ‘seen’ the parrot
transformed and then gone through the transformation process herself. She basically
experienced being drowned by him.
He
hadn’t even considered the effects of what submerging the doll into the tank of
the solution might have had on her.
He shivered slightly
recalling the girls’ terrified screams when she had first woken, but it made
sense and he felt a horrid pit form in his stomach.
Lydia
sighed and touched the girls hand gently. “It’s alright; he didn’t know how
frightened you were.” She glanced back at Charles slightly. “And he won’t ever frighten you again, I promise.”
The
girl looked up before she slowly sat up on the edge of the bed and gave a weak
smile focusing on Lydia.
Charles
decided to move along with getting familiar.
“Alright,
so... do you have a name, did anyone ever give you one before...?”
He
was frustrated with thinking of her as ‘a doll’ since now she was a living Sim,
with feelings and consciousness.
If
she was going to be ‘part’ of Charles’s research, he wasn’t going to refer to
her as ‘Doll’ that was for sure.
The
girls’ eyes darted about the room as she seemed to be thinking about the
question.
She
opened her mouth and a small struggled squeak came out, she coughed, shook her
head and tried again.
“Mm...”
She paused seeming to be concentrating on how to use her muscles say what she
wanted to. “Mm...Mia, they called me, Mia.”
She
beamed at Lydia then Charles then back at Lydia again.
Her
voice was smooth, sophisticated and light without being breathy.
Giving
her hand a slight reassuring squeeze Lydia nodded and moved her chair around to
face her a bit better.
“I’m
Lydia, and my brother, is Charles.”
Mia’s
mouth moved slightly as she silently sounded out the names to herself for a
moment.
“Ly...dia,
Ch...arles.” She nodded as she spoke.
Lydia
nodded at her again.
Deciding
to sit in the other spare chair, Charles watched as Lydia gently quizzed Mia
about what she knew and understood.
He
was surprised when Mia showed that she knew trivial information such as
colours, body parts, furniture, food, seasons, the alphabet, basic maths and
most surprising of all conversational French.
It
seemed that the sort of ‘consciousness’ Mia had as a doll was retained in her
now living mind, but what Charles found the most disturbing was what this
actually meant and whether or not it spanned across all inanimate objects that
were replicas of animals or Sims.
It
was well past midnight when Charles stepped back from his work bench and
stretched.
Mia
had been given another sedative to put her into a normal sleeping pattern and
Charles had let Lydia take his room so that Mia felt comfortable and Lydia
could keep an eye on her.
Charles
had been up at his workbench looking over the serum he had made, he had been trying
to figure out how he could make a reverse of it that couldn’t be made into
another working form again.
‘I’ll have to
report it didn’t work... that all of the research was a failure. The parrot and
Mia I can explain, she’s my sister’s friend with her pet parrot here to stay
with Lydia for a few weeks. Now the Laganaphyllis Simnovorii, that’ll be
another matter.’
He
still frowned and tapped his foot on the floor deep in thought for while.
Letting
out a sigh he shook his head as he tried to think straight, there was shuffling
noise from behind him and he turned.
Lydia
had climbed up into the attic, even though it was chilly and Charles knew she hated the cold; she moved over
to the archway and leaned on the frame.
“You
really should get some sleep you know, or should I make you some strong
coffee?” She smiled slightly at her joke.
Giving
a small chuckle Charles shook his head running a hand through his hair as if it
would maybe help smooth out his jagged thoughts somehow.
“No,
no... I was just going over what to do with my new houseplant out the front.”
“What
about it?” Lydia glanced about Charles’s workroom then her eyes focused back on
his face again.
“Well,
for one thing... and I hate to say it, but you’re right...”
Lydia’s
expression changed slightly as she raised an eyebrow in interest to what
Charles had said.
“I
am?” He voiced raised ever so slightly in a mocking tone.
“Oh,
don’t sis.” Charles became exasperated. “You know you are; if her ‘static
consciousness’ let’s call it, exists across all other inanimate objects such as
toys and statues, then putting that serum out there for any old sim to get
their hands on it would be chaos. We
wouldn’t need to wait for war to kill us; little Jonny’s robotic dino is
rampaging up the esplanade ‘cause that last thing it recalled before coming to
life, is having a Simmy-Doll head shoved between its too small jaws and now its
pissed off.”
Though
Lydia could see Charles was upset, she couldn’t help but let out a small laugh
at the image he painted.
She
was able to stop herself after a few moments though and gave a small shrug.
“Ok, ok... so,
what’ll happen to your job then?”
Charles
shook his head and sighed again rubbing his face before he looked at Lydia, his
eyes showed how tired he was and his brow slightly furrowed with more worry
than she had ever seen him express before.
“I’ll...
I’ll just have to tell them it was a failure, that it didn’t work, but now
I...” He trailed off which made Lydia nervous and she came over to him.
“What?”
Charles looked at the floor and Lydia noticed the serum behind him on the crate
Mia had been sitting on. “Ah, I see... so, what can you do?”
Giving
another heavy sigh, Charles gave a small shake of his head.
“I’ll
have to make its reverse, and then destroy the initial results before handing
over the reversed ones to the lab, to prove to them it won’t work.”
Lydia
pursed her lips in thought for a moment; the faded distant sound of frogs from
the swamp was the only sound that disturbed the stillness of the night.
“What
if someone else tries to...”
“I’ll
make sure I put back the impurities I removed in the successful batches, I’ll make
sure they look like they belong there, you’d be surprised how much easier to
destroy a serum than it is to perfect it.”
“If
you say so. I mean, you’re brilliant at what you do, any more awards or
trophies and you’ll run out of room here.” Lydia smiled. “Now... could you
please go get some sleep, can’t you do this tomorrow when you’re rested and
have a clear head?”
Charles
had always found it hard to say no to Lydia, even if when they were children she
had threatened to ‘flatten’ him if he didn’t do as she said; now as adults, her
eyes had a way of saying much more than she vocalised.
He nodded and they
both left the attic to get some sleep. As much as he hated to leave his work, Charles
knew that getting the serum imperfect was critical, especially if he was to
cover his tracks.
In
the morning Charles woke later than he would have liked, but looking at his
alarm clock he smiled sleepily knowing that Lydia had turned off his alarm to
let him sleep in.
He
sat up pausing for a moment and decided to take his time getting up, he knew
the next few days were going to be long since he would have to call work and
tell them he wouldn’t be coming in because of his research.
He
knew they would accept that and soon was feeling a little more at ease; he got
up to go have a shower.
Charles felt grimy
from working constantly over the past two days and decided to get cleaned up
before he went down to have something to eat.
Just
before he could even get into the bathroom to have his long shower, Charles found
Lydia waiting for him in the hallway blocking his path.
“I
need your help with Mia.”
“Alright,
what’s the matter?”
“She
can’t walk yet, and we need to teach her... more precisely, you need to teach her.”
“Me?”
“Yes,
I have to go get us something eat since you have no food in the place and I have to get Mia some clothing that isn’t
at risk of falling apart. So, while I do that, if you could please teach the
poor girl to walk so she can get about on her own it would be appreciated.”
Lydia
walked off before Charles had another chance to argue with her. He could tell
she wasn’t angry, but she was annoyed.
Quickly
Charles went and had a shower and dressed before going to Mia’s room; he
knocked on the door and waited for a moment.
“Come
in...” Mia answered his knock after a few seconds, her voice sounded more clear
and confident now.
Stepping
inside the room, Charles smiled seeing she was at least able to sit up on the
bed. Lydia had given her some pyjamas so she seemed a bit more comfortable out
of the old dress.
He
half kneeled on the floor to hopefully put her at ease without him standing
over her.
“Hi,
uh, Lydia wanted me to come and, well help you find your feet, so to speak.”
Mia
looked at him oddly then looked down at her feet before looking back up at him
again.
“But
my feet are right there, see?” She smiled wiggling her toes.
Charles
smiled to himself, being able to move her feet was a good sign that she at
least had good motor skills and her body was able to respond to subconscious
commands, but then again, putting weight on unused joints could be dangerous
and the small room was not place to start, and Charles didn’t even want to
think about her hurting herself.
“Well,
I’d like to take you downstairs to a larger room and we’ll see about getting
you up and walking. If you don’t mind can I pick you up and carry you?”
Charles
recalled how she had shielded away from him the evening before and wanted to
make sure that she didn’t see him as a threat anymore.
Mia’s eyes travelled
across the floor of the room before she slowly nodded.
Slowly
Charles got up and then half bent down and made sure he had a good hold before
her before carefully lifted her up into his arms.
She
was light and somewhat limp; up close he could faintly smell jasmine in her
hair.
“Alright
then, I was thinking about the sitting room, it’s spacious and nothing to hurt
yourself on.”
Mia
nodded then leaned her head on his shoulder as Charles moved them out of the
bedroom, she suddenly gasped as he stepped onto the landing above the stairs and
Charles stopped.
“What?
Is something wrong? Did I hurt you?”
Mia
shook her head as she looked around the landing of the second floor of the
house.
“Wow...
it’s, it’s so different to what I remember.”
Charles
glanced down at her furrowing his brow. “You remember what the house use to
look like?”
“Oh
yes, the girls and I would sit up here during their parents’ parties and...”
She trailed off suddenly looking sad and turned her head into his neck blinking
back tears.
Charles
shifted slightly and cleared his throat.
“Well,
let’s get downstairs and get you aquatinted with your feet and legs, ok?”
Mia
nodded and Charles descended the stairs making sure to be careful as he went.
Down
in the sitting room, Charles sat Mia down in a chair by the entrance of the
room then stood back from her.
Mia
looked about the room with a slight smile; she then looked at Charles and
nodded.
“So...
how do I...”
“Oh right...” Charles moved over to her. “Now, we can go as slow as you like, there’s no rush with this ok?”
“Oh right...” Charles moved over to her. “Now, we can go as slow as you like, there’s no rush with this ok?”
Mia
nodded. “Ok. When will Lydia be back, I think I’m... um, hungry?” Her stomach
made a growling noise.
Charles
smiled. “Lydia will be back soon, she’s gone to get some food and some new
clothes for you. So while we wait, you ready to give this walking thing a go?”
Mia
nodded again giving a small smile back, her silver eyes sparkling in
anticipation.
Charles
put out a hand for Mia to take. Mia cautiously put her hand in his and Charles
gently lifted her to a standing position, her knees wobbled a little bit and
she laughed nervously.
“Ah,
ok, so this is what standing feels like... makes the world look a bit different
too.”
Charles
laughed himself and held her hand a little tighter as she held his tighter
while she held her balance.
“Ok,
now... it doesn’t matter which foot you move first, just slowly try to lift
your leg to move one foot forward, leaving your weight on the other leg and
foot that isn’t moving... ok?”
Mia
looked at Charles seeming bewildered.
Charles
smiled.
“Ok,
here, let’s try something I saw in the rehabilitation centre when Lydia was
getting the use of her leg back after she broke it a few years back.”
Charles
carefully moved around behind Mia and put his arms under her shoulders. Again
the soft smell of jasmine wafted from her silky hair.
“Ok,
just follow how I move my feet with your own, and don’t worry, I won’t let go
until you feel ready you’re ready and say so, ok?”
Mia nodded and
followed Charles’s movements, moving her feet with his when he advised her to.
***** The next few hours progressed quickly with Mia easily grasping the mechanics of walking *****
Wednesday, 16 July 2014
Doll Eyes; 1.2 - No Idea...
Over
the weekend Charles made the most of his new research room by getting to work
on his project as soon as he had some free time, which was as soon as he woke at
3am on Saturday morning.
Everything
he needed was provided without question, even his new lab partners and their
assistances were as excited as he was about his ideas and what he was
endeavoring to accomplish.
Carefully
Charles worked long into the hours of the day and then well into the night;
mixing, heating, evaporating and remixing his concoctions.
His
note pad was soon completely full of diagrams, solutions, equations and footnotes
over the passing hours. His research bench became cluttered with jars, boxes
and containers of ingredients which he kept grabbing pinches, milligrams and
spoonfuls of every now and then.
The
only sounds in the room were the slightest tinkling of the glass test tubs and
beakers touching each other as he carefully poured one substance into another with
the hopes of creating the perfect serum solution he was looking for.
All
the while, the doll sat behind him, sitting perfectly in her place in the warm
glow of the light above her.
It
was well past midnight making it Sunday morning when Charles poured the last of
a new serum into an older mixture, now he knew that if he didn't begin testing,
he would never know if he had it right or not...
Going
downstairs, Charles took a small statue of his favourite Jurassic period plant
with him to use as his first testing subject.
Charles
sat down on the lawn by the front window of the house; he carefully slipped the
statue into the somewhat large Erlenmeyer flask and then sat back to wait and
see if anything happened.
After a few long
minutes, the serum began to bubble and steam started flowing out the top of the
flask in a thick misty fog, Charles sat up, then scrambled backwards as the
flask cracked, spilling the serum out onto the ground, there was a strange
groan from the statue then a low creaking sound like metal expanding on a hot
day.
The
groan grew louder and the remains of the flask shattered, the sound echoing
sharply in the stillness of the night making Charles take a small step backwards
as he let out a silent gasp of shock.
Within
a few moments, before him was a fully grown, Laganaphyllis Simnovorii; or as
most had nick named it, the ‘Cow Plant’.
They
were thought to have been carnivores and had been suggested that since they were
an advanced ancestor of the Venus fly-trap of their time, it was guessed by
researchers that they had lived off any sort of food source that was dumb
enough to walk by and try to eat the ‘trap’ that it laid out for its unsuspecting
prey.
Charles
couldn’t help but exclaim to himself excitedly as the plant rose up snapping
and spitting saliva all over the place, its first time alive, but it wasn’t
unaware of what Charles was.
It
shook it’s head and made a low grumbling sound that shook it’s leaves in a flurry
of rustling.
The
‘Cow Plant’ lowered itself to Charles who was now standing very still, he kept
his eyes glued to the creature that hadn’t existed for over three million years,
but was now larger than life before him.
Research
had shown that they adapted to their environments all across the world during
the period they were alive. This ability to adapt as it did, made it one of the
deadliest creatures of its time period, next to the tyrannosaurus rex.
To
Charles’s surprise the creature nuzzled affectionately against his shoulder
giving a small purring like rumble.
With
a small nervous laugh, Charles slowly raised a hand and petted its nose; it
snorted and wagged its vine like tail, obviously very happy with the attention
Charles was giving it.
“Amazing...
it, it actually worked... by the Watcher...” His words came out in whispered
amazement.
Charles
gave the creature a more generous, firmer rub on its nose, to which it made a
happy growling sound again, and then he quickly made his way back inside.
On
his way back up to the attic, Charles picked up an ugly hanging parrot his
sister had given him as a joke when she had come back from ‘Carnival’ in Rio a
few years ago.
Once
back at his research bench, Charles set up his main boiler with the same serum
he had used of the ‘Cow Plant’ and hung the parrot above it so that the vapours
escaping would envelope it and hopefully have the same effect as the ‘Cow
Plant’.
The
he waited, anxiously watching the wooden bird.
He
could feel his heart beating faster and faster in his chest and his hands were
sweaty in his plastic gloves.
After
a few moments he realized he hadn’t blinked and his lungs felt as if they were
about to burst from not having breathed out from holding an expectant breathe
in.
The
strong of the bird that was holding the parrot from the ceiling suddenly
snapped, there was an ear piercing screech and the sound of wood splitting, again
Charles jumped back slightly putting a hand up as some wood fell to the floor
in front of him.
Then,
there it was...
A
fully grown majestic and very rare, macaw parrot, it flew around the room for a
bit before Charles rose his arm up and the beautiful bird came and landed
gracefully on it.
Stunned,
Charles walked back into the first room of the attic and opened the cage door
of a new cage he had bought up in preparations for buying a bird to experiment
on later. Now he smiled at the parrot and stood still for a moment enjoying his
second victory for the evening.
Every
feather was in place, its feet were perfect, and talons sharp like black knives
with shiny, bright eyes. A picture of perfect health.
Carefully
he put his arm into the cage and waited at the macaw hopped from his arm to the
perch and played with the little toy for a moment, it stopped and cocked it’s
head to the side giving a low ‘Rrraaa...’
Charles
smiled and gave a slight chuckle as he closed the cage door, never taking his
eyes off the beautiful bird.
Looking
at the bird though the cage door, Charles studied it for a few minutes, as he
stared his mind raced through the tests, reports and results he would have to
write up for his former-boss about his sudden successes.
‘How long will
they live? Will the serum wear off over time or are the effects permanent? Are they
truly living creatures the same as others? Can they breed? Oh, there’s so much
to do now and I still have to research and examine... Hell I’m tired...’
Charles
shook his head to half wake himself up and out of his thoughts, with a sigh he
took off his safety glasses, rubbed his eyes and headed down to bed.
All
the while his mind racing over what else he could test on with the remaining
serum he had left, the results with major effects usually was enough to present
to the ‘Bridge-Port Scientific Research Facility Board’.
When
Charles woke in the bright sunlight of late Sunday morning, he wandered
downstairs to the kitchen and made himself some coffee.
Whilst
drinking it, he felt his stomach grumble and shook his head at himself for
forgetting to do any proper shopping after work before the weekend; he had
noticed that none of the shops in town weren’t open on Sundays via their door
signs, unlike in Bridge Port where everything was almost always open 24/7.
After
he finished off his coffee, Charles went and grabbed the paper and sat down on
the back porch and began to read and see what Twinbrook had anything good on
offer in the way of sporting, community events or some sort of night life.
Halfway
through his reading, he heard the Cow Plant grunt from outside.
It
was hungry.
From
upstairs there was a screech from the parrot, it too was hungry.
Sighing
and shaking his head, Charles turned to the ‘jobs’ section of the paper in the
hopes of finding a house-keeper of sorts.
All
he found was the dreaded global ‘Sims-Ville Hospitality Services’. However they
stayed in business for so long was beyond his belief since they seemed to be in
the habit of employing Sims that would clean ‘your’ house ‘their’ way whilst
conveniently forgetting to do laundry, before they would then laze around which
usually consisted of them helping themselves to food from your fridge or a swim
in your pool if you had one.
Every single time Charles
had hired one, he would end up getting angry and firing them.
Putting
the paper aside in disgust, Charles looked over the back garden. He noticed that
the vegetable and fruit plants needed attention as well.
It
seemed he would have no choice but to hire someone the help him around his
house as he knew that he wouldn’t have time to do all of it himself.
As
he got up from the chair, Charles stopped and a smile spread across his lips
with an idea that grew like and out of control weed in his mind.
‘My Watcher of
course, I can use that doll. It’d be the perfect ‘live-in-housemaid. And if
this idea works...’
Feeling
his whole body tremble with excitement, Charles rushed inside to change and head
up to the attic.
Well
into the evening, Charles worked on refining the serum; he focused of removing
any impurities from the mixture and even rewrote the solution twice before he was
happy with the new results.
He
went into one of the side rooms and pulled out a large containment tank Charles
had bought from his old place on the whim that he may find a use for it; now he
was glad he had not given it back to his old research department.
Finally
he turned to the doll; his heart was in his throat and his breathing fast and shallow.
Carefully he picked up the doll and placed her inside a large solution filled
tank.
As
the doll sat in the bottom of the tank, Charles added the final ingredient of
the perfected serum; a refined version of poison that was known to be used in
hospitals to help restart patients brain waves and central nervous systems when
they shut down.
Almost
instantly the tank began to bubble around the doll...
Charles
watched, he held his breath and dare not blink even though his eyes burned.
This
time there was no cracking of glass or ear piercing screeches, the doll just
suddenly began to enlarge.
Then,
there she was, floating in the bubbling mixture like something from a scene of
a sci-fi movie.
Charles
was speechless and stood rooted to the spot staring at her, it wasn’t until she
began to move that Charles quickly shook his head to snap himself out of
staring and moved to get her out of the tank before she gained consciousness.
After
getting her out of the tank, Charles was surprised that the remaining serum soaked
up into her skin, hair and dress leaving her completely dry.
Charles
started at her; then he suddenly wasn’t sure what to do and felt panic
beginning to set in.
“Oh
Watcher, what do I do...” He felt his chest tighten as he tried to gather his
thoughts. “Hmm...” He looked at the ladder then back at the fully grown young
woman he was holding in his arms. “Right... get downstairs...”
Carefully
Charles put her down on the floor by the ladder, then braced himself halfway
down the ladder, he then gentle pulled her to him and eased her down by carefully
holding her under her arms and letting her body drop down next to his, then he gently
put her on the floor at the base of the ladder while bracing his back against
the ladder and one leg against wall of the room below.
With
a sigh of relief, Charles came down the ladder and gently picked her up again
then took her into the smaller of the spare rooms that was on the same side of
the house as his bedroom.
As
he laid the young woman on the bed, he looked at her face taking an unconscious
gasp in.
“My
Watcher...”
She
was the picture of perfection, not a hair out of place and her body was
perfectly symmetrical.
Suddenly
with a violent, startled movement upwards, she half sat up on the bed and a
series of blood curdling screams escaped from her lips.
Panic
set back in again for Charles; quickly he took out a light sedative filled
needle from his lab-coats pocket and gave her an injection of it. Waiting for a
moment to make sure that the doll girl was completely asleep and wouldn’t wake
up for some time.
Charles
then rushed down stairs to his office grabbing his phone off the desk quickly
dialling a familiar number.
The
phone rang out, Charles tried again and on the third time a woman picked up
sounding very annoyed.
‘Charles I’m in
a meeting, this had better be important or so help me I’ll...’
“It
is Lydia, I desperately need your help...”
‘Oh, and what
exactly would you be wanting my help with? The last time you so desperately
needed my help I ended up in hospital for three months...’
“No
experiments this time, honest sis. It’s to do with the house...”
*silence*
“You
there?”
‘Yes, I’m here...
the house, alright then, but I’ll make you pay this time. My boss will kill me
if I do any more ‘favours’...’
“Great,”
Charles rushed feeling flustered as he spoke. “I’ll pay full fees, even your
plane trip... but I need you here by tomorrow.”
‘Tomorrow, are
you nuts Charles? I’ve got million simolian deal in the making here, I can’t
just...’
“It’s
for the national heritage society.’ Charles blurted out then cursed himself
knowing that Lydia was going to be furious when she got there. “You help me
with this and you’re name will be worth millions of simolians alone, please,
I’m desperate...”
Lydia
gave a heavy sigh, but Charles knew she was closing her eyes and shaking her
head as she was about to say ‘yes’ to him.
‘If I regret one
moment...’
“Sis
you won’t, I promise. Full fee’s, even extra’s, anything you want, let you boss
know it’s an on-going project with at least six months of work ahead.”
‘Alright,
alright... send me the info I’ll need, I’ll be on the first plane tonight.’
Charles
hung up and gave his own long sigh of relief glancing out the window at the
cow-plant.
“Well,
only two ways this can go...”
The
next morning at nine forty five the familiar sound of car breaks sounded from
outside Charles office window, he looked through the curtains and saw his older
sister Lydia watching the taxi turn around and head back into town.
She
then made her way to the front archway and came in the front yard.
Charles
met her at the front steps; she was leaning on the railing looking at the
cow-plant. Her face was expressionless.
“Hey
sis, have a good flight?” Charles leaned on a column and looked over at the
cow-plant himself.
“Good,
good... Charles... there’s an extinct creature in your front garden, did you
know that?”
Charles
nodded. “Oh, him... yes I uh, I called him Andy.”
“Mhm.”
Lydia gave a small nod pursing her lips slightly with a raise of her eyebrows.
“Right then... you gunna invite me in, or are we going to stand here all day?”
Charles
pushed himself off the column clearing his throat.
“Of
course, yes, please, come inside. I’ll get changed then make us some coffee.”
He hurried off inside and upstairs to get changed out of his lab clothes.
Charles
had forgotten to change as he had been watching over the sleeping doll girl all
evening. She hadn’t woken, but had stirred looking uncomfortable which had make
Charles give her another sedative just before dawn.
Coming
back down to the kitchen, Charles headed straight for the coffee machine.
“Latte?”
“Why
not...”
He
could feel Lydia watching him, her eyes burrowing into the back of his skull.
The
machine ‘Schhhhed!’ sharply, Charles closed his eyes knowing that he was about
to get blasted by Lydia, she had a way of somehow making the air feel like it
was full of electricity.
He
took in a deep breath and squared his shoulders.
“Nice
job, so far. The kitchen needs to be touched up and the foyer windows are a bit
plain and could do with a bit of work... but, you didn’t bring me here for that
huh Charles?”
The
silence between them as the coffee machines noises settled down, was enough to
make Charles want to scream in frustration.
As
much as he didn’t want to, finally he shook his head, his shoulders dropped
slightly.
The
slow tapping of Lydia’s heels across the floorboards made Charles turn as see
her walk away into the dining room.
Following
her, Charles found her seated in one of the chairs at the far end of the table.
In
her own style, Lydia found a way to drape her body elegantly sideways in a
chair so that she could still look at him while seeming unphased.
Taking
a seat, Charles stared at his hands rubbing his palm for a moment.
Her
eyes stayed on him for a long, few seconds.
“Is
that all... or is there more?” From her voice, he could tell that she had
chosen her words carefully.
He
nodded, she sighed abruptly got up from the chair.
“Show
me; let’s get the unpleasantries out of the way.” She sighed lightly brushing a
stray hair from her eyes waiting for Charles to get up.
Taking
her upstairs to the landing by the second spare bedroom, Charles showed her the
bird cage he had moved down from the attic with the Macaw in it.
Lydia
bent down to get a better look at the bird, she shook her head as she reached
out and touched the bars of the cage for a second.
“So,
the flaws even come through when reanimated huh?”
“Flaws?”
Charles
looked at her and Lydia nodded side glancing at him, then looked back at the
parrot giving another nod.
“Don’t
you remember, you dropped it when I first gave it to you and chipped its
beak... the chip is still there.” She gave a small smile and shook her head.
Charles
shifted nervously and cleared his throat again.
“Well,
then maybe you could take a look at one more thing for me. Out of everything,
it’s the most extraordinary.”
Still
looking at the parrot, Lydia nodded. She gave a small sigh and a tilt of her
head before standing up and turned to Charles.
“Okay,
let’s see it then...” Her eyes showed at she was upset with him, as did her
snippy comments and tone of her voice.
Taking
in a deep breath, Charles showed her to the smaller of the two spare rooms, he
opened the door and stood aside for her to go in.
He
followed closing the door behind him and took a seat while Lydia stared down at
the doll girl sleeping on the bed.
“Charles...
this is a...”
“An
1827, Sunset Sim Perfection collector’s edition porcelain doll. The maker was
well ahead of his era with making the dolls as close to real Sims as possible.
He only got to make a few collections though because they creeped people out
too much apparently”
Lydia
bent down to get a closer look at the girl lying on the bed.
“Well,
you were defiantly telling the truth when you said this was extraordinary.” She
glanced back for a moment. “Have you seen the makers mark yet?”
Charles
shook his head. “No, she... she began to scream uncontrollably before I could
even look her over properly. She’s sedated for now, but that...” He paused for
a moment. “She is why I called you... not just for the house.”
Lydia
stood up letting out a long breath still looking down at the doll girl for a
moment more before she turned to Charles and tilted her head towards the door
indicating they should leave her and go talk elsewhere.
Charles
led his sister downstairs to the redecorated sitting room.
Lydia
grabbed his shoulder and spun him about when they got into the door.
“Are
completely insane or just out rightly stupid Charlie?”
“it
just... I had no idea that...”
“That
what Charles, that the possibility of bringing inanimate objects to life might
be some sort of fucked up way of playing ‘The Watcher’? That maybe changing
something from one form to another might have detrimental effects on that
object when it becomes ‘alive’?
Watcher Charlie, and here I was thinking that you were the brilliant scientist! Damn it, you’re still such a
child!”
“I
was working on a breakthrough Lydia, you wouldn’t understand.” He snapped back
at her hoping to have caught her off guard.
But
Lydia seemed to be ready at every turn.
“Oh
I understand every kid dreams of their own unicorn or to ride a dinosaur to
school; my Watcher Charlie who didn’t, but those are dreams for good reason. Honestly could you imagine dinosaurs
roaming about the streets? It would be utter chaos, and now... now you've got... that upstairs to deal with.”
They
both stared at each other before Charles slumped down on a couch behind him
scratching his head as he gave a heavy sigh and lent on his hand looking at his
sister.
As
usual she had a valid point, the sensible side of the family
Lydia
slumped down onto the other couch and sighed herself staring at the floor on
the far side of the room.
After
a moment a slight smile came to her lips and she shook her head.
“Your
wallpaper sucks...”
They
both gave uneasy laughs then sat in silence, birds twittered outside and a
breeze picked up rustling the leaves of the trees in the garden.
Charles
knew Lydia was angry at him, but he had the feeling that she knew he had been lying
to her when he asked her to come with the stupid reason for helping him fix up
the house.
It
also was why she hadn’t stormed out, why she had yelled at him and why they were now
sitting in silence together on a Monday morning in his sitting room.
The question was, now
what did they do with the doll girl upstairs once she woke up again...
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